DOWNHAM, John

£1,650.00

DOWNHAM, John

Name: DOWNHAM, John
Brand: DOWNHAM, John
SKU: L4362
Price: 1650.00 GBP
Availability: InStock

DEDICATED TO SIR FRANCIS BACON

DOWNHAM, John. The Conflict betweene the Flesh and the Spirit. Or the last part of the Christian Warfare.

£1,650.00

London, Printed by William Jones, 1618.

FIRST EDITION. 4to. pp. (xxiv) 394. Roman letter. T-p with woodcut ornament, woodcut initials and headpieces. A few small spots to blank lower outer corner at start, minor oil stain to second and third ll. affecting a few letters, intermittent small light waterstaining to blank upper margin and gutter, large light waterstain from Ccl, narrow stain to Z3 affecting a few lines of text. A good copy in original limp vellum, contemp. autographs of William Calverley, erased, with price note 2s, John Lancaster, erased, and John Taylor to ffep, occasional contemp. underlining and marginalia.

First edition of the fourth and final part of 'The Christian Warfare', the 'most famous' theological work by John Downham, or Downame (1571-1652), a London priest educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. It 'aimed to arm the Christian against the temptations of "our spiritual enemies"' (ODNB), and in its language of battles and combatants is a form of spiritual allegory. In this final part, Downham suggests that the 'flesh' is far more than just a sensual or bodily substance (as 'Papists' mistakenly believe), but possesses rather a distinctively spiritual dimension, which must be encountered and rejected spiritually. Downham cultivated powerful friends and patrons throughout his career, who may have protected him from accusations of nonconformity: the second part of the Christian Warfare was dedicated to Thomas Egerton, Lord Ellesmere, the third to George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, and this part to Francis Bacon, Ellesmere's successor as Lord Chancellor.

Legal documents place Calverley, Lancaster and possibly the Taylors near Whalley, Lancashire; Lancaster appears to have been the executor of Calverley's will in 1618.

ESTC S110219.

L4362