Description

Description: This bound manuscript in wraps has 9 pages titled “Confession of Faith of the Church in Salisbury VT,” followed by a 6-page list of male and female members of the Church in a different hand. The first listed members are Gilbert Evarts and Hannah Evarts in ‘04, the entries that follow list members starting in 1810, possibly making the Evarts the authors of the manuscript. (Gilbert Evarts was a descendant of the Sylvanus Evarts family, Tories whose land was taken by the county of Castleton after the Revolutionary War. Gilbert Evarts resettled in Salisbury, VT.)

The manuscript begins “You believe the articles of the Christian Faith as they are contained in the scriptures of the old and new testaments./Particularly you believe there is one only living and true God, existing in their persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. . . ” followed by the various “You believe. . .”  that man had fallen from the “holy and happy state into a state of sin and death”; that man “is utterly unable to make an atonement for the least sin”; that through “the mediation of his Son Jesus Christ,” offered “a sacrifice of atonement”; that the “righteousness of Christ” will save all; and “that all true Christians will be divine grace be wholly recovered for, sin into holiness and be completely happy in kingdom of God. . .”  The “Covanant” [sic] lists everything a good Christian must to do to “devote and dedicate . . . to his fear and service forever: . . .”

Handwritten in a 4”x 6 ½” saddle-stitched booklet with green wraps. Front wrap is titled in manuscript: “Confession of Faith and Covenant. /Salisbury Vt.”  Item #AM00354

Condition: Slight wear at extremities. Scattered ink blots  and light discoloration. The writing is legible and clear. Generally in very good condition.