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
with all his might He was not almost but altogether a Convert he had not a double Heart one for God and another for Baal dividing himself between true and Idolatrous Worship No he turned to the Lord with all his heart Thirdly The Rule he walked by in rooting out Idolatry and restoring the pure Worship of God not the High Priests Decretalls or the Canons of the Clergy or the Parliamentary Acts of the Sanhedrin but the Law of Moses according to which he strictly acted in all his Proceedings about the Reformation The Doctrinal Observations from hence are these First Those Princes are only Eminent in the sight of God who are truly Religious and turn to the Lord with all their heart Secondly There is more required of such Princes than their own private Assent and Consent to the true Religion they must promote it in their Dominions by all such ways as are commanded or allow'd of in Scripture Thirdly They cannot be capable of a greater Honour in this World than to be the Instruments of a Godly Reformation among their Subjects Fourthly The Word of God alone is the Rule to which both they and their People must attend in all matters relating to Religion First Those Princes are only Eminent in the sight of God who are truly Religious and turn to the Lord with all their heart For such are Vines of his own planting Kings set up by him to Rule in the fear of God they are his Darlings and Favourites Not that they can do any thing of themselves how Great and Potent soever they be to merit or any way procure the Divine Favour and Protection their very Exaltation to their Thrones being an Act of pure Beneficence But they are eminent in his Estimation upon the account of those Graces which spring from the Righteousness of Christ and do manifest themselves in an affectionate Zeal for God As for those Princes who are profess'd Enemies of God and Religion they may be said to be set up by God too because All Power is of God Rom. 13.1 But then we must remember what God himself says of such He gives them to a People in his Anger Hos 13.11 and consider in what sence they are constituted by him ut flagella Dei as the Scourge to punish the Rebellions of a Nation So that the Powers that be in the World whether Good or Bad are ordained of God that is Rom. 13.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bad Princes are Gods Ordinance of Wrath and Permission Good Princes of special Love Choice and Approbation The first are given in his Displeasure the latter in his Good will to a People There is much Controversie among the Learned about the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power Ham. Annot. ◠loc Chrystost Theophil in lo◠Sherlocks Cas◠of Alleg. Baxters Annot Clarks Annot◠and therefore must not pass without a little Examination Some take it for the person invested with the Power of Government others for the Office of the Prince not his Person some understand all manner of Power right or wrong if it gets the Possession and have the Administration of Affairs Others understand Authority or Right to Govern observing a Criticism between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some think will not bear the Test And others comprehend both lawful Authority and the Persons exercising it But whether we take it for Legal Authority or usurped for the Person or the Office of the Prince or for both the thing is much the same for Authority it self is certainly Gods Ordinance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the persons exercising it are placed so by his permissive or Effective Providence How far the People are interested in placing or displacing of the Supream Magistrate and whether he be not inferiour to the whole Community thô superiour to the Individuals are improper Enquiries when the Government is settled in Excellent hands and Liberty and Property secured I shall only mind you of Gods special Designation upon some Persons and the turning of the Peoples Hearts unto them after a most wonderful manner and his manifest Abdication of others as utterly unfit to Govern sending a Blast upon all their Attempts while the others Enterprizes are blest with an unaccountable Success and again that the people have sometimes a mighty stroke under Providence in the Disposal of Crowns and at other times they stand amazed to behold their Unconcernedness in the Revolutions of the World There is an Objection to one part of this Discourse that if all Power be of God and the Powers that be are of his Ordination how doth he then complain in Hosea They have set up Kings ch 8.4 but not of me they have made Princes and I knew it not To which I answer that All Power is of God notwithstanding and Government is his Ordinance although the people set up Wicked Kings and make Princes such as he knows not that is approves not His permissive Providence tolerates what his Effective Providence allows not We must therefore distinguish between Soveraign Authority and the manner of acquiring and administring of the same John 19.11 Authority it self or Power to Govern is from God but yet the Throne may be ascended by unlawful steps or being lawfully mounted it may be filled with Apostacy Cruelty and Violence and so the Person sitting thereon may be disowned by God as a Tyrant or Usurper Or thus it may be answered this place in Hosea respects the Israelites revolt from Rehoboam to Jeroboam Kings 14.7 8. and if we weigh the thing well the Translation of the Kingdom was from God and so Jeroboam was a King of Gods setting up and the People did their Duty in transferring their Allegiance to him But his falling away immediately after he was made King from the true Worship of God to that of the Golden Calves Kings 12.28 ◠30.14.9 16. which he had set up in Dan and Bethel and causing the People to sin therewith was from the Devil and so God renounces him But thô the Authority of Kings generally speaking be of God and the Bad too often make a greater Figure in the World than the Good yet the Good are his choice his excellent Ones who with Josiah are truly Religious and turn to the Lord with all their heart But how may poor revolted Mortals be said to turn to God have they any Power to turn themselves before they are turned I answer No they have not in their Natural Unrenewed State any more Power to turn themselves spiritually to God than the Ethiopian has to change his skin Jer. 13.23 or the Leopard his spots God must first turn to them before they can turn to him yea he must turn them 31.18 or they can never be turned for no less Power than Omnipotence can convert a Soul But when the Soul is effectually converted then it will turn to and clasp about God The motions
