Deaths duell, or, A consolation to the soule, against the dying life, and liuing death of the body Deliuered in a sermon at White Hall, before the Kings Maiesty, in the beginning of Lent, 1630. By that late learned and reuerend diuine, Iohn Donne, Dr. in Diuinity, & Deane of S. Pauls, London. Being his last sermon, and called by his Maiesties houshold the doctors owne funerall sermon. Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1632 Approx. 65 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 27 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20628 STC 7031 ESTC S102388 99838173 99838173 2537 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20628) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 2537) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1022:12) Deaths duell, or, A consolation to the soule, against the dying life, and liuing death of the body Deliuered in a sermon at White Hall, before the Kings Maiesty, in the beginning of Lent, 1630. By that late learned and reuerend diuine, Iohn Donne, Dr. in Diuinity, & Deane of S. Pauls, London. Being his last sermon, and called by his Maiesties houshold the doctors owne funerall sermon. Donne, John, 1572-1631. Droeshout, Martin, b. 1601, engraver. [8], 47, [1] p. : port. (metal cut) Printed by Thomas Harper, for Richard Redmer and Beniamin Fisher, and are to be sold at the signe of the Talbot in Alders-gate street, London : M.DC.XXXII. [1632] The first leaf is blank except for signature-mark "A" in a border of ornaments; the second leaf bears an engraved portrait signed "Martin DR [monogram]". The portrait is sometimes not printed. Variant: with an additional leaf of dedication from Richard Redmer to his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Francis. Reproduction of the original in the Folger Shakespeare Library. Port. omitted. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-07 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2002-07 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion DEATHS DVELL , OR , A Consolation to the Soule , against the dying Life , and liuing Death of the Body . Deliuered in a Sermon at White Hall , before the KINGS MAIESTY , in the beginning of Lent , 1630. By that late learned and Reuerend Diuine , IOHN DONNE , Dr. in Diuinity , & Deane of S. Pauls , London . Being his last Sermon , and called by his Maiesties houshold THE DOCTORS OWNE FVNERALL SERMON . LONDON , Printed by THOMAS HARPER , for Richard Redmer and Beniamin Fisher , and are to be sold at the signe of the Talbot in Alders-gate street . M.DC.XXXII . To his dearest sister Mrs . Elizabeth Francis of Brumsted in Norff. DEarest Sister , for any so meane as my selfe to prefixe a Dedication to so worthie a mans worke as this is , is a bouldnesse little inferior to presumption it selfe . But the Copie being bestowed vpon me by a worthie Friend of mine ( farre more able ) who would not himselfe take that office vpon him ; Principally to let you know , how faine I would shew my gratitude to you , whose debtor I haue euer bin ; & well knowing your well knowne zeale to deuotions of this straine , To you I dedicate ( before all others ) this sacred Tractate ; Of your acceptation of it , I doubt not ; But my desire is that you would accept also the loue of him that can no wayes else ( as yet ) giue your deseruings better satisfaction , then by remaining . Your euer truly louing and deuoted Brother , RICH. REDMER . To the READER . THIS Sermon was , by Sacred Authoritie , stiled the Authors owne funeral Sermon . Most fitly : whether wee respect the time , or the matter . It was preached not many dayes before his death ; as if , hauing done this , there remained nothing for him to doe , but to die : And the matter is , of Death ; the occasion and subiect of all funerall Sermons . It hath beene obserued of this Reuerend Man , That his Faculty in Preaching continually encreased : and , That as hee exceeded others at first ; so , at last hee exceeded himselfe . This is his last Sermon ; I will not say , it is therefore his best ; because , all his were excellent . Yet thus much : A dying Mans words , if they concerne our selues ; doe vsually make the deepest impression , as being spoken most feelingly , and with least affectation . Now , whom doth it not concerne to learn , both the danger , and benefit of death ? Death is euery mans enemy , and intends hurt to all ; though to many , hee be occasion of greatest goods . This enemy we must all combate dying ; whom hee liuing did almost conquer ; hauing discouered the vtmost of his power , the vtmost of his crueltie . May wee make such vse of this and other the like preparatiues , That neither death , whensoeuer it shall come , may seeme terrible ; nor life tedious ; how long soeuer it shall last . R. PSALME 68. vers . 20. In fine . And vnto God the ( LORD ) belong the issues of death . i. e. From death . BVILDINGS stand by the benefit of their foundations that susteine and support them , & of their butteresses that comprehend and embrace them , and of their contignations that knit and vnite them : The foundations suffer them not to sinke , the butteresses suffer them not to swerue , and the contignation & knitting suffers them not to cleaue ; The body of our building is in the former part of this verse : It is this , hee that is our God is the God of saluation and salutes ; of saluation in the plurall , so it is in the originall ; the God that giues vs spirituall and temporall saluation too . But of this building , the foundation , the butteresses , the contignations are in this part of the verse , which constitutes our text , and in the three diuers acceptations of the words amongst our expositors . Vnto God the Lord belong the issues from death , for first the foundation of this building , that our God is the God of all saluations ) is laid in this ; That vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , it is in his power to giue vs an issue and deliuerance , euen then when wee are brought to the iawes and teeth of death , and to the lippes of that whirlepoole , the graue . And so in this acceptation , this exitus mortis ▪ this issue of death is liberatio à morte , a deliueran●e from death , and this is the most obuious and most ordinary acceptation of these words , and that vpon which our translation laies hold , the issues from death . And then secondly the butteresses that comprehend and settle this building , That hee that is our God , is the God of all saluation , are thus raised ; vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , the disposition and manner of our death : what kinde of issue