Hyde, Alvan. The Nature and Danger of Heresy : A Sermon, preached before the Convention of the Clergy of Massachusetts, May 29, 1817. Boston: Published by Samuel T. Armstrong, 1817. First Edition. [12129]
Removed, no wrapper, former owner's signature at top of title page, 8 1/2 x 5 inches. 22. [1] pages, the last page being a publisher's advert for religious books. Good. Pamphlet.
The text is 2 Peter 2:1, "But there were false prophets also among the people..."
Three main points: 1. The propagation of corrupt religious sentiments, in what is called the Christian world, is clearly foretold in the Scriptures; 2. Some remarks on the nature of heresy, and on the manner of its being introduced; and, 3. Show, that they who embrace sentiments of this description, under the light of the gospel, are no less exposed to the wrath of God, than those, who live in wicked and immoral practices.
Alvan Hyde (1768-1833), b. near Norwich, CT; d. at Lee, MA. Hyde graduated at Dartmouth College in 1788, studied under Rev. Charles Backus, and in 1790 was licensed to preach by the Tolland Association. He was ordained pastor over the congregation at Lee, Mass., in 1792, and served in that capacity for the next 41 years.
"In the course of his ministry there were four extensive and powerful revivals; and the years that intervened between these seasons of special attention, were far from being years of spiritual barrenness." He assisted between thirty and forty young men in the preparations for the ministry, and was connected with Williams College for some thirty years. Hyde's sermons were featured at times in The National Preacher. He also contributed a letter to Sprague's Lectures on Revivals. See Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, Trinitarian Congregationalists, v. 2 p. 300. (12129) $65.00
