University of Virginia Library

Financing the Publication of Early New England Sermons
by
Rollo G. Silver

ESPECIALLY IN NEW ENGLAND, THE PRINTED SERMON of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries served other purposes aside from the theological. While it was primarily a lecture on moral conduct, it also marked important political occasions, memorialized the dead, and sometimes functioned as a newspaper in reporting and editorializing on current events. As Holmes points out, the first generation of Massachusetts preachers sermonized on church doctrine, polity, and homiletics, but in the second generation the preachers "began to point their morals and to illustrate their sermons with the news of temporal occurrences and events; and even to adopt the more impressive of occasional events as topics for their sermons."[1] Thus our early sermons added the spice of immediate excitement such as hangings, earthquakes, ship explosions, and elections to their routine theological subject matter—what is Right or Wrong, Good or Bad, and the Ways of God to Man.

Sales varied according to the interest a sermon aroused: Cotton Mather's sermon on the earthquake of 1727 achieved three editions and Thomas Prince's sermon on the same catastrophe had two editions; but a sermon on the death of a parishioner, or a homily on the public spirit that should be evoked on Election Day attracted few readers, too few, in fact, for publishing at a profit. When such sermons appeared—and they were numerous—their expenses were underwritten by a relative, friends, or a corporate body. Between the best sellers and the worst, there was yet another type that could be marketed with fair prospect of small gain to the publisher who, at times, was the author himself.

Here in our early history is a microcosm of present-day publishing—

ranging from pre-established successes to what we now call vanity publishing. Although this may also be true for other classes of literature in Calvinist New England, nowhere except in the class of sermons is there so much evidence relating to the financing of publications.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to determine the financial sponsor by looking at the imprint. Books printed "for John Usher" were not always sponsored by him.[2] Nor were all books printed "upon Assignment of Samuel Sewall" printed at Sewall's expense.[3] Additional information lies in the diaries, memoirs, public documents, archives, and occasionally on the title-page of the publication itself.

When Lindsay Swift prepared his comprehensive survey of Massachusetts Election Sermons, he turned to public documents and found, for example, that when Richard Mather delivered his Election Sermon in 1644, the General Court voted that "the printer shall have leave to print the election sermon, wth Mr Mathers consent, & the artillery sermon, wth Mr Nortons consent."[4] Whether or not this permission implies a censorship is not germane; it is clear that the General Court did not plan to pay for printing the Election Sermon and, as a matter of fact, it probably never reached print. Five years later, Thomas Cobbett, who delivered the Election Sermon, was told by the Court that "it is their desire he would print it heere or elsuhere" (Swift, p. 395). As no copy has survived, it is presumed that this, too, did not find a printer. Not until the 1660's were Massachusetts Election Sermons printed, and then at private expense even though the preacher was requested to prepare a copy for the press. In 1668, this request was made of William Stoughton, but when the sermon was printed two years later, the Advertisement mentioned a "Person of Worth" who adventured the publishing (Swift, p. 399). The New Plymouth Colony, on the other hand, voted to print Thomas Walley's Election Sermon of 1669.[5] Still Massachusetts continued its policy of making no provision for printing or honorarium and it was not until the middle of the next decade that the policy of the General Court began to change. On May 27, 1674, it ordered "that the Reuerend Mr. Samuel Torrey & Mr. Joshua Moody be thanked from this Court for the great & very acceptable pajnes which they tooke in their late election sermons, and that they be desired to print their sajd sermons wth as much

speed as may be . . . ."[6] A year later, on May 12, 1675, it declared that "In consideration of the Reuerend Mr. Torrey his charge in printing his election sermon, the Court judgeth it meet to give him fiue pounds out of the publick tresury, to reimburse his charge therein" (Ibid., V, 32). Though a first step had at last been taken, the Court did not immediately decide to pay for the printing of future sermons so that Joshua Moody, who delivered the Election Sermon in 1675, was, as usual, requested "to transcribe a copy thereof meete for the presse, that it may be printed" (Swift, p. 402). In 1683, however, the General Court ordered payment to Samuel Sewall for Samuel Torrey's Election Sermon;[7] in the following year John Hale's Election Sermon was ordered printed "at the publick charge" (Swift, p. 405). The General Court continued this custom when it approved the sermon and in such instances the sermon was printed upon receipt of fair copy. Sometimes the size of edition varied according to the Court's opinion of the virtue of the discourse. In 1701, the Court ordered five hundred copies of Joseph Belcher's Election Sermon, but in the following year it ordered merely one hundred copies of Increase Mather's (Holmes IM, I, 250, 254).

