OESJD II.9; on John 11.35
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John 11.35 Ihesus wept:
Preached at Whitehall, first Friday in Lent: 1622
I am nowe but vpon ye Compassion of Christ There is as much difference betweene his Compassion and his passion as much as betweene the men yt are to handle them heere But Lachryma passionis Christi est vicaria A greate personage may speake of his passion, of his bloud, My vicaredge is to speake of his Compassion and his teares, Let mee chafe ye wax and melt yo
The Masorites (the Masorites are the Critiques vpone ye hebrewe bible, ye ould testament) Cannot tell vs, who Devided ye Chapteh then to consider how and where, and when, and Whie Iesus wept; There is not a shorter verse in the bible, nor 1 Thes: 5.16. a larger text. There is a nother as shotre; Semper gaudete reioyce euermore, and of that holy Ioye I may haue leaue to speake heere heareafter more seasonably in a more festiuall
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tyme, by my ordynarie service. This is ye season of generall Compunction, of generall Mortification, and noe man priuiledgd, for Iesus wept
Diuisio In that letter wchLentulus is said to haue Written to ye Senat of Rome in which hee giues some CharacteSt but there is an Apostle yt tells vs of his third teares Heb: 5: 7St Paule saies That in ye daies of his flesh hee offred vpp praies with stronge Cries, and teares, And those teares exposito.royed The third in Contemplation of Spirent
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Synne and ye everlastinge punishment Due to sinne, and to such sinnethesthisthis text as are a spring a wellwelbeebeelonging to one houshould, the Sisters of Lazarus: the teares ouer Ierusalem, are as a riuer belonginge to a whole Countrie, the teares vppon ye Crosse, are as the Sea belonginge to all the world, and though literally there fall noe more into o
First p
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Syn, and whilst in ye house, In ye house of God, my Church in a glad obedience to gods ordinances and institutions there, for the repairation and resuscitation of Dead soules; the worke is not soe hard, in his second yeere Christ raisd the Luc: 7:15: widowes sonne; and him hee found without ready to bee buried; In a man growne Could and stiffe in sinn impenitrable, inflexible by Denouncinge the Iudgmente of God, all most buried in a stupiditie, and insensibleness of his beeinge Dead, there is more difficulty. But in his third yeare Christ raisd this Lazarus hee had been longe Dead & buried, and in probabilitie putridfied after fower Dayes This miracle Christ ment to haue make a pregna.nt proofe of the resurection, wch was his principall intention therein. for ye greatest arguments against ye resurrection, beeinge for ye most pof body putrified, And truly in o
[catchword(s): and this]
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this serpent is all one pMu physick to Cure him: To raise a man resolud into Div
Non Inordinate Hee wept as man Doth weepe & hee wept as a man maie
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weepe for these teares weare Testes naturae non Iudi Bernar Iudices diffidentiæ theie declared him to true man, but noe distrustfull, noe inordinate man, In Job there is a 10: 4 question asked of god, hast thou eyes of flesh, and Dost thou see, as man sees; let this question bee Directed to God manifested in Christ; and Christ will weepe out an answere to yt question I haue eyes of flesh and I doe weepe as man weepes, not as sinfull man weepes, not as man yt had let fall his bridle, by wch he should turne his horse. Not as a man yt was cast from the rudder, by wch hee should steere his shipp. Not as a man that had lost his Intrest and power in his affections & passions. Christ wept not soe, Christ might goe further yt waie, then any other man; Christ might vngirt himselfe & giue more scope & libertie to his passions then any other man both because hee had noe Originall Sinne within, to Drive him, noe inordinate loue without to Drawe him when his affections weareare moou’d wch, all other men haue. God said to the Num: 11: 18. Iewes, that theie had wept in his eares; God had heard them weepe: but for what & howe, theie wept, for flesh, There was a tincture, there was a deepe Dye of Murmeringe in there teares, Christ goes as farr in the passion in his Agony and hee comes to a passionate Deprecacbase safe for any man to come soe neer an excesse of passions, as hee may finde some good men in the Scripture to haue Donne: That because he heares Moses saie to God Dele me Blot my
