Samuel Johnson wrote many sermons during his life. Only 28 of his sermons exist, and the majority were published by John Taylor as Sermons, on Different Subjects in two volumes between 1788 and 1789.
Background
editAlthough Johnson was a layman, there have been 28 sermons attributed to him with many more that were lost after his death.[1] Johnson stated to his friends, "I myself have composed about forty sermons. I have begun a sermon after dinner, and sent it off by the post that night."[2] The creation of many of these sermons were noted in his diary with Johnson admitting that one was written for Taylor.[2]
John Hawkins, Johnson's friend and biographer, described Johnson's writing of sermons:
About this time, as it is supposed, he, for sundry beneficed clergymen that requested him, composed pulpit discourses, and for these, he made no scruple of confessing, he was paid: his price, I am informed, was a moderate one, two guineas; and such was his notion of justice, that having been paid, he considered them so absolutely the property of the purchaser, as to renounce all claim to them. He recokoned that he had written about forty sermons; but, except as to some, knew not in what hands they were - 'I have,' said he, 'been paid for them, and have no right to enquire about them.'[3]
Johnson did not perform the sermons himself, but it is know that on 2 May 1745, Henry Hervy Aston, read one of Johnson's sermons to the Sons of the Clergy, with this sermon was printed afterwards, and Johnson also wrote a sermon for William Dodd, with this sermon also being printed later.[4]
Johnson also wrote many sermons for his friend John Taylor, rector of St. Margaret's church, who would frequently read them, to which Hawkins wrote:
Myself have heard, in the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, sundry sermons, which I and many others judged, by the sentiments, style, and method, to be of [Johnson's] composition; one in particular, Johnson being present. The next visit I made him, I told him that I had seen him at St. Margaret's on the preceding Sunday, and that it was he who then preached. He heard me, and did not deny either assertion, which, if either had not be true, he certainly would have done.[5]
Another of Johnson's friends, Hester Thrale, wrote in her Thraliana, that Johnson wrote "Sermons for Strahan & Hervey - I know not how many";[6] she was referring to Henry Hervy Aston and George Strahan, the preacher son of William Strahan and the one who Johnson gave his Prayers and Meditations for publication.[7]
In 1788, after the death of Johnson and Taylor, a two volume collection of 24 sermons titled Sermons, on Different Subjects, Left for Publication by John Taylor, LL. D. was printed.[8] In 1824, Laetitia Hawkins, John Hawkins's daughter, describes Johnson's sermons and this work:
Of his detatched and miscellaneous biographic pieces, or such as are the rest of thought, the merit is as various as the subjects; and in reading many of them, it may occur to those familiar with his style, that it is often kept down - and sometimes with difficulty. This is, perhaps, no where more evident than in those sermons, which are published under the name of Dr. Taylor of Westminster; and the restraint seems to have been intolerable, for the secret betrays itself perpetually.[9]
Surviving sermons
editThe sermons marked by a numbering system established by the Yale 1978 edition of Johnson's sermons.[10] The first 24 sermons were originally published in Taylor's first edition ofSermons, on Different Subjects with Volume 1 (1788) containing 1–13 and Volume 2 (1789) containing 14–25.[8] Sermon 25 was printed on its own in 1788 and reprinted in Taylor's edition.[8] Sermon 26 was contained in a work called the Yale Manuscript and was originally left unpublished.[8] Sermon 27 was written for Aston and printed in 1745 and Sermon 28 was written for Dodd and printed in 1777.[8] Although there are only 25 surviving sermons, this number is remarkably high compared to other surviving collections of sermons such as those of the sermons of Jonathan Swift.[11]
Sermons Volume One
editSamuel Hayes dedicated the first edition "To His Grace William, Duke of Devonshire" and claimed:
Had Dr. Taylor been willing, in his life time, to have obliged the world with the following discourses, I am sure he would have sought no other patronage than that of Your Grace.
