The daily practice of devotion, or, The hours of prayer fitted to the main uses of a Christian life also lamentations and prayers for the peaceful re-settlement of this church and state / by the late pious and reverend H.H., D.D.

TWO PRAYERS For the Peaceful re-settlement of this Church and State.

IV. A Prayer for the Church.

O Blessed Lord, who in thine infinite mercy didst vouch∣safe to plant a glorious Church among us, and now in thy just judgment hast permitted our sins and follies to root it up; be plea∣sed at last to resume thoughts of Peace towards us, that we may do the like to one another. Lord, look down from Heaven, the Ha∣bitation of thy Holiness, and be∣hold the ruines of a desolate

Church, and compassionate to see her in the dust. Behold her, O Lord, not only broken, but crum∣bled; devided into so many Sects and Factions, that she no longer represents the Ark of the God of Israel, where the Covenant and the Manna were conserved, but the Ark of Noah, filled withall various sorts of unclean Beasts: and, to complete our misery and guilt, the spirit of division hath insinuated it self as well into our affections as our judgments; that badge of Discipleship which thou recommendest to us, is cast off, and all the contrary wrath and bit∣terness, anger and clamour called in to maintain and widen our breaches. O Lord, how long shall we thus violate and defame that Gospel of Peace that we profess? how long shall we thus madly de∣feat our selves, lose that Christia∣nity which we pretend to strive for; O thou which makest men

to be of one mind in an house, be pleased so to unite us, that we may be perfectly joyned together in the same mind, and in the same judgment. And now that in Civil affairs there seems some aptness to a Composure, O let not our Spiri∣tual differences be more unrecon∣cileable. Lord, let not the rongh∣est winds blow out of the Sanctu∣ary; let not those which should be thy Embassadours for Peace, still sound a Trumpet for War: but do thou reveal thy self to all our Eliah's in that still small voice, which may teach them to Echo thee in the like meek treating with others. Lord, let no unsea∣sonable stiffness of those that are in the right, no perverse obstina∣cy of those that are in the wrong, hinder the closing of our wounds; but let the one instruct in meek∣ness, and thou be pleased to give the other repentance to the ac∣knowledgment of the Truth. To

this end do thou, O Lord, mollifie all exasperated minds, take off all animosities and pre udices, con∣tempt and heart-burnings and by uniting their hearts prepare for the reconciling their opinions: and that nothing may intercept the clear sight of thy truth, Lord, let all private and secular designs be totally deposited, that gain may no longer be the measure of our Godliness, but that the one great and common concernment of truth and peace may be unani∣mously and vigorously pursued. Lord, the hearts of all men are in thy hands, O be thou pleased to let thy Spirit of peace over-sha∣dow the minds of all contending parties; and if it be thy will, re∣store this Church to her pristine state, renew her days as of old; let her escape out of Egypt be so entire, that not an hoof may be left behind: But if thy Wisdom see it not yet a season for so full a

deliverance, Lord, defer not, we beseech thee, such a degree of it, as may at least secure her a being; if she cannot recover her beauty, yet, O Lord, grant her health, such a soundness of constitution as may preserve her from dissoluti∣on. Let thy providence find out some good Samaritans to cure her present wounds: and to whomso∣ever thou shalt commit that im∣portant work, Lord, give them skilful hands and compassionate hearts; direct them to such ap∣plications as may most speedily, and yet most soundly, heal the hurt of the daughter of Sion; and make them so advert to the inte∣rests both of truth and peace, that no lawful condescention may be omitted, nor any unlawful made. And do thou, who art both the wonderful Counsellor and Prince of peace, so guide and prosper all pacifick endeavours, that all our distractions may be composed,

and our Jerusalem may again be∣come a City at unity in it self; that those happy primitive days may at length revert, wherein Vice was the only Heresie; that all our intestine contentions may be converted into a vigorous op∣position of our common enemy, our unbrotherly feuds into a Chri∣stian Zeal against all that exalts it self against the obedience of Christ. Lord, hear us, and ordain peace for us, even for his sake whom thou hast ordained our peace-maker, Jesus Christ our Lord.

