2 Chron. 34.19 rent his clothes which was a receiv'd sign of great sorrow and concern and calling his people together exhorted them to a Reformation and engag'd them to enter with him into a covenant v. 31. before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and with all their soul to perform the words of the covenant which were written in the book and to render this more awful the better to fix it upon their minds that they might remember to do it all the days of their life and to begin the work of diligently observing the Law he appoints a solemn Passover such a one as had not been from the days of Samuel 2 Kings 23.22 nor in all the days of the Kings of Judah to that time this was the work only of one year He lived after this thirteen years but all the remaining account left of him is only in the general that he applied his time and his power to the perfecting that good work he had began and this remembrance of him stands upon the Sacred Record when his Life was clos'd that like him There was no King before him 2 Kings 23.24.25 neither after him arose there any like him It is hard to be conceiv'd what a Blessing a Prince of so much piety and goodness is to a people what a wonderful influence his authority when thus used has upon reforming a Nation what is the force of his example and how strange a change and alteration it soon works in the manners of a people who will ever be disposed to imitate and follow the pattern set them by those who rule over them The holy Books have noted it of Josiah's example that it provoked all Israel to serve 2 Chron. 34.33 even to serve the Lord their God so that all his days they departed not from following the Lord the God of their fathers I might add to this a consideration of the eminent favours and unusual kindnesses God sometimes shews a Nation with respect to the piety and goodness of those who have had the rule over them so God is said to have done great things for Judah Isay 37.35 for his servant David's sake and this a long time after David was dead But behold a dark veil overspreading all this glory the scene is shifted and that which now appears strikes with horror and amazement the heavens darken the Inhabitants of the earth are fill'd with trembling and astonishment and all faces gather blackness This Prince of all their hopes was snatcht away by a violent and immature death in the flower of his age being but thirty nine years old and at a time too when they had reason to promise themselves the greatest blessings and advantages from his government There is still a more dismal thought he was snatch'd away in Judgment a very terrible and severe Judgment to the Kingdom of Judah God was angry with them and upon executing often denounc'd threatnings against them but good Josiah was first to be gathered to his fathers 2 Kings 22.20 that his eyes might not see the evil God was bringing upon them Of him those words of Isaiah are supposed to be spoken The Righteous perisheth c. 57.1 and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come Jeremiah began to prophesie of this in the days of Josiah and when he fell he mentions it as near approaching that incomparable Prince whose Piety and Vertue had kept it off in his days being removed and the certainty of his Prophesie was proved by the event For soon after his death all things ran into confusion and evil hastned apace upon them and their long captivity in Babylon was at hand His immediate Successor had but a short reign of two months and was carried into Egypt and there dyed The next after eleven years was bound in Fetters and carried to Babylon The third came to the Crown at eight years of Age and left it again after three months and ten days when his Brother was plac'd in the Throne in whose time the Wall of Jerusalem was broken down and all the Palaces thereof with the house of God burnt with fire his Sons slain in his sight his own eyes after this put out and he bound with Fetters of Brass and carried into that long captivity which that Nation endur'd in Babylon There is but one thing more to be observ'd in the Death of this excellent Prince though his death was sudden and violent and in the vigor of his age yet the holy books speak of him as one who came to his grave in peace the same phrase is used in the mention of Abraham his death Gen. 15.15 who died in a good old age This phrase therefore of coming to his grave in peace used concerning Josiah notwithstanding the manner and circumstances of his death learns us that Death at whatever time he approaches cannot be untimely to a good man and though it may be a severe Judgment to others to himself it is a great blessing Well then may we allow them to be concern'd for the loss of such a Prince 2. They mourned for Josiah Mourning for the dead is very agreeable to the softest and most tender passions in our nature and some outward solemn significations of this have been in use and practice in all Nations Solomon speaks of it as a known and constant Funeral usage Man goeth to his long home Eccles 12.5 and the mourners go about the streets This being by custom limited to a certain time the Scripture calls the days of Mourning This was especially observ'd towards those who had been in eminent stations in the world whose Funerals were ever attended with mournful lamentations with regard to that power and authority they once had So David appointed a solemn lamentation for Saul and for Jonathan his Son 2 Sam. 1. and compos'd a Funeral Song on this occasion they took care also to deposit the earthly remains of their dead in their proper Sepulchres which places were always accounted sacred and not to be violated Abraham had such a regard to this that whilst he was yet a stranger in Canaan Gen. 23. he purchased a place to bury his dead in Where he himself and Sarah his Wise were afterward buried Jer. 22.19 and the Prophet pronounces it as a Judement upon Jehoiachim that he should be deny'd that solemn burial used to persons of his quality they did not grutch any cost expended upon their interments as appears by the account we have of Asa's Funeral 2 Chron. 