A DISCOURSE OF CLOSET (OR SECRET) PRAYER, from Matt. VI. 6. First preached, and now published at the request of those that heard it.

SLATER, Samuel.

Published by London: printed for Jonathan Robinson and Tho. Cockerill at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard; and at the Three Leggs in the Poultry over-against the Stocks-Market, 1691

About this Item

12mo, pp. [xii], 178, [2]; with the original final blank leaf I6; slightly browned throughout, title page strengthened on verso and torn at head and tail affecting only blank margins (plus a tiny area of ruled border); small internal tear in B3 but no loss of text; rebound in modern calf, approximately in the style of the period. Sole edition. Samuel Slater (1629-1704), son of a London puritan lecturer, was educated (predictably) at Emmanuel College Cambridge. At first he was a dissenting minister in Suffolk and Norfolk, but from before 1680 he was ministering to a congregation in Bishopsgate, London. He was a noted preacher of funeral sermons - about half the works listed by ESTC under his name are in this genre - but he also wrote poetry (a short volume of poems appeared in 1679), and in 1659 he published an exhortation to Richard Cromwell to keep to the same path as his father. This is one of three works highlighted by Jim Benedict in ODNB as 'more substantial volumes' from Slater's pen. The dedication, to 'that flock of Christ, over which the Holy-Ghost hath made me an Overseer', is dated 24 November 1690. John Dunton, who published several works of Slater at around this time, testified to the success of Slater's writings, which 'sold extraordinarily well'. This one is very rare, and probably circulated so well that copies were read to pieces: ESTC now locates only four copies in the UK (three in London and one in Oxford), plus two in North America (Union Theological Seminary and Toronto). Wing S3960.

Seller Inventory # 24688

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A DISCOURSE OF CLOSET (OR SECRET) PRAYER, from Matt. VI. 6. First preached, and now published at the request of those that heard it.
• Publisher: London: printed for Jonathan Robinson and Tho. Cockerill at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard; and at the Three Leggs in the Poultry over-against the Stocks-Market
• Publication Date: 1691
• Seller catalogs:
  • Theology