A SERMON Preached before Sir MARMADVKE LANGDALE At his entrance into BARVVICK By I. K. a Native of the same place sometimes Preacher of Gods word there Hosea Chap. 3. vers 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel returne and seeke the Lord their God and David their King and shall feare the Lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes Printed in the Yeare 1648. And Ieremiah lamented for Iosiah 2 Cron. 35.25 THE sphere of this Text is Lamentation the Poles whereon it movâ—â—â— Iosiah and Ieremiah In the upper the etheriall part of this sphere wâ—â—â— see the bloud of Iosiah in the nether the watry hemisphere wee have the teares of Ieremiah And as the caelestiall Spheres have their first moover above them So is there in this Text a third person the Spirit of God who onely being above the King and the Prophet placed them heere in the Firmament of his word and by this his Testimony hath consolidated the blood of Iosiah and the teares of Jeremiah into fixt Starres wherein all men may reade their common condition and Kingdomes calculate their owne Nativities and dissolutions So in this darke Sphere of Lamentation Iosiah dying Ieremiah crying wee finde yet the Spirit of God testifying though in the cold Region of the revolting Iudah both King and Prophet be eclypsed the one by death the other by sorrow yet are they heere caught up into the cleere Orbe of the Scripture torres eruti deigne and there memorated to all Posterities by the uncloudeable testimony of the spirit of God Zach. 3.2 in whose sight since the death of his Saints is precious Psal 116.13.56.8 and he puts all their teares into his bottle therfore are these things noted in his booke therefore are Iosiah and Ieremiah recorded heere as Monuments and their bloud and teares turned into Rubies and Pearles to make Bracelets to adorne the Spouse of Christ Heere first wee see in Mourning and dying the condition of us all in this world sorrow and death play all our game Lugemus aut lugemur omnes in vicem It is an hard question whether at our entring wee begin sooner to weepe or to dye But in our progresse whereas dying hath no intervals sorrow seemes to admit some interludes but in a wise mans apprehension they are but delusions Looke into the Stage of the world you shall see two serious Actors the Dyer and the Mourner All the rest play the foole or the counterfeit whereupon the judicious spectator Eccle. 2.2 Solomon called out to laughter inâ—anis thou art mad and to mirth Quid frustra deciperis And the great Iob sayd of himselfe Job 29.24.31.23 if I laughed on them they beleeved it not so seldome did he so little could he laugh qui semper quasi tumentes super se fluctus timuit Deum who thought continually he heard God like the mighty billowes of the Sea rowling over his head But the Sonne of God quoties veâ—ò elle Isai 53 3. Psal 88.15 how oft did he impropriate the Title of vir dolorum the man of sorrowes From my youth up thy terrours have I suffered with a troubled minde Luke 17 50. and againe I have a Baptisme to be baptized withall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and how am I straightened till this be fulfilled For well knew the Sonne it was the will of the Father that sorrow should be the dyet and viands of man in the course of this life where the feathers and downe wee rest upon have their quills and thistles the Rose wee smell her pricks the meate on our Tables cryes out to us Mors in ollâ there is death in the pot This habituall sorrow for the fits of worldly mirth quamvis non intempestivis amaenitatibus are but recesses from it and I neither condemne every act of joy Gen. 35.18 nor justifie every motion of sorrow this habituall sorrow from which Bennoni the sonne of sorrow was called Benjamin the sonne of strength and by which the sorrowfull Iabez became more honourable then all his brethren 1. Cron. 4 9. this habituall sorrow I say this commanding sadnesse this mastred and well rayned pensivenesse is wisdome in the minde valour in the heart salt in the wit discipline to the flesh from whence there breakes forth a Majesty in the very countenance It is indeed the ballance of the soule without which a light and empty heart like an unpoysed Barke danceth aloft to the flattry of the windes which will quickly lay her low But we have every where so many causes of the one of these two sorrow that the other death might be jealous we forget him and surprize us suddenly if with the statue of sorrow in Jeremiah the spirit of God had not erected also a monument of death in Iosiah and justly for the same which David calls the valley of the shadow of death in the 23. Psalme he calls the valey of Baca in the 84. for sorrow is saith Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shadow of sinne and mortality now as if a man were placed so high aboue the earth that night the shadow of it could not reach to him he should have continuall day so those soules onely that have wrought so high that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last