Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A54489
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A sermon preached at St. Mary's Truro, on the second of December, 1697, being the day appointed for a public Thanksgiving for peace by Sim. Paget ...
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Paget, Simon, 1665 or 6-1716?
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1698
(1698)
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Wing P168; ESTC R5324
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15,036
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38
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till now at length we are arrived at our secure Port of Peace and Happiness and let us under a due sense of all this as a gracious method of Heaven in bringing to pass this glorious work of Peace let us add mightily to the Thanks of this Day and accumulate our Praise offerings to God for such a constant Succession of Mercies towards us since the beginning of the War And this let us do not only for a day or two but for a considerable time to come nay for our whole lives if it be possible because such signal Mercies do require a considerable space of time wherein gratefully to commemorate them and because we may reasonably believe that we shall enjoy the benefits of this Peace as long as we live While we live therefore let us Praise the Lord and while we have any being let us sing Praises to our God Secondly we must glorifie God in declaring his Goodness to others that so we may stir them up to an admiration of the great God and cause if it were possible the whole world to joyn together in adoring the infinite Perfections of his Nature This is one great reason why God does oftentimes so visibly interpose his hand in humane affairs viz. that men may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the holy one of Israel hath created it By the exercise of his Wisdom and Power and Goodness in the affairs of the World God would bring men to an acknowledgment of his Authority to an obedience of his Laws to a belief of his Word to a dependence on and resignation to him in all the circumstances of Life and therefore it should be the great concern of all men as they tender the Glory of God in the sincere practice of Religion to declare and make known his signal Providences thro' the World and to endeavour in all sincerity and gentleness to bring men over to a sight and acknowledgment of them that so they may say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the Earth Thirdly we must glorifie God in our duty to the King It redounds to the Glory of God for Caesar to have the things which are Caesar's as well as for God to have the things which are God's For there is nothing wherein God does more plainly discover his infinite Perfections than in the establishment of Government upon Earth and ordaining Kings to rule over us Here his Wisdom his Justice his Power his Goodness do all of them appear in a most conspicuous manner and for men not to acknowledge their power not to be obedient to their Laws not to pay them them their Tributes not to speak reverently of them not to honour them as God's Vicegerents upon Earth is I am sure to cast dirt in God's face and instead of honouring him to affront him in the highest degree imaginable And now more especially we have great reason to be very fruitfull in all the Branches of our duty to the King for now after a great many Fatigues and dangers which he voluntarily exposed himself to for our sakes he is returned home with the Olive-branch of Peace in his mouth and will make us if we are not wanting to our selves a flourishing and happy people 'T is to his Goodness and Love to his Wisdom and Care to his Courage and Conduct under God that we owe our Preservation and Peace and therefore to him next to God let us ascribe all due Thanks and Honour all just Admiration and Praise all sincere Love and Obedience as the seasonable instrument of all our Happiness Let him now live in Peace since he has made it himself and not find it a harder thing to get the Hearts of his Subjects than the Necks of his Enemies Fourthly We must glorifie God in the amendment of our Lives And here 't is that we shall glorifie God indeed this is the greatest Glory we can possibly give to God and that which he expects from us as a most reasonable service at all times but more especially when he has been pleased to confer any signal benefits upon us He hath shew'd thee Oman such things as he good He hath delivered thee from great Evils and established thee in a happy condition and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Let the light therefore so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Haling your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of Visitation Fifthly more particularly let me recommend to you mutual Love and Affection one towards another and that to your Godliness in general you would add Brotherly Kindness in particular This I am sure the Apostle looks upon as very instrumental towards the promoting of God's Glory Now the God of Patience and Consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another and for what reason but that they might with one mind and one month glorifie the Father of our Lord Jesus Chrst As it conduces to the Honour of a Master to have his Family in good order and to the Honour of a King to keep his Subjects in Quietness and Peace so it highly conduces to the Honour of the great God when his Creatures live in a mutual Love and Esteem of each other They do thereby signifie their obedience to his Laws and copy out that great original who is Love it self and whose tender Mercies are over all his works Let us then in the Name of God lay aside all Disputes and Differences all Rancour and Malice and Revenge and live in the sincere Love and Friendship of one another Now we have Peace let us live in Peace now we have Peace from our Enemies let us not be so foolish as to throw up the Ball among our selves never let it be said that we have brought the War Home And let me beseech you to lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree I mean of this pernicious Tree of Animosities and Dissentions which does oftentimes spread it self so impiously large as to lash not only the King and Government but Religion it self and God the Author of it The Root is little private Whisperings and Resentments and Grugdes and Mis-understandings of one another in things of small moment and value which in time do advance to that height as contumeliously to disgorge themselves upon a Man's King and his God too I am verily perswaded that most of our differences in Church and State are in a great measure owing to these little Mis-understandings and Resentments in our private Conversation and therefore as we tender the Glory of God in the Unity of the Church and the good of Government in the Honour of the King let us now lay them all aside and expell them our Neighbourhood for ever And if we must keep up Contentions amongst us let our only Contentions be who shall forgive first and love best let our only Contentions be who shall most devoutly serve God who shall most entirely affect his King who shall most vigorously promote the Publick Good And then we may expect that God will bless us and suffer us to enjoy the Peace which he has given us and which he sees we are so carefull to keep and preserve Sixthly and Lastly We must glorifie God in our Charity to the Poor He that giveth Alms sacrificeth Praise To do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased Now to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons but one God of Love and Peace be ascribed all Glory Honour Might Majesty and Dominion both now and for ever Amen FINIS
