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<DATE>2014-07-03</DATE>
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<NAME>Anne Simpson</NAME>
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<P>Hadadrimmon: OR, Jo&s;iah's Lamentation, BEING A SERMON Preached upon the ANNIVERSARY FOR CHARLES I The Royal Martyr.</P>
<P><HI>By</HI> JOHN OVERING, <HI>M. A.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed by <HI>Thomas John&s;on.</HI> 1670.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="imprimatur">
<PB REF="2">
<P>Imprimatur,</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Feb. 9.</HI> 1660/70.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Rob. Grove R. P. D^n^o^. Epi&s;c. <HI>Lond.</HI> &agrave; Sac. Dom.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, Sir Samuel Starling, K^t. Lord Major of the City of <HI>London;</HI> TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL, <HI>Sir</HI> John Frederick <HI>K^t^.</HI> Pre&s;ident of <HI>Chri&s;ts-Ho&s;pital, Sir</HI> John Robin&s;on <HI>Knight and Baronet, Sir</HI> William Peak <HI>K^t, Sir</HI> Robert Viner <HI>Knight and Baronet, Sir</HI> Jo|&s;eph Sheldon <HI>Kt. Mr.</HI> William Gibbon <HI>Trea&s;urer;</HI> And the re&s;t of the Governors of the &s;aid HOSPITAL.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Right Honorable, and Right Wor&s;hipful,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_MY principal De&s;ign in this pre&s;ent <HI>De|dication,</HI> is the Payment of an Old Debt. I count it my Happine&s;s, that I was brought up in your <HI>Ho&s;pital;</HI> and reckon it my Duty to offer the Fir&s;t-Fruits
<PB REF="3">of my Labours, unto your Acceptance. The Subject craves no Patronage; But this &s;mall Treati&s;e begs your Favour. Accept this poor Mite, and that God would enrich you, with all the Ble&s;sings of Grace here, and Glory hereafter, is, and &s;hall be the dayly Prayer, of</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your humble Oratour, John Overing.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD><HI>HADADRIMMON:</HI> OR, Jo&s;iah's Lamentation.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>II CHRON. XXXV. 24, 25.</BIBL>
<P><HI>And all Judah and Jeru&s;alem mourned for Jo&s;iab.</HI></P>
<P><HI>And Jeremiah lamented for Jo&s;iah; and all the &s;inging-men and the &s;inging-women &s;pake of Jo&s;iah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an Ordinance in I&s;rael: And behold, they are written in the Lamen|tations.</HI></P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THis Day is a day of blackne&s;s and gloomine&s;s, a day of clouds and thick darkne&s;s, a day of mourning and lamentation, for
<PB N="2" REF="4">the be&s;t of Kings, the Mirrour of Prin|ces, hurried away by a violent, and (un|to all but him&s;elf) untimely death, by the hand of barbarous, traiterous, blood-thir&s;ty men; to the great di&s;|honour of God, the reproach of the Go&s;pel, the &s;hame of the Prote&s;tant Re|ligion: but to the unexpre&s;&s;ible grief of all good Chri&s;tians. A wonderful and a horrible thing was on this day committed in the Land; &s;uch as no Chronicle hath recorded the like, nor Age can parallel: For though Kings have heretofore been &s;ecretly murder|ed, and in a corner; yet never was &s;uch a bare-fac'd, Heaven-daring Trea|&s;on (&s;et a&s;ide only that Violence which was offer'd to the Lord of Glory our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour) beheld by the Sun; and that acted too under the pretence of Ju|&s;tice, entitling God to &s;o unparallell'd a wickedne&s;s, &amp; making him &s;uch an one
<PB N="3" REF="4">as them&s;elves. The con&s;ideration whereof cannot but pluck up the &s;luces of our &s;or|row, and let in flouds of tears, if it were po&s;&s;ible, this day, to lament and bewail before the Lord the matchle&s;s guilt of this crying &s;in. Now, I &s;ay, this being a black and gloomy day, a day of mourn|ing and bitter lamentation, for the horrid and barbarous Murder of a mo&s;t vertu|ous and Religious King, I have cho&s;en a Text of mourning and lamentation, for the untimely death of a Godly and Reli|gious King, King <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> the fitte&s;t paral|lel that I can find in the whole Sacred Story, for our late Martyr'd Sovereign.</P>
