We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
The views of clergymen towards virtually any activity under the sun, and many over it, are preserved in an inexhaustible seam of sermons published between the Restoration of Charles II and the end of the Seven Years’ War. Thousands were listed by Sampson Letsome in his The Preacher’s Assistant, which appeared in 1753, and in an updated sequel by J. Cooke in 1783. Nor were these all-inclusive.
Faced with this mass of evidence, historians are forced to be selective. They can concentrate on the works of certain preachers, on precise dates or on particular genres of sermon, such as those preached at Assizes or funerals. The authors of this paper have studied three types. One of them is working on the Jeremiad in the years 1660–1720, Jeremiads being sermons preached during, immediately after, or on the anniversary of such national disasters as the plague in 1665, the fire of London in 1666 and the hurricane of 1703. War featured in them as one of the many visitations of Providence held to be afflicting the nation. The other addressed himself specifically to fast and thanksgiving-day sermons published during the wars of 1739 to 1748 and 1756 to 1763. These were delivered expressly to comment on military setbacks and failures, and to celebrate victories.
1 The B.L. copy of the 1753 edition (1025 R 8) has manuscript notes at the end listing ‘sermons in the Museum not taken notice of in this book.’ These can now be supplemented with titles recorded in the Eighteenth-century short-title catalogue, which are accessible on BLAISE. The authors wish to thank the ECSTC and BLAISE for producing a print out of fast and thanksgiving day sermons published between 1756 and 1763 currently held by the B.L.
2 Thus Dr.White, Barbara used Assize sermons 1660-1720 for her Ph.D thesis (Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic, 1980)Google Scholar.
3 Dodson, J., The preachers precept of consideration (London 1665) p 2 Google Scholar.
4 Prince, J., An anti-pestilential pill (London 1722) p 7 Google Scholar.
5 Edwards, J., The plague of the heart (London 1665) p 29 Google Scholar.
6 Hesketh, H., A sermon preached before the right honourable Lord Mayor and aldermen of the city of London (London 1682) p 19 Google Scholar.
7 Sancroft, W., Lex ignea, or the school of righteousness (London 1665) p 50 Google Scholar.
8 Ibid pp 31-2.
9 Calamy, B., A sermon preached before the right honourable the Lora Mayor, the aldermen ana citizens of London (London 1684) p 5 Google Scholar.
10 Hesketh, H., A sermon (London 1682) p 25 Google Scholar.
11 Edwards, J., Sermons on several occasions and subjects (London 1698) p 208 Google Scholar.
12 Owen, J., England’s warning by late frowning providences (London 1694) p 16 Google Scholar.
13 Griffith, J., A sermon preached Jan 19th 1703/4 (London 1704) pp 14–15 Google Scholar.
14 Edwards, J., Sermons (London 1698) p 201 Google Scholar.
15 Chapman, R., The necessity of repentance asserted (London 1703) p 10 Google Scholar.
16 Woodward, J., A sermon preached before the right honourable the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the City of London (London 1706) pp 18–19 Google Scholar.
17 Calamy, , A sermon (London 1684) pp 7, 8Google Scholar.
18 Smithson, I., A sermon occasioned by the declaration of war against France (London 1756) p 9 Google Scholar.
19 Conen, G., A sermon preached at the parish church of St. George the martyr in Southwark (London 1745) p 20 Google Scholar.
20 Sherlock, Thomas, bishop of Salisbury, A sermon preached at the cathedral church of Salisbury (London 1745) p 14 Google Scholar.
21 Drake, W., A sermon preached at H’atfield (York 1745) p 17 Google Scholar.
22 Scott, T., Great Britain’s danger and remedy (London 1757) p 15 Google Scholar.
23 Merrick, M.M., A national fast a national mockery (London 1761) pp 9, 11Google Scholar.
24 Dupont, J., National corruption and depravity the principal cause of national disappointments (York 1757) pp 12–13 Google Scholar.
25 Chafy, J., A sermon preached at Broad-Chalk in Wiltshire (London 1757) p 9 Google Scholar.
26 Lewis, E., Mercy and judgement (London 1747) p 12 Google Scholar.
27 Holden, L., The vanity of crying to God (London 1757) p 21 Google Scholar.
28 Snowden, J., The duty of fasting (Oxford 1757) p 23 Google Scholar.
29 Wilson, T., A sermon preached at the parish church of the Holy Trinity in . . . Bungay in Suffolk (London 1745) p 9 Google Scholar.
30 Herring, Thomas, archbishop of York, A sermon preached at the cathedral church of York September the 22nd 1745 (York 1745) pp 24-5Google Scholar.
31 Chandler, S., The danger and duty of good men under the present unnatural rebellion (London 1745) p 38 Google Scholar.
32 Dupont, J., The insolent invasion of Sanacherib against Jerusalem repelled and defeated by God (York 1745) p 10 Google Scholar.
33 Samuel, , bishop of Chester, A sermon preached before the House of Lords . . . December 18, 1745 (London 1745) p 19 Google Scholar.
34 Hill, J.S., Fake zeal and Christian zeal distinguished, or the essentials of Popery described (London 1745) pp 25-6Google Scholar.
35 Drake, W., A sermon preached at Hatfield (York 1745) pp 17–18 Google Scholar.
36 Barton, P., The nature and advantages of a religious fast (London 1740) pp 11–12 Google Scholar.
37 Gooch, Thomas, bishop of Norwich, A sermon preached before the House of Lords . . . January 9th & 1739 [40] (London 1740) pp 10–11 Google Scholar.
38 Seeker, Thomas, bishop of London, A sermon preached . . . Feh 4, 1740/1 (London 1741) pp 4–5 Google Scholar.
39 Lavington, S., God the giver of victory (London 1760) pp 23-5Google Scholar.
40 Stennett, J., A sermon preached in Little Wild street the 17th of July 1743 (London 1743) pp 26-7Google Scholar.
41 Gibbons, T., The deliverance and triumph of Great Britain (London 1746) p 23 Google Scholar.
42 Allen, J., Rejoice with trembling (London 1746) p 16 Google Scholar.
43 Barker, J., A sermon occasioned by the victory obtained over the rebels (London 1746) pp 27-8Google Scholar.
44 Ashton, T., A sermon preached in the collegiate chapel at Eton (London 1746) p 18 Google Scholar.
45 Gill, J., The importance and improvement of our late national deliverance (London 1746) p 23 Google Scholar.
46 Lavington, S., God the giver of victory (London 1760) p 13 Google Scholar.
47 Doddridge, P., The Christian warrior animated and crowned (London 1745) pp 27-8Google Scholar.
48 A sermon preached in Christ Church, Dublin . . . Nov 29, 1759 (Dublin 1759) pp 17-18.
49 Stennett, J., A sermon preached at Little WildStreet. . . April 25, 1749 (London 1749) p 14 Google Scholar.
50 Richardson, J., The sovereign goodness of the most high in putting an end to destructive wars (London 1763)p 10 Google Scholar.
51 Ball, N., True religion, loyalty and union recommended to all orders of men (London 1757) p 2 Google Scholar.
52 Dayrell, R., A sermon preached before the . . . Commons . . . November 29, 1759 (London 1759) p 8 Google Scholar.
53 Bartel, Roland traces the demise of the public fast days, which first came under serious criticism in the War of American Independence and finally petered out in Victoria’s reign, in ’The story of public fast days in England‘ Anglican Theological Review (1955) 37 pp 190–200 Google Scholar.
