the scornfull which implies a Magisteriall a Doctorall kinde of sinning that is to sinne and to prouoke others by example to sinne too and promises no returne from that Position For as wee haue had diuers examples that men who haue vs'd and accustom'd their mouthes to Oaths and Blasphemies all their liues haue made it their last syllable and their last gaspe to sweare they shall die so they that inlarge and vngirt their wits in this iesting at Religion shall passe away at last in a negligence of all spirituall assistances and not finde halfe a minute betweene their last iest and their euerlasting earnest Vae vobis qui ridetis Woe be vnto you that laugh so for you shall weepe and weepe eternally Saint Paul preacht of the Resurrection of the dead and they mockt him And here St. Peter saies there will be that is there will be alwaies Scoffers that will say where is the promise of Christs comming For since the Fathers fell asleepe all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation But doe they so saies this Apostle Was not the world that then was ouerslow'd with water and perish't If that were done in earnest why doe yee make a iest of this saies he That the heauens and the earth which are now are reserued vnto fire against the day of Iudgement 2. Tim. 3. 1 The Apostle saies That in the last dayes perillous times shall come and hee reckons there diuers kindes of perillous men but yet these Iesters are not among them And then 1 Tim 4. 1. The Apostle names more perillous men Seducing Spirits and Seducing by the doctrine of Deuils forbidding meats and mariage and we know who these men are Our Sauiour tels vs they shall proceed a great way They shall shew great signes and wonders they shall pretend Miracles they shall exhibite false Christs Christs kneaded into peeces of bread And wee know who these are and can beware of these proceedings But Saint Iude remembers vs of the greatest danger of all Remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ that there should bee mockers in the last time For against all the rest the Church of God is better arm'd But Perniciosissimum humano generi sayes Saint Augustine This is the ruine and ouerthrow of mankinde that is of Religion which is the life and soule of mankinde Cum vera salubris sententia imperitorum populorum irrisione sordescit When true and sincere Religion shall be cri'd down and laugh't out of countenance by the scornes and iests of ignorant people When to all our sober preaching and serious writing a scornfull ignorant shall thinke it enough to oppose that one question of contempt Where was your Church before Luther Whereas if wee had had any thing from Luther which wee had not had before yet euen that were elder than those Articles which they had from the Councell of Trent and had not as Articles before For Luthers Declarations were before the Constitutions of that Councell So that wee could play with them at their owne Game and retort their owne scornes vpon themselues but that matters of Religion should moue in a higher Spheare and not bee deprest and submitted to iests But though our Apostles prophesie must be fulfilled There will bee and will alwaies be some scoffers some iesters Neuerthelesse saies the Text there is a Religious constancy vpheld and maintained by others And farther wee extend not this first Consideration of our danger But though I can stand out these scornes and iests there is a Tentation that is Reall There are true terrours sad apprehensions substantiall circumstances that accompany the consideration of Christs second comming and the Day of Iudgement It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God if I doe but fall into his hands in a feuer in my bed or in a tempest at Sea or in a discontent at home But to fall into the hands of the liuing God so as that that liuing God enters into Iudgement with mee and passes a finall and irreuocable Iudgement vpon mee this is a Consternation of all my spirits an Extermination of all my succours I consider what God did with one word with one Fiat he made all And I know he can doe as much with another word With one Pereat he can destroy all As hee spake and it was done he commanded and all stood fast so he can speak and all shall bee vndone command and all shall fall in peeces I consider that I may bee surpriz'd by that day the day of Iudgement Here Saint Peter saies The day of the Lord wil come as a Thiefe And Saint Paul saies we cannot be ignorant of it Your selues know perfectly that the day of the Lord so commeth as a Thiefe And as the Iudgement it selfe so the Iudge himselfe saies of himselfe I will come vpon thee as a Thiefe He saies he will and he doe's it For it is not Ecce veniam but Ecce venio Behold I doe come vpon thee as a Thiefe There the future which might imply a dilatorinesse is reduc't to an infallible present It is so sure that he will doe it that he is said to haue done it already I consider hee will come as a Thiefe and then as a Thiefe in the night And I doe not only not know when that night shall be For himselfe as he is the Son of man knowes not that but I doe not only not know what night that is which night but not what night that is what kinde of night