Twenty-Six Sermons, Title page – Letter
XXVI. SERMONS (Never before Publiſh'd) PREACHED BY THAT Learned and Reverend.
DIVINE John Donne, Doctor in Divinity, Late DEAN of the Cathedral Church of St Pauls, London.
The Third Volume.
DVM PREMOR ATTOLLOR
LONDON. Printed by Thomas Newcomb, and are to be ſold at the ſeveral Book-Sellers-ſhops in London, and at Weſtminſter-Hall. 1661.
To His moſt Sacred Majeſty, CHARLES II. By the Grace of God King of ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, FRANCE and IRELAND, Defender of the Faith &c.
Moſt Dread and Gracious Soveraign,
IN this great Revolution, when every body is come to pay unto Caeſar, thoſe things that are due unto Caeſar, I am bold to preſent to Your Sacred Majeſty theſe Sermons, not only due unto You, as You are Head of the Church, but as they were moſt of them preached in Your Chappel, and approved by Your Royal Progenitors. Your Statues, Pictures, and Meddals, famous for their Workmanſhip, and Antiquity, cannot pretend to a greater Elegancy or a nobler Deſcent, then the Doctrine that is here taught; For, it is primitively Chriſtian, not depending upon the abſolute Authority of any preſent viſible company of Men, nor, yet refuſing to be guided by thoſe Antient Fathers of the Church, that concur with the Apoſtolical Writers, as being the Supreame Rule of our Faith; And, though the Author be many times very ſevere againſt the Roman-Church, yet he is never very indulgent to her Rigid Oppoſers, not being deſirous to make a rent in that Garment, which is to cover and keep alive the Flock of Chriſt, which being immediately committed to Your Majeſties Care in theſe Your Realms, cannot be better preſerved, then by that exemplar Piety, that reigns in Your Sacred Majeſty, which will be a Living Sermon, even to thoſe Reverend Paſtors, that Your care, and Gods Providence has now appointed to reſtore His Church to her antient Splendor, and to have awakened that Light of the Goſpell, which we could never have expected, but by Your Glorious Return, or a new Fiat.
Your Majeſties moſt humble, and moſt devoted Subject, JOHN DONNE.
TO THE READER.
UPon the Death of my Father Dr. Donne, ſometimes Deane of Pauls, I was ſent to, by his Majeſty of Bleſſed Memory, to recollect and publiſh his Sermons; I was encouraged by many of the Nobility, both Spiritual and Temporal, and indeed, by the moſt Eminent Men that the Kingdom then had, of all Profeſſions, telling me, what a publick good I ſhould confer upon the Church, and, that by this means I ſhould not only preach to all the Pariſhes of England, but to thoſe, whoſe Affairs carried them into Forraigne Countries; and to thoſe, whoſe infirmities did not ſuffer them to come to their own Churches at home, But, above all, I was encouraged by the example of St. Paul, who, though he took wages of other Churches, and yet ſerved the Corinthians, thought himſelf excuſable, in that, he was alwaies doing ſervice to the Church of Chriſt.
The firſt Volume that I publiſhed, conſiſting of Fourſcore Sermons, I dedicated to his Majeſty then living, by whom, it was not only graciouſly received, but I had freſh Incouragements to proceed: For the Second Volume, I was forced to take Protection from thoſe that were then in Authority, leſt (our duty to our King being ſo often, and ſo pathetically urged) they might have incurred the danger, Firſt, to have been voted No Sermons, and then, that No Sermons ſhould have bin burnt by the hand of the Publick Executioner; and, the uſe that might have bin made of them, by keeping up the Banks of the Church, againſt that Torrent of Heretiques, that did then invade her, might have been abſolutely defeated: for now began to ſwarme and muſter the Ebionites, Sabellians, Jovinians, Eutichians, Corpocratians, Sethians, Cerinthians, Theodotians, Nicolaitans, Samocetanians, Apolenarians, Montaneans, all againſt the ſecond Perſon of the Trinity.
And, although, in ſome parts of the World the Sun may ſee the Men eating their god, and in ſix hours journey farther, he may ſee the gods eating the Men, though he may have beheld as many Religions, as he produced Inſects, yet he could tell us of no ſuch Python, as appeared here, who ſwallowing up all the other Heretiques, pretended that he himſelf was the very Son of God; not knowing how dearly that Impoſter payed for it, that adventured upon that deſigne, but in the days of Queen Elizabeth; for though it be true, That he that is baptized into Chriſt, may put on Chriſt, his Perſon, nay Him, ſo that God may take him for his own Chriſt, and look upon him, as all Mankinde; Yet, 'tis a hard matter to appear ſo before Man, for Homo homini daemon, we ſee nothing, we hear of nothing but the Imperfections of one another, and then we are not only content to ground our Faith upon ſlight Reports, but to believe, even Impoſſibilities.
