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1729 — The Christian Life From Its Beginning to Its Consummation in Glory by John Scott, D.D. — Ninth Edition Royal Folio
 
A Monument of Post-Restoration Theology, Puritan Piety, and the Atlantic World. First published in 1681, John Scott’s The Christian Life stands as one of the most enduringly popular and influential devotional works of the post-Restoration era. Scott (1639–1695), a prominent London clergyman, Oxford graduate, and Canon of Windsor, occupied a fascinating religious position. While he was a defender of the Church of England against both Roman Catholicism and political dissent. Scott designed this massive treatise not just as an abstract theological study, but as a systematic, practical roadmap for personal piety, rooted in rigorous biblical scripture. The text operates as a grand commentary on the Pauline epistles and the Gospels, meticulously dismantling the mechanics of salvation, sanctification, and Christian warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Evident by the fact that this work reached a "Ninth Edition" by 1729 is a testament to its massive cultural footprint, serving as a staple library text across England and the early American colonies. In the minds of the Puritans who settled New England, the Americas were viewed through a dual, apocalyptic lens: a treacherous "howling wilderness" infested with spiritual dangers, yet simultaneously the stage for a "City upon a Hill", a New Jerusalem where the Christian life could be lived in its purest, most consummated form. For colonial ministers and educated settlers navigating this harsh landscape, Scott's treatise provided an essential spiritual compass. It was widely imported and devoured in the colonies because it answered the deep Puritan craving for exhaustive, structured private devotions and forms of prayer. While many later editions were split into smaller, cheap octavo volumes for widespread distribution, this impressive, wide-margined folio edition represents the most pinnacle of Scott’s magnum opus. This massive physical format was intended for prominent family display, ancestral inheritance, or the libraries of the gentry and colonial elite. It remains a foundational text capturing the anxieties, triumphs, and biblical obsession of the transatlantic Anglo-American religious mind.
 
Core Symbolic Elements
The Trunk (The Foundation): The base and trunk of the tree are labeled with foundational theological virtues—specifically Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love). These roots draw modern believers out of the rocky landscape of the material world.
The Branches (The Moral Virtues): Branching out from the trunk are text-inscribed stems that represent the systematic progression of practical christian virtues. These include labels for Human Virtues, Divine Virtues, and Christian Virtues. As the branches grow upward, they separate into specific moral practices like temperance, justice, and piety.
The Canopy (Spiritual Fulfillment): The top of the tree blooms into round medallions (or fruits) that contain smaller spiritual concepts and rewards.
The Triangle at the Crown (The Trinity): Hovering at the very peak of the tree's central axis is an eye contained inside a triangle, which is a traditional Christian symbol representing the Holy Trinity and divine providence guiding the soul's ascent.
 
The engraving acts as a visual table of contents for the book, mapping out how an individual can grow from the foundational steps of "Beginning" at the roots to reaching "Consummation in Glory" at the heavenly crown.
 
The Exterior: This is a nice example of an early 18th-century style English trade binding with full brown calfskin, showing characteristic period tooling and professional structural restoration. The spine features six prominent raised bands that divide it into seven distinct compartments, each decorated with a centrally struck, blind-tooled floral motif. The spine label shown in the second capartment states "THE CHRISTIAN LIFE" crisply stamped in bright gilt capitals. Fine, blind-tooled parallel lines border the raised bands on both the spine and outer hinges. The front and rear boards are left largely plain, a style common for theological works of this era, displaying a rich, organically mottled grain with a deep brown patina and a circular blind-stamped motif at the center of the front board. 
 
The Interior: Internally, this 1729 folio is in very good, the interior text block remains in a crisp, structurally sound, and highly legible state, exhibiting standard age-toned characteristics typical of high-quality 18th-century handmade rag paper. The leaves display a bright, uniform cream tone throughout with minimal browning & foxing, leaving the central text fields unmarred and remarkably free of historic damage, such as, damp-staining, or ink spills. Page perimeters are clean and structurally stable, showing some fraying, chipping at he beginning of the book. The volume has been professionally rebound, featuring new, nicely aged period-style pastedowns and flyleaves that seamlessly match the historic tone and texture of the original text block. Additionally, the allegorical frontispiece engraving retains deep, clear line impressions with minimal ghosting onto the adjacent title page, and the heavy weight of the paper prevents significant ink bleed-through. The volume is complete, featuring its comprehensive multi-page index ("A Table") and the closing "Finis" leaves entirely intact.
 
We provide detailed photographs to allow you to assess the book's condition and aesthetic appeal. 
 
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