This was, of itself, a very strong inducement to me to solicit the same honour. But, even without this incitement, the virtues which Your Grace so uniformly displays in private life, naturally points you out, as a person to whom moral and religious investigations may, with the greatest propriety, be inscribed. And I flatter myself that the following discourses will not be deemed unworthy of the honour which Your Grace has been pleased to confer on the editor, in allowing your name to be prefixed to them.
I am, My Lord, with the greastest respect,
Your Grace's most obliged, and most humble servant,
Samuel Hayes.[12]
In 1786, Daniel Astle transcribed from Sermon 5 the whole of ten paragraphs and fragments of two additional paragraphs from Taylor's manuscript copy of the sermons. He also transcribed from Sermon 24 fourteen paragraphs and fragments of six additional paragraphs from Taylor's manuscript copy of the sermons. These transcriptions contains variations in capitalization, some word differences, and some changes in punctuation when compared to Taylor's first volume. These works were not the full and edited copies of the work which Taylor was to complete shortly before his death in 1787. With the help of Samuel Hayes, Taylor was able to organize his collection of 25 sermons, and there are varying degrees of how much of the sermons can be attributed to Johnson, with only one, Sermon 21, being so far removed from Johnson's style that it cannot be said to be from him. The majority of alterations were intended to accomodate Taylor's reading of the sermons, with the rest coming from editing and copying errors.[13]
Sermon 1
editThe sermon begins with Genesis 2:24. Marriage, the topic of the sermon, was something that Johnson discussed throughout his life, and the sermon has many connections to Johnson's Rasselas.[14] Other points of emphasis, how to overcome mankind's ignorance or the nature of unjust parents, are related to Rambler 175 and 148 respectively.[15]
Johnson approaches the topic by first describing the desire for companionship and man's relationship with society. The means to fulfill man's desire for companionship are "obvious and evident", and this is obviousness is "a proof of the regard of God for the happiness of mankind".[16] Just being a member of society is not enough to fulfill the individual's desire for companionship, and society divides itself into smaller structures in order to satisfy its members. These subdivisions, such as families, obligate their members to pursue the "publick good" and the "general happiness of mankind" while instilling a sense of duty towards their group.[17] When we neglect these duties, life becomes miserable; this neglect stems from man's unwillingness to listen to the "direction of truth", and "It is therefore no less useful to rouse the thoughtless, than instruct the ignorant; to awaken the attention, than enlighten the understanding".[18]
Johnson continues to discuss duties and emphasize the nature of law; human law or human institutions are unable to fix many of life's problems. Marriage, as an institution, is meant to only aid individuals, but like all human institutions can lead to suffering. In order to correct many of the problems of marriage, an individual must understand the duties that are connected to the institution.
Sermon 2
editThe sermon begins with Isaiah 55:5.
Sermon 3
editThe sermon begins with Proverbs 28:14.
Sermon 4
editThe sermon begins with Isaiah 58:7, 8.
Sermon 5
editThe sermon begins with Nehemiah 9:33.
Sermon 6
editThe sermon begins with Proverbs 11:2.
Sermon 7
editThe sermon begins with Jeremiah 6:16.
Sermon 8
editThe sermon begins with Romans 12:16.
Sermon 9
editThe sermon begins with 1 Corinthians 11:28.
Sermon 10
editThe sermon begins with Galatians 6:7.
Sermon 11
editThe sermon begins with 1 Peter 3:8.
Sermon 12
editThe sermon begins with Ecclesiastes 1:14.
This sermon is connected to the ideas expressed in Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes.[19]
Sermon 13
editThe sermon begins with 2 Timothy 3:5.
Sermons Volume Two
editVolume Two of Johnson's sermons was published by Hayes in July 1789. The final sermon, Sermon 25, was originally published by Hayes in March 1788.[20]
Sermon 14
editThe sermon begins with Isaiah 26:3
Sermon 15
editThe sermon begins with Job 14:1.
