T)onnes
SERMONS
Selected Tassages
WITH AN ESSAY
by
Logan Pearsall Smith
OXFORD
At the Clarendon Press
'We thank Mr. Pearsall Smith for the
great benefit he has conferred upon us,
and also for the serene scholarship, gentle-
ness, and perspicuity with which he leads
us through the Sahara of Donne's Ser-
mons. . . . There is no over-laudation of
Donne, no flippancy, no "showing off"
in Mr. Pearsall Smith's essay, "nothing
of the down of angels' wings". It is an
exquisite piece of work by a true man of
letters.' spectator
'Mr. Pearsall Smith has hereby proved
to even the most desultory reader that
Donne was not only a great poet and
a skilled theologian, but also a supreme
master of English prose.'
MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW
Price
(in U.K. only)
2is, net
0
„,PU=UCLmRffl THE BRANCH UBRAR,ES
^'"!3333 05987 1091
m YnL:^ AVENUE -^ H,9.c
Reference
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/donnessermonsselOOdonn
Donne's
SERMONS
C 0 rn ori6 hcE cjimmc^jit SimdpnSifn
Aitien.
on H'C3 u ^
%^'nn(l\fcu^ Jlndar-e- to Le fauU £yRK an^Benfftf^erA
T)onnes
SERMONS
Selected T^assages
WITH AN ESSAY
by
Logan Pearsail Smith
OXFORD
At the Clarendon Press
Oxford Uni'uersity PresSy Amen House, London E.C.4
GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA
CAPE TOWN SALISBURY NAIROBI IBADAN ACCRA
KUALA LUMPUR HONG KONO
FIRST EDITION I919
REPRINTED I 9 2 O, 1932, 1942, I946, I 9 5 O,
1954, 1959, 1964
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD
BY VIVIAN RIDLER
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
CONTENTS
The Preacher .
When I consider
I am Not all Here
Imperfect Prayers
Powers and Principalities
6. Infecting God .
7. Forgiveness of Sins
8. Forgive my Sins.
9. Let Me Wither .
ID. Donne and the Worm
11. Preaching Consolation
12. The Beauty of the Soul
13. Spiritual Liberality
14. Eagle's Wings .
15. The Hour-Glass
16. Preaching .
17. Applause .
18. The Bellman .
19. Favourite Scriptures
The Psalms
Sanctified Passions
Style and Language
Style of the Holy Ghost
Compliments
_ ^ . Lying at Aix
26. Farev^rell on Going to Germany
27. The Vicar of St. Dunstan's .
28. Funeral Sermon on Magdalen Herbert, Lady
vers, 1627 ......
29. Death of Elizabeth and Accession ot James I
20.
21.
22.
23,
24.
25.
Dan-
PAGE
I
2
3
4
5
6
7
7
9
10
II
13
H
15
17
18
19
20
21
23
24
26
28
28
30
31
34
35
47
VI
Contents.
PAGE
30. The Gunpowder Plot ...... 50
31. Preached to the Honourable Company of the
Virginian Plantation, 1622 .... 50
32. The Mission of England
. 55
33. James I . . . .
. 56
34. Death of James I
. S7
3^. The Plague, 1625
58
36. Difficult Times .
. 61
37. Polemical Preaching .
. 62
38. The World Decays .
. 65
39. Imperfection
. 66
40. Man
. 68
41. Afflictions ....
. 69
42. Discontent
. 71
43. The World a House .
• 7J
44. Mundus Mare .
■ 72
45. The Indifference of Nature .
. 75
46. Wealth ....
. 76
47. A London Merchant .
. 77
48. Sickness ....
84
49. Public Opinion .
84
50. J07
. 85
51. Women ....
. 85
52. Cosmetics .....
87
53. The Skin
89
54. Mud Walls ....
91
55. Ignorance .....
92
56. The Imperfection of Knowledge .
93
57. Change of Mind
95
58. Reasons and Faith
97
59. True Knowledge
105
60. Terrible Things
IDS
61. The Fate of the Heathen
no
62. The Church a Company
III
63. God Proceeds Legally
112
64. The Church . .
115
65. Reverence in Church .
118
6S. Going to Church
120
Contents,
Vll
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74-
75-
76.
77-
78.
79-
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91-
92.
93.
94.
95-
96.
97-
98.
99-
100.
lOI.
102.
103.
104.
Prayer
Prayer
The Time of Prayer
At Table and Bed
Unconscious Prayer
Sermons .
New Doctrines .
Papist and Puritan
Theological Dissensions
Despair
The Sociableness of God
God a Circle
God's Mirror
God's Names
God's Mercies .
God not Cruel .
The Voice of God
God's Language .
God's Anger
God's Faults
God's Judgements
Terrible Things
God's Malediction
God's Power
Access to God .
The Image of God in Man
Man God's Enemy
The Atheist
The Angels
The Devil.
The Creation
The Heavens and Earth
The Creation of a Harmonious World
God and Adam and Eve
The World since the Fall
Silkworms .
Original Sin
Original Sin
PAGE
121
122
122
124
125
126
129
130
131
133
133
134
135
135
136
140
140
142
144
144
147
148
149
150
152
153
154
15s
157
^^1
159
161
162
163
164
165
166
168
Vlll
Contents,
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
no.
rii.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
132.
133.
134-
135.
136.
137.
138.
139-
140.
141.
142.
The Heart of the Sinner
Light Sins
The Sin of Reason
Delight in Evil
Excuses
Rebuke of Sin
Names of Sins
Pride
Covetousness
Blasphemy
The Burden of Sin
The Sinner
The Sorrows of the Wicked
The Sins of Memory .
The Eye of God
The World Drowned in Sin
The Hand of God .
The Sick Soul .
Sleep
The Gate of Death .
Our Prison
All must Die
Death Inevitable
The Expectation of Death
The Death-bed .
The Death of Ecstasy .
The Dead with Us
Mourning .
A Quiet Grave .
Eternal Damnation
Death of the Good and the Bad Man
The Northern Passage
The Resurrection
The Awakening .
The Resurrection of the Bod
The Last Day .
The Day of Judgement
Joy .
Contents.
ix
PAGE
143. The Joy of Heaven
144. Little Stars
219
221
145. Heirs of Heaven .
221
146. Seeing God
147. The Sight of God
148. The State of Glory ,
222
224
227
149. Justice
150. Knovi^ledge in Heaven
151. Eternity .
152. Eternity .
153. Eternity .
154. Joy in Heaven .
155. Donne's Last Sermon .
230
. 233
235
235
■ 23s
. 236
. 23S
t:i^:^iSiri^
Frontispiece
Portrait of the Author in his Shroud:
the frontispiece to Death's Duell 1632
NOTE
I REFER in my notes to the three folios of Donne*s
Sermons as I, II, and III respectively. I is the first
folio, LXXX Sermons, 1640 ; II is Fifty Sermons, 1649 ;
III is XXVI Sermons, 1660. The text of each passage
is taken from the first appearance of the sermon which
contains it in print, whether in the folios, or in the earlier
published quartos of separate sermons printed in Donne*s
lifetime, or shortly after his death. The original
punctuation has been preserved ; and also the original
spelling, except in the use of ' i ' for * j ', of ' u ' for * v *
and vice versa, and of contractions for * m * or * n '.
I refer to Professor Grierson's edition of Donne's Poems
{7he Poems of John Donne, edited by Herbert J. C.
Grierson, M.A., Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 191 2)
as Poems ; to 7he Life and Letters of John Donne,
by Edmund Gosse (London, William Heinemann, 1899),
as Gosse ; to John Donne, by Augustus Jessopp, D.D.
(Methuen and Co., 1897), as Jessopp. Spearing refers
to Miss Spearing's *A Chronological Arrangement of
Donne's Sermons * (Modern Language Review, vol. viii,
191 3) ; Coleridge, to Coleridge's * Notes on Donne ', pub-
lished in The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
collected and arranged by Henry Nelson Coleridge, 1838,
vol. iii. C. and T. Jas. I, and C. and T . Charles I, refer
xii Note.
to 7 he Court and Times of James the First (1848), and
The Court and Times of Charles the First (1848). The
references to Donne's Devotions are to the first edition
of 1624. Ramsay refers to Miss Ramsay's Les Doctrines
medievales chex Donne ^ le Poete metaphysicien de VAngle-
terre (Oxford University Press, 19 17). I must express
my special thanks to Mr. Edmund Gosse, C.B., for his
kindness in lending me a number of very rare first editions
of Donne's sermons from his collection of Donne's works.
INTRODUCTION
THE remarkable and somewhat enigmatic figure of
John Donne is one that has attracted a good deal of
attention in recent years ; his Hfe has been studied, his
poems and letters carefully edited, his character analysed,
and his position as a poet acutely debated. His harshness,
his crabbed and often frigid way of writing, his forced
conceits, his cynicism and sensuaUty, are extremely
repellent to some readers ; while to others his subtlety,
his realism, and a certain modern and intimate quahty
in his poems, illuminated as they are with splendid
flashes of imaginative fire, possess an extraordinary
interest and fascination. There are people who hate
Donne ; there are others who love him, but there are
very few who have read his poems and remain quite
indifferent to him. His character is still a puzzle, his
reputation as a poet, eclipsed for a long time and only
revived in our own day, is by no means yet the subject of
final agreement.
In spite of this modern interest in Donne, and the
study which has been devoted to his works, there is one
aspect of them which, until recently, has received no very
adequate attention. In addition to his poems, his letters,
and a few minor prose pieces, Donne left behind him
an immense body of theological writings. By birth and
^iv Introduction.
by the tradition of his family a Roman Catholic, and
for that reason shut out in his youth from the paths of
secular ambition which had so great an attraction for
him, he was of necessity much preoccupied with theo-
logical considerations ; and it was not till after much
study of controversial divinity that he succeeded in
convincing himself of the truth of the AngHcan position,
which he finally made his own, and which, even in his
secular days, he emphatically defended. When at the
age of forty-two, after long experience of poverty and
many worldly disappointments, he found all other paths
of preferment closed to him, and at last, after much
hesitation, took rehgious orders, he then began that
career as a great divine and preacher which, until the
revival of interest in his poetry, remained his principal
claim to remembrance. But his fame as a preacher has
been this long time fame at second hand ; it is due to
Izaak Walton's descriptions of his sermons, rather than to
any reading of the sermons themselves. The very
quantity, indeed, of his sermons — and no Anglican
divine of the period has left behind him such a number —
has discouraged students from thorough study of them ;
and, indeed, to read these great folio volumes is a task
not Hghtly to be undertaken. But it is not only the
mere bulk and body of these foHos, the great number and
length of Donne's sermons, which daunts the reader ;
there is much in the writing itself which renders it diffi-
cult and distasteful to the modern mind. In the first
place sermons themselves, and especially old sermons,
have fallen somewhat out of fashion ; they are not
often read now, and the collected and republished editions
Introduction. xv
of the great seventeenth century divines rest for the
most part unopened on our shelves. People read novels,
biographies, books of travel, social and political treatises
instead of the sermons in vi^hich their grandfathers and
grandmothers delighted : Hooker, Barrow, South, Tillotson
are names indeed, but little more than names to most
of us ; and even so great a writer of English prose, so
exquisite an artist as Jeremy Taylor, is famiUar to us
only in extracts and selected passages. For modern
theologians this old divinity, with its obsolete learning
and forgotten controversies, has little more than an
archaeological interest ; while to the more secular-
minded, the old divines, whose severe brows and square
faces meet our eyes when we open their great folios, seem,
with their imposed dogmas, their heavy and obsolete
methods of exposition and controversy, almost as if they
belonged to some remote geological era of human
thought. We are reminded of Taine*s image of them as
giant ichthyosaurians or megatheria, slowly winding their
scaly backs through the primeval sHme, and meeting
each other, armed with syllogisms and bristling with
texts, in theological battle, to tear the flesh from one
another's flanks with their great talons, and cover their
opponents with filth in their efforts to destroy them.
And yet these old divines were great men and great
writers ; their voices enthralled the best and wisest of
their own generation, and it is a misfortune for their
fame, and a misfortune for our Hterature, that they put
their wisdom and observation and deep feeling, their
great gifts of imagination, and their often exquisite
mastery of the art of expression into the hortatory
xvi Introduction.
and controversial form of the sermon which time has
rendered obsolete.
It must be admitted that all the reasons, good or bad,
which keep us from reading writers like Jeremy Taylor
and South, face us at once, and seem even more valid,
when we open a volume of Donne's sermons. All that
has ceased to interest, all that actually repels us in the
old theology, the scholastic divinity, the patristic learn-
ing, the torturing of texts, the interpretation of old
prophesies, the obsolete controversies and refutation of
forgotten heresies, the insistence on moral commonplaces,
the intolerance of human frailty, and the menaces of
fearful judgement on it — ^with all these stock subjects,
Donne, like his contemporaries, filled his sermons. But
his case is even worse than theirs ; not only as a theolo-
gian was he of an older breed, more remote and medieval
than Jeremy Taylor or South, he had also, personal to
himself, the unhappy faculty of developing to their
utmost the faults of any form of Hterary expression he
adopted ; and when he abandoned verse for sermon-
writing, every defect of this kind of composition, every-
thing that most offends us in the old preachers and sound
expositors, was carried by him to a pitch which gives
him a bad eminence over the most unreadable of them all.
That sermons like Donne's should have held great
congregations spellbound seems astonishing, not only
to the secular mind, but to theologians themselves. One
of Donne's most distinguished successors at the Deanery
of St. Paul's, Dean Milman, has written of them :
' It is difficult for a Dean of our rapid and restless days
to imagine, when he surveys the massy folios of Donne's
Introduction. xvii
sermons — each sermon spreads out over many pages —
a vast congregation in the Cathedral or at Paul's Cross,
listening not only with patience but with absorbed
interest, with unflagging attention, even with deHght
and rapture, to these interminable disquisitions, to us
teeming with laboured obscurity, false and misplaced wit,
fatiguing antitheses. However set oS, as by all accounts
they were, by a most graceful and impressive delivery,
it is astonishing to us that he should hold a London
congregation enthralled, unwearied, unsatiated. Yet
there can be no doubt that this was the case. And this
congregation consisted, both of the people down to the
lowest, and of the most noble, wise, accomphshed of that
highly intellectual age. They sat, even stood, undisturbed,
except by their own murmurs of admiration, sometimes
by hardly suppressed tears.' ^
It is only necessary to open a volume of Donne's sermons
to find a justification for his successor's criticism. For
instance, in preaching to Charles I at Whitehall on the
text * In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were
not so, I would have told you ', he begins :
* There are occasions of Controversies of all kinds in this
one Verse ; And one is, whether this be one Verse or
no ; For as there are Doctrinall Controversies, out of
the sense and interpretation of the words, so are there
Grammatical! differences about the Distinction, and
Interpunction of them : some Translations differing
thereinn from the Originall (as the Originall Copies are
distinguished, and interpuncted now) and some differing
from one another. The first Translation that was, that
into Syriaque, as it is expressed by Tremellius, renders
these words absolutely, precisely as our two Translations
doe ; And, as our two Translations doe, appUes the
» Annals of S. PauTs Cathedral, Henry Hart Milman, D.D., 2nd ed.,
1869, p. 32S.
ao35»3 b
xviii Introduction.
second clause and proposition, Si quo niinuSy if it were not
so, I would have told you, as in affirmation, and confirma-
tion of the former. In domo Patris, In my Fathers house
there are many Mansions, For, ij it were not so I would
have told you. But then, as both our Translations doe,
the Syriaque also admits into this Verse a third clause
and proposition, Vade parare, I goe to prepare you a place.
Now Bez.a doth not so ; Piscator doth not so ; They
determine this Verse in those two propositions which
constitute our Text, In my Fathers house, etc. And then
they let fall the third proposition, as an inducement,
and inchoation of the next Verse.* ^
So the sermon goes inexorably on, immense paragraph
after paragraph filled with quotations from the Fathers
and quibbling controversies with Roman Catholic
theologianSjtill suddenly the page lights up with a descrip-
tion of the unending day of eternity unsurpassed in our
Hterature, how * all the foure Monarchies, with all their
thousands of yeares. And all the powerfull Kings, and all
the beautifull Queenes of this world, were but as a bed
of flowers, some gathered at six, some at seaven, some at
eight. All in one Morning, in respect of this Day ', and
how, during all the time that had passed since the Creation,
in this timeless mansion of Eternity, * there was never
heard quarter clock to strike, never seen minute glasse
to turne \^
Contrasts almost as surprising as this meet us in the
sermons of other seventeenth century preachers, and
here and there we come on passages of poignant expression
and lyrical or sombre beauty clothed in the noblest
language. For while the sermon, regarded merely as
» I. p. 737. » See No. 153.
Introduction. xix
a form of literary expression, has undoubted disadvantages
which render the sermons of one age difficult for the next
age to appreciate, yet on the other hand this form of
expression is one — ^since its subject matter is nothing
less than the whole of Hfe — which gives the v^ddest
possible scope to a great preacher. He can pour his whole
soul into his sermon, his hopes, fears, and self-accusations,
the furthest flights of his imagination, the ripest results
of his philosophic meditations, all the wisdom of mellow
experience, and even the most amusing details of satiric
observation. The very circumstances of his dehvery, the
ceremonious solemnity of the church and pulpit, the great
responsibihty of the occasion, give a nobility to his
utterance ; and the presence of the congregation, the
need to speak directly to the hearts and minds of men and
women, lends a certain dramatic intensity to all he says.
Such circumstances, while they are full of danger for
an insincere and rhetorical preacher, provide the most
splendid opportunities for one endowed with earnest
purpose and a sincere imagination. The exhortations
of such a preacher can hardly help being noble in expres-
sion ; and it is in the sermon therefore that we find
some of the highest achievements of EngHsh prose —
in the sermon, or in prophetic or didactic or even political
eloquence written with the same high impulse and inspira-
tion. For great prose needs a great subject matter,
needs great themes and a high spectacular point of
vision, and solemn and clear and steadfast conception of
Hfe and its meaning. It must handle with deep earnest-
ness the most profound themes. Good and Evil, Desire
and Disillusion, the briefness of Life and the mystery of
b2
XX Introduction.
Death — the universal material and the great common-
places of human thought in all ages. Such a mood is the
mood of religion, in whatever dogmas it may be clothed ;
and it is the religious winter w^ho can most impressively
touch those organ stops of grave emotion which move
us in the highest achievements of prose literature.
The seventeenth century divines, moreover, with all
the lumber which they inherited from the past, inherited
much also that gives an enduring splendour to their
works. In the doctrines of their faith they found a com-
plete conception of existence, a scheme elaborated in all
its details, and rich in memories and associations accumu-
lated from the dawn of history. The Creation of the
world, the Fall of Man, all the vicissitudes of the Chosen
People, the sins and punishments of their Kings, the
vehemence of their Prophets and their supernatural fore-
sight, and the great central tragedy and hope of the
Redemption — these were themes that came to their
hands elaborated by the Fathers of the Church and
by a whole succession of medieval writers ; and now, just
at this time, the Sacred Books which were the original
sources of this deposit of Christian history and doctrine
had been re-translated and clothed afresh in an unsur-
passable beauty of language.
This noble diction, this intensity, and what we might
almost call inspiration of language, which gives so poetic
a colouring to the English version of the Scriptures, was
not the achievement of one man, but almost the universal
birthright of the time : with the EUzabethan dramatists
and translators, the preachers and theological writers
had their share in this great utterance, which, whether
Introduction. xxi
due to linguistic causes which ceased to operate, or to
an intensity of poetic vision which afterwards vanished,
certainly grows fainter and thinner and gradually dies
away as the seventeenth century advances, and the age
of theology is superseded by the age of Reason and
common sense.
If Donne's sermons are full, as we have said, of all that
in the old divinity which has become distasteful to us,
if he surpasses the preachers of that period in their faults
and drawbacks, he shares also in their achievements,
and indeed in many ways he overtops them all. Lost
in the crabbed, unread, unreadable folios of his sermons,
these ' volumes of religion and m.ountains of piety ',
there are pages and passages of surprising beauty,
which are nevertheless entirely unknown to English
readers. It is indeed somewhat curious that with the
growing recognition of Donne's merits as a poet, so
little attention has been paid to the excellence of his
prose. Equal in power and beauty to that of Sir Thomas
Browne or Jeremy Taylor, and in passionate intensity
surpassing even these great writers, it is almost un^
represented in our prose anthologies ; and indeed, the
best of these, Basil Montagu's Selections, includes no
specimen of his writing. But the explanation of this is
after all a simple one; unhke Jeremy Taylor or Sir Thomas
Brov^me, Donne was famous first of all as a poet, and save
for his Httle-known Devotions, he wrote no small book,
no Holy Dying or Urn Burial in which he gave evidence
of his powers as a prose writer. His shorter prose pieces,
his Paradoxes and Biathanatos, and his elaborate letters
do not represent him at his best ; it is only here and there
xxii Introduction.
in isolated passages of his sermons that he put forth his
full strength ; and his best prose, not being therefore
easily accessible, has almost entirely escaped notice, and
few even of the most enthusiastic readers of Donne's
verse are aware that however highly they estimate his
meiits as a poet, he is equally worthy of fame as a prose
writer — that, indeed, his mastery of the means of expres-
sion was perhaps even greater in prose than in poetry ;
was less impeded by those defects of technique and tem-
perament which kept him from reaching the highest
level of poetic achievement.
The object of this volume is to remedy if possible this
neglect. After reading Donne's sermons more than
once, I have chosen for reprinting those passages which
especially impressed me, and which I think will be of
interest to modern and secular-minded readers like
myself. Any volume of selections from a voluminous
author must be always unsatisfactory, for there are
many canons of choice, many sieves for the sifting, by
means of which such a selection can be made. Donne
preached his sermons of course for the purpose of exhorta-
tion and religious edification ; while there is much in
his theology and controversial preaching which is now
out of date, he nevertheless stated the main doctrines
of the English Church with such moderation and such
learning, that a selection of passages from his sermons
might make a useful volume of Anglican apologetics ;
and it was indeed with this object in view that they were
reprinted eighty years ago by an Anglican divine, Henry
Alford (afterwards Dean of Canterbury), in whose opinion
they were ' one of the earliest and best expositions of the
Introduction. xxiii
divinity of our English Church ' — * a genuine body of
orthodox divinity (in the best sense of the words) not to be
found, perhaps, in any other English theologian '.^ Then,
too, as a preacher Donne was a moralist, and from his
denunciations of evil and his exhortations to repentance
might be made a handbook of edification which could have
its use and value.^ Or again, taking Donne as a representa-
tive mind of his period, one might use his sermons for
illustrating the history of human thought, and by selecting
typical pages from them give a picture, not only of the
theological conceptions of the time, but of the philosophy
then current, and the main ideas that were accepted by the
cultivated men of that period. The recent and learned
volume of Miss Ramsay, Les Doctrines medievales chez
Donne^ le Poete metaphysicien de VAngleterre,^ with its
copious citations from Donne's sermons, has shown
how great would be the historical interest of such a selec-
tion, and what a treasure-house can be found in Donne's
writings of passages illustrating the thought and specula-
tion of the early seventeenth century in England.
The purpose underlying this selection is not, however,
theological, didactic, nor even historical. It is concerned
with Donne as a man, as an artist and writer, with his
personal accent and speaking voice ; first of all with the
man himself, and only in the second place with the
doctrines he expounded and the age he Hved in. When
» The Works of John Donne, D.D. With a Memoir of his Life, by Henry
Alford, M.A., 1839, vol. i, pp. v, xxi.
' Such a selection of edifying passages. Selections from the Works oj
John Donne, D.D., was published, with no editor's name, by D. A. Tal-
boys, at Oxford, 1840.
* Oxford University Press, 1917.
xxiv Introduction.
Donne took orders in the English Church the doctrines
and apologetics and controversial positions of that Church
were so to speak imposed upon him ; he accepted them
without demur, and as Professor Grierson says,
* In Donne's scholastic, ultra-logical treatment, the rigid
skeleton of seventeenth century theology is, at times,
presented in all its sternness and unattractiveness. From
the extremest deductions, he is saved by the moderation
which was the key-note of his church, and by his own
good sense and deep sympathy with human nature.
But Donne is most eloquent when, escaping from
dogmatic minutiae and controversial " points ", he
appeals directly to the heart and conscience. A reader
may care little for the details of seventeenth century
theology and yet enjoy without qualification Donne's
fervid and original thinking, and the figurative richness,
and splendid harmonies of his prose in passages of argu-
ment, of exhortation and of exalted meditation. It is
Donne the poet who transcends every disadvantage of
theme and method, and an outworn fashion in wit and
learning. There are sentences in the sermons which,
in beauty of imagery and cadence, are not surpassed by
anything he wrote in verse, or by any prose of the century
from Hooker's to Sir Thomas Browne's.' ^
It is these passages which Professor Grierson so well
describes, passages which illustrate what he calls * the
unique quality, the weight, fervour and wealth, of
Donne's eloquence ', that I have first of all chosen,
and any one who may be inclined to think this praise of
Donne's prose exaggerated should read — and above all, read
aloud — some of the following pages, the description for
instance of God's bounty,^ which Professor Saintsbury has
^ Cambridge History of Literature, iv. 220-1
• p. 139.
Introduction. xxv
called unsurpassed, perhaps never equalled for the beauty
of its rhythm and the Shakespearean magnificence of
its diction ; or the great peroration on * falling out of
the hands of God \ in which Donne sums up in a sombre
and terrible sentence — one of the longest and most
splendid sentences in the EngHsh language — the horror
of the deprivation of God's love, and of eternal banish-
ment from His presence.^
The preachers of this, as of other periods, inherited
certain set subjects and splendid commonplaces which
it was their practice to repeat and elaborate and adorn.
The Mercy of God, the Sinfulness of Man, the vanity
of this world and the sorrows of the wicked, the sinner's
death-bed, the Day of Judgement, the eternal torments
of Hell, and the glory and blessedness of the saints in
Heaven — these great themes formed the culminating
points in their sermons, and were subjects which called
for all their powers. Donne's own temperament and
experience, his melancholy cast of thought and his
mystical sense of another world, enabled him to treat
many of these themes and religious pieces with a vividness
of feeling which removes them far from the region of
the conventional and commonplace.
The great subject of Sin especially preoccupied him ;
his poet's sensibiUty and sensuous nature — and Donne
is the most sensual of all the great EngUsh poets — made
the allurements of the flesh very real to him ; he knew
all about temptation and the weakness of man's moral
nature ; Hke St. Augustine, with whom he has been more
than once compared, the memory of his own transgres-
» pp. 2o8-IO.
xxvi Introduction.
sions and of the excesses of his youth was always with
him ; and his treatment of the psychology of sin, his
descriptions of the * various and vagabond heart of the
sinner ', are written with a modern subtlety of analysis,
a frankness of self-confession, a curious mingling of
asceticism and regret, which we find nowhere else except
perhaps in the writings of St. Augustine, and which must
hold the attention of the least theological reader ; while
his denunciations of judgements on sin, and his accounts
of the sinner's death-bed, ' the clangour of the angels'
trumpets and the horrour of the ringing bell ', are
inspired by the feeUngs of one to whom these judgements
and these terrors are very real and very dreadful.
Another of his special themes is the great theme of
Death. Donne's mind was in many ways essentially
medieval, and in no way more so than in his medieval
sense of death's horror. Even in his profane and secular
poetry we note a preoccupation with this thought ;
and when as a preacher it was his duty to treat of Death
in his sermons he spared his hearers none of the most
macabre of his imaginations about it. There was an almost
morbid love of ugliness in his curious temperament,
a delight like that of Swift in what is repulsive and even
loathsome, and in his sermons on death lie could freely
indulge his taste for the grotesque and the disgusting,
for dreadful details of the grave's horrors, for decay and
putrefaction, and — ^what was almost an hallucination
with him — the activities of the loathsome worm.
Unpleasant in their details as are most of these great
passages, there is a kind of splendid horror about them
which has made me include many — I hope not too many
Introduction. xxvii
—of them in this selection ; they are very characteristic
of Donne, and indeed his last great sermon, ' Death's
Duell ', preached in his final illness not long before he
died, is one unrelieved threnody on the horror and
majesty of Death and the universal dominion of the
worm.
Donne's third great theme was God, his omnipotence,
his mercy, his wrath, and his terrible justice ; and so
real and vivid was his sense of God and the glory of the
beatific vision, that unlike other preachers of the time
he felt no need to terrify his congregations with the flames
and physical horrors of Hell — to his religious mind the
deprivation of God's love was in itself Hell, and no fires
and tortures could add to that punishment. Save,
therefore, as an eternal banishment from God's presence,
Donne does not speak of Hell ; but the description of
Heaven, the glory of Heaven, was a theme that called
forth his highest powers of eloquence and impassioned
imagination.
Although Donne had studied the * new philosophy ',
and was aware of the discoveries of Copernicus, and could,
for the purposes of metaphor and fancy, make a literary
use of these conceptions, his mind still had its habitation
in the smaller, earth-centred Ptolemaic creation ; the full
realization of these new discoveries, the sense of the im-
mensity of space and the unimportance of this earth in
its unmeasured vastness, was a more modern way of feel-
ing in which Donne had no share — ^which belongs later
on in the seventeenth century to the time of Pascal. But
contrasted with his imperfect realization of the infinity of
space, his sense of the infinity of time was extremely vivid;
xxviii Introduction.
the contrast between eternity and the brietness of human
hfe he felt and described with sombre and ecstatic impres-
siveness. Eternity, the eternity of God and Heaven, is
a theme to which he continually recurs, and which sheds
a strange, still atmosphere over his descriptions of the
timeless existence of the Blessed in their heavenly abodes.
The circumstances of Donne's early Hfe, the strong
Roman Catholic traditions of his family, and the atmo-
sphere of Roman Catholic devotion in which he was
educated, were no hindrance, but rather a help to him
as an Anglican preacher ; and although, as duty and
perhaps conviction compelled him, he denounced what
he considered the corruptions of Roman CathoHcism as
vigorously as his fellow divines, yet in his heart there
Hngered a certain love of the older faith, of stately
ceremonial and ancient rites and personal cults and
devotions, which gives a warmth, an unction, an un-
protestant glow of eloquence to his preaching.
As a poet Donne seems to have adopted a certain harsh
and crabbed way of writing, in revolt against the melH-
fluence of the EHzabethan taste; his poems show here
and there that he could, if he wished, touch those harp-
strings of sweet music; but they also show, only too
abundantly, that in this soft harmony he could not find
the medium for the personal expression he desired. This
crabbedness shows itself, too, in his letters and his earher
prose writing, and also in the uninspired portions of his
sermons. But when he was most in earnest, when he came
to treat with passionate seriousness some great theme of
faith or morals, his wilfulness of language fell from him ;
and in his attempt to bring his message home to the
Introduction. xxix
hearts of his congregation he availed himself without stint
of his own gifts as a poet, and all the music and splendour
of the great contemporary speech.
Donne, indeed, often makes use of musical metaphors
when he speaks of preaching ; the preacher, he says, is
a watchman, placed on a high tower to sound a trumpet ;
his preaching was the trumpet's voice, it was thunder,
it was the beating of a drum, the tolling of a bell of warn-
ing, it was * a lovely song, sung to an instrument * ; the
preacher should not speak with ' uncircumcised Hps or
an extemporal or irreverent or over-homely and vulgar
language ' ; his style should be modelled on that of the
Holy Ghost, whose style was * a dilligent, and an artificial
style ', and who in penning the Scriptures ' delights
himself, not only with a propriety, but with a dehcacy,
and harmony, and melody of language ; with height
of Metaphors, and other figures, which may work greater
impressions upon the Readers \^ In addition to this
august model, the style of the Church Fathers formed
Donne's other model in his preaching, and he more than
once calls attention to their ' elegant phrases \ their
* cadences and allusions and assimilations ', to Jerome's
epistles * full of heavenly meditation and curious expres-
tions ', to Augustine's study to * make his language sweet
and harmonious ', and St. Bernard's effort to exalt
' devotion from the melodious fall of words '.
Coleridge, in his curious notes on Donne's sermons,
remarks on the patristic leaven, the rhetorical extra-
vagance, the taste for forced and fantastic analogies,
which Donne derived from his study of the early Fathers;
* No. 22.
^x Introduction.
and, indeed, the influence of these models, falling in
as it did with his natural taste for * wit ' and extrava-
gant conceits, resulted often in far-fetched and fantastic
passages ; and there are whole sermons built up on one
metaphor, on blood or water or tears or kisses, and even
on vomit and circumcision, in which one image is turned
and twisted and elaborated and swollen out with figurative,
moral, and mystical meanings, grotesquely adorned wdth
medical analogies and legal jargon and scholastic quibbles
and rabbinical speculations, until we share to the full
Dean Milman's amazement at the taste of those immense
and attentive congregations, and are not surprised to
hear that noblemen and gentlemen were taken up for
dead, after listening to one of these hour-long conceits and
overwhelming metaphors.
But then again this cumbrous style takes fire, this vast
edifice of elaborate adornments blazes up into a splendid
illumination ; and remote as we are in time and taste
from the audiences which stood for hours in the open
air at Paul's Cross, or filled the choir of old St. Paul's, we
share, if but for a moment, the delight which drew those
ancient crowds to hear these products of what one con-
temporary called his ' Giant phancie \^ to witness the
gleams of what another described as that * awfull fire ' ^
which burned in the clear brain of the great preacher.
But what compels our attention most in these discourses
is when Donne * preaches himself ' in them, speaks of his
past Hfe, his sins and his remorse for them, of his present
temptations, of his fears for his future fate, or his hopes
of Heaven. * When I consider what I was in my parents
> Poems, i. 379. • Ibid., p. 371.
Introduction. xxxi
loynes ', he begins, * when I consider what I am now, . . .
an aged childe, a gray-headed Infant, and but the ghost
of mine own youth, When I consider what I shall be at
last, by the hand of death, in my grave * ^ — it is in passages
Uke this, or in his forecasts of his own death-bed, * when
everlasting darknesse shall have an inchoation in the
present dimnesse of mine eyes, and the everlasting
gnashing in the present chattering of my teeth,' ^ that
Donne becomes most impressive, and we are best able
to understand the sombre fascination of his preaching.
These personal passages have often for us another
interest : we find in them a curious modern note or
quality which we find almost nowhere else in the Hterature
of that age. For in spite of his medieval cast of thought
Donne was in some ways the most modern writer of his
period ; in his poems and in his strange, feverish Medita-
tions there is a subtlety of self-analysis, an awareness of
the workings of his own mind, which seems to belong to
the nineteenth rather than to the seventeenth century.
We hear him confessing, for instance, in one of his ser-
mons, the wanderings of his mind in his strongest devo-
tions, and how in the midst of prayer he is distracted by
the noise of a fly, the rattling of a coach 3; or how, while
he is preaching, he is partly in the pulpit, partly in his
library at home ; partly expounding liis text, and partly
thinking what his congregation will say to each other of
his sermon when it is finished.*
Donne was in the habit of drawing a distinction, in
his letters, between the Jack Donne of his earlier hfe
» No. 2. ' No. 126.
• No. 4. * No. 3.
xxxii Introduction .
and Dr. Donne, the Dean and grave divine and preacher.
But, as he himself said, men do not change their passions,
but only the objects of them ; God does not take men
from their calHng, but mends them in it ; He loves
renovations, not innovations. Just as each of the authors
of the books of Scripture, whether they were courtiers
or shepherds or fishermen, kept the idiom and the
interests of their profession in their sacred writings, so
the regenerate soul, whether amorous, ambitious, or
covetous, could find in God *a fit subject, and just
occasion to exercise the same affection piously, and
rehgiously, which had before so sinfully transported, and
possesst it'.^ So Donne retained his old passions and
ways of thought ; but whereas he had formerly, as he
himself says of St. Augustine, made sonnets of his sins,
he now made sermons of them. Dr. Donne was still
Jack Donne, though sanctified and transformed, and
those who have learned to know the secular poet will
find in the writer of rehgious prose the same character-
istics, the subtle, modern self-analytic mind moving in
a world of medieval thought, the abstract, frigid scholastic
intellect and the quickest senses, the forced conceits and
passionate sincerity, the harsh utterance and the snatches
of angel's music — ^in fact all that has attracted or perhaps
repelled them in the author of the * love-songs and satiric
weeds *, the sensual elegies and rugged verse-letters of his
earlier period. They will also often find the man of the
world beneath the surplice, vvdth his appreciation of
worldly values, rank and circumstance and office, and
that * inward joy and outward reverence and dignity that
' No. 21.
Introduction. xxxiii
accompanies riches ' ^ ; the courtier who had the courtier's
desire for the favour of great persons, and who pictured
Heaven as a royal court, and God as a king in his
palace; who described earthly kings as metaphorical
gods, and pious courts as copies of the Communion of
the Saints.
In the sermons also they will find that broad humanity,
that sympathy with all kinds of people, that good com-
mon sense, which made Donne a reasonable human being,
and moved him often to declare that religion was a serious
but not a sullen thing, and a merry heart and a cheerful
countenance a better way to God than dejection of spirit,
and all the * sad remorses of the world '.^
A preacher or moralist often betrays himself indirectly,
for he is apt to see his own faults in others, and to dwell,
in his exhortations, on the temptations and weaknesses to
which he is especially exposed. It is characteristic of
Donne that he should so frequently inveigh against the
sins of the senses, and especially of the eye, which he
said was *the devil's doore, before the ear '2; and charac-
teristic also his frequent recurrence to the danger of
remembering past sins — * the sinfull remembrance of
former sins, which is a dangerous rumination, and an
unwholesome chawing of the cud '. * Another sin to
which Donne frequently recurs is the sin of curiosity,
the sin of the curious and subtle intellect, which, dissatis-
fied vrith the * solid and f undamentall ' doctrines necessary
to salvation, longed for * birds of Paradise, unrevealed
mysteries out of Gods own bosom '.^ His reprobation
» ii, p. 416. ■ iii, p. 318. ' i» p. 228.
« ii, p. 159' * i| P- 308-
?o25'3 C
xxxiv Introduction.
of this unchastened curiosity, this presumption of men
who ' being but worms will look into Heaven \^ was
partly, no doubt, an attack on the rising tide of Puritan
and schismatic speculation ; but it was also an indirect
confession of the attraction, for his boundless intellectual
curiosity, of the high and inexplicable problems of
Christian metaphysics. Donne echoes Luther's denuncia-
tion of the ' hatefull, damnable Monosyllable, How ' ^ •
again and again he warns his congregation against
inquiries which were * forc'd dishes of hot brains, and not
sound meat ', * spirituall zoantonnesses, and unlawful and
dangerous dallyings with mysteries of Divinity ' ^ ;
and yet again and again we find his own thoughts losing
their way among mysteries above the reach of reason,
the nature of the Trinity, Predestination, Election,
Original Sin, many strange scholastic questions about the
Angels, the Devil, and the possibiHty of his ultimate
salvation, and such high, insoluble problems as for
instance whether the Serpent, as many of the Fathers
believed, had feet and walked upright before the Fall.
Such was Donne as he reveals himself in his sermons,
essentially in mind and temperament the same person
as the poet, but turning his native gifts, and even his
acquired stock of conceits and images, to new and sanctified
uses. The mood resulting from this transformation has
been well described by Professor Saintsbury as * a mood
in which the memory of bygone earthly delights blends
inextricably with the present fervour of devotion, and
which to a fancy resembUng his owti might suggest a
temple of Aphrodite or Dionysus turned into a Christian
* iii, P- 77. ' i. p. 301' ' 'i. P- 36.
Introduction. xxxv
church, and served by the same priest as of old, with
complete loyalty to his new faith, but with undying
consciousness of the past '.^
Thus one tries to explain Donne's sermons and account
for them in a satisfactory manner. And yet in these, as
in his poems, there remains something baffling which
still eludes our last analysis. Reading these old hortatory
and dogmatic pages, the thought suggests itself that
Donne is often saying something else, something
poignant and personal, and yet, in the end, incom-
municable to us. It sometimes seems as if he were
using the time-honoured phrases of the accepted faith,
its hope of heaven, and its terror of the grave, to
express a vision of his own — a vision of life and death,
of evil and horror and ecstasy — very different from that
of other preachers ; and we are troubled as well as fascinated
by the strange music which he blows through the sacred
trumpets.
From the sermons themselves we can gather some
impression of the eifect in his own age of Donne's preach-
ing, either at court, where he often preached before
James I or Charles I,^ or at Lincoln's Inn, or at his parish
church of St. Dunstan's, or in the open air at Paul's
Cross, and above all before his * great and curious audi-
tories ' at St. Paul's, when the choir was so crowded that
* Professor Saintsbury in English Prose Selections, edited by Henry
Craik, 1894, ii, p. 85.
* It would appear that the court sermons, preached ' to the Nobility '
and the king, were sometimes open-air sermons. See C. and T. Jos. /,
u. 386 : * the king came hither the 5th of this present, and the next day,
being Palm Sunday, the lord archbishop preached at court, in the open-
preaching place '.
C 2
xxxvi Introduction.
many of the poorer sort could not have seats, but must
* stand and thrust ', and where long murmurs of approval
sometimes, he said, swallowed up one-quarter of his
hour's sermon.^
We have other and outside evidence, too,of his influence
as a preacher, and his manner and appearance in the pulpit.
A member of the Dutch embassy in England, Constantine
Huyghens, writes of the ' wealth of his unequalled wit,
and yet more incomparable eloquence in the pulpit * ^ ;
we read of the great concourse of noblemen and gentle-
men at one of his sermons at Lincoln's Inn * whereof two
or three were endangered and taken up dead for the time,
with the extreme press and thronging ',^ of another sermon
preached in the open air at Paul's Cross, which was Hstened
to by * the Lords of the Council and other honourable
persons ' including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bacon,
the Lord Keeper, Sir Julius Caesar, the Master of the Rolls,
Lord Arundel, Lord Southampton, and * divers other great
men '.*
Izaak Walton has described for us his manner in the
pulpit,
' preaching the Word so, as shewed his own heart was
possest with those very thoughts, and joyes that he
labored to distill into others : A Preacher in earnest,
weeping sometimes for his Auditory, sometimes with
them : alwayes preaching to himself, Uke an Angel from
a cloud, but in none ; carrying some, as St. Paul was,
to Heaven in holy raptures, and inticing others by
a sacred Art and Courtship to amend their lives ; here
picturing a vice so as to make it ugly to those that
» No. 17. • Quoted in Poems, ii, p. IxxviL
' See note to No. 70. * bee note to No. 29.
Introduction. xxxvii
practised it ; and a vertue so, as to make it beloved even
by those that lov'd it not ; and, all this with a most
particular grace and an unexpressible addition of comeh-
ness.' ^
There are other evidences of the manner and effect of
his preaching in the commendatory verses written at his
death, in which mention is made of his * speaking action ',
* pale looks, faint breath, and melting phrases'.
Mee thinkes I see him in the pulpit standing.
Not eares, or eyes, but all mens hearts commanding,
Where wee that heard him, to our selves did faine
Golden Chrysostome was alive againe ;
And never were we weari'd, till we saw
His houre (and but an houre) to end did draw.
How did he shame the doctrine-men,^
one poet writes, and another :
thy one houre did treate
The thousand mazes of the hearts deceipt ;
Thou didst pursue our lov'd and subtill sinne,
Through all the foldings wee had wrapt it in.^
While another poet gives in Latin verses an even more
vivid picture of his preaching :
* Whenever the orator stood in St. Paul's I have seen
and heard with amazement the wonderful power v^th
which he held men, as they lifted up their hearts and
eyes, whilst he poured forth the wise eloquence of
a Nestor, sv/eeter than honey. Now he holds them
thunderstruck whilst he preaches the mystery of holy
things never before granted to the people and not yet
understood ; they ponder his words with admiration, and
> Walton's Lives, 1670 ; Donne, p. 38.
• Poems, i, p. 386. * Ibid., i, p, 393,
C %
xxxviii Introduction.
stand with outstretched ears. Presently his manner
and form of speaking are changed, and he treats of sad
things — ^fate and the mournful hour of death, and the
body returning to its primal ashes : then you might
have seen all groan and grieve, and one here and there
unable to restrain his tears.' ^
From these contemporary glimpses, and from the ser-
mons themselves we can form some notion of the power,
the grace, the eloquence which made Donne the most
famous preacher of the time, and one of his great sermons
an important event for his contemporaries. As we read
these sermons, amid much that is remote and meaning-
less to us, we seem now and then to hear the timbre of
a living voice, and then for a moment the past returns ;
and in the vast, dim-lit cathedral of old St. Paul's we
seem to see that awe-struck congregation as they gaze up
at the courtly, spectral figure standing with his hour-
glass in the pulpit, and pouring forth in impassioned
eloquence his inmost thoughts of remorse and ecstasy,
tus poignant sense of the grave's unspeakable horror, and
» Vidi,
Audivi & stupui quoties orator in JEde
Paulina stetit, & mira gravitate levantes
Corda, oculosc^viros tenuit : dum Nestoris ille
Fudit verba (omni quanto mage dulcia melle ?)
Nunc habet attonitos, pandit mysteria plebi
Non concessa prius nondum intellecta : revolvuat
Mirantes, tacitique arrectis auribus astant.
Mutatis mox ille mode, forma(^ loquendi
Tristia pertractat : fatumcp& flebile mortis
Tempus, & in cineres redeunt quod corpora primes.
Tunc gemitum cunctos dare, tunc lugere videres,
Forsitan k lachrymis aliquis non temperat. — Ibid, i, p. 391.
Introduction. xxxix
Heaven's unutterable glory ; and this image is added to
those many deeply coloured pictures which, hung in the
chamber of the historic imagination, form for us our
vision of that illustrious and varied period of English
history.
We look back at this early period of the seventeenth
century in England, not only through the windows which
history opens for us ; we see it even more clearly, though
diversely tinctured, through the minds and imaginations
of certain writers of the time ; fresh in the morning light
of Milton's early poems, calm in the sabbath sunshine of
George Herbert's Temple, or dusky with the twilight of
Sir Thomas Browne's meditations. It is the purpose of
the present book to draw aside at least one corner of the
heavy curtain which hides from us another casement of
that age's imagination, a sombre, deep-emblazoned gothic
window, through which nevertheless the sunlight of
to-day sometimes seems to strike, as it Hghts up the
ascetic, enigmatic figure which it frames.
Donne's ecclesiastic career has been so adequately
recounted by his biographers. Dr. Jessopp and Mr. Gosse,
that only the briefest recapitulation is necessary here.
John Donne was born in 1573 ; he was the elder son of
a rich London ironmonger, who died in 1576 leaving
him a considerable fortune. His mother, who was
descended from a sister of Sir Thomas More, came
of a famous Roman CathoHc family ; she had two
brothers who were Jesuits, and numbered among her
relatives many prisoners and exiles for the sake of the
Roman faith. She remained a devout Roman Catholic
xl Introduction.
till the end of her life, and her son's earliest years were
spent in an atmosphere of Roman CathoHc devotion.
At the early age of eleven Donne went to Oxford, and
afterwards to Cambridge ; in 1590 we find him in London
again, and in 1592 he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn.
A young man of brilliant intellect, the master of a con-
siderable fortune, he now found himself, as a Roman
CathoHc, shut out from the usual paths of honourable
ambition, and faced with the problem whether he should
remain in the old faith, and so sacrifice his worldly
prospects, or should join the English Church and take
his share in the life and interests of his country. Before
coming to any conclusion he first surveyed and digested,
he tells us, ' the whole body of divinity, controverted
between ours and the Roman Church ' ; and if his final
decision coincided with his interests, and if ten years
later we find Donne a convinced opponent of Roman-
ism, though we can hardly regard his change of faith as
due to a genuine conversion to AngHcanism, or to any
belief that it was alone the true church, it does not
appear on the other hand to have been a mere apostasy
prompted by political considerations. Donne was
genuinely convinced that there was truth in each form
of Christian religion, and that it was wisest and best for
each man to accept the faith of his own country.
When after his somewhat stormy and spendthrift
youth Donne made his rash marriage in 1601, and found
himself desperately poor in consequence, half in disgrace,
and with small prospects of worldly advancement, he
resumed his theological studies ; and in 1605 we find him
assisting Dr. Thomas Morton, afterwards Bishop of
Introduction. xli
Durham, in his controversies with the Roman Catholic
writers. During the next few years he wrote three
books, the Pseudo-Martyr, Ignatius his Conclave, and the
BiathanatoSy all of which were, as Mr. Gosse says, written
more as a lawyer than a divine, though each was on the
borderland of theology. In spite of his theological
occupations, Donne, as his letters show, was still ambitious
of worldly preferment, and when his patron. Dr. Morton,
became Dean of Gloucester in 1607, and offered to resign
a living to him if he would take orders, Donne refused the
offer. Walton tells us that this refusal was due to a sense
of his own unworthiness, and the fear that the irregularities
of his past life might bring dishonour on the sacred
calhng, but it is more likely, as his letters of the time
suggest, that he had not yet abandoned the hope of some
court advancement. But this hope was repeatedly
disappointed : Donne was poor, burdened with a large
family, and forced to live in humiliating dependence on
the bounty of rich friends ; and in 161 2 we find him
writing to the new court favourite, Rochester, that he
had resolved to take orders. Rochester, however, seems
to have discouraged this resolution, and it was not till
three years later, and after further disappointments,
that Donne, yielding to the persuasions of King James
himself, finally determined to enter the Church. In
January 161 5 he was ordained, and in the same year
he became one of the king's chaplains and was made
a Doctor of Divinity by the University of Cambridge.
Donne's earliest court sermon which has come down to
us, and perhaps the first sermon which he preached as
chaplain to the king, is dated April 21, 161 6. Though
xlii Introduction.
much was expected of him, Izaak Walton tells us, his
preaching exceeded all expectation ; and indeed, if we
recall the circumstances of the time, when the Over-
bury murder, one of the greatest scandals of EngHsh
history, had just been made pubHc in all its dreadful
details ; when the once omnipotent favourite of the king,
the Earl of Somerset, stood pubHcly accused of com-
plicity in this crime, and his guilty wife was imprisoned in
the Tower, Donne's analysis of the beginning and growth
of evil in the sinner's heart, and his sombre and terrible
denunciations of God's judgements on the wicked,
must have produced an astonishing effect on his auditory,
* God is the Lord of Hosts ', he proclaimed to them, ' and
he can proceed by Martial Law : he can hang thee upon
the next tree ; ... he can sink down the Stage and the
Player, the bed of wantonness, and the wanton actor,
into the jaws of the earth, into the mouth of hell.' * Thou
canst not lack Examples, that he hath done so upon others,'
he continues, with a reference that must have been
obvious to all, * and will no proof serve thee, but a speedy
judgement upon thyself ? ' ^
In this year, 1616, Donne was presented to two
country livings, and appointed Divinity Reader to
the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn. This important and
lucrative post, which involved, it has been calculated,
the preparation of not fewer than fifty sermons a year, he
held till he became Dean of St. Paul's, about six years
later.
In March 161 7 Donne was appointed to preach in
the famous open-air pulpit of London at Paul's Cross,
» See Nos. 87, 105, 108.
Introduction. xliii
before the Lords of the Council and the City Magistrates.
These sermons at Paul's Cross, which were preached by
the most distinguished divines of England, had an official
character of high importance, and were one of the great
events of contemporary London. Donne on his first
appearance in this open-air pulpit preached a sermon
of enormous length, which, if dehvered as printed, must
have kept his audience standing for at least two hours.
It was, however, in contemporary opinion ' a dainty
sermon ', and was ' exceedingly well liked * especially
for the praise he gave to Queen EHzabeth.^
In this year Donne lost the dearly-loved wife whom he
had married in such romantic circumstances, and in his
grief at this irreparable loss he seems to have taken his
final * step to the altar ', and to have undergone a real
conversion ; his mind was now more wholly set on
heavenly things ; and to his intellectual interest in
theology and dogma was added a passionate devotion
which increased as the years went by, till he became
almost absorbed in that life of asceticism and spiritual
exaltation which is reflected in his religious poetry, his
meditations, and his great sermons. The chief events of
his remaining years can be briefly recounted.
In 1619 he was appointed to go as King's Chaplain
with his friend, Lord Doncaster, on a mission to Germany.
His farewell sermon to the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn has
been preserved,^ also one of the two sermons he preached
before the Electress Palatine, afterwards the Queen of
Bohemia, at Heidelberg,^ and a sermon he preached at
The Hague. This last he afterwards enlarged into two
» See No. 29 and note. ' No. 26. * No. 124.
xHv Introduction.
sermons of considerable length, which are chiefly re-
markable for the wealth of sustained nautical metaphors
which pervade them. Donne, who in his youth had
sailed with Essex on two long voyages, is remarkable as
a poet, among the somewhat inland English writers
of his time, for his frequent use of nautical terms
and his references to seafaring life and the ways of
ships. He carried this breath of the sea with him
into the pulpit ; his sermons abound in nautical terms
and images, and now he preached to this seafaring nation
on the Apostles as fishers of men, taken from their nets
* weather-beaten with North and South winds, and
rough-cast with foame, and mud ' ^ ; and elaborated
a giant simile of the world as a sea, in which all the
inhabitants are fishes to be caught in the net of the
Gospel and served up at the great marriage feast in
Heaven, where, he added characteristically — and we must
think surprisingly to the Dutch — ^whoever is a dish is
a guest also, and whoever is served at the table sits at it.^
After his return to England he was appointed, towards
the end of 162 1, to the Deanery of St. Paul's. His first
sermon preached in that cathedral w^as on Christmas
Day, 1 62 1. This sermon is a closely reasoned one, less
adorned with those elaborate allusions and quotations and
conceits of which he was so fond, but containing a clear
statement of the relation between reason and faith
which was the basis of his religious philosophy.^ Donne's
Christmas sermons preached at St. Paul's for all the
> i, p. 720.
2 No. 44. For other extracts from this sermon, see Nos. 86 and 112.
* No. 58.
Introduction. xlv
subsequent years of his life except the last have been
preserved, also the great sermons he was accustomed to
preach there on Easter Day and Whitsunday, and
a number of the sermons which he also preached as
Prebend of the Cathedral, besides others delivered
at various dates in the same pulpit. Next to these in
number are the sermons preached at court, sometimes
at St. James's, but for the most part at Whitehall. In
1624 he was presented to the living of St. Dunstan's in
the West, then a fashionable church, in which as parish
vicar he was able to come into closer personal relations
with his congregation than he could with his great
audiences at St. Paul's ; and in his first sermon there he
described in the elaborate metaphor of a marriage
between the Minister and his Congregation what he felt
should be his relation to his parishioners.^ A number
of other sermons preached in this pulpit have been pre-
served.
Before this date, however, he preached two sermons
of some importance. The first of these was to the
Virginia Company, which was then trying to collect sub-
scriptions for the earliest English colony in America, and
to renew popular interest in this settlement. Donne took
the point of view, which has become since so popular, that
English conquest and colonization was, or should be, carried
on for the purpose of religious propaganda, to furnish
salvation to the benighted heathen ; and he preached, on
this occasion, what has been called the first English mis-
sionary sermon.2 Later in this year, 1622, a more
unpleasant task was imposed on him, and he was ordered
» No. 37. • No. 31.
xlvi Introduction.
by James I, who was then engaged in his negotiations
for the Spanish Match, to preach at Paul's Cross in
defence of the instructions th e king had issued forbidding
the polemical preaching of Protestant doctrines. There
was an immense crowd at the sermon ; but a con-
temporary tells us that he gave no satisfaction, speaking
indeed, some thought, as if he were by no means satisfied
himself.^ In the autumn of the next year he was struck
down by that severe illness which he so vividly describes
in his Devotions^ published in 1624.
His next sermon of public importance was preached
in St. James's Palace a few days after the death of his
old master James I. James died on March 27, 1625,
at Theobald's ; the new king, Charles I, had shut
himself up in St. James's Palace, but on Sunday the 3rd
of April he sent for Donne to preach to him in the palace
chapel. From a few scraps of old paper preserved by
chance, we are able to make for ourselves a more than
usually vivid picture of this Sunday afternoon nearly
three hundred years ago. Donne, who had been seriously
ill, was plainly thrown into great agitation by the royal
command to preach before the inscrutable prince who was
now beginning his fateful reign. He writes to a friend
at court begging that on his arrival at the palace he may
hide himself in an out-chamber or closet till the time for
the sermon. He must preach fasting, he says, refusing
an invitation to dinner, and after the sermon would steal
* See note to No. 37. This sermon, preached on the text about the
stars fighting against Sisera, was printed in 1622 with a dedication to the
new favourite, the Marquis of Buckingham. It was not included in the
three folios, but was reprinted by Alford, vi pp. 191-222.
Introduction. xlvii
into his coach and return home. Another letter of a con-
temporary witness describes the very pale face and deep
mourning of the young king as he went to the chapel,
draped in a plain black cloak that fell to his ankles.
Donne began his sermon with a discreet reference to the
death of the old king, and then proceeded to preach
a controversial sermon against the Roman Catholic and
Puritan controversiaUsts of the time ^ ; but three weeks
later, preaching at Denmark House, where the embalmed
body of James I lay in state, his references to his departed
master are more explicit ; and in one splendid passage
about the king's dead hand, he keeps repeating, at the
end of his intricate clauses, the word * dead ' in a way
that makes it ring out Uke the tolUng of a bell, and which
in his accomplished delivery must have produced a strange
effect of musical and sombre rhetoric.^
In 1625 he was driven out of London by the plague
and took refuge with his friend Magdalen Herbert, George
Herbert's mother, who was now married to Sir John
Danvers, and lived in Danvers House in what was then the
village of Chelsea. In 1627 Lady Danvers died and was
buried in the parish church of Chelsea, where Donne
preached the funeral sermon. In his unregenerate days
Donne had written poems to Mrs. Herbert, almost as
a lover ; he had immortalized her in those famous Hues,
No Springy nor Summer Beauty hath such grace,
As I have seen in one Autumnall face,
and now, after an invocation to this loved ghost to
arise from the consecrated dust in which she slept, he
* For this sermon see No, 75 and note. • No. 34.
xlviii Introduction.
proceeds, in a long and noble panegyric to paint a por-
trait of her as she lived and as he and her family and
friends knew her — a portrait ^ which is one of the most
vivid and beautiful we possess of those Elizabethan great
ladies who befriended the poets of the time and still
live for us immortahzed in their poems.
Izaak Walton tells us that he was present in the church,
and saw and heard Donne weep and preach this funeral
sermon ; and he repeats Donne's characteristic wish that
* all his Body were turn'd unto tongues, that he might
declare her just praises to posterity '.
The time was approaching when Donne must preach
his own funeral sermon ; his strength gradually declined,
twice he was afflicted with severe illness, and in 1630 his
health finally gave way, and he retired to the country.
But early in the next year he dragged himself up to
London to preach his usual Lent sermon to the court —
to sing, as one of his panegyrists wrote, Hke a swan, his
mournful dirge — ^the great sermon which was pubUshed
after his death as * Death's Duell ', and in which his
sombre imagination and his morbid and fantastic genius
shone forth with unearthly splendour. Walton gives
a vivid description of this last dramatic appearance,
how when to the amazement of the beholders he appeared
in the pulpit * many of them thought he presented himself
not to preach mortification by a living voice : but, mortahty
by a decayed body, and dying face ',2 and how as they
saw his tears and heard his faint and hollow voice, as he
preached on his text, * To God the Lord belong the issues
from death,' they felt that the text had been prophetically
* No. 28. • Walton's Lives, 1670, Donne, p. 71
Introduction. xlix
chosen and that he had preached his own funeral sermon.