point of this shadow of sin Mortality is below their feete those have no sorrow unlesse it be to looke downe upon us and see quantâ sub nocte jaceret nost â—a dies in what a true night of lamentablenesse we walke here on earth which yet we thicken with grosse conceits of false mirth the best use then of naturall life is the thinking on death O that they were wise saith Moses Deut. 32.29 that they would consider their latter end Sion remembered not her later end therefore she came down wonderfully Lam. 1.9 saith our Ieremie in this Lamentation yea in spirituall life Paul desired to know nothing here but Jesus Christ and him dying 1. Cor. 2.2 sleepe like a Publican takes excise of our life onely the rest of it is our owne he that thinkes not on death is asleepe what wee deny to the one Brother the other takes away O how I love thee thou meditation on death since not time but thou measurest life and makest it mine Through this narrow dark optick of the meditation on death our eyes help'd with the watry spectacles of teares pierce through the chrystalline Heaven and looke to eternall life Iohn confesseth of Peter and himselfe Jo. 20.10 who ran to the Sepulchre and presently returned home that they missed of that dignation which was afforded to Mary who stayed there looking into the tombe and weeping her constant adhering to the Sepulchre had the honour to see the vision of the Angels and her weeping the grace to heare the first salutation of her glorified saviour who appoints saith Esai to them that mourne Esay 61.3 and gives them beauty for ashes the oile of joy for
mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heavinesse thus are we taught in the first place by mourning in Jeremiah and dying in Josiah how well mourning becomes an holy soule repente ut emoriantur humani loves how suddenly death unthrones our mortall Gods Mourning and Death were our first lesson and the second is like unto it mourning for the dead Which mourning for the dead in the Text takes hold by this connexture and of burying the dead in the verse before and he was buried among his Fathers Tombes and they mourned for him This testimony of the spirit of God gives sufficient weight and reverence to the Doctrine Howbeit in these miserable times under colour of reforming superstitious abuses decent and allowed expressions of devotion are so endangered to be extirpated that the piety heere enjoyned must so far enjoy the impiety of the age as to have a few words bestowed upon the poynt Death is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fatall debt which wee owe to nature for living after our Father Adam and mourning a naturall debt which our children owe to us for dying before them deny the living to mourne and deny the dead are dead The rude Laconian more reproved the indolency of the Stoick when he answered him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My sorrow is the flux of Nature For the God of Nature is so carefull not to have this piety in mourning for the dead obliterated that he hath twisted it upon those tender strings of our naturall relations and affections which wee feele to crack within our selves when our friends heart strings breake and then our bowells towle their last knell The first dyer was Abel Abel the just and his Father Adam mourned long for him till by the birth of Seth he was comforted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by a mortall resurrection type of an eternall saith Nissen noting that Abel that is mourning must continue with Adam till Seth Achates must attend upon Æneas till the resurrection when saith Iohn Rev. 21.4 there shall be no more death nor sorrow Those Timons that will neither retaine humanity in themselves nor indure it in others what thinke they of the Sonne of God Whom this slinty wisdome of theirs and abstracted Divinity could not withold from sorrowing for the dead No he was Mediator betwixt the living and the dead and therefore as in his person he assumed our infirmities so by his practice he justified this sympathy of the living with the dead He groaned in the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he troubled himselfe he wept Jo. 11.33 both in complyance with Martha and Mary his mourning and for destitution of Lazarus his dying Friend Job 39.14 This was the spirit of our Dove not like the Ostrich that is hardned against her owne as if they were not hers and leaves them in the dust quia privavit eam Deus sapientiâ saith Iob. because God hath deprived her of wisdome These vaine glorious contemners of sorrow for the dead would they wash their horny eyes with teares might see how death while they deny him one thing sorrow takes from them two both their piety and their Friend Truely these buryers of Nature alive are of the same veines with the Donatisticall Circumcellions though they have not so much of the bloud in them and of the same dye though they be not yet so deepe dipped But they are not farther from humanity that are