[Samuel Hanson Cox, abolitionist and Presbyterian minister.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Samuel H. Cox.') to Robert Bolton, American minister of Henley-upon-Thames, England, decrying American affairs, 'heresy-hunters, alarmists, & high-church bigots'.

Author: 
Samuel Hanson Cox (1793-1880), American Prebyterian minister and leading abolitionist [Robert Bolton (1788-1857), minister who founded Christ Church, Pelham, New York; William Jay]
Publication details: 
20 July and 3 October 1831; New York.
£220.00
SKU: 22471

Such was his prominence in the abolitionist debate, that three years after the writing of this letter Cox's house and church would be sacked, and he himself would be burned in effigy, in the Anti-Abolitionist Riots of 1834, causing his removal from New York City. A history of Christ Church, Henley, states that the recipient of this letter Robert Bolton (1788-1857) 'brought his ministry to the Henley Chapel in 1824 [...] Bolton, from Savannah, Georgia, USA studied for the ministry under the senior William Jay, who was known as "the Divine of Bath" when he began preaching at the age of seventeen.' Bolton ended his ministry at Henley in 1836, and according to the Historical Society of New York, which possesses a portrait of him, in the same year he left England with his wife - William Jay's daughter Ann - and fourteen children. He was the founder of Christ Church, Pelham, New York. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with hole in second leaf caused by breaking of wafer, with the piece of paper torn away to make the whole stuck onto the wafer. Eighty-five lines of closely-written text. Addressed (franked?) on reverse of second leaf, with postmark, to 'Rev. Robert Bolton. | Henley-upon-Thames. | Oxfordshire, | England.', with the following at bottom left: 'Favoured by | John B. Fleming Esqr.' A long and devout letter, written in an elevated style with biblical references and elaborate metaphors. Cox begins the letter by posing the question: 'Rev. & dear brother, | How stands the account of our correspondence?' He answers at length, asserting that 'it is long languished & in need of revival', with reference to Bolton's 'Christian & social Character', and the 'noble branchings & hearings to the glory of Xt:'.The third page of the letter begins: 'Oct. 3. I wrote the previous pages some 3 months since, expecting to send this by a brother who went without it to England. Since then I have travelled, rusticated, & [welcomed?] - without much to record worthy of your eye. The elements of conflict & revolution in Church & State seem fermenting with us'. In the passage that follows he likens the 'Spirit of the Lord' to a 'roaring lion "who knows that his time is short"'. He continues: '[Party sons?], heresy-hunters, alarmists, & high-church bigots, even in an Puritan Communion, are [sharing?] the infection of their fever through the body & the members [of it?]. This is Satan's [?] of the revivals, or his Compensation for them - especially when he subverts good men & infuriates them against each other.' He praises 'God [...] on his throne', before sending his 'Christian Salutations to Mrs. Bolton, & her venerable Father [William Jay] - from whom it would much please me to receive an answer a letter!' In a postscript he states that his wife 'unites in love to Mrs. B. & yourself. We have 8 children & one in the other world. This is at least half as many as you have! My oldest has been a member of the Church since April last, [...] We can scarce have too many if they all do their duty & serve God & their generation aright!'