XXVI sermons. The third volume preached by that learned and reverend divine John Donne ...

A Lent-SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL, February 12. 1618. SERMON II.* 1.1 (Book 2)

Ezek. 33.32.

And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely Song, of one that hath a pleasant voyce, and can play well on an Instrument; for they hear thy words, but they doe them not.

AS there lies alwayes upon Gods Minister, a vae si non, Wo be unto me, if I preach not the Gospel, if I apply not the comfortable promises of the Gospel, to all that grone under the burden of their sins; so there is Onus visionis, (which we finde mentioned in the Prophets) it was a pain, a burden to them, to be put to the denunciation of Gods heavy judgements upon the people: but yet those judgements, they must denounce, as well as propose those mercies: wo be unto us, if we bind not up the broken hearted; but wo be unto us too, if we break not that heart that is stubborn: wo be unto us, if we settle not, e∣stablish not the timorous and trembling, the scattered, and fluid, and distracted soul, that cannot yet attain, intirely and intensely, and confidently and constantly, to fix it self upon the Merits and Mercies of Christ Jesus; but wo be unto us much more, if we do not shake, and shiver, and throw down the refractory and re∣bellious soul, whose incredulity will not admit the History, and whose security in presumptuous sins will not admit the working and application of those Merits and Mercies which are proposed to him. To this purpose, therefore, God makes his Ministers speculatores; I have set thee for their watchman, saies God to this Prophet; that so they might see and discern the highest sins of the highest persons, in the highest places: they are not onely to look

down towards the streets, & lanes, and alleys, and cellears, and re∣prehend the abuses and excesses of persons of lower quality there; all their service lies not below staires, nor onely to look into the chamber, and reprehend the wantonnesses and licentiousnesse of both sexes there; nor onely unto the house top and tarras, and reprehend the ambitious machinations and practises to get thither; but still they are speculatores, men placed upon a watch-tower, to look higher then all this, to look upon sins of a high∣er nature then these, to note and reprehend those sins, which are done so much more immediately towards God, as they are done upon colour and pretence of Religion: and upon that station, up∣on the Execution of that Commission, is our Prophet in this Text, Thou art unto them a very lovely song, &c. for they shall heare thy words, but they do them not. Through this whole chapter, he pre∣sents matter of that nature, either of too confident, or too diffi∣dent a behaviour towards God. In the tenth verse, he reprehends their diffidence and distrust in God: This they say (sayes the Prophet) If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we live? How should you live? sayes the Pro∣phet: thus you should live, by hearing what the Lord of Life hath said, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. In the 25 verse he reprehends their confidence; they say, Abraham was one, and he inherited this land; we are many, this land is given us for our inheritance: but say unto them, sayes God to the Prophet there, You lift up your eyes to Idols, and you shed blood, and shall you possess the land? Ye defile one anothers wife, and ye stand upon the sword, and shall ye possess the land? We were but one, and are many; 'tis true: God hath testified his love, in multi∣plying Inhabitants, and in uniting Kingdomes; but if there be a lifting up of eyes towards Idols, a declination towards an Ido∣latrous Religion; if there be a defiling of one anothers wife, and then standing upon the sword, that it must be matter of displea∣sure, or of quarrel, if one will not betray his wife, or sister, to the lust of the greatest person; shall we possess the land? shall we have a continuance of Gods blessing upon us? we shall not. And as he thus represents their over-confident behaviour towards God; God is bound by his promise, and therefore we may be se∣cure: And their over-diffident behaviour; God hath begun to shew his anger upon us, & therefore there is no recovery: he re∣prehends also that distemper, which ordinarily accompanies this behaviour towards God, that is, an Expostulation, and a Di∣sputing with God, and a censuring of his actions: in the 20 ver. they come to say, The way of the Lord is not equal; that is, we know not how to deal with him, we know not where to find him; he promises Mercies, and layes Afflictions upon us; he threa∣tens judgements upon the wicked, and yet the wicked prosper

