Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	day_n	rest_v	sabbath_n	17,277	5	10.3172	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20641	Fiue sermons vpon speciall occasions (Viz.) 1. A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse. 2. To the Honorable the Virginia Company 3. At the consecration of Lincolnes Inne Chappell. 4. The first sermon preached to K. Charles at St. Iames, 1625. 5. A sermon preached to his Maiestie at White-hall, 24. Febr. 1625. By Iohn Donne Deane of Saint Pauls, London.	Donne, John, 1572-1631.; Donne, John, 1572-1631. Sermon upon the xx. verse of the v. chapter of the booke of Judges. aut; Donne, John, 1572-1631. Sermon upon the viii. verse of the I. chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. aut; Donne, John, 1572-1631. Encaenia. aut; Donne, John, 1572-1631. First sermon preached to King Charles, at Saint James. aut; Donne, John, 1572-1631. Sermon, preached to the Kings Mtie. at Whitehall, 24 Febr. 1625. aut	1626 (1626)	STC 7041; ESTC S109970	94,733	348

consecrated himselfe who is a Temple of the Holy Ghost before hee came to assist or to testifie the consecration of this place of the Seruice of God Bern. Ser. 1. Nostra festiuitas haec est quia de Ecclesia nostra sayes Saint Bernard This Festiuall belongs to vs because it is the consecration of that place which is ours Magis autem nostr●… quia de nobis ipsis But it is more properly our Festiuall because it is the consecration of our selues to Gods seruice For Sanctae Animae propter inhabitantem Spiritum your Soules are holy by the inhabitation of Gods holy spirit who dwells in them Sancta corpora propter inhabitantem animam Your Bodies are holy by the inhabitation of those sanctified Soules Sancti parietes propter Corpora Sanctorum These walles are holy because the Saints of God meet here within these walls to glorifie him But yet these places are not onely consecrated sanctified by your comming but to bee sanctified also for your comming that so as the Congregation sanctifies the place the place may sanctifie the Congregation too They must accompany one another holy persons and holy places If men would wash sheep in the Baptisterie in the Font those sheep were not christned If prophane men or idolatrous men pray here after their way their prayers are not sanctified by the place Neither if it be after polluted doth the place retain that sanctitie which is this day to be deriued vpon it and to bee imprinted in it Diuisio Our Text settles vs vpon both these considerations The holy place and the holy person It was the Feast of the Dedication there 's the holinesse of the place And the holy person was holinesse it selfe in the person of Christ Iesus who walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch These two will bee our two parts And the first of these wee shall make vp of these pieces First we shall see a lawfull vse of Feasts of Festiuall dayes And then of other Feasts then were instituted by God himselfe diuers were so this was not And thirdly not only a festiuall solemnizing of some one thing at some one time for the present but an Anniuersary returning to that solemnitie euery yeare And lastly in that first part this Festiuall in particular The Feast of the Dedication of the Temple that sanctified the place that shall determine that part In the second part The holinesse of the person we shall carry your thoughts no farther but vpon this That euen this holy person Iesus himselfe would haue recourse to this place thus dedicated thus sanctified And vpon this that hee would doe that especially at such times as hee might countenance and authorise the Ordinances and Institutions of the Church which had appointed this Festiuall And this sayes the Text he did in the Winter First Etsi Hiems though it were Winter hee came and walked in the Porch a little inconuenience kept him not off And Quia Hiems because it was Winter he walked in the Porch which was couered not in the Temple which was open So that heere with modestie and without scandall he condemned not the fauouring of a mans health euen in the Temple And it was at Ierusalem the Feast of the Dedication and it was Winter and Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch In our first part Holy places 1. Part. Festa wee looke first vpon the times of our meeting there Holy dayes The root of all those is the Sabboth that God planted himselfe euen in himselfe in his owne rest from the Creation But the root and those branches which grow from that root are of the same nature and the same name And therefore as well of the flower as of the root of a Rose or of a Violet we would say This is a Violet this is a Rose so as well to other Feasts of Gods institution as to the first Sabboth God giues that name hee cals those seuerall Feasts which he instituted Sabboths enioynes the same things to be done vpon them inflicts the same punishments vpon them that breake them Leuit. 23. So that there is one Moralitie that is the soule of all Sabboths of all Festiualls howsoeuer all Sabboths haue a ceremoniall part in them yet there is a Morall part that inanimates them all they are elemented of Ceremonie but they animated with Moralitie And that Moralitie is in them all Rest for if Adam could name creatures according to their nature God could name his Sabboth according to the nature of it and Sabboth is Rest It is a Rest of two kindes our rest and Gods rest Our rest is the cessation from labour on those dayes Gods rest is our sanctifying of the day for so in the religious sacrifice of Noah when hee was come out of the Arke Genes 8. God is said to haue smelt Odorem quietis the sauour of rest vpon those dayes we rest from seruing the world and God rests in our seruing of him And as God takes a tenth part of our goods in Tythes but yet he takes more too he takes Sacrifices so though he take a seuenth part of our time in the Sabboth yet he takes more too he appoints other Sabboths other Festiualls that he may haue more glory and we more Rest for all wherin those two concurre are Sabboths Vacate videte quoniam ego sum Dominus sayes God First vacate Psal 46.10 rest from your bodily labours distinguish the day and then videte come hither into the Lords presence and worship the Lord your God sanctifie the day And in all the Sabboths there is still a Cessate Leuit. 