Perhaps the best-known private organization which maintained the custom of Election Sermons is the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Although most of its early records were lost in the fire of 1761, two volumes still exist in Faneuil Hall.[8] Examinations of these records reveals that in 1737, if not before, the Company paid for the printing of its Election Sermon. Two years later, the Company not only voted to print the sermon of 1739, but also to present the Governor and every member of the General Assembly with a copy and to present every member of the Company with two copies. A similar measure was passed the following year. According to the records, many of the Election Sermons after 1741 were printed by subscription, but even in such instances the Company seems to have been financially responsible. On September 5, 1763, it voted that "the Clerk settle with Messr. Edes & Gill for the last Artillery Election Sermon which was preach'd by the Revd. Mr. Thos. Balch & pay them for the Remainder of the 300 sermons that were not subscribed for & also that the Clerk sell them to any of the Company at eight pence each." While maintaining

a subscription basis for many of its sermons, the Company seems to have varied the procedure when conditions warranted. In June, 1788, the Company voted to procure two hundred copies of David Osgood's Election Sermon; the following September, it voted that "each Member shall pay One Shilling and Six pence for two of Sermons preached by Revd. D. Osgood at the Anniversary and Six pence apiece for as many more as they may see proper to take." In 1789, the Company evidently had greater confidence in the success of that year's sermon; it voted "to print the Revd. Mr. Barnard's Sermon by Subscription."

If any generalization may be derived from these scattered data, it is that printing of Election Sermons with public or organizational funds was not a purely automatic process. It developed over a period of forty years and even when established depended upon approval of text, preparation of the manuscript, and financial resources. Since copies of the sermons were allotted rather than sold, circulation, if not reading, was assured.

Another class of sermons, those discussing contemporary events or those on non-resistance to sin and the damnation that was inexorable could be profitably marketed by bookseller-publishers astute enough to assume the financing. When James Morgan was executed for murder in 1686, John Dunton, who had just arrived in Boston, was quick to seize the opportunity of publishing Increase Mather's sermon on the occasion. Issued in partnership with Joseph Brunning, the pamphlet went into a second edition the following year. The success of such ventures encouraged printers and publishers to engage in enterprises which were based upon enthusiasm rather than editorial skill—an occupational hazard of the publishing industry. Isaiah Thomas, writing about Timothy Green, said, "It has been said of him, that whenever he heard a sermon which he highly approved, he would solicit a copy from the author, and print it for his own sales. This honest zeal in the cause of religion often proved injurious to his interest. Large quantities of these sermons lay on hand as dead stock; and, after his decease, they were put into baskets, appraised by the bushel, and sold under the value of common waste paper."[9] It is probable that some members of the book trade placed shorthand writers in the audience when an unusually promising sermon was about to be delivered. Increase Mather, in The Righteous Man a Blessing (1702), wrote: "These Sermons were Preached at the Lecture in Boston. Having been informed that many who live in the Country, as well as in this Town, have

desired they might be published, and one who took in Short hand what I delivered, having shewed me his transcribed Copy, I have perused it, and consented to its being sent to the Press" (Holmes IM, I, 254). Certainly this smacks of a publisher's scheme. And Holmes suggests that it may have been Samuel Phillips, the publisher, who inspired a shorthand writer to take down a sermon delivered by Increase Mather in 1695 (Holmes IM, II, 612). These examples show that the publishing of this class of sermons was lucrative enough to warrant aggressiveness in securing copy.

