Five Sermons

NOTE: This is an uncorrected transcription. Lacunae in the TCP transcription have been filled and errata substitutions have been made, but the text has not yet been proofed by the John Donne Society Digital Prose Project. If you would like to volunteer, please send an inquiry to DonneProse[at]gmail.com. Five
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. London,
Printed for Thomas Jones, and are to bee
sold at the Signe of the Blacke Rauen in the
Strand. 1626.

Ivdges. 5.20.
De cœlo dimicatum est contra eos:
stellæae manentes in Ordine, &
cursu suo aduersus Siseram pug-
nauerunt.

They fought from Heauen; The stars
in their courses fought against Sisera. ALlAll the words of
God are alwayes
sweete in them-
selues, 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 plea-

(2) sed 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 Si-
sera; Sisera who was Iabin the King of Cana-
ans Generall against Israel. God himselfe
made Moses a Song, Deut. 31.19.and expressed his rea-
son 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 wonder-
full 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 expres-
sed (as he cals it in that Song) Sabbatum suum,

(3)
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 computa-
tion to doe so) from the comming of Christ
Iesus: for that was expressed on Earth, in
diuers Songs; in the blessed Uirgins Mag-
nificat; 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, Apoc. 3.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 Harmo-
nie and Concord of affections, in all per-
turbations 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 pur-
pose) this Song of Deborah were enough, a-

(4) bundantly 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 occasi-
on of this Song, expressed in the Chapter be-
fore this, we see, That Israel had done euill in
the sight of the Lord againe, and yet againe,
God came to them: That God himselfe had
sold Israel into the hands of Iabin King of Cana-
an, and yet he repented the bargaine, and
came to them; That in twenty yeeres oppressi-
on he came not, and yet he came. That when
Sisera came against them, with nine hundred Cha-
riots of Iron, and all preparations, proportio-
nable to that, and God cald vp a woman, a
Prophetesse, a Deborah against him, because
Deborah had a zeale to the cause, and conse-
quently an enmity to the enemie, God
would effect his purpose by so weake an in-
strument, by a woman, but by a woman,
which had no such interest, nor zeale to the
cause; by Jael: And in Iaels hand, by such
an instrument, as with that, scarce any
man could doe it, if it were to be done a-
gaine, with a hammer she driues a nayle
through his temples, and nayles him to the

(5)
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 mighty workes, That all Gods
creatures fight in his behalfe, They fought
from heauen, the starres in their Order, fought
against Sisera. You shal haue but two parts out of these
words; And to make these two parts, Diuision.I con-
sider 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 An-
cients haue vsed to consider, are in one of
those Hemispheres; All Europe is in that, and
in that is all Asia, and Afrike too: So that
when we haue seene that Hemisphere, done
with that, we might seeme to haue seene all,
done with all the world; but yet the other
Hemisphere, that of America is as big as it;
though, but by occasion of new, and late
discoueries, we had had nothing to say of
America. So the first part of our Text, will
bee as that first Hemisphere; all which the

(6)
ancient Expositors found occasion to note
out of these words, will be in that: but by
the new discoueries of some humors of
men, and rumors of men, we shall haue oc-
casion to say somewhat of a second part to.
The parts are, first, the Literall, the Histo-
ricall sense of the words; And then an e-
mergent, a collaterall, an occasionall sense
of them. The explication of the wordes,
and the Application, Quid tunc, Quid nunc,
How the words were spoken then, How
they may be applied now, will be our two
parts. And, in passing through our first,
wee shall make these steps. First, God can,
and sometimes doth effect his purposes by
himselfe; intirely, immediatly, extraordi-
narily, miraculously by himselfe: But yet,
in a second place, we shall see, by this
story, That he lookes for assistance, for
concurrence of second causes, and subor-
dinate meanes: And that therefore, God
in this Song of Deborah, hath prouided an
honourable commemoration of them, who
did assist his cause; for, the Princes haue
their place, Verse 15.The Princes of Issachar were
with her: And then, the Gouernours, The

(7)
great Persons, the great Officers of the
State, haue their place in this honour,
That they offered themselues willingly to that
seruice; And after them, the Merchants,
Verse 9.for those who are said there, to ride vpon
white Asses, to be well mounted, according Verse 10,
to the manner of those Nations, are, by Pe-
ter Martyr, amongst our Expositors, and by
Serarius the Iesuite, amongst the others, fit-
ly vnderstood, to be intended of Merchants;
And in the same verse, the Iudges are honora-
bly 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 them-
selues (and what will they denie, that offer
themselues) and willingly, to this imploi-
ment. 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 pre-

(8) uaricated 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 there-
fore 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 circumstan-
ces of our first part: for the particulars of
the second, we shall open them more com-
modiously 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 protesta-
tion, That in all which I shall say this day,
beeing to speake often of God, in that No-
tion, 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 euer-

(9) lasting discord and tumult, and torment of
the world to come: And therefore, our Bles-
sed 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 Re-
ligion, or to restore those, who in forraine
parts, are deuested of their lawfull posses-
sions, 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 there-
fore 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 re-
store any one peece, with a little? In the
Creation, his production of specifique
formes, and seuerall Creatures in the se-
uerall dayes, was much, very much; but
not very much, compared with that, which

(10)
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 lar-
gest 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 Pha-
raohs Magicians, but in his least, in the ma-
king 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 imagina-
tion, that dreame of the Rabbins, that hind e-

(11) red the Magicians, who say, that the Deuill
cannot make any Creature, lesse then a Bar-
ley corne; As it is with men, they miscon-
ceiue 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 or-
dinarily admires great workes in little
forme, why will he not be content to glo-
rifie 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 Sennache-
rib? Hee tooke a neerer way; he slew al-
most two hundreth thousand of them, in
one night by an Angell. Esa. 37.36.Should God haue
troubled an Angell to satisfie Elisha his ser-
uant? 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 5when they came
vp with thirty thousand Chariots; but hee

(12)
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 ther-
fore he reduced Gideons thirty two thousand
to three hundred persons. It was so in per-
sons, God does much with few, and it was so
in time, God does much, though late;
though God seeme a long time to haue for-
got 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 pos-
session 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 per-
sons, Elias knew of no more but himselfe,

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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 little to all the world: and yet these se-
uen thousand haue peopled heauen, and sent
vp all those Colonies thither; all those Armies
of Martyrs, those flockes of Lambes, inno-
cent children, those Fathers, the Fathers of
the Church, and Mothers, holy Matrons, and
daughters, blessed Virgines, and learned and
laborious Doctors; these seuen thousand
haue filled vp the places of the fallen Angels,
and repeopled that Kingdome: And where-
soeuer we thinke them most worne out, God
at this time hath his remnant (as the Apostle
sayes) and God is able to make vp the whole
garment of that remnant. Rom. 11.5.So he does much
with few, in the wayes to heauen; and that
he does much though late, in that way too,
thou mayest discerne in his working vpon
thy selfe. How often hast thou suffered thy
Soule, to grow cleane out of all reparations
into ruine, by thine inconsiderate and habi-
tuall course of sinne, and neuer repaired it
by any good vse of hearing the word, or re-
ceiuing the Sacrament in a long time, and

(14)
when thou hast at any time, come to a sur-
uey of thy conscience, how hast thou beene
affected with an inordinate apprehension of
Gods anger, and his inaccessiblenesse, his
inexorablenesse towards thee, and sunke e-
uen into the iawes of desperation; And yet,
Quia manet semen dei, because the seed of
God hath remained in thee, 1. Io. 3.4.Incubat Spiritus,
the Holy Ghost hath sat vpon that seed, and
hatched a new Creature in thee, a modest,
but yet infallible assurance of the Mercy of
thy God. Recollect all; in raysing of sieges,
and discomfiting of Armies, in restoring
possessions, and reinuesting right heires, in
repairing the ruines of the Kingdome of
heauen, depopulated in the fall of Angels, in
reestablishing peace of conscience; in a
presumptuous confidence, or ouer-timo-
rous diffidence in God, God glorifies him-
selfe that way, to doe much with little. He does so; but yet hee will haue some-
thing. God is a good Husband, a good Ste-
ward of Mans contributions, but contribu-
tions he will haue: hee will haue a concur-
rence, a cooperation of persons. Euen in
that great worke, which wee spake of at first,

(15)
the first creation, which was so absolutely
of Nothing, yet there was a Faciamus, let vs,
vs, make Man; though but one God, yet
more Persons in that worke. Matt. 4.3.Christ had been
able to haue done as the Deuill would haue
had him doe, to haue made bread of stones,
when hee had so great a number to feed in
the Wildernesse; but hee does not so: Hee
askes his Disciples, Quot panes habetis; How
many loafes haue you? and though they
were but fiue, yet since they were some,
he multiplies them, and feeds aboue fiue
thousand with those fiue. Hee would haue
a remnant of Gedeons Armie to fight his bat-
tailes: A remnant of Israels beleeuers to make
vp his Kingdome; A remnant of thy Soule,
his seed wrapd vp somewhere, to saue thy
Soule; And a remnant of thy selfe, of thy
Mind, of thy Purse, of thy Person, for thy
temporall deliuerance. God goes lowe, and
accepts small Sacrifices; a Pigeon, a hand-
full of Flower, a few eares of Corne; but
a Sacrifice he will haue. The Christian Church
implies a shrewd distresse, when shee pro-
uides that reason, that clause in her prayer,
Quia non est alius, Giue Peace in our time, O

(16)
Lord, because there is no other that fighteth for
vs: If the bowels of compassion bee eaten
out, if the band of the Communion of Saints
be dissolued, we fight for none, none fights
for vs, at last neyther we nor they shall fight
for Christ, nor Christ for them nor vs, but all
become a prey to the generall enemie of the
name of Christ; for God requires something,
some assistance, some concurrence, some co-
operation, though he can fight from heauen,
and the Starres, in their order, can fight against
Sisera. And therefore, though God giue his glo-
rie to none, his glorie, that is to doe all with
Nothing, yet he giues them their glorie, that
doe any thing for him, or for themselues.
And as hee hath laid vp a record, for their
glorie and Memoriall, who were remarke-
able for Faith (for the eleuenth Chapter to
the Hebrewes, is a Catalogue of them.) So in
this Song of Deborah and Barake, hee hath
laide vp a Record for their glorie, who ex-
pressed their faith in Workes, and assisted his
seruice. That which is said in generall, The
Memorie of the iust is blessed, Prou. 13.7.but the name of the
wicked shall rot, That is applied and promi-

(17) sed in particular, by him, who can performe
it, by Christ, to that woman, who anointed
him, That whersoeuer his Gospell should be Prea-
ched in the whole world, Mat. 26.13ther should also this that
this woman had done, be told for a memoriall of
her. Shee assisted at his Funerall (as Christ
himselfe interprets her action, That shee
did it to burie him) and hath her glorie: how
shall he glorifie them, that aduance his glo-
rie? Shee hath her reward in his death; what
shall they haue, that keepe him, and his Gos-
pell aliue? Not a verse in Deborah and Ba-
raks song, and yet that is honourable eui-
dence: Not a commemoration at the Prea-
ching of the Gospell; and yet that is the ho-
nourable testimonie in this place, and at
these Exercises, of such as haue contribu-
ted to the conueniencies of these Exerci-
ses, but they shall haue a place in the Booke
of life; indelibly in the Booke of life, if they
proceede in that deuotion of assisting Gods
cause, and doe not thinke, that they haue
done all, or done enough, if they haue
done something some one time. The Mo-
rall man hath said well, and well applied it;
Plutar.A Ship is a Ship for euer, if you repaire it. So,

(18)
sayes hee, Honour is Honour, and so say wee,
A good Conscience is a good Conscience for euer,
if you repaire it: But, sayes he well, Aliquid
famae addendum, ne putrescat. Honour will
putrifie, and so will a good Conscience too,
if it be not repaired. He that hath done No-
thing must begin, and hee that hath done
something for Gods cause, must doe more,
if hee will continue his name in the Booke
of Life; though God leaue no one particular
action, done for his glorie, without glo-
rie; as those who assisted his glorie heere,
haue a glorious Commemoration in this
Song. In the fifteenth verse, Princes haue their
place; The Princes of Issachar, were with Debo-
rah· when the King goes to the field, Many,
who are in other cases Priuiledged, are by
their Tenures bound to goe. It is a high
Tenure to hold by a Crowne; And when God,
of whome, and whome onely they hold,
that hold so, goes into the field, it becomes
them to goe with him. But as God sits in
Heauen, and yet goes into the field, so they
of whome God hath said, Yee are Gods, the
Kings of the Earth, may stay at home, and

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yet goe too. They goe in their assistance to
the Warre; They goe in their Mediation
for Peace; They goe in their Example, when
from their sweetnesse, and moderation in
their Gouernement at home, their flowes
out an instruction, a perswasion to Princes
abroad. Kings goe many times, and are not
thanked, because their wayes are not seene:
and Christ himselfe would not alwayes bee
seene; In the eight of Iohn, he would not be
seene. When they tooke vp stones to stone
him, he withdrew himselfe inuisibly, hee
would not be seene: When Princes find that
open actions exasperate, they doe best, if
they be not seene. In the sixth of Iohn, Christ
would not bee seene. When they would
haue put vpon him, that which was not fit
for him to take, when they would haue
made him King, he withdrew himselfe, and
was not seene. When Princes are tempted
to take Territories, or possessions in to their
hands, to which other Princes haue iust pre-
tences, they doe best, if they withdrawe
themselues from engagements in vnneces-
sarie Warres, for that, 2. Reg. 23.
29.that onely was Io-
siahs ruine. Kings cannot alwayes goe in

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the sight of Men, and so they lose their
thankes; but they cannot goe out of the
sight of God, and there they neuer lose
their reward: For the Lord that sees them in
secret, shall reward them openly, with peace
in their owne States, and Honour in their
owne Chronicles, as here, for assisting his
cause, hee gaue the Princes of Issachar a
roome, a straine in Deborah and Barakes
Song. And in the ninth verse, the Gouernors, the
great Officers, haue their place, in this praise,
My heart is towards the Gouernors of Israel that
offered themselues willingly. It is not them-
selues in person; Great Officers cannot doe
so; They are Intelligences that moue great
Spheares, but they must not bee mou'd out
of them. But their glorie here is their wil-
lingnesse. That before they were inquired
into, how they carried themselues in their
Offices, before they were intimidated, or
soupled with fines and ransomes, volunta-
rily they assisted the cause of God. Some in
the Romane Church write, that the Cardinalls
of that Church, are so incorporated into the
Pope, so much of his body, and so bloud of

(21)
his bloud, that in a feuer they may not let
bloud without his leaue. Truly, the great
Persons and Gouernors in any state, are so
noble and neere parts of the King, as that
they may not bleed out in any subuentions
and assistances of such causes vnder-hand,
as are not auowd by the King; for, it is not
euident that that cause is Gods cause; at least
not euident that that way is an assistance of
Gods cause. But a good, and tractable, and
ductile disposition, in all courses which
shall lawfully bee declared to bee for Gods
glorie, then, not Contra, but Praeter, not a-
gainst, but besides, not in opposing, but in
preuenting the Kings will, before hee vrge,
before he presse, to be willing and forward
in such assistances, this giues great Persons,
Gouernors, and Officers, a verse in Baraks and
Deborahs Song, and Deborah and Baraks
Song is the Word of God. The Merchants haue their place in that
verse too. For, (as wee said before) those
who ride vpon white Asses, (which was as ho-
norable a transportation, as Coaches are now)
are by Peter Martyr amongst ours, and by
Serarius the Jesuit amongst others, well vn-

(22) derstood to be the Merchants. The great-
nesse and the dignitie of the Merchants of
the East is sufficiently expressed in those of
Babylon, Thy Merchants were the great Men of
the Earth. Apoc. 18.23And for the Merchants of the
West, we know that in diuers forraine parts,
their Nobilitie is in their Merchants, their
Merchants are their Gentlemen. And certain-
ly, no place of the world, for Commodities
and Situation, better disposed then this
Kingdome, to make Merchants great. You
cannot shew your greatnesse more, then
in seruing God, with part of it; you did serue
before you were free; but here you do both
at once, for his seruice is perfect freedome.
I am not here to day, to beg a Beneuolence for
any particular cause on foot now: there is
none; but my Errand in this first part is, first
to remoue iealousies and suspitions of Gods
neglecting his businesse, because he does
it not at our appointment, and then to pro-
moue and aduance a disposition, to assist
his cause and his glory, in all wayes, which
shall bee declar'd to conduce thereunto,
whether in his body, by relieuing the poore,
or in his house by repairing these walls, or

(23)
in his honour in employments more pub-
lique: And to assure you that you cannot
haue a better debter, a better pay-master then
Christ Iesus: for all your Entayles, and all
your perpetuities doe not so nayle, so hoope
in, so riuet an estate in your posteritie, as to
make the Sonne of God your Sonne too, and to
giue Christ Iesus a Childes part, with the rest
of your Children. It is noted (perchaunce
but out of leuity) that your Children doe
not keepe that which you get: It is but a
calumny, or but a fascination of ill wishers.
We haue many happy instances to the con-
trarie, many noble families deriued from
you; One, enough to enoble a World;
Queene ELIZABETH was the great gran-
child of a Lord Maior of London. Our bles-
sed God blesse all your Estates, and blesse
your posteritie in a blessed enioying therof;
But truly it is a good way to that, amongst
all your purchases, to purchase a place in
Barak and Deborahs Song, a testimonie of
the Holy Ghost, that you were forward in
all due times in the assistance of Gods cause. That testimonie, in this Seruice in our
Text, haue the Iudges of the Land, in the

(24) same verse too, ye that fit in Iudgement. Certain-
ly, Men exercised in Judgement, are likeliest
to thinke of the last Iudgement. Men accu-
stomed to giue Iudgement, likeliest to thinke
of the Iudgement they are to receiue. And
at that last Iudgement the Malediction of the
left hand falls vpon them that haue not har-
bored Christ, not fed him, not clothed him,
And when Christ comes to want those things
in that degree, that his Kingdome, his Gos-
pell, himselfe cannot subsist, where it did,
without such a sustentation, an omission in
such an assistance, is much more heauie.
All Iudgements end in this, Suum cui{que}, to giue
euery one his owne. Giue God his owne, and
hee hath enough; giue him his owne, in his
owne place, and his cause will be preferred
before any Ciuill or Naturall obligation.
But God requires not that: pay euery other
Man first, owe nothing to any Man; pay your
Children, apportion them conuenient por-
tions. Pay your estimation, your reputa-
tation, liue in that good fashion which your
ranke and calling calls for: when all this is
done, of your superfluities beginne to pay
God, and euen for that you shall haue your

(25)
roome in Deborah, and Baraks Song, for
Assistants, and Coadiutors to him. For a farre vnlikelier sort of people, then
any of these, haue that in the same verse al-
so, Ambulantes super viam, They that walke vp
and downe idle, discourcing Men, Men of
no Calling, of no Profession, of no sense of
other Mens miseries, and yet they assist
this cause. Men that sucke the sweet of the
Earth, and the sweat of other Men: Men
that pay the State nothing in doing the
offices of mutuall societie, and embracing
particular vocations; Men that make them-
selues but pipes to receiue and conuay, and
vent rumors, but spunges to sucke in, and
powre out foule water; Men that doe not
spend time, but weare time, they trade not,
they plough not, they preach not, they plead
not, but walke, and walke vpon the way,
till they haue walked out their sixe moneths
for the renuing of bands, euen these had
some remorse in Gods cause, euen these got
into Deborah and Baraks Song for assisting
there. And lesse; that is, Poorer then these: for
in the Second verse, the people are as forward

(26)
as the Gouernors, in the Ninth, They offered
themselues willingly. They might offer them-
selues, their persons. It is likely they did;
and likely that many of them had nothing
to offer but themselues. And when Men
of that pouertie offer, part easily with that
which was hardly got, how acceptable to
God, that Sacrifice is, we see in Christs testi-
monie of that Widdow, who amongst many
great giuers gaue her Mite, That shee gaue
more then all they, because shee gaue all: which
testified not onely her Liberalitie to God, but
her Confidence in God, that though shee left
nothing, shee should not lacke: for that
right vse doth Saint Augustine make of that
example, Diuites largiuntur securi de diuitijs,
pauper securus de Domino: A rich man giues,
and feeles it not, feares no want, because hee is
sure of a full Chest at home; A poore man giues,
and feeles it as little, because hee is sure of a boun-
tifull God in Heauen. God then can worke alone; there wee set
out: yet he does require assistance; that way
wee went: And to those that doe assist, hee
giues glory here; so farre we are gone: but
yet this remaynes, that hee layes notes of

(27)
blame, and reproach vpon them, whom
collaterall respects withdrew from this as-
sistance. For there is a kind of reproach
and increpation laide vpon Reuben in that
question, Why abodest thou amongst the sheep-
folds? Verse 16.The diuisions of REVBEN were great
thoughts of heart. Ambition of precedencie
in places of employment, greatnes of heart,
and a lothnesse to be vnder the commaund
of any other, and so an incoherence, not
concurring in Counsailes and Executions,
retard oftentimes euen the cause of God.
So is there also a reproach and increpation
vpon Dan, in that question, Verse 17.why did Dan
remaine in his ships; A confidence in their
owne strength, a sacrificing to their owne
Nets, an attributing of their securitie to
their owne wisedome or power, may also
retard the cause of God; that stayed Dan be-
hinde. Thus then they haue their thankes that
doe, thus their markes that doe not assist in
Gods cause: though God to encourage them
that doe, accomplish his worke himselfe,
They fought from heauen, The Starres in their
order fought against Sisera. They fought, sayes

(28)
the Text, but does not tell vs who; least men
should direct their thankes for that which is
past, or their prayers for future benefits, to
any other, euen in heauen, then to God him-
selfe. The stars are nam'd; It could not be
feared that Men would pray to them, sacri-
fice to them, Angels & Saints are not named;
Men might come to ascribe to them, that
which appertained to God onely. Now these
Stars, sayes the text, fought in their courses, Ma-
nentes in Ordine, they fought not disorderly.
It was no Enchantment, no Sorcery, no disord-
ring of the frame, or the powers, or the in-
fluence of these heauenly bodies, in fauor
of the Israelites; God would not be behol-
den to the Deuill, or to Witches, for his best
friends. It was no disorderly Enchantment,
nor it was no Miracle, that disordered these
Starres; as in Iosuahs time, the Sunne and
Moone were disordred in their Motions; But
as Iosephus, who relates this battaile more
particularly, sayes, with whom all agree, The
naturall Influence of these heauenly bodies, at this
time, had created and gathered such stormes and
hayles, as blowing vehemently in the Enemies
face, was the cause of this defeate: for so wee

(29)
might haue said, in that deliuerance, which God
gaue vs at Sea, They fought from hea-
uen, The Starres in their order fought against
the Enemie. Without coniuring, without
Miracle, from heauen, but yet by naturall
meanes, God preserued vs. For that is the
force of that phrase, and of that maner of ex-
pressing it, Manentes in Ordine, The Starres,
containing themselues in their Order, fought.
And that phrase induces our second part,
the accommodation, the occasionall appli-
cation of these words: God will not fight, nor
be fought for disorderly; And therefore in illu-
stration, and confirmation of those words
of the Apostle, Let all things be done decently,
and in order, Aquinas, in his Commentaries vp-
on that place, cites, and applies this Text,
as words to the same purpose, and of the
same signification. You, sayes Saint Paul,
you who are Stars in the Church, must pro-
ceede in your warfare, decently, and in or-
der, for the stars of heauen, when they fight
for the Lord, they doe their seruice, Manen-
tes in Ordine, containing themselues in their Or-
der. And so in our order, we are come to our
second part. In which we owe you by pro-
mise

(30)
made at first, an Analysis, a distribution
of the steps and branches of this part, now
when wee are come to the handling there-
of: And thus wee shall proceede; first, the
Warre, which wee are to speake of here, is
not as before, a Worldly warre, it is a Spiri-
tuall War: And then the Munition, the proui-
sion for this warre, is not as before, tempo-
rall 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 Ordi-
nance hee fights from heauen, and batters
downe all errors. And thirdly, to main-
tain 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 hea-
uen doe, In their order, in that Order, and ac-
cording 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

(31)
Beatie Pacifici, a blessing reserued to Peace-
makers, to the Peace-maker, our Peace-maker,
who hath sometimes effected it in some pla-
ces, 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, Jdolatrie and Sinceritie so farre a-
sunder, and infused such an incompatibili-
tie, 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

(32)
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 passi-
ons 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 paci-
fici, blessed were that labour, and that labou-
rer, that could reconcile those things; and of
that there might bee hope, because it is of-
ten 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 indif-
ferent, and all one, Maledicti Pacifici,
hee that hath brought such a Peace, hath

(33)
brought a curse vpon his owne Conscience,
and laid, not a Satisfastion, but a Scupefaction
vpon it. A Turke might perchance say, in
scorne of vs both, They call you Heretiques,
you call them Idolaters, why might not Ido-
laters, and Heretiques agree well enough to-
gether? But a true Christian will neuer
make Contrarieties in fundamentall things in-
different, neuer make foundations, and su-
peredifications, 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

(34)
where men differ from God. That warre
God hath kindled, and that warre must bee
maintain'd, and maintain'd by his way; and
his way, and his Ordinance in this warre, is
Preaching. If God had not said to Noah, Fac tibi Ar-
cam; 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 he had said so, said thus
much more, Qui non crediderit damnabitur,
Hee that beleeues not your Preaching, shall be
damned: certainly man would neuer haue
thought of such a way of establishing a
kingdome, as by Preaching. No other Na-
tion had any such Institution, as Preaching.
In the Romane State, there was a publique
Officer, Conditor Precum, who vpon great
emergent occasions, deprecations of immi-
nent dangers, or Gratulations for euident

(35)
benefites, did make particular Collects an-
swerable to those occasions: And some
such occasionall Panegyriques, and gratu-
latory Orations for temporall benefites,
they had in that State. But a fixt and con-
stant course of conteining Subiects in their
Religious and Ciuill duties, by preaching,
onely God ordain'd, onely his Children en-
ioy'd. Christ when he sent his Apostles, did
not giue them a particular command, Ite o-
rate, goe and pray in the publique Congre-
gation; 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 ora-
bitis, Not goe, and pray, but, when you pray,
pray thus, hee instructed them in the forme;
the dutie was well knowne to all before.
But, for Preaching, He himselfe was anoin-
ted for that, The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me,
Esa. 61.1because the Lord hath anoynted mee to preach:
His vnction was his function. He was an-
oynted with that power, and hee hath an-
oynted vs with part of his owne vnction:
All power is giuen vnto mee, sayes hee, in Hea-
uen and in Earth; and therefore (as he addes