the holy Appointments of God it is a Vice as old as the Fall and therefore might plead Prescription were Antiquity in this matter a good Argument Neither is there only a Natural Inclination but some Persons are possessed with such a mighty Fondness for Additions which Custom or Inrerest hath decoy'd them into that they cannot think God well-Worshipt without the sinful Pageantry of their Ceremonious Decency and Order two Words of large Extent which when Witty and Designing Men have the Explication of they will be sure to expound to such a Latitude as shall serve their Ends upon every occasion 'T is not to be question'd but that the Idolatrous Priests had a great deal to say for their Idols and High Places they had the Examples of several Kings the approbation of Princes and People their Idols were only Symbols or Medium's through which their Worship pass'd to the Supream Being and they could tell the People they used them meerly for Decency and Order and their High Places for greater Splendour of Devotion for they look'd upon both Idols and High Places not as having any Divinity or Holiness in themselves but as things in their own Nature indifferent and yet being enjoyn'd as not to be omitted because the Magistrate's Command changes the very Nature of things and makes that which antecedent to his Sanction was indifferent become immediately after to be Necessary that is Necessary because Commanded by the Magistrate This also is the Modern Plea which has been enforc'd with all the Wit and Power of Man to defend his Innovations in the Worship of God But all his Attempts will not do for weak sinful Man is not able to stand out against the Omnipotent and most Holy God who will maintain his Cause against all Opposers and make his Truth to triumph over Errour thô back'd with the utmost Skill and power of Men. But to return to Josiah that most eminent Reformer in his day his Zeal for God manifested it self in sundry particulars First He took care about the Temple at Jerusalem that was much dilapidated through the Neglect of his Idolatrous Predecessors 2 King 22.3.4 5. and gave Hilkiah Orders to repair the Breaches thereof Secondly As soon as the Book of the Law was found and read before him and he heard the Wrath of God denounc'd against Idolatry he was mightily concern'd thereat and rent his Cloaths V. 11. he consider'd himself as obnoxious to the Threatning as his People and therefore commanded Priests and Princes to go and enquire of the Lord for him and his People 12. 13. and for all Judah about it Thirdly He sent and gathered together all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem 2 Chron. 34.29 30. and the Priests and the Levites and all the People great and small and went up into the House of the Lord and read the Book of the Covenant unto them that they might all be made sensible of the grievous sin of Idolatry and the Wrath of the Lord against it and might be moved thereby to repent of it and renounce it Fourthly He and the People made a Solemn Covenant before the Lord 2 Kings 23.3 to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments and his Testimonies and his Statutes with all their heart and all their Soul to perform the words of the Covenant that were written in the Book of the Law Herein the King and his Subjects prov'd themselves to be Religious indeed for all True Religion is an entring into Solemn League and Covenant with God to be true to him and his Appointments The terms League Covenant Association have a brand of Infamy put upon them by some men whose Ears are grated at the sound and their Stomachs raised at the mention of them they are as great pretenders to Knowledge as any men we discourse with and yet as blind and ignorant as the Pharisees their Forefathers for as they boasted of their being the Seed of Abraham Joh. 8.33 9.28 and Disciples of Moses but erred not knowing the Scriptures So our Modern Pharisees talk much of their being the True Sons of the Church and Lovers of the Common-Prayer when they are many of them as ignorant as the Pharisees of old in points of Real saving Knowledge and understand no Covenanting with God but that Popish Childish perfunctory and unwarrantable one of Godfathers and Godmothers for them in their Infancy which when they come to Age they are usually as careless altogether to perform as their Substitutes did at first negligently and superstitiously engage But thus it happens among all Ways of Religion thô never so highly applauded by Traditionary Professors which are destitute of Divine Authority Fifthly He and his People having taken the Covenant to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments c. there was no delay no fear of precipitation and waiting for a more convenient Season which are too often suggested to Religious Princes by carnal Counsellors but down went the High places Groves Altars 2 Chron. 34. 2. Kings 23. Priests of Baal immediately And so universal was the Reformation that not one publick Monument of Idolatry was spared throughout Judah and Israel Sixthly He restored the Passeover to its right Observation commanding it to be kept exactly according to what was written in the Book of the Covenant 2 Kings 23.21 v. 22. from which he turned not aside by putting to or taking from Touching the celebration of this Feast it is recorded Surely there was not holden such a Passeover from the days of Samuel the Prophet nor in all the days of the Kings of Israel nor of the Kings of Judah Seventhly He took care that no Publick Idolatry should be practised in his days whatsoever some of the Priests and People did privately for 't is said 2 Chron. 34 33. he made them serve the Lord their God And all his days they departed not from following the Lord the God of their Fathers Upon consideration now of the whole matter it might well be recorded of Josiah 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 In the words these three things are presented to our Meditations First Josiah's personal Eminency above all other Kings Like unto him was there no King before him c. Which is to be taken as in the Instances above mentioned and thô it includes his publick and private Deportment yet it seems mostly to relate to his extraordinary Zeal for God in a publick Reformation Secondly The Subject matter of his matchless Glory namely his own Conversion and his Peoples Reformation wherein his Love to God was very conspicuous whether we consider its Integrity or Extent for it was not only sincere but universal also he turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and