and transmigration wee shall haue out of this world , whether prepared or sudden , whether violent or naturall , whether in our perfect senses or shaken and disordered by sicknes , there is no condemnation to bee argued out of that , no Iudgement to bee made vpon that , for how soeuer they dye , precious in his sight is the death of his saints , and with him are the issues of death , the wayes of our departing out of this life are in his hands . And so in this sense of the words , this exitus mortis , the issues of death , is liberatio in morte , A deliuerance in death ; Not that God will deliuer vs from dying , but that hee will haue a care of vs in the houre of death , of what kinde soeuer our passage be . And in this sense and acceptation of the words , the naturall frame and contexture doth well and pregnantly administer vnto vs ; And then lastly the contignation and knitting of this building , that hee that is our God is the God of all saluations , consists in this , vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , that this God the Lord hauing vnited and knit both natures in one , and being God , hauing also come into this world , in our flesh , he could haue no other meanes to saue vs , he could haue no other issue out of this world , nor returne to his former glory , but by death ; And so in this sense , this exitus mortis , this issue of death , is liberatio per mortem , a deliuerance by death , by the death of this God our Lord Christ Iesus . And this is Saint Augustines acceptation of the words , and those many and great persons that haue adhered to him . In all these three lines then , we shall looke vpon these words ; First , as the God of power , the Almighty Father rescues his seruants from the iawes of death : And then as the God of mercy , the glorious Sonne rescued vs , by taking vpon him selfe this issue of death : And then betweene these two , as the God of Comfort , the holy Ghost rescues vs from all discomfort by his blessed impressions before hand , that what manner of death soeuer be ordeined for vs , yet this exitus mortis shall bee introitus in vitam , our issue in death ( shall be an entrance into euerlasting life . ) And these three considerations ? our deliuerance à morte , in morte , per mortem , from death , in death , & by death , will abundantly doe all the offices of the foundations , of the butteresses , of the contignation of this our building ; That he that is our God , is the God of all saluation , because vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death . First , then , we consider this exitus mortis , to bee liberatio à morte , that with God the Lord are the issues of death , and therefore in all our death , and deadly calamities of this life , wee may iustly hope of a good issue from him . In all our periods and transitions in this life , are so many passages from death to death ; our very birth and entrance into this life , is exitus à morte , an issue from death , for in our mothers wombe wee are dead so , as that wee doe not know wee liue , not so much as wee doe in our sleepe , neither is there any graue so close , or so putrid a prison , as the wombe would be vnto vs , if we stayed in it beyond our time , or dyed there before our time . In the graue the wormes doe not kill vs , wee breed and feed , and then kill those wormes which wee our selues produc'd . In the wombe the dead child kills the Mother that conceiued it , & is a murtherer , nay a parricide , euen after it is dead . And if wee bee not dead so in the wombe , so as that being dead wee kill her that gaue vs our first life , our life of vegetation , yet wee are dead so , as Dauids Idols are dead . In the wombe wee haue eyes and see not , eares and heare not ; There in the wombe wee are fitted for workes of darkenes , all the while depriued of light : And there in the wombe wee are taught cruelty , by being fed with blood , and may be damned , though we be neuer borne . Of our very making in the wombe , Dauid sayes , I am wonderfully and fearefully made , and such knowledge is too excellent for me , for euen that is the Lords doing , and it is wonderfull in our eyes ; Ipse fecit nos , it is hee that hath made vs , and not wee our selues , nor our parents neither ; Thy hands haue made me and fashioned me round about , saith Iob , and ( as the originall word is ) thou hast taken paines about me , and yet , sayes he , thou doest destroy me . Though I bee the Master peece of the greatest Master ( man is so , ) yet if thou doe no more for me , if thou leaue me where thou madest mee , destruction will follow . The wombe which should be the house of life , becomes death it selfe , if God leaue vs there . That which God threatens so often , the shutting of the womb , is not so heauy , nor so discomfortable a curse in the first , as in the latter shutting , nor in the shutting of barrennes , as in the shutting of weakenes , when children are come to the birth , and no strength to bring forth . It is the exaltation of misery , to fall from a neare hope of happines . And in that vehement imprecation , the Prophet expresses the highest of Gods anger giue them ô Lord , what wilt thougiue them ? giue them a miscarying wombe . Therefore as soone as wee are men , ( that is , inanimated ) quickned in the womb ) thogh we cannot our selues , our parents haue to say in our behalf , wretched man that he is , who shall deliuer him from this body of death ? for euen the wombe is a body of death , if there bee no deliuerer . It must be he that said to Ieremy , Before I formed thee I knew thee , and befored thou camest out of the wombe I sanctified thee . Wee are not sure that there was no kinde of shippe nor boate to fish in , nor to passe by , till God prescribed Noah that absolute form of the Arke . That word which the holy Ghost by Moses vseth for the Arke , is common to all kinde of boates , Theball , and is the same word that Moses vseth for the boate that he was exposed in , That his mother layed him in an arke of bulrushes . But we are sure that Eue had no Midwife when she was deliuered of Cain , therefore shee might well say , possedi virum à Domino , I haue gotten a man from the Lord , wholly , entirely from the Lord ; It is the Lord that enabled me to conceiue , The Lord that infus'd a quickning soule into that conception , the Lord that brought into the world that which himselfe had quickened , without all this might Eue say , My body had bene but the house of death , and Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , to God the Lord belong the issues of death . But then this exitus a morte , is but introitus in mortem , this issue , this deliuerance from that death , the death of the wombe , is an entrance , a deliuering ouer to another death , the manifold deathes of this world , wee haue a winding sheete in our Mothers wombe , which growes with vs from our conception , and wee come into the world , wound vp in that winding sheet , for wee come to seeke a graue ; And as prisoners discharg'd of actions may lye for fees ; so when the wombe hath discharg'd vs , yet we are bound to it by cordes of hestae by such a string , as that wee cannot goe thence , nor stay there ; wee celebrate our owne funeralls with cryes , euen at our birth ; as though our threescore and ten years life were spent in our mothers labour , and our circle made vp in the first point thereof ; we begge our Baptisme , with another Sacrament , with teares ; And we come into a world that lasts many ages , but wee last not ; in domo Patris , says our Sauiour , speaking of heauen , multae mansiones , there are many mansions , diuers and durable , so that if a man cannot possesse a martyrs house , ( he hath shed no blood for Christ , yet hee may haue a Confessors , he hath bene ready to glorifie God in the shedding of his blood . And if a woman cannot possesse a virgins house ( she hath embrac'd the holy state of mariage ) yet she may haue a matrons house , she hath brought forth and brought vp children in the feare of God. In domo patris , in my fathers house , in heauen there are many mansions ; but here vpon earth the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head , sayes he himselfe . Nonne terram dedit filijs hominum ? how then hath God giuen this earth to the sonnes of men ? hee hath giuen them earth for their materialls to bee made of earth , and hee hath giuen them earth for their graue and sepulture , to returne and resolue to earth , but not for their possession : Here wee haue no continuing citty , nay no cottage that continues , nay no persons no bodies that continue . Whatsoeuer moued Saint Ierome to call the iournies of the Israelites , in the wildernes , mansions ; The word ( the word is Nasang ) signifies but a iourney , but a peregrination . Euen the Israel of God hath no mansions ; but iournies , pilgrimages in this life . By what measure did Iacob measure his life to Pharaoh ; the dayes of the years of my pilgrimage . And though the Apostle would not say morimur , that , whilest wee are in the body wee are dead , yet hee sayes , Peregrinamur , whilest wee are in the body , wee are but in a pilgrimage , and wee are absent from the Lord ; hee might haue sayd dead , for this whole world is but an vniuersall churchyard , but our common graue , and the life & motion that the greatest persons haue in it , is but as the shaking of buried bodies in their graue , by an earth-quake . That which we call life , is but Hebdomada mortium , a weeke of death , seauen dayes , seauen periods of our life spent in dying , a dying seauen times ouer ; and there is an end . Our birth dyes in infancy , and our infancy dyes in youth , and youth and the rest dye in age , and age also dyes , and determines all . Nor doe all these , youth out of infancy , or age out of youth arise so , as a Phoenix out of the ashes of another Phoenix formerly dead , but as a waspe or a serpent out of a caryon , or as a Snake out of dung . Our youth is worse then our infancy , and our age worse then our youth . Our youth is hungry and thirsty , after those sinnes , which our infancy knew not ; And our age is sory and angry , that it cannot pursue those sinnes which our youth did ; & besides , al the way , so many deaths , that is , so many deadly calamities accompany euery condition , and euery period of this life , as that death it selfe would bee an ease to them that suffer them : Vpon this sense doth Iob wish that God had not giuen him an issue from the first death , from the wombe , Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the wombe ? O that I had giuen vp the Ghost , and no eye seene me ? I should haue beene as though I had not beene . And not only the impatient Israelites in their murmuring ( would to God wee had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt ) but Eliah himselfe , when he fled from Iesabell , and went for his life , as that text sayes , vnder the Iunipertree , requested that hee might dye , & sayd , it is enough now , O Lord , take away my life . So Ionah iustifies his impatience , nay his anger towards God himselfe . Now ô Lord take , I beseech thee , my life from mee , for it is better to dye then to liue . And when God asked him , doest thou well to be angry for this , he replyes , I doe well to be angry , euen vnto death , how much worse a death then death , is this life , which so good men would so often change for death ? But if my case bee as Saint Paules case , quotidiè morior , that I dye dayly , that something heauier then death fall vpon me euery day ; If my case be Dauids case , tota die mortificamur ; all the day long wee are killed , that not onely euery day , but euery houre of the day some thing heauier then death fall vpon me , though that bee true of me , Conceptus in peccatis , I was shapen in iniquity , and in sinne did my mother conceiue me , ( there I dyed one death , ) though that be true of me ( Natus filius irae ) I was borne not onely the child of sinne , but the child of wrath , of the wrath of God for sinne , which is a heauier death ; Yet Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , with God the Lord are the issues of death , and after a Iob , and a Ioseph , and a Ieremie , and a Daniel , I cannot doubt of a deliuerance . And if no other deliuerance conduce more to his glory and my good , yet he hath the keys of death , and hee can let me out at that dore , that is , deliuer me from the manifold deaths of this world , theomni die and the tota die , the euery dayes death & euery houres death , by that one death , the finall dissolution of body and soule , the end of all . But then is that the end of all ? Is that dissolution of body and soule , the last death that the body shall suffer ? ( for of spirituall death wee speake not now ) It is not , though this be exitus à morte ; It is introitus in mortem : though it bee an issue from manifold deaths of this world , yet it is an entrance into the death of corruption and putrefaction & vermiculation and incineration , and dispersion in and from the graue , in which euery dead man dyes ouer againe . It was a prerogatiue peculiar to Christ , not to dy this death , not to see corruption : what gaue him this priuiledge ? Not Iosephs great proportion of gummes and spices , that might haue preserued his body from corruption and incineration longer then he needed it , longer then three dayes , but it would not haue done it for euer : what preserued him then ? did his exemption and freedome from originall sinne preserue him from this corruption and incineration ? 