(36)
there) Goe yee, Math. 28 19.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 sauour
of life vnto life When therefore the Apostle sayes,
1 Thes. 5.
19.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 Chryso-
stome, (and not hee alone) vnderstood that
place, That they quench the spirit, who discounte-
nance preaching, and dishearten Preachers. Saint
Chrysostome took his example from the lampe
that burnt by him, when he was preaching;
(It seemes therefore hee did preach in the
afternoone) and he sayes, You may quench this
Lampe, by putting in water, and you may quench
it by taking out the oyle. So a man may quench
the spirit in himselfe, if he smoother it, suf-
focate it with worldly pleasures, or profits,
and he may quench it in others, if he with-
draw that fauour, or that help, which keeps
that Man, who hath the spirit of Prophe-
sie, the Vnction of Preaching, in a cheere-
full discharge of his dutie. Preaching then

(37)
being Gods Ordinance to beget Faith, to take
away preaching, were to disarme God, and
to quench the spirit; for by that Ordinance he
fights from heauen. And to maintaine that fight, he hath
made his Ministers Starres; as they are called
in the first of the Reuelation. And they fight
against Sisera, that is, they preach against
Error. They preach out of Necessitie; Neces-
sitie is laid vpon me to preach, sayes the Apostle,
1 Cor. 9.
16.and vpon a heauy penaltie, if they doe not;
Vae mihi si non, Woe bee vnto me if I doe not
preach the Gospell. Neither is that spoke there
with the case of a future, as the Roman Tran-
slation hath it, Si non Eliuangelizauero, If I doe
not hereafter preach; If I preach not at one
time or other; If I preach not when I see
how things wil go, what kind of preaching
will be most acceptable: But it is, Si non E-
uangelizem, If I preach not now; now,
though I had preached yesterday; for so
Saint Ambrose preached his Sermon de sancto
Latrone, of the good Thiefe, Hesterno
die, Yesterday I told you &c. So Saint Augustin
preached his Sermon vpon All Saints day:
And so did Saint Bernard his twelfth Sermon

(38)
vpon the Psalm: Qui habitat. Now, though
I preached but lately before; and now,
though I had but late warning to preach
now; So St. Basil preached his 2. Sermon vp-
on the Hexameron, the sixe dayes worke,
when hee had but that Morning for Medi-
tation: and more then so, in his 2. Sermon de
Baptissimo; for, it seemes he preached that
without any premeditation, Prout suggerit
Spiritus sanctus. Now, though I had not
time to labour a Sermon; and now, though
I preach in anothers mans place; for so Saint
Augustine preached his Sermon vpon the 95.
Psalme: where he saies, Frater noster Seuerus,
Our brother Seuerus should by promise haue prea-
ched heere, but since he comes not, I will. Now,
that is, whensoeuer Gods good people may
be edified by my preaching: Vae si non, woe
be vnto me, if I doe not preach. The Dra-
gon drew a third part of the Stars from heauen.
Apoc. 12.
3.Antichrist by his Persecutions, and Excom-
munications silenced many; all that would
not magnifie him. And many amongst vs,
haue silenced themselues: Abundance silen-
ces some, & Lazinesse, and Ignorance some,
and some their owne Indiscretion, and then

(39)
they lay that vpon the Magistrate. But God
hath plac'd vs in a Church, and vnder a Head
of the Church, where none are silenced, nor
discountenanc'd, if being Stars, called to the
Ministery of the Gospel, & appointed to fight,
to preach there, they fight within the disci-
pline and limits of this Text, Manentes in or-
dine, conteining themselues in Order. In this phrase, as we told you before, out
of Aquinas, the same thing is intended, as in
that place of Saint Paul, Let all things bee
done decently, and in Order. That the Vul-
gat Edition reades, Fiant honeste; and then
sayes Saint Ambrose, Honeste fit, quod cum pace
fit, That is done honestly, and decently, which is
done quietly, and peaceably. Not with a peace,
and indifferencie to contrary Opinions in
fundamentall Doctrines, not to shuffle Re-
ligions together, and make it all one which
you chuse, but a peace with persons, an ab-
stinence from contumelies, and reuilings.
It is true that wee must hate Gods enemies
with a perfect hatred, and it is true that Saint
Chrysostome sayes, Odium perfectum est, odium
consummatissimum, that is not a perfect ha-
tred, that leaues out any of their Errors vn-

(40) hated. But yet a perfect hatred is that too,
which may consist with perfection, and
Charitie is perfection: a perfect hatred is
that which a perfect, that is, a charitable
man may beare, which is still to hate Errors,
not Persons. When their insolencies pro-
uoke vs to speake of them, we shall doe no
good therein, if therein we proceed not de-
cently, and in order. Christ sayes of his
Church: Cant. 6.3Terribilis vt Castrorumacies, It is po-
werfull as an Armie; but it is vt acies ordinata,
as an armie disciplin'd, and in order: for with-
out order, an Army is but a great Ryot; and
without this decencie, this peaceablenesse,
this discretion, this Order, zeale is but fury,
and such preaching is but to the obduration
of ill, not to the edification of good Chri-
stians. Saint Paul in his absence from the
Colossians, Col. 2.5.reioyces as much in beholding
their Order, as in their stedfastnesse in the
faith of Christ Iesus: Nay, if wee consider
the words well, as Saint Chrysostome hath
done, we shall see that it is only their Order
that he reioyces in: for Non dixit fidem, sed
firmamentum fidei, sayes that Father, It was not
their faith, but that which established their faith,

(41)
that was their order, that occasioned his ioy. For
when there is not an vniforme, a comely,
an orderly presenting of matters of faith,
faith it selfe growes loose, and loses her esti-
mation; and preaching in the Church comes
to bee as pleading at the Barre, and not so
well: there the Counsell speakes not him-
selfe, but him that sent him, here wee shall
preach not him who sent vs, Christ Iesus, but
our selues. Study to be quiet, and to doe your
owne busines, 1 Thes 4.
11.is the Apostles commandement
to euery particular man amongst the Thes-
salonians. It seemes some amongst them dis-
obeyed that: and therefore hee writes no
more to particular persons, but to the whol
Church, in his other Epistle, and with more
vehemence, then a smal matter would haue
required: 2 Thes. 3.
6.Wee command you in the name of our
Lord Iesus Christ, that yee withdraw your selfe
from all that walke Inordinate, as the vulgat
reads that in one place, and Inquietè, as they
translate the same word, in another, disor-
derly, vnquietly: from all such as preach
suspiciously, and iealously; and be the garden
neuer so faire, wil make the world beleeue,
there is a Snake vnder euery leafe, be the in-

(42) tention neuer so sincere, will presage, and
prognosticate, and prediuine sinister and
mischieuous effects from it. A troubled spi-
rit is a sacrifice to God, Psa 51.7but a troublesome spirit
is farre from it. I am glad that our Ministe-
rie is called Orders; that when wee take this
calling, wee are said to take Orders. Yours
are called Trades, and Occupations, and My-
steries: Law and Phisicke are called Sciences,
and Professions: many others haue many
other names, ours is Orders. When by his
Maiesties leaue we meet in our Conuocations,
and being met, haue his further leaue, to
treat of remedies for any disorders in the
Church, our Constitutions are Canons, Canons
are Rules, Rules are Orders: Parliaments de-
termine in Lawes, Iudges in Decrees, wee in
Orders. And by our Seruice in this Mother
Church, we are Canonici, Canons, Regular, Or-
derly men; not Canonistae, men that know Or-
ders, but Canonici, men that keepe them:
where wee are also called Prebendaries, ra-
ther à Praebendo, then à Praebenda, rather for
giuing example of obedience to Orders,
then for any other respect. In the Romane
Church the most disorderly men, are their

(43)
men in Orders. I speake not of the vicious-
nesse of their life, I am no Iudge of that, I
know not that: but they are so out of all
Order, that they are within rule of no tem-
porall Law, within iurisdiction of no Ci-
uill Magistrate, no secular Iudge. They
may kill Kings, and yet can be no Traytors,
they assigne their reason, Because they are no
Subiects. He that kils one of them, shall be
really hang'd; and if one of them kill, hee
shall be Metaphorically hang'd, hee shall bee
suspended. Wee enioy gratefully, and wee
vse modestly the Priuiledges which godly
Princes, out of their pietie haue affoorded
vs, and which their godly Successours haue
giuen vs againe by their gracious continu-
ing of them to vs; but our Profession of it
selfe, naturally (though the very nature of
it dispose Princes to a gracious disposition
to vs) exempts vs not from the tye of their
Lawes. All men are in deed, we are in Deed
and in name too, Men of Orders; and there-
fore ought to be most ready of all others to
obey. Now, beloued, Aquin.Ordo semper dicitur ratione
principij: Order alwayes presumes a head, it al-

(44) wayes implyes some by whom wee are to
be ordered, and it implyes our conformitie
to him. Who is that? God certainly, with-
out all question, God. But betweene God, &
Man, we consider a two-fold Order One, as
all creatures depend vpon God, as vpon their
beginning, for their very Being; and so eue-
ry creature is wrought vpon immediately
by God, and whether hee discerne it or no,
does obey Gods order, that is, that which
God hath ordained, his purpose, his proui-
dence is executed vpon him, & accomplishd
in him. But then the other Order is, not as
man depends vpon God, as vpon his begin-
ning, but as he is to be reduced and brought
back to God, as to his end: & that is done by
meanes in this world. What is that meanes?
for those things which wee haue now in
consideration, the Church. But the body speaks
not, the head does. It is the Head of the Church
that declares to vs those things whereby we
are to be ordered. This the Royall and religious Head of these
Churches within his Dominions hath lately
had occasion to do. And in doing this, doth
he innouate any thing, offer to doe any new

(45)
thing? Do we repent that Canon, & Constitu-
tion, in which at his Maiesties first comming
we declar'd with so much alacrity, as that it
was the second Cano~ we made, That the King
had the same authoritie in causes Ecclesiasticall,
that the godly Kings of Iudah, and the Christian
Emperors in the primatiue Church had? Or are
we ignorant what those Kings of Iudah, and
those Emperors did? We are not, wee know
them well. Take it where the power of the
Empire may seem somwhat declind in Charls
the great; we see by those Capitularies of his,
that remain yet, what orders he gaue in such
causes; there he saies in his entrance to them,
Nemo presumptuosum dicat; Let no man call this
that I doe an vsurpation, to prescribe Orders in
these cases, Nam legimus quid Iosias fecerit, We
haue red what Iosiah did, and we know that wee
haue the same Authoritie that Iosiah had. But,
that Emperor consulted with his Clergie, be-
fore he published those Orders. It is true, he
sayes he did. But he, from whom we haue
receiued these Orders, did more then so; His
Maiesty forbore, til a representation of some
inconueniéces by disorderly preaching, was
made to him, by those in the highest place

(46)
in our Clergie, and other graue and reuerend
Prelates of this Church; they presented it to
him, and thereupon hee entred into the re-
medie. But that Emperour did but declare
things constituted by other Councells be-
fore: but yet the giuing the life of executi-
on to those Constitutions in his Domini-
ons, was introductorie, and many of the
things themselues were so. Amongst them,
his 70. Capitularie is appliable to our pre-
sent case; there hee sayes, Episcopi videant,
That the Bishops take care, that all Preachers
preach to the people the Exposition of the Lordes
Prayer: and he enioynes them too, Ne quid
nouum, ne quid non Canonicum, That no man
preach any new opinion of his owne; nay, though
it bee the opinion of other learned men in
other places, yet if it be Non Canonicum, not
declared in the vniuersall Church, not decla-
red in that Church, in which he hath his stati-
on, he may not preach it to the people: And
so he proceeds there to Catechistical Doctrine. That is not new then, which the Kings
of Iudah did, and which the Christian Empe-
rours did. But it is new to vs, if the Kings
of this kingdome haue not done it. Haue

(47)
they not done it? How little the Kings of
this kingdome did in Ecclesiasticall causes
then, when by their conniuence that power
was deuold into a forraine Prelates hand, it
is pitie to consider, pitie to remember, pitie
to bring into Contemplation; And yet tru-
ly euen then our Kings did exercise more of
that power, then our aduersaries who op-
pose it, will confesse. But, since the true iu-
risdiction was vindicated, and reapplyed to
the Crowne, in what iust height Henrie the
eight, and those who gouerned his Sonnes
minoritie, Edward the sixt, exercised that iu-
risdiction in Ecclesiasticall causes, none, that
knowes their Story, knowes not. And, be-
cause ordinarily, wee settle our selues best
in the Actions, and Precedents of the late
Queene of blessed and euerlasting memory,
I may haue leaue to remember them that
know, and to tell them that know not, one
act of her power and her wisedome, to this
purpose. When some Articles concerning
the falling away from iustifying grace, and
other poynts that beat vpon that haunt; had
been ventilated, in Conuenticle, and in
Pulpits too, and Preaching on both sides

(48)
past, and that some persons of great place
and estimation in our Church, together with
him who was the greatest of all, amongst
our Clergy, had vpon mature deliberation
established a resolution what should bee
thought, and taught, held and preached in
those poynts, and had thereupon sent down
that resolution to be published in the Vni-
uersitie, not vulgarly neither, to the people,
but in a Sermon, Ad Clerum onely, yet her
Maiestie being informed thereof, declared
her displeasure so, as that, scarce any houres
before the Sermon was to haue been, there
was a Countermaund, an Inhibition to the
Preacher for medling with any of those
poynts. Not that her Maiestie made her selfe
Iudge of the Doctrines, but that nothing, not
formerly declared to be so, ought to bee de-
clared to be the Tenet, and Doctrine of this
Church, her Maiestie not being acquainted,
nor suplicated to giue her gracious allow-
ance for the publication thereof. His sacred Maiestie then, is herein vpon
the steps of the Kings of Iudah, of the Chri-
stian Emperors, of the Kings of England,
of all the Kings of England, that embraced the

(49)
Reformation, of Queene Elizabeth her selfe;
and he is vpon his owne steps too. For, it is a
seditious calumny to apply this which is
done now, to any occasion that rises but
now: as though the King had done this,
now, for satisfaction of any persons at this
time. For some yeares since, when he was
pleased to call the Heads of Houses from the
Vniuersity, and intimate to them the incon-
ueniences that arose from the Preaching of
such men, as were not at all conuersant in
the Fathers, in the Schoole, nor in the Ecclesi-
asticall Storie, but had shut vp themselues in
a few later Writers; and gaue order to those
Gouernours for remedy herein, Then he be-
gan, then he laid the foundation for that, in
which hee hath proceeded thus much fur-
ther now, to reduce Preaching neerer to the
manner of those Primitiue times, when God
gaue so euident, and so remarkable blessings
to mens Preaching. Consider more particularly that which
he hath done now; His Maiestie hath ac-
companied his most gracious Letter to the
most Reuerend Father in God, my Lords Grace
of Canterbury, with certaine Directions how

(50)
Preachers ought to behaue themselues in
the exercise of that part of their Ministerie.
These being deriued from his Grace, in due
course to his reuerend Brethren, the other Bi-
shops, our worthy Diocesan, euer vigilant for
the Peace and vnitie of the Church, gaue a
speedy, very speedy intimation thereof, to
the Clergie of his Iurisdiction; so did others,
to whom it appertain'd so to doe in theirs.
Since that, his Maiestie who alwayes taking
good workes in hand, loues to perfect his
owne works, hath vouchsafed to giue some
Reasons of this his proceeding; which being
signified by him to whom the State and
Church owes much, The right Reuerend Fa-
ther in God, the Bishop of Lincolne, Lord Kee-
per of the great Seale, and after by him also,
who began at first, his Maiesties pleasure ap-
pearing thereby, (as he is too Great, and too
Good a King to seeke corners, or disguises, for
his actions) that these proceedings should
be made publique, I was not willing only,
but glad to haue my part therein, that as, in
the feare of God, I haue alwaies preached
to you the Gospell of Christ Iesus, who is the
God of your Saluation; So in the testimony

(51)
of a good Conscience, I might now preach
to you, the Gospel of the Holy ghost, who is the
God of peace, of vnitie, and concord. These Directions then, and the Reasons of
them, by his Maiesties particular care, euery
man in the Ministery may see & write out,
in the seuerall Registers Offices, with his
owne hand for nothing, and for very little,
if hee vse the hand of another. Perchance
you haue, at your conuenience, you may see
them. When you do, you shall see, That his
Maiesties generall intention therein is, to put
a difference, between graue, and solid, from
light and humerous preaching. Origen does
so, when vpon the Epistle to the Romanes, he
sayes, There is a great difference, Inter praedi-
care, & docere: A man may teach an Audi-
tory, that is, make them know something
that they knew not before, and yet not
Preach; for Preaching is to make them
know things appertaining to their saluation.
But when men doe neither, neither Teach,
nor Preach, but (as his Maiestie obserues the
manner to bee) To soare in poynts too deepe,
To muster vp their owne Reading, To display
their owne Wit, or Ignorance in medling with Ci-

(52) uill matters, or (as his Maiestie addes) in rude
and vndecent reuiling of persons: this is that
which hath drawen downe his Maiesties
piercing Eye to see it, and his Royall care to
correct it. Hee corrects it by Christs owne
way, Quid ab initio, by considering how it
was at first: for, (as himselfe to right pur-
pose cites Tertullian) Id verum quod primum;
That is best, which was first. Hee would
therefore haue vs conuersant in Antiquitie:
For, Nazianzen askes that question with
some scorne, Quis est qui veritatis propugna-
torem, vnius diei spatio, velut e luto statuam
fingit. Can any man hope to make a good
Preacher, as soone as a good Picture? In
three or foure dayes, or with three or foure
Books? His Maiesty therfore cals vs to look,
Quid primum, what was first in the whole
Church? And againe, Quid primum, when we
receiued the Reformation in this Kingdom,
by what meanes, (as his Maiestie expresseth
it) Papistry was driuen out, and Puritanisme
kept out, and wee deliuered from the Superstiti-
on of the Papist, and the madnesse of the Ana-
baptists, as before hee expresseth it: and his
religious and iudicious eye sees clearly, That

(53)
all that Doctrine, which wrought this great
cure vpon vs, in the Reformation, is contai-
ned in the two Catechismes, in the 39. Arti-
cles, and in the 2. Bookes of Homilies. And to
these, as to Heads, and Abundaries, from
whence all knowledge necessarie to saluati-
on, may abundantly be deriu'd, hee directs
the meditations of Preachers. Are these new wayes? No way new: for
they were our first way in receiuing Christia-
nity, and our first way in receiuing the Re-
formation. Take a short view of them all:
as it is in the Catechismes, as it is in the Arti-
cles, as it is in the Homilies. First you are
called backe to the practise of Catechising:
Remember what Catechising is; it is Insti-
tutio viua voce. And in the Primitiue Church,
when those persons, who comming from
the Gentiles to the Christian Religion, might
haue beene scandalized with the outward
Ceremoniall, and Rituall worship of God
in the Church, (for Ceremonies are stum-
bling blockes to them who looke vpon
them without their Signification, and
without the reason of their Institution) to
auoyd that daunger, though they were not

(54)
admitted to see the Sacraments administred,
nor the other Seruice of God performed in
the Church, yet in the Church, they receiued
Instruction, Institution, by word of mouth, in
the fundamentall Articles of the Christian
Religion, and that was Catechising. The Chri-
stians had it from the beginning, and the
Iewes had it too: for their word Chanach, is
of that signification, Initiare, to enter. Traine
vp a child in the way he should goe, Pro. 22.6and when he
is olde, hee will not depart from it. Traine vp,
sayes our Translation in the Text; Catechise,
say our Translators in the Margin, accor-
ding to the naturall force of the Hebrew
word. And Sepher Chinnuch, which is Liber
Institutionum, that is, of Catechisme, is a Booke
well knowne amongst the Iewes, euery
where, where they are now: Their Insti-
tution is their Catechisme. And if wee
should tell some men, That Caluins Institu-
tions were a Catechisme, would they not loue
Catechising the better for that name? And
would they not loue it the better, if they
gaue me leaue to tell them that of which I
had the experience. An Artificer of this Ci-
tie brought his Childe to mee, to admire (as

(55)
truly there was much reason) the capacitie,
the memory, especially of the child. It was
but a Girle, and not aboue nine yeares of
age, her Parents said lesse, some yeares lesse;
wee could scarfe propose any Verse of any
Booke, or Chapter of the Bible, but that
that childe would goe forward without
Booke. I began to Catechise this child; and
truly, shee vnderstood nothing of the Tri-
nitie, nothing of any of those fundamentall
poynts which must saue vs: and the won-
der was doubled, how she knew so much,
how so little. The Primitiue Church discerned this ne-
cessitie of Catechising: And therefore they
instituted a particular Office, a Calling in the
Church of Catechisers. Which Office, as wee
see in Saint Cyprians 42. Epistle, that
great man Optatus exercised at Carthage, and Ori-
gen at Alexandria. When S. Augustine tooke
the Epistle, and the Gospell, and the Psalme of
the day, for his Text to one Sermon, did
he, thinke you, much more then paraphrase,
then Catechise? When Athanasius makes
one Sermon, and, God knowes, a very short
one too, Contra omnes Haereses, To ouerthrow

(58)
all Heresies in one Sermon; did he, think you,
any more then propose fundamentall Do-
ctrines, which is truly the way to ouer-
throw all Heresies? When Saint Chrysostom
enters into his Sermon vpon the 3. Chapter
to the Galatians, with that preparation, At-
tendite diligenter, non enim rem vulgarem polli-
cemur, Now hearken diligently, sayes he, for it
is no ordinary matter that I propose, There he
proposes Catechisticall Doctrine of faith and
works. Come to lower times, when Chry-
sologus makes sixe or seuen Sermons vpon
the Creed, and not a seuerall Sermon vpon
euery seuerall Article, but takes the whole
Creed for his Text, in euery Sermon, and
scarse any of those Sermons a quarter of
an houre long, will you not allowe this
manner of Preaching to bee Catechising?
Goe as lowe as can bee gone, to the Iesuites;
and that great Catechizer amongst them, Ca-
nisius, sayes, Nos hoc munus suscipimus: Wee,
wee Iesuites make Catechising our Profes-
sion. I doubt not but they doe recreate
themselues sometimes in other matters too,
but that they glory in, that they are Catechi-
zers. And in that Profession, sayes hee, wee

(57)
haue Saint Basil, Saint Augustine, Saint Am-
brose, Saint Cyrill, in our Societie; and truly
as Catechizers, they haue; as State-Friers, as
Iesuits, they haue not. And in the first Capa-
citie they haue him, who is more then all;
for as hee sayes rightly, Ipse Christus Catechi-
sta, Christs owne Preaching was a Catechising.
I pray God that Iesuites conclusion of that
Epistle of his, be true still; There he sayes, Si
nihil aliud, If nothing else, yet this alone should
prouoke vs to a greater diligence in Catechising;
Improbus labor, & indesessa cura, That our
Aduersaries, the Protestants doe spend so much
time, as he sayes, day and night in catechizing.
Now, if it were so then, when he writ, and
bee not so still amongst vs, wee haue inter-
mitted one of our best aduantages: and
therefore God hath graciously raised a bles-
sed and a Royall Instrument, to call vs back
to that, which aduantaged vs, and so much
offended the Enemy. That man may sleepe
with a good Conscience, of hauing dischar-
ged his dutie in his Ministery, that hath
preached in the forenoone, and Catechised
after. Quaere, sayes Tertullian, (and he sayes
that with indignation) an Idolatriam com-

(58) mittat, qui de Idolis catechizat: Will any
man doubt, sayes he, whether that man be
an Idolatrer, that catechises Children, and
Seruants in Idolatry? Will any man doubt,
whether hee bee painfull in his Ministerie,
that catechises children, and seruant in the
sincere Religion of Christ Iesus. The Roman
Church hath still made her vse of vs; of our
fortunes, when she gouernd here, and of our
example, since she did not: They did, as
they saw vs doe; And thereupon they came
to that order, in the Councell of Trent, That
vpon Sundayes and Holydayes, they should
Preach in the forenoone, and Catechise in the
afternoone; till we did both, they did nei-
ther. Mat. 18.3Except yee become as little Children, yee
shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heauen,
sayes Christ. Except yee, yee the people bee
content at first to feed on the milke of the
Gospell, and not presently to fall to gnaw-
ing of bones, of Controuersies, and vnre-
uealed Misteries, And except yee, the Mi-
nisters and Preachers of the Gospell, descend
and apply your selues to the Capacitie of
little Children, and become as they, and
build not your estimation onely vpon the

(59)
satisfaction of the expectation of great and
curious Auditories, you stopp theirs, you
loose your owne way to the kingdome of
Heauen. Not that wee are to shut vp, and
determine our selues, in the knowledge of
Catechisticall rudiments, but to bee sure to
know them first. The Apostle puts vs vpon
that progresse, Heb. 6.1.Let vs learne the Principles
of the Doctrine of Christ, and goe on to per-
fection. Not leaue at them; but yet not
leaue them out: endeauour to encrease in
knowledge, but first make sure of the
foundation. And that increase of know-
ledge, is royally, and fatherly presented to
vs, in that, which is another limne of his
Maiesties directions, the 39. Articles. The Foundation of necessary knowledge,
is in our Catechismes; the Superedification,
the extention in these Articles. For they car-
ry the vnderstanding, and the zeale of the
ablest Man; high inough, & deepe inough.
In the third Article there is an Orthodoxe as-
sertion of Christs descent into Hell; who
can go deeper? In the 17. Article there is
a Modest declaration of the Doctrine of
Predestination; who can go higher? nei-

(60) ther doe these Articles onely build vp Posi-
tiue Doctrine; If the Church had no aduer-
saries, that were ynough; but they im-
brace Controuersies too, in poynts that are
necessarie. As in the two and twentieth
Article of Purgatorie, of Pardons, of Ima-
ges, of Inuocations: and these not in gene-
rall onely, but against the Romish Doctrine
of Pardons, of Images, of Inuocation. And
in the eight and twentieth Article against
Transubstantiation, and in such tearmes, as
admit no meeting, no reconciliation; but
that it is repugnant to the plaine wordes of
Scripture, and hath giuen occasion to many
Superstitions. And in one word, we may
see the purpose and scope of these Articles,
as they were intended against the Romane
Church, in that Title which they had in
one Edition (in which though there were
some other things, that iustly gaue offence,
yet none was giuen nor taken in this) That
these Articles were conceiued and publi-
shed, to condemne the Heresies of the Ma-
nichees, of the Arrians, of the Nestorians, of
the Papistes, and others. And therefore in
these reasons, which his Maiestie hath de-

(61) scended to giue of his Directions, himselfe
is pleased to assigne this, That the people
might bee seasoned in all the Heads of the
Protestant Religion. Not onely of the
Christian against Iewes, Turkes, and Infidels,
but of the Protestant against the Romane
Church. The Foundation is in the Catechisme; the
growth and extention in the Articles, and then
the Application of all to particular Audito-
ries in the Homilies: which, if his Maie-
stie had not named, yet had beene imply-
ed in his recommendation of the Articles.
For the fiue and thirtieth Article appoynts
the reading of them: both those, which
were published in the time of Edward the
sixth, and those which after. In the first
Booke, the very first Homilies are, of the
Sufficiencie of Scriptures, and of the abso-
lute necessitie of Reading them; sufficiently
opposed against that which hath been sayd
in that Church, both of the impertinencie,
of Scriptures, as not absolutely necessarie,
and of the insufficiencie of these Scriptures,
if Scriptures were necessarie. And in the
second Booke, the second Homily is against