most of all; The ways of the Lord are equal. But, to this also God says by the Prophet, I will judge every one of you after his own ways. The ways of the Lord are unsearchable; look ye to your own ways, for accord∣ing to them, shall God judge you. And then after these several re∣prehensions, this watchman raises himself to the highest pinacle of all, to discover the greatest sin of all, treason within doors, con∣temning of God in his own house, and in his presence; that is, a coming to Church to hear the word of God preached, a pre∣tence of cheerfulness and alacrity, in the outward service of God, yea a true sense and feeling of a delight in hearing of the word; and yet for all this, an unprofitable barrenness, and (upon the whole matter) a despiteful and a contumelious neglecting of Gods purpose and intention, in his Ordinance: for, Our voice is unto them but as a song to an instrument; they hear our words, but they do them not.

Though then some Expositors take these words to be an incre∣pation upon the people, that they esteemed Gods ablest Ministers, indued with the best parts, to be but as musique, as a jest, as a song, as an entertainment; that they under-valued and dis∣esteemed the whole service of God in the function of the Mini∣stery, and thought it either nothing, or but matter of State and Government, as a civil ordinance for civil order, and no more: yet I take this increpation to reach to a sin of another nature; that the people should attribute reverence enough, attention enough, credit enough to the preacher, and to his preachings, but yet when all that is done, nothing is done: they should hear wil∣lingly, but they do nothing of that which they had heard.

First then, God for his own glory promises here,* 1.2 that his Pro∣phet, his Minister shall be Tuba, as is said in the beginning of this Chapter, a Trumpet, to awaken with terror. But then, he shall become Carmen musicum, a musical and harmonious char∣mer, to settle and compose the soul again in a reposed confidence, and in a delight in God: he shall be musicum carmen, musick, har∣mony to the soul in his matter; he shall preach harmonious peace to the conscience: and he shall be musicum carmen, musick and harmony in his manner; he shall not present the messages of God rudely, barbarously, extemporally; but with such medita∣tion and preparation as appertains to so great an imployment, from such a King as God, to such a State as his Church: so he shall be musicum carmen, musicke, harmony, in re & modo, in mat∣ter and in manner: And then musicum so much farther (as the text adds) as that he shall have a pleasant voice, that is, to preach first sincerely (for a preaching to serve turns and humors, cannot, at least should not please any) but then it is to preach accep∣tably, seasonably, with a spiritual delight, to a discreet and recti∣fied congregation, that by the way of such a holy delight, they may receive the more profit. And then he shall play well on an

instrument; which we do not take here to be the working upon the understanding and affections of the Auditory, that the con∣gregation shall be his instrument; but as S. Basil says, Corpus ho∣minis, Organum Dei, when the person acts that which the song says; when the words become works, this is a song to an instru∣ment: for, as S. August. pursues the same purpose, Psallere est ex preceptis Dei agere; to sing, and to sing to an instrument, is to per∣form that holy duty in action, which we speak of in discourse: And God shall send his people preachers furnished with all these abilities, to be Tubae, Trumpets to awaken them; and then to be carmen musicum, to sing Gods mercies in their ears, in reverent, but yet in a diligent, and thereby a delightful manner; and so to be musick in their preaching, and musick in their example, in a holy conversation: Eris, says God to this prophet, such a one thou shalt be, thou shalt be such a one in thy self; and then eris illis, thou shalt be so to them, to the people: To them thou shalt be Tuba, a Trumpet, Thy preaching shall awaken them, and so bring them to some sence of their sins: To them thou shalt be carmen musicum, musick and harmony; both in re, in thy mat∣ter, they shall conceive an apprehension or an offer of Gods mer∣cy through thee; and in modo, in the manner; they shall confess, that thy labors work upon them, and move them, and affect them, and that that unpremeditated, and drowsie, and cold manner of preaching, agrees not with the dignity of Gods service: they shall acknowledge (says God to this Prophet) thy pleasant voice; confesse thy doctrine to be good, and confesse thy playing up∣on an Instrument, acknowledge thy life to be good too; for, in testimony of all this, Audient (saies the text) They shall hear this. Now, every one that might come, does not so; businesses, nay less then businesses, vanities, keep many from hence; less then vani∣ties, nothing; many, that have nothing to do, yet are not here: All are not come that might come; nor are all that are here, come hither; penalty of law, observation of absences, invitation of company, affection to a particular preacher, collateral respects, draw men; and they that are drawn so, do not come; neither do all that are come, hear; they sleep, or they talk: but Audient, says our text, They shall be here, they shall come, they shall hear; they shall press to hear: every one that would come, if he might sit at ease, will not be troubled for a Sermon: but our case is bet∣ter, Audient, they shall rise earlier then their fellows, come hi∣ther sooner, indure more pains, hearken more diligently, and conceive more delight then their fellows: Audient, they will hear: but then, after all (which is the height of the malediction, or in∣crepation, Non facient, they will not do it; Non facient quae dixeris, They will do nothing of that which thou hast said to them; nay, non facient quae dixerunt, they will do nothing of that, which du∣ring the time of the Sermons, they had said to their own souls,

