A Grain of Incense: OR SUPPLICATION For the Peace of JERUSALEM, THE CHURCH and STATE.  
By J. R.  PSALM 122. 6. 
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee.  JAMES 5. 16. 
— Pray one for another, that ye may be healed: the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  
London, Printed Anno Dom. 1643.   

A Grain of Incense: OR, SUPPLICATION For the Peace of Jerusalem, the CHURCH and STATE.  
O Eternal God, and most gracious Father, abundant in mercy and truth, slow to anger, and of great patience towards miserable sinners, whose death thou desirest not, but their conversion; We humbly acknowledge, That not only this heavy rod of Iron (wherewith thou dost now chastise us, in a dreadful and devouring Civil War) is due untous, by reason of our great and grievous sins, but also all those plagues which thou hast sealed up in the Book of thy Laws, against obstinate and impenitent sinners: For we have broken all thy holy Commandments, in the thoughts of our corrupted hearts, words of impure tongues, and works of our sinful hands; and that not in ignorance of thy holy will, that we might expect but few stripes, but even in the clearest light of thy Gospel long bestowed upon us; nor out of infirmity only, that we might thence pretend to some excuse, but out of wilful presumption we have cast thy Laws behind us, contemned thy Messengers, and stopped our ears to those gracious Conditions of mercy and peace which thou hast with infinite mercy and long patience, sent to us by their Ministry, warning us of these very judgements which now are come upon us. O Lord, our sins have, like a filthy Leprosy, overspread every part and faculty of our bodies and souls, so that we are become loathsome in thy sight, a sinful Nation, a People laden with iniquity: there is nothing sound nor sincere in us, which sin, superstition, or profanation of thy holy Ordinances hath not polluted: the vices and uncleanness of other Nations have flowed in upon us: As thou hast multiplied thy favours of peace and plenty upon us, so have we our rebellions against thee, and our impiety towards men: so that even the righteous become a prey, justice is turned into wormwood, truth vanished, oppression and rapine every where exercised, and blood toucheth blood: So that the cries of the injured, and deep sighing of the oppressed, daily ascendeth into thy holy presence, to provoke thy justice, and to solicit for revenge: And if we should be charged by none other witnesses, our own consciences convince us; if we might be our own judges, our hearts condemn us: So that we cannot but expect that thou, who art the great judge of all the world, shouldst now be avenged on this sinful Nation. But yet the Sanctuary door is not shut up; yet thou, who still warnest us by thy Messengers to return every man from his wicked ways, therein proferest mercy and free pardon to all those who shall so do: Therefore, though our sins testify against us, deal with us according to thy mercy: Thou hast not in vain invited the heavy laden to come unto thee, to call upon thee in the day of trouble, that thou mayst deliver them, and they glorify thee. O Lord God of Truth, who never failest in any of thy promises, now ease us, groving under the heavy burden of our calamities; now hear, and have mercy upon us, who call upon thee out of the deepest sense of our troublesse and helpless perplexities: and Lord make no long tarrying, lest we be consumed by this fierre wrath which is come out of thy presence against us: Wherefore should our adversaries rejoice at our ruin, seeing thy holy Name is called upon among us? Wherefore should our insulting enemies say in our destruction, Where is now their God, their Religion, who thus spoil and destroy each other, seeing thou hast given us a glorious light of thy Gospel, that we might know thee? O Lord, when thou broughtest our Fathers from the kingdom of darkness, into thy marvellous light, leaving many millions to this day in their sins, and the region and shadow of death; it was not because they (or we, to whom thou continuest those favours) were better than others, but for thy own Names sake, and because thou hadst a favour to them and us. O Lord let it not seem little unto thee, That the paths of Zion mourn, That our fields are waste, That thy servants blood is openly shed, That so many weeping rachel's in the loss of their dear children, your out their afflicted souls before thee, That so many helpless widows, in bitterness of spirit, bewail their murdered husbands, That death is come up into our windows, and paleness hath possessed every face, because fear, horror, and terrible dread of utter ruin and desolation appeareth on every side. Lord we have sinned; what shall we say unto thee, O thou preserver of man, save only pardon our sins? We are guilty, and have nothing to plead before thee, but only thine own mercy; nothing to answer, but that thy Christ hath answered for us. O thou God of Truth, who hast promised to hear and grant whatsoever we ask in his Name: now, for his sake forgive us, now for thy wont mercy sake, look upon our afflictions; cause the destroyers to sheathe the sword again, that it may not be extreme bitterness in the end: Correct us not in thine anger, chasten us not in thy heavy displeasure, lest we be consumed.  
