Judaica

Boston: Printed by Bartholomew Green, 1727. Second Edition (with additional material). Binding: Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good Condition, with two leaves printed in facsimile. Size: 8″-9″ – Octavo (8vo). 88 pages (64 p., 24 p.). In bringing together his earlier work, Willard’s sermon and an update in his appendix, Sewall marshals the evidence for his position that the Millennium is near and that the discovery and Christianizing of America is a crucial and perhaps final development to that end. Drawing from prophetic passages describing the coming Millennium, Sewall find significance in the discovery of the Americas as the final remaining area to be found. He also sees the New World as a logical place for the New Jerusalem to be established. Drawing upon others, including Manasseh Ben Israel, who speculated that the native Americans were the remnants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, Sewall writes, “God’s removing Israel out of his sight, is no less than three times mentioned; which may insinuate the Remoteness of that Land, into which God by his Providence intended to cast them. And none was no remote, and so much out of sight, as America” (p. 41). The summary description for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Digital Commons provides this assessment: “Often misunderstood, Phænomena illustrates the intricate connection between prophetic exegesis and New England politics, between eschatological speculations and self-representation and policies toward the Indian populations of North America.” Rebound in leather over boards, the leather paneled with a line embossed around the borders of the front and rear cover. Spine scored to give the effect of four compartments. Laid paper has been used for the replacement end papers. Text block is tight. The first two leaves (title page for Sewell and address to Sir William Ashhurst) are printed in facsimile on laid paper and trimmed slightly smaller on the outside edge as the original pages. The original text begins at Sig. B (p. [iii]). There are three holes in the outside margin of that leaf, affecting two of the marginal notes on the recto and another hole on p. 43 in the middle of the page. There is a tide mark on pp. [iii] to 52 and 57-62. Any prefatory pages for Willard’s work have not been reprinted here; the pages go directly from the last page of Sewell to the first of Willard’s. Although the two works are paginated separately, the signatures are continuous (Sewall ends with Sig. S and Willard begins with Sig. T). Willard’s pamphlet is followed by an appendix written by Sewall.  The last two leaves of the appendix to Willard’s pamphlet have been strengthened at the edges with paper tape. Both of the pages are missing their upper corner. The page edges are slightly browned. less