defid Heaven and God and Providence or did not believe them Now the taking away the most Pious and best of Kings by the most impious and inhumane Practices and by a Civil War where Subject was against Sovereign Father against Son the Bonds of Affection Friendship Blood and Nature all dissolv'd and Hell broke loose was certainly a very dreadfull Judgment of God upon a People tho' it were no worse and if we be not sensible of it God can make us know and understand it to our sorrow which Heaven forbid by bringing upon us again the like Calamity I say the Desolations which attended the downfall of God's Anointed will bear Witness that God was very Angry and it is but modesty in dust and ashes to humble our selves under the sence of his displeasure I do not now consider the Death of King Charles as a Sin much less as a Murder and a National Murder the most crying of all Sins Suppose he had only fallen as Josiah did by a chance Arrow from a Bow or by a Ball or Dart which respects no Persons nor has sence to distinguish betwixt right and wrong yet were it for no other reason but because his Death was one of God's Judgments which are all terrible and abstracting from the Sin and Crime that lie heavy upon this Nation we have still reason as Judah and Jerusalem had to lament and to continue our Mourning as well as the Memory of God's Anger and Indignation Think then who are they that feast and rejoyce that make this a Day of Pastime and Recreation which the Almighty made a day of Vengeance which the Church has set a part for a day of Mourning which the Law has appointed for a solemn Fast think again who are they that provoke God to anger by despising these his Judgments and ridiculing the Signs and Tokens of his heavy Displeasure and then see if these be not the Enemies we are most in danger of These are the Men who are to make God our Enemy and when they have done that it is in vain they boast of their Fidelity and of their other Services to this or any Establishment They are better men and better friends to this their Country who arm Ruffians then they who arm God and Heaven and Providence against us and who put the Sword into the Hand of the destroying Angel to undo us Other Foes may have as much Malice but cannot do half the Mischief as they who defy God and his Ordinances are able to do We fear the secret Contrivances and Conspiracies of ill Men at home we are providing against the Assaults of a crazy Mortal from abroad and of Forces which could not till this Day have stood before us but as our Sins and our Follies had given them advantage over us and kept them up but there 's no fencing nor fighting against Heaven if our open defiance of God's Judgments provoke Him to punish or to forsake us And thus I have shewn that the taking away a good King though consider'd only as God's Judgment upon a People and not their Crime yet ought to be remember'd with the last dedegree of Humiliation and looked upon as a Sign that God was displeased with that Land which he made the Theatre whereon was shed so much Innocent Blood No man sin'd when Josiah was slain in Battle yet the Wisdom of God and the Nation only because he was kill'd in the Field made a Law for a yearly Mourning for Him through all future Ages I now come to Two particular Reasons which I find in the History of Josiah why the people made so great and so universal Lamentation for Him First A Prince was slain in Battle whose Clemency and Goodness and whose Zeal for Religion had created Him a general Esteem and Veneration among all his People Secondly The Jews had reason to mourn and to be afflicted when he dyed because it was prophesied that the Calamity of that Nation should commence and bear date from the very day Josiah should be taken from them 2 Chron. 34.24,28 First The First Reason why the Jews made so great Mourning for Josiah was because his Clemency and Goodness and his great Piety had got him a general Esteem and Veneration among his People Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his Goodness or Clemency and Kindness according to all that is written in the Law of the Lord behold they are in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah 2 Chron. 35.26 Here is then an Argument for the Peoples Mourning and for an Ordinance to establish a yearly Mourning because Violence had taken from them not only a great Prince but also a very good Man his Clemency became his Purple and his Goodness or his Graces shone brighter than all the Jewels in his Crown He was Religiously Good he was Good out of Principle and Conscience and not only out of Policy and in appearance his Goodness or as the Hebrew reads it his Clemency and Kindness would endure the Touchstone for it was according to the Law of the Lord. Now this is the true Standard for all Virtue and he who can walk according to this Rule is a perfect Man This is a Law that is fit to be the Study and Care of Princes because by it they not only hold their Crown and Dignity on Earth but also hope for a more lasting Inheritance and Crown in Heaven No wonder then if goodness win upon the Hearts and Affections of all the World for most Men are in love with Vertue though few will practise it And therefore a greater thing cannot be said of any Man nor of any King or Prince of the Sons of Men than that he 's good according to God's Law other Excellencies may make a Man great in Imagination and continue his Memory so long as Marble will bear his Name but it is his Goodness and this only that gives him Immortality and a Name and Honour that will endure for ever The History tells us That Josiah came very young to the Throne That he was but Eight Years old when he began to reign 2 Chron. 