Worcester, Samuel. The Messiah of the Scriptures: A Sermon, preached at the Tabernacle in Salem, April 8, 1808; also, at Beverly, May 1, 1808. Deerfield, Mass.: Timothy Frary, 1823. [10512]
Newly sewn into an acid-free wrapper. Untrimmed pamphlet, no wrapper, some leaves with tattered edges, 7 3/8 x 4 1/2 inches, 48 pp., the last two pages are hymns. Good. Pamphlet.
The text is Hebrews 1:13, "But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?"
"The scriptures allow to Jesus Christ, what can justly be allowed to no mere creature; to none but a being truly and essentially divine." p. 6. Worcester sets out to prove this point in his discourse.
Samuel Worcester, D.D. (1770-1821), b. Hollis, New Hampshire,; d. Brainerd, Tennessee. Worcester graduated at Dartmouth College with the highest honors in 1795 and was licensed to preach the next year.
“[In 1797] he was ordained pastor of the Church at Fitchburg, a society which was cursed by all the evils of the Half-Way Covenant – including among its members Deists, Arians, Universalists, and the openly immoral. With decision, inflexible integrity, and solemn faithfulness to truth and duty, Worcester opened the batteries of the Gospel upon the errors and sins that called for rebuke. As a result, in the ensuing spring, the covenant was revised and an orthodox creed adopted, and in 1799 an extensive revival occurred.” – M’Clintock & Strong.
In 1803 he became pastor of the Tabernacle Church in Salem, where he remained until his death. He became the corresponding secretary for the A. B. C. F. M. in 1810. Worcester subscribed to the Hopkinsian theory of Calvinism. He engaged in a controversy in print with William E. Channing over Unitarianism.