he meanes It is said so often so often repâ—dâ—ed that he will come as a Thiefe in the night as that hee may meane all kinde of nights In my night of Ignorance hee may come and hee may come in my night of Wantonnesse In my night of inordinate and sinfull melancholy and suspicion of his mercy hee may come and he may come in the night of so stupid or so raging a sicknesse as that he shall not come by comming Not come so as that I shall receiue him in the absolution of his Minister or receiuâ—â—â—im in the participation of his body and his bloud in the Sacrament So hee may come vpon mee as such a Thiefe in such a night nay when all these nights of Ignorance of Wantonnesse of Desperation of Sicknesse of Stupiditie of Rage may bee vpon mee all at once I consider that the Holy Ghost meant to make a deepe impression of a great terror in me when he came to that expression That the Heauens should passe away Cum stridore with a great noise and the Elements melt with feruent heat and the earth and the workes that are therein shall be burnt vp And when he adds in Esay The Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a whirlewind to render his anger with fury for by fire and by his sword will the
and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse But first let vs doe our first worke and pursue the literall purpose of the Apostle in these words Which words out of their connection and coherence be pleas'd to receiue thus spread and dilated into this Paraphrase Neuerthelesse that is though there be scoffers and iesters that deride and laugh at the second comming of Christ as the Apostle had said v. 3. And neuerthelesse againe Though this day of the Lord will certainly come and come as a Theefe and as a Theefe in the night and when it comes the Heauens shall passe away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with seruent heat the Earth also and all the Workes that are therein shall be burnt vp as hee had also said v. 10. Though there be such a scorne put vpon it by scoffers and iesters and though there be such a horrour in the truth of the thing it selfe yet neuerthelesse for all that for all that scorne and for all that horrour We We saies the Text We that are fixt in God We that are not ignorant of this one thing as he saies v. 8. that one day is with the Lord as 1000. yeares and 1000. yeares as one day We that know that the Lord is not stacke in his promise though he be long-suffering to vs-ward as he also saies v. 9. We According to his promises that is building vpon that foundatioÌ„ his Scriptures presuming vpon nothing that is not in that euidence and doubting of nothing that is there We expect We looke for something saies our Text which we haue not yet Wee determine not our selues nor our contentment in those things which God giues vs here not in his Temporall not in his spirituall Blessings in this life but we expect future things greater than wee are capable of here for We looke for new Heauens and new Earth in which that which is not at all to be had here or is but an obscure In-mate a short Soiourner a transitory Passenger in this World that is Righteousnesse shall not onely Bee but Dwell for euer Neuerthelesse wee according to his promise looke for new Heauens and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse So then in this our Voyage through this Sea which is truly a Mediterranean Sea a Sea betwixt two Lands the Land of Possession which wee haue and the Land of Promise which wee expect this Old and that new Earth that our dayes may be the better in this land which the Lord our God hath giuen vs and the surer in that Land which the Lord our God will giue vs In this Sea-voyage bee these our Land-markes by which we shall steere our whole course First the day of Iudgement is subiect to scorne some laugh at it And then in a second consideration it induces horror The best man that is but man trembles at it But wee which is a third branch those that haue laid hold vpon God And in a fourth place haue laid hold vpon God by the right handle According to his promises Wee which will constitute a fift point Wee expect We blesse God for our Possession but We looke for a greater Reuersion which Reuersion in the next roome is new Heauens and new Earth And lastly such Heauens and such Earth as may be an euerlasting Dwelling for Righteousnesse And through all these particulars we shall passe with as much cleerenesse and shortnesse as the weight and number thereof will admit First then to shake the constancy of a Christian there will alwaies be Scorners Iesters Scoffers and Mockers at Religion The Period and Consummation of the Christian Religion the Iudgement day the second comming of Christ will alwaies be subiect to scornes And many times a scorne cuts deeper then a sword Lucian wounded Religion more by making Iests at it than Arius or Pelagius or Nestorius with making Arguments against it For against those profest Heretikes and against their studied Arguments which might seeme to haue some weight it well beseem'd those graue Reuerendâ— Fathers of the Church to call their Councels and to take into their serious consideration those Arguments and solemnly to conclude and determine and decree in