A SERMON Preached at St. Mary's Truro On the Second of December 1697. Being the Day Appointed for A Publick Thanksgiving FOR PEACE By SIM PAGET Rector of Truro LONDON Printed by J. Heptinstall for Edward Evets at the Green Dragon in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. TO The Worshipful the Mayor The Right Honourable the Recorder The Capital Burgesses And other the Inhabitants of the Ancient Borough of TRURO Gentlemen AMongst the many Decent and Suitable Demonstrations of your Joy on the late Thanksgiving-day for Peace I cannot but with great Pleasure and Satisfaction call to mind what a full Congregation we had at Church and how devoutly every one performed the Publick Service for the Occasion You were then pleased to approve of this Sermon as a Discourse suitable to the Occasion and apt to stir Men up to a thankfull Reception of so great a Blessing Trusting it will he thought so still and have the same effect now it is Printed I do in particular dedicate it to you as a thankfull Acknowledgment of the kind Welcome you have me at my first coming to you and of the many great Civilities and Favours I have received from you ever since I should have presented you with it sooner but that my great Indisposition would not suffer me to transcribe it for the Press I pray God requite you for all your Favours and bless you both in your Spiritual and Temporal Interests which is and ever shall be the hearty Prayer of Dear Sirs Your most obliged and Faithfull Servant Sim. Pagel A Thanksgiving-Sermon c. Luke II. 14. Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace Good will towards Men. THE Words are a joyfull and congratulatory Acclamation of the Blessed Angels ushering into this lower world the Son of God the Prince of Peace Him they attend with Branches of Palms instead of flaming Swords with good Tidings of great Joy to all People instead of cursing Meros burning Sodom or destroying the Assyrian Camp Him they attend not as the Reverse of a Gracious God as an Evil Deity naturally eclipsing and opposing the Emanations of Divine Goodness nor as a Man of War causing fear and dread to fall upon Mankind dealing in Fury and executing Vengeance tho' a good Deity But as the Prince of Peace displaying the Banners of Divine Love over Mankind and reconciling the rebellious World to the Favour and Beneficence of his Heavenly Father As the Prince of Peace procuring and establishing Peace between Man and Man as well as between Man and God Isa 2.4 commanding them to beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning hooks Nation not to lift up Sword against Nation nor to learn War any more Well might a winged Embassy descend from the Court of Heaven and call upon Mankind to attend the Arrival of such a Prince with the utmost Demonstrations of Honour and Joy Well might the whole World resound with Anthems of Glory to God in the Highest when Peace is proclaimed on Earth as the blessed effect of God's good will towards Men. When the Divine Goodness breaks forth into so glorious a Display of it self upon poor Mortals as to joyn Heaven and Earth together in the mutual Beams of Love and Peace the greatest Blessing Heaven can bestow the greatest Earth can receive And may not the occasion of this solemn Day raise in Our Minds the like chearfull Joy and devote Us to the most gratefull Returns of Glory and Praise to the same gracious God Now when the Divine Will has issued forth such an over-flowing Tide of Goodness upon the Face of the Earth and the Son of Righteousness is risen upon us with such Healing in his Wings Now when after a long Night of Darkness we are got into the Morning of so promising a Day and can behold our reviving Hemisphere to fill every day more and more with the beautifull Rays of an advanced Peace Now when the Weapons of War are perished 2 Sam. 1.27 Ps 68.30 and the People that delight in war are scattered and the Meek begin to inherit the Earth Ps 37.11 and to delight themselves in the abundance of Peace Isa 11.6 When the Wolf begins to dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard to lie down with the Kid and the sucking Child to play on the hole of the Asp and every man to sit under his Vine Mic. 4.4 and under his Fig-tree and none to make him afraid Shake thy self from the Dust O Zion Isa 52.2 9. Break forth into joy ye wast places of Jerusalem Sing O ye Heavens for the Lord hath done it Shout ye lower parts of the Earth Break forth into singing ye Mountains Isa 44.23 O Forest and every Tree therein for the Lord hath Redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel And that we may conceive a just Esteem of the Blessings we now commemorate and in some measure glorifie God as we ought to do for bestowing them upon us I shall from this Angelical Doxology do these four things I. I shall make some Reflection upon the Excellency and Desireableness of Peace This the words do plainly imply II. I shall shew what an argument of God's Love and Favour the Blessing of Peace is to a People God's good will towards Men breaks forth in Peace upon Earth III. I shall observe concerning Peace how highly conducive it is to the Advancement of God's Glory On Earth Peace is Glory to God in the Highest IV. I shall conclude with some Inferences from the whole and with shewing you after what manner we of this Nation shall best glorifie God for bestowing this inestimable Blessing of Peace upon us I. I shall make some Reflection upon the Excellency and Desireableness of Peace Peace me-thinks the word sounds pleasant in our Ears the very naming of it strikes a kind refreshment to the Heart and diffuses a trembling Ravishment through all the Veins On Earth Peace 'T was one of the highest Strains the Melodious Angels did ever sing to Men. They knew not how more irresistibly to charm Mankind than by sounding forth the glad Tidings of a blessed Peace to them And indeed considering first how unnatural a State of War is to sociable Creatures and secondly what dreadfull Calamities do usually attend the drawn Sword we cannot but conclude Peace to be of all temporal Blessings the most excellent and desireable 1. How unnatural a State of War is to sociable Creatures That Man by original Creation was made for Society bound by the use of Speech and Reason and a tacit inclination of Mind as well as the Necessities of humane Nature to be a Companion and Friend to esteem and love and assist the rest of his Fellow-creatures is a truth I think not to be denied howsoever disputed by some of late Years who would fain reduce a State of Nature into a State of War For we find even in this corrupted State of Nature wherein the unruly Lusts and Passions of Men have
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
