Description:

Harvard-Educated Loyalist Anglican Minister's NYC Sermon From the Decade Preceding the Revolutionary War

A 20pp manuscript in the hand of Reverend Samuel Auchmuty (1722-1777), the Anglican rector of Trinity Church, New York City, in the years immediately preceding the Revolutionary War. Threaded into a homemade booklet, and almost certainly a working draft since it contains numerous cross-outs and revisions. Margin notes date the manuscript to ca. 1764-1771. Overall even toning and scattered light foxing. Protected by two slightly chipped paper wrappers, one inscribed "Dr. Auchmuty." The booklet measures 4.625" x 7.325." Accompanied by a slip of paper pencil inscribed: "This sermon is evidently [in] the handwriting of the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty D.D. Rector of Trinity Church. 1764-1777. Joseph Hooper. January 26, 1898."

Auchmuty's margin notes near the top of the first page of the sermon indicate that he delivered it at two Anglican churches in the Trinity Church parish in New York City on three different occasions: at St. George's Chapel on October 7, 1764 and May 5, 1771, and at St. Paul's Chapel on February 7, 1768. Trinity Church, where Reverend Auchmuty served as rector between 1764-1777, was the Anglican parish flagship church of the Wall Street neighborhood. It was constructed in 1698 at Wall Street and Broadway, and it stood until the Great Fire of September 1776. St. George's Chapel, built in 1752, was located nearby at Beekman and Cliff Streets, while St. Paul's Chapel, erected in 1766, was erected a few steps further away at Broadway and Fulton Streets. As rector, Reverend Auchmuty was in charge of all three parish churches.

Reverend Auchmuty's sermon interprets the meaning of John 3:8, "The Wind bloweth where it listeth, & thou hearest ye Sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth; So is every one yt [that] is born of ye Spirit." The minister adapts a scholarly approach to unpacking this New Testament verse, analyzing both its "similitude" (metaphor) and its "application" (meaning). The sermon is clearly written and very accessible because Auchmuty draws on universal truths. He presents a premise accepted by the congregation as true, and then, incrementally, extends its original meaning to encompass more abstract ideas. Auchmuty is quite effective in this and achieves clarity by making copious comparisons to the natural world, and by applying the verse to the regular people with whom his audience could easily identify: farmers, shepherds, and mariners.

Please see below for a representative excerpt. Spelling and punctuation remains unchanged but paragraph breaks have been added for improved legibility.

"These words contain two things. First A Similtude; + Secondly an Application - And First from the Similtude It is implyed yt Some things are capable of being known = by ye Effects, wch we ca'not come to the knowledge of any other way. No man need go far for proof of this. We are all Sure yt we carry Something about us wch we call a Soul. Something yt thinks, chuses, Judges, + remembers: And agreeable to its different Apprehensions for ye Objects wt wch it converses, hopes, loves, or hates. This we know from our own experience. And yet ye wisest man living does not know the time when, or ye maner how, this Soul was created, + united to our Bodies; but this ignorance does not stag'es any reasonable man's assent; because he is Satisfied yt these Effects must have a Cause adequate to ym [them].

So our B L [Blessed Lord] takes it for granted, yt ye noise + Sound was proof sufficient yt ye wind blows - the shaking + rattling of Trees the raising Storm at Sea, convince us yt ye air is in a violent agitation, + yet we are not privy to ye first begining of it. We ca'not tell what it is yt raiseth this might ferment, from whence it comes how far it reaches, or where it ends. The mariners are sure yt they are carried up to Heaven, + down again to ye Deep. They see ye mighty Waves boil + foam like they feel their Vessell stager like a drunken man, + conclude yt all these things are owing to ye wind, witht disputing in what ma'ner it is able to effect these Causes. And here it is urged to Nicodemus, as a thing equally agreeable to reason, yt men shd submit to ye belief of a second birth, if ye Effects of yt birth appear, tho' ye Cause + progress of it do not…" (p. 2-6)

Reverend Auchmuty's educational background well prepared him for his ministerial duties. Born in Boston, Auchmuty graduated from Harvard in the 1740s and later studied abroad at Oxford University. He was appointed assistant minister of Trinity Church in 1748 and rector in 1764. Modern historians have remarked that many clergy born and trained in England tended to be Loyalist during the American Revolution, and Auchmuty (though American-born) certainly follows this rule. Auchmuty led his mostly Loyalist congregation throughout the earliest years of the Revolutionary War. New York City was highly unstable during this period; Patriot city inhabitants mingled with Loyalist congregants in a city that was occupied by first the Americans and then the British. Auchmuty locked the parish churches and fled New York City for New Jersey when the Americans were in control of the city. He returned to New York after the Great Fire of September 1776 and died the following winter, possibly from lingering effects of exposure after he had tried unsuccessfully many times to dodge Patriot patrols and return to his parish.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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