(62)
Idolatrie; and so farre against all approa-
ches towards it, by hauing any Images in
Churches, as that perchance Moderat Men,
would rather thinke that Homilie to seuere
in that kind, then suspect the Homilies of
declination towards Papistrie. Is it the
name of Homelies that Scandalizes them?
would they haue none? Saint Cyrills 30.
Paschall Sermons, which he preached in so
many seuerall Easter daies, at his Arch-bishop-
rike of Alexandria, and his Christmas dayes
Sermons too, were ordinarily exscrib'd, and
rehearsed ouer againe, by the most part
of the Clergie of those parts: and in their
Mouthes they were but Homilies. And
Caluins Homilies vpon Iob (as Beza in his
Preface before them, calls them) were or-
dinarily repeated ouer againe in many pla-
ces of Fraunce: and in their mouthes they
were but Homilies. It is but the name, that
scandalizes; and yet the name of Homilia
and Concio, a Homily and a Sermon, is all
one. And if some of these were spoken,
and not reade, and so exhibited in the name
of a Sermon, they would like them well
inough. Certainely his Maiestie mistooke it

(63)
not, that in our Catechismes, In our Articles,
in our Homilies, there is inough for Positiue,
inough for Controuerted Diuinitie; For that
Iesuit, that intended to bring in the whole
body of Controuerted Diuinitie into his
booke, (whom we named before) desired
no other Subiect, no other occasion to doe
that, but the Catechisme of that Church;
neither need any sober Man, that intends to
handle Controuersies aske more, or go fur-
ther. His Maiestie therefore, who as he vnder-
stands his duty to God, so doth he his Sub-
iects duties to him, might iustly thinke, That
these so well grounded Directions, might, (as
himselfe sayes) bee receiu'd vpon implicite obe-
dience. Yet hee vouchsafes to communicate
to all, who desire satisfaction, the Reasons
that mou'd him. Some of which I haue
related, and all which, all may, when they
will see, and haue. Of all which the Summ
is, His Royall and his Pastorall care, that by
that Primitiue way of Preaching, his Subiects
might be arm'd against all kind of Aduersaries,
in fundamentall truthes. And when he takes
knowledge, That some few Church-men, but

(64)
many of the people, haue made sinister constructi-
ons of his sincere intentions, As hee is grieued at
the heart, (to giue you his owne wordes) to
see euery day so many defections from our religion
to Popery and Anabaptisme; So without doubt
he is grieued with much bitternes, that any
should so peruert his meaning, as to thinke,
that these Directions either restraind the Exer-
cise of Preaching, or abated the number of Ser-
mons, or made a breach to Ignorance and Super-
stition, of which three scandals he hath been
pleased to take knowledge. What could any
Calumniator, any Libeller on the other side,
haue imagin'd more opposit, more contrary
to him, then approaches towards Ignorance,
or Superstition? Let vs say for him, Can so
learned, so abundantly learned a prince be su-
spected to plot for Ignorance? And let vs blesse
God, that we heare him say now, That he doth
constantly professe himselfe an open aduersary to
the Superstition of the Papist (without any
milder Modification) and to the madnesse of
the Anabaptist: And that the preaching against
either of their Doctrines is not only approued, but
much commended by his royall Maiestie, if it bee
done without rude and vndecent reuiling. If hee

(65)
had affected Ignorance in himselfe, he would
neuer haue read so much; and if he had af-
fected Ignorance in vs, hee would neuer haue
writ so much, and made vs so much the
more learned by his Books. And if hee had
had any declination towards Superstition, he
would not haue gone so much farther, then
his rank and qualitie pressed him to doe, in
declaring his opinion concerning Antichrist,
as out of Zeale, and zeale with knowledge hee
hath done. We haue him now, (and long,
long, O eternall God, continue him to vs,)
we haue him now for a father of the Church,
a Foster-father; such a father as Constantine, as
Theodosius was; our posterity shall haue him
for a Father, a Classique father; such a father as
Ambrose, as Austin was. And when his works
shall stand in the Libraries of our Posteritie,
amongst the Fathers, euen these Papers, these
Directions, & these Reasons shalbe pregnant
euidences for his co~stant zeale to Gods truth,
and in the meane time, as arrowes shot in
their eyes, that imagine so vaine a thing, as a
defection in him, to their superstition. Thus
far he is from admitting Ignorance, and from
Superstition thus far, which seemes to be one

(66)
of their feares. And for the other two,
(which concurre in one) That these Directi-
ons should restraine the Exercise of Preaching, or
abate the number of Sermons, his Maiestie hath
declar'd himselfe to those Reuerend Fathers,
To be so far from giuing the least discouragement
to solid Preaching, or to discreet and religious
Preachers, or from abating the number of Ser-
mons, that hee expects at their hands, that this
should increase their number, by renuing vpon e-
uery Sunday in the afternoon, in all Parish Chur-
ches throughout the kingdome, that primitiue, and
most profitable exposition of the Catechisme. So
that heere is no abating of Sermons, but a
direction of the Preacher to preach vsefully,
and to edification. And therfore, to end all, you, you whom
God hath made Starres in this Firmament,
Preachers in this Church, deliuer your selues
from that imputation, Iob 25.5The Starres were not
pure in his sight; The Preachers were not obe-
dient to him in the voice of his Lieutenant.
And you, you who are Gods holy people,
and zealous of his glory, as you know from
St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15 15.
14.that Stars differ from Stars in glory,
but all conduce to the benefit of man: So,

(67)
when you see these Stars, Preachers to differ
in gifts; yet, since all their ends are to ad-
uance your saluation, encourage the Catechi-
zer, as well as the curious Preacher. Looke
so farre towards your way to Heauen, as to
the Firmament, and consider there, that that
starre by which wee saile, and make great
voyages, is none of the starres of the greatest
magnitude; but yet it is none of the least nei-
ther; but a middle starre. Those Preachers
which must saue your soules, are not igno-
rant, vnlearned, extemporall men; but they
are not ouer curious men neither. Your chil-
dren are you, and your seruants are you; and
you doe not prouide for your saluation, if
you prouide not for them, who are so
much yours, as that they are you. No man is
sau'd as a good man, if he be not sau'd as a good
Father, and as a good Master too, if God haue
giuen him a family. That so, Priest and peo-
ple, the whole Congregation, may by their
religious obedience, and fighting in this spi-
rituall warfare in their Order, minister occa-
sion of ioy to that heart, which hath beene
grieued; in that fulnesse of ioy, Which Da-
uid expresseth. Psal. 21.The King shall reioyce in thy

(68)
strength, O Lord, and in thy saluation how great-
ly shall hee reioyce? Thou hast giuen him his
hearts desire, and thou hast not withholden the
request of his lipps: for the King trusteth in the
Lord, and by the mercy of the most High, he shall
not bee mooued. And with that Psalme, a
Psalme of Confidence in a good King, and
a Psalme of Thanksgiuing for that blessing,
I desire that this Congregation may be dis-
solued; for this is all that I intended for the
Explication, which was our first, and for
the Application, which was the other
part proposed in these
wordes. Finis.

A
Sermon
vpon
the Eighth
Verse of the First
Chapter of The Acts
of the Apostles.
Preached
To the Honourable Company of the
Virginian Plantation,
13. Nouemb. 1622. By
Iohn Donne Deane of Saint
Pauls, London,
London,
Printed for Thomas Iones. 1624.

To
The Honovrable
Ccompanie Of The
Virginian Plan-
tation. BYBy your Fauours, I had some
place amongst you, before;
but now I am an Aduen-
turer, if not to VIRGI-
NIA, yet for VIRGI-
NIA: for, euery man that Prints, Aduen-
tures. For the Preaching of this Ser-
mon, I was but vnder your Inuitation;
my Time was mine owne, and my Medi-
tations mine owne: and I had beene ex-
cusable towards you, if I had turned that
Time, and those Meditations, to GODS
Seruice, in any other place. But for the
Printing of this Sermon, I am not onely
vnder your Inuitation, but vnder your

Commandement; for, after it was prea-
ched, it was not mine, but yours: And
therefore, if I gaue it at first, I doe but
restore it now, The first, was an act of
Loue; this, of Iustice: both which
Vertues, Almightie God euer-
more promoue, and exalt in
all your proceedings.
Amen.
Your humble Seruant
in Christ Iesus,
Iohn Donne.

(1)
Acts. 1.8.
But yee shall receiue power after that the
Holy Ghost is come vpon
you, and yee shall bee witnesses vnto
mee both in Ierusalem, and in all
Iudea, and in Samaria, and vnto the
vttermost part of the Earth.
THEREThere are
reckoned in this
Booke, Two and
Twentie Sermons
of the Apostles;
and yet the Book
is not called the
Preaching, but the Practise, not the Words
but the Acts of the Apostles: and the
Acts of the Apostles were to conuey that
name of Christ Iesus, and to propagate

(2)
his Gospell ouer all the world: Belo-
ued, you are Actors vpon the same
Stage too: the vttermost part of the
Earth are your Scene: Act ouer the
Acts of the Apostles; bee you a Light
to the Gentiles, that sit in darkenesse,
bee you content to carrie him ouer
these Seas, who dryed vp one Red Sea
for his first people, and hath pow-
red out another Red Sea, his owne
Bloud, for them and vs. When man
was fallen, God cloathed him, made
him a Leather Garment, there God
descended to one occupation: when
the time of mans redemption was
come, then God, as it were, to house
him, became a Carpenters Sonne, there
God descended to another Occupa-
tion. Naturally, without doubt, man
would haue beene his owne Tay-
lor, and his owne Carpenter; some-
thing in these two kindes man would
haue done of himselfe, though hee
had had no patterne from God: but

(3)
in preseruing man who was fallen, to
this redemption, by which he was to
be raisd, in preseruing man from peri-
shing, in the Flood, God descended to
a third occupation, to be his Shipwright
to giue him the modell of a Ship, an
Arke, and so to be the author of that,
which man himselfe in likelihood,
would neuer haue thought of, a means
to passe from Nation to Nation. Now,
as GOD taught vs to make cloathes,
not onely to cloath our selues, but
to cloath him in his poore and na-
ked members heere; as God taught
vs to build houses, not to house our
selues, but to house him, in erecting
Churches, to his glory: So God taught
vs to make Ships, not to transport our
selues, but to transport him, That
when wee haue receiued power, after that
the Holy Ghost is come vpon vs, we might
be witnesses vnto him, both in Ierusalem,
and in all Iudaea, and in Samaria, and
vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth.

(4)
As I speake now principally to them
who are concernd in this Plantation of
Virginia, yet there may be diuers in this
Congregation, who, though they haue
no interest in this Plantation, yet they
may haue benefit and edification, by
that which they heare me say, so Christ
spoke the words of this Text, princi-
pally to the Apostles, who were present
and questioned him at his Ascention,
but they are in their iust extention, and
due accomodation, appliable to our
present occasion of meeting heere: As
Christ himselfe is Alpha, and Omega, so
first, as that hee is last too, so these
wordes which he spoke in the East, be-
long to vs, who are to glorifie him in
the West? That we hauing receiued pow-
er, after that the Holy Ghost is come vp-
on vs, might be witnesses vnto him, both
in Ierusalem, and in all Iudea, and in Sa-
maria, and vnto the vttermost parts of the
Earth. The first word of the Text is the

(5)
Cardinall word, the word the hinge vp-
on which the whole Text turnes; The
first word, But, is the But, that all the
rest shoots at. First it is an exclusiue
word; something the Apostles had re-
quired, which might not bee had;
not that; And it is an inclusiue word;
somthing Christ was pleasd to affoord
to the Apostles, which they thought not
of; not that, not that which you beat
vpon, But, but yet, something else,
something better then that, you shall
haue. That which this but, excludes,
is that which the Apostles expresse in
the Verse immediatly before the Text,
a Temporall Kingdome; Wilt thou restore
againe the kingdome of Israel? No; not
a temporall Kingdome, let not the ri-
ches and commodities of this world,
be in your contemplation in your ad-
uentures. Or, because they aske more,
Wilt thou now restore that? not yet: If
I will giue you riches, and commodi-
ties of this world, yet if I doe it not at

(6)
first, if I doe it not yet, be not you dis-
couraged; you shall not haue that, that
is not Gods first intention, and though
that be in Gods intention, to giue it you
hereafter, you shall not haue it yet,
thats the exclusiue part; But; there en-
ters the inclusiue, You shall receiue power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon you,
and you shall bee witnesses vnto mee, both
in Ierusalem, and in all Iudaea, and in
Samaria, and vnto the vttermost parts
of the Earth. In which second part, we
shall passe by these steps; Superueniet
Spiritus, The holy Ghost shall come vpon
you, The Spirit shall witnesse to your
Spirit, and rectifie your Conscience;
And then, by that, you shall receiue
power; A new power besides the pow-
er you haue from the State, and that
power shall enable you, to be witnes-
ses of Christ, that is, to make his do-
ctrine the more credible, by your testi-
mony, when you conforme your selues
to him, and doe as hee did; and this

(7)
witnesse you shall beare, this confor-
mity you shall declare, first in Ierusa-
lem, in this Citie; And in Iudaea, in all
the parts of the Kingdome; and in Sa-
maria, euen amongst them who are
departed from the true worship of
God, the Papists; and to the vttermost
part of the Earth, to those poore Soules,
to whom you are continually sending.
Summarily, If from the Holy Ghost you
haue a good testimony in your owne
Conscience, you shall be witnesses for
Christ, that is, as he did, you shall giue
satisfaction to all, to the Citie, to the
Countrey, to the Calumniating Aduersary,
and the naturals of the place, to whom
you shall present both Spirituall and
Temporall benefit to. And so you haue
the Modell of the whole frame, and of
the partitions; wee proceede now to
the furnishing of the particular
roomes.

(8)

1. Part. FIrst then, this first word, But, ex-
cludes a temporall Kingdome; the
Apostles had fild themselues with an
expectation, with an ambition of it;
but that was not intended them. It
was no wonder, that a woman could
conceiue such an expectation, and such
an ambition, as to haue her two sonnes
sit at Christs right hand, Mat. 20.20.and at his left,
in his Kingdome, when the Apostles
expected such a Kingdome, as might
affoord them honours and preferment
vpon Earth. More then once they
were in the disputation, in which
Christ deprehended them, which of them
should bee the greatest in his Kingdome.
Mat. 1.81.Neither hath the Bishop of Rome, any
thing, wherein he may so properly call
himselfe Apostolicall, as this error of the
Apostles, this theire infirmitie; that he is
euermore too conuersant vpo~ the con-
templation

(9)
of temporall Kingdomes.
They did it all the way, when Christ
was with them, and now at his last
step, Cum actu ascendisset, when Christ
was not Asending, but in part ascended,
when one foot was vpon the Earth,
and the other in the cloud that tooke
him vp, they aske him now, wilt thou
at this time, restore the Kingdome? so
women put their husbands, and men
their fathers, and friends, vpon their
torture, at their last gaspe, and make
their death bed a racke to make them
strech and encrease ioyntures, and por-
tions, and legacies, and signe Scedules
and Codicils, with their hand, when
his hand that presents them is ready to
close his eyes, that should signe them:
And when they are vpon the wing for
heauen, men tye lead to their feet, and
when they are laying hand fast vpon
Abrahams bosome, they must pull their
hand out of his bosome againe, to o-
bey importunities of men, and signe

(10)
their papers: so vnderminable is the
loue of this World, which determines
euery minute. GOD, as hee is three
persons, hath three Kingdomes; There
is Regnum potentiae, The Kingdome of
power; and this wee attribute to the
Father; it is power and prouidence:
There is Regnum gloriae, the Kingdome
of glorie; this we attribute to the Sonn
and to his purchase; for he is the King
that shall say, Mat. 25.34.Come ye blessed of my Fa-
ther, inherit the Kingdome prepared for
you, from the foundation of the World.
And then betweene these three is Reg-
num Gratiae, The Kingdome of Grace,
and this we attribute to the Holy Ghost;
he takes them, whom the king of po-
wer, Almighty God hath rescued from
the Gentiles, Mat. 4.11.and as the king of grace,
Hee giues them the knowledge of the mi-
sterie of the Kingdome of GOD, that is,
of future glory, by sanctifying the~ with
his grace, in his Church. The two
first kingdomes are in this world, but

(11)
yet neither of them, are of this world;
because both they referre to the king-
dome of glory. The kingdome of the
Father, which is the prouidence of
God, does but preserue vs, The king-
dome of the Holy Ghost which is the
grace of God, does but prepare vs to
the kingdome of the Sonne, which is
the glory of GOD; and thats in hea-
uen. And therfore, though to good
men, this world be the way to that
kingdome, yet this kingdome is not
of this world, sayes Chist himselfe:
Though the Apostles themselues, Iohn 18.36.as
good a Schoole as they were bred in,
could neuer take out that lesson yet
that lesson Christ giues, and repeates to
all, you seeke a Temporall kingdome,
But, sayes the Text, stop there, A king-
dome you must not haue. Beloued in him, whose kingdome,
and Gospell you seeke to aduance, in
this Plantation, our Lord and Sauiour
Christ Iesus, if you seeke to establish a

(12)
temporall kingdome there, you are not
rectified, if you seeke to bee kings in
either acceptation of the word; To
be a King signifies Libertie and inde-
pency, and Supremacie, to bee vnder no
man, and to be a King signifies Abun-
dance, and Omnisufficiencie, to neede
no man. If those that gouerne there,
would establish such a gouernment,
as should not depend vpon this, or if
those that goe thither, propose to them-
selues an exemption from Lawes, to
liue at their libertie, this is to be Kings,
to deuest Allegeance, to bee vnder no
man: and if those that aduenture thi-
ther, propose to themselues present be-
nefit, and profit, a sodaine way to bee
rich, and an aboundance of all desira-
ble commodities from thence, this is
to be sufficient of themselues, and to
neede no man: and to bee vnder no
man and to neede no man, are the two
acceptations of being Kings. Whom li-
berty drawes to goe, or present profit

(13)
drawes to aduenture, are not yet in the
right way. O, if you could once bring
a Catechisme to bee as good ware a-
mongst them as a Bugle, as a knife, as
a hatchet: O, if you would bee as rea-
dy to hearken at the returne of a ship,
how many Indians were conuerted to
Christ Iesus, as what trees, or druggs,
or Dyes that Ship had brought, then
you were in your right way, and not
till then; Libertie and Abundance, are
Characters of kingdomes, and a king-
dome is excluded in the Text; The A-
postles were not to looke for it, in their
employment, nor you in this your
Plantation. At least CHRIST expresses him-
selfe thus farre, in this answer, that if
he would giue them a kingdome, Non adhuc.hee
would not giue it them yet. They
aske him, Wilt thou at this time, restore
the kingdome? and hee answers, It is
not for you to know the times: what-
soeuer God will doe, Man must not

(14)
appoint him his time. The Apostles
thought of a kingdome presently after
Christs departure; the comming of
the Holy Ghost, who lead them into all
truthes, soone deliuered 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 finde that kingdome
which is promised, (that is the king-
dome 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 king-
dome, as shall swallow and annihi-
late all other kingdomes, and bee the
sole Empire and Monarchy of the world.
After this, very great men in the Church

(15)
vpon these words, of One thousand
yeares after the Resurrection, haue im-
magin'd a Temporall Kingdome of the
Saints of God heere vpon Earth, Apo. 20.be-
fore they entred the ioyes of Heauen:
and Saint Augustine himselfe, De Ciuit. Dei
20.7.had at
first some declinations towards that o-
pinion, 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 auoi-
ded both the Temporall kingdome ima-
gin'd by the Apostles, presently after
the Ascention, And the Emperiall king-
dome of the Iewes, before the Resurre-
ction, And the Carnall kingdome of the
Chiliasts, the Millenarians, after the
Resurrection, though they speake of no
kingdome, but the true kingdome, the
kingdome of glory, yet they erre as

(16)
much in assigning a certaine time
when that kingdome shall beginne,
when the ende of this world, when
the Resurrection, when the Iudge-
ment 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. What-
soeuer 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 godly means, 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 Wardship

(17)
within fiue yeares. You cannot sowe
your Corne to day, and say it shall
bee aboue ground to morrow, and
in my Barne next weeke. How
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 Para-
dise; In Semine Mulieris; The Seede 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 grow, Two thou-
sand yeares after the Promise; in Abra-
hams Family; In semine tuo, In thy Seed
all Nations shall be blessed. God hedg'd
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 wee-
ded that, refreshed that dry expectati-
on, with a Succession of Prophets, and

(18)
yet it was so long before this expecta-
tion of Nations, this Messias came. So
GOD promised the Iewes a Kingdome,
in Iacobs Prophecie to Iuda, Gen. 49.That the
Scepter should not depart from his Tribe.
In Two hundred yeares more, he saies
no more of it; Deut. 17.14.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 meant from
the first houre, 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 multi-
plying 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 peo-
ple Earth and Heauen too; Bee not
you discouraged, if the Promises
which you haue made to your selues,

(19)
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 lye long in the Wombe; Ly-
ons are litterd perfit, but Beare-whelpes
lick'd vnto their shape; actions which
Kings vndertake, are cast in a mould,
they haue their perfection quickly; a-
ctions of priuate men, and priuate
Purses, require more hammering, and
more filing to their perfection. One-
ly let your principall end, be the pro-
pagation 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 hee 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

(20)
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, tis, not yet;
But, Sed.hee does not say, you shall haue no
Kingdome, nor any thing else; tis, not that;
But: the importunitie of beggers, some-
times drawes vs to such a froward an-
swer, For this importunitie, I will ne-
uer giue you any thing. Our patterne
was not so froward; hee gaue them
not that, but as good as that. Samuel
was sent to super-induct a King vpon
Saul, 1. Sam. 16.to annoint a new King. Hee
thought his Commission had been deter-
mined in Eliab, Surely this is the Lords
Annointed. But the Lord said, not hee;

(21)
nor the next, Aminadab; nor the next,
Shammah; nor none of the next seuen;
But· but yet there is one in the field,
keeping sheepe, annoint him; Dauid is
hee. Saint Paul prayed earnestly, and
frequently, to be discharged of that Sti-
mulus Carnis: God sayes no; not that; but
Gratia mea sufficit, 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 alreadie, now at
first, it shall conduce to great vses: It
shall redeeme many a wretch from the
Lawes of death, from the hands of the
Executioner, vpon whom, perchance a
small fault, or perchance a first fault, or
perchance a fault heartily and sincerely
repented, perchance no fault, but mal-
lice, had otherwise cast a present and ig-
nominious death. It shall sweepe your
streetes, and wash your doores, from

(22)
idle persons, and the children of idle
persons, and imploy them: and truely,
if the whole Countrey were but such a
Bridewell, to force idle persons to work,
it had a good vse. But it is alreadie, not
onely a Spleene, to drayne the ill hu-
mors of the body, but a Liuer, to breed
good bloud; alreadie the imployment
breedes Marriners; alreadie the place
giues Essayes, nay, Fraights of Mar-
chantable Commodities; alreadie it is
a marke for the Enuie, and for the am-
bition of our Enemies; I speake but of
our Doctrinall, not Nationall Enemies:
as they are Papists, they are sorrie wee
haue this Countrey; and surely, twen-
tie Lectures in matter of Controuersie
doe not so much vexe them, as one Ship
that goes, and strengthens that Plan-
tation. Neyther can I recommend it
to you, by any better Rhetorique, then
their mallice: They would gladly
haue it, and therefore let vs be glad to
hold it.

