£120
8vo, pp. xliii, [i], xciii, [i], 410. Contemporary calf. Toned and foxed, a little creasing to last few leaves. Board edges worn, rebacked to style, old leather crackled and darkened at joints. Old theological seminary library stamp to title-page.
The best-known work of Francis Blackburne (1705-1787), published anonymously at the encouragement of Thomas Hollis. A 'decidedly polemical account of the history of the Church of England', Blackburne 'attacked those who defended subscription to Calvinist articles according to their own lax interpretations... [and] was particularly critical of Laud's Arminian interpretation of the articles... A lively controversy arose; it has been calculated that orthodox responses to the Confessional, largely supported by Archbishop Thomas Secker who despised Blackburne for his attack on Butler, amounted to enough to fill ten volumes' (ODNB).