they would do; so little hold shall Gods best means, and by his best instruments, take of them; They shall hear thy words, and shall not do them.

These then are our parts that make up this increpation: First, the Prophet shall do his part fully: Secondly, the people shall do some of theirs: But then lastly, they shall fail in the principal, and so make all uneffectual. First, God will send them Prophets that shall be Tubae, Trumpets; and not onely that, but specula∣tores; not onely Trumpets which sound according to the measure of breath that is blown into them, but they themselves are the watchmen that are to sound them: not Trumpets to sound out what airs the occasion of the present time, or what airs the affecti∣ons of great persons infuse into them; for so they are only Trum∣pets, and not Trumpetors; but God hath made them both: And, as in civil matters, Angusta innocentia est, ad legem bonum esse,* 1.3 That's but a narrow, but a faint honesty, to be no honester then a man must needs be, no honester then the law, or then his bodily sickness constrains him to be; so are these Trumpets short-wind∣ed Trumpets, if they sound no oftner then the Canons enjoyn them to sound; for, they must preach in season and out of season: If the Canonical season be but once a month, the preaching be∣tween, is not so unseasonable, but that it is within the Apostles precept too. If that be done, if the watchman sound the Trum∣pet, says the beginning of this Chapter (when you see it is the watchman himself that sounds, and not another to sound him; he is neither to be an instrument of others, nor is he to sound al∣ways by others, and spare his own breath) but if the watchman do duly sound, then there is an Euge bone serve, belongs to him; Well done good and faithful servant, enter into thy Masters joy: And if he be not heard, or be not followed, then there is a vae Betsaida, a wo belonging to that City, and to that house; for, if those works had been done in Sodom, if all this preaching had been at Rome, Rome would have repented in sackcloth and ashes.* 1.4 I set watchmen over you, says God in another Prophet, Et dixi, Audite, I said unto you, Hearken to them: so far God addresses himself to them, speaks personally to them, super vos, and Audite vos; I sent to you, and hear you: but when they would not hear, then he changes the person, Et dixerunt, says that text, And they said, We will not hear: after this stubbornness, God does not so much as speak to them: it is not Dixistis, you said it; God will have no more to do with them; but it is Dixerunt, they said it; God speaks of them as of strangers. But this is not altogether the case in our text: God shall send Prophets, Trumpets, and Trumpetors, that is, preachers of his word, and not the word of men; and they shall be heard willingly too; for as they are Tubae, Trumpets, so they shall be musicum carmen, acceptable musick to them that hear them.

