Coleman, Seth; Perkins, Nathan. Memoirs of Doctor Seth Coleman, A. M. of Amherst, (Mass.). New-Haven: Printed by Flagg & Gray, 1817. [10554]
Full brown leather, red leather spine label, 7 x 4 1/3 inches, worn at the edges, joints are good, the leather on the spine is somewhat abraded. Small owner's label inside front, [i-iv], [3]-288 pp. Lacks the rear free end paper (blank), one leaf is torn in the top margin with no loss, some creasing, generally clean. Good. Hardcover.
Title continues: Containing I. A Biographical Sketch of His Life and Character. II. Extracts from his Journal, taken by himself. III. His Letters upon Religious Subjects. IV. His Farewell Address to his Children. V. Sermon delivered at his Funeral, by the Rev. Nathan Perkins.
The funeral sermon has a title page, with the page numbers continuous with the rest of the book.
There is a name label inside the front cover, "Chester Coleman." Chester Coleman (1801-1861) was the grandson of Dr. Seth Colman, through his second son, also named Seth Coleman (1774-1857).
Seth Colman (1740-1815), b. Hatfield, Massachusetts; d. Amherst, Massachusetts. Coleman graduated at Yale College in 1765, and entered medical practice in New Haven in 1767. He was chosen as a Deacon of the First Church in Amherst in 1785. This book is almost entirely devoted to his life as a Christian (rather than as a medical doctor) and is largely assembled from his diaries and letters.
"In delineating Doct. Coleman's character as a Christian, it seems insufficient to say, in general terms, he was a pious man. By the grace of God, he made rare attainments in faith and holiness. He had a deep, heart-felt sense of partaking with others in human depravity; but its evil effects were, in a high degree, subverted by that heaven-born principle of holy love, which divine grace had implanted in his heart, and which evidently actuated him in all he concerns and relations of life, and produced that uniformity of character which constitutes the beauty of holiness." - p. 9.
