Upstairs, Downstairs: Doctrine and Decorum in Two Sermons by John Donne

In this article David Colclough considers two sermons preached by John Donne (1572-1631) to the court of Charles I in April 1626. By analyzing them in the context of their delivery to two distinct but overlapping auditories, he demonstrates how alert Donne was to the requirements of his congregations. At a time when the king's religious policy was still evolving, Donne combined a generous interpretation of the extent of Christ's atonement with a celebration of the power of preaching; reading these two sermons alongside one another qualifies claims made for Donne's sympathy with the anti-Calvinist faction in the English church.