[Bowden, John]. Observations on a Letter from Noah Webster, Jun. Esq. published in the Panoplist, and republished in a pamphlet in New-York. By an Old-Fashioned Churchman. New-Haven: Printed by Oliver Steele and Co., 1809. First Edition. [12573]
Removed, self-wraps, untrimmed edges, 9 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches, 72 pages. Good. Pamphlet.
Shaw & Shoemaker 17073, and attributed to John Bowden.
An attack on Calvinism and the doctrine of the Trinity found in a publication by Noah Webster printed in the periodical The Panoplist. He claims that Webster is not consistent in his thought, and contradicts himself in regards to Calvinism. "Predestination, in the Calvinist sense, is to me, a cheerless and uncomfortable doctrine. It also seems to cut the sinews of morality, and render practical holiness absurd and vain. The scriptural exhortations to repentance and amendment, to exertion and diligence, are, on this hypothesis, preposterous and useless." - p. 24.
"Appeal to the Candid, No. II." begins at page [25], and contains "A Sermon, on the Worship of God Authorized by the Scriptures, Divided into several Sections." This sermon is anti-Trinitarian, and purports to prove that Jesus and others taught and practiced Unitarianism. The last two pages are "One Trinitarian View of Jesus Christ, Weihged [sic] in Divine Balances."
The Letter from Noah Webster is no. 706 in Skeel, A Bibliography of the Writings of Noah Webster, with the title The Peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel, Explained and Defended, which began as correspondence with his brother-in-law, Judge Thomas Dawes of Boston. It was seen by Moses Stuart, who recommended it to Jedidiah Morse as desirable for publishing in The Panoplist, where it appeared in the July, 1809 number. It was also published that year in New York as a separate pamphlet.
"The pamphlet and its answer became part of the three-cornered wrangle then going on between the Calvinists, the Unitarians, and the Episcopalians, especially in the columns of the Panoplist and the Monthly Anthology of Boston. Later, some of the Massachusetts Unitarians allowed these religious differences to color their evaluation of Webster's philological work." - Skeel, p. 294.
Rev. John Bowden, D.D. (1751-1817), b. in Ireland; d. Ballston Spa, New York. Bowden came to America at an early age, studied at Princeton College for two years, then (after a trip to Ireland) entered King's (now Columbia) College in New York City. He graduated in 1772 and returned to England for Anglican ordination. He was made assistant minister of Trinity Church in New York City, but at the outbreak of the American Revolution he left the city and took several minor appointments before returning to Stratford, Connecticut, to take charge of the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire. In 1802 he was made Professor of Moral Philosophy, Belles-Lettres, and Logic in Columbia College, New York City.
