Selected quad for the lemma: book_n
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A36357
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The whys? and the how?, or, A good enquiry a sermon preach'd before Their Majesties in their chappel at St. James's the 2d. Sunday of Advent, December 6th. 1685 / by J.D. of the Society of Jesus.
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J. D. (John Dormer), 1636-1700.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing D1929; ESTC R9728
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9,987
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37
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The WHYs and the HOWâ—… OR A Good ENQUIRY A SERMON Preach'd before Their MAJESTIES In Their CHAPPEL at St. JAMES's The 2d Sunday of Advent December 6th 1685. By J.D. of the Society of Jesus Published by His Majesties Command ✚ LONDON Printed by Nat. Thompson at the Entrance into the Spring Garden near Charing Cross MDCLXXXVII A SERMON Preach'd before Their MAJESTIES At their Chappel at St. James's Math. II. ver 3. Joannes cum audisset in Vinculis Opera Christi mittens duos de Discipulis ait illi Tu es qui venturus est an alium expectamus When John had heard in the Prison the Works of Christ he sent two of his Disciples and said unto him Art thou He that should come or do we look for another THat Nature is a Book composed of as many Words as Parts full of Divinity and leading to the knowledge of a God was an ancient Decision of Trismegistus Authoriz'd since by the Holy Ghost in St. Paul to the Romans chap. 1. ver 20. Invisibilia ejus ipsius a creatione Mundi per ea quae facta sunt intellecta conspiciuntur sempiterna quoque ejus Virtus Divinitas For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly to be seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead However time was when the unhappy Children of Adam taking the Book into their hands were charmed with the loveliness of its Letters the Creatures and careless in searching after the Composer of so Noble a work courted and adored such Toys as were pleasing to Sense and Fancy at the same time Erecting Altars Acts the 17. v. 23. ignoto Deo To the unknown God. But if the Learned Piece of the Universe coming from under the Press of Omnipotency discovered not at the first sight its Authors Name being reprinted by the Hand of Mercy the Author it self under Characters of Flesh appeared on the Frontispiece visible and conversant with Men verbum caro factum est Jo. 1. v. 14. and the Word was made Flesh habitavit in nobis and dwelt amongst us For as in the Creation it was necessary to read the Book to know its Author this depending of humane Reason so in the Redemption it was necessary to know the Author to understand the Book this depending of Divine Faith and therefore the Great and more than Prophet St. John the Baptist dispatches from the Prison two of his Disciples with this message to Christ Tu es qui venturus est an alium expectamus Art thou He that should come or do we look for another A necessary Enquiry by which coming from John in the Prison we are taught First the requisites to a good enquiry which are Solitude and a right beginning Secondly to enquire only for what is necessary Thirdly to look for one and not another Truth becomes the Place that I unworthily am in and that I may say nothing but what becomes it let us implore the Assistance of the God of Truth by the Intercession of his ever Virgin Mother Ave Maria. Joannes cum audisset in Vinculis When John had heard in the Prison THe first requisite to a good enquiry is Solitude for Solitude is the Mother of Thoughts Thinking Fathers Wisdom when Thoughts and Reason are lull'd asleep Folly takes its wandring Dreams and closes our Eyes to the highest concerns The School therefore in which we are taught the important lesson of a good Enquiry is a Prison the seat of retiredness And We to learn our Lesson must go to School that is retire John was in Prison but with Enlargement from a worse He was in Prison but out of a disturbing World For if in the beginning I told you this World is a Book what is a Book to the Readers Eye and Mind but a Prison If I said the Creatures are so many visible Words now I tell you these Words not rightly understood are so many forcible Chains binding our Affections to the Earth Yes the World is a Prison yet a Prison none fear all love and should I term its hardship and our engagements so many Gallies your Worldlings would smile tug on rowing and never care to better their Condition They are stunn'd with Noises distracted with Varieties and as if living they were returned into Earth they seek nothing but Earthly things Tenements upon Earth Pallaces upon Earth Honors upon Earth Riches upon Earth Pleasures upon Earth As for Heaven it is slighted As for Eternity it is forgotten As for Judgement it is not feared As for Hell it is not thought on Enormous Disorders in a Soul But what Remedy what Remedy Attention and you shall hear The chosen People of God the House of Israel Hosea the 2d was passed to all exorbitances of Idolatry against the Lord their God yet his tender Heart could not but own them for his People who so disgraciously had cast him off and disown'd him for their God And therefore with a Fatherly Care provides for the retrieving such abominable excesses But how First as he did by Jeremy Ezekiel and other Prophets so now he threatens them with his dreadful Judgment But then as it were mindful of the little Fruit he had reap'd from menaces he resolves to steer a different course and betake himself to a more efficacious way and it is laid down in the 14th Verse Lactabo eam say our Loving God I will allure her ducam eam in solitudinem and I will lead her into a Wilderness loquar ad Cor ejus and I will speak to her Heart I will speak to her Heart But first I will lead her into a Wilderness Cor ejus her Heart Methinks I mark something Emphatical in the Words her Heart Had she not then a Heart out of the Wilderness She had a Heart but it was not hers it was divided between as many Passions as enslaved her Avarice had her Heart Ambition had her Heart Envy had her Heart Vanity had her Heart Luxury had her Heart all Vices shared in it By Solitude God opened her Eyes made her see her Bondage hate her Slavery break her Chains and so restored her Heart to her that she should give it to him And therefore I will lead her into a Wilderness and speak to her Heart Ego vox clamantis says the Baptist Jo. the 1. I am the Voice of one that cryeth but where in Deserto in the Wilderness But what Parate vias Domini Prepare the way of the Lord and what are the ways of the Lord but Enquiries If we are Christ's Sheep as he is often pleas'd to style us like Sheep we must have our solitary Walks to hear his Voice And O! that Christians of so many Days Weeks Months and Years they cast away in Vanity would now and then bestow an hour or two in Solitude they would soon discover the voice of Verity speaking to their Hearts and moving them to the enquiry of a