Descripción
Two scarce dueling pamphlets for the Soul of the Church of England over a 5ft wooden statue of the Angel St Michael at All Saints. Barkin . A Narrative of a Strange and Sudden Apparition of an arch-angel at the Old-Bayly, on Monday March the seventh, 1680. English stile, betwixt the hours of three and five in the afternoon, to the great astonishment of the court and all that were present. Dedicated to all the ministers and church-wardens of the whole nation. By an eye-witness of the apparition. [London : s.n.], Printed in the year, 1680/81.The volume is paginated as follows: [2], 2 p. The volume collates as follows: A2 Each leaf measure 310 x 250 mm.Edmund Sherman The Birth and Burning of the image called S. Michael. London: Printed and are to be sold by Richard Janeway. 1681 The full title reads: The Birth and Burning of the image called S. Michael. Containing the substance of a narrative lately given into the vestry of All Saints Barkin London, by Mr. Edmond Sherman, late upper churchwarden, at laying down his office in Easter week, 1681. Fully reporting the truth of fact relating to the image indicted (at the Sessions at Old Baily) by the name of S. Michael. Together with a letter to Mr. Jonathan Saunders lecturer, which may serve for an answer to his two late pamphlets entituled, Apparitions, &c. introduced with two vestry orders, demonstrating not so good reason for its birth as burning. Set up anno 1659/60. Burnt anno 1680/81. Dedicated (singly) to the use of Mr. Jonathan Saunders, lecturer of All Saints Barkin parish, without any design to reflect on the clergie or Church of England. Published by a friend of the late churchwarden s to prevent false reports. London : printed and are to be sold by Richard Janeway, in Queens Head Alley in Pater Noster Row, 1681. The volume is paginated as follows: 16 p. The volume collates as follows: A D2 Wing S3382 ESTC R10625.Both pamphlets are in Very good Condition disbound, with generally clean, well margined leaves, some mild general toning, as well as some small creases and fox marks. The Narrative has a stain to the lower right leaf, extending through to the second leaf. The 'Birth and Burning" has some worm damage to the gutter and a worm hole one inch from the gutter. In the spring of 1681, the parish of All Hallows next to the Tower of London was in uproar. The vicar and churchwardens had all been indicted in the civil courts, pamphlet wars ensued, and the affair was reported in the newspapers. What is striking about this apparent dispute, is that everyone taking part claimed that it had significance for the Church of England as a whole and for the security of the nation. At the heart of the commotion was a 5ft high wooden Statue of St. Michael Which had hung in various spots in All Hallows since 1659. The clergy and church wardens were indicted at the Old Bailey for suffering the graven image of St Michael to stand and remain undestroyed over the communion table to the great danger of introducing Idolatry and Superstitious Worship among the Kings Liege-Subjects . The result of the two court hearings were inconclusive but the fate of the statue was sealed when one of the churchwardens, who was probably a party to the action, had it taken down and proceeded to break it up and to use it as fuel for the vestry fire. The first pamphlet to appear was A Narrative of a Strange and sudden Apparition, attributed to Dr. George Hicks, but probably written by the lecturer George Saunders, who wrote other pamphlets defending the parish from charges of popery. This was answered by the Churchwarden Edward Sherman in his The Birth and Burning of the Image called St Michael. It is clear that the statue of St Michael was exploited, in a period of intense political crisis, as a symbol of a much larger problem: the highly contested nature of the Church of England. Adapted from: Clare Haynes: The Politics of Religious Imagery in the Late Seventeenth Century. 1972. N° de ref. del artículo ABE-1610920973675
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