<P><HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was the be&s;t of all the Kings of <HI>Judah;</HI> there lies not among all the Files of Sacred Records, an evidence of &s;o ex|emplary and Princely Piety as King <HI>Jo|&s;iah,</HI> who&s;e Hi&s;tory you may read at large in the Chapter immediately foregoing, and in the former part of this Chapter,
<PB N="4" REF="5">as al&s;o in Chap. 22. and 23. of the &s;econd Book of <HI>Kings.</HI></P>
<P>He re&s;tored the Law, even lo&s;t; puni&s;h|ed and extirpated Idolatry, reformed A|bu&s;es, repaired God's Hou&s;e, re&s;tored his Wor&s;hip, &s;etled Religion, encouraged the Prie&s;ts the Mini&s;ters of God, and judici|ou&s;ly ordered the whole Service of God. In a word, &s;uch was his &s;ignal and exem|plary Piety, that the Holy Gho&s;t giveth him this great and gracious Te&s;timony, <HI>Like unto him there was no King before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his &s;oul, and with all his might, accord|ing to all the Law of Mo&s;es; neither after him aro&s;e there any like him,</HI> 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 23.25. And be&s;ides his Acts of Royal Prudence and Publique Zeal, as for his per&s;onal and private Sanctimony, we read, That <HI>his heart was tender, and that he did humble him|&s;elf before the Lord,</HI> 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 24.27. A &s;oft and tender heart is the be&s;t tempered for
<PB N="5" REF="5">God; and what a gracious tenderne&s;s was this in <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI>'s heart? He doth but once hear the Law read, and in &s;pecial tho&s;e dreadful threats of Judgment again&s;t the Idolatries of his <HI>Judah,</HI> and he rends h<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> Clothes, to &s;hew his Heart rent with &s;o<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters">|row, and wa&s;hes his Bo&s;om with Tear<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> is humbled, thus humbled for his Father &s;ins, for his Peoples &s;ins. How many o<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> us, after a thou&s;and hammerings of th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> menaces of Gods Law upon our guilty Souls, continue yet obdurate, and in&s;en|&s;ible of our danger? The very Reading of the Law did thus affect him, the Preaching of it moves not us: The &s;ins of others fetcht tears from his eyes, our own &s;ins are not &s;orrowed for by us.</P>
<P>Yet this Great, this Royal Pattern of Piety, King <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> who was thus good, thus gracious, was for the &s;ins of his Peo|ple &s;natch'd away by a violent death. The Thred of his precious Life was un|timely
<PB N="6" REF="6">&s;napt a&s;under, as a puni&s;hment not of his, but their iniquity.</P>
<P><HI>Judahs</HI> &s;ins had &s;o exceedingly provok'd God, that he was re&s;olved now no longer to withhold the execution of tho&s;e Judg|ments formerly denounced again&s;t them. To this end he fir&s;t removes the Remora unto his Ju&s;tice (this good King), plucks down their Hedge and Fence, their Re|ligious Prince, that &s;o his Judgments might ru&s;h in upon them without &s;top, and de&s;troy them. How is the Happine&s;s of a Kingdom twi&s;ted with the Welfare of a Religious King? How clo&s;e doth the Mi&s;ery and Calamity of a People follow the Lo&s;s of a Pious Prince? It proved &s;o here, and therefore well might they mourn for his decea&s;e.</P>
<P>This good and godly King is unhap|pily drawn into a de&s;tructive War: <HI>Pha|raoh Necho</HI> King of <HI>Egypt</HI> comes up to fight again&s;t the King of <HI>A&s;&s;yria; Jo&s;iah</HI>
<PB N="7" REF="6">is drawn in to aid the <HI>A&s;&s;yrians:</HI> That he might be the le&s;s noted in the Battel, he di&s;gui&s;eth him&s;elf: The fatal Arrow of an <HI>Egyptian</HI> Archer finds him out in the throng, and gives him his deaths Wound: His changed Chariot is now turned into a Bier, to carry his bleeding Corps to his Grave in <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>What eye doth not now pity and la|ment the untimely end of good <HI>Jo&s;iah?</HI> Whom can it chu&s;e but affect, to &s;ee a Religious, Ju&s;t, Vertuous Prince, thus vi|olently &s;natch'd away? Indeed <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> hap|pily gain'd by it; In &s;tead of a froward People, he is by