Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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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
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Wing L56C; ESTC R218601
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7,903
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23
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not censure or condemn thy Brother because he is not just of the same mould and opinion with thy self but sit down and be content that thy Life thy Liberty the Law and thy Religion are all entirely preserved Let not nice Distinctions and Opinions hatch and foment any Quarrels amongst us Christians but let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful In speaking to these Words I shall apply my self to the Duty of this Day and will enquire First What is meant by this Expression Let the peace of God rule in your hearts Secondly What it is to be thankful Peace is a Word of a very large Extent all God's Blessings are folded up in that sweet Name It signifies all the temporal all the spiritual and all the eternal Good we can either expect or desire Now that Peace which the Apostle here recommends is such an one as is joined with Righteousness with Truth with Love and Charity If this Peace rule in our Hearts it will decide all our Differences compose all our Quarrels and heal all our Wounds it will work us all into order and make us chearful under all its Commands both to God and Man Thus let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts Were it once but truly and sincerely fixed there it would rule our Words into a milder key and our Actions into a smoother dress We should hear no Whispers against the present auspicious Government of great Caesar no feigned Jealousies of a Commonwealth coming in no talk of an absolute unbounded Monarchy no canting of sad Times when we must have seen and felt much worse had not God himself interpos'd rescu'd and deliver'd us It were much to be wish'd that our Magistrates would take effectual Care to suppress and hinder the printing of Libels and all such Books and Pamphlets as tend to no other end but to amuse the People to disswade them from admiring and adoring the best of Princes to rail at the present Government and keep them in perpetual Discontents and hinder them from Reunion with the Church These cannot be the Words of such as seek the Peace of Sion or pray for the Peace of Jerusalem or wish well to their native Country But if we stand upon Punctilio's and will not pray but in our own Words will not worship God unless we may do it in what form we list our selves will quit the Church rather than our Humour we cannot be said to further but disturb the Peace both of Church and State The Apostle beseeches us Col. 3.12 13. to be tender and compassionate meek and humble patient and long-suffering forbearing and forgiving one another If any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye O most admirable and divine Exhortation As if he had said I assure you my beloved Colossians that these Vertues and Graces are the best Symptoms and the best Expressions of the Peace of God ruling in your Hearts The Looks of Peace are mild and chearful her Words smooth and gentle her Hands soft and merciful always stretch'd out to receive and embrace those who are ready to come in Now as we are to live peaceably one with another so we are to be thankful for all those Blessings God hath bestowed upon this Church and People 'T is a Duty that now lies upon us for it well becometh the Just to be thankful Psal 33.1 I cannot direct you to any thing more becoming us in regard of the Mercies mentioned in the Text The Peace of God and the calling us to it in one body Each of them so ample Subjects for our Gratitude that we cannot shew thankfulness enough for either Peace Abroad and at Home too This is so great a Blessing that no one thing is more pleasant to be seen more beautiful to be desired or more profitable to be enjoyed But what shall we say to those Remarkable Instances of God's Mercy and Goodness to us in preserving this Church and Nation from the black Designs and barbarous Conspiracies of bloody-minded Men. On November the 5th 92 Years ago when the fatal Tragedy of the Gun-powder Treason was to be acted by the Papists all the black Scenes of Ruine of Misery and Death being all fitted and prepared that then when the Funeral of King and Parliament of Church and State was to be consummated in a fiery Cloud that then when the fatal Minutes were hastening on to an amazing dreadful Period That God should at that moment of Time when there was none could save or help us that he should come down to rescue and deliver us That he should infatuate and discover those desperate Wretches and bring them all to Shame and condign Punishment is a plain Instance of his Povidence which has hitherto watch'd over us for Good as well as a peculiar Token of his Love and Mercy On the selfe-same Day November the 5th above 9 Years ago when we look'd upon our selves as a miserable enslaved Nation our Liberties our Laws our Religion being all perverted and invaded that then when we were beset with Legions of armed Papists pick'd out of this and the neighbouring Kingdoms ready to receive and execute the bloody Dilates of Priests and Jesuites that then when our Church and Religion were brought to the lowest ebb lay languishing and sighing under the Oppression and Tyranny of her cruel Enemies who tauntingly upbraided her with her Old Age That God should then raise up her Head out of the Dust That he should bring all the Plots and Contrivances of her Enemies to nought That he should save Israel by the hand of his Servant Moses That he should send the most Heroick and Renowned Prince of Orange to save and rescue us from a most cruel Tyranny and bloody Persecution is a Mercy thankfully to be commemorated by all such as love their Religion their King and Country God has called who were almost out of Call some in remote Corners of this Kingdom some in foreign Countries abroad some incognito in dark Corners at home some in Dungeons and Prisons some in the Tower We are all like dead Men restored to a new Life God has called us again into his Church he has restored some to their Estates some to their Wives and Children from whom they were forc'd to fly not that they had done Evil or deserved Death but because they hated Idolatry and were ready and able to discover the Actors and Inventers of all our Miseries and Troubles God has called us all to the Enjoyment of our Liberties our Laws and our Religion he maketh our Wars to cease and hath settled us upon the sure Foundations of an Honourable Peace This is so transcendant a Mercy that we can never be sufficiently thankful For Men to be grateful and thankful is First Humbly and heartily to acknowledge God's infinite Goodness and Mercy to us and our own infinite Unworthiness of it He
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