Donne then retired to the Deanery and began that
spectacular preparation for death, that * elaborate pubUc
decease *, as Mr. Gosse describes it, * so long-drawn, so
solemn, so boldly picturesque ' which so greatly impressed
his contemporaries, and which, in the monument designed
after the picture he had had painted of himself dressed
in a winding sheet, has left in St. PauPs so strange and so
beautiful a memorial for the admiration of posterity.
Six of Donne's sermons had been published in his life-
time, and he left at his death a large number prepared
for the press. His last sermon was printed after his
death in 1632, and in 1634 ^^^ more sermons were pub-
lished by the Cambridge University Press. In 1640
Donne's son, John Donne, pubUshed the first folio of
eighty sermons, all hitherto unpubHshed, and in 1649
he printed the second foUo, Fifty SermonSy containing
* Death's Duell ' and the six published in 1634 and
forty-three new ones. In 1660 he published the third
foUo, entitled XXVI Sermons, although it only contains
twenty-four, as two of them were printed twice. In
1839, Henry Alford, afterwards Dean of Canterbury,
pubHshed the 154 sermons from the three folios, and three
of the six printed in Donne's Ufetime, in an edition which
was mtended to be a complete edition of Donne's writings,
though this plan was afterwards abandoned, and only
the sermons, the Devotims, the poems, and the letters
were included in it. Alford so expurgated the poems,
and was so careless in his printing of the letters, that this
edition of his has been much abused by scholars. He
idmits that he bowdlerized a few of the earUer sermons ;
1 Introduction.
but save for this and for the modernization of the spelling,
the text of the sermons is accurate, and as the old foHos
are now rare (the third is almost unprocurable) Alford's
edition is the one which is most accessible to modern
readers.^
We possess, therefore, i6o of Donne's sermons, of
which all but three were reprinted by Alford, where
they fill about three thousand pages. Some of these
sermons are of enormous length, and if preached as
written must have taken two or three hours to dehver,
instead of the hour marked by the running sands
in the conspicuous hour-glass, to which Donne was
accustomed to confine himself. But there is plenty of
evidence to show that we do not now possess the sermons
as he preached them. Donne, like other divines of the
period, took no fully written manuscript with him
into the pulpit ; he preached from notes ; and although
when preaching at court or at St. Paul's on great occasions
he would no doubt commit much of his sermon to
memory, the whole text would be written out from
memory afterwards, and subject to many additions and
changes in the process of writing.^
» In 1840 Pickering published a beautifully printed volume, Devotions
by John Donne, D.D., which contains two of Donne's sermons, * Death's
Duell ' and the Chelsea sermon on the death of Lady Danvers.
* In a letter of 1621 Donne promises to write out one of his sermons
for a friend 'though in good faith I have half forgot it* {Gosse, ii, p. 151).
In 1625, when he had taken refuge at Chelsea from the plague in London,
he says, in explaining how he has spent his time there, ' I have revised as
many of my sermons as I had kept any note of, and I have written out
a great many, and hope to do more. I have already come to the number
of eighty, of which my son . . . may hereafter make some use ' {ibid.,
p. 225). Donne's sermon preached at The Hague is introduced in
Introduction. U
It only remains to say a few words about the plan
of this small volume of extracts from Donne's sermons.
The arrangement is not chronological, and indeed, since
many of the sermons are undated, such an arrangement
would be at the best highly uncertain and conjectural.
They are placed in a certain sequence according to their
subjects, first the more autobiographical passages, the
pages or paragraphs where Donne speaks most directly
and intimately of himself, his own feelings and moods,
his own conception of the preacher's office, his Uterary
tastes, and the references, though these are not many, to
his own hfe and travels. Next follow the scanty allusions
he makes to events of contemporary history, the death
of Queen Elizabeth, the accession of James I, the Gun-
powder Plot, the new settlements in America, the
great plague of 1625, and the death of King James ; after
these come passages illustrating the more secular aspects
of his thought, his remarks on Hfe and men and women,
on poverty and riches, a portrait he gives in a funeral
sermon of a rich London merchant of the time, and his
reflections on the * new philosophy ' of Copernicus,
and on human knowledge in general. Then following
the process of his thought, we come to rehgious faith, as
founded on, and yet contrasted with, mere human reason,
and the revelation of that faith through the Scriptures
and the teaching of the Church. Next follow those
passages in which he attains the greatest heights of
the first folio, with this note, ' At the Haghe Decemh. 19. 161 9. I Preached
upon this Text. Since my sicknesse at Abney-hatche in Essex, 1630.
revising my short notes of that Sermon, I digested them into these two.'
Two sermons follow on the same text, and there are other sermons which
seem to have been expanded and divided in the same way.
lii Introduction.
eloquence — ^passages in wliich the body of that revelation
is expressed, our knowledge of God and of man's fall,
the inheritance of Original Sin, the corrupt nature of
man, the sinful state of the world, the penalty of death
with all its horrors, the terrors of the Day of Judgement,
the misery of the damned, and the everlasting joy and
glory of the blessed souls in Heaven. The book ends with
extracts from the sombre and impressive last sermon, in
which he made his farewell to the world.
•u^ ^nC^ '*lf^ ^i(«) ^if*^ '^V^ '^^ ''V
,^S^!. JSSC i^,^^ >^S^s, J^^^ J^^^ J^^'
DONNE^S SERMONS
I. 7y^^ Preacher.
N the great Ant-hill of the whole world,
I am an Ant ; I have my part in the
Creation, I am a Creature ; But there
are ignoble Creatures. God comes nearer ;
In the great field of clay, of red earth,
that man was made of, & mankind, I am a clod ;
I am a man, I have my part in the Humanity ; But
Man was worse then annihilated again. When satan
in that serpent was come, as Hercules with his club into
a potters shop, and had broke all the vessels, destroyed
all mankind. And the gracious promise of a Messias to
redeeme all mankind, was shed and spread upon all,
I had my drop of that dew of Heaven, my sparke of that
fire of heaven, in the universall promise, in which I was
involved ; But this promise was appropriated after, in
a particular Covenant, to one people, to the Jewes, to
the seed of Abraham. But for all that I have my portion
there ; for all that professe Christ Jesus are by a spirituall
engrafting, and transmigration, and transplantation, in
and of that stock, and that seed of Abraham ; and I am
one of those. But then, of those who doe professe
Christ Jesus, some grovell still in the superstitions they
2025.3 B
2 The Preacher.
were fallen into, and some are raised, by Gods good
grace, out of them ; and I am one of those ; God hath
afforded me my station, in that Church, which is departed
from Babylon.
Now, all this while, my soule is in a cheeref ull progresse ;
when I consider what God did for Goshen in Egypt, for
a little parke in the midst of a forest ; what he did for
Jury, in the midst of enemies, as a shire that should
stand out against a Kingdome round about it : How
many Sancerraes he hath deUvered from famins, how
many Genevaes from plots, and machinations against
her ; all this while my soule is in a progresse : But I am
at home, when I consider Buls of excommunications,
and solicitations of Rebellions, and pistols, and poysons,
and the discoveries of those ; There is our Nos, We,
testimonies that we are in the favour, and care of God ;
We, our Nation, we, our Church ; There I am at home ;
but I am in my Cabinet at home, when I consider, what
God hath done for me, and my soule ; There is the Ego,
the particular, the individuall, I.
2. When I consider.
jiMOROUS soule, ambitious soule, covetous soule,
XX. voluptuous soule, what wouldest thou have in
heaven ? What doth thy holy amorousnesse, thy holy
covetousnesse, thy holy ambition, and voluptuousnesse
most carry thy desire upon ? Call it what thou
wilt ; think it what thou canst ; think it something that
thou canst not think ; and all this thou shalt have, if
thou have any Resurrection unto Hfe ; and yet there
When I consider. 3
is a Better Resurrection. When I consider what I was in
my parents loynes (a substance unworthy of a word,
unworthy of a thought) when I consider what I am now,
(a Volume of diseases bound up together, a dry cynder,
if I look for naturall, for radicall moisture, and yet
a Spunge, a bottle of overflowing Rheumes, if I consider
accidentall ; an aged childe, a gray-headed Infant, and
but the ghost of mine own youth) When I consider what
I shall be at last, by the hand of death, in my grave,
(first, but Putrifaction, and then, not so much as Putri-
faction, I shall not be able to send forth so much as an
ill ayre, not any ayre at all, but shall be all insipid, tastlesse,
savourlesse dust ; for a while, all wormes, and after a
while, not so much as wormes, sordid, senslesse, namelesse
dust) When I consider the past, and present, and future
state of this body, in this world, I am able to conceive,
able to expresse the worst that can befall it in nature,
and the worst that can be inflicted upon it by man,
or fortune ; But the least degree of glory that God
hath prepared for that body in heaven, I am not able to
expresse, not able to conceive.
3. I am Not all Here.
I AM not all here, I am here now preaching upon
this text, and I am at home in my Library
considering whether 5. Gregory, or 5. Hierome, have said
best of this text, before. I am here speaking to you,
and yet I consider by the way, in the same instant, what
it is likely you will say to one another, when I have
done, you are not all here neither ; you are here now,
B 2
4 I am Not all Here.
hearing me, and yet you are thinking that you have
heard a better Sermon somewhere else, of this text
before ; you are here, and yet you think you could have
heard some other doctrine of down-right Predestination,
and Reprobation roundly dehvered somewhere else with
more edification to you ; you are here, and you remember
your selves that now yee think of it : This had been the
fittest time, now, when every body else is at Church,
to have made such and such a private visit ; and because
you would bee there, you are there.
4. Imperfect Prayers,
BUT when we consider with a religious serious-
nesse the manifold weaknesses of the strongest
devotions in time of Prayer, it is a sad consideration.
I throw my selfe downe in my Chamber, and I call in,
and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they
are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of
a Flie, for the ratling of a Coach, for the whining of a
doore ; I talke on, in the same posture of praying ;
Eyes lifted up ; knees bowed downe ; as though I prayed
to God ; and, if God, or his Angels should aske me,
when I thought last of God in that prayer, I cannot tell :
Sometimes I finde that I had forgot what I was about,
but when I began to forget it, I cannot tell. A memory
of yesterdays pleasures, a feare of to morrows dangers,
a straw under my knee, a noise in mine eare, a light in
mine eye, an any thing, a nothing, a fancy, a Chimera
in my braine, troubles me in my prayer. So certainely
is there nothing, nothing in spiritual! things, perfect in
this world.
Powers and Principalities. 5
5. Powers and Principalities.
1 PASSE my time sociably and merrily in cheerful
conversation, in musique, in feasting, in Come-
dies, in wantonnesse ; and I never heare all this while
of any power or principaHty, my Conscience spies no
such enemy in all this. And then alone, between God
and me at midnight, some beam of his grace shines out
upon me, and by that light I see this Prince of darknesse,
and then I finde that I have been the subject, the slave
of these powers and principahties, when I thought not
of them. Well, I see them, and I try then to dispossesse
my selfe of them, and I make my recourse to the power-
fullest exorcisme that is, I turne to hearty and earnest
prayer to God, and I fix my thoughts strongly (as I
thinke) upon him, and before I have perfected one petition,
one period of my prayer, a power and principaHty is
got into me againe. Spiritus soporis, The spirit of slumber Esay 29.10.
closes mine eyes, and I pray drousily ; Or spiritus Esa. 19. 14.
vertiginisy the spirit of deviation, and vaine repetition,
and I pray giddily, and circularly, and returne againe
and againe to that I have said before, and perceive not
that I do so ; and nescio cujus spiritus sim, (as our Saviour Luk. 9. SS'
said, rebuking his Disciples, who were so vehement for
the burning of the Samaritans, you know not of what
spirit you are) I pray, and know not of what spirit I am,
I consider not mine own purpose in prayer ; And by
this advantage, this doore of inconsideration, enters
spiritus err oris y The seducing spirit, the spirit of error, i Tim. 4. i,
and I pray not onely negligently, but erroniously,
dangerously, for such things as disconduce to the glory
6 Powers and Principalities.
of God, and my true happinesse, if they were granted.
Hosea4.i2. Nay, even the Prophet Hosed' s spiritus fornicationum,
enters into me, The spirit of fornication, that is, some
remembrance of the wantonnesse of my youth, some
mis-interpretation of a word in my prayer, that may
beare an ill sense, some unclean spirit, some power or
principality hath depraved my prayer, and slackned my
zeale.
A^
6. Infecting God,
S S. Chrysostome sayes, every man is Spontaneus
Satan, a Satan to himselfe, as Satan is a
Tempter, every man can tempt himselfe ; so I will be
Spontaneus Satan, as Satan is an Accuser, an Adversary,
I will accuse my selfe. I consider often that passionate
Luk. 5. 8. humiliation of S. Peter, Exi a me Domine, He fell at lesus
knees, saying, Depart from me, for 1 am a sinfull man,
O Lord ; And I am often ready to say so, and more ;
Depart from me, O Lord, for I am sinfull inough to
infect thee ; As I may persecute thee in thy Children,
so I may infect thee in thine Ordinances ; Depart, in
withdrawing thy word from me, for I am corrupt inough
to make even thy saving Gospel, the savor of death
unto death ; Depart, in withholding thy Sacrament,
for I am leprous inough to taint thy flesh, and to make
the balme of thy blood, poyson to my soule ; Depart,
in withdrawing the protection of thine Angels from me,
for I am vicious inough to imprint corruption and
rebellion into their nature. And if I be too foule for
God himselfe to come neare me, for his Ordinances to
worke upon me, I am no companion for my selfe, I must
Infecting God.
not be alone with my selfe ; for I am as apt to take, as
to give infection ; I am a reciprocall plague ; passively
and actively contagious ; I breath corruption, and breath
it upon my selfe ; and I am the Babylon that I must
goe out of, or I perish.
7. Forgiveness of Sins.
SO the Spirit of God moves upon the face of
these v^aters, the Spirit of life upon the danger
of death. Consider the love, more then love, the study,
more then study, the diligence of God, he devises meanes,
that his banished, those w^hom sins, or death had banished,
be not expelled from him. I sinned upon the strength of
my youth, and God devised a meanes to reclaime me,
an enfeebling sicknesse. I relapsed after my recovery,
and God devised a meanes, an irrecoverable, a helpless
Consumption to reclaime me ; That affliction grew
heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to a diffidence
in Gods mercy, and God devised a meanes, the comfort of
the Angel of his Church, his Minister, The comfort of
the Angel of the great Counsell, the body and blood
of his Son Christ Jesus, at my transmigration. Yet he
lets his correction proceed to death ; I doe dye of that
sicknesse, and God devises a meanes, that I, though
banished, banished into the grave, shall not be expelled
from him, a glorious Resurrection.
8. Forgive my Sins,
FORGIVE me O Lord^ O Lord forgive me my
sinnes, the sinnes of my youth, and my present
sinnes, the sinne that my Parents cast upon me, Originall
8 Forgive my Sins.
sinne, and the sinnes that I cast upon my children, in
an ill example ; Actuall sinnes, sinnes which are manifest
to all the world, and sinnes which I have so laboured
to hide from the world, as that now they are hid from
mine own conscience, and mine own memory ; Forgive
me my crying sins, and my whispering sins, sins of
uncharitable hate, and sinnes of unchaste love, sinnes
against ^hee and 7hee, against thy Power O Almighty
Father, against thy Wisedome, O glorious Sonne, against
thy Goodnesse, O blessed Spirit of God ; and sinnes
against Him and Him, against Superiours and Equals,
and Inferiours ; and sinnes against Me and Me, against
mine own soul, and against my body, which I have loved
better than my soul ; Forgive me O Lord, 0 Lord in
the merits of thy Christ and my Jesus, thine Anointed,
and my Saviour ; Forgive me my sinnes, all my sinnes,
and I will put Christ to no more cost, nor thee to more
trouble, for any reprobation or malediction that lay
upon me, otherwise then as a sinner. I ask but an
application, not an extention of that Benediction,
Blessed are they whose sinnes are forgiven ; Let me be
but so blessed, and I shall envy no mans Blessednesse :
say thou to my sad soul, ^onne he oj good comfort, thy sinnes
are forgiven thee, and I shall never trouble thee with
Petitions, to take any other Bill off of the fyle, or to
reverse any other Decree, by which I should be accurst,
before I was created, or condemned by thee, before thou
saw'st me as a sinner.
Let Me Wither.
9. Let Me Wither.
IET me wither and weare out mine age in a dis-
^ comfortable, in an unwholesome, in a penurious
prison, and so pay my debts with my bones, and
recompence the wastfulnesse of my youth, with the
beggery of mine age ; Let me wither in a spittle under
sharpe, and foule, and infamous diseases, and so recom-
pence the wantonnesse of my youth, with that loath-
somnesse in mine age ; yet, if God with-draw not his
spirituall blessings, his Grace, his Patience, If I can call
my suffering his Doing, my passion his Action, All this
that is temporall, is but a caterpiller got into one corner
of my garden, but a mill-dew fallen upon one acre of
my Corne ; The body of all, the substance of all is safe,
as long as the soule is safe. But when I shall trust
to that, which wee call a good spirit, and God shall
deject, and empoverish, and evacuate that spirit, when I
shall rely upon a morall constancy, and God shall shake,
and enfeeble, and enervate, destroy and demolish that
constancy ; when I shall think to refresh my selfe in
the serenity and sweet ayre of a good conscience, and
God shall call up the damps and vapours of hell itselfe,
and spread a cloud of diffidence, and an impenetrable
crust of desperation upon my conscience ; when health
shall flie from me, and I shall lay hold upon riches to
succour me, and comfort me in my sicknesse, and riches
shall flie from me, and I shall snatch after favour, and
good opinion, to comfort me in my poverty ; when
even this good opinion shall leave me, and calumnies
and misinformations shall prevaile against me ; when
10 Let Me Wither.
I shall need peace, because there is none but thou, O
Lord, that should stand for me, and then shall finde,
that all the wounds that I have, come from thy hand,
all the arrowes that stick in me, from thy quiver ; when
I shall see, that because I have given my selfe to my
corrupt nature, thou hast changed thine ; and because
I am all evill towards thee, therefore thou hast given over
being good towards me ; When it comes to this height,
that the fever is not in the humors, but in the spirits,
that mine enemy is not an imaginary enemy, fortune,
nor a transitory enemy, malice in great persons, but
a reall, and an irresistible, and an inexorable, and an
everlasting enemy. The Lord of Hosts himselfe. The
Almighty God himselfe, the Almighty God himselfe onely
knowes the waight of this affliction, and except hee put
in that pondus glorias, that exceeding waight of an eternall
glory, with his owne hand, into the other scale, we are
waighed downe, we are swallowed up, irreparably,
irrevocably, irrecoverably, irremediably.
10. Donne and the Worm,
IF my soule could aske one of those Wormes
which my dead body shall produce. Will you
change with me ? that worme would say. No ; for you
are like to live eternally in torment ; for my part, I can
live no longer, then the putrid moisture of your body
will give me leave, and therefore I will not change ; nay,
would the Devill himselfe change with a damned soule ?
I cannot tell.
Preaching Consolation. ii
1 1 . Preaching Consolatioft,
WHO but my selfe can conceive the svveetnesse
of that salutation, when the Spirit of God
sayes to me in a morning, Go forth to day and preach,
and preach consolation, preach peace, preach mercy,
And spare my people, spare that people whom I have
redeemed with my precious Blood, and be not angry
with them for ever ; Do not wound them, doe not
grinde them, do not astonish them with the bitternesse,
with the heavinesse, vdth the sharpnesse, with the
consternation of my judgements. David proposes to
himselfe, that he would Sing of mercy, and of judgement ; PsaL ioi«i.
but it is of mercy first ; and not of judgement at all,
otherwise then it will come into a song, as joy and
consolation is compatible with it. It hath falne into
disputation, and admitted argument, whether ever God
inflicted punishments by his good Angels ; But that
the good Angels, the ministeriall Angels of the Church,
are properly his instruments, for conveying mercy,
peace, consolation, never fell into question, never
admitted opposition. . . .
What a Coronation is our taking of Orders, by which
God makes us a Royall Priesthood ? And what an
inthronization is the comming up into a Pulpit, where
God invests his servants with his Ordinance, as with
a Cloud, and then presses that Cloud with a Vce si non,
woe be unto thee, if thou doe not preach, and then
enables him to preach peace, mercy, consolation, to the
whole Congregation. That God should appeare in
a Cloud, upon the Mercy Seat, as he promises Moses Levit.i5.2.
12 Preaching Consolation.
he will doe, That from so poore a man as stands here,
wrapped up in clouds of infirmity, and in clouds of
iniquity, God should drop, raine, poure downe his dew,
and sweeten that dew with his honey, and crust that
honied dew into Manna, and multiply that Manna into
Corners, and fill those Gomers every day, and give every
particular man his Gomer, give every soule in the Con-
gregation, consolation by me ; That when I call to God
for grace here, God should give me grace for grace,
Grace in a power to derive grace upon others, and that
this Oyle, this Balsamum should flow to the hem of
the garment, even upon them that stand under me ;
That when mine eyes looke up to Heaven, the eyes of
all should looke up upon me, and God should open my
mouth, to give them meat in due season ; That I should
not onely be able to say, as Christ said to that poore
soule. Confide fili^ My son be of good comfort, but
Fratres iff Patres mei. My Brethren, and my Fathers,
nay Domini mei, and Rex mens. My Lords, and my King
be of good comfort, your sins are forgiven you ; That
God should seale to me that Patent, lie frcedicate omni
Creaturcc^ Goe and preach the Gospell to every Creature,
be that creature what he will. That if God lead me into
a Congregation, as into his Arke, where there are but
eight soules, but a few disposed to a sense of his mercies,
and all the rest (as in the Arke) ignobler creatures, and of
brutall natures and aflFections, That if I finde a licentious
Goat, a supplanting Fox, an usurious Wolfe, an ambitious
Lion, yet to that creature, to every creature I should
preach the Gospel of peace and consolation, and oifer
these creatures a Metamorphosis, a transformation,
Preaching Consolation. 13
a new Creation in Christ Jesus, and thereby make my
Goat, and my Fox, and my Wolfe, and my Lion, to
become Semen Dei, The seed of God, and Filhim Dei,
The child of God, and Participem Divines Natures,
Partaker of the Divine Nature it selfe ; This is that which
Christ is essentially in himselfe, This is that which
ministerially and instrumentally he hath committed to
me, to shed his consolation upon you, upon you all ;
Not as his Almoner to drop his consolation upon one
soule, nor as his Treasurer to issue his consolation to
a whole Congregation, but as his Ophir, as his Indies,
to derive his gold, his precious consolation upon the King
himselfe.
12. The Beauty of the Soul.
/NSANIEBAT amatoriam insaniam Paulus, S. P^w/ Theophil.
was mad for love ; S. Paul did, and we doe take
into our contemplation, the beauty of a Christian soul ;
Through the ragged apparell of the afflictions of this
life ; through the scarres, and wounds, and palenesse,
and morphews of sin, and corruption, we can look upon
the soul it self, and there see that incorruptible beauty,
that white and red, which the innocency and the blood
of Christ hath given it, and we are mad for love of this
soul, and ready to doe any act of danger, in the ways of
persecution, any act of diminution of our selves in the
ways of humiliation, to stand at her doore, and pray, and
begge, that she would be reconciled to God,
14 Spiritual Liberality.
13. Spiritual Liberality,
Liberalitas.
2 Part. AS an Hezekias, a losias is a Type of Christ, but yet
Xjl but a Type of Christ ; so this civill Liberality,
which we have hitherto spoken of, is a Type, but yet
but a Type of our spiritual! Liberality. For, here we
doe not onely change termes, the temporall, to spirituall,
and to call that, which we called Liberality in the former
part. Charity in this part ; nor do we onely make the
difference in the proportion & measure, that that which
was a Benefit in the other part, should be an Almes in
this. But we invest the whole consideration in a meere
spiritual! nature ; and so that Liberality, which was,
in the former acceptation, but a relieving, but a refreshing,
but a repairing of defects, and dilapidations in the body
or fortune, is now, in this second part, in this spiritual!
acceptation, the raising of a dejected spirit, the redinte-
gration of a broken heart, the resuscitation of a buried
soule, the re-consolidation of a scattered conscience,
not with the glues, and cements of this world, mirth, and
musique, and comedies, and conversation, and wine,
and women, (miserable comforters are they all) nor with
that Meteor, that hangs betweene two worlds, that is,
Pliilosophy, and moral! constancy, (which is somewhat
above the carnal! man, but yet far below the man truly
Christian and religious) But this is the Liberality, of
which the Holy Ghost liimselfe is content to be the
Steward, of the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, and
to be notified, and qualified by that distinctive notion,
and specification. The Comforter,
To finde a languishing wretch in a sordid corner, not
spiritual Liberality. 15
onely in a penurious fortune, but in an oppressed con-
science, His eyes under a diverse suffocation, smothered
with smoake, and smothered with teares, His eares
estranged from all salutations, and visits, and all sounds, but
his owne sighes, and the stormes and thunders and earth-
quakes of his owne despaire. To enable this man to open
his eyes, and see that Christ Jesus stands before him,
and sayes, Behold and see, if ever there were any sorrow, like
my sorrow, and my sorrow is overcome, why is not thine ?
To open this mans eares, and make him heare that voyce
that sayes, / was dead, and am alive, and behold, I live ReveLnS.
for evermore. Amen ; and so mayest thou ; To bow downe
those Heavens, and bring them into his sad Chamber,
To set Christ Jesus before him, to out-sigh him, out-weepe
him, out-bleed him, out-dye him. To transferre all the
fasts, all the scornes, all the scourges, all the nailes, all
the speares of Christ Jesus upon him, and so, making him
the Crucified man in the sight of the Father, because
all the actions, and passions of the Son, are appropriated
to him, and made his so intirely, as if there were never
a soule created but his. To enrich this poore soule, to
comfort this sad soule so, as that he shall beleeve, and by
beleeving finde all Christ to be his, this is that LiberaHty
which we speake of now, in dispensing whereof, 7he
liberall man deviseth liberall things, and by liberall things
shall stand.
14. Eaglets Wings.
FOR as those w^ords are well understood by many of
the Ancients, To the Woman were given two wings Revel. 12.
of an Eagle, that is, to the Church were given able and ^"^
i6 Eagle's Wings,
sufficient Ministers, to carry and convey her over the
Nations : So are those words which are spoken of God
Deut. 32. himself, appliable to his Ministers, that first, ^he Eagle
'^* stirreth up her nest. The Preacher stirres and moves,
and agitates the holy affections of the Congregation, that
they slumber not in a senselesnesse of that which is said,
7he Eagle stirreth up her nest, and then as it is added
there, She Jluttereth over her young ; The Preacher makes
a holy noise in the conscience of the Congregation, and
when hee hath awakened them, by stirring the nest, hee
casts some claps of thunder, some intimidations, in
denouncing the judgements of God, and he flings open
the gates of Heaven, that they may heare, and look up,
and see a man sent by God, with power to infuse his feare
upon them ; So she Jluttereth over her young ; but then,
as it followes there, She spreadeth abroad her wings ; she
over-shadowes them, she enwraps them, she armes them
with her wings, so as that no other terror, no other
fluttering but that which comes from her, can come upon
them ; The Preacher doth so infuse the feare of God
into his Auditory, that first, they shall feare nothing but
God, and then they shall feare God, but so, as he is God ;
And God is Mercy ; God is Love ; and his Minister
shall so spread his wings over his people, as to defend
them from all inordinate feare, from all suspition and
jealousie, from all diffidence and distrust in the mercie
of God ; which is farther exprest in that clause, which
followes in the same place. She taketh them and beareth
them upon her wings ; when the Minister hath awakened
his flocke by the stirring of the nest, and put them in
this holy feare, by this which the Holy Ghost cals a
Eagle's Wings. 17
Fluttering ; and then provided, by spreading his wings,
that upon this feare there follow not a desperation ; then
he sets them upon the top of his best wings, and shewes
them the best treasure that is committed to his Steward-
ship, hee shewes them Heaven, and God in Heaven,
sanctifying all their crosses in this World, inanimating
all their worldly blessings, rayning downe his blood into
their emptinesse, and his balme into their wounds, making
their bed in all their sicknesse, and preparing their seate,
where he stands soliciting their cause, at the right hand
of his Father. And so the Minister hath the wings of
an Eagle, that every soule in the Congregation may see
as much as hee sees, that is, a particular interest in all
the mercies of God, and the merits of Christ.
15. J he Hour- Glass.
1HAVE seen Minute-glasses ; Glasses so short-liv'd.
If I were to preach upon this Text, to such a glass, it
were enough for half the Sermon ; enough to show the
worldly man his Treasure, and the Object of his heart
(for, where your treasure is, there will your Heart be also)
to call his eye to that Minute-glass, and to tell him.
There flows, there flies your Treasure, and your Heart
with it. But if I had a Secular Glass, a Glass that would
run an age ; if the two Hemispheres of the World were
composed in the form of such a Glass, and all the World
calcin'd and burnt to ashes, and all the ashes, and sands,
and atoms of the World put into that Glass, it would
not be enough to tell the godly man what his Treasure,
and the Object of his Heart is. A Parrot, or a Stare,
docile Birds, and of pregnant imitation, will sooner be
2025»3 c
i8 The Hour-Glass.
brought to relate to us the wisdom of a Council Table,
then any Ambrose^ or any Chrysostome men that have
Gold and Honey in their Names, shall tell us what the
Sweetness, what the Treasure of Heaven is, and what
that mans peace, that hath set his Heart upon that
Treasure.
1 6. Preaching,
In conci- "TJECAUSE God cals Preaching foolishnesse, you take
'"Sr^i 21 * ^ ^^'^ ^^ ^^^ word, and you thinke Preaching a thing
under you. Hence is it, that you take so much liberty in
censuring and comparing Preacher and Preacher, nay
Sermon and Sermon from the same Preacher ; as though
we preached for wagers, and as though coine were to
be valued from the inscription meerely, and the image,
and the person, and not for the metall. You measure
Lam. 4. 16. all by persons ; and yet, Non erubescitis faciem Sacerdotis,
Tou respect not the person of the Priest, you give not so
much reverence to Gods Ordinance, as he does. In no
Church of Christendome but ours, doth the Preacher
preach uncovered. And for all this good, and humble,
and reverend example, (fit to be continued by us) cannot
we keepe you uncovered till the Text be read. All the
Sermon is not Gods word, but all the Sermon is Gods
Ordinance, and the Text is certainely his word. There is
no salvation but by faith, nor faith but by hearing, nor
hearing but by preaching ; and they that thinke meanliest
of the Keyes of the Church, and speake faintliest of the
Absolution of the Church, will yet allow. That those Keyes
lock, and unlock in Preaching ; That Absolution is con-
ferred, or withheld in Preaching, That the proposing
Preaching. 19
of the promises of the Gospel in preaching, is that binding
and loosing on earth, which bindes and looses in heaven.
And then, though Christ have bid us, Preach the Go j^W Mar. 16.15
to every creature, yet, in his own great Sermon in the
Mount, he hath forbidden us, to give holy things to dogs. Mat. 7 6,
or to cast pearle before swine, lest they trample them, and
turne and rend us. So that if all those manifold and fearfuU
judgements, which swell in every Chapter, and blow
in every verse, and thunder in every line of every Booke
of the Bible, fall upon all them that come hither, as well,
if they turne, and rend, that is, Calumniate us, the person
of the Preacher, as if they trample upon the pearles,
that is, undervalue the Doctrine, and the Ordinance it
selfe ; If his terrible Judgements fall upon every uncharit-
able mis-interpretation of that which is said here, and
upon every irreverence in this place, and in this action ;
Confesse, that though he be the God of your salvation, and
doe answer you, yet, by terrible things doth the God of your
salvation answer you. And confesse it also, as in manners,
and in prayers, and in preaching, so in the holy and blessed
Sacrament.
17. Applause,
niDONIUS APOLLINARIS, (a Bishop himselfe,
^ but whether then or no, I know not) saith of another
Bishop, that hearing even free die ationes repentinas, his
extemporall Sermons, raucus plausor audivi, I poured
my selfe out in loud acclamations, till I was hoarse :
And, to contract this consideration, wee see evidently,
that this fashion continued in the Church, even to Saint
Bernards time. Neither is it left yet in some places,
c 2
20 Applause.
beyond the Seas, where the people doe yet answer the
Preacher, if his questions be applyable to them, and may
induce an answer, with these vocall acclamations, Sir,
toe willy Sir, we will not. And truely wee come too neare
re-inducing this vain glorious fashion, in those often
periodicall murmurings, and noises, which you make,
when the Preacher concludeth any point ; for those
impertinent Interjections swallow up one quarter of
his houre, and many that were not within distance of
hearing the Sermon, will give a censure upon it, according
to the frequencie, or paucitie of these acclamations.
1 8. The Bellman.
HE that will dy with Christ upon Good-Friday, must
hear his own bell toll all Lent ; he that will be
partaker of his passion at last, must conform himself to
his discipline of prayer & fasting before. Is there any man,
that in his chamber hears a bell toll for another man,
and does not kneel down to pray for that dying man ?
and then when his charity breaths out upon another
man, does he not also reflect upon himself, and dispose
himself as if he were in the state of that dying man ?
We begin to hear Christs bell toll now, and is not our
bell in the chime ? We must be in his grave, before we
come to his resurrection, and we must be in his death-bed
before we come to his grave : we must do as he did,
fast and pray, before we can say as he said, that In manus
tuas, Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit. You
would not go into a Medicinal Bath without some pre-
paratives ; presume not upon that Bath, the blood of
Christ Jesus, in the Sacrament then, without preparatives
The Bellman. 21
neither. Neither say to your selves, we shall have
preparatives enough, warnings enough, many more
Sermons before it come to that, and so it is too soon yet ;
you are not sure you shall have more ; not sure you shall
have all this ; not sure you shall be affected with any.
If you be, when you are, remember that as in that good
Custome in these Cities, you hear cheerful street musick
in the winter mornings, but yet there was a sad and doleful
bel-man, that wak'd you, and call'd upon you two or
three hours before that musick came ; so for all that
blessed musick which the servants of God shall present
to you in this place, it may be of use, that a poor bell-man
waked you before, and though but by his noise, prepared
you for their musick.
19. Favourite Scriptures.
ALMOST every man hath his Appetite, and his tast
Jl\. disposed to some kind of meates rather then others ;
He knows what dish he would choose, for his first, and for
his second course. We have often the same disposition
in our spirituall Diet ; a man may have a particular love
towards such or such a book of Scripture, and in such
an affection, I acknowledge, that my spirituall appetite
carries me still, upon the Psalms of David, for a first
course, for the Scriptures of the Old Testament : and
upon the Epistles of Saint Paul, for a second course, for
the New, and my meditations even for these publike
exercises to Gods Church, returne oftnest to these two.
For, as a hearty entertainer offers to others, the meat
which he loves best himself, so doe I oftnest present to
Gods people, in these Congregations, the meditations
22 Favourite Scriptures.
which I feed upon at home, in those two Scriptures.
If a man be asked a reason why he loves one meat better
then another, where all are equally good, (as the books
of Scripture are) he will at least, finde a reason in some
good example, that he sees some man of good tast, and
temperate withall, so do • And for my Diet, I have Saint
Augustines protestation, that he loved the Book of Psalms,
and Saint ChrysostomeSy that he loved Saint Pauls Epistles^
with a particular devotion. I may have another more
particular reason, because they are Scriptures, written
in such forms, as I have been most accustomed to ;
Saint Pauls being Letters, and Davids being Poems : for,
God gives us, not onely that which is meerly neces-
sary, but that which is convenient too ; He does not
onely feed us, hut feed us with marrow, and with fatnesse ;
he gives us our instruction in cheerfuU forms, not in
a sowre, and sullen, and angry, and unacceptable way,
but cheerfully, in Psalms, which is also a limited, and
a restrained form ; Not in an Oration, not in Prose, but in
Psalms ; which is such a form as is both curious, and
requires diligence in the making, and then when it is
made, can have nothing, no syllable taken from it, nor
added to it : Therefore is Gods will dehvered to us in
Psalms, that we might have it the more cheerfully, and
that we might have it the more certainly, because where
all the words are numbred, and measured, and weighed,
the whole work is the lesse subject to falsification, either
by substraction or addition. God speaks to us in oratione
strictd, in a limited, in a diligent form ; Let us (not) speak
to him in oratione solutd ; not pray, not preach, not hear,
slackly, suddenly, unadvisedly, extemporally, occasionally,
Favourite Scriptures. 23
indillgently ; but let all our speech to him, be weighed,
and measured in the weights of the Sanctuary, let us be
content to preach, and to hear within the compasse
of our Articles, and content to pray in those formes
which the Church hath meditated for us, and recom-
mended to us.
20. ^he Psalms.
THE Psalmes are the Manna of the Church. As Wisd.16.20.
Manna tasted to every man like that that he liked
best, so doe the Psalmes minister Instruction, and satis-
faction, to every man, in every emergency and occasion.
David was not onely a cleare Prophet of Christ himselfe,
but a Prophet of every particular Christian ; He foretels
what I, what any shall doe, and suffer, and say. And
as the whole booke of Psalmes is Oleum e^usum^ (as the Cant. i. 3.
Spouse speaks of the name of Christ) an Oyntment
powred out upon all sorts of sores, A Searcloth that
souples all bruises, A Balme that searches all wounds ;
so are there some certaine Psalmes, that are Imperiall
Psalmes, that command over all affections, and spread
themselves over all occasions, Catholique, universall
Psalmes, that apply themselves to all necessities. This
is one of those ; for, of those Constitutions which are Constitut.
called ApostolicaU, one is. That the Church should ^P°^^°^-
meet every day, to sing this Psalme. And accordingly,
S. Chrysostome testifies, That it was decreed, and ordained Chrysost.
by the Primitive Fathers, that no day should passe
without the pubHque singing of this Psalme. Under
both these obHgations, (those ancient Constitutions,
called the Apostles, and those ancient Decrees made by
24 The Psalms.
the primitive Fathers) belongs to me, who have my part
in the service of Gods Church, the especiall meditation,
and recommendation of this Psalme. And under a third
obHgation too, That it is one of those five psalmes, the
daily rehearsing v^^hereof, is injoyned to me, by the
Constitutions of this Church, as five other are to every
other person of our body. As the whole booke is Manna,
so these five Psalmes are my Gomer, which I am to fill
and empty every day of this Manna.
21. Sanctified Passions,
y4S the Prophets, and the other Secretaries of the
•lIl holy Ghost in penning the books of Scriptures,
do for the most part retain, and express in their writings
some impressions, and some air of their former professions ;
those that had been bred in Courts and Cities, those
that had been Shepheards and Heardsmen, those that
had been Fishers, and so of the rest ; ever inserting
into their writings some phrases, some metaphors, some
allusions, taken from that profession which they had
exercised before ; so that soul, that hath been transported
upon any particular worldly pleasure, when it is entirely
turn'd upon God, and the contemplation of his all-
sufficiency and abundance, doth find in God fit subject,
and just occasion to exercise the same affection piously,
and rehgiously, which had before so sinfully transported,
and possesst it.
A covetous person, who is now truly converted to God,
he will exercise a spiritual covetousness still, he will
desire to have him all, he vnVi have good security, the
seal and assurance of the holy Ghost ; and he will have
Sanctified Passions. 25
his security often renewed by new testimonies, and
increases of those graces in him ; he will have witnesses
enough ; he will have the testimonie of aU the world,
by his good hfe and conversation ; he will gain every
way at Gods hand, he will have wages of God, for he will
be his servant ; he will have a portion from God, for he
will be his Son ; he will have a reversion, he will be sure
that his name is in the book of Hfe ; he will have pawns,
the seals of the Sacraments, nay, he will have a present
possession ; all that God hath promised, all that Christ
hath purchased, all that the Holy Ghost hath the steward-
ship and dispensation of, he will have all in present, by
the appropriation and investiture of an actual and
applying faith ; a covetous person converted will be
spiritually covetous still.
So will a voluptuous man, who is turned to God,
find plenty and deHciousnes enough in him, to feed his
soul, as with marrow, and with fatness, as David expresses
it ; and so an angry and passionate man, will find zeal
enough in the house of God to eat him up.
All affections which are common to all men, and those
to which in particular, particular men have been addicted
to, shall not only be justly employed upon God, but also
securely employed, because we cannot exceed, nor go
too far in imploying them upon him. According to this
Rule, St. Paul, who had been so vehement a persecutor,
had ever his thoughts exercised upon that ; and thereupon
after his conversion, he fulfils the rest of the sufferings
of Christ in his flesh, he suffers most, he makes most Col. i. 24.
mention of his suffering of any of the Apostles.
And according to this Rule too, Solomon, whose
26 Sanctified Passions.
disposition was amorous, and excessive in the love of
v^romen, when he turn'd to God, he departed not utterly
from his old phrase and language, but having put a new, and
a spiritual tincture, and form and habit in all his thoughts,
and words, he conveys all his loving approaches and
applications to God, and all Gods gracious answers to
his amorous soul, into songs, and Epithalamians, and
meditations upon contracts, and marriages between
God and his Church, and between God and his soul ;
as we see so evidently in all his other writings, and
particularly in this text, / love them, &c.
In which words is expressed all that belongs to love,
all which, is to desire, and to enjoy ; for to desire without
fruition, is a rage, and to enjoy without desire is a stupid-
ity : In the first alone we think of nothing, but that
which we then would have ; and in the second alone,
we are not for that, when we have it ; in the first, we
are without it ; in the second, we were as good as we
were, for we have no pleasure in it ; nothing then can
give us satisfaction, but when those two concurr, amare
and fruty to love and to enjoy.
22. Styl^ and Language.
THE Holy Ghost in penning the Scriptures delights
himself, not only with a propriety, but with a
delicacy, and harmony, and melody of language ; with
height of Metaphors, and other figures, which may work
greater impressions upon the Readers, and not with
barbarous, or triviaU, or market, or homely language :
It is true, that when the Grecians, and the Romanes, and
S. Augustine himselfe, undervalued and despised the
Style and Language. 27
Scriptures, because of the poore and beggerly phrase,
that they seemed to be written in, the Christians could
say Httle against it, but turned still upon the other safer
way, wee consider the matter, and not the phrase, because
for the most part, they had read the Scriptures only in
Translations, which could not maintaine the Majesty,
nor preserve the elegancies of the Originall.
Their case was somewhat like ours, at the beginning
of the Reformation ; when, because most of those men
who laboured in that Reformation, came out of the
Romane Church, and there had never read the body
of the Fathers at large ; but only such ragges and frag-
ments of those Fathers, as were patcht together in their
Decretat's, and Decretals, and other such Common
placers, for their purpose, and to serve their turne,
therefore they were loath at first to come to that issue,
to try controversies by the Fathers. But as soon as our
men that imbraced the Reformation, had had time to
reade the Fathers, they were ready enough to joyne
with the Adversary in that issue : and still we protest,
that we accept that evidence, the testimony of the
Fathers, and refuse nothing, which the Fathers unanimly
delivered, for matter of faith ; and howsoever at the
beginning some men were a httle ombrageous, and
startling at the name of the Fathers, yet since the Fathers
have been well studied, for more then threescore yeares,
we have behaved our selves with more reverence towards
the Fathers, and more confidence in the Fathers, then
they of the Romane perswasion have done, and been lesse
apt to suspect or quarrell their Books, or to reprove their
Doctrines, then our Adversaries have been. So, howsoever
28 Style and Language.
the Christians at first were fain to sink a little undei
that imputation, that their Scriptures have no Majesty,
no eloquence, because these embellishments could not
appeare in Translations, nor they then read Originalls,
yet now, that a perfect knowledge of those languages
hath brought us to see the beauty and the glory of those
Books, we are able to reply to them, that there are not
in all the world so eloquent Books as the Scriptures ;
and that nothing is more demonstrable, then that if we
would take all those Figures, and Tropes, which are
collected out of secular Poets, and Orators, we may give
higher, and HveHer examples, of every one of those
Figures, out of the Scriptures, then out of all the Greek
and Latine Poets, and Orators ; and they mistake it
much, that thinke, that the Holy Ghost hath rather
chosen a low, and barbarous, and homely style, then an
eloquent, and powerfull manner of expressing himselfe.
23. Style of the Holy Ghost,
ExuUatio. ^T^HE Holy Ghost is an eloquent Author, a vehement,
A and an abundant Author, but yet not luxuriant ;
he is far from a penurious, but as far from a superfluous
style too.
24. Compliments,
WE have a word now denizened, and brought into
familiar use amongst us. Complement ; and for
the most part, in an ill sense ; so it is, when the heart
of the speaker doth not answer his tongue ; but God
forbid but a true heart, and a faire tongue might very
well consist together : As vertue it self receives an
addition, hy being in a faire body, so do good intentions
Compliments. 29
of the heart, by being expressed in faire language. That
man aggravates his condemnation, that gives me good
words, and meanes ill ; but he gives me a rich Jewell, and
in a faire Cabinet, he gives me precious wine, and in
a clean glasse, that intends well, and expresses his good
intentions well too. If I beleeve a faire speaker, I have
comfort a little while, though he deceive me, but a froward
and peremptory refuser, unsaddles me at first. I remem-
ber a vulgar Spanish Author, who writes, the losephina,
the life of loseph, the husband of the blessed Virgin
Mary, who moving that question, why that Virgin is
never called by any style of Majesty, or Honour in the
Scriptures, he sayes. That if after the declaring of hei
to be the Mother of God, he had added any other Title,
the Holy Ghost had not been a good Courtier, (as his
very word is) nor exercised in good language, and he
thinks that had been a defect in the Holy Ghost in
himself. He meanes surely the same that Epifhanius
doth. That in naming the Saints of God, and especially
the blessed Virgin, we should alwayes give them the best
Titles that are applyable to them ; Quis unquam ausus, Epiphan.
(sales he) proferre nomen Marice, iff non statim addidit Haeres. 78.
virgo ? Who ever durst utter the name of that Mary,
without that addition of incomparable honour, ^he
Virgin Mary ?
That Spanish Author need not be suspitious of the
Holy Ghost in that kinde, that he is no good Courtier
so ; for in all the books of the world, you shall never reade
so civill language, nor so faire expressions of themselves
to one another, as in the Bible : When Abraham shall
call himself dust, and ashes, (and indeed if the Son of
30 Compliments.
God were a worme and no man, what was Ahraham F)
If God shall call this Abraham, this Dust, this Worme
of the dust, ^ he friend oj God, (and all friendship implyes
a parity, an equality in something ;) when David shall
call himself ajiea, and a dead dog, even in respect of ^aul,
and God shall call David, A man according to his own
hearty when God shall call us, The Apple oj his own eye,
The Seale upon his own right hand, who would go farther
for an Example, or farther then that example for a Rule,
of faire accesses, of civill approaches, of sweet and
honourable entrances into the affections of them with
whom they were to deale ?
25. Lying at Aix,
IYING at Aix, at Aquisgrane, a well known Town
-i in Germany, and fixing there some time, for the
benefit of those Baths, I found my self in a house, which
was divided into many families, & indeed so large as it
might have been a little Parish, or, at least, a great lim
of a great one ; But it was of no Parish : for when
I ask'd who lay over my head, they told me a family of
Anabaptists ; And who over theirs ? Another family
of Anabaptists ; and another family of Anabaptists over
theirs, and the whole house, was a nest of these boxes ;
several artificers ; all Anabaptists ; I ask'd in what room
they met, for the exercise of their ReHgion ; I was told
they never met : for, though they were all Anabaptists,
yet for some coUaterall differences, they detested one
another, and, though many of them, were near in bloud,
& alliance to one another, yet the son would excommuni-
cate the father, in the room above him, and the Nephew
Lying at Aix. 31
the Uncle. As S. John is said to have quitted that Bath,
into which Cerinthus the Heretique came, so did I this
house ; I remembred that Hezekiah in his sicknesse,
turn'd himself in his bed, to pray towards that wall,
that look'd to lerusalem ; And that Daniel in Babylon,
when he pray'd in his chamber, opened those windows
that look'd towards lerusalem ; for, in the first dedication
of the Temple, at lerusalem, there is a promise annext
to the prayers made towards the temple : And I began
to think, how many roofs, how many floores of separation,
were made between God and my prayers in that house.
And such is this multipHcity of sins, which we consider
to be got over us, as a roof, as an arch, many arches,
many roofs : for, though these habitual! sins, be so of
kin, as that they grow from one another, and yet for all
this kindred excommunicate one another, (for covetous-
nesse will not be in the same roome with prodigality)
yet it is but going up another stair, and there's the tother
Anabaptist ; it is but living a few years, and then the
prodigall becomes covetous. All the way, they separate
us from God, as a roof, as an arch ; & then, an arch
will bear any weight ; An habituall sin got over our head
as an arch will stand under any sicknesse, any dishonour,
any judgement of God, and never sink towards any
humiliation.
26. Farewell on Going to Germany,
NOW to make up a circle, by returning to our first
word, remember : As we remember God, so for his
sake, let us remember one another. In my long absence,
and far distance from hence, remember me, as I shall do
32 Farewell on Going to Germany.
you in the ears of that God, to whom the farthest East,
and the farthest West are but as the right and left ear
in one of us ; we hear with both at once, and he hears
in both at once ; remember me, not my abiUties ; for
when I consider my Apostleship that I was sent to you,
I Cor. 15. 9. I am in St. Pauls quorum, quorum ego sum minimus, the
least of them that have been sent ; and when I consider
my infirmities, I am in his quorum, in another commission,
I Tim.1.15, another way. Quorum ego maximus ; the greatest of
them ; but remember my labors, and endeavors, at least
my desire, to make sure your salvation. And I shall
remember your religious cheerfulness in hearing the word,
and your christianly respect towards all them that bring
that word unto you, and towards my self in particular
far bove my merit. And so as your eyes that stay here,
and mine that must be far of, for all that distance shall
meet every morning, in looking upon that same Sun,
and meet every night, in looking upon the same Moon ;
so our hearts may meet morning and evening in that God,
which sees and hears every where ; that you may come
thither to him with your prayers, that I, (if I may be of
use for his glory, and your edification in this place) may
be restored to you again ; and may come to him with my
prayer, that what Paul soever plant amongst you, or
what Apollos soever water, God himself will give the
increase : That if I never meet you again till we have all
passed the gate of death, yet in the gates of heaven,
I may meet you all, and there say to my Saviour and your
Saviour, that which he said to his Father and our Father,
Of those whom thou hast given me, have I not lost one.
Remember me thus, you that stay in this Kingdome
Farewell on Going to Germany. 33
of peace, where no sword is drawn, but the sword of
Justice, as I shal remember you in those Kingdomes,
where ambition on one side, and a necessary defence
from unjust persecution on the other side hath drawn
many swords ; and Christ Jesus remember us all in his
Kingdome, to which, though we must sail through
a sea, it is the sea of his blood, where no soul suffers
shipwrack ; though we must be blown with strange
winds, with sighs and groans for our sins, yet it is the
Spirit of God that blows all this wind, and shall blow
away all contrary winds of diffidence or distrust in Gods
mercy; where we shall be all Souldiers of one Army,
the Lord of Hostes, and children of one Quire, the God
of Harmony and consent : where all Clients shall retain
but one Counsellor, our Advocate Christ Jesus, not
present him any other fee but his own blood, and yet
every Client have a Judgment on his side, not only in
a not guilty, in the remission of his sins, but in a Venite
henedicti, in being called to the participation of an
immortal Crown of glory : where there shall be no
difference in affection, nor in mind, but we shall agree
as fully & perfectly in our Jllelujah, and gloria in
excdcis, as God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost agreed
in the faciamus hominem at first ; where we shall end,
and yet begin but then ; where we shall have continual
rest, and yet never grow lazie ; where we shall be stronger
to resist, and yet have no enemy ; where we shall live
and never die, where we shall meet & never part.
.1025.3
34 The Vicar of St. Dunstan's.
27. ^he Vicar of St. Dunstan^s.
Onus, IVT^^ ^^ ^ Matrimoniall state, there is Onus and
X^ Honos, a burden to be born, an Honour to be
received. The burden of the sinnes of the zvhole world,
was a burden onely for Christs shoulders ; but the sinnes
of this Parish, will I7 upon my shoulders, if I be silent, or
if I be indulgent, and denounce not Gods Judgement
upon those sinnes. It will be a burden to us, if we doe
not, and God knowes it is a burden to us, when we do
denounce those Judgements. Esay felt, and groned
under this burden, when he cried Onus Babylonis, Onus
Moah, and Onus Damasci, O the burden of Babylon, and
the burden of Damascus, and so the other Prophets grone
often under this burden, in contemplation of other
places : It burdened, it troubled, it grieved the holy
Prophets of God, that they must denounce Gods judge-
ments, though upon Gods enemies. We reade of a com-
passionate Generall, that looking upon his great Army,
from a hill, fell into a bitter weeping, upon this considera-
tion, that in fiftie or sixtie yeares hence, there will not
be a man of these that fight now, alive upon the earth.
What Sea could furnish mine eyes with teares enough,
to poure out, if I should think, that of all this Congrega-
tion, which lookes me in the face now, I should not meet
one, at the Resurrection, at the right hand of God !
And for so much as concerns me, it is all one, if none of
you be saved, as if none of you be saved by my help, my
means, my assistance, my preaching. If I put you upon
miraculous wayes, to be saved without hearing, or upon
extraordinary wayes to be saved by hearing others^ this
The Vicar of St. Dunstan's. 35
shall aggravate my condemnation, though you be saved :
How much more heavy must my burden be, if by my
neghgence both I and you perish too ? So then this
caUing, this marriage, is a burden every way. When at
any midnight I heare a bell toll from this steeple, must
not I say to my selfe, what have I done at any time for
the instructing or rectifying of that mans Conscience,
who lieth there now ready to deliver up his own account,
and my account to Almighty God ? If he be not able
to make a good account, he and I are in danger, because
I have not enabled him ; and though he be for himself
able, that delivers not me, if I have been no instrument
for the doing of it. Many, many burdens he upon this
calling, upon this marriage ; but our recompense is, that
marriage is as well an honourable as a painefull calling.
28. Funeral Sermon on Magdalen Herbert^
Lady Danvers^ 1627.
I PROPOSE to my selfe, and to this Congregation,
two Workes for this day ; That wee may walke
together two miles, in this Sabbath dales journey ; First,
Jo instruct the Living, and then Lo commemorate the Dead.
Which office, as I ought, so I should have performed
sooner, but that this sad occasion surprized me under
other Pre-obligations and Pre-contracts, in the services
of mine own Profession, which could not be excused,
nor avoided. And being come now to this double worke,
whether I looke up to the Throne of Heaven, and that
Firmament, for my first worke, The Instruction of the
Living, or downe to the stones of the Grave, and that
D2
36 Funeral Sermon on
pavement, for 1117 second worke, The commemoration of
the Deady I need no other words than these which I have
read to you, for both purposes ; For, to assist the Resur-
rection of your soules, I say. And to assure the Resurrec-
tion of your bodies, she saies, Neverthelesse, we according
to his promise looke for new Heavens, and new Earthy
wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse. . . .
Close we here this Booke of life, from which we have
had OUT first Text, And, Surge, qu^e dormis in pulvere.
Arise, thou Booke of Death ; thou, that sleepest in this
consecrated dust, and hast beene going into dust, now,
almost a Moneth of dayes, almost a Lunarie yeere, and
dost deserve such Anniversaries, such quick returnes of
Periods, and a Commemoration, in every such yeere, in
every Moneth ; Arise thou, and bee another Commentary
to us ; and tell us, what this new Heaven, and new Earth
is, in which, now, thou dweVst, with that Righteousnesse.
But wee doe not invoke thee, as thou art a Saint in Heaven ;
Appeare to us, as thou didst appeare to us a moneth agoe ;
At least, appeare in thy history ; appeare in our memory ;
that when every one of us have lookt upon thee, by his
owne glasse, and scene thee in his owne Interest, such, as
thou wast to him, That when one shall have scene thee,
the best wife. And a larger number, the best mother. And
more then they, a whole Towne, the best "Neighbour, and
more then a Towne, a large body of noble friends, the
best Friend, And more than all they, all the world, the
best example, when thou hast received this Testimony
from the Militant Church, as thou hast the recompence
of all this, in thy Blessed Soule, in the Triumphant,
yet, because thy body is still within these Walls, bee still
Magdalen Herbert, Lady Danvers. 37
content, to bee one of this Congregation, and to heare
some parts of this 7ext re-applied unto thee.
Our first word, Neverthelesse, puts us first upon this
consideration, That she hv'd in a time, wherein this
Prophecie of Saint Peter, in this Chaper, was over-
abundantly perform'd. That there should bee scoffers,
jesters in divine things, and matters appertaining to Gody
and his Religion. For, now, in these our dayes, excellency
of Wit, Hes in frophanenesse ; he is the good Spirit, that
dares abuse God ; And hee good company, that makes
his company the worse, or keepes them from goodnesse.
This being the Aire, and the Complexion of the Wit
of her Times, and her incHnation, and conversation,
naturally, cheerfull, and merry, and loving facetiousnesse,
and sharpnesse of wit, Neverthelesse, who ever saw her,
who ever heard her countenance a prophane speech,
how sharpe soever, or take part with wit, to the prejudice
of Godlinesse ? From this I testify her holy cheerfulnesse,
and Religious alacrity, (one of the best evidences of a good
conscience^ That as shee came to this place, God^s house
oj Prayer, duly, not onely every Sabbath, when it is the
house of other exercises, as well as of Prayer, but even
in those weeke-dayes, when it was onely a house of Prayer,
as often as these doores were open for a holy Convocation,
And, as she ever hastned her family and her company
hither, with that cheerfull provocation : For God's sake
let's go, for God's sake let's bee there at the Confession : So
her selfe, vnth her whole family, (as a Church in that elect
Ladie's house, to whom John writ the second Epistle) did,
every Sabbath, shut up the day, at night, with a generall,
with a cheerfull singing ofPsalmes ; This Act of cheerful-
38 Funeral Sermon on
nesse, was still the last Act of that family, united In it
selfe, and with God. God loves a cheerfull giver ; Much
more, a cheerfull giver of himselfe. Truly, he that can
close his eyes, in a holy cheerfulnesse, every night, shall
meet no distemper'd, no inordinate, no irregular sadnesse,
then, when God, by the hand of Death, shall close his eyes,
at last.
But, returne we againe to our Neverthelesse ; You may
remember, that this word in our former part, put us first
upon the consideration of Scoffers at the day of judgement,
and then, upon the consideration of Terrours, and sad
Apprehensions at that day. And for her, some sicknesses,
in the decUnation of her yeeres, had opened her to an
overflowing of Melancholie ; Not that she ever lay under
that water, but yet, had sometimes, some high Tides of
it ; and, though this distemper would sometimes cast
a cloud, and some halfe damps upon her naturall cheer-
fulnesse, and sociablenesse, and sometimes induce darke
and sad apprehensions, Neverthelesse, who ever heard,
or saw in her, any such effect of Melancholy as to murmure,
or repine, or dispute upon any of Gods proceedings, or
to lodge a Jealousie, or Suspition of his mercy, and
goodnesse towards her, and all hers ? The Wit of our
time is Prophanenesse ; Neverthelesse, shee, that lov'd
that, hated this ; Occasional! Melancholy had taken some
hold in her, Neverthelesse, that never Ecclipst, never
interrupted her cheerfull confidence, & assurance in
God.