(23)
Thus then this Text proceedes, Spiritus
Sanctus.and
gathers vpon you. All that you would
haue by this Plantation, you shall not
haue: GOD bindes not himselfe to
measures; All that you shall haue, you
haue not yet: GOD bindes not him-
selfe to times, but something you shall
haue; nay, you haue alreadie some
great things: and of those, that in the
Text is, The Holy Ghost shall come vpon
you. Wee finde the Holy Ghost to haue
come vpon men, foure times in this
Booke: First, vpon the Apostles, Acts 2,1.at
Pentecost: Then, when the whole
Congregation was in prayer for the
imprisonment of Peter and Iohn. 4,31.A-
gaine, when Peter preached in Cornelius
his house, 10,44.the Holy Ghost fell vpon all
them that heard him. And fourthly,
when Saint Paul laid his hands vpon
them, 19,6.who had beene formerly bap-
tized at Ephesus. At the three latter
times it is euident, that the Holy Ghost
fell vpon whole and promiscuous

(24)
Congregations, and not vpon the Apo-
stles onely: and in the first, at Pentecost,
the contrarie is not euident; nay, the
Fathers, for the most part, that handle
that, concurre in that, that the Holy
Ghost fell then vpon the whole Con-
gregation, men and women. The Ho-
ly Ghost fell vpon Peter before hee
preach'd, and it fell vpon the hearers
when hee preach'd, and it hath fallen
vpon euery one of them, who haue
found motions in themselues, to pro-
pagate the Gospell of Christ Iesus by this
meanes. The Sonne of GOD did not
abhorre the Virgins Wombe, when hee
would be made man; when hee was
man, hee did not disdaine to ride vpon
an Asse into Ierusalem: the third Person
of the Trinitie, the Holy Ghost, is as hum-
ble as the second, hee refuses Nullum
vehiculum, no conueyance, no doore of
entrance into you; whether the exam-
ple and precedent of other good men,
or a probable imagination of future

(25)
profit, or a willingnesse to concurre to
the vexation of the Enemie; what col-
laterall respect soeuer drew thee in, if
now thou art in, thy principall respect
be the glorie of God; that occasion,
whatsoeuer it was, was vehiculum Spi-
ritus Sancti; that was the Petard, that
broke open thy Iron Gate; that was
the Chariot, by which he entred into
thee, and now hee is fallen vpon thee,
if thou doe not Depose; (lay aside all
consideration of profit for euer, neuer
to looke for returne) No, not Sopose,
(leaue out the consideration of profit
for a time; for that, and Religion may
well consist together:) but if thou
doe but Post-pose the consideration of
Temporall gayne, and studie first the
aduancement of the Gospell of Christ Ie-
sus, the Holy Ghost is fallen vpon you;
for by that you receiue Power, sayes the
Text. There is a Power rooted in Na-
ture, and a Power rooted in Grace; Potestatem.a

(26)
Power issuing from the Law of Nati-
ons, and a Power growing out of the
Gospell. In the Law of Nature, and Na-
tions, A Land neuer inhabited by any,
or vtterly derelicted, and immemori-
ally abandoned by the former Inha-
bitants, becomes theirs that will pos-
sesse it. So also is it, if the inhabitants
doe not in some measure fill the Land,
so as the Land may bring foorth her
encrease for the vse of men: for as a
man does not become proprietarie of
the Sea, because hee hath two or three
Boats fishing in it; so neyther does a
man become Lord of a maine Con-
tinent, because hee hath two or three
Cottages in the Skirts thereof. That
Rule which passes through all Muni-
cipall Lawes in particular States, Interest
Reipublicae vt quis re sua bene vtatur;
The State must take order, that euerie man
improoue that which he hath, for the best ad-
uantage of that State, passes also through
the Law of Nations, which is to all

(27)
the World, as the Municipall Law is to
a particular State: Interest Mundo. The
whole World, all Mankinde must take care,
that all places be emprou'd, as farre as may
be, to the best aduantage of Mankind in ge-
nerall. Againe, if the Land be peopled,
and cultiuated by the people, and that
Land produce in abundance such
things, for want whereof, their neigh-
bours, or others (being not enemyes)
perish; the Law of Nations may iusti-
fie some force, in seeking, by permu-
tation of other Commodities which
they neede, to come to some of theirs.
Many cases may be put, when not one-
ly Commerce, and Trade, but Plantations
in Lands, not formerly our owne, may
be lawfull. And for that, Accepistis
potestatem, you haue your Commission,
your Patents, your Charters, your Seales
from Him, vpon whose Acts any pri-
uate Subiect, in Ciuill matters, may
safely relye. But then, Accipietis potesta-
tem, You shall receiue power, sayes the Text;

(28)
you shall, when the Holy Ghost is come
vpon you, that is, when the instinct,
the influence, the motions of the Holy
Ghost enables your Conscience to say,
That your principall end is not Gaine,
nor Glory, but to gaine Soules to the
glory of GOD; this seales the Great
Scale, this iustifies Iustice it selfe, this
authorises Authoritie, and giues power
to Strength it selfe. Let the Consci-
ence be vpright, and then Seales, and
Patents, and Commissions, are Wings;
they assist him to flye the faster: Let the
Conscience be lame, and distorted, and
hee that goes vpon Seales, and Patents,
and Commissions, goes vpon weake and
feeble Crutches. When the Holy Ghost
is come vpon you, your Conscience
rectified, you shall haue Power, a new
power out of that; what to doe?
that followes, to bee Witnesses vnto
Christ. Testes.Infamie is one of the highest punish-
ments that the Law inflicts vpon man;

(29)
for it lyes vpon him euen after death:
Infamie is the worst punishment, and
Intestabilitie (to be made intestable) is
one of the deepest wounds of Infamie;
and then the worst degree of Intestabi-
litie, is not to be beleeued, not to be ad-
mitted to be a Witnesse of any other:
Hee is Intestable, that cannot make a
Testament, not giue his owne goods;
and hee Intestable, that can receiue no-
thing by the Testament of another; hee
is Intestable, in whose behalfe no testi-
monie may be accepted: but he is the
most miserably Intestable of all, the
most detestably intestable, that discre-
dites another man, by speaking well
of him; and makes him the more sus-
pitious, by his commendations. A
Christian in profession, that is not a
Christian in life, is so intestable, hee
discredites Christ, and hardens others
against him. Iohn Baptist was more
then a Prophet, because hee was a Wit-
nesse of Christ; and hee was a Witnesse,

(30)
because hee was like him, hee did as hee
did, hee lead a holy and a religious life;
so hee was a Witnesse. That great and
glorious name of Martyr, is but a Wit-
nesse. Saint Stephen was Proto-martyr,
Christs first Witnesse, because hee was the
first that did as hee did, that put on his
Colours, that drunke of his Cup, that was
baptised with his Baptisme, with his
owne Bloud: so hee was a Witnesse. To
be Witnesses for Christ, is to be like Christ;
to conforme your selues to Christ: and
they in the Text, and you, are to be Wit-
nesses of Christ in Ierusalem, and in all Iu-
daea, and in Samaria, and vnto the vtter-
most parts of the Earth. Saint Hierome notes, that Iohn Bap-
tist was not bid to beare witnesse in
Ierusalem, Jerusalem.in the Citie, but in the Wilder-
nesse; 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 vp-
on there: and there there were few

(31)
Witnesses to oppose Iohns Testimonie,
few Tentations, few worldly Allure-
ments, few worldly Businesses. One
was enough for the Wildernesse; but for
Ierusalem, for the Citie, where all the ex-
cuses in the Gospell doe alwayes meete,
they haue bought Commodities, and
they must vtter them; they haue du-
chased 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, Cloi-
stered 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

(32)
of the reuenue of the Preacher, to your
selues, take thus much of his labour vp-
on 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 Wit-
nesses 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 wit-
nesse 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

(33)
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. Prea-
chers that binde themselues alwayes to
Cities, and Courts, and great Auditories,
may learne new Notes; they may be-
come 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 Prea-
ching 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 Con-
science. Christ left the Ninetie and nine for
one Sheepe; populous Cities are for the

(34)
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 Resur-
rection, 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

(35)
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 wor-
shipfull Families let fall Branches a-
mongst Merchants againe; so for this
particular Plantation, you may consi-
der Citie and Countrey to be one Body;
and as you giue example of a iust Go-
uernment 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 wit-
nesse in Iudaea.

(36)
But the Apostles Dioces is enlarged,
farther then Ierusalem, farther then Iu-
daea, Samaria.they are carried into Samaria; you
must beare witnesse of me in Samaria. Be-
loued, 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) Maldo-
nate 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 wor-
ships with the true. And if that be the
Caracter of a Samaritan, wee know
who are the Samaritans, who the He-
retiques, who the Schismatiques of our

(37)
times. In the highest reproach to
Christ, the Iewes said, Samaritanus es
& Daemonium habes, Thou art a Samari-
tan, and hast a Deuill. In our iust detestati-
on of these Men, we iustly fasten both
those vpon them. For as they delight in
lyes, and fill the world with weekely
rumors, Daemoniu~ habe~t, they haue a De-
uill, quia mendax est & pater eius. Iohn 8.44.As they
multiply assassinats vpon Princes, and
Massacres vpon people, Daemonium ha-
bent, 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

(38)
Ierusalem, Acts 8.25.and in Iudaea; giue good satis-
faction especially to those of the house-
hold of the Faithfull, in the Citie and
Countrey, but yet satisfie euen those Sa-
maritans too. They would be satisfied, what Mira-
cles you work in Virginia, and what peo-
ple you haue conuerted to the Christian
Faith, there. If wee could as easily call
natural effects Miracles, or casuall acci-
de~ts Miracles, or Magicall illusions Mi-
racles, as they do; to make a miraculous
drawing of a Tooth, a miraculous cut-
ting of a Corne; or, as Iustus Baronius
sayes, when he was conuerted to them,
that he was miraculously cur'd of the
Cholique, by stooping to kisse the Popes
foot: If wee would pile vp Miracles so
fast as Pope Iohn 22. did in the Canoni-
zation of Aquinas, Tot Miracula confecit,
quot determinauit quaestiones, hee wrought
as many Miracles, as he resolu'd Questi-
ons, wee might find Miracles too. In
truth, their greatest Miracle to me, is,

(39)
that they find men to beleeue their Mi-
racles. If they rely vpon Miracles, they
imply a co~fession, that they induce new
Doctrines; that that is old, & receiu'd,
needs no Miracles: If they require Mi-
racles, because though that be ancient
Doctrine, it is newly brought into those
parts, wee haue the confession of their
Iesuit Acosta, that they doe no Miracle
in those Indies; & he assignes very good
reasons, why they are not necessary, nor
to be expected there. But yet beare wit-
nesse to these Samaritans, in the other
point; labour to giue them satisfaction
in the other point of their charge, What
Heathens you haue conuerted to the
Faith; which is that which is intended
in the next, which is the last branch,
You are to be witnesses vnto me both in Ieru-
salem, and in all Iudaea, and in Samaria,
and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth. Literally, Fines terrae.the Apostles were to be such
Witnesses for Christ: were they so? did
the Apostles in person preach the Gospel

(40)
ouer all the World? I know that it is not
hard to multiply places of the Fathers,
in confirmation of that opinion, that
the Apostles did actually and personally
preach the Gospell in all Nations, Math. 24.14.in
their life. Christ saies, The Gospell of the
Kingdome shall be preached in all the World;
and there he tels the Apostles, that they
shall see something done, after that;
Therefore they shall liue to it. So hee
saies to them, Marke 13.9.You shall be brought before
Rulers and Kings for my sake; but the Go-
spell must first be published among all
Nations: In one Euangelist there is the
Commission; Luke 24.47.Preach in my name to all Na-
tions. And in another, the Execution of
this Commission, Marke 16.20.And they went and prea-
ched euery where. And after the Apostle
certifies, and returnes the execution of
this Commission, Col. 1.5.The Gospell is come and
bringeth forth fruit to all the world: and
vpon those, and such places, haue some
of the Fathers beene pleased to ground
their literall exposition, of an actuall

(41)
and personall preaching of the Apo-
stles ouer all the world. But had they
dream'd of this world which hath
beene discouer'd since, into which, we
dispute with perplexitie, and intricacy
enough, how any men came at first, or
how any beasts, especially such beasts
as men were not likely to carry,
they would neuer haue doubted to
haue admitted a Figure, in that, Luke 1.1.The
Gospell was preached to all the world; for
when Augustus his Decree went out,
That all the World should bee taxed, the
Decree and the Taxe went not certain-
ly into the West Indies; when Saint
Paul sayes, Rom 1.8.That their Faith was spoken
of throughout the whole World, 16.19.and that
their obedience was come abroad vnto all
men, surely the West Indies had not
heard of the faith and the obedience of
the Romanes. But as in Moses time, they
called the Mediterranean Sea, the great
Sea, because it was the greatest that
those men had then seene; so in the

(42)
Apostles time, they call'd that all the
World, which was knowne and traded
in then; and in all that, they preach'd
the Gospell. So that as Christ when hee
said to the Apostles; Mar. vlt. vlt.I am with you vnto
the end of the World, could not intend
that of them in person, because they
did not last to the end of the World,
but in a succession of Apostolike men,
so when he sayes, the Apostles should
preach him to all the World, it is of the
Succession too. Those of our profession, that goe;
you, that send them who goe, doe all
an Apostolicall Function. What Action
soeuer hath in the first intention there-
of a purpose to propagate the Gospell
of Christ Iesus, that is an Apostolicall
Action: Before the end of the World
come, before this Mortalitie shall put
on Immortalitie, Rom. 8.before the Creature
shall be deliuered of the Bondage of
Corruption vnder which it groanes,
before the Martyrs vnder the Altar

(43)
shall be silenc'd, before all things shall
be subdued to Christ, his Kingdome
perfited, and the last Enemie (Death)
destroyed, the Gospell must be prea-
ched to those men to whom ye send; to
all men. Further and hasten you this
blessed, this ioyfull, this glorious con-
summation of all, and happie re-vnion
of all Bodies to their Soules, by prea-
ching the Gospell to those men. Preach
to them Doctrinally, preach to them
Practically; enamore them with your
Iustice, and (as farre as may consist with
your securitie) your Ciuilitie; but inflame
them with your Godlinesse, and your
Religion. Bring them to loue and reuerence
the name of that King, that sends men
to teach them the wayes of Ciuilitie in
this World, but to feare and adore the
Name of that King of Kings, that sends
men to teach them the wayes of Reli-
gion, for the next World. Those amo~gst
you, that are old now, shall passe out of
this World with this great comfort,

(44)
that you contributed to the beginning
of that Common Wealth, and of that
Church, though they liue not to see the
growth thereof to perfection: Apollo
watred, 1. Cor. 3.6.but Paul planted, he that be-
gun the worke, was the greater man.
And you that are young now, may
liue to see the Enemy as much impea-
ched by that place, and your friends,
yea Children, aswell accommodated in
that place, as any other. You shall haue
made this Iland, which is but as the
Suburbs of the old world, a Bridge, a
Gallery to the new; to ioyne all to that
world that shall neuer grow old, the
Kingdome of Heauen, You shall adde
persons to this Kingdome, and to the
Kingdome of Heauen, and adde names
to the Bookes of our Chronicles, and
to the Booke of Life. To end all, as the Orators which de-
claimed in the presence of the Roman
Emperors, in their Panegyriques, tooke
that way, to make those Emperours see

(45)
what they were bound to doe, to say in
those publique Orations, that those
Emperors had done so, (for that increa-
sed the loue of the Subiect to the
Prince, to be so told, that he had done
those great things, and then it conuayd
a Counsell into the Prince to doe them
after.) As their way was to procure
things to be done, by saying they were
done, so beloued I haue taken a con-
trary way: for when I, by way of ex-
hortation, all this while haue seemed
to tell you what should be done by
you; I haue, indeed, but told the Con-
gregation, what hath beene done al-
ready: 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 con-
templation, the conuersion of the

(46)
people, as I haue receiu'd, so I can giue
this Testimonie, That of those persons
who haue sent in Moneyes, and con-
ceal'd their Names, the greatest part, al-
most all, haue limitted their Deuotion
and Contribution vpon that point, the
propagation of Religion, and the con-
uersion 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 acci-
dent can attayne to diminish, or E-
clipse it.

(47)
Prayer. WE returne to thee againe,
O God, with Prayse and
Prayer; as for all thy mer-
cies from before Minutes began, to this
Minute, from our Election, to this pre-
sent 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 Wit-
nesses of thy Sonne Christ Iesus, and In-
struments of his Glorie. Looke graci-
ously, and looke powerfully vpon this
Body, which thou hast been now some
yeeres in building and compacting to-
gether, this Plantation. Looke graci-
ously 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 graci-
ously vpon them, who are as the Braine
of this Body, those who by his power

(48)
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 hear-
tily 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 safe-
ly; blesse it so with Friends now, that
it may stand against Enemies hereaf-
ter. Prepare thy selfe a glorious Har-
uest

(49)
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 Ascen-
sion day, 1623.
At the Dedication of a new Chappell
there, Consecrated by the Right Reue-
rend 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. ITIt pleased you to exer-
cise your interest in me,
and to expresse your fa-
uour to mee, in inuiting
mee to preach this Ser-
mon: and it hath plea-
sed 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 a-
gainst one pestilent calumny of theirs, that

wee haue cast off all distinction of places,
and of dayes, and all outward meanes of as-
sisting the deuotion of the Congregation.
For this vse, I am not sorry that it is made
publique, for I shall neuer bee sorry to ap-
peare plainly, and openly, and directly, with-
out disguise or modification, in the vindica-
ting 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 Ser-
uant 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 confor-
ming 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 Man-
na, 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 Pro-
fit 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.

(1)

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 Ser-
mon 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; consecrated himselfe, who is a

(2)
Temple of the Holy Ghost; before hee
came to assist, or to testifie the conse-
cration of this place of the Seruice of
God. Bern. Ser. 1.Nostra festiuitas haec est, quia de Ec-
clesia nostra; sayes Saint Bernard. This
Festiuall belongs to vs, because it is the
consecration of that place, which is
ours, Magis autem nostrinostra, quia de nobis
ipsis: But it is more properly our Festi-
uall, because it is the consecration of
our selues to Gods seruice. For, Sanctae
Animae propter inhabitantem Spiritum;
your Soules are holy, by the inhabita-
tion of Gods holy spirit, who dwells
in them. Sancta corpora propter inhabi-
tantem animam; Your Bodies are holy,
by the inhabitation of those sanctified
Soules. Sancti parietes, propter Corpora
Sanctorum. These walles are holy, be-
cause the Saints of God meet here with-
in 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;

(3)
that so, as the Congregation sanctifies
the place, the place may sanctifie the
Congregation too. They must accom-
pany 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 sancti-
fied by the place. Neither if it be after
polluted, doth the place retain that san-
ctitie, 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 holi-
nesse it selfe in the person of Christ Ie-
sus, who walked in the Temple in Salo-
mons 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 Fe-

(4) stiuall 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 re-
turning to that solemnitie euery yeare;
And lastly, in that first part, this Festi-
uall in particular, The Feast of the De-
dication 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 dedi-
cated, thus sanctified: And vpon this,
that hee would doe that especially at
such times, as hee might countenance
and authorise the Ordinances and In-
stitutions 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

(5)
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 coue-
red, not in the Temple which was o-
pen. 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 mee-
ting 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 o-

(6) ther Feasts of Gods institution, as to the
first Sabboth, God giues that name; hee
cals those seuerall Feasts which he in-
stituted, 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 Mo-
ralitie, that is the soule of all Sabboths,
of all Festiualls; howsoeuer all Sab-
boths haue a ceremoniall part in them,
yet there is a Morall part that inani-
mates 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 crea-
tures 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

(7)
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 Sacrifi-
ces, 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 wher-
in those two concurre, are Sabboths.
Vacate & videte quoniam ego sum Domi-
nus sayes God. First vacate, Psal. 46.10rest 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 & pub-
like seruice of God, are in Nature, and

(8)
in that Morall Law which is written in
the heart of man. That such dayes
there must be is Morall; and this is Mo-
rall 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 Supe-
riors. 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 com-
mandement limitting the dayes, infu-
sed 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 a-
wakened 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

(9)
those ancient Heretiques, the Ebionites
begun, and some laboured to refresh in
Saint Gregories time, and which conti-
nues in practise in some places of the
world still; To obserue both the Iewes
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 euer-
lastingly, and they might neuer inter-
mit it, as some other ceremonies they
might. But their Sabboths bind not vs;
we depart from them who thinke so;

(10)
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 en-
larged his Sabboths, and made them di-
uers. But those were of Gods immediat
institution: but all that the Iewes obser-
ued were not so; and thats our next
consideration, Festiualls instituted by
the Church. Sine Man-
dato.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 him-
selfe writ, and gaue them written to
Moses: he left none of that to him; not

(11)
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 pa-
terne which God had shewed him. God
hath giuen the Church a paterne of Ho-
ly 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 commande-
ment of God for that Holy day, which
Mordechai, by his letters establish'd; Ester 9.23but
yet the Iewes vndertooke to do as Mor-
dechai had written to them. There was
no such commandement for this Holy
day, in the Text; and yet that was ob-
serued, as long as they had any beeing.
And where the reason remaines, the

(12)
practise may; The Iewes did, we may
institute new Holy dayes. And not one-
ly transitory daies, for a present thanks
giuing for a present benefit, but Anni-
uersaries, perpetuall memorials of Gods
deliuerances. And thats our next step. Anniuer-
saria.Both the Holy dayes, which we na-
med 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, Iu-
das Maccabeus commanded to be kept
yearely for eight dayes, which was
more then was appoynted to any of
the Holy dayes, instituted by God him-
selfe, for the Festiuall alone. According
to which paterne, Felix.one Bishop of Rome,
ordained that the Festiuals of the De-
dication of Churches should bee yeare-
ly celebrated in those places; Greg.and an-
other extended the Festiuall to eight
dayes; at least at the first dedication
thereof, if not euery yeare: that God

(13)
might not onely be put into the posses-
sion of the place, but setled in it. God
by Moses made the children of Israel a
Song, because, as hee sayes, Deut. 31.19howsoeuer
they did by the Law, they would ne-
uer forget that Song, & that Song should
be his witnesse against them. There-
fore would God haue vs institute so-
lemne memorialls of his great deliue-
rances, 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 glori-
fie him, for his great deliuerance of his
Maiesty, before he blest vs with his pre-
sence in this Kingdome: and when
he finds vs zealous in our thankes for
that, he giues vs farther blessings. Cer-
tainly he is vp as early euery fift of No-
uember, to hearken if we meet to glori-
fie him for that deliuerance still; and if
hee should finde our zeale lesse then
heretofore, hee would wonder why.

(14)
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 Christi-
an 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 ob-
seruation, haue their vse, and particu-
larly those Feasts of the Dedication of
Churches, which was properly and li-
terally 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 di-

(15) minishes not, preiudices not Gods Vli-
quitie and Omnipresence, that wee giue
him his Vbi, certaine places for Inuo-
cation. Thats 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 pla-
ces to his seruice, & manifest his wor-
king more effectually, more energeti-
cally in those places, then in any other.
for when we pray, Our Father which art
in Heauen, Chrysostome.It is not (sayes Saint Chryso-
stome) 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 Ori-
gen hath very well expressed it, Origen.Vt in
melioribus mundi requiramus Deum: That
still wee looke for God in the best pla-
ces; looke for him, as he heares our pe-
titions, here, in the best places of this
world, in his House, in the Church;
looke for him as he graunts our petiti-

(16) on, in the best place of the next world,
at the right hand, and in the bosome of
the Father. Deut. 30.13When 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
God, is beyond Sea, the true word, truly
preached in many true Churches there,
but yet we haue it here, within these
Seas too; God is in Heauen, but yet hee
is here, within these walles too. And
therefore the impietie of the Maniche-
ans exceeded all the Gentiles, who con-
cluded the God of the Old Testament to
be an impotent, an vnperfect God, be-
cause hee commaunded Moses first to
make him a Tabernacle, and then Salo-
mon to make him a Temple, as though
he needed a House. God does not need
a house, but man does need, that God
should haue a House. And therefore

(17)
the first question, that Christs first Dis-
ciples asked of him, was Magister, vbi
habitas, they would know his standing
house, where he hath promised to bee
alwaies within, and where at the ring-
ing of the Bell, some body comes to
answere you, to take your errand, to
offer your Prayers to God, to returne
his pleasure in the preaching of his
Word to you. The many and heauy
Lawes, with which sacred and secular
stories abound, against the prophana-
tion of places, appropriated to Gods
seruice, and that religious custome, that
passed almost through all ciuill Nati-
ons, that an oath, which was the bond
between man, and man, had the stron-
ger Obligation, if that were taken in
the Church, in the presence of God, (for
such was the practise of Rome towards
her enemies, Tango aras medios{que} ignes,
to make their vowes of hostility in the
Church, and at time of diuine Seruice,
(and such is their practise still, they

(18)
seale their Treasons in the Sacrament)
such was Romes practise towards o-
thers, and such was the practise of o-
thers towards Rome, (for so Anniball
sayes, that his father Amilcar swore
him at the Altar, that he should neuer
bee reconciled to Rome, (And such is
your practise still, as often as you meet
here, you renew your band to God,
that you will neuer bee reconciled to
the Superstitions of Rome) all these, and
all such as these, and such as these are
infinite, heap vp testimonies, that euen
in Nature there is a disposition to ap-
ply, and appropriate certaine places to
Gods seruice. And this impression in
nature is illustrated in the Law, as the
time, so the place is distinguished, Yee
shall keepe my Sabboths, Leui. 19.30there is the time,
and you shall reuerence my Sanctuary,
there is the place. But that they may
be reuerenced, that they may bee San-
ctuaries, they are to be sanctified; and
thats the Encaenia, the Dedication.

(19)
Encania.Euen in those things which accrue
vnto God, and become his, by another
title, then as he is Lord of all, by Crea-
tion, that is, by appropriation, by dedi-
cation to his vse and Seruice, There is
a Lay Dedication, and an Ecclesiasticall
Dedication. I hope the distinction of
Laytie, and Clergie, the words, scan-
dalize no man. Luther, and Caluin
too might haue iust cause to decline
the words, as they did; when so much
was ouer-attributed to that Clergie
which they intend, as that they were
so Sors Domini, the Lords portion, as that
the world had no portion in them,
and yet they had the greatest portion
of the world; and howe little soe-
uer they had to doe with God, yet no
State, no King might haue any thing
to doe with them. But, as long as
we declare, that by the Layetie we in-
tend the people glorifying God in their
secular callings, and by the Clergie, per-
sons seposed by his ordinance, for spi-

(20) ritual functions, The Layetie no farther
remoou'd then the Clergie, The Clergie
no farther entitled then the Layetie, in
the blood of Christ Iesus, neither in the
effusion of that blood vpon the Crosse,
nor in the participation of that blood
in the Sacrament, and that an equall
care in Clergie, and Layetie, of doing the
duties of their seuerall callings, giues
them an equall interest in the ioyes,
and glory of heauen, I hope no man is
scandaliz'd with the names. The Lay
Dedication then is, the voluntary sur-
rendring of this piece of ground thus
built, to God. For we must say, as Saint
Peter said to Ananias, Acts 5.4.Whiles it remain'd,
was that not your owne? and now, when
that is raised (sauing that there was
Dedicatio Intentionalis, a purpose from
the beginning to appropriate it, to this
holy vse) might you not, till this houre,
haue made this roome your Hall, if
you would? But this is your Dedica-
tion, that you haue cheerfully pursued

(21)
your first holy purposes, and deliuer
now into the hands of this seruant of
God, the Right Reuerend Father the Bi-
shop of this See, a place to be presented
to God for you, by him, not misbecom-
ming the Maiestie of the great God,
who is pleased to dwell thus amongst
vs. What was spent in Salomons Tem-
ple is not told vs. What was prepared,
before it was begun, is such a summe,
as certainly, if all the Christian Kings
that are, would send in all that they
haue, at once, to any one seruice, all
would not equall that summe. They
gaue there, till they who had the ouer-
seeing therof, complain'd of the abun-
dance, and proclaim'd an abstinence.
Yet there was one, who gaue more
then all they; for Christ sayes the poore
widdow gaue more then all the rest,
because she gaue all she had. There is a
way of giuing more then she gaue; &
I, who by your fauours was no stra~ger
to the beginning of this work, and

(22)
an often refresher of it to your me-
mories, and a poore assistant in laying
the first stone, the materiall stone, as I
am now, a poore assistant again in this
laying of this first formall Stone, the
Word & Sacrament, and shall euer de-
sire to be so in the seruice of this place,
I, I say, can truly testifie, that you (spea-
king of the whole Societie together of
the publike stock, the publike treasury,
the publike reuenue) you gaue more
then the widow, who gaue all, for you
gaue more then all. A stranger shall not
entermeddle with our ioy, as Salomon saies:
strangers shall not know, how ill we
were prouided for such a work, when
we begun it, nor with what difficul-
ties we haue wrastled in the way; but
strangers shall know to Gods glory,
that you haue perfected a work of full
three times as much charge, as you pro-
posed for it at beginning: so bounti-
fully doth God blesse, and prosper in-
tentions to his glory, with enlarging

(23)
your hearts within, and opening the
hearts of others, abroad. And this is
your Dedication, and that which with-
out preiudice, and for distinction, wee
call a Lay Dedication, though from reli-
gious hearts, and hands. There is another Dedication; Ecclesiasticathat we
haue call'd Ecclesiasticall, appointed by
God, so as God speaks in the ordinances,
and in the practise of his Church. Haere-
ditary Kings are begotten & conceiu'd
the naturall way; but that body which
is so begotten of the blood of Kings, is
not a King, no nor a man, till there bee
a Soule infused by God. Here is a House,
a Child conceiu'd (wee may say borne)
of Christian parents, of persons religi-
ously disposed to Gods glory; but yet,
that was to receiue another influence,
an inanimation, a quickening, by ano-
ther Consecration. Oportet denuo nasci,
holds euen in the children of Christian
parents; when they are borne, they must
be borne again by Baptisme: when this

