A wonderful item, it was apparently taken by a Union soldier from a Rebel Hospital two days after the Confederate evacuation of the city. This was this was the same day Lincoln planned his victorious visit as well. Many of the churches had been converted to makeshift hospitals. This presently likely lifted from "First Presbyterian," which was serving as one at the time.
The work itself is that of Presbyterian controversialist, Rev. Henry Brown. After graduating from Union and Princeton, he was licensed to preach in 1829. He was first evangelist in Kenawha County, VA, and then in Randolph and Woodstock Counties. Existing reports show significan revivals in each location. He then planted Shemariah Church in Augusta County, VA before serving as a Missionary to the Cherokee Indians.
He takes an unusual approach in his work, essentially arguing that all the great Arminians weren't Arminians at all, but reading their works properly, affirm every point of "distinctive" Calvinistic doctrine.
The present was first edition, issued in 1856. It was Brown's personal copy and has extensive sepia ink additions, corrections, deletions, notes, references, etc,. in preparation for a second edition, which seems never to have materialized.
Brown, Henry. Arminian Inconsistencies and Errors; in which it is Shown that All the Distinctive Doctrines of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith are Taught by Standard Writers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Philadelphia. William S. & Alfred Martien. 1856. 430pp.
A good + copy, bound in cloth, generally solid, with light foxing, and heavily annotated in a period hand.