23. and a Humiliate animas bodily rest and spirituall sanctifying of the day Holy dayes then that is dayes seposed for holy vses and for the outward publike seruice of God are in Nature and in that Morall Law which is written in the heart of man That such dayes there must be is Morall and this is Morall too that all things in the seruice of God bee done in order and this also that obedience be giuen to Superiours in those things wherein they are Superiors And therfore it was to the Iewes as well Morall to obserue the certaine dayes which God had determined as to obserue any at all Not that Gods commandement limitting the dayes infused a Moralitie into those particular dayes for Moralitie is perpetuall and if that had been Morall it must haue been so before and it must bee so still Gods determining the dayes did not infuse not induce a Moralitie there but it awakened a former Moralitie that is an obedience to the commandement for that time which God had appoynted that for them for this Obedience and Order is perpetuall and so Morall We depart therfore from that error which those ancient Heretiques the Ebionites begun and some laboured to refresh in Saint Gregories time and which continues in practise in some places of the world still To obserue both the Iewes

Merchants Verse 9. Verse 10 for those who are said there to ride vpon white Asses to be well mounted according to the manner of those Nations are by Peter Martyr amongst our Expositors and by Serarius the Iesuite amongst the others fitly vnderstood to be intended of Merchants And in the same verse the Iudges are honorably remembred Those that fit in Iudgement And a farre vnlikelier sort of people then any of these in the same verse too Those that walked by the way Idle and discoursing men that were not much affected how businesse went so they might talke of them And lastly the whole people in generall Verse 2. how poore soeuer they haue euidence from this record That they offered themselues and what will they denie that offer themselues and willingly to this imploiment And then God hauing here afforded this honourable mention of them who did assist him he layes also a heauy note vpon such who for collaterall respects preuaricated or withdraw themselues from his seruice Verse 16. perticularly vpon Ruben who was diuided by greatnesse of heart And vpon Dan Verse 17. who remained in his ships And therefore to the encouragement of those who did assist him in any proportion though their assistance were no wayes competent against so potent an enemy God fought for himselfe too They fought from Heauen The starres in their order fought against Sisera And these will be the branches or circumstances of our first part for the particulars of the second we shall open them more commodiously for your memory and vse then when we come to handle them then now Now we proceed to those of the first part Part 1. And into those I passe with this protestation That in all which I shall say this day beeing to speake often of God in that Notion as he is Lord of Hostes and fights his owne battailes I am farre from giuing fire to them that desire warre Peace in this world is a pretious Earnest and a faire and louely Type of the euerlasting peace of the world to come And warre in this world is a shrewd and fearefull Embleme of the euerlasting discord and tumult and torment of the world to come And therefore our Blessed God blesse vs with this externall and this internall and make that lead vs to an eternall peace But I speake of this subiect especially to establish and settle them that suspect Gods power or Gods purpose to succour those who in forraine parts grone vnder heauie pressures in matter of Religion or to restore those who in forraine parts are deuested of their lawfull possessions and inheritance and because God hath not done these great workes yet nor yet raised vp meanes in apparance and in their apprehension likely to effect it That therefore God likes not the cause and therefore they begin to bee shaked in their owne Religion at home since they thinke that God neglects it abroad But beloued since God made all this world of nothing cannot hee recouer any one peece thereof or restore any one peece with a little In the Creation his production of specifique formes and seuerall Creatures in the seuerall dayes was much very much but not very much compared with that which he had done immediatly before when he made Heauen and Earth of nothing For for the particular Creatures God had then Praeiacentem Materiam he had stuffe before him enough to cut out Creatures of the largest sise his Elephants of the Earth his Whales and Leuiathans in the Sea In that matter there was Semen Creaturarum The Seed of all Creatures in that stuffe But for the stuffe it selfe the Heauen and Earth God had not Semen Coeli any such seed of Heauen as that he could say to it doe thou hatch a Heauen he had not any such Semen terrae as that hee could bid that grow vp into an Earth There was nothing at all and all that is was produced from that and then who shall doubt of his proceeding if by a little he will doe much He suffered his greater works to be paraleld or to be counterfeit by Pharaohs Magicians but in his least in the making of Lice hee brought them to confesse Digitum Dei the finger of God and that was enough The arme of God the hand of God needs not where he will worke his finger is enough It was not that imagination that dreame of the Rabbins that hind ered the Magicians who say that the Deuill cannot make any Creature lesse then a Barley corne As it is with men they misconceiue it to be with the Deuill too harder to make a little clocke a little picture any thing in a little then in a larger forme That was no part of the reason in that case but since man ordinarily esteemes it so and ordinarily admires great workes in little forme why will he not be content to glorifie God that way in a faithfull confidence that hee can and will doe great workes by weake meanes Should God haue stayd to leuie and arme and traine and muster and present men enow to discomfit Sennacherib Hee tooke a neerer way he slew almost two hundreth thousand of them in one night by an Angell Esa 37.36 Should God haue troubled an Angell to satisfie Elisha his seruant Onely by apparition in the cloudes 2. Reg. 5.16 he brought him to acknowledge that there were more with them then with the Enemy when there was none He troubled not so much as a cloud he imployed no Creature at all against the Philistines 1. Sam. 23 5 when they came vp with thirty thousand Chariots but hee breathed a dampe an astonishment into them he imprinted a diuine terror in their hearts Iud. 6. and they fought against one another God foresaw a diminution of his honour in the augmentation of