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A49693
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A thanksgiving sermon for His Majesty's safe return and for the happy and honourable peace, of which God has made him the glorious instrument, Preached in Highgate Chapel, on Thursday the 2d of December, 1697. BY R. L. V.A.L.
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R. L.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing L56C; ESTC R218601
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7,903
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23
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A Thanksgiving SERMON FOR His Majesty's Safe Return AND FOR The Happy and Honourable PEACE Of which GOD has made Him the Glorious Instrument PREACHED In Highgate Chapel on Thursday the 2d of December 1697. By R. L. V. A. L. LONDON Printed for the Author MDCXCVII Lord Crewe's Charity Durham England The Prayer before Sermon O Blessed Lord God! who art glorious in holiness fearful in praises working wonders Thou sparest when we deserve punishment and in the midst of judgment remembrest mercy To thee alone we ascribe the Glory of our many Deliverances This Church and Nation have been the visible care of thy providence and protection We therefore praise thee O God! We acknowledge thee to be our Saviour and Deliverer Thou only causest Wars to cease in the Earth and in great mercy hast put a stop to the Effusion of Christian Blood thou heardest the voice of our humble petitions and hast preserv'd thy dear Servant from all those Dangers and Deaths he has been exposed to for our sakes Thou broughtest him back O Lord with the Triumphs and Glories of a Peace-maker O fill our Hearts with thankfulness and in thy good time give repentance to all those who sit in darkness and error Grant to us all a spirit of righteousness peace and concord that we may become one Sheepfold under one Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ O that love and union piety and charity may abound amongst us that we may become the joy of the whole Earth O Lord give thy Servant our most righful and lawful sovereign King William a long Life and happy Reign and let this be the praise and glory thereof that therein the Righteous did flourish and there was abundance of Peace This and whatsoever else thou O God of thine infinite Goodness c. Colossians III. 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful LOVE and Gratitude can never fail of a Reward Joy and Peace attend them in this World Happiness and Glory in that which is yet to come They are just like the Cherubims always smiling and looking kindly one upon another A readiness and willingness to do all the good we can a grateful resentment of all the favours and benefits we have receive'd from others which are Qualities of an endearing nature were the only Springs and Engines that mov'd and inclin'd me to undertake the Business of this Day Had I the golden Mouth of St. Chrysostom the Eloquence of Cicero or the admirable Skill of Orpheus I might then penetrate or mollifie or charm those Mens Hearts which seem now to be as inflexible I had almost said as insensible as the very Rocks and Stones Could I now draw as lovely and lively a Description of all the Advantages of Peace and Union amongst our selves as the Subject will bear I might then convince Gainsayers and bring those who seem to be discontented at the present Dispensations of Providence to confess that all our Dangers our Troubles our Miseries and Sorrows did at first spring and arise from the poison'd Fountain of our own unhappy Divisions I beseech you therefore in the Language of the Apostle let the peace of God rule in your hearts What! does the Apostle mention Peace Methinks there 's a pleasing Charm in that sweet Appellation Peace is now become the delightful Theme of our daily Discourse and the daily Object of our Joy and Gratitude Peace is the fairest Flower of a Prince's Crown the choicest Blessing of a Nation t is one of the mod excellent Gifts of the Divine Bounty It brings Relief to the Poor Bread to the Hungry Cloaths to the Naked Business to the Diligent and Industrious it invigorates the Body Politick it sets all the Wheels and Engines of Trade of Traffick and Commerce into a joyful Movement and has folded up within her Arms all those Blessings which we poor Mortals can wish or desire God who governs the World and disposes and orders all things for the Good of his Creatures which should give full Satisfaction to all Mankind has for eternal Reasons which we shall all see and understand hereafter given us a Prince whose first Arrival gave new Life to our dying Hopes and at once both rouz'd and rais'd the Courage of a sinking Nation His great Understanding his indefatigable Toil and Labour his undaunted Courage and admirable Conduct has since that not only lower'd but levelld the growing Pride and Power of a subtile politick Enemy And now after all the thundering Storms the frightful and amazing Tempests of War he has crown'd this and die neighbouring Kingdoms with the brightest Diadem of this