16.14 and did all that was in their power to express an honourable regard to the memory of the deceased as we find done to Hezekiah at his death 2 Chron. 32.33 When great and good were in conjunction when the person was as
illustrious for his piety and vertue as for his power and authority when he had used those as instruments of doing honour to God and procuring benefit to mankind had valued them as capacities of being more beneficial to the world and made it his aim that others should enjoy the greatest good of his possessing them they then scarce thought any cost enough to be laid out in solemnizing their Funerals they lamented excessively and yet were concern'd that they could not express a passion so sensibly as it was felt and lookt upon no honour great enough to be done to their memory Mourning then past from outward ceremony and show and external decency into the most pungent and smartest feeling of the mighty loss sustain'd by the publick in the death of such benefactors They spoke of their piety call'd to mind their heroick and their exemplary vertues recited all their noble and useful designs told what they had done for God and for Religion and for Mankind produc'd the great numbers who in particular cases had received benefit by them said all the worthy things they could think of in their praise and left others to supply by raising in their minds an Idea of the bravest man what they complain'd they fell short for want of expression in describing They fear'd no suspicion of flattery where a person eminently great was equally good but presum'd all men would consent that whatever could be said must fall far short of his due praise This usage we find observ'd in the Christian Church towards the great and glorious Champions for their faith they followed them mourning to their graves They made Orations in their Praise they register'd their Names in the Church Rolls they rehearst them in their most solemn service and built their places of worship over their Tombs and all this they did in honour to them and to excite others to follow their example After this manner the people of Judah mourned for Josiah as there had been none before like him so neither did they mourn in such a manner for any before him Zec. 12.11 insomuch that when the Prophet intended to express the most grievous and bitter lamentation he could not find out a more lively and proper figure than to compare it to the mourning in the valley of Megiddo which became a proverbical speech among the Jews who when they would describe the utmost grief had nothing higher to say of it than that it is like the mourning for Josiah as if there needed nothing more to paint this passion to the life than to draw the Valley of Megiddo with this good Prince fallen in it When private men fall the mourning is little and is confin'd and soon over it reaches only a small Family and a very few select friends their deaths make no noise and the notice scarce goes beyond the neighbourhood they creep silently into their graves and are in a little time forgot the reason is there are not many who are interested in their lives and their deaths make no changes and alterations to fall under publick notice but the life of a good Prince is such a benefit to the community that every one has a share in it when he falls the whole body of the people feel the stroke and time is so far from wearing out the sense of it that hereby it is encreas'd they know not at present what their loss is till time and experience makes them understand and feel it 'T is in the Prophets metaphor Amos 8.9 like the Suns going down at noon and the darkning the earth in a clear day it wraps a people up in night and horror it frustrates all their hopes and brings a damp upon all their joys It turns their feasts into mourning and their songs into lamentations it brings up sackcloth upon all loins and baldness upon every head and there is heard as when Nature suffers an universal graon 3. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah We read of Jonah that he was so concern'd for his gourd that he fainted and wished he might dye Jonah 4.8 and said it was better for him to dye than to live what that was to him the same is a good Prince to to his people a shadow over their heads whilst he rules over them submission to the will of God is a duty in all cases and therefore when such a Governor is remov'd from a people which may fairly be accounted one of the most difficult instances of submission But 't is agreeable to Nature and Religion on such occasions of a common Sorrow to express an universal concern reaching as one continued mournful groan from one end of the land to the other remotest point of it 'T is not a bare defect in piety but stupidity and downright brutishness not to be affected with so severe a providence agreeable to the nature and consequence of it When Elisha saw Elijah going from him to Heaven he crys out 2 Kings 2.12 O my Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof q. d. Who shall be left to defend and promote Religion and what shall become of the Church of God after thy departure It is the character the prophet gives of pious Kings and Queens Isay 49.23 that they should be nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to Gods Church The people needed no such prophesie whilst Josiah was their King They were witnesses to the great regard he paid to Gods Worship and the mighty designs for Gods Honour and the advancing Religion which he was early engaged in and vigorously persued throughout the whole course of his reign They saw what countenance piety had from his authority and of what influence his example was and that there was visibly a very different face of things from what they very well remember'd of the reign of Manassah Such reflexions were upon this occasion enough to raise such a cry in Judah as was in Egypt when in every house throughout the whole land there was one found dead which Moses describes as a great and terrible as well as universal lamentation Exod. 11.6 such as there was none before it nor any like it any more Had Josiah been an old man it would have been some ease to them to have reflected that his stay with them could not have been much longer when events happen no otherwise than men expect and according to the course of Nature there is less room left for surprize or concern but this Prince was in his prime like to live many years half his gsass was still to run many of his great designs lay unperfected he was under both a capacity and will of doing much more good and vast were the advantages which his Subjects yet expected to reap from his government Poor vain man how are all his glorious expectations frustrated and his most promising hopes baffled in a moment When the breath of a man goeth forth all his thoughts perish An argument
The Death of Good Josiah Lamented A SERMON Occasioned by the Death of our Late Most Gracious Soveraign Queen Mary OF Ever Blessed Memory Preach'd at Balsham in Cambridgshire March 3. 1695. By JOSEPH POWELL M. A. Rector of Balsham in Cambridgshire LONDON Printed for Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1695. A SERMON Occasioned by the Death of the Queen 2 Chron. XXXV 24. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah THese words are a record how sensibly affected the Kingdom of Judah was with the death of good Josiah for this general concern there was great reason considering his station his character and the circumstances of their affairs when this excellent Prince was snatcht from them The notice you have now had of the approaching Funeral of our late Queen of Blessed Memory will I hope render a discourse upon a Text of this nature very seasonable I could not satisfie my self that so extraordinary a Princess whose equal in all respects we do not yet know to be left behind her in the whole compass of the world should pass to her Grave without some notice taken of her in the most private corner of her Kingdom without paying some small but well meant tribute to her sacred memory some publick testimony given by us her meanest Subjects of our thankfulness to God for those eminent gifts and graces which shin'd in her with so bright and glorious a lustre the esteem of the present age and the wonder of all that shall follow of whom I may venture to affirm alluding to a passage of our Saviour concerning a former Mary whom she equall'd in her present piety Mat. 26.14 but was a great deal more happy in a constant innocency that in the whole world where-ever the praises of persons famous in their generations are rehearst there shall also the admirable graces and illustrious excellencies of this our Mary be told for a memorial of her I could not but think it a decency on this occasion to try to affect all of you with so great so unexpressible a loss sustain'd by this Nation in the Death of our incomparable Queen for whose death the people of England have full out as much reason to be sensibly concern'd as those of Judah could possibly have for the fall of that Religious Prince here mention'd of whom we read that all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah I shall first consider the words as they relate the death of Josiah and the behaviour of his Subjects thereupon and then I shall apply this historical passage to the sad occasion of my present discourse 1. The Person whose death is here mourn'd Josiah 2. The Concern his Subjects exprest at his death They mourn'd for him 3. This Mourning spoken of as general and universal his Mourners were not barely a few Courtires who attended immediately upon his person or held offices and employments by his Life but all the people of his dominions who lookt upon his death as a publick judgment and calamity in which their whole Nation was concern'd and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah 1. The Person whose death is here related was Josiah He was King of Judah and Jerusalem and upon this account his life was of much more value than many lives