34.1 He must needs at that Age want Understanding and Wisdom and Experience and Strength to wield the Scepter of that Kingdom and Solomon denounces Wo to that Land whose King is a Child Eccl. 10.16 But Josiah made up all these Deficiencies and Imperfections in Nature by the early supplies of Divine Goodness and of Grace 2 Chron. 34.2 During our Minority we are under Tutelage and Government of others we suppose wiser then our selves and Honest as well as able to direct and manage our Affairs who yet have many failings at the very best and great allowances must be made even for their Infirmities But this young Prince chose for the Guide and Conduct of his Infancy the Ancient of Days and of him to learn Experience who himself knew all things by Intuition and at the first sight Here
Lunae 1. die Feb. 1696. Ordered THat the Thanks of this House be given to Doctor Lancaster for the Sermon by him Preached before them upon Saturday last at St. Margaret's Westminster And that he be desired to Print the same and that Mr Robert Berty and Mr Drake do acquaint him therewith Paul Jodrell Cl. Dom. Com. A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House of Commons AT St Margaret's Westminster On the 30th of January 1696 7. By WILLIAM LANCASTER D.D. Vicar of S. Martin's in the Fields LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1697. A SERMON Preached before the Honourable House of Commons LAMENT V. 16. The Crown is fallen from our Head Wo to us for we have sinned THE Words are part of Jeremy's Lamentation and if we look into 2 Chron. 35.25 We shall find that this Lamentation was for the Death of King Josiah The words of that place in Chronicles are these And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day and made them an Ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations From these words I conclude That the Prophet in this place speaking of the downfall of the Crown does it with relation to the Death of that great and good King The Chronicle witnesses That Jeremy made Lamentation for him and that it was contain'd and written in the Lamentations And since these Words of the Prophet do so well express it we must believe that Josiah's downfall was the occasion of them He was a Pattern for all Princes and the Mourning which was to be in Judah and Jerusalem for him was to be a Pattern for all Lamentation The Prophet Zechary when he foretells the Passion and dying of our Lord Jesus upon the Cross says There shall be such mourning for Him as was for Josiah That they shall look on him whom they have pierced Zech. 12.10 which S. John c. 19. explains and applies to our Saviour exposed and wounded and bleeding upon the Cross And then the Prophet adds v. 11. That in that day there shall be great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon The Lamentation for our Lord it is here foretold should be as great as that for Josiah who was slain in the Field of Battle at Megiddo which seems to have been the greatest Mourning that was ever known in Israel The words then I have sufficiently explain'd by shewing the occasion of them and the same History says That hereupon an Ordinance was made in Israel and the Book which was written many years at least some reigns after Josiah's Death says the observation of that Ordinance was continued a very long time They speak of him in their Lamentation to this day So that we may conclude thus much from that History that when Josiah was slain there was in Israel an Act an Ordinance a Law made for a solemn yearly Mourning for ever We see then we are now assembled by a Law made after a Precedent of great Antiquity and I may add of much greater Authority And since Providence has for our Sins given us the like Occasion let us implore his merciful Acceptance of the like Mourning and Humiliation and of our Service and Sorrow in Obedience to the Law in our own Nation made after the example of Israel and of this Divine Ordinance wherein the Wisdom of Heaven was most immediately concern'd The Civil Magistrate may by what Rules he pleases enquire after Persons disaffected and uneasy to the Government but methinks it were very natural to suspect all such persons as dangerous to Kings and States who rejoyce and seem to triumph at the fall of one of the best of Kings and at the promotion of the worst of Men and Murderers into his place It cannot be safe laughing when a Nation upon so good reason is commanded to be all in Tears not only lest God should be angry whose Judgments