the point But it would ill haue become those reuerend persons to haue cal'd their Councels or taken into their so serious considerations Epigrams and Satyres and Libells and scurrill and scornfull iests against any point of Religion Scornes and Iests are easilier apprehended and vnderstood by vulgar ordinary capacities then Arguments are and then learned men are not so earnest nor so diligent to ouerthrow and confute a Iest or Scorne as they are an Argument and so they passe more vncontrol'd and preuaile further and liue longer then Arguments doe It is the height of Iobs complaint that contemptible persons made Iests vpon him And it is the depth of Samsons calamity that when the Philistins hearts were merry then they cald for Samson to make them sport So to the Israelites in Babylon when they were in that heauinesse that euery breath they breath'd was a sigh their enemies cal'd to sing them a song And so they proceeded with him who fulfil'd in himselfe alone all Types and Images and Prophesies of sorrowes who was as the Prophet calls him Vir dolorum A man compos'd and elemented of sorrowes our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus For They platted a crowne of thornes vpon his head and they put a reed into his hand and they bowed the knee before him and mockt him Truly the conniuing at seuerall Religions as dangerous as it is is not so dishonourable to God as the suffering of Iesters at Religion That may induce heresie but this doâ—'s establish Atheisme And as that is the publike mischiefe so for the priuate there lies much danger in this that hee that giues himselfe the liberty of iesting at Religion shall finde it hard to take vp at last as when Iulian the Apostata had receiued his Deathes-wound and could not chuse but confesse that that wound came from the hand and power of Christ yet he confest it in a Phrase of Scorne Vicisti Galilaee The day is thine O Galilean and no more It is not Thou hast accomplish't thy purpose O my God nor O my Maker nor O my Redeemer but in a stile of contempt Vicisti Galilaee and no more And therefore as Dauid begins his Psalmes with Blessednesse so he begins Blessednesse with that Blessed is hee which sitteth not in the seat of the scornfull Dauid speakes there of walking with the vngodly but walking is a laborious motion And hee speakes there of standing with the sinner but standing is a painfull posture In these two walking and standing there 's some intimation of a possibility of wearinesse and so of desisting at last But in sitting in the seat of the scornfull there is denoted a sinning at ease and in the Vulgate edition at more that ease with authority and glory For it is In cathedra In the chaire of
A SERMON OF COMMEMORATION OF THE Lady DaÌ„uers late Wife of Sr. Iohn DaÌ„uers Preach'd at Chilsey where she was lately buried By Iohn Donne D. of St. Pauls Lond. 1. Iuly 1627. Together with other Commemorations of Her By her Sonne G. Herbert LONDON Printed by I. H. for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meredith and are to be sold at their shop at the golden Lion in Pauls Church yard 1627. Errata Page 17. line 19. for her reade the. p. 27. l. 20. for Royall r reall p. 34 l. 5. for Germ r. Iohannes Baptista Vergerius p 35. l. 15. for in r. into p. 36. l. 6. for the power r. the abused power p. 44 l. 12. for hic r. hûc p. 47. l. 16. for foundation adde or openly disturbed the Church p. 66. l. 9. for succession best succession from here â—iques or at best from an imprâ—bable example of the Nazarites p. 67. l 13. in Sacerdotibus c. as an vncleane Act. adde in Marg. August ep 74. p. 75. l. 20. for Apostolicall r. Apochryphall p. 93. l. 11. for comming r. cunning p. 99. l 13. dele our p. 123. l. 5. for prosued r. pursued p. 160 l. 10. woman adde sate on a Beast which had p. 192. for Edward r. Edwin p. c 137. l. 16. for Diuels r. damned with Diuels p. 248. l. 2. for Apostle r. Euangelist p. 275. l. 17. cita Ferum in cap. 1 Io. 〈◊〉 1550. p. 34. THE PRAYER BEFORE the SERMON O Eternall and most Glorious God who sometimes in thy Iustice dost giue the dead bodies of the Saints to be meat vnto the Fowles of the Heauen and the flesh of thy Saints vnto the beasts of the Earth so that their bloud is shed like water and there is none to burie them Who sometimes sel'st thy People for nought and dost not increase thy wealth by their price and yet neuer leau'st vs without that knowledge That precious in thy sight is the death of thy Saints inable vs in life and death seriously to consider the value the price of a Soule It is precious ô Lord because thine Image is stampt and imprinted vpon it Precious because the bloud of thy Soone was paid for it Precious because thy blessed Spirit the Holy Ghost workes vpon it and tries it by his diuers fires And precious because it is enter'd into thy Reuenue and made a part of thy Treasure Suffer vs not therefore ô Lord so to vnder value our selues nay so to impouerish thee as to giue away those soules thy soules thy deare and precious soules for nothing and all the world is nothing if the Soule must be giuen for it We know ô Lord that our Rent due to thee is our Soule and the day of our death is the day and our Death-bed the