They shall be so, first In re, in their matter, in the doctrine which they preach.* 1.5 The same trumpets that sound the alarm (that is, that awakens us from our security) and that sounds the Battail (that is, that puts us into a colluctation with our selves, with this world, with powers and principalities, yea into a wra∣stling with God himself and his Justice) the same trumpet sounds the Parle too, calls us to hearken to God in his word, and to speak to God in our prayers, and so to come to treaties and capi∣tulations for peace; and the same trumpet sounds a retreat too, that is, a safe reposing of our souls in the merit, and in the wounds of our Saviour Christ Jesus. And in this voice they are musicum carmen, a love-song (as the text speaks) in proposing the love of God to man, wherein he loved him so, as that he gave his onely begotten Son for him. God made this whole world in such an uniformity, such a correspondency, such a concinnity of parts, as that it was an Instrument, perfectly in tune: we may say, the trebles, the highest strings were disordered first; the best under∣standings, Angels and Men, put this instrument out of tune. God rectified all again, by putting in a new string, semen mulieris, the seed of the woman, the Messias: And onely by sounding that string in your ears, become we musicum carmen, true musick, true harmony, true peace to you. If we shall say, that Gods first string in this instrument, was Reprobation, that Gods first inten∣tion, was, for his glory to damn man; and that then he put in a∣nother string, of creating Man, that so he might have some body to damn; and then another of enforcing him to sin, that so he might have a just cause to damne him; and then another, of dis∣abling him to lay hold upon any means of recovery: there's no musick in all this, no harmony, no peace in such preaching. But if we take this instrument, when Gods hand tun'd it the second time, in the promise of a Messias, and offer of the love & mercy of God to all that will receive it in him; then we are truely musicum carmen, as a love-song, when we present the love of God to you, and raise you to the love of God in Christ Jesus: for, for the mu∣sick of the Sphears, whatsoever it be, we cannot hear it; for the de∣crees of God in heaven, we cannot say we have seen them; our musick is onely that salvation which is declared in the Gospel to all them, and to them onely, who take God by the right hand, as he delivers himself in Christ.

So they shall be musick in re, in their matter, in their doctrine; and they shall be also in modo,* 1.6 in their manner of presenting that doctrine. Religion is a serious thing, but not a sullen; Religi∣ous preaching is a grave exercise, but not a sordid, not a barba∣rous, not a negligent. There are not so eloquent books in the world, as the Scriptures: Accept those names of Tropes and Figures, which the Grammarians and Rhetoricians put upon us,

and we may be bold to say, that in all their Authors, Greek and Latin, we cannot finde so high, and so lively examples, of those Tropes, and those Figures, as we may in the Scriptures: what∣soever hath justly delighted any man in any mans writings, is ex∣ceeded in the Scriptures. The style of the Scriptures is a diligent, and an artificial style; and a great part thereof in a musical, in a metrical, in a measured composition, in verse. The greatest my∣stery of our Religion, indeed the whole body of our Religion, the coming, and the Kingdome of a Messias, of a Saviour, of Christ, is conveyed in a Song, in the third chapt. of Habakkuk: and therefore the Jews say, that that Song cannot yet be under∣stood, because they say the Messiah is not yet come. His greatest work, when he was come, which was his union and marriage with the Church, and with our souls, he hath also delivered in a piece of a curious frame, Solomons Song of Songs. And so likewise, long before, when God had given all the Law, he provided, as him∣self sayes, a safer way, which was to give them a heavenly Song of his owne making: for that Song, he sayes there, he was sure they would remember.* 1.7 So the Holy Ghost hath spoken in those Instruments, whom he chose for the penning of the Scriptures, and so he would in those whom he sends for the preaching there∣of: he would put in them a care of delivering God messages, with consideration, with meditation, with preparation; and not barbarously, not suddenly, not occasionally, not extemporarily, which might derogate from the dignity of so great a service. That Ambassadour should open himself to a shrewd danger and sur∣prisall, that should defer the thinking upon his Oration, till the Prince, to whom he was sent, were reading his letters of Credit: And it is a late time of meditation for a Sermon, when the Psalm is singing. Loquere Domine, sayes the Prophet; speak, O Lord: But it was when he was able to say, Ecce paratus, Behold I am pre∣pared for thee to speak in me: If God shall be believed, to speak in us, in our ordinary Ministry, it must be, when we have, so as we can, fitted our selves, for his presence. To end this, then are we Musicum carmen in modo, musick to the soul, in the manner of our preaching, when in delivering points of Divinity, we content our selves with that language, and that phrase of speech, which the Holy Ghost hath expressed himself in, in the Scriptures: for to delight in the new and bold termes of Hereticks, furthers the Doctrine of Hereticks too. And then also, are we Musicum car∣men, when, according to the example of men inspired by the Holy Ghost, in writing the Scriptures, we deliver the messages of God, with such diligence, and such preparation, as appertains to the dignity of that employment.

