THE FIRST SERMON PREACHED TO KING CHARLES, At Saint JAMES: 30 April. 1625.  
By JOHN DONNE, Deane of Saint Paul's, London.  
LONDON, Printed by A.M. for THOMAS JONES, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Black Raven in the Strand. 1625.   
PSALM. 11.3. If the Foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? 
We are still in the season of Mortification; in Lent: But we search no longer for Texts of Mortification; The Almighty hand of God hath shed and spread a Text of Mortification over all the land. The last Sabbath day, was his Sabbath who entered then into his everlasting Rest; Be this our Sabbath, to enter into a holy and thankful acknowledgement of that Rest, which God affords us, in continuing to us our Foundations; for, If foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?  
I scarce know any word in the Word of God, in which the Original is more ambiguous, and consequently the Translations more various, and therefore, necessarily also, the Expositions more diverse, then in these words. There is one thing, in which all agree, that is, the Argument, and purpose, and scape of the Psalm; And then, in what sense, the words of the Text may conduce to the scope of the Psalm, we rest in this Translation, which our Church hath accepted and authorized, and which agrees with the first Translation known to us, by way of Exposition, that is the Chalde Paraphrase, If Foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?  
The Church of God ever delighted herself in a holy officiousness in the Commemoration of Martyrs: Almost all their solemn, and extraordinary Meetings, and Congregations, in the Primitive Church, were for that, for the honourable Commemoration of Martyrs: And for that, they came soon to institute and appoint certain Liturgies, certain Offices (as they called them) certain Services in the Church, which should have reference to that, to the Commemoration of Martyrs; as we have in our Book of Common Prayer, certain Services for Marriage, for Burial, and for such other holy Celebrations; And in the Office and Service of a Martyr, the Church did use this Psalm; This Psalm, which is in general, a Protestation of David, That though he were so vehemently pursued by Saul, as that all that wished him well, said to his Soul, Fly as a Bird to the Mountain, as it is in the first verse; Though he saw, That the wicked had bend their Bows, and made ready their Arrows, upon the string, that they might privily shoot at the upright in heart, as it is in the second verse: Though he take it almost as granted, that Foundations are destroyed, (And then, what can the righteous do?) as it is in the third verse which is our Text, yet in this distress he finds what to do. For as he begun in the first verse, In thee Lord, put I my trust: So after he had passed the enumeration of his dangers, in the second and third verses, in the fourth he pursues it as he begun, The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lords Throne is in Heaven. And in the fifth he fixes it thus, The Lord tryeth the Righteous, (he may suffer much to be done for their trial) but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. This then is the Syllogism, this is the Argumentation of the righteous Man; In Collateral things, in Circumstantial things, in things that are not fundamental, a righteous Man, a constant Man should not be shaked at all, not at all Scandalised; That's true; But then (in a second place) sometimes it comes to that, That Foundations are destroyed, and what can the Righteous do then? Why even then, this is a question, not of desperation, that nothing can be done, but of Consultation with God, what should be done. I know, says David, I should not be, and thou knowest, O God, I have not been moved with ordinary trials; not though my Friends have dis-avowed me, and bid me fly to the Mountain as a Bird, not though mine enemies prepare, and prepare Arrows, and shoot, and shoot privily, (bestow their labour, and their cost, and their wits, to ruin me) yet these have not moved me, because I had fixed myself upon certain Foundations, Confidences, and Assurances of Deliverance from thee. But if, O Lord, I see these foundations destroyed, if thou put me into mine Enemy's hand, if thou make them thy Sword, if their fury draw that Sword, and then, thy Almighty Arm, sinewed even with thine own indignation, strike with that sword, what can I, how righteous soever I were, do? So then, for the Explication, and Application of these words, there will need no more, but to spread them by way of Paraphrase upon these three considerations: 
Divisio.  First, That the righteous is bold as a Lion, not easily shaked; But then, Foundations themselves may be destroyed, and so he may be shaked; If he be, yet he knows what to do, or where to ask Counsel, for these are not words of Desperation, but of Consultation, If Foundations-bee destroyed, etc.  
part 1 First then, we fix ourselves upon this consideration, that the Prophet in proposing this thus, If Foundations be destroyed, intimates pregnantly, that except there be danger of destroying Foundations, it is the part of the righteous Man, the godly man to be quiet. Study to be quiet, says the Apostle; Study, 
1 Thess. 4.11.  that is an action of the Mind; and then, Oporam detis, say the Vulgate Edition, Labour to be quiet, and Labour is an action of the body: Indeed it is the proper business of the Mind and Body too, of Thoughts and Actions too, to be quiet: And yet, alas, how many break their sleep in the night, about things that disquiet them in the day too, and trouble themselves in the day, about things that disquiet them all night too? We disquiet ourselves too much, in being over tender, over sensible of imaginary injuries. Transeant iniuriae, says the Moral man; Let many injuries pass over; for, 
Seneca.  Plaerasque non accipit, qui nescit; He that knows not of an injury, or takes no knowledge of it, for the most part, hath no injury. Qui inquirunt, quid in se dictum est, says he, They that are too inquisitive, what other men say of them, they disquiet themselves; for that which others would but whisper, they publish. And therefore that which he adds there, for Moral, and Civil matters, holds in a good proportion, in things of a more Divine Nature, in such parts of the religious worship and service of God, as concern not Foundations, Non expedit omnia videre, non omnia audire; we must not too jealously suspect, not too bitterly condemn, not too peremptorily conclude, that what soever is not done, as we would have it done, or as we have seen it done in former times, is not well done: for there is a large Latitude, and, by necessity of Circumstances, much may be admitted, and yet no Foundations destroyed; and till Foundations be destroyed, the righteous should be quiet.  