Israels forces and therfore he reduced Gideons thirty two thousand to three hundred persons It was so in persons God does much with few and it was so in time God does much though late though God seeme a long time to haue forgot his people yet in due time that is in his time he returnes to them againe S. Augustine makes a vsefull Historicall note That that land to which God brought the Children of Israel was their owne land before they were the right heires to it lineally descended from him who was the first possessor of it after the floud but they were so long out of possession of it as that they were neuer able to set their title on foot nay they did scarce know their own title and yet God repossessed them of it reinuested them in it It is so for persons and times in his wayes in this world Much with few much though late and it is so in his wayes to the next world too for persons Elias knew of no more but himselfe that serued the right God aright God makes him know that there were seuen thousand more seuen thousand was much to one but it was

notes that Iohn Baptist was not bid to beare witnesse in Ierusalem Jerusalem in the Citie but in the Wildernesse hee and none but hee there were but few men to witnesse to there and those few that were came thither with a good disposition to be wrought vpon there and there there were few Witnesses to oppose Iohns Testimonie few Tentations few worldly Allurements few worldly Businesses One was enough for the Wildernesse but for Ierusalem for the Citie where all the excuses in the Gospell doe alwayes meete they haue bought Commodities and they must vtter them they haue duchased Lands and they must state them they haue married Wiues and they must studie them to the Citie to Ierusalem Christ sends all his Apostles and all little enough Hee hath sent a great many Apostles Preachers to this Citie more then to any other that I know Religious persons as they call them Cloistered Friars are not sent to the Citie by their first Canons they should not preach abroad but for those who are to doe that seruice there are more in this Citie then in others for there are more Parish Churches heere then in others Now beloued if in this Citie you haue taken away a great part of the reuenue of the Preacher to your selues take thus much of his labour vpon your selues too as to preach to one another by a holy and exemplar life and a religious conuersation Let those of the Citie who haue interest in the Gouernment of this Plantation be Witnesses of Christ who is Truth it selfe to all other Gouernours of Companies in all true and iust proceedings That as CHRIST said to them who thought themselues greatest Except you become as this little Child so wee may say to the Gouernours of the greatest Companies Except you proceed with the integrity with the iustice with the clearenesse of your little Sister this Plantation you doe not take you doe not follow a good example This is to beare witnesse of Christ in Ierusalem in the Citie to bee examples of Truth and Iustice and Clearenesse to others in and of this Citie Iudaea The Apostles were to doe this in Iudaea too their seruice lay in the Countrey as well as in the Citie Birds that are kept in Cages may learne some Notes which they should neuer haue sung in the Woods or Fields but yet they may forget their naturall Notes too Preachers that binde themselues alwayes to Cities and Courts and great Auditories may learne new Notes they may become occasionall Preachers and make the emergent affaires of the time their Text and the humors of the hearers their Bible but they may lose their Naturall Notes both the simplicitie and the boldnesse that belongs to the Preaching of the Gospel both their power vpon lowe Vnderstandings to rayse them and vpon high Affections to humble them They may thinke that their Errand is but to knocke at the doore to delight the eare and not to search the House to ransacke the Conscience Christ left the Ninetie and nine for one Sheepe populous Cities are for the most part best prouided remoter parts need our labour more and wee should not make such differences Yeoman and Labourer and Spinster are distinctions vpon Earth in the Earth in the Graue there is no distinction The Angell that shall call vs out of that Dust will not stand to suruay who lyes naked who in a Coffin who in Wood who in Lead who in a fine who in a courser Sheet In that one day of the Resurrection there is not a fore-noone for Lords to rise first and an after-noone for meaner persons to rise after Christ was not whipp'd to saue Beggars and crown'd with Thornes to saue Kings hee dyed hee suffered all for all and wee whose bearing witnesse of him is to doe as hee did must conferre our Labours vpon all vpon Ierusalem and vpon Iudaea too vpon the Citie and vpon the Countrey too You who are his Witnesses too must doe so too Preach in your iust actions as to the Citie to the Countrey too Not to seale vp the secrets and the mysteries of your businesse within the bosome of Merchants and exclude all others to nourish an incompatibilitie betweene Merchants Gentlemen that Merchants shall say to them in reproach You haue playd the Gentlemen and they in equall reproach You haue playd the Merchant but as Merchants grow vp into worshipfull Families and worshipfull Families let fall Branches amongst Merchants againe so for this particular Plantation you may consider Citie and Countrey to be one Body and as you giue example of a iust Gouernment to other Companies in the Citie that 's your bearing witnesse in Ierusalem so you may be content to giue Reasons of your Proceedings and Account of Moneyes leuied ouer the Countrey for that 's your bearing witnesse in Iudaea But the Apostles Dioces is enlarged farther then Ierusalem farther then Iudaea Samaria they are carried into Samaria you must beare witnesse of me in Samaria Beloued when I haue remembred you who the Samaritans were Men that had not renounced GOD but mingled other gods with him Men that had not burned the Law of GOD but made Traditions of Men equall to it you will easily guesse to whom I apply the name of Samaritans now A Iesuit hath told vs an ill Intelligencer I confesse but euen his Intelligencer the Deuill himselfe sayes true sometimes Maldonate sayes the Samaritans were odious to the Iewes vpon the same grounds as Heretiques and Schismatiques to vs and they we know were odious to them for mingling false gods and false worships with the true And if that be the Caracter of a Samaritan wee know who are the Samaritans who the Heretiques who the