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name out of the booke of life, Therefore hee maie saie God damne mee or I renounce god. It is not safe for a man to expose himselfe to tentation because hee hath seene another passe throug it, euery Man maie knowe his owne Byas, and to what sinne that Diverts him. The beautie of the ptogether vpon there Gen: 46:12 owne bodyes. Her and Onan. Then when noe tentacon was offred; Nay when a remedy against tentation was ministred to them, Some man may bee Chaster in the stewes then another in the Church Some Man may synne more in his Dreames then another in his discourse, Euery man must know howe much water, his own vessel Drawes, and not to thinke to sayle ouer, whersoeuer hee hath seene another (hee knows not howe much labour shoue ouer, Noe nor to adventure soe farr, as hee may haue reason to bee Confident in his owne strength, for though hee maie bee safe in himselfe yet hee may synn in another, if by his indiscreete and improuident example another bee scandaliz’d. Christ was allwaies safe, hee was ledd of the Spirrit; of what Mat. 4 1 Spirrit, his owne spirit, led willingly in the spirrit wildernes, to bee tempted of the Divell Noe other man may Doe that, but hee that was able to say to the Sunn Siste sol, was able to say to Sathan Siste Lucifer Christ in another place gaue such scope to his affecc
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stir’d, But as in a Cleane glasse, if water bee stirrd & troubled though it may conceiue a littell light yl froth, yet it Contracts noe foulenes, in that Cleane glasse, The affections of Christ weare mou’d but soe: in that holie vessel theie Could Contract noe foulenes noe declination towards inordinatnes, But then eu
Non Apa: thes Nowe though Christ weare farr from both, yet hee came neerer to an extremecesse of passion then to an indolency to a senselesnes, to a priuation of naturall affections, Inordinatenes of affections maie sometymes make some men like some beasts but indolency, absence; enp emptiness, priuation, of affections makes any man at all tymes like stones, like Dust. In Nouissim.is saith St Peter In the last, that is in the worst Dayes in the Dreggs and lees and tarter of Synn, then shall come men louers of themselues, and that is ill enough in Man, for that is an affection peculiar to god to loue himselfe, Non speciale vitiam sed radix omnium vitiorum saies the schoole in the mouth of Aquinas, selfe loue Cannot bee Called a distinct synn, but the roote of all synnes, It is true ytJustin Martir sayes, Philosophanti finis est deo assimulare The end of Christian philosphy is to bee wise like God, but not in this to loue our selfes, for ye greatest synn yt euer was, and that
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vpon which euen the bloud of Christ Ihesus hath not wrought, the sinne of Angells was that, similis ero Altissimo, to bee like God to loue op vertues in any man wee ought to bee affec affected with the fall of such men, And hee extends them to Ciuill affections, the loue of friends, not to be moued in there behalfe, is argument enough yt wee doe not loue them much, For o
Lachrimæ To an inordinateness of affections it neuer came to a naturall tenderness it Did, and soe farr as to teares & then who
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needes bee ashamed of weeping? Looke awaie farr from mee for I will weepe bitterly saies Jerusalem, insaith Esai, But looke vpon mee saies Christ in the Lamentacth they weare teares of Imitation and wee maye wee must weepe tears like his teares, Theie scourged him they Cround him, they naild in him, they pircd him, and then bloud came, but hee shed teares voluntarily and without violence, The Blood came from there ill, but ye teares from his owne good nature, The bloud was Drawen the teares weare given. Wee call it a Childish thinge to weepe, and a womanish; and perchance wee meane worse in that then in the Childish, fore therein wee may meane falsehood to bee mingled with weakenes Christ made it an argument of his beeinge Man to weepe, for though the le lineaments of Mans body Eyes and eares hands & feete bee ascribed to God in ye scriptures; though the afecc
Hee wept out of a natruall tendernes in generall & hee wept nowe out of a perticuler occasion, what was ytQuia mortuus, because Lazarus was Deade wee stride ouer many stepps at once, ioyn.. many such Considerable Circumstances as these Lazarus his friend was Dead therfore hee wept. Lazarus the staffe and sustentac
[catchword(s): not the]