Thy mercy is not changed, which want to pardon and deliver thy sinning Israel, when they cried unto thee in their distresses, and to be entreated of them, when they sought thee and thy saving health, though thou correctedst them with the rods of men; thine ear is not heavy, nor thine arm shortened: Lord, therefore in this judgement also, remember mercy; Lord hear the cries of thy faithful servants calling on thee day and night, and giving thee no rest, until thou repair; let them through the merit and mediation of thy son Christ jesus, prevail against all the crying sins of this Nation. Lord let thine arm help us, vain is the help of man; neither the counsels of the prudent, nor any arm of flesh can save us; thou only canst, thou only art our refuge; we have none other in heaven or earth to fly unto for deliverance; Lord reject us not who trust in thee: remove from us all those known and secret sins, which separate between us and thy mercies, which have caused thee to take away thy Peace from us, and feed us with the bitter fruits of our own inventions, who loved not the blessings of peace, and they are now far from us: Give us true and unfeigned Repentance, Humiliation, and amendment, from the first to the last, that thy indignation may cease from us: Heal our rebellions and back-slidings; bind up the wounds which our unnatural and unhappy divisions have made in this Church and State; cure our distempers, reconcile us one to another, and all to thee in Christ jesus: give us grace to keep the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of Peace: Restore us the life of Religion, beauty of holiness, mark of thy son Christ's disciples, badge of true Christians, ornament of the Gospel, and the happy condition of the primitive Saints, Love and Charity; restrain all those desperate spirits of Division, which for our unthankfulness and surfeiting on thy blessings of peace, thou hast justly permitted to come out of the bottomiesse pit amongst us: give us in these days of our visitation, a prudent knowledge of those things which concern our Peace: Take away those fears and jealousies which now unhappily have armed every man against his neighbour: Remove all those Schisms and Factions which any way obscure the Lamps of thy Tabernacle, and the light of Truth: Suppress all the secret and professed Incendiaries, who kindle sedition, and endeavour to lay waste Cities and Villages, and to even the Palace and Cottage in one common ruin.  
Lord bless thine Anointed Servant, our Sovereign Lord the King, in the safety of His Royal Person, Crown and Dignity; in His gracious Consort, and those hopeful Plants which thou hast set about his Table, The Royal Issue: Establish His Throne with Righteousness; Give an happy Understanding and Accord between Him and His great Counsel the Parliament: Counsel them with thy Wisdom, let thy fear rest on them, so that all their Consulations may be blessed, that Truth, justice, and Peace may be restored, and abundantly flourish amongst us again, that we may make a right use of thy fatherly corrections, by fearing thy holy Name, detesting and forsaking our sins, learning hereafter better to value the sweet and comfortable fruits of long Peace, by a short want thereof, and praising thee for thy clemency and tender mercy, in the Congregation of thy Saints.  
And now, O Lord, as thou hast commanded us, we humbly entreat thee, as for ourselves, so for thy distressed servants in Ireland; Lord cover their heads in the days of Battle, teach their hands to war, and their fingers to fight; lead their Leaders, and counsel their Counsellors, thou who canst make one to chase a thousand, and as easily deliver by few as by many (because thou only art the Lord of Hosts, the Battle is thine, and thou only givest Victory unto kings) Help them against their numerous enemies; Take the Honour unto thine own self (as is most due) make it appear to all the world, That thou never rejectest the petitions of humble and contrite hearts, nor forsakest those who put their trust in thee: Lord command their deliverance and ours: Let us not be like that distressed woman, so long languishing, till all be spent on helpless Physicians; Let our miseries come speedily into thy gracious presence, that touching the hem of thy Garment (that tender mercy and compassion wherewith thou art clothed) these issues of blood may speedily be stayed. O Lord incline thine ear, and hear us; O Lord consider and do it: Lord hear our Prayers for them, and theirs for us, and both for thy beloved Son, our blessed Lord and Saviour jesus Christ his sake. Amen.  
FINIS.