place where this Rent is to bee paid And wee know too that hee that hath sold his soule before for vniust gaine or giuen away his soule before in the society and fellowship of sinne or lent away his soule for a time by a lukewarmnesse and temporizing to the dishonor of thy name to the weakning of thy causeâ— to the discouraging of thy Seruants he comes to that day to that place his Death and Death-bed without any Rent in his hand without any soule to this purpose to surrender it vnto thee Let therefore ô Lord the same hand which is to receiue them then preserue these soules till then Let that mouth that breath'd them into vs at first breath alwaies vpon them whilst they are in vs and suâ—cke them into it selfe when they depart from vs. Preserue our soules ô Lord because theyâ— belong to thee and preserue our bodies because they belong to those soules Thou alone dost steere our Boat through all our Voyage but hast a more especiall care of it a more watchfull eye vpon it when it comes to a narrow currant or to a dangerous full of waters Thou hast a care of the preseruation of these bodies in all the waies of our life But in the Straights of Death open thine eyes wider and enlarge thy prouidence towards vs so farre that no Feuer in the body may shake the soule no Apoplexie in the body dampe or benumbe the soule nor any paine or agonie of the body presage future torments to the soule But so make thou our bed in all our sicknesse that being vs'd to thy hand wee may be content with any bed of thy making Whether thou bee pleas'd to change our feathers into flockes by withdrawing the conueniences of this life or to change our flockes into dust euen the dust of the Graue by withdrawing vs out of this life And though thou diuide man and wife mother and child friend and friend by the hand of Death yet stay them that stay and send them away that goe with this consolation that though we part at diuers daies and by diuers waies here yet wee shall all meet at one place and at one day a day that no night shall determine the day of the glorious Resurrection Hasten that day ô Lord for their sakes that beg it at thy hands from vnder the Altar in Heauen Hasten it for our sakes that groane vnder the manifold incombrances of these mortall bodies Hasten it for her shake whoÌ„ wee haue lately laid downe in this thy holy ground And hasten it for thy Son Christâ—Iesus sake to whom then and not till then all things shall bee absolutely subdu'd Seale to our soules now an assurance of thy gracious purpose towards vs in that day by accepting this daies seruice at our hands Accept our humble thankes for all thy benefits spirituall and temporall already bestowed vpon vs and accept our humble prayers for the continuance and enlargement of them Continue and enlarge them ô God vpon thine vniuersall Church dispersed c. A SERMON OF Commemoration of the Lady DaÌ„uers late wife of Sr. Iohn DaÌ„uers Neuerthelesse we according to his promises looke for new Heauens and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse 2 Pet. 3. 13. I Propose to my selfe and to this Congregation two Workes for this day That wee may walke together two miles in this Sabbath daies iourney First To instruct the Liuing and then To commemorate the Dead Which office as I ought so I should haue performed sooner but that this sad occasion surprized me vnder other Pre-obligations and Pre-contracts in the seruices of mine own Profession which could not be excused nor auoided And being come now to this double worke whether I looke vp to the Throne of Heauen and that Firmament for my first worke The Instruction of the Liuing or downe to the stones of the Graue and that pauement for my second worke The commemoration of the Dead I need no other words than these which I haue read to you for both purposes For to assist the Resurrection of your soules I say And to assure the Resurrection of your bodies she saies Neuerthelesse we according to his promise looke for new Heauens
ciuill Actions was Religion so the rule of her Religion was the Scripture And her rule for her particular vnderstanding of the Scripture was the Church Shee neuer diuerted towards the Papist in vndervaluing the Scripture nor towards the Separatist in vnderualuing the Church But in the doctrine and discipline of that Church in which God seal'd her to himselfe in Baptisme shee brought vp her children shee assisted her family she dedicated her soule to God in her life and surrendered it to him in her death And in that forme of Common Prayer which is ordain'd 〈◊〉 by â—hat Church and to which she had accustomâ—td her selfe with her family wide 〈◊〉 day she ioyn'd with than company which was about her death-bed in answering to euery parâ— thereof which the Congrgationl is directed to answer to with a cleere vnderstanding with a constant memory with a distinct â—voyed not 〈◊〉 houres before she died 〈◊〉 According to this promise that is the will of God manifested in the 〈◊〉 She expected Shee expected this that she hath receâ—ued Gods Physioke and Gods Mâ—sicke a Christianly death For death in the old Testamen was a Comâ—â—nation but in the now Testament death is a Promise When there was a Super-dying a death vpon the