like dealing may all others dread who are involved in the like guilt To ballance this Instance 't is urg'd Isaiah Prophesied of Cyrus an Heathen Monarch by Name long before his Nativity for according to Junius from the time of the Prophecy to the fulfilling of it were 170 Years or after Grotius 210 and therefore the Prediction of Josiah is not singular I Answer their Case was very different Cyrus was foretold as a Passive Instrument to bring about the design of God's Providence in the Restauration of the Jews from their Babylonish Captivity and giving them Liberty to Re-edisie the Temple Josiah as an Active Instrument to accomplish God's Pleasure in the Extirpation of Idolatry in Judah and Israel Cyrus did the Will of God but 't was without any sincere Affection to or Religious Knowledge of God for God says twice to him Isa 45.4 5. Thou hast not known me Josiah perform'd the Will of God in Faith Love and Obedience to him He turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might Secondly Another thing extraordinary in Josiah was his most exact Conformity to the Divine Law in purging his Kingdom of Idolatry 2 Chron. 31.20 21. Hezekiah wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God and in the Law and in the Commandments to seek his God he did it with all his heart This is an ample Character but Josiah's is somewhat fuller For he turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses His Conversion was Universal for he did all according to all the Law of Moses His Father and his Grandfather turn'd from the Lord and his Law but he made the Law of God his Counsellor He sought to the God of David his Father and declined neither to the right hand nor the left 2 Chron. 34.2 3. He Consulted not with a Carnal Priesthood and a sensual Sanhedrim but he sent to Huldah the Prophetess for Direction Many Princes will Reform a Little as Afa Jehosaphat Joash Amaziah who were good Kings so far as they did Reform but the Blot that is upon their Names is the High Places were not taken away 1 Kings 15.14 22.43 2 Kings 12.3 14.4 Now Josiah pull'd down these High Places he left not one of them remaining Indeed notwithstanding all he did or could do Idolatry was so riveted in many of the Princes Priests and People that Baal had a remnant among them Jeph 1.4 for he had his Chemarims his profess'd Priests and he had others too who pretended to be Priests of the True God but would be now and then tampering with Baal's Idolatrous Rites They durst not exercise their Idolatry publickly for sear of the King but they Worship'd the Host of Heaven on the house tops and swore by the Lord and Malchom V. 5. they mingled true and false Worship together And because there is often mention in Scripture of these High Places and the pulling of them down is recorded as an High Act of Reformation we will enquire what they were and this will not be loss of time because the Heathen had their High Places as well as the Jews The High Places then Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Altars erected upon Hills upon which they offered Sacrifices the Heathen to their Idols and the Jews to the True God For after the Tabernacle and Ark were removed from Shiloh which was in the dayes of Eli when the Ark was taken and his two Sons Hophni and Phinehas were slain by the Philistines 1 Sam 4.3 4 11. The Jews used the High Places as most proper and convenient for their Worship thus Samuel and the People sacrificed in the High Place 1 Sam. 9.12.19 and so it continued 'till David brought the Ark to †2 Chron. 1.4 Jerusalem and then it became the People's Duty to Sacrifice where the Ark was And hence we read that Solomon when the * V. 3. Tabernacle was at Gibeon and the Ark at Jerusalem sacrificing in the High Places and especially at the great High Place in Gibeon where thô the Lord appeared to him in a Dream by Night yet hath this Note of Irregularity put upon him Solomon loved the Lord walking in the Statutes of David his Father only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the High Places And the King went to Gibeon to sacrifice there for that was the Great High Place 1 Kings 3.3 4. After the Temple was built and the Ark placed in it the People were to bring their Sacrifices thither according to that in Deut. 12.13 14. Take heed to thy self that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest but in the place which the Lord shall chuse in one of thy Tribes there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee It was the People's sin to Sacrifice any where else but at Jerusalem thô they Sacrificed to the True God His positive Command made that to be Sin which was not sin before When he had placed his Name at Jerusalem and pitch'd his Tabernacle there thither the People were bound to bring all their Offerings But alas they soon forsook the Temple at Jerusalem and return'd to their High Places where not content to Worship the True God thô even that Worship perform'd there now was sinful because uncommanded they fell to Worshipping of Baal or the Sun and other Idols of the Nations which Worship notwithstanding they pretended it was for the Honour of the True God is every where condemned for abominable Idolatry Men may not intermeddle in the Worship of God to institute or alter according to their Fancies I know they endeavour to excuse their Innovations as Aaron did his Golden Calf who made proclamation and said To morrow is a Feast to the Lord Exod. 32.5 Not a Feast to the Calf they think Religion too plain of it self and therefore they will set it out in a more pompous Garb of their own devising which is very apt to take with Carnal Worshippers But is not acceptable with God because he approves of none no not that which Men call Divine Service because but of Humane Contrivance and neither in respect of Matter Manner or End such as is prescribed in the Word Jeroboam had invented a notable Semblance of Divine Worship and made it look as like that of God's own appointing at Jerusalem as might be But was God to be found in that Calfish Worship Surely No. And as he was not to be met with there so may we despair to find him in that Theatrical Worship which he hath not Ordained and wherewith the Ignorant World is cajol'd at this day There is a natural Inclination in Men to be mixing something of their own with
