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THE RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT
the British throne, such a defender
of
the faith
;
such
a
glorious deliverer
of
the nation
from the
imminent
perils
under
which
we
lay,
Wherein
property and
religion,
liberty and
life
were
all
exposed.
Blessed
be
the hand
of our
_God
that interposed
in
so
signal
a,
season,
and
confounded.
all
the devices
of
oiar
enemies;
he
blasted
their
presumptuous
hopes
at
once,
and
overwhelmed
them
with a
huge and fatal
disappointment
:
"
The
snare
was
broken
and
we
escaped
;"
Ps.
cxxiv. 7.
The
protestant
succession obtained, and king
GEORGE
was
raised
to
his
appointed
throne,
and
all
that
is
dear
to
us
was rescued
from the
hands
of
popish,
tyranny,
which
was
ready
to
invade
us.
Let
us
recollect
with
pleasure the mercy
Of
our God
who
inspired
his
predecessor
king William
of
glorious
memory
to lay
the
foundation of
the
protestant
succes-
sion to
the
crown
of
these kingdoms.
Then
he
prepared
a
healing
balm
for the wound
which
we
received
at
the
death of our
late
sovereign, and made a
happy provision
against
a
thousand distant dangers.
Let
us
give
glory
to
our God
who
prolonged the
life
of
our
late
king,
and made
him
the
author of numerous
blessings for almost
thirteen years together
:
A
large
space
of
the
.life
of
man, wherein
we
enjoyed
our
civil
properties
in
peace, and
our
religious privileges were
confirmed to
us
by
the
constant favour
of our
prince
!
Though
in
the beginning
of
his
reign, the enemy
made
their
utmost
efforts against
us
by
lifting up axes
and
hammers against
our
places
of
worship,
because
of
our
inviolable
attachment
to his
interest, yet
his
wise
and
steady
conduct
Soon
suppressed
those riots,
and
the
law
secured
us
against
future
fears.
2.
It
must
be
acknowledged
as
an instance
of
divine
mercy,
that
our
king
was
not taken
from the
earth
by
the
hands of
violence. A bloody
death
had been a much
more
formidable
appearance. This
would have
filled
our
hearts
with dismay,
lest
a
secret train of
mischiefs
should
have been
contrived and
broken
out
to
our
great
confusion.
Blessed be
the name
of
our God that guarded
his
precious
life
from
day to
day,
and
continued
him
to
a
good old
age,
though
he
had,
such a
multitude
of
ene-
mies on
earth
and
in hell.
The
agents
of
Rome
are
never wanting
to contrive the
destruction
of
all those
that