Now these two, to be Musick both these wayes,* 1.8 in matter and in manner, concur and meet in the next, which is, to have a plea∣sant

voyce: Thou art a lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voyce. First, A Voyce they must have, they must be heard: if they si∣lence themselves, by their ignorance, or by their laziness; if they occasion themselves to be silenced, by their contempt and contu∣macy, both wayes they are inexcusable; for a voyce is essentiall to them, that denominates them: John Baptist hath other great names; even the name of Baptist, is a great name, when we con∣sider whom he baptized; him, who baptized the Baptist him∣self, and all us, in his own blood. So is his name of Preacher, the fore-runner of Christ (for in that name he came before him, who was before the world;) so is his Propheta, that he was a Prophet, and then, more then a Prophet; and then, the greatest among the sons of women; these were great names, but yet the name that he chose, is Vox clamantis, The voyce of him that cryes in the wilder∣ness. What names and titles soever we receive in the School, or in the Church, or in the State; if we lose our voice, we lose our proper name, our Christian name. But then, John Baptists name is not A voyce, Any voyce, but The voyce: in the Prophesie of Esay, in all the four Evangelists, constantly, The voyce. Christ is verbum, The word; not A word, but The word: the Minister is Vox, voyce; not A voyce, but The voyce, the voyce of that word, and no other; and so, he is a pleasing voyce, because he pleases him that sent him, in a faithfull executing of his Commission, and speaking according to his dictate; and pleasing to them to whom he is sent, by bringing the Gospel of Peace and Reparation to all wounded, and scattered, and contrite Spirits.

* 1.9They shall be Musick both wayes, in matter, and in manner; and pleasing both wayes, to God, and to men: but yet to none of these, except the Musick be perfect, except it be to an Instrument, that is, as we said at first, out of S. Basil, and S. Augustine, except the Doctrine be express'd in the life too: Who will believe me when I speak, if by my life they see I do not believe my self? how shall I be believed to speak heartily against Ambi∣tion and Bribery in temporall and civil places, if one in the Congregation be able to jogge him that sits next him, and tell him, That man offered me money for spirituall prefer∣ment? To what a dangerous scorn shall I open my selfe, and the service of God, if I shall declaime against Usury, and look him in the face that hath my money at use? One such witness in the Congregation, shall out-preach the Preacher: and God shall use his tongue (perchance his malice) to make the service of that Preacher uneffectual. Quam speciosi pedes Evangelicantium! sayes S. Paul,* 1.10 (and he sayes that out of Esay, and out of Nahum too, as though the Holy Ghost had delighted himself with that phrase in expressing it) How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel! Men look most to our feet, to our wayes: the pow∣er

that makes men admire, may lie in our tongues; but the beau∣ty that makes men love, lies in our feet, in our actions. And so we have done with all the pieces that constitute our first part: God, in his promise to that Nation, prophesied upon us, that which he hath abundantly performed, a Ministry, that should first be Trumpets, and then Musick: Musick, in fitting a reverent manner, to religious matter; and Musick, in fitting an instrument to the voyce, that is, their Lives to their Doctrine. Eris, said God here, to this Prophet, All this thou shalt be: and that leads us into our second part.