Schismatiques of our times In the highest reproach to Christ the Iewes said Samaritanus es Daemonium habes Thou art a Samaritan and hast a Deuill In our iust detestation of these Men we iustly fasten both those vpon them For as they delight in lyes and fill the world with weekely rumors Daemoniū habēt they haue a Deuill quia mendax est pater eius Iohn 8.44 As they multiply assassinats vpon Princes and Massacres vpon people Daemonium habent they haue a Deuill quia homicida ab initio as they tosse and tumble and dispose kingdomes Daemonium habent they haue a Deuill Math. 4.10 Omnia haec dabo was the Deuils complement but as they mingle truthes and falshoods together in Religion as they carry the word of GOD and the Traditions of Men in an euen balance Samaritani sunt they are Samaritanes At first Christ forbad his Apostles to goe into any Citie of the Samaritans after 10.5 they did preach in many of them Beare witnesse first in Ierusalem Acts 8.25 and in Iudaea giue good satisfaction especially to those of the household of the Faithfull in the Citie and Countrey but yet satisfie euen those Samaritans too They would be satisfied what Miracles you work in Virginia

exhortation all this while haue seemed to tell you what should be done by you I haue indeed but told the Congregation what hath beene done already neither doe I speake to moue a wheele that stood still but to keepe the wheele in due motion nor perswade you to begin but to continue a good worke nor propose forreigne but your owne Examples to doe still as you haue done hitherto For for that that which is especially in my contemplation the conuersion of the people as I haue receiu'd so I can giue this Testimonie That of those persons who haue sent in Moneyes and conceal'd their Names the greatest part almost all haue limitted their Deuotion and Contribution vpon that point the propagation of Religion and the conuersion of the People for the building and beautifying of the House of GOD and for the instruction and education of their young Children Christ Iesus himselfe is yesterday and to day and the same for euer In the aduancing of his Glory be you so too yesterday and to day and the same for euer here and hereafter when Time shall be no more no more yesterday no more to day yet for euer and euer you shall enioy that ioy and that glorie which no ill accident can attayne to diminish or Eclipse it PRAYER WE returne to thee againe O GOD with Prayse and Prayer as for all thy mercies from before Minutes began to this Minute from our Election to this present Beame of Sanctification which thou hast shed vpon vs now and more particularly that thou hast afforded vs that great Dignitie to be this way Witnesses of thy Sonne Christ Iesus and Instruments of his Glorie Looke graciously and looke powerfully vpon this Body which thou hast been now some yeeres in building and compacting together this Plantation Looke graciously vpon the Head of this Body our Soueraigne and blesse him with a good disposition to this Worke and blesse him for that disposition Looke graciously vpon them who are as the Braine of this Body those who by his power counsaile and aduise and assist in the Gouernment thereof blesse them with disposition to Vnitie and Concord and blesse them for that disposition Looke graciously vpon them who are as Eyes of this Body those of the Clergie who haue any interest therein blesse them with a disposition to preach there to pray here to exhort euery where for the aduancement thereof and blesse them for that disposition Blesse them who are the Feet of this Body who goe thither and the Hands of this Bodie who labour there and them who are the Heart of this Body all that are heartily affected and declare actually that heartinesse to this action blesse them all with a cheereful disposition to that and blesse them for that disposition Blesse it so in this Calme that when the Tempest comes it may ride it out safely blesse it so with Friends now that it may stand against Enemies hereafter Prepare thy selfe a glorious Haruest there and giue vs leaue to be thy Labourers That so the number of thy Saints being fulfilled wee may with better assurance ioyne in that Prayer Come Lord Iesus come quickly and so meet all in that Kingdome which the Sonne of GOD hath purchased for vs with the inestimable price of his incorruptible Bloud To which glorious Sonne of GOD c. Amen FINIS Encaenia THE FEAST OF DEDICATION CELEBRATED AT LINCOLNES INNE in a Sermon there vpon Ascension day 1623. At the Dedication of a new Chappell there Consecrated by the Right Reuerend Father in God the Bishop of LONDON Preached by IOHN DONNE Deane of St. PAVLS LONDON Printed by AVG. MAT. for THOMAS IONES and are to bee sold at his Shop in the Strand at the blacke Rauen neere vnto Saint Clements Church 1623. TO THE MASTERS OF THE BENCH AND the rest of the Honourable Societie of LINCOLNES INNE IT pleased you to exercise your interest in me and to expresse your fauour to mee in inuiting mee to preach this Sermon and it hath pleased you to doe both ouer againe in inuiting me to publish it To this latter seruice I was the more inclinable because though in it I had no occasion to handle any matter of Controuersie betweene vs and those of the Romane Perswasion yet the whole body and frame of the Sermon is opposed against one pestilent calumny of theirs that wee haue cast off all distinction of places and of dayes and all outward meanes of assisting the deuotion of the Congregation For this vse I am not sorry that it is made publique for I shall neuer bee sorry to appeare plainly and openly and directly without disguise or modification in the vindicating of our Church from the imputations and calumnies of that Aduersary If it had no publique vse yet I should satisfie my selfe in this that it is done in obedience to that which you may call your Request but I shall call your Commandement vpon Your very humble Seruant in Christ Iesus IOHN DONNE The Prayer before the Sermon O Eternall and most gracious God Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and in him of all those that are his As thou diddest make him so much ours as that he became like vs in all things sinne onely excepted make vs so much his as that we may be like him euen without the exception of sinne that all our sinnes may bee buryed in his wounds and drowned in his Blood And as this day wee celebrate his Ascension to thee bee pleased to accept our endeauour of conforming our selues to his patterne in raysing this place for our Ascension to him Leane vpon these