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the worse for Dyinge, that’s true and Capable of a good sense, because hee is established in a better world, but yet when hee is gonn out of this world, hee is none of vs, hee is noe longer a Man, The stronge opinion in the schoole is that Christ himselfe when hee lay Dead in the graue was noe Man though the Godhead neuer Departed from the ........ dead body. (There was noe Divorce of that Hipostaticall vnion) yet because the humaine soule was departed from it, Hee was noe Man: Hugo de S Victor, who thinkes otherwise, that Christ was a Man, then thinkes soe vpon a weake ground Hee thinkes that because the soule is the forme of man the soule is Man; and that therfore the souls remayning the Man remaynes But it is not the soule, but the vnion of the soule, that makes the Man, The Master of the sentences Peter Lombard that thinkes soe too, that Christ was then a man thinkes soe vpon as weake a ground: Hee thinkes that it is inough to Constitute a man, that there bee a soule & bodie though that soule & body, bee not vnited, but still it is the vnion that makes the Man, And therfore when hee is disvnited Dead, hee is none of vs, he is noe Man, and therfore wee weepe howe well soeuer hee bee. Abraham was lothe to let goe his wife though the King had her, A man hath a naturall lothnes to let goe his friend though god take him to him. St. Augustine saies that hee knewe well inough yt his Mother was in heauen, & St Ambrose that hee knewe well inough that his Master Theodosius the Emperour was in heauen, But because theie sawe not in what state theie weare, theie thought that somethinge might be asked at gods hands in there behalfe; and soe out of a pious and officiousness, in a deuotion p
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Doubt of there brothers saluation theie belieued his soule to bee in a good estate, And for his bodie theie tould Christ Lord wee knowe that hee shall rise at the last daie, And yet theie wept. Heere in this world, wee who staie, lack those wch are gone out of it, wee sh knowe they shall neuallould knowe one another, thinke piously, if they thinke wee shall for, as for the maintenance of publique peace states and Churches maie thinke Diuersly in pointthat that wee shall not till then is Dogmaticall and Certaine, Therefore wee p weep I knowe there are Philosophers yt will not let vs weepe nor lament the Death of any, and I knowe that in the Scriptures ther are rules and that there are Instructions Conveied in that example, that Dauid left mourning as soone as the Child was Dead, And I knowe that there are Authors of a middle nature aboue the Philosophers, and belowe the Scriptures, the Apocriphal bookes, and I knowe it said there Comfort thie selfe for thou shalt Doe him noe good that is Dead, et teipsum pessimabis (as the vulgat reades it) thou shalt make thie selfe worse and worse, in the worst degree, But yet all this is but of indorinate lamentacco Could Doe him noe more harme, when hee had vttered his In manuas tuas, hee had
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Deliuered and god had received his soule, yet howe did the whole frame of nature Mourne in Eclipses, and tremble in earthquakes, and Disolue and shed in pieces in the openinge of the Temple, Quia mortuus because hee was Dead, truly To see the hand of a greate and mightie Monarch, that hand that hath gouern’d the Ciuell swoord, the swoord of Iustice, at home and Drawne and sheath’d the forraine sword the sword of war abroad, to see that hand lie Dead, and not to be able to nipp or fillip awaie one of his owne wormes (and then Quis homo;what man thoughe hee bee one of those men, of whome god hath said, ye are gods, yet Quis homo what man is there that liues and shall not see Death?) To see the brayne of a greate & religious Counsailol braine produce nothinge but swarmes of wormes, and noe proclamation to disperse them, to see a reuerend Prelate that hath rested Heretiques and scismatiques all his life, fall like one of them by Death, and p
[catchword(s): the foole]
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foole, euen this miserable equallitie, of soe vnequall pof by soe soule a hand, is the subiect of this lamentation, euen Quia mortuus because Lazarus was Dead Jhesus wept
Hee wept euen in that respect Quia mortuus and hee wept in this respect too, Quia non adhibita media because those meanes which in appearance might haue saued his life by his Default weare not vsd For when hee came to the house one sister, Martha saies to him Lord if thou hadst beene heere, my brother had not died, and then the other sister Marie said soe to, Lord if thou hadst been heere my brother had not Dyed, they all Crie out that hee whoe onely, onlie might haue sau’d his life, would not come. Oedinge of there death faiths and to better aduancinge of god....... Miracle. But yet because those others weare able to saie to him yt was in yow to haue sau’d him, and hee did not, euen this, Quia non adhibita media, affected him & Ihesus wept
Etsi quatri duanus Hee wept Etsi Quatriduanus though theie said vnto him hee hath beene fower Daies Dead & stinkes, Christ Doth not saie there is noe such matter, hee Doth not stinke, but though hee Doe, my friend shall not lack my selfe, Good friends, vsefull friends though theie may Com