A LOOKING-GLASS FOR Religious Princes OR THE CHARACTER AND WORK of JOSIAH Delivered in a SERMON UPON 2 KINGS XXIII XXV The Substance whereof was Preached April 5. 1691. at Pershore in Worcester-shire Wherein They may see That those Princes are only Eminent in the Sight of God who are truly Religious and turn to the Lord with all their Heart That there is more required of such Princes than their own Private Assent and Consent to the True Religion That Religious Princes cannot be capable of a greater Honour in this World than to be the Instruments of a Godly Reformation among their Subjects And That the Word of God alone is the Rule to which both they and their People must attend in all Matters relating to Religion By RICHARD CLARIDGE M. A. and then Rector of Peopleton in the County of Worcester LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold by William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street 1691. A LOOKING GLASS FOR Religious Princes c. 2 KINGS XXIII 25. And like unto him was there no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his Heart and with all his Soul and with all his Might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him OF all the Publick Blessings that Almighty God is pleased to bestow upon Nations as Nations or Bodies Politick there cannot be conceived a greater than good and wholsome Laws Agreed upon and Enacted for the benefit and Emolument of the whole Society and godly and upright Governours to put those Laws in Execution For as it is natural for men to enter into Society Man not being Animal monasticum sed politicum a Monkish but sociable Creature so it is necessary to Agree upon Laws for the preservation of it And forasmuch as the main design of all Laws and Government should be Gloria Dei salus Populi the Glory of God and the Weal and Safety of the State those Laws are ever best which have the directest tendency to those Ends but seeing also that the best Laws are useless and insufficient for the attaining of those Ends unless executed according to the true intent and meaning of them and this cannot be done but by Governours intrusted with the Administration thereof and because it often happens that the Administration of Affairs falls into ill hands who offend either through Remissness Rigour or Arbitrariness and thereby Enervate or Debauch the People or so Oppress them by Illegal Exactions Mic. 3.1 2. that like the Princes of Israel they pluck their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones It is therefore a singular Instance of a benign Providence to a People when a skillful and religious Pilot is placed at the Rudder of the Government who will take care for the Enacting and Executing of good Laws always observing a due distance between the two Extreams Softness and Tyranny into one of which most Princes both of later and former days have fall'n It is the happiness of England could she see her happiness that she is delivered from One who trampled upon all Laws and by vertue of an Omnipotent Dispensing Power did what he listed and has a most Excellent Prince placed at the Stern whose Head the Lord cover in the day of Battel and appoint unto him Salvation for Walls and Bulwarks Under his Conduct the Ship of the Commonwealth is likely to sail securely even among Rocks and Shelves such Princes are the Favourites of Heaven God will take them and make them as Signets and put them as choice Shafts in the Quiver of his special Providence In their day the Government shall triumph it shall bid defiance to Treachery at Home and Opposition from Abroad for the Lord of Hosts is with them the God of Jacob is their Refuge When the Government is Administred by a Pious Prudent and upright Prince who hath nothing equal in his Prospect to the Honour of God and the Common Welfare there the People are out of danger of Oppression and Invasion and shall dwell safely every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree 1 Kings 4.25 as Judah and Israel did in the days of Solomon Now of those two the Honour of God and the Common Welfare the preference must be always given to the first Mat. 22.37 38. Deut. 6.5 because this is the first and great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind The Precept reaches Princes as well as People and it should be the chief care of Governours to observe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For tho' they are sometimes called Gods in Scripture yet they are but earthly ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of Similitude as Agapetus told Justinian and therefore should ever remember themselves to be the Subjects of the Most High There is all the reason in the World that Gods Honour should be first regarded by Princes in their Dominions because the Most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men Dan. 4.17 5.21.2.21 and appointeth over it whomsoever he will for he changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings and because the Happiness of a Nation depends upon its relation to the King of Kings It is the observation of Wise and Experienc'd Solomon that Righteousness exalteth a Nation Prov. 14 34. but sin is a reproach to any people I shall not here enquire whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness is to be restrained to Moral Justice or to be taken in a more comprehensive sense for Religion and Vertue in general