Now, in this second part, there is more; for it is not onely Eris,* 1.11 thou shalt be so in thy self, and as thou art employed by me; but Eris illis, thou shalt be so unto them, they shall receive thee for such, acknowledge thee to be such: God provides a great mea∣sure of ability in the Prophet, and some measure of good inclina∣tion in the people. Eris illis Tuba, thou shalt be to them, they shall feel thee to be a Trumpet: they shall not say in their hearts, There is no God; they shall not say, Tush, the Lord sees us not, or he is a blind, or an indifferent God, or, the Lord is like one of us, he loves peace, and will be at quiet; but they shall acknowledge, that he is Dominus Exercituum, the Lord of Hosts, and that the Prophet is his Trumpet, to raise them up to a spiritual battel. Eris illis Tuba, thou shalt be to them a Trumpet, they shall not be se∣cure in their sins; and Eris illis carmen musicum, by thy preaching they shall come to confess, That God is a God of harmony, and not of discord; of order, and not of confusion; and that, as he made, so he go∣verns all things, in weight, and number, and measure; that he hath a Succession, and a Hierarchy in his Church; that it is a house∣hold of the Faithfull, and a Kingdome of Saints, and therefore re∣gularly governed, and by order, and that in this government no man can give himself Orders, no man can baptize himselfe, nor give himself the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, nor preach to himself, nor absolve himself; and therefore they shall come to thee, whom they shall confess to be appointed by God, to convey these graces unto them: Eris illis carmen musicum: from thee they shall accept that musick, the orderly application of Gods mer∣cies, by visible and outward meanes in thy Ministry in the Church. Eris illis vox suavis, they shall confess thou preachest true Doctrine, and appliest it powerfully to their consciences; and Eris illis vox ad Citharam, thou shalt be a voyce to an Instru∣ment; they shall acknowledge thy life to be agreeable to thy Do∣ctrine; they shall quarrel thee, challenge thee in neither, not in Doctrine, not in Manners.

Such as God appoints thee to be, Eris, thou shalt be; and Eris illis, they shall respect thee as such, and reward thee as such: and they shall express that, in that which followes, Audient,* 1.12 they shall

hear thy word. The worldly man, though it trouble him to hear thee, though it put thorns and brambles into his conscience, yet though it be but to beget an opinion of holiness in others, Audiet, he will hear thee. The fashionall man, that will do as he sees great men do, if their devotion, or their curiosity, or their service and attendance, draw him hither, Audiet, he will come with them, and he will hear. He that is disaffected in his heart, to the Do∣ctrine of our Church, rather then incur penalties of Statutes and Canons, Audiet, he will come, and hear: yea, there is more then that, intended, Audient, they shall hear willingly; and more then that too, Audient, they shall hear cheerfully, desirously. Here is none of that action which was in S. Stephens persecutors,* 1.13 Continue∣runt aures, they withheld their eares, they withdrew themselves from hearing, they kept themselves out of distance; here is no such Recusancy intended;* 1.14 neither is there any of their actions, Qui obturant aures, as the Psalmist sayes, the Serpent does, who (as the Fathers note often) stops one ear with laying it close to the ground, and the other with covering it with his tail: here is none of their action,* 1.15 Qui in durant, nor qui declinant; none that tur∣neth away his ear (for even his prayer shall be an abomination, sayes Solomon; his very being here is a sin) here, in our case, in our Text, is none of these indispositions; but here is a ready, a willing, and (in appearance) a religious coming to hear: Expe∣ctation, Acceptation, Acclamation, Congratulation, Remune∣ration, in a fair proportion; we complain of no want in any of these now. Sumus, God hath authoriz'd us, and God hath exalted us, in some measure, to deliver his messages; and Sumus vobis, you do not deny us to be such; you do not refuse, but you receive us, and his messages by us; you do hear our words. And that's all that belonged to our second part.

* 1.16Now in both these former parts, who can discern, who would suspect any foundation to be laid for an Increpation,* 1.17 any prepa∣ration for a Malediction or Curse? God will send good Prea∣chers to the people, and the people shall love their preaching; and yet,* 1.18 as he said to Samuel, he will do a thing, at which, both the ears of him that hears it shall tingle. Now, what is that in our case? This; he will aggravate their condemnation, therefore, because they have been so diligent herein, Et non fecerunt, they have done nothing of that which they have heard. As our very Repentance contracts the nature of sin, if we persevere not in that holy purpose; but, as though we had then made even with God, sin on again upon a new score: so this hearing it self is a sin, that is, such an aggravating circumstance, as changes the very nature of the sin, to them that hear so much, and doe nothing. This is not a preparation of that curse in Ezekiel;* 1.19 whether they will hear or forbear, yet they shall know, that a Prophet hath