But for memorial sermons honoring the lesser-known dead subsidizing was usually necessary. As early as 1660, according to Winship, the memory of a deceased pastor was honored by printing his last sermon or two. Winship also points out that "It was customary long afterward for such a publication to be seen to the press by a committee representing the parish, and for one member to dominate its action and often to pay the bill" (Winship, p. 261). The pastor's final sermon was not the only way of honoring his memory; instead, his funeral sermon at times served the purpose. In 1717, for instance, the people of Salem Village published Joseph Capen's funeral sermon on their deceased pastor, Joseph Green (Holmes IM, II, 583). This custom of paying for the printing of a funeral sermon prevailed as well in the more prosperous families. A typical bill, written in 1748, still exists:

Throughout the eighteenth and into the nineteenth centuries, groups or individuals continued to pay for memorials. To honor people of exceptionally high civic status, the authorities not only paid the printing cost but also presented a copy to each family within the town; this was done with the funeral sermon for Nathaniel Gorham in 1786[11] However, the most extensive demonstration of this practice occurred after the death of George Washington when town after town acclaimed him. It is interesting to note that even more sermons should have been printed if there had not been such a surfeit of them. In Salem, for instance, William Bentley delivered the official oration on Washington which was to have been printed at the expense of the town. Bentley duly recorded this in his diary: "The Town at their adjournment have voted to raise in Salem 6000 D. to be appropriated in funeral & other honours to Gen. Washington. Only 100 copies of the Sermon are to be printed at the expence of Salem & of these, 10 copies are to be given to each of the 6 ministers & the remaining 40 to be left with the keeper of the Social Library to be lent to such as cannot purchase."[12] Eight days later he wrote: "In proposing to print all the Sermons of Salem, the Town has tied a Stone to their Oration & has sunk it forever" (Bentley, II, 328). His sermon did not reach a printer, but at least five others delivered in Salem did so. This is not surprising because the biographical and historical information they contained attracted many readers.

The works of Cotton Mather, that passionate pamphleteer, afford the best conspectus of the many methods of financing sermon publication. Mather, of course, considered the printed sermon a most important part of his evangelical work. Mere publication did not satisfy him; he worked ardently to circulate his theories of the struggle between temptation and conscience. Referring to one of his sermons, he declared in his diary that "the Sermon will be an agreeable Engine for me to employ on many Occasions, when Books of Piety are to be dispensed."[13] On days of his pastoral visits, he usually gave away a half a dozen books (CM Diary, I, 518); he also placed them on outgoing vessels (CM Diary, II, 14). In 1705/6, he stated that he gave away at least six hundred books a year (CM Diary, I, 548). For one book, Family Religion, Mather ordered a thousand copies. He tied them into bundles and "concerted with some of my Friends a way to convey a Bundle to every Town in all these Colonies, and unto some other Places."[14] To make certain of sufficient material always at hand, he employed a variety of devices to secure publication.

References in Mather's diary imply that some of the more popular sermons were issued at the financial risk of the bookseller-publishers. When John Baily died in 1697, Mather preached on the day of the funeral: A Good Man Making A Good End. In his diary, Mather

