On the Cause and Remedy of the Disunion of Christendom. Tractates Nos. 2 & 4-8.

Six quarto volumes (8 14 x 10 3/4 inches). Various pagination. Publisher's printed wrappers of various hues. No. 2 with the front wrapper starting (an easy fix), else all in very good condition. OCLS only has records for three of Crapseys Tractates.Born in Ohio in 1847, Crapsey joined the Army for the Civil War at the age of 14 but was soon released for health reasons. Both at home and at his father's law office, Crapsey was restless and bored. However, there was a library in the same building. Crapsey took advantage of the library to educate himself. One evening in Cincinnati, Crapsey attended a service at Christ Church. He later looked back on the experience "as the hour of his conversion." Crapsey's uncle persuaded him that there were more opportunities in New York City. He found a job as bookkeeper and cashier in a print shop.While in New York he attended Christ Episcopal Church. ministered by the Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer. This proved to be the pivot in his life for he soon enrolled in General Theological Seminary in New York City for three years, graduating with a degree in divinity and was ordained in 1875. On June 1, 1879, he began his work in St. Andrew's mission, located in a mostly Roman Catholic neighborhood in Rochester, New York. In St. Andrew's, Crapsey and his wife entered into the lives of the people. During the first summer, Crapsey had classes for the children in which he taught them about plants and how they grow. For the women, Mrs. Crapsey organized women's groups. For the men, Crapsey organized the St. Andrew's Brotherhood. The organization did charitable work and promoted religious education. The Brotherhood grew to three hundred members, but not all were members of St. Andrews. The Brotherhood was as a "Mutual Benefit Society." Payments were made to sick members, to the widows of members, and to the members who lost their wives. In addition to his work with the Brotherhood and traditional parish duties, Crapsey led retreats for the Sisters of St. Mary, an Episcopal religious order in Peekskill, NY. He lectured at black Episcopal churches, urging members to stand up for their rights. In Rochester, Crapsey was one of the founders and the first president of the Citizens Political Reform Association, which worked for civic improvement in the face of the poverty caused by the Depression of 1893. He visited people in asylums and prisons. n his autobiography, Crapsey says that he had been a heretic from his tenth year. "A heretic," he says, "is one who thinks and gives voice to his own thought," and has difficulty submitting to authority. Crapsey characterizes himself as a "Humanist," who took God for granted. His allegiance to Jesus was based on His humanity more than on His divinity. When a Bishopric was denied him, he declared himself a prophet. He strongly believed that ather than accept the truth and historicity of the Bible merely because they were part of the "historic Christian faith" as received by his church, turned to "developments in scientific research" and to "higher criticism" of the Bible. Crapsey believed all churches should become more active in social reform as this is what he viewed Jesus was; a humanist who cared for the people. Eventually he ran afoul of the powers that be and of Bishop Walker in particular. They tried to sideline him as much as possible but In 1901, Crapsey published a tractate with the title "The Law of Liberty: The Nature and Limit of Religious Thought." [Presented here]. In the tractate, he wrote, "a free thinker has for ages been feared and hated by the officers of the church." Furthermore, a man who "gives himself over entirely" to a sect "no longer asks himself what is true." Crapsey observed that this is the "sad condition" of most of "the Protestant clergy." This was true in his opinion because "theological schools" teach "a fully formulated system of beliefs." All of this combined to have Rev. Crapsey brought up on charges of heresy before the Church Board. On May.…