defid Heaven and God and Providence or did not believe them Now the taking away the most Pious and best of Kings by the most impious and inhumane Practices and by a Civil War where Subject was against Sovereign Father against Son the Bonds of Affection Friendship Blood and Nature all dissolv'd and Hell broke loose was certainly a very dreadfull Judgment of God upon a People tho' it were no worse and if we be not sensible of it God can make us know and understand it to our sorrow which Heaven forbid by bringing upon us again the like Calamity I say the Desolations which attended the downfall of God's Anointed will bear Witness that God was very Angry and it is but modesty in dust and ashes to humble our selves under the sence of his displeasure I do not now consider the Death of King Charles as a Sin much less as a Murder and a National Murder the most crying of all Sins Suppose he had only fallen as Josiah did by a chance Arrow from a Bow or by a Ball or Dart which respects no Persons nor has sence to distinguish betwixt right and wrong yet were it for no other reason but because his Death was one of God's Judgments which are all terrible and abstracting from the Sin and Crime that lie heavy upon this Nation we have still reason as Judah and Jerusalem had to lament and to continue our Mourning as well as the Memory of God's Anger and Indignation Think then who are they that feast and rejoyce that make this a Day of Pastime and Recreation which the Almighty made a day of Vengeance which the Church has set a part for a day of Mourning which the Law has appointed for a solemn Fast think again who are they that provoke God to anger by despising these his Judgments and ridiculing the Signs and Tokens of his heavy Displeasure and then see if these be not the Enemies we are most in danger of These are the Men who are to make God our Enemy and when they have done that it is in vain they boast of their Fidelity and of their other Services to this or any Establishment They are better men and better friends to this their Country who arm Ruffians then they who arm God and Heaven and Providence against us and who put the Sword into the Hand of the destroying Angel to undo us Other Foes may have as much Malice but cannot do half the Mischief as they who defy God and his Ordinances are able to do We fear the secret Contrivances and Conspiracies of ill Men at home we are providing against the Assaults of a crazy Mortal from abroad and of Forces which could not till this Day have stood before us but as our Sins and our Follies had given them advantage over us and kept them up but there 's no fencing nor fighting against Heaven if our open defiance of God's Judgments provoke Him to punish or to forsake us And thus I have shewn that the taking away a good King though consider'd only as God's Judgment upon a People and not their Crime yet ought to be remember'd with the last dedegree of Humiliation and looked upon as a Sign that God was displeased with that Land which he made the Theatre whereon was shed so much Innocent Blood No man sin'd when Josiah was slain in Battle yet the Wisdom of God and the Nation only because he was kill'd in the Field made a Law for a yearly Mourning for Him through all future Ages I now come to Two particular Reasons which I find in the History of Josiah why the people made so great and so universal Lamentation for Him First A Prince was slain in Battle whose Clemency and Goodness and whose Zeal for Religion had created Him a general Esteem and Veneration among all his People Secondly The Jews had reason to mourn and to be afflicted when he dyed because it was prophesied that the Calamity of that Nation should commence and bear date from the very day Josiah should be taken from them 2 Chron. 34.24,28 First The First Reason why the Jews made so great Mourning for Josiah was because his Clemency and Goodness and his great Piety had got him a general Esteem and Veneration among his People Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his Goodness or Clemency and Kindness according to all that is written in the Law of the Lord behold they are in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah 2 Chron. 35.26 Here is then an Argument for the Peoples Mourning and for an Ordinance to establish a yearly Mourning because Violence had taken from them not only a great Prince but also a very good Man his Clemency became his Purple and his Goodness or his Graces shone brighter than all the Jewels in his Crown He was Religiously Good he was Good out of Principle and Conscience and not only out of Policy and in appearance his Goodness or as the Hebrew reads it his Clemency and Kindness would endure the Touchstone for it was according to the Law of the Lord. Now this is the true Standard for all Virtue and he who can walk according to this Rule is a perfect Man This is a Law that is fit to be the Study and Care of Princes because by it they not only hold their Crown and Dignity on Earth but also hope for a more lasting Inheritance and Crown in Heaven No wonder then if goodness win upon the Hearts and Affections of all the World for most Men are in love with Vertue though few will practise it And therefore a greater thing cannot be said of any Man nor of any King or Prince of the Sons of Men than that he 's good according to God's Law other Excellencies may make a Man great in Imagination and continue his Memory so long as Marble will bear his Name but it is his Goodness and this only that gives him Immortality and a Name and Honour that will endure for ever The History tells us That Josiah came very young to the Throne That he was but Eight Years old when he began to reign 2 Chron. 34.1 He must needs at that Age want Understanding and Wisdom and Experience and Strength to wield the Scepter of that Kingdom and Solomon denounces Wo to that Land whose King is a Child Eccl. 10.16 But Josiah made up all these Deficiencies and Imperfections in Nature by the early supplies of Divine Goodness and of Grace 2 Chron. 34.2 During our Minority we are under Tutelage and Government of others we suppose wiser then our selves and Honest as well as able to direct and manage our Affairs who yet have many failings at the very best and great allowances must be made even for their Infirmities But this young Prince chose for the Guide and Conduct of his Infancy the Ancient of Days and of him to learn Experience who himself knew all things by Intuition and at the first sight Here