't is true that original sinne hath induced this corruption and incineration vpon vs ; If wee had not sinned in Adam , mortality had not put on immortality , ( as the Apostle speakes ) no , corruption had not put on incorruption , but we had had our transmigration from this to the other world , without any mortality , any corruption at all . But yet since Christ tooke sinne vpon him , so farre as made him mortall , he had it so farre too , as might haue made him see this corruption and incineration , though he had no originall sinne in himself ; what preseru'd him then ? Did the hypostaticall vnion of both natures ? God and Man , preserue him from this corruption and incineration ? 't is true that this was a most powerfull embalming , to be embalmd with the diuine nature it selfe , to bee embalmd with eternity , was able to preserue him from corruption and incineration for euer . And he was embalmd , so embalmd with the diuine nature it selfe , euen in his body as well as in his soule ; for the Godhead , the divine nature did not depart , but remained still vnited to his dead body in the graue ; But yet for al this powerful embalming , his hypostaticall vnion of both natures , we see Christ did dye ; and for all his vnion which made him God and Man , hee became no man ( for the vnion of the body and soule makes the man , and hee whose soule and body are separated by death as long as that state lasts is properly no man. ) And therefore as in him the dissolution of body and soule was no dissolution of the hypostaticall vnion ; so is there nothing that constraines vs to say , that though the flesh of Christ had seene corruption and incineration in the graue , this had bene any dissolution of the hypostaticall vnion , for the diuine nature , the Godhead might haue remained with all the Elements and principles of Christs body , aswell as it did with the two constitutiue parts of his person , his body and his soul. This incorruption then was not in Iosephs gummes and spices , nor was it in Christs innocency , and exemption from originall sin , nor was it ( that is , it is not necessary to say it was ) in the hypostaticall vnion . But this incorruptiblenes of his flesh is most conueniently plac'd in that ; Non dabis , thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption , wee looke no further for causes or reasons in the mysteries of religion , but to the will and pleasure of God : Christ himselfe limited his inquisition in that ita est , euen so Father , for so it seemeth good in thy sight . Christs body did not see corruption , therefore , because God had decreed it shold not . The humble soule ( and onely the humble soule is the religious soule ) rests himselfe vpon Gods purposes and the decrees of God , which he hath declared and manifested not such as are conceiued and imagined in our selues , though vpon some probability , some veresimilitude , so in our present case Peter proceeds in his Sermon at Ierusalem , & so Paul in his at Antioch . They preached Christ to haue bene risen without seeing corruption , not onely because God had decreed it , but because he had manifested that decree in his Prophet , therefore doth Saint Paul cite by speciall number the second psalme for that decree ; And therefore both Saint Peter & S. Paul cite for it that place in the 16. psalme , for when God declares his decree and purpose in the expresse words of his Prophet , or when he declares it in the reall execution of the decree , then he makes it ours , then he manifests it to vs. And therfore as the Mysteries of our Religion , are not the obiects of our reason , but by faith we rest on Gods decree and purpose . ( It is so ô God , because it is thy will , it should be so ) so Gods decrees are euer to be considered in the manifestation thereof . All manifestation is either in the word of God , or in the execution of the decree ; And when these two concur and meete , it is the strongest demonstration that can be : when therefore I finde those markes of adoption and spirituall filiation , which are deliuered in the word of God to be vpon me , when I finde that reall execution of his good purpose vpon me , as that actually I doe liue vnder the obedience , and vnder the conditions which are euidences of adoption and spirituall filiation ; Then so long as I see these markes and liue so ; I may safely comfort my selfe in a holy certitude and a modest infallibility of my adoption . Christ determines himself in that , the purpose of God was manifest to him : S. Peter and S. Paul determine themselues in those two wayes of knowing the purpose of God , the word of God before the execution of the decree in the fulnes of time . It was prophecyed before , say they , and it is performed now , Christ is risen without seeing corruption . Now this which is so singularly peculiar to him , that his flesh should not see corruption , at his second coming , his coming to Iudgement , shall extend to all that are then a liue , their Hestae shall not see corruption , because as th' Apostle sayes , and sayes as a secret , as a mystery ; Behold I shew you a mistery , wee shall not all sleepe , ( that is , not continue in the state of the dead in the graue , ) but wee shall all be changed in an instant , we shall haue a dissolution , and in the same instant a redintgeration , a recompacting of body and soule , and that shall be truely a death & truely a resurrection , but no sleeping in corruption ; But for vs that dye now and sleepe in the state of the dead , we must al passe this posthume death , this death after death , nay this death after buriall , this dissolution after dissolution , this death of corruption and putrifaction , of vermiculation and incineration , of dissolution and dispersion in and from the graue , when these bodies that haue beene the children of royall parents , & the parents of royall children , must say with Iob , Corruption thou art my father , and to the Worme thou art my mother & my sister . Miserable riddle , when the same worme must bee my mother , and my sister , and myselfe . Miserable incest , when I must bee maried to my mother and my sister , and bee both father and mother to my owne mother and sister , beget & beare that worme which is all that miserable penury ; when my mouth shall be filled with dust , and the worme shall feed , and feed sweetely vpon me , when