Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ

John BUNYAN

Item#: 119618 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ
Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ

"BUNYAN'S MOST POPULAR SERMON": 1719 EDITION OF COME AND WELCOME TO JESUS CHRIST

BUNYAN, John. Come and Welcome, to Jesus Christ: Or, A Plain and Profitable Discourse on John VI. Verse xxxvii. Shewing, The Cause, Truth, and Manner of the Coming of a Sinner to Jesus Christ; with his Happy Reception, and Blessed Entertainment. London: printed by Vavasour Harris, and sold by H. Tracy, 1719. 12mo, contemporary full sheep rebacked, burgundy morocco spine label, endpapers renewed.

Twelfth edition, first published in 1678, of Bunyan’s exposition of John 6:37, Christ’s welcome to sinners, which "echoes many of the themes and some of the imagery in The Pilgrim's Progress." Complete with woodcut frontispiece, in contemporary sheep covers.

"Bunyan's most popular sermon, Come, & Welcome, to Jesus Christ (1678), six editions of which were published in his lifetime, was composed between the summer of 1677 and March 1678. An exposition of John 6:37, it dynamically reflected his refusal to let the logical ramifications of the Calvinist doctrine of predestination dim his enthusiastic appeal to his audience, urging them to respond to the offer of divine grace. The personification of Shall-come in this sermon is similar to the allegorical personages of Help, Good-Will, and Great-Grace in The Pilgrim's Progress, possibly reflecting Bunyan's decision to publish his allegory at this time. Both works beckon the unconverted to embrace the gospel, implying the sufficiency of divine grace for those who accept. Not surprisingly, Come, & Welcome echoes many of the themes and some of the imagery in The Pilgrim's Progress" (ODNB). Small and read to death, as with all of Bunyan's religious tracts, copies of the early editions are uncommon, with ESTC locating eight copies of the current edition in British and American institutions.
ESTC T58473. Contemporary title notation to front cover, contemporary notations to frontispiece and terminal page, 20th-century ownership signature to frontispiece mount.

Frontispiece mounted, minor light reading wear and soiling to text. Two tips recornered, the others rubbed, chip and abrasion to front cover, rear hinge tight, faint staining in gutter. A very good, sound copy.

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