offended with mourning for the dead then they are from Christianity that quarrel with their burialls and funeralls consult the Scriptures whereas burying is simply called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rich man dyed and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 16.22 Gen. 50.2 was buried the word which both the Septuagint useth of Jacob in the old Testament and Mathew in the new of our Saviour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 26.12 which signifies not onely buriall but decent funeralls and is compleated in that word which Luke useth of those devout men who lamented greatly for Stephen and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 8.2 tooke care and order for his funerall Paul in joines that all things should be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 14.40 decently Ma. 15.43 and Marke appropriates to Joseph of Arimathea the stile of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the honourable Joseph because of the solemne inhumation decoravit honesto funere Mat. 26 10. this care of burialls and charge of funeralls is by our Saviour called a good worke by Iacob a deed of mercy by Luke an Act of devotion Gen. 47 29. Act 8 2. and Paul makes Ioseph's charge concerning his bones an effect of faith then not to be needlesly long in shewing that buriall refers to the hope of the resurection and was ordained from God from the beginning In Act. 8.2 saith Calvin in honour to the body to which the resurrection is promised and which even after seperation is candidatum resurrectionis saith Tertullian our owne Iosiah in his reformation of both Kingdomes was so religiously respective hereof 2. King 23.18 that he lookt among the tombes carefully and would not suffer the bones of the Prophet to be disturbed yea Iesus the blessed yesterday to day and for ever the same justified the costly and therefore envied Mat. 26.12.13 anoynting of his body under the name of Sepulchralis a Funerall charge I am sure for the charge of that Funerall Oyntment her Funerall Sermon shall last till the generall houre glasse of the world be run and shall outlive all the long windy Sarments and Canons are bolted against burials and Funerall Sermons vae tibi miser sayd Augustine of Iudas bonus odor occidit te The odour of a decent funerall is to a Iudas like the smell of the Angels perfume that drove the Divell away from Tobias Tob. 8.3 Doth any startle at this illustration as Apocryphall Let him looke into the Canonicall Scripture he shall finde that at Moses death God himselfe preacht the Funerall Sermon Josh 1.2 Deut. 34.6 Jude v. 9. and he that buryed the body he saith the Text was at least an Angel though the Devill contended against it and disputed about it O miserable abusers of the name of Christians Indeed uncircumcised Iewes whose soules are too narrow to comprehend the relation of their owne bodies which unfortunate vessels as long as they have the salt in them they can put to any lustful or sensuall use still reserving in themselves spirituality forsooth as Irenaeus saith the Valentinians did but as soone as they are parted from their soules they count them no more then dust and corruption and the slight burialls they afford them but an humane formality done in the remembrance of the naturall relation they had to the party alive Thus they proceede from Stoicisme to Epicurisme first Pharisees then Saduces But you beloved conceive rightly of the mystery which is your hope the seperation and dissolution of
the body though it seem to nature like the irrecoverable falling drop of raine into the Sea takes not away the naturall relation of the body which is twofold One of the materiall body to it private soule of which Iob sayd Job 19.26 though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines be consumed within me And Paul this corruptible must put on incorruption Cor. 15.53 this despicable this numericall corruptible arguing from the exemplary cause the second Adam to all the faithfull and againe concluding from the finall cause to all men generally wee must all appeare before the Tribunall of Christ that every one may receive in his body the things he hath done Cor. 5.10 Whereupon as Hierome reports the Church of Aquileia that when they pronounce the beliefe observe that of ancient the beliefe was rehearsed in the Congregations for visible confession of the faith is the forme of the visible Church speake that Article emphatically of this flesh pointing every one to his forehead Of the latter relation of the mysticall body which is the body and soule of the believer to Christ know you not saith Paul 1 Cor. 6.15 that your bodies are the members of Christ And againe this is a great mystery but I speake of Christ and the Church Eph. 5.31 For that two shall be one flesh veriùs intelligitur saith Augustine de Christo Ecclesiâ hath its full truth in Christ and the Church Now the reason why God would suffer this vessell of flesh consigned to glory fall into corruption and