death a Morte vpon the Morâ—erisâ— a Spirituall death after the bodily then wee died aâ—cording to Gods threatning 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 Apostle giues vs from him That wee shall all bee changed For after that promise that change follow 's that triumphant Acclamation O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victory Consider vs fallen in Adam and wee are miserable that wee must die But consider vs restor'd and redintegrated in Christ wee were more miserable if wee might not die Wee lost the earthly Paradise by death then but wee get not Heauen but by death now This shee expected till it came and embrac't it when it came How may we thinke shee was ioy'd to see that face that Angels delight to looke vpon the face of her Sauiour that did not abhor the face of his fearfullest Messenger Deathâ— Shee shew'd no feare of his face in any change of her owne but died without any change of countenanâ—e or postureâ— without any strugling any disorder but her Death-bed was as quietâ— asâ—her Graus To another Magdalen Christ said vp on earth ascendedâ— Being ascended now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and she bâ—â—ing gone 〈◊〉 to him asâ—â—r she'e had awaited his 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 â—yoâ—res as that more would◠〈…〉 growne to bee vexdâ—â—on and sâ—rrow was her last 〈◊〉 horb were 〈◊〉 my will to the will of God so wee doubt not but the first word which she heard there was that Euge from her Sauiour Well done good and faithfull seruant enter into thy mastersioy 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 Still a Reuersionarie And a Reuersionary vpoÌ„ along life The whole world must die before she come to a possession of this Reuersion which is a Glorified body in the Resurrection In which expectation she return's to her former charity shee will not haue that till all wee shall haue it as well as shee She eat not her morsels alone in her life as Iob speakes Shee lookes not for the glory of the Resurrection alone after her death But when all we shall haue beene mellow'd in the earth many yeeres or chang'd in the Aire in the twinkling of an eye God knowes which That body vpon which you tread now That body which now whilst I speake is mouldring and crumbling into lesse and lesse dust and so hath some motion though no life That body which was the Tabernacle of a holy Soule and a Temple of the holy Ghost That body that was eyes to the blinde and hands and feet to the lame whilst it liu'd and being dead is so still by hauing beene so liuely an example to teach others to be so That body at last shall haue her last expectation satisfied and d'well bodily with that Righteousnesse in these new Heauens and new Earth for euer and euer and euer and infinite and super-infinite euers Weeâ—nd all with the valediction of the Spouse to Christâ— His left hand is vnder my head and his right embraces mee was the Spouses valediction and goodnight to Christ then when she laid her selfe downe to sleepe in the strength of his Mandrakes and in the power of his Spices as it is exprest â—here that is in the influence of his mercies Beloued euery good Soule is the Spouse of Christâ— And this good Soule being thus laid downe to sleepe in his peace His left hand vnder her head gathering and composing and preferuing hen dust for future Glory His right hand embracing her assuming and establishing her soule in present Glory in his name and in her behalfe I say that to all you which Christ sayes there in the behalfe of that Spouse Adiuro vos I adiure you I charge you O daughters of Ierusalem that yee wake her not till she please The words are directed to the daughters rather then to the sons of Ierusalem because for the most part the aspersions that women receiue either in Morall or Religious actions proceed from womeÌ„ themselues Therfore Adiuro vos I charge you Oye daughters of Ierusalem wake her not Wake her not with any halfe calumnies with any whisperings But if you wil wake her wake her and keepe her awake with an actiue imitation of her Morall and her Holy vertues That so her example working vpon you and the number of Gods Saints being the sooner by this blessed example fulfil'd wee may all meet and meet quickly in that kingdome which hers and our Sauiour hath purchac't for vs all with the inestimable price of his incorrupâ—tible blouâ— To which â—â—glorious Sonne of God c. FINIS MEMORIAE MATRIS Sacrum AH Mater quo te deplorem fâ—nte Dolores Quae guttae poterunt enumerare meos Sicca meis lacrymis Thamesis vicina videtur Virtutumque choro siscior ipse tuo In flumen maerore nigrum si funderer ardens Laudibus hand â—ierem sepia iusta tâ—is Tantùm istaec scribâ— gratus nâ— tu mihâ— tant ùm Mater ista Dolor â—â—nc tibi Mâ—tra parit 〈…〉 〈…〉 Conferâ—â— lacrymas Illa quae vos iniscuit Vestrasaue laudes posoit mixi as genas 〈…〉 Pudorque constet vel solut is crinibus 〈…〉 Decus mulâ—erum perijt metùunt vâ—râ— Vtrumquâ— sexum dote ne mulctauerit Non illa soles terere comptu lubricos Struices superbas at que turritum câ—pute Molita reliquum deinde garrâ—ens diem Nam post Babelem Linguae adest confusio Quin post mode stam qualis integras decet Substructionem capit is