Lunae 1. die Feb. 1696. Ordered THat the Thanks of this House be given to Doctor Lancaster for the Sermon by him Preached before them upon Saturday last at St. Margaret's Westminster And that he be desired to Print the same and that Mr Robert Berty and Mr Drake do acquaint him therewith Paul Jodrell Cl. Dom. Com. A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House of Commons AT St Margaret's Westminster On the 30th of January 1696 7. By WILLIAM LANCASTER D.D. Vicar of S. Martin's in the Fields LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1697. A SERMON Preached before the Honourable House of Commons LAMENT V. 16. The Crown is fallen from our Head Wo to us for we have sinned THE Words are part of Jeremy's Lamentation and if we look into 2 Chron. 35.25 We shall find that this Lamentation was for the Death of King Josiah The words of that place in Chronicles are these And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day and made them an Ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations From these words I conclude That the Prophet in this place speaking of the downfall of the Crown does it with relation to the Death of that great and good King The Chronicle witnesses That Jeremy made Lamentation for him and that it was contain'd and written in the Lamentations And since these Words of the Prophet do so well express it we must believe that Josiah's downfall was the occasion of them He was a Pattern for all Princes and the Mourning which was to be in Judah and Jerusalem for him was to be a Pattern for all Lamentation The Prophet Zechary when he foretells the Passion and dying of our Lord Jesus upon the Cross says There shall be such mourning for Him as was for Josiah That they shall look on him whom they have pierced Zech. 12.10 which S. John c. 19. explains and applies to our Saviour exposed and wounded and bleeding upon the Cross And then the Prophet adds v. 11. That in that day there shall be great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon The Lamentation for our Lord it is here foretold should be as great as that for Josiah who was slain in the Field of Battle at Megiddo which seems to have been the greatest Mourning that was ever known in Israel The words then I have sufficiently explain'd by shewing the occasion of them and the same History says That hereupon an Ordinance was made in Israel and the Book which was written many years at least some reigns after Josiah's Death says the observation of that Ordinance was continued a very long time They speak of him in their Lamentation to this day So that we may conclude thus much from that History that when Josiah was slain there was in Israel an Act an Ordinance a Law made for a solemn yearly Mourning for ever We see then we are now assembled by a Law made after a Precedent of great Antiquity and I may add of much greater Authority And since Providence has for our Sins given us the like Occasion let us implore his merciful Acceptance of the like Mourning and Humiliation and of our Service and Sorrow in Obedience to the Law in our own Nation made after the example of Israel and of this Divine Ordinance wherein the Wisdom of Heaven was most immediately concern'd The Civil Magistrate may by what Rules he pleases enquire after Persons disaffected and uneasy to the Government but methinks it were very natural to suspect all such persons as dangerous to Kings and States who rejoyce and seem to triumph at the fall of one of the best of Kings and at the promotion of the worst of Men and Murderers into his place It cannot be safe laughing when a Nation upon so good reason is commanded to be all in Tears not only lest God should be angry whose Judgments are thereby despised but also lest that Man who can be merry upon so sad and lamentable an occasion should be thought pleas'd with the publick Sorrow and that common Calamity which was the cause of it Every Man's experience tells him thus much that what we are glad of we wish may happen frequently and that occasion and matter of Joy can never come too often so that should the Anniversary for one Prince's Murder be to any Man a day of Joy I should suspect that Man wishes more such days as these and that we may have many such reasons for Jeremy to lament On the other hand what a Man sorrows and grieves and mourns for he wishes may never be repeated and that he may never hear of the like again So that days of Humiliation as they have sometimes been serviceable to Hypocrisie may serve for Politick Ends and Purposes as well as Religious to secure Princes from all attempts of cruel and bloody Men by creating an aversion to such barbarous Practices upon them in the minds of all Men. It is very natural for Sorrow and Shame to fill the Mind with horror and dislike of all Events or Actions which caused sorrow to possess the Mind with a principle and habitual desire to prevent such Actions for the time to come and all the Efforts and Endeavours which are made towards them The Jews had therefore very good reason to make an Ordinance for a yearly Mourning for Josiah as all other States and Governments have upon the like occasion because sorrow and affliction for the untimely Death of one King disposes the Mind to Care and Vigilance over the Life and Welfare of another And I think common Charity will teach us to believe That he who now does his dury to God and is just to the Blessed Memory of this day's Martyr can do no injury to the State or Person of his present Successor nor give way to so much as a Thought which may prejudice the Interest of that Brave Man who through so many Perils has asserted the Religion and Honour of the English Nation We may reckon upon Two sorts of Men who are avowed Enemies to our present Constitution The First are those little Wretches who yet dare meditate great and Bloody Villanies and endeavour the Confusion of their own Native Country by Assassines and bringing in upon us a Foreign Power These are not to be neglected because little since it has often been in the power of Wretches and small things to do great mischiefs But Secondly There are other Enemies who are far more powerfull and who have hit upon the only stratagem in the World which can undo us Such are they who endeavour to make God our Enemy and to rob us of his Care and Favour to whom alone we owe our Protection and Peace When the Almighty thunders and when his Judgments are abroad he expects we should tremble and be afraid and not live as if we either