World's Felicity a Firm and an Honourable Peace Thus God has made this most illustrious Prince the Avenger of our Evils the Repairer of our Breaches and Restorer of our Blessings For which the Children who are yet unborn will one Day rise up and call him Blessed And what shall the Fathers say who have heard and seen all this May all the Blessings of Heaven and Earth attend King William the Third the best and greatest Monarch of the World A Prince dear to Heaven the Darling of Providence born for the Good of Mankind worthy in all Ages to bear the mod exalted Triumphs of War and the brightest Felicities of an eternal Peace Great Favours are great Obligations and so consequently should bind and engage us for the time to come to be more Obedient to God more Loyal to our King and more Charitable to our Neighbours more resolute in ceasing to do Evil in learning to do well This certainly is the best and only way of returning Thanks this Day to Almighty God God's present Mercies and our own late Miseries are such pressing and invincible Arguments to persuade us to be Peaceable and Thankful as none can be greater such a Power they have of exciting and moving us to take heed that we fall not out amongst our selves that we never forget nor over-look these signal Instances of the Divine Goodness in delivering this Church and Nation from Popery and Slavery as must needs render us infatuated should we not labour to promote Peace and Union amongst our selves Let the peace of God rule in your hearts rule in your Hearts and make them unanimous in your Tongues and make them thankful in your Hands and make them charitable Rule us all into one Mind one Heart and one Faith that we may all with one Mouth glorifie and praise the God of our Salvation This Peace of God we ought every way we can to be rul'd by it and be thankful for it neither is our Vertue nor our Felicity compleat without it He is the best Christian that is most for Peace with his fellow Christian This Peace of God must over-rule our Passions advance and crown our Vertues heal and decide our Controversies Hast thou Faith Have it to thy self trouble neither thy weak nor thy strong Brother about it do
that thinks light of those Works and Wonders God has wrought for us he that knows not how to prize that Peace and Prosperity we now enjoy or thinks he did any thing to merit or deserve it either understands not God's Goodness or is not thankful for it Secondly To be truly thankful is openly and publickly to confess God's Mercies to reflect a while upon the Providence of God 1. In delivering of this Kingdom from Popery and Slavery 2. In preserving His Majesty's most Sacred Person from the barbarous Conspiracies of bloody-minded Traitors and from all the Perils the Dangers the various kinds of Deaths he has for our sakes been exposed to And then Lastly With Raptures of Joy to dwell a while in the pleasant Contemplation of an Honourable Peace Much might be said of his Wisdom his Valour his Conduct and particularly of his Clemency to his Enemies These all deserve Hymns and Praises we ought to be telling them from Day to Day Again To be thankful indeed is to shew it by our Lives and Actions to present our selves and all that is ours to the Service and Worship of God to offer up our Souls and Bodies and what else is ours as Peace-offerings and Sacrifices of Thanksgiving never to fear we can do too much never to hope we can do enough for what God has done for us in thus reinstating us in our Religion and in all other our Rights and Privileges He hath finish'd our Wars and restored our most Rightful and Lawful King with the Triumphs and Hosanna's of a Peace-maker Blessed be he that thus cometh to us in the Name of the Lord be we thankful unto him and let us speak good of his Name for ever and ever Thus much for those Words Let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts it follows to the which ye are called in one body and be ye thankful We are called in one body How By Signs and Wonders by a miraculous Power Surely there wanted but a Step between Us and Death All the Devices and Engines of our Enemies were all fitted and almost finish'd ready as they themselves boasted either for our Conversion or Confusion Now we who should have suffered and dy'd or have been murder'd for the same Cause are thus unexpectedly delivered and call'd into one body let us study how to keep in one how to love relieve and assist each other Among the Saints and Angels there are no Jarrs or Discords Peace dwells for ever there And seeing God has of his infinite Mercy and Goodness call'd us to it I hope we will bethink our selves and walk worthy of it If we once fall into our old Divisions our very Hopes of a Recovery of Peace and Union are lost in a moment If by falling into several Parties we set open the Flood-gates to a Deluge of Misery and Confusion it may justly be said of us We did not understand the things that made for our Peace but betray'd and ruin'd one another The Day-star of our Peace and Prosperity shines now from East to West from North to South Like Lightning in a moment of Time Fame has wing'd