Now this should not prepare, this should not incline any man, to such an indifferency, as that it should be all one to him, what became of all things; all one, whether we had one, or two, or ten, or no Religion; or that he should not be awake, and active, and diligent, in assisting truth, and resisting all approaches of Error. For, God hath said of all, into whose hand he hath committed power, You are Gods. Now, they are not Gods, but Idols, if, as the Prophet says, 
Psal. 115.6.  They have Eyes and see not, Ears and hear not, Hands and strike not; nay, (as he adds there) if they have Noses and smell not; if they smell not out a mischievous practice, before it come to execution. For, God's eyes are upon the ways of man, 
job. 33.21.  and he sees all his doings: Those, who are in the number of them, of whom God hath said, they are Gods, must have their eyes upon the ways of men, and not upon their Ends only; upon the paths of mischief, and not upon the bed of mischief only; upon the Actors of mischief, and not upon the Act only. God's eyes sees our ways, says David too; that, is, he can see them, when he will; but there is more in the other Prophet, God's eyes are open upon all our ways; 
jere. 32.19.  always open, and he cannot choose but see: So that, a wilful shutting of the eye, a winking, a connivency, is not an assimilation to God. And then, 
Aba●. 1.13.  God's eyes are purer, then to behold evil, and they cannot look upon iniquity: So that in an indifferency, whether Times, or Persons be good or bad, there is not this assimulation to God, 
Hebr. 4.13.  Again, All things are naked and open to the eyes of God: So that in the disguising, and palliating, and extenuating the faults of men, there is not this assimilation to God. Thus fare they falsify God's Word, who hath said, They are Gods; for they are Idols; and not Gods, if they have eyes, and see not. So is it also in the consideration of the Ear too for, as David says, 
Psal. 94.9.  Shall not he that planted the Ear, hear? So we may say, Shall he upon whom God hath planted an Ear, be deaf? God's ears are so open so tender, so sensible of any motion, 
Psal. 39.12  as that David forms one Prayer thus, Auribus percipe lachrimas meas, O Lord, hear my tears, he puts the office of the Eye too, upon the Eare. And then, if the Magistrate stop his Ears with Wool, (with staple bribes, profitable bribes) and with Cyvet in his wool, (perfumes of pleasure and preferment in his bribes) he falsifies God's Word, who hath said, they are Gods, for they are Idols, and not Gods, if they have ears, and hear not: And so it is also of the hand too, In all that job suffered, he says no more, but that the Hand of God had touched him; but touched him, in respect of that he could have done: for, when job says to men, Why persecute you me, 
job 19.22  as God? he means, as God could do, so vehemently, so ruinously, so destructively, so irreparably. There is no phrase oftener in the Scriptures, then that God delivered his people, in the hand of Moses, and the hand of David, and the hand of the Prophets: all their Ministerial office is called the Hand: and therefore, as David prays to God, That he would pull his hand out of his bosom, and strike: so must we ever exhort the Magistrate, That he would pluck his hand out of his pocket, and forget what is there, and execute the Cause committed to him. For, as we, at last, shall commend our Spirits, into the hands of God, God hath commended our Spirits, not only our civil peace, but our Religion too, into the hand of the Magistrate. And therefore, when the Apostle says, Study to be quiet, it is not quiet in the blindness of the Eye, nor quiet in the Deafness of the Ear, nor quiet in the Lameness of the Hand; the just discharge of the duties of our several places, is no disquieting to any man. But when private men will spend all their thoughts upon their Superiors actions, this must necessarily disquiet them; for they are off of their own Centre, and they are extra Sphaeram Activitatis, out of their own Distance, and Compass, and they cannot possibly discern the End, to which their Superiors go. And to such a jealous man, when his jealousy is not a tenderness towards his own actions, which is a holy and a wholesome jealousy, but a suspicion of his Superiors actions, to this Man, every Wheel is a Drum, and every Drum a Thunder, and every Thunder-clapp a dissolution of the whole frame of the World: If there fall a broken tile from the house, he thinks Foundations are destroyed; if a crazy woman, or a disobedient child, or a needy servant fall from our Religion, from our Church, he thinks the whole Church must necessarily fall, when all this while there are no Foundations destroyed; and till foundations be destroyed, the righteous should be quiet.  
Hence have we just occasion, first to condole amongst ourselves, who, for matters of Foundations profess one and the same Religion, and then to complain of our Adversaries, who are of another. First, that amongst ourselves, for matters not Doctrinal, or if Doctrinal, yet not Fundamental, only because we are subdivided in diverse Names, there should be such Exasperations, such Exacerbations, such Vociferations, such Eiulations, such Defamations of one another, as if all Foundations were destroyed. Who would not tremble, to hear those Infernal words, spoken by men, to men, of one and the same Religion fundamentally, as Indiabolificata, Perdiabolificata, and Superdiabolificata, that the Devil, and all the Devils in Hell, and worse than the Devil is in their Doctrine, and in their Divinity, when, God in heaven knows, if their own uncharitableness did not exclude him, there were room enough for the Holy Ghost, on both, and on either side, in those Fundamental things, which are unanimely professed by both: And yet every Mart, we see more Books written by these men against one another, then by them both, for Christ.  
