SERMONS - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

SoutHeRn MAnuScRipt SeRMonS BefoRe 1800
Commentary: Cataloged as one sermon, these three addresses are not southern
or technically a sermon (no biblical text is cited as the text for preaching), but the
item is included to help flesh out the canon of Green’s works. His record of service
and death date the clearly patriotic manuscript to 1775-1776. In his Revolution
and Religion: American Revolutionary War and the Reformed Clergy (New York:
Paragon House, 1994), Keith L. Griffin considers the work a single sermon and
dates it to 1776 (p. 105, n. 17). Green’s letter to his father, quoted in part below,
may argue for a dating of 1775. And, although cataloged and protectively sleeved as
one work, it may in fact be three. The first, that begins with the words “At a Day of
publick Danger & Calam[ity],” is complete in 8 pages, notes Green’s appointment
as chaplain, and it concludes occupying only the top half of the eighth page. The
second, which is on slightly larger paper and initially written in the same but larger
hand with more space between the lines, begins with “We [symbol for “are”] now
reduced to the dreadful Necess[ity] to determine [symbol for “this”] Contest by ye
Sword” and may be complete or be the final four pages of a different address. The
third possible address is written on paper that is 1 ½" shorter in length than the
others. It begins with “It must afford great Pleas[ure] to every Lover of his Count.
[Country]” and may be complete or be the final pages of a different address. It
concludes occupying only the top quarter of the final page. The latter two works,
if fragmentary, may be sermons, but unless beginning pages with biblical texts are
found, the more likely possibility remains that inscribed on these twenty pages are
three distinct addresses. This folder also contains a letter from Green to his father
William (whose address is “Trenton”) that was written from “Deerfield 10th of
September 1775.” It is, in effect a last goodbye and will. He begins the letter “I am
now reduced Very weak and low, and do soon expect to leave this World, My Wife
a Disconsolate Widow and two Fatherless Children, whom I recommend to Divine
Providence and Your Care.” He left New York and returned to New Jersey, dying
on December 2, 1776. See also accession number 4060 for more information about
Green.
Keywords: Revolutionary War; American Revolution; Continental Army; Army,
Continental; Green, William;
1091. GREEN, ENOCH. (VA, NC; Pres.; 1734?-1776; ord. 1762 (NJ); in VA and
NC 1762-1763)
“[Unfit for Heaven.]” [1763] 34pp. [Acc. No. 4062] [Entry added October 2009.]
Repository: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ Enoch
Green Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, accession number 709.
Bib. Ref.: Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men & Holiness without which no Man
Shall see the Lord.
Commentary: The places and dates preached are established by using Green’s
“Journal” (accession number 4065) of his mission trip to Virginia and North
Carolina. The commentary of that entry identifies the locations in both states.
The entries are quoted below. The page numbers of the manuscript on which the
384