Pinnacles O Lord as thou did dist vpon Iacobs Ladder and hearken after vs. Bee this thine Arke and let thy Doue thy blessed Spirit come in and out at these Windowes and let a full pot of thy Manna a good measure of thy Word and an effectuall preaching thereof bee euermore preserued and euermore bee distributed in this place Let the Leprofie of Superstition neuer enter within these Walles nor the hand of Sacriledge euer fall vpon them And in these walles to them that loue Profit and Gaine manifest thou thy selfe as a Treasure and fill them so To them that loue Pleasure manifest thy selfe as Marrow and Fatnesse and fill them so And to them that loue Preferment manifest thy selfe as a Kingdome and fill them so that so thou mayest bee all vnto all giue thy selfe wholly to vs all and make vs all wholly thine Accept our humble thanks for all c. IOHN 10.22 And it was at Ierusalem the Feast of the Dedication and it was Winter and Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch SAint Basill in a Sermon vpon the 114. Basill Psalme vpon the like occasion as drawes vs together now The consecration of a Church makes this the reason and the excuse of his late comming thither to doe that Seruice that he stayd by the way to consecrate another Church I hope euery person heere hath done so

Sabbath and the Christians Satterday and Sunday too because the Sabboth is called Pactum sempiternum Exod. 31. for to that any of Saint Augustines Answeres will serue either that it is called euerlasting because it signified an euerlasting rest where be pleased to note by the way that Holy dayes Sabbaths are not onely instituted for Order but they haue their Mystery and their Signification for Holy dayes Col. 2.16 as the Text calls them there and New Moones and the Sabboth were but shadowes of things to come or else the Sabboth was called euerlasting to them because it bound them euerlastingly and they might neuer intermit it as some other ceremonies they might But their Sabboths bind not vs we depart from them who thinke so and so we doe from them who think we are bound to no Festiualls at all or at least to none but the Sabboth For God requires as much seruice from vs as from the Iewes and to them hee enlarged his Sabboths and made them diuers But those were of Gods immediat institution but all that the Iewes obserued were not so and that 's our next consideration Festiualls instituted by the Church Sine Mandato At first when God was alone it is but Faciamus let vs vs the Trinity make man This was when God was as we may say in Coelibatu But after God hath taken his spouse maried the Church then it is Capite nobis vulpes Cant. 2.15 doe you take the little Foxes you the Church for our vines haue grapes the vines are ours yours and mine sayes Christ to the Church and therfore do you looke to them as well as I. The Tables of the law God himselfe writ and gaue them written to Moses he left none of that to him not a power to make other Lawes like those lawes but for the Tabernacle which concern'd the outward worship of God that was to be made by Moses Exod. 25.9 Iuxta similitudinem according to the paterne which God had shewed him God hath giuen the Church a paterne of Holy dayes in those Sabboths which hee himselfe instituted and according to the paterne the Church hath instituted more and Recte festa Ecclesiae colunt Aug. qui se Ecclesiae filios recognoscunt They who disdaine not the name of sonnes of the Church refuse not to celebrate the daies which are of the Churches institution There was no immediate commandement of God for that Holy day which Mordechai by his letters establish'd Ester 9.23 but yet the Iewes vndertooke to do as Mordechai had written to them There was no such commandement for this Holy day in the Text and yet that was obserued as long as they had any beeing And where the reason remaines the practise may The Iewes did we may institute new Holy dayes And not onely transitory daies for a present thanks giuing for a present benefit but Anniuersaries perpetuall memorials of Gods deliuerances And that 's our next step Anniuersaria Both the Holy dayes which we named before which were instituted with out speciall Commaundement from God were so That of Mordechai he commanded to be kept euery yeare for two dayes and this in the Text Iudas Maccabeus commanded to be kept yearely for eight dayes which was more then was appoynted to any of the Holy dayes instituted by God himselfe for the Festiuall alone According to which paterne Felix one Bishop of Rome ordained that the Festiuals of the Dedication of Churches should bee yearely celebrated in those places Greg. and another extended the Festiuall to eight dayes at least at the first dedication thereof if not euery yeare that God might not onely be put into the possession of the place but setled in it God by Moses made the children of Israel a Song because as hee sayes Deut. 31.19 howsoeuer they did by the Law they would neuer forget that Song that Song should be his witnesse against them Therefore would God haue vs institute solemne memorialls of his great deliuerances that if when those dayes come about we doe not glorifie him that might aggrauate our condemnation Euery fift of August the Lord rises vp to hearken whether we meet to glorifie him for his great deliuerance of his Maiesty before he blest vs with his presence in this Kingdome and when he finds vs zealous in our thankes for that he giues vs farther blessings Certainly he is vp as early euery fift of Nouember to hearken if we meet to glorifie him for that deliuerance still and if hee should finde our zeale lesse then heretofore hee would wonder why Gods principall his radicall Holy day the Sabboth had a weekly returne his other Sabbaths instituted by himselfe and those which were instituted by those paternes that of Mordechai that of the Maccabees those of the Christian Church They all return once a yeare God would keepe his Courts once a yeare and see whether wee make our apparances as heeretofore that if not hee may know it Feastes in generall Feastes instituted by the Church alone Feasts in their yearely returne and obseruation haue their vse and particularly those Feasts of the Dedication of Churches which was properly and literally the Feast of this Text. It was the Feast of Dedication Encania As it diminishes not preiudices not Gods Eternitie that wee giue him his Quando certaine times of Inuocation God is not the lesse yesterday Temple and to day and the same for euer because wee meet here to day and not yesterday so it diminishes