speake of here is not as before a Worldly warre it is a Spirituall War And then the Munition the prouision for this warre is not as before temporall assistance of Princes Officers Iudges Merchants all sorts of People but it is the Gospell of Christ Iesus and the preaching thereof Preaching is Gods ordinance with that Ordinance hee fights from heauen and batters downe all errors And thirdly to maintain this War he hath made Preachers Stars and vae si non woe be vnto them if they doe not fight if they doe not preach But yet in the last place they must fight as the Stars in heauen doe In their order in that Order and according to those directions which they to whom it appertaines shall giue them for that is to fight in Order And in these foure branches wee shall determine this second part First then we are in Contemplation of a Spirituall warre now though there be a Beatie Pacifici a blessing reserued to Peace-makers to the Peace-maker our Peace-maker who hath sometimes effected it in some places and alwayes seriously and chargeably and honourably endeuoured it in all places yet there is a spirituall Warre in which Maledicti Pacifici Cursed bee they that goe about to make Peace and to make all one The warres betweene Christ and Beliall Let no man seuer those whom God hath ioyned but let no Man ioyne those whom God hath seuered neyther and God hath seuered Christ and Belial and that was Gods action Ponam inimicitias The seed of the woman and the Seed of the Serpent wee and the Deuill should neuer haue fallen out wee agree but too well but God hath put an enmity betweene vs. God hath put Truth and Falshood Idolatrie and Sinceritie so farre asunder and infused such an incompatibilitie and imprinted such an implacabilitie betweene them as that they cannot flow into one another And therefore there Maledicti Pacifici It is an opposition against God by any colourable Modifications to reconcile opinions diametrally contrary to one another in fundamentall things Day and Night may ioyne and meet In Diluculis and in Crepusculis The dawning of the day in the Morning and the shutting in of the day in the Euening make day and night so much one as sometimes you cannot tell which to call them but Lux tenebrae light and darknes Midnight and Noone neuer met neuer ioynd There are points which passions of men and vehemence of disputation haue carried farther a sunder then needed and these indeed haue made the greatest noyse because vpon these for the most part depends the matter of profit and Beati pacifics blessed were that labour and that labourer that could reconcile those things and of that there might bee hope because it is often but the Persons that fight it is not the thing the matters are not so different But then there are matters so different as that a Man may sit at home and weepe and wish prayse God that hee is in the right and pray to God for them that are in the wrong but to thinke that they are indifferent and all one Maledicti Pacifici hee that hath brought such a Peace hath brought a curse vpon his owne Conscience and layd not a Satisfaction but a Stupefaction vpon it A Turke might perchance say in scorne of vs both They call you Heretiques you call them Idolaters why might not Idolaters and Heretiques agree well enough together But a true Christian will neuer make Contrarieties in fundamentall things indifferent neuer make foundations and superedifications the Word of God and the Traditions of Men all one Euery man is a little world sayes the Philosopher Euery man is a little Church too and in euery man there are two sides two armies the flesh fights against the Spirit This is but a Ciuill warre nay it is but a Rebellion indeed and yet it can neuer be absolutely quenched So euery Man is also a Souldier in that great and generall warre betweene Christ and Beliall the word of God and the will of man Euery man is bound to hearken to a peace in such things as may admit peace in differences where men differ from men but bound also to shut himselfe vp against all ouertures of peace in such things as are in their Nature irreconcileable in differences where men differ from God That warre God hath kindled and that warre must bee maintained and maintained by his way and his way and his Ordinance in this warre is Preaching If God had not said to Noah Fac tibi Arcam and when he had said so if he had not giuen him a Deseigne a Modell a Platforme of that Arke we may doubt credibly whether euer man would haue thought of a Ship or of any such way of trade Commerce Shipping was Gods owne Inuention and therein Laetentur Insulae as Dauid sayes Let the Ilands reioyce So also if Christ had not said to his Apostles Ite praedicate Goe and preach and when hee had said so said thus much more Qui non crediderit damnabitur Hee that beleeues not your Preaching shall bee damned certainly man would neuer haue thought of such a way of establishing a kingdome as by Preaching No other Nation had any