Experience can attest that Piety and Morality have a Mighty Influence upon the Prosperity of a Nation and that Vice and Wickedness have been always fatal in their Consequences to it Religion is the best Cement of Society and binds men in the strictest obligations to be Just and True and Honest to one another For where Religion is truly embraced it has its Tye upon the Conscience and that by a powerful Energy checks and commands the whole Man for Conscience I mean the enlightened and sanctified Conscience will be always doing its office in Accusing or Excusing and he that hath such a Monitor must be prodigiously inadvertent if he do not perceive its Motions and attend to them On the other hand where Vice is grown predominant and become the Epidemical distemper of a People there the Bond of Conscience is dissolv'd because their Union with God is broken And when that Bond is dissolv'd the People are under no Tye but that of Humane Laws and how weak Humane Laws are of themselves to make a Nation truly happy is sadly apparent from the many woful distresses the Nations are under at this day by reason of their Apostacy from God 'T is natural for men to lay the blame of all their Miseries upon mistaken Causes and to make those Persons and Things the Authors
the Sons and Daughters of the Lord God Almighty Now if we can find such a choice select sanctified and separate People from the World that is from the sinful Doctrines Courses Customs and Society of the World in the Cathedral and Parochial Assemblies then they have the right Matter of a Gospel-Church if not but their Members are as mix't as the Head and the major number openly to be profane carnal scandalous Livers such as Swearers Adulterers Drunkards Lyars Backbiters Persecutors Revilers or at best meer Formalists have we any ground to call these Visible Saints and to reckon them fit Materials for the Spiritual Building of a Gospel Church 2. As right Matter Visible Saints are one Constituent part of a Gospel Church so right Form is the next thing required to its Essence or Being By Form I mean the manner how any Persons come to be a Church and that is by a free Consent and Agreement to unite in Fellowship for the performing of all the Duties and observation of all the Appointments of Christ and for the exercise of that Power wherewith he hath entrusted them according to the Rule of his Word This is the Formal Cause or Constitutive Form of a particular Church namely their †Owen's True Nature of a Gosp Church p. 21. Actual express voluntary Consent to Walk together for the Ends and according to the Rule aforementioned But you will ask me perhaps What is there nothing pre-required unto this Conjunction of Visible Saints in a particular Church Is no more to be done than for Believers immediately to enter into Church Fellowship I answer They are first to be Baptized before they are admitted to Church Society In which point the Scripture is so clear that there is no place for Hesitation about it The Church at Jerusalem was the first Gospel Church this was not to depart from thence but wait for the promise of the Father Acts 1.4 The number of the Names was about an hundred and twenty v. 15. These when the day of Pentecost was fully come were all with one accord in one place Acts 2.1 and were all filled with the Holy Ghost v. 4. By the help whereof Peter proved so convincingly to the Murtherers of Christ that God hath made the same Jesus whom they the Jews had crucified both Lord and Christ v. 36. that they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do verse 37. Peter presently directs them in this their great extremity Repent saith he and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ver 38. Upon testification of their Faith and Repentance they were Baptized about three thousand Souls and added to the Church v. 41. Here is a plain Account of the Apostles manner of receiving persons into Church Fellowship They that gladly received the Word were Baptized and then Added If now upon Examination it prove that such as are Visible Saints and Baptized into Jesus Christ Rom. 6.3 do make up the Cathedral and Parochial Societies of England then they are rightly constituted in respect of Matter and if Mighty Grace having bowed them to the feet of Jesus they have freely consented to give up themselves to the Lord and to one another to walk together in Church Fellowship in obedience to all Christs Institutions then are they also rightly constituted in respect of Form But if one or both of these are wanting as there is cause enough to believe so Let them cry The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these and Preach and Print Apologies and Vindications in Defence of the Excellent Constitution as they call it of the Church of England on purpose to obstruct the searches of the Inquisitive and to retain the Ignorant in their Ignorance this will not justifie them before God at the Great Day thô now their false Pleas pass undiscovered by the unthinking Croud of poor deluded Wretches I heartily wish that the Guides and Teachers who act by publick Authority would not be led more by Interest than by Truth that they would lay down their Prejudices which they imbibed in their Education and received by Tradition from their Fathers and would beg of God to direct them to enquire into Gospel Verities I am perswaded the Lord would either teach them to discern their Mistakes or to exercise more Moderation and Charity towards those whose Judgments are convinc'd of former Errors I conclude all with a little variation of the Apostles words in another case †Rom. 14.3 4. Let not him who is in an Error judge him who is convinc'd for God hath received him Who art thou that censurest and condemnest another to Christ he standeth in the Truth yea he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand THE END