been among them; that is, heare, or heare not, subsequent judgements shall bring them to see, that they might have heard: but here God accompanies them with a stronger grace, then so; Audient, they will hear.* 1.20 There are Vipers in the Psalm that will not hear, how wisely soever the charmers charm;* 1.21 But there is a Generation of Vipers which do hear, and yet depart with none of their viperous nature: O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come! sayes John Baptist, there to the Pharisees and Sadduces, that came to his baptism. They had apprehended Tubam, a warning, and they did come; but when they were come, he found them in their Non faciunt, without any purpose of bring∣ing forth fruits worthy of repentance.* 1.22

Here then is S. Paul's Judaeus in abscondito, a Jew inwardly.* 1.23 Here is the true Recusant, and the true Non-conformitan; Au∣diunt, sed non faciunt: he comes to hear, but never comes to doe; there's Recusancy: he confesses that he hath received good instru∣ction, but he refufes to conform himself unto it; there's Non-con∣formity. First, Non facient quae dixeris, they will not doe those things which thou hast said; and yet, that's strange, since they confess thou saist true: but yet that's not so strange; for they may be Duri sermones; though it be true that we say, it may be hard, and it may trouble them, and perchance damnifie them in their Profit, or mortifie them in their Pleasures. It may be we may say, that thy relapsing into a sin formerly repented, submits thee again to all the punishment due to the former sin; and that's Du∣rus sermo, a hard saying: It may be we may say, that a repentance which hath all other formall parts of a true repentance, if it reach not to all the branches, and to all the specifying differ∣ences and circumstance of thy sins, so far as a diligent examina∣tion of thy conscience can carry thee, is a voyd repentance; and that's Durus sermo, a hard saying. It may be we may say, That though thou hast truly & intirely repented, though thou do leave the practice of the sin, yet if thou doe not also leave that which thou hast corruptly got by the wayes of that sin, the sin it selfe lies upon thee still; and that's Durus sermo, a hard saying: And Christs own Disciples forsook him, and forsook him for ever,* 1.24 Quia durus sermo, because that which Christ said, seemed to them a hard saying. This we may say; and they may come to hear, and come to say we say true, and yet Non facient quae dixeris, never do any of that which we say, Quia duri sermones, because we presse things hardly upon them.

But yet that's not so strange, as Non facere quae dixerint,* 1.25 not to do those things which they have said themselves. That when, as the Apostle sayes of the Corinthians, Vos estis, you are our Epistle, not written with ink, but with the spirit of the living God: so a man, by hearing, is become Evangelium sibi, a Gospel to himself;