But yet though this Torrent of uncharitableness amongst them, be too violent, yet it is within some banks; though it be a Sea, and too tempestuous, it is limited within some bounds; The points are certain, known, limited, and do not grow upon us every year, and day. But the uncharitableness of the Church of Rome towards us all, is not a Torrent, nor it is not a Sea, but a general Flood, an universal Deluge, that swallows all the world, but that Church, and Churchyard, that Town, and Suburbs, themselves, and those that depend upon them; and will not allow possibility of Salvation to the whole Ark, the whole Christian Church, but to one Cabin in that Ark, the Church of Rome; and then deny us this Salvation, not for any Positive Error, that ever they charged us to affirm; not because we affirm any thing, that they deny, but because we deny some things, which they in their afternoon are come to affirm.  
If they were justi, Righteous, right and just dealing men, they would not raise such dustes, and then blind● men's eyes with this dust of their own raising, in things that concern no Foundations. It is true, that all Heresy does concern Foundations: there is no Heresy to be called little: Great Heresies proceeded from things, in appearance, small at first, and seemed to look but towards small matters. There were great Heresies, that were but Verbal, Heresies in some Word. That great Storm, that shaked the State, and the Church, in the Council of Ephesus, and came to Factions, and Commotions in the Secular part, and to Exautorations, and Excommunications amongst the Bishops, so fare, as that the Emperor came to declare both sides to be Heretics; All this was for an Error in a Word, in the word Deipara, whether the Blessed Virgin Marie were to be called the Mother of God, or no. There have been Verbal Heresies, and Heresies that were but Syllabicall; little Praepositions made Heresies; not only State-praepositions, Precedencies, and Prerogatives of Church above Church, occasioned great Schisms, but Literal Praepositions, Praepositions in Grammar, occasioned great Heresies. That great Heresy of the Acephali, against which Damascene bends himself in his Book, De Natura Composita, was grounded in the Preposition, In; They would confess Ex, but not In, That Christ was made of two Natures, but that he did not consist in two Natures. And we all know, what differences have been raised in the Church, in that one point of the Sacrament, by these three Prepositions, Trans, Con, and Sub. There have been great Heresies, but Verbal, but Syllabicall; and as great, but Literal; The greatest Heresy that ever was, that of the Arrians, was but in one Letter. So then, in Heresy, there is nothing to be called little, nothing to be suffered. It was excellently said of Heretics, (though by one, who, though not then declared, 
Nestorius.  was then an Heretic in his heart,) Condolere Hereticis crimen est; It is a fault, not only to be too indulgent to an Heretic, but to be too compassionate of an Heretic, too sorry for an Heretic. It is a fault to say, Alas, let him alone, he is but an Heretic; but, to say, Alas, hope well of him, till you be better sure, that he is an Heretic, is charitably spoken. God knows, the sharp and sour Name of Heretic, was too soon let lose, and too fast spread in many places of the world. We see, that in some of the first Catalogues, that were made of Heretics, men were Registered for Heretics, that had but expounded a place of Scripture, otherwise then that place had been formerly expounded, though there were no harm, in that new Exposition. And then, when once that infamous Name of Heretic was fastened upon a man, nothing was too heavy for, any thing was believed of that man. And from thence it is, without question, that we find so many so absurd, so senseless Opinions imputed to those men, who were then called Heretics, as could not, in truth, with any possibility, fall into the imagination or fancy of any man, much less be Doctrinally, or Dogmatically delivered. And then, upon this, there issued Laws, from particular States, against particular Heresies, that troubled those States then, as namely, against the Arrians, or Macedonians, and such; and in a short time, these Laws came to be extended, to all such Opinions, as the passion of succeeding times, called Heresy. And at last, the Roman Church having constituted that Monopoly, That She only should declare what should be Heresy, and having declared that to be Heresy, which opposed, or retarded the dignity of that Church, now they call in Brachium Spirituale, All those Sentences of Fathers, or Counsels that mention Heresy, and they call in Brachium Saeculare, all those Laws which punish Heresy, and whereas these Fathers, and Counsels, and States, intended by Heresy, Opinions that destroyed Foundations, they bend all these against every point, which may endamage, 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 Kitchen of Rome; not for the Heart, but for the Belly; not the Religion, but the Policy; not the Altar, but the Exchequer of Rome.  