are thereby despised but also lest that Man who can be merry upon so sad and lamentable an occasion should be thought pleas'd with the publick Sorrow and that common Calamity which was the cause of it Every Man's experience tells him thus much that what we are glad of we wish may happen frequently and that occasion and matter of Joy can never come too often so that should the Anniversary for one Prince's Murder be to any Man a day of Joy I should suspect that Man wishes more such days as these and that we may have many such reasons for Jeremy to lament On the other hand what a Man sorrows and grieves and mourns for he wishes may never be repeated and that he may never hear of the like again So that days of Humiliation as they have sometimes been serviceable to Hypocrisie may serve for Politick Ends and Purposes as well as Religious to secure Princes from all attempts of cruel and bloody Men by creating an aversion to such barbarous Practices upon them in the minds of all Men. It is very natural for Sorrow and Shame to fill the Mind with horror and dislike of all Events or Actions which caused sorrow to possess the Mind with a principle and habitual desire to prevent such Actions for the time to come and all the Efforts and Endeavours which are made towards them The Jews had therefore very good reason to make an Ordinance for a yearly Mourning for Josiah as all other States and Governments have upon the like occasion because sorrow and affliction for the untimely Death of one King disposes the Mind to Care and Vigilance over the Life and Welfare of another And I think common Charity will teach us to believe That he who now does his dury to God and is just to the Blessed Memory of this day's Martyr can do no injury to the State or Person of his present Successor nor give way to so much as a Thought which may prejudice the Interest of that Brave Man who through so many Perils has asserted the Religion and Honour of the English Nation We may reckon upon Two sorts of Men who are avowed Enemies to our present Constitution The First are those little Wretches who yet dare meditate great and Bloody Villanies and endeavour the Confusion of their own Native Country by Assassines and bringing in upon us a Foreign Power These are not to be neglected because little since it has often been in the power of Wretches and small things to do great mischiefs But Secondly There are other Enemies who are far more powerfull and who have hit upon the only stratagem in the World which can undo us Such are they who endeavour to make God our Enemy and to rob us of his Care and Favour to whom alone we owe our Protection and Peace When the Almighty thunders and when his Judgments are abroad he expects we should tremble and be afraid and not live as if we either
we have a Guardian who can defend his Charge and protect his Orphan against the Invasions and Incroachments of his greedy Neighbour Here is a Counsellor who knows the state of Nations and sees into all affairs of Princes both Foreign and at Home He knows what 's done in this Cabal in that Cabinet in the other Conclave nay He knows the Hearts and understands our Thoughts long before So that a Child and Infant of a King under His Conduct shall undermine the Counsels of Achitophel himself It is said of Josiah That he chose David for his Pattern whom he would imitate without going aside to the right or left hand Now David was a glorious Precedent for any Potentate on Earth to take Example by He was great in Arms and in Religion admired for Courage and for Devotion and to satisfie all the World that Religion does not make Cowards He was therefore Great in the Field because Devout at the Altar and in the House of God I shall not give any account of the many eminent Vertues either of Josiah or the Martyr those of the latter which were most in View and in Exercise were Patience and Perseverance and it is but Melancholy discoursing on these Vertues as well as practising them They were both of them Zealous for Religion and for Reforming to the True Ancient and Primitive Way They both studied to adorn the Temple and to serve God in the Beauty of Holiness It was their Endeavour to cleanse the House of God from Sordidness and Superstition and to distinguish it from a Gaol or a Den of Thieves And if others had but been as Careful to have served Them as they were Active and Industrious to serve their God they might have had a much more prosperous and longer Reign over a far better and far more happy People And yet it is not to be wonder'd at That so much Vertue and Piety that so pure a Zeal for Religion and the Love of God should sometime happen to be utterly over-run and ruin'd by the grossest Atheism and Hypocrisie that ever pass'd upon Mankind Our Josiah was bound up to the strictest Honour Truth and Justice and could do nothing which might be a blemish to any of these though it were to save a Kingdom when as his Enemies were for Liberty and as their practice explain'd it were to be confin'd to no Rule or Principle were to be bound by no Law or Promise but to act purely and entirely as