not preiudices not Gods Vliquitie and Omnipresence that wee giue him his Vbi certaine places for Inuocation That 's not the lesse true that the most High dwells not in Temples made with handes Acts 7.48 though God accept at our hands our dedication of certaine places to his seruice manifest his working more effectually more energetically in those places then in any other for when we pray Our Father which art in Heauen Chrysostome It is not sayes Saint Chrysostome that wee deny him to bee heere where wee kneele when we say that Prayer but it is that we acknowledge him to be there where he can graunt and accomplish our prayer It is as Origen hath very well expressed it Origen Vt in melioribus mundi requiramus Deum That still wee looke for God in the best places looke for him as he heares our petitions here in the best places of this world in his House in the Church looke for him as he graunts our petition in the best place of the next world at the right hand and in the bosome of the Father Deut. 30.13 When Moses sayes that the word of God is not beyond Sea he addes It is not so beyond Sea as that thou must not haue it without sending thither When he sayes there it is not in heauen he adds not so in heauen as that one must goe vp before hee can haue it The word of

others my poore Meditations and so by your gracious commandement of publishing them to make your selfe as a Glasse when the Sun it selfe is the Gospell of Christ Jesus to reflect cast them vpon your Subiects It was a Metaphor in which your Maiesties Blessed Father seemd to delight for in the name of a Mirroir a Looking Glasse he sometimes presented Himselfe in his publique declarations speeches to his People and a continued Metaphor is an Allegory and holds in more So your Maiestie doth more of the offices of such a Glasse You doe that office which Moses his Glasses did at the Brazen Sea in the Temple for you show others their spots and in a Pious and vnspotted life of your owne you show your Subiects their deficiences And you doe the other office of such Glasses by this communicating to all the beames which your Maiestie receiud in your selfe Wee are in Times when the way to Peace is Warre but my Profession leades not me to those Warres And wee are in Times when the Peace of the Church may seeme to implore a kinde of Warre of Debatements and Conferences in some points but my disposition leades mee not to that Warre neither For in this Sermon my onely purpose was that no By-stander should bee hurt whilest the Fray lasted with either Opinion And that your Maiestie accepts it so your selfe so reflects it vpon others I humbly beseech your Maiestie to accept also this Sacrifice of Thanksgiuing for that From Your Sacred Maiesties humblest Subiect and Deuotedst Seruant and Chapleine IOHN DONNE ESAI 50.1 Thus sayth the Lord Where is the Bill of your Mothers Diuorcement whom I haue put away Or which of my Creditors is it to whom I haue sold you Behold for your iniquities haue you sold your selues and for your transgressions is your Mother put away ALL Lent is Easter Eue And though the Eue be a Fasting day yet the Eue is halfe holiday too God by our Ministery would so exercise you in a spirituall Fast in a sober consideration of sinne and the sad Consequences thereof as that in the Eue you might see the holy day in the Lent your Easter in the sight of your sinnes the cheerefulnesse of his good will towards you Nay in this Text hee giues you your Easter before Lent your Holyday before the Eue For first he rayses you to the sense of his goodnesse Thus sayth the Lord where is the bill of your mothers Diuorcement whom I haue put away Or which of my Creditors is it to whom I haue sold you And then and not till then he sinkes you to the sence of your sinnes and the dangers of them Behold for your iniquities you are sold and for your transgressions your Mother is put away And this Raising and this Sinking are his Corks and his Leads by which God enables vs whom hee hath made Fishers of Men to cast out his nets and draw in your soules Haec dicit Dominus Thus saith the Lord sayes our Prophet here And Semel locutus Deus Psalm 62.12 duo haec audiui sayes the Prophet Dauid Once spake the Lord and twice haue I heard him In one speach of the Lords two instructions in one peece of his Word two directions Thus saith the Lord where is the Bill c. And in these words some heare him once some heare him say That how desperate soeuer our case be how irremediable soeuer our state we our selfes and not God are the cause of that desperate irremediablenesse some heare him twice some heare him say There is no such matter there is no such peremptory Diuorce there is no such absolute sale there is no such desperate irremediablenes declard to any particular conscience as is imagind but you any may returne to me when you will and I will receiue you Some Expositors thinke they haue gone farre inough when they have raysed that sense God is no cause of our perishing though wee must perish Others and fairely carry it thus much farther There is no necessitie that any Man any this or that Man should perish Some determine it in this It is true your Damnation is vnauoydable but you must blame your selfes Some extend it to this There is no such avoidablenes in your damnation and therefore you may comfort your selues Once hath the Lord spoken and twice doe we heare him we heare him once speaking for his owne honour Hee does not damne vs if wee bee damned And wee heare him againe speaking for our comfort we need not be damnd at all And therefore as God hath opened himselfe to vs both wayes let vs open both eares to him and from one Text receiue both Doctrines Diuisio You may apprehend the parts easily and as easily comprehend them They are few and plaine of things agreed by all But two Those these Gods dischardge and Mans Dischardge Gods dischardge from all imputation of tyranny Behold for your sinnes you are sold and for your transgressions your Mother is put away And then Mans dischardge from the necessitie of perishing Vbi iste libellus Where is the Bill of your mothers diuorcement whom I haue put away Or which of my Creditors is it to whom I haue sold you I might iustly haue done both and left you without iust cause of complaint but yet I haue not done it looke to your Bill of Diuorce and looke to your bill of sale and you will find the case to be otherwise In each of these two parts there will be some particular branches In the first which is Gods discharge first the Ecce Behold Behold this and this will fall vpon you