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Manie a sonne, many a good heire, findes an ill ayre from his father; his fathers life stinkes in the nostrils of all the world and hee heares euerie where exclamations vpon there fathers vsery, it and extortion and oppression: yet it becomes him by a better life, & by all other means to ratefie and redeeme rectifie his fathers fame: Quatriduanus est is noe plea for my Negligence in my family; To saie my sonne or my seruaunt hath pit is to preach in season where it is not acceptable, it is out of season, but yet wee must preach in season, and out of season to too, And when men are so refractary, as that theie forbeare to heare, or heare & resist o
Etsi suscitandus Hee wept etsi suscitandus though hee knewe that Lazarus weare to bee restor’d & raisd to life againe, for as hee ment to declare a greate good will to him at las last, soe hee would vtter some by the waie hee would doe a greate miracle for him as hee was a mightie God, But hee would weepe for him too, As hee was a good natur’d Man; truly it is no very Charitable
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Disposition, If I giue all at my Death to others, If I keepe all, all my life to my selfe; for howe many families haue wee seene shakt ruin’d by this distemper, that though the father meane to alien nothinge of the inheritance from the sonne at his death, yet because hee afford’s him not a Compitent maintenance in his life hee submits his sonne to an encumbringe of his fame with Ignominious shiftinge and an encumbringe of ye state with the irercouerable Debts, I may meane to feast t a Man plentifully at Christmas and that man may starue before in lent: greate pfor of there benefits. Ihesus would not giue this family, whome hee pretended loue occasion of Ielouzie of suspition that hee neclected them and therfore though hee came not presently to ye greate worke wch hee intended at last, yet hee left them not Comfortles by the waie Ihesus wept and soe (yt wee may reserue some minutes for the rest) wee end this p
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to bee god hee might appeare to bee man too: Hee wept not inordinatly; But hee came nearer excesse then Indollence Hee wept because hee was Dead; and because all meanes for life had not been vs’d, Hee wept though hee weare farr spent; and hee wept because hee ment to raise him againe
2 Part Wee passe nowe from his humaine to his propheticall teares from Jesus weepinge in Contemplation of a naturall Calamitie fallen vpon one family, Lazarus was Dead, to his weeping in Contemplation of a Nationall calamitie foreseene vpon a whole people, Jerusalem was to bee destroied, His former teares had some of the spirit of prophesie phesie in them; for therfore saies Epiphanius, Christ wept there because hee foresawe; howe little vse the Jews would make of that miracle, his humaine teares weare propheticall; and his propheticall teares are humaine teares too, they rise from good affections to that people, And therfore the same author saies, That because theie thought it an vncomely thinge for Christ to weepe for any temporall thinge, some men haue expunged & remou’d yt verse out of St Lukes gospel that Jesus when hee sawe yt cittie wept, bee but hee is willinge to bee p
Inter acclamationes Hee wept first, Inter Acclamationes, In the midst of ye Congratulac
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Lamentac
Inter Iudicia Iesus wept Inter acclamationes when all went well enough with him, To shewe the slipperiness of worldly happines, And then hee went Inter Iudicia, then when himself was in the Acte of denouncinge Iudgments vpon them Iesus wept To shewe what howe ill a will, hee inflicted those Idugments and that themselus & not hee had Drawen those Iudgments vpon them; Howe often doe yeProphets repeate that phrase Onus visionis O the burthen of the Iudgments that I haue seene of this & this people. It 16: 9 Was a burthen that pressed teares from the Prophet Esay I will water thee with my hart o Hishbon when hee must pronounce Iudgments vpon her, hee Could not but weepe ou
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of his mercy, it is likely hee was displeased within in the waie of his Iustice: If hee weepe for it hee had rather it weare not soe If then those Iudgments vpon Jerusalem weare onely from his owne primarie & possitiue & absolute decree without any respect to there sinnes Could hee be displeased with his own acte; or weepe & lament yt which onely himselfe had Donne? would God aske yt question of Israell Quare moriemiri Domus Israell, whie will ye Die o house of Israell, if god laie open to that answere wee die therfore, because ye haue kil’d vs Jerusalem would not Idug herselfe therfore Christ Iudged her Jerusalem would not weepe for herselfe & therfore Jesus wept: but in those teares of his hee showed that hee had rather her owne teares had auerted and washed awaie those Iudgments.