the ambitious man shall haue no satisfaction , if the poorest aliue tread vpon him , nor the poorest receiue any contentment in being made equall to Princes , for they shall bee equall but in dust . One dyeth at his full strength , being wholly at ease & in quiet , and another dyes in the bitternes of his soul , and neuer eates with pleasure , but they lye downe alike in the dust , and the worme covers them ; In Iob and in Esay , it couers them and is spred vnder them , the worme is spred vnder thee , and the worme couers thee , There 's the Mats and the Carpets that lye vnder , and there 's the State and the Canapye , that hangs ouer the greatest of the sons of men ; Euen those bodies that were the temples of the holy Ghost , come to this dilapidation , to ruine , to rubbidge , to dust , euen the Israel of the Lord , and Iacob himselfe hath no other specification , no other denomination , but that vermis Iacob , thou worme of Iacob . Truely the consideration of this posthume death , this death after buriall , that after God , ( with whom are the issues of death ) hath deliuered me from the death of the wombe , by bringing mee into the world , and from the manifold deaths of the world , by laying me in the graue , I must dye againe in an Incineration of this flesh , and in a dispersion of that dust . That that Monarch , who spred ouer many nations aliue , must in his dust lye in a corner of that sheete of lead , and there , but so long as that lead will laste , and that priuat and retir'd man , that thought himselfe his owne for euer , and neuer came forth , must in his dust of the graue bee published , and ( such are the reuolutions of the graues ) bee mingled with the dust of euery high way , and of euery dunghill , and swallowed in euery puddle and pond : This is the most inglorious and contemptible vilification , the most deadly and peremptory nullification of man , that wee can consider ; God seemes to haue caried the declaration of his power to a great height , when hee sets the Prophet Ezechiel in the valley of drye bones , & sayes , Sonne of man can these bones liue ? as though it had bene impossible , and yet they did ; The Lord layed Sinewes vpon them , and flesh , and breath into them , and they did liue : But in that case there were bones to bee seene , something visible , of which it might be sayd , can this thing liue ? But in this death of incineration , and dispersion of dust , wee see nothing that wee call that mans ; If we say , can this dust liue ? perchance it cannot , it may bee the meere dust of the earth , which neuer did liue , never shall . It may be the dust of that mans worme , which did liue , but shall no more . It may bee the dust of another man , that concernes not him of whom it is askt . This death of incineration and dispersion , is , to naturall reason , the most irrecouerable death of all , & yet Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death , and by recompacting this dust into the same body , & reanimating the same body with the same soule , hee shall in a blessed and glorious resurrection giue mee such an issue from this death , as shal neuer passe into any other death , but establish me into a life that shall last as long as the Lord of life himselfe . And so haue you that that belongs to the first acceptation of these words , ( vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death ) That though from the wombe to the graue and in the graue it selfe wee passe from death to death , yet , as Daniel speakes , the Lord our God is able to deliuer vs , and hee will deliuer vs. And so wee passe vnto our second accommodation of these words ( vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death ) That it belongs to God , and not to man to passe a iudgement vpon vs at our death , or to conclude a dereliction on Gods part vpon the manner thereof . Those indications which the Physitians receiue , and those presagitions which they giue for death or recouery in the patient , they receiue and they giue out of the grounds and the rules of their art . But we haue no such rule or art to giue a presagition of spirituall death & damnation vpon any such iudication as wee see in any dying man ; wee see often enough to be sory , but not to despaire ; wee may bee deceiued both wayes , wee vse to comfort our selfe in the death of a friend , if it be testified that he went away like a Lambe , that is , without any reluctation . But , God knowes , that may bee accompanied with a dangerous damp and stupefaction , & insensibility of his present state . Our blessed Sauiour suffered coluctations with death , and a sadnes euen in his soule to death , and an agony euen to a bloody sweate in his body , and expostulations with God , & exclamations vpon the crosse . He was a deuout man , who said vpon his death bed , or dead turfe ( for hee was an Heremit ) septuaginta annos Domino seruiuisti , & mori times ? hast thou serued a good Master threescore and ten yeaes , and now art thou loath to goe into his presence ? yet Hilarion was loath , Bartaam was a deuout man ( an Heremit too ) that sayd that day hee dyed . Cogita te hodie coepisse seruire Domino , & hodie finiturum . Consider this to be the first days seruice that euer thou didst thy Master , to glorifie him in a Christianly and a constant death , and if thy first day be thy last day too , how soone dost thou come to receiue thy wages ? yet Bartaam could haue beene content to haue stayd longer forth : Make no ill conclusions vpon any mans loathnes to dye , for the mercies of God worke momentarily in minutes , and many times insensibly to bystanders or any other then the party departing . And then vpon violent deaths inflicted , as vpon malefactors . Christ himselfe hath forbidden vs by his owne death to make any ill conclusion ; for his owne death had those impressions in it ; He was reputed , he was executed as a malefactor , & no doubt many of them who concurred to his death , did beleeue him to bee so ; Of sudden death there are scarce examples to be found in the scriptures vpon good men , for death in battaile cannot be called suden death ; But God gouernes not by examples , but by rules , and therefore make no ill conclusion vpon sudden death nor vpon distempers , neither though perchance accompanied with some words of diffidence and distrust in the mercies of God : The treelyes as it falles its true , but it is not the last stroake that fells the tree , nor the last word nor gaspe that qualifies the soule . Stil pray wee for a peaceable life against violent death , & for time of repentance against sudden death , and for sober and modest assurance