THE PERFECT PROVISION OF JESUS

'...we have no warmth in ourselves; it is true, but Christ came even in winter. We have no light in ourselves; it is true, but he came even in the night.'

John Donne, 'Christ the Light' in Poems and Devotions (Edited Robert Van de Weyer), p.81.

A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
         Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
         And do run still, though still I do deplore?
                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
                        For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
         Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
         A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?
                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
                        For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
         My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
         Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
                And, having done that, thou hast done;
                        I fear no more.

John Donne. Available at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173371#.VHyngVRTj6I 

GOD'S LOVE

'Wilt thou love God, as he thee? then digest,
My soul, this wholesome meditation,
How God the Spirit, by angel's waited on
In heaven, doth make his temple in thy breast.
The Father having begot a Son most blessed,
And still begetting, (for he ne'er begun)
Hath deigned to choose thee by adoption,
Coheir to his glory, and Sabbath's endless rest;
And as a robbed man, which by search doth find
His stol'n stuff sold, must lose or buy it again:
The Son of glory came down, and was slain,
Us whom he had made, and Satan stol'n, to unbind.
'Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.'
John Donne, Poems and Devotions, p.52.

SANCTIFICATION

'Batter my heart, three personed God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'oerthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurped town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue,
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto your enemy,
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I
Except you enthral me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.'
John Donne, Poems and Devotions (Edited by Robert Van de Weyer), p.51.

HOPE

‘I shall rise from the dead...I shall see the Son of God, the Son of Glory, and shine myself as that son shines. I shall be united to the Ancient of Days, to God Himself, who had no morning, never began...No man ever saw God and lived. And yet I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen him, I shall never die.’

John Donne in Randy Alcorn, Heaven, p.171.

THE CHURCH

'...the scriptures are God's voice, the church is his echo...'

John Donne in Christopher Ash, The Priority of Preaching, p.96.

DEATH

'...all our life is but a going out to the place of execution, to death.'

John Donne, 'An Easter Sermon - 28th March 1619' in John Donne on death, p.3.