Our second word denotes the person : We, Neverthelesse
We ; And, here in this consideration, Neverthelesse
shee. This may seeme to promise some picture, some
Magdalen Herbert, Lady Danvers. 39
Character of her person. But shee was no stranger to
them that heare me now ; nor scarce to any that may
heare of this hereafter, which you heare now, and there-
fore, much needes not, to that purpose. Yet, to that
purpose, of her person, and personall circumstances, thus
much I may remember some, and informe others. That
from that Worthy family, whence shee had her original!
extraction, and birth, she suckt that love of hospitality, *
{hospitality, which hath celebrated that family, in many
Generations, successively) which dwelt in her, to her
end. But in that ground, her Fathers family, shee grew
not many yeeres. Transplanted young from thence,
by mariage, into another family of Honour, as a flower t
that doubles and multipHes by transplantation, she
multipHed into ten Children, Joh^s number ; and Job^s
distribution, (as shee, her selfe would very often remem-
ber) seven sonnes, and three daughters. And, in this
ground, shee grew not many yeeres more, then were
necessary, for the producing of so many plants. And
being then left to chuse her own ground in her Widow-
hood, having at home establisht, and increast the estate,
with a faire, & noble Addition, proposing to her selfe,
as her principall care, the education of her children, to
advance that, shee came with them, and dwelt with
them in the Universitie ; and recompenc't to them, the
losse of a Father, in giving them two mothers ; her owne
* Daughter of Sir Rich., sister of Sir Fran., Aunt of Sir Richard
Neuport, of Arcol.
t Rich. Herbert, of Blachehall, in Monlgomery Esqu. lineally
descended from that great Sir Rich. Herbert in Ed, 4. time, and father
of Ed. Lord Herbert Baron c/ Castle- Island, late Embassador in France,
and new of his majesties Councel of Warre.
40 Funeral Sermon on
personall care, and the advantage of that place ; where
shee contracted a friendship, with divers reverend persons,
of eminency, and estimation there ; which continued
to their ends. And as this was her greatest businesse,
so she made this state, a large Period ; for in this state
of widowhood, shee continued twelve yeeres. And then,
returning to a second marriage, that second marriage turnes
us to the consideration of another personall circumstance ;
Sir lohn that is, the naturall endowments of her person ; Which were
onely such, as that, (though her virtues were his principall
brother to object) jet, even these, her personall, and naturall, endow-
o/Danby. ments, had their part, in drawing, and fixing the affections
of such a person, as by his birth, and youth, and interest
in great favours in Court, and legall proximity to great
possessions in the world, might justly have promist
him acceptance, in what family soever, or upon what
person soever, hee had directed, and plac't his Affections.
He plac't them here ; neither diverted then, nor repented
since. For, as the well tuning of an Instrument, makes
higher and lower strings, of one sound, so the inequality
of their yeeres, was thus reduc't to an evennesse, that
shee had a cheerfulnesse, agreeable to his youth, and he
had a sober staidnesse, conformable to her more yeeres.
So that, I would not consider her, at so much more then
forty, nor him, at so much lesse than thirty, at that time,
but, as their persons were made one, and their fortunes
made one, by mariage, so I would put their yeeres into
one number, and finding a sixty betweene them, thinke
them thirty a peece ; for, as twins of one houre, they
liv'd. God, who join'd them, then, having also separated
them now, may make their yeres even, this other way
Magdalen Herbert, Lady Danvers. 41
too ; by giving him, as many yeerea after her going
out of this World, as he had given her, before his comming
into it ; and then, as many more, as God may receive
Glory, and the World, Benefit, by that Addition ; That
so, as at their first meeting, she was, at their last meeting,
he may bee the elder person.
To this consideration of her person then, belongs this,
that God gave her such a comelinesse, as, though shee w^ere
not proud of it, yet she v^as so content v^ith it, as not
to goe about to mend it, by any^r^ And for Yiqi Attire,
(which is another personall circumstance), it was never
sumptuous, never sordid ; But alwayes agreeable to her
quality, and agreeable to her company ; Such as shee
might, and such, as others, such as shee was, did weare.
For in such things of indifferency in themselves, many
times, a singularity may be a little worse, then a fellowship
in that, which is not altogether so good. It may be
worse, nay, it may be a worse pride, to weare worse things,
than others doe. Her rule was mediocrity.
And, as to the consideration of the house, belongs the
consideration of the furniture too, so in these personall
circumstances, we consider hei fortune, her estate. Which
was in a faire, and noble proportion, deriv'd from her
first husband, and fairely, and nobly dispenc'd, by herselfe,
with the allowance of her second. In which shee was one
of God's true Stewards, and Almoners too. There are
dispositions, which had rather give presents, than pay
debts ; and rather doe good to strangers, than to those,
that are neerer to them. But shee alwayes thought the
care of her family, a debt, and upon that, for t\iQ provision,
for the order, for the proportions, in a good largenesse,
42 Funeral Sermon on
shee plac't her first thoughts, of that kinde. For, for
OUT families, we are Gods Stewards ; For those without,
we are his Almoners, In which office, shee gave not at
some great dayes, or some solemne goings abroad, but, as
Gods true Almoners, the Sunne, and Moone, that passe on,
in a continuall doing of good, as shee receiv'd her daily
bread from God, so, daily, she distributed, and imparted
it to others. In which office, though she never turn'd
her face from those, who in a strict inquisition, might
be call'd idle, and vagrant Beggers, yet shee ever look't
first, upon them, who laboured, and whose labours could
not overcome the difficulties, nor bring in the necessities
of this life ; and to the sweat of their hrowes, shee contri-
buted, even her wine, and her oyle, and any thing that
was, and any thing, that might be, if it were not, prepar'd
for her owne table. And as her house was a Court, in the
conversation of the best, and an Almeshouse, in feeding
the poore ; so was it also an Hospitall, in ministring
releefe to the sicke. And truly, the love of doing good
in this kind, of ministring to the sicke, was the bony,
that was spread over all her bread ; the Aire, the Perfume,
that breath'd over all her house ; The disposition that
dwelt in those her children, and those her kindred,
which dwelt with her, so bending this way, that the
studies and knowledge of one, the hand of another, and
purse of all, and a joynt-facility, and opennesse, and
accessiblenesse to persons of the meanest quality, con-
cur'd in this blessed Act of Charity, to minister releefe to
the sicke. Of which, my selfe, who, at that time, had the
favour to bee admitted into that family, can, and must
testifie this, that when the late heavy visitation tell
Magdalen Herbert, Lady Danvers. 43
hotly upon this Towne, when every doore was shut up,
and, lest Death should enter into the house, every house
was made a Sepulchre of them that were in it, then, then,
in that time of infection, divers persons visited v^rith that
infection, had their releefe, and releefe applicable to that
very infection, from this house.
Now when I have said thus much, (rather thus little)
of her person, as of a house. That the ground upon which
it was built, was the family where she was borne, and then,
where she was married, and then, the time of her zvidozv-
hood, and lastly, her last marriage. And that the house
it selfe, was those fair bodily endowments, which God
had bestow'd upon her. And the furniture of that house,
the fortune, and the use of that fortune, of which God
had made her Steward and Almoner, when I shall also
have said, that the Inhabitants of this house, (rather the
servants, for they did but wait upon Religion in her)
were those married couples, of morall virtues. Conversation
married with a Retirednesse, Facility married with a
Reservednesse, Alacrity married with a Thoughtfulnesse,
and Largenesse married with a Providence, I may have
leave to depart from this consideration of her person,
and personall circumstances, lest by insisting longer upon
them, I should seeme to pretend, to say all the good,
that might bee said of her ; But that's not in my purpose ;
yet, onely therefore, because it is not in my power ; For
I would do her all right, and all you that good, if I could,
to say all. But, I haste to an end, in consideration of
some things, that appertaine more expressly to me,
then these personall, or civill, or morall things doe.
In those, the next is, the secundum promissa, that shee
44 Funeral Sermon on
govern'd herself, according to his promises ; his promises,
laid downe in his Scriptures. For, as the rule of all her
civill Actions, was Religion, so, the rule of her Religion,
was the Scripture ; And, her rule, for her particular
understanding of the Scripture, was the Church. Shee
never diverted towards the Papist, in undervaluing the
Scripture ; nor towards the Separatist, in undervaluing
the Church. But in the doctrine, and discipline of that
Church, in which, God seal'd her, to himselfe, in Baptisme,
shee brought up her children, shee assisted her family,
she dedicated her soule to God in her Hfe, and surrendered
it to him in her death ; And, in that forme of Common
Prayer, which is ordain'd by that Church, and to which
she had accustom'd her selfe, with her family, twice
every day, she joyn'd with that company, which was
about her death-bed, in answering to every part thereof,
which the Congregation is directed to answer to, with
a cleere understanding, with a constant memory, with
a distinct voyce, not two hours before she died.
According to this promise, that is, the will of God
manifested in the Scriptures, She expected ; Shee expected
this, that she hath received ; Gods Physicke, and Gods
Musicke ; a Christianly death. For, death, in the old
Testament was a Commination ; but in the new Testa-
ment, death is a Promise ; When there was a Super-dying,
a death upon the death, a Morte upon the Morieris,
a Spirituall death after the bodily, then wee died according
to Gods threatening ; Now, when by the Gospell, that
second death is taken off, though wee die still, yet we die
according to his Promise, That's a part of his mercy, and
his Promise, which his ApostU gives us from him, That
Magdalen Herbert, Lady Danvers. 45
wee shall all bee changed ; For, after that promise^ that 1C0r.15.st.
change, follow's that triumphant Acclamation, O death
where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory P Consider
us fallen in Adam, and wee are miserable, that wee must
die ; but consider us restored, and redintegrated in
Christ, wee were more miserable if we might not die ;
Wee lost the earthly Paradise by death then ; but wee
get not Heaven, but by death, now. This shee expected
till it came, and embrac't it when it came. How may we
thinke, shee was joy'd to see that face, that Angels delight
to looke upon, the face of her Saviour, that did not abhor
the face of his fearfuUest Messenger, Death ? Shee
shew'd no feare of his face, in any change of her owne ;
but died without any change of countenance, or posture ;
without any strugling, any disorder ; but her Death-bed
was as quiet, as her Grave. To another Magdalen,
Christ said upon earth, Touch me not, for I am not ascended.
Being ascended now, to his glory, and she being gone up
to him, after shee had awaited his leisure, so many yeeres,
as that more, would soone have growne to bee vexation,
and sorrow, as her last words here, were, / submit my will
to the will of God ; so wee doubt not, but the first word
which she heard there, was that Euge, from her Saviour ,
Well done good and faithfull servant; enter into thy
masters joy.
Shee expected that ; dissolution of body, and soule ;
and rest in both, from the incumbrances, and tentations
of this world. But yet, shee is in expectation still ; StiU
a Reversionarie ; and a Reversionary upon a long life ;
the whole world must die, before she come to a possession
of this Reversion ; which is a Glorified body in the Resur-
46 Funeral Sermon on
rection. In which expectation, she return's to her former
charity ; shee will not have that, till all wee, shall have it,
as well as shee ; She eat not her morsels alone, in her life,
Job 31. 17. (as 'J oh speakes) She lookes not for the glory of the Resur-
rection alone, after her death. But when all wee, shall
have been mellowd in the earth, many yeeres, or chang'd
in the Aire, in the twinkling of an eye, {God, knowes
which) That hody upon which you tread now. That
hody which now, whilst I speake, is mouldering, and
crumbling into lesse, and lesse dust, and so hath some
^notion, though no lije, That hody, which was the ^aher-
nacle of a holy Soule, and a Temple of the holy Ghost,
That hody that was eyes to the blinde, and hands, and
feet to the lame, whilst it hv'd, and being dead, is so still,
by having beene so lively an example, to teach others,
to be so. That hody at last, shall have her last expectation
satisfied, and dwell hodily, with that Righteousnesse, in
these new Heavens, and new Earth, for ever, and ever,
and ever, and infinite, and super-infinite evers. Wee end
all, with the valediction of the Spouse to Christ : His
Cact. 8. 3. left hand is under my head, and his right emhraces mee,
was the Spouses valediction, and good night to Christ
then, when she laid her selfe down to sleep in the strength
of his Mandrakes, and in the power of his Spices, as it
is exprest there ; that is, in the infiuence of his mercies.
Beloved, every good Soule is the spouse of Christ. And
this good Soule, being thus laid downe to sleepe in his
peace, His left hand under her head, gathering, and
composing, and preserving her dust for future Glory ;
His right hand emhracing her, assuming, and estabHshing
her soule in present Glory, in his name, and in her hehalfe,
Magdalen Herbert, Lady Danvers. 47
I say that, to all you, which Christ sayes there, in the
behalfe of that Spouse, Adjuro vos, I adjure you, I charge
you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that yee wake her not, till
she please. The words are directed to the daughters,
rather than to the sons of Jerusalem, because for the
most part, the aspersions that women receive, either in
Morall or Religious actions, proceed from women them-
selves. Therefore, Adjuro vos, I charge you, O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, wake her not. Wake hei not,
with any halfe calumnies, with any whisperings ; But if
you wil wake her, wake her, and keepe her awake with an
active imitation, of her Morall, and her Holy virtues.
That so her example working upon you, and the number
of Gods Saints, being, the sooner, by this blessed example,
fulfiPd, wee may all meet, and meet quickly in that
kingdome, which hers, and our Saviour, hath purchac't
for us all, with the inestimable price, of his incorruptible
bloud. To which glorious Sonne of God, &c.
29. Death of Elizabeth and Accession of James 7.
GODS hand hath been abundant towards us, in raising
Ministers of State, so qualified, and so endowed ;
and such Princes as have fastned their friendships, and
conferred their favors upon such persons. We celebrate,
seasonably, opportunely, the thankful acknowledgement
of these mercies, this day : This day, which God made
for us, according to the pattern of hi^ first days in the
Creation ; where, Vesper i^ mane dies unus, the evening
first, and then the morning made up the day ; for, here
the saddest night, and the joyfuUest morning, that ever
the daughters of this Island saw, made up this day.
48 Death of Elizabeth and
Consider the tears of Richmond this night, and the joys
of London^ at this place, at this time, in the morning ;
and we shall find Prophecy even in that saying of the
Poet, Nocte pluit tota, showers of rain all night, of weeping
for our Sovereign ; and we would not be comforted.
Matt a. 18. because she was not : And yet, redeunt spectacula mane,
the same hearts, the same eyes, the same hands were all
directed upon recognitions, and acclamations of her
successor in the morning : And when every one of you
in the City, were running up and down like Ants with their
eggs bigger then themselves, every man with his bags,
to seek where to hide them safely, Almighty God shed
down his Spirit of Unity, dindi recollecting, and reposedness,
and acquiescence upon you all. In the death of that
Queen, unmatchable, inimitable in her sex ; that
Queen, worthy, I will not say of Nestors years, I will not
say of Methusalems, but worthy of Adams years, if Adam
had never fain ; in her death we were all under one
common flood, and depth of tears. But the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of that depth ; and God said. Let
there be light, and there was light, and God saw that that
light was good, God took pleasure, and found a savor
of rest, in our peaceful chearfulness, and in our joyful
and confident apprehension of blessed days in his Govern-
ment, whom he had prepared at first, and preserved so
often for us.
As the Rule is true. Cum de Mala principe posteri tacent,
Plinius ad manifestum est vilem facere prcesentem, when men dare
Trajan. ^^^ speak of the vices of a Prince that is dead, it is
certain that the Prince that is alive proceeds in the same
vices ; so the inversion of the Rule is true too, Cum de
Accession of James I. 49
bono principe loquuntur, when men may speak freely
of the virtues of a dead Prince, it is an evident argument,
that the present Prince practises the same virtues ; for,
if he did not, he vi^ould not love to hear of them. Of her,
we may say (that which was well said, and therefore it
were pity it should not be once truly said, for, so it was
not, when it was first said to the Emperor Juliari) Nihil
humile, aut abjectum cogitavit, quia novit de se semper
loquendum ; she knew the world would talk of her after
her death, and therefore she did such things all her life
were worthy to be talked of. Of her glorious successor,
and our gracious Soveraign, we may say ; Onerosum est
succedere bono Principi, It would have troubled any king Ibid.
but him, to have come in succession, and in comparison
with such a Queen, And in them both we may observe
the unsearchableness of the ways of God ; of them both,
we may say, Dominus fecit, It is the Lord that hath done it,
and it is wonderful in our eyes : First, that a woman Psalm na
and a maid should have all the wars of Christendom in ^^"
her contemplation, and govern and ballance them all ;
And then, that a King, born and bred in a warlike Nation,
and so accustomed to the sword, as that it had been
directed upon his own person, in the strength of his age,
and in his Infancy, in his Cradle, in his mothers belly,
should yet have the blessed spirit of peace so abundantly
in him, as that by his Councils, and his authority, he
should sheath all the swords of Christendom again.
aoa5«3
50 The Gunpowder Plot.
30. ^he Gunpowder Plot.
Psal 2. 1. ffiUARE jremuerunt. Why did these men rage, and
<=^ imagine a vaine thing ? What they did historically,
we know ; They made that house, which is the hive of
the Kingdome, from whence all her honey comes ; that
house where 'Justice herself is conceived, in their preparing
of Laws^ and inanimated, and quickned and borne by
the Royall Assent, there given ; they made that whole
house one Murdring peece^ and charged that peece with
Peers, with People, with Princes, with the King, and
meant to discharge it upward at the face of heaven, to
shoot God at the face of God, Him, of whom God hath
said, Dii estis, You are Gods, at the face of God, that had
said so, as though they would have reproached the God
of heaven, and not have been beholden to him for such
a King, but shoot him up to him, and bid him take his
King again, with a nolumus hunc regnare, we will not
have this King to reign over us,
31. Preached to the Honourable Company of the
Virginian Plantation, 1622.
BELOVED in him, whose kingdome, and Ghospell
you seeke to advance, in this Plantation, our Lord
and Saviour Christ Jesus^ if you seeke to establish a
temporall kingdome there, you are not rectified, if you
seeke to bee Kings in either acceptation of the word ;
To be a King signifies Libertie and independency, and
Supremacie, to bee under no man, and to be a King
signifies Abundance, and Omnisufficiencie, to neede no
man. If those that governe there, would estabHsh such
The Virginian Plantation. 51
a government, as should not depend upon this, or if
those that goe thither, propose to themselves an exemp-
tion from Lawes, to live at their hbertie, this is to be
Kings, to devest Allegeance, to bee under no man : and
if those that adventure thither, propose to themselves
present benefit, and profit, a sodaine way to bee rich,
and an aboundance of all desirable commodities from
thence, this is to be suflicient of themselves, and to need
no man : and to bee under no man and to need no man,
are the two acceptations of being Kings. Whom Hberty
drawes to goe, or present profit drawes to adventure,
are not yet in the right way. O, if you could once bring
a Catechisme to bee as good ware amongst them as
a Bugle, as a knife, as a hatchet : O, if you would be
ss ready to hearken at the returne of a Ship, how many
Indians were converted to Christ Jesus, as what Trees,
or druggs, or Dyes that Ship had brought, then you were
in your right way, and not till then ; Liber tie and
Abundance, are Characters of kingdomes, and a kingdome
is excluded in the ^ext ; the Apostles were not to looke
for it, in their employment, nor you in this your Planta-
tion. . . .
God ment from the first howre, to people the whole
earth ; and God could have made men of clay, as fast
as they made Brickes of Clay in Egypt-, but he began
upon two, and when they had been multiplying and re-
plenishing the Earth One thousand sixe hundred yeares,
the Flood washed all that away, and God was almost
to begin againe upon eight persons ; and they have
serv'd to people Earth and Heaven too ; Be not you
discouraged, if the Promises which you have made to
E 7
52 The Virginian Plantation.
your selves, or to others, be not so soone discharged ;
though you see not your money, though you see not your
men, though a Flood, a Flood of bloud have broken in
upon them, be not discouraged. Great Creatures ly
long in the wombe ; Lyons are litter'd perfit, but Beare
whelps lick'd unto their shape ; actions which Kings
undertake, are cast in a mould ; they have their perfection
quickly ; actions of private men, and private purses,
require more hammering, and more filing to their
perfection. . . .
God sayes to you. No Kingdome, not ease, not abundance-,
nay nothing at all yet ; the Plantation shall not discharge
the Charges, not defray it selfe yet ; but yet already,
now at first, it shall conduce to great uses ; It shall
redeeme many a wretch from the Jawes of death, from
the hands of the Executioner, upon whom, perchaunce
a small fault, or perchance a first fault, or perchance
a fault heartily and sincerely repented, perchance no
fault, but malice, had othervvdse cast a present, and
ignominious death. It shall sweep your streets, and wash
your dores, from idle persons, and the children of idle
persons, and imploy them : and truely, if the whole
Countrey were but such a Bridewell, to force idle persons
to work, it had a good use. But it is already, not onely a
Spleene, to draine the ill humours of the body, but a Liver,
to breed good bloud ; already the imployment breeds
Marriners ; already the place gives essayes, nay Fraytes
of Marchantable commodities ; already it is a marke
for the Envy, and for the ambition of our Enemies ;
I speake but of our Doctrinall, not Nationall Enemies ;
as they are Papists, they are sory we have this Couiitrey ;
The Virginian Plantation. 53
and surely, twenty Lectures in matter of Controversie,
doe not so much vexe them, as one Ship that goes, &
strengthens that Plantation. Neither can I recommend
it to you by any better Retorique, then their maHce. They
would gladly have it, and therefore let us bee glad to
hold it. . . .
Those of our profession that goe, you, that send them
who goe, do all an Afostolicall function. What action
soever, hath in the first intention thereof, a purpose
to propagate the Gospell of Christ Jesus, that is an
Apostolic all action. Before the ende of the world come,
before this mortahty shall put on immortahtie, before
the Creature shall be delivered of the bondage of corrup-
tion under which it groanes, before the Martyrs under Rom. 8.
the Altar shall be silenc'd, before all things shall be
subdued to Christ, his kingdome, perfected, & the last
Enemy Death destroied, the Gospell must be preached
to those men to whom ye send ; to all men ; furder and
hasten you this blessed, this joyfull, this glorious consum-
mation of all, and happie reunion of all bodies to their
Soules, by preaching the Gospell to those men. Preach
to them Doctrinally, preach to them Practically ;
Enamore them with your Justice, and (as farre as may
consist with your security), your Civilitie ; but inflame
them with your godlinesse, and your Religion. Bring them
to love and Reverence the name of that King, that sends
men to teach them the wayes of Civilitie in this world,
but to feare and adore the Name of that King of Kings,
that sends men to teach them the waies of ReHgion, for
the next world. Those amongst you, that are old now,
shall passe out of this world with this great comfort, that
54 The Virginian Plantation.
you contributed to the beginning of that Common
Wealth, and of that Church, though they live not to see
the groath thereof to perfection : Apollos watred, but
I Cor. 3. 6. Paul planted ; hee that begun the worke, was the greater
man. And you that are young now, may live to see the
Enemy as much empeach'd by that place, and your
friends, yea Children, as well accommodated in that
place, as any other. You shall have made this Hand,
which is but as the Suburbs of the old world, a Bridge,
a Gallery to the new ; to joyne all to that world that
shall never grow old, the Kingdome of heaven. You
shall add persons to this Kingdome, and to the Kingdome
of heaven, and adde names to the Bookes of our Chronicles,
and to the Booke of Life.
To end all, as the Orators which declaimd in the
presence of the Roman Emperors, in their Panegyriques,
tooke that way to make those Emperours see, what they
were bound to doe, to say in those publique Orations,
that those Emporors had done so (for that increased the
love of the Subject to the Prince, to bee so tolde, that
hee had done those great things, and then it convayd
a Counsell into the Prince to do them after.) As their
way was to procure things to bee done, by saying they
were done, so beloved I have taken a contrary way :
for when I, by way of exhortation, all this while have
seem'd to tell you what should be done by you, I have,
indeed, but told the Congregation, what hath beene
done already : neither do I speake to move a wheele
that stood still, but to keepe the wheele in due motion ;
nor persuade you to begin, but to continue a good worke ;
nor propose foreigne, but your own Examples, to do still.
The Virginian Plantation. 55
as you have done hitherto. For, for that, that which
is especially in my contemplation, the conversion of the
people, as I have received, so I can give this Testimony,
that of those persons, who have sent in moneys, and
conceal'd their names, the greatest part, almost all, have
limited their devotion, and contribution upon that
point, the propagation of Rehgion, and the conversion
of the people ; for the building and beautifying of the
house of God, and for the instruction and education of
their young Children. Christ Jesus himself is yesterday,
and to day, and the same for ever. In the advancing of his
glory, be you so to, yesterday, and to day, and the same
for ever, here ; and hereafter, when time shall be no
more, no more yesterday, no more to day, yet for ever
and ever, you shall enjoy that joy, and that glorie, which
no ill accident can attaine to diminish, or Eclipse it.
32. The Mission of England.
CHRIST came ^er mundam in mundum, by a clean
woman into an unclean world. And he came in
a purpose, (as we do piously beHeve) to manifest himself
in the Christian Rehgion to all the nations of the world ;
and therefore, Lcstentur Insula, saies David, The Lord
reigneth let the Islands rejoice the Islands who by reason of
their situation, provision and trading, have most means
of conveying Christ Jesus over the world. He hath
carried us up to heaven, & set us at the right hand of
God, & shal not we endeavour to carry him to those
nations, who have not yet heard of his name \ shall we
still brag that we have brought our clothes, and our
hatchets, and our knives, and bread to this and this
56 The Mission of England.
value and estimation amongst those poor ignorant Souls,
and shall we never glory that we have brought the name,
and Religion of Christ Jesus in estimation amongst
them ? shall we stay till other nations have planted
a fals Christ among them ? and then either continue in
our sloth, or take more pains in rooting out a false
Christ then would have planted the true ? Christ is
come into the world ; we will do little, if we will not
ferry him over, and propagate his name, as well as our
own to other Nations.
33. James 1.
WE say sometimes in scorn to a man, God. help you,
and God send you wit ; and therein, though it
have the sound of a prayer, wee call him foole. So wee
have seen of late, some in obscure Conventicles, institute
certain prayers, That God would keep the King, and the
Prince in the true Religion ; The prayer is always good,
always usefull ; but when that prayer is accompanied
with circumstances, as though the King and the Prince
were declining from that Religion, then even the prayer
it selfe is Hbellous, and seditious ; Saint Paul, in that
former place, apparels a Subjects prayer well, when hee
sayes, Let prayers bee given with thanks ; Let our prayers
bee for continuance of the blessings, which wee have,
and let our acknowledgement of present blessings, bee
an inducement for future : pray, and praise together ;
pray thankfully, pray not suspiciously ; for, beloved in
the bowels of Christ Jesus, before whose face I stand
now, and before whose face, I shall not be able to stand
amongst the righteous, at the last day, if I lie now, and
James I. 57
make this Pulpit my Shop, to vent sophisticate Wares,
In the presence of you, a holy part, I hope, of the MiUtant
Church, of which I am, In the presence of the whole
Triumphant Church, of which, by him, by whom I am
that I am, I hope to bee. In the presence of the Head of
the whole Church, who is All in all, I, {and I thinke I have
the Spirit of God,) (I am sure, I have not resisted it in this i Cor.7.
point) I, (and I may bee allowed to know something
in Civill affaires) (I am sure I have not been stupefied
in this point) doe dehver that, which upon the truth
of a Morall man, and a Christian man, and a Church
man, beleeve to be true. That hee, who is the Breath
of our nostrils, is in his heart, as farre from submitting
us to that Idolatry, and superstition, which did hereto-
fore oppresse us, as his immediate Predecessor, whose
memory is justly precious to you, was : Their wayes
may bee divers, and yet their end the same, that is. The
glory of God ; And to a higher Comparison, then to
her, I know not how to carry it.
34. Death of James I.
WHEN you shall find that hand that had signed
to one of you a Patent for Title, to another for
Pension, to another for Pardon, to another for Dispensa-
tion, Dead : That hand that settled Possessions by his
Seale, in the Keeper, and rectified Honours by the sword,
in his Marshall, and distributed rehef to the Poore, in
his Almoner, and Health to the Diseased, by his immediate
Touch, Dead : That Hand that ballanced his own three
Kingdomes so equally, as that none of them complained
of one another, nor of him, and carried the Keyes of all
58 Death of James I.
the Christian world, and locked up, and let out Armies
in their due season, Dead ; how poore, how faint, how
pale, how momentany, how transitory, how empty, how
frivolous, how Dead things, must you necessarily thinke
TitleSy and Possessions, and Favours, and all, when you
see that Hand, which was the hand oJDestinie, of Christian
Destinie, of the Almighty God, lie dead ? It was not so
hard a hand when we touched it last, nor so cold a hand
when we kissed it last : That hand which was wont
to wipe all te ares from all our eyes, doth now but presse
and squeaze us as so many spunges, filled one with one,
another with another cause of teares. Teares that can
have no other banke to bound them, but the declared
and manifested will of God : For, till our teares flow to
that heighth, that they might be called a murmuring
against the declared will of God, it is against our Allegiance,
it is Disloyaliie, to give our teares any stop, any termina-
tion, any measure.
35. The Plague y 1625.
BELOVED, as God empayl'd a Goshen in Egypt,
a place for the righteous amongst the wicked ; so
there is an Egypt in every Goshen, neasts of Snakes in
the fairest Gardens, and even in this City (which in the
sense of the Gospel, we may call, The holy City ; as
Christ called Jerusalem, though she had multiplied
transgressions. The Holy City, because she had not cast
away his Law, though she had disobeyed it : So howso-
ever your sins have provoked God, yet as you retain
a zealous profession of the truth of his ReHgion, I may
in his name, and do in the bowels of his mercy, call you.
The Plague, 1625. 59
The Holy City) even in this City, no doubt but the hand
of God fell upon thousands in this deadly infection,
who were no more affected with it, than those Egyptians,
to cry out, Omnes Moriemur, We can but die, and we must
die : And, Edamus, iff bibamus, eras moriemur. Let us eat
and drink, and take our pleasure, and make our profits,
for to-morrow we shall die, and so were cut off by the hand
of God, some even in their robberies, in half-empty
houses ; and in their drunkenness in voluptuous and
riotous houses ; and in their lusts and wantonness in
licentious houses ; and so took in infection and death,
Uke Judas^s sop, death dipt and soaked in sin. Men
whose lust carried them into the jaws of infection in
lewd houses, and seeking one sore perished with another ;
men whose rapine and covetousness broke into houses,
and seeking the Wardrobes of others, found their own
winding-sheet, in the infection of that house where they
stole their own death ; men who sought no other way
to divert sadness, but strong drink in riotous houses,
and there drank up Davids cup of Malediction, the cup
of Condemned men, of death, in the infection of that
place. For these men that died in their sins, that sinned
in their dying, that sought and hunted after death so
sinfully, we have Httle comfort of such men, in the phrase
of this Text, They were dead ; for they are dead still :
As Moses said of the Egyptians, I am afraid we may say
of these men. We shall see them no more for ever.
But God will give us the comfort of this phrase in the
next House ; This next House is Domus nostra, our
DwelHng-House, our Habitation, our Family ; and there.
They were dead ; they were, but by Gods goodness
6o The Plague, 1625.
they are not. If this savor of death have been the savor
of life unto us ; if this heavy weight of Gods hand
upon us have awakened us to a narrower survey, and
a better discharge of our duties towards all the parts of
our Families, we may say, to our comforts and his glory.
There was a son dead in disobedience and murmuring ;
there was a daughter dead in a dangerous easiness of
conversation ; there was a servant dead in the practice
of deceit and falsifying ; there was, but the Lord hath
breath'd a new Hfe into us, the Lord hath made even
his tempest a refreshing, and putrefaction a perfume
unto us. The same measure of wind that blows out
a candle, kindles a fire ; this correction that hath hardned
some, hath entendred and mollified us ; and howsoever
there were dead sons, and dead daughters, and dead
servants, this holy sense of Gods Judgements shall not
only preserve for the future, that we shall admit no
more such dead limbs into our Family, but even give
to them who were (in these kindes) formerly dead, a new
life, a blessed resurrection from all their sinful habits,
by the power of his grace, though reached to them with
a bloody hand, and in a bitter cup, in this heavy calamity ;
and as Christ said of himself, they shall say in him, / was
dead, but am alive ; and by that grace of God, I am
that I am. . . .
Lastly, in this fourth house, the house where we stand
now, the house of God, and of his Saints, God affords
us a fair beam of this consolation, in the phrase of this
Text also. They were dead. How appHable to you, in this
place, is that which God said to Moses, Put of thy shoes,
for thou treadest on holy ground ; put off all confidence,
The Plague, 1625. 61
all standing, all relying upon worldly assurances, and
consider upon what ground you tread ; upon ground
so holy, as that all the ground is made of the bodies of
Christians, and therein hath received a second consecra-
tion. Every puff of wind within these walls, may blow
the father into the sons eys, or the vnfe into her husbands,
or his into hers, or both into their childrens, or their
childrens into both. Every grain of dust that flies here,
is a piece of a Christian ; you need not distinguish your
Pews by figures ; you need not say, I sit within so many
of such a neighbour, but I sit within so many inches of
my husbands, or wives, or childes, or friendes grave.
Ambitious men never made more shift for places in
Court, then dead men for graves in Churches ; and as in
our later times, we have seen two and two almost in
every Place and Office, so almost every Grave is oppressed
with twins ; and as at Christs resurrection some of the
dead arose out of their graves, that were buried again ;
so in this lamentable calamity, the dead were buried,
and thrown up again before they were resolved to dust,
to make room for more.
36. Difficult ^imes.
^S in the Arke there were Lions, but the Lion shut
-LJl his mouth, and cHncht his paw, (the Lion hurt
nothing in the Arke) and in the Arke there were Vipers
and Scorpions, but the Viper shewed no teeth, nor the
Scorpion no taile, (the Viper bit none, the Scorpion
stung none in the Arke) (for, if they had occasioned
any disorder there, their escape could have been but into
the Sea, into irreparable mine) so, in every State, (though
62 Difficult Times.
that State be an Arke of peace, and preservation) there
will be some kind of oppression in some Lions, some that
will abuse their power ; but Vce si scandalizemur, woe
unto us if we be scandalized with that, and seditiously
lay aspersions upon the State and Government, because
there are some such in every Church, (though that Church
bee an Arke, for integrity and sincerity) there will bee
some Vipers, Vipers that will gnaw at their Mothers
belly, men that will shake the articles of Religion ; But
Fa si scandalizemur^ woe if we be so scandaHzed at that,
as to defame that Church, or separate our selves from
that Church which hath given us our Baptism, for that.
It is the chafing of the Lion, and the stirring of the Viper,
that aggravates the danger ; The first blow makes the
wrong, but the second makes the fray ; and they that
will endure no kind of abuse in State or Church, are
many times more dangerous then that abuse w*^'^ they
oppose. It was only Christ Jesus himself that could say
Mar. 4. 39. to the Tempest, 7ace^ ohmuiesce, peace, be still, not
a blast, not a sob more ; onely he could becalm a Tempest
at once. It is well with us, if we can ride out a storm at
anchour ; that is, He still and expect, and surrender
our selves to God, and anchor in that confidence, till
the storm blow over. It is well for us if we can beat
out a storm at sea, with boarding to and again ; that is,
maintain and preserve our present condition in Church,
and State, though we encrease not, that though we gain
no way, yet wee lose no way whilst the storm lasts. It
is well for us, if, though we be put to take in our sayls,
and to take down our masts, yet we can hull it out ;
that is, if in storms of contradiction, or persecution.
Difficult Times. 63
the Church, or State, though they be put to accept
worse conditions then before, and to depart with some
of their outward splendor, be yet able to subsist and
swimme above water, and reserve it selfe for Gods
farther glory, after the storme is past ; onely Christ
could becalm the storme ; He is a good Christian that
can ride out, or board out, or hull out a storme, that by
industry, as long as he can, and by patience, when he
can do no more, over-lives a storm, and does not forsake
his ship for it, that is not scandaHzed with that State,
nor that Church, of which he is a member, for those
abuses that are in it. The Arke is peace, peace is good
dispositions to one another, good intepretations of one
another ; for, if our impatience put us from our peace,
and so out of the Arke, all without the Arke is sea ; The
bottomlesse and boundlesse Sea of Rome, will hope to
swallow us, if we dis-unite our selves, in uncharitable
mis-interpretations of one another.
37. Polemical Preaching.
THERE was a time but lately, when he who was in
his desire and intension, the Peace-maker of all
the Christian world, as he had a desire to have slumbred
all Field-drums, so had he also to have slumbred all
Pulpit-drums, so far, as to passe over all impertinent
handhng of Controversies, meerly and professedly as
Controversies, though never by way of positive main-
tenance of Orthodoxall and fundamentall Truths ; That
so there might be no slackning in the defence of the truth
of our Religion, and yet there might bee a discreet and
temperate forbearing of personall, and especially of
64 Polemical Preaching.
Nationall exasperations. And as this way had piety,
and peace in the worke it selfe, so was it then occasionally
exalted, by a great necessity ; He, who was then our
hope, and is now the breath of our nostrils, and the
Anointed of the Lord, being then taken in their pits,
and, in that great respect, such exasperations the fitter
to be forborne, especially since that course might well
bee held, without any prevarication, or cooling the zeale
of the positive maintenance of the religion of our Church.
But things standing now in another state, and all peace,
both Ecclesiasticall and Civill, with these men, being
by themselves removed, and taken away, and hee whom
we feared, returned in all kinde of safety, safe in body,
and safe in soule too, whom though their Church could
not, their Court hath chatechised in their religion, that
is, brought him to a cleere understanding of their Ambi-
tion, (for Ambition is their Rehgion, and S. Peters Ship
must saile in their Fleets, and with their winds, or it
must sink, and the Catholique and MiHtant Church
must march in their Armies, though those Armies march
against Rome it selfe, as heretofore they have done, to
the sacking of that Towne, to the holding of the Pope
himselfe in so sordid a prison, for sixe moneths, as that
some of his nearest servants about him died of the plague,
to the treading under foot Priests, and Bishops, and
Cardinals, to the dishonouring of Matrons, and the
ravishing of professed Virgins, and committing such
insolencies, Catholiques upon Catholiques, as they would
call us Heretiques for beleeving them, but that they are
their owne Catholique Authors that have written them)
Things being now, I say, in this state, with these men,
Polemical Preaching, 65
since wee heare that Drums beat in every field abroad,
it becomes us also to returne to the biasing and beating
of our Drums in the Pulpit too, that so, as Adam did not
onely dresse Paradise, but keepe Paradise ; and as the
children of God, did not onely build, but build with
one hand, and fight with another ; so wee also may
employ some of our Meditations upon supplanting, and
subverting of error, as well as upon the planting, and
watering of the Truth.
38. The World Decays,
A^ the world is the whole frame of the world, God Mundus
XjL hath put into it a reproofe, a rebuke, lest it should ^^^S''"-^*
seem eternall, which is, a sensible decay and age in the
whole frame of the world, and every piece thereof. The
seasons of the yeare irregular and distempered ; the Sun
fainter, and languishing ; men lesse in stature, and shorter-
lived. No addition, but only every yeare, new sorts,
new species of wormes, and flies, and sicknesses, which
argue more and more putrefaction of which they are
engendred. And the Angels of heaven, which did so
famiharly converse with men in the beginning of the world,
though they may not be doubted to perform to us still
their ministeriall assistances, yet they seem so far to have
deserted this world, as that they do not appeare to us,
as they did to those our Fathers. S. Cyprian observed CyprhQ.
this in his time, when writing to Demetrianus, who im-
puted all those calamities which afflicted the world then,
to the impiety of the Christians who would not joyne
with them in the worship of their gods, Cyprian went
no farther for the cause of these calamities, but Ad
2025*3 F
66 The World Decays.
senescentem mundurtiy To the age and impotency of the
whole world ; And therefore, sayes he, Imputent senes
Christianis, quod minus valeant in senectutem ; Old men
were best accuse Christians, that they are more sickly in
their age, then they were in their youth ; Is the fault in
our religion, or in their decay \ Canos in pueris videmus,
nee (Etas in senectute desinit, sed incipit a senectute ; We
see gray haires in children, and we do not die old, and yet
we are borne old. Lest the world (as the world signifies
the whole frame of the world) should glorifie it selfe,
or flatter, and abuse us with an opinion of eternity, we
may admit usefully (though we do not conclude peremp-
torily) this observation to be true, that there is a reproofe,
a rebuke born in it, a sensible decay and mortality of
the whole world.
39. Imperfection,
a. Part. X NEED not call in new Philosophy, that denies
X a settlednesse, an acquiescence in the very body
of the Earth, but makes the Earth to move in that place,
where we thought the Sunne had moved ; I need not
that helpe, that the Earth it selfe is in Motion, to prove
this. That nothing upon Earth is permanent ; The
Assertion will stand of it selfe, till some man assigne me
some instance, something that a man may relie upon,
and find permanent. Consider the greatest Bodies upon
Earth, The Monarchies ; Objects, which one would
thinke. Destiny might stand and stare at, but not shake ;
Consider the smallest bodies upon Earth, The haires
of our head. Objects, which one would chinke. Destiny
would not observe, or could not discerne ; And yet,
Imperfection. 67
Destiny, (to speak to a naturall man) And God, (to speake
to a Christian) is no more troubled to make a Monarchy
ruinous, then to make a haire gray. Nay, nothing needs
be done to either, by God, or Destiny ; A Monarchy
will ruine, as a haire will grow gray, of it selfe. In
the Elements themselves, of which all sub-elementary
things are composed, there is no acquiescence, but a
vicissitudinary transmutation into one another ; Ayre
condensed becomes water, a more solid body, And Ayre
rarified becomes fire, a body more disputable, and in-
apparant. It is so in the Conditions of men too ; A
Merchant condensed, kneaded and packed up in a great
estate, becomes a Lord ; And a Marchant rarified,
blown up by a perfidious Factor, or by a riotous Sonne,
evaporates into ayre, into nothing, and is not seen. And
if there were any thing permanent and durable in this
world, yet we got nothing by it, because howsoever
that might last in it selfe, yet we could not last to enjoy
it ; If our goods were not amongst Moveables, yet we
our selves are ; if they could stay with us, yet we cannot
stay with them ; which is another Consideration in
this part.
The world is a great Volume, and man the Index oi Corpus
that Booke ; Even in the body of man, you may turne *^'"^«^'*
to the whole world ; This body is an Illustration of all
Nature ; Gods recapitulation of all that he had said
before, in his Fiat lux, and Fiat Jirm amentum, and in
all the rest, said or done, in all the six dayes. Propose
this body to thy consideration in the highest exaltation
thereof ; as it is the I'emple of the Holy Ghost : Nay,
not in a Metaphor, or comparison of a Temple, or any
F 2
68 Imperfection.
other similitudinary thing, but as it was really and truly
the very body of God, in the person of Christ, and yet
this body must wither, must decay, must languish,
must perish. When Goliah had armed and fortified
this body. And lezahel had painted and perfumed
this body. And Dives had pampered and larded this
body. As God said to Ezekid, when he brought him to
the dry bones^ Fill hominisy Sonne of Man, doest thou
thinke these bones can live P They said in their hearts
to all the world, Can these bodies die ? And they are
dead. lezabels dust is not Ambar, nor Goliahs dust
Terra sigillata, Medicinall ; nor does the Serpent, whose
meat they are both, finde any better rellish in Dives
dust, then in Lazarus.
40. Man,
Illis, qui 01 /f^^ ^^) sayes the Prophet Esay, Quasi stilla situlce,
nihil UVJL As a drop upon the bucket. Man is not all that,
Esay.40.15. 1^1 -, 1.11
not so much as that, as a drop upon the bucket, but
quasi, something, some little thing towards it ; and what
is a drop upon the bucket, to a river, to a sea, to the waters
above the firmament ? Man to God ? Man is, sayes the
same Prophet in the same place. Quasi momentum staterce ;
we translate it, As small dust ufon the balance : Man is
not all that, not that small graine of dust ; but quasi,
some Uttle thing towards it : And what can a graine of
dust work in governing the balance ? What is man that
God should be mindfull of him ? Vanity seemes to be
the lightest thing, that the Holy Ghost could name ;
and when he had named that, he sayes, and sayes, and
sayes, often, very, very often. All is vanity. But when he
Man. 69
comes to waigh man with vanity it selfe, he findes man
Hghter then vanity : Take, sayes he, great men, and Ps. 62. 9.
meane men altogether, and altogether they are lighter then
vanity. When that great Apostle sayes of himselfe,
that he was in nothing hehinde the very chiefest of the 2C0r.12.11
Apostles, and yet, for all that, sayes he was nothing ; who
can think himselfe any thing, for being a Giant in pro-
portion, a Magistrate in power, a Rabbi in learning, an
Oracle in Counsell ? Let man be something ; how
poore, and inconsiderable a ragge of this world, is man ?
Man, whom Paracelsus would have undertaken to have L. i. de
made, in a Limbeck, in a Furnace : Man, who, if they ^Zmtiom.
were altogether, all the men, that ever were, and are,
and shall be, would not have the power of one Angel in
them all, whereas all the Angels, (who, in the Schoole
are conceived to be more in number, then, not onely all
the Species, but all the individualls of this lower world)
have not in them all, the power of one finger of Gods
hand : Man, of whom when David had said, (as the lowest
diminution that he could put upon him) I am a worme Ps. 22. 6.
and no man. He might have gone lower, and said, I am
a man and no worm ; for man is so much lesse then a
worm, as that wormes of his own production, shall feed
upon his dead body in the grave, and an immortall
worm gnaw his conscience in the torments of hell.
41. Afflictions,
ALL our life is a continual! burden, yet we must not
- groane ; A continual! squeasing, yet we must not
pant ; And as in the tendernesse of our childhood, we
70 Afflictions.
suffer, and yet are whipt if we cry, so we are complained
of, if we complaine, and made delinquents if we call the
times ill. And that which addes waight to waight, and
multiplies the sadnesse of this consideration, is this,
That still the best men have had most laid upon them.
As soone as I heare God say, that he hath found an upright
matiy that feares God, and eschews evill, in the next lines
I finde a Commission to Satan, to bring in Sabeans and
Chaldeans upon his cattell, and servants, and fire and
tempest upon his children, and loathsome diseases upon
himselfe. As soone as I heare God say. That he hath
found a man according to his own heart, I see his sonnes
ravish his daughters, and then murder one another, and
then rebell against the Father, and put him into straites
for his life. As soone as I heare God testifie of Christ at
Mat. 3, 17. his Baptisme, This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well
Matt. 4. 1, pleased, I finde that Sonne of his led up by the Spirit, to
he tempted of the Devill. And after I heare God ratifie
Matt. 17.5. the same testimony againe, at his Transfiguration, {This
is my beloved Sonne, in whom I am well pleased) I finde
that beloved Sonne of his, deserted, abandoned, and
given over to Scribes, and Pharisees, and Pubhcans, and
Herodians, and Priests, and Souldiers, and people, and
Judges, and witnesses, and executioners, and he that
was called the beloved Sonne of God, and made partaker
of the glory of heaven, in this world, in his Transfigura-
tion, is made now the Sewer of all the corruption, of all
the sinnes of this world, as no Sonne of God, but a meere
man, as no man, but a contemptible worme. As though
the greatest weaknesse in this world, were man, and the
greatest fault in man were to be good, man is more
Afflictions. 71
miserable then other creatures, and good men more
miserable then any other men.
But then there is Pondus Glorice, An exceeding waight oj AJJjidio
eternall glory, and that turnes the scale ; for as it makes ^^^^^ ^°
all worldly prosperity as dung, so it makes all worldly
adversity as feathers.
42. Discontent,
EVERY man is under that complicated disease, and
that ridling distemper, not to be content with the
most, and yet to be proud of the least thing hee hath ;
that when he lookes upon men, he dispises them, because
he is some kind of Officer, and when he looks upon
God, hee murmures at him, because he made him not
a King.
43. ^he World a House,
LET the whole world be in thy consideration as one
i house ; and then consider in that, in the peacefull
harmony of creatures, in the peacefull succession, and
connexion of causes, and effects, the peace of Nature.
Let this Kingdome, where God hath blessed thee with
a being, be the Gallery, the best roome of that house,
and consider in the two walls of that Gallery, the Church
and the State, the peace of a royall, and a religious
Wisedome ; Let thine owne family be a Cabinet in this
Gallery, and finde in all the boxes thereof, in the severall
duties of Wife, and Children, and servants, the peace of
vertue, and of the father and mother of all vertues,
active discretion, passive obedience ; and then lastly,
let thine owne bosome be the secret box, and reserve in
this Cabinet, and then the best Jewell in the best Cabinet,
Mare.
72 The World a House.
and that in the best Gallery of the best house that can be
had, peace with the Creature, peace in the Church,
peace in the State, peace in thy house, peace in thy heart,
is a faire Model], and a lovely designe even of the heavenly
Jerusalem v^^hich is Fisio pads, where there in no object
but peace.
44. Mundus Mare.
Mundus ' I ^HE world is a Sea in many respects and assimilations.
JL It is a Sea, as it is subject to stormes, and tempests ;
Every man (and every man is a world) feels that. And
then, it is never the shallower for the calmnesse, The
Sea is as deepe, there is as much water in the Sea, in a
calme, as in a storme ; we may be drowned in a calme
and flattering fortune, in prosperity, as irrecoverably,
as in a wrought Sea, in adversity ; So the world is a Sea.
It is a Sea, as it is bottomlesse to any Une, which we can
sound it with, and endlesse to any discovery that we can
make of it. The purposes of the world, the wayes of the
world, exceed our consideration ; But yet we are sure
the Sea hath a bottome, and sure that it hath limits,
that it cannot overpasse ; The power of the greatest
in the world, the life of the happiest in the world, cannot
exceed those bounds, which God hath placed for them ;
So the world is a Sea. It is a Sea, as it hath ebbs and
floods, and no man knowes the true reason of those
floods and those ebbs. All men have changes and vicis-
situdes in their bodies, (they fall sick) And in their
estates, (they grow poore) And in their minds, (they
become sad) at which changes, (sicknesse, poverty,
sadnesse) themselves wonder, and the cause is wrapped
Mundus Mare. 73
up in the purpose and judgement of God onely, and hid
even from them that have them ; and so the w^orld is
a Sea. It is a Sea, as the Sea affords vi^ater enough for
all the world to drinke, but such water as will not quench
the thirst. The world affords conveniences enow to
satisfie Nature, but these encrease our thirst with drink-
ing, and our desire growes and enlarges it selfe with our
abundance, and though we sayle in a full Sea, yet we lacke
water ; So the world is a Sea. It is a Sea, if we consider
the Inhabitants. In the Sea, the greater fish devoure
the lesse ; and so doe the men of this world too. And
as fish, when they mud themselves, have no hands to
make themselves cleane, but the current of the waters
must worke that ; So have the men of this world no
means to cleanse themselves from those sinnes which
they have contracted in the world, of themselves, till
a new flood, waters of repentance, drawne up, and
sanctified by the Holy Ghost, worke that blessed effect
in them.
All these wayes the world is a Sea, but especially it is
a Sea in this respect, that the Sea is no place of habitation,
but a passage to our habitations. So the Apostle expresses
the world, Here we have no continuing City, but we seeke Heb.13.14.
one to come ; we seeke it not here, but we seeke it whilest
we are here, els we shall never finde it. Those are the
two great works which we are to doe in this world ; first
to know, that this world is not our home, and then to
provide us another home, whilest we are in this world.
Therefore the Prophet sayes, Arise, and, depart, for this is Mic. 2. 10.
not your rest. Worldly men, that have no farther pros-
pect, promise themselves some rest in this world, (Soule, Luk. i2.ig.
74 Mundus Mare.
thou hast much goods laid up for many yeares, take thine
ease, eate, drinke, and he merry, sayes the rich man) but
this is not your rest ; indeed no rest ; at least not yours.
You must depart, depart by death, before yee come to
that rest ; but then you must arise, before you depart ;
for except yee have a resurrection to grace here, before
you depart, you shall have no resurrection to glory in
the hfe to come, v^^hen you are departed.
Status Now^, in this Sea, every ship that sayles must necessarily
"ivum.^^' ^^^^ ^o^^ P^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^P ^i^^^r water ; Every man that
lives in this world, must necessarily have some of his Hfe,
some of his thoughts, some of his labours spent upon
this world ; but that part of the ship, by which he sayls,
is above water ; Those meditations, and those endevours
which must bring us to heaven, are removed from this
world, and fixed entirely upon God. And in this Sea,
are we made fishers of men ; Of men in generall ; not
of rich men, to profit by them, nor of poore men, to
pierce them the more sharply, because affliction hath
opened a v»^ay into them ; Not of learned men, to be
over-glad of their approbation of our labours. Nor of
ignorant men, to affect them with an astonishment, or
admiration of our gifts ; But we are fishers of men, of
all men, of that which makes them men, their soules.
And for this fishing in this Sea, this Gospel is our net.
Reu Euan- Eloquence is not our net ; Traditions of men are not
gf um. ^^j. j^^^g . onely the Gospel is. The Devill angles with
hooks and bayts ; he deceives, and he wounds in the
catching ; for every sin hath his sting. The Gospel of
Christ Jesus is a net ; It hath leads and corks ; It hath
leads, that is, the denouncing of Gods judgements, and
Mundus Mare. 75
a power to sink down, and lay flat any stubborne and
rebellious heart, And it hath corks, that is, the power of
absolution, and appHcation of the mercies of God, that
swimme above all his works, means to erect an humble
and contrite spirit, above all the waters of tribulation,
and affliction. . . .
With this net S. Peter caught three thousand soules Acts 3. 4t.
in one day, at one Sermon, and five thousand in another. ^' ^'
With this net S. Paul fished all the Mediterranean Sea,
and caused the Gospel of Christ Jesus to abound from
Jerusalem round about to Illyricum. This is the net, Rom.15.r9.
with which if yee be willing to bee caught, that is, to
lay downe all your hopes and affiances in the gracious
promises of his Gospel, then you are fishes reserved for
that great Mariage-feast, which is the Kingdome of
heaven ; where, whosoever is a dish, is a ghest too ;
whosoever is served in at the table, sits at the table ;
whosoever is caught by this net, is called to this feast ;
and there your soules shall be satisfied as with marrow,
and with fatnesse, in an infallible assurance, of an ever-
lasting and undeterminable terme, in inexpressible joy
and glory. Amen.
45. I'he Indifference of Nature.
AFOUNTAINE breaks out in the wildernesse, but
that fountaine cares not, whether any Man come
to fetch water, or no ; A fresh, and fit gale blowes upon
the Sea, but it cares not whether the Mariners hoise
saile or no ; A rose blowes in your garden, but it calls
you not to smell to it.
76 Wealth.
R
46. Wealth.
ICHES is the Metaphor, in which, the Holy Ghost
hath deHghted to expresse God and Heaven to
Rem. 2. 4. us ; Despise not the riches of his goodnesse, sayes the Apostle ;
* And againe, O the depth of the riches of his wisdome ;
Ephes.3.8 ^4nd so, after, 7he unsearchable riches of Christ : And for
ver. 16. ' ' ^ -^ '
the consummation of all, 7he riches of his Glory, Gods
goodnesse towards us in generall, our Religion in the way,
his Grace here, his Glory hereafter, are all represented
to us in Riches. With poverty God ordinarily accom-
panies his comminations ; he threatens feeblenesse, and
warre, and captivity, and poverty every where, but he
never threatens men with riches.
Ordinary poverty, (that is a difficulty, with all their
labors, and industry to sustaine their family, and the
necessary duties of their place) is a shrewd, and a shppery
tentation. But for that street-beggery, which is become
a Calling, (for Parents bring up their children to it, nay
they doe almost take prentises to it, some expert beggers
teach others what they shall say, how they shall looke,
how they shall lie, how they shall cry) for these, whom
our lawes call Incorrigible, I must say of them (in a just
Matt. 25. accommodation of our Saviours words, // is not meet to
26.
take the childrens bread, and to cast it to dogs) It is not
meet, that this vermin should devoure any of that,
which belongs to them who are truely poore. Neither
is there any measure, any proportion of riches, that
exposes man naturally to so much sin, as this kinde of
beggery doth. Rich men forget, or neglect the duties
of their Baptisme ; but of these, how many are there.
Wealth. 77
that were never baptized ? Rich men sleepe out Sermons,
but these never come to Church : Rich men are negligent
in the practice, but these are ignorant in all knowledge.
It would require a longer disquisition, then I can afford
to it now, whether Riches, or Poverty (considered in
lesser proportions, ordinary riches, ordinary poverty)
open us to more, and worse sins ; But consider them in
the highest and in the lowest, abundant riches, beggerly
poverty, and it will scarce admit doubt, but that the
incorrigible vagabond is farther from all wayes of good-
nesse, then the corruptest rich man is. And therefore
labour wee all earnestly in the wayes of some lawful!
calling, that we may have our portion of this world
by good meanes.