The People concluded Paul to be a Murderer, but firſt, they ſaw a Viper ſeize upon him after he had eſcaped Shipwrack; but ſtill proceeding upon new Evidence, when they ſaw him ſhake off that Viper, they ſaid he was a God; and certainly, though a Calumniator, with a two-edged tongue, ſharper and more venemous then the teeth of any Viper, may traduce the reputation of any man, ſo far as to make impreſſions upon ſome pious and godly perſons, yet if thoſe perſons would but retreat from thoſe ſuddain aſſaults unto thoſe Forts which their Charity may, nay, ought to erect, but to reaſonable Evidences; they may reaſonably conclude, that if many thouſands were converted by one Sermon to the Chriſtian Faith; he that has ſpent ſo many years, in publiſhing ſo many Sermons for the propagation of that Faith, and preſerving the Light of that Goſpel, ſo as to dazle and extinguiſh thoſe New Lights, thoſe ignes fatuas, with their great Leader William-a-the-Wiſpe, (who drawing men, firſt out of the known paths, carries them into Boggs, Quagmires, and Whirlepools of Confuſion) cannot poſſibly be but a well-grounded Chriſtian.
When the Jews intended the building of the Temple, their wiſe King Solomon ſent to Hiram many thouſand meaſures of corn, knowing that the Fellers of Timber, the hewers of ſtone, and thoſe that bore the burden, muſt be provided for, as well as the great Officers, the Overſeers. Fac hoc & vives, was often repeated to me when I undertook this work, and a fair reward was promiſed me; but at laſt I am conſtrained, hoc facere ut vivam, to publiſh them at my own coſt that I may ſell them; which I had not been able to perform, if I had not been aſſiſted by the bounty of our moſt Honorable Lord Chancellor, (who is not only content, that the Churches ſhould be furniſhed with good Preachers, but that thoſe Preachers ſhould have good Sermons) and I am to reſt ſatisfied with that Text, that tells us, that To thoſe that have much, more ſhall be given; and to thoſe that have nothing (and there is nothing ſo near of kin to Nothing, as a Reverſion) that that they have ſhall be taken away.
A better method (I confeſs) might have been obſerved in their Publication; whereby thoſe that are called to the ſervice of private Churches, and have not the convenience of Publick Libraries, might have made more uſe of them, (for, I have ſeen many great Edifices, many noble Palaces erected without one ſtone taken out of the Quarry) but, ſo neer an Age, where Holy Confuſion is preſcribed to the Preacher, a little diſorder (I hope, Gentle Reader) may be pardoned in the Publiſher.
JO. DONNE.
Poſtſcript.
BY the Dates of theſe Sermons, the Reader may eaſily collect, that although they are the laſt that are publiſhed, they were the firſt that were Preached; and I did purpoſely ſelect theſe from amongſt all the reſt, for, being to finiſh this Monument, which I was to erect to his Memory, I ought to reſerve thoſe materials that were ſet forth with the beſt Poliſh: The Impreſſion conſiſts onelyonly of Five hundred, which will ſomewhat advance the Price; but the buyer being at liberty, he can receive no prejudice.
Upon the ſending the Firſt Volume of theſe SERMONS to the Right Reverend Father in God, the Biſhop of Peterborough, then my Dioceſan, I received this Letter.
SIR,
YOu have ſent me a Treaſure, and I would not ſhare time to tell you ſo, till I had ſomewhat ſatisfied the thirſt I had to drink down many of thoſe Excellent Sermons, which I have ſo long deſired: And by this I have the advantage, that I can know what I thank you for, though I could preſumptuouſly value them, by the reſt of his which I have heard, and read formerly, (for I think I have all thoſe, that in the Preſs did foreran theſe) yet by this time, I can ſenſibly acknowledge to you, how great cauſe ſo many of us have to thank you: How well may your Pariſhioners pardon your ſilence to them, for a while, ſince by it you have Preached to them and their Childrens children, and to all our Engliſh Pariſhes for ever: For; certainly, many ages hence when they ſhall be made good, or confirmed in goedneſs, by ſtudying your Father, they ſhall account theſe times Primitive, in which he Preached; and you will then, if not now, be in danger to loſe your propriety in him, he will be called a Father of the Church.
Sir, Though this Book, with his former Printed Sermons be a great Stock to the Church, from one man, yet if you ſhall pleaſe to perform the truſt of a good Executor, there is, I preſume, a great remainder of his Legacy, which, when you have taken breath, we muſt call you to account for, in a Court of Equity; though you may think this will abundantly ſatisfie, yet believe it, Sir, it will but increaſe our appetite: We ſhall give you time, Sir, but no general releaſe, yet his God and yours aſsiſt you, to whoſe bleſsing I commend you, and am Sir
Your very Friend in Chriſt Jeſus Jo. Peterborough. Peterborough, July 20. 1640.