Selected quad for the lemma: cause_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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Fortune says Conscience is unlawful Why so says the Serpent would they not do as well in thy Hands as theirs Restitution is to be made for that cheat that wrong that damage done in Goods or Honour known only to my self says Conscience and why says the Serpent The Law of the Land cannot oblige thee Perjury is a Sacrilegious Cut-throat says Conscience a false Witness the Sworn Enemy of God and Man why these are Niceties says the Serpent business must be done and Truth would undo it To injure my Brother says Conscience by rash Surmises false Reports and making a scandal of what 's a hidden Sin is against the Precept of Justice and Charity what matters that says the Serpent as long as upon his Ruine thou buildst thy own Greatness Those lascivious Inticements which cast Reason into a Lethargy and renders Man little better than a Brute with all Care possible are to be avoided says Conscience Why so says the Serpent they are but Gallantrys and Favours it is discourteous and against good Breeding to disdain them And is it possible that such wretched why's and senseless Insinuations as these should embolden the Heart of Man to stand up against his God break his Commandments and set his Justice at Defiance Is it possible I wish it were not the daily Practise of us Sinners Should the Apprentice question his Masters Lesson a Servant his Lords Command should a Souldier in place of charging his Enemy turn about and charge his Officer with a Why Would it not be most preposterous Each Tradesman will be credited and obeyed by his Apprentice each Master by his Servant each Commander by his Souldier And God! and God! the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is He not to be Obeyed Is He to be put off with lingring why 's and foolish Demurrs No no beloved Christians let us no more give Ear to the treacherous Suggestions of the World Flesh and Devil but reading each Commandment in place of Why 's let us write over the Words of St. John Tu es Art thou he O God that Comands We will rather Forfeit our Life and Fortune than our Obedience I fear I trespass upon your Patience and therefore pass to my 3d point and second part Tu es qui venturus est an alium expectamus Art thou he that should come or do we look for another THe Enquiry rightly discust implies this Discourse If thou art not he that should come we are to look for another If thou art he no other we are to look for The litteral sense I know implies the Messiah was to be one but passing to the moral what is meant by another one may demand and rationally too For certain it is many things are estimable that are not God and consequently are others from God and are we to shut our Eyes to all No so that we have them open for Truth which is but one Must we then neglect our Temporal Concerns No so that we remember our Eternal Let Rulers by an equal management of the Ballance and Sword deliver'd them by the Hand of God look Majesty be observ'd it is not to look for another Let Subjects with inviolable Allegiance imploy their Talents and Courage in the Service of their Prince and Country tho' with Honour and Promotion it is not to look for another Let Lawyers be true to their Clients but only in what is just Merchants to their Words Tradesmen to their Bargains be it for the improvement of their Fortune none of this is to look for another To look for another is to look for any thing in opposition to God for an ordinate love of Creatures with a reference to God is not a looking for another but for God a Tribute due to his Unity an Unity without which the Trinity it self would not be adorable and Unity from which derives and to which tends the Order of the Universe an Unity the ground of all Obedience Union and Quiet by seeking this Unity we shall be united and being united to God united amongst our selves formidable to our Ghostly Enemies By seeking another Faith and not one another Church and not one another God and not one another Government and not the one and settled we bring in Division Division from God Division from Religion and Division amongst our selves and Division is ever the cause of Grief Misery and Anguish God is but one and will be the only Vnus Deus una fides unum Septima One God one Faith Eph. 4. v. 5. one Baptism One of the Darlings our deluded Fancy strangely dotes on is that of quiet nothing more obvious to our Thoughts and Desires and nothing less attained to than Quiet Of the motion we see in this World Philosophy makes quiet the Author but motion ever excluding quiet quiet proves but an empty Word Let Philosophy then for me rest in her fancyed quiet seeing nothing can rest for it The World was made for Motion it is to move and it moves to be as it cannot have for its ends it s own destruction so it cannot have quiet nor afford it to Man. God alone is the Center of Man's Heart to Him our Appetite bears us to Him all motion carries us This is the first cause of this Agitation we see in Nature and vicissitude of things Vniversa propter semetipsum operatus est Dominus Prov. c. 16. ver 4. The Lord has made all things for himself The World for us and Us and World for Him an unsettled World for Us that we may learn to settle in him Facti sumus ad te irrequietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te says the experienced St. Austine Our Heart is made for the Lord and it is restless till in thee it repose Thou art the one and only no other we are to look for as Thou art undivided so is our Heart to be wholly thine to this intent makes a Passage Luke 12. ver 13. Ait quidam de turba Magister dic Fratri meo ut dividat mecum haereditatem One of the Company said unto Christ Master speak to my Brother that he divide the Inheritance with me But what do you think Christ's Answer was in the following Verse Quis me constituit Judicem aut Divisorem supra vos Man who made me a Judge or Divider over you I know the literal Sense imports no more than that Christ came only for the Salvation of Souls and not to meddle with Temporal Concerns yet to my present purpose St. Peter Sir-nam'd Chrysologus flies higher and discovers a Mystery containing the Truth I have in hand Praeceps cupiditas incauta cum fieri voluit Divisionis autorem qui ad restituendam venerat humani generis unitatem A rash and precipitous desire that would have him to be the Divider of an Inheritance who came to restore Unity to Mankind Christ's Inheritance we are He will not have it divided he will have it His and wholly his And what hath he not done to make it his own He created us he redeemed us when lost he found us he conserves us by him we are by him we live in him we move upon these Titles the greatest Titles of Property we are His and in requital doth he not deserve our Heart and Love Doth he not merit that we should look for Him and no other Yes yes O Lord Thee alone we shall serve and love to Thee alone by a true Faith Hope and Charity we shall aspire Thee alone we shall look for and not another That so we may do God of his Infinite Mercy grant us In the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen FINIS