47. A London Merchant,
THE Lord was with him in all these steps ; with him In vita.
in his life ; with him in his death ; He is with
him in his funerals, and he shall be with him in his
Resurrection ; and therefore, because the Lord was
with him, our Brother is not dead. He was with him in
the beginning of his life, in this manifestation, That
though he were of Parents of a good, of a great Estate,
yet his possibihty and his expectation from them, did not
slacken his own industry ; which is a Canker that eats
into, nay that hath eat up many a family in this City,
that relying wholly upon what the Father hath done,
the Sonne does nothing for himselfe. And truly, it falls
out too often, that he that labours not for more, does
not keepe his own. God imprinted in him an industrious
disposition, though such hopes from such parents might
78 A London Merchant.
have excused some slacknesse, and God prospered his
industry so, as that when his Fathers estate came to
a distribution by death, he needed it not. God was
Psal.8i.ii. with him, as with David in a Dilatation, and then in
a Repletion ; God enlarged him, and then he filled him ;
He gave him a large and a comprehensive understanding,
and with it, A pubHque heart ; And such as perchance
in his way of education, and in our narrow and contracted
times, in which every man determines himselfe in him-
selfe, and scarce looks farther, it would be hard to finde
many Examples of such largenesse. You have, I thinke,
a phrase of Driving a Trade ; And you have, I know,
a practise of Driving away Trade, by other use of money ;
And you have lost a man, that drove a great Trade,
the right way in making the best use of our home-
commodity. To fetch in Wine, and Spice, and Silke,
is but a drawing of Trade ; The right driving of trade,
is, to vent our owne outward ; And yet, for the drawing
in of that, which might justly seeme most behoofefull,
that is, of Arts, and Manufactures, to be imployed upon
our owne Commodity within the Kingdome, he did his
part, diligently, at least, if not vehemently, if not passion-
ately. This City is a great Theater, and he Acted great
and various parts in it ; And all well ; And when he
went higher, (as he was often heard in Parliaments, at
Counceil tables, and in more private accesses to the
late King of ever blessed memory) as, for that compre-
hension of those businesses, which he pretended to under-
stand, no man doubts, for no man lacks arguments and
evidences of his abihty therein, So for his manner of
expressing his intentions, and digesting and uttering his
A London Merchant. 79
purposes, I have sometimes heard the greatest Master
of Language and Judgement, which these times, or any
other did, or doe, or shall give, (that good and great
King of ours) say of him, That he never heard any man
of his breeding, handle businesses more rationally, more
pertinently, more elegantly, more perswasively ; And
when his purpose was, to do a grace to a Preacher, of
very good abilities, and good note in his owne Chappell,
I have heard him say, that his language, and accent, and
manner of delivering himselfe, was like this man. This
man hath God accompanied all his life ; and by perform-
ance thereof seemes to have made that Covenant with
him, which he made to Abraham, Multiplicabo te vehe- Geo, 17.
menter, I will multiply thee exceedingly. He multiplied
his estate so, as was fit to endow many and great Children ;
and he multiplied his Children so, both in their number,
and in their quaUty, as they were fit to receive a great
Estate. God was with him all the way. In a Pillar of
Fire, in the brightnesse of prosperity, and in the Pillar
of Clouds too, in many darke, and sad, and heavy crosses :
So great a Ship, required a great Ballast, So many
blessings, many crosses ; And he had them, and sailed
on his course the steadier for them ; The Cloud as well
as the Fire, was a Pillar to him ; His crosses, as well as
his blessings established his assurance in God ; And so,
in all the course of his life, The Lord was here, and therefore
our Brother is not dead ; not dead in the evidences and
testimonies of life ; for he, whom the world hath just
cause to celebrate, for things done, when he was ahve,
is alive still in their celebration.
The Lord was here, that is, with him at his death too. In morte.
8o A London Merchant.
He was served with the Processe here in the City, but his
cause was heard in the Country ; Here he sickned,
There he languished, and dyed there. In his sicknesse
there, those that assisted him, are witnesses, of his many
expressings, of a rehgious & a constant heart towards
God, and of his pious joyning with them, even in the
holy declaration of kneeling, then, when they, in favour
of his weakenesse, would disswade him from kneeling.
I must not defraud him of this testimony fro my selfe,
that into this place where we are now met, I have observed
him to enter with much reverence, & compose himselfe
in this place with much declaration of devotion. And
truly it is that reverence, which those persons who are of
the same ranke that he was in the City, that reverence
that they use in this place, when they come hither, is
that that makes us, who have now the administration
of this Quire, glad, that our Predecessors, but a very
few yeares before our time, (and not before all our times
neither) admitted these Honourable and worshipfull
Persons of this City, to sit in this Quire, so, as they do
upon Sundayes : The Church receives an honour in
it ; But the honour is more in their reverence, then in
their presence ; though in that too : And they receive
an honour, and an ease in it ; and therefore they do
piously towards God, and prudently for themselves,
and gratefully towards us, in giving us, by their reverent
comportment here, so just occasion of continuing that
honour, and that ease to them here, which to lesse
reverend, and unrespective persons, we should be lesse
willing to doe. To returne to him in his sicknesse ; He
had but one dayes labour, and all the rest were Sabbaths,
A London Merchant. 8i
one day in his sicknesse he converted to businesse ; Thus ;
He called his family, and friends together ; Thankfully
he acknowledged Gods manifold blessings, and his owne
sins as penitently : And then, to those who were to have
the disposing of his estate, joyntly with his Children,
he recommended his servants, and the poore, and the
Hospitals, and the Prisons, which, according to his
purpose, have beene all taken into consideration ; And
after this (which was his Valediction to the world) he
seemed alwaies loath to returne to any worldly businesse,
His last Commandement to Wife and Children was
Christs last commandement to his Spouse the Church,
in the Apostles, To love one another. He blest them, and
the Estate devolved upon them, unto them : And by
Gods grace shall prove as true a Prophet to them in that
blessing, as he was to himselfe, when in entring his last
bed, two dayes before his Death, he said, Help me ojf with
my earthly habit, if^ let me go to my last bed. Where, in
the second night after, he said. Little know ye what paine
Ifeele this night, yet I know, I shall have joy in the morning ;
And in that morning he dyed. The forme in which he
implored his Saviour, was evermore, towards his end, this,
Christ lesuSy which dyed, on the Crosse, forgive me my
sins ; He have mercy upon me : And his last and dying
words were the repetition of the name of Jesus ; And when
he had not strength to utter that name distinctly and
perfectly, they might heare it from within him, as from
a man a far off ; even then, when his hollow and remote
naming of Jesus, was rather a certifying of them, that he
was with his Jesus, then a prayer that he might come to
him. And so The Lord was here, here with him in his
2025'3 G
82 A London Merchant.
Death ; and because the Lord was here^ our Brother is
not dead ; not dead in the eyes and eares of God ; for
as the blood of Abel speaks yet, so doth the zeale of Gods
Saints ; and their last prayers (though we heare them not)
God continues still ; and they pray in Heaven, as the
Martyrs under the Altar, even till the Resurrection.
In funere. He is with him now too ; Here in his Funerals. Buriall,
and Christian Buriall, and Solemne Buriall are all evidences,
and testimonies of Gods presence. God forbid we should
conclude, or argue an absence of God, from the want of
Solemne Buriall, or Christian Buriall, or any Buriall ; But
neither must we deny it, to be an evidence of his favour
and presence, where he is pleased to afford these. So God
Gen. 15. makes that the seale of all his blessings to Abraham^ That
he should be buried in a good age ; God established lacob
Gen. 46, with that promise. That his Son Joseph should have care
of his Funerals : And Joseph does cause his servants,
Gen. 50. The PhysitianSy to embalme him, when he was dead. Of
Esayii.io. Christ it was Prophecied, That he should have a glorious
Buriall ; And therefore Christ interprets well that
profuse, r.nd prodigall piety of the Woman that poured
Matt. 26. out the Oyntment upon him. That she did it to Bury
him ; And so shall loseph of Arimathea be ever celebrated,
for his care in celebrating Christs Funerals. If we were
to send a Son, or a friend, to take possession of any place
in Court, or forraine parts, we would send him out in
the best equipage : Let us not grudge to set downe our
friends, in the Anti-chamber of Heaven, the Grave, in
as good manner, as without vaine-gloriousnesse, and
wastfulnesse we may ; And, in incHning them, to whom
that care belongs, to expresse that care as they doe this
A London Merchant. 83
day, 7he Lord is with him, even in this Funerall ; And
because The Lord is here, our brother is not dead ; Not
dead in the memories and estimation of men.
And lastly, that we may have God present in all his In resune-
Manifestations, Hee that was, and is, and is to come, was
with him, in his hfe and death, and is with him in this
holy Solemnity, and shall bee with him againe in the
Resurrection. God sayes to lacoh, I will goe downe with Gen. 46. 4.
thee into Egyp, and I will also surely bring thee up againe.
God goes downe with a good man into the Grave, and will
surely bring him up againe. When ? The Angel promised
to returne to Abraham and Sarah, for the assurance of Gen.18. 10.
the birth of Isaac, according to the time of life ; that is,
in such time, as by nature a woman may have a childe.
God will returne to us in the Grave, according to the
time oj life ; that is, in such time, as he, by his gracious
Decree, hath fixed for the Resurrection. And in the
meane time, no more then the God-head departed from
the dead body of our Saviour, in the grave, doth his
power, and his presence depart from our dead bodies
in that darknesse ; But that which Moses said to the
whole Congregation, I say to you all, both to you that
heare me, and to him that does not. All ye that did cleave Deut. 4. 4,
unto the Lord your God, are alive, every one of you, this day ;
Even hee, whom wee call dead, is ahve this day. In the
presence of God, we lay him downe ; In the power of
God, he shall rise ; In the person of Christ, he is risen
already. And so into the same hands that have received
his soule, we commend his body ; beseeching his blessed
Spirit, that as our charity enclines us to hope confidently
of his good estate, our faith may assure us of the same
G 2
84 A London Merchant.
happinesse, In our owne behalfe ; And that for all our
sakes, but especially for his own glory, he will be pleased
to hasten the consummation of all, in that kingdome
which that Son of God hath purchased for us, with the
inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. Amen.
48. Sickness.
PUT all the miseries, that man is subject to, together,
sicknesse is more then all. It is the immediate
sword of God. Phalaris could invent a Bull ; and others
have invented Wheels and Racks ; but no persecutor
could ever invent a sicknesse or a way to inflict a sicknesse
upon a condemned man : To a galley he can send him,
and to the gallows, and command execution that hour ;
but to a quartane fever, or to a gout, hee cannot condemn
him. In poverty I lack but other things ; In banishment
I lack but other men ; But in sicknesse, I lack my self.
And, as the greatest misery of war, is, when our own
Country is made the seat of the war ; so is it of affliction,
when mine own Body is made the subject thereof. How
shall I put a just value upon Gods great blessings of
Wine, and Oyle, and Milke, and Honey, when my tast
is gone, or of Liberty, when the gout fetters my feet ?
49. Public Opinion,
THE shame of men, is one bridle, that is cast upon us.
It is a morall obduration, and in the suburbs, next
doore to a spirituall obduration, to be Voyce-proofe,
Censure-proofe, not to be afraid, nor ashamed, what
the world sayes. He that relyes upon his Plaudo domi.
Though the world hisse, I give my selfe a Plaudite at
Public Opinion. 85
home, I have him at my Table, and her in my bed,
whom I would have, and I care not for rumor ; he that
rests in such a Plaudite, prepares for a Tragedy, a Tragedy
in the Amphitheater, the double Theater, this world,
and the next too.
SO. Joy,
JOY is peace for having done that which we ought
to have done .... To have something to doe, to
doe it, and then to Rejoyce in having done it, to embrace
a calling, to performe the Duties of that calling, to joy
and rest in the peacefull testimony of having done so ;
this is Christianly done, Christ did it ; Angelically done,
Angels doe it ; Godly done, God does it.
51. Women.
FOR, howsoever some men out of a petulancy and
wantonnesse of wit, and out of the extravagancy
of Paradoxes, and such singularities, have called the
faculties, and abilities of women in question, even in
the roote thereof, in the reasonable and immortall soul,
yet that one thing alone hath been enough to create
a doubt, (almost an assurance in the negative) whether
S. Ambroses Commentaries upon the Epistles of S. Paul,
be truly his or no, that in that book there is a doubt
made, whether the woman were created according to
Gods Image ; Therefore, because that doubt is made
in that book, the book it self is suspected not to have
had so great, so grave, so constant an author as S. Ambrose
was ; No author of gravity, of piety, of conversation in
the Scriptures could admit that doubt, whether woman
were created in the Image of God, that is, in possession
of a reasonable and an immortall soul.
86 Women.
The faculties and abilities of the soul appeare best
in affaires of State, and in Ecclesiasticall affaires ; in
matter of government, and in matter of religion ; and
in neither of these are we without examples of able
women. For, for State affaires, and matter of govern-
ment, our age hath given us such a Queen, as scarce any
former King hath equalled ; And in the Venetian Story,
I remember, that certain Matrons of that City were sent
by Commission, in quality of Ambassadours, to an
Empresse with whom that State had occasion to treate ;
And in the Stories of the Eastern parts of the World,
it is said to be in ordinary practise to send women for
Ambassadours. And then, in matters of Religion,
women have evermore had a great hand, though some-
times on the left, as well as on the right hand. Sometimes
their abundant wealth, sometimes their personall affec-
tions to some Church-men, sometimes their irregular
and indiscreet zeale hath made them great assistants
Hieron. of great Heretiques ; as S. Hierome tels us of Helena to
Simon Magus, and so was Lucilia to Donatus, so another
to Mahomet, and others to others. But so have they been
also great instruments for the advancing of true Religion,
Acts 17. 4 as S. Paul testifies in their behalf, at Thessolonica, Of
the chiefe zuomen, not a few ; Great, and Many. For,
many times women have the proxies of greater persons
then themselves, in their bosomes ; many times women
have voices, where they should have none ; many times
the voices of great men, in the greatest of Civill, or
Ecclesiasticall AssembUes, have been in the power and
disposition of women. . . .
Women of quality may be up and ready early enough
Women. 87
for Gods service, if they will. If they be not, let them
but seriously aske themselves that question, whether
upon no other occasion, no entertainment, no visit, no
letter to or from another, they could have made more
haste ; And if they finde they could, I must say in that
case, as TertuUian said. They have put God and that man TertuL
into the balance, and waighed them together, and found
God too light. That Mighty, that waighty, that pon-
derous God, that blasts a State with a breath, that melts
a Church with a looke, that molders a world with a touch,
that God is waighed downe with that man ; That man,
whose errand, if it be but conversation, is vanity, but,
if it be sin, is nothing, waighs downe God. The world
will needs thinke one of these Maries, {Magdalen) to
have been guilty of such entertainments as these, of
Incontinency, and of that in the lowest (that is, the
highest) kinde, Prostitution ; perchance she was ; But,
I would there were that necessity of thinking so, that
because she was a Woman, and is called a sinner, therefore
that must be her sin, as though they were capable of
no other sin ; Alas, it is not so. There may be women,
whom even another sin, the sin of Pride, and over-
valuation of themselves may have kept from that sin,
and yet may well be called sinners too ; There may be
found women, whom only their scorne of others, hath
kept honest, and yet are sinners, though not in that sin.
52. Cosmetics.
CERTAINLY the limits of adorning and beautifying
the body are not so narrow, so strict, as by some
sowre men they are sometimes conceived to be. Differ-
88 Cosmetics.
ences of Ranks, of Ages, of Nations, of Customes, make
great diflferences in the enlarging, or contracting of these
limits, in adorning the body ; and that may come neare sin
at some time, and in some places, which is not so alwaies,
nor every where. Amongst the women there, the Jewish
women, it was so generall a thing to helpe themselves
with aromaticall Oyles, and liniments, as that that which
is said by the Prophets poore Widow, to the Prophet
2 King. 4. Elisha, That she had nothing in the house hut a fot oj Oyle,
is very properly by some collected from the Originall
word, that it was not Oyle for meate, but Oyle for
unction, aromaticall Oyle, Oyle to make her looke better ;
she was but poore, but a Widow, but a Prophets Widow,
(and likely to be the poorer for that) yet she left not that.
We see that even those women, whom the Kings were
to take for their Wives, and not for Mistresses, (which
is but a later name for Concubines) had a certaine, and
a long time assigned to be prepared by these aromaticall
unctions, and liniments for beauty. Neither do those
that consider, that when Abraham was afraid to lose his
wife Sara in Egypt, and that every man that saw her,
would fall in love with her, Sara was then above three-
score ; And when the King Abimelech did fall in love
with her, and take her from Abraham^ she was fourescore
and ten, they doe not assigne this preservation of her
complexion, and habitude to any other thing, then the
use of those unctions, and liniments, which were ordinary
to that Nation. But yet though the extent and Umit of
this adorning the body, may be larger then some austere
persons will allow, yet it is not so large, as that it should be
limited onely, by the intention and purpose of them that
Cosmetics. 89
doe it ; So that if they that beautifie themselves, meane
no harme in it, therefore there should be no harme
in it ; for, except they could as well provide, that others
should take no harme, as that they should meane no
harme, they may participate of the fault. And since
we finde such an impossibility in rectifying and governing
our owne senses, (we cannot take our owne eye, nor stop
our owne eare, when we would) it is an unnecessary,
and insupportable burden, to put upon our score, all the
lascivious glances, and the Hcentious wishes of other
persons, occasioned by us, in over-adorning our selves.
53. The Skin,
C1ORRUPTION in the skin, says lob ; In the outward In pelU,
beauty. These be the Records of veHm, these be
the parchmins, the endictments, and the evidences that
shall condemn many of us, at the last day, our own skins ;
we have the book of God, the Law, written in our own
hearts ; we have the image of God imprinted in our
own souls ; wee have the character, and seal of God
stamped in us, in our baptism ; and, all this is bound
up in this velim, in this parchmin, in this skin of ours,
and we neglect book, and image, and character, and
seal, and all for the covering. It is not a clear case, if
we consider the originall words properly, That lesahel 2 i?^g.9.3o.
did paint ; and yet all translators, and expositors have
taken a just occasion, out of the ambiguity of those
words, to cry down that abomination of painting. It
is not a clear case, if we consider the propriety of the
words. That Ahsolon was hanged by the hair of the head ; 2 5am.i8.9.
and yet the Fathers and others have made use of that
90 The Skin.
indlfferency, and verisimilitude, to explode that abomina-
tion, of cherishing and curHng haire, to the enveagUng,
and ensnaring, and entangling of others ; ludicium
Hieron. patietUT (Sternum^ says ^aint Hlerome, Thou art guilty of
a murder, though no body die ; Quia vinum attulisti, si
fuisset qui bibisset ; Thou hast poyson'd a cup, if any
would drink, thou hast prepar'd a tentation, if any would
Tertul. swallow it. Teriullian thought he had done enough,
when he had writ his book De Habitu muliebri, against
the excesse of women in clothes, but he was fain to adde
another with more vehemence, De cultu foeminarum,
that went beyond their clothes to their skin. And he
concludes, Illud ambitionis crimen, there's vain-glory
in their excesse of clothes, but. Hoc prostitutionis, there's
prostitution in drawing the eye to the skin. Pliny says,
that when their thin silke stufEes were first invented at
Rome, Excogitatum ad fceminas denudandas ; It was but
an invention that women might go naked in clothes,
for their skins might bee seen through those clothes,
those thinne stuffes : Our women are not so careful!,
but they expose their nakednesse professedly, and paint
it, to cast bird-Hme for the passengers eye. Beloved,
good dyet makes the best Complexion, and a good
Conscience is a continuall feast ; A cheerfull heart makes
the best blood, and peace with God is the true cheerful-
nesse of heart. Thy Saviour neglected his skin so much,
as that at last, hee scarce had any ; all was torn with the
whips, and scourges ; and thy skin shall come to that
absolute corruption, as that, though a hundred years
after thou art buryed, one may find thy bones, and say,
this was a tall man, this was a strong man, yet we shall
The Skin. 91
soon be past saying, upon any relique of thy skinne, This
was a fair man ; Corruption seises the skinne, all out-
ward beauty quickly, and so it does the body, the whole
frame and constitution, which is another consideration ;
After my skinne, my Body.
If the whole body were an eye, or an ear, where were the In corpore.
body, says Saint Paul ; but, when of the whole body
there is neither eye nor ear, nor any member left, where
is the body ? And what should an eye do there, where
there is nothing to be seen but loathsomnesse ; or a nose
there, where there is nothing to be smelt, but putre-
faction ; or an ear, where in the grave they doe not
praise God ? Doth not that body that boasted but
yesterday of that priviledge above all creatures, that it
onely could goe upright, lie to day as flat upon the earth
as the body of a horse, or of a dogge ? And doth it not
to morrow lose his other priviledge, of looking up to
heaven ? Is it not farther remov'd from the eye of
heaven, the Sunne, then any dogge, or horse, by being
cover'd with the earth, which they are not ? Painters
have presented to us with some horrour, the sceleton,
the frame of the bones of a mans body ; but the state
of a body, in the dissolution of the grave, no pencil can
present to us.
54. Mud Walls.
BEHOLD God hath walled us with mud walls, and
wet mud walls, that waste away faster, then God
meant at first, they should. And by sinnes, this flesh,
that is but the loame and plaster of thy Tabernacle,
thy body, that, all, that, that in the intire substance is
92 Mud Walls.
corrupted. Those Gummes, and spices, wliich should
embalme thy flesh, when thou art dead, are spent upon
that diseased body whilest thou art ahve : Thou seemest,
in the eye of the world, to walk in silks^ and thou doest
but walke in searcloth ; Thou hast a desire to please
some eyes, when thou hast much to doe, not to displease
every Nose ; and thou wilt solicite an adulterous entrance
into their beds, who, if they should but see thee goe into
thine own bed, would need no other mortification, nor
answer to thy sohcitation. Thou pursuest the works
of the flesh, and hast none, for thy flesh is but dust held
together by plaisters : Dissolution and putrefaction is
gone over thee alive ; Thou hast over liv'd thine own
death, and art become thine own ghost, and thine own
heU.
55. Ignorance,
THE Schooles have made so many Divisions, and sub-
divisions, and re-divisions, and post-divisions of
Ignorance, that there goes as much learning to under-
stand ignorance, as knowledg. One, much elder then al
they, & elder (as some will have it) then any but some of
the first Secretaries of the Holy Ghost in the Bible, that
is Trismegistus, hath said as much as all, Nequitia animis
Ignorantia, Ignorance is not onely the drousinesse, the
silhnesse, but the wickednesse of the soule : Not onely
dis-estimation in this world, and damnification here, but
damnation in the next world, proceeds from ignorance.
And yet, here in this world, knowledge is but as the
earth, and ignorance as the Sea ; there is more sea then
earth, more ignorance then knowledge ; and as if the sea
do gaine in one place, it loses in another, so is it with
Ignorance. 93
knowledge too ; if new things be found out, as many,
and as good, that were knowne before, are forgotten and
lost. What Anatomist knovves the body of man thorowly,
or what Casuist the soule ? What Politician knowes the
distemper of the State thorowly ; or what Master, the
disorders of his owne family ? Princes glory in Arcanis,
that they have secrets which no man shall know, and, God
knowes, they have hearts which they know not themselves ;
Thoughts and purposes indigested fall upon them and
surprise them. It is so in naturall, in morall, in civill
things ; we are ignorant of more things then we know ;
And it is so in divine and supernaturall things too ; for,
for them, the Scripture is our onely hght, and of the
Scripture, S. Augustine professes, Plura se nescire quam
scire, That there are more places of Scripture, that he
does not, then that he does understand.
Hell is darknesse ; & the way to it, is the cloud of
Ignorance ; hell it self is but condensed Ignorance,
multiplied Ignorance.
56. The Imperfection of Knowledge,
HOW imperfect is all our knowledge ? What one
thing doe we know perfectly ? Whether wee consider
Arts, or Sciences, the servant knows but according to
the proportion of his Masters knowledge in that Art, and
the Scholar knows but according to the proportion of
his Masters knowledge in that Science ; Young men
mend not their sight by using old mens Spectacles ; and
yet we looke upon Nature, but with Aristotles Spectacles,
and upon the body of man, but with Galens, and upon
the frame of the world, but with Ptolomies Spectacles.
94 The Imperfection of Knowledge.
Almost all knowledge is rather like a child that is embalmed
to make Mummy, then that is nursed to make a Man ;
rather conserved in the stature of the first age, then growne
to be greater ; And if there be any addition to knowledge,
it is rather a new knowledge, then a greater knowledge ;
rather a singularity in a desire of proposing something
that was not knowne at all before, then an emproving,
an advancing, a multiplying of former inceptions ; and
by that meanes, no knowledge comes to be perfect. One
Philosopher thinks he is dived to the bottome, when he
sayes, he knows nothing but this. That he knows nothing ;
and yet another thinks, that he hath expressed more
knowledge then he, in saying. That he knows not so m.uch
as that, That he knows nothing. S. Paul found that to
be all knowledge. To know Christ ; And Mahomet
thinks himselfe wise therefore, because he knows not,
acknowledges not Christ, as S. Paul does. Though a man
knew not, that every sin casts another shovell of Brimstone
upon him in Hell, yet if he knew that every riotous feast
cuts off a year, and every wanton night seaven years of
his seventy in this world, it were some degree towards
perfection in knowledge. He that purchases a Mannor,
will thinke to have an exact Survey of the Land : But
who thinks of taking so exact a survey of his Conscience,
how that money was got, that purchased that Mannor ?
We call that a mans meanes, which he hath ; But that is
truly his meanes, what way he came by it. And yet how
few are there, (when a state comes to any great propor-
tion) that know that ; that know what they have, what
they are worth ? We have seen great Wills, dilated into
glorious uses, and into pious uses, and then too narrow
The Imperfection of Knowledge. 95
an estate to reach to it ; And we have seen Wills, where
the Testator thinks he hath bequeathed all, and he hath
not knowne halfe his own worth. When thou knowest
a wife, a sonne, a servant, a friend no better, but that
that wife betrayes thy bed, and that sonne thine estate,
and that servant thy credit, and that friend thy secret,
what canst thou say thou knowest ?
57. Change of Mind,
rHET changed their minds, and said, That he was
a God, Acts xxviii. 6. . . . Neither have these men of
Malta (consider them in what quality you will) so much
honour afforded them, in the Originall, as our translation
hath given them. We say, they changed their minds ; the
Original says only this, they changed, and no more. Alas,
they, we, men of this world, wormes of this dunghil,
whether Basihsks or Wind wormes, whether Scarabs or
Silkworms, whether high or low in the world, have no
minds to change. The Platonique Philosophers did not
only acknowledge Animd in homine, a soule in man, but
Mentem in anima, a minde in the soul of man. They
meant by the minde, the superiour faculties of the soule,
and we never come to exercise them. Men and women
call one another inconstant, and accuse one another of
having changed their minds, when, God knowes, they have
but changed the object of their eye, and seene a better
white or red. An old man loves not the same sports that
he did when he was young, nor a sicke man the same
meats that hee did when hee was well ; But these men have
not changed their mindes ; The old man hath changed
his fancy, and the sick man his taste ; neither his minde.
96 Change of Mind.
The Mind implies consideration, deliberation, con-
clusion upon premisses ; and wee never come to that ;
wee never put the soule home ; wee never bend the soule
up to her height ; we never put her to a tryall what she
is able to doe towards discerning a tentation, what towards
resisting a tentation, what towards repenting a tentation ;
we never put her to tryall what she is able to doe by her
naturall faculties, whether by them shee cannot be as
good as a Plato, or a Socrates, who had no more but those
naturall faculties ; what by vertue of Gods generall
grace, which is that providence, in which he inwraps
all his creatures, whether by that she cannot know her
God, as well as the Oxe knowes his Crib, and the Stork
her nest ; what by vertue of those particular graces,
which God offers her in his private inspirations at home,
and in his publique Ordinances here, whether by those
she cannot be as good an houre hence, as she is now ;
and as good a day after, as that day that she receives
the Sacrament ; we never put the soule home, we never
bend the soule up to her height ; and the extent of the
soule is this minde. When David speaks of the people,
PsaL 2. 2. he sayes. They imagine a vaine thing ; It goes no farther,
then to the fancy, to the imagination ; it never comes
so neare the minde, as Consideration, Reflection, Examina-
tion, they onely imagine, fancy a vain thing, which is
but a waking dreame, for the fancy is the seat, the scene,
the theatre of dreames.
Reason and Faith. 97
58. Reason and Faith,
THEY had a precious composition for lamps, amongst
the ancients, reserved especially for Tombes, which
kept light for many hundreds of yeares ; we have had
in our age experience, in some casuall openings of ancient
vaults, of finding such lights, as were kindled, (as appeared
by their inscriptions) fifteen or sixteen hundred years
before ; but, as soon as that light comes to our light, it
vanishes. So this eternall, and this supernaturall light,
Christ and faith, enhghtens, warmes, purges, and does
all the profitable offices of fire, and light, if we keep it
in the right spheare, in the proper place, (that is, if wee
consist in points necessary to salvation, and revealed in
the Scripture) but when wee bring this light to the
common light of reason, to our inferences, and conse-
quencies, it may be in danger to vanish it selfe, and
perchance extinguish our reason too ; we may search
so far, and reason so long oi faith and grace, as that we
may lose not onely them, but even our reason too, and
sooner become mad then good. Not that we are bound
to believe any thing against reason, that is, to believe,
we know not why. It is but a slacke opinion, it is not
Beliefe, that is not grounded upon reason. He that
should come to a Heathen man, a meere naturall man,
uncatechized, uninstructed in the rudiments of the
Christian Religion, and should at first, without any
preparation, present him first with this necessitie ; Thou
shalt burn in fire and brimstone eternally, except thou
beheve a Trinitie of Persons, in an unitie of one God,
Except thou believe the Incarnation of the second
2025*3 H
98 Reason and Faith.
Person of the Trinitie, the Sonne of God, Except thou
believe that a Virgine had a Sonne, and the same Sonne
that God had, and that God was Man too, and being
the immortall God, yet died, he should be so farre from
working any spirituall cure upon this poore soule, as
that he should rather bring Christian Mysteries into
scorne, then him to a beliefe. For, that man, if you
proceed so, Believe all, or you burne in Hell, would
finde an easie, an obvious way to escape all ; that is,
first not to believe Hell it selfe, and then nothing could
binde him to believe the rest.
The reason therefore of Man, must first be satisfied ;
but the way of such satisfaction must be this, to make
him see, That this World, a frame of so much harmony,
so much concinnitie and conveniencie, and such a corre-
spondence, and subordination in the parts thereof, must
necessarily have had a workeman, for nothing can make
it selfe : That no such workeman would deliver over
a frame, and worke, of so much Majestic, to be governed
by Fortune, casually, but would still retain the Adminis-
tration thereof in his owne hands : That if he doe so,
if he made the World, and sustaine it still by his watchfuU
Providence, there belongeth a worship and service to
him, for doing so : That therefore he hath certainly
revealed to man, what kinde of worship, and service,
shall be acceptable to him : That this manifestation of
his Will, must be permanent, it must be written, there
must be a Scripture, which is his Word and his Will :
And that therefore, from that Scripture, from that
Word of God, all Articles of our BeHefe are to bee drawne.
If then his Reason confessing all this, aske farther
Reason and Faith. 99
proofe, how he shall know that these Scriptures accepted
by the Christian Church, are the true Scriptures, let
him bring any other Booke which pretendeth to be the
Word of God, into comparison with these ; It is true*
we have not a Demonstration ; not such an Evidence as
that one and two, are three, to prove these to be Scrip-
tures of God ; God hath not proceeded in that manner,
to drive our Reason into a pound, and to force it by
a peremptory necessitie to accept these for Scriptures,
for then, here had been no exercise of our Will, and our
assent, if we could not have resisted. But yet these
Scriptures have so orderly, so sweet, and so powerfull
a working upon the reason, and the understanding, as if
any third man, who were utterly discharged of all pre-
conceptions and anticipations in matter of ReHgion,
one who were altogether neutrally disinteressed, uncon-
cerned in either party, nothing towards a Turke, and as
Httle toward a Christian, should heare a Christian pleade
for his Bible, and a 7urke for his Alcoran, and should
weigh the evidence of both ; the Majesty of the Style,
the punctuall accomplishment of the Prophecies, the
harmony and concurrence of the foure Evangelists, the
consent and unanimity of the Christian Church ever
since, and many other such reasons, he would be drawne
to such an Historicall, such a Grammatical!, such a
Logicall beliefe of our Bible, as to preferre it before any
other, that could be pretended to be the Word of God.
He would believe it, and he would know why he did so.
For let no man thinke that God hath given him so much
ease here, as to save him by beheving he knoweth not
what, or why. Knowledge cannot save us, but we cannot
H 2
100 Reason and Faith.
be saved without Knowledge ; Faith is not on this
side Knowledge, but beyond it ; we must necessarily
come to Knowledge first, though we must not stay at
it, when we are come thither. For, a regenerate Chris-
tian, being now a new Creature, hath also a new facultie
of Reason : and so beheveth the Mysteries of Religion,
out of another Reason, then as a meere naturall Man,
he believed naturall and morall things. He believeth
them for their own sake, by Faith, though he take
Knowledge of them before, by that common Reason,
and by those humane Arguments, which worke upon
other men, in naturall or morall things. Divers men may
walke by the Sea side, and the same beames of the Sunne
giving Hght to them all, one gathereth by the benefit of
that light pebles, or speckled shells, for curious vanitie,
and another gathers precious Pearle, or medicinal! Ambar,
by the same light. So the common light of reason
illumins us all ; but one imployes this light upon the
searching of impertinent vanities, another by a better
use of the same light, finds out the Mysteries of Religion ;
and when he hath found them, loves them, not for the
lights sake, but for the naturall and true worth of the
thing it self. Some men by the benefit of this light of
Reason, have found out things profitable and usefull
to the whole world ; As in particular, Printing, by which
the learning of the whole world is communicable to one
another, and our minds and our inventions, our wits
and compositions may trade and have commerce together,
and we may participate of one anothers understandings,
as well as of our Clothes, and Wines, and Oyles, and other
Merchandize : So by the benefit of this hght of reason,
Reason and Faith. loi
they have found out Artillery, by which wanes come to
quicker ends then heretofore, and the great expence of
bloud is avoyded : for the numbers of men slain now,
since the invention of Artillery, are much lesse then before,
when the sword was the executioner. Others, by the
benefit of this Hght have searched and found the secret
corners of gaine, and profit, wheresoever they lie. They
have found wherein the weakenesse of another man
consisteth, and made their profit of that, by circum-
venting him in a bargain : They have found his riotous,
and wasteful! inclination, and they have fed and fomented
that disorder, and kept open that leake,to their advantage,
and the others mine. They have found where was the
easiest, and most accessible way, to sollicite the Chastitie
of a woman, whether Discourse, Musicke, or Presents,
and according to that discovery, they have pursued
hers, and their own eternal! destruction. By the benefit
of this light, men see through the darkest, and most
impervious places, that are, that is, Courts of Princes,
and the greatest Officers in Courts ; and can submit
themselves to second, and to advance the humours of
men in great place, and so make their profit of the
weakenesses which they have discovered in these great
men. All the wayes, both of Wisdome, and of Craft lie
open to this light, tliis light of natural! reason : But
when they have gone all these wayes by the benefit
of this light, they have got no further, then to have
walked by a tempestuous Sea, and to have gathered
pebles, and speckled cockle shells. Their hght seems to
be great out of the same reason, that a Torch in a misty
night, seemeth greater then in a clear, because it hath
102 Reason and Faith.
kindled and inflamed much thicke and grosse Ayre round
about it. So the light and wisedome of worldly men,
seemeth great, because he hath kindled an admiration,
or an applause in Aiery flatterers, not because it is so
in deed.
But, if thou canst take this light of reason that is in
thee, this poore snuffe, that is almost out in thee, thy
faint and dimme knowledge of God, that riseth out of
this light of nature, if thou canst in those embers, those
cold ashes, finde out one small coale, and wilt take the
paines to kneell downe, and blow that coale with thy
devout Prayers, and light thee a little candle, (a desire
to reade that Booke, which they call the Scriptures, and
the Gospell, and the Word of God ;) If with that little
candle thou canst creep humbly into low and poore
places, if thou canst finde thy Saviour in a Manger, and
in his swathing clouts, in his humiliation, and blesse God
for that beginning, if thou canst finde him flying into
Egypt, and finde in thy selfe a disposition to accompany
him in a persecution, in a banishment, if not a bodily
banishment, a locall banishment, yet a reall, a spirituall
banishment, a banishment from those sinnes, and that
sinnefull conversation, which thou hast loved more then
thy Parents, or Countrey, or thine owne body, which
perchance thou hast consumed, and destroyed with that
sinne ; if thou canst finde him contenting and containing
himselfe at home in his fathers house, and not breaking
out, no not about the worke of our salvation, till the
due time was come, when it was to be done. And if
according to that example, thou canst contain thy selfe
in that station and vocation in which God hath planted
Reason and Faith. 103
thee, and not, through a hasty and precipitate zeale^
breake out to an imaginary, and intempestive, and
unseasonable Reformation, either in CiviU or Ecclesiasticall
businesse, which belong not to thee ; if with this little
poore light, these first degrees of Knowledge and Faith,
thou canst follow him into the Garden, and gather up
some of the droppes of his precious Bloud and sweat,
which he shed for thy soule, if thou canst follow him to
Jerusalem, and pick up some of those teares, which he
shed upon that City, and upon thy soule ; if thou canst
follow him to the place of his scourging, and to his
crucifying, and provide thee some of that balme, which
must cure thy soule ; if after all this, thou canst turne
this little light inward, and canst thereby discerne where
thy diseases, and thy wounds, and thy corruptions are,
and canst apply those teares, and blood and balme to
them, (all this is. That if thou attend the Hght of natural]
reason, and cherish that, and exalt that, so that that
bring thee to a love of the Scriptures, and that love to
a beleefe of the truth thereof, and that historic all faith
to z. faith of application, of appropriation, that as all those
things were certainly done, so they were certainly done/or
thee) thou shalt never envy the lustre and glory of the great
lights of worldly men, which are great by the infirmity of
others, or by their own opinion, great because others think
them great, or because they think themselves so, but thou
shalt finde, that howsoever they magnifie their lights, their
wit, their learning, their industry, their fortune, their
favour, and sacrifice to their owne nets, yet thou shalt see, Uahak i.
that thou by thy small Hght hast gathered Pearle and
Amber, and they by their great lights nothing but shels
104 Reason and Faith.
and pebles ; they have determined the light of nature,
upon the booke of nature, this world, and thou hast carried
the light of nature higher, thy naturall reason, and even
humane arguments, have brought thee to reade the
Scriptures, and to that love, God hath set to the scale of
faith. Their Hght shall set at noone ; even in their
heighth, some heavy crosse shall cast a damp upon their
soule, and cut off all their succours, and devest them of
all comforts, and thy light shall grow up, from a Jaire
hope, to a modest assurance and infallibility, that that
light shall never go out, nor the works of darknesse, nor
the Prince of darknesse ever prevaile upon thee, but as
thy Hght of reason is exalted hy faith here, so thy Hght of
faith shall be exalted into the light of glory, and fruition
in the Kingdome of heaven. Before the sunne was made,
there was a light which did that office of distinguishing
night and day ; but when the sunne was created, that
did all the offices of the former light, and more. Reason
is that first, and primogeniall light, and goes no farther
in a naturall man ; but in a man regenerate by faith,
that light does all that reason did, and more ; and aU his
Morall, and Ci-uill, and Domestique, and indifferent
actions, (though they be never done without Reason)
yet their principall scope, and marke is the glory of God,
and though they seeme but Morall, or Civill, or domestique,
yet they have a deeper tincture, a heavenly nature,
a relation to God. in them.
True Knowledge, 105
59. 7Tue Knowledge.
BLESSED are they that inanimate all their knowledge,
consummate all in Christ Jesus. The University
is a Paradise, Rivers of knowledge are there, Arts and
Sciences flow from thence. Counsell Tables are Horti
conclusi, (as it is said in the Canticles) Gardens that are
walled in, and they are Fontes signati, Wells that are
sealed up ; bottomlesse depths of unsearchable Counsels
there. But those Aquce quietudinum, which the Prophet
speaks of, The waters of rest, they flow a magistro bono,
from this good master, and flow into him again ; All
knowledge that begins not, and ends not with his glory,
is but a giddy, but a vertiginous circle, but an elaborate
and exquisite ignorance.
60. Terrible Things,
IN the frame and constitution of al Rehgions, these
Materials, these Elements have ever entred ; Some
words of a remote signification, not vulgarly understood,,
some actions of a kinde of halfe-horror and amazement,
some places of reservation and retirednesse, and appro-
priation to some sacred persons, and inaccessible to all
others. Not to speake of the services, and sacrifices of
the Gentiles, and those selfe-manglings and lacerations
of the Priests of Isis, and of the Priests of Baal, (faintly
counterfaited in the scourgings and flagellations in the
Roman Church) In that very discipline which was
dehvered from God, by Moses, the service was full of
mysterie, and horror, and reservation. By terrible things,
(Sacrifices of blood in manifold effusions) God answered
io6 Terrible Things.
them, then. So, the matter of Doctrine was delivered
mysteriously, and with much reservation, and in-intelH-
giblenesse, as Tertullian speaks. The Joy and Glory
of Heaven was not easily understood by their temporall
abundances of Milke, and Honey, and Oyle, and Wine ;
and yet, in these (and scarce any other way) was Heaven
presented, and notified to that people by Moses. Christ,
a Messias, a Saviour of the World, by shedding his blood
for it, was not easily discerned in their Types and Sacri-
fices ; And yet so, and scarce any other way was Christ
Eos.i2.io. revealed unto them. God sayes, / have multiplied visions,
and used similitudes, by the ministery of the Prophets.
They were Visions, they were Simihtudes, not plaine and
evident things, obvious to every understanding, that God
led his people by. . . .
So that God in the Old, and Christ in the New Testa-
ment, hath conditioned his Doctrine, and his Religion
(that is, his outward worship) so, as that evermore there
should be preserved a Majesty, and a reverentiall feare,
and an awfull discrimination of Divine things from
Civill, and evermore something reserved to be inquired
after, and laid up in the mouth of the Priest, that the
People might acknowledge an obligation from him, in
the exposition, and application thereof. Nay, this way
of answering us by terrible things, (that is, by things
that imprint a holy horror, and a ReHgious reverence) is
much more in the Christian Church, then it can have
beene in any other Religion ; Because, if wee consider
the Jews, (which is the onely Religion, that can enter
into any comparison with the Christian, in this kinde)
yet, we looke more directly and more immediately upon
Terrible Things. 107
God in Christ, then the/ could, who saw him but by
way of Prophecie, a future thing that should be done
after ; we looke upon God, in History, in matter of fact,
upon things done, and set before our eyes ; and so that
Majesty, and that holy amazement, is more to us then
ever it was to any other Religion, because we have
a nearer approximation, and vicinity to God in Christ,
then any others had, in any representions of their Gods ;
and it is a more dazeling thing to looke upon the Sun,
in a direct, then in an obHque or side line. And therefore,
the love of God, which is so often proposed unto us,
i3 as often seasoned with the feare of God ; nay, all our
ReHgious affections are reduced to that one. To a reveren-
tiall feare ; If he be a Master, he cals for feare, and, Mai. i. 6.
If he be a Father, he calls for ho7tor ; And honour impHes
a reverentiall feare. And that is the Art that David
professes to teach, Artem timendi. Come ye children, and P3al.34.1a.
hearken unto me, and I will teach you the feare of the Lord.
That you thinke not Divinity an Occupation, nor
Church-Service a recreation ; but still remember. That
the God of our Salvation (God working in the Christian
Church) will answer you ; but yet, by terrible things ;
that is, by not being over-fellowly with God, nor over-
homely vnth places, and acts of Rehgion ; which, it
may be an advancement to your Devotion and edification,
to consider, in some particulars in the Christian Church.
And first, consider we it, in our manners, and conversa- Inmorlbm.
tion. Christ sayes. Henceforth I call you not servants, ° "'S-i*
but friends. But, howsoever Christ called him friend,
that was come to the feast without the wedding garment,
he cast him out, because he made no difference of that Mat.2«.Ta,
io8 Terrible Things.
place from another. First then, remember by what
terrible things God answers thee in the Christian Church,
when he comes to that round and peremptory issue,
Marke 16. q^^ ^q^ crediderit, damnahitur, He that teleeves not every
Article of the Christian faith, and with so stedfast a behef ,
as that he would dye for it, Damnabitur, (no modification,
no mollification, no going lesse) He shal be damned.
Consider too the nature of Excomunication, That it
teares a man from the body of Christ Jesus ; That that
man withers that is torne off, and Christ himselfe is
wounded in it. Consider the insupportable penances
that were laid upon sinners, by those penitentiall Canons,
that went through the Church in those Primitive times ;
when, for many sins which we passe through now,
without so much as taking knowledge that they are sins,
men were not admitted to the Communion all their
lives, no, nor easily upon their death-beds. Consider
how dangerously an abuse of that great doctrine of
Predestination may bring thee to thinke, that God is
bound to thee, and thou not bound to him, That thou
maiest renounce him, and he must embrace thee, and
so make thee too famiHar with God, and too homely
with Religion, upon presumption of a Decree. Con-
sider that when thou preparest any uncleane action,
in any sinfull nakednesse, God is not onely present
with thee in that roome then, but then tels thee.
That at the day of Judgement thou must stand in
his presence, and in the presence of all the World,
not onely naked, but in that foule, and sinfull,
and uncleane action of nakednesse, which thou com-
mittedst then ; Consider all this and confesse, that for
Terrible Things. 109
matters of manners, and conversation, 7he God of thy
Salvation answers thee by terrible things. And so it is
also, if we consider Prayer in the Church.
Gods House is the house of Prayer ; It is his Court of In orations.
Requests ; There he receives petitions, there he gives
Order upon them. And you come to God in his House,
as though you came to keepe him company, to sit downe,
and talke vdth him halfe an houre ; or you come as
Ambassadors, covered in his presence, as though ye came
from as great a Prince as he. You meet below, and there
make your bargaines, for biting, for devouring Usury, and
then you come up hither to prayers, and so make God
your Broker. You rob, and spoile, and eat his people
as bread, by Extortion, and bribery, and deceitful!
waights and measures, and deluding oathes in buying
and selling, and then come hither, and so make God
your Receiver, and his house a den of Thieves. His
house is Sanctum Sanctorum, The holiest of holies, and
you make it onely Sanctuarium ; It should be a place
sanctified by your devotions, and you make it onely
a Sanctuary to priviledge Malefactors, A place that
may redeeme you from the ill opinion of men, who must
in charity be bound to thinke well of you, because they
see you here. Offer this to one of your Princes, (as God
argues in the Prophet) and see, if he will suffer his house
to be prophaned by such uncivill abuses ; And, Terribilis Psal. 47- 3-
Rex, The Lord most high is terrible, and a great King over
all the earth ; and, Terribilis super omnes Deos, More 96. *,
terrible then all other Gods. Let thy Master be thy god,
or thy Mistresse thy god, thy Belly be thy god, or thy
Back be thy god, thy fields be thy god, or thy chests be
no Terrible Things.
thy god, Terribilis super omnes Deos^ The Lord is terrible
95- 3- above all gods, A great God, and a great King above all
gods. You come, and call upon liim by his name here, But
Dent 28.58, Magnum U terribile. Glorious and fear efull is the name of
the Lord thy God. And, as if the Son of God were but
the Son of some Lord, that had beene your Schoole-
fellow in your youth, and so you continued a boldnesse
to him ever after, so, because you have beene brought
up with Christ from your cradle, and catechized in his
name, his name becomes lesse reverend unto you. And
Psal.111.4. Sanctum iff terribile, Holy, and reverend. Holy and
terrible should his name be.
61. The Fate of the Heathen,
Fagani. AND as those blessed Fathers of tender bowels,
XA- enlarged themselves in this distribution, and
apportioning the mercy of God, that it consisted best
with the nature of his mercy, that as his Saints had
suffered temporall calamities in this world, in this world
they should be recompenced with temporall abundances,
so did they inlarge this mercy farther, and carry it even
to the Gentiles, to the Pagans that had no knowledge
of Christ in any estabhshed Church. You shall not
finde a Trismegistus, a Numa Pompilius, a Plato, a Socrates,
for whose salvation you shall not finde some Father, or
some Ancient and Reverend Author, an Advocate. In
which liberaHty of Gods mercy, those tender Fathers
proceed partly upon that rule. That in Trismegistus,
and in the rest, they finde evident impressions, and
testimonies, that they knew the Son of God, and knew
the Trinity ; and then, say they, why should not these
The Fate of the Heathen. 1 1 1
good men, beleeving a Trinity, be saved ? and partly
they goe upon that rule, which goes through so many
of the Fathers, Faciejtti quod in se est. That to that man
who does as much as he can, by the light of nature, God
never denies grace ; and then, say they, why should not
these men that doe so be saved ? And, upon this ground,
S. Dionyse, the Areopagite sayes. That from the beginning
of the world, God hath called some men of all Nations,
and of all sorts, by the ministry of Angels, though not
by the ministry of the Church. To me, to whom God
hath revealed his Son, in a Gospel, by a Church, there
can be no way of salvation, but by applying that Son of
God, by that Gospel, in that Church. Nor is there any
other foundation for any, nor other name by which any
can be saved, but the name of Jesus. But how this
foundation is presented, and how this name of Jesus is
notified to them, amongst whom there is no Gospel
preached, no Church established, I am not curious in
inquiring. I know God can be as mercifull as those
tender Fathers present him to be ; and I would be as
charitable as they are. And therefore humbly imbracing
that manifestation of his Son, which he hath afforded
me, I leave God, to his unsearchable waies of working
upon others, without farther inquisition.
62. ^he Church a Company.
THE Key of David openeth and no man shutteth ;
The Spirit of Comfort shineth upon us, and would
not be blown out. Monasterie, and Ermitage, and
Anchorate, and such words of singularitie are not Synonyma
with those plurall words Concio, Ccetus, Ecclesia, Synagoga
112 The Church a Company.
^ Congregatio, in which words God delivereth himselfe
to us. A Church is a Company, Religion is Religation,
a binding of men together in one manner of Worship ;
and Worship is an exteriour service ; and that exteriour
service is the Venite exultemus^ to come and rejoyce
in the presence of God.
G
63. God Proceeds Legally,
OD proceeds legally ; Pubhcation before Judgement.
God shall condemn no man, for not beleeving in
Christ, to whom Christ was never manifested. 'TxV
true, that God is said to have come to Eliah in that
still small voice, and not in the strong wind, not in the
1Reg.1g.12. Earth-quake, not in the Jire. So God says, Sibilabo
Mat. lo.^-j'. populum meum, I will but hisse, I will but whisper for
my people, and gather them so. So Christ tells us things
in darknesse ; And so Christ speakes to us in our Ear ; And
these low voices, and holy whisperings, and halfe-silences,
denote to us, the inspirations of his Spirit, as his Spirit
beares witnesse with our spirit ; as the Holy Ghost insinu-
ates himselfe into our soules, and works upon us so,
by his private motions. But this is not Gods ordinary
way, to be whispering of secrets. The first thing that
God made, was light-, The last thing, that he hath reserved
to doe ; is the manifestation of the hght of his Essence
in our Glorification. And for Publication of himselfe
here, by the way, he hath constituted a Church, in
a VisibiHty, in an eminency, as a City upon a hill ; And
in this Church, his Ordinance is Ordinance indeed ; his
Ordinance of preaching batters the soule, and by that
breach, the Spirit enters ; His Ministers are an Earth-
God Proceeds Legally. 113
quakey and shake an earthly soule ; They are the sonnes
of thunder, and scatter a cloudy conscience ; They are
as the fall of waters, and carry with them whole Congrega-
tions ; 3000 at a Sermon, 5000 at a Sermon, a whole
City, such a City as Niniveh at a Sermon ; and they are
as the roaring of a Lion, where the Lion of the tribe of
Juda, cries down the Lion that seekes whom he may
devour ; that is, Orthodoxall and fundamental! truths,
are estabHshed against clamorous, and vociferant innova-
tions. Therefore what Christ tels us in the darke, he
bids us speake in the light ; and what he sales in our
eare, he bids us preach on the house top. Nothing is
Gospell, not Evangelium, good message, if it be not put
into a Messengers mouth, and delivered by him ; nothing
is conducible to his end, nor available to our salvation,
except it be avowable doctrine, doctrine that may be
spoke alowd, though it awake them, that sleep in their
sinne, and make them the more froward, for being so
awaked.
God hath made all things in a Roundnesse, from the
round superficies of this earth, which we tread here, to
the round convexity of those heavens, w^^ (as long as
they shal have any beeing) shall be our footstool, when
we come to heaven, God hath wrapped up all things
in Circles, and then a Circle hath no Angles ; there are
no Corners in a Circle. Corner Divinity, clandestine
Divinity are incompatible termes ; If it be Divinity,
it is avowable. 7he heathens served their Gods in Temples,
suh dio, vvdthout roofs or coverings, in a free opennesse ;
and, where they could, in Temples made of Specular stone^
that was transparent as glasse, or crystall, so as they v/hich
2025-3 I
114 ^^^ Proceeds Legally.
walked without in the streets, might see all that was done
within. And even nature it self taught the natural!
man, to make that one argument of a man truly religious,
Aperto vivere voto. That he durst pray aloud, and let
the world heare, what he asked at Gods hand ; which
duty is best performed, when we joyne with the Congre-
gation in publique prayer. Saint Augustine, hath made
that note upon the Donatists, That they were Clancularii,
clandestine Divines, Divines in Corners. And in Photius,
we have such a note almost upon all Heretiques ; as
the Nestorian was called Coluber, a snake, because though
he kept in the garden, or in the meadow, in the Church,
yet he lurked and lay hid, to doe mischief. And the
Valentinian was called a Grashopper, because he leaped
and skipped from place to place ; and that creature, the
Grashopper, you may hear as you passe, but you shall
hardly find him at his singing ; you may hear a Con-
venticle Schismatick, heare him in his Pamphlets, heare
him in his Disciples, but hardly surprize him at his
exercise. Publication is a fair argument of truth. That
tasts of Luthers holy animosity, and zealous vehemency,
when he says, Audemus gloriari Christum a nobis prima
vulgatum ; other men had made some attempts at
a Reformation, and had felt the pulse of some persons,
and some Courts, and some Churches, how they would
relish a Reformation ; But Luther rejoyces with a holy
exultation. That he first pubhshed it, that he first put
the world to it. So the Apostles proceeded ; when they
came in their peregrination, to a new State, to a new
Court, to Rome it selfe, they did not enquire, how stands
the Emperour affected to Christ, and to the preaching
God Proceeds Legally. 115
of his Gospel ; Is there not a Sister, or a Wife that might
be wrought upon to further the preaching of Christ ?
Are there not some persons, great in power and place,
that might be content to hold a party together, by
admitting the preaching of Christ ? This was not their
way ; They only considered who sent them ; Christ
Jesus : And what they brought ; salvation to every soul
that embraced Christ Jesus. That they preached ; and
still begunne with a Vce si non ; Never tell us of dis-
pleasure, or disgrace, or detriment, or death, for preaching
of Christ. For, woe be unto us, if we preach him not :
And still they ended with a Qui non crediderit, Damnabitur,
Never deceive your own souls. He, to whom Christ hath
been preached, and beleeves not, shall be damned. All
Divinity that is bespoken, and not ready made, fitted
to certaine turnes, and not to generall ends ; And all
Divines that have their soules and consciences, so disposed,
as their Libraries may bee, (At that end stand Papists,
and at that end Protestants, and he comes in in the
middle, as neare one as the other) all these have a brackish
taste ; as a River hath that comes near the Sea, so have
they, in comming so neare the Sea of Rome.
64. 7he Church.
AS Waspes make combs, but empty ones, so do
. Heretiques Churches, but frivolous ones, ineffectual!
ones. And, as we told you before, That errors and
disorders are as well in wayes, as in ends, so may we
deprive our selves of the benefit of this judgement. The
Church, as well in circumstances, as in substances, as
well in opposing discipHne, as doctrine. The holy Ghost
I 2
ii6 The Church.
reproves thee^ convinces thee, of judgement^ that is, offers
thee the knowledge that such a Church there is ; A Jordan
to wash thine originall leprosie in Baptisme ; A City
upon a mountaine, to enhghten thee in the works of
darknesse ; a continuall appHcation of all that Christ
Jesus said, and did, and suffered, to thee. Let no soule
say, she can have all this at Gods hands immediatly,
and never trouble the Church ; That she can passe her
pardon between God and her, without all these formaUties,
by a secret repentance. It is true, beloved, a true
repentance is never frustrate : But yet, if thou wilt
think thy selfe a little Church, a Church to thy selfe,
because thou hast heard it said. That thou art a little
world, a world in thy selfe, that figurative, that meta-
phoricall representation shall not save thee. Though
thou beest a world to thy self, yet if thou have no more
corn, nor oyle, nor milk, then growes in thy self, or
flowes from thy self, thou wilt starve ; Though thou be
a Church in thy fancy, if thou have no more scales of
grace, no more absolution of sin, then thou canst give
Gregor. thy self, thou wilt perish. Per solam Ecclesiam sacrificium
libenter accipit Deus : Thou maist be a Sacrifice in thy
chamber, but God receives a Sacrifice more cheerefully
at Church. Sola, quce pro errantibus jiducialiter intercedity
Only the Church hath the nature of a surety ; Howsoever
God may take thine own word at home, yet he accepts
the Church in thy behalfe, as better security. Joyne
August. therefore ever with the Communion of Saints ; Et cum
membrum sis ejus corporis, quod loquitur omnibus Unguis^
crede te omnibus Unguis loqui, Whilst thou art a member
of that Congregation, that speaks to God with a thousand
The Church. 117
tongues, beleeve that thou speakest to God with all
those tongues. And though thou know thine own
prayers unworthy to come up to God, because thou
liftest up to him an eye, which is but now withdrawne
from a licentious glancing, and hands which are guilty
yet of unrepented uncleannesses, a tongue that hath
but lately blasphemed God, a heart which even now
breaks the walls of this house of God, and steps home,
or runs abroad upon the memory, or upon the new
plotting of pleasurable or profitable purposes, though
this make thee thinke thine own prayers uneffectuall,
yet beleeve that some honester man then thy selfe stands
by thee, and that when he prayes with thee, he prayes
for thee ; and that, if there be one righteous man in
the Congregation, thou art made the more acceptable
to God by his prayers ; and make that benefit of this
reproofe, this conviction of the holy Ghost, That he
convinces thee De judicio, assures thee of an orderly
Church estabHshed for thy rehefe, and that the appHca-
tion of thy self to this judgement. The Church, shall
enable thee to stand upright in that other judgement,
the last judgement, which is also enwrapped in the
signification of this word of our Text, ludgement, and
is the conclusion for this day.
As God begun all with judgement, (for he made all luduium
things in measure, number, and waight) as he proceeded Sap.^ii,
with judgement, in erecting a judiciall seat for our
direction, and correction, the Church, so he shall end
all with judgement, The finall, and general! judgement,
at the Resurrection ; which he that beleeves not, beleeves
nothing ; not God ; for. He that commeth to God (that Heb. ii. &
ii8 The Church.
makes any step towards him) must beleeve^ Deum remunera-
torem^ God, and God in that notion, as he is a Rewarder ;
Therefore there is judgement. But was this work left
for the H0I7 Ghost ? Did not the naturall man that
knew no Holy Ghost, know this ? Truly, all their
fabulous Divinity, all their Mythology, their Minos, and
their Rhadamanthus, tasted of such a notion, as a judge-
ment. And yet the first planters of the Christian Religion
found it hardest to fixe this roote of all other articles
^hat Christ should, come againe to judgement. Miserable
and froward men ! They would beleeve it in their fables,
and would not beleeve it in the Scriptures ; They would
beleeve it in the nine Muses, and would not beleeve it
in the twelve Apostles ; They would beleeve it by Apollo,
and they would not beleeve it by the Holy Ghost ;
They would be saved Poetically, and fantastically, and
would not reasonably, and spiritually ; By Copies, and
not by Originals ; by counterfeit things at first deduced
by their Authors, out of our Scriptures, and yet not by
the word of God himself.