any more conceive such hard thoughts of God as to expostulate with him Isa 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our Soul and thou takest no knowledge For now we lie under a comfortable Assurance that he that is our God is a God of Salvation Psalm 68.20 Now we perceive the blessed fruits and benefits of putting our Trust in the Lord amidst all our vast Preparations our deep Counsels our indefatigable Endeavours in carrying on the War and making our Enemies yield to our own Terms and Conditions of Peace Now we find what it is to have waited patiently for the Lord and to have tarried his time for the Accomplishment of his Mercies towards us For having waited we are not ashamed and having patiently endured we have obtained the Promise Now we trust that Mercy and Truth are met together and that Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other 3. Having tasted and seen that the Lord is good let us resolve from henceforth to put our full trust and confidence in him and believe that with this great Blessing of Peace he will bestow upon us whatever may contribute to a lasting and happy enjoyment of it This is St. Paul's argument with respect to God's great Love in redeeming Mankind by the death of his Son He who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things i.e. give us all things necessary and convenient for the Completion of so great a Blessing And to use the same argument since God has been pleased freely to bestow upon us so great a Blessing as Peace let us firmly depend upon him for the Accommodation of all subservient Mercies let us trust that he will bless the King with a long Life as the Guardian-Angel of the Peace he has given us and cause him to be as sweet a nursing Father in Peace as he was our gallant Champion in War that now having given repose to Europe by checking the Progress of so powerfull an Enemy abroad he will secure England's Peace by turning his Arms against the insulting Foe at home I mean Vice and Prophaneness Heresies and Schisms which so long as suffer'd amongst us will continually keep up a War in our Bowels and make us the greater Sufferers by the Peace we have got Let us trust that he will direct our Counsels and bless our Undertakings and make us all obedient to Government and loving one to another that so our Peace may be a Blessing indeed and the Effects of it an universal Happiness both to Church and State for many Generations 4. From hence we may perceive what strong Obligations we lie under to praise and glorifie the great God of Heaven and Earth who in great Mercy hath delivered us from the Calamities of War and given us the inestimable Blessing of Peace within our Borders There is so much of the Perfections of God shining forth in the works of Peace especially such transcendent Rays of his Goodness the very Flower and Beauty of all his Excellence that we must not only be guilty of the greatest Blindness in not observing such manifest discoveries of the divine Attributes in general but likewise of the deepest Ingratitude in suffering such an Ooean of the Divine Goodness to run out upon our Score without meeting with a suitable return of Glory and Praise from us Now it we would make some gratefull return to God for the signal Deliverances we this Day commemorate and glorifie his Perfections as we ought to do for bestowing this Peace upon us We must in the first place under a due sense and esteem of all God's Favours towards us more especially of this last signal display of his Goodness in blessing us with Peace we must send up our sincere Acknowledgments to Heaven and humbly thank God the Author of our Life and Happiness for this and all other his Favours towards us since the beginning of the War This is absolutely necessary in order to the setting forth of Gods Glory upon all occasions of his Goodness towards us we must do it with a thankfull Heart otherwise we shall never glorifie him aright And therefore Rev. 7.12 we find Thanksgiving and Honour to God joyned together And Rom. 1 2â— St. Paul gives a very good reason why the Gnosticks did not glorifie God as God they were not thankfull And accordingly we find it to have been the constant practice of holy Men of old especially of that unimitable Pattern of Gratitude and most devout Admirer and Publisher of the Divine Goodness the Royal Prophet David to celebrate God's Honour and Glory for his loving Kindness towards them with the utmost Thankfulness their inflamed Hearts were capable of sending forth Thus Psalm 107.21 22. O that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderfull Works to the Children of Men and let them sacrifice the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and declare his Works with rejoycing And Psal 60.30 I will praise the Name of God with a Song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving and in the following Verse he gives a very good reason for it This also shall please the Lord better than an Ox or Bullock that hath horns and hoofs This cheap return of Thankfulness to God for Peace will please him better than all our sumptuous and chargeable expressions of Joy 'T will reach the Heavens sooner than our loudest Acclamations and be more acceptable to God than our richest Banquets For will God eat the Flesh of Bulls or drink the Blood of Goats No offer unto God Thanksgiving for whoso offereth Praise he 't is that glorifieth him And then because God usually works by a train of dependent means and brings a people out of Misery by degrees and by a constant Succession of many Favours and Mercies which like a Chain hold altogether and at length terminate in a general Happiness Therefore in our thankfull returns to God for this great Blessing of Peace a Blessing which we have all along prayed for and do now receive as the very Crown and Perfection of all our worldly Happiness we should make very sensible Reflections upon and be sincerely thankfull for all those Deliverances and Successes which we have met with since the beginning of the War as tending all of them in their own Nature and by the kind Influences of Heaven to produce this grand Happiness of all viz. Peace O now we are got into the Land of Canaan let us not be so stupid as to forget our Redemption out of Egypt Let us still remember God's wonders of old though we cannot forbear being transported with his present Mercies Let us still remember the House of Bondage the Hand whereby and the Day whereon we were delivered out of it Let us still remember the many kind Stages of Providence whereby we safely passed from Danger to Danger from one hazardous Enterprize to another with Success and Victory