turn to the Love and Favour of God Because as the wise Man tells us Eccles 9 1. No man knoweth either Love or Hatred by all that is before them The Love of God is with our doubt grounded upon unerring Foundations and constantly exerts it self in acts of Kindness and Beneficence to Mankind When once God comes to have any Love for a people all his Dispensations towards them are good and arguments of his Love But then we must consider that the same dealings of Providence may proceed from different Affections in God and the good things which he affords to some out of Love he may dispense to others out of Wrath and Hatred Hos 13.11 Thus he gives a King sometimes in his Anger and chastises an Hypocritical Nation under the Triumphs of a proud Assyrian Isa 10. who is afterwards to fall into the same Calamities himself But that we may ascribe the good events of Peace to the special Love and Favour of God will appear to us if we do but consider first what legible Characters of the divine Goodness do appear upon Peace and secondly how constantly God did bestow it upon his ancient People the Jews when at any time by turning from the evil of their ways they restored themselves to his Love and Favour 1. What legible Characters of the Divine Goodness do appear upon Peace Now the Characters of Divine Goodness are more or less legible according as the acts of Divine Providence are more or less Signal In things of a lower Nature and such as concern only private and particular persons the Tokens of Divine Goodness are not near so discernable as they are in weighty matters and such as concern whole Bodies and Communities of Men because 't is highly becoming of God to adopt his Providence in proportion to the worth and value of the thing 't is concerned about And therefore Man being of more worth and value than many Sparrows he is consequently made by our Saviour to have a more particular providence attending him Are not ye of more value than many Sparrows Now Peace being a thing of the highest worth and value that the Providence of God can be concerned about in that it frees whole Nations from the Calamities of War and restores to them their Lives and Fortunes their Liberties and Religion and all other desireable Goods which a State of War is wont to subvert and destroy therefore 't is but reasonable to conclude that the Providence of God is more especially concerned about Peace and consequently Men must be Blind if they don't discover the manifest Tokens of the Divine Goodness upon it and acknowledge it to be one of the greatest Arguments of God's Love and Favour to a People 2. How constantly God did bestow this Blessing upon his ancient people the Jews when at any time by turning from the evil of their ways they restored themselves to his Love and Favour This is a truth so well known to every one that 't will be needless to relate any particulars for the confirmation of it The whole History of that people being but one continued Series and Narrative of the Divine Dispensations towards them either in causing the Sword to devour them for their Sins or in giving them Peace within their Borders upon their sincere Repentance And though God does not govern the World now by such immediate Providences as he did then neither can we behold such direct Strokes of his hand in rewarding and blessing a beloved people yet considering that God still keeps the Government of the world in his own hands and governs by the same unalterable methods of Wisdom and Goodness and Justice to the end of the World Considering that as the Goodness of God extends it self to all Creatures in general so the special Love and Favour of God extends it self to Men and Kingdoms in particular according as they approach nearer to him in Truth and Holiness and that this special Love and Favour of God is always exerting it self in the greatest acts of Kindness and Beneficence to Mankind amongst which Peace is the greatest nay the only Blessing he can bestow upon Nations and Kingdoms it being impossible for a Nation to subsist in any tolerable degree of Happiness without Peace considering this I say 't is but reasonable to conclude That as God did love his ancient people the Jews when they observed his Statutes and Judgments which he gave them and did bless and multiply them and give them Peace because he loved them so does he continue to do the same now to all the Nations and Kingdoms of the Earth And that although his Blessings do come about in a larger Circuit and after a more abstruse and intricate Manner now to what they did then sometimes carrying the visible marks of deep humane Counsels and Contrivances so that we may be apt to think them the works of Mens own hands and sometimes proceeding from a long Train and Series of unforeseen and unexpected Accidents so that Men may be apt to ascribe them to Fortune or Chance yet if we believe any thing of a super-intending Providence we must run all these remarkable Occurrences up to their Fountain-head and derive them all in their various turnings and windings from God their Author They do all of them proceed from him who governs the World now by the same Rules of Wisdom Goodness and Justice as he ever did and ever will do notwithstanding the Executions of his Government are not neither is it necessary they should be so immediate and visible now as they were formerly III. I observe concerning Peace how highly conducive it is to the advancement of God's Glory The Glory of God is properly an Excellence of the Divine Nature whereby God as we may express it for the help of our own Apprehensions does infinitely transcend all created Beings in the vastness of his perfections The Scriptures in condescention to our Capacities do set it forth under the resemblance of a King with all his Glory and Majesty about him The Lord is King Ps 93.1 Ps 104.1 and hath put on glorious Apparel Thou art become exceeding glorious thou art cloathed with Majesty and Honour And because it is not for such Creatures as we are to appear before the Throne of God and there to behold him in those vast Effluviums of Glory which proceed from the immense perfections of his Nature therefore does God condescend to become visible to us in the remoter works of his hands and to let us see the back-parts of his essential Brightness and Lustre in some wonderfull Works either of Wisdom or Power or Goodness or Justice or Mercy Now when we say that Peace conduces to the advancement of God's Glory we are not to understand as if Peace could make any real addition to the infinite Glories of God for certainly God would have been infinitely Glorious in himself whether ever he had made this World or Man or any thing belonging to