563 / 652
OF
PUBLIC
EVENTS.
557
support
what they
call the
northern
heresy,
and the pow-
ers
of
darkness are engaged
on
their
side.
Yet
this
great
man
came to
his.
grave in peace,
and died
as
Da-
vid
did,
at
a
comfortable length
of
years, full
of
days,
riches and honour.
3.
It
is
to
be
reckoned
among
our
mercies, since
he-
lived
so
long
as
to
see
the seeds
of
discord
sown
among
the nations
in
Europe,
and the first
efforts
of
a
war in
Spain,
that
he lived
also
long enough
to
lay
the
founda-
tions
of
an
extensive peace.
It
is
worthy
our
notice
that
the empress
of
Muscovy,
who
was
known to be
in
a contrary interest,
died
but a
few
weeks ago,
whereby
it
is
supposed
some
of
the
foreign
potentates
were
more powerfully and speedily
induced
to
accept
the
preliminaries of
a
treaty of
peace. Blessed
be the
God
of
peace
that
our sovereign
lived
to see
these
preliminaries
signed
:
IIad
he
been taken
off from the
stage
of
action
but
a
few
weeks sooner,
perhaps
the peace
and
the
treaty
,had
been
greatly
retarded,
and our ene-
mies might
have prosecuted the war
with
double vigour.
Times and
seasons, life
and death are
in
the hands
of
God, and
we
have often
seen that
he
bath
marked
out
and limited
the extent of
the
life
of
princes,
to
answer
wise
purposes,
in his own
government of
the world,
and
his
gracious
designs
towards
Great
Britain
and the
churches of Christ.
4.
It
is
an
instance
of
divine mercy beyond
all
expres-
sion,
that
we
have such an
illustrious prince
for
a suc-
cessor
:
One
who
is
not
only
a
firm
protestant
by
the
influence
of
his
education.under
such
a
Father, but
from
his own knowledge
and
choice infinitely prefers the
reformed
religion, and
is
a
constant
professor
of
it.
Blessed
art
thou,
O Britain, for
"
thy
king
is
the
son
of
nobles," descended from a
race
of
sovereign
princes
trained
up from
his
youngest
years to the sublime
art
of
government.
Nor
do
we
corne
under
the
woe
pro-
nounced upon
"
the land, whose
king
is a
child,
"
'a
minor under
age,
that
wants a
ruler
to
beset
over
him.
Our present
sovereign hath
attained
to
a
sufficient gum
ber of
years,
and
a
large
share
of
experience
of
'hurrram
affairs,
and
has made
wise
observations
of
the various
occurrences among states
and nations,
that
.he
may
sway