against distemperd and diffident death , but neuer make ill conclusions vpon persons ouertaken with such deaths ; Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , to God the Lord belong the issues of death . And he receiued Sampson , who went out of this world in such a manner ( consider it actiuely , consider it passiuely in his owne death , and in those whom he slew with himselfe ) as was subiect to interpretation hard enough . Yet the holy Ghost hath moued S. Paul to celebrate Sampson in his great Catalogue , and so doth all the Church : Our criticall day is not the very day of our death : but the whole course of our life . I thanke him that prayes for me when Quid apertius diceretur ? sayes hee there , what can bee more obuious , more manifest then this sense of these words . In the former part of this verse , it is sayd ; He that is our God , is the God of saluation , Deus salvos fariendi , so hee reads it , the God that must saue vs. Who can that be , sayes he , but lesus ? for therefore that name was giuen him , because he was to saue vs. And to this lesus , sayes he , this Sauiour , belongs the issues of death ; Nec oportuit eum de hac vita alios exitus habere quam mortis . Being come into this life in our mortal nature ; He could not goe out of it any other way but by death ? Ideo dictum , sayes he , therefore it is sayd . To God the Lord belong the issues of death ; vt ostenderetur moriendo nos saluos facturum , to shew that his way to saue vs was to dye . And from this text doth Saint Isodore proue ; that Christ was truely Man , ( which as many sects of heretiques denyed , as that he was truely God ) because to him , though he were Dominus Dominus ( as the text doubles it ) God the Lord , yet to him , to God the Lord belong'd the issues of death , oportuit eum pati more can not be sayd , then Christ himselfe sayes of himselfe ; These things Christ ought to suffer , hee had no other way but by death : So then this part of our Sermon must needes be a passion Sermon ; since all his life was a continuall passion , all our Lent may well bee a continuall good Fryday . Christs painefull life tooke off none of the paines of his death , hee felt not the lesse then for hauing felt so much before . Nor will any thing that shall be sayd before , lessen , but rather in large the deuotion , to that which shall be sayd of his passion at the time of due solemnization thereof . Christ bled nor a droppe the lesse at the last , for hauing bled at his Circumcision before , nor wil you a teare the lesse then , if you shed some now . And therefore bee now content to consider with mee how to this God the Lord belong'd the issues of death . That God , this Lord , the Lord of life could dye , is a strange contemplation ; That the red Sea could bee drie , That the Sun could stand still , that an Ouen could be seauen times heat and not burne , That Lions could be hungry and n●t bite , is strange , miraculously strange , but supermiraculous that God could dye ▪ but that God would dye is an exaltation of that . But euen of that also it is a superexaltation , that God shold dye , must dye , & nō exitus ( said S. Augustin God , the Lord had no issue but by death , & oportuit pati ( says Christ himself all this Christ ought to suffer , was bound to suffer ; Deus vltionum Deus says Dauid , God is the God of reuenges , he wold not passe ouer the sonne of man vnreuenged , vnpunished . But then Deus vltionum libere egit ( sayes that place ) The God of reuenges workes freely , he punishes , he spares whome he will. And wold he not spare himselfe ? he would not : Dilectio fortis vt mors , loue is strong as death , stronger , it drew in death that naturally is not welcom , Si possibile , says Christ , If it be possible , let this Cup passe , when his loue expressed in a former decree with his Father , had made it impossible . Many waters quench not loue , Christ tryed many ; He was Baptized our of his loue , and his loue determined not there . He mingled blood with water in his agony and that determined not his loue ; hee wept pure blood , all his blood at all his eyes , at all his pores , in his flagellation and thornes ( to the Lord our God belong'd the issues of blood ) and these expressed , but these did not quench his loue . Hee would not spare , nay he could not spare himselfe . There was nothing more free , more voluntary , more spontaneous then the death of Christ. 'T is true , libere egit , he dyed voluntarily , but yet when we consider the contract act that had passed betweene his Father and him , there was an oportuit , a kind of necessity vpon him . All this Christ ought to suffer . And when shall we date this obligation , this oportuit , this necessity ? when shall wee say that begun . Certainly this decree by which Christ was to suffer all this , was an eternall decree , and was there any thing before that , that was eternall ? Infinite loue , eternall loue , be pleased to follow this home , and to consider it seriously , that what liberty soeuer wee can conceiue in Christ , to dye or not to dye ; this necessity of dying , this decree is as eternall as that liberty ; and yet how small a matter made hee of this necessity and this dying ? His Father cals it but a bruise , and but a bruising of his heele ( the serpent shall bruise his heele ) and yet that was that , the serpent should practise and compasse his death . Himselfe calls it but a Baptisme , as though he were to bee the better for it . I haue a Baptisme to be Baptized with , and he was in paine till it was accomplished , and yet this Baptisme was his death . The holy Ghost calls it Ioy ( for the Ioy which was set before him hee indured the Crosse ) which was not a ioy of his reward after his passion , but a ioy that filled him euen in the middest of those torments , and arose from him ; when Christ calls his Calicem , a Cuppe , and wee worse ( can ye drink of my Cuppe ) he speakes not odiously , not with detestation of it : Indeed it was a Cup , salus mundo , a health to all the world . And quid retribuam , says Dauid , what shall I render to the Lord ? answere you with Dauid , accipiam Calicem , I will take the Cup of saluation , take it , that Cup is saluation , his passion , if not into your present imitation , yet into your present contemplation . And behold how that Lord that was God , yet could dye , would dye , must dye , for your saluation . That Moses and Elias talkt with Christ in the transfiguration , both Saint Mathew and Saint Marke tells vs , but what they talkt of onely S. Luke , Dicebant excessum eius , says he , they talkt of his decease , of his death which was to