(24)
place is thus giuen by you, for God, opor-
tet denuo dari, it must be giuen againe to
God, by him, who receiues it of you. It
must; there seems a necessitie to be im-
plied, because euen in Nature, there was
a consecration of holy places; Iacob in
his iourney, Gen. 28.20.before the Law, consecrated
euen that stone, which he set vp, in in-
tention to build God a House there. In
the time of the Law, Num. 7.1.this Feast of Dedi-
cation, was in practise; first in the Ta-
bernacle; that and all that appertain'd to
it, was annointed, and sanctified: So
was Salomons Temple after; so was that
which was reedified after their return
from Babylon, and so was this in the
Text, after the Heathen had defiled and
profan'd the Altar thereof, and a new
one was erected by Iudas Maccabeus.
Thus in Nature, thus in Law, and thus
far thus in the Gospell too: that as sure
as wee are that the people of God had
materiall Churches in the Apostles first
times, so sure we are, that those places

(25)
had a Sanctitie in them. If that place
of Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 11.22Despise yee the Church of
God? be to be vnderstood of the locall,
of the materiall Church, and not of the
Congregation, you see there is a rebuke
for the prophanation of the place, and
consequently a sanctity in the place. But
assoone as the Church came euidently
by the fauour of Princes, to haue liberty
to make lawes, and power to see them
practised, it was neuer pretermitted to
consecrate the places. Before that, we
find an ordinance by Pope Hyginus (he
was within 150. after Christ, and the
eighth Bishop of that See after Saint Pe-
ter) euen of particulars in the Conse-
crations. But after, Athanas.Athanasius in his A-
pologie to Constantius, makes that prote-
station for all Christians, That they neuer
meet in any Church, till it bee consecrated:
And Constantine the Emperour least hee
should be at any time vnprouided of
such a place, (as we read in the Ecclesia-
sticall story) in all his warres, carried a-

(26) bout with him a Tabernacle which was
consecrated: In Nature, in the Law, in
the Gospell, in Precept, in Practise, these
Consecrations are established. Usus.This they did. But to what vse did
they consecrate them? not to one vse
only; and therfore it is a friuolous con-
tention, whether Churches be for prea-
ching, or for praying. But if Consecration
be a kind of Christning of the Church,
& that at the Christning it haue a name,
wee know what name God hath ap-
poynted for his House, Domus mea, Do-
mus orationis vocabitur. My House shall
bee called the House of Prayer. And how
impudent and inexcusable a falshood
is that in Bellarmine, That the Lutherans
and Caluinistes doe admit Churches for
Sermons and Sacraments, Sed reprehen-
dunt quod fiant ad orandum, They dislike
that they should be for Prayer: when
as Caluin himselfe, (who may seeme to
bee more subiect to this reprehension
then Luther) (for there is no such Litur-

(27) gie in the Caluinists Churches, as in the
Lutheran) yet in that very place which
Bellarmine cites, sayes Conceptae preces in
Ecclesia Deo gratae; and for singing in
Churches, (which in that place of Caluin
cannot be only meant of Psalmes, for it
was of that manner of singing, which
being formerly in vse in the Easterne
churches, S. Ambrose, in his time, brought
into the Church of Millan, and so it was
deriud ouer the Western churches, which
was the modulation and singing of
Versicles and Antiphons and the like)
this singing, sayes Caluin, was in vse a-
mongst the Apostles themselues, Et san-
ctissimum & saluberimum est institutum.
l. 3.20. § 32.It was a most holy and most profitable Insti-
tution. Still consider Consecration to
be a Christning of the place; and though
we find them often called Templa prop-
ter Sacrificia, for our sacrifices of praier,
and of praise, & of the merits of Christ,
and often called Ecclesiae ad conciones,
Churches, in respect of congregations,

(28)
for preaching, and often call'd Martyria,
for preseruing with respect, and honor
the bodies of Martyrs, and other Saints
of God, there buried, & often, often, by
other names, Dominica, Basilica, and the
like, yet the name that God gaue to his
house, is not Concionatorium, nor Sacra-
mentarium, but Oratorium, the House of
Prayer. And therefore without preiu-
dice to the other functions too, (for as
there is a vae vpon me, Si non Euangeli-
zauero, If I preach not my selfe, so may
that vae be multiplied vpon any, who
would draw that holy ordinance of
God into a dis-estimatio~, or into a slack-
nesse,) let vs neuer intermit that dutie,
to present our selues to God in these
places, though in these places there bee
then, no other Seruice, but Common
prayer. For then doth the House an-
swere to that name, which God hath
giuen it, if it be a house of Prayer. Modus.Thus then were these places to re-
ceiue a double Dedication; a Dedica-

(29) tion, which was a Donation from the
Patron, a Dedication which was a con-
secration from the Bishop, for to his
person, and to that ranke in the Hie-
rarchy of the Church, the most ancient
Canons limited it; and to those purpo-
ses, which wee haue spoken of; of
which, Prayer is so farre from being
none, as that there is none aboue it. A
little should be said, (before wee shut
vp this part) of the manner, the forme
of Consecrations. In which, in the Pri-
mitiue Church, assoone as Consecrations
came into free vse, they were full of
Ceremonies. And many of those Cere-
monies deriu'd from the Iewes: and not
vnlawfull, for that. The Ceremonies of
the Iewes, which had their foundation
in the prefiguration of Christ, and were
types of him, were vnlawfull after
Christ was come; because the vse of
them, then, implyed a deniall or a
doubt of his being come. But those
Ceremonies, which, though the Iewes

(30)
vsed them, had their foundation in Na-
ture, as bowing of the knee, lifting vp
the eyes, and hands, and many, very
many others, which either testified
their deuotion that did them, or ex-
alted their deuotion that sawe them
done, are not therefore excluded the
Church, because they were in vse a-
mongst the Iewes. That Pope whom
we named before, Hyginus, the eighth
after Saint Peter, he instituted, Ne Ba-
silica sine Missa consecretur. That no
Church bee consecrated without a Masse.
If this must binde vs, to a Masse of the
present Romane Church, it were hard;
and yet not very hard truely; for they
are easily had. But that word, Masse,
is in Saint Ambrose, in Saint Augustine
in some very ancient Councels; and sure-
ly intends nothing, to this purpose, but
the Seruice, the Common Prayer of
the Church, then in vse, there. And
when the Bishop Panigarola sayes in
his Sermon vpon Whitsunday, that the

(31)
Holy Ghost found the blessed Virgin
and the Apostles at Masse, I presume hee
meanes no more, then that they were
mett at such publique Prayer, as at
those times they might make. Sure
Pope Clemens, and Pope Hyginus meane
the same thing, when one sayes Missa
consecretur, and the other Diuinis Preci-
bus: One sayes, Let the Consecration bee
with a Masse, the other, with Diuine
Seruice; the Liturgie, the Diuine Ser-
uice was then the Masse. In a word, a
constant forme of Consecrations, wee
finde none that goes through our Ri-
tualls: the Ceremonies were still more
or lesse, as they were more or lesse ob-
noxious, or might bee subiect to scan-
dalize, or to be mis-interpreted. And
therefore I am not heere either to di-
rect, or so much as to remember, that
which appertaines to the manner of
these Consecrations; onely in concur-
ring in that, which is the Soule of all,
humble and heartie prayer, that God

(32)
will heare his Seruants in this place, I
shall not offend to say, that I am sure
my zeale is inferiour to none. And
more I say not of the first Part, The
Holy place; and but a little more, of
the other; though at first it were pro-
posed for an equall part, The Holy
Person, That at the Feast of the Dedi-
cation, Iesus walked in the Temple in Sa-
lomons Porch. 2. Part.In this second part, wee did not
spread the words, nor shed our consi-
derations vpon many particulars: the
first was, Jesus in
Templo.that euen Iesus himselfe had
recourse to this Holy place. In the new
Ierusalem, in Heauen, there is no Tem-
ple. Apo. 21.22I saw no Temple there sayes Saint
Iohn: for the Lord God Almightie, and the
Lambe are the Temple of it. In Heauen,
where there is no danger of falling,
there is no need of assistance. Heere
the Temple is called Gnazar, 2. Paral. 4.9that is Au-
xilium: A Helper: the strongest that
is, needs the helpe of the Church: And

(33)
it is called Sanctificium, by Saint Hie-
rom, Psal. 78.69.a place that is not onely made ho-
ly by Consecration, but that makes
others holy by GOD in it. And there-
fore Christ himselfe, whose person and
presence might consecrate the Sanctum
Sanctorum, would yet make his often
repayre to this Holy place; not that hee
needed this subsidie of Locall holinesse
in himselfe, but that his example might
bring others who did neede it; and
those who did not; and, that euen his
owne Preaching might haue the be-
nefite and the blessing of Gods Ordi-
nance in that place, hee sayes of him-
selfe, Math. 26.Quotidie apud vos sedebam do-
cens in Templo, and Semper docui in Sy-
nagoga, & in Templo; as in the Actes,
the Angell that had deliuered the A-
postles out of prison, sends them to
Church, Actes 5.Stantes in Templo loquimini ple-
bi. The Apostles were sent to preach,
but to preach in the Temple, in the place
appropriated and consecrated for that

(34)
holy vse and employment. Tempus.He came to this place, and he came
at those times, which no immediate
command of God, but the Church had
instituted. Facta sunt Encaenia, sayes the
Text; It was the Feast of the Dedica-
tion. Wee know what Dedication
this was; That of Salomon was much
greater; A Temple built where none
was before; That of Esdras at the re-
turne was much greater then this, An
intire reedification of that demoli-
shed Temple, where it was before.
This was but a zealous restoring of
an Altar in the Temple: which hauing
beene prophaned by the Gentiles, the
Iewes themselues threw downe, and
erected a new, and dedicated that.
Salomons Dedication is called a Feast,
2 Chr. 5.3.a Holy day: by the very same name that
the Feast of vnleauened bread, and the
Feast of the Tabernacle is called so of-
ten in Scripture, which is Kag. The
Dedication of Ezra Ezra 6.16.is sufficiently de-

(35) clared to bee a solemne Feast too. But
neither of these Feastes, though of
farre greater Dedications, were An-
niuersarie; neither commanded to be
kept euery yeare; and yet this, which
was so much lesser then the others, the
Church had put vnder that Obligation,
to bee kept euery yeare; and Christ
himselfe contemnes not, condemnes
not, disputes not the institution of the
Church. But as for matter of doctrine
hee sends euen his owne Disciples, to
them who sate in Moses Chayre, so for
matter of Ceremony, he brings euen
his owne person, to the celebrating, to
the authorizing, to the countenancing
of the Institutions of the Church, and
rests in that. Now it was Winter, sayes the Text:
Etsi HyemsChrist came etsi Hyems, though it were
Winter; so small an inconuenience
kept him not off. Beloued, it is not
alway colder vpon Sunday, then vpon
Satterday; nor at any time colder in

(36)
the Chappell; then in Westminster Hall.
A thrust keepes some off in Summer;
and colde in Winter: and there are
more of both these in other places,
where for all that, they are more con-
tent to be. Remember that Peter was
warming himselfe, and hee denyed
Christ. They who loue a warme bed,
let it bee a warme Studie, let it bee a
warme profit, better then this place,
they deny CHRIST in his Institution.
That therefore which CHRIST sayes,
Pray that your flight bee not in the Win-
ter, Mat. 24.20.nor vpon the Sabboth; we may ap-
ply thus, Pray that vpon the Sabboth
(I tolde you at first, what were Sab-
boths,) the Winter make you not flie,
not abstaine from this place. Put off
thy shooes, Exod. 35.sayes God to Moses, for the
place is holy ground. When Gods ordi-
nance by his Church call you to this ho-
ly place, put off those shoes, all those
earthly respects, of ease or profit, Christ
came, Etsi Hyems.

(37)
But then, Quia Hyems, Quia HyemsBecause it
was Winter, Hee did walke in Salo-
mons Porch, which was couered, not in
Atrio, in that part of the Temple, which
was open, and expos'd to the weather.
We doe not say, that infirme and weak
men, may not fauour themselues, in a
due care of their health, in these places.
That he who is not able to raise him-
selfe, must alwayes stand at the Gospell,
or bow the knee at the name of Iesus,
or stay some whole houres, altogether
vncouered heere, if that increase infir-
mities of that kinde. And yet Courts
of Princes, are strange Bethesdaes; how
quickly they recouer any man that is
brought into that Poole? How much
a little change of ayre does? and how
well they can stand, and stand bare
many houres, in the Priuy Chamber,
that would melt and flowe out into
Rhumes, and Catarrs, in a long Gospell
heere? But, Citra Scandalum, a man
may fauour himselfe in these places:

(38)
but yet this excuses not the irreuerent
manner which hath ouertaken vs in
all these places; That any Master may
thinke himselfe to haue the same li-
bertie heere, as in his owne house, or
that that Seruant, that neuer puts on
his hat in his Masters presence all the
weeke, on Sunday, when hee and his
Master are in Gods presence, should
haue his hat on perchance before his
Masters. Christ shall make Master and
Seruant equall; but not yet; not heere;
nor euer, equall to himselfe, how euer
they become equall to one another.
Gods seruice is not a continuall Martyr-
dome, that a man must bee heere, and
here in such a posture, and such a man-
ner, though hee dye for it; but Gods
House is no Ordinary neither; where
any man may pretend to doe what he
will, and euery man may doe, what
any man does. Christ slept in a storme;
I dare not make that generall; let all
doe so. Christ fauoured himselfe in

(39)
the Church; I dare not make that ge-
nerall neither: to make all places e-
quall, or all persons equall in any
place. Tis time to end. Basil.Saint Basill him-
selfe, as acceptable as hee was to his
Auditory, in his second Sermon vpon
the 14. Psalme, takes knowledge that
hee had preached an houre, and there-
fore broke off: I see it is a Compasse,
that all Ages haue thought sufficient.
But as we haue contracted the consi-
deration of great Temples, to this lesser
Chappell, so let vs contract the Chappell
to our selues: Et facta sint Encaenia no-
stra, let this be the Feast of the Dedica-
tion of our selues to God. Christ calls
himselfe a Temple, Soluite templum hoc:
Iohn 2.19.Destroy this Temple. And Saint Paul
calls vs so twice; Know ye not that ye are 1 Cor. 3.16.
& 6.19.
the Temples of the Holy Ghost? Facta sint
Encaenia nostra: Encaenia signifies Reno-
uationem, a renewing: Aug.and Saint Augu-
stine sayes that in his time, Si quis noua

(40)
tunica indueretur, Encaeniare diceretur. If
any man put on a new garment, hee called it
by that name, Encaenia sua. Much more
is it so, if wee renew in our selues the
Image of God, and put off the Olde man,
and put on the Lord Iesus Christ. This
is truly Encaeniare, to dedicate, to renew
our selues: Nazian.and so Nazian. in a Sermon,
or Oration, vpon the like occasion as
this, calls, Conuersionem nostram, Encaenia,
our turning to God, in a true repen-
tance, or renewing, our dedication. Let
mee charge your memories, but with
this note more, That when God forbad
Dauid the building of an House, Be-
cause hee was a man of blood, at that time
Dauid had not embrued his hands in
Vriahs blood; nor shed any blood, but
lawfully in iust warres; yet euen that
made him vncapable of this fauour to
prouide God a house. Some callings are
in their nature more obnoxious, and
more exposed to sinne, then others are:
accompanied with more tentations; &

(41)
so retard vs more in holy duties. And
therefore as there are particular sinnes
that attend certaine places, certaine ages,
certaine complexions, and certaine voca-
tions, let vs watch our selues in all those,
and remember that not only the high-
est degrees of those sinns, but any thing
that conduces therunto, prophanes the
Consecration, and Dedication of this
Temple, our selues, to the seruice of God;
it annihilates our repentance, and fru-
strates our former reconciliations to
him. Almighty God worke in you a perfit
dedication of your selues at this time; that so,
receiuing it from hands dedicated to God,
hee whose holy Office this is, may present ac-
ceptably this House to God in your behalfes,
and establish an assurance to you, that
God will be alwayes present with
you and your Succession
in this place.
Amen.

The First
Sermon
Preached
to King
Charles,
At Saint Iames: 3o. April.
1625. By Iohn Donne, Deane of
Saint Pauls, London. London,
Printed by A. M. for Thomas Iones,
and are to bee sold at his Shop at the
Signe of the Blacke Rauen in
the Strand. 1625.

(1)

Psalme. 11.3.
If the Foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous doe?
WEeWe are still in the sea-
son of Mortification;
in Lent: But wee
search no longer for
Texts of Mortificati-
on; The Almightie
hand of God hath shed and spred a
Text of Mortification ouer all the land.
The last Sabboth day, was his Sabboth
who entred then into his euerlasting
Rest; Be this our Sabboth, to enter into
a holy and thankfull acknowledge-
ment of that Rest, which God affords
vs, in continuing to vs our Foundations;
for, If foundations be destroyed, what can
the righteous doe?

(2)
I scarse know any word in the
Word of God, in which the Originall
is more ambiguous, and consequently
the Translations more various, and ther-
fore, necessarily also, the Expositions
more diuers, then in these words.
There is one thing, in which all agree,
that is, the Argument, and purpose, and
scope of the Psalme; And then, in what
sense, the words of the Text may con-
duce to the scope of the Psalme, wee
rest in this Translation, which our
Church hath accepted and authorized,
and which agrees with the first Trans-
lation knowen to vs, by way of Ex-
position, that is the Chalde Paraphrase,
If Foundations bee destroyed, what can the
righteous doe? The Church of God euer deligh-
ted herselfe in a holy officiousnesse in
the Commemoration of Martyrs: Al-
most all their solemne, and extraordi-
narie Meetings, and Congregations,
in the Primitiue Church, were for

(3)
that, for the honourable Commemo-
ration of Martyrs: And for that, they
came soone to institute and appoynt
certaine Liturgies, certaine Offices (as
they called them) certaine Seruices in
the Church, which should haue re-
ference to that, to the Commemo-
ration of Martyrs; as wee haue in our
Booke of Common Prayer, certaine
Seruices for Marriage, for Buriall, and
for such other holy Celebrations; And
in the Office and Seruice of a Martyr,
the Church did vse this Psalme; This
Psalme, which is in generall, a Prote-
station of Dauid, That though hee
were so vehemently pursued by Saul,
as that all that wished him well, sayd
to his Soule, Flie as a Bird to the
Mountaine, as it is in the first verse;
Though hee saw, That the wicked had
bent their Bowes, and made ready their
Arrowes, vpon the string, that they might
priuily shoot at the vpright in heart, as it
is in the second verse: Though he take

(4)
it almost as granted, that Foundations
are destroyed, (And then, what can the
righteous doe?) as it is in the third verse
which is our Text, yet in this distresse
he findes what to doe. For as hee be-
gunne in the first verse, In thee Lord, put
I my trust: So after he had passed the e-
numeration of his dangers, in the se-
cond and third verses, in the fourth he
pursues it as he begun, The Lord is in his
holy Temple, the Lords Throane is in Hea-
uen. And in the fifth hee fixes it thus,
The Lord tryeth the Righteous, (he may
suffer much to be done for their triall)
but the wicked, and him that loueth vio-
lence, his soule hateth. This then is
the Syllogisme, this is the Argumenta-
tion of the righteous Man; In Colla-
terall things, in Circumstantiall things,
in things that are not fundamentall, a
righteous Man, a constant Man should
not bee shaked at all, not at all Scan-
dalized; Thats true; But then, (in a
second place) sometimes it comes to

(5)
that, That Foundations are destroyd, and
what can the Righteous doe then? Why
euen then, this is a question, not of de-
speration, that nothing can bee done,
but of Consultation with God, what
should be done. I know, sayes Dauid,
I should not be, and thou knowest, O
God, I haue not beene mou'd with or-
dinary trialls; not though my Friends
haue dis-auowed mee, and bid mee
flye to the Mountaine as a Bird, not
though mine enemies prepare, and
prepare Arrowes, and shoote, and
shoote priuily, (bestowe their labour,
and their cost, and their witts, to
ruine mee) yet these haue not moou'd
mee, because I had fixed my selfe vp-
on certaine Foundations, Confiden-
ces, and Assurances of Deliuerance
from thee. But if, O Lord, I see these
foundations destroyed, if thou put
mee into mine Enemies hand, if thou
make them thy Sword, if their furie
draw that Sword, and then, thy Al-
mightie

(6)
Arme, sinewed euen with
thine owne indignation, strike with
that sword, what can I, how righ-
teous soeuer I were, doe? So then,
for the Explication, and Application
of these words, there will need no
more, but to spread them by way of
Paraphrase vpon these three conside-
rations: Diuisio.First, That the righteous is
bolde as a Lyon, not easily shaked; But
then, Foundations themselues may bee
destroyed, and so hee may bee shaked;
If hee bee, yet hee knowes what to
doe, or where to aske Counsell, for
these are not wordes of Desperation,
but of Consultation, If Foundations bee
destroyed, &c. 1.
Part.First then, wee fixe our selues vp-
on this consideration, that the Pro-
phet in proposing this thus, If Foun-
dations bee destroyed, intimates preg-
nantly, that except there bee danger
of destroying Foundations, it is the
part of the righteous Man, the godly

(7)
man to bee quiet. Studie to bee quiet,
sayes the Apostle; Studie, 1 Thess. 4.
11.that is an a-
ction of the Minde; and then, Ope-
ram detis, say the Uulgate Edition, La-
bour to bee quiet, and Labour is an acti+
on of the bodie: Indeed it is the pro-
per businesse of the Minde and Bodie
too, of Thoughts and Actions too, to
bee quiet: And yet, alas, how many
breake their sleepe in the night, about
things that disquiet them in the day
too, and trouble themselues in the
day, about things that disquiet them
all night too? Wee disquiet our selues
too much, in beeing ouer tender, o-
uer sensible of imaginarie iniuries.
Transeunt iniuriae, sayes the Morall
man; Let many iniuries passe ouer; for,
Seneca.Plaerasque non accipit, qui nescit; Hee
that knowes not of an iniurie, or takes
no knowledge of it, for the most part,
hath no iniurie. Qui inquirunt, quid in
se dictum est, sayes hee, They that
are too inquisitiue, what other men

(8)
say of them, they disquiet them-
selues; for that which others would
but whisper, they publish. And there-
fore that which hee addes there, for
Morall, and Ciuill matters, holds in a
good proportion, in things of a more
Diuine Nature, in such parts of the
religious worship and seruice of God,
as concerne not Foundations, Non expe-
dit omnia videre, non omnia audire; we
must not too iealously suspect, not too
bitterly condemne, not too peremp-
torily conclude, that what soeuer is
not done, as wee would haue it done,
or as wee haue seene it done in for-
mer times, is not well done: for
there is a large Latitude, and, by
necessitie of Circumstances, much
may bee admitted, and yet no Foun-
dations destroyed; and till Foundations
bee destroyed, the righteous should bee
quiet. Now this should not prepare, this
should not incline any man, to such

(9)
an indifferencie, as that it should bee
all one to him, what became of all
things; all one, whether wee had
one, or two, or tenne, or no Reli-
gion; or that hee should not bee a-
wake, and actiue, and diligent, in
assisting trueth, and resisting all ap-
proaches of Errour. For, God hath
sayd of all, into whose hand hee hath
committed power, You are Gods.
Now, they are not Gods, but Idoles,
if, as the Prophet sayes, Psal. 115.6.They haue Eyes
and see not, Eares and heare not, Hands
and strike not; nay, (as hee addes there)
if they haue Noses and smell not, if they
smell not out a mischieuous practise,
before it come to execution. For,
Gods eyes are vpon the wayes of man, Iob. 33.21.and
hee sees all his goings: Those, who are
in the number of them, of whome
God hath said, they are Gods, must
haue their eyes vpon the wayes of
men, and not vpon their Ends onely;
vpon the pathes of mischiefe, and not

(10)
vpon the bed of mischiefe onely; vp-
on the Actors of mischiefe, and not
vpon the Act onely. Gods eye sees our
wayes, sayes Dauid too; that is, hee
can see them, when hee will; but
there is more in the other Prophet,
Gods eyes are open vpon all our wayes;
Iere. 32.19.alwayes open, and hee cannot chuse
but see: So that, a wilfull shutting
of the eye, a winking, a conniuen-
cie, is not an assimilation to God.
And then, Abac. 1.13.Gods eyes are purer, then to
beholde euill, and they cannot looke vp-
on iniquitie: So that in an indifferen-
cie, whether Times, or Persons bee
good or badd, there is not this assi-
mulation to God. Hebr. 4.13.Againe, All things
are naked and open to the eyes of God:
So that in the disguising, and pal-
liating, and extenuating the faults of
men, there is not this assimilation to
God. Thus farre they falsifie Gods
Word, who hath sayd, They are Gods;
for they are Idoles, and not Gods, if they

(11)
haue eyes, and see not. So is it also in
the consideration of the Eare too:
for, as Dauid sayes, Psal. 94.9.Shall not hee that
planted the Eare, heare? So wee may
say, Shall hee vpon whom God hath
planted an Eare, bee deafe? Gods
eares are so open, so tender, so sen-
sible of any motion, Psal. 39.12as that Dauid
formes one Prayer thus, Auribus per-
cipe lachrimas meas, O Lord, heare
my teares, hee puts the office of the Eye
too, vpon the Eare. And then, if the
Magistrate stop his Eares with Wooll,
(with staple bribes, profitable bribes)
and with Cyuet in his wooll, (per-
fumes of pleasure and preferment in
his bribes) hee falsifies Gods Word,
who hath said, they are Gods, for they
are Idoles, and not Gods, if they haue
eares, and heare not. And so it is also of
the hand too; In all that Iob suffered,
he sayes no more, but that the Hand
of God had touched him; but touched
him, in respect of that hee could haue

(12)
done: for, when Iob sayes to men,
Why persecute you mee, Iob 19.22as God? hee
meanes, as God could doe, so ve-
hemently, so ruinously, so destru-
ctiuely, so irreparably. There is no
phrase oftner in the Scriptures, then that
God deliuered his people, in the hand
of Moses, and the hand of Dauid, and the
hand of the Prophets: all their Ministe-
riall office is called the Hand: and ther-
fore, as Dauid prayes to God, That hee
would pull his hand out of his bosome, and
strike: so must wee euer exhort the
Magistrate, That hee would plucke
his hand out of his pocket, and for-
get what is there, and execute the
CauseLawes committed to him. For, as
wee, at last, shall commend our Spi-
rits, into the hands of God, God hath
commended our Spirits, not onely our
ciuill peace, but our Religion too, into
the hand of the Magistrate. And there-
fore, when the Apostle sayes, Studie to
bee quiet, it is not quiet in the blind-

