they who affault us muft fight againft thee: fo we fhall be quiet,and thy Name fhall be glorified by us,and all others, [through Jesus Cheift] thy Son, [our Lozd] the purchaser of all Mercies. Amen.

The Thanksgiving for restoring publick Peace at home.

S.VII.TF the War hath been raised by our Fellow-fubjects, and especially if it were crusht in the beginning, we may then use this Form, the occafion whereof was our late hozzio Rebellion (this being added fince his Majefty's return); for the effects of thofe Seditions I and Tumults, which gave beginning to that fad Calamiwere fo mischievous, that whensoever any traiterous Coufpiracies are difcovered and prevented before they arrive to that accurfed height, we fhall have reafon to give special Thanks for fo great a Mercy. To excite us whereunto I hope the memory of our miseries in the late times, and the Confideration of what is faid already concerning Sedition, Privy Confpiracy,and Kebellion, Part.I.Sect.II.§.8. may be fufficient, especially if we confider well what is contained in this excellent Form, whofe explication here followeth,

The

S.8.This Thanksgiving hath three Parts.

the Au-ciousActs, 2. Stilling
thor by/both in Tumults.

2. A Thanksgiving for the Ceffa-pease the feditious tion of our late troubles.

A Practical Difcourfe upon this Thanksgiving. S.IX.

Eternal God, our heavenly Father, who alone makeft men to be of one mind in a house,and fillet the outrage of a violent and unraly People.]

The Introduction of the prefent Thanksgiving being the words of Holy Scripture,is the Reason why we give thanks to Almighty God for the allaying our late Troubles, and the giving us this Peace we now enjoy. First,because he it is, who keeps us in Peace and Secondly, when any Tumults arife, he it is, who doth appeale them: The firft is afferted in the words of Pfalm.lxviii. 6. He is the God that maketh men to be of one mind in a House; that is, not only within the walls of private families, but within whole Nations and Kingdoms, which are, as it were, one great houfe, being all under one Mafter the King, every one having their several Offices,and all governed by the fame Rules. Now we learn from our Saviour that a Kingdom and a house are alike in this, that if either of them. be divided against it felf,they cannot stand(s), Mat.xii.25, 26. And therefore it is very neceffary, that our heavenly Father, of whom the whole Family in heaven and earth is named should interpofe to keep us quiet among our felves: and if he did not conftantly do this,no Kingdom would ftand long; for we may confider that in fo populous a Nation (for Example) as this, there are innumerable men, and almost as

(s) Quæ domus tam Stabilis, que tam fir ma civitas eft,qua nin odiis diffidiis funditùs poffit everti?

Cic.de amicit.

(t) Quot homines

many minds(), they being as un-
like in their humours as their faces, tot fentemie."

and as contrary in their opinions and perfwafions, as they are in their defigns; fome are for the good old ways, fome

for

for new, fome adore that as Religion which others deride as ridiculous; fome aim at pleafures, others at honours, others at riches, others at lawless liberty; fome are angry, others proud; fome are melancholly, fome deceitful and fome malitious; yet all these by Gods infinite power do so far agree,as that all refolve to live quietly under the fame. Government. It is noted by the antients as a miracle, that all forts of Animals fhould live together in Noah's Ark, without devouring one another; but if we confider! (as one faid) how many falvage beafts lye under human skin; we fhall be obliged to confefs it as great a wonder, that fo many men fhould live in unity in the fame Kingdom, and must acknowledg it to be the mighty work of God, of whom it is affirmed. Secondly, that he ftilleth the outrage of a vio lent and unruly People, which is taken alfo out of the Pfalms,He filletb the raging of the Sea, the noise of his waves, and the madness of the People,Pfal.lxv.7. Wherein we see the tumultuous Affemblies of a feditious Rabble are very fitly compared to the Sea, disturbed by the tempeftuous breath of their factious Ring-leaders; for the Vulgar thus ftirred up, are as tickle and uncertain (u), as leud and boisterous, as violent and aninani. Sen.Herc. ruly, as that outragious and unquiet Element; and if we obferve the defperate words and cruel threats, the unreasonable clamors and barbarous actions of fuch a feditious Crew, we should think it impoffible to allay their fury, fo long as there remained any thing to be deftroyed, but that God which commands the Sea to be ftill, he also can charm the rage of feditious Rebels, and bring them either to fubmithion or confufion of which we faw an illuftrious Inftance in the reftauration of our Peace and our King together, against whom not

(u) Fluētu magis mobile vu gus, Aaratumidum volvit

fur.a&.1.

7

a Dog moved his Tongue; and although the Enemies 3 of our Soveraign had Arms and men,Policy and Riches,

yet they had no power to fecure their ill-gotten places, nor could they keep him out,whom God refolved to exalt, and he did reftore him without one drop of blood fpilt either by the fword or by the axe, except fuch as was too bad to live, and could not have been fpared, without bringing Vengeance on the whole Nation. This God did then, and thus he hath done now, bleffed be his Holy Name.

S.X.

biefs the Holy Name,that it hath pleased

thee to appease the feditious Tumults, which have lately been railed up amongst us.]

King David not only acknowledgeth Gods mercy to him in his Deliverance from forreign Enemies, but from Civil broils,faying, Thou also haft delivered me from the ftrivings of my People, 2 Sam. xxii.44. And indeed this is a bleffing not inferior to the other, if we confider to what mischiefs thefe leffer Tumults might have grown,if the Divine Goodness had not nipt them in the bud; they might have overthrown our Laws and Government, our Religion and our Rights; they might have depopulated our Country, and made us a prey to ftrangers, or flaves to the vileft of the Peoplesor have produced another Civil War,which is of all others the moft furious and mischievous (w), and the moft to be abhorred and feared by us in this Nation, who have fo fad ly fmarted by this Rod,So that I hope hereafter every little Deliverance of this kind, fhall be moft thankfully acknowledged by us to the honour of God, who most commonly early discovers, and justly punisheth, feditious attempts in the very be

K k

(w)Jufque datum fee

leri canimas populumque potentem, In fua vitrici converfum vifeera dextra Lucan.l.1: Summum, Brute, nefas civilia bella fatemur.id.lib.2.

ginning,

A