65. Reverence in Church.
THE rituall and ceremoniall, the outward worship
of God, the places, the times, the manner of meet-
ings, [which] are in the disposition of Christian Princes,
and by their favours of those Churches, which are in their
government : and not to rejoyce in the peacefuU exercise
of those spirituall helps, not to be glad of them, is a trans-
gression. Now the Prophet expresses this rejoycing thus,
Venite exultemus, let us come and rejoyce. We must
doe both. And therefore they who out of a thraldome to
Reverence in Church. 119
another Church abstaine from these places of these
eiercises, that doe not come, or if they doe come, doe not
re Joyce, but though they be here brought by necessity
of law, or of observation, yet had rather they were in
another Chappell, or at another kinde of service then
in this : and they also who abstain out of imaginary
defects in this church, & think they cannot perform
Davids De profundis, they cannot call upon God out of
the depth, except it be in a Conventicle in a cellar, nor
acknowledge Solomons Excelsis Excelsior, that God is EccUs.s-^
higher then the highest, except it be in a Conventicle
in a garret, & when they are here wink at the ornaments,
& stop their ears at the musique of the Church, in which
manner she hath always expressed her rejoycing in those
helps of devotion ; or if there bee a third sort who
abstain, because they may not be here at so much ease,
and so much liberty, as at their own houses, all these are
under this transgression. Are they in the Kings house
at so much liberty as in their own ? and is not this the
King of Kings house ? Or have they seene the King
in his owne house, use that liberty to cover himselfe in
his ordinary manner of covering, at any part of Divine
Service ? Every Preacher will look, and justly, to have
the Congregation uncovered at the reading of his Text :
and is not the reading of the Lesson, at time of Prayer,
the same Word of the same God, to be received with the
same reverence ? The service of God is one entire
thing ; and though we celebrate some parts with more,
or with lesse reverence, some kneehng, some standing,
yet if we afford it no reverence, we make that no part
of Gods service. And therefore I must humbly intreat
120 Reverence in Church.
them, who make this Quire the place of their Devotion,
to testifie their devotion by more outw^ard reverence
there ; wee know our parts in this place, and we doe
them ; why any stranger should think himself more
priviledged in this part of Gods House, then we, I know
not. I presume no man will mis-interpret this that I say
here now ; nor, if this may not prevaile, mis-interpret
the service of our Officers, if their continuing in that
unreverent manner give our Officers occasion to warn
them of that personally in the place, whensoever they
see them stray into that uncomely negligence. They
should not blame me now, they must not blame them
then, when they call upon them for this reverence in
this Quire ; neither truly can there be any greater
injustice, then when they who will not do their duties,
blame others for doing theirs.
66, Going to Church,
BETWEENE that fearefull occasion of comming to
Church, which S. Augustine confesses and laments.
That they came to make wanton bargaines with their
eyes, and met there, because they could meet no where
else ; and that more fearfull occasion of comming, when
they came onely to elude the Law, and proceeding in
their treacherous and traiterous reUgion in their heart,
and yet communicating with us, draw God himselfe into
their conspiracies, and to mocke us, make a mocke of God,
and his religion too : betweene these two, this Hcencious
comming, and this treacherous comming, there are many
commings to Church, commings for company, for observa-
tion, for musique : And all these indispositions are ill
Going to Church. 121
at prayers ; there they are unwholesome, but at the
Sacrament, deadly : He that brings any collaterall
respect to prayers, looses the benefit of the prayers of
the Congregation ; and he that brings that to a Sermon,
looses the blessing of Gods ordinance in that Sermon ;
hee heares but the Logique, or the Retorique, or the
Ethique, or the poetry of the Sermon, but the Sermon of
the Sermon he heares not ; but he that brings this
disposition to the Sacrament, ends not in the losse of
a benefit, but he acquires, and procures his owne damna-
tion.
67. Prayer,
1 BRING not a Star-chamber with me up into the
Pulpit, to punish a forgery, if you counterfeit a zeale
in coming hither now ; nor an Exchequer, to punish
usurious contracts, though made in the Church ; nor
a high Commission, to punish incontinencies, if they be
promoted by wanton interchange of looks, in this place.
Onely by my prayers, which he hath promised to accom-
pany and prosper in his service, I can diffuse his over-
shadowing Spirit over all the corners of this Congregation,
and pray that Publican, that stands below afar off, and
dares not lift up his eyes to heaven, to receive a chcarfull
confidence, that his sinnes are forgiven him ; and pray-
that Pharisee, that stands above, and onely thanks God,
that he is not Hke other men, to believe himself to be.
if not a rebellious, yet an unprofitable servant.
122 Prayer.
68. Prayer.
PRAYER is our whole service to God. Earnest
Prayer hath the nature of Importunity ; Wee
presse, wee importune God in Prayer ; Yet that puts
not God to a morosity, to a frowardnesse ; God flings
not away from that ; Gods suffers that importunity,
and more. Prayer hath the nature of Impudency ; Wee
threaten God in Prayer ; as Gregor: Nazi: adventures
to expresse it ; He saies, his Sister, in the vehemence
of her Prayer, would threaten God, Et honesta quadam
impudentia, egit impudentem ; She came, saies he, to
a religious impudency with God, and to threaten him,
that she would never depart from his Altar, till she had
her Petition granted ; And God suffers this Impudency,
and more. Prayer hath the nature of Violence ; In the
publique Prayers of the Congregation, we besiege God,
saies Tertul: and we take God Prisoner, and bring God
to our Conditions ; and God is glad to be straitned by
us in that siege. This Prophet here executes before,
what the Apostle counsailes after. Pray incessantly ;
Even in his singing he prayes ; And as S. Basil saies,
Etiam somnia justorum preces sunt, A Good mans dreames
are Prayers, he prayes, and not sleepily, in his sleepe, so
Davids Songs are Prayers.
69. 7 he ^ime of Prayer,
THE comfort of being presented to God as innocent
as Adarriy then when God breathed a soule into him,
yea as innocent as Christ Jesus himselfe, when he breathed
out his soule to God : oh how blessed is that soule that
The Time of Prayer. 123
enjoyes it, and how bold that tongue that goes about to
expresse it ! This is the blessednesse which the godly
attaine to by prayer, but not by every sudden Lord, Lord,
or every occasionall holy interjection, but by serious
prayer, invested, as with the former, so with that other
circumstance that remains, In tempore opportuno, In a
time when thou may est be found.
This time is not those Horce stativce, Horce canoniccs. In tempore.
those fixed houres in the Romane Church, where men
are bound to certaine prayers at certaine houres. Not
that it is inconvenient for men to binde themselves to
certaine fixed times of prayer in their private Exercises ;
and though not by such a vow, as that it shall be an
impiety, yet by so solemne a purpose, as that it shall be
a levity to breake it. I have known the greatest Christian
Prince, (in Style and Title) even at the Audience of an
Ambassador, at the sound of a Bell, kneele downe in
our presence and pray ; and God forbid, he should be
blamed for doing so ; But to place a merit in observing
those times, as they doe, is not a right understanding of
this time of finding. Nor is it those transitory and inter-
locutory prayers, which out of custome and fashion we
make, and still proceed in our sin ; when we pretend to
speake to God, but like Comedians upon a stage, turne
over our shoulder, and whisper to the Devill. ...
The Manifestation of the Gospel, that is, the helpeS Prosperi-
which God offers us, more then Jews, or Gentils, in the '^*
Ministery of the Gospel, and the Ordinances of his
Church, is the time of finding God ; And woe unto us,
if we seeke him not whilest he affords us these helpes ;
And then the time of affliction, when God threatens
124 '^^^ Time of Prayer.
to hide his face, but hath not yet hidden it, but awakens
us by a calamity, is a time of finding God. But the best
and the clearest time is in the Sun-shine, then when
he appeares to us in the warme and chearefull splendor
of temporall blessings upon us ; Then when thou hast
a good estate, and good children to let it descend upon ;
Then when thou hast good health, and a good profession
to exercise thy strength, and thy labors in ; Then when
the dishes upon thy table are doubled, and thy cup
overflows, and the hungry and thirsty soules of the poore
doe not onely feed upon the crums under thy table, and
lick up the overflowings of thy cup, but divide dishes
with thee, and enter into the midst of thy Bolls ; Then
when thou hast temporall blessings, (that is Gods silver)
and his grace to use those blessings well, (that is Gods
gold) then is the best time of finding the Lord, for then
he looks upon thee in the Sun-shine, and then thy
thankfull acknowledgement of former blessings is the
most effectuall prayer thou canst make, for the continu-
ance, and enlargement of them.
70. At Table and Bed,
THEREFORE, beloved, since every master of a family,
who is a Bishop in his house, should call his family
together, to humble, and powre out their soules to God,
let him consider, that when he comes to kneele at the
side of his table, to pray, he comes to build a Church
there ; and therefore should sanctifie that place, with
a due, and penitent consideration how voluptuously
he hath formerly abused Gods blessings at that place,
how superstitiously, and idolatrously he hath fiatter'd
At Table and Bed. 125
and humour'd some great and useful ghests invited by
him to that place, how expensively, he hath served his
owne ostentation and vain-glory, by excessive feasts
at that place, whilest Lazarus hath lien panting, and
gasping at the gate ; and let him consider w^hat a danger-
ous Mockery this is to Christ Jesus, if he pretend by
kneeUng at that table, fashionally to build Christ a Church
by that solemnity at the table side, and then crucifie
Christ again, by these sinnes, w^hen he is sat at the table.
When thou kneelest dov^^n at thy bed side, to shut up
the day at night, or to beginne it in the morning, thy
servants, thy children, thy little flock about thee, there
thou buildest a Church too : And therefore sanctifie
that place ; wash it with thy tears, and with a repentant
consideration ; That in that bed thy children were
conceived in sinne, that in that bed thou hast turned
mariage which God afforded thee for remedy, and
physique to voluptuosnesse, and licenciousnesse ; That
thou hast made that bed which God gave thee for rest,
and for reparation of thy weary body, to be as thy
dwelling, and dehght, and the bed of idlenesse, and
stupidity.
71. Unconscious Prayer,
THAT soule, that is accustomed to direct her selfe
to God, upon every occasion, that, as a flowre at
Sun-rising, conceives a sense of God, in every beame of
his, and spreads and dilates it selfe towards him, in
a thankfulnesse, in every small blessing that he sheds
upon her ; that soule, that as a flowre at the Suns
declining, contracts and gathers in, and shuts up her
126 Unconscious Prayer.
selfe, as though she had received a blow, when soever she
heares her Saviour wounded by a oath, or blasphemy,
or execration ; that soule, who, whatsoever string be
strucken in her, base or treble, her high or her low
estate, is ever tun'd toward God, that soule prayes
sometimes when it does not know that it prayes.
72. Sermons.
GOD directs the tongue of his Ministers, as he doth
his showres of rain : They fall upon the face of
a large compasse of earth, when as all that earth did not
need that rain. The whole Congregation is, oftentimes,
in common entendment, conformable, and well setled
in all matters of Doctrine, and all matters of Discipline.
And yet God directs us sometimes to extend our discourse
(perchance with a zeale and a vehemence, which may
seem unnecessary, and impertinent, because all in the
Church are presumed to be of one minde) in the proofe
of our doctrine against Papists, or of our disciphne against
Nonconformitans. For, Gods eye sees, in what seat
there sits, or in what corner there stands some one man
that wavers in matters of Doctrine, and enclines to
hearken after a Seducer, a Jesuit, or a Semi-Jesuit,
a practising Papist, or a Sesqui- Jesuit, a Jesuited Lady ;
And Gods eye sees in what seat there sits, or in what
corner there stands some weak soul that is scandalized,
with some Ceremony, or part of our Discipline, and in
danger of falHng from the unity of the Church : And
for the refreshing of that one span of ground, God lets
fall a whole showre of rain ; for the rectifying of that
one soul, God poures out the Meditations of the Preacher,
Sermons. 127
into such a subject, as perchance doth little concern the
rest of the Congregation. S. Matthew relates Christs
Sermon at large, and S. Luke but briefly, and yet S. Luke
remembers some things that S. Matthew had left out.
If thou remember not all that was presented to thy
faith, all the Citations of places of Scriptures, nor all
that was presented to thy reason, all the deducements,
and inferences of the Schooles, nor all that was presented
to thy spiritual! delight, all the sentences of ornament
produced out of the Fathers, yet if thou remember that
which concerned thy sin, and thy soul, if thou meditate
upon that, apply that, thou hast brought away all the
Sermon, all that was intended by the Holy Ghost to be
preached to thee. And if thou have done so, as at a
donative at a Coronation, or other solemnity, when
mony is throwne among the people, though thou Hght
but upon one shilling of that money, thou canst not
think that all the rest is lost, but that some others are
the richer for it, though thou beest not ; so if thou
remember, or apply, or understand but one part of the
Sermon, doe not think all the rest to have been idly,
or unnecessarily, or impertinently spoken, for thou
broughtest a feaver, and hast had thy Julips, another
brought a fainting, and a diffident spirit, and must have
his Cordials. ... ^
This excuses no mans ignorance, that is not able to
preach seasonably, and to break, and distribute the bread
of hfe according to the emergent necessities of that
Congregation, at that time ; Nor it excuses no mans
lazinesse, that will not employ his whole time upon his
calling ; Nor any mans vain-glory, and ostentation, who
128 Sermons.
having made a Pye of Plums, without meat, offers it
to sale in every Market, and having made an Oration
of Flowres, and Figures, and Phrases without strength,
sings it over in every Pulpit : It excuses no mans ignor-
ance, nor lazinesse, nor vain-glory, but yet it reproaches
their itching and curious eares, to whom any repetition
of the same things is irksome and fastidious. You may
have heard an answer of an Epigrammatist applyable to
this purpose ; When he read his Epigrams in an Auditory,
one of the hearers stopped him, and said, Did not I heare
an Epigram to this purpose from you, last yeare ? Yes,
sayes he, it is like you did ; but is not that vice still in
you this yeare, which last yeares Epigram reprehended ?
If your curiosity bring you to say to any Preacher, Did
not I heare this Point thus handled in your Sermon,
last yeare ? Yes, must he say, and so you must next
yeare againe, till it appeare in your amendment, that
you did heare it. The Devill maintaines a Warre good
cheap, if he may fight wdth the same sword, and we may
not defend with the same buckler ; If he can tempt
a Son with his Fathers covetousnesse, and a Daughter
with her Mothers wantonnesse, if he need not vary
the sin, nor the tentation, must wee vary our Doctrine ?
This is indeed to put new Wine into old vessels, new
Doctrine into eares, and hearts not disburdened of old
Cant. 7.13. sins. We say, as the Spouse sayes, Vetera i^ nova, we
prepare old and new, all that may any way serve your
holy taste, and conduce to your spirituall nourishment :
And he is not a Preacher sufficiently learned, that must
of necessity preach the same things againe, but he is not
a Preacher sufficiently discreet neither, that forbeares
Sermons 129
any thing therefore, because himselfe, or another in
that place, hath handled that before. Christ himselfe
varied his Sermon very little, if this in S. Matthew, and
that in S. Luke, were divers Sermons.
73. New Doctrines,
NEW fashions in men, make us doubt new manners ;
and new terms in Divinity were ever suspicious in
the Church of God, that new Doctrines were hid under
them. Resistibility, and Irresistibility of grace, which
is every Artificers wearing now, was a stuff that our
Fathers wore not, a language that pure antiquity spake
not. They knew Gods ordinary proceeding. They knew
his Common Law, and they knew his Chancery. They
knew his Chief Justice Moses, that denounced his Judge-
ments upon transgressors of the Law ; and they knew
his Chancellor Christ Jesus, into whose hands he had
put all Judgements, to mitigate the rigor and condemna-
tion of the Law. They knew Gods law, and his Chancery :
but for Gods prerogative, what he could do of his absolute
power, they knew Gods pleasure, Nolumus disputari :
It should scarce be disputed of in Schools, much less
serv'd in every popular pulpit to curious and itching ears ;
least of all made table-talke, and household-discourse.
Christ promises to come to the door, and to knock at
the door, and to stand at the door, and to enter if any
man open ; but he does not say, he will break open the Revel. 3.
door : it was not his pleasure to express such an earnest-
ness, such an Irresistibihty in his grace, so. Let us
cheerfully rely upon that ; his purpose shall not be
frustrated ; his ends shall not be prevented ; his ways
3025»3 K
^30 New Doctrines.
shall not be precluded : But the depth of the goodness
of God, how much good God can do for man ; yea the
depth of the illness of man, how much ill man can do
against God, are such seas, as, if it be not impossible,
at least it is impertinent, to go about to sound them.
74. Papist and Puritan,
BELOVED, there are some things in which all
Rehgions agree ; The worship of God, The holi-
nesse of life ; And therefore, if when I study this hoUnesse
of Ufe, and fast, and pray, and submit my selfe to discreet,
and medicinall mortifications, for the subduing of my
body, any man will say, this is Papisticall, Papists doe
this, it is a blessed Protestation, and no man is the lesse
a Protestant, nor the worse a Protestant for making it,
Men and brethren, I am a Papist, that is, I will fast and
pray as much as any Papist, and enable my selfe for the
service of my God, as seriously, as sedulously, as laboriously
as any Papist. So, if when I startle and am affected at
a blasphemous oath, as at a wound upon my Saviour,
if when I avoyd the conversation of those men, that
prophane the Lords day, any other will say to me. This
is Puritanicall, Puritans do this. It is a blessed Protesta-
tion, and no man is the lesse a Protestant, nor the worse
a Protestant for making it. Men and Brethren, I am
a Puritan, that is, I wil endeavour to be pure, as my
Father in heaven is pure, as far as any Puritan.
Theological Dissensions. 131
75. theological Dissensions.
PSALME II. 3. If the Foundations he destroyed,
what can the righteous doe F . . .
For, as wee, at last, shall commend our Spirits, into
the hands of God, God hath commended our Spirits,
not onely our civill peace, but our Religion too, into
the hand of the Magistrate. And therefore, when the
Apostle sayes, Studie to bee quiet, it is not quiet in the
bHndnesse of the Eye, nor quiet in the Deafenesse of
the Bare, nor quiet in the Lameness e of the Hand ; the
iust discharge of the dueties of our severall places, is no
disquieting to any man. But when private men will
spend all their thoughts upon their Superiours actions,
this must necessarily disquiet them ; for they are off of
their owne Center, and they are extra Sph^ram Activitatis,
out of their owne Distance, and Compasse, and they
cannot possibly discerne the Ende, to which their
Superiours goe. And to such a iealous man, when his
jealousie is not a tendernesse towards his owne actions,
which is a holy and a wholesome jeatousie, but a suspition
of his Superiours actions, to this Man, every Wheele is
a Drumme, and every Drumme a Thunder, and every
Thunder- clapp a dissolution of the whole frame of the
World : If there fall a broken tyle from the house, hee
thinkes Foundations are destroyed ; if a crazie woman,
or a disobedient childe, or a needie servant fall from
our Religion, from our Church, hee thinkes the whole
Church must necessarily fall, when all this while there
are no Foundations destroyed ; and till foundations hee
destroyed, the righteous should he quiet,
K 2
132 Theological Dissensions.
Hence have wee just occasion, first to condole amongst
our selves, who, for matters of Foundations professe one
and the same Religion, and then to complain of our
Adversaries, who are of another. First, that amongst our
selves, for matters not Doctrinall, or if Doctrinall, yet
not Fundamentally onely because we are sub-divided in
divers Names, there should be such Exasperations, such
Exacerbations, such Vociferations, such Ejulations, such
Defamations of one another, as if all Foundations were
destroyed. Who would not tremble, to heare those
Infernall words, spoken by men, to men, of one and the
same Religion fundamentally, as Indiabolijicata, Per-
diabolificata, and Super diabolijicata, that the Devill,
and all the Devills in Hell, and worse then the Devill
is in their Doctrine, and in their Divinitie, when, God
in heaven knowes, if their owne uncharitablenesse did
not exclude him, there were roome enough for the Holy
Ghost, on both, and on either side, in those Fundamentall
things, which are unanimely professed by both ; And
yet every Mart, wee see more Bookes written by these
men against one another, then by them both, for Christ.
But yet though this Torrent of uncharitablenesse
amongst them, bee too violent, yet it is within some
bankes ; though it bee a Sea, and too tempestuous, it
is limitted within some bounds : The poynts are certaine,
knowen, limitted, and doe not grow upon us every
yeare, and day. But the uncharitablenesse of the Church
of Rome towards us all, is not a Torrent, nor it is not a Sea,
but a generall Flood, an universall Deluge, that swallowes
all the world, but that Church, and Church-yard, that
Towne, and Suburhes, themselves, and those that depend
Theological Dissensions. 133
upon them ; and will not allowe possibilitie of Salvation to
the whole Arke, the whole Christian Churchy but to one
Cabin in that Arke, the Church of Rome ; and then
denie us this Salvation, not for any Positive Errour, that
ever they charged us to affirme ; not because we affirme
any thing, that they denie, but because wee denie some
things, which they in their afternoone are come to
affirme.
76. Despair,
WHO ever comes into a Church to denounce an
excommunication against himselfe ? And shall any
sad soule come hither, to gather arguments, from our
preaching, to excommunicate it selfe, or to pronounce an
impossibihty upon her owne salvation ? God did a new Numb. 16.
thing, says Moses, a strange thing, a thing never done ^°'
before, when the earth opened her mouth and Dathan,
and Abiram went downe quicke into the pit. Wilt thou
doe a stranger thing then that ? To teare open the
jawes of Earth, and Hell, and cast thy self actually
and really into it, out of a mis-imagination, that God
hath cast thee into it before ? Wilt thou force God to
second thy irreligious melancholy, and to condemne thee
at last, because thou hadst precondemned thy selfe, and
renounced his mercy ?
']'], The S Oct able ness of God,
OUR first step then in this first part, is, the sociable- i Part
nesse, the communicablenesse of God ; He loves holy
meetings, he loves the communion of Saints, the houshold
of the faithfull : Delicice ejus, says Solomon, his delight is
to he with the Sons of men, and that the Sons of men
134 The Sociableness of God.
should be with him : Religion is not a melancholy ; the
spirit of God is not a dampe ; the Church is not a grave :
it is afoldy it is an Jrkey it is a nety it is a city, it is a king-
dome, not onely a house, but a house that hath many
mansions in it : still it is a plurall thing, consisting of
m^w^; : and very good grammarians amongst the Hebrews,
have thought, and said, that that name, by which God
notifies himself to the world, in the very beginning of
Genesis, which is Elohim, as it is a plurall word there, so
it hath no singular : they say we cannot name God, but
plurally : so sociable, so communicable, so extensive, so
derivative of himself, is God, and so manifold are the
beames, and the emanations that flow out from him.
78. God a Circle,
ONE of the most convenient Hieroglyphicks of God,
is a Circle ; and a Circle is endlesse ; whom God
loves, hee loves to the end : and not onely to their own
end, to their death, but to his end, and his end is, that
he might love them still. His hailestones, and his thunder-
bolts, and his showres of bloud (emblemes and instru-
ments of his Judgements) fall downe in a direct line, and
affect and strike some one person, or place : His Sun,
and Moone, and Starres, (Emblemes and Instruments
of his Blessings) move circularly, and communicate them-
selves to all. His Church is his chariot ; in that, he moves
more gloriously, then in the Sun ; as much more, as his
begotten Son exceeds his created Sun, and his Son of
glory, and of his right hand, the Sun of the firmament ;
and this Church, his chariot, moves in that communicable
motion, circularly ; It began in the East, it came to us,
God a Circle. 135
and is passing now, shining out now, in the farthest
West.
79. God''s Mirror,
THERE is not so poore a creature but may be thy
glasse to see God in. The greatest flat glasse that
can be made, cannot represent any thing greater then
it is : If every gnat that flies were an Arch-angell, all
that could but tell me, that there is a God ; and the
poorest worme that creeps, tells me that. If I should
aske the Basihsk, how camest thou by those killing eyes,
he would tell me. Thy God made me so ; And if I should
aske the Slow-worme, how camest thou to be without
eyes, he would tell me. Thy God made me so. The
Cedar is no better a glasse to see God in, then the Hyssope
upon the wall ; all things that are, are equally removed
from being nothing ; and whatsoever hath any beeing,
is by that very beeing, a glasse in which we see God, who
is the roote, and the fountaine of all beeing. The whole
frame of nature is the Theatre, the whole Volume of
creatures is the glasse, and the light of nature, reason, is
our light.
80. God^s Names,
FIRST then, lest any man in his dejection of spirit, Vmhra
or of fortune, should stray into a jealousie or suspi-
tion of Gods power to deliver him. As God hath spangled
the firmament v^dth starres, so hath he his Scriptures
with names, and Metaphors, and denotations of power.
Sometimes he shines out in the name of a Sword, and of
a target, and of a Wall, and of a Tower, and of a Roche,
and of a Hill ; And sometimes in that glorious and
136 God's Names.
manifold constellation of all together, Dominus exercituum,
The Lord of Hosts. God, as God, is never represented to
us, with Defensive Armes ; He needs them not. When
the Poets present their great Heroes, and their Worthies,
they alwayes insist upon their Armes, they spend much of
their invention upon the description of their Armes ;
both because the greatest valour and strength needs
Armes, (fioliah himselfe was armed) and because to expose
ones selfe to danger unarmed, is not valour, but rashnesse.
But God is invulnerable in himselfe, and is never repre-
sented armed ; you finde no shirts of mayle, no Helmets,
no Cuirasses in Gods Armory.
8 1 . God's Mercies.
Psal.ioi.i. T WILL sing of thy mercy and judgement, sayes David ;
^ when we fixe our selves upon the meditation and
modulation of the mercy of God, even his judgements
cannot put us out of tune, but we shall sing, and be
chearefuU, even in them. As God made grasse for beasts,
before he made beasts, and beasts for man, before he
made man : As in that first generation, the Creation, so
in the regeneration, our re-creating, he begins with that
which was necessary for that which followes, Mercy
before Judgement. Nay, to say that mercy was first,
is but to post-date mercy ; to preferre mercy but so,
is to diminish mercy ; The names of first or last derogate
from it, for first and last are but ragges of time, and his
mercy hath no relation to time, no limitation in time,
it is not first, nor last, but eternall, everlasting ; Let the
Devill make me so far desperate as to conceive a time
when there was no mercy, and he hath made me so far an
God's Mercies. 137
Atheist, as to conceive a time when there was no God ;
if I despoile him of his mercy, any one minute, and say,
now God hath no mercy, for that minute I discontinue his
very Godhead, and his beeing. Later Grammarians have
wrung the name of mercy out of misery ; Misericordia
pTcesumit miseriam, say these, there could be no subsequent
mercy, if there were no precedent misery ; But the true
roote of the word mercy, through all the Prophets, is
Racham, and Racham is diligere, to love ; as long as there
hath been love (and God is love) there hath been mercy :
And mercy considered externally, and in the practise and
in the effect, began not at the helping of man, when man
was fallen and become miserable, but at the making of man,
when man was nothing. So then, here we consider not
mercy as it is radically in God, and an essentiall attribute
of his, but productively in us, as it is an action, a working
upon us, and that more especially, as God takes all
occasions to exercise that action, and to shed that mercy
upon us : for particular mercies are feathers of his wings,
and that prayer, Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us, as
our trust is in thee, is our birdhme ; particular mercies
are that cloud of Quailes which hovered over the host of
Israel, and that prayer. Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us,
is our net to catch, our Gomer to fill of those Quailes.
The aire is not so full of Moats, of Atomes, as the Church
is of Mercies ; and as we can suck in no part of aire,
but we take in those Moats, those Atomes ; so here in
the Congregation we cannot suck in a word from the
preacher, we cannot speak, we cannot sigh a prayer to
God, but that that whole breath and aire is made of
mercy. But we call not upon you from this Text, to
138 God's Mercies.
consider Gods ordinary mercy, that which he exhibites
to all in the ministery of his Church ; nor his miraculous
mercy, his extraordinary dehverances of States and
Churches ; but we call upon particular Consciences, by
occasion of this Text, to call to minde Gods occasionall
mercies to them ; such mercies as a regenerate man will
call mercies, though a naturall man would call them
accidents, or occurrences, or contingencies ; A man
wakes at midnight full of unclean thoughts, and he heares
a passing Bell ; this is an occasionall mercy, if he call
that his own knell, and consider how unfit he was to be
called out of the world then, how unready to receive
that voice, Foole, this night they shall fetch away thy soule.
The adulterer, whose eye waites for the twy-Hght, goes
forth, and casts his eyes upon forbidden houses, and would
enter, and sees a Lord have mercy upon us upon the doore ;
this is an occasionall mercy, if this bring him to know
that they who He sick of the plague within, passe through
a furnace, but by Gods grace, to heaven ; and hee
without, carries his own furnace to hell, his lustfuU
loines to everlasting perdition. What an occasionall
mercy had Balaam, when his Asse Catechized him ?
What an occasionall mercy had one Theefe, when the
other catechized him so. Art not thou afraid being under
the same condemnation ? What an occasionall mercy had
all they that saw that, when the Devil himself fought
Act. 19. 14. for the name of Jesus, and wounded the sons of ^ceva
for exorcising in the name of Jesus, with that indignation,
with that increpation, lesus we know, and Paul we know,
hut who are ye? If I should declare what God hath done
(done occasionally) for my soule, where he instructed me
God's Mercies. 139
for feare of falling, where he raised me when I was fallen,
perchance you would rather fixe your thoughts upon my
illnesse, and wonder at that, then at Gods goodnesse,
and glorifie him in that ; rather wonder at my sins,
then at his mercies, rather consider how ill a man I was,
then how good a God he is. If I should inquire upon
what occasion God elected me, and writ my name in
the book of Life, I should sooner be afraid that it were
not so, then finde a reason why it should be so. God
made Sun and Moon to distinguish seasons, and day, and
night, and we cannot have the fruits of the earth but in
their seasons : But God hath made no decree to distin-
guish the seasons of his mercies ; In paradise, the fruits
were ripe, the first minute, and in heaven it is alwaies
Autumne, his mercies are ever in their maturity. We
ask fanem quotidianum, our daily bread, and God never
sayes you should have come yesterday, he never sayes
you must againe to morrow, but to day if you will he are
his voice, to day he will heare you. If some King of the
earth have so large an extent of Dominion, in North,
and South, as that he hath Winter and Summer together
in his Dominions, so large an extent East and West, as
that he hath day and night together in his Dominions,
much more hath God mercy and judgement together :
He brought light out of darknesse, not out of a lesser
light ; he can bring thy Summer out of Winter, though
thou have no Spring ; though in the wayes of fortune,
or understanding, or conscience, thou have been benighted
till now, wintred and frozen, clouded and eclypsed,
damped and benummed, smothered and stupified till
now, now God comes to thee, not as in the dawning of
140 God's Mercies.
the day, not as in the bud of the spring, but as the Sun
at noon to illustrate all shadowes, as the sheaves in harvest,
to fill all penuries, all occasions invite his mercies, and all
times are his seasons.
82. God not Cruel.
NEVER propose to thy self such a God, as thou wert
not bound to imitate : Thou mistakest God, if
thou make him to be any such thing, or make him to
do any such thing, as thou in thy proportion shouldst
not be, or shouldst not do. And shouldst thou curse
any man that had never offended, never transgrest,
never trespast thee ? Can God have done so ? Imagine
God, as the Poet saith, Ludere in humanis, to play but
a game at Chesse v^ith this world ; to sport himself
vnth. making little things great, and great things nothing
Imagine God to be but at play wdth us, but a gamester ;
yet v^^ill a gamester curse, before he be in danger of losing
any thing ? Will God curse man, before man have
sinned ?
83. The Voice oj God.
Audivit. TJOW often does God speake, and nobody heares the
X jL voyce ? He speaks in his Canon, in Thunder, and
he speaks in our Canon, in the rumour of warres. He
speaks in his musique, in the harmonious promises of
the Gospel, and in our musique, in the temporall blessings
of peace, and plenty ; And we heare a noyse in his
Judgements, and wee heare a sound in his mercies ; but
we heare no voyce, we doe not discern that this noyse,
or this sound comes from any certain person ; we do
not feele them to be mercies, nor to be judgements
The Voice of God. 141
uttered from God, but naturall accidents, casuall occur-
rencies, emergent contingencies, which as an Atheist
might think, would fall out though there were no God,
or no commerce, no dealing, no speaking between God
and Man. Though Saul came not instantly to a perfect
discerning who spoke, yet he saw instantly, it was a Person
above nature, and therefore speakes to him in that phrase
of submission, Quis es Domine ? Lord who art thou ?
And after, with trembling and astonishment, (as the Text
sayes) Domine quid me vis facere ? Lord what wilt thou
have me to do ? Then we are truliest said to hear, when
we know from whence the voyce comes. Princes are
Gods Trumpet, and the Church is Gods Organ, but
Christ Jesus is his voyce. When he speaks in the Prince,
when he speaks in the Church, there we are bound to
heare, and happy if we doe hear. Man hath a natural
way to come to God, by the eie, by the creature ; So
Visible things shew the Invisible God : But then, God
hath super-induced a supernaturall way, by the eare.
For, though hearing be naturall, yet that faith in God
should come by hearing a man preach, is supernatural.
God shut up the naturall way, in Saul, Seeing ; He
struck him bUnd ; But he opened the super-natural!
way, he inabled him to heare, and to heare him. God
would have us beholden to grace, and not to nature, and
to come for our salvation, to his Ordinances, to the
preaching of his Word, and not to any other meanes.
142 God's Language.
84. God^s Language,
GOD multiplies his mercies to us, in his divers ways
of speaking to us. Cosli enarrant, says David, The
heavens declare the glory of God ; and not onely by showing,
but by saying ; there is a language in the heavens ; for
it is enarrant, a verball declaration ; and, as it followes
Hterally, Day unto day uttereth speech. This is the true
harmony of the Spheares, which every man may heare.
Though he understand no tongue but his owne, he may
heare God in the motions of the same, in the seasons of
the yeare, in the vicissitudes and revolutions of Church,
and State, in the voice of Thunder, and lightnings, and
other declarations of his power. This is Gods English
to thee, and his French, and his Latine, and Greek, and
Hebrew to others. God once confounded languages ;
that conspiring men might not understand one another,
but never so, as that all men might not understand him.
When the holy Ghost fell upon the Apostles, they spoke
so, as that all men understood them, in their owne tongues.
When the holy Ghost fell upon the waters, in the Crea-
tion, God spoke so, in his language of Workes, as that
all men may understand them. For, in this language,
the language of workes, the Eye is the eare, seeing is
hearing. How often does the holy Ghost call upon us,
in the Scriptures, Ecce, quia os Domini locutum, Behold,
the mouth oj the Lord hath spoken it \ he calls us to
hehold, (which is the office of the eye) and that that we
are to behold, is the voice of God, belonging to the eare ;
seeing is hearing, in Gods first language, the language of
works. But then God translates himself, in particular
God's Language. 143
works ; nationally^ he speaks in particular judgments,
or deliverances to one nation ; &, domestically^ he speaks
that language to a particular family ; & so personally too,
he speaks to every particular soul. God will speak unto
me, in that voice, and in that way, which I am most
delighted with, & hearken most to. If I be covetous,
God wil tel me that heaven is a pearle, a treasure. If
cheerfull and affected with mirth, that heaven is all Joy,
If ambitious, and hungry of preferment, that it is aU
Glory. If sociable, and conversable, that it is a communion
of Saints. God will make a Fever speake to me, and tell
me his minde, that there is no health but in him ; God
will make the disfavour, and frowns of him I depend upon,
speake to me, and tell me his minde, that there is no safe
dependence, no assurance but in him ; God will make
a storme at Sea, or zfire by land, speake to me, and tell mee
his minde, that there is no perpetuity, no possession but
in him ; nay, God will make my sinne speake to me, and
tell me his minde ; even my sinne shall bee a Sermon,
and a Catechisme to me ; God shall suffer mee me to
fall into some such sinne, as that by some circumstances
in the sinne, or consequences from the sinne, I shall be
drawn to hearken unto him ; and whether I heare
Hosannaes, acclamations, and commendations, or Cruci-
figes, exclamations and condemnations from the world,
I shall stil finde the voice and tongue of God, though
in the mouth of the Devill, and his instruments. God
is a declaratory God. The whole yeare, is, to his Saints,
a continuall Epiphany, one day of manifestation. In
every minute that strikes upon the Bell is a syllable, nay
a syllogisme from God. And, and in my last Bell, God
144 God's Language.
shall speake too ; that Bell, when it tolls, shall tell me
I am going, and when it rings out, shall tell you I am gone
into the hands of that God, who is the God of the Hving
and not of the dead, for, they dye not that depart in him.
H'
85. God's Anger.
"ONOUR not the maHce of thine enemy so much,
as to say, thy misery comes from him : Dishonour
not the complexion of the times so much, as to say, thy
misery comes from them ; justifie not the Deity of
Fortune so much, as to say, thy misery comes from her ;
Finde God pleased with thee, and thou hast a hook in
the nostrils of every Leviathan^ power cannot shake thee,
loh^o. 19. Thou hast a wood to cast into the waters of Mar ah, the
bitternesse of the times cannot hurt thee, thou hast
Exod.i^.2%.^ Rock to dwell upon, and the dream of a Fortunes wheel,
cannot overturn thee. But if the Lord be angry, he
needs no Trumpets to call in Armies, if he doe but
sibilare muscam, hisse and whisper for the flye, and the
Bee, there is nothing so little in his hand, as cannot
discomfort thee, discomfit thee, dissolve and powr out,
attenuate and annihilate the very marrow of thy soul.
G
86. God's Faults,
OD in the Scriptures is often by the Holy Ghost
invested, and represented in the qualities and affec-
tions of man ; and to constitute a commerce and familiar-
ity between God and man, God is not onely said to have
bodily lineaments, eyes and eares, and hands, and feet,
and to have some of the naturall affections of man, as
Dcut.30.9. Joy, in particular, {The Lord will rejoyce over thee jor
God's Faults 145
good, as he rejoyced over thy Fathers) And so, pity too,
(The Lord was with Joseph, and extended kindnesse unto Gen.39.21.
him) But some of those inordinate and irregular passions
and perturbations, excesses and defects of man, are
imputed to God, by the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures.
For so, lazinesse, drowsinesse is imputed to God ; {Azcake Psal.44.23.
Lord, why sleepest thou P) So corruptiblenesse, and
deterioration, and growing worse by ill company, is
imputed to God ; (Cum perversa perverteris, God is said 18. 26.
to grow froward with the froward, and that hee learnes
to go crookedly with them that go crookedly) And
prodigahty and wastfulnesse is imputed to God ; (Jhou 44.12.
sellest thy people for naught, and doest not increase thy
wealth by their price) So sudden and hasty choler ; (Kisse 2. 12.
the Son lest he he angry, and ye perish In ira hrevi, though
his wrath he kindled but a little) And then, ilhmited and
boundlesse anger, a vindicative irreconciliablenesse is
imputed to God ; (/ was but a little displeased, (but it Zech. 1. 15.
is otherwise now) / am very sore displeased) So there is
Ira devorans ; {Wrath that consumes like stubble) So there Exod.15.4.
is Ira multiplicata, {plagues renewed, and indignation \oh \o. \t.
increased) So God himselfe expresses it, (/ will fight ler. 21. 5.
against you in anger and injury) And so for his inexorable-
nesse, his irreconcihablenesse, (O Lord God of Hosts, Psal. 80. 4.
Quousque, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer
of thy people ?) Gods owne people, Gods own people
praying to their owne God, and yet their God irrecon-
ciliable to them. Scorne and contempt is imputed to
God ; which is one of the most enormious, and dispro-
portioned weakenesses in man ; that a worme that
crawles in the dust, that a graine of dust, that is hurried
2025.3 L
146 God's Faults.
with every blast of winde, should find any thing so much
inferiour to it selfe as to scorne it, to deride it, to contemne
it ; yet scorne, and derision, and contempt is imputed
Psal. 2. 4. to God, (He that sittest in the Heavens shall laugh, the
Prov. 1. 26. Lord shall have them in derision) and againe, (/ will
laugh at your calamity, I will mock you when your feare
commeth.) Nay beloved, even inebriation, excesse in
that kinde, Drunkennesse, is a Metaphor which the Holy
Ghost hath mingled in the expressing of Gods proceedings
with man ; for God does not onely threaten to make his
enemies drunke, (and to make others drunke is a circum-
stance of drunkennesse) (so Jerusalem being in his
Lam. 3. 15. displeasure complaines, Inebriavit absynthio, {He hath
made me drunke with wormewood) and againe, {They
Esay49.26. shall be drunke with their owne blood, as with new Wine)
Nor onely to expresse his plentifull mercies to his
friends and servants, does God take that Metaphore,
ler. 31. 14. {Inebriabo animam Sacerdotis, I will make the soule oj
Ver. 25. the Priest drunke ; fill it, satiate it) and againe, (/ will
make the weary soule, and the sorrowfull soule drunke) But
not onely all this, (though in all this God have a hand)
not onely towards others, but God in his o^vne behalfe
Esay43.24. complaines of the scant and penurious Sacrificer, Non
inebriasti me, Thou hast not made me drunke with thy
Sacrifices. And yet, though for the better applying of
God to the understanding of man, the Holy Ghost
impute to God these excesses, and defects of man (lazinesse
and drowsiness, deterioration, corruptiblenesse by ill
conversation, prodigaHty and wastfulnesse, sudden choler,
long irreconciablenesse, scorne, inebriation, and many
ethers) in the Scriptures, yet in no place of the Scripture
God's Faults. 147
is God, for any respect said to be proud ; God in the
Scriptures is never made so like man, as to be made
capable of Pride ; for this had not beene to have God
hke man, but like the devill.
87. God^j Judgements.
HOW desperate a state art thou in, if nothing will
convert thee, but a speedie execution, after which,
there is no possibility, no room left for a Conversion !
God is the Lord of Hosts, and he can proceed by Martial
Law : he can hang thee upon the next tree ; he can
choak thee with a crum, with a drop, at a voluptuous
feast ; he can sink down the Stage and the Player, The bed
of wantonness, and the wanton actor, into the jaws of
the earth, into the mouth of hell : he can surprise thee,
even in the act of sin ; and dost thou long for such a speedy
execution, for such an expedition ? Thou canst not lack
Examples, that he hath done so upon others, and will no
proof serve thee, but a speedy judgement upon thyself ?
Scatter thy thoughts no farther then ; contract them in
thy self, and consider Gods speedy execution upon thy
soul, and upon thy body, and upon thy soul and body
together. Was not Gods judgement executed speedily
enough upon thy soul, when in the same instant that it
was created, and conceiv'd, and infus'd, it was put to
a necessity of contracting Original sin, and so submitted
to the penalty of Adam^s disobedience, the first minute ?
Was not Gods judgement speedily enough executed upon
thy body, if before it had any temporal hfe, it had a
spiritual death ; a sinful conception, before any inanima-
tion ? If hereditary diseases from thy parents. Gouts
L 2
148 God's Judgements.
and Epilepsies, were in thee, before the diseases of thine
own purchase, the effects of thy Ucentiousness and thy
riot ; and that from the first minute that thou beganst
to live, thou beganst to die too ? Are not the judge-
ments of God speedily enough executed upon thy soul
and body together, every day, when as soon as thou
commitst a sin, thou are presently left to thine Impeni-
tence, to thine Insensibleness, and Obduration ? Nay,
the judgement is more speedy then so : for, that very
sin it self, was a punishment of thy former sins.
88. Terrible Things.
TerrihiUs. ^ I ** HOUGH there be a difference between timor, and
-L terror, (feare and terror) yet the difference is not
so great, but that both may fall upon a good man ; Not
onely a feare of God must, but a terror of God may fall
Gen.15.12. upon the Best. When God talked with Abraham, a horror
of great darknesse fell upon him, sayes that Text. The
Father of lights, and the God of all comfort present, and
present in an action of Mercy, and yet, a horror of great
darknesse fell upon Abraham. When God talked person-
Exod.13.6. ally, and presentially with Moses, Moses hid his face, for
(sayes that Text) he was afraid to looke upon God. When
I look upon God, as I am bid to doe in this Text, in those
terrible Judgements, which he hath executed upon some
men, and see that there is nothing between mee and the
same Judgement, (for I have sinned the same sinnes, and
God is the same God) I am not able of my selfe to dye
that glasse, that spectacle, thorow which I looke upon
this God, in what colour I will ; whether this glasse shall
be black, through my despaire, and so I shall see God in
Terrible Things. 149
the cloud of my sinnes, or red in the blood of Christ
Jesus, and I shall see God in a Bath of the blood of his
Sonne, whether I shall see God as a Dove with an OHve
branch, (peace to my soule) or as an Eagle, a vulture to
prey, and to prey everlastingly upon mee, whether in
the deepe floods of Tribulation, spirituall or temporall,
I shall see God as an Arke to take mee in, or as a Whale to
swallow mee ; and if his Whale doe swallow mee, (the
Tribulation devour me) whether his purpose bee to restore
mee, or to consume me, I, I of my selfe cannot tell.
I cannot look upon God, in what Hne I will, nor take
hold of God, by what handle I will ; Hee is a terrible
God, I take him so ; And then I cannot discontinue,
I cannot breake off this terriblenesse, and say, Hee hath
beene terrible to that man, and there is an end of his
terror ; it reaches not to me. Why not to me ? In me
there is no merit, nor shadow of merit ; In God there
is no change, nor shadow of change. I am the same
sinner, he is the same God ; still the same desperate
sinner, still the same terrible God.
89. GocTs Malediction,
THERE is a malediction deposited in the Scriptures,
denounced by the Church, ratified by God, brought
into execution, yet it may be born, men doe bear it.
How men do bear it, we know not ; what passes between
God and those men, upon whom the curse of God heth,
in their dark horrours at midnight, they would not have
us know, because it is part of their curse, to envy God
that glory. But we may consider in some part the insup-
portablenesse of that weight, if we proceed but so farre,
150 God's Malediction.
as to accommodate to God, that which is ordinarily
said of natural! things. Corruptio optimi pessima ; when
the best things change their nature, they become worst.
When God, who is all sweetnesse, shall have learned
frowardnesse from us, as David speaks ; and being all
rectitude, shall have learned perversenesse and crooked-
nesse from us, as Moses speaks ; and being all providence,
shall have learned negligence from us : when God who
is all Blessing, hath learned to curse of us, and being of
himself spread as an universall Hony-combe over All,
takes in an impression, a tincture, an infusion of gaU
from us, what extraction of Wormwood can be so bitter,
what exaltation of lire can be so raging, what multiplying
of talents can be so heav7, what stifnesse of destiny can
be so inevitable, what confection of gnawing worms,
of gnashing teeth, of howling cries, of scalding brimstone,
of palpable darknesse, can be so, so insupportable, so
inexpressible, so in-imaginable, as the curse and male-
diction of God ? And therefore let not us by our works
provoke, nor by our words teach God to curse.
90. GoiV Power,
yiS some Schoolemasters have usd that Discipline^ to
XJL correct the Children of great Persons, whose personall
correction they finde reason to forbeare, by correcting
other Children in their names, and in their sight, and have
wrought upon good Natures, that way, So did Almightie
God correct the J ewes in the Egyptians ; for the ten
plagues of Egypt, were as Moses Decern Verba, as the ten
Commandements to Israel, that they should not provoke
God. Every Judgment that falls upon another, should
God's Power. 151
be a Catechisme to me. But when this Discipline pre-
vaild not upon them, God sold them away, gave them
away, cast them away, in the tempest, in the whirlewinde,
in the inundation of his indignation, and scatterd them
as so much dust in a windy day, as so many broken
strawes upon a wrought Sea. With one word, One
Fiat {Let there bee a world,) nay with one thought of God
cast toward it, (for Gods speaking in the Creation, was
but a thinking) God made all of Nothing. And is any one
rationall Ant, (the wisest Phylosopher is no more) Is any
roaring Lyon (the most ambitious and devouring Prince
is no more) Is any hive oj Bees, (The wisest Councels,
and Parliaments are no more) Is any of these so estabhshd,
as that, that God who by a word, by a thought, made them
of nothing, cannot, by recalHng that word, and withdrawing
that thought, in sequestring his Providence, reduce them
to nothing againe I That Man, that Prince, that State
thinks Past-board Canon-proofe, that thinkes Power,
or Policy a Rampart, when the Ordinance of God is
planted against it. Navyes will not keepe off Navies, if
God be not the Pilot, Nor Walles keepe out Men, if God
be not the SentinelL If they could, if wee were walld
with a Sea of fire and brimstone without, and walld
with with Brasse within, yet we cannot ciel the Heavens
with a roofe of Brasse, but that God can come downe in
Thunder that way, Nor pave the Earth with a floare
of Brasse, but that God can come up in Earthquakes
that way. God can call up Damps, & Vapors from below,
and powre down putride dejiuxions from above, and bid
them meet and condense into a plague, a plague that shall
not be onely uncureable, uncontrollable, unexorable, but
152 God's Power.
undisputable, unexaminable, unquestionable ; A plague
that shall not onely not admit a remedy , when it is come,
but not give a reason how it did come.
91. Access to God.
T^AVID knew he could not retyre himselfe from God
-^-^in his bedchamber ; Guards and Ushers could not
keepe him out. He knew he could not defend himselfe
from God in his Army ; for the Lord of Hosts is Lord oj
his Hosts. If he fied to Sea, to Heaven, to Hell, he was
sure to meet God there ; and there thou shalt meet him
too, if thou fly from God, to the reliefe of outward
comforts, of musicke, of mirth, of drinke, of cordialls,
of Comedies, of conversation. Not that such recreations
are unlawfull ; the minde hath her physick as well as
the body ; but when thy sadnesse proceeds from a sense
of thy sinnes, (which is Gods key to the doore of his
mercy, put into thy hand) it is a new, and a greater sin,
to goe about to overcome that holy sadnesse, with these
prophane diversions ; to fly Ad consolatiunculas creaturulce
(as that elegant man Luther expresses it, according to
his naturall delight in that elegancy of Diminutives, with
which he abounds above all Authors) to the Httle and
contemptible comforts of httle and contemptible crea-
tures. And as Luther uses the physick, lob useth the
Physitian ; Luther calls the comforts. Miserable comforts ;
and loh calls them that minister them, Onerosos consola-
tores, Miserable comforters are you all. David could not
drowne his adultery in blood ; never thinke thou to
drowne thine in wine. The Ministers of God are Sonnes
of Thunder, they are falls of waters, trampUng of horses.
Access to God. 153
and runnings of Chariots ; and if these voices of these
Ministers, cannot overcome thy musick, thy security, yet
the Angels trumpet will ; That Surgite qui dormitisy
Arise yee that sleepe in the dust, in the dust of the grave, is
a Treble that over-reaches all ; That Ite maledicti, Goe
yee accursed into Hell Jire, is a Base that drowns all.
There is no recourse but to God, no rehefe but in God ;
and therefore David applied himselfe to the right method,
to make his first accesse to God.
92. The Image of God in Man,
NO image, but the image of God, can fit our soul ;
every other seal is too narrow, too shallow for it.
The magistrate is sealed with the Lion ; the Wolf will
not fit that seal : the magistrate hath a power in his
hand, but not oppression. Princes are sealed with the
Crown ; the Mitre will not fit that seal. Powerfully, and
graciously they protect the Church, and are supream
heads of the Church ; but they minister not the Sacra-
ments of the Church : they give preferments ; but they
give not the capacitie of preferments : they give order
who shall have, but they have not Orders by which
they are enabled to have that they have. Men of inferiour
and laborious callings in the world are sealed with the
Crosse ; a Rose, or a bunch of Grapes will not answer that
seal : ease and plentie in age must not be looked for
without crosses, and labour, and Industrie in youth.
All men, Prince, and people ; Clergie, and Magistrate,
are sealed with the image of God, with a conformitie
to him ; and worldly seals will not answer that, nor fill
up that seal. We should wonder to see a mother in the
154 The Image of God in Man.
midst of many sweet children, passing her time in making
babies and puppets for her own dehght. We should
wonder to see a man, whose chambers and galleries were
full of curious master-pieces, thrust in a village fayre, to
look upon sixpenie pictures, & three-farthing prints.
We have all the image of God at home ; and we all make
babies, fancies of honour in our ambitions. The master-
piece is our own, in our own bosome ; and we thrust
in countrey fayres, that is, we endure the distempers of
any unseasonable weather, in night- journeys and watch-
ings ; we endure the oppositions, and scorns, and
triumphs of a rivall, and competitour, that seeks with us,
and shares with us. We endure the guiltinesse and re-
proach of having deceived the trust which a confident
friend reposes in us, and solicit his wife or daughter. We
endure the decay of fortune of bodie, of soul, of honour,
to possesse lovers pictures ; pictures that are not originals,
not made by that hand of God, Nature ; but artificiall
beauties : and for that bodie we give a soul ; and for
that drug, which might have been bought where they
bought it, for a shilling, we give an estate. The image
of God is more worth then all substances ; and we give
it for colours, for dreams, for shadows.
93. Man God^s Enemy.
Inimicus. ^ MONGST naturall Creatures^ because howsoever
JTX they differ in bignesse, yet they have some proportion
to one another, we consider that some very Httle creatures,
contemptible in themselves, are yet called enemies to
great creatures, as the Mouse is to the Elephant. (For
the greatest Creature is not Infinite, nor the least is not
Man God's Enemy. 155
Nothing.) But shall man, betweene whom and nothing,
there went but a word, Let us make Man, That Nothing,
which is infinitely lesse then a Mathematical! point, then
an imaginary Atome, shall tliis Man, this yesterdayes
Nothing, this to morrow worse then Nothing, be capable
of that honour, that dishonourable honour, that confound-
ing honour, to be the enemy of God, of God who is not
onely a multiplied Elephant, millions of Elephants
multipHed into one, but a multiphed World, a multipHed
All, All that can be conceived by us, infinite many times
over; Nay, (if we may dare to say so,) a multiplyed
God, a God that hath the MiUions of the Heathens gods
in himselfe alone, shall this man be an enemy to this God ?
Man cannot be allowed so high a sinne, as enmity with
God. The Devill himselfe is but a slave to God, and
shall Man be called his enemy ? It is true, if we consider
the infinite disproportion between them, he cannot ;
but to many sad purposes, and in many heavy apphcations
Man is an enemy to God.
94. Jhe Atheist,
POORE intricated soule ! Riddling, perplexed,
labyrinthicall soule ! Thou couldest not say, that
thou beleevest not in God, if there were no God ; Thou
couldest not beleeve in God, if there were no God ; If
there were no God, thou couldest not speake, thou
couldest not thinke, not a word, not a thought, no not
against God ; Thou couldest not blaspheme the Name
of God, thou couldest not sweare, if there were no
God : For, all thy faculties, how ever depraved, and
perverted by thee, are from him ; and except thou canst
156 The Atheist.
seriously beleeve, that thou art nothing, thou canst not
beleeve that there is no God. If I should aske thee at
a Tragedy, where thou shouldest see him that had
drawne blood, He weltring, and surrounded in his owne
blood, Is there a God now ? If thou couldst answer me.
No, These are but Inventions, and Representations of
men, and I beleeve a God never the more for this ; If
I should ask thee at a Sermon, where thou shouldest
heare the Judgements of God formerly denounced, and
executed, re-denounced, and appHed to present occasions.
Is there a God now ? If thou couldest answer me. No,
These are but Inventions of State, to souple and regulate
Congregations, and keep people in order, and I beleeve
a God never the more for this ; Bee as confident as thou
canst, in company ; for company is the Atheists Sanc-
tuary ; I respit thee not till the day of Judgement, when
I may see thee upon thy knees, upon thy face, begging
of the hills, that they would fall downe and cover thee
from the fierce wrath of God, to aske thee then. Is there
a God now ? I respit thee not till the day of thine own
death, when thou shalt have evidence enough, that there
is a God, though no other evidence, but to finde a Devill,
and evidence enough, that there is a Heaven, though
no other evidence, but to feele Hell ; To aske thee then.
Is there a God now ? I respit thee but a few houres,
but six houres, but till midnight. Wake then ; and then
darke, and alone, Heare God aske thee then, remember
that I asked thee now, Is there a God ? and if thou darest,
say No.
The Angels. 157
95. The Angels,
THAT there are distinct orders of Angels, assuredly
I beleeve ; but what they are, I cannot tell ; Dicant
qui possunt ; si tamen prohare possunt quod dicunt, sales
that Father, Let them tell you that can, so they be able
to prove, that they tell you true. They are Creatures,
that have not so much of a Body as Jlesh is, as froth is,
as a vapor is, as a sigh is, and yet w^ith a touch they shall
molder a rock into lesse Atomes, then the sand that it
stands upon ; and a milstone into smaller flower, then
it grinds. They are Creatures made, and yet not a minute
elder now, then when they were first made, if they were
made before all measure of time began ; nor, if they
were made in the beginning of Time, and be now six
thousand yeares old, have they one wrinckle of Age in
their face, or one sobbe of wearinesse in their lungs.
They are primogeniti Dei, Gods eldest sonnes ; They
are super-elementary meteors, they hang between the
nature of God, and the nature of man, and are of middle
Condition ; And, (if we may offencelessely expresse it
so) they are cenigmata Divina, The Riddles of Heaven,
and the perplexities of speculation.
96. The Devil,
SOME of the ancient Fathers, dehvering the mercies nus omni-
of God, so, as the articles of our Church enjoyne ^"^*
them to bee delivered, that is, generally, as they are
delivered in the Scriptures, have delivered them so
over-generally, that they have seemed loth to thinke
the devill himself e excluded from all benefit of Chris ts
158 The Devil.
comming. Some of the later Authors in the Roman
Church, (who, as pious as they pretend to be towards
the Fathers, are apter to discover the nakednesse of the
Fathers, then we are) have noted in lustin Martyr^ and
in Epiphanius, and in Clement of Alexandria, and in
Oecumenius, (and Oecumenius is no single Father, but
Pater patratus, a manifold Father, a complicated father,
a Father that collected Fathers) and even in S. lerome
himselfe, and S. Ambrose too, some inclinations towards
that opinion, that the devill retaining still his faculty
of free vnll, is therefore capable of repentance, and so of
benefit by this comming of Christ ; And those Authors
of the Roman Church, that modifie the matter, and
excuse the Fathers herein, excuse them no other way but
this, that though that opinion and doctrine of those
Fathers, bee not true in it self e, yet it was never condemned
by any Councell, nor by any ancient Father. So very
far, did very many goe in enlarging the mercies of God
in Christ, to all. But waiving this over-large extention
and profusion thereof, and directing it upon a more
possible, and a more credible object, that is, Man ;
S. Cyril of Alexandria, speaking of the possibiHty of the
salvation of all men, sales, by way of objection to himselfe,
Omnes non credunt, How can all be saved since all doe not
beleeve ? but, sales he. Because actually they do not
beleeve, is it therefore impossible they should beleeve ?
And for actuall beleefe, sales he, though all doe not, yet
so many doe, ut facile qui pereanty superent, that, by Gods
goodnesse, more are saved, then lost, sales that Father of
tender and large bowels, S. Cyril. And howsoever he
may seeme too tender, and too large herein, yet it is
The Devil. 159
a good peece of counsaile, which that Rabbi whom I Moses,
named before, gives, Ne redarguas ea falsitatis, de quorum
contrariis nulla est demonstration Be not apt to call any
opinion false, or hereticall, or damnable, the contrary
whereof cannot be evidently proved.