But the Righteous looks to Foundations, before he will be scandalised himself, or condemn another. When they call Saint Peter their first Pope, and being remembered, how he denied his Master, say then, that was but an Act of Infirmity, not of Infidelity, and there were no Foundations destroyed in that; we press not that evidence against Saint Peter, we forbear, and we are quiet. When we charge some of Saint Peter's imaginary Successors, some of their Popes, with actual, and personal Sacrificing to Idols, some with subscribing to formal Heresies, with their own hand, many with so enormous an ill life, as that their own Authors will say, that for many years together, there lived not one Pope, of whose Salvation, any hope could be conceived; and they answer to all this, that all these were but Personal faults, and destroyed no Foundations; we can be content to bury their faults with their persons, and we are quiet. When we remember them, how many of the Fathers excused officious Lies, and thought some kind of Lying to be no Sin, how very many of them herded in the heresy of the Millenarians, That the Saints of God should enjoy a thousand years of temporal felicity in this world, after their Resurrection, before they ascended into Heaven; And that they say to all this, The Fathers said these things before the Church had decreed any thing to the contrary, and till that, it was lawful for any man to say, or think what he would, we do not load the memory of those blessed Fathers with any heavier press, but we are quiet. Yet we cannot choose but tell them, that tell us this, that they have taken a hard way, to make that saying true, that all things are grown dear in our times; for they have made Salvation dear; Threescore years ago, a man might have been saved at half the price he can now: Threescore years ago, he might have been saved for believing the Apostles Creed; now it will cost him the Trent Creed too. Evermore they will press for all, and yield nothing; and there is indeed their Specification, there's their Character, that's their Catholic, their Universal; To have all; As, in Athanasius his time, when the Emperor pressed him to afford the Arrians one Church in Alexandria, where he was Bishop, and he asked but one Church in Antioch, where the Arrians prevailed, not doubting but he should draw more to the true Church in Antioch, than they should corrupt in Alexandria, yet this would not be granted; It would not be granted at Rome, if we should ask a Church for a Church. In a word, we charge them with uncharitableness, (and Charity is without all Controversy, a Foundation of Religion) that they will so peremptorily exclude us from Heaven, for matters that do not appertain to Foundations. For, if they will call all Foundations, that that Church hath, or doth, or shall decree, we must learn our Catechism upon our Deathbed, and inquire for the Articles of our Faith, when we are going out of the world, for they may have decreed something that Morning. No one Author of theirs denied Pope joane, 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 be Foundation. No Author of our side denied Saint Peter's being at Rome, till we discerned the Consequence, That upon his personal being there, they grounded a Primacy in that Sea, And this Primacy must be Foundation. Much might be admitted in cases of In differency, even in the Nature of the things, Much in cases of Necessity, for the importance of Circumstances, much in cases of Conveniency, for the suppling of boisterous, and for the becalming of tempestuous humours; but when every thing must be called Foundation, we shall never know where to stop, where to consist. If we should believe their Sacrificium incruentum, their unbloody Sacrifice in the Mass, if we did not believe their Sacrificium Cruentum too, that there was a power in that Church, to sacrifice the Blood of Kings, we should be said to be defective in a fundamental Article. If we should admit their Metaphysics, their transcendent Transubstantiation, and admit their Chimiques, their Purgatory Fires, and their Mythology, and Poetry, their apparitions of Souls and Spirits, they would bind us to their Mathematics too, and they would not let us be saved, except we would reform our Almanacs to their ten days, and reform our Clocks to their four and twenty: for who can tell when there is an end of Articles of Faith, in an arbitrary, and in an Occasional Religion? When then this Prophet says, If Foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do, he means, that till that, the righteous should be quiet: Except it were in fundamental Articles of Faith, ourselves should not be so bitter towards one another, our Adversary should not be so uncharitable against us all. And farther we need not extend this first Consideration.  
The second is, to Survey some part 2 such Foundations, as fall within the frailty, and suspicion, and possibility of this Text, that they may be destroyed: for when the Prophet says, If they be, they may be. Now Fundamentum proprie de aedificijs dicitur, says the Law: when we speak of Foundations, we intent a house: and here, we extend this House to four Considerations; for in four Houses have every one of us a dwelling. For, first, Ecclesia Domus, the Church is a House, it is God's house; and in that House, we are of the household of the faithful, if (as it is testified of Moses) we be faithful in all his House, 
Hebr. 3.5.  as Servants. You see there is a faithfulness required in every man, in all the house of God, not in any one room; a disposition required to do good to the whole Church of God every where, and not only at home. Secondly, Respublica Domus, The Commonwealth, the State, the Kingdom is a House; and this is that which is called so often, Domus Israel, The house of Israel, the State, the Government of the jews: 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 Lord hath chosen Zion, 
Psa. 132.13  he hath desired it for a habitation, are spoken of the whole Body, Church, and State. Thirdly, there is Domus Habitationis, Domus quae Domicilium, a House to dwell in, and to dwell with, a Family: and in this House God dwells too; for, as David says of the Building, we may say of the Dwelling, Except the Lord build the House, 
Psal. 127.1.  they labour in vain: 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 every Man is a little World, so every man is his own House, and dwells in himself: And in this House God dwells too; for the Apostle seems so much to delight himself in that Metaphor, as that he repeats it almost in all his Epistles, Habitat in nobis, That the Holy Ghost dwells in us. Now, of all these four Houses, that house which hath no walls, but is spread over the face of the whole Earth, the Church, And that House, which with us, hath no other walls, but the Sea, the State, the Kingdom, And that house which is walled with dry Earth, our dwelling house, our family, and this house which is walled with wet Earth, this loam of flesh, ourself, Of all these four houses, those three, of which, and in which we are, and this fourth, which we ourself are, God is the Foundation, and so foundations cannot be destroyed; But, as, though the common foundation of all buildings be the Earth, yet we make particular foundations for particular Buildings, of Stone, or Brick, or Piles, as the Soil requires; so shall we also here consider such particular Foundations of these four houses, as may fall within the frailty, and suspicion, within the possibility, and danger of the Text, of being destroyed.  
