John Preston. Breast-Plate of Faith and Love 1632

May 11, 2022

Lot 113

John Preston. Breast-Plate of Faith and Love 1632

Estimate: $300 - $500

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John PRESTON (1587-1628). The Breast-Plate of Faith and Love. A treatise, wherein the ground and exercise of faith and love, as they are upon Christ their object, and as they are expressed in good workes, is explained. Delivered in 18 sermons upon three severall texts … The third edition. London: imprinted … by W.I. for Nicolas Bourne, 1632. Quarto (7 3/8 x 5 1/2inches; 187 x 140mm). Pp. [i-viii;] 1-128; [i-ii], 1-200; 1-216, [i-xx]. General title with architectural surround; one section title. Contemporary speckled calf, ruled in blind (worn, upper cover detached, extremities rubbed). Provenance: Manse Library, Free Church, Kirkcaldy (label on inner cover).

A popular work, with three editions in two years, it was first published in 1630. The present copy is another issue, with cancel title page, of the second edition which was also dated 1630. Preston was an ‘English Reformed theologian influential among New England Puritans. From a humble family but exceedingly ambitious, Preston excelled at Kings and then as fellow of Queens College, Cambridge University. He abandoned goals in business and government after his 1611 conversion during a sermon by John Cotton, who became a leading New England minister. Later, Preston sent students to finish their theological education under Cotton at his church in Boston, England. Preston’s theological studies included Calvin and Aquinas. In 1615 he won the admiration of King James at a university debate. Preston capitalized on friendships among nobility to pull strings for evangelical preachers and to advance the Puritan cause at Cambridge, even securing his own appointment as chaplain to the future king, Prince Charles.

Preston devoted most of his time to preaching and advanced from one prominent post to another. In 1620 he was dean and catechist of Queens College; in 1622 he succeeded John Donne as preacher at Lincoln’s Inn, London, and became master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, training ground of early New England pastors. Huge crowds gathered to hear him, prompting limiting of access to his sermons and the enlargement of chapel buildings. Thomas Shepherd, future pastor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, converted under Preston’s preaching at Emmanuel, called him “the most searching preacher in the world.” He took little time to write during his meteoric career, preaching extemporaneously, but auditors copied and circulated sermon notes. After his death of “a consumption” at the age of forty-one, several disciples, including future New Haven pastor John Davenport, edited his sermons for publication and fought the pirated editions rushed into print. His works went through numerous editions and were on the shelves of New England pastors. ‘ (C. E. Hambrick-Stowe, see https://www.biblia.work/dictionaries/prestonjohn-1587-1628/ )

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