97. T^he Creation,
THERE is but one God ; but yet was that one God
ever alone ? There were more generations (infinitely
infinite) before the world was made, then there have been
minutes^ since it was made : all that while, there were
no creatures ; but yet was God alone, any one minute
of al this ? was there not alwais a Father and a 5o«,
& a holy Ghost ? And had not they, always an acquies-
cence in one another, an exercise of Affection^ (as we may
so say) a love, a delight, and a complacency towards one
another ? So, as that the Father could not be without
the Son and the holy Ghost, so as neither Sonne, nor holy
Ghost could be without the Father, nor without one
another; God was from all eternity collected into one
God, yet from all eternity he derived himselfe into three
persons : God could not be so alone, but that there have
been three persons, as long as there hath been one God.
Had God company enough of himselfe ; was he satisfied C^eatio.
in the three Persons I We see he proceeded further ; he
came to a Creation ; And as soon as he had made light,
(which was his first Creature) he took a pleasure in it ;
he said it was good ; he was glad of it ; glad of the Sea,
glad of the Earth, glad of the Sunne, and Moone, and
Starres, and he said of every one. It is good ; But when he
had made All, peopled the whole world, brought all
i6o The Creation.
creatures together, then he was very glad, and then he
said, not onely, that it was good, but that it was very
good : God was so far from being alone, as that he found
not the fulnesse of being well, till all was made, till all
Creatures met together, in an Host, as Moses calls it ;
then the good was extended into very good.
Angeli Did God satisfie himselfe with this visible and discernible
world ; with all on earth, and all between that, and him ?
were those foure Monarchies, the foure Elements, and
all the subjects of those foure Monarchies, (if all the foure
Elements have Creatures) company enough for God ?
was that Heptarchie, the seven kingdomes of the seven
Planets, conversation enough for him ? Let every Starre
in the firmament, be (so some take them to be) a severall
world, was all this enough ? we see, God drew persons
nearer to him, then Sunne, or Moon, or Starres, or any
thing, which is visible, and discernible to us, he created
Angels ; How many, how great ? Arithmetique lacks
numbers to to expresse them, proportion lacks Dimensions
to figure them ; so far was God from being alone.
Homines. And yet God had not shed himselfe far enough ; he
had the Leviathan, the Whale in the Sea, and Behemoth
and the Elephant upon the land ; and all these great
heavenly bodies in the way, and Angels in their infinite
numbers, and manifold offices, in heaven ; But, because
Angels, could not propagate, nor make more Angels,
he enlarged his love, in making man, that so he might
enjoy all natures at once, and have the nature of Angels,
and the nature of earthly Creatures, in one Person. God
would not be without man, nor he would not come
single, not alone to the making of man ; but it is Faciamus
The Creation. i6i
hominem. Let us, us, make man ; God, in his whole
counsail, in his whole Colledge, in his whole society, in
the whole Trinity, makes man, in whom the whole
nature of all the world should meet.
98. The Heavens and Earth.
NEVER such a frame so soon set up, as this in this
chapter : For, for the thing it self, there is no other
thing to compare it with ; for it is all, it is the whole
world. And for the time, there was no other time to
compare it with ; for this was the beginning of time,
In the beginning God created heaven and earth. That
earth, which in some thousands of yeares men could not
look over, nor discern what form it had (for neither
Lactantius, almost three hundred yeares after Christ ;
nor iS. Augustine, more then one hundred yeares after
him, would beleeve the earth to be round) That earth,
which no man in his person is ever said to have compassed
till our age : That earth which is too much for man yet,
(for, as yet a very great part of the earth is unpeopled)
That earth, which, if we will cast it all but into a Map,
costs many moneths labour to grave it ; nay, if we will
cast but a piece of an acre of it into a garden, costs many
yeares labour to fashion and furnish it ; all that earth :
And then that heaven, which spreads so farre, as that
subtill men have, with some appearance of probabilitie,
imagined, that in that heaven, in those manifold Spheres
of the Planets and the Starres, there are many earths,
many worlds, as big as this which we inhabit : That earth
and that heaven, which spent God himself, Almightie
God, siz dayes in finishing ; Moses sets up in a few
M
1 62 The Heavens and Earth.
syllables, in one line, In principio, In the beginning God
created heaven and earth. If a Livie or a Guicciardine, or
such extensive and voluminous authours had had this
story in hand, God must have made another world, to
have made them a Hbrary to hold their books, of the
making of this world. Into what wire would they have
drawn out this earth! Into what leaf-gold would they
have beat out these heavens ! It may assist our conjecture
herein, to consider, that amongst those men, who proceed
with a sober modestie and limitation in their writing, &
make a conscience not to clog the world with unnecessary
books ; yet the volumes which are written by them, upon
the beginning of Genesis, are scarce lesse than infinite.
God did no more but say. Let this & this be done ; and
Moses doth no more but say, that upon Gods saying it
was done. God required not Nature to help him to do it;
Moses required not Reason to help him to beleeve.
99. ^he Creation of a Harmonious World,
GOD made this whole world in such an uniformity,
such a correspondency, such a concinnity of parts,
as that it was an Instrument, perfectly in tune : we may
cay, the trebles, the highest strings were disordered first ;
the best understandings, Angels and Men, put this
instrument out of tune. God rectified all again, by
putting in a new string, semen mulieris, the seed of the
woman, the Messias : And onely by sounding that string
in your ears, become we musicum carmen, true musick,
true harmony, true peace to you. If we shall say, that
Gods first string in this instrument, was Reprobation,
that Gods first intention, was, for his glory to damn
Creation of a Harmonious World. 163
man ; and that then he put in another string, of creating
Man, that so he might have some body to damn ; and
then another of enforcing him to sin, that so he might
have a just cause to damne him ; and then another, of
disabhng him to lay hold upon any means of recovery :
there's no musick in all this, no harmony, no peace in
such preaching. But if we take this instrument, w^hen
Gods hand tun'd it the second time, in the promise of
a Messias, and offer of the love & mercy of God to all that
will receive it in him ; then we are truely musicum carmen^
as a love-song, when we present the love of God to you,
and raise you to the love of God in Christ Jesus : for,
for the musick of the Sphears, whatsoever it be, we cannot
hear it ; for the decrees of God in heaven, we cannot say we
have seen them ; our musick is onely that salvation which is
declared in the Gospel to all them, and to them onely, who
take God by the right hand, as he delivers himself in Christy
100. God and Adam and Eve.
WHO hath divided heaven into shires or parishes,
or limited the territories or jurisdictions there,
that God should not have and exercise judicium dis-
cretionis, the power of discerning all actions in all places,
when there was no more to be seen nor considered upon
the whole earth, but the garden of Paradise ? for from
the beginning, Delicice ejus esse cum filiis hominum,
Gods delight was to be with the sonnes of men ; and man
was only there. Shall we diminish God, or speak too
vulgarly of him, to say that he hovered like a falcon
over Paradise, and that from that height of heaven the
piercing eye of God saw so Httle a thing as the forbidden
M 2
164 God and Adam and Eve.
fruit, and what became of that ? and the reaching eare
of God heard the hissing of the serpent, and the whisper-
ing of the woman, and what was concluded upon that ?
shall we think it little to have seen things done in Paradise,
when there was nothing else to divert his eye, nothing
else to distract his counsels, nothing else done upon the
face of the earth ? take the earth now as it is replenished,
and take it either as it is torn and crumbled in rags and
shivers, not a kingdome, not a family, not a man agreeing
with himself ; or take it in that concord which is in it, as
all the kings of the earth set themselves, and all the rulers
of the earth take counsel together against the Lord ; take
it in this union, or this disunion ; in this concord, or this
disconcord; still the Lord that sitteth in the heavens
discerns all, looks at all, laughs at all, and hath them in
derision. Earthly judges have their districtions, and so
their restrictions ; some things they cannot know : what
mortall man can know all ? some things they cannot
take knowledge of, for they are bounded : no cloud, no
darkness, no disguise keeps him from discerning and
judging all our actions.
loi. The World since the Fall,
Morietur. XT THEN Paradise should have extended, as man should
W have multiplied, and every holy family, every
religious Colony have constituted a new Paradise, that
as it was said of Egypt, when it abounded with Hermitages
in the Primitive persecutions. That Egypt was a continual]
City of Hermitages ; so all the world should have been
a continuall Garden of Paradises, when all affections
should have been subjects, and all creatures servants,
The World since the Fall. 165
and all wives helpers, then life was a sincere blessing.
But, but a mixt blessing now, when all these are so much
vitiated ; onely a possible blessing ; a disputable, a con-
ditionable, a circumstantiall blessing now. If there
were any other way to be saved and to get to Heaven,
then by being born into this Hfe, I would not wish to
have come into this world. And now that God hath
made this life a Bridge to Heaven ; it is but a giddy, and
a vertiginous thing, to stand long gazing upon so narrow
a bridge, and over so deep and roaring waters, and desper-
ate whirlpools, as this world abounds with : So teach Psalgo.ia
us to number our dayes, saith David, that we may apply our
hearts unto wisedome : Not to number them so, as that
we place our happinesse, in the increase of their number.
102. Silkworms.
SHALL we that are but wormes, but silke-zvormes, but
glow-wormes at best, chide God that hee hath made
slozv-zoormes, and other venimous creeping things ? shall
we that are nothing but boxes of poyson in our selves,
reprove God for making Toads and Spiders in the world ?
shall we that are all discord, quarrell the harmony of
his Creation, or his providence ? Can an Apothecary
make a Soveraign triacle of Vipers, and other poysons,
and cannot God admit offences, and scandals into his
physick ? scandals, and offences, tentations, and tribula-
tions, are our leaven that ferment us, and our lees that
preserve us. Use them to Gods glory, and to thine own
establishing, and then thou shall be a particular exception
to that generall Rule, the Fee mundo a scandalis, shall
be an Euge tibi a scandalis, thou shalt see that it was
1 66 Silkworms.
well for thee, that there were scandals and offences in
the world, for they shall have exercised thy patience,
they shall have occasioned thy victory, they shall have
assured thy triumph.
103. Original Sin,
SCARCE any man considers the weight of Originall
sinne ; And yet, as the strongest tentations fall upon
us when wee are weakest, in our death-bed, so the heavyest
sinne seises us, when wee are weakest ; as soon as wee
are any thing, we are sinners, and there, where there can
be no more tentations ministred to us, then was to the
Angels that fell in heaven, that is, in our mothers womb,
when no world, nor flesh, nor Devill could present
a provocation to sinne to us, when no faculty of ours is
able to embrace, or second a provocation to sin, yet there,
in that weaknesse, we are under the weight of Originall
sin. And truly, if at this time, God would vouchsafe
mee my choice, whether hee should pardon me all those
actual and habituall sins, which I have committed in
my life, or extinguish Originall sinne in me, I should
chuse to be delivered from Originall sin, because, though
I be dehvered from the imputation thereof, by Baptism, so
that I shall not fall under a condemnation for Originall
sin onely, yet it still remains in me, and practices upon
me, and occasions all the other sins, that I commit :
now, for all my actuall and habituall sins, I know God
hath instituted meanes in his Church, the Word, and the
Sacraments, for my reparation ; But with what a holy
alacrity, with what a heavenly joy, with what a cheerfull
peace, should I come to the participation of these meanes
Original Sin. 167
and seals of my reconciliation, and pardon of all my
sins, if I knew my selfe to be delivered from Originall
sinne, from that snake in my bosome, from that poyson
in my blood, from that leaven and tartar in all my actions,
that casts me into Relapses of those sins which I have
repented ? And what a cloud upon the best serenity
of my conscience, what an interruption, what a dis-
continuance from the sincerity and integrity of that
joy, which belongs to a man truly reconciled to God,
in the pardon of his former sins, must it needs be still
to know, and to know by lamentable experiences, that
though I wash my selfe with Soap, and Nitre, and Snow-
water, mine own cloathes will defile me again, though
I have washed my selfe in the tears of Repentance, and
in the blood of my Saviour, though I have no guiltinesse
of any former sin upon me at that present, yet I have
a sense of a root of sin, that is not grub'd up, of Originall
sinne, that will cast me back again. Scarce any man
considers the weight, the oppression of Originall sinne.
No man can say, that an Akorn weighs as much as an
Oak ; yet in truth, there is an Oak in that Akorn : no
man considers that Originall sinne weighs as much as
Actuall, or Habituall, yet in truth, all our Actuall and
Habituall sins are in Originall. Therefore Saint Pauls
vehement, and frequent prayer to God, to that purpose,
could not deliver him from Originall sin, and that
stimulus carnis, that provocation of the flesh, that
Messenger of Satan, which rises out of that, God would
give him sufficient grace, it should not worke to his
destruction, but yet he should have it : Nay, the infinite
merit of Christ Jesus himself, that works so upon all
i68 Original Sin.
actuall and habituall sins, as that after that merit 19
applyed to them, those sins are no sins, works not so upon
Originall sin, but that, though I be eased in the Dominion,
and Imputation thereof, yet the same Originall sin is
in me still ; and though God doe deliver me from
eternall death, due to mine actuall and habituall sins, yet
from the temporall death, due to Originall sin, he
delivers not his dearest Saints.
104. Original Sin,
MISERABLE man ! a Toad is a bag of Poyson, and
a Spider is a blister of Poyson, and yet a Toad and
a Spider cannot poyson themselves ; Man hath a dram
of poyson, originall-Sin, in an invisible corner, we know
not where, and he cannot choose but poyson himself
and all his actions with that ; we are so far from being
able to begin without Grace, as then where we have the
first Grace, we cannot proceed to the use of that,
without more.
105. l^he Heart of the Sinner,
THE holyest man cannot at all times finde his own
heart, (his heart may be bent upon Religion, and yet
he cannot tell in which Religion ; and upon Preaching,
and yet he cannot tell which Preacher ; and upon Prayer,
and yet he shall finde strayings and deviations in his
Prayer) much more hardly is the various and vagabond
heart of such an indifferent sinner, to be found by any
search. If he enquire for his heart, at that Chamber
where he remembers it was yesterday, in lascivious and
lustful purposes, he shall hear that it went from thence
The Heart of the Sinner. 169
to some riotous Feasting, from thence to some Blas-
phemous Gaming, after, to some Malicious Consultation
of entangling one, and supplanting another ; and he
shall never trace it so close, as to drive it home, that is,
to the consideration of itself, and that God that made it ;
nay, scarce to make it consist in any one particular
sin. . . .
This is the full setting of the heart to do evil, u^hen
a man fills himself vidth the Hberty of passing into any
sin, in an indifferencie ; and then findes no reason why he
should leave that way, either by the love, or by the fear
of God. If he prosper by his sin, then he findes no reason ;
if he do not prosper by it, yet he findes a wrong reason.
If unseasonable flouds drown his Harvest, and frustrate
all his labours, and his hopes ; he never findes, that his
oppressing, and grinding of the Poor, was any cause of
those waters, but he looks only how the Winde sate, and
how the ground lay ; and he concludes, that if Noah, andEzek.14.i4.
Job, and Daniel had been there their labour must have
perished, and been drown'd, as well as his. If a vehement
Fever take hold of him, he remembers where he sweat,
and when he took cold ; where he walked too fast, where
his Casement stood open, and where he was too bold
upon Fruit, or meat of hard digestion ; but he never
remembers the sinful and naked Wantonnesses, the pro-
fuse and wastful Dilapidations of his own body, that
have made him thus obnoxious and open to all dangerous
Distempers. Thunder from heaven burns his Barns,
and he says. What luck was this ? if it had fallen but
ten foot short or over, my barns had been safe : whereas
his former blasphemings of the Name of God, drew down
170 The Heart of the Sinner.
that Thunder upon that house, as it was his ; and that
Lightning could no more fall short or over, then the
Angel which was sent to Sodom could have burnt another
Citie, and have spar'd that ; or then the plagues of
Moses and of Aaron could have fallen upon Goshen, and
have spar'd Egypt. His Corners abound with Manna,
he overflows with all for necessities, and with all dehcacies,
in this life ; and yet he finds worms in his Manna,
a putrefaction, and a mouldring away, of this abundant
state ; but he sees not that that is, because his Manna
was gathered upon the Sabbath, that there were profana-
tions of the Name and Ordinances of God, mingled in
his means of growing rich.
106. Light Sins,
THERE are some sins so rooted, so riveted in men, so
incorporated, so consubstantiated in the soule, by
habituall custome, as that those sins have contracted the
nature of Ancient possessions. As men call Manners
by their names, so sins have taken names from men, and
from places ; Simon Magus gave the name to a sin, and
so did Gehazi, and Sodom did so : There are sins that
run in Names, in FamiHes, in Blood ; Hereditary sins,
entailed sins ; and men do almost prove their Gentry
by those sins, and are scarce beleeved to be rightly
borne, if they have not those sins ; These are great
possessions, and men do much more easily part with
Christ, then with these sins. But then there are lesse
sins, light sins, vanities ; and yet even these come to
possesse us, and separate us from Christ. How many
men neglect this ordinary meanes of their Salvation,
Light Sins. 171
the comming to these Exercises, not because their undoing
lyes on it, or their discountenancing ; but meerely out
of levity, of vanity, of nothing ; they know not what
to do else, and yet do not this. You heare of one man
that was drowned in a vessell of Wine ; but how many
thousands in ordinary water ? And he was no more
drowned in that precious liquor, then they in that
common water. A gad of Steele does no more choake
a man, then a feather, then a haire ; Men perish with
whispering sins, nay vnth silent sins, sins that never tell
the conscience they are sins, as often as with crying
sins : And in hell there shall meet as many men, that
never thought what was sin, as that spent all their
thoughts in the compassing of sin ; as many, who in
a slack inconsideration, never cast a thought upon that
place, as that by searing their conscience, overcame the
sense and feare of the place. Great sins are great
possessions ; but levities and vanities possesse us too ;
and men had rather part with Christ, then with any
possessions.
107, 1^ he Sin of Reason.
PSAL. 55. 19. Because They have no changes, therefore
They fear not God. In a Prison, where men withered
in a close and perpetual imprisonment ; In a Galley, where
men were chain'd to a laborious and perpetual slavery ; In
places, where any change that could come, would put them
in a better state, then they were before, this might seem
a fitter text, then in a Court, where every man having set
his foot, or plac'd his hopes upon the present happy
state, and blessed Government, every man is rather to
be presumed to love God, because there are no changes,
172 The Sin of Reason.
then to take occasion of murmuring at the constancie
of Gods goodness towards us. But because the first
murmuring at their present condition, the first Innovation
that ever was, was in Heaven ; The Angels kept not
their first Estate : Though as Princes are Gods, so their
well-govern'd Courts, are Copies, are representations of
Heaven ; yet the Copy cannot be better then the
Original : And therefore, as Heaven it self had, so all
Courts will ever have, some persons, that are under the
Increpation of this text, Th^t, Because they have no changes^
therefore they fear not God : At least, if I shall meet with
no conscience, that finds in himself a guiltiness of this
sin, if I shall give him no occasion of repentance, yet
I shall give him occasion of praysing, and magnifying
that gracious God, which hath preserv'd him from such
sins, as other men have fallen into, though he have not :
For, I shall let him see first, The dangerous shpperiness,
the concurrence, the co-incidence of sins ; that a habit
and custom of sin, sHps easily into that dangerous degree
Dk'isio, of Obduration, that men come to sin upon Reason ; they
find a Quia, sl Cause, a Reason why they should sin :
and then, in a second place, he shall see, what perverse
and frivolous reasons they assign for their sins, when they
are come to that ; even that which should avert them,
they make the cause of them. Because they have no changes.
And then, lastly, by this perverse mistaking, they come
to that infatuation, that dementation, as that they loose
the principles of all knowledge, and all wisedom : 7he
fear of God is the beginning of zvisdom ; and, Because they
have no changes, they fear not God.
Part I. First then, We enter into our first Part, the slipperiness
The Sin of Reason. 173
of habitual sin, with that note of 5. Gregorie, Peccatum
cum voce, est culpa cum actione ; peccatum cum clamore^
est culpa cum libertate ; Sinful thoughts produc'd into
actions, are speaking sins ; sinful actions continued into
habits, are crying sins. There is a sin before these ;
a speechless sin, a whispering sin, which no body hears,
but our own conscience ; which is, when a sinful thought
or purpose is born in our hearts, first we rock it, by tossing,
and tumbling it in our fancies, and imaginations, and by
entertaining it with delight and consent, & with remem-
bring, with how much pleasure we did the like sin before,
and how much we should have, if we could bring this
to pass ; And as we rock it, so we swathe it, we cover
it, with some pretences, some excuses, some hopes of
covercling it ; and this is that, which we call Morosam
delectationem, a delight to stand in the air and prospect
of a sin, and a loathness to let it go out of our sight. Of
this sin S. Gregory sayes nothing in this place, but onely
of actual sins, which he calls speaking ; and of habitual,
which he calls crying sins. And this is as far, as the
Schools, or the Casuists do ordinarily trace sin ; To find
out peccata Infantia, speechless sins, in the heart ; peccata
•vocantia, speaking sins, in our actions ; And peccata
clamantia, crying and importunate sins, which will not
suffer God to take his rest, no nor to fulfil his own Oath,
and protestation : He hath said. As I live, I would not
the death of a sinner ; and they extort a death from him.
But besides these. Here is a farther degree, beyond
speaking sins, and crying sins ; beyond actual sins and
habitual sins ; here are peccata cum ratione, and cum
disputatione ; we will reason, we will debate, we will
174 The Sin of Reason.
dispute it out with God, and we will conclude against
all his Arguments, that there is a Quia, a Reason, why we
should proceed and go forward in our sin : Et fudet
non esse impudentes, as S. Augustine heightens this sinful
disposition ; Men grow asham'd of all holy shamefac'd-
ness, and tenderness towards sin ; they grow asham'd
to be put off, or frighted from their sinful pleasure, with
the ordinary terror of Gods imaginary judgements ;
asham'd to be no wiser than S. Paul would have them,
I Cor. 1.21. to be mov'd, or taken hold of, by the foolishness of preaching;
or to be no stronger of themselves then so, that we should
Matth. 8. trust to anothers taking of our infirmities, and bearing
of our sicknesses ; Or to be no richer, or no more provi-
dent then so. To sell all, and give it away, and make
Luc. 12. a treasure in Heaven, and all this for fear of Theeves,
and Rust, and Canker, and Moths here. That which is
not allowable in Courts of Justice, in criminal Causes,
to hear Evidence against the King, we will admit
against God ; we will hear Evidence against God ; we
will hear what mans reason can say in favor of the
DeHnquent, why he should be condemned ; why God
should punish the soul eternally, for the momentany
pleasures of the body : Nay, we suborn witnesses
against God, and we make Philosophy and Reason
speak against Religion, and against God ; though
indeed, Omne verum, omni veto consentiens ; what-
soever is true in Philosophy, is true in Divinity too ;
howsoever we distort it, and wrest it to the contrary.
We hear Witnesses, and we suborn Witnesses against
God, and we do more ; we proceed by Recriminations,
and a cross Bill, with a Quia Deus, because God
The Sin of Reason. 175
does as he does, we may do as we do ; Because God
does not punish Sinners, we need not forbear sins ;
whilst we sin strongly, by oppressing others, that
are weaker, or craftily by circumventing others that
are simple. This is but Leoninum, and Vulpinum,
that tincture of the Lyon, and of the Fox, that
brutal nature that is in us. But when we come to
sin, upon reason, and upon discourse, upon Meditation,
and upon plot. This is Humanum, to become the Man of
Sin, to surrender that, which is the Form, and Essence
of man. Reason, and understanding, to the service of
sin. When we come to sin wisely and learnedly, to sin
logically, by a Quia^ and an ErgOy that. Because God does
thus, we may do as we do, we shall come to sin through
all the Arts, and all our knowledge. To sin Grammatically,
to tie sins together in construction, in a Syntaxis, in
a chaine, and dependance, and coherence upon one
another : And to sin Historically, to sin over sins of
other men again, to sin by precedent, and to practice
that which we had read : and we come to sin Rhetori-
cally, perswasively, powerfully ; and as we have found
examples for our sins in History, so we become examples
to others, by our sins, to lead and encourage them, in
theirs ; when we come to employ upon sin, that which
is the essence of man. Reason, and discourse, we will
also employ upon it, those which are the properties
of man onely, which are. To speak, and to laugh ; we
will come to speak, and talk, and to boast of our sins,
and at last, to laugh and jest at our sins ; and as we have
made sin a Recreation, so we will make a jest of our
condemnation. And this is the dangerous sHpperiness
176 The Sin of Reason.
of sin, to slide by Thoughts and Actions, and Habits,
to contemptuous obduration.
F
108. Delight in Evil,
IRST then, what is this setting of the heart upon evil ;
and then, what is this fulness, that leaves no room
for a Cure ? When a man receives figures and images
of sin, into his Fancie and Imagination, and leads them
on to his understanding and Discourse, to his Will,
tc his Consent, to his Heart, by a delightful dwelling
upon the meditation of that sin ; yet this is not a setting
cfthe heart upon doing evil. To be surpris'd by a Tenta-
tion, to be overthrown by it, to be held down by it for
a time, is not it. It is not when the devil looks in at the
window to the heart, by presenting occasions of tentations,
to the eye ; nor when he comes in at the door, to our
heart, at the ear, either in lascivious discourses, or Satyrical
and Libellous defamations of other men : It is not,
when the devil is put to his Circuit, to seek whom he
may devour, and how he may corrupt the King by his
Council, That is, the Soul by the Senses : But it is, when
by a habitual custom in sin, the sin arises meerly and
immediately from my self : It is, when the heart hath
usurp'd upon the devil, and upon the world too, and is
able and apt to sin of it self, if there were no devil, and
if there were no outward objects of tentation : when our
Chrysost. own heart is become spontanea insania, ifS voluntarius
dcemon. Such a wilful Madness, and such a voluntary and
natural Devil to it self, as that we should be ambitious,
though we were in an Hospital ; and licentious, though
we were in a wilderness ; and voluptuous, though in
Delight in Evil. 177
a famine : so that such a mans heart, is as a land of such
Gyants, where the Children are born as great, as the Men
of other nations grow to be ; for those sins, which in
other men have their birth, and their growth, after their
birth, they begin at a Concupiscence, and proceed to a
Consent, and grow up to Actions, and swell up to Habits ;
In this man, sin begins at a stature and proportion above
all this ; he begins at a delight in the sin, and comes
instantly to a defence of it, and to an obduration and
impenitibleness in it : This is the evil of the heart, by
the mis-use of Gods grace, to devest and lose all tender-
ness and remorse in sin.
109. Excuses,
1ET no man therefore think to present his complexion
J to God for an excuse, and say, My choler with which
my constitution abounded, and which I could not
remedy, encHncv! me to wrath, and so to bloud ; My
Melancholy cnclined me to sadnesse, and so to
Desperation, as though thy sins were medicinall sins,
sins to vent humors. Let no man say, I am continent
enough all the yeare, but the spring works upon me,
and inflames my concupiscencies, as though thy sins
were seasonable and anniversary sins. Make not thy
Calling the occasion of thy sin, as though thy sin were
a Mysterie, and an Occupation ; Nor thy place, thy
station, thy oflice the occasion of thy sin, as though thy
sin were an Heir-loome, or furniture, or fixed to the
freehold of that place : for this one proposition, God
is no accepter of persons^ is so often repeated, that all
2025-3 N
178 Excuses.
circumstances of Dispositions, and Callings, and time,
and place might be involved in it.
1 10. Rebuke of Sin.
THE rebuke of sin, is like the fishing of Whales ; the
Marke is great enough ; one can scarce misse
hitting ; but if there be not sea room and line enough,
& a dexterity in letting out that line, he that hath fixed
his harping Iron, in the Whale, endangers himselfe, and
his boate ; God hath made us fishers of Men ; and when
we have struck a Whale^ touch'd the conscience of
any person, which thought himselfe above rebuke, and
increpation, it struggles, and strives, and as much as
it can, endevours to draw fishers, and boate, the Man
and his fortune into contempt, and danger. But if
God tye a sicknesse, or any other calamity, to the end of
the line, that will winde up this Whale againe, to the
boate, bring back this rebellious sinner better advised,
to the mouth of the Minister, for more counsaile, and to
a better souplenesse, and inclinablenesse to conforme
himselfe, to that which he shall after receive from him ;
onely calamity makes way for a rebuke to enter.
111. Names of Sins.
I Part. X7IRST then in this mystery of Confession, we con-
Notumfeci. J_^ gjj^j. Davids reflected act, his preparatory act,
preceding his confession to God, and transacted in him-
selfe, of which the first motion is, the Notum feci, I
acknowledged in my selfe, I came to a feeling in my selfe,
what my sinfull condition was. This is our quickning
in our regeneration, and second birth ; and til this come.
Names of Sins. 179
a sinner lies as the Chaos in the beginning of the Creation,
before the Spirit of God had moved upon the face of the
watersy Dark, and voyd^ and without forme ; He lies, as
we may conceive, out of the Authors of Naturall Story,
the slime and mud of the River ^ilus to lie, before the
Sun-beames strike upon it ; which after, by the heat
of those beames, produces severall shapes, and formes
of creatures. So till this first beame of grace, which we
consider here, strike upon the soule of a sinner, he Hes
in the mud and slime, in the dregs and lees, and tartar
of his sinne. Hee cannot so much as wish, that that
Sunne would shine upon him, he doth not so much as
know, that there is such a Sunne, that hath that influence,
and impression ; But if this first beame of Grace enlighten
him to himselfe, reflect him upon himselfe, notum facit,
(as the Text sayes) if it acquaint him with himselfe, then,
as the creatures in the Creation, then, as the new creatures
at Nilus, his sins begin to take their formes, and their
specifications, and they appeare to him in their particular
true shapes, and that which hee hath in a generall name,
called Pleasure or Wantonnesse, now cals it selfe in his
conscience, a direct Adultery, a direct Incest ; and that
which he hath called FrugaHty, and providence for family
and posterity, tells him plainly, My name is Oppression,
and I am the spirit of covetousnesse. Many times men
fall into company, and accompany others to houses of
riot and uncleannesse, and doe not so much as know their
sinfull companions names ; nay they doe not so much
as know the names of the sins that they commit, nor those
circumstances in those sinnes, which vary the very name
and nature of the sin.
N 2
i8o Pride.
112. Pride.
SOLITUDE is not the scene of Pride ; The danger
of pride is in company, when we meet to looke upon
another. But in Adams wife, Eve, her first act (that is
noted) was an act of Pride, a hearkning to that voyce
Gen. 3. 5. of the Serpent, Te shall be as Gods. As soone as there were
two, there was pride. How many may we have knowne,
(if we have had any conversation in the world) that have
been content all the weeke, at home alone, with their
worky day faces, as well as with their worky day clothes,
and yet on Sundayes, when they come to Church, and
appeare in company, will mend both, their faces as well
as their clothes. Not solitude, but company is the scene
of pride ; And therefore I know not what to call that
practice of the Nunnes in Spaine, who though they never
see man, yet will paint. So early, so primary a sin is
Pride, as that it grew instantly from her, whom God
Gen. 3. 18. intended for a Helper, because he saw that it was not
good for man to he alone. God sees that it is not good for
man to be without health, without wealth, without
power, and jurisdiction, and magistracy, and we grow
proud of our helpers, proud of our health and strength,
proud of our wealth and riches, proud of our office and
authority over others.
So early, so primary a sin is pride, as that, out of every
mercy, and blessing, which God affords us, (and, His
mercies are new every morning we gather Pride ; wee are
not the more thankfull for them, and yet we are the
prouder of them. Nay, we gather Pride, not onely out
of those things, which mend and improve us, (Gods
Pride. i8i
blessings and mercies) but out of those actions of our own,
that destroy and ruine us, we gather pride ; sins over-
throw us, demolish us, destroy and ruine us, and yet we
are proud of our sinnes. How many men have we heard
boast of their sinnes ; and, (as S. Augustine confesses of
himselfe) behe themselves, and boast of more sinnes then
ever they committed ? Out of every thing, out of nothing
sin grows. Therefore was this commandment in our
text, Sequere, Follow, come after, well placed first, for
we are come to see even children strive for place and
precedency, and mothers are ready to goe to the Heralds
to know how Cradles shall be ranked, which Cradle shall
have the highest place ; Nay, even in the wombe, there
was contention for precedency ; lacoh tooke hold of Gen.25.26*
his brother Esaus heele, and would have been borne
before him.
And as our pride begins in our Cradle, it continues SuperUa
in our graves and Monuments. It was a good while J^^^^"'
in the primitive Church, before any were buried in the
Church ; The best contented themselves with the
Churchyards. After, a holy ambition, (may we call it
so) a holy Pride brought them ad Limina, to the Church-
threshold, to the Church-doore, because some great
Martyrs were buried in the Porches, and devout men
desired to lie neare them, as one Prophet did to lie neare
another, (Lay my bones besides his bones.) But now, i King. 13.
persons whom the Devill kept from Church all their 3'*
Hves, Separatists, Libertines, that never came to any
Church, And persons, whom the Devill brought to
Church all their lives, (for, such as come meerly out of
the obligation of the Law, and to redeem that vexation,
i82 Pride.
or out of custome, or company, or curiosity, or a perverse
and sinister affection to the particular Preacher, though
they come to Gods house, come upon the Devils
invitation) Such as one Devill, that is, worldly respect,
brought to Church in their lives, another Devill, that
is, Pride and vain-glory, brings to Church after their
deaths, in an affectation of high places, and sumptuous
Monuments in the Church. And such as have given
nothing at all to any pious uses, or have determined their
almes and their dole which they have given, in that one day
of their f unerall, and no farther, have given large annuities,
perpetuities, for new painting their tombes, and for new
flags, and scutcheons, every certaine number of yeares.
O the earlinesse ! O the latenesse ! how early a Spring,
and no Autumne ! how fast a growth, and no declination,
of this branch of this sin Pride, against which, this first
word of ours, Sequere, Follow, come after, is opposed !
this love of place, and precedency, it rocks us in our
Cradles, it lies down with us in our graves.
m
113. Covetousness,
^AST thou found honey P Eat so much as is sufficient
for thee, lest thou he filed therewith^ and vomit it. —
Prov, XXV. 16. . . .
Ne satieris, Hee doth not say yet, lest thou bee satisfied ; there
is no great feare, nay there is no hope of that, that
he will be satisfied. We know the receipt, the capacity
of the ventricle, the stomach of man, how much
it can hold ; and wee know the receipt of all the
receptacles of blood, how much blood the body can have ;
80 wee doe of all the other conduits and cisterns of the
Covetousness. 183
body ; But this infinite Hive of honey, this insatiable
whirlpoole of the covetous mind, no Anatomy, no
dissection hath discovered to us. When I looke into the
larders, and cellars, and vaults, into the vessels of our
body for drink, for blood, for urine, they are pottles,
and gallons ; when I looke into the furnaces of our
spirits, the ventricles of the heart and of the braine,
they are but thimbles ; for spirituall things, the things
of the next vv^orld, we have no roome ; for temporall
things, the things of this w^orld, we have no bounds.
Hov^^ then shall this over-eater bee filled with his honey ?
So filled, as that he can receive nothing else. More of
the same honey hee can ; Another Manner, and another
Church, is but another bit of meat, w^ith another sauce
to him ; Another Office, and another way of Extortion,
is but another garment, and another lace to him. But
he is too full to receive any thing else ; Christ comes to
this Bethlem, (Bethlem which is Domus panis) this house
of abundance, and there is no roome for Christ in this
Inne ; there are no crums for Christ under this table ;
There comes Boanerges, {Boanerges, that is, Jilius Tonitrui,
the Sonne of Thunder) and he thunders out the Fa^s,
the Comminations, the Judgements of God upon such
as hee ; but if the Thunder spoile not his drink, he sees
no harme in Thunder ; As long as a Sermon is not
a Sentence in the Starre-chamber, that a Sermon cannot
fine and imprison him, hee hath no room for any good
effect of a Sermon. The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of
Comfort comes to him, and offers him the consolation
of the Gospel ; but hee wrill die in his old rehgion,
which is to sacrifice to his owne Nets, by which his
184 Covetousness.
portion is plenteous ; he had rather have the God of
the Old Testament, that payes in this world with milke
and honey, then the God of the New Testament, that
cals him into his Vineyard in this World, and payes him
no wages till the next : one lupiter is worth all the three
Elohims, or the three lehovahs (if we may speake so) to
him. lupiter that can come in a showre of gold, out-
waighs lehova, that comes but in a showre of water, but
in a sprinkling of water in Baptisme, and sels that water
so deare, as that he will have showres of teares for it,
nay showres of blood for it, when any Persecutor hath
a mind to call for it. The voyce of God whom he hath
contemned, and wounded. The voyce of the Preacher
whom he hath derided, and impoverished, The voyce
of the poore, of the Widow, of the Orphans, of the
prisoner, whom he hath oppressed, knocke at his doore,
and would enter, but there is no roome for them, he is
so full. This is the great danger indeed that accompanies
this fulnesse, but the danger that affects him more is
that which is more literally in the text, Evomet, he shall
be so filled as that he shall vomit ; even that fulnesse,
those temporall things which he had, he shall cast up.
114. Blasphemy,
BLASPHEMY, as it is a contumelious speech, dero-
gating from any man, that good that is in him, or
attributing to any man, that ill that is not in him, may
be fastned upon any man. For the most part it is
understood a sin against God, and that directly ; and
here, by the manner of Christ expressing himselfe, it is
made the greatest sin ; All siuy even blasphemy. And yet,
Blasphemy. 185
a drunkard that cannot name God, will spue out a blas-
phemy against God : A child that cannot spell God,
will stammer out a blasphemy against God : If we
smart, we blaspheme God, and we blaspheme him if
we be tickled ; If I lose at play, I blaspheme, and if my
fellow lose, he blasphemes, so that God is alwayes sure
to be a loser. An Usurer can shew me his bags, and an
Extortioner his houses, the fruits, the revenues of his
sinne ; but where will the blasphemer shew mee his
blasphemy, or what hee hath got by it ? The licentious
man hath had his love in his armes, and the envious man
hath had his enemy in the dust, but wherein hath the
blasphemer hurt God ?
In the Schoole we put it for the consummation of Aqum.22*
the torment of the damned, that at the Resurrection, ^'^^'^^'^
they shall have bodies, and so be able, even verbally,
to blaspheme God ; herein we exceed the Devill already,
that we can speake blasphemously. There is a rebellious
part of the body, that Jdam covered with figge leaves,
that hath damned many a wretched soule ; but yet,
I thinke, not more then the tongue ; And therefore the
whole torment that Dives suffered in hell, is expressed
in that part, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and Lukei6.24,
send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip oj his finger in water,
and coole my tongue. The Jews that crucified God, will
not sound the name of God, and we for whom he was
Crucified, belch him out in our surfets, and foame him
out in our fury : An Impertinent sin, without occasion
before, and an unprofitable sin, without recompence
after, and an incorrigible sin too ; for, almost what
Father dares chide his son for blasphemy, that may not
F
i86 Blasphemy.
tell him, Sir I learnt it of you ? or what Master his
servant, that cannot lay the same recrimination upon
him ?
115. ^he Burden of Sin.
'OR mine iniquities are gone over my head, as a heavy
Burden, they are too heavy for me. — ^Ps. xxxviii. 4
A second inconvenience intimated in this Metaphore,
Fatigat. a burden, IS the fatigat, a burden wearies us, tires us : and
so does our sinne, and our best beloved sinne. It hath
wearied us, and yet we cannot devest it. We would
leave that sin, and yet there is one talent more to be added,
one childe more to be provided for, one office, or one title
more to be compassed, one tentation more to be satisfied.
Though we grumble, not out of remorse of conscience,
but out of a bodily wearinesse of the sinne, yet wee
proceed in it. How often men goe to Westminster, how
often to the Exchange, called by unjust suits, or called
by corrupt bargaines to those places, when their ease,
or their health perswades them to stay at home ? How
many go to forbidden beds, then when they had rather
stay at home, if they were not afraid of an unkind inter-
pretation ? We have wearied our selves in the ways oj
wickednesse ; Plus miles in uno torneamento, qudm sanctus
Monachus in decem annis, says our Holkot, upon that
place, a soldier suffers more in one expedition, then
a Monk does, in ten years, says he ; and perchance he
says true, and yet no commendation to his Monke neither ;
for that soldier may doe even the cause of God, more
good, in that one expedition, then that Monke in ten
years : But it is true as Holkot intended it, (though
perchance his example doe not much strengthen it)
The Burden of Sin. 187
Vicious men are put to more pains, and to doe more
things against their own mindes, then the Saints of God
are in the ways of holinesse. We have wearied our selves
in the ways of wickednesse, says he, that is, in doing as
other wicked men have done, in ways which have been
beaten out to us, by the frequent practise of other men ;
but he addes more. We have gone thorough Deserts, where
there lay no way ; that is, through sins, in which, wee had
no example, no precedent, the inventions of our hearts.
The covetous man lies still, and attends his quarter days,
and studies the endorsements of his bonds, and he
wonders that the ambitious man can endure the shufflings
and thrustings of Courts, and can measure his happinesse
by the smile of a greater man : And, he that does so,
wonders as much, that this covetous man can date his
happinesse by an Almanack, and such revolutions, and
though he have quick returns of receipt, yet scarce affords
himself bread to Hve till that day come, and though all
his joy be in his bonds, yet denies himself a candles end
to look upon them. Hilly ways are wearisome ways,
and tire the ambitious man ; Carnall pleasures are dirty
ways, and tire the licentious man ; Desires of gain, are
thorny ways, and tire the covetous man ; Emulations
of higher men, are dark and hlinde ways, and tire the
envious man ; Every way, that is out of the way, wearies
us ; But, lassati sumus ; sed lassis non datur requies ; we Lam. 5. 5.
labour, and have no rest, when we have done ; we are
wearied with our sins, and have no satisfaction in them ;
we goe to bed to night, weary of our sinfull labours,
and we will rise freshly to morrow, to the same sinfull
labours again ; And when a sinner does so little remember
i88 The Burden of Sin.
yesterday, how little does he consider to morrow ? He
that forgets what he hath done, foresees not what he shall
suffer : so sin is a burden ; it crookens us, it wearies us ;
And those are the two first inconveniences.
1 1 6. 7 he Sinner.
IT is thy pleasure O God, and thy pleasure shall be
infallibly accomplished, that every wicked person
should be his owne Executioner. He is Spontaneus Dc^mon,
as S. Chrysostome speaks, an In-mate, an in-nate Devill ;
a bosome devill, a selfe-Devill ; That as he could be a
tempter to himselfe, though there were no Devill, so he
could be an Executioner to himselfe, though there were
no Satan, and a Hell to himselfe, though there were no
other Torment. Sometimes he stales not the Assises,
but prevents the hand of Justice ; he destroies himselfe
before his time. But when he stales, he is evermore
condemned at the Assises. Let him sleepe out as much
of the morning as securely as he can ; embellish, and
adorne himselfe as gloriously as he can ; dine as largely
and as delicately as he can ; weare out as much of the
afternoone, in conversation, in Comedies, in pleasure, as
hee can ; sup with as much distension, and inducement
of drousinesse as he can, that he may scape all remorse,
by falling asleepe quickly, and fall asleepe with as much
discourse, and musicke, and advantage as he can, he hath
a conscience that will survive, and overwatch all the
company ; he hath a sorrow that shall joyne issue with
him when he is alone, and both God, and the devill, who
doe not meet willingly, shall meet in his case, and be in
league, and be on the sorrowes side, against him. The
The Sinner. 189
anger of God, and the malice of the devill, shall concurre
with his sorrow, to his farther vexation. No one wicked
person, by any diversion or cunning, shall avoid this
sorrow, for it is in the midst, and in the end of all his
forced contentments ; Even in laughing^ the heart is Prov, 14.
sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heavinesse, ^^'
117. The borrows of the Wicked,
AND if we consider farther, the manifold Topiques,
JLJ^ and places, from which the sorrowes of the wicked
arise. That every inch of their ground is overgrown with
that venomous weed, that every place, and every part
of time, and every person buddes out a particular occasion
of sorrow to him, that he can come into no chamber,
but he remembers, In such a place as this, I sinned thus,
That he cannot heare a Clock strike, but he remembers,
At this hour I sinned thus. That he cannot converse
with few persons, but he remembers, With such a person
I sinned thus, And if he dare goe no farther then to
himselfe, he can look scarcely upon any limb of his body,
but in that he sees some infirmity, or some deformity,
that he imputes to some sin, and must say. By this sin,
this is thus : When he can open the Bible in no place,
but if he meet a judgement, he must say, V indie ta mihi,
This vengeance belongs to me, and if he meet a mercy,
he must say, Quid mihi P What have I to doe to take
this mercy into my mouth ? In this deluge of occasions
of sorrow, I must not say with God to Abraham, Look
up to heaven, and number the Starres, (for this man
cannot look up to heaven) but I must say. Continue thy
dejected look, and look downe to the earth, thy earth,
190 The Sorrows of the Wicked.
and number the graines of dust there, and the sorrowes
of the wicked are more then they.
118. The Sins of Memory.
A HOUSE is not clean, though all the Dust be swept
together, if it lie still in a corner, within Dores ;
A Conscience is not clean, by having recollected all her
sinnes in the Memory^ for they may fester there, and
Gangreen even to Desperation, till she have emptied them
in the bottomlesse Sea of the bloud of Christ Jesus : and
the mercy of his Father, by this way of Confession. But
a house is not clean neither, though the Dust be thrown
out, if there hang Cobwebs about the Walls, in how dark
corners soever. A Conscience is not clean, though the
sins, brought to our memory by this Examination, be
cast upon Gods mercy, and the merits of his Sonne, by
Confession, if there remaine in me, but a Cobzveb, a little,
but a sinfuU delight in the Memory of those sins, which
I had formerly committed. How many men sinne over
f:he sinnes of their youth again, in their age, by a sinfull
Delight in remembring those sinnes, and a sinfull Desire,
that their Bodies were not past them ? How many men
sin over some sins, but imaginarily, (and yet Damnably)
a hundred times, which they never sinned actually at
all, by filling their Imaginations, with such thoughts
as these, How would I be revenged of such an Enemy,
if I were in such a place of Authority ? How easily
could I overthrow such a wastfull young Man, and com-
passe his Land, if I had but Money, to feed his humours ?
Those sinnes which we have never been able to doe
actually, to the harme of others, we doe as hurtfuUy to
The Sins of Memory. 191
our owne Souls, by a sinfull Desire of them, and a sinfull
Delight in them.
119. ^he Eye of God.
/^^OD cannot he mocked, saith the Apostle, nor God
^^ cannot be blinded. He seeth all the way, and at
thy last gaspe, he will make thee see too, through the
multiplying Glasse, the Spectacle of Desperation. Canst
thou hope that that God, that seeth this darke Earth
through all the vaults and arches of the severall spheares
of Heaven, that seeth thy body through all thy stone
walls, and seeth thy soul through that which is darker
then all those, thy corrupt flesh, canst thou hope that
that God can be blinded with drawing a curtain between
thy sinne and him ? when he is ail eye, canst thou hope
to put out that eye, with putting out a candle ? when
he hath planted legions of Angels about thee, canst
thou hope that thou hast taken away all Intelligence, if
thou have corrupted, or silenced, or sent away a servant ?
O bestow as much labour, as thou hast done, to finde
corners for sin, to finde out those sinnes, in those corners
where thou hast hid them. As Princes give pardons by
their own hands, but send Judges to execute Justice,
come to him for mercy in the acknowledgement of thy
sinnes, and stay not till his Justice come to thee, when
he makes inquisition for blood ; and doe not think, that
if thou feel now at this present, a little tendernesse in
thy heart, a little melting in thy bowels, a little dew in
thine eyes, that if thou beest come to know, that thou
art a sinner, thou dost therefore presently know thy
sinnes. Thou wouldst have so much tendernes, so much
193 The Eye of God.
compassion, if thou knewest that he that sits next thee,
were in this danger of Gods heavy indignation ; thou
wouldst commiserate thy neighbours wretched condition
so much. But proceed with thy self further, bring this
dawning and breake of day to a full light, and this little
sparke to a perfect acknowledgement of thy sinnes.
Go home, with this spark of Gods Spirit in you, and there
looke upon your Rentalls, and know your oppressions,
and extorsions ; looke upon your shop-bookeSy and know
your deceits and falsifications ; looke upon your ward-
robesy and know your excesses ; looke upon your childrens
faces, and know your fornications. Till then, till you
come to this scrutiny, this survey, this sifting of the
Conscience, if we should cry peace, peace, yet there were
no peace.
120. ^he World Drowned in Sin,
WHEN the Holy Ghost hath brought us into the
Ark from whence we may see all the world without,
sprawling and gasping in the flood, (the flood of sinfull
courses in the world, and of the anger of God) when we
can see this violent flood, (the anger of God) break in
at windowes, and there devoure the licentious man in
his sinfull embracements, and make his bed of wanton-
nesse his death-bed ; when we can see this flood (the
anger of God) swell as fast as the ambitious man swels,
and pursue him through all his titles, and at last
suddenly, and violently wash him away in his owne
blood, not alwayes in a vulgar, but sometimes in an
ignominious death ; when we shall see this flood (the
flood of the anger of God) over-flow the valley of the
The World Drowned in Sin. igi^
voluptuous mans gardens, and orchards, and follow liim
into his Arbours, and Mounts, and Terasses, and carry
him from thence into a bottomlesse Sea, which no
Plummet can sound, (no heavy sadnesse reheve him) no
anchor take hold of, (no repentance stay his tempested
and weather-beaten conscience) when wee finde our
selves in this Ark, where we have first taken in the fresh
water of Baptisme, and then the Bread, and Wine, and
Flesh, of the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, Then are
we reproved, forbidden all scruple, then are we convinced,
That as the twelve Apostles shall sit upon twelve seatSy
and judge the twelve bribes at the last day ; So doth the
Holy Ghost make us Judges of all the world now, and
inables us to pronounce that sentence. That all but they,
who have sincerely accepted the Christian Religion, are
still sub peccato, under sin, and without remedy.
121. J he Hand of God,
THE hand of God shall grow heavy upon a silent
sinner, in his body, in his health ; and if he con-
ceive a comfort, that for all his sicknesse, he is rich, and
therefore cannot fayle of helpe and attendance, there
comes another worme, and devours that, faithlesnesse
in persons trusted by him, oppressions in persons that
have trusted him, facihty in undertaking for others,
corrupt Judges, heavy adversaries, tempests and Pirats
at Sea, unseasonable or ill Markets at land, costly and
expensive ambitions at Court, one worme or other shall
devoure his riches, that he eased himselfe upon. If he
take up another Comfort, that though health and wealth
decay, though he be poore and weake, yet he hath learnings
2025-3 o
194 The Hand of God.
and philosophy, and morall constancy, and he can content
himselfe with himselfe, he can make his study a Court,
and a few Books shall supply to him the society and the
conversation of many friends, there is another worme
to devoure this too, the hand of divine Justice shall grow
heavy upon him, in a sense of an unprofitable retirednesse,
in a disconsolate melancholy, and at last, in a stupidity,
tending to desperation.
122. The Sick Soul.
HE shall suspect his Religion, suspect his Repentance,
suspect the Comforts of the Minister, suspect the
efficacy of the Sacrament, suspect the mercy of God
himselfe. Every fit of an Ague is an Earth-quake that
swallows him, every fainting of the knee, is a step to Hell ;
every lying down at night is a funerall ; & every quaking
is a rising to judgment ; every bell that distinguishes
times, is a passing-bell, and every passing-bell, his own ;
every singing in the ear, is an Angels Trumpet ; at every
dimnesse of the candle, he heares that voice. Fool, this
night they will fetch away thy soul; and in every judge-
ment denounced against sin, he hears an Ito maledicte
upon himselfe, Goe thou accursed into hell fire,
123. Sleep.
Ephes. 4. ^ / HE Sun must not set upon my anger ; much lesse will
^^ -^ I let the Sun set upon the anger of God towards me,
or sleep in an unrepented sin. Every nights sleep is a Nunc
dimittis ; then the Lord lets his servant depart in peace.
Thy lying down is a valediction, a parting, a taking
leave, (shall I say so ?) a shaking hands with God ; and,
Sleep. 195
when thou shakest hands with God, let those hands be
clean. Enter into thy grave, thy metaphoricall, thy
quotidian grave, thy bed, as thou entredst into the Church
at first, by Water, by Baptisme ; Re-baptise thy self
every night, in lobs Snow water. . . . Sleep with cleane
hands, either kept cleane all day, by integrity ; or
washed cleane, at night, by repentance ; and whensoever
thou wakest, though all lobs messengers thunder about
thee, and all lobs friends multiply mis-interpretations
against thee, yet lobs protestation shall be thy pro-
testation, what end soever God have in this proceeding,
It is not for any injustice in my hands, and the other
part of his protestation too, Also my prayer is -pure,
124. The Gate of Death.
AS he that travails weary, and late towards a great
XjL City, is glad when he comes to a place of execu-
tion, becaus he knows that is neer the town ; so when
thou comest to the gate of death, glad of that, for it
is but one step from that to thy Jerusalem. Christ hath
brought us in some neerness to Salvation, as he is vere
Salvator mundi, in that we k7tow, that this is indeed the Jo. 4. 42.
Christ, the Saviour of the world : and he hath brought
it neerer than that, as he is Salvator corporis sui, in that Eph. 5. 23.
we know. That Christ is the head of the Church, and the
Saviour of that body-. And neerer than that, as he is Esay.43.3.
Salvator tuus sanctus. In that we know. He is the Lord
our God, the holy One of Israel, our Saviour : But neerest
of all, in the Ecce Salvator tuus venit. Behold thy Salvation Esa.62. 11.
commeth. It is not only promised in the Prophets, nor
02
196 The Gate of Death.
only writ in the Gospel, nor only seaPd in the Sacraments,
nor only prepared in the visitations of the holy Ghost,
but, Ecce, behold it, now, when thou canst behold nothing
else : The sun is setting to thee, and that for ever ; thy
houses and furnitures, thy gardens and orchards, thy
titles and offices, thy wife and children are departing
from thee, and that for ever ; a cloud of faintnesse is
come over thine eyes, and a cloud of sorrow over all
theirs ; when his hand that loves thee best hangs
trembhngly over thee to close thine eyes, Ecce Salvator
tuus venit, behold then a new hght, thy Saviours hand
shall open thine eyes, and in his light thou shalt see light ;
and thus shalt see, that though in the eyes of men thou
lye upon that bed, as a Statue on a Tomb, yet in the
eyes of God, thou standest as a Colossus^ one foot in one,
another in another land ; one foot in the grave, but the
other in heaven ; one hand in the womb of the earth,
and the other in Abrahams bosome : And then vere prope^
Salvation is truly neer thee, and neerer than when thou
believedst, which is our last word.
125. Our Prison,
WE are all conceived in close Prison ; in our
Mothers wombes, we are close Prisoners all ; when
we are borne, we are borne but to the liberty of the
house ; Prisoners still, though within larger walls ; and
then all our life is but a going out to the place of Execu-
tion, to death. Now was there ever any man seen to
sleep in the Cart, between New-gate, and Tyborne ?
between the Prison, and the place of Execution, does
any man sleep ? And we sleep all the way ; from the
Our Prison. 197
womb to the grave we are never throughly awake ; but
passe on with such dreames, and imaginations as these,
I may hve as well, as another, and why should I dye,
rather then another ? but awake, and tell me, sayes
this Text, Quis homo F who is that other that thou
talkest of ? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see
death ?
126. All must Die.
DOTH not man die even in his birth ? The breaking
of prison is death, and what is our birth, but a break-
ing of prison ? Assoon as we were clothed by God, our
very apparell was an Embleme of death. In the skins of
dead beasts, he covered the skins of dying men. Assoon
as God set us on work, our very occupation was an
Embleme of death ; It was to digge the earth ; not to
digge pitfals for other men, but graves for our selves.
Hath any man here forgot to day, that yesterday is dead ?
And the Bell tolls for to day, and will ring out anon ;
and for as much of every one of us, as appertaines to this
day. Quotidie morimur, iff tamen nos esse ceternos putamus,
sayes S. Hierome ; We die every day, and we die all the
day long; and because we are not absolutely dead, we
call that an eternity, an eternity of dying : And is there
comfort in that state ? why, that is the state of hell it
self, Eternall dying, and not dead.
But for this there is enough said, by the Morall man ;
(that we may respite divine proofes, for divine points
anon, for our severall Resurrections) for this death is
meerly naturall, and it is enough that the morall man sayes.
Mors lex, trihutum, officium mortalium. First it is lex, you Seneca.
198 All must Die.
were born under that law, upon that condition to die :
so it is a rebellious thing not to be content to die, it
opposes the Law. Then it is Tributum, an imposition
which nature the Queen of this world layes upon us,
and which she will take, when and where she Hst ; here
a yong man, there an old man, here a happy, there a
miserable man ; And so it is a seditious thing not to be
content to die, it opposes the prerogative. And lastly.
It is Officiiim, men are to have their turnes, to take their
time, and then to give way by death to successors ; and
so it is Incivile, inofficiosum^ not to be content to die, it
opposes the frame and form of government. It comes
equally to us all, and makes us all equall when it comes.
The ashes of an Oak in the Chimney, are no Epitaph of
that Oak, to tell me how high or how large that was ;
It tels me not what flocks it sheltered while it stood,
nor what men it hurt when it fell. The dust of great
persons graves is speechlesse too, it sayes nothing, it
distinguishes nothing : As soon the dust of a wretch
whom thou wouldest not, as of a Prince whom thou
couldest not look upon, will trouble thine eyes, if the
winde blow it thither ; and when a whirle-winde hath
blowne the dust of the Church-yard into the Church, and
the man sweeps out the dust of the Church into the
Church-yard, who will undertake to sift those dusts
again, and to pronounce, This is the Patrician, this is
the noble flowre, and this the yeomanly, this the Plebeian
bran. . . .
Novissi- Death is the last, and in that respect the worst enemy.
mus hosits. jj^ ^^ enemy, that appeares at first, when we are or may
be provided against him, there is some of that, which
All must Die. 199
we call Honour : but in the enemie that reserves himselfe
unto the last, and attends our weake estate, there is
more danger. Keepe it, where I intend it, in that which
is my spheare, the Conscience : If mine enemie meet
me betimes in my youth, in an object of tentation, (so
Josephs enemie met him in Putifars Wife) yet if I doe
not adhere to this enemy, dwell upon a delightfull
meditation of that sin, if I doe not fuell, and foment
that sin, assist and encourage that sin, by high diet,
wanton discourse, other provocation, I shall have reason
on my side, and I shall have grace on my side, and I shall
have the History of a thousand that have perished by
that sin, on my side ; Even Spittles will give me souldiers
to fight for me, by their miserable example against that
sin ; nay perchance sometimes the vertue of that woman,
whom I sollicite, will assist me. But when I lye under
the hands of that enemie, that hath reserved himselfe
to the last, to my last bed, then when I shall be able
to stir no limbe in any other measure then a Feaver or
a Palsie shall shake them, when everlasting darknesse
shall have an inchoation in the present dimnesse of mine
eyes, and the everlasting gnashing in the present chatter-
ing of my teeth, and the everlasting worme in the present
gnawing of the Agonies of my body, and anguishes of
my minde, when the last enemie shall watch my remedi-
lesse body, and my disconsolate soule there, there, where
not the Physitian, in his way, perchance not the Priest
in his, shall be able to give any assistance. And when he
hath sported himselfe with my misery upon that stage,
my death-bed, shall shift the Scene, and throw me from
that bed, into the grave, and there triumph over me.
