A Sermon on the Moral Uses of the Pestilence, denominated Asiatic Cholera. Delivered on Fast-Day, August 9, 1832.
New Bedford: Printed by Benjamin T. Congdon, 1832. 20 pp. 8vo. Disbound. First edition. Removed from a larger volume and lacking the wrappers else a very good copy, browned edges, faint soiling. Sabin 19862n. American Imprints 12154. Item #38664
Orville Dewey (1794-1882), an American Unitarian minister, thinks the scourge will bring people back to god, and that, in his opinion, is good: "The Cholera, I am firmly persuaded, will prevent more suffering than it will occasion. The woes of unrestricted intemperance in this country for ten years, would be far greater than the woes of a ten years' plague. I cannot pray, therefore, without the most careful qualification, and the most guarded submission, that this pestilence should depart from our borders. I dare not say, it is best for us that it should depart. I dare not absolutely pray for the removal of this disease, any more than for the removal of many other diseases. I see clearly that the world would sink at once into the ruins of sensual indulgence, if no pain or sickness followed excess." OCLC locates only three copies: NYHS, Univ. Michigan, and BL.
Price: $50.00