not translate it presently as he was able into corruption may be thus gathered from his word It stood with the wisedome and power of the great Maker all whose gifts are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to let that earthen vessell which himselfe had framed in the confines of spirituality and now by the envy of the Devill was blemished to continue ever in that deformity but rather to returne it into the lumpe and mould it over againe and this councell of the Almighty wee reade first foretold in the old Testament Jer. 18.6 then fulfilled in the new God is the Potter and wee the clay saith the same our Ieremy who prophesied of the buying of the Potters field Mat. 27.9 when by the envyer of the Potter this vessell was deformed Iesus Christ overcomming the Malignant defacer purchased of God with the price of his owne bloud the moulding againe of the Vessell which he had redeemed from the enemy Wherefore he gave us a manifest tryall in his owne body which though he suffered to dye to purchase the remaking of all the rest yet it as it needed no new molding for any staine and to be returned into the lumpe so could not be held of death nor see corruption So the grave is the Potters field purchased with Christs bloud and burying the placing of the shivered vessell in Godslimbeck to be new cast when he shall with fire calcine the whole masse of the world carnis aurum è limi sordibus excusato censu eliquabit saith Tertullian alluding to that of Malachy Mal. 3.17 And they shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels Therefore my beloved Brethren be stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in every worke of the Lord and duty of devotion forasmuch as you know your labour is not in vaine in the Lord but what is done herein to the Body is not Bodily but Spirituall and full of glorious hope as if your now departing soule should whisper thus to the Body feare not deare sister our instant seperation nor thy folowing dissolution I know that our Redeemer liveth and I have intrusted him with thee so that he is both a Proprietary and a Dâ—positary and by this my last Testament I bequeath thee to him who with his owne bloud purchased of the great Potter thy reparation and whom the God of Peace brought againe from the dead by the bloud of the everlasting Testament I know whom I have trusted and I am perswaded that he is able to keepe thee whom I have committed unto him against that day Wee have learn'd from the Text that Religious mourning and decent buriall are to be performed to every Christian and that sorrow and death continue after Noah a generall inundation we finde in that Jâ—siah dyed and Jeremiah lamented And Jeremiah lamented Observe how the spirit of God dwels upon and delights in enlarging this Testimony what an honourable Crowne of suffrages encompasseth this Jeremiah lamented First imediately before the Text the tide of teares brake in upon Hierusalem then surrounded Juda then overflowed all Judah and Hierusalem universus Juda Hierusalem luxerunt yet still the floud swells and with it the expression of the spirit of God moving upon the sad face of the waters and Jeremiah lamented as if all the former teares had beene in Jeremiah's teares drown'd crown'd wept over againe Then presently after the Text for like a Sepia Jeremiah deales his black dole round about him first all the singing men and the singing women the whole quire replicant resownd Jeremiah's epicediall anthemes further they made them an ordinance in Israell these pious Homilies are injoyned to both Kingdomes by an Ecclesiasticall constitution can there be any more yet yea Ecce scripta sunt Behold they are written in the Lamentations recorded and acknowledged by the spirit of God as his owne made part of Gods word so that we may say to this day God laments for the King by Jeremiah Jeremiah lamented one of the Priests Jer. 1.1 of the sonnes of Aron sacerdos è sacerdotibus saith Hierome to whose holy order Gods owne word made it a prophanation to mourne for the dead Levit 21.1 upon the death of the King the divine Law admits a prohibition upon such an occasion the head used to sacred unction is bedowed with teares and the water hath got above the oile thus Jeremiah the Priest lamented Jeremiah lamented the Prophet the egregious Prophet Jer. 1.5.10 sanctified in the wombe knowne before formed set over the Nations and Kingdomes to root out and pull downe to build and to plant This Jeremiah the Prophet lamented Ieremiah had oft had just cause to mourne for himselfe v. 8. in the 20 chapter I cryed out I cryed violence and spoile because the word of the Lord was made a reproach to me and a dirision dayly In the 18 chapter they said come let us divise devices against Jeremie let us smite him with the tongue v. 18. In the 37 chapter he was apprehended and accused of treason v. 15. and falling away to the enemies of the State and thereupon smitten and cast into the dungeon yet all this writ him not in the black letter and great charactet of a Lamenter but now some occasion hath presented