wrote: "The Publication of this Discourse was much Desired; so I gave it unto the Book-sellers" (CM Diary, I, 245). Similar passages relate to other sermons of obvious popular appeal. In 1697/8, "some of my Neighbours, (and some, from whom I little expected any such Respect,) call for the Discourse, which I lately uttered, at Boston-Lecture, after that a great part of the Town, as well as myself, had recovered from our late Illness. Accordingly in Peece of a Day or two, I fitted the Discourse for the Press, and gave it unto the Bookseller" (CM Diary, I, 254). And, later in 1698, "The Sermon, I gave to the Book-seller; and annexed thereunto, an History of Criminals executed in this Land, and effectually, an Account of their dying Speeches, and of my own Discourses with them in their last Hours; hoping to warn others against Vice, by an History thus accomodated unto the purpose" (CM Diary, I, 279-280). The following year, when he delivered the Boston Lecture, he was pleased to note: "And, behold, as I come out of the Meeting-house, the Book-sellers come to mee, entreating that they may have a Copy of these two Sermons, when the next shall bee delivered, for to bee published unto the Countrey" (CM Diary, I, 296-297). More examples could be cited, but the best demonstration of their financial success appears in an incident which occurred in 1717 when Mather published The Valley of Hinnom, delivered just before the execution of Jeremiah Fenwick who murdered his neighbor: "I gave to the Bookseller my Essay upon, The valley of Hinnom. I was desirous at the same time, to have had him taken another Discourse for the Cure of Ungoverned Anger. He declined it, and I was easy; my Discourse must ly by under a Sentence of Death; my Labour be buried. But in five Dayes time, the Bookseller sells off an Impression of near a thousand which he printed of the former Essay; and now he comes to me for the Latter" (CM Diary, II, 462). The publisher's lukewarm manner was readily familiar to Mather, but true to the drive of his violent soul he sternly expended more vigorous effort to continue publishing his message. If circumstances allowed, Mather would plan to purchase a number of copies and probably informed the bookseller of his intention. Before Unum Necessarium appeared in 1693, he promised, himself at least, that "for the two Years, next ensuing, if I lived, I would of those Books, buy from the Book-seller, after the rate of two a Week" (CM Diary, I, 156). When Cares About the Nurseries was finished in 1701/2, Mather "gave it unto the Bookseller; with Resolutions, that when it is published, I will take off two or three every Week" (CM Diary, I, 421). Seven years later, when The Cure of Sorrow went to the publisher, Mather planned "immediately to purchase forty-shillings worth of them, (and afterwards, if I live, many more,) to be dispersed among the Afflicted" (CM Diary, II, 21). In 1722, he supplied fifty shillings toward the publication of The Minister and wrote to Thomas Prince expressing the intention of sending copies to Connecticut and some of the more southern provinces as soon as he received his fifty shillings' worth (CM Diary, II, 684-685).

Occasionally Mather would even publish a volume at his own expense. After his son Increase was lost at sea, Mather wrote: "I took the Sermon I preached on that Occasion, adding to it another that is agreeable; and with a considerable Expence enabled the Bookseller to publish them" (CM Diary, II, 776). But it must be noted that the book finally appeared in an expanded form: "While it was, in the Press (which also was in this Month) a strange Hand of Providence made such an Accession from others, to my own Disbursements, that I could add a third Sermon, to the Book, wherein I may yett more notably serve the Designs of Piety" (CM Diary, II, 776-777).

The resources used by Mather to publish his sermons extended far beyond his own limits; an impressive number were underwritten by individuals and groups. Since the list of these is greater than realized, examples are presented in Table I. Examining it, one can see the extreme diversity of sponsors as well as the varieties of sponsorship which range from contribution of paper to payment for the entire edition. Such aid did not always come unsolicited; extant documents prove that Mather at times aggressively promoted publication. Writing to John Winthrop after he spoke at the funeral of Winthrop's uncle, he asked for publication of the sermon: "I confess freely to you, That, contrary to my usual conduct on such Occasions, (which is, To stay till such a thing be Desired by others,) I have myself Desired, and I do again Request, the publication of it."[15] In 1712, he even prepared the draft of a letter which he asked Samuel Penhallow to write to Thomas Archer seeking "a generous Tender of three or four pounds" towards the printing of Pastoral Desires (CM Diary, II, 170). After two friends had offered to pay part of the cost of The Minister, Mather wrote to Thomas Prince: "If now I can gett the Assistence of but 50s or 3d subscribed, I can, I suppose gett thro' the rest of the Expence which the Desired Publication may call for. Wherefore, I will be so rude, as to leave it with you, to Consult with our dear Cooper and Foxcroft" (CM Diary, II, 684).

This rather particular investigation of one man's extraordinary efforts to publish his sermons may be atypical but it does confirm the

diversity of financing utilized in publication. Whereas some sermons were completely financed by a publisher or sponsor, others would have never been issued were it not for the informal cooperation of individuals.

