Webster, C. The Nature and Instrument of Regeneration. Philadelphia: J. Whetham & Son, 1843. First Edition. [9655]
Full sheep, black leather spine title in gilt, 6 x 3 3/4 inches, some light scuffing. 252 pp., tight, foxed throughout. Good. Full leather.
A refutation of the Arminians, Hopkinsians, Charles Finney, and New School Divines on the subject of Regeneration. He finds their errors to be The Depravity of Man is not Total; Depravity is Limited to the Understanding; Depravity is Limited to the Will; Regeneration is merely a change of purpose, or choice of Will; No Spiritual Life is Infused; Regeneration is effected by the Influence of Truth, and in no other way; It is effected without Means; God's commands to Sinners proves their Ability to Obey; the Word of Truth in regeneration proves the Sinner's Ability; and Regeneration is not an Instantaneous Act.
Webster argues against the above errors, and sets forth his understanding of the Bible Truth of Regeneration.
Chauncey Webster (1799-1880), b. Hartford, NY; d. Webster's Mills, PA. He was a printer by trade, and his setting up shop in Albany, New York, was the means by which he became first interested in, then a member of, the Associate Church. He was ordained a Ruling Elder in 1826. He published the Monitor in 1824 to promote the interests of his denomination, which later became the Evangelical Repository. He also published a daily paper advocating the interests of the Anti-Masonic movement, which was politically powerful in New York state in the 1830's. Webster decided to study for, and enter, the ministry of his Church and was ordained in 1837, and installed over the Walnut St. Church in Philadelphia. He was in 1845 one of the leaders of the small and short-lived Associate Presbytery of Philadelphia, but returned to his old Synod in 1856.
"Mr. Webster was constitutionally a polemic, and as a natural result was involved in a large amount of ecclesiastical troubles...Notwithstanding this propensity, he was a simple-hearted and companionable and instructive preacher." - Scouller, A Manual of the United Presbyterian Church in North America, 1751-1887, p. 637.