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 laid, which is jesus Christ. Non propterea dicimus, says Saint Augustine. 
De unita. Eccles. C. 16.  We do not say that our Church is Catholic therefore, because Optatus says so, and because Ambrose says so, (and yet Optatus, and Ambrose, the Fathers, are good Witnesses) neither do we say it, (says he) Quia Collegarum nostrorum Conciliis praedicata est, Because some Synods and Counsels of men of our own Religion have said it is Catholic (And yet a Harmony of Confessions is good Evidence,) Nec quia tanta fiunt in ea mirabilia, says he, we call it not Catholic, because so many Miracles are wrought in it, (for we oppose Gods many miraculous Deliverances of this State and Church, to all their imaginary miracles of Rome) Non ideo manifestatur Catholica, says still that Father, All this does not make our Church Catholic, nay, non manifestatur, all this does not declare it to be Catholic, all these are no infallible marks thereof, but only this one, says he, Quia ipse Dominus jesus, etc. because the Lord jesus himself is the Foundation of this Church. But may not this be subject to reasoning, to various Disputation, Whether we have that foundation, or no? It may; but that will go fare in the clearing thereof, which the same Father says in another Book, 
De Moribus Eccles. Cat. C. 25.  Nihil in Ecclesia catholica salubrius fit, quam ut Rationem praecedat Autoritas: Nothing is safer for the finding of the Catholic Church, then to prefer Authority before my Reason, to submit and captivated my Reason to Authority. This the Roman Church pretends to embrace; but Apishly; like an Ape, it kills with embracing; for it evacuates the right Authority; The Authority that they obtrude, is the Decretals of their own Bishops, The authority, which Saint Augustine literally and expressly declares himself to mean, is the authority 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 fundamenta quae iecit Solomon, says the vulgate Edition, These are the foundations that Solomon laid; and then our Translation hath it, These are the things in which Solomon was instructed; One calls it Foundations, the other Instructions; 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 says, 
Ephes. 2.20  Christ jesus himself is the chief corner Stone, yet he adds there, Ye are built upon the Prophets and Apostles: for the Prophets and Apostles, had their part in the foundation; in the laying, though not in the being of the Foundation. The wall of the city, 
Apoc. 21.14  says Saint john, had twelve Foundations, and in them, the Names of the twelve Apostles: But still, in that place, they are Apostles of the Lamb, still they have relation to Christ: For, they, who by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, writ of Christ, and so made up the Body of the Scriptures, have their parts too, in this Foundation. Besides these, it is said, in the building of the Material Temple, 
2 Reg. 5.17.  The King commanded, and they brought, great Stones, and costly Stones, and hewed Stones, to lay the foundations of the House: The care of the King, the labours of men conduce to the foundation. And besides this, in that place of the Revelation, The foundation of the Wall, is said to be garnished with all manner of precious stones; Garnished, but not made of that kind of precious stones. So then salomon's hewed Stones, and costly stones, may, in a fair accommodation, be understood to be the Determinations, and Resolutions, Canons, and Decrees of general Counsels: And Saint john's garnishment of precious stones, may, in a fair accommodation, be understood to be the Learned and Laborious, the zealous and the pious Commentaries and Expositions of the Fathers; For Counsels and Fathers assist the Foundation; But the foundation itself is Christ himself in his Word; his Scriptures. And then, certainly they love the House best, that love the foundation best: not they, that impute to the Scriptures such an Obscurity, as should make them in-intelligible to us, or such a defect as should make them insufficient in themselves. To deny us the use of Scriptures in our vulgar Translations, and yet to deny us the use of them, in the Original Tongues too, To tell us we must not try Controversies by our English, or our Latin Bibles, nor by the Hebrew Bibles neither, To put such a Majesty upon the Scriptures, as that a Lay man may not touch them, and yet to put such a diminution upon them, as that the writings of men shall be equal to them; this is a wrinching, a shrinking, a sinking, an undermining, a destroying of Foundations, of the foundation of this first House, which is the Church, the Scriptures.  

Respub. Domus.  Enter we now into a Survey of the second House, The State, the Kingdom, the Commonwealth; and of this House, the foundation is the Law. And therefore Saint Hierome refers this Text, in a literal and primary signification to that, to the Law: for so, in his Commentaries upon the Psalms, he translates this Text, Si dissipatae Leges, He makes the evacuating of the Law, this destroying of foundations. Lex communis Reipub. sponsio, says the Law itself: The Law is the mutual, the reciprocal Surety between the State and the Subject. The Law is my Surety to the State, that I shall pay my Obedience, And the Law is the State's Surety to me, that I shall enjoy my Protection. And therefore, therein did the jews justly exalt themselves above all other Nations, That God was come so much nearer to them then to other Nations, by how much they had Laws and Ordinances more righteous than other Nations had. Now, as it is said of the Foundations of the other House, the Temple, The King commanded in the laying thereof, the King had his hand in the Church, so is it also in this House, the State, the Commonwealth, the King hath his hand in, and upon the foundation here also, which is the Law: so fare, as that every forbearing of a Law, is not an Euacuating of the Law; every Pardon, whether a Post-pardon, by way of mercy, after a Law is broken, or a Prae-pardon, by way of Dispensation, in wisdom before a Law be broken, is not a Destroying of this foundation. For, when such things as these are done, 
Iuo.  Non astu Mentientis, sed affectu compatientis, not upon colourable disguises, nor private respects, but truly for the General good, all these Pardons, and Dispensations conduce and concur to the Office, and contract the Nature of the Foundation itself, which is, that the whole Body may be the better supported. But where there is an inducing of a super-soveraigne, and a super-Supremacie, and a Sea above our four Seas, and a Horn above our Head, and a foreign Power above our Native and natural Power, where there are dogmatic, Positive Assertions, that men borne of us, and living with us, and by us, are yet none of us, no Subjects, own no Allegiance, this is a wrinching, a shrinking, a sinking, an undermining, a destroying of Foundations, the Foundation of this second House, which is the State, the Law.  