(13) nesse of the Eye, nor quiet in the Deafenesse
of the Eare, nor quiet in the Lame-
nesse of the Hand; the iust discharge
of the dueties of our seuerall places,
is no disquieting to any man. But
when priuate men will spend all their
thoughts vpon their Superiours acti-
ons, this must necessarily disquiet
them; for they are off of their owne
Center, and they are extra Sphaeram
Actiuitatis, out of their owne Di-
stance, and Compasse, and they can-
not possibly discerne the Ende, to
which their Superiours goe. And to
such a iealous man, when his iea-
lousie is not a tendernesse towards
his owne actions, which is a holy
and a wholesome iealousie, but a
suspition of his Superiours actions, to
this Man, euery Wheele is a Drumme,
and euery Drumme a Thunder, and
euery Thunder-clapp a dissolution of
the whole frame of the VVorld: If
there fall a broken tyle from the

(14)
house, hee thinkes Foundations are de-
stroyed; if a crazie woman, or a dis-
obedient childe, or a needie seruant
fall from our Religion, from our
Church, hee thinkes the whole Church
must necessarily fall, when all this
while there are no Foundations destroy-
ed; and till foundations bee destroyed, the
righteous should be quiet. Hence haue wee iust occasion, first
to condole amongst our selues, who, for
matters of Foundations professe one and
the same Religion, and then to com-
plaine of our Aduersaries, who are of
another. First, that amongst our selues,
for matters not Doctrinall, or if Do-
ctrinall, yet not Fundamentall, onely
because wee are sub-diuided in diuers
Names, there should bee such Exaspe-
rations, such Exacerbations, such Vo-
ciferations, such Eiulations, such De-
famations of one another, as if all
Foundations were destroyed. VVho
would not tremble, to heare those In-

(15) fernall words, spoken by men, to men,
of one and the same Religion funda-
mentally, as Indiabolificata, Perdia-
bolificata, and Superdiabolificata, that
the Deuill, and all the Deuills in Hell,
and worse then the Deuill is in their
Doctrine, and in their Diuinitie, when,
God in heauen knowes, if their owne
vncharitablenesse did not exclude him,
there were roome enough for the
Holy Ghost, on both, and on either
side, in those Fundamentall things,
which are vnanimely professed by
both: And yet euery Mart, wee see
more Bookes written by these men a-
gainst one another, then by them both,
for Christ. But yet though this Torrent of vn-
charitablenesse amongst them, bee too
violent, yet it is within some bankes;
though it bee a Sea, and too tempe-
stuous, it is limitted within some
bounds; The poynts are certaine,
knowen, limitted, and doe not grow

(16)
vpon vs euery yeare, and day. But
the vncharitablenesse of the Church
of Rome towards vs all, is not a Tor-
rent, nor it is not a Sea, but a generall
Flood, an vniuersall Deluge, that swal-
lowes all the world, but that Church,
and Church-yard, that Towne, and Sub-
urbes, themselues, and those that de-
pend vpon them; and will not al-
lowe possibilitie of Saluation to the
whole Arke, the whole Christian
Church, but to one Cabin in that Arke,
the Church of Rome; and then denie
vs this Saluation, not for any Positiue
Errour, that euer they charged vs to
affirme; not because wee affirme a-
ny thing, that they denie, but be-
cause wee denie some things, which
they in their afternoone are come to
affirme. If they were Iusti, Righteous, right
and iust dealing men, they would
not raise such dustes, and then blinde
mens eyes with this dust of their own

(17)
raysing, in things that concerne no
Foundations. It is true, that all He-
resie does concerne Foundations: there
is no Heresie to bee called little: Great
Heresies proceeded from things, in
apparance, small at first, and seem'd
to looke but towards small matters.
There were great Heresies, that were
but Verball, Heresies in some Word.
That great Storme, that shaked the
State, and the Church, in the Coun-
cell of Ephesus, and came to Factions,
and Commotions in the Secular part,
and to Exautorations, and Excommu-
nications amongst the Bishops, so
farre, as that the Emperour came to
declare both sides to bee Heretiques;
All this was for an Errour in a Word,
in the word Deipara, whether the
Blessed Virgine Marie were to bee cal-
led the Mother of God, or no. There
haue beene Verball Heresies, and He-
resies that were but Syllabicall; little
Praepositions made Heresies; not one-

(18) ly State-praepositions, Precedencies, and
Prerogatiues of Church aboue Church,
occasioned great Schismes, but Lite-
rall Praepositions, Praepositions in Gram-
mar, occasioned great Heresies. That
great Heresie of the Acepbali, against
which Damascene bendes himselfe in
his Booke, De Natura Composita,
was grounded in the Praeposition, In;
They would confesse Ex, but not In,
That Christ was made of two Na-
tures, but that hee did not consist
in two Natures. And wee all know,
what differences haue beene raysed in
the Church, in that one poynt of the
Sacrament, by these three Prepositi-
ons, Trans, Con, and Sub. There
haue beene great Heresies, but Ver-
hall, but Syllabicall; and as great, but
Litterall; The greatest Heresie that
euer was, that of the Arrians, was
but in one Letter. So then, in He-
resie, there is nothing to bee called
little, nothing to bee suffered. It

(19)
was excellently sayde of Heretiques,
(though by one, who, though not
then declared, Nestorius.was then an Here-
tique in his heart,) Condolere Hereti-
cis crimen est; It is a fault, not onely to
bee too indulgent to an Heretique,
but to bee too compassionate of an
Heretique, too sorrie for an Here-
tique. It is a fault to say, Alas, let
him alone, hee is but an Heretique;
but, to say, Alas, hope well of him,
till you bee better sure, that hee is
an Heretique, is charitably spoken.
God knowes, the sharpe and sowre
Name of Heretique, was too soone
let loose, and too fast spread in ma-
ny places of the world. VVee see,
that in some of the first Catalogues,
that were made of Heretiques, men
were Registred for Heretiques, that
had but expounded a place of Scrip-
ture, otherwise then that place had
beene formerly expounded, though
there were no harme, in that newe

(20)
Exposition. And then, when once
that infamous Name of Heretique
was fastened vpon a man, nothing
was too heauie for, any thing was
beleeued of that man: And from
thence it is, without question; that
wee finde so many so absurd, so
senselesse Opinions imputed to those
men, who were then called Here-
tiques, as could not, in trueth, with
any possibilitie, fall into the imagi+
nation or fancie of any man, much
lesse bee Doctrinally, or Dogmatically
deliuered. And then, vpon this
there issued Lawes, from particular
States, against particular Heresies,
that troubled those States then, as
namely, against the Arrians, or Ma-
cedonians, and such; and in a short
time, these Lawes came to bee ex-
tended, to all such Opinions, as the
passion of succeeding times, called
Heresie. And at last, the Romane
Church hauing constituted that Mono-

(21) polie, That Shee onely should declare
what should bee Heresie, and ha-
uing declared that to bee Heresie,
which opposed, or retarded the dig-
nitie of that Church, now they call
in Brachium Spirituale, All those Sen-
tences of Fathers, or Councells that
mention Heresie, and they call in
Brachium Saeculare, all those Lawes
which punish Heresie, and whereas
these Fathers, and Councells, and States,
intended by Heresie, Opinions that
destroyed Foundations, they bend all
these against euery poynt, which may
endammage, not the Church of God,
but the Church of Rome; nor the
Church of Rome, but the Court of
Rome; nor the Court of Rome, but
the Kitchin of Rome; not for the
Heart, but for the Bellie; not the Reli-
gion, but the Policie; not the Altar, but
the Exchequer of Rome. But the Righteous lookes to Foun-
dations, before hee will bee scandalized

(22)
himselfe, or condemne another. When
they call Saint Peter their first Pope,
and being remembred, how hee de-
nied his Master, say then, that was
but an Acte of Infirmitie, not of Infi-
delitie, and there were no Foundations
destroyed in that; wee presse not that
euidence against Saint Peter, wee for-
beare, and wee are quiet. When wee
charge some of Saint Peters imaginary
Successors, some of their Popes, with
actuall, and personall Sacrificing to I-
doles, some with subscribing to formall
Heresies, with their owne hand, many
with so enormous an ill life, as that
their owne Authors will say, that for
many yeares together, there liued not
one Pope, of whose Saluation, any
hope could bee conceiued; and they
answere to all this, that all these were
but Personall faults, and destroyed
no Foundations; wee can bee content
to bury their faultes with their per-
sons, and wee are quiet. When wee

(23)
remember them, how many of the Fa-
thers excused officious Lyes, and thought
some kinde of Lying to bee no Sinne,
how very many of them hearded in
the heresie of the Millenarians, That
the Saints of God should enioy a thou-
sand yeares of temporall felicity in this
world, after their Resurrection, before
they ascended into Heauen; And that
they say to all this, The Fathers said
these things before the Church had de-
creed any thing to the contrary, and till
that, it was lawfull for any man to
say, or thinke what hee would, wee
do not load the memory of those bles-
sed Fathers with any heauier pressings,
but wee are quiet. Yet wee cannot
chuse but tell them, that tell vs this,
that they haue taken a hard way, to
make that saying true, that all things
are growen deare in our times; for they
haue made Saluation deare; Threescore
yeares agoe, a man might haue beene
sau'd at halfe the price hee can now:

(24)
Threescore yeares agoe, he might haue
beene saued for beleeuing the Apostles
Creed; now it will cost him the Trent
Creed too. Euermore they will presse
for all, and yeeld nothing; and there is
indeed their Specification, there's their
Character, that's their Catholique, their
Vniuersall; To haue all; As, in Athanasius
his time, when the Emperour pressed
him to affoord the Arrians one Church
in Alexandria, where hee was Bishop,
and hee asked but one Church in An-
tioch, where the Arrians preuayled, not
doubting but hee should draw more
to the true Church in Antioch, then
they should corrupt in Alexandria, yet
this would not bee granted; It would
not be granted at Rome, if we should
aske a Church for a Church. In a word,
wee charge them with vncharitable-
nesse, (and Charitie is without all
Controuersie, a Foundation of Religi-
on) that they will so peremptorily ex-
clude vs from Heauen, for matters

(25)
that doe not appertaine to Foundati-
ons. For, if they will call all Founda-
tions, that that Church hath, or doth, or
shall decree, wee must learne our Ca-
techisme vpon our Death-bedd, and
inquire for the Articles of our Faith,
when wee are going out of the
world, for they may haue decreed
something that Morning. No one
Author of theirs denied Pope Ioane, till
they discerned the Consequence, That
by confessing a Woman Pope, they
should disparage that Succession of
Bishops, which they pretend, And
this Succession must bee Foundation.
No Author of our side denied Saint
Peters beeing at Rome, till wee dis-
cerned the Consequence, That vpon his
personall being there, they grounded
a Primacie in that Sea, And this
Primacie must bee Foundation. Much
might bee admitted in cases of In-
differencie, euen in the Nature of the
things, Much in cases of Necessitie, for

(26)
the importance of Circumstances, much in
cases of Conueniency, for the suppling of
boysterous, and for the becalming of
tempestuous humours; but when eue-
ry thing must be called Foundation, we
shall neuer knowe where to stop,
where to consist. If wee should
beleeue their Sacrificium incruentum,
their vnbloody Sacrifice in the Masse,
if wee did not beleeue their Sacri-
ficium Cruentum too, that there was
a power in that Church, to sacrifice
the Blood of Kings, wee should
bee sayde to bee defectiue in a fun-
damentall Article. If wee should ad-
mitt their Metaphysiques, their tran-
scendent Transubstantiation, and ad-
mitt their Chimiques, their Purgato-
rie Fires, and their Mythologie, and
Poetrie, their apparitions of Soules
and Spirits, they would binde vs to
their Mathematiques too, and they
would not let vs bee saued, except
wee would reforme our Almanackes

(27)
to their tenne dayes, and reforme our
Clockes to their foure and twentie: for
who can tell when there is an ende
of Articles of Faith, in an Arbitrarie,
and in an Occasionall Religion? When
then this Prophet sayes, If Foundati-
ons bee destroyed, what can the righte-
ous doe, hee meanes, that till that,
the righteous should bee quiet: Ex-
cept it were in fundamentall Articles
of Faith, our selues should not bee
so bitter towards one another, our
Aduersarie should not bee so vn-
charitable against vs all. And farther
wee need not extend this first Consi-
deration. The second is, 2.
Part.to Suruay some
such Foundations, as fall within the
frayltie, and suspition, and possibi-
litie of this Text, that they may bee
destroyed: for when the Prophet
sayes, If they bee, they may bee.
Now Fundamentum proprie de aedificijs
dicitur, sayes the Lawe: when wee

(28)
speake of Foundations, wee intend a
house: and heere, wee extend this
House to foure Considerations; for
in foure Houses haue euery one of vs
a dwelling. For, first, Ecclesia
Domus,
the Church is a House, it is Gods house;
and in that House, wee are of the
householde of the faithfull, if (as it is
testified of Moses) wee bee faithfull in
all his House, Hebr. 3.5.as Seruants. You see
there is a faithfulnesse required in e-
uery man, in all the house of God, not
in any one roome; a disposition re-
quired to doe good to the whole
Church of God euery where, and not
onely at home. Secondly, Respublica
Domus, The Commonwealth, the State,
the Kingdome is a House; and this is
that which is called so often, Domus
Israel, The house of Israel, the State,
the Gouernment of the Iewes: And
in this House, God dwells, as well as
in the other; In the State, as well as
in the Church: For, these words, The

(29)
Lord hath chosen Sion, Psa. 132.13hee hath desired
it for a habitation, are spoken of the
whole Bodie, Church, and State.
Thirdly, there is Domus Habitatio-
nis, Domus quae Domicilium, a House
to dwell in, and to dwell with, a
Family: and in this House God dwells
too; for, as Dauid sayes of the Buil-
ding, wee may say of the Dwelling,
Except the Lord build the House, Psal. 127.1.they
labour in vaine: So except the Lord
dwell in the House, it is a desolate
Habitation. And then lastly, there
is Domus quae Dominus, a house which
is the Master of the House; for as e+
uery Man is a little World, so eue-
ry man is his owne House, and dwels
in himselfe: And in this House God
dwells too; for the Apostle seemes so
much to delight himselfe in that Me-
taphore, as that hee repeats it almost
in all his Epistles, Habitat in nobis,
That the Holy Ghost dwells in vs.
Now, of all these foure Houses, that

(30)
house which hath no walles, but is
spread ouer the face of the whole
Earth, the Church, And that House,
which with vs, hath no other walls,
but the Sea, the State, the Kingdome,
And that house which is walled with
drie Earth, our dwelling house, our
family, and this house which is wall'd
with wet Earth, this loame of flesh, our
selfe, Of all these foure houses, those
three, of which, and in which we are,
and this fourth, which wee our selfe
are, God is the Foundation, and so foun-
dations cannot bee destroyed; But, as,
though the common foundation of
all buildings bee the Earth, yet wee
make particular foundations for par-
ticular Buildings, of Stone, or Brick,
or Piles, as the Soyle requires; so
shall wee also heere consider such par-
ticular Foundations of these foure
houses, as may fall within the frailtie,
and suspition, within the possibilitie,
and danger of the Text, of being de-

(31) stroyed. Of the first House then, Ecclesia
Domus.which is
the Church, the foundation is Christ,
Other foundation can no man lay, 1 Cor. 3.11.then
that which is layd, which is Iesus Christ.
Non propterea dicimus, sayes Saint
Augustine. De vnita.Wee doe not say that our
Church is Catholique therefore, because Eccles. C. 16.
Optatus sayes so, and because Ambrose
sayes so, (and yet Optatus, and Ambrose,
the Fathers, are good Witnesses) nei-
ther do we say it, (sayes he) Quia Colle-
garum nostrorum Conciliis praedicata est,
Because some Synodes and Councells of
men of our owne Religion haue said
it is Catholique (And yet a Harmony of
Confessions is good Euidence,) Nec
quia tanta fiunt in ea mirabilia, sayes
hee, wee call it not Catholique, be-
cause so many Myracles are wrought
in it, (for wee oppose Gods many mi-
raculous Deliuerances of this State
and Church, to all their imaginary mi-
racles of Rome) Non ideo manifestatur
Catholica, sayes still that Father, All

(32)
this does not make our Church Ca-
tholique, nay, non manifestatur, all this
does not declare it to bee Catholique,
all these are no infallible marks there-
of, but onely this one, sayes hee, Quia
ipse Dominus Iesus, &c. because the
Lord Iesus himselfe is the Foundation of
this Church. But may not this be sub-
iect to reasoning, to various Disputa-
tion, Whether wee haue that founda-
tion, or no? It may; but that will goe
farre in the clearing thereof, which
the same Father sayes in another
Booke, De Moribus
Eccles. Cat.
C. 25.Nihil in Ecclesia catholica sa-
lubrius fit, quam vt Rationem praecedat
Autoritas: Nothing is safer for the
finding of the Catholique Church, then
to preferre Authoritie before my Rea-
son, to submit and captiuate my Rea-
son to Authoritie. This the Romane
Church pretends to embrace; but A-
pishly; like an Ape, it kills with embra-
cing; for it euacuates the right Autho-
ritie; The Authority that they obtrude,

(33)
is the Decretals of their owne Bishops,
The authoritie, which Saint Augustine
literally and expressely declares him-
selfe to meane, is the authoritie of the
Scriptures. Christ then, that is, the Doctrine of
Christ, is the foundation of this first
House, the Church. 2 Chro. 3.3.Haec sunt funda-
menta quae iecit Salomon, sayes the vul-
gate Edition, These are the foundati-
ons that Salomon layde; and then our
Translation hath it, These are the things
in which Salomon was instructed; One
calls it Foundations, the other Instru-
ctions; All's one; The Instructions of
Christ, the Doctrine of Christ, the
Word, the Scriptures of Christ, are the
Foundation of this House. For, when
the Apostle sayes, Ephes. 2.20Christ Iesus him-
selfe is the chiefe corner Stone, yet hee
addes there, Yee are built vpon the
Prophets and Apostles: for the Pro-
phets and Apostles, had their part in
the foundation; in the laying, though

(34)
not in the beeing of the Foundation.
The wall of the citie, Apoc. 21.14sayes Saint Iohn,
had twelue Foundations, and in them,
the Names of the twelue Apostles: But
still, in that place, they are Apostles
of the Lambe, still they haue relation
to Christ: For, they, who by inspi-
ration of the Holy Ghost, writt of
Christ, and so made vp the Bodie of
the Scriptures, haue their parts too,
in this Foundation. Besides these, it
is sayd, in the building of the Ma-
teriall Temple, 2 Reg. 5.17.The King commaunded,
and they brought, great Stones, and cost-
ly Stones, and hewed Stones, to lay the
foundations of the House: The care of
the King, the labours of men con-
duce to the foundation. And besides
this, in that place of the Reuelation,
The foundation of the Wall, is sayde
to bee garnished with all manner of pre-
cious stones; Garnished, but not made of
that kinde of precious stones. So then
Salomons hewed Stones, and costly

(35)
stones, may, in a faire accommodati-
on, bee vnderstood to bee the De-
terminations, and Resolutions, Canons,
and Decrees of generall Councels: And
Saint Iohns garnishment of precious
stones, may, in a faire accommoda-
tion, bee vnderstood to bee the Lear-
ned and Laborious, the zealous and
the pious Commentaries and Expositions
of the Fathers; For Councells and Fa-
thers assist the Foundation; But the
foundation it selfe is Christ himselfe in
his Word; his Scriptures. And then,
certainely they loue the House best,
that loue the foundation best: not they,
that impute to the Scriptures such an
Obscuritie, as should make them in-
intelligible to vs, or such a defect as
should make them insufficient in them-
selues. To denie vs the vse of Scrip-
tures in our vulgar Translations, and
yet to denie vs the vse of them, in
the Originall Tongues too, To tell vs
we must not trie Controuersies by our

(36)
English, or our Latine Bibles, nor by
the Hebrew Bibles neither, To put such
a Maiestie vpon the Scriptures, as
that a Lay man may not touch them,
and yet to put such a diminution vp-
on them, as that the writings of men
shall bee equall to them; this is a
wrinching, a shrinking, a sinking,
an vndermining, a destroying of
Foundations, of the foundation of this
first House, which is the Church, the
Scriptures. Respub.
Domus.Enter wee now into a Suruay of
the second House, The State, the King-
dome, the Common-wealth; and of this
House, the foundation is the Law. And
therefore Saint Hierome referres this
Text, in a litterall and primary signifi-
cation to that, to the Law: for so, in
his Commentaries vpon the Psalmes, he
translates this Text, Si dissipatae Le-
ges, Hee makes the euacuating of the
Law, this destroying of foundations.
Lex communis Reipub. sponsio, sayes the

(37)
Law it selfe: The Law is the mutuall,
the reciprocall Suretie betweene the
State and the Subiect. The Lawe is
my Suretie to the State, that I shall
pay my Obedience, And the Lawe is
the States Suretie to mee, that I shall
enioy my Protection. And therefore,
therein did the Iewes iustly exalt
themselues aboue all other Nations,
That God was come so much nearer to
them then to other Nations, by how much
they had Lawes and Ordinances more
righteous then other Nations had. Now,
as it is sayd of the Foundations of the
other House, the Temple, The King
commaunded in the laying thereof, the
King had his hand in the Church, so
is it also in this House, the State, the
Common-wealth, the King hath his
hand in, and vpon the foundation here
also, which is the Lawe: so farre, as
that euery forbearing of a Lawe, is not
an Euacuating of the Law; euery Par-
don, whether a Post-pardon, by way

(38)
of mercy, after a Lawe is broken, or
a Prae-pardon, by way of Dispensati-
on, in wisedome before a Lawe bee
broken, is not a Destroying of this foun-
dation. For, when such things as these
are done, Iuo.Non astu Mentientis, sed af-
fectu compatientis, not vpon coloura-
ble disguises, nor priuate respects,
but truely for the Generall good, all
these Pardons, and Dispensations con-
duce and concurre to the Office, and
contract the Nature of the Foundation
it selfe, which is, that the whole Bo-
die may bee the better supported.
But where there is an inducing of a
super-Soueraigne, and a super-Supre-
macie, and a Sea aboue our foure Seas,
and a Horne aboue our Head, and a
forraine Power aboue our Natiue and
naturall Power, where there are dog-
maticall, Positiue Assertions, that
men borne of vs, and liuing with
vs, and by vs, are yet none of vs,
no Subiects, owe no Allegeance, this

(39)
is a wrinching, a shrinking, a sin-
king, an vndermining, a destroying
of Foundations, the Foundation of this
second House, which is the State, the
Law. The third House that falles into
our present Suruay, Domus Do-
micilium.is Domus quae Do-
micilium, Domus habitationis, our Dwel-
ling house, or Family, and of this house,
the foundation is Peace: for Peace com-
pacts all the peeces of a family toge-
ther; Husband and Wife, in Loue
and in Obedience, Father and Sonne,
in Care and in Obedience, Master
and Seruant, in Discipline and in O-
bedience: Still Obedience is one Ingre-
dient in all Peace; there is no Peace,
where there is no Obedience. Now
euery smoke does not argue the house
to bee on fire; Euery domestique of-
fence taken or giuen, does not de-
stroy this Foundation, this Peace, with-
in doores. There may bee a Thunder
from aboue, and there may bee an

(40)
Earth-quake from below, and yet the
foundation of the House safe: From a-
boue there may bee a defect in the
Superiour, in the Husband, the Father,
the Master; and from below, in the
Wife, the Sonne, the Seruant; There
may bee a Iealousie in the Husband, a
Morositie in the Father, an Imperiousnesse
in the Master; And there may bee an
inobsequiousnesse and an indiligence in
the Wife, there may bee leuitie and
inconsideration in the Sonne, and there
may bee vnreadinesse, vnseasonable-
nesse in a Seruant, and yet Foundati-
ons stand, and Peace, maintayned,
though not by an exquisite perfor-
ming of all duties, yet by a mutu-
all, support of one anothers infirmi-
ties. This destroyes no Foundation; But
if there bee a windowe opened in the
house, to let in a Iesuiticall firebrand,
that shall whisper, though not pro-
claime, deliuer with a non Dominus
sed Ego, that though it bee not a de-
clared

(41)
Tenet of the Church, yet hee
thinkes, that in case of Heresie, Ci-
uill and Naturall, and Matrimoniall
duties cease, no Ciuill, no Naturall,
no Matrimoniall Tribute due to an
Heretique; Or if there bee such a fire
kindled within doores, that the Hus-
bands iealousie come to a Substracti-
on of necessary meanes at home, or
to Defamation abroad, or the Wiues
leuitie induce iust Imputation at home,
or scandall abroad, If the Fathers
wastfulnesse amount to a Disinheri-
ting, because hee leaues nothing to bee
inherited, Or the Sonnes incorrigi-
blenesse occasion a iust disinheriting,
though there bee enough, If the Ma-
ster make Slaues of Seruants, and
macerate them, or the Seruants make
prize of the Master, and prey vpon
him, in these cases, and such as these,
there is a wrinching, a shrinking,
a sinking, an vnderming, a destroy-
ing of Foundations, the Foundation of

(42)
this third House, which is the family,
Peace. Domus
Dominus.There remaines yet another House,
a fourth House, a poore and wret-
ched Cottage; worse then our Statute
Cottages; for to them the Statute layes
out certaine Acres; but for these Co-
tages, wee measure not by Acres, but
by Feete; and fiue or sixe foote serues
any Cottager: so much as makes a
Graue, makes vp the best of our Globe,
that are of the Inferiour, and the best
of their Temporalties, that are of the
Superiour Cleargie, and the best of their
Demeanes that are in the greatest So-
ueraigntie in this world: for this house
is but our selfe, and the foundation of
this House is Conscience. For, this pro-
ceeding with a good Conscience in e-
uery particular action, is that, which
the Apostle calles, 1 Tim. 6.19The laying vp in
store for our selues, a good foundation,
against the time to come. The House
comes not till the time to come, but

(43)
the Foundation must bee layde heere.
Abraham looked for a Citie; Heb. 11.10that was
a future expectation; but, sayes that
Text, it was a Citie that hath a foun-
dation; the foundation was layd alrea-
die, euen in this life, in a good Con-
science: For no interest, no mansion
shall that Man haue in the vpper-
roomes of that Ierusalem, that hath
not layd the foundation in a good Con-
science heere. But what is Conscience?
Conscience hath but these two Elements,
Knowledge, and Practise; for Consci-
entia presumit Scientiam; Hee that does
any thing with a good Conscience,
knowes that hee should doe it, and
why hee does it: Hee that does good
ignorantly, stupidly, inconsiderately,
implicitely, does good, but hee does
that good ill. Conscience is, SyllagismusSyllogismus
practicus; vpon certaine premisses, well
debated, I conclude, that I should doe
it, and then I doe it. Now for the
destroying of this foundation, there are