first there is a light showd there is a warning afforded of those calamities that will follow God begins not at Iudgement but at Mercie That Mercy being despisd It will come to a selling away venditi estis you are sold And it will come to a putting away Dimissa est your Mother is put away For God may sell vs to punishments for sinne that when the measure of our sinne is full he shall emptie the measure of this Iudgements vpon vs And God may sell vs to sinnes for punishments God may make future sinnes the punishments of former And here may be a Diuorce a putting away out of Gods sight and seruice in any particular soule and there may be a putting away of your Mother a withdrawing of Gods spirit from that Church to whose breasts hee hath applied you But if all this be done it is not done out of any tyrannicall wantonnesse in God for For your iniquities you are sold and for your transgressions is your Mother put away So God is fully dischargd in the first part But least in the second it should lye heauy vpon Man for howsoeuer God be dischargd He does not kill me though I dy it is but poore comfort to me if I must dye to be told that I haue killd my selfe God tells me here there is no such necessitie I need not

dye show the bill of Diuorce sayes he which makes your case so desperate and see if I haue not left you wayes of returning to me show the bill of Sale which makes your state so irrecouerable and see if I haue not left my selfe wayes of redeeming you And in these few branches of these two parts I shall exercise your Deuotion and holy patience at this time Part. 1. Ecce First then for the first branch of the first part the Ecce Behold this will fall vpon you Vpon those words of Dauid Ecce intenderunt Ecce parauerunt Behold the wicked haue bent ther bow Psal 11 2. and Behold they haue made ready their arrow Origen Origen saies Ecce antequam vulneremur monemur Before our Enemies hit vs God giues vs warning that they meane to doe so When God himselfe is so far incensd against vs That he is turned to be our enemy and to fight against vs It was come to that Esay 63,10 in this Prophet when he hath bent his how against vs as an Enemy It was come to that in the Prophet Ieremy yet still he giues vs warning before hand Lam. 2.4 and still there comes a lightning before his thunder God comes seldome to that dispatch a word and a blow but to a blow without a word to an execution without a warning neuer Cain tooke offence at his brother Abel The quarrell was Gods because he had accepted Abels Sacrifice Therefore God ioynes himselfe to Abels partie and so the party being too strong for Cain to subsist GOD would not surprise Cain but he tells him his danger Why is thy Countenance cast downe Gen 4.10 If thou doest not well sinne lyes at thy dore you may proceed if you will but if you will needs you will loose by it at last Saul persecutes Christ in the Christians Christ meets him vpon the way speakes to him strikes him to the ground telles him vocally and tels him actually That he hath vndertaken too hard aworke in opposing him This which GOD did to Saul reduces him that which God did to Cain wrought not vpon him but still GOD went his owne way in both to speake before hee strikes to lighten before he thunders to warne before he wounds Numb 16. In Dathan and Abirams case God may seeme to proceede apace towards Execution but yet it had all these pauses in arrest of iudgement these reprieues before Execution First when Moses had information evidence of their factious Proceeding vers 4. hee falls not vpon them but he falls vpon his face before GOD and laments and deprecates in their behalfe Hee calls them to a faire tryall verse 5. and examination the next day To morrow the Lord will show who are his and are holy verse 12. And they sayd we will not come And againe verse 14. which implies that Moses cited them againe we will not come Then GOD vpon their contumacy when they would stand mute and not plead takes a resolution verse 21 to consume them in a Moment And then Moses Aaron returne to petition for thē O God the God of the spirits of all flesh verse 25 shall one Man sinne and wilt thou bee wroth with the whole Congregation And Moses went vp to them againe And the Elders of Israel followed and all preuaild not And then Moses comes to pronounce Iudgement verse 29. These men shall not dye a common death and after and yet not presently after that he gaue iudgement Execution followd The earth opened and swallowd them verse 31 but God begun not there God opened his Mouth and Moses his and Aaron his and the Elders theirs before the Earth opened hers It is our case in the Text For whether this Iudgement wrapt vp in the text This selling away and this putting away haue relation to the Captiuitie of the Iewes in Babylon before Christ or to the Dispertion of the Iewes since Christ some Expositors take it one some the other way still it is of a future thing The Prophecie came before the Calamitie whersoeuer you pitch it wheresoeuer you pitch it stil there was a lightning before the thunder a word before the blow a warning before the wound In which as we see that God alwaies leaues a latitude between his Sentence and the Execution for that Interim is Sphaera actiuitatis the Spheare in which our Repentance and his Mercy moue and direct themselues in a benigne aspect towards one another so where this repentance is deferd and this Mercie neglected the execution is so certaine so infallible as that though this in the Text be intended for a future Iudgement a future Captiuitie a future Dispersion yet in the Text it is presented as present nay more then so as past and executed alreadie it is venditi estis you are sold sold alreadie and Dimissa Mater your Mother is put away put away already All gathers and con-centers it selfe in this Gods Iudgements and executions are not sodaine there is alwayes roome for Repentance and Mercie but his Iudgements and Executions are certaine there is no roome for Presumption nor Collusion Venditi ab Adam To pursue then the Holy Ghosts two Metaphors of selling away and putting away First venditi estis sayes our Prophet to the Iewes and to all Behold you are sold And so they were sold thrice ouer sold by Adam first sold by themselues euery day and at last sold by God For the first generall sale by Adam wee complaine now that Land will not sell that 20. is come to 15. yeares purchase but doe wee not take too late a Medium too low a time to reckon by How cheape was Land at first how cheape were we what was Paradise sold for What was