their Interest should direct If a Man make a Conscience of Truth and Justice then Liberty of Conscience is very good and men seldom want it but where there is no Conscience all Men must own that Liberty is very dangerous it then becomes Licentiousness or a Liberty such as our Martyr's Enemies made their own and which was allow'd to none besides to kill and to take Possession and to wade through the blood of Innocents to every thing they imagined would enrich honour or advance them And thus I have done with my first Reason why so great Lamentation for Josiah He was Religiously good and the loss of such a Prince is hardly to be repaired Secondly The Jews had reason to mourn when Josiah dyed because it was prophesy'd to them That their Calamity and Misery should commence from the very day that Josiah should be taken away from them It was told them by Huldah the Prophetess That God was very angry with that people and that he had dreadfull Judgments in Reserve whereby to punish the Obstinacy of the Jewish Nation but that for Josiah's sake that most pious and most religious Prince he would not execute his Vengeance so long as he should live but would defer his Indignation till that great good Man should be carry'd to his Grave in Peace that then and from that time Israel should be a miserable and an afflicted People and a hissing and an astonishment to all Nations round about them According to this Decree revealed to and foretold them by the Prophetess all things befell them Josiah's Sons and Successors were one of them carry'd away by Necho King of Egypt another was deposed by the King of Babylon a third was taken Prisoner and judgment given against Him his Sons all slain before his Eyes and then his Eyes bored out that he might see no more of the Misery which he was to suffer Now since this was all foretold them and that all their temporal Bliss and Happiness depended upon the Thred of Josiah's life no wonder they made great Lamentation when he dyed The Ancients reported that in Troy there was an Image which they believed fell from Heaven which so long as they could preserve safe within their Walls would preserve them successfull against all Enemies from abroad but the loss of it was to foretell the Ruin of their City and Civil Government King Josiah was this Image and gave the same security to Judah and Jerusalem and they were well assured that whilst this Palladium was among them no Injury could befall them either from Heaven or Earth for he who is Lord of both had given his Word for it He therefore falling in Megiddo caused this Lamentation among the People their Peace their Plenty their Laws Religion and Lives were all in Danger when he was in Peril or in the least Distress all their Glory was cast down when he fell in Battle and the Arrow that wounded him went to the Heart of every good Man in his Dominions This is therefore my second Reason for so great Mourning in Jerusalem at that time Now give me leave to apply these Reasons of Judah and Jerusalem's Lamentation for their King who fell in Battle and was slain in the Valley or Plain of Megiddo There was upon it an Ordinance a Law made for a solemn Mourning and it was observed even after the Jewish Monarchy was destroy'd I hope our Law of the same nature made after that Divine Example and ordained for the same end and purpose may long continue together with the Enghsh Monarchy and even for that very end that the Monarchy may long endure The Jews Mourning for Josiah endured longer then their Kingdom Their yearly Fast for Gedaliah notwithstanding their Dispersion is religiously observed by them to this day and although they are broken and scattered abroad in all Nations and among all Languages yet their Lamentation is continued with one Voice and one Consent It were not hard to make it appear That we have as great Reason to continue our Humiliation as the Jews had for Josiah and may be it were happy for us if we had not other and greater Reasons for this day's Solemnity then the Jews had Josiah was slain by a foreign Power He fell in Battle and was killed in the heat of Blood Himself was in a Disguise and unknown and an Arrow shot at Random wounded Him that He dyed His own People were no way guilty His Death could not be charged upon any of them nor was
may be as perilous as when he storms a Castle or takes a Town We have heard of these mens Crimes and sometimes of their Absolution but not a word of any publick Repentance for publick Sins but all go out of the World with a quiet Mind or are only sorry their Attempts succeeded not Now this can proceed from no other Cause but from that sole Principle and Opinion That it is Lawful to resist and to embrew their Hands in that Sacred Blood which has been too frequently and too far exposed in our Defence I wish that sort of Men would deal fairly and instead of vending among the People those Jesuitical Notions and Speculations they would go directly to the Prince's Chambers and tell them Him and give Him timely notice to look to Himself for that they will Rebell when they please and themselves are the proper