Cum Appropinquauit Hee wept Cum Appropinquauit saies the text there when Jesus came neere the Cittie & sawe it then he wept, Not till then if wee will not come neere the miseries of our brethren If wee will not see them, wee will neuer weepe ouer them, neuer bee affected towards them, it was Cum ille Non cum illi not Cum illi when Chrst himselfe, not when his disciples his followers who Could Doe Jerusalem noe good tooke knowledg of it; It was not Cum illi, nor it was not Cum illa, not when those Iudgments Drewe neere, It is not said to; Neith
[catchword(s): hee wept]
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[this folio is blank]
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That hee wept in their miseries because hee was not Autho
3. part To saile apace through his sea, These teares, the teares of his Crosse were expressed by that inestimable waight the sinnes of all the world If all the bodie were eye argues the Apostle in another place, why heare all the bodie was eye, eu
I am farr from Concludinge all to the impenitent that Doe not actuallie weepe, and shed teares, I knowe that there are Constitutions Complexions, that Doe afford them, And yet the worst Epithite, which the best Poet Could fix vpon Pluto himself was to Call him Illachrimabilius, a p
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to that tendernes to that melting to yt thawinge that resoluinge of the bouells which good so soules feele, This is a spunge: (I said before eu
I haue but three words to saie of these teares of this weeping What it is, What it is for What it Does, the nature the vse, the benefit of these teares is all, And in the first I forbere to insist vpon, St Basils metaphor Lachrimae sudor animi male asani, sinn is my sicknes, the bloud of Christ Jesus is my besar, teares is the sweat that that pv vbi est in tentationibus The weake estate yt man is in nowe in the midst of tentations where, if hee had noe more, himselfe weare tentation to.much, vbi est, And yet Considers farther vbi erit, in Gehenna The insupportable, and for all the Inevitable, The Irreparable and for all yt vndeterminable tormente of Hell vbi erit, And lastly vbi non erit in Caelis The vnexpressable Ioye & glorie wch hee looses in heauen. vbi non erit wheare hee shall neuer bee. Those 4 to Consider seriouslie Where Man was, where hee is, where hee shalbee, where hee shall neuer bee are fower such Riuers as Constitute a Parradice, And as a ground maie bee a weepinge groun
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Noe gatheringe of wat
Ad quid: As water is in ...... nature an indifferent thing It may giue life (so ye first livinge that were, were in the water) and it may Destroy life (soe all thingyce; Quoque volunt plorant tempore quoque modo. They make vse and advantage of their Teares and weepe when they will But of those who p weepe not when they would, but when they would not Doe halfe ymploy their teares vpon yt for wch god hath given them yt sacrifice, vpon sinne God made ye firmament wch hee called Heauen, after it had Devided ye waters. After wee haue distinguished o
[catchword(s): and when]
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(and yet St Aug: himselfe hath scarce said any thinge more pathetically) tanta rerum labe contrite, vt etiam speciem seductionis amiserit The face of ye whole world is soe defaced soe wrinkled, soe ruind, soe Deform’d, as yt Man might bee trusted with this world, and there is noe Ielousie noe suspisition that this world should bee able to minister any occasion of tentation to Man, speciem seductionis amisit, And yet Qui in seipso aruit in nobis floret saies St Gregorie, as wittily as St Augustine (as it is easie to bee witty, easy to extend an Epigram to a satire, and a satire to an Invectiue, in declayming against this world) That world wch findes it selfe truly is an Autumne in it selfe, findes it self in a springe, in olgus notes yt when Christ was tould of Lazarus hee said hee was glad when hee came to raise him to life then hee wept; for though his disciples gain’d by it they weare Confirmed by a miracle