the Cadmean progeny is revived in our age faecunda vulpa saecula when a cursed Nadab hath dared to throw this strange fire from the Alter Damascenum upon our Alter innatum est omnibus Regibus contrà Christum odium all Kings beare an inbred hate to Christ These are the foxes that spoile our Vine Cant. 2.15 Rev. 9.3 and our tender Grapes these are the Locusts that come saith John out of the bottomlesse pit and have no King Prov. 30.27 saith yet go forth by bands And certainely this self-love coveteousnesse and pride which corrupts the love to the person and countermines to the authority of the King and to do both divides both is a symtome of Gods rejection of a Kingdome and the people Breake an entire looking-grasse that one perfect face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which shined in it while it was whole appeares no more but in place of it so many breaches so many puppit phisnomies strive to represent the great face and mock the sight Marcellinus observes that the glory of Rome began to retrograde when the great ones began to seeke every one his owne ends and impropriate to himselfe hinc leges plebiscita coactae Et cum consulibus turbantes jura Tribuni so a private Tricipitina wrought a publique precipitation The Prophet Hosee Hos 10.3.1 when he was to prophesie that now Israell should say I have no King premised this disposition to the Anarchie Israell is an emptying Vine that fructifies onely to it selfe that doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luxuriate it selfe but beares no fruit to the dresser a people whose shoulders like the Acephali are aboue the face see what the depravation and deprivation of the love of a King can doe On the contrary the love of men to their King comes from him by whom Kings raigne over men this God imprinted first by nature in that manifest impression which the publique benefit of a King makes in all men quantò discords libertate samentibus utilius sit uâ—um esse an serviant saith Plinie that it is better for men to be subject to one then to be allwaies jangling in untuned liberty who is saith Cyprian pax populi tutamen patriae c. the peace of the people the security of the Countrey the immunity of the Commonalty the joy of men Wherefore before the Emperours gate in Rome was an Oake planted betwixt two Bay-trees signifying that the felicity of the people depends upon the vertue and prosperity of the King The Macedonians were sensible of this who being put to slight by the Illyrians sent the next day for their Infant King into the field in his cradle and then rallying their forces overthrew the Illyrians shewing that the day before they wanted not valour but a King Even a dumbe man had conned this dictate of Nature so perquire that seeing the King assaulted he brake the string of his tongue and cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou beest a man doe not kill a King Againe God confirmed this mandate of love to a King by the Magna Charta of his word God spake once Psal 62.11 twice I heard it once for the matter twice for the manner There went saith the sacred History Sam. 10.26 with the King a band of men whose hearts God had touched but the children of Belial despised him who toucht their hearts â— Sam 9.20 And on whom sayd the Prophet to the King is all the desire of Israel is it not on thee and thy Fathers house 2 Sam. 21 17. The Israelits acknowledged to their King thou art the light of Israel thou art worth ten thousand of us And when the Spirit of God came upon the Generall of the Army of Iudah 2 Sam. 18.3 he said to the King thine are wee David and on thy side thou Sonne of Iesse Peace peace be to thee and peace be to thy helpers for thy God helpeth thee And least yet Lucifers behaviour should incarnate on earth for some turbulent spirits saith Calvine count not Christs Kingdome advanced nor themselves at Christian liberty unlesse they shake off all humane subjection God hath coupled together and fastned to his owne assertion the vindication of Kings and joyned together his owne and their both love and despight The Lord his God is with him Numb 23.21 and the shout of a King clangor victoriae Regis is among them who strove against Moses and Aaron when they strove against the Lord And againe their King shall passe before them and the Lord on the head of them But facing about he cursed God and the King was the high attaindure of any person and the dire curse of a Nation they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God Thus both Nature and Scripture injoyne and knit to the love of the true God the true love of the King even of Iulian the temporall Lord saith Augustine for the eternall Lords sake Nature in Esops last charge to his Sonne Ennus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chvming to the Scripture Peters injunction to all Christians Feare God Honour the King Now if it be impiety not to mourne for their deaths for whose lives it is iniquity