such Institution as Preaching In the Romane State there was a publique Officer Conditor precum who vpon great emergent occasions deprecations of imminent dangers or Gratulations for euident benefites did make particular Collects answerable to those occasions And some such occasionall Panegyriques and gratulatory Orations for temporall benefites they had in that state But a fixt and constant course of conteyning Subiects in their Religious and Ciuill duties by preaching onely God ordain'd onely his Children enioy'd Christ when he sent his Apostles did not giue them a particular command Ite orate goe and pray in the publique Congregation All Nations were accustomed to that Christ made no doubt of any mans opposing or questioning publique Prayer and therefore for that he onely said Sic orabitis Not go and pray but when you pray pray thus he instructed them in the forme the duty was well knowne to all before But for Preaching He himselfe was anointed for that The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because the Lord hath anointed mee to preach His vnction was his function Hee was anointed with that power and hee hath anointed vs with part of his owne vnction All power is giuen vnto me sayes he in Heauen and in Earth and therefore as he adds there Go ye and preach Because I haue all power for preaching take yee part of my power and preach too For Preaching is the power of God vnto Saluation and the sauor of life vnto life When therefore the Apostle faies Quench not the Spirit Nec in te nec in alio sayes Aquinas Quench it not in your selfe by forbearing to heare the Word preached quench it not in others by discouraging them that doe preach For so Saint Chrysostome and not he alone
for you to know the times whatsoeuer God will doe Man must not appoint him his time The Apostles thought of a kingdome presently after Christs departure the comming of the Holy Ghost who ledd them into all truthes soone deliuer'd them of that error Other men in fauour of the Iewes interpreting all the prophesies which are of a Spirituall kingdome the kingdome of the Gospell into which the Iewes shall be admitted in a literall sense haue thought that the Iewes shall haue not onely a temporall kingdome in the same place in Ierusalem againe but because they find that kingdome which is promised that is the kingdome of the Gospell to bee expressed in large phrases and in an abundant manner applying all that largenesse to a temporall kingdome they thinke that the Iewes shall haue such a kingdome as shall swallowe and annihilate all other kingdomes and bee the sole Empire and Monarchy of the world After this very great men in the Church vpon these words of One thousand yeares after the Resurrection haue immagin'd a Temporall Kingdome of the Saints of God heere vpon Earth before they entred the ioyes of Heauen and Saint Augustine himselfe had at first some declinations towards that opinion though he dispute powerfully against it after That there should bee Sabatismus in terris that as the world was to last Sixe thousand yeares in troubles there should be a Seuenth thousand in such ioyes as this world could giue And some others who haue auoided both the Temporall kingdome imagin'd by the Apostles presently after the Ascention And the Emperiall kingdome of the Iewes before the Refurrection And the Carnall kingdome of the Chiliasts the Millenarians after the Refurrection though they speake of no kingdome but the true kingdome the kingdome of glory yet they erre as much in assigning a certaine time when that kingdome shall beginne when the ende of this world when the Refurrection when the Iudgement shall be Non est vestrum nosse tempora sayes Christ to his Apostles then and lest it might be thought that they might know these things when the Holy Ghost came vpon them Christ denies that he himselfe knew that as Man and as Man Christ knew more then euer the Apostles knew Whatsoeuer therefore Christ intended to his Apostles heere hee would not giue it presently non adhuc hee would not binde himselfe to a certaine time Non est vestrum nosse tempora It belongs not to vs to know Gods times Beloued vse goly meanes and giue God his leisure You cannot beget a Sonne and tell the Mother I will haue this Sonne born within fiue Moneths nor when he is borne say you will haue him past daunger of VVardship within fiue yeares You cannot sow your Corne to day and say it shall bee aboue ground to morrow and in my Barne next weeke Howe soone the best Husbandman sow'd the best Seede in the best ground GOD cast the promise of a Messias as the seede of all in Paradise In Semine Mulieris The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head and yet this Plant was Foure thousand yeares after before it appeared this Messias Foure thousand yeares before he came GOD shew'd the ground where that should growe Two thousand yeares after the Promise in Abrahams Family In semine tuo In thy Seed all Nations shall