Father and King, O where art thou? O for one hour of prayer like thine, * And he, whose mild persuasive voice Most like a faithful Dove, * Read Fell's Life of Hammond, p. 283-296, Oxford, 1806. ["At the opening of the year 1660, when every thing visibly tended to the reduction of his Sacred Majesty, and all persons in their several stations began to make way and prepare for it, the good doctor (Hammond) was, by the fathers of the Church, desired to repair to London, there to assist in the composure of breaches in the Church: which summons as he resolved unfit either to dispute or disobey, so could he not, without much violence to his inclinations, submit unto. But, finding it his duty, he diverted all the uneasiness of antipathy and aversion into a deliberate preparation of himself for this new theatre of affairs, on which he was to enter. Where his first care was to fortify his mind against the usual temptations of business, place and power. And to this purpose, besides his earnest prayers to God for his assistance and disposal of him entirely to his glory, and a diligent survey of all his inclinations, and therein those which were his more open and less defensible parts, he farther called in, and solemnly adjured that friend of his, with whom he had the nearest opportunity of commerce, to study and examine the last ten years of his life, and with the justice due to a Christian friendship to observe the failances of all kinds, and show them to him: which being accordingly attempted, the product, after a diligent inquest, only proving the representation of such defects which might have passed for virtue in another person; his next prospect was abroad, what several ways he might do good unto the public: and knowing that the diocess of Worcester was, by the favour of his majesty, designed his charge, he thought of se veral opportunities of charity unto that place, and, among others, particularly cast in his mind for the repair of the cathedral church, and laid the foundation of a considerable advance unto that work. Which early care is here mentioned as an instance of his inflamed desire of doing good, and singular zeal to the house of God, and That by some ruin'd homestead builds, His wonted lay of love': the restoring of a decent worship in a like decent place: for otherwise it was far from his custom to look forward into future events, but still to attend and follow after Providence, and let every day bear its own evil. And now, considering that the nation was under its great crisis and most hopeful method of its cure, which yet, if palliate and imperfect, would only make way to more fatal sickness, he fell to his devotions on that behalf, and made those two excellent prayers, which were published immediately after his death, as they had been made immediately before his sickness, and were almost the very last thing he wrote. 'Being in this state of mind, fully prepared for that new course 66 * * [See Works, vol. i. 727. The following is submitted as a specimen, from the former of them. "O blessed Lord, who in thine infinite mercy didst vouchsafe to plant a glorious Church among us, and now in thy just judgment hast permitted our sins and follies to root it up, be pleased at last to resume thoughts of peace towards us, that we may do the like to one another. Lord, look down from heaven, the habitation of thy holiness, and behold the ruins of a desolated Church, and compassionate to see her in the dust. Behold her, O Lord, not only broken, but crumbled, divided 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 with all various sorts of unclean beasts: and to complete our misery and guilt, the spirit of division hath insinuated itself as well into our affections as our judgments: that badge of discipleship which thou recommendedst to us is cast off, and all the contrary wrath and bitterness, 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 defeat ourselves, and lose that Christianity which we pretend to strive for? O thou which makest men to be of one mind in a house, be pleased so to unite us, that we may be perfectly joined 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 spiritual differences be more unreconcilable. Lord, let not the roughest winds blow out of the sanctuary: let not those which should be thy ambassadors for peace still sound a trumpet for war: but do thou reveal thyself to all our Elijahs, in that still small voice which may teach them to echo thee in the like meek treatings with others. Lord, let no unseasonable stiffness of those that are in the right, no perverse obstinacy of those that are in the wrong, hinder the closing of our wounds; but let the one instruct in meekness, and be thou pleased to give the other repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth. To this end, do thou, O Lord, mollify all exasperated minds, take off all animosities and prejudices, contempt 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 the one great and common concernment of truth and peace may be unanimously and vigorously pursued, &c."] Why comes he not to bear his part, of life, which had nothing to recommend it to his taste but its unpleasantness, (the best allective unto him,) he expected hourly the peremptory mandate which was to call him forth of his beloved retirements. "But in the instant, a more importunate, though infinitely more welcome summons engaged him on his last journey: for, on the 4th of April, he was seized with a sharp fit of the stone, with those symptoms that are usual in such cases; which yet, upon the voidance of a stone, ceased for that time. However, on the 8th of the same month, it returned again with greater violence: and though after two days the pain decreased, the suppression of urine yet continued, with frequent vomitings, and a distention of the whole body, and likewise shortness of breath, upon any little motion. When, as if he had, by some instinct, a certain knowledge of the issue of his sickness, he almost, at its first approach, conceived himself in hazard: and whereas at other times, when he saw his friends about him fearful, he was used to reply cheerfully, that he was not dying yet;' now in the whole current of his disease, he never said any thing to avert suspicion, but addressed unto its cure, telling his friends with whom he was, 'that he should leave them in God's hands, who could supply abundantly all the assistance they could either expect or desire from him, and who would so provide, that they should not find his removal any loss.' And when he observed one of them with some earnestness pray for his health and continuance, he with tender passion replied, 'I observe your zeal spends itself all in that one petition for my recovery; in the interim you have no care of me in my greatest interest, which is, that I may be perfectly fitted for my change when God shall call me: pray let some of your fervour be employed that way.' And being pressed to make it his own request to God to be continued longer in the world, to the service of the Church, he immediately began a solemn prayer, which contained, first, a very humble and melting acknowledgment of sin, and a most earnest intercession for mercy and forgiveness through the merits of his Saviour: next, resigning himself entirely into his Maker's hands, he begged that if the divine wisdom intended him for death, he might have a due preparation for it; but if his life might be in any degree useful to the Church, even to one single soul, he then besought Almighty God to continue him, and by his grace Lies heavy on his gentle breast: We wish him health; he sighs for rest, Yes, go in peace, dear placid sprite, We need not grudge thee to the skies, With thee for ever dwell. Till then, whene'er with duteous hand, Be some kind spirit, likest thine, The wandering heart to seize; to enable him to employ that life he so vouchsafed, industriously and successfully. After this he did with great affection intercede for this Church and nation, and with particular vigour and enforcement prayed for sincere performance of Christian duty, now so much decayed, to the equal supplanting and scandal of that holy calling; that those who professed that faith might live according to the rules of it, and to the form of godliness, superadd the power. This, with some repetitions, and more tears, he pursued, and at last closed all in a prayer for the several concerns of the family where he was. With this he frequently blessed God for so far indulging to his infirmity, as to make his disease so painless to him; withal to send it to him before he took his journey, whereas it might have taken him in the way or at his inn, with far greater disadvantages." Bishop Fell's Life of Dr. Hammond, in Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, vol. v. p. 428.1 THE ACCESSION.* As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Joshua i. 5. THE voice that from the glory came A glimpse of the unchanging sky: For the lost dream the heart may ache, One rock amid the weltering floods, When Death is busy near the throne, * [The anniversary of the day on which the reigning King comes to the throne.] |