Sermon 16
editThe sermon begins with Job 1:22.
Sermon 17
editThe sermon begins with Exodus 20:16.
Sermon 18
editThe sermon begins with 1 Corinthians 6:8.
Sermon 19
editThe sermon begins with 2 Corinthians 9:7.
Sermon 20
editThe sermon begins with 2 Peter 3:3.
Sermon 21
editAlthough it was original ascribed to Johnson, there is internal evidence to suggest that Johnson did not write the sermon, or at least not in the state that it was in.[21]
Sermon 22
editThe sermon begins with 1 Corinthians 11:29.
Sermon 23
editThe sermon begins with James 3:16.
Sermon 24
editThe sermon begins with Proverbs 29:2.
Sermon 25
editThis sermon was originally written to acknowledge the death of Johnson's wife, Elizabeth "Tetty" Johnson. He intended the sermon to be read at her funeral by Taylor, but Taylor refused to read it; this only exacerbated Johnson's feelings of despair.[22] Taylor, according to various accounts of the situation, refused to read the sermon because it was over laudatory towards Tetty, but David Greene believes that there is no proof within the printed sermon for this to be the case.[11]
The sermon begins with John 11:25-26.
Miscellanious sermons
editThe
Sermon 26
editThe sermon begins with Proverbs 20:8.
Sermon 27
editThe sermon begins with Hebrews 13:16.
Sermon 28
editThe sermon begins with Psalm 51:3.
Reception
editAlthough the sermons are part of Johnson's writings that "are 'minor' only by virtue of their being insufficiently known by the majority of students", David Greene believes that the sermons cannot be called a "minor work".[23] To Greene, they are also "a neglected but important and rewarding section of [Johnson's] writings".[24] The sermons are dry, but Greene argues that Johnson's "sermon style tends to grow on the reader, once he gets accustomed to its unfamiliarity".[11]
Notes
edit- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. xix
- ^ a b Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. xxi
- ^ Hawkins 1787, pp. 391–392
- ^ Powell 1978, pp. 15–16
- ^ Hawkins 1787, p. 392
- ^ Piozzi 1951, p. 204
- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. xxiv
- ^ a b c d e Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. lii
- ^ Hawkins 1824, p. 163
- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. lix
- ^ a b c Greene 1989, p. 93
- ^ Johnson 1978, p. 2
- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, pp. lvi–lviii
- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. 3
- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, pp. 5–, 6
- ^ Johnson 1978, pp. 3–4
- ^ Johnson 1978, p. 4
- ^ Johnson 1978, p. 5
- ^ Greene 1989, p. 94
- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. liv
- ^ Hagstrum & Gray 1978, p. xxix
- ^ Bate 1977, pp. 273–274
- ^ Greene 1989, p. 60
- ^ Greene 1989, p. 92
References
edit- Bate, Walter Jackson (1977), Samuel Johnson, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, ISBN 0151792607.
- Greene, Donald (1989), Samuel Johnson: Updated Edition, Boston: Twayne Publishers, ISBN 0805769625.
- Hagstrum, Jean; Gray, James (1978), "Introduction", in Hagstrum, Jean; Gray, James (eds.), Sermons, New Haven: Yale University Press, OCLC 4442047.
- Hawkins, John (1787), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Londonn, OCLC 16109664.
- Hawkins, Laetitia Matilda Hawkins (1824), Memoirs, anecdotes, facts, and opinions, Londonn, OCLC 8327027.
- Johnson, Samuel (1978), Hagstrum, Jean; Gray, James (eds.), Sermons, New Haven: Yale University Press, OCLC 4442047.
- Lane, Margaret (1975), Samuel Johnson & his World, New York: Harper & Row Publishers, ISBN 0060124962.
- Powell, L. F. (1938), "Dr. Johnson and a Friend", The London Times (published 25 November 1938)
- Wain, John (1974), Samuel Johnson, New York: Viking Press, OCLC 40318001.
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