"A Hymn to God the Father" by John Donne?

Question

What sin is referred to in lines 1 - 2?

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.

II.
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 wallowed in a score?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.

III.
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.

Answer 1

The sin in line 1-2 is Original Sin, the sin of Adam and Eve, which has been passed down to all humanity. It is a part of each person, though it was done before we were conceived.

Answer 2

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RE:
"A Hymn to God the Father" by John Donne?
What sin is referred to in lines 1 - 2?

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,
...

Answer 3

When reading Donne’s poem, I noticed that it seems to be asking God’s mercy for some very particular sins. It can of course be quite validly read as applying to different types of sins or to some sort of random sampling of the author’s transgressions.
“When thou hast done, thou hast not done”

This can be read to mean that when God is finished forgiving the preceding sins, He has not finished forgiving altogether. Stick another N in “done” and you get “Donne”. So, read another way, it means that when God is finished forgiving the preceding sins, he still does not yet have the author with Him.

Donne was known to use his name this way. His fortunes took a nose-dive in 1601 after a clandestine marriage enraged his new father-in-law who had him fired from his job and thrown into prison.

The two books that Donne wrote in 1610/1611, can thus be seen to be quite dramatic rejections of his two most famous relations. Because of his very high-profile Catholic connections, a simple profession of attachment to the Anglican Church may not have been enough to clear him of suspicion of Catholic sympathies. His renunciation of Catholic ties had to include renouncing explicitly that for which his family members had suffered and died.

Near the end of his life, Donne’s mother, who had remained Catholic, returned from exile to live with him. She died just a few months before he did. Her presence would have been a constant reminder to him of what he had had reject in order to achieve worldly success. However, going back was not an option. He had seven of his own children to worry about (and probably a few grandchildren as well).