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first for sinne Dauid wept for Absolon; hee might Imagine, yt hee Died in gan sinne hee wept not for the Child by Bersheba, hee could not suspect soe much Danger in him Psa: 119 136. Exitus aquarum, saies Dauid Ryvers of waters ran Downe from myne eyes, whi Quia illi because theie, whoe are they? Not other men as it is ordinarily taken, But Quia illi because myne owne eyes (soe Hilary and Ambro: and Aug: take it) haue not kept thie lawes, As the Callamities of others soe ye sinnes of others may, but ohir abutetur, It is St Chrisostomes exclamatione and admiration; will any wash his feete in water for sore eyes, will any man embalme the Carkas of the world wch hee treads vnder foote with those teares wch should embalme his soule. Did Joseph of Aremathea bestowe any of his pany either of the theeues, teares are true sorrowe that yow heard before, true sorrowe is for sinne yt yow haue heard nowe all that remaynes is howe ye sorrowe workes, what it Does, the faths Fathers haue infinitely delighted themselues in this
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Quid operanturDiscant, the blessed effect of holy teares, hee amongst them yt remembers vs, yt in the old lawe all the sacrifices weare washed, hee meanes, yt ovs vs that if any roome of our soule bee one fier wee runn for water meanes yt in all tentations wee should haue recourse to teares, Hee that tells vs yt money beinge put into a bason, is seene at a farther distance if there be water in the bason, then if it bee empty, meanes allso yt oT Truelie true teares are the holiest water, And for Purgatorie it is liberally Confessedd by a Jesuit Non minus efficax etc, one teare will Doe thee as muc
I might stand vpon this ye Manifould benefits of godly teares, longe soe longe, as till yow wept and wept for sinne and yt might bee verie longe. I Contract all to this one wch is all To howe many blessednesses must these teares, this godly sorrowe reach by the waie, whenas it reacheth to the very extreame, to yt wch, is opposd to it to Ioy, for
[catchword(s): godly sorro
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10.20 for godly sorrowe is Ioy, The words in Job are in the Vulgar Demitte me vt plangam dolore meum Lord spare mee a while yt I may lament my lamentable estate: and soe ordinarily the expositouuous but Continuall; theie Doe not only touch and followe one another in a Certen succession, Ioy assuredly after sorrowe, but they Consist together they are all one, Ioy and sorrowe My teares haue been my meate Day & night Psa: 42: 3 saies Dauid not that hee had noe other meate, but that none relisht soe well. It is a grammaticall note of a Jesuit (I doe Mendaru
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But especially, his pontificall teares, teares for sinne and I am thy Confessor, non ego, sed dominus, not I but the spirrit of god himselfe is thie Confessor and hee absolues thee, filius istarum lachrimarum the soule bath’d in these teares cannot p.mersio, That threefold dippinge which was dead dun in the Primitiue Church in baptisme: And in this baptisme thou takest a newe Christian name, thou who wast but a Chrstiathie teares from thine eyes, Dry vpp ye fountayne of teares, remoue all occasion of teares hearafter, in the triumphant Church
PUBLISHING STATEMENT
Publisher: The Oxford Edition of the Sermons of John Donne
General Editor: Peter McCullough
Funder: Arts and Humanities Research Council
Availability: This XML document is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.
TRANSCRIPTION NOTES
Transcription by Jeanne Shami and used with kind permission of the author.
Transcription checked and amended by Erica Longfellow.
Transcription coded by Sebastiaan Verweij.
THE MANUSCRIPT
Institution: British Library, London
Shelfmark: MS Harley 6946
OESJD siglum: H1
MANUSCRIPT CONTENT
Item no: 1
Locus: ff. 1r-11r
Title: Prou: 8: 17: I loue them that loue mee and they that seeke mee earlie shall finde mee.
Incipit: As the Prophetts and other Secretaries of ye holie Ghost in
Explicit: whome &c.