not to pray if Samuel mourned for a rejected King and David told the Daughters of Iudah of an evill King that it was he that cloathed them with scarlet and delights and put the Ornaments of gold upon their apparell if the word of God that injoynes love of the living justifie sorrow for dying Kings quod defles illud amasti How could the man whose eies were open which heard the words of God which saw the vision of the Almighty who was not ignorant that a people is in better condition under an evill King then without all government who perceived that in their Kings untimely death the Lord of Hostes called to weeping and mourning who was both Priest and Prophet how could he but lament for Iosiah Yea lament he did yea lament ausus potuit though Pharoah were in the Land yet warme with the Royall blood Yea he durst not but lament greatly and professe sorrow for his Kings death least the peoples slighting or soone forgetting it might be imputed to his example tali dedicatore nostri gemitus gloriamur but that rather they might say with Tertullian in the like case his love rejoyceth in sorrow and triumphs in black as the devotion of those that preferred the pitty in burning Steven before the feare of their owne lives He durst mourne for his King yea mourne he did for Iosiah tanquam pro unigenito saith Zachary as for an onely sonne tanquam pro primogenito as for a first borne Sonne the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo was like the mourning for the great shepheard Christ saith the same Zachary Zach. 12.11 who now in Josiahs death had broken both his staves Beauty and Bandes For Josiah as for Jesus for Josiah dying among them as for Jesus
departing from them pro Christo Domini ac pro Christo Domino Wherefore the Spirit of God who enrolled in the booke of Jasher and bad teach the children of Judah the staves of Sauls funerall song called the Bow hath also eternized among his owne dictated manuscripts Jeremiahs lamentations for Iosiah In which Lamentations that particular or rather generall verse Lament 4.20 The breath of our nostrills the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits may be called the nave of the wheele whose severall beames integrate that whole booke Calvin upon this place taunts the reverend Hierom with grosse errour for saying that this booke of Lamentations was Ieremiahs funerall song for Iosiah and addes that the cited verse is wrested to Iosiah And yet the same Calvin himselfe in another place of his Comments saith in 12 Zach. 11. and justifies it against his owne exposition upon the place from Scripture that Jeremias in hoc lugubri carmine respexit propriè ad Josiam sicuti testatur sacra historia in this mournefull song did ayme properly at Iosiah as the holy History of the Bible testifieth Then coting particularly the foresaid verse he adds after Iosiahs death in cujus animâ vivebat anima populi in whose soule the one soule of the people lived that people was a meere carcase and the taking away of Iosiah was an evident signe of Gods wrath against them and that Gods favour was extinct with that King quia felicitas populi because the happinesse of the people depended upon the King Regia dignitas and the Regall Dignity was a sure pledge of Gods favour to them Thus this word Josiah is dead was to Iudah another Ichabod where is the glory The beauty of Israel is stayned by thy waters O Megiddo with Iosiah vale Lex vale Moses farewell the Arke farewell the milke and honey of the promised Land upon the setting of this Sunne the Manna in the pot melts the blossomes on Aarons red blast and the Almonds become bitter Almonds From Iosiahs death the Prophet dates the fall of Hierusalem By the violation of Iosiahs head Hierusalem her selfe is become sacrum caput and her Epitaphe is prepared in this word Iosiah is dead that is as Chrysostome expoundes that of the Angel to the blessed Virgine Luke 1.31 They shall call his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people and the successe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall finde and verifie that Iosiah is dead O Ieremy would thou hadst been onely a mourner here and not a Prophet but I finde thee no where more a Prophet then in mourning heere The Prophet knew that in Gods purpose Hierusalem was now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devoted to ruine that the Temple was already demolished in her patterne in the Mount that the Angels had deserted the Sanctuary and the people were casheered in the High Counsell in Heaven yet was it enough for deploring HierusaleÌ„ Temple Sanctuary people all to lament one Iosiah even divine providence so disposing that so pretious an head should not be violate till God had rejected the whole body Luke 23.31 si haec in viridi quid fiet in aridâ if this be done in the greene tree what shall become of the dry one Needes must the people be outlawed when their King is thus rapt from them in whom they had truely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose arme