V. A Prayer for the King and State.

O Most gracious Lord, who dost not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, who smitest not till the importunity of our sins enforce thee, & then cor∣rectest in measure, we thy unwor∣thy

creatures humbly acknow∣ledge that we have abundantly tasted of this patience and lenity of thine. To what an enormous height were our sins arrived ere thou beganst to visit them! and when thou couldst no longer for∣bear, yet mastering thy power, thou hast not proportioned thy vengeance to our crimes, but to thy own gracious design of redu∣cing, and reclaiming us. Lord, had the first stroke of thy hand been exterminating, our guilts had justified the method; but thou hast proceeded by such easie and gentle degrees, as witness how much thou desiredst to be inter∣rupted, and shew us, that all that sad weight we have long groaned under, hath been accumulated on∣ly by our own incorrigibleness. 'Tis now, O Lord, these many years that this Nation hath been in the Furnace, and yet our dross wastes not, but encreases; and it

is owing only to thy unspeakable mercy, that we, who would not be purified, are not consumed; that we remain a Nation, who cease not to be most sinful, and pro∣voking Nation. O Lord, let not this long-suffering of thine serve only to upbraid our obstinacy, and inhanse our guilt; but let it at last have the proper effect on us, melt our hearts, and lead us to repentance. And Oh, that this may be the day for us thus to dis∣cern the things that belong to our peace! that all who are (yea, and all who are not) cast down this day in an external humiliation, may by the operation of thy migh∣ty Spirit have their Souls laid pro∣strate before thee in a sincere con∣trition! O thou who canst out of the very Stones raise up children unto Abraham, work our stony flinty hearts into such a temper as may be malleable into the impressi∣ons of thy grace, that all the sin∣ners

of Sion may tremble; that we may not by a persevering ob∣stinacy seal to our selves both temporal and eternal ruine; but in stead of our mutinous com∣plaining at the punishments of our sins, search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. O be thou pleased to grant us this one grand fundamental mercy, that we who so impatiently thirst after a change without us, may render that possible and safe by this bet∣ter and more necessary change within us; that our sins may not, as they have so often done, inter∣pose and eclipse that light which now begins to break out upon us. Lord, thy Dove seems to ap∣proach us with an olive-branch in her mouth, oh let not our filth and noisomness chase her away; but grant us that true repentance which may atone thee, and that Christian charity which may re∣concile us with one another.

Lord, let not our breach either with thee or among our selves be incurable, but by making up the first prepare us for the healing of the latter. And because, O Lord, the way to make us one fold is to have one Shepherd, be pleased to put us all under the conduct of him to whom that charge belongs; bow the hearts of this people as of one man, that the only contention may be who shall most forward in bringing back our David. O let none reflect on their past guilts as an argument to persevere, but repent, and to make their return so sincere as may qualifie them not only for his but thy Mercy. And, Lord, be pleased so to guide the hearts of all who shall be in∣trusted with that great concern∣ment of setling this Nation, that they may weigh all their delibera∣tions in the balance of the Sanctu∣ary, that conscience, not interest, may be the ruling principle, and

that they may render to Cesar the things that are Cesars, and to God the things that are Gods; that they may become healers of our breaches and happy repair∣ers of the sad ruines both in Church and State; and grant, O Lord, that as those sins which made them are become National, so the repentance may be Nation∣al also, and that evidenced by the proper fruits of it, by zeal of re∣storing of the rights both of thee and thine Anointed. And do thou, O Lord, so dispose all hearts, and remove all obstacles, that none may have the will, much less the power, to hinder his peaceable re∣stitution. And, Lord, let him bring with him an heart so entire∣ly devoted to thee, that he may wish his own honour only as a means to advance thine. O let the precepts and example of his Bles∣sed Father never depart from his mind; and as thou wert pleased

to perfect the one by suffering, so perfect the other by acting thy will; that He may be a blessed in∣strument of replanting the power instead of the form of Godliness among us, of restoring Christian vertue in a prophane and almost barbarous Nation. And if any wish him for any distant ends, if any desire his shadow as a shelter for their riots and licentiousness, O let him come a great but happy defeat to all such, not bring fewel, but cure, to their inordinate ap∣petites; and by his example as a Christian, and his Authority as a King, so invite to good, and re∣strain from evil, that he may not only release our temporal, but our spiritual bondage, suppress those foul and scandalous vices which have so long captivated us, and by securing our inward, provide for the perpetuating our outward peace, Lord, establish thou his throne in righteousness, make

him a signal instrument of thy glory and our happiness, and let him reap the fruits of it in com∣fort here, and in bliss hereafter; that so his earthly Crown may serve to enhanse and inrich his heavenly. Grant this O King of Kings, for thy sake and intercessi∣on of our Blessed Mediator, Je∣sus Christ.