Many sermons of this period carry phrases like "Published by request" on the title-pages. These words are no more meaningful than "by popular demand" today. Nevertheless, in many cases it is possible to ascertain that the audience actually did, for one reason or another, subsidize publication. As early as 1682, some members of the Second Church paid for Increase Mather's Practical Truths; [16] twenty-five years later, some hearers contributed towards the printing of his Meditations on Death (Holmes IM, I, 329). As shown in Table I, Cotton Mather's parishioners were sometimes equally generous, but their generosity was not limited to their own preacher. When James Pierpont of New Haven occupied Cotton Mather's pulpit in 1711, some of the listeners published Pierpont's sermon (Holmes CM, II, 835). To cite one more example, Increase Mather's preface to A Monitor for Delaying Sinners (1719) by Thomas Symmes states that "His Auditors were so affected with it, as to importune him to grant them a Copy of his Discourse in order to its [sic] Publication by the Press" (Holmes IM, II, 443). During the eighteenth century, evidence of this kind occasionally appears on the title-page in phrases like "Published at the desire and expence of some of the hearers" or "Published at the desire and expence of said society." Churches, conventions, and societies often paid for the publication of sermons, particularly those for ordinations, anniversaries, and other commemorative events. Writing to Ezra Stiles about the sermon at a convention in 1767, John Devotion succintly described the procedure: "Our first Business was to thank him in Convention & ask a Copy, and Money was subscribed and paid in Hand."[17] But, in addition to these official publications, the members of a church or society were willing to subscribe for particularly soul-stirring ones. Now and then, an individual paid the entire cost: Increase Mather's A Call to the Tempted was printed posthumously in 1723/4 at the expense of Samuel Sewall (Holmes IM, I, 98); Nathaniel Appleton's Thanksgiving sermon on the repeal of the Stamp Act was published in 1766 "by the desire of the audience, and at the expence of the honorable Brigadier General Brattle;"[18] Cotton Mather's The Everlasting Gospel was

reprinted in Philadelphia in 1767 because Mrs. Elizabeth Hobbs "in her last Will order'd, that a Number of them should be printed and dispersed, according to Directions therein given, gratis" (Holmes CM, I, 342).

While discussing sermons as staple issues of the colonial press, Wroth mentions that "the printing of sermons as a private enterprise by the preachers themselves assumed in New England the proportions of a trade."[19] The minister, establishing the probable sale by circulation of subscription papers, negotiated with the printers for terms of mutual benefit. If the minister happened to reside at a distance from the printer, a colleague might negotiate for him. Charles Chauncy did this for Ezra Stiles in 1761. Writing to Stiles from Boston, Chauncy reported: "I have put your Sermon [A Discourse on the Christian Union] into the hands of Edes and Gill. They have engaged to deliver to you 300 copies well printed upon good paper for 75 Dollars. Draper would not do it under 80."[20] Chauncy, by the way, ordered an extra two hundred copies for distribution in Connecticut. When Stiles visited Boston five years later, Edes & Gill told him that "they printed between Seven & Eight Hundred Copies of my Sermon, sold them & had none left—& said they made more by it than was ever made in Boston by one Sermon, and would readily now print a new Edition if any body would engage 200 Copies."[21] David McClure, in 1779, performed a similar service for Jeremy Belknap:

Belknap conducted such transactions in a businesslike manner. Writing to Ebenezer Hazard in Philadelphia on October 27, 1792, he discussed plans for his discourse on the discovery of America:

When the Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Indians reprinted sermons by Belknap and Thomas Tayler, it was Belknap who arranged matters with the printer. Fortunately, the manuscript of the contract has been preserved:

If more contracts had survived, it might have been possible to determine the material rewards which accrued to the authors of these pamphlets. Though the publication of sermons was, at times, a trade, the process was probably not very lucrative for the American preacher of the eighteenth century. As late as 1791, William Bentley was surprised to learn that fifteen hundred copies of John Murray's sermon on Blind Prince were engaged—"our best sermons commonly rise no higher than 400 at an impression" (Bentley, I, 251). This, of course, is a number much too small to yield much money. As for official or organizational sermons, author's copies might or might not be provided.