where the Commonwealth receives no detriment The whole body of the people have an interest in the life of the Prince their safety does much depend upon the preservation of his person and they commonly suffer not a little by his fall especially as here it was when it is sudden and violent Hence David as a King is stil'd the light of Israel 2 Sam. 21.17 2 Sam 18.3 2 Kings 24.19 and said to be worth ten thousand of his Subjects for something very like to this is spoken of Zedekiah who by the account the Scripture gives of him appears to have been none of the best of Princes and his Fall from his Empire and Captivity in Babylon very passionately lamented by Jeremy Lam. 4.20 The breath of our Nostrils the anointed of the Lord is taken in their pit of whom we said under the shadow of his wings shall we live upon this reason is that Apostolical Precept grounded which the first Christians so very carefully observed 1 Tim. 2.1 to pray for Kings and all that are in Authority inasmuch as the community is immediately interested in their preservations and whatever their personal qualifications were their fall was found by sad experience to produce great disorders in the affairs of the Empire But Josiah was an extraordinary Prince of great wisdom unusual vertue of an exemplary piety of an uncommon goodness he had a great zeal for Gods honour a mighty regard to his worship and noble designs for the promoting and advancing Religion His general Character is 2 Kings 22.2 that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of David his Father and turned not aside to the right hand nor to the left After this are remarkt the glorious actions of his reign 2 Kings 23. 2 Chron. cap. 34. cap. 35. 2 Chron. 34.3 for the imitation of succeeding Princes and that the ages to come might call him blessed In the eighth year of his reign while he was yet young being now not full sixteen years old he began to seek after the God of David his Father and with much application and seriousness to do something of moment and which might be lasting for the honour of God and the interest of Religion four years after this he resolutely undertook the removing all Idolatry and setting up the worship of the true God throughout all the land Six whole years he employ'd in bringing this great work to perfection after this he resolv'd upon repairing the breaches of the house of God and whilst some ruinous parts of the Temple were pull'd down in order to rebuild them in the Rubbish was found a Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses 2 Chron. 34.14 Grotius supposes this to have been the original copy of the Law deliver'd by Moses to the Israelites to be preserv'd I rather think with others that Manassah in the long reign of fifty five years designing utterly to abolish the Worship of the God of Israel and set up Idolatry had gathered in the Books of the Law and burnt them at which time some pious person who feared God and believed that he would still have mercy upon Sion and restore beauty and strength to his Sanctuary hid a Copy of the Law in some secret place of the Temple which lay there conceal'd all the age of Manassah and the short reign of his Son Amon but upon repairing the Temple was now discovered Josiah upon perusing those severe threatnings contain'd in it in case of their falling off from the worship of the true God and becoming dissolute in their manners and comparing those with the present state of Judah
of it and were struck with astonishment and trembling at the news whilst the age just began to be reform'd by her authority and example and we promis'd our selves lasting blessings from her long reign and when we could very ill have spar'd her So unsearchable are Gods councels and his ways past finding out We cannot we must not dispute with Heaven Gods will ruleth over all 'T is as well folly as impiety not to acquiesce in it This Church and Nation stand highly indebted to God that such a blessing was so lent us and one so dear to him and so long sincefitted for the beatifical vision so many Years confined to this low and imperfect State and kept from her reward for the service of others And to do good to the World When it seems good to him to resume his own gifts it becomes us to take up with holy Job's pious reflections Shall we receive good at the hands of God Job 2.10 and shall we not receive evil God has taught us by this instance and a severe discipline it is whereby he learns us this lesson the Vanity of all our blooming hopes when they are placed any where but upon him alone and that he can continue his Favours though he lays aside what we have reason to own as one great instrument of a kind and happy providence to those Nations We must not envy our good Queen the rest and felicity She has reacht to This would be foul ingratitude to a Person who has done us so much good to repine that she has exchang'd the troubles and cares of an earthly Crown for one that has nothing sticks to it to darken the brightness of it or abate the happiness of possessing it Her Death was her reward for her uncommon goodness as the most early and sudden death is to every one that is fitted for and goes directly to bliss but it is otherwise to be consider'd in respect of us who have reason to look upon our selves as judg'd unworthy of her Allow us then to let fall a tear upon her Hearse and at least to sigh out