Gods Terrible Voice in the City. 1667

Gods Terrible Voice In The City [Thomas Vincent]. Wherein You Have I. The Sound of the Voice, in the History of the Two Late Dreadful Judgments of Plague and Fire in London. II. The Interpretation of the Voice, in a Discovery of the Cause and Design of these Judgments. The Fifth Edition Corrected, with the Addition of a Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mrs. [sic] A.J. in Aldermanbury Church the 18th. of September, 1665. London: Printed for George Calvert, and are to be sold at the Bible in Jewen-street, 1667. Fifth edition, corrected.

8vo (7"x4.5"); [6], 242p. Early 20th c. library cloth, gilt title, library shelf-mark on spine; bookplate of Springfield Library with internal punch stamps, some minor foxing and stains, a few minor edge tears. Binding firm and tight. Rare.

Additional Information:

Vincent, Thomas [T. V.] (1634-1678), clergyman and ejected minister. "Upon the outbreak of the plague in 1665 Vincent was among a number of silenced nonconformists who emerged, as conforming ministers fled the city, to attend to the congregations they left behind. Vincent preached in churches throughout London and, undeterred by the risk of infection, ministered to the sick and dying in their homes. "Void of all fear of death" (Neal, 451), he won interdenominational respect; his sermons also accumulated a multitudinous following, their peculiar intensity honed by the extreme circumstances. His printed meditation on the plague, Gods Terrible Voice in the City (1667), ran to sixteen editions within just eight years... A formidably eloquent and learned man, who reputedly knew the entire New Testament and Psalms by heart, Vincent was at once selfless and single-minded in his ministry, his "Zeal and Diligence" (Reliquiae Baxterianae, 3.95) unwavering in the face of both plague and persecution. He does indeed seem, as Slater states, to have been "freely willing to venture his life for the salvation of souls" (Slater, 41)." [Oxford DNB]. Wing V441. ESTC r22252 [reports "course" for "cause" and "Aldermanburg" for "Aldermanbury" in title.]

Provenance: Krown & Spellman Collection, February 26, 2015. Rare at auction.