The third House that falls into our present Survey, 
Domus Domicilium.  is Domus quae Domicilium, Domus habitationis, our Dwelling house, or Family, and of this house, the foundation is Peace: for Peace compacts all the pieces of a family together; Husband and Wife, in Love and in Obedience, Father and Son, in Care and in Obedience, Master and Servant, in Discipline and in Obedience: Still Obedience is one Ingredient in all Peace; there is no Peace, where there is no Obedience. Now every smoke does not argue the house to be on fire; Every domestic offence taken or given, does not destroy this Foundation, this Peace, within doors. There may be a Thunder from above, and there may be an Earthquake from below, and yet the foundation of the House safe: From above there may be a defect in the Superior, in the Husband, the Father, the Master; and from below, in the Wife, the Son, the Servant; There may be a jealousy in the Husband, a Morosity in the Father, an Imperiousness in the Master; And there may be an inobsequiousnesse and an indiligence in the Wife, there may be levity and inconsideration in the Son, and there may be unreadiness, unseasonableness in a Servant, and yet Foundations stand, and Peace maintained, though not by an exquisite performing of all duties, yet by a mutual support of one another's infirmities. This destroys no Foundation; But if there be a window opened in the house, to let in a jesuitical firebrand, that shall whisper, though not proclaim, deliver with a non Dominus sed Ego, that though it be not a declared Tenet of the Church, yet he thinks, that in case of Heresy, Civil and Natural, and Matrimonial duties cease, no Civil, no Natural, no Matrimonial Tribute due to an Heretic; Or if there be such a fire kindled within doors, that the Husband's jealousy come to a Substraction of necessary means at home, or to Defamation abroad, or the Wife's levity induce just Imputation at home, or scandal abroad, If the Father's wastfulnesse amount to a Disinheriting, because he leaves nothing to be inherited, Or the Son's incorrigibleness occasion a just disinheriting, though there be enough, If the Master make Slaves of Servants, and macerate them, or the Servants make prize of the Master, and prey upon him, in these cases, and such as these, there is a wrinching, a shrinking, a sinking, an underming, a destroying of Foundations, the Foundation of this third House, which is the family, Peace.  

Domus Dominus.  There remains yet another House, a fourth House, a poor and wretched Cottage; worse than our Statute Cottages; for to them the Statute lays out certain Acres; but for these Cottages, we measure not by Acres, but by Feet; and five or six foot serves any Cottager: so much as makes a Grave, makes up the best of our Glebe, that are of the Inferior, and the best of their Temporalties, that are of the Superior Clergy, and the best of their Demeanes that are in the greatest Sovereignty in this world: for this house is but ourself, and the foundation of this House is Conscience. For, this proceeding with a good Conscience in every particular action, is that, which the Apostle calls, 
1 Tim. 6.19.  The laying up in store for ourselves, a good foundation, against the time to come: The House comes not till the time to come, but the Foundation must be laid here. Abraham looked for a City; 
Heb. 11.10  that was a future expectation; but, says that Text, it was a City that hath a foundation; the foundation was laid already, even in this life, in a good Conscience: For no interest, no mansion shall that Man have in the upper-roomes of that jerusalem, that hath not laid the foundation in a good Conscience here. But what is Conscience? Conscience hath but these two Elements, Knowledge, and Practise; for Conscientia presumit Scientiam; He that does any thing with a good Conscience, knows that he should do it, and why he does it: He that does good ignorantly, stupidly, inconsiderately, implicitly, does good, but he does that good ill. Conscience is, Syllogismus practicus; upon certain premises, well debated, I conclude, that I should do it, and then I do it. Now for the destroying of this foundation, there are sins, which by God's ordinary grace exhibited in his Church, prove but Alarms, but Sentinels to the Conscience: The very sin, or something that does naturally accompany that sin, Poverty, or Sickness, or Infamy, calls upon a man, and awakens him to a remorse of the sin. Which made Saint Augustine say, That a man got by some sins; some sins help him in the way of repentance for sin; and these sins do not destroy the foundation. But there are sins, which in their nature preclude repentance, & batter the Conscience, devastate, depopulate, exterminate, annihilate the Conscience, and leave no sense at all, or but a sense of Desperation. And then, the case being reduced to that, 
Sap. 17.11.  That wickedness condemned by her own wickedness, becomes very timorous, (so as the Conscience grows afraid, that the promises of the Gospel belong not to her) And (as it is added there) being pressed with Conscience, always forecasteth grievous things) that whatsoever God lays upon him here, all that is but his earnest of future worse torments, when it comes to such a Fear, as (as it is added in the next verse) Betrays the succours that Reason offers him, 
ver. 12.  That whereas in reason a man might argue, God hath pardoned greater sins, and greater sinners, yet he can find no hope for himself; this is a shrinking, a sinking, an undermining, a destroying of this Foundation of this fourth House, the Conscience: And farther we proceed not in this Survey.  
