John Donne - Delphi Poets Series (64 page)

There was a contention as far as a suit (in which, piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest.  If we understand aright the dignity of this bell, that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is.  The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.  Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises?  But who takes off his eye from a comet, when that breaks out? who bends not his ear to any bell, which upon any occasion rings?  But who can remove it from that bell, which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?

No man is an island,  entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were;  any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors.  Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it.  No man hath afflicion enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.  If a man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current moneys, his treasure will not defray him as he travels.  Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.  Another may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another’s danger, I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

XVIII. MEDITATION

THE
Bell
rings out; the
pulse
thereof is changed; the
tolling
was a
faint
, and
intermitting pulse
, upon one side; this
stronger
, and argues
more
and
better
life
. His
soule
is gone out; and as a Man, who had a lease of 1000.
yeeres
after the expiration of a short one, or an inheritance after the
life
of a man in a
consumption
, he is now entred into the possession of his
better estate
. His
soule
is gone;
whither?
Who saw it
come in
, or who saw it
goe out? No body;
yet every body is sure, he
had one
, and
hath none
. If I will aske meere
Philosophers
, what the
soule
is, I shall finde amongst them, that will tell me, it is nothing, but the
temperament
and
harmony
, and
just and equall composition of the Elements in the body
, which produces all those
faculties
which we ascribe to the
soule;
and so, in it selfe is
nothing
, no
separable substance
, that overlives the
body
. They see the
soule
is nothing else in other
Creatures
, and they affect an
impious humilitie
, to think
as
low
of
Man
. But if my
soule
were no more than the soul of a
beast
, I could not thinke so; that
soule
that can reflect upon it selfe,
consider
it selfe, is
more
than so. If I will aske, not meere
Philosophers
, but
mixt men, Philosophicall Divines,
how
the
soule
, being a
separate substance
, enters into
Man
, I shall finde some that will tell me, that it is by
generation
, and
procreation
from
parents
, because they thinke it hard, to charge the
soule
with the guiltiness of
originall
sinne, if the
soule
were infused into a
body
, in which it must necessarily grow
foule
, and contract
originall sinne
, whether it
will
or
no;
and I shall finde some that will tell mee, that it is by
immediate infusion from God
, because they think it hard, to
maintaine
an
immortality
in such a
soule
, as should be begotten, and derived with the
body
from
mortall parents
. If I will aske, not a
few men
, but almost
whole bodies, whole
Churches
, what becomes of the
soules
of the
righteous
, at the
departing
thereof from the
body
, I shall bee told by some,
That they attend an expiation, a purification in a place of torment;
By some, that
they attend the fruition of the sight of
God, in a place of rest; but yet, but of expectation;
By some,
that they passe to
an immediate possession of the Presence of God. S. Augustine
studied the
nature
of the
soule
, as much as anything, but the
salvation of the soule;
and he sent an expresse
Messenger
to Saint
Hierome
, to consult of some things concerning the
soule:
But he satisfies himselfe with this:
Let the departure of my soule to salvation be evident to my faith, and I care the lesse, how darke the entrance of my
soule, into my body, bee to my reason
. It is the
going out
, more than the
comming
in
, that concernes us. This
soule
, this Bell tells me, is
gone out; Whither?
Who shall tell mee that? I know not
who it is;
much less
what he was;
The condition of the man, and the course of his life, which should tell mee
whither
hee is gone, I know not. I was not there in his
sicknesse
, nor at his
death;
I saw not his
way
, nor his
end
, nor can aske them, who did, thereby to
conclude
, or
argue
, whither he is gone. But yet I have one neerer mee than all these; mine owne
Charity;
I aske that; and that tels me,
He is gone to everlasting rest
, and
joy
, and
glory:
I owe him a good
opinion;
it is but
thankfull charity
in mee, because I received
benefit
and
instruction
from him when his
Bell
told: and I, being made the fitter to
pray
by that disposition, wherein I was assisted by his occasion, did
pray
for him; and I
pray
not without
faith;
so I doe
charitably
, so I do
faithfully
beleeve, that that
soule
is gone to everlasting
rest
, and joy, arid glory. But for the
body
, how poore a wretched thing is
that?
wee cannot expresse it
so fast
, as it growes
worse
and
worse
. That
body
which scarce
three minutes
since was such a
house
, as that that
soule
, which made but one step from thence to
Heaven
, was scarse thorowly content, to leave that for
Heaven:
that
body
hath lost the
name
of a
dwelling house
, because none dwells in it, and is making haste to lose the name of a
body
, and dissolve to
putrefaction
. Who would not bee affected, to see a cleere and sweet
River
in the
Morning
, grow a
kennell
of muddy land water by
noone
, and condemned to the saltnesse of the
Sea
by
night?
And how lame a
picture
, how faint a
representation
is that, of the precipitation of mans body to
dissolution! Now
all the parts built up, and knit by a lovely
soule
, now but a
statue
of
clay
, and
now
, these limbs melted off, as if that
clay
were but
snow;
and now, the whole
house
is but a
handfull
of
sand
, so much
dust
, and but a pecke of
rubbidge
, so much
bone
. If
he
, who, as this
Bell
tells mee, is gone now, were some
excellent Artificer
, who comes to him for a
clocke
, or for a
garment
now? or for
counsaile
, if hee were a
Lawyer?
If a
Magistrate
, for
Justice? Man
, before hee hath his
immortall
soule
, hath a
soule
of
sense
, and a
soule
of
vegetation
before that: This
immortall
soule
did not forbid other soules, to be in us before, but when this
soule
departs, it carries all with it; no more
vegetation
, no more
sense:
such a
Mother in law
is the
Earth
, in respect of our
naturall mother;
in her
wombe
we
grew;
and when she was delivered of us, wee were planted in some
place
, in some
calling
in the
world;
In the wombe of the
earth
, wee
diminish
, and when shee is
deliverd
of us, our
grave opened
for another, wee are not
transplanted
, but
transported
, our
dust
blowne away with
prophane dust
, with
every wind
.

