Six Sermons, Dedication 3 – Notice
TO THE VVORSHIPFULL, JOHN HOBART, Eſq. The fulneſſe of joy in the preſence of God, and pleaſures at his right hand, for evermore.
SIR,
YOur deſires intimated by your Proxy, and iterated by your Selfe, were as they ſeemed very reaſonable, ſo that an utter denyall of them muſt needs have beene, and ſeemed, moſt unreaſonable; Indeed they were ſo juſt, that my devoire could not but be juſt according to them. This Sermon, which ere while, (ſuch as it is) was publickly preſented to your eares, is now (ſuch as it was) repreſented privately unto your eyes. And ſurely theſe are the Organs of a Doctrinall ſenſe as well as thoſe. And your Piety, I hope, will imploy them onelyonly as ſuch, whileſt that my Pen does thus repeate this Sermon to them. My Charity compells mee to believe ſo of them, or otherwiſe my Pen ſhould never have preached to them; For I confeſſe ingenuouſly, that I pleaſe my ſelfe but onelyonly in pleaſuring you by penning of this uncouth Sermon. Many things delivered vivâ voce, and paſſing by theHabet neſcio quid l…eutis energiae vox viva. S. Hieron. Epiſt. 36. Eares but once, may paſſe for tolerable, yea and may be deemed acceptable: But if once they be turned into Dead Letters, and laid forth in Sheetes, their life is gone, and it were well for them, if they mightSolet acceptior eſſe Sermo vivus quàm ſcriptus. S. Bernar. be buryed. But alas! then they lie open to more exceptions under a ſenſe more curious, and more criticall then that of Hearing, having an advantage to view, and review its object as often as it pleaſeth, andforeign, S. Chryſoſt. Hom. 9. as long at once. It is therefore the Care, and Policy of many, that they may keepe the credit which they get amongſt their Auditours by Preaching, to keepe themſelves from penning of their Sermons, leſt they loſe it by criticall Readers. But for my part I Preached this Sermon to many others with your ſelfe, that you, and they might have an higher eſtimate of the Matter of it then you had, and have now Penned it that you may have a lower eſtimate of the Manner of it then you have. Indeed I ever intended foreign in compoſing of this Sermon for the Pulpit, but foreign, I never ſtudyed, never intended, and therefore cannot but admire, that any in that Auditory ſhould admire it for Technologie. Surely the common abuſes of the Pulpit in theſe Times beneath the Majeſty of it, have cauſed thoſe Sermons to bee Chriſtened Neate, which are not too too ſlovenly. With mee to Preach honeſtly is to Preach elegantly; Yet foreign, & foreign differ as much in ſenſe as ſound. But call it now even what you pleaſe, it is now yours a ſecond time, and by a ſecond way. Denomination is one Priviledge belonging to Dominion. S. Chryſoſt. In cap. 2. Geneſ. Hom. 14.It was yours when deſired by you, being made yours when firſt delivered over the Cuſhen to you. There could be no injuſtice then in your Worſhip in demanding of your owne, but in mee there would, had I perſiſted longer to deny the private uſe of that unto you, which I ſo publickly deliverd to you to make uſe of. I could have wiſhed that it might, like the foreign, have dyed that very day that it came up, and dyed mine; But ſeeing it muſt be tranſplantedPlin. Nat. Hist. l. 25. 13. that it may live, I am very glad that it ſhall live yours, and ſhall be more glad if this performance proves not ſo unacceptable, but that ſome further imployment may be commanded him, that by his ſecond endeavours would moſt willingly prove himſelfe,
Sir, Your moſt humble Servant, EDVV. WILLAN.
TO THE VVorſhippfull John Hobart, Eſq.
SIR,
THis Sermon hath been queſtioned once, and may again be queſtioned. It hath bin queſtioned by others before now: And now it may be queſtioned by your ſelf. You may now queſtiō it for being publick: But others have thought their queſtioning of it the more pertinent for being thus long private; For their Queſtion was not about the Matter of it, but the Authour. No Tittle in it, that I know of; but the Title to it was in Queſtion. Had it been one of Smyths, or Pembles, one of Heirons, or Wheatelys Sermons, queſtionleſſe the Queſtionaries had been ſo lectured, and preached in it, that they needed not have been ſo abſonous in publick, as to my face to Queſtion, whether it were mine own? I can but wonder at the Question: for I never borrowed other mens ſtilts to hide the lameneſſe of my fantaſie before the poorest halting Cripples. I confeſſe, I ever thought it lawfull to ſteale a Sentence in a Sermon; but not ſo to ſteale a whole Sermon. Nor was it any One, but many Authours that afforded help unto me in compoſing this. My Purſe was never able as yet to purchaſe Bookes enongh to make a complete Library: But ſuch Bookes as I have, I love to reade, and ſuch Bookes as I reade, I love to make uſe of; Yet is it not my uſe to take all the Principall of any inſtead of the uſe. The Prophet David2 Sam. 24. 24. would not ſacrifice unto the God of Iſrael, of that which coſt him nothing. Nor do I uſe to offer that before the ſame God unto his people, which coſt me nothing but a Groat, or Teſton at the Stationers ſhop. Such as it is it has been offered once, and againe unto the people from the Pulpit; And now, ſuch as it was; it is to be offered to them from the Preſſe, for I cannot but own it every where, and deſire your Worſhip to own the humbleſt of your ſervants in it
EDVVARD WILLAN.
REader, the former Epiſtle was prefixed when theſe Notes were firſt deſired by Mr. Hobart for his private uſe. This ſecond Epiſtle is now affixed alſo to hint the occaſion of my Printing them.