Judges of their own time This is the real truth of the matter and Men who justifie Resistance and intend to practise it do not intend to ask the King's leave when they go about it do not wait for an Order of Council or a Patent or Instrument under the Broad Seal but their Convenience is their Commission and they bear their Authority on their Sword 's point Thus I say God has given some Men over to a reprobate Sence and from Murdering one King to maintain That all others may be lawfully Murder'd This is surely the most direful Curse that ever happen'd to any People to be given over to Impenitence and a hard Heart a Man in this state is got within the confines of Hell even while he lives upon Earth and has gone so far within the Gulph that he cannot return Moses was once angry and he repented David was guilty of Murder and Adultery and with Tears he washed off the guilt of Blood and of Uncleanness S. Peter deny'd his Lord and wept bitterly Nay Judas made some sort of Confession and seemed to be sorry when he returned the Money which was the Price of Blood Judas himself never betray'd and resisted and taught others to resist so that this is one degree above his Crime and will be punished in a place below him Men of no Religion and who have written in behalf of a Liberty I had almost said in behalf of an Indifferency of all Religions yet have thought fit to own That Principles not consistent with the repose and quiet and security of Government ought not to be tolerated or endured Now Men who teach and justifie the Lawfulness of resisting Kings maintain all Principles of Confusion in one word For First It will be hard to distinguish between Resistance and Rebellion they are Twins so very like each other that without some nicety in Metaphysicks a Man would mistake them for one and the same thing Secondly If a Man may Lawfully resist no man can Lawfully hinder Him or put a stop to his Resistance for what has any man to do to hinder or molest me when I am doing a Lawful thing I am then about my Lawful Employment Thirdly If Resistance be lawfull and men doing lawfull Actions are not to be hindered or molested be sure upon that account they cannot lawfully be punished and then all Treasons may go on and prosper And now as we are bound to pray for Kings and all in Authority so it is no less our Duty to teach such Doctrines as may secure to them the Possession of that Power and Soveraignty they have over us and the Duty and Allegeance we owe them as God's Ministers for our good It is not Affection alone nor is it Principle alone that renders Kings safe in the Enjoyment of their Crown and Dignity Principle may be too weak when Affection is lost and gone and Affection for a Prince without Principle too is but mutable and uncertain our Love is apt to vary and change and Affection goes with Interest and turns with it but when Affection for a Prince and a Principle of Conscience are joyn'd and united they make a Bond that will hold a Sampson and which the strongest Man cannot break But to conclude First Our Law and our publick Prayers complain of a Murder committed as on This Day and of the shedding Royal Blood Let us mourn and sorrow for it though as to our selves we had no hand in it the Heart must grieve for what the hand does and thereby we shall testify to all the World That although there is upon our Land the Guilt of Blood yet we are not those Savages that delight in Blood Secondly God in his Justice took away Josiah and He frequently takes away good Kings when the sins of the People tempt and provoke Him to it He has hitherto been gracious to us and deliver'd our Soveraign both from hidden Conspiracies and open Violence and has been his Defence when thousands have fallen at his Right and Left Hand Let us not by our Sins tempt God to take from us that Blessing we enjoy in Him Thirdly The Jews had their Temple and City Jerusalem destroy'd and themselves carried away Captive after the Death of Josiah think you they were Sinners above others I tell you nay The same People of God the Jews for the Murder of our Saviour were above Forty years afterwards finally ruin'd they and their Children think ye they were Sinners above others I tell you nay We know what follows Here is likewise the Cry of Innocent Blood at this day and we cannot presume that we have yet shed Tears enough to wash off the stain and pollution from our Land but that Posterity and Childrens Children may mourn under the Curse and Cry of it Wo to us c. This is a proper Subject for Jeremy's Lamentation here a man might with Him wish his Head a Well of Water and his Eyes a Fountain of Tears to bewail the Miseries due to so sinfull so ungodly so ungovernable a People Remember O Lord and let not those things come upon us which our sins deserve Let not our Inheritance be turned to strangers nor our Houses to Aliens who would be Lords over us Spare us good Lord Spare thy People turn away thy Wrath from us and together with all our other Iniquities pardon the Sin of this day Thou who hast shed thine own Blood to save us from Sin and from Wrath to come FINIS