be accomplished at Ierusalem , The word is of his Exodus , the very word of our text exitus , his issue by death . Moses who in his Exodus had prefigured this issue of our Lord , and in passing Israel out of Egypt through the red Sea , had foretold in that actuall prophesie , Christ passing of mankind through the sea of his blood . And Elias , whose Exodus and issue out of this world was a figure of Christs ascension , had no doubt a great satisfaction in talking with our blessed Lord de excessueius , of the full consummation of all this in his death , which was to bee accomplished at Ierusalem . Our meditation of his death should be more viscerall and affect vs more because it is of a thing already done . The ancient Romanes had a certain terdernesse and detestation of the name of death , they cold not name death , no , not in their wills . There they could not say Si mori contigerit , but si quid humanitus contingat , nor if , or when I dye , but when the course of nature is accomplished vpon me . To vs that speake dayly of the death of Christ , ( he was crucified , dead and buried ) can the memory or the mention of our owne death bee yrkesome or bitter ? There are in these latter times amongst vs , that name death frely enogh , and the death of God , but in blasphemous oathes & execrations . Miserable men , who shall therefore bee sayd neuer to haue named Iesus , because they haue named him too often . And therfore heare Iesus say , Ne sciui vos , I neuer knew you , because they made themselues too familiar with him . Moses and Elias talkt with Christ of his death , only , in a holy and ioyfull sense of the benefit which they and all the world were to receiue by that . Discourses of Religion should not be out of curiosity , but to edification . And thē they talkt with Christ of his death at that time , when he was in the greatest height of glory that euer he admitted in this world , that is , his transfiguration . And wee are afraid to speake to the great men of this world of their death , but nourish in them a vaine imagination of immortality , & immutability . But bonum est nobis esse hic ( as Saint Peter said there ) It is good to dwell here , in this consider ation of his death , and therefore transferre wee our tabernacle ( our deuotions ) through some of those steps which God the Lord made to his issue of death that day . Take in the whole day from the houre that Christ receiued the passeouer vpon Thursday , vnto the houre in which hee dyed the next day . Make this present day that day in thy deuotion , and consider what hee did , and remember what you haue done . Before hee instituted and celebrated the Sacrament , ( which was after the eating of the passeouer ) hee proceeded to that act of humility , to wash his disciples feete , euen Peters , who for a while resisted him ; In thy preparation to the holy and blessed Sacrament , hast thou with a sincere humility sought a reconciliation with all the world , euen with those that haue beene auerse from it , and refused that reconciliation from thee ? If so and not els thou hast spent that first part of his last day , in a conformity with him . After the Sacrament hee spent the time till night in prayer , in preaching , in Psalmes ; Hast thou considered that a worthy receaving of the Sacrament confists in a continuation of holinesse after , aswell as in a preparation before . If so , thou hast therein also conformed thy selfe to him , so Christ spent his time till night ; At night hee went into the garden to pray , and he prayed prolixious he spent much time in prayer , how much ? Because it is literally expressed , that he prayed there three seuerall times , & that returning to his Disciples after his first prayer , and finding them a sleepe sayd , could ye not watch with me one houre , it is collected that he spent three houres in prayer . I dare scarce aske thee whither thou wentest , or how thou disposedst of thy self , when it grew darke & after last night : If that time were spent in a holy recommendation of thy selfe to God , and a submission of thy will to his , It was spent in a conformity to him . In that time and in those prayers was his agony & bloody sweat . I will hope that thou didst pray ; but not euery ordinary and customary prayer , but prayer actually accompanied with shedding of teares , and dispositiuely in a readines to shed blood for his glory in necessary cases , puts thee into a conformity with him ; About midnight he was taken and bound with a kisse , art thou not too conformable to him in that ? Is not that too literally , too exactly thy case ? at midnight to have bene taken & bound with a kisse ? from thence he was caried back to Ierusalem , first to Annas , then to Caiphas , and ( as late as it was ) then hee was examined and buffeted , and deliuered over to the custody of those officers , from whome he receiued all those irrisions , and violences , the couering of his face , the spitting vpon his face , the blasphemies of words , & the smartnes of blowes which that Gospell mentions . In which copasse fell that Gallicinium , that crowing of the Cock which called vp Peter to his repentance , how thou passedst all that time thou knowest . If thou didst any thing that needed Peters teares , and hast not shed them , let me be thy Cock , doe it now , Now thy Master ( in the vnworthiest of his seruants ) lookes back vpon thee , doe it now ; Betimes , in the morning , so soone as it was day , the Iewes held a counsell in the high Priests hall , and agreed vpon their euidence against him , and then caried him to Pilate , who was to be his Iudge ; diddest thou accuse thy selfe when thou wakedst this morning , and wast thou content euen with false accusations ( that is ) rather to suspect actions to haue beene sin , which were not , then to smother & iustify such as were truly sins ? then thou spentst that houre in conformity to him : Pilate found no euidence against him , & therefore to ease himselfe , and to passe a complement vpon Herod , Tetrarch of Galilee , who was at that time at Ierusalem ( because Christ being a Galilean was of Herods iurisdiction ) Pilat sent him to Herod , & rather as a mad-man then a malefactor , Herod remaunded him ( with scornes ) to Pilat to proceed against him ; And this was about eight of the clock . Hast thou been content to come to this Inquisition , this examination , this agitation , this cribration , this pursuit ofthy conscience , to sift it to follow it from the sinnes of thy youth to thy present sinnes , from the sinnes of thy bed , to the sinnes of thy boorde , & from the substance to the circumstance of thy sinnes ? That 's time spent like thy Sauiours . Pilat wold have saued Christ , by vsing the priuiledge of the day in his behalfe , because that day one prisoner was to be deliuered , but they choose Barrabas , hee would have saued him from death ; by satisfying their fury , with inflicting other torments vpon him , scourging and crowning with thornes , and loading him with many scornefull and ignominous contumlies ; But they regarded him not , they pressed a crucifying . Hast thou gone about to redeeme thy sinne , by fasting , by Almes , by disciplines and mortifications ? in way of satisfaction to the Iustice of God ? that will not serue , that 's not the right way , wee presse an vtter Crucifying of that sinne that gouernes thee ; & that conformes thee to Christ. Towards noone Pilat gaue iudgement , and they made such hast to execution , as that by noone hee was vpon the Crosse. There now hangs that ●acred Body vpon the Crosse , rebaptized in his owne teares and sweat , and embalmed in his owne blood aliue . There are those bowells of compassion , which are so conspi●●ous , so manifested , as that you may see them through his wounds . There those glorious eyes grew faint in their sight : so as the ●un ashamed to suruiue them , departed with his light too . And then that Sonne of God , who was neuer from vs , and yet had now come a new way vnto vs in assuming our nature deliuers that soule ( which was neu●r out of his Fathers hands ) by a new way , a voluntary emission of it into his Fathers hands ; For though to this God our Lord , belong'd these issues of death , so that considered in his owne contract ' he must necessarily dye , yet at no breach or batt●ry , which they had made vpon his sacred Body , issued his soule , but emisit , hee gaue vp the Ghost , and as God breathed a soule into the first Adam , so this second Adam breathed his soule into God , into the hands of God. There wee leaue you in that blessed dependancy , to hang vpon him that hangs vpon the Crosse , there bath in his teares , there suck at his woundes and lye downe in peace in his graue , till hee vouchsafe you a resurrection , and an ascension into that Kingdome , which hee hath prepared for you , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood . AMEN . AN ELEGIE , On Dr. Donne , Deane of Pauls . TO have liu'd eminent in a degree Beyond our loftiest flights , that is , like thee ; Ort'haue had too much merit is not safe ; For such excesses find no Epitaph , At common graues wee haue poetick eyes Can melt them selues in easy Elegies ; Each quill can drop his tributary verse , And pin it , like the Hatchments , to the hearse . But at thine , poeme or inscription ( Rich soule of wit and language ) wee haue none . Indeed a silence doth that tombe befit , Where is no Herald left to blazon it . Widdow'd inuention iustly doth forbeare To come abroade knowing thou art not there , Late her great Patron , whose prerogatiue Maintain'd and cloth'd her so , as none aliue Must now presume to keepe her at thy rate , Though hee the Indies for her dower estate . Or els that awfull fire , which once did burne In thy cleare braine , now fal'ne into thy vrne , Liues there to fright rude Empericks from thence , Which might profane thee by their ignorance . Whoeuer writes of thee and in a style Vnworthy such a theame , does but reuile Thy pretious dust , and wake a learned spirit , Which might reuenge his rapes vpon thy merit . For all a low pitch'd fancy can deuise , Will proue at best but hallowed iniuries . Thou ( like the dying Swan ) did'st lately sing Thy mournefull dirge in audience of the King : When pale lookes , and weake accents of thy breath Presented so to life that peece of death , That it was fear'd and prophecied by all , Thou thither camist to preach thy Funerall . O' had'st thou in an Elegiak knell Pung out vnto the world thine owne farwell ; And in thy high victorious numbers beat The solemne measure of thy griewd retreat : Thou might'st the Poets seruice now haue mist Aswell , as then thou did'st preuent the Priest , And neuer to the world beholding bee So much as for an Epitaph for thee . I doe not like the office , nor is it fit , Thou who did'st lend our age such summes of wit , Should'st now reborrow from her bankrupt mine That ore to bury thee , which once was thine : Rather still leaue vs in thy debt , and know ( Exalted soule ) more glory'tis to owe Vntothy hearse , what wee can neuer pay , Then with embased coyne those rights defray . Commit wee then thee to thy selfe ; nor blame Our drooping loues , which thus to thy owne fame Leaue thee executor . since but thy owne No pen could doe'thee Iustice , nor bayes crowne Thy vast d●sert , saue that wee nothing can Depute to bee thy ashes Guardian . So Iewellers no art nor mettall trust , To forme the Diamond , but the Diamonds dust . An Epitaph on Dr. DONNE . I Cannot blame those men , that knew thee well , Yet dare not helpe the world to ring thy knell In tunefull Elegies . Ther 's not language knowne Fit for thy mention , but was first thine owne . The Epitaphs thou writt'st , haue so ber●ft Our pens of wit , ther 's not one fancy left Enough to weepe thee , what hence forth wee seo Of art and nature , must result from thee . There may perchance some busy gathering friend Ste●le from thine owne works , and that varied lend ( Which thou bestowd'st on others ) to thy hearse ; And so thou shalt liue still in thine owne verse . Hee that will venture further , may commit A pitied errour , shew his Zeale , not wit. Fate hath done mank●nd wrong ; vertue may aime Reward of consciense , neuer can of fame , Since her great trumpet's broke , could only giue Faith to the world , command it to beleeue . Hee then must write , that would define thy parts Heere lyes the best Diuinity , all the Arts. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20628-e270 Of A morte , in morte , per mortem . Foūdation , butteresses and contignation . I. Part. Exitus a morte vteri . Psal. 115. vers . 6. Psal. 139. 6. Ps ▪ 118. 23. 100. 3. Esay 37. Rom. 7. 24. Exo. 23. Gen. 4. 1. Exitus a mortibus mundi . Ioh. 14. 2. Mat. 8. 20. Heb. 13. 14 Exo. 17. 1. Gen. 47. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 6. Io. 18. Exo ▪ 16● 3. Rev. 19. 4. 4. 3. Apoc. 1. 18. Exitus a morte Incinerationis . 1 Cor. 15. vers . 33. Psal. 16. 10. Mat. 11. 26. Acts 2. 31. 13. 35. Vers. 10. Vers. 24 20 Iob. 23. 24. Vers. 14. 11. 2. Part. Liberatio in morte . Heb. 11. Mat. I. 21 : Luk. 24. 26 Psal : 91 Cant. 36. Vers. ● Gen. 3. 15. Luk. 12 40. Heb. 12. 2. Mat. 22. 22. Ps. 116. 12. Mat. 17. 3. Mar. 9. 4. Luke 9. 31. Conformitas , Luk. 22. 24. Mat. 26 40.