Divine Conduct, or, The Mysterie of Providence

London: R. White, c1678. Leather. Good Only. 7" by 4.5". None. An extremely scarce, first edition of John Flavel's Divine Conduct. Bound in quarter leather. The title page is missing. Nonetheless, a very important early nonconformist text. Not seen at auction for the last 30 years. Date, Title and Publisher's information taken from the pagination match on the ESTC. John Flavel, 1627 – 1691, was an English Presbyterian clergyman. Flavel was born at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and studied at Oxford. A Presbyterian, Flavel was first a minister of Diptford in Devon, and then for the majority of his life, of Dartmouth. The Five Mile Act of 1665 forced Flavel to Slapton, however, he continued to journey to and preach at Dartmouth secretly. After the Declaration of Indulgence 1687, Flavel returned to Dartmouth as a licensed Congregationalist minister and resumed public preaching. Flavel was a prolific and popular author, as he "sought to circumvent renewed persecution of nonconformists by continuing his ministry in print. Over the next ten years he published A Token for Mourners (1674), The Seaman's Companion (1676), Divine Conduct (1678), Sea Deliverances (c.1679), The Touchstone of Sincerity (1679), The Method of Grace (1681), Navigation Spiritualized (1682), A Saint Indeed (1684), and Treatise on the Soul of Man (1685). " (DNB). The binding is generally tight and firm. The rear board and free endpaper are detached and the front hinge is held by the cords only. There are at least two pages missing from the front of the text, including the title page. There is significant wear to the extremities, including significant bumping, rubbing and discoloration. Internally the pages have some browning, with intermittent spots and handling marks. There have been repairs made to several pages, including a partial repair of a closed tear to page 189. There is the occasional marginal ink notation and ink inscriptions to the free-endpapers and rear blank. There is evidence of some minor past worming to the top left-hand corner of pages from the front, through to approximately page 100. Good Only