was a measure and whose religious minde was a Law to them and what but epidemicall death could be expected when the devotion of so zealous an head could kindle no fire in the paraliticall body He that delivered Abrahams Couzen vexed with the filthy conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.7 knew how to deliver Davids owne and reserve a rebellious Generation to emminent judgement Wherefore to the soule of Iosiah the Angel called as once to Lot the husband Gen. 19 22. Escape thou and flye away to bright Zoar the mountaine of the vision of God and leave thy unbelieving wife who of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be made to all Nations a monument of rejecting the Law and not hearkning to her King and husband what panegiriques would the heathen who knew not God onely had naturall love of loyalty and vertue have made had they had a King that would have suffered losse of power estate glory liberty wife and children yea whatsoever stupified Subjects prefer before a King rather then consent to the prophaning of Gods service and the enslaving the persons and estates of his people nothing could make their misery more miserable nor more convict them of their rebellion then that their best King was made their last Indeed this honour was due to Iosiahs piety and this solace to his Funerals that none should succeed him whom none could second and that by the sequell of Iosiahs death all Kingdomes might learne how much the weale of a State depends upon the life and how close the ruine of it followes upon the want of a religious King All were defective saith the sonne of Syrach but David Hezechiah and Iosiah Our Posterity will reade a Chronicle of England not Apocryphall that will make them as much wonder at us as admire the story till this day all were defective but Elizabeth Iames and Charles when of three vertuous and religious Kings the third is untimely taken away the people that by having the two first would not learne to appretiate a King are by the losse of the third taught what it is to have none Daughters of Hierusalem Ieremy weepes not for Iosiah but weepes for you and your children for sinne the Mother and desolation the broode lest the dayes come lest the lamentable dayes come in which they shall say blessed are the Inhabitants that have no possessions and the parents that are not indebted to children for education The Spirit of God testifieth heere the blood of Iosiah and the teares of Ieremiah to the end that the people should trace the teares of the Prophet through the bloud of the King first to their owne impending punishment and thence to their past sinnes For if you looke O Daughtet of Iudah to the acts of Jeremiah himselfe he had already lived long if to your owne aggravation of wrath too long if to your neede of such a King to stand in the gap he dyed too soone if to the honour of his owne remembrance he shall never dye but all Posterities shall copie out from Josiah Compositum vis fasque animi sanctosque recessus Mentis inâ—octum generoso pectus honesto And the remembrance of Josiah shall be like the composition of the perfume made by the art of the Apothecary sweet as honey in all mouthes as musick at a banquet of wine Eccles 49.1 For that name that entred before his mortall life goes not out with it and that which attended not for his birth will not waite on his death But as it was imposed by
Propheticall breath so in Propheticall teares it is embalmed and continued to all Posterities which shall wonder and be amazed even the Kings of the earth and all the Inhabitants of the world Lament 4.12 and not believe that the enemy could have entred the ports of the Daughter of Zion having so religious a King under whose shadow they lived securely among the Heathen Lament 4.20 But hearing withall that this King was so taken away they shall acknowledge that the God of Israel dealt therein with that people and Josiah in the same manner as he dealt once with David and them 2 Sam. 24 1. He that suffered David to sinne in numbring the people for the sinne of a number whom he would destroy suffering also Josiah so zealous for the Law and the weale of the people to goe against the word in the mouth and fall by the sword in the hand of Necho 2 Chron. 35 22. That the Bulwarke which stood in the way of the destroyer once broken downe the floud of the wrath of God quâ data porta ruat might thenceforth breake in upon a rebellious Nation that so they might be punished by his death who was suffered to slip for their punishment and by whose righteous life they would not be reformed As for that one act of Josiahs going to war against Pharoh piety forbids us to thinke that Iosiah would have done it had he beene forbidden by the mouth of Ieremiah or any of Gods Prophets But in the mouth of Pharoah what more authority could this interdiction expect from Iosiah then that commination from the mouth of Zenacherib obtained of Hezekiah 2 King 18.25 Indeede wee who now have the story written since by the holy Ghost reade that Iosiah hearkned not to the word of Necho from the mouth of God 2 Chron. 