Daniel Henchman, calculating his costs for printing the Artillery Company Election Sermons in 1735 and 1736, set aside fifty copies of each for the author;[25] the very incomplete records of the Company indicate that each of the preachers for 1737 and 1790 also received fifty copies. It is probable that the custom prevailed in other years, too. The figure of fifty appears to be standard throughout the eighteenth century for organizations which conducted their work with proper care. In 1787, Ezra Stiles recorded a gift of fifty copies of his ordination sermon for Henry Channing,[26] and three years later William Bentley (I, 205) noted that he had received fifty copies of his sermon preached at the Stone Chapel in Boston. The attitude of other people, however, was sometimes rather cavalier. Belknap told Hazard his difficulty in obtaining copies of his New Hampshire Election Sermon for 1785: "I know not by what policy my quota of copies was detained from me; but, after trying several ways to get them, in vain, I at length made use of a person whom I knew to be indefatigable in the pursuit of any and every thing he undertakes; and, by his means, I got 20 copies".[27] And, under entry for January 28, 1797, William Bentley's diary (II, 212) emphasizes a similar disappointment: "Received thus late a few copies of my Discourse at Roxbury." Mindful of the time spent in preparing the sermons, of the time spent in travel to deliver them and then to return home, of the rudenesses accepted with dignity, one cannot help but have increased admiration for these sturdy and pious men.

By these economics, the New England colonist was supplied with much of his reading matter. Perhaps the most striking conclusion to be drawn from an investigation such as this is that, with one qualification, the procedures for financing the publication of sermons in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries survive in America today. In the last century, Edward Everett Hale conducted his own publishing firm for the sale of his sermons,[28] but, of course, few ministers publish their own sermons today. However, the parallel still holds, for memorial volumes are still issued by the family of the departed, churches still

print their important sermons, and publishers still seek the manuscripts of popular preachers like Harry Emerson Fosdick and Norman Vincent Peale.

TABLE I

Examples of Sponsorship of Cotton Mather's Sermons

                       

Holmes	Title	Year	Sponsor
Number
359	Small Offers	1689	John Philips (Holmes CM, III, 988)
456	Work Upon the Ark	1689	Mr. Gill and others (Holmes CM, III, 1274)
80	The Day	1693	"God inclined some of His People, to print the Sermons" (CM Diary, I, 166)
159	Grace Triumphant	1700	Some of the hearers (CM Diary, I, 363)
462	The Young Mans Monitor	1700	"the young Men, were so moved with what they heard, that they ask'd me for a Copy of my Sermon, resolving to publish it" (CM Diary, I, 370)
68	A Companion for the Afflicted	1701	"Having entertained a Company of Christians, at a private Meeting, with a Discourse, which the Master of the Family thought agreeable; he desired a Copy of it" (CM Diary, I, 395)
152	The Good Linguist	1701	"one in Barmudaz . . . had sent Money to pay for the Impression" (CM Diary, I, 348)
410	Triumphs over Troubles	1701	"by some good People carried unto the Press" (CM Diary, I, 379)
9	Agreeable Admonitions	1703	The young men of a private meeting before whom the sermon was preached (Holmes CM, I, 29)
187	Jedidiah	1703	"The young Men desired a Copy of the Sermon, that it might be published" (CM Diary, I, 500)

                     