Final Rubric: Finis
Bibliography: OESJD Vol. I.4; P&S Vol. I.5
Item no: 2
Locus: ff. 12r-22v
Title: Gen:2:18. And the L: God sayd it is not good, that the man should bee alone; I will make him a helpe meete for him
Incipit: In the Creation of the world, when god stockd the
Explicit: words
Bibliography: OESJD Vol. VII.1; P&S Vol. II.17
Item no: 3
Locus: ff. 23r-34v
Title: And I will marry thee vnto mee for euer
Incipit: The word wch is ye hinge vpon wch all this text
Explicit: Blood to whome &c.
Final Rubric: Finis
Bibliography: OESJD Vol. VII.2; P&S Vol. III.11
Item no: 4
Locus: 35r-48v
Title: John 11.35 Ihesus wept Preached at Whitehall, first Friday in Lent: 1622
Incipit: I am nowe but vpon ye Compassion of Christ There is as much
Explicit: teares hereafter, in the triumphant Church
Bibliography: OESJD Vol. II.9; P&S Vol. IV.13
Item no: 5
Locus: 49r-60r
Title: The. I° Thess: chap. 5 ver: 16 Reioice euermore
Incipit: Wee read in ye naturall story, of some flotinge Ilands
Explicit: inestimable price of his incorruptible bloud
Final Rubric: Amen
Bibliography: OESJD [...]; P&S Vol. X.10
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Material: Paper, quarto, i + 66 + i leaves. 198 X 155 mm.
Foliation: Modern and consecutive. Blank pages between sermons (separate inserts) are not numbered, so the total comes to 60 numbered pages. Contemporary page numbers survive in the top right margins: 1 (f. 35r), 2 (f. 39r), 3 (f. 43r), 4 (f. 47r), and once more 1 (f. 49r), 2 (f. 59r), 3 (f. 57r).
Collation: I:12, II:12, III:12, IV:16, V:12
Condition: The manuscript is in good condition, but the pages have been cropped resulting in some loss of text, and the binding is tight, resulting in occasional loss of text in the gutter. Front and back boards have been reattached.
HAND(S) DESCRIPTION
Each of the five sermons is written by a different scribe (H1 to H5). Characteristics of their hands are as follows. H1: small, slanted secretary hand with italic forms. The scribe uses ligatures for 'pro', 'per/par', 'pre', 'er', 'uer'; tildes for 'cion'; macrons for 'n' or 'm'. A common feature of this hand is the use of tildes (~) to fill out a line. There is no ruling or pricking, but in order to demarcate the writing space the scribe folded the paper vertically twice (for left and right margins). There are no catchwords when the paragraph ends at the bottom of the page.
H2: small, secretary hand with italic forms. The scribe uses a ligature for ‘par’ and tildes to abbreviate Latin words in the marginal notes. The scribe frequently puts commas and semi-colons at the beginning of the line.
H3: Small, upright, and clear secretary hand with some italic forms. Lowercase 'e' and 't' are very similar. The scribe uses macrons for 'm' and 'n' and abbreviations for 'ur' and 'par'. Mistakes are commonly corrected by means of strikethroughs, followed by supralinear emendations.
H4: The scribe uses a fine, sloping secretary hand with some italic forms. The scribe uses ligatures for 'our', 'par', 'per', 'pro', 'er', 'es', and macrons for 'm', 'n', and 'ion'. Because the manuscript is very tightly bound, occasionally letters or punctuation have disappeared into the gutter. Where these letters can reasonably be guessed they are given in curly brackets.
H5: A neat, slightly slanting secretary hand with some italic forms. The scribe uses ligatures for 'our', 'par', 'per', 'pro', 'er', 'es', and macrons for 'm', 'n', and 'ion'. Because the manuscript is very tightly bound, occasionally letters or punctuation have disappeared into the gutter. Where these letters can reasonably be guessed they are given in curly brackets.
Occasionally in the manuscript later hands intervene to make small corrections and emendations. Where this occurs, the insertion is marked with a light-grey background. For more detail about the corrections, see Jeanne Shami, 'New Manuscript Texts of Sermons by John Donne', English Manuscript Studies, 13 (2007), pp. 77-119.
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