XIX. MEDITATION

ALL this while the
Physitians
themselves have beene
patients
, patiently attending when they should see any
land
in this
Sea
, any
earth
, any
cloud
, any
indication
of
concoction
in these waters. Any
disorder
of mine, any
pretermission
of theirs, exalts the disease, accelerates the rages of it; no
diligence
accelerates the
concoction
, the
maturitie
of the
disease;
they must stay till the
season
of the sicknesse come, and till it be ripened of it selfe, and then they may put to their hand, to
gather
it before it
fall
off, but they cannot hasten the
ripening
. Why should wee looke for it in a
disease
, which is the
disorder
, the
discord
, the
irregularities
the
commotion
, and
rebellion
of the
body?
It were scarce a
disease
, if it could bee
ordered
, and made obedient to our
times
. Why should wee looke for that in
disorder
, in a
disease
, when we cannot have it in
Nature
, who is so
regular
, and so
pregnant
, so forward to bring her worke to perfection, and to light? Yet we cannot awake the
July-flowers
in
January
, nor retard the
flowers
of the
spring
to
autumne
. We cannot bid the
fruits
come in
May
, nor the
leaves
to sticke on in
December
. A
woman
that is weake cannot put off her
ninth moneth
to a
tenth
for her
deliveries
and say shee will stay till shee bee
stronger;
nor a
Queene
cannot hasten it to a
seventh
, that shee may bee ready for some other pleasure.
Nature
(if we looke for
durable
and
vigorous
effects) will not admit
preventions
, nor
anticipations
, nor
obligations
upon her; for they are
precontracts
, and she will bee left to her
libertie
.
Nature
would not be spurred, nor forced to mend her pace; nor
power
, the
power of man; greatnesse
loves not that kinde of
violence
neither. There are of
them
that will
give
, that will
do justice
, that will
pardon
, but they have their owne
seasons
for al these, and he that knowes not
them
, shall
starve
before that gift come, and
ruine
, before the justice, and
dye
before the pardon save him: some
tree
beares no fruit, except much
dung
be laid about it; and
Justice
comes not from some, till they bee richly manured: some
trees
require much
visiting
, much
watring
, much
labour;
and some men give not their
fruits
but upon
importunitie;
some trees require
incision
, and
pruning
, and
lopping;
some men must bee
intimidated
and
syndicated
with
Commissions
, before they will deliver the fruits of
Justice;
some
trees
require the
early
and the
often
accesse of the
Sunne;
some men
open
not, but upon the
favours
and
letters
of
Court mediation;
some
trees
must bee
housd
and kept within doore; some men locke up, not onely their liberalitie, but their
Justice
, and their
compassion
, till the sollicitatiorn of a
wife
, or a
sonne
, or a
friend
, or a
servant
turne the
key
.
Reward
is the
season
of one man, and
importunitie
of another;
feare
the
season
of one man, and
favour
of another;
friendship
the
season
of one man, and
naturall affection
of another; and hee that knowes not their
seasons
, nor cannot
stay
them, must lose the
fruits;
As
Nature
will not, so
power
and
greatnesse
will not bee put to change their
seasons;
and shall wee looke for this
Indulgence
in a
disease
, or thinke to shake it off before it bee
ripe?
All this while, therefore, we are but upon a
defensive warre
, and that is but a
doubtfull state;
especially where they who are
besieged
doe know the
best
of their
defences
, and doe not know the
worst
of their
enemies power;
when they cannot mend their
works within
, and the
enemie
can increase his
numbers without
. O how many farre more miserable, and farre more worthy to be lesse miserable than I, are besieged with this
sicknesse
, and lacke their
Sentinels
, their
Physitians
to
watch
, and lacke their
munition
, their
cordials
to
defend
, and perish before the
enemies
weaknesse might invite them to
sally
, before the
disease
shew any
declination
, or admit any way of
working
upon it selfe! In me the siege is so farre slackned, as that we may come to
fight
, and so die in the
field
, if I
die
, and not in a
prison
.