and by the preaching of the Gospel,* 1.26 is come to say, Non amplius, I will go, and sin no more, left a worse thing fall unto me: yet he goes and sins again, fall what will, or can fall; and Non facit quae dixerit, he does not perform his own promise to himself. He is af∣fected with some particular passage in a Sermon, and then he comes to David's Secundum innocentiam; O Lord, deale with me accor∣ding to my future innocence; shew thy mercy to me, as I keep my selfe from that sin hereafter;* 1.27 and then, abominantur eum vestimenta ejus, his old clothes defile him again, his old rags cast vermin upon him, his old habits of sin threw new dirt upon him. He goes out of the Church as that mans son went from his father, who sent him to work in the Vineyard,* 1.28 with that word in his mouth, Eo Domine, Sir, I go; but he never went, he turns another way, Non facit quae dixerat, he keeps not his own word, with his own soul: when he is gone out of his right way, a Sickness, a Disgrace, a Loss, over∣takes him, the arrowes of the Almighty stick in him, and the ve∣nome thereof drinks up his spirit; temporal afflictions, and spi∣rituall afflictions meet in him, like two clouds, and beat out a thunder upon him, like two currents, and swallow him like two milstones, and grinde him, and then he comes to his Domine quid retribuam? Lord, what shall I give thee, to deliver me now? & non fa∣cit quae dixerat, he payes none of those vowes, performes no part of that which he promised then. Christ had his Consummatum est, and this sinner hath his: Christ ends his passion, and he ends his action; Christ ends his affliction, and he ends his affection: Distulit securim, attulit securitatem, sayes S. Augustine of this case; as soon as the Danger is removed, his Devotion is removed too. The end of all is, that what punishment soever God reserves for them, who never heard of the Name of his Son Christ Jesus at all, or for them who have pretended to receive him, but have done it Idolatrously, superstitiously; we that have heard him, we that have had the Scriptures preached and applied to us sincere∣ly, shall certainly have the heavier condemnation, for having had that which they wanted: Our multiplicity of Preachers, and their assiduity in preaching; our true interpretation of their labours, when we doe heare, and our diligent coming, that we may hear, shall leave us in worse state then they found us, si non fecerimus, If we doe not doe that which we heare. And to doe the Gospel, is to doe what we can for the preservation of the Gospel. I know what I can do, as a Minister of the Gospel, and of Gods Word; out of his Word I can preach against Linsey-woolsey garments; out of his Word I can preach against plowing with an Oxe, and with an Asse, against mingling of Religions. I know what I can do, as a Father, as a Master; I can preserve my Family from attempts of Jesuits. Those that are of higher place, Magistrates, know what they can do too: They know they can execute lawes;

if not to the taking of Life, yet to the restraining of Liberty:* 1.29 And it is no seditious saying, it is no saucinesse, it is no bit∣ternesse, it is no boldnesse, to say, that the spirituall death of those soules, who perish by the practise of those seducers, whom they might have stopp'd, lies upon them. And how knowes he, who lets a Jesuit scape, whether he let go but a Fox, that will deceive some simple soule in matter of Religion; or a Wolfe, who, but the protection of the Almighty, would adventure up∣on the person of the highest of all? Non facient quae dixeris, is as far as the Text goes; they will not do that we say: but Quae di∣xerint, is more; they will not do that which themselves have said: But, Quae juraverint, is most of all; If they will not do that, which for the preservation of the Gospel, they have taken an Oath to do, The Increpation, the Malediction, intended by God, in this Text, that all our preaching, and all our hearing shall aggravate our condemnation, will fall upon us: And therefore, this being the season, in which, especially, God affords you the performance of that part of this Prophecy, assiduous, and laborious, and acce∣ptable, and usefull preaching; where all you, of all sorts, are likely to hear the Duties of Administration towards others, and of Mortification in your selves, powerfully represented unto you, this may have been somewhat necessarily said by me now, for the removing of some stones out of their way, and the chafing of that wax, in which they may thereby make the deeper and clearer impressions; that so, we may not onely be to you, as a love∣ly song, sung to an Instrument; nor you onely heare our words, but doe them.

AMEN.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Serm. 2.
• * 1.2

  Divisio.
• * 1.3

  Seneca.
• * 1.4

  Jer. 6.17.
• * 1.5

  In Re.
• * 1.6

  In modo.
• * 1.7

  Deut. 31.
• * 1.8

  Vox suavis.
• * 1.9

  Instrumentum.
• * 1.10

  Rom. 10.
• * 1.11

  Part. II. Eris illis.
• * 1.12

  Audient.
• * 1.13

  Act. 7.57.
• * 1.14

  Psal. 58.
• * 1.15

  Jer. 7.26. Prov. 28.9.
• * 1.16

  Part III.
• * 1.17

  Non facient.
• * 1.18

  1 Sam. 3.11.
• * 1.19

  2.5.
• * 1.20

  58.
• * 1.21

  Mat. 3.7.
• * 1.22

  Ver. 8.
• * 1.23

  Quae dixeris. Rom. 2.29.
• * 1.24

  John 6.60.
• * 1.25

  Qud dixerint.
• * 1.26

  Serm. 3.
• * 1.27

  Job 9.31.
• * 1.28

  Matth. 21.28.
• * 1.29

  Serm. 2.