Backus, Charles. The Folly of Man's choosing this World for his Portion. A Sermon, delivered at the Ordination of the Reverend Joseph Russell, to the pastoral care of the Church and Congregation in Princeton, Massachusetts, March 16, 1796. Boston: Samuel Hall, 1796. First Edition. [3103]
Removed, sewn into a new acid-free wrapper, 8 x 5 1/2 inches, 31 pp. (1) blank. Good. Pamphlet.
Evans 30008.
An Ordination Sermon on the text Matthew 16:26. With The Charge by the Rev. Joseph Jackson, of Brooklinet, and the Right Hand of Fellowship by the Rev. Reuben Holcomb, of Sterling.
Charles Backus (1749-1803), a native of Norwich, Connecticut. Backus graduated at Yale in 1769, and was a Congregationalist with orthodox (trinitarian) principles. He was pastor of a church in Somers, Connecticut. His habit of lodging ministerial students in his home for the purpose of instruction enabled nearly fifty young men to prepare for the ministry.
“The talents of Dr. Backus were of a high order. But he had not the time, nor the health, nor the means, necessary to distinguished literary acquisitions. He read many of the best books with great profit. But on theological subjects his conceptions and reasonings were so perspicuous and profound, and, as we thought, so just and scriptural, that his pupils deemed it better to consult him than any author; and no one who knew the habits of his penetrating mind, could be otherwise than gratified that, instead of relying on the authority of the best writers, and following in their track, he chose to think for himself.” – Leonard Woods, as quoted in Sprague's Annals.