200 All must Die.
God knowes, how many generations, till the Redeemer,
my Redeemer, the Redeemer of all me, body, as well as
soule, come againe ; As death is Novissimus hostis, the
enemy which watches me, at my last weaknesse, and shall
hold me, when I shall be no more, till that Angel come.
Who shall say, and sweare that time shall he no more, in
that consideration, in that apprehension, he is the
powerfuUest, the fearefulest enemy ; and yet even there
this enemy Abolebitur, he shall be destroyed.
127. Death Inevitable,
/TDAM might have liv'd, if he would, but / cannot,
^y^ God hath placed an Ecce, a marke of my death, upon
every thing living, that I can set mine eye upon ; every
thing is a remembrancer, every thing is a Judge upon
me, and pronounces, I must dye. The whole frame of
Heb. 9. 27. the world is mortall. Heaven and Earth passe away : and
upon us all, there is an irrecoverable Decree past, statutum
estf It is appointed to all men, that they shall once dye.
But when ? quickly ; If thou looke up into the aire.
Job 7. 7. remember that thy life is but a winde, If thou see a cloud
in the aire, aske St. James his question, what is your
lam. 4. 14. life ? and give St. James his answer, It is a vapour that
appeareth and vanisheth away. If thou behold a Tree,
then Job gives thee a comparison of thy selfe ; A T^ree
is an embleme of thy selfe ; nay a Tree is the originally
thou art but the copy, thou art not so good as it : for,
Job 14. 7. There is hope of a tree (as you reade there) if the roote wax
old, if the stock be dead, if it be cut down, yet by the
sent of the waters, it will bud, but man is sick, and dyeth, and
Death Inevitable. 201
where is he ? he shall not wake againe, till heaven be
no more. Looke upon the water, and we are as that,
and as that spilt upon the ground : Looke to the earth,
and we are not like that, but we are earth it self : At
our Tables we feed upon the dead, and in the Temple we
tread upon the dead : and when we meet in a Church,
God hath made many echoes, many testimonies of our
death, in the walls, and in the windowes, and he onely
knowes, whether he will not make another testimony of
our mortality, of the youngest amongst us, before we
part, and make the very place of our biiriall, our deathbed,
128. 7he Expectation of Death,
NOW the general condemnation, which is upon all
mankind, that they must dye, this alone scarce frights
any man, scarce averts any man from his purposes. He
that should first put to Sea in a tempest, he might easily
think, it were in the nature of the Sea to be rough always.
He that sees every Church-yard swell with the waves
and billows of graves, can think it no extraordinary thing
to dye ; when he knows he set out in a storm, and he was
born into the world upon that condition, to go out of
it again.
129. 7 he Death-bed,
ITT in finem, he loved them to the end. It is much
-^-^that he should love them in fine, at their end ; that
he should look graciously at last ; that when their sunne
sets, their eyes faint, his sunne of grace should arise, and
his East should be brought to their West ; that then,
in the shadow of death, the Lord of life should quicken
202 The Death-bed.
and inanimate their hearts ; that when their last bell
tolls, and calls them to their first and last judgement,
which to this purpose is all one ; for the passing bell
and the Angels trump sound all but one note : Surgiu
qui dormitis in pulvere, Arise ye that sleep in the dust,
which is the voice of the Angels ; and, Surgite qui
vigilatis in plumis, Arise ye that cannot sleep in feathers,
for the pangs of death, which is the voice of the bell,
is in effect but one voice : for God at the generall judge-
ment, shall never reverse any particular judgement,
formerly given ; that God should then come to thy bed
side Ad sibilandum populum suum, as the Prophet Ezechiel
saith, to hisse softly for his childe, to speak comfortably
in his eare, to whisper gently to his departing soul, and
to drown and overcome with this soft musick of his all
the clangour of the Angels trumpets, all the horrour of
the ringing bell, all the cries, and vociferations of a
distressed, and distracted, and scattering family ; yea
all the accusations of his own conscience, and all the
triumphant acclamations of the devil himself : that
God should love a man thus infne, at his end, and return
to him then, though he had suffered him to go astray
before, is a great testimonie of an inexpressible love.
Butt this love is not in fine, in the end ; but infinem, to
the end,
130. The Death of Ecstasy.
Prov. 18. CT\EATB. and life are in the power of the tongue, sayes
■^-^ Solomon, in another sense ; and in this sense too, If
my tongue, suggested by my heart, and by my heart
rooted in faith, can say, Non moriar, non moriar ; If
21.
The Death of Ecstasy. 203
I can say, (and my conscience doe not tell me, that
I belye mine owne state) if I can say. That the blood
of my Saviour runs in my veines. That the breath of
his Spirit quickens all my purposes, that all my deaths
have their Resurrection, all my sins their remorses, all
my rebelUons their reconciliations, I will harken no more
after this question, as it is intended de morte naturali,
of a naturall death, I know I must die that death, what
care I ? nor de morte spirituali, the death of sin, I know
I doe, and shall die so ; why despaire I ? but I will finde
out another death, mortem raptus, a death of rapture, and 2 Cor. 12.
of extasie, that death which S. Faul died more then once, Acts 9.
The death which S. Gregory speaks of, Divina contem- Greg.
-platio quoddam sepulchrum animcey The contemplation of
God, and heaven, is a kinde of buriall, and Sepulchre,
and rest of the soule ; and in this death of rapture, and
extasie, in this death of the Contemplation of my interest
in my Saviour, I shall finde my self, and all my sins
enterred, and entombed in his wounds, and like a Lily
in Paradise, out of red earth, I shall see my soule rise
out of his blade, in a candor, and in an innocence, con-
tracted there, acceptable in the sight of his Father.
131. The Dead with Us,
1ITTLE know we, how little a way a soule hath to
-i goe to heaven, when it departs from the body ;
Whether it must passe locally, through Moone, and Sun,
and Firmament, (and if all that must be done, all that
may be done, in lesse time then I have proposed the doubt
in) or whether that soule finde new light in the same
roome, and be not carried into any other, but that
204 The Dead with Us.
the glory of heaven be diffused over all, I know not,
I dispute not, I inquire not. Without disputing, or
inquiring, I knovi^, that when Christ sayes, 7hat God is
not the God of the dead, he saies that to assure me, that
those whom I call dead, are ahve. And when the Apostle
£3eb. 11.16. tels me, ^hat God is not ashamed to be called the God oj
the dead, he tels me that to assure me. That Gods servants
lose nothing by dying.
Menander. He was but a Heathen that said, If God love a man,
Tbraces. jj^^g^is tolUtur, He takes him young out of this world ;
And they were but Heathens, that observed that custome.
To put on mourning when their sons were born, and to
feast and triumph when they dyed. But thus much we
may learne from these Heathens, That if the dead, and
we, be not upon one floore, nor under one story, yet we
are under one roofe. We think not a friend lost, because
he is gone into another roome, nor because he is gone
into another Land ; And into another world, no man
is gone ; for that Heaven, which God created, and this
world, is all one world. If I had fixt a Son in Court,
or married a daughter into a plentiful! Fortune, I were
satisfied for that son and that daughter. Shall I not be
so, when the King of Heaven hath taken that son to
himselfe, and maried himselfe to that daughter, for ever ?
I spend none of my Faith, I exercise none of my Hope, in
this, that I shall have my dead raised to hfe againe.
This is the faith that sustaines me, when I lose by the
death of others, or when I suffer by Hving in misery
my selfe. That the dead, and we, are now all in one
Church, and at the resurrection, shall be all in one Quire.
Mourning. 205
132. Mourning,
HERE, in this world, we who stay, lack those who are
gone out of it : we know they shall never come to
us ; and when we shall go to them, whether we shall
know them or no, we dispute. They who think that it
conduces to the perfection of happinesse in heaven, that
we should know one another, think piously if they think
we shall. For, as for the maintenance of pubhque peace.
States, and Churches, may think diversly in points of
Religion, that are not fundamentall, and yet both be
true and Orthodoxall Churches ; so for the exaltation
of private devotion in points that are not fundamentall,
divers men may think diversly, and both be equally
good Christians. Whether we shall know them there,
or no, is problematicall and equall ; that we shall not
till then, is dogmaticall and certain : Therefore we weep.
I know there are Philosophers that will not let us weep,
nor lament the death of any : And I know that in the
Scriptures there are rules, and that there are instructions
convayed in that example, that David left mourning
as soon as the childe was dead ; And I know that there are
Authors of a middle nature, above the Philosophers, and
below the Scriptures, the Apocryphall books, and I know
it is said there. Comfort thy selfe, for thou shalt do him
no good that is dead, Et te ipsum pessimabis (as the vulgat EccIus. 33.
reads it) thou shalt make thy self worse and worse, in
the worst degree. But yet all this is but of inordinate
lamentation ; for in the same place, the same Wise man
sayes. My Son, let thy tears fall down over the dead ;
weep bitterly and make great moane, as he is worthy.
2o6 Mourning.
When our Saviour Christ had uttered his consummatum
est, all was finished, and their rage could do him no more
harm, when he had uttered his In manus iuas, he had
delivered and God had received his soul, yet how did
the whole frame of nature mourn in Eclipses, and tremble
in earth-quakes, and dissolve and shed in pieces in the
opening of the Temple, Quia moriuus, because he was
dead.
Truly, to see the hand of a great and mighty Monarch,
that hand that hath governed the civill sword, the sword
of Justice at home, and drawn and sheathed the forraigne
sword, the sword of war abroad, to see that hand lie
dead, and not be able to nip or fillip away one of his own
wormes (and then Quis homo, what man, though he be one
of those men, of whom God hath said, Te are gods, yet
Quis homo, what man is there that lives, and shall not see
death ?) To see the brain of a great and rehgious
Counsellor (and God blesse all from making, all from
calling any great that is not religious) to see that brain
that produced means to becalme gusts at Councell
tables, stormes in Parhaments, tempests in popular
commotions, to see that brain produce nothing but
swarmes of wormes and no Proclamation to disperse
them ; To see a reverend Prelate that hath resisted
Heretiques & Schismatiques all his life, fall Hke one of
them by death, & perchance be called one of them when
he is dead. To re-collect all, to see great men made no
men, to be sure that they shall never come to us, not
to be sure, that we shall know them when we come to
them, to see the Lieutenants and Images of God, Kings,
the sinews of the State, rehgious Counsellors, the spirit
Mourning. 207
of the Church, zealous Prelates, And then to see vulgar,
ignorant, wicked, and facinorous men thrown all by one
hand of death, into one Cart, into one common Tide-
boate, one Hospitall, one Almeshouse, one Prison, the
grave, in whose dust no man can say. This is the King,
this is the Slave, this is the Bishop, this is the Heretique,
this is the Counsellor, this is the Foole, even this miserable
equality of so unequall persons, by so foule a hand, is
the subject of this lamentation, even Qtiia mortuus,
because Lazarus was dead, lesus wept.
133. A Quiet Grave.
HOW low soever God be pleased to cast you. Though
it be to the earth, yet he does not so much cast you
downe, in doing that, as bring you home. Death is not
a banishing of you out of this world ; but it is a visitation
of your kindred that He in the earth ; neither are any
nearer of kin to you, then the earth it selfe, and the
wormes of the earth. You heap earth upon your soules,
and encumber them with more and more flesh, by a super-
fluous and luxuriant diet ; You adde earth to earth in
new purchases, and measure not by Acres, but by Manors,
nor by Manors, but by Shires ; And there is a Httle
Quillet, a Httle Close, worth all these, A quiet Grave.
And therefore, when thou readest. That God makes thy
bed in thy sicknesse, rejoyce in this, not onely that he
makes that bed, where thou dost He, but that bed where
thou shalt He ; That that God, that made the whole earth,
is now making thy bed in the earth, a quiet grave, where
thou shalt sleep in peace, tiU the Angels Trumpet wake
thee at the Resurrection, to that Judgement where thy
2o8 A Quiet Grave.
peace shall be made before thou commest, and writ,
and sealed, in the blood of the Lamb.
Wi
134. Eternal Damnation,
'HEN we shall have given to those words, by which
hell is expressed in the Scriptures, the heaviest
significations, that either the nature of those words can
admit, or as they are types and representations of hell,
as Jire, and brimstone, & weeping, and gnashing, and
darknesse, and the worme, and as they are laid together
Esay3o.33. in the Prophet, ^ophet, (that is, hell) is deepe and large,
(there is the capacity & content, roome enough) It is
a pile of fire and much wood, (there is the durablenesse of
it) and the breath of the Lord to kindle it, like a streame of
Brimstone, (there is the vehemence of it :) when all is
done, the hell of hels, the torment of torments is the
everlasting absence of God, and the everlasting impossi-
bility of returning to his presence ; Horrendum est, sayes
Heb.10.31. the Apostle, It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands
of the living God. Yet there was a case, in which David
found an ease, to fall into the hands of God, to scape the
hands of men : Horrendum est, when Gods hand is bent
to strike, it is a fearefull thing, to fall into the hands oj
the living God ; but to fall out of the hands of the living
God, is a horror beyond our expression, beyond our
imagination.
That God should let my soule fall out of his hand, into
a bottomlesse pit, and roll an unremoveable stone upon
it, and leave it to that which it finds there, (and it shall
finde that there, which it never imagined, till it came
thither) and never thinke more of that soule, never have
Eternal Damnation. 209
more to doe with it. That of that providence of God,
that studies the Hfe of every weed, and worme, and ant,
and spider, and toad, and viper, there should never,
never any beame flow out upon me ; that that God, who
looked upon me, when I was nothing, and called me when
I was not, as though I had been, out of the womb and
depth of darknesse, will not looke upon me now, when,
though a miserable, and a banished, and a damned
creature, yet I am his creature still, and contribute
something to his glory, even in my damn.nion ; that that
God, who hath often looked upon me in my foulest
uncleannesse, and when I had shut out the eye of the
day, the Sunne, and the eye of the night, the Taper, and
the eyes of all the world, vnth curtaines and windowes
and doores, did yet see me, and see me in mercy, by
making me see that he saw me, and sometimes brought
me to a present remorse, and (for that time) to a forbearing
of that sinne, should so turne himselfe from me, to his
glorious Saints and Angels, as that no Saint nor Angel,
nor Christ Jesus himselfe, should ever pray him to looke
towards me, never remember him, that such a soule
there is ; that that God, who hath so often said to my
soule, Quare morieris ? Why wilt thou die ? and so
often sworne to my soule, Vivit Dominus, As the Lord
liveth, I would not have thee dye, but live, will nether
let me dye, nor let me live, but dye an everlasting life,
and hve an everlasting death ; that that God, who, when
he could not get into me, by standing, and knocking, by
his ordinary meanes of entring, by his Word, his mercies,
hath applied his judgements, and hath shaked the house,
this body, with agues and palsies, and set this house on
210 Eternal Damnation.
fire, with fevers and calentures, and frighted the Master
of the house, my soule, with horrors, and heavy appre-
hensions, and so made an entrance into me ; That that
God should frustrate all his owne purposes and practises
upon me, and leave me, and cast me away, as though
I had cost him nothing, that this God at last, should let
this soule goe away, as a smoake, as a vapour, as a bubble,
and that then this soule cannot be a smoake, a vapour,
nor a bubble, but must lie in darknesse, as long as the
Lord of light is light it selfe, and never sparke of that
light reach to my soule ; What Tophet is not Paradise,
what Brimstone is not Amber, what gnashing is not
a comfort, what gnawing of the worme is not a tickling,
what torment is not a marriage bed to this damnation, to
be secluded eternally, eternally, eternally from the sight of
God ? Especially to us, for as the perpetuall losse of that
is most heavy, with which we have been best acquainted,
and to which wee have been most accustomed ; so shall
this damnation, which consists in the losse of the sight
and presence of God, be heavier to us then others, because
God hath so graciously, and so evidently, and so diversly
appeared to us, in his pillar of fire, in the light of pros-
perity, and in the pillar of the Cloud, in hiding himselfe
for a while from us ; we that have seene him in all the
parts of this Commission, in his Word, in his Sacraments,
and in good example, and not beleeved, shall be further
removed from his sight, in the next world, then they to
whom he never appeared in this. But Vincenti i^
credenti, to him that beleeves aright, and overcomes
all tentations to a wrong beliefe, God shall give the
accomplishment of fulnesse, and fulnesse of joy, and joy
Eternal Damnation. 211
rooted in glory, and glory established in eternity, and this
eternity is God ; To him that beleeves and overcomes,
God shall give himselfe in an everlasting presence and
fruition, Amen,
135. Death of the Good and the Bad Man,
TRULY, if the Death of the wricked ended in Death,
yet to scape that manner of death were worthy
a Religious hfe. To see the house fall, and yet be afraid
to goe out of it ; To leave an injur'd world, and meet an
incensed God ; To see oppression and wrong in all thy
professions, and to foresee ruine and wastefulnesse in
all thy Posterity ; and Lands gotten by one sin in the
Father, molder away by another in the Sonne ; To see
true figures of horror, and ly, and fancy worse ; To
begin to see thy sins but then, and finde every sin (at
first sight) in the proportion of a Gyant, able to crush
thee into despair ; to see the Blood of Christ, imputed,
not to thee, but to thy Sinnes ; to see Christ crucified,
and not crucifyed for thee, but crucified by thee ; To
heare this blood speake, not better things, then the blood
of Abel, but lowder for vengeance then the blood of
Abel did ; This is his picture that hath been Nothing,
that hath done nothing, that hath proposed no Stephen,
No Law to regulate. No example to certifie his Conscience :
But to him that hath done this. Death is but a sleepe. . . .
Now of this dying Man, that dies in Christ, that dies
the Death of the Righteous, that embraces Death as
a Sleepe, must wee give you a Picture too.
There is not a minute left to do it ; not a minutes
sand ; Is there a minutes patience ? Bee pleased to
p 2
212 Death of the Good
remember that those Pictures which are delivered in
a minute, from a print upon a paper, had many dayes,
weeks, Moneths time for the graving of those Pictures
in the Copper ; So this Picture of that dying Man, that
dies in Christ, that dies the death of the Righteous, that
embraces Death as a Sleepe, was graving all his life ; All
his publique actions were the lights, and all his private
the shadowes of this Picture. And when this Picture
comes to the Presse, this Man to the streights and agonies
of Death, thus he lies, thus he looks, this he is. His
understanding and his will is all one faculty ; He under-
stands Gods purpose upon him, and he would not have
God's purpose turned any other way ; hee sees God will
dissolve him, and he would faine be dissolved, to be with
Christ ; His understanding and his will is all one faculty ;
His memory and his fore-sight are fixt, and concentred
upon one object, upon goodnesse ; Hee remembers
that hee hath proceeded in the sinceritie of a good
Conscience in all the wayes of his calling, and he foresees
that his good name shall have the Testimony, and his
Posterity the support of the good men of this world ;
His sickness shall be but a fomentation to supple and
open his Body for the issuing of his Soule ; and his Soule
shall goe forth, not as one that gave over his house, but
as one that travelled to see and learne better Architecture,
and meant to returne and re-edifie that house, according
to those better Rules : And as those thoughts which
possesse us most awake, meete us again when we are
asleepe ; So his holy-thoughts, having been alwaies
conversant upon the directing of his family, the education
of his Children, the discharge of his place, the safety of
and the Bad Man. 213
the State, the happinesse of the King all his life ; when
he is fain a sleepe in Death, all his Dreames in that blessed
Sleepe, all his devotions in heaven shall be upon the same
Subjects, and he shal solicite him that sits upon the
Throne, & the Lamb, God for Christ Jesus sake, to blesse
all these with his particular blessings : for so God giveth Ps. 127, a
his beloved sleep, so as that they enjoy the next world
and assist this.
136. l^he Northern Passage.
NO man kills his enemy therefore, that his enemy
might have a better life in heaven ; that is not his
end in killing him : It is Gods end ; Therefore he brings
us to death, that by that gate he might lead us into hfe
everlasting ; And he hath not discovered, but made that
Northerne passage, to passe by the frozen Sea of calamity,
and tribulation, to Paradise, to the heavenly Jerusalem.
137. J he Resurrection.
THE dead heare not Thunder, nor feele they an In demon;
Earth-quake. If the Canon batter that Church
walls, in which they lye buryed, it wakes not them, nor
does it shake or affect them, if that dust, which they are,
be thrown out, but yet there is a voyce, which the dead
shall heare ; The dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of John 5,25.
God, (sayes the Son of God himself) and they that heare
shall live ; And that is the voyce of our Text. It is here
called a clamour, a vociferation, a shout, and varied
by our Translators, and Expositors, according to the
origination of the word, to be clamor hortatorius, and
suasorius, and jussorius, A voyce that carries with it
214 The Resurrection.
a penetration, (all shall heare it) and a perswasion, (all
shall beleeve it, and be glad of it) and a power, a command,
(all shall obey it.) Since that voyce at the Creation,
Fiat, Let there be a world, was never heard such a voyce
as this, Surgite mortui, Arise ye dead. That was spoken
to that that was meerely nothing, and this to them, who
in themselves shall have no cooperation, no concurrence
to the hearing or answering this voyce.
138. The Awakening,
C'CEMITERU are Dormitoria, Churchyards are our
beds. And in those beds, (and in all other beds of
death) (for, the dead have their beds in the Sea too, and
sleepe even in the restlesse motion thereof) the voyce
of the Archangel, and the Trumpet of God shall awake
them.
139. The Resurrection of the Body,
THERE are so many evidences of the immortality
of the soulc, even to a naturall mans reason, that it
required not an Article of the Creed, to fix this notion of
the Immortality of the soule. But the Resurrection of
the Body is discernible by no other light, but that of
Faith, nor could be fixed by any lesse assurance then an
Article of the Creed, Where be all the sphnters of that
Bone, which a shot hath shivered and scattered in the
Ayre ? Where be all the Atoms of that flesh, which a
Corrasive hath eat away, or a Consumption hath breath'd,
and exhal'd away from our arms, and other Limbs ?
In what wrinkle, in what furrow, in what bowel of the
earth, ly all the graines of the ashes of a body burnt
a thousand years since ? In what corner, in what
The Resurrection of the Body. 215
ventricle of the sea, lies all the jelly of a Body drowned
in the generall Jlood ? What cohasrence, what sympathy,
what dependence maintaines any relation, any corres-
spondence, between that arm that was lost in Europe,
and that l^gg^ that was lost in Afrique or Asia, scores of
yeers between ? One humour of our dead body produces
worms, and those worms suck and exhaust all other
humour, and then all dies, and all dries, and molders
into dust, and that dust is blowen into the River, &
that puddled water tumbled into the sea, and that ebs
and flows in infinite revolutions, and still, still God
knows in what Cabinet every seed-Pearle lies, in what
part of the world every graine of every mans dust lies ;
and, sibilat popuhm suum, (as his Prophet speaks in Zech.io. 8.
another case) he whispers, he hisses, he beckens for the
bodies of his Saints, and in the twinckling of an eye, that
body that was scattered over all the elements, is sate down
at the right hand of God, in a glorious resurrection.
140. The Last Day,
THE grave it self shall be open againe ; and Aperti Mat.2'i.s2.
coeli, The heavens shall be open, and I shall see the '^ '^* 5 •
Sonne of man, the Sonne of God, and not see him at
that distance, that Stephen saw him there, but see him,
and sit down with him. I shall rise from the dead, from
the darke station, from the prostration, from the proster-
nation of death, and never misse the sunne, which shall
then be put out, for I shall see the Sonne of God, the
Sunne of glory, and shine my self, as that sunne shines.
I shall rise from the grave, and never misse this City,
which shall be no where, for I shall see the City of God,
21 6 The Last Day.
the new Jerusalem, I shall looke up, and never wonder
when it will be day, for, the Angell will tell me that
Apocio. 6. tirne shall be no more, and I shall see, and see cheerefully
that last day, the day of judgement, which shall have no
Dan.^.g. night, never end, and be united to the Antient of dayeSy
to God himselfe, who had no morning, never began.
n:
141. The Day of Judgement,
OW, in respect of the time after this judgement,
(which is Eternity) the time between this and it
cannot be a minute ; and therefore think thy self at that
Tribunal!, that judgement now : Where thou shalt
not onely heare all thy sinfuU workes, and words, and
thoughts repeated, which thou thy selfe hadst utterly
forgot, but thou shalt heare thy good works, thine almes,
thy comming to Church, thy hearing of Sermons given
in evidence against thee, because they had hypocrisie
mingled in them ; yea thou shalt finde even thy repent-
ance to condemne thee, because thou madest that but
a doore to a relapse. There thou shalt see, to thine
inexpressible terror, some others cast downe into hell,
for thy sins ; for those sins which they would not have
done, but upon thy provocation. There thou shalt
see some that occasioned thy sins, and accompanied
thee in them, and sinned them in a greater measure
then thou didst, taken up into heaven, because in the
way, they remembred the end, and thou shalt sink under
a lesse waight, because thou never lookedst towards him
Bernard, that would have eased thee of it. Quis non cogitans
heec in desperationis rotetur abyssum ? Who can once
thinke of this and not be tumbled into desperation \
Joy. 217
142. Joy,
IF you looke upon this world in a Map, you find two
Hemisphears, two half worlds. If you crush heaven
into a Map, you may find two Hemisphears too, two half
heavens ; Halfe will be Joy, and halfe will be Glory ;
for in these two, the joy of heaven, and the glory of heaven,
is all heaven often represented unto us. And as of those
two Hemisphears of the world, the first hath been knowne
long before, but the other, (that of America, which is
the richer in treasure) God reserved for later Discoveries ;
So though he reserve that Hemisphear of heaven, which
is the Glory thereof, to the Resurrection, yet the other
Hemisphear, the Joy of heaven, God opens to our Dis-
covery, and delivers for our habitation even whilst we
dwell in this world. As God hath cast upon the unre-
pentant sinner two deaths, a temporall, and a spirituall
death, so hath he breathed into us two Hves ; for so,
as the word for death is doubled, Morte morierisy Thou Gen. 2. 17.
shalt die the death, so is the word for life expressed in
the plurall, Chaiim, vitarum, God breathed into his
nostrils the breath of lives, of divers lives. Though our
naturall life were no life, but rather a continuall dying,
yet we have two lives besides that, an eternall life reserved
for heaven, but yet a heavenly life too, a spirituall Ufe,
even in this world ; And as God doth thus inflict two
deaths, and infuse two Hves, so doth he also passe two
Judgements upon man, or rather repeats the same
Judgement twice. For, that which Christ shall say to
thy soule then at the last Judgement, Enter into /^^ Matt.25.23e
Masters joy, Hee sayes to thy conscience now. Enter into
21 8 Joy.
thy Masters joy. The everlastingnesse of the joy is the
blessednesse of the next life, but the entring, the inchoa-
tion is afforded here. . . .
Howling is the noyse of hell, singing the voyce of liea ven ;
Sadnesse the damp of Hell, Rejoycing the serenity of
Heaven. And he that hath not this joy here, lacks one
of the best pieces of his evidence for the joyes of heaven ;
and hath neglected or refused that Earnest, by which
God uses to binde his bargaine, that true joy in this
world shall flow into the joy of Heaven, as a River fiowes
into the Sea ; This joy shall not be put out in death, and
a new joy kindled in me in Heaven ; But as my soule,
as soone as it is out of my body, is in Heaven, and does
not stay for the possession of Heaven, nor for the fruition
of the sight of God, till it be ascended through ayre, and
fire, and Moone, and Sun, and Planets, and Firmament,
to that place which we conceive to be Heaven, but
without the thousandth part of a minutes stop, as soone
as it issues, is in a glorious light, which is Heaven, (for
all the way to Heaven is Heaven ; And as those Angels,
which came from Heaven hither, bring Heaven with
them, and are in Heaven here. So that soule that goes
to Heaven, meets Heaven here ; and as those Angels
doe not devest Heaven by comming, so these soules invest
Heaven, in their going.) As my soule shall not goe
towards Heaven, but goe by Heaven to Heaven, to the
Heaven of Heavens, So the true joy of a good soule in
this world is the very joy of Heaven ; and we goe thither,
not that being without joy, we might have joy infused
lohn 16.24. into us, but that as Christ sayes, Our joy might be full,
' perfected, sealed with an everlastingnesse ; for, as he
Joy. 219
promises, ^hat no man shall take our joy from us, so neither
shall Death it selfe take it away, nor so much as interrupt
it, or discontinue it. But as in the face of Death, when he
layes hold upon me, and in the face of the Devill, when
he attempts me, I shall see the face of God, (for, every-
thing shall be a glasse, to reflect God upon me) so in
the agonies of Death, in the anguish of that dissolution,
in the sorrowes of that valediction, in the irreversiblenesse
of that transmigration, I shall have a joy, which shall
no more evaporate, then my soule shall evaporate,
A joy, that shall passe up, and put on a more glorious
garment above, and be joy superinvested in glory. Amen,
143. The Joy of Heaven.
HUMILIATION is the beginning of sanctification ;
and as without this, without holinesse, no man
shall see God, though he pore whole nights upon the
Bible ; so without that, without humiUty, no man shall
heare God speake to his soule, though hee heare three
two-houres Sermons every day. But if God bring thee
to that humiHation of soule and body here, hee will
eraprove, and advance thy sanctification abundantius,
more abundantly, and when he hath brought it to the
best perfection, that this life is capable of, he will
provide another abundantius, another maner of abundance
in the Ufe to come ; which is the last beating of the
pulse of this text, the last panting of the breath thereof,
our anhelation, and panting after the joyes, and glory,
and eternity of the kingdome of Heaven ; of which,
though, for the most part, I use to dismisse you, with
saying something, yet it is alwaies little that I can say
220 The Joy of Heaven.
thereof ; at this time, but this, that if all the joyes of all
the Martyrs, from Abel to him that groanes now in the
Inquisition, were condensed into one body of joy, (and
certainly the joyes that the Martyrs felt at their deaths,
would make up a far greater body, then their sorrowes
would doe,) (for though it bee said of our great Martyr,
Apoc I. 5. or great Witnesse, (as S. lohn calls Christ Jesus) to whom,
all other Martyrs are but sub-martyrs, witnesses that
Lam. 3. 12. testifie his testimony, Non dolor sicut dolor ejus, there was
Heb. 12. 2. never sorrow like unto his sorrow, it is also true, Non
gaudium sicut gaudium ejus, There was never joy hke
unto that joy which was set before him, when he endured
the crosse ;) If I had all this joy of all these Martyrs,
(which would, no doubt, be such a joy, as would worke
a hquefaction, a melting of my bowels) yet I shall have
it abundantius, a joy more abundant, then even this
superlative joy, in the world to come. What a dimme
vespers of a glorious festivall, what a poore halfe-holyday,
is Methusalems nine hundred yeares, to eternity ? what
a poore account hath that man made, that sales, this land
hath beene in my name, and in my Ancestors from the
Conquest ? what a yesterday is that ? not six hundred
yeares. If I could beleeve the transmigration of soules,
and thinke that my soule had beene successively in some
creature or other, since the Creation, what a yesterday
is that ? not six thousand yeares. What a yesterday
for the past, what a to morrow for the future, is any terme,
that can be comprehended in Cyphar or Counters ?
But as, how abundant a Hfe soever any man hath in this
world for temporall abundances, I have Hfe more abun-
dantly then hee, if I have the spirituall life of grace, so
The Joy of Heaven. 221
what measure soever I have of this spirituall life of grace,
in this world, I shall have that more abundantly in Heaven,
for there, my terme shall bee a terme for three lives ;
for those three, that as long as the Father, and the Son,
and the holy Ghost live, I shall not dye.
144. Little Stars.
IN that glistering circle in the firmament, which we
call the Galaxie, the milkie-way, there is not one
starre of any of the six great magnitudes, which Astrono-
mers proceed upon, belonging to that circle : it is
a glorious circle, and possesseth a great part of heaven,
and yet is all of so little starres, as have no name, no
knowledge taken of them : So certainly there are many
Saints in heaven, that shine as starres, and yet are not
of those great magnitudes, to have been Patriarchs, or
Prophets, or Apostles, or Martyrs, or Doctours, or Virgins ;
but good & blessed souls, that have religiously performed
the duties of inferior callings, and no more.
145. Heirs of Heaven.
H EI RES of heaven, which is not a Gavel-kinde, every
son, every man alike ; but it is an universall primo-
geniture, every man full, so full, as that every man hath
all, in such measure, as that there is nothing in heaven,
which any man in heaven wants. Heires of the joyes of
heaven ; Joy in a continuall dilatation of thy heart,
to receive augmentation of that which is infinite, in the
accumulation of essentiall and accidentall joy. Joy
in a continuall melting of indissoluble bowels, in joyfuU,
222 Heirs of Heaven.
and yet compassionate beholding thy Saviour ; Rejoycing
at thy being there, and almost lamenting (in a kinde
of affection, which we can call by no name) that thou
couldst not come thither, but by those wounds, which
are still wounds, though wounds glorified. Heires of
the joy, and heires of the glory of heaven ; where if
thou look down, and see Kings fighting for Crownes,
thou canst look off as easily, as from boyes at stool-ball
for points here ; And from Kings triumphing after
victories, as easily, as a Philosopher from a Pageant of
children here. Where thou shalt not be subject to any
other title of Dominion in others, but lesus of Nazareth
King of the lews, nor ambitious of any other title in
thy selfe, but that which thou possessest, To he the childe
of God. Heires of joy, heires of glory, and heires of the
eternity of heaven ; Where, in the possession of this joy,
and this glory, The Angels which were there almost
6000. yeares before thee, and so prescribe, and those
soules which shall come at Christs last comming, and so
enter but then, shall not survive thee, but they, and thou,
and all, shall live as long as he that gives you all that life,
as God himselfe.
146. Seeing God.
4LL the world is but Speculum., a glasse, in which we
XjL see God ; The Church it self, and that which the
Ordinance of the Church begets in us, faith it self, is
but anigma, a dark representation of God to us, till
we come to that state. To see God face to face, and to know,
as also we are hnowen.
Sphara. Now, as for the sight of God here, our Theatre was the
Seeing God. 223
world, our Medium and glasse was the creature, and our
light was reason, And then for our knowledge of God
here, our Academy was the Church, our Medium the
Ordinances of the Church, and our Light the Hght of
faith, so we consider the same Termes, first, for the sight
of God, and then for the knowledge of God in the next
life. First, the Sphear, the place where we shall see him,
is heaven ; He that asks me what heaven is, meanes not
to heare me, but to silence me ; He knows I cannot tell
him ; When I meet him there, I shall be able to tell him,
and then he will be as able to tell me ; yet then we shall
be but able to tell one another. This, this that we enjoy
is heaven, but the tongues of Angels, the tongues of
glorified Saints, shall not be able to expresse what that
heaven is ; for, even in heaven our faculties shall be
finite. Heaven is not a place that was created ; for, all
place that was created, shall be dissolved. God did not
plant a Paradise for himself, and remove to that, as he
planted a Paradise for Adam, and removed him to that ;
But God is still where he was before the world was made.
And in that place, where there are more Suns then there
are Stars in the Firmament, (for all the Saints are Suns)
And more light in another Sun, The Sun of righteous-
nesse, the Son of Glory, the Son of God, then in all
them, in that illustration, that emanation, that effusion
of beams of glory, which began not to shine 6000. yeares
ago, but 6000. miUions of millions ago, had been 6000.
millions of millions before that, in those eternall, in those
uncreated heavens, shall we see God. . . .
The light of glory is such a Hght, as that our ^ch.oo\- Lux Glcrlct.
men dare not say confidently. That every beam of it,
224 Seeing God.
is not all of it. When some of them say, That some soules
see some things in God, and others, others, because all
have not the same measure of the light of glory, the rest
cry down that opinion, and say, that as the Essence of
God is indivisible, and he that sees any of it, sees all of
it, so is the light of glory communicated intirely to every
blessed soul. God made light first, and three dayes
after, that hght became a Sun, a more glorious Light :
God gave me the light of Nature, when I quickned in
my mothers wombe by receiving a reasonable soule ; and
God gave me the light of faith, when I quickned in my
second mothers womb, the Church, by receiving my
baptisme ; but in my third day, when my mortaUty
shall put on immortahty, he shall give me the hght of
glory, by which I shall see himself. To this light of
glory, the Hght of honour is but a glow-worm ; and
majesty it self but a twihght ; The Cherubims and
Seraphims are but Candles ; and that Gospel it self,
which the Apostle calls the glorious Gospel, but a Star
of the least magnitude. And if I cannot tell, what to
call this light, by which I shall see it, what shall I call
that which I shall see by it, The Essence of God himself ?
147. ^he Sight of God,
Deum. "X TO man ever saw God and liv^d ; and yet, I shall not
-^ ' live till I see God ; and when I have seen him
I shall never dye. What have I ever seen in this world,
that hath been truly the same thing that it seemed to
me ? I have seen marble buildings, and a chip, a crust,
a plaster, a face of marble hath pilld off, and I see brick-
bowels within. I have seen beauty, and a strong breath
The Sight of God. 225
from another, tels me, that that complexion is from
without, not from a sound constitution within. I have
seen the state of Princes, and all that is but ceremony ;
and, I would be loath to put a Master of ceremonies to
define ceremony, and tell me what it is, and to include
so various a thing as ceremony, in so constant a thing,
as a Definition. I see a great Officer, and I see a man of
mine own profession, of great revenues, and I see not the
interest of the money, that was paid for it, I see not the
pensions, nor the Annuities, that are charged upon that
Office, or that Church. As he that fears God, fears
nothing else, so, he that sees God, sees every thing else :
when we shall see God, Sicuti est, as he is, we shall see i John 3. 2.
all things Sicuti sunt, as they are ; for that's their Essence,
as they conduce to his glory. We shall be no more
deluded with outward appearances : for, when this
sight, which we intend here comes, there will be no
delusory thing to be seen. All that we have made as
though we saw, in this world, will be vanished, and I
shall see nothing but God, and what is in him ; and him
I shall see In came, in the flesh, which is another degree
of Exaltation in mine Exinanition.
I shall see him. In came sua, in his flesh : And this was In came.
one branch in Saiiit Augustines great wish. That he might
have seen Rome in her state. That he might have heard
S. Paul preach, That he might have seen Christ in the
flesh : Saint Augustine hath seen Christ in the flesh one
thousand two hundred yeares ; in Christs glorifyed
flesh ; but, it is with the eyes of his understanding,
and in his soul. Our flesh, even in the Resurrection,
cannot be a spectacle, a perspective glasse to our soul.
226 The Sight of God.
We shall see the Humanity of Christ with our bodily
eyes, then glorifyed ; but, that flesh, though glorifyed,
cannot make us see God better, nor clearer, then the soul
alone hath done, all the time, from our death, to our
resurrection. But as an indulgent Father, or as a tender
mother, when they go to see the King in any Solemnity,
or any other thing of observation, and curiosity, delights
to carry their child, which is flesh of their flesh, and bone
of their bone, with them, and though the child cannot
comprehend it as well as they, they are as glad that the
child sees it, as that they see it themselves ; such a glad-
nesse shall my soul have, that this flesh, (which she will
no longer call her prison, nor her tempter, but her friend,
her companion, her wife) that this flesh, that is, I, in
the re-union, and redintegration of both parts, shall see
God ; for then ; one principall clause in her rejoycing,
and acclamation, shall be, that this flesh is her flesh ;
In came med, in my flesh I shall see God.
Mea. It was the flesh of every wanton object here, that would
allure it in the petulancy of mine eye. It was the flesh
of every Satyricall Libeller, and defamer, and calumniator
of other men, that would call upon it, and tickle mine ear
with aspersions and slanders of persons in authority.
And in the grave, it is the flesh of the worm ; the posses-
sion is transfer'd to him. But, in heaven, it is Caro mea,
My flesh, my souls flesh, my Saviours flesh. As my meat
is assimilated to my flesh, and made one flesh with it ;
2 Pet. I. 4- as my soul is assimilated to my God, and made partaker
lCor.6.l^. of the divine nature, and Idem Spiritus, the same Spirit
with it ; so, there my flesh shall be assimilated to the
flesh of my Saviour, and made the same flesh with hiro
The Sight of God. 227
too. Verhum caro factum, ut caro resurgeret ; Therefore Athanas.
the Word was made flesh, therefore God was made man,
that that union might exalt the flesh of man to the right
hand of God. That's spoken of the flesh of Christ ; and
then to facihtate the passage for us, Reformat ad immorta- Cyril.
litatem suam farticipes sui ; those who are worthy
receivers of his flesh here, are the same flesh with him ;
And, God shall quicken your mortall bodies, by his Spirit Rom. S.ii.
that dwelleth in you. But this is not in consummation,
in full accomphshment, till this resurrection, when it
shall be Caro mea, my flesh, so, as that nothing can draw
it from the allegiance of my God ; and Caro mea, My
flesh, so, as that nothing can devest me of it. Here a
bullet will aske a man, where's your arme ; and a Wolf
wil ask a woman, where's your breast. A sentence in
the Star-chamber will aske him, where's your ear, and
a months close prison will aske him, where's your flesh ?
A fever will aske him, where's your Red, and a morphew
will aske him, where's your white ? But when after
all this, when after my skinne worms shall destroy my body,
I shall see God, I shall see him in my flesh, which shall
be mine as inseparably, (in the effect, though not in the
manner) as the Hypostaticall union of God, and man, in
Christ, makes our nature and the Godhead one person
in him. My flesh shall no more be none of mine, then
Christ shall not be man, as well as God.
148. ^he State of Glory.
IF Origen could lodge such a conceit, that in heaven
at last all things should ebbe back into God, as all
things flowed from him at first ; and so there should
0 2
228 The State of Glory.
be no other essence but God, all should be God, even
the devil himself : how much more may v;re conceive
an unexpressible association (that is too farre off) an
assimilation (that is not neare enough) an identification
(the School would venture to say so) with God in that
state of glorie ! Whereas the sunne by shining upon the
moon, makes the moon a planet, a starre as well as itself,
which otherwise would be but the thickest, and darkest
part of that sphere : so those beams of glorie which shall
issue from my God, and fall upon me, shall make me
(otherwise a clod of earth, and worse, a dark soul, a spirit
of darknesse) an angel of Hght, a starre of glorie, a some-
thing that I cannot name now, not imagine now, nor
to morrow, nor next yeare ; but even in that particular,
I shall be Uke God : that as he that asked a day to give
a definition of God, the next day asked a week, and then
a moneth, and then a yeare ; so undeterminable would
my imaginations be, if I should go about to think now,
what I shall be there : I shall be so like God, as that the
devil himself shall not know me from God, so farre as
to finde any more place to fasten a temptation upon me,
then upon God ; not to conceive any more hope of my
falling from that kingdome, then of Gods being driven
out of it ; for though I shall not be immortall as God,
yet I shall be as immortall God. And there is my image
of God ; of God considered altogether, and in his unitie,
in the state of grace.
I shall have also then the image of all the three persons
of the Trinitie. Power is the Fathers ; and a greater
power, then he exercises here, I shall have there : here
he overcomes enemies, but yet here he hath enemies ;
The State of Glory. 229
there, there are none : here they cannot prevail ; there
they shall not be. So Wisdome is the image of the Sonne ;
and there I shall have better wisdome : the spirituall
wisdome it self is here : for, here our best wisdom is,
but to go towards our end ; there it is to rest in our end :
here it is to seek to be glorified by God ; there it is that
God may be everlastingly glorified by me. The image
of the Holy Ghost is Goodnesse. Here our goodnesse is
mixt with some ill ; faith mixt with scruples, & good
works mixt with a love of praise, and hope of better mixt
with fear of worse : there I shall have sincere goodnesse,
goodnesse impermixt, intemerate, and indeterminate
goodnesse ; so good a place, as no ill accident shall annoy
it ; so good companie as no impertinent, no importune
person shall disorder it ; so full a goodnesse, as no evil
of sinne, no evil of punishment for former sins can enter ;
so good a God, as shall no more keep us in fear of his
anger, nor in need of his mercie ; but shall fill us first,
and establish us in that fulnesse in the same instant, and
give us a satietie that we can wish no more, and an
infallibilitie that we can lose none of that, and both
at once. Whereas the Cabalists expresse our nearnesse
to God, in that state, in that note, that the name of
man and the name of God, Adam, and Jehovah, in their
numerall letters are equall : so I would have leave to
expresse that inexpressible state, so farre as to say, that
if there can be other worlds imagined besides this that
is under our moon, and if there could be other Gods
imagined of those worlds, besides this God to whose
image we are made, in Nature, in Grace, in Glorie ; I had
rather be one of these Saints in this heaven, than of those
230 The State of Glory.
gods in those other worlds. I shall be like the angels
in a glorified soul, and the angels shall not be like me in
a glorified bodie.
149. Justice.
AS it is said of old Cosmographers, that when they had
Jl\. said all that they knew of a Countrey, and yet much
more was to be said, they said that the rest of those
countries were possesst with Giants, or Witches, or Spirits,
or Wilde beasts, so that they could pierce no farther into
that Countrey, so when wee have travell'd as farre as
wee can, with safetie, that is, as farre as Ancient, or
Moderne Expositors lead us, in the discoverie of these
new Heavens, and new Earth, yet wee must say at last,
that it is a Countrey inhabited with Angells, and Arch-
angells, with Cherubins, and Seraphins, and that wee
can looke no farther into it, with these eyes. Where
it is locally, wee enquire not ; We rest in this, that it
is the habitation prepar'd for the blessed Saints of God ;
Heavens where the Moone is more glorious than our
Sunne, and the Sunne as glorious as Hee that made it ;
For it is he himselfe, the Sonne of God, the Sunne of
glorie. A new Earth, where all their waters are milke,
and all their milke, honey ; where all their grasse is corne,
and all their corne, Ma?ma ; where all their glebe, all
their clods of earth are gold, and all their gold of innumer-
able carats ; Where all their minutes are ages, and all
their ages. Eternity ; Where every thing, is every minute,
in the highest exaltation, as good as it can be, and yet
super-exalted, & infinitely multiplied, by every minutes
addition ; every minute, infinitely better, then ever
Justice. 231
it was before. Of these nezu heavens, & this new earth
we must say at last, that wee can say nothing ; For, the
eye of Man hath not seene, nor eare heard, nor heart con-
ceived, the State of this flace. We limit, and determine
our consideration with that Horizon, with which the
Holy Ghost hath Hmited us, that it is that new Heavens,
and new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse,
Here then the Holy Ghost intends the same new Righteous-
Heavens, and new Earth, which he doe's in the Jpocalyps, ^^^^^-^ ^
and describes there, by another name, the new Jerusalem,
But here, the Holy Ghost doe's not proceed, as there, to
enamour us of the place, by a promise of improvement
of those things, which we have, and love here ; but by
a promise of that, which here wee have not at all. There,
and elsewhere, the holy Ghost appHes himselfe, to the
naturall affections of men. To those that are affected
v^th riches, he sales, that that new City shall he all o/Verg. 18.
gold, and in t\i& foundations, all manner of precious stones;
To those that are affected with beauty, hee promises an
everlasting association, with that beautifull Couple, that
faire Paire, which spend their time, in that contempla-
tion, and that protestation, Ecce tu pulchra dilecta mea ; Cant. 1. 15,
Ecce, tu pulcher ; Behold, thou art fair, my Beloved, says ^ '
he ; and then, she replies. Behold, thou art fair too ;
noting the mutuall complacencie betweene Christ and
his Church there. To those which delight in Musicke,
hee promises continuall singing, and every minute, a new
song : To those, whose thoughts are exerciz'd upon
Honour, and Titles, Civill, or Ecclesiastic all, hee promises
Priesthood, and if that be not honour enough, a Royall
Priesthood ; And to those, who looke after military
23 2 Justice.
honor. Triumph after their victory, in the Militant Church ;
And to those, that are carried with sumptuous, and
magnifique feasts, a Mariage supper of the Lamhe, where,
not onely all the rarities of the whole world, but the
whole world it selfe shall be serv'd in ; The whole world
shall bee brought to thatjSr^, and serv'd at that Table.
But here, the holy Ghost proceeds not that way ; by
improvement of things, which wee have, and love here ;
riches, or beauty, or musicke or honour, oi feasts ; but by
an everlasting possession of that, which wee hunger,
and thirst, and pant after, here, and cannot compasse,
that is. Justice or Righteousnesse ; for both these, our
present word denotes, and both those wee want here,
and shall have both, for ever, in these new Heavens, and
nezv Earth,
What would a worne and macerated suter, opprest by
the bribery of the rich, or by the might of a potent
Adversary, give, or doe, or suffer, that he might have
Justice ? What would a dejected Spirit, a disconsolate
soule, opprest with the weight of heavy, and habituall
sinne, that stands naked in a frosty Winter of desperation,
and cannot compasse ouQfig leafe, one colour, one excuse
for any circumstance of any sinne, give for the garment
of Righteousnesse ? here there is none that doe's right,
none that executes Justice ; or, not for Justice sake.
Hee that doe's Justice, doe's it not at first ; and Christ
Luk. 1 8. 2, doe's not thanke that Judge, that did Justice, upon the
womans importunity. Justice is no Justice, that is
done for fear of an Appeale, or a Commission. Tliere may
bee found, that may doe Justice at first ; At their first
entrance into a place, to make good impressions, to
Justice. 233
establish good opinions, they may doe some Acts of
Justice ; But after, either an Uxoriousnesse towards
the wife, or a Solicitude for children, or 3, facility towards
servants, or a vastnesse of expense, quenches, and over-
corn's the love of Justice in them ; Non habitat, In most
it is not : but it dwels not in any. In our new Heavens, and
and new Earth, dwelleth justice. And that's my comfort ;
that when I come thither, I shall have Justice at God^s
hands.
150. Knowledge in Heaven,
SOME things the Angels do know by the dignity of
their Nature, by their Creation, which we know
not ; as we know many things which inferior Crea-
tures do not ; and such things all the Angels, good
and bad know. Some things they know by the Grace
of their confirmation, by which they have more given
them, then they had by Nature in their Creation ; and
those things only the Angels that stood, but all they, do
knov/. Some things they know by Revelation, when
God is pleased to manifest them unto them ; and so
some of the Angels know that, which the rest, though
confirm'd, doe not know. By Creation, they know as
his Subjects ; by Confirmation, they know as his Servants ;
by revelation, they know as his Councel. Now, Erimus
sicut Angeli, says Christ, ^here we shall be as the Angels :
The knowledge which I have by Nature, shall have no
Clouds ; here it hath : That which I have by Grace,
shall have no reluctation, no resistance ; here it hath :
That which I have by Revelation, shall have no suspition.
234 Knowledge in Heaven.
no jealousie ; here it hath : sometimes it is hard to dis-
tinguish between a respiration from God, and a suggestion
from the Devil. There our curiosity shall have this
noble satisfaction, we shall know how the Angels know,
by knowing as they know. We shall not pass from
Author, to Author, as in a Grammar School, nor from
Art to Art, as in an University ; but, as that General
which Knighted his whole Army, God shall Create us
all Doctors in a minute. That great Library, those
infinite Volumes of the Books of Creatures, shall be
taken away, quite away, no more Nature ; those reverend
Manuscripts, written with Gods own hand, the Scriptures
themselves, shall be taken away, quite away ; no more
preaching, no more reading of Scriptures, and that great
School-Mistress, Experience, and Observation shall be
remov'd, no new thing to be done, and in an instant,
I shall know more, then they all could reveal unto me.
I shall know, not only as I know already, that a Bee-hive,
that an Ant-hill is the same Book in Decimo sexto, as
a Kingdom is in Folio, That a Flower that hves but
a day, is an abridgment of that King, that lives out his
threescore and ten yeers ; but I shall know too, that
all these Ants, and Bees, and Flowers, and Kings, and
Kingdoms, howsoever they may be Examples, and
Comparisons to one another, yet they are all as nothing,
altogether nothing, less than nothing, infinitely less than
nothing, to that which shall then be the subject of my
knowledge, for, it is the knowledge oj the glory of God.
Eternity. 235
151. Eternity,
HOW barren a thing is Arithmetique ? (and yet
Arithmetique will tell you, how many single graines
of sand, will fill this hollow Vault to the Firmament)
How empty a thing is Rhetorique ? (and yet Rhetorique
will make absent and remote things present to your
understanding) How weak a thing is Poetry ? (and yet
Poetry is a counterfait Creation, and makes things that
are not, as though they were) How infirme, how impotent
are all assistances, if they be put to expresse this Eternity ?
152. Eternity.
IF I had Methusalems yeers, and his yeers multiplyed
by the minutes of his yeers, (which were a faire terme)
if I could speak till the Angels Trumpets blew, and you
had the patience of Martyrs, and could be content to
heare me, till you heard the Surgite Mortui, till you were
called to meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds, all that time
would not make up one minute, all those words would
not make up one syllable, towards this Eternity, the
period of this blessednesse.
153. Eternity.
A STATE but of one Day, because no Night shall
over-take, or determine it, but such a Day, as is not
of a thousand yeares, which is the longest measure in the
Scriptures, but of a thousand millions of miUions of
generations : Qui nee prceceditur hesterno, nee excluditur August
crastino, A day that hath no pridie, not postridie, yesterday
doth not usher it in, nor to morrow shall not drive it
out. Methusalem, with all his hundreds of yeares, was
236 Eternity.
but a Mushrome of a nights growth, to this day, And all
the foure Monarchies, with all their thousands of yeares,
And all the powerful! Kings, and all the beautifull
Queenes of this world, were but as a bed of flowers,
some gathered at six, some at seaven, some at eight, All
in one Morning, in respect of this Day. In all the two
thousand yeares of Nature, before the Law given by
Moses, And the two thousand yeares of Law, before the
Gospel given by Christ, And the two thousand of Grace,
which are running now, (of which last houre we have
heard three quarters strike, mere then fifteen hundred
of this last two thousand spent) In all this six thousand,
and in all those, which God may be pleased to adde,
In domo patris, In this House of his Fathers, there was
never heard quarter clock to strike, never seen minute
glasse to turne.
r
154. Joy in Heaven,
T is time to end ; but as long as the glasse hath a
gaspe, as long as I have one, I would breathe in this
ayre, in this perfume, in this breath of heaven, the
P5G/.89.15. contemplation of this Joy. Blessed is that man, qui scit
juhilationem, says David, that knozoes the joyfull sound :
August. For, Nullo modo heatus, nisi scias unde gaudeas ; For
though we be bound to rejoyce alwayes, it is not a blessed
joy, if we do not know upon what it be grounded : or
if it be not upon everlasting blessednesse. Comedite
Cant. 5. 1, antici, says Christ, bibite ^ inebriamini. Eat and drink,
and be filled. Joy in this life, Vbi in sudore vescimur, where
grief is mingled with joy, is called meat, says Saint
Bernard. Bernard, and Christ cals his friends to eat in the first
Joy in Heaven. 237
word. Potus infuturo, says he, Joy in the next life, where
it passes down without any difficulty, without any opposi-
tion, is called drink ; and Christ calls his friends to drink :
but the overflowing, the Ebrietas animce, that is reserved
to the last time, when our bodies as well as our souls,
shall enter into the participation of it : Where, when wee
shall love every one, as well as our selves, and so have
that Joy of our owne salvation multipHed by that number,
wee shall have that Joy so many times over, as there
shall bee soules saved, because wee love them as our
selves, how infinitely shall this Joy be enlarged in loving
God, so far above our selves, and all them. Wee have
but this to add. Heaven is called by many pretious names ; Matt. 9. 15.
Life. Simply and absolutely there is no Hfe but that. Luc. 12. 32.
And Kingdome ; Simply, absolutely there is no Kingdom, Esay 66.23.
that is not subordinate to that. And Sahbatum ex
Sabbato, A Sabbath flowing into a Sabbath, a perpetuall
Sabbath : but the Name that should enamour us most,
is that, that it is Satietas gaudiorum ; fulnesse of Joy. Psal.i6.ii.
Fulnesse that needeth no addition ; Fulnesse, that
admitteth no leake. And then though in the Schoole
we place Blessednesse, In visione, in the sight of God, yet
the first thing that this sight of God shall produce in
us (for that shall produce the Reformation of the Image
of God, in us, and it shall produce our glorifying of God)
but the first thing that the seeing of God shall produce
in us, is Joy. The measure of our seeing of God is the
measure of Joy. See him here in his Blessings, and you
shall joy in those blessings here ; and when you come to
see him Sicuti est, in his Essence, then you shall have
this Joy in Essence, and in fulnesse ; of which, God of
238 Joy in Heaven.
his goodnesse give us such an earnest here, as may binde
to us that inheritance hereafter, which his Sonne our
Saviour Christ Jesus hath purchased for us, v^ith the
inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. Amen,
155. Donne^s Last Sermon.
IN all our periods and transitions in this Hie, are so
many passages from death to death ; our very birth
and entrance into this life, is exittis a morte, an issue
from death, for in our mothers wombe wee are dead so, as
that wee doe not know wee live, not so much as wee do in
our sleepe, neither is there any grave so close, or so putrid
a prison, as the wombe would be unto us, if we stayed in
it beyond our time, or dyed there before our time. In
the grave the war me s doe not kill us, we breed and feed,
and then kill those wormes, v/hich we our selves produc'd.
In the wombe the dead child kills the Mother that
conceived it, & is a murtherer, nay a parricide, even
after it is dead. And if wee bee not dead so in the
wombe, so as that being dead wee kill her that gave us
our first hfe, our life of vegetation, yet wee are dead so,
Psal. 115. as Davids Idols are dead. In the wombe we have eyes and
vers. 6. , . _,. . . , -^
see not, eares and heare not ; There m the wombe wee are
fitted for workes of darkenes, all the while deprived of
light : And there in the wombe wee are taught cruelty,
by being fed with blood, and may be damned, though we
be never borne. . . .
Wee have a winding sheete in our Mothers wombe,
which growes with us from our conception, and wee
come into the world, wound up in that winding sheet,
for wee come to seeke a grave ; And as prisoners discharg'd
Donne's Last Sermon. 239
of actions may lye for fees ; so when the wombe hath
discharged us, yet we are bound to it by cordes of flesh
by such a string, as that wee cannot goe thence, nor stay
there ; wee celebrate our owne funeralls with cryes, even
at our birth ; as though our threescore and ten years life
were spent in our mothers labour, and our circle made
up in the first point thereof ; we begge our Baptisme,
with another Sacrament, with teares ; And we come into
a world that lasts many ages, but we last not. . . .
This whole world is but an universall churchyard, but
our common grave, and the Hfe & motion that the greatest
persons have in it, is but as the shaking of buried bodies
in their grave, by an earth-quake. That which we call life,
is but Hehdomada mortium, a weeke of death, seaven dayes,
seaven periods of our life spent in dying, a dying seaven
times over, and there is an end. Our birth dyes in infancy,
and our infancy dyes in youth, and youth and the rest
dye in age, and age also dyes, and determines all. Nor
doe all these, youth out of infancy, or age out of youth
arise so, as a Phcenix out of the ashes of another Phoenix
formerly dead, but as a waspe or a serpent out of caryon,
or as a Snake out of dung. Our youth is zvorse then our
infancy, and our age worse then our youth. Our youth is
hungry and thirsty, after those sinnes, which our infancy
knew not ; And our age is sory and angry, that it cannot
-pursue those sinnes which our youth did ; & besides, al
the way, so many deaths, that is, so many deadly calamities
accompany every condition, and every period of this
L'fe, as that death it selfe would bee an ease to them that
suffer them : Upon this sense doth Job wish that God
had not given him an issue from the first death, from the
240 Donne's Last Sermon.
10. 18. wombe. Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the
wombe ? O that I had given up the Ghost, and no eye scene
me ? I should have beene as though I had not beene. . . .