We are now upon that which we part 3 proposed for our last Consideration; Till foundations are shaked, the righteous stirs not; In some cases some foundations may be shaked; if they be, what can the righteous do? The holy Ghost never asks the question, what the unrighteous, the wicked can do: They do well enough, best of all, in such cases: Demolitions and Ruins are their raisings; Troubles are their peace, Tempests are their calms, Fires and combustions are their refresh, Massacres are their harvest, and Destruction is their Vintage; All their Rivers run in Eddies, and all their Centres are in wheels, and in perpetual motions; the wicked do well enough, best of all then; but what shall the righteous do? The first entrance of the Psalm in the first verse, seems to give an answer; The righteous may fly to the Mountain as a Bird; he may retire, withdraw himself. But then the general scope of the Psalm, gives a Reply to the Answer; for all Expositors take the whole Psalm to be an answer from David, and given with some indignation against them, who persuaded him to fly, or retire himself. Not that David would constitute a Rule in his Example, that it was unlawful to fly in a time of danger or persecution, (for it would not be hard to observe at least nine or ten several flights of David) but that in some cases such circumstances of Time, and Place, and Person, may accompany and invest the action, as that it may be inconvenient for that Man, at that Time, to retire himself. As oft, as the retiring amounts to the forsaking of a Calling, it will become a very disputable thing, how fare a retiring may be lawful. Saint Peter's vehement zeal in dissuading Christ from going up to jerusalem, 
Mat. 16.21.  in a time of danger, was so fare from retarding Christ in that purpose, as that it drew a more bitter increpation from Christ upon Peter, then at any other time.  
So then, in the Text, we have a Rule employed, Something is left to the righteous to do, though some Foundations be destroyed; for the words are words of Consultation, and consultation with God; when Man can afford no Counsel, God can, and will direct those that are his, the righteous, what to do. The words give us the Rule, and Christ gives us the Example in himself. First, he continues his Innocence, and avows that; the destroying of Foundations, does not destroy his Foundation, Innocence: still he is able to confound his adversaries, 
joh. 8.46.  with that, Which of you can convince me of sin? And then, he prays for the removing of the persecution, Transeat Calix, let this Cup pass. When that might not be, he prays even for them, who inflicted this persecution, Pater ignosce, Father forgive them; And when all is done, he suffers all that can be done unto him: And he calls his whole Passion, Horam suam, it spent nights and days; his whole life was a continual Passion; yet how long soever, he calls it but an Hour, and how much soever it were their act, the act of their malignity that did it, yet he calls it his, because it was the act of his own Predestination as God, upon himself as Man; And he calls it by a more acceptable Name then that, he calls his Passion Calicem suum, his Cup, because he brought not only a patience to it, but a delight and a joy in it; for, for the joy that was set before him, 
Hebr. 12.2.  he endured the Cross. All this then the righteous can do, though Foundations be destroyed; He can withdraw himself, if the duties of his place make not his residence necessary; If it do, he can pray; and then he can suffer; and then he can rejoice in his sufferings; and he can make that protestation, Our God is able to deliver us, 
Dan. 3.17.  and he will deliver us; but if not, we will serve no other Gods. For, the righteous hath evermore this refuge, this assurance, that though some Foundations be destroyed, all cannot be: for first, The foundation of God stands sure, 
2 Tim. 2.19  and he knows who are his; He is safe in God; and then he is safe in his own Conscience, 
Pro. 10.25.  for, The Righteous is an everlasting foundation; not only that he hath one, but is one; and not a temporary, but an everlasting Foundation: So that foundations can never be so destroyed, but that he is safe in God, and safe in himself.  

Domus Ecclesia.  For such things then, as concern the foundation of the first House, the Church, Be not apt to call Superedifications, Foundations; Collateral Divinity, Fundamental Divinity; problematical, Disputable, Controvertible points, points Essential, and Articles of Faith. Call not Superedifications, Foundations, nor call not the furniture of the House, Foundations; Call not Ceremonial, and Ritual things, Essential parts of Religion, and of the worship of God, otherwise then as they imply Disobedience; for Obedience to lawful Authority, is always an Essential part of Religion. Do not Antedate Misery; do not Prophesy Ruin; do not Concur with Mischief, nor Contribute to Mischief so fare, as to over-feare it before, nor to misinterpret their ways, whose Ends you cannot know; And do not call the cracking of a pane of glass, a Destroying of foundations. But every man doing the particular duties of his distinct Calling, for the preservation of Foundations, Praying, and Preaching, and Doing, and Counselling, and Contributing too, Foundations being never destroyed, the Righteous shall do still, as they have done, enjoy God manifested in Christ, and Christ applied in the Scriptures, which is the foundation of the first House, the Church.  