be blessed God hedgd in this Ground almost One thousand yeares after that In Micheas time Et tu Bethlem Thou Bethlem shalt bee the place and God watered that and weeded that refreshed that dry expectation with a Succession of Prophets and yet it was so long before this expectation of Nations this Messias came So GOD promised the Iewes a Kingdome in Iacobs Prophecie to Iuda That the Scepter should not depart from his Tribe In Two hundred yeares more he saies no more of it then he ordaines some institutions for their King when they should haue one And then it was Foure hundred yeares after that before they had a King GOD ment from the first howre to people the whole earth and God could haue made men of clay as fast as they made Brickes of Clay in Egypt but he began vpon two and when they had beene mulplying and replenishing the Earth One thousand sixe hundred yeares the Flood washed all that away and GOD was almost to begin againe vpon eight persons and they haue seru'd to people Earth and Heauen too Bee not you discouraged if the Promises which you haue made to your selues or to others be not so soone discharg'd though you see not your money though you see not your men though a Flood a Flood of bloud haue broken in vpon them be not discouraged Great Creatures ly long in the wombe Lyons are litterd perfit but Bearewhelps lick'd vnto their shape actions which Kings vndertake are cast in a mould they haue their perfection quickly actions of priuate men and priuate purses require more hammering and more filing to their perfection Onely let your principall ende bee the propagation of the glorious Gospell and though there bee an Exclusiue in the Text GOD does not promise you a Kingdome ease and abundance in all things and that which he does intend to you he does not promise presently yet there is an Inclusiue too not that But but something equiuolent at least But yee shall receiue power after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon you and yee shall be witnesses vnto me both in Ierusalem and in all Iudaea and in Samaria and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth 2. Part. NOw our Sauiour Christ does not say to these men since you are so importunate you shall haue no Kingdome now nor neuer t is not yet But he does not say you shall haue no kingdome nor any thing else t is not that But the importunitie of beggers sometimes drawes vs to such a froward answer for this importunitie I will neuer giue you any thing Our patterne was not so froward hee gaue them not that but as good as that Samuel was sent to superinduct a King vpon Saul to annoint a new King Hee thought his Commission had bene determined in Eliab Surely this is the Lords Annointed But the Lord said not he nor the next Aminadab nor the next Shamah nor none of the next seuen But but yet there is one in the field keeping sheepe annoint him Dauid is he Saint Paul prayed earnestly and frequently to be discharged of that Stimulus Carnis God saies no not that but Gratia measufficit Thou shalt haue grace to ouercome the tentation though the tentation remaine 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 vses It shall redeeme many a wretch from the Iawes of death from the hands of the Executioner vpon whom perchauuce a small fault or perchance a first fault or perchance a fault
THREE SERMONS VPON SPECIALL OCCASIONS Preached by IOHN DONNE Deane of St. Pauls London LONDON Printed for THOMAS IONES and are to sold at his Shop in the Strand at the Blacke Rauen neere St. Clements Church 1623. A SERMON VPON THE XV. VERSE OF THE XX. CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES Wherein occasion was iustly taken for the Publication of some Reasons which his Sacred MAIESTIE had beene pleased to giue of those Directions for PREACHERS which he had formerly sent forth Preached at the CROSSE the 15 th of September 1622. By IOHN DONNE Doctor of Diuinitie and Deane of Saint PAVLS London And now by commandement of his Majestie published as it was then preached LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Thomas Iones and are to be sold at his shop in the Strand at the blacke Rauen neere vnto Saint Clements Church 1622. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE GEORGE Marquesse of Buckingham High ADMIRALL of ENGLAND c. WHen I would speake to the KING by your LORDSHIPS Meanes I doe Now when I would speake to the Kingdom I would do that by your Lordshippes Meanes to and therefore I am bold to transfer this Sermon to the World through your Lordships hands and vnder your Name For the first part of the Sermon the Explication of the Text my profession and my Conscience is warant enough that I haue spoken as the Holy Ghost intended For the second part the Application of the Text it wil be warrant enough that I haue spoken as his Maiestie intended that your Lordship admits it to issue in your Name It is because Kings fauour the Church that the Prophet sayes they are her Foster-Fathers and then those persons who haue also interest in the fauor of Kings are her Foster-Brothers and such vse to loue well By that Title as by many other also your Lordship loues the Church as you are her Foster-Brother loued of him who loues her And by that Title you loue all them in the Church who endeuour to aduance both the vnity of our Church in it self and the vnity of the Church with the godly designes of our religious King To which Seruice I shall euer sacrifice all the labors of Your Lordships humblest and thankefullest Seruant in Christ Iesus IOHN DONNE IVDGES 5. 