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1683 first edition 'Printed for John Baker at the three Pigeons in St. Paul's Church Yard' (London) 4 5/8 x 7 1/4 inches tall hardbound, grey paper boards over beige cloth spine with printed paper label to spine, endpapers refreshed, [8], 359, [1] pp. Covers mildly soiled and edgeworn, with slight bumping to upper tips. Interior is near fine - clean, bright and unmarked. Altogether, an outstanding copy of this important work, in which Samuel Parker attempts to prove that episcopacy - government of the church by bishops - was the practice of the primitive Christian church. References: ESTC No. R30082; Wing (1996), P453. ESTC locates only nine institutional copies in North America. ~LLL~ Samuel Parker (1640-1688) was an English churchman, of strong Erastian views and a fierce opponent of Dissenters. His political position is often compared with that of Thomas Hobbes, but there are also clear differences; he was also called in his time a Latitudinarian, but this is not something on which modern scholars are agreed. During the reign of King James II he served as Bishop of Oxford, and was considered by James to be a moderate in his attitude to Catholics. As the early 1680s witnessed a reaction against religious and political dissent, Parker re-entered the political fray in a series of works, beginning with 'The Case of the Church of England Briefly and Truly Stated' (1681). Parker's ecclesiological position, which has often been misunderstood, was far from being straightforwardly Erastian. Rather, he claimed (against Edward Stillingfleet) that the episcopal form of the church was established by divine right. He also attempted to prove that episcopacy was the practice of the primitive church in this work, 'An Account of the Government of the Christian Church,' which has been described as 'a statement of the orthodox doctrine concerning episcopacy, combined with an attack upon the usurpation of Patriarchs.' It concludes with a challenge to Caesar Baronius (1538-1607), Italian Cardinal and ecclesiastical historian best known for his Annales Ecclesiastici ('Ecclesiastical Annals'), on Baronius' assertion of the Roman supremacy. Seller Inventory # LLL-0341-414
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