35 2â— But if this were a ruine and such an one was Moses his at the waters of Meribah so subtile that it must be a quick eye can discerne it wee may say with Gregory pro qualitatibus subditorum disponuntur acta regentium the actions of Kings are by Gods permission and overruling hand disposed according to the desert of their Subjects justus interim Judex c. In the meane time the just Iudge vindicates those sinnes of the King at their hands for whose sake he was suffered to slip Heere the sinne of Iudah came to it height in their greater guiltinesse of his lesser sinne Their sinne had it complement in his slip and their punishment it beginning from his death O the just and unsearcheable judgements of the great King From this judgement wee are taught how sacred a relation is betwixt a King and his people so strong so neare is it that he that atempts to part them had better halfe cleave a great Oake and forcing the sides to open stand betwixt them at their suddaine clapping together againe See the piety of this potent relation on the Kings part in Moses Exod. 32.32 O forgive the sinne of this people or else blot me out of the booke thou hast written See it in David what have these sheepe done Let thy hand be upon me and my fathers house 2 Sam. 24.17 On the Subjects part how strong and indelible this naturall love to their King is though indeede the wife be more subject to the tempter wee reade in those sensitive creatures in which Rege incolumi mous omnibus una amisso rupere fidem in naturall men which upon the violent death of their King even after a good successour was possessed have never rested till the doers were punished as in DomitiaÌ„ some have died for pitty to their King as in Otho and the best Optimus Emperor executed that which Nerva coted to him out of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But where the knowledge of God was this zeale was ever more warme The people sayd to Samuel who is he that sayd Saul shall not raign over us Bring the men that wee may put them to death 1 Sam â— 1 1â— And the same people that were deluded by Absolom to rebell against David their King after the fit was over were so â—ealous for him that they were at strife through all the Tribes of Israel who should be first in bringing back the King and expiating their rash folly with redoubled Loyalty 2 Sam. 19.42 The strength of this relation is the reason that God sometimes punisheth a King for the peoples sake as heere in Iosiah sometimes the people for the Kings sake as in Saule 2 Sam. 21.1 And sometimes lets the King transgresse that he may punish the people as in David 2 Sam. 24.1 This solemne course of Almighty God in punishing is the strength of the current of Jeremiahs Lamentations for Iosiah so drawing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people from that one act of Iosiah to consideration of their past sinnes and from the death of Iosiah to their present judgement and so to God himselfe And this is the decumanus fluctus now have teares swelled to their Land-marke springing from sorrow for common death and vulgar mourners to the chiefe mourner the Prophet and the hyperocall sorrow for a King then rising from the death of a King to the losse of a Iosiah thence to the consequent of the losse it diffuseth then swelleth againe to the departure of the great shepheard thence passeth to the motive cause of all these sinne At last it mounts up to the efficient and disposer Almighty God So our Ieremy in this Lamentation for Iosiah Lament 3.42.39 Wee have transgressed and rebelled and thou hast not pardoned and againe wherefore doth a living man murmure a man for the punishment of his sinne For even those whom God hath forsaken grieve at their punishment they have not cryed to me with their heart when they howled upon their beds saith Hosee Hos 7.14 but this is a signe that the party under punishment is yet a man a live man when the soule stumbles not and stops either murmuring at the punishment or at the second cause quarrelling but leaping over and rising above both second causes and punishment ascends to God arguing thus with our Ieremy in this Lamentation Lament 3.37 Who is he that saith it and it comes to passe when the Lord commandeth it not Out of the mouth of the most high proceedes not evill and good Thus persuing our sinnes to God wee finde in him both judgement and mercy judgement by which he hath but from us to punish mercy in which he hath of his seminarium miserecordiarum to be gratious and repent him of the evill upon the evils repentance 2 Cor. 1.3 Whereas if wee stay in our afflictions either out of dulnesse or impatience at the second causes and instruments by higher pressures wee become hardened and dejected by greater moreover in the men that oppresse us wee shall finde onely insultation and matter of provocation is my complaint saith Iob Iob â—1 4. to man if it were so how should not my spirit be