20. De coelo dimicatum est contra eos stellae manentes in Ordine cursu suo aduersus Siseram pugnauerunt They fought from Heauen The stars in their courses fought against Sisera ALl the words of God are alwayes sweete in themselues sayes Dauid but sweeter in the mouth and in the pen of some of the Prophets and some of the Apostles then of others as they differed in their naturall gifts or in their education but sweetest of all where the Holy Ghost hath beene pleased to set the word of God to Musique and to conuay it into a Song and this Text is of that kind part of the Song which Deborah Barak sung after their great victory vpon Sisera Sisera who was Iabin the King of Canaans Generall against Israel God himselfe made Moses a Song and expressed his reason why The children of Israel sayes God will forget my Law but this song they will not forget and whensoeuer they sing this song this song shall testifie against them what I haue done for them how they haue forsaken me And to such a purpose hath God left this Song of Deborah and Barak in the Scriptures that all Murmurers and all that stray into a diffidence of Gods power or of his purpose to sustaine his owne cause and destroy his owne Enemies might run and read might read and sing the wonderfull deliuerances that God hath giuen to his people by weake and vnexpected meanes This world begun with a Song if the Chalde Paraphrasts vpon Salomons Song of Songs haue taken a true tradition That assoone as Adams sinne was forgiuen him he expressed as he cals it in that Song Sabbatum suum his Sabboth his peace of conscience in a Song of which we haue the entrance in that Paraphrase This world begun so and so did the next world too if wee count the beginning of that as it is a good computation to doe so from the comming of Christ Iesus for that was expressed on Earth in diuers Songs in the blessed Virgins Magnificat My soule doth magnifie the Lord In Zacharies Benedictus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel and in Simeons Nunc dimittis Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace This world began so and the other and when both shall ioyne and make vp one world without end it shall continue so in heauen in that Song of the Lamb Great and marueilous are thy workes Lord God Almighty iust and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints And to Tune vs to Compose and giue vs a Harmonie and Concord of affections in all perturbations and passions and discords in the passages of this life if we had no more of the same Musique in the Scriptures as we haue the Song of Moses at the Red Sea and many Psalmes of Dauid to the same purpose this Song of Deborah were enough abundantly enough to slumber any storme to becalme any tempest to rectifie any scruple of Gods slacknesse in the defence of his cause when in the History and occasion of this Song expressed in the Chapter before this we see That Israel had done euill in the fight of the Lord againe and yet againe God came to them That God himselfe had sold Israel into the hands of Iabin King of Canaan and yet he repented the bargaine and came to them That in twenty yeeres oppression he came not and yet he came That When Sisera came against them with nine hundred Chariots of Iron and all preparations proportionable to that and God cald vp a woman a Prophetesse a Deborah against him because Deborah had a zeale to the cause and consequently an enmity to the enemie God would effect his purpose by so weake an instrument by a woman but by a woman which had no such interest nor zeale to the cause by Iael And in Iaels hand by such an instrument as with that scarce any man could doe it if it were to be done againe with a hammer she driues a nayle through his temples and nayles him to the ground as he lay sleeping in her tent And then the end of all was the end of all not one man of his army left aliue O my Soule why art thou so sad why art thou so disquieted within me Sing vnto the Lord an old song the song of Deborah and Barak That God by weake meanes doth might workes That all Gods creatures fight in his behalfe They fought from beanen the starres in their Order fought against Sisera You shal haue but two parts out of these words And to make these two parts I consider the Text as the two Hemispheres of the world laid open in a flat in a plaine Map All those parts of the world which the