great William's Name throughout the World Before his long wish'd-for Arrival here above Nine Years ago there was nothing but Scenes of Sorrow of Slavery and Death before our Eyes Now that he is come has repair'd our Breaches scatter'd our Enemies fought our Battels and finish'd all with a glorious Peace See! all things begin to spring and revive to bloom and flourish afresh Nature puts on a pleasing Smile Even the dull and melancholy Soul looks gay and chearful Where ever this mighty Prince comes how joyfully is he received how splendidly entertained The Eyes of all the World are now with admiration fix'd on him See! his Enemies are all struck with Fear and Terror his Friends all transported with Joy and Wonder We are all now like Trees planted by the Rivers of Waters which should bring forth their Fruits in due season And will we after all this tear off our selves by pieces into more Confusions Who hath bewitched us that we should think of doing this If after all this we reflect a little upon our selves how happlly we were call'd who a little before seem'd cast away call'd into one Protestant Church detesting Superstition and Idolatry into one happy Government abhorring all arbitrary Power Oppression and Tyranny called then when we scarce had any Names but Traitor Heretick or Rebel to be call'd by We Protestants were the innocent Sheep whom the Priests and Jesuites had mark'd out for Slavery or Death Indeed to say the truth we had by our Sins deserv'd to undergoe and suffer all that Misery that was then breaking in upon us That God should notwithstanding this have Compassion upon us who so little deserv'd it Oh! what can we look upon this to be but the calling us out of Dust and Death to an anticipated Resurrection Here we cannot choose but admire at the eternal Mercy and Goodness of God crying out Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him Or what are we that thou should'st thus rescue and deliver us And can we so far forget our selves as to unwind and unravel all our Happiness by being divided again Does not the Mischiefs and Miseries we have already suffer'd make us sensible of all the Arts and Contrivances the Papists have used to exasperate and set us one against another Are the Companies of armed Roman Catholicks of desperate bloody-minded Irish-men so blessed a Sight within our Quarters and our Houses that we now seem to murmur and complain If we are pleased with these things why then God indeed has done us an Injury to scatter and infatuate so dangerous an Enemy to cease our Oppressions and Persections to bring home Peace and Safety to our Doors and we do as good as tell him thus whilst we either run our selves into new Divisions raise them or continue them Oh how unthankful miserably unthankful must we needs be as well as foolish and inconsiderate if we thus contemn and throw away our Peace and Happiness And shall we add Ingratitude to the vast bulk of our other notorious Vices O God forbid And yet this we shall do if we oppose that Peace and Happiness which Heaven it self now tenders and offers to us by the hand of our most gracious King Now what can be more answerable to the Peace of God bestowed upon us with our Enemies abroad than a firm bond of Peace and Union with our Brethren at home He that returns not this returns nothing to God for all that he has wrought and done for us How can he be at Peace with God whom he has not seen that will not be at Peace with his Brother whom he has seen He that saith he loveth God and hateth his Brother is a Liar hereby shall all men know that ye are the Friends and Followers of Christ if ye love one another To draw to a Conclusion The redeeming us out of Misery and Slavery the scattering of our Enemies the preservation of His Majesty's Sacred Person from all the Conspiracies the Dangers and Deaths he has been expos'd to at home and abroad the happy End of the War and the welcome Blessings of an Honourable Peace these are all of no worth or value in our Judgments or Opinions if we be not henceforth more Righteous towards God more Loyal towards our King and more Loving and Charitable one towards another than ever we yet have been And now if ye have any respect to the Righteous Judge of all the World if any Consideration of God's Goodness if any Love to Unity if any kind of Gratitude for the Mercies you have received from Heaven or would be gracious in the Eyes of a merciful Father let the Meekness of Christians the Endearments of God's Kindness the Reasonableness of Gratitude and the Hopes of God's Favour engage us all to the utmost of our Power to promote Peace and Charity and Union amongst our selves And may that God who calls us to it work it in us that we may all with one Heart and one Mouth return him Thanks for his Mercy endureth for ever and let all the People sing with King David Bless ye the Lord praise him for his Mercy endureth for ever And let us now beg that the God of Peace and Holiness would sanctifie every one of us in Body Soul and Spirit that we may be kept blameless to the Coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen Amen FINIS