(44)
sinnes, which by Gods ordinary grace
exhibited in his Church, prooue but
Alarums, but Sentinells to the Consci-
ence: The very sinne, or something
that does naturally accompany that
sinne, Pouertie, or Sickenesse, or In-
famie, calls vpon a man, and awakens
him to a remorse of the sinne. Which
made Saint Augustine say, That a man
got by some sinnes; some sinnes helpe
him in the way of repentance for
sinne; and these sinnes doe not destroy
the foundation. But there are sinnes,
which in their nature preclude repen-
tance, & batter the Conscience, deuastate,
depopulate, exterminate, annihilate the
Conscience, and leaue no sense at all, or
but a sense of Desperation. And then, the
case being reduc'd to that, Sap. 17.11.That wicked-
nes condemned by her owne wickednes, be-
comes very timerous, (so as the Conscience
growes afrayd, that the promises of
the Gospell belong not to her) And
(as it is added there) beeing pressed with

(45)
Conscience, alwayes forecasteth grieuous
things) that whatsoeuer God layes vp-
on him heere, all that is but his earnest
of future worse torments, when it
comes to such a Feare, as (as it is added
in the next verse) Betrayes the succours
that Reason offers him, ver. 12.That whereas
in reason a man might argue, God hath
pardoned greater sinnes, and greater
sinners, yet hee can finde no hope for
himselfe; this is a shrinking, a sinking,
an vndermining, a destroying of this
Foundation of this fourth House, the
Conscience: And farther wee proceed
not in this Suruay. Wee are now vpon that which we
proposed for our last Consideration;
3.
Part.Till foundations are shaked, the righte-
ous stirres not; In some cases some foun-
dations may be shaked; if they be, what
can the righteous doe? The holy Ghost ne-
uer askes the question, what the vn-
righteous, the wicked can doe: They
doe well enough, best of all, in such

(46)
cases: Demolitions and Ruines are
their raisings; Troubles are their peace,
Tempests are their calmes, Fires and
combustions are their refreshings,
Massacres are their haruest, and De-
struction is their Vintage; All their Ri-
uers runne in Eddies, and all their Cen-
ters are in wheeles, and in perpetuall
motions; the wicked do well enough,
best of all then; but what shall the righte-
ous do? The first entrance of the Psalme
in the first verse, seemes to giue an an-
swere; The righteous may flie to the Moun-
taine as a Bird; he may retire, withdraw
himselfe. But then the generall scope of
the Psalme, giues a Reply to the An-
swere; for all Expositors take the whole
Psalme to bee an answere from Dauid,
and giuen with some indignation a-
gainst them, who perswaded him to
flie, or retire himselfe. Not that Dauid
would constitute a Rule in his Exam-
ple, that it was vnlawfull to flie in a
time of danger or persecution, (for

(47)
it would not bee hard to obserue at
least nine or ten seuerall flights of Da-
uid) but that in some cases such circum-
stances of Time, and Place, and Person,
may accompany and inuest the acti-
on, as that it may bee inconuenient
for that Man, at that Time, to retire
himselfe. As oft, as the retyring a-
mounts to the forsaking of a Calling, it
will become a very disputable thing,
how farre a retyring may bee lawfull.
Saint Peters vehement zeale in disswa-
ding Christ from going vp to Ierusalem,
Mat. 16.21.in a time of danger, was so farre from
retarding Christ in that purpose, as
that it drew a more bitter increpation
from Christ vpon Peter, then at any o-
ther time. So then, in the Text, we haue a Rule
implyed, Something is left to the righ-
teous to doe, though some Foundations bee
destroyed; for the words are words of
Consultation, and consultation with God;
when Man can afford no Counsayle,

(48)
God can, and will direct those that are
his, the righteous, what to doe. The
words giue vs the Rule, and Christ
giues vs the Example in himselfe. First,
hee continues his Innocencie, and auowes
that; the destroying of Foundations,
does not destroy his Foundation, In-
nocence: still hee is able to confound
his aduersaries, Ioh. 8.46.with that, Which of you
can conuince mee of sinne? And then,
hee prayes for the remoouing of the
persecution, Transeat Calix, let this Cup
passe. When that might not bee, hee
prayes euen for them, who inflicted
this persecution, Pater ignosce, Father
forgiue them; And when all is done,
hee suffers all that can bee done vn-
to him: And hee calls his whole Pas-
sion, Horam suam, it spent nights and
dayes; his whole life was a continuall
Passion; yet how long soeuer, he calls
it but an Houre, and how much soe-
uer it were their act, the act of their
malignitie that did it, yet hee calls it

(49)
his, because it was the act of his owne
Predestination as God, vpon himselfe
as Man; And hee calles it by a more
acceptable Name then that, hee calles
his Passion Calicem suum, his Cup, be-
cause hee brought not onely a patience
to it, but a delight and a ioy in it;
for, for the ioy that was set before him, Hebr. 12.2.hee
endured the Crosse. All this then the
righteous can doe, though Foundati-
ons bee destroyed; Hee can withdrawe
himselfe, if the duties of his place
make not his residence necessarie; If
it doe, hee can pray; and then hee can
suffer; and then hee can reioyce in his
sufferings; and hee can make that pro-
testation, Our God is able to deliuer vs,
Dan. 3.17.and hee will deliuer vs; but if not, wee
will serue no other Gods. For, the righ-
teous hath euermore this refuge, this
assurance, that though some Foundati-
ons bee destroyed, all cannot bee: for
first, The foundation of God stands sure,
2 Tim. 2.19and hee knowes who are his; Hee is safe

(50)
in God; and then he is safe in his owne
Conscience, Pro. 10.25.for, The Righteous is an e-
uerlasting foundation; not onely that he
hath one, but is one; and not a tem-
porary, but an euerlasting Foundation:
So that foundations can neuer bee so de-
stroyed, but that hee is safe in God, and
safe in himselfe. Domus Ec-
clesia.For such things then, as concerne
the foundation of the first House, the
Church, Bee not apt to call Super-
Edifications, Foundations; Collaterall Di-
uinitie, Fundamentall Diuinitie; Pro-
blematicall, Disputable, Controuerti-
ble poynts, poynts Essentiall, and Arti-
cles of Faith. Call not Super-Edificati-
ons, Foundations, nor call not the fur-
niture of the House, Foundations; Call
not Ceremoniall, and Rituall things, Es+
sentiall parts of Religion, and of the
worship of God, otherwise then as
they imply Disobedience; for Obedience
to lawfull Authoritie, is alwayes an
Essentiall part of Religion. Doe not

(51)
Anti-date Miserie; doe not Prophesie
Ruine; doe not Concurre with Mis-
chiefe, nor Contribute to Mischiefe so
farre, as to ouer-feare it before, nor
to mis-interprete their wayes, whose
Ends you cannot knowe; And doe
not call the cracking of a pane of
glasse, a Destroying of foundations. But
euery man doing the particular duties
of his distinct Calling, for the preser-
uation of Foundations, Praying, and
Preaching, and Doing, and Counsailing,
and Contributing too, Foundations bee-
ing neuer destroyed, the Righteous
shall doe still, as they haue done, en-
ioy God manifested in Christ, and
Christ applyed in the Scriptures, which
is the foundation of the first House, the
Church. For things concerning the Founda-
tion of the second House, Respub.
Domus.the Common-
wealth, which is the Lawe, Dispute
not Lawes, but obey them when they
are made; In those Councells, where

(52)
Lawes are made, or reformed, dispute;
but there also, without particular in-
terest, without priuate affection, with-
out personall relations. Call not e-
uery entrance of such a Iudge, as thou
thinkest insufficient, a corrupt en-
trance; nor euery Iudgement, which
hee enters, and thou vnderstandest
not, or likest not, a corrupt Iudge-
ment. As in Naturall things, it is a
weakenesse to thinke, that euery thing
that I knowe not how it is done, is
done by Witch-craft, So is it also in
Ciuill things, if I know not why it
is done, to thinke it is done for Mo-
ney. Let the Law bee sacred to thee,
and the Dispensers of the Law, reue-
rend; Keepe the Lawe, and the Lawe
shall keepe thee; And so Foundations
being neuer destroyed, the Righte-
ous shall doe still, as they haue
done, enioy their Possessions, and
Honours, and themselues, by the o-
uershadowing of the Lawe, which

(53)
is the Foundation of the second House,
the State. For those things which concerne
the Foundations of the third House,
Domus Do-
micilium.the Family, Call not light faults by
heauie Names; Call not all sociable-
nesse, and Conuersation, Disloyaltie
in thy Wife; Nor all leuitie, or plea-
surablenesse, Incorrigiblenesse in thy
Sonne; nor all negligence, or forget-
fulnesse, Perfidiousnesse in thy Ser-
uant; Nor let euery light disorder
within doores, shut thee out of
doores, or make thee a stranger in
thine owne House. In a smoakie
roome, it may bee enough to open
a Windowe, without leauing the
place; In Domestique vnkindnesses,
and discontents, it may bee whole-
somer to giue them a Concoction at
home in a discreete patience, or to
giue them a vent at home, in a mo-
derate rebuke, then to thinke to ease
them, or put them off, with false

(54)
diuertions abroad. As States subsist
in part, by keeping their weakenes-
ses from being knowen, so is it the
quiet of Families, to haue their Chaun-
cerie, and their Parliament within
doores, and to compose and deter-
mine all emergent differences there:
for so also, Foundations beeing kept
vndestroyed, the righteous shall doe,
as they should doe, enioy a Religi-
ous Vnitie, and a Ciuill Vnitie, the
same Soule towards God, the same
heart towards one another, in a holy,
and in a happy Peace, and Peace is the
foundation of this third House, The
Family. Domus
Dominus.Lastly, for those things which
concerne the Foundations of the fourth
House, Our selues, Mis-interprete not
Gods former Corrections vpon thee,
how long, how sharpe soeuer: Call
not his Phisicke, poyson, nor his
Fish, Scorpions, nor his Bread,
Stone: Accuse not God, for that hee

(55)
hath done, nor suspect not God, for
that hee may doe, as though God
had made thee, onely because hee
lacked a man, to damne. In all scru-
ples of Conscience, say with Saint Pe-
ter, Domine quo vadam, Lord, whither
shall I goe, thou hast the Word of eter-
nall life, And God will not leaue thee
in the darke: In all oppression from
potent Aduersaries, say with Dauid,
Tibi soli peccaui: Against thee, O Lord,
onely haue I sinned, And God will not
make the malice of another man his
Executioner vpon thee. Crie to him;
and if hee haue not heard thee, crie
lowder, and crie oftner; The first
way that God admitted thee to him,
was by VVater, the water of Bap-
tisme; Goe still the same way to him,
by Water, by repentant Teares: And
remember still, that when Ezechias
wept, Vidit lachrymam, God saw his
Teare, His Teare in the Singular; God
sawe his first teare, euery seuerall

(56)
teare: If thou thinke God haue not
done so by thee, Continue thy teares,
till thou finde hee doe. The first
way that Christ came to thee, was
in Blood; when hee submitted him-
selfe to the Lawe, in Circumcision;
And the last thing that hee bequea-
thed to thee, was his Blood, in the
Institution of the Blessed Sacrament;
Refuse not to goe to him, the same
way too, if his glorie require that
Sacrifice. If thou pray, and hast an
apprehension that thou hearest God
say, hee will not heare thy prayers,
doe not beleeue that it is hee that
speakes; If thou canst not chuse but
beleeue that it is hee, let mee say,
in a pious sense, doe not beleeue
him: God would not bee belee-
ued, in denouncing of Iudgements,
so absolutely, so peremptorily, as to
bee thought to speake vnconditio-
nally, illimitedly: God tooke it well
at Dauids hands, that when the Pro-

(57) phet had tolde him, The childe shall
surely die, yet hee beleeued not the
Prophet so peremptorily, but that hee
proceeded in Prayer to God, for the
life of the childe. Say with Dauid,
Thou hast beene a strong Tower to mee;Psal. 61.4.
I will abide in thy Tabernacle, 62.7.Et non
Emigrabo, I will neuer goe out, I
know thou hast a Church, I know I
am in it, and I will neuer depart from
it; and so Foundations beeing neuer
destroyed, the righteous shall doe, as
the righteous haue alwayes done, en-
ioy the Euidence, and the Verdict, and
the Iudgement, and the Possession of a
good Conscience, which is the Foun-
dation of this fourth House. First, go-
uerne this first House, Thy selfe, well;
and as Christ sayde, hee shall say a-
gaine, Thou hast beene faithfull in a
little, take more; Hee shall enlarge
thee in the next House, Thy Family,
and the next, The State, and the other,
The Church, till hee say to thee, as

(58)
hee did to Ierusalem, after all his o-
ther Blessings, Et prosperata es in
Regnum, Now I haue brought thee vp
to a Kingdome, A Kingdome, where
not onely no Foundations can bee de-
stroyed, but no stone shaked; and
where the Righteous know alwayes
what to doe, to glorifie God, in that
incessant Acclamation, Saluation to our
God, who sits vpon the Throne, and
to the Lambe; And to this Lambe of
God, who hath taken away the sinnes
of the world, and but changed the
Sunnes of the world, who hath com-
plicated two wondrous workes in
one, To make our Sunne to set at
Noone, and to make our Sunne to rise
at Noone too, That hath giuen him
Glorie, and not taken away our Peace,
That hath exalted him to Vpper-
roomes, and not shaked any Founda-
tions of ours, To this Lambe of God,
the glorious Sonne of God, and the
most Almightie Father, and the Bles-

(59) sed Spirit of Comfort, three Persons,
and one God, bee ascribed by vs,
and the whole Church, the Trium-
phant Church, where the Father of
blessed Memorie raignes with God, and
the Militant Church, where the Sonne
of blessed Assurance raignes for God,
All Power, Praise, Might, Ma-
iestie, Glory, and Domini-
on, now, and for euer.
Amen. Finis.
Errat. Pag. 12. l. 17. for Cause, read Lawes.
pa 43. l. 20. for Syllagismus, r. Syllogismus.

A
Sermon,
Preached to
The Kings Mtie. at
Whitehall, 24. Febr.
1625. By Iohn Donne Deane of
Saint Pauls, London. And now by his Maiestes com-
mandment Published. London,
Printed for Thomas Iones, dwelling
at the Blacke Rauen in the Strand.
1626.

To His
Sacred
Maiestie.
Most Gratiovs Soveraigne AMongstAmongst the many
comforts of my
Ministery, to the
embracing wher-
of, Almightie God
was pleased, to
mooue the heart of your Maiesties
blessed Father, of holy memory, to
mooue mine, this is a great one,
That your Maiesty is pleasd some

times, not only to receiue into your
selfe, but to returne, vnto 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 re-
flect, & cast them vpon your Sub-
iects. 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 & spee-
ches to his People; and a continu-
ed 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 Bra-
zen 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 re-
ceiud 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 hum-
bly beseech your Maiestie to ac-
cept also this Sacrifice of Thanks-
giuing, 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.
ALLAll 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 considerati-
on 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

(2)
Lent, your Holyday before the Eue; For
first he rayses you to the sense of his good-
nesse, 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 transgres-
sions, your Mother is put away. And this Rai-
sing, 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. 62.12duo haec audiui, sayes the Prophet Da-
uid, 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 ir-
remediable soeuer our state, we our selfes,
and not God, are the cause of that despe-

(3) rate 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 ray-
sed that sense, God is no cause of our peri-
shing, 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 de-
termine it in this, It is true, your Damna-
tion is vnauoydable, but you must blame
your selfes, Some extend it to this, There
is no such avoidablenes in your damnati-
on, and therefore you may comfort your
selues, Once hath the Lord spoken, and twice
doe we heare him; we heare him once spea-
king for his owne honour, Hee does not
damne vs, if wee bee damned, And wee
heare him againe speaking for our com-
fort, we need not be damnd at all. And

(4)
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 transgres-
sions your Mother is put away. And then
Mans dischardge from the necessitie of pe-
rishing, Vbi iste libellus, Where is the Bill of
your mothers diuorcement, whom I haue put a-
way, 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,

(5)
there is a warning afforded, of those cala-
mities, that will follow, God begins not
at Iudgement, but at Mercie. That Mercy be-
ing 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 emp-
tie the measure of this Iudgements vpon vs,
And God may sell vs to sinnes for punish-
ments, 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 wan-
tonnesse 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, howso-
euer God be dischargd, He does not kill

(6)
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 in-
tenderunt, Ecce parauerunt, Behold the wicked
haue bent ther bow, Psal. 11 2.and Behold they haue
made ready their arrow, Origen.Origen saies, Ecce an-
tequam 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 63,10in this Prophet) when
he hath bent his how against vs, as an Enemy,

(7)
(It was come to that in the Prophet Iere-
my) yet still he giues vs warning before
hand, Lam. 2.4.and still there comes a lightning be-
fore 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

(8)
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 21to consume them, in a Moment;
And then, Moses & Aaron returne to peti-
tion for the~, O God, the God of the spirits of
all flesh, verse 25shall 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

(9)
Iudgement, verse 29.These men shall not dye a common
death, and after, and yet not presently af-
ter that he gaue iudgement, Execution fol-
lowd, The earth opened and swallowd them:
verse 31but 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, whe-
ther 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 Disper-
tion of the Iewes since Christ, (some Expo-
sitors 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 thun-
der, 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

(10)
repentance is deferd, and this Mercie neg-
lected, the execution is so certaine, so infal-
lible, as that, though this in the Text, be in-
tended 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 exe-
cutions 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 a-
way, 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 gene-
rall sale by Adam, wee complaine now,
that Land will not sell; that 20. is come
to 15. yeares purchase; but doe wee not

(11)
take too late a Medium, too low a time to
reckon by? How cheape was Land at
first, how cheape were we? what was Pa-
radise 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, Hea-
uen, Soules, Consciences, Immortalitie, Eter-
nitie, for a few Graines of this Dust? What
had Eue for Heauen, so little, as that the

(12)
Holy Ghost wil not let vs know, what she
had, not what kinde of Fruite; yet some-
thing 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 eate that Fruite, Ne contrista-
retur Delicias suas, least he should cast her,
whom he lou'd so much, into an inordi-
nate deiection; but if he satisfied her, and
his owne Vxoriousnesse, any satisfaction is
not nothing. But what had I for Heauen?
Adam sinnd, and I suffer; I forfeited before
I had any Possession, or could claime any
Interest; I had a Punishment, before I had
a being, And God was displeased with me
before I was I; I was built vp scarse 50.
years ago, in my Mothers womb, & I was
cast down, almost 6000. years agoe, in
Adams loynes; I was borne in the last Age of
the world, and dyed in the first. How &
how iustly do we cry out against a Man,
that hath sold a Towne, or sold an Army.
And Adam sold the World. He sold Abra-
ham, and Isaac and Iacob, and all the Patri-
archs, and all the Prophets. He sold Peter,
and Paul, and both their Regiments, both

(13)
the glorious Hemispheres of the World,
The Iewes, and the Gentiles. He sold Euan-
gelists, and Apostles, and Disciples, and the
Disciple whom the Lord loued, & the beloued
Mother of the Lord, her selfe, say what they
will to the contrary. And if Christ had
not prouided for himselfe, by a miraculous
Generation, Adam had sold him: If Christ
had bene conceiud in Originall sinne, hee
must haue dyed for himselfe, nay, he could
not haue dyed for himselfe, but must haue
needed another Sauiour. It is in that Con-
templation, as hee was descended from
Adam, that St. Paul sayes of himselfe, Rom. 7.14.Ue-
nundatus, I am carnall, sold vnder sinne.
For though St. Augustine, and some others
of the Fathers, doe sometimes take the A-
postle, in that place, to speake of himselfe,
as in the person of a naturall Man, (that e-
uery Man considerd in nature, is sold vnder
sinne, but the Supernaturall, the Sanctified
Man is not so) yet St. Augustine himselfe,
in his latest, and grauest Bookes, and par-
ticularly in his RetractionsRetractations, returnes to
this sense of these words, That no man,
in what measure soeuer Sanctified, can so

(14)
emancipate himselfe from that Captiui-
tie, to which Adam hath enthralld him,
but that, as hee is enwrapped in Ori-
ginall sinne, hee is solde vnder sinne. And
both S. Hierome, and S. Ambrose, (both
which, seeme in other places, to goe an
other way, That onely they are sold vnder
sinne, which haue abandond, and prosti-
tuted themselues to particular sinnes,) doe
yet returne to this sense, That because
the Embers, the Spaune, the leauen of Origi-
ginall sinne, remaines, by Adams sale, in the
best, the best are sold vnder sinne. A Nobis.So the Iewes were, and so were we sold
by Adam, to Originall sinne, very cheape;
but in the second sale, as wee are sold to
actuall, and habituall sinnes, by our selues,
cheaper; 42.19.for so, sayes this Prophet, You haue
sold your selues for nothing: Our selues, that is
all our selues; or bodies to intemperance,
and ryot, and licenciousnes, and our soules
to a greedines of sinne; and all this for no-
thing, for sinne it selfe, for which wee sell
our selues, is but a priuation, and priuations
are nothing. Rom. 6 21.What fruit had you of those
things, whereof you are now ashamed, sayes the

(15)
Apostle; here is Barrennesse and shame;
Barrennesse is a priuation of fruit, shame is a
priuation of that confidence, which a good
Conscience administers, and when the A-
postle tells them, they sold themselues for
barrennesse and shame, it was for priuati-
ons, for nothing. Iob. 24.15.The Adulterer waits for the
twy-light, sayes Iob. The Twy-light comes,
& serues his turne; and sin, to night looks
like a Purchase, like a Treasure; but aske
this sinner to morrow, and he hath sold him-
selfe for nothing; for debility in his limnes,
for darkenesse in his vnderstanding, for
emptinesse in his purse, for absence of grace
in his Soule; and Debilitie, and Darkenes,
and emptinesse, and Absence, are priuations,
and priuations are nothing. All the name
of Substance or Treasure that sinne takes, is
that in the Apostle, Thesaurizastis Iram Dei,
You haue treasurd vp the wrath of God, a-
gainst the day of wrath: And this is a feare-
full priuation, of the grace of God here, and
of the Face of God hereafter; a priuation
so much worse then nothing, as that they
vpon whom it falls, would faine be no-
thing, and cannot.

(16)
A Deo.So then we were sold, so cheape by A-
dam, to Originall, and cheaper by our selues,
to Actuall Sinne, but cheapest of all, when
we come to be sold by God; For he giues
vs away, casts vs away, deliuers vs ouer, to
punishments for sinne, and to sin for punish-
ment; God makes Sinne it selfe his executi-
oner in vs, and future sinnes, are the punish-
ments of former. Vendit
pænis.As some Schoolemasters
haue vsd that Discipline, to correct the
Children of great Persons, whose perso-
nall correction they finde reason to for-
beare, by correcting other Children in
their names, and in their sight, and haue
wrought vpon good Natures, that way, So
did Almightie God correct the Iewes in the
Aegyptians; for the ten plagues of Aegypt,
were as Moses Decem Verba, as the ten
Commandements to Israel, that they should
not prouoke GOD. Euery Iudgement that
falls vpon another, should be a Catechisme
to me. But when this Discipline preuaild
not vpon them. God sold them away, gaue
them away, cast them away, in the tem-
pest, in the whirlewinde, in the inunda-
tion of his indignation, and scatterd them

(17)
as so much dust in a windy day, as so ma-
ny broken strawes vpon a wrought Sea.
With one word, One Fiat, (Let there bee a
world,) nay with one thought of God cast
toward it, (for Gods speaking in the Crea-
tion, was but a thinking,) God made all of
Nothing. And is any one rationall Ant, (The
wisest Phylosopher is no more) Is any roa-
ring Lyon, (the most ambitious and de-
uouring Prince is no more) Is any hiue of
Bees, (The wisest Councels, and Parlia-
ments are no more) Is any of these so e-
stabishd, as that, that God who by a word,
by a thought, made them of nothing, can-
not by recalling that word, and with-
drawing that thought, in sequestring his
Prouidence, reduce them to nothing againe?
That Man, that Prince, that State thinks
Past-board Canon-proofe, that thinkes
Power, or Policy a Rampart, when
the Ordinance of God is planted against it.
Nauyes will not keepe off Nauies, if God
be not the Pilot, Nor Walles keepe out
Men, if God be not the Sentinell. If they
could, if wee were walld with a Sea of
fire and brimstone without, and walld

(18)
with Brasse within, yet we cannot ciel
the Heauens with a roofe of Brasse, but
that God can come downe in Thunder that
way, Nor paue the Earth with a floare of
Brasse, but that God can come vp in Earth-
quakes that way. God can call vp Damps,
& Vapors from below, and powre down
putride defluxions from aboue, and bid
them meet and condense into a plague, a
plague that shall not be onely vncureable,
vncontrollable, vnexorable, but vndispu-
table, vnexaminable, vnquestionable;
A plague that shall not onely not admit a
remedy, when it is come, but not giue a rea-
son how it did come. If God had not set
a marke vpon Cain, euery Man, any Man,
any thing might haue killd him. Hee ap-
prehended that of himselfe, and was a-
fraid, when we know of none, by name,
in the world, but his Father, and Mother:
But, as Saint Heirome exalts this conside-
ration, Cains owne Conscience tells him,
Catharma sum, Anathema sum, I am the
plague of the world, and I must dye, to
deliuer it Catharma sum. I am a separa-
ted Vagabond, not an Anachorit shut vp be-

(19) tweene two walls, but shut out from all,
Anathema sum. As long as the Cherubim,
and the fiery Sword is at the Gate, Adam
cannot returne to Paradise; as long as the
Testimonies of GODS anger lye at the
dore of the Conscience, no man can re-
turne to peace there. If God sell away a
Man, giue him away, giue way to him,
by withdrawing his Prouidence, he shall
but neede (as the Prophet sayes) Sibilare
Muscam, to hisse, to whisper for the Fly, for
the Bee, for the Hornet, for Forraigne In-
cumbrances; nay, hee shall not neede to
hisse, to whisper for them; for at home,
Locusts shall swarme in his Gardens, and
Frogs in his bed-chamber, & hailstones, as big
as talents, (as they are measured in the Re-
uelation) shall breake, as well the couerd,
and the armd, as the bare, & naked head;
as well the Mytred, and the Turband, & the
crownd head, that lifts it selfe vp against
GOD, lyes open to him, as his that must
not put on his Hat, as his that hath no
Hat to put on; when as that head, which
being exalted here, submits it selfe to that
GOD, that exalted it, GOD shall crowne,

(20)
with multiplied crownes here, and ha-
uing so crownd that head with Crownes
here, hee shall crowne those crownes,
with the Head of all, Christ Iesus, and all
that is his, hereafter. Vendit
peccato.If God sell vs away to punishments for
sinne, it is thus, but if God sell vs to sinne for
punishment, it is worse. For, when God,
by the Prophet, offered Dauid, his choise
of three Executioners, warre, famine, and
pestilence, if all these three had taken hold
of him, it had not beene so heauy, as
when God had sold him ouer, giuen him
away, into the hands of an Executioner in
his owne bosome, The studying and the
plotting of the prosecution of his sinne.
When God made Murther, in the death of
Vriah, his Bayliffe, to attach Dauid for his
Adultery, And made Blasphemy, in the
triumphant Armie of the Gentils, his Bay-
liffe, to attache Dauid for his Murther,
And then made impenitence, and a long
sencelesnes in his sinne, his Bayliffe to at-
tach Dauid, for that blasphemy, then was
Dauid sold, vnder a dangerous sub-hasta-
tion, then lay Dauid vnder a heauie Exe-

