Joseph Willard sermons, 1775-1777.

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Joseph Willard sermons, 1775-1777.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/71128375

Contains thrity-nine sermons written by Willard while minister of the First Church in Beverly, Mass. The earliest, no. 156, is dated 2 Apr. 1775, but the remainder were all originally preached between 28 Jan. 1776 and 27 Apr. 1777. Many were subsequently repeated until the last year of his life. At some point the sermons were dated, arranged in chronological order, and numbered. This collection represents the sermons numbered from 150 to 200, twelve of which are missing. Some bear later annotations, possibly by another hand. Sermon no. 156 is dated 2 Apr. 1775, but was numbered and sequenced with the 1776 sermons. The sermons are all roughly 5,000 words long, and likely took about an hour to deliver. Occasionally two were give on the same day. The majority are theologically mild, agreeably phrased, and generally devoid of contemporary references to people, events, social conditions, or even the daily life of his parishoners. There are occasional exceptions, as when he condemns the widespread usage of profanity in Beverly (no. 164); the moderate tone and otherworldly subject matter of the vast majority of the sermons make the two fast day sermons (no. 167 and 168) preached on Revolutionary events all the more remarkable. Sermon no. 167, occasioned by the Declaration of Independence, takes as its text: "Great have been the revolutions among the states and kingdoms of this world." This is not a sermon, but a political diatribe, which strongly echoes the Declaration, with a revolutionary rhetoric that rivals, and sometimes exceeds it. There is some ambiguity about the date of this important sermon. At the end of each sermon was appended a list of the dates and places where it was subsequently repeated. These suggest the extent of Willard's travels, his favorite theological themes, and the ministerial circles in which he moved. The most frequently delivered sermon in this collection was no. 199, which was preached twenty-six times, on a text from the Gospel of Matthew. On the evidence of these sermons, Willard supplied the pulpit in many churches around Beverly, Mass., and in places as far as Concord and Durham, N.H., Scarborough and Wiscasset, Me., and most distantly, in Philadelphia in 1784 (after he became president of Harvard).

.75 cubic ft. (1.5 document boxes)

Cambridge Historical Society

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SNAC Resource ID: 8075833

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United States

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f874hn (corporateBody)

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Willard, Joseph, 1738-1804

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First Parish Church (Beverly, Mass.)

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