330	The Retired Christian	1703	"after the Lecture, being with a Society of Christians, they unanimously asked me for the Notes of my Sermon, and agreed that they would be at the Charge of publishing and dispersing of it thro' the Countrey" (CM Diary, I, 475-476)
18	The Armour of Christianity	1704	Paper supplied by Eliakim Hutchinson (CM Diary, I, 499)
406	A Tree Planted by the Rivers of Water	1704	"ten peeces of Eight, from a worthy man, as far off as Rhode Island . . . to forward the Impression of it" (CM Diary, I, 503)
222	Mare Pacificum	1705	"my Notes were immediately desired of me, by those, who carried them unto the Bookseller" (CM Diary, I, 524)
337	The Rules of a Visit	1705	"the Publication of it, was, by a considerable Number of good Men proposed" (CM Diary, I, 522)
53	The Christian Temple	1706	John Winthrop may have been the "worthy Person more than fifty miles to the South-ward" who contributed a good part of the charge (Holmes CM, I, 140)
136	Free-Grace, Maintained	1706	Edward Bromfield (CM Diary, I, 558)
169	Heavenly Considerations	1706	"The Discourse was desired by the young People, who published it" (CM Diary, I, 567)
28	The Best Ornaments of Youth	1707	"A SERMON Published by a Religious SOCIETY of Young People, that were the Hearers of it" (Title-page)
452	Winthropi Justa	1708	John Winthrop (Holmes CM, III, 1229)
382	The Temple Opening	1709	"Now Published by that Church" (Title-page)

                               

457	Work Within-Doors	1709	"devout Hearers . . . offered the Expence of the Impression" (CM Diary, II, 13)
55	Christianity Demonstrated	1710	"Published by and for a Religious Society of YOUNG MEN" (Preface)
250	Nehemiah	1710	Samuel Sewall (Holmes CM, II, 724)
389	Theopolis Americana	1710	Samuel Sewall (Holmes CM, III, 1066)
21	Awakening Thoughts	1712	Husband and friends of the deceased (Holmes CM, I, 63)
29	The Best Way of Living	1713	"the PUBLISHER had his Family also Struck with a SUDDEN DEATH" (Titlepage)
446	What Should be . . . Tho't Upon	1713	"Some of my Neighbours" (CM Diary, II, 241)
160	The Grand Point of Solicitude	1715	"One of the Hearers" (Title-page)
282	Piety Demanded	1716	"some young Men associated for the Purposes of Religion" (CM Diary, II, 361)
328	The Resort of Piety	1716	"A Society of young Men" (CM Diary, II, 341-342)
13	Anastasius	1717	"The Husband of the Deceased" (CM Diary, II, 471)
45	The Case of a Troubled Mind	1717	"the Publication of it was by some desired: but very particularly by one who was willing to make a little Reparation for some Drowsiness which overtook him in the Hearing" (CM Diary, II, 439)
166	Hades Look'd Into	1717	"the only Son of the Deceased" (CM Diary, II, 488)
281	Piety and Equity, United	1717	"A Society of young Men" (CM Diary, II, 479)
317	Raphael	1717	"some young Gentlemen" (CM Diary, II, 504)
420	The Valley of Baca	1717	Samuel Sewall, husband of the deceased (Holmes CM, III, 1156)

                     

408	The Tribe of Asher	1717	"The Father of that Child" who was baptized (CM Diary, II, 472)
468	Zelotes	1717	"a Number . . . of the new Meeting-house . . . in the Name of the rest" (CM Diary, II, 394)
218	A Man of Reason	1718	"a religious Society of young men" (CM Diary, II, 541)
221	Marah Spoken to	1718	A number of "WIDOWS of the Flock" (CM Diary, II, 516)
422	Vanishing Things	1718	The son of the deceased (CM Diary, II, 561)
254	A New Year Well-begun	1719	John Winthrop (Holmes CM, II, 737)
182	India Christiana	1721	The Commissioners for Propagating the Gospel Among the Indians (CM Diary, II, 604)
432	A Vision in the Temple	1721	"The People publish the Sermon" (CM Diary, II, 622)
86	Decus ac Tutamen	1724	"his Widow at New-London, who immediately published it" (CM Diary, II, 771)
381	Tela Prœvisa	1724	"one of the Hearers" (CM Diary, II, 771)
448	The Widow of Naim	1728	Mrs. Dorothy Frizzel (Holmes CM, III, 1219)

Notes