(21) cution. Let me fall into the hands of God, and
not of Man, sayes Dauid; Betweene God
and Man, in this case, there may be some
kinde of comparison, But would any sin-
ner say, Let me fall into the hands of the De-
uill, and not of Man, rather into more sins,
then some punishments. Dauid himselfe
could not conceiue a more vehement
prayer and imprecation, vpon his, and
his Gods Enemies, then that, Psa. 69.27.Add Iniquity
to their Iniquity; Nor hath the Holy Ghost
any where exprest a more vehement
commination, then that vpon Ierusalem,
(as the vulgat reades that place) Iniquita-
tem, Iniquitatem, Iniquitatem ponam eam;
Ezech. 21.26.Which is not Gods multiplying of punish-
ments for sin, but his multiplying of sin it
selfe vpon them, till he had made them all
Iniquity, all sin. For this is, (in a great part)
that which the Apostle calls, Gods giuing o-
uer, to a reprobate sence; to mistake false, and
miserable comforts for true comforts; to
mollifie and asswage the anguish of one
sinne, by doing another; to maintaine
prodigality, by Vsury, or Extortion; to
ouercome the inordinate deiections of

(22)
spirit, with a false cheerefulnesse and en-
cantation from strong drinke: In one
word, Sap. 14.22.(as the wise man expresses it) to call
great plagues peace; To smother sinne
from the eye of the world, or to slumber
the eye of our owne conscience from the
sight of sinne, by interposing more sinnes.
And farther, we carrie not this first Meta-
phor of the Holy Ghost, Venditi estis, You
are sold, for, the deeper impression,
he presses it with another, Dimissa est,
for your transgressions, your Mother is put
away. And here in the way, we consider first
Dimissam animam, Dimissa
anima.Gods putting away of
the Daughter, of any particular soule. And
his putting away of such a soule, is his lea-
uing of that soule to it selfe; when God
will not come so neere louing it, as to hate
it, nor giue it so much peace, as to trouble
it. For, as long as God punishes me, hee
giues me Phisick; if he draw his knife, it
is but to prune his Vine, and if hee draw
blood, it is but to rectifie a distemper:
If God breake my bones, it is but to set
them strayter, And if hee bruse me in a

(23)
Morter, it is but that I might exhale, and
breath vp a sweet sauor, in his nosethrils:
I am his handy-worke, and if one hand be
vnder me, let the other lye as heauie, as
he shall be pleased to lay it, vpon me; let
God handle me how he will, so hee cast
mee not out of his hands: I had rather
God frownd vpon mee, then not looke
vpon me; and I had rather God pursued
mee, then left mee to my selfe. It is the
heighth of his indignation, Esa 1.5.O people laden
with iniquity, why should ye be smitten any
more? Why should I study your recouery
any longer? Basil.Vox est animi non habentis in
promptu, quid statuat, et desperantis salutem;
When God sayes so, sayes S. Basil, he is as a
Father who had tried all wayes to reduce
his sonne, and fayld in all, and then leaues
him to his owne desperate wayes; This is
the worst that God doth say, (we may say,
that God can say) which he sayes in Ezech.
Auferam zelum, 16.42.My iealousie shall depart from
thee, and I will be quiet, and be no more angry:
God is most angry, when hee lets not vs
know, that hee is so. And then, Refuse
siluer shall men call thee, Ier. 6.30.because the Lord

(26)
hath reiected thee, sayes the Prophet;
Though thou mayest haue some tincture
of a precious mettall, fortune, power, valour,
wisedome, yet Refuse siluer shalt thou be, and
more, Refuse meetall shall men call thee,
(for Men are often worse, then men
dare call them) because the Lord hath re-
iected thee. Cain cryes out, that his punish-
ment is greater then hee can beare; and
whats the waight? This; From thy
Face shall I be hid; It is not that GOD
would not looke graciously vpon him,
but that GOD would not looke at all
vpon him. Infinite, and infinitely des-
perate are the effects of Gods putting away
a soule; but we wait vpon the Holy Ghosts
farther enlargement of this considerati-
on, Dimissa Mater, for the Childrens
transgressions, the Mother is put away. Dimissa
Mater.This Mother, is the Church; that
Church, to whose breasts GOD
hath applyed that Soule; and Gods put-
ting away of this Mother, is (as it was
in the Daughter) his leauing her to her
selfe. So those imaginary Churches, that
will receiue no light from Antiquitie,

(25)
nor Primitiue formes, GOD leaues to
themselues, and they crumble into Con-
uenticles: And that Church, which will
needes be the Forme to all Churches, God
leaues to her selfe, to her owne Traditi-
ons, and Shee swells into tumors, and
vlcers, and blisters. And when any
Church is thus left to her selfe, deuested
of the Spirit of GOD, then follow hea-
uie Symptomes, and Accidents; That
which is forbidden in the Law, Leuit. 21.16.That Men
that haue blemishes, offer the Bread of our
God; Men blemished in their Opinions,
in their Doctrine, blemishd in their Lifes,
in their Conuersation, are admitted to Sa-
crifice at Gods Altar. Then followes
that which is complaind of in Ieroboams
time, The lowest of the People, 1 King. 22 33and whosoeuer
will, shall bee made Priests; Contemptible
men shall bee made Priests; and so the
Priesthood shall bee made Contemptible.
The followes that which the Prophet
Ose sayes, The Prophet shall be a Foole, 9.7.and
the Spiritual Man madde; Madde, as Saint
Hierome translates that word, Arreptitius,
possest; possest with an aery spirit of ambition,

(26)
and an Earthly Spirit of Seruilitie, And a
watrie Spirit of Irresolution, and dispos-
sest of the true Spirit of Holy fire, the
Zeale of the exaltation of Gods glory.
There is a Curse in remoouing but the Can-
dlesticke; Apoc. 2.5.That the Light shall not bee in
that eminency, and euidence, that becomes
it, but that some faint shadowes, some
Corner Disguises, some Tempori-
zings, some Modifications must
be admitted. There is a heauier Curse,
in weakning the Eye of the beholder,
when (as this Prophet sayes) God shall
make hearts fatt, and eares deafe, and eyes
blinde; There shall bee Light, but you
shall not see by it, there shall be good
Preaching, but you shall not profit by it.
But the greatest Curse of all, is in put-
ting out the Light, when GOD blinds
the Teachers themselues: For, Math. 6.23.If the light
that is in thee bee darkenesse, how great is
that darkenesse? This is that Luke 22.53.Potestas te-
nebrarum, when power is put into their
hands, who are possest with this darke-
nesse. And this is that Iude 13.Procella tenebrarum,
The storme of darkenesse, The blacke-

(27) nesse of Darkenesse, (as we Translate it)
when darkenes, & power, and passion meete
in one Man. And to these fearefull heights
may the sinnes of the Children bring the
Mother, That that Church, which now
enioyes so aboundantly Truth and Vnitie,
may bee poysoned with Heresie, and
wounded with Schisme, and yet GOD
bee free from all imputation of Tyranny.
And so wee haue done with all those
peeces which constitute our First Part,
Gods Dischardge; His Mercy in his Ecce,
that hee warnes vs of his Iudgements be-
fore they fall; And his Iustice, in his
Proceeding, though after wee bee solde
cheape by Adam, to Originall sinne, (So
Saint Paul sayes, He was sold vnder sinne,)
And Cheaper by our selues, to actuall sinnes,
for Nothing, for Priuations, (So the Prophet
told Ahab that hee was sold to sinne,)
God also Sell vs away, Cast vs away, To
Punishments for sinnes, (So hee did the I-
sraelites,) and then to sinnes for punish-
ments, (So hee did Dauid, and so hee did
Ierusalem,) and though hee come to a
Diuorce, of Daughter and Mother, of our

(28)
Soules in particular, and the Church it selfe
in generall. Part. 2.Wee are descended to our second part,
Mans discharge; That, not disputing what
God, of his absolute power might doe, nor
what by his vnreueald Decree hee hath
done, God hath not allowd me, nor thee,
nor any to conclude against our selues, a
necessity of perishing. May this seeme an
impertinent part in a Court? To suspect
that any here, are too much afraid of God;
or too much deiected with the sense of
their sinnes, or his iudgements? Are
sinnes of presumption rather to be feared
here, then sinnes of desperation? It hath a
faire probability. But, all the Lent, wee
prepare Men for the Sacrament. And, as
Casuists, we say, Sacramentum, & articulus
Mortis aequiparantur, We consider a Man,
at the Sacrament, as at his death bed: and,
vpon our Death-beds, wee are likelyer to
be attempted with sinnes of Deiection,
then of presumption. And so, (though in a
Court,) if you will be content to thinke of
a death-bed in a Court, (and God hath ta-

(29) ken wayes, to awaken those thoughts in
you) it may be pertinent, and seasonable,
to establish you now, against those de-
iections, and diffidences, which may of-
fer at you then. Tis true then, there may
be a selling, there may be a putting away,
but hath not God reserued to himselfe a
power of reuocation in both, in all cases?
Audisti repudium, Crede coniugium, Is sweet-
ly, and safely said by St. Ambrose: As often
as thy thoughts fall vpon a fearefulnesse of a
Diuorce from thy God, establish thy selfe with
that comfort, of a Mariage to thy God; for
the words of his Contracts, are, Sponsabo
te mihi in aeternum. There can be no Di-
uorce imagined, if there were not a mari+age;
and if there be a mariage With God
there can be no Diuorce, for sponsat in aeter-
num, hee marries for euer. Can God doe
so, forsake foreuer? The Crowe went out
of the Arke, and came no more; The
Doue went, and came againe, and came
with an Oliue branch. God may absent
himselfe, that he may be sought; but hee
comes againe, and with the Oliue of peace.
Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken mee, Esay 49.14.and

(30)
my Lord hath forgotten me. Why will Zion
say so? sayes God. Can Zion say, My Lord,
my Lord, hath forgotten mee? Can shee re-
member that GOD is hers, and not
thinke that shee is his? Can shee remem-
ber him, and thinke that hee hath forgot-
ten her? Can Zion retaine her bowels of
piety, and thinke that GOD is disem-
bowelled of his? GOD calls her not to
Nationall examples; to how low conditi-
ons hee came, in the behalfe of Sodome;
what he did for Nineue; what he did for
Zion her selfe in Aegipt, but hee carries
her home to her owne breast, and her
owne Cradle, and onely askes her that
question, Can a Mother forget her sucking
Childe? And hee stayes not her answere,
nor assures himselfe of a good answere
from her, but adds himselfe, Yes, a Mother
may forget her sucking Childe, yet I will not
forget thee. Can GOD doe it? Did GOD
euer doe it? Did he euer put away with-
out possibility of re-assuming? when?
where? whom? Israel? the ten Tribes?
Yet euen to them, 3.7.sayes Ieremy, After they
had done all this, GOD said, turne vnto me,

(31)
and they would not turne: And then, God
put her away, and sent her a bill of Diuorce,
V. 8.and neuer re-assumd her, neuer brought
backe the ten Tribes from their dispersion.
Tis true, in a whole and entire body, GOD
neuer brought them backe, but in many
faire and Noble Peeces, they came when
Iudah came; for, from that place of Ezra,
2.64.where there is an entire number in grosse
exhibited of all that returnd from Baby-
lon, and then the particular Numbers also
exhibited, of the Tribes and families that
returnd, because those particular Num-
bers doe not make vp the generall Num-
ber, by many thousands, the Hebrew Rab-
bins argue fairely; and conclude probably,
that those Supernumerary thousands, which
are inuolued in the generall Number, and
are not compris'd in the particulars, were
such, as from the other ten Tribes, in the
returne of Iudah, adher'd to Iudah; who
are so often said neuer to haue return'd, be-
cause in a body, & Magistracy of their own,
otherwise then as they incorporated them
selues in Iudah, they neuer returnd: but God
neuer put them away so, but that he offred

(32)
them returne, and in a great part effected it.
I knowe how friuolous a tale that is,
That Saint Gregorie drew Traians soule
out of Hell, after it was there; and I
know, how groundlesse an opinion it is,
that is ascrib'd to Origen, that at last, the
Deuill shall be sau'd; but if they could per-
swade mee one halfe, that Traian, or that
the Deuill came to Repentance in hell, I
should not be hard, in beleeuing the o-
ther halfe, that they might be deliuered
out of hell. What meane you, sayes God Al-
mighty, Ezeck. 18.2.that yee, vse this Prouerbe, The Fa-
thers haue eate soure herbesgrapes, and the childrens
teeth are set on edge? Doe ye meane, that
because your Fathers haue sinn'd, you
must perish? Why neither his parents haue
sinn'd, nor hee, sayes Christ, of the Man
borne blinde, Iohn 9.2.but all is, that the worke of
God might he made manifest; Neither haue
thy parents sinn'd, nor thou thy selfe sinn'd
so, as that there should be a necessity in
thy perishing, but that thereby there
might be the greater manifestation of
God mercie, that where sinne hath abounded,
grace might abound much more. If therefore

(33)
thy tender Conscience, and thy start-
ling Soule, mis-imagine the hearing of
that voice, Depart thou sinner, a voyce
of Diuorce, a voyce that bidds thee, goe,
Say thou with Peter, to his and thy Sa-
uiour, Domine quo Ibimus? Lord whi-
ther shall I goe? thou hast the Word of
Eternall life, and wee beleeue and are sure,
that thou art that Christ, the Sonne of the
liuing God; And that Christ, the Sonne
of the liuing GOD, will call thee backe,
and call backe his owne VVord, and finde
Error, holy Error, occasion of repenting
his owne proceeding, in his Bill of Di-
uorce; to which purpose hee calls vpon
thee here to produce that Bill, Vbi iste li-
bellus, Where is the Bill, &c. First then, Vbi libellus, Libellus.where is this
Bill, vpon what doe yee ground this ie-
lousie and suspition in God, that hee
should Diuorce you? First, it is in the
Originall, Sepher; that which is called a
Bill, is a Booke; It must bee GODS
whole Booke, and not a fewe mis-vnder-
stood Sentences out of that Booke, that

(34)
must try thee. Thou must not presse
heauily to thine owne damnation euery
such Sentence, Stipendium peccati Mors est
That the reward of sinne is death; Nor
the Impossibile est, That it is impossible for
him that falls after Grace to bee renewd;
That which must try thee is the whole
Booke, the tenor and purpose, the Scope
and intention of GOD in his Scriptures.
His Booke is a Testament; and in the
Testament, the Testator is dead, and dead
for thee; And would that GOD that
would dye for thee, Diuorce thee? His
Booke is Euangelium, Gospell; and Gos-
pell is good tydings, a gracious Messadge;
And would God pretend to send thee
a gracious Messadge, and send thee a
Diuorce? GOD is Loue, and the Holy
Ghost is amorous in his Metaphors; e-
uerie where his Scriptures abound with
the notions of Loue, of Spouse, and Hus-
band, and Marriadge Songs, and Marriadge
Supper, and Marriadge-Bedde. But for
words of Separation, and Diuorce, of Spi-
rituall Diuorce for euer, of any soule for-

(35) merly taken in Marriadge, this very word
Diuorce, is but twice read in the Scrip-
tures; once in this Text; and heere God
dis-auowes it; For when hee sayes,
Where is the Bill, hee meanes there is no
such Bill; And the other place is that
which wee mentioned before, when
after they had done all, Ier. 3.8.GOD calld I-
srael all together backe, and effectually,
in a faire part, and his principall purpose
in that Diuorce of Israel, was to inti-
midate, and warne her Sister Iudah from
the like prouocations. Surely a good
Spirit mooued our last Translators of the
Bible, to depart from all Translations
which were before them, in reading
that place of Malachi thus, 2.16.The Lord
the God of Israel saith, that hee hates
putting away. Whereas all other Tran-
slations, both Vulgat, and Vulgar, And in
Vulgar, and in Holy Tongues, The Sep-
tuagint, the Chalde, all, read that place
thus, If a man hate her, let him put her a-
way, (which induced a facility of di-
uorces) our Translators thought it more

(36)
conformable to the Originall, and to the
wayes of God, to read it thus, The Lord
the God of Israel saith, that hee hates putting
away. Euery where in the Scriptures, we
meet with Gods venites, in euery Prophets
mouth, inuitations to come vnto God;
There is a venite de circuitu, Come, though
you come from compassing the Earth,
Iob 3.11.which is Satans perambulation; though
you haue walkd in his wayes, yet come
vnto God. EsayThere is a Uenite non habentes,
Come and buy, though you haue no money;
though you haue no Merits of your own,
come, and dilate your measures, and fill
them according to that dilatation, with
the merits of Christ Iesus. Osc. 6.1.There is a ve-
nite et reuertimini, Come, though your
comming be but a returning; be not asha-
med of comming, though your retur-
ning be a confessing of a former running
away; come in a repentance, though you
cannot come in an innocencie; There is a
Venite & consolamini, Esay.How heauie so euer
the fetters of your owne sinnes, or the
chaines of Gods iudgements lye vpon

(37)
you, come and receiue ease here, change
your yoke, for an easier, if you cannot de-
uest it. There is a venite & consulite, Esay,If
you finde it hard to come, or if you finde
an easinesse to fall backe, though you
doe come, come to consult with God,
how you may come, so, as you may stay,
when you are come. Nay, there is a ve-
nite & arguite, Esay 1.18.Come and reason with
God, argue, plead, dispute, expostulate with
God, come vpon any conditions: The
venite is multiplied, infinite inuitations
to come; but the Ite maledicti, Depart ye
accursed, is but once heard from Gods
mouth, and that not in this world nei+
ther; as long as wee are in this world,
God hates putting away. And therefore God
calls for the bill, and God calls the bill a
booke, that thou mightst not vexe thy soule,
with mistaken sentences, but relie vpon
the establishment of Gods purpose in the
whole booke, which is that he hates putting
away. If the euidence pressed by thine owne
pressures, heighthned by thine owne de-

(38) iections, exalted by thine owne sinking,
grow strong against thee, that thou canst
not quench the iealousie, nor deuest the
scruple of such a Diuorce, doe but consider,
who should occasion, who should enduce
it; It must be God, or thy selfe: Though
the Iewes put away their wiues, not onely
for the wiues fault, but for the husbands
frowardnesse, thou hast had too good ex-
perience of Gods patience, to charge
him with that: If it be done, it is thy
fault; and if thou acknowledge that, it
is not done; for it is neuer done so irre-
uocably, but the confessing of the fault,
cancels and auoydes it. Releeue thy selfe
by reflecting vpon some of those circum-
stances, Essentiall circumstances, which
were required in their bills of Diuorce,
and without which, those bills were
voyde, and see if those be in thine; for
though wee haue not these circumstances,
in that place of Scripture, Deut. 24.where Diuorce
is permitted, yet in the ordinarie practise
of the Iewes abroad, and in the bookes of
formes and precedents, which their Rab-

(39) bins haue collected, wee haue them ex-
pressed. They are many, and many im-
pertinent; wee will but name, and but
a few, such as best admit application,
and most conduce to the triall of thy
case. First, a man might not produce a
bill written in priuate, in the husbands
bed-chamber, but he must goe to a Scribe,
to a publique Notary, to an authorizd Offi-
cer. Vbi iste libellus? Where is this bill of
thy Diuorce? Thou must not looke for
it, in Gods bed-chamber, in his vnreueal'd
Decrees in heauen, but in his publique
Records, his Scriptures: If from thence
thou pretend to produce any thing that
conuince thy sad soule, goe to them, to
whom God hath committed the dispen-
sation thereof, and there thou mayest re-
ceiue consolation, when thine owne pri-
uate misinterpretation might misleade
thee. Againe, the wife, how guilty so
euer in her owne conscience, might not
take her selfe to be put away, except the
husband had expresly giuen her a Bill of
Diuorce; Hath thy Husband, thy God

(40)
done so; Vbi est libellus? Consider the
bill, that is, the booke of God, and see if it be
not full of such protestations, Viuo ego, As I
liue, saith the Lord, I would not the death of
any sinner, nor the departing of any soule.
So also these bills must be well testified,
with vnreproachable witnesses; Vbi iste
libellus? Hath thy bill such witnesses?
who be they? Inordinate deiection of
spirit, irreligious sadnesse; Iealousie of
the anger, distrustfulnesse of the mercy,
diffidence in the promises of the Gospell;
Are these witnesses to be heard against
God? God calls heauen and earth to witnesse,
that hee hath offered thee thy choise of life or
death; but that he hath thrust death vpon
thee, there is no witnesse. Thy conscience
is a thousand witnesses? It is, that thou
hast committed a thousand sinnes; and
it is, that thou hast receiued a thousand
blessings; but of an eternall decree of thy
diuorce, thy conscience, (thus misinformd)
can be no witnesse, for thou wast not
call'd to the making of those decrees.
Those Bills were also to be authentically

(41)
seald: Vbi iste Libellus? Hath thy ima-
ginary Bill of Diuorce, and euerlasting
seperation from GOD, any Seale from
him? GOD hath giuen thee Seales of his
Mercie, in both his Sacraments; Seales
in White, and Seales in Redde Waxe;
Seales in the participation of the can-
dor and innocencie of his Sonne, in thy
Baptisme, and Seales in the participa-
tion of his Body and Bloud, in the other;
But Seales of Reprobation at first, or of
irreuocable Separation now, there are
none from GOD: No Calamitie, not
Temporall, no not Spirituall; No Darke-
nesse in the Vnderstanding, no Scruple
in the Conscience, no Perplexitie in the
resolution; Not a Sodaine Death, not a
Shamefull Death, not a stupide, not a
raging Death, must bee to thy selfe by
the way, or may bee to vs, who may
see thine Ende, an Euidence, a Seale, of
Eternall Reprobation, or of finall Sepera-
tion. Almightie God blesse vs all, from
all these in our selues; but his blessed
Spirit blesse vs to, from making any of

(42)
these, when hee, in his vnsearchable
wayes, to his vnsearchable endes, shall
suffer them to fall vpon any other, seales
of such Seperation in them. Though
wee may not enlardge our selues to far,
in these Circumstances, another was,
That the Names of the Parties must bee
set downe, and of both the Parties Pa-
rents, and those to the third Generation;
The Sonne and Daughter of such, and
such, and such. Vbi iste Libellus? Findst
thou in thy Bill, the three Descents, the
three Generations, (if we may so say) of
thy God? A Holy Ghost proceeding from
a Sonne, And a Sonne begotten by a
Father? Findest thou the God of thy
Consolation, the God of thy Redemption,
the God of thy Creation, and canst thou
produce a God of Diuorce, of Separati-
on, out of these? Findest thou thine
own three Descents, as thou wast the Son
of Dust, of Nothing, And the Sonne of A-
dam, reduced to nothing, And then the
Sonne of God in Christ, in whom thou
art all things; and canst thou thinke

(43)
that that GOD who married thee in
the house of dust, and marryed thee in the
house of infirmitie, and Diuorcd thee
not then, (hee made thee not no Crea-
ture, nor hee made thee not no Man,)
hauing now marryed thee in the House
of Power, and of Peace, in the body of
his Sonne, the Church, will now Diuorce
thee? Lastly, to ende this consideration
of Diuorces, If the Bill were interlinde, or
blotted, or dropt, the Bill was voyd. Vbi
Libellus? What place of Scripture soeuer
thou pretend, that place is enterlinde; en-
terlinde by the Spirit of God himselfe, with
Conditions, and Limitations, and Prouisions,
If thou repent, If thou returne; and that
enterlining destroies the Bill. Looke al-
so if this Bill be not dropt vpon, and blot-
ted; The venim of the Serpent is dropt
vpon it, The Wormwood of thy Despe-
ration, is dropt vpon it, The Gall of thy
Melancholly is dropt vpon it, and that
voydes the Bill. If thou canst not dis-
cerne these drops before, drop vpon it
nowe; Drop the teares of true compun-

(44) ction, drop the bloud of thy Sauiour, and
that voyds the Bill: And through that
Spectacle, the bloud of thy Sauiour, looke
vpon that Bill, and thou shalt see, that
that Bill was nayld to the Crosse when he
was naylde, and torne when his body
was torne, and that hath cancelld the
bill. Oppresse not thy selfe with what
GOD may doe, of his absolute power,
God hath no where told thee, that hee
hath done any such thing as an ouerten-
der Conscience may mis-imagine, from
this Metaphore of Diuorcing, nor from the
other, (which beggs leaue for one word,
by way of Conclusion) Selling away; Which
of my Creditors is it, to whom I haue sold
you? Quis Cre-
ditor?As Christ in his Parable comprehends
all excuses, and all backwardnesses in the
following of him, Luke 14.18.in those two, Marri-
age and Purchasing, (for one had bought
Land and stocke, and another had mar-
ried a Wife) So God expresses his loue to
Man, in these two too, Hee hath marri-
ed vs, he hath bought vs, that so he might

(45)
take in all dispositions, and worke vpon
Vxorious Men, men soupled and enten-
dred 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 Fa-
ther that hath bought you? And will you sus-
pect your Father? Yes, sayes this Discon-
solate Soule, Fathers might sell their Chil-
dren; and my Father, my GOD hath
sold me. Tis 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 vn-
naturall Custome, and lamented it: Vidi
miserabile spectaculum, sayes he, liberos hae-
redes calamitatis, qui nec participes succes-
sionis: The Children, sayes hee, inherit

(46)
the Calamity, but not the Lands of their
Fathers, when they were solde to main-
taine 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 Con+
stantin 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

(47)
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 Ie-
sus: 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 all-
most 4000. yeare from Adam to Christ,
and 1000. from Christ to vs?) yet when
all this is multiplied infinitely, it was in-
finitly 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, e-
uen to Satan; suffer thee to bee his Bay-

(48) liffe, 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 him-
selfe 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, extin-
guish their Power, or withdrawe their
Loue, vpon whom thou hast establishd
thy dependance; So he layd Dauid wast,
when hee withdrewe his Childrens obe-
dience from him; so God may lay thee
waste. God may Let out all his time in thee
in this World, and reserue to himselfe on-
ly a last yeare, a last day, a last minute; suf-
fer 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

(49)
then, Dominium potestas est tum vtendi cum
abutendi, He that is Lord, Owner, Proprieta-
ry, 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 Sicke-
nesse, to Superstition, (for these be the Is-
maelits, 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

(50)
this question, which GOD makes to
establish thy Conscience, vbi li-
bellus, Where is the Bill of thy
Mothers Diuorce-
ment, &c. Finis. Errat. Pag. 13. l. 24. for retractions, read retractations.
pa. 32. l. 14, for Herbsherbes, read Grapes.