Heauen what was Mankinde sold for Immortalitie was sold and what yeares Purchase was that worth Immortalitie is our Eternitie God hath another manner of eternitie in him He hath a whole eternall day an eternall afternoone and an eternall forenoone too for as he shall haue no end so hee neuer had beginning we haue an eternall afternoone in our immortalitie we shall no more see an end then God hath seene a beginning and Millions of yeares multiplied by Millions make not vp a Minute to this Eternitie this Immortalitie When Diues values a droppe of water at so high a price what would he giue for a Riuer How poore a Clod of of Earth is a Mannor how poore an inch a Shire how poore a spanne a Kingdome how poore a pace the whole World and yet how prodigally we sell Paradise Heauen Soules Consciences Immortalitie Eternitie for a few Graines of this Dust What had Eue for Heauen so little as that the Holy Ghost wil not let vs know what she had not what kinde of Fruite yet something Eue had What had Adam for Heauen but a satisfaction that hee had pleasd an Ill wife as St. Hierome states his fault that he

Creditor As Christ in his Parable comprehends all excuses and all backwardnesses in the following of him Luke 14.18 in those two Marriage and Purchasing for one had bought Land and stocke and another had married a Wife So God expresses his loue to Man in these two too Hee hath married vs he hath bought vs that so he might take in all dispositions and worke vpon Vxorious Men men soupled and entendred with Matrimoniall loue and vpon worldly men men kneaded and plaistred with earthly loue Het hath Married vs hee will not Diuorse He hath bought vs he will not sell For who can giue so much as he payd Deut 32.30 Doe yee thus requite the Lord O yee foolish people Is not he your Father that hath bought you And will you suspect your Father Yes sayes this Disconsolate Soule Fathers might sell their Children and my Father my GOD hath sold me T is true Fathers might sell their Children Amongst the Gentiles they might for matter of Law for matter of Fact their Bookes are full of Euidence Amongst the Iewes they might till a Iubile redeemd them Amongst the Christians they might and for euer Saint Ambrose found the World in possession of that vnnaturall Custome and lamented it Vidi miserabile spectaculum sayes he liberos haeredes calamitatis qui nec participes successionis The Children sayes hee inherit the Calamity but not the Lands of their Fathers when they were solde to maintaine them who had wastefully sold that which was to maintaine them all And Saint Ambrose induces the Creditor making his Claime Mea nutriti pecunia This Childe was nourced and brought vp with my Money and belongs to mee Constantine found this and amended it enacted and constituted that it should be no more done and canst thou imagine such a hard-heartednes in GOD as Saint Ambrose should neede to lament or Constantin neede to correct Quis Creditor sayes GOD Which of my Creditors is it to whom I haue sold you As in the Bill of Diuorce so in this bill of sale we aske who should occasion it A Father might sell for his Sonnes fault or for his owne necessitie but in no other case If thou say it is done for thy fault it is not done that implies a Confession and a Repentance and that auoydes all but if thou imagine a sale for thy Fathers necessitie Quis Creditor sayes hee Which of my Creditors c. Adam brought GOD in Debt to Death to Satan to Hell in Iustice GOD ought all mankinde to them but then at one payment hee payd more in the death of his Sonne Christ Iesus And now Quis Creditor The word indeed is originally Nashah and Nashah is an Vsurer and so Saint Ambrose reades this place Quis Faenerator To what Vsurer am I so indebted as that I neede sell thee Let it be so That the principall debt was all Mankinde pursue your Vsurious Computations that euery seuen yeares doubles and then redoubles your Debt and what a Debt might this bee in allmost 4000. yeare from Adam to Christ and 1000. from Christ to vs yet when all this is multiplied infinitely it was infinitly ouerpayd if but one drop of the bloud of the Sonne of God had bene payd and the Sonne of God bled out his Soule and then Quis Creditor may God well say Which of those Vsurers is it to whom I need sell thee God may lend thee out euen to Satan suffer thee to bee his Bayliffe and his Instrument to the vexation of others So hee lent out Saint Paul to the Scribes and Pharises to serue them in their Persecutions So God may lend thee out God may Let thee out for a time to them that shall plough and harrow thee fell and cleaue thee and reserue to himselfe but a little Rent a little glory in thy Patience So hee Let out Iob euen to Satan himselfe so God may Let thee out GOD may Mortgage thee to a sixe Months Feuer or to a longer debility So he Mortgaged Hezekias God may lay thee waste and Pull vp thy Fences extinguish their Power or withdrawe their Loue vpon whom thou hast establishd thy dependance So he layd Dauid wast when hee withdrewe his Childrens obedience from him so God may lay thee waste God may Let out all his time in thee in this World and reserue to himselfe only a last yeare a last day a last minute suffer thee in vnrepented sinnes to the last gaspe so God let out the good Thiefe God is Lord of all that thou hast and art and then Dominium potestas est tum vtendi cum abutendi He that is Lord Owner Proprietary may doe with that which is his what he will But God will not cannot deuest his Dominion nor sell thee so as not to reserue a Power and a Will to Redeeme thee if thou wouldst be redeem'd For howsoeuer hee seeme to thee to haue sold thee to Sinne to Sadnesse to Sickenesse to Superstition for these be the Ismaelits Gen. 37.27 these be the Midianite Merchants that buy vp our Iosephs our soules though he seeme to sell his present estate hee will not sell Reuersions his future title to thee by a future Repentance hee will not sell But whensoeuer thou shalt grow due to him by a new and a true repentance hee shall re-assume thee into his bed and his bosome no bill of Diuorce and re-enter thee into his Reuenue and his Audit No bill of sale shall stand vp to thy preiudice but thy deiected spirit shall bee raised from thy consternation to a holy cheerefulnesse and a peacefull alacritie and no tentation shall offer a reply to this question which GOD makes to establish thy Conscience vbi libellus Where is the Bill of thy Mothers Diuorcement c. FINIS Errat Pag. 13. l. 24. for retractions read retractations pa. 32. l. 14 for Herbs read Grapes