our loss that if there be any in the remotest corners of her dominions from whom her vertues lay conceal'd they may here begin to understand something of that loss which time and experience will better explain than it can now be exprest And may these inclinations be awaken'd in us all to enquire further after her that what through the shortness of her reign was left unfinish'd in encouraging Vertue and putting a restraint upon Vice may in some measure be supplied and a Reformation perfected by the remembrance of her It seems to me too bold a judgment of divine Providence to speak confidently of Gods anger as hereby declar'd to be gone out against us and to forebode upon this occasion some amazing evil at our heels to overtake us We seldom guess aright when we assign a reason and take upon us to account for Gods providences in this world which are so very dark that we expect it to be a part of that perfection of knowledge which will be our reward hereafter to unfold the mysteries of them This indeed was certain in Josiah's death who was not to see the evil coming upon Jerusalem and this observation has been made of many other excellent persons When St. Austin pray'd for an enthanasy he hereby exprest his desire not to live to see the desolations that were hastning upon the African Churches and his prayer was heard for he dy'd just before the sacking of that City whereof he was Bishop The like Mr. Calvin has noted of Luther that he often pray'd he might not see the vials of wrath pour'd upon Germany which immediately after his death came upon those places in a storm and with the swiftness and execution of a whirlwind but those reach only such cases as are evident 't was either by Prophesie or the event It would be a very undue return to God for those signal favors we have so long enjoy'd It would a gue a very small sense of that Providence which has hitherto defended us and too fond a reliance upon second causes upon this occasion though a very sad one to anticipate evil or despond of our safety The only pious and safe use to be made of our fears will be to do all we can which was the great aim of our Quren to promote a reformation of manners throughout the Nation This after all other fruitless expedients without it will be the only sure and effectual course to be taken to any lasting security and since we have suffered a loss not to be recovered what is left for us but wisely to consider how religiously she used her power and how admirable an example she has left the age that we may strive to be such true and sincere Christians as she her self was and desir'd and pray'd and endeavour'd all her Subjects might be So may we hope that God will still protect our King amidst those dangers he exposes his Royal Person to for our safety to whom her Pravers were a Sheild for a continuance of success to our arms though we are depriv'd of that benefit we owe to the purity and fervency of her devotions for peace and quietness at home whilst we are engag'd in a war abroad which it were great ignorance of the World not to own to have been hitherto the result of her wise conduct of affairs and the effect of the singular goodness of her temper and the remarkable Piety of her conversation concurrent causes of calming the feircest passions and procuring Gods blessing upon us and protection over us So may she still live and rule and do good to these Nations and continue to be what she foret her inclinations to accept the Government for a happy instrument of saving us from ruine and making us a wise religious and a prosperous Nation which God grant for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all honour and praise now and ever Amen FINIS Some Books Printed for and Sold by Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1695. THirty Six Sermons viz. 16 Ad Aulam 6 Ad Clerum 6 Ad Magistratum 8 Ad Populum with a large Preface By the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln The Eighth Edition Corrected and Amended Whereunto is now Added the Life of the Reverend and Learned Author Written by Isaac Walton Fol. Price 15 s. 1. Conversation in Heaven Part the First Being Devotions Consisting of Meditations and Prayers on several considerable Subjects in Practical Divinity Written for the raising the decayed Spirit of Piety The second Edition in Twelves Price 2 s. 2. Conversation in Heaven Part the Second Being Sacramental Devotions Consisting of Meditations and Prayers preparatory unto a Worthy Receiving the Holy Communion As also Meditations and Prayers suited to every part of Administring and Receiving it Twelves Price 1 s. Both Written by the Reverend Dr. Lawrence Smith Rector of South-Warnborough in Hampshire 3. 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Tachygraphy the most exact and Compendious Method of Short and Swift Writing that hath ever yet been Publish'd by any Composed by Thomas Sholton Author and Professor of the said Art approved by both the Universities Octavo Price 1 s. 9. Zeiglographa Or a new Art of Short Writting never before Published more Easie Exact short and speedy than any heretofore Invented and Composed by Thomas Shelton Author and Teacher of the said Art Allowed by Authority Octavo price 1 s. 10 In the Press and will be published the next Term The Duties of the Closet being an Earnest Exhortation to Private Devotion 12 mo price 1 s 6 d. FINIS