But for us that dye now and sleepe in the state of the
dead, we must al passe this posthume death, this death
after death, nay this death after buriall, this dissolution
after dissolution, this death of corruption and putrefaction,
of vermiculation and incineration^ of dissolution and
dispersion in and from the grave, when these bodies that
have been the children of royall parents, & the parents
of royall children, must say with Job, Corruption thou art
my father, and to the Worme thou art my mother i^ my sister.
Miserable riddle, when the same worme must bee my
mother, and my sister, and my selfe. Miserable incest,
when I must be marled to my mother and my sister, and
bee ho\}[i father and mother to my own mother and sister,
beget & beare that worme which is all that miserable
penury ; when my mouth shall he filed with dust, and the
Vers.24.20. worme shall feed, and feed sweetely upon me, when the
ambitious man shall have no satisfaction, if the poorest
alive tread upon him, nor the poorest receive any content-
ment in being made equall to Princes, for they shall bee
fob 23. 24. equall but in dust. One dyeth at his full strength, being
wholly at ease, & in quiet, and another dyes in the
bitternes of his soul, and never eates with pleasure, but
they lye downe alike in the dust, and the worme covers
Vers.14.11. them ; In Job and in Esay, it covers them and is spred
under them, the worme is spred under thee, and the
worme covers thee. There's the Mats and the Carpets
that lye under, and there's the State and the Canapye, that
hangs over the greatest of the sons of men ; Even those
Donne's Last Sermon. 241
bodies that were the temples of the holy Ghost, come to
this dilapidation, to ruine, to rubbidge, to dust, even the
Israel of the Lord, and Jacob himself hath no other
specification, no other denomination, but that, vermis
Jacob, Thou zvorme of Jacob. Truely the consideration
of tliis posthume death, this death after buriall, that after
God, (with whom are the issues of death) hath deUvered
me from the death of the wombe, by bringing mee into
the world, and from the manifold deaths of the world,
by laying me in the grave, I must dye againe in an
Incineration of this flesh, and in a dispersion of that
dust. That all that Monarch, who spred over many
nations alive, must in his dust lye in a corner of that
sheete of lead, and there, but so long as that lead will
laste, and that privat and retired man, that thought
himselfe his owne for ever, and never came forth, must
in his dust of the grave be pubhshed, and, (such are
the revolutions of the graves) bee mingled with the dust
of every high way, and of every dunghill, and swallowed
in every puddle and pond ; This is the most inglorious
and contemptible vilification, the most deadly and
peremptory nullification of man, that we can consider.
3025 '3
NOTES
No. 1. The Preacher. I, p. 338. Sermon XXXIV. * Preached upon
Whitsunday.''
I 5. ' red earth *. Cf. The Litanie^ i.
From this red earth, O Father, purge away
All vicious tinctures.
{Poems, ed. Grierson, i, p. 338.)
Donne was extremely fond of this pun on the Hebrew word Adam
or red earth — a pun, Coleridge remarks, which was common in
Donne's age, but unworthy of him {Coleridge, p. 148).
p. 2, 1. 7. 'a little parke in the midst of a forest *. In a prayer
printed at the end of his Essays in Divinity, Donne writes, ' I am
a man and no worm, and within the pale of Thy Church and not in
the wild forest ' (Gosse, Life, ii, p. 103).
1. II. ' Sancerraes '. Sancerre in France was a stronghold of
Protestantism during the religious wars. In 1 573 it was besieged by
the Catholics for nine months, and its defenders suffered extreme
privations. In his Elegie, viii, 1. 10, Donne refers to ' Sancerra's
starved men' {Poems, i, p. 91, and note ii, p. 74).
2. When 1 consider. I, p. 223. Sermon XXII. * Preached at S,
Pauls, upon Easter-day, 1627 ' (March 25).
3. / am Not all Here. II, p. 116. Sermon XIV. * Preached at
Lincolns Inne.' Donne was Reader at Lincoln's Inn from October
1616 to February 1622.
4. Imperfect Prayers. I, p. 820. Sermon LXXX. * Preached at
the funerals of Sir William Cokayne Knight, Alderman of London,
December 12. 1626.' See note on No. 47.
5. Powers and Principalities. I, pp. 452-3. Sermon XLV.
' Preached upon All-Saints Day.'
S. Infecting God. I, pp. 589-90. Sermon LVIII. * Preached upon
the Penitentiall Psalmes.'
1. Forgiveness of Sins. I, p. 31 1. Sermon XXXI. * Preached at
S. Pauls, upon Whitsunday. 1629' (May 24).
8. Forgive my Sins. II, p. 224. Sermon XXVI. * Preached to
the King, at White-Hall, the first Sunday in Lent.' Probably 1627
(E. M. Spearing, A Chronological Arrangement of Donne's Sermons,
Mod. Lang. Review, October 19 13).
R 2
244 Notes.
9. Let Me Wither. I, pp. 665-6. Sermon LXVI. * The second
of my Prebend Sermons upon my five Psalmes. Preached at S. Pauls,
January 29. 1625* (1626). 'This Second Prebend Sermon, which
is a long poem of victory over death, is one of the most magnificent
pieces of religious writing in English literature' {Gosse, ii, p. 239).
For Donne's Prebend Sermons, see note on No. 20. For other passages
from tliis sermon, see Nos. 20, 41, 80, 142.
10. Donne and the Worm. II, p. 7. Sermon I. * A Sermon
Preached At the Earl of Bridgewaters house in London at the mariage
of his daughter, the Lady Mary, to the eldest sonne of the L. Herbert
of Castle-iland, Novemb. 19. 1627.'
This Earl of Bridgewater was John, first Earl, 1 579-1649, son
of Donne's former patron Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord EUesmere.
Donne's wife, Mary More, was a niece of the second Lady Egerton.
It was this Lord Bridgewater's children who acted in Comus in 1634.
His daughter Mary married Richard, son of Edward, Lord Herbert
of Cherbury {D. N. B.).
11. Preaching Consolation. I, p. 745. Sermon LXXIII. 'Preached
to the King in my Ordinary wayting at White-hall, 18. Aprill 1626.'
In Donne's Divine Poems there is one addressed * To M'' Tilman
after he had taken orders ' in which several phrases occur similar to
phrases in this extract :
Chang'd onely Gods old image by Creation,
To Christs new stampe, at this thy Coronation.
(11.17,18.)
Maries prerogative was to beare Christ, so
'Tis preachers to convey him, for they doe
As angels out of clouds, from Pulpits speake ; (11. 41-3.)
(Poms, i, pp. 351-2.)
12. The Beauty of the Soul. II, p. 367. Sermon XL. 'Preached
at Saint Pauls.'
13. Spiritual Liberality. I, pp. 762-3. Sermon LXXV. 'Preached
to the King at White-hall, April 15. 1628 ' (Easter Sunday).
h 21. * that Meteor '. Donne used meteor in the sense of a body
in mid-air, between heaven and earth. Thus he writes in a letter to
Sir H. Goodyer, ' Our nature is Meteorique, we respect (because we
partake so) both earth and heaven ' (Letters, 1651, p. 46).
p. 15, 1. 12. * To bow downe those Heavens '. Cf. Donne's verse-
epistle To M** Tilman after he had taken orders,
How brave are those, who with their Engine, can
Bring man to heaven, and heaven againe to man ?
{Poems, i, p. 352.)
Notes. 245
14. Eagle's Wings. I, pp. 435-6. Sermon XLIV. * Preached
at S. Dunstanes upon Trinity-Sunday. 1627.'
p. 16, 1. 12. * He flings open the gates of Heaven '. Cf. To M^
Tilman, 11. 39-40:
To open life, to give kingdoms to more
Than Kings give dignities ; to keepe heavens doore ?
{Poems, i, p. 352.)
15. The Hour-Glass. HI, p. 61. Sermon V. * A Lent-Sermon
Preached to the King, At White-hall, February 12. 1629' (1630).
1. 14. ' stare ', i. e. a starling.
16. Preaching. I, pp. 692-3. Sermon LXVUI. ' The fourth of
my Prebend Sermons upon my five Psalmes : Preached at S. Pauls,
28. January, 1626' (1627).
17. Applause. II, p. 371. Sermon XL. Ante, No. 12.
p. 20, 1. 6. ' murmurings '. * The sermons of this time seem to
us now to be overloaded — too long — artificial, and sometimes in
bad taste That they were listened to with great attention, and often
produced very great effect upon the audience, we know. Frequently
the preacher was interrupted by expressions of dissent or by loud
applause ' {Jessopp, pp. 137-8).
In an elegy ' In memory of Doctor Donne ', by R. B. (Richard
Brathwaite ?) the author states that the old-fashioned * doctrine-
men ' did not like or approve of Donne's preaching, and * humm'd
against him ' {Poems, i, p. 386).
18. The Bellman. Ill, p. 205. Sermon XV. * A Sermon Preached
at White-hall. February 29. 1627' (1628).
p. 2 1, 1. 6. * that good Custome in these Cities ', i. e. the * Waits ',
or wind-instrumentalists maintained by the city, who perambulated
the streets, often in the morning.
19. Favourite Scriptures. II, pp. 159 (correctly 151)-! 52. Sermon
XIX. * Preached at Lincolns Inne.'
p. 22, 1. II. 'such forms, as I have been most accustomed to*.
Donne almost never refers to himself as an author in his sermons.
He once, however, says, ' Adams sin, 6000 years agoe, is my sin ;
and their sin, that shall sinne by occasion of any wanton writings
of mine, will be my sin, though they come after '. (II, p. 171.)
20. The Psalms. I, p. 663. Sermon LXVI. See ante, No. 9.
The Sermon was on Psalm Ixiii. 7.
p. 24, 1. 3. * third obligation '. Donne, as Dean, was one of the
prebendaries of St. Paul's. * The Psalter was divided up among the
thirty prebendaries, each of whom was supposed to recite his five
psahns daily, and to make them his special subject of meditation.
Donne took his place in the Chapter as prebendary of Chiswick,
246
Notes,
and his five psalms were the 62nd to the 66th inclusive ' (Jessoppf
p. 141). See note on No. 46.
21. Sanctified Passions. Ill, pp. 257-8. Sermon XVIII. *A
Sermon Preached to Queen Anne^ ait Denmarke-house. December. 14,
1 61 7.'
22. Style and Language. I, pp. 556-7. Sermon LV. * Preached
upon the Penitentiall Psalmes.'
23. Style of the Holy Ghost. I, p. 812. Sermon LXXIX. 'Preached
at S. Pauls.'
24. Compliments. I, p. 176. Sermon XVIII. 'Preached at S.
Pauls, in the Evenings upon Easter-day. 162^ ' (April 13).
1. 2. ' Complement ' in the sense of the more modern ' compliment '.
First instance in the N. E. £>., 1578.
Donne in his Fourth Satire writes,
so did hee
With his long complementall thankes vexe me.
{PoemSj I, p. 164.)
This use (not noted in the N. E. D.) is probably the first appearance
of the word in this sense, if the Satire was written in 1597.
25. Lying at Aix. II, p. 183. Sermon XXI. * Preached at Lincolns
Inne.'
1. I. * Aquisgrane '. The Roman name for Aix-la-Chapelle was
Aquisgranum. This visit to Aix was no doubt in 1612, when Donne
accompanied Sir Robert and Lady Drury to France, and afterwards
to Spa.
26. Farewell on Going to Germany. Ill, p. 280. Sermon XIX.
* A Sermon of Valediction at my going into Germany^ at Lincolns-
Inne^ April. 18. 161 9.' Donne was appointed to go as King's Chaplain
with Viscount Doncaster on his mission to the German Princes.
In Donne's Divine Poems there is A Hymne to Christy at the Authors
last going into Germany {Poems, i, p. 352). In his Bibliography
of John Donne, Mr. Geoffrey Keynes mentions a volume Sapientia
Clamitans, by William Milbourne Priest (1638), which includes
(pp. 251-319) a different, and probably earlier, text of this farewell
sermon. I have not been able to examine this book, as the copy
said to be in the British Museum could not be found there.
27. The Vicar of St. Dunstan's. II, pp. 424-5. Sermon XLV.
* Preached at Saint Duns tans Aprill 11. 1624. The first Sermon in
that Church, as Vicar thereof.' In March 1624 Donne was presented
to the living of St. Dunstan's by Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset.
This first sermon, Dr. Jessopp says, was ' a kind of manifesto setting
Notes. 247
forth the preacher's view of the reciprocal duties of the pastor and
his flock' (Jessopp, p. 164).
28. Funeral Serjnon on Magdalen Herbert^ Lady Danvers. *A
Sermon of Commemoration of the Lady Dduers, late Wife of S^.
John Dduers. Preach'd at Chilsey, where she was lately buried.
By John Donne D. of S^ Pauls, Lond. 1. July 1627'^ (London, 1627),
pp. 1-4, 126-70. This sermon was not reprinted in the folios, but
is included in Alford's edition (vi, p. 244) and was printed in Picker-
ing's edition of Devotions by John Donne, D.D. (1840), pp. 158-97.
Lady Danvers was, by her first husband, Richard Herbert, of
Montgomery Castle, the mother, among other children, of Lord
Herbert of Cherbury, and George Herbert. In 1608 she married
' Sir John Danvers, an intelligent and wealthy young man not quite
half her age ' (Gosse, ii, p. 228). For her friendship with Donne, see
ibid., I, p. 162 f., Poems, ii., pp. xxivf., and Walton's ' Life of George
Herbert '. For Donne's poems to Mrs. Herbert, see Poems^ i, pp. 61,
92, 216, 317.
Lady Danvers lived at Danvers House, Chelsea, where Donne
took refuge during the plague of 1625 (see No. 35). Lady Danvers
died in the first days of June 1627, and was buried in Chelsea Church
on June 8. Donne had undertaken to preach her funeral sermon,
but it was postponed to July i {Gosse, ii, p. 247). Walton in his
Lije oj Mr. George Herbert, says ' I saw and heard this Mr. John
Donne (who was then Dean of St. Pauls) weep, and preach her
Funeral Sermon, in the Parish-Church of Chelsey near London^
where she now rests in her quiet Grave' (Walton's Lives, 1670,
' The Life of Mr. George Herbert', p. 19). Donne's * affection to her
was such, that he turn'd Poet in his old Age, and then made her
Epitaph ; wishing, all his Body were turn'd into Tongues, that he
might declare her just praises to posterity ' {ibid., p. 16).
29. Death oJ Elizabeth and Accession of James 1. HI, p. 351.
Sermon XXIV. * A Sermon Preached at Pauls Cross to the Lords
of the Council, and other Honorable Persons, 24. Mart. 1616 [161 7].
It being the Anniversary of the Kings coming to the Crown, and his
Majesty being then gone into Scotland.'
' When James I started on his memorable " Progress " to Scotland
on the 15th March 161 7, he appears to have ordered that Donne
should preach at Paul's Cross on the 24th of March, the anniversary
of his coming to the Crown ' {Jessopp, p. 122). This was Donne's
first appearance in the famous open-air pulpit, which stood at the
north-east corner of old St. Paul's. * Paul's Cross was the pulpit not
only of the Cathedral ; it might almost be said, as preaching became
more popular, and began more and more to rule the public mind,
to have become that of the Church of England. . . . Excepting the
King and his retinue, who had a covered gallery, the congregation.
248
Notes,
even the Mayor and the Aldermen, stood in the open air * (H. H.
Milman, Annals of S. PauVs Cathedral.^ 1869, pp. 163-4). For Donne's
Sermon on this occasion, see Jessopp, pp. 122-3; Gosse, ii, pp. 1 14-16.
On March 29, 1617, John Chamberlain wrote to Sir Dudley Carleton,
' 1 had almost forgotten, that on Monday, the 27th [24th] of this
month, being the king's day, the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord
keeper [Bacon], lord privy seal, the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of
Southampton, the Lord Hay, the comptroller. Secretary Winwood,
the master of the Rolls, with divers other great men, were at Paul's
Cross, and heard Donne, who made there a dainty sermon upon the
nth verse of the 22d of Proverbs, and was exceedingly well liked
generally, the rather for that he did Queen Elizabeth great right,
and held himself close to the text, without flattering the time too
much ' (C. & T. Jas. 7, ii, p. 4). On May 10 Chamberlain writes,
* I know not how to procure a copy of Dr. Donne's sermon if it come
not in print, but I will inquire after it * {ibid.^ p. 10).
p. 48, 1. 8. 'recognitions'. Misprinted 'recognitious' in the folio.
A few other obvious misprints have been silently corrected.
30. The Gunpowder Plot. II, pp. 402-3. Sermon XLIII. *A
Serynon upon the fijt o/Novemb. 1622. being the Anniversary celebra-
tion of our Deliverance from r^^ Powder Treason. Intended lot Pauls
Crosse, but by reason of the weather, Preached in the Church.^
On December i, 1622, Donne wrote to Sir Thomas Roe, James I's
Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, and after mentioning his sermon
at St. Paul's Cross on September 14, 1622 (which was printed by
royal command in 1622) he adds : * Some weeks after that I preached
another at the same place, upon the Gunpowder Day ; therein I was
left more to mine own liberty, and therefore I would I could also
send your Lordship a copy of that, but that one, which also by
commandment I did write after the preaching, is as yet in his
]\Iajesty's hand, and I know not whether he will in it, as he did in
the other, after his reading thereof, command it to be printed ; and
whilst it is in that suspense, I know your Lordship would call it
indiscretion to send out any copy thereof ; neither truly am I able
to commit that fault, for I have no copy ' {Gosse, ii, pp. 174-5).
31. Preached to the Honourable Company of the Virginian Plantation,
1622. ' A Sermon upon the VIII Verse of the I. Chapter of the Acts
of the Apostles. PreacVd to the Honourable Company of the
Virginian Plantation. 13°. Novemb. 1622. By lohn Donne Deane oj
S^ Pauls, London 1622' (London, 1622), pp. 11-13, 18-22, 42-6.
This sermon is not in the folios ; it was re-issued in Four Sermons 1 625,
and Five Sermons 1626, and reprinted by Alford, vi, pp. 223-41. In
1622 the Earl of Southampton was chosen treasurer of the Virginia
Company, and Nicholas Ferrar, afterwards of Little Gidding,
deputy treasurer. * It must have been at their invitation that Donne
Notes. 249
was invited to preach before the Company, and to impress upon the
adventurers^ who included among them a large number of bishops,
clergy, and devout laity, an appeal from the missionary point of
view ' (Jessopp, p. 149). ' This sermon may with truth, be called
the first missionary sermon ever preached in England since Britain
had become a Christian land' (ibid., p. 148). See, however, next.
32. The Mission of England. Ill, p. 195. Sermon XIV. 'A
Second Sermon Preached at White-hall. April 2. 1621.'
1. 6. ' Islands , . . Islands,' misprinted * Island . . . Island ' in
the folio.
33. James I. II, p. 406. Sermon XLIII. See ante, No. 30,
Donne's * Gunpowder Plot * Sermon. Now that James I was nego-
tiating for the Spanish Marriage, and had released from prison
a large number of Roman Catholics, there were many rumours that
the King intended to make a change of religion (C. & T. Jas. /, i,
pp. 300, 326, 356).
3^. Death of James I. II, p. 303. Sermon XXXIII. 'Preached
at Denmark house, some few days before the body of King James,
was removed from thence, to his huriall, Apr, 26. 1625.' James I
died at Theobalds on March 27. His body was embalmed and taken
on April 4 to Denmark House, where it lay in state until the funeral
on May 7 [C. & T. Charles I, i, pp. 3, 22). On April 3 Donne delivered
his first sermon before Charles I at Saint James's (see No. 75).
35. The Plague, 162^. Ill, pp. 293-6 (Qqq 1-2 v). Sermon XXI.
* A Sermon Preached at St. Dunstans January 15. i625[i626]. The
First Sermon after Our Dispersion, by the Sickness.' During the great
plague of 1625, when London was almost deserted, Donne withdrew
to Sir John Danvers's house in Chelsea, where he spent his time
writing out and revising his sermons. (Gosse, ii, pp. 222, 225.)
36. Difficult Times. II, p. 158 (correctly 150). Sermon XVIII.
'Preached at Lincolns Inne.' Donne resigned his divinity reader-
ship at Lincoln's Inn on February 11, 1622. This undated sermon
was probably preached shortly before his resignation, during the
negotiations for the Spanish Match.
p. 62, 1. 30. * hull it out '. To ' hull ' is an obsolete nautical term,
meaning ' to float or be driven by the force of the wind or current
on the hull alone ; to drift to the wind with sails furled ; to lie
a-huU ' {N. E. D.). Cf . Richard III, iv. iv. 439, and Henry VIII,
II. iv. 197 * thus hulling in The wild Sea of my Conscience \
37. Polemical Preaching. I, pp. 778-9. Sermon LXXVII.
* Preached at S. Pauls, May 21. 1626.' In 1622, during his negotia-
tions with Spain, James I had forbidden polemical preaching, and
Donne had, by royal command, delivered a Sermon at Paul's Cross
250 Notes.
on September 15, to explain to the populace the King's Instructions
to Preachers (Gosse, ii, p. 160). * He gave no great satisfaction ' ;
Chamberlain writes, * or, as some say, spoke as if himself were not
so well satisfied ' (C <Sf T. Jas. 7, ii, p. 333). Now that England was
at war with Spain and fighting to help the German Protestants,
what Donne calls * the beating of our Drums in the Pulpit ' was
again allowed.
38. The World Decays. I, p. 357. Sermon XXXVI. * Preached
upon Whitsunday.* Donne, as Dean, was required to preach the
Whitsunday Sermon at St. Paul's. For the letter of St. Cyprian,
see Ramsay, p. 86. Cf. Donne's First Anniversary, 11. 201-4:
So did the world from the first houre decay,
That evening was beginning of the day.
And now the Springs and Sommers which we see,
Like sonnes of women after fiftie bee.
{Poems, 1, p. 237.)
39. Imperfection. I, pp. 823-4. Sermon LXXX. See ante, "No. 4.
The * new philosophy ' is of course the Copernican hypothesis.
* Copernicus' displacement of the earth, and the consequent distur-
bance of the accepted mediseval cosmology with its concentric
arrangement of elements and heavenly bodies, arrests and disturbs
Donne's imagination much as the later geology with its revelation
of vanished species and first suggestion of a doctrine of evolution
absorbed and perturbed Tennyson when he wrote In Memoriam and
throughout his life' (Grierson, Pofwjs, ii, pp. 188-9). In his First
Anniversary Donne writes :
And new Philosophy calls all in doubt,
The Element of fire is quite put out ;
The Sun is lost, and th' earth, and no mans \nt
Can well direct him where to looke for it.
{Poems, i, p. 237.)
^0. Man. I, pp. 64-5. Sermon VII. * Preached upon Christmas
day."* Probably 1629 {Spearing).
41. Afflictions. I, pp. 664-5. The Second Prebend Sermon
(LXVI). See ante, Nos. 9, 20.
42. Discontent. I, p. 45. Sermon V. ' Preached at Pauls, upon
Christmas Day. 1627.'
43. The World a House. I, p. 146. Sermon XV. ' Preached at
White-hall, March 8. 1621 * (1622). Coleridge, referring to this
extract, writes, * This is one of Donne's least estimable discourses . . .
yet what a Donne-like passage is this that follows ! ' {Coleridge, p. 132).
44. Mundus Mare. I, pp. 735-7. Sermon LXXII. 'At the
Notes. 251
Haghe Decemb. 19. 161 9. I Preached upon this Text [Mat. Iv. 18-20].
Since in my sicknesse at Ahrey-hatche in Essex, 1630, revising my
short notes of that Sermon, I digested them into these two.* LXXII
is the second of these two sermons. Donne arrived with Lord
Doncaster (see ante, No. 26) at The Hague in December 161 9. In his
will Donne bequeaths to his friend Henry King * that medal of gold
of the synod of Dort which the estates presented mc withal at the
Hague *. {Gosse, ii, p. 360.)
^^. The Indifference of Nature. H, p. 37. Sermon V. ^Preached
at a Cbristning.'
1. 4. * hoise ' is the older form of * hoist '.
46. Wealth. I, p. 659. * The first of the Prebend of Cbestvicks five
Psalmes ; which five are appointed for that Prebend ; as there are
five other, for every other of our thirty Prebendaries. Serm. LXV.
Preached at S. Pauls, May 8. 1625.'
47. A London Merchant. I, pp. 824-6. See ante, Nos. 4, 39.
Funeral Sermon of Sir William Cokayne, who was Lord Mayor of
London, 1619-20 {Diet. Nat. Biog.). He was 'a merchant of great
consequence, reputed to be one of the richest men in England. Lady
Cokayne's father, Richard Morris, had preceded Donne's father as
Master of the Ironmongers' Company.' (Gosse, ii, pp. 237-8.)
p. 78, 1. 7. * A publique heart '. Publique is here used with the
meaning of the later ' public-spirited ', first found in 1677 {N. E. D.).
p. 80, 1. 17. ' this Quire '. It is plain from this, that (as Mr. Gosse
remarks) * the Aldermen of the City had been lately admitted by
the Dean and Chapter to seats in the choir of St. Paul's. . . . From
this it appears that until that date the choir had, as in Catholic times,
been reserved for the clergy ' (Gosse, ii, p. 238).
4^, Sickness. II, p. 167. Sermon XX. * Preached at Lincolns Inne.'
49. Public Opinion. I, p. 589. Sermon LVIII. See ante. No. 6.
50. Joy. II, p. 467. Sermon L. * A Sermon Preached in Saint
Dunstans.'
^1. Women. I, pp. 242-3. Sermon XXV. ' Preached at S.Psiuh,
upon Easter-day. 1630' (March 28).
52. Cosmetics. I, p. 642. Sermon LXIV. * Preached upon the
Penitentiall Psalmes.'
53. The Skin. II, p. 113. Sermon XIV. See ante, No. 3.
54. Mud Walls. II, pp. 168-9. Sermon XX. See ante, No. 48.
S^. Ignorance. I, p. 287. Sermon XXIX. ' Preached at S. Pauls
upon Whitsunday. 1628.'
252 Notes.
56. The Imperfection of Knowledge. I, p. 818. Sermon LXXX.
See ante, Nos. 4, 39, 47.
57. Change of Mind. I, p. 483. Sermon XLVIII. ' Preached at
S. Pauls in the Evening, Vpon the day of S. Pauls Conversion. 1628'
(January 25, 1629).
58. Reason and Faith. II, pp. 324-7. Sermon XXXVI. 'Preached
at Saint Pauls upon Christmasse day, 1621.' In his verse epistle to
the Countess of Bedford, Donne writes,
Reason is our Soules left hand, Faith her right,
By these wee reach divinity, thats you.
{Poems, \, p. 189; see also p. 267.)
1. I. * lamps '. In his Epithalamions, xi, Donne writes,
Now, as in Jullias tombe, one lampe burnt cleare,
Unchang'd for fifteene hundred yeare,
{Poems, i, p. 140 5 for origin of this legend, see note, ibid., ii, p. 98.)
i. 15. ' vanish it selfe '. In his Litanie, vii, Donne writes,
Let not my minde be blinder by more light
Nor Faith, by Reason added, lose her sight.
[Poems, i, p. 340.)
p. 102, 1. 1 1. ' blow that coale *. Cf. Devotions, p. 3. * God, who as
hee is immortall himselfe, had put a coale, a beame of Immortalitie
into us, which we might have blowen into a flame, but blew it out,
by our first sinne.'
59. True Knowledge. I, p. 165. Sermon XVII. * Preached at
White-hall, March 4. 1624 ' (1625).
60. Terrible Things. I, pp. 690-2. Sermon LXVIII. See ante.
No. 16.
61. The Fate of the Heathen. I, pp. 261-2. Sermon XXVI.
' Preached upon Easter-day.' Probably 1623 {Spearing).
62. The Church a Company. II, p. 469. Sermon L. See No. 50.
63. God Proceeds Legally. II, pp. 230-1. Sermon XXVII.
' Preached to the King, at White-Hall, the first of April, 1627.' Laud,
then Bishop of Bath and Wells, was present at this sermon, and seems
to have suspected from it that Donne was preparing to support
Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Calvinlstic party, in
the controversy then under discussion, about Montague's attack on
them. Laud wrote to Donne at once commanding a copy of the
sermon to be sent to the king, greatly to Donne's dismay. But
when Charles I had read the sermon and listened to Donne's explana-
tion, he restored him to favour. For Donne's letters about this
incident, see Gosse, ii, pp. 243-6. Dr. Jessopp, quoting the end of
Notes. 253
the extract as given In this volume (p. 1 14, 1. 28 f.) says, * after
carefully reading the sermon several times, I can find only one passage
that may have hurt the prejudices or irritated the susceptibilities
of some of the audience as possibly reflecting upon themselves '
(Jessopp, p. 188).
1, 7. ' hisse ', misprinted ' kisse ' in folio.
Q^. The Cburcb. I, pp. 369-70. Sermon XXXVII. * Preached
upon Whitsunday.''
p. 116, 1. 13. ' thou art a little world '. Cf. Sacred Sonnets,
I am a little world made cunningly
Of Elements. {Poems, I, p. 324.)
For this notion, which frequently recurs In Donne, of man as a
microcosm, or little world, see Ramsay, p. 275.
65. Reverence in Church. II, pp. 470-1. Sermon L. See ante,
Nos. 50, 62.
66. Going to Church. I, pp. 35-6. Sermon IV. 'Preached at S,
Pauls upon Christmas day. 1626.'
1. 9. ' mocke us '. Coleridge notes * What then, was their guilt,
who by terror and legal penalties tempted their fellow Christians to
this treacherous mockery ? Donne should have asked himself that
question.' {Coleridge, p. 112.)
67. Prayer. II, p. 366. Sermon XL. See ante, Nos. 12, 17.
68. Prayer. I, p. 522. Sermon LII. * Preached upon the Peni-
tentiall Psalmes.'
1. 8. * his Sister '. Donne repeats this In his Devotions, p. 255.
69. The Time of Prayer. I, pp. 596-7. Sermon LIX. 'Preached
upon the Penltentiall Psalmes.'
p. 123,1. 15. 'the greatest Christian Prince'. The King of
France's title was Roi tres chretien. Donne was in Paris in 1612 with
Sir Robert Drury, but Louis XIII was then only eleven years old.
In a letter to Sir Henry Wotton, written in 161 2, Donne refers to
a previous visit to France during the lifetime of Henry IV {Gosse^
i, p. 293). The above reference is probably therefore to Henry IV.
p. 124, I. 13. ' Bolls ', earlier spelling of ' bowls '.
70. At Table and Bed. II, p. 88. Sermon XI. ' Preached at
Lincolns Inne, preparing them to build their ChappelL' In 161 7, when
the foundation-stone of the new chapel v/as laid. On Ascension Day,
1623 (May 22), Donne preached at the consecration of the chapel
his ' Encaenia ' Sermon, which was published in the same year,
but has not been reprinted. On May 30 Chamberlain wrote, ' Lin-
coln's Inn new chapel was consecrated with much solemnity, by
the Bishop of London, on Ascension-day, where there was great
254 Notes.
concourse of noblemen and gentlemen ; whereof two or three were
endangered, and taken up dead for the time, with the extreme
press and thronging. The Dean of St. Paul's made an excellent
sermon, they say, about dedications ' (C. & T. Jas. /, ii, p. 402).
I. 5. * table '. In an undated letter Donne writes, ' we at our lay
altars (which are our tables, or bedside, or stools) '. (Gosse, i, p. 223.)
71. Unconscious Prayer. I, p. 90. Sermon IX. * Preached upon
Candlemas day.' Probably either in 161 7, or 1623 {Spearing).
72. Sermons. I, pp. 113-14. Sermon XII. 'Preached upon
Candlemas day.'
73. New Doctrines. Ill, p. 4. Sermon I. * A Lent-Sermon
Preached at White-hall, February 20. 161 7.' (161 8). On February 21
Chamberlain wrote * Dr. John Donne preached yesterday at White-
hall ; but the king was not there, being weary belike of the former
night's watching ' (C. & T. Jas. 7, ii, p. 67).
1. 4. ' Resistibility, and Irresistibility of grace '. This was a much
disputed point between the Calvinist and Arminian parties ; in 1622
James I forbade any one under the degree of a bachelor of divinity
to * presume to preach in any popular auditory the deep points of
predestination, election, reprobation, or of the universality, efficacy,
resistibility or irresistibility of God's grace ' (Gardiner, History oj
England^ 1603 -1642, iv, p. 347). For Donne's use of these con-
troversies in his secular verse, see Poems, ii, p. 46.
74. Papist and Puritan. I, p. 493. Sermon XLIX. * Preached
on the Conversion of S. Paul. 1629 ' (January 25, 1630).
75. Theological Dissensions. ' The First Sermon Preached to
King Charles, At Saint lames: 3° April. 1625. By lohn Donne,
Deane oj Saint Pauls London 1625', pp. 12-16. This sermon has
never been reprinted. On April 5 Sir William Neve, after describing
the removal of James I's body to Denmark House, wrote : * The
King kept privately his bed, or chamber, at St. James's until Sunday
last, and then dined abroad, in the privy-chamber, being in plain
black cloth cloak to the ancle ; and so went after dinner into the
chapel. Dr. Donne preaching, Lord Davers carrying the sword before
him, his majesty looking very pale, his visage being the true glass
of his inward, as well as his accoutrements of external mourning.'
(C. ©■ T. Chas. 7, i, pp. 3-4.) Donne's letters show plainly the extreme
agitation caused in him by the royal command to preach before the
new king. ' Towards the time of the service,' he writes to Sir Robert
Ker at Court, * I ask your leave that I may hide myself in your out-
chamber ' ; and in another note he refuses an invitation to dinner,
Baying * after the sermon, I will steal into my coach home *. {Gosse,
ii, p. 220.)
p. 132, 1. 8. * Ejulations ', old word for wailing, lamentation.
Notes. 255
76. Despair. II, p. 363. Sermon XXXIX. * Preached at Saint
Paul?.'
77. The Sociableness of God. II, p. 280. Sermon XXXII.
* Preached to the Earl of Exeter, and his company, in his Chappell at
Saint Johns', 13. Jun. 1624.' William Cecil, son of Thomas Cecil,
first Earl of Exeter.
78. God a Circle. I, pp. 13-14. Sermon II. * Preached at Pauh^
apon Christmas Day, in the Evening. 1624.'
In a verse-epistle to the Countess of Bedford Donne wrote ' In
those poor types of God (round circles) ' {Poems, 1, p. 220, and note
ii, p. 176). See also Divine Poems, The Annunciation and Passion
{ibid., i, p. 334), and Devotions, p. 16, * O Eternall, and most gracious
God, who considered in thy selfe, art a Circle.'
79. God's Mirror. I, pp. 226-7. Sermon XXIII. * Preached at
S. Pauls, /or Easter-day. 1628' (April 13).
80. God*s Names. I, p. 670. Sermon LXVI. See ante, Nos. 9, 20,
41.
SI. God's Mercies. I, pp. 12-13. Sermon II. See an^i?, No. 78.
1. 13. ' ragges of time '. Donne in his famous poem beginning
' Busie old foole, unruly Sunne ' uses this phrase.
Love, all alike, no season knowes, nor clyme.
Nor houres, dayes, moneths, which are the rags of time.
{Poems, i, p. ii.)
p. 139, 1. 9. * God made Sun and Moon'. Professor Saintsbury, in
quoting this passage, describes it as ' a passage than which I hardly
know anything more exquisitely rhythmed in the whole range of
English from iElfric to Pater. . . . The Shakespearian magnificence
of the diction, such as the throng of kindred but never tautological
phrase in " wintered and frozen ", etc., and the absolute perfection
of rhythmical — never metrical — movement, could not be better
wedded. It has, I have said, never been surpassed. I sometimes
doubt whether it has ever been equalled ' {A History of English Prose
Rhythm, 1912, pp. 162-3).
82. God not Cruel. II, p. 224. Sermon XXVI. See an'.e, No. 8.
83. The Voice of God. I, p. 465. Sermon XL VI. * Preached at S.
Pauls, The Sunday after the Conversion of S. Paul. 1624.' (January 30,
1625).
84. God's Language. II, pp. 359-60. Sermon XXXIX. See
ante, No. j6.
p. 143, 1. 21. 'fall into some such sinne *. In 1608 Donne wrote
to Sir H. Goodyer, * when a man is purposed to do a great sin, God
256 Notes.
infuses some good thoughts which make him choose a less sin'.
{Gosse, i, p. 190.)
85. God's Anger. II, p. 170. Sermon XX. See ante, Nos. 48, 54.
86. Gods Faults. I, pp. 726-7. Sermon LXII. Preached at
The Hague. See ante^ No. 44.
1. 2. ' qualities and affections of man '. Cf. Devotions^ p. 178, * God
is presented to us under many human affections, as far as infirmities :
God is called angry, and sorry and weary, and heavy.'
p. 145, 1. 29. * enormious ' ; obsolete form of ' enormous *.
87. Gods Judgements. Ill, pp. 82-3. Sermon VI. * A Sermon
Preached at White-hall, April 21. 161 6.' Donne was ordamed in
January 161 5. His earliest dated sermon that has come down to
us was preached before Queen Anne at Greenwich on April 30, 161 5
(the Sermon II, No. XXXV, ascribed to February 21, 1611, must be
wrongly dated). This sermon is the next in date which has been
preserved, as was perhaps his first sermon at Court, after his appoint-
ment as Chaplain to the King in the summer of 161 5. Izaak
Walton says of his first sermon at Whitehall * though much were
expected from him, both by His Majesty and others, yet he was so
happy (which few are) as to satisfie and exceed their expectations '
(Walton's Lives, 1670, p. 38). Dr. Jessopp writes of this sermon :
' On the 2ist April 1616 we find Donne preaching at Whitehall just at
the time when the horrible revelations connected \vith the murder
of Sir Thomas Overbury were being discussed by every one and were
the subject of common talk. The sermon . . . contains some fine
passages which the congregation can hardly have helped applying to
the dreadful circumstances uppermost in the minds of all ' {Jessopp,
p. 112). For other passages from this sermon, see also Nos. 105, 108.
1. 19. * infus'd '. In a verse-epistle of Donne's to Sir Edward
Herbert, written in 1610, he says,
As Soules (they say) by our first touch, take in
The poysonous tincture of Originall sinne.
{Poems, I, ^. 194.)
See also Donne's letter of October 9, 1607 {Gosse, i, p. 176).
88. Terrible Things. I, pp. 701-2. Sermon LXIX. 'The fifth
of my Prebend Sermons upon my five Psalmes : Preached at S.
Pauls.* On January 28, 1627, Donne preached his fourth prebend
sermon (I, LXVIII). The prebend sermons followed one another
at intervals of a few months, so this sermon may be safely assigned
to 1627 {Spearing).
1. 17. 'spectacle', old use of the singular for 'spectacles*.
89. Gods Malediction. II, p. 227. Sermon XXVI. See ante,
Nos. 8, 82.
Notes. 257
90. God's Pozoer. *A Sermon, Preached to the Kings W^^ at
Whitehall, 24 Febr. 1625. By lohn Donne Deane of Saint Pauls,
London. And now by his Maiestes commandment Published^' London,
1626, pp. 16-18. This sermon was re-issued in Five Sermons, but
has not been reprinted since.
91. Access to God. I, pp. 500-1. Sermon L. * Preached upon the
Penitentiall Psalmes.'
92. The Image of God in Man. * The Second Sermon preached
before King Charles, Upon the xxvi verse of the first Chapter of
Genesis. By Dr. Donne Dean of Pauls ' (Cambridge, 1634), pp. 22-3.
In Six Sermons, No. 11 ; reprinted II, No. XXIX. This is evidently
a continuation of II, No. XXVIII, which was preached to the King
in April 1629, on the same text {Spearing). For the origin of the
idea in this extract, see Ramsay, p. 229.
93. Man God's Enemy. II, p. 372. Sermon XL. See ante, Nos. 12,
17, 67.
1. 5. ' as the Mouse is to the Elephant '. See Donne's Progresse
of the Soule, 11. 381-91 {Poems, i, pp. 310-11, and note, II, p. 223).
94. The Atheist. I, p. 486. Sermon XL VIII. See ante, No. 57.
95. The Angels. II, p. 7. Sermon I. See ante. No. 10.
96. The Devil. I, pp. 65-6. Sermon VII. See ante. No. 40.
Miss Ramsay has collected many passages from Donne's sermons
on the important quesrion of the possible salvation of the Devil.
{r.amsay, p. 210 f.)
97. The Creation. II, p. 280. Sermon XXXIL See fl«r^. No. 77.
98. The Heavens and Earth. Six Sermons. I, pp. 1-3. 'Two
Sermons preached before King Charles, Upon the xxvi verse of the
first Chapter of Genesis.' Reprinted, II, No. XXVIII. * Preached to
the King, at the Court in April, 1629.'
99. The Creation of a Harmonious World. Ill, p. 20. Sermon II.
* A Lent-Sermon Preached at White-hall, February 12. 1618 ' (161 9).
1. 3. ' an Instrument, perfectly in tune '. In his Obsequies to the
Lord Harrington (1614) Donne begins :
Faire soule, which wast, not onely, as all soules bee,
Then when thou wast infused, harmony.
But did'st continue so 5 and now dost beare
A part in Gods great organ, this whole Spheare :
{Poems, i, p. 271.)
100. God and Adam and Eve. * A Sermon Upon the xxii verse of
the v Chapter of John. By D^' Donne Dean of Pauls ' (Cambridge,
2025-3 S
258
Notes.
1634), pp. 9-10. This Sermon is No. V of the Six Sermons -j r<«
printed, II, No. XII. ' Preached at Lincolns Inne.'
1. 9. * Shall we *, ' Shall we not ' in original quarto, and folio.
101. Tbe World since the Fall. II, p. 223. Sermon XXVI. See
ante^ Nos. 8, 82, 89.
102. Silkworms. II, p. 143. Sermon XVII. * Preached at Lincoln*
Inne.*
103. Original Sin. II, pp. 187-8. Sermon XXII. ' Preached at
Lincolns Inne.'
104k. Original Sin. Ill, p. 183 (Bb 4). Sermon XIII. * A Sermon
Preached at White-hall, April 19. 161 8.*
105. The Heart of the Sinner. Ill, pp. 86-7. Sermon VI. Donne's
first sermon at Court. See ante, No. 87.
106. Light Sins. I, p. 164. Sermon XVII. See ante, No. 59.
p. 171, 1. 8. * gad ' is an old word for ' spike '.
107. Tbe Sin of Reason. Ill, pp. 89-92. Sermon VII. 'A Sermon
Preached at White-hall, Novemb. 2. 161 7.'
p. 173, 1. 15. * covercling ', Alford's emendation of * coveraling'
in the folio, from the old word found in Chaucer, ' covercle ', a cover,
a lid. But the Bodleian copy of the folio has the correction
* concealing ' in a contemporary hand.
108. Delight in Evil. Ill, pp. 84-5. Sermon VI. See ante,T^os. 87,
105.
109. Excuses. I, p. 390. Sermon XXXIX. * Preached upon
Trinity- Sunday.^
110. Rebuke of Sin. II, pp. 74-5. Sermon X. ' Preached at the
Churching of the Countess of Bridge water.' Frances, daughter of
Ferdinand Stanley, Earl of Derby. See note on No. 10.
111. Names of Sins. I, p. 584. Sermon LVIII. See ante, Nos. 6,
49-
112. Pride. I, p. 730. Sermon LXXII. Preached at The Hague.
See ante, Nos. 44, 86.
p. 181,1. 5. ' boast of their sinnes '. Cf. Devotions, p. z^^o. 'There
are many sins, which we glorie in doing, and would not do, if no body
should know them.'
113. Covetousness. I, pp. 714-15. Sermon LXX. * Preached at
White-hall, April 8. 1621.'
p. 1 83, 1. 8. * not thimbles ' in the folio. Corrected to ' but ' by Alford.
114. Blasphemy. I, pp. 343 -4. Sermon XXXV. Preached upon
Whitsunday.
Notes. 259
115. The Burden of Sin. II, pp. 193-4. Sermon XXIII.
* Preached at Lincolns Inne.''
WQ. The Sinner. I, p. 634. Sermon LXIII. * Preached upon the
Penitential! Psalmes.'
in, 7 he Sorrows oj the Wicked. I, p. 631. Sermon LXIII. See
ante^ No. 116.
118. The Sins of Memory. II, pp. 462-3. Sermon XLIX. 'A
Sermon Preached at Saint Dunstan's upon New-years-day, 1624.'
119. The Eye of God. n,pp. 336-7. Sermon XXXVII. 'Preached
at St. Pauls on Midsommer day. 1622.'
120. The World Drowned in Sin. I, pp. 365-6. Sermon XXXVII.
' Preached upon Whitsunday.'
121. The Hand of God. I, p. 579. Sermon LVII. ' Preached upon
the Penitential! Psalmes.'
122. The Sick Soul. II, p. 169. Sermon XX. See ante, No. 48.
123. Sleep. I, p. 129. Sermon XIII. 'Preached in Lent, to the
King. April 20. 1630.' This date must be a mistalce, as Easter fefl
on March 28 in 1630 {Spearing).
A few sentences, too outspoken for modern reprinting, have
been omitted from this extract.
p. 195, 1. 2. * thy metaphorical!, thy quotidian grave'. Cf.
Meditations, p. 44, ' every nights bed is a type of the grave '.
1. 5. * lobs Snow water '. See Job ix. 30.
124. The Gate of Death. Ill, pp. 294-5. Sermon XX. * Two
Sermons, to the Prince and Princess Palatine, the Lady Elizabeth,
at Heydelberg when I was commanded by the King to wait upon
my L. of Doncaster in his Embassage to Germany. First Sermon as
we went out, June 16. 1 61 9.' The other sermon has not been preserved.
The Ambassador and his party arrived on June 10 at Heidelberg,
the capital of the Elector Palatine (afterwards King of Bohemia)
who had married the Lady Elizabeth, daughter of James I. Donne's
epithalamion beginning ' Haile Bishop Valentine, whose day this is ',
was written for the marriage of the Lady Elizabeth. {Poems, i,
p. 127.)
1. 4. ' glad of that ', read * be glad of that ". P. 294 of the folio
ends * becaus he knows ' with * that ' as catchword ; p. 295 begins
* be that is ' with ' glad ' as the first word of the second line. The
' be ' has been printed at the beginning of the first line instead
of the second. It may be noted that ' glad ' is found in Elizabethan
English in the old sense * be glad ', ' rejoice ', but ' is glad ' in 1. 2 is
against its use in this sense here.
125. Our Prison. I, p. 267. Sermon XXVII. ' Preached to the
26o Notes.
LL. upon Easter-day, at the Communion, The King being then danger-
ously sick at New-Market.'' In 1619. 'On the 28th March 1619,
being Easter Day, he was called upon to preach before the Lords at
a time of great public anxiety. Queen Anne of Denmark had died
on the first of the month, and James I, after taking his leave of his
Consort, had gone to Newmarket. Here he had himself fallen
seriously ill, and on the day when Donne preached at Whitehall,
he was reported to be " dangerously sick " ' (jessopp, p. 124).
126. All must Die. I, pp. 147-9. Sermon XV. 'Preached at
White-hall, March 8. 1621 ' (1622).
p. 198, 1. 14. 'The ashes of an Oak '. Coleridge quotes the passage
that follows, adding, * Very beautiful indeed '. {Coleridge, p. 130.)
p. 199, 1. 13. 'Spittles', i.e. spitals or hospitals.
1. 16. ' when I lye '. Coleridge quotes this passage also, remarking,
* This Is powerful 5 but is too much in the style of the monkish
preachers : Papam redolet. Contrast with this Job's description
of death, and St. Paul's sleep in the Lord' {ibid., p. 131).
127. Death Inevitable. II, p. 270. Sermon XXX. * Preached to
the Countesse 0/ Bedford, then at Harrington house. January 7. 1620'
(1621). For Donne's friendship with Lucy, Countess of Bedford,
who, as Professor Grierson says, ' occupies the central place among
Donne's noble patrons and friends ', see Poems,n, p. 152. A study
of the Countess of Bedford's life, with that of the other ladies who
patronized the Elizabethan poets, would be of considerable interest
for the light it would throw on the social background of the age of
Shakespeare — a subject about which we have really very little
information.
1. 2. ' Ecce% short for ' Ecce signum*. P. 201, 1. 5, * echoes*
is apparently a mistake for ' ecces '.
L 19. sent, old form of * scent '.
128. The Expectation of Death. Ill, p. 13. Sermon I. See ante y
No. 73.
129. The Death-bed. * A Sermon Upon the xliiii verse of the xxi
Chapter of Matthew. By D^* Donne Dean of Pauls ' (Cambridge,
MDCXXXIIII, pp. 5-6). In Six Sermons, No. IV. Reprinted, II,
No. XXXV, where it is dated ' February 21. 161 1 ' — plainly an error,
as Donne was ordained in 161 5.
130. The Death of Ecstasy. I, pp. 273-4. Sermon XXVII. See
ante, No. 125. Professor Grierson quotes this passage, remarking,
' This is the highest level that Donne ever reached in eloquence
inspired by the vision of the joy and not the terror of the Christian
faith '. {Poems, ii, p. liv. See also Ramsay, p. 260 f.)
131. The Dead with Us. I, pp. 219-20. Sermon XXII. See
ante. No. 2.
Notes. 261
p. 204, I. 18. 'into another Land'. In 1629 Donne wrote to
Mrs. Cockain, consoling her for the death of her son, ' Since I am well
content to send one son to the Church, the other to the Wars, why
should I be loth to send one part of either son to heaven and the
other to the earth ? ' {Gosse, ii, p. 261).
132. Mourning. I, pp. 157-8. Sermon XVI. * Preached at
White-hall, the first Friday in Lent. 1622 ' (February 28, 1623).
1. 21. 'Authors of a middle nature'. 'A whimsical instance of
the disposition in the mind for every pair of opposites to find an
intermediate, — a mesothesis for every thesis and antithesis. Thus
Scripture may be opposed to philosophy ; and then the Apocryphal
books will be philosophy relatively to Scripture, and Scripture
relatively to philosophy.' {Coleridge^ p. 135.)
133. A Quiet Grave. I, p. 463. Sermon XLVL See ante, No. 83.
1. 12. 'Quillet'. A beautiful old word, now only in local or
antiquarian use, for a small plot or narrow strip of land.
134. Eternal Damnation. I, pp. 776-j. Sermon LXXVI.
* Preached to the Earle oj Carlile, and his Company, at Sion.' Probably
after 1622, when Donne's friend, Viscount Doncaster, was created
Earl of Carlisle [Spearing). Syon House, Isleworth, belonged to
Lady Carlisle's father, Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland,
This passage, on the ground that Marston also wrote sermons,
which have perished, while those of Donne have been preserved, is
quoted by Mr. A. H. BuUen, in his introduction to The Works of
John Marston, 1887, i, pp. lix-lx. I must express my debt to
Mr. BuUen, for although two folios of Donne's Sermons had stood
for years on my bookshelves, it was not until I read this extract in
his Marston, that it occurred to me that it might be interesting to
read them.
p. 209, 1. 28. * standing, and knocking '. Cf. Holy Sonnets, xiv:
Batter my heart, three person'd God 5 for you
As yet but knocke. [Poems, i, p. 328.)
135. Death oJ the Good and the Bad Man. HI, pp. 217-18.
Sermon XV. See ante. No. 18.
\3Q. The Northern Passage. I, p. 463. Sermon XLVL See ante,
Nos. 83, 133.
137. The Resurrection. I, p. 257. Sermon XXVL See ante,
No. 61.
138. The Awakening. I, p. 263. Sermon XXVL See ante,
Nos. 61, 137.
139. The Resurrection of the Body. II, p. 3. Sermon I. See ante,
Nos. 10, 95. In an undated letter, probably written in 1612, in which
262 Notes.
Donne wrote begging some favour of Lord Rochester, he says, * And
since good divines have made this argument against deniers of the
Resurrection, that it is easier for God to unite the principles and
elements of our bodies, howsoever they be scattered, than it was at
first to create them out of nothing, I cannot doubt but that any
distractions or diversions in the ways of my hopes will be easier to
your Lordship to reunite than it was to create them '. {Gosse, ii, p. 23.)
140. Tbe Last Day. II, p. 343. Sermon XXXVII. See ante.
No. 119.
1^1. Tbe Day of Judgement. I, p. 371. Sermon XXXVIL See
ante^ No. 120.
1. 14. * for thy sins '. Cf. A Hymne to God the Father^ ii,
Wilt thou forgive that sinne which I have wonne
Others to sinne ? and, made my sinne their doore ?
{Poems, i, p. 369.)
142. Joy. I, pp. 672-3. Sermon LXVI. The Second Prebend
Sermon. See ante^ Nos. 9, 20, 41, 80.
143. The Joy oj Heaven. I, p. 75. Sermon VII. See ante. No. 40.
144. Little Stars. Six Sermons, II, pp. 9, 10. See ante, No. 92.
145. Heirs of Heaven. I, p. 340. Sermon XXXIV. See ante,
No. I.
146. Seeing God. I, pp. 230-1. Sermon XXIII. Set ante, 'No. yg.
1. I. Speculum. This is an earlier instance of speculum for mirror
or reflector than the one given in the N. E. D. (1646).
147. The Sight of God. II, p. 117. Sermon XIV. See ante,
Nos. 3, 53.
148. The State of Glory. Six Sermons, II, pp. 36-8. Reprinted
II, p. 261. See ante, Nos. 92, 144.
149. Immortality. The Chelsea Sermon, pp. 106-18. See ante,
No. 28. Reprinted in Alford, vi, pp. 265-7.
150. Knowledge in Heaven. Ill, pp. 389-90. Sermon XXV.
*A Sermon Preached at the Spittle Upon Easter-Munday, 1622'
(April 22). The ' Spittle ' was the old priory of St. Mary Spital,
Bethnal Green, where there was a pulpit Cross, something like St.
Paul's Cross, where sermons on the Resurrection were preached in
the afternoons of Easter Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
151. Eternity. I, p. 266. Sermon XXVI. See ante. No. 61.
152. Eternity. II, p. 413. Sermon XLIV. ^ * Preached at St.
Pauls Cro55<?, Novemb. 22, 1629.' 'The preaching of this sermon
overtaxed Donne's failing strength ; for when Christmas day came
Notes. 263
he was, for the first time, unable to appear in the pulpit of St. Pauls.'
(JessopPf p. 200.)
153. Eternity, I, pp. 747-8. Sermon LXXIII. See ante, No. 11.
154. Joy in Heaven. II, pp. 473-4. Sermon L. See ante, Nos. 50,
62, 65.
155. Donne's Last Sermon. * Deaths Duell, or, A Consolation to
the Soule, against the dying Life, and lluing Death of the Body.
Deliuered in a Sermon at White Hall, before the Kings Maiesty, in
the beginning of Lent, 1630 [163 1]. By that late learned and Reuerend
Diuine, lohn Donne, D''* in Diuinity, & Deane of S. Pauls, London.
Being his last Sermon, and called by his Maiesties houshold The
Doctors owne Funerall Sermon' (London, 1632), pp. 5-6, 9-12, 20.
This sermon was reprinted in the third folio, No. XXVI.
p. 239, 1. 2. * flesh'. This is the reading in the folio for * bestee' in
the quarto.
p. 240, 1. 30. * state '. * State * is used here in the old sense of
* canopy '. Cf. Paradise Lost, x. 445 :
Ascended his high Throne, which under state
Of richest texture spred, at th' upper end
Was plac't in regal lustre.
• The devices on the hack and front of the cover represent
Donne'' s family seal {a sheaf of snakes) and the seal designed
fot himself {Christ crucified on an anchor).
To M^ George Herbert, with one of my
Seals, of the Anchor and Christ.
A Sheafe of Snakes used heretofore to be
My Seal, The Crest of our poore FamiJy.
Adopted in Gods Family, and so
Our old Coat lost, unto new armes I go.
The Crosse (my seal at Baptism) spred below,
Does, by that form, into an Anchor grow.
Crosses grow Anchors ; Bear, as thou shouldst do
Thy Crosse, and that Crosse grows an Anchor too.
But he that makes our Crosses Anchors thus.
Is Christ, who there is crucifi'd for us.
Yet may I, with this, my first Serpents hold,
God gives new blessings, and yet leaves the old ;
The Serpent, may, as wise, my pattern be ;
My poison, as he feeds on dust, that 's me.
And as he rounds the Earth to murder sure.
My death he is, but on the Crosse, my cure.
Crucifie nature then, and then implore
All Grace from him, crucified there before ;
When all is Crosse, and that Crosse Anchor grown,
This Seal 's a Catechism, not a Seal alone.
Under that little Seal great gifts I send.
Wishes, and prayers, pawns, and fruits of a friend.
And may that Saint which rides in our great Seal,
To you, who bear his name, great bounties deal.
From Izaak Walton's Lije of Donne,
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
London
Glasgow
New York
Toronto
Melbourne
Wellington
Bombay
Calcutta
Madras
Karachi
Dacca
Lahore
Kuala Lumpur
Amen House, E.G. 4
58 Buchanan Street
417 Fifth Avenue, N.Y. 16
70 Wynford Drive, Don Mills
Bowen Crescent
Empire Building, Willis Street
Apollo Bunder
Lai Bazar
Mount Road
McLeod Road
Red Cross Building, 1 14 Motijheel
Bank Square
Jalan Belanda
Hong Kong
Ming Sang Building, Tung Lo Wan Road
Cape Town Thibault House, Thibault Square
Ibadan Iddo Gate
Accra Kwame Nkrumah Avenue
Nairobi Church House, Government Road
Salisbury Baker Avenue
Johannesburg Joubert Street
In the same Series
CHARAC^tRS FROM THE HISTORIES AND
MEMOIRS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Selected and edited by D. Nichol Smith.
ENGLISH LYRICS OF THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY. Edited by Carleton Brown.
RELIGIOUS LYRICS OF THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY. Edited by Carleton Brown. Second edition
revised by G. V. Smithers.
RELIGIOUS LYRICS OF THE FIFTEENTH
C E N T U RY. Edited by Carleton Brown.
FOURTEENTH-CENTURY VERSE AND PROSE.
Edited by Kenneth Sisam. With a Glossary by J. R. R. Tolkien.
SECULAR LYRICS OF THE XIVth AND XVth
CENTURIES. Edited by Rossell Hope Robbins. Second
edition, 1955.
JONSON'S 'EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR'.
Edited by P. Simpson.
JEREMY TAYLOR: THE GOLDEN GROVE.
Selected Passages from his Sermons and Writings. Edited by
L. Pearsall Smith. With Bibliography by R. Gathorne-
Hardy.
METAPHYSICAL LYRICS AND POEMS OF
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Donne to Butler.
Selected and edited, with an Essay, by H. J. C. Grierson.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
[8 1 1327/7/64]