11: There was a contention... we would be glad to make it ours by rising early.

Donne discribes a disagreement among the religious orders as to who would have the honor of ringing the bell to call the members to prayers early in the morning. The dispute was settled by saying that the first person up would ring the bell. Donne argues that if people truly understood "the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer," that is, of the bell that signals our death and passing from this world to a better world, then we would gladly embrace death and even wish for it to come sooner. Compare 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 "knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord...we...prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord" (NASB) and Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (NASB).