For things concerning the Foundation of the second House, 
Respub. Domus.  the Commonwealth, which is the Law, Dispute not Laws, but obey them when they are made; In those Counsels, where Laws are made, or reform, dispute; but there also, without particular interest, without private affection, without personal relations. Call not every entrance of such a judge, as thou thinkest insufficient, a corrupt entrance; nor every judgement, which he enters, and thou understandest not, or likest not, a corrupt judgement. As in Natural things, it is a weakness to think, that every thing that I know not how it is done, is done by Witch craft, So is it also in Civil things, if I know not why it is done, to think it is done for Money. Let the Law be sacred to thee, and the Dispenser's of the Law, reverend; Keep the Law, and the Law shall keep thee; And so Foundations being never destroyed, the Righteous shall do still, as they have done, enjoy their Possessions, and Honours, and themselves, by the overshadowing of the Law, which is the Foundation of the second House, the State.  
For those things which concern the Foundations of the third House, 
Domus Domicilium.  the Family, Call not light faults by heavy Names; Call not all sociableness, and Conversation, Disloyalty in thy Wife; Nor all levity, or pleasurablenesse, Incorrigibleness in thy Son; nor all negligence, or forgetfulness, Perfidiousness in thy Servant; Nor let every light disorder within doors, shut thee out of doors, or make thee a stranger in thine own House. In a smoky room, it may be enough to open a Window, without leaving the place; In Domestic unkindnesses, and discontents, it may be wholesomer to give them a Concoction at home in a discreet patience, or to give them a vent at home, in a moderate rebuke, then to think to ease them, or put them off, with false divertions abroad. As States subsist in part, by keeping their weaknesses from being known, so is it the quiet of Families, to have their Chancery, and their Parliament within doors, and to compose and determine all emergent differences there: for so also, Foundations being kept undestroyed, the righteous shall do, as they should do, enjoy a Religious Unity, and a Civil Unity, the same Soul 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 concern the Foundations of the fourth House, Ourselves, Mis-interprete not Gods former Corrections upon thee, how long, how sharp soever: Call not his Physic, poison, nor his Fish, Scorpions, nor his Bread, Stone: Accuse not God, for that he hath done, nor suspect not God, for that he may do, as though God had made thee, only because he lacked a man, to damn. In all scruples of Conscience, say with Saint Peter, Domine quo vadam, Lord, whither shall I go, thou hast the Word of eternal life, And God will not leave thee in the dark: In all oppression from potent Adversaries, say with David, Tibi soli peccavi: Against thee, O Lord, only have I sinned, And God will not make the malice of another man his Executioner upon thee. Cry to him; and if he have not heard thee, cry louder, and cry oftener; The first way that God admitted thee to him, was by Water, the water of Baptism; Go still the same way to him, by Water, by repentant Tears: And remember still, that when Ezechias wept, Vidit lachrymam, God saw his Tear, His Tear in the Singular; God saw his first tear, every several tear: If thou think God have not done so by thee, Continue thy tears, till thou find he do. The first way that Christ came to thee, was in Blood; when he submitted himself to the Law, in Circumcision; And the last thing that he bequeathed to thee, was his Blood, in the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament; Refuse not to go to him, the same way too, if his glory require that Sacrifice. If thou pray, and hast an apprehension that thou hearest God say, he will not hear thy prayers, do not believe that it is he that speaks; If thou canst not choose but believe that it is he, let me say, in a pious sense, do not believe him: God would not be believed, in denouncing of judgements, so absolutely, so peremptorily, as to be thought to speak unconditionally, illimitedly: God took it well at David's hands, that when the Prophet had told him, The child shall surely die, yet he believed not the Prophet so peremptorily, but that he proceeded in Prayer to God, for the life of the child. Say with David, Thou hast been a strong Tower to me; 
Psal. 61.4.62.7.  I will abide in thy Tabernacle, Et non Emigrabo, I will never go out, I know thou hast a Church, I know I am in it, and I will never departed from it; and so Foundations being never destroyed, the righteous shall do, as the righteous have always done, enjoy the Evidence, and the Verdict, and the judgement, and the Possession of a good Conscience, which is the Foundation of this fourth House. First, govern this first House, Thyself, well; and as Christ said, he shall say again, Thou hast been faithful in a little, take more; He shall enlarge thee in the next House, Thy Family, and the next, The State, and the other, The Church, till he say to thee, as he did to jerusalem, after all his other Blessings, Et prosperata es in Regnum, Now I have brought thee up to a Kingdom, A Kingdom, where not only no Foundations can be destroyed, but no stone shaked; and where the Righteous know always what to do, to glorify God, in that incessant Acclamation, Salvation to our God, who sits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb; And to this Lamb of God, who hath taken away the sins of the world, and but changed the Suns of the world, who hath complicated two wondrous works in one, To make our Sun to set at Noon, and to make our Sun to rise at Noon too, That hath given him Glory, and not taken away our Peace, That hath exalted him to Vpper-roomes, and not shaked any Foundations of ours, To this Lamb of God, the glorious Son of God, and the most Almighty Father, and the Blessed Spirit of Comfort, three Persons, and one God, be ascribed by us, and the whole Church, the Triumphant Church, where the Father of blessed Memory reigns with God, and the Militant Church, where the Son of blessed Assurance reigns for God, All Power, Praise, Might, Majesty, Glory, and Dominion, now, and for ever. Amen.  
FINIS.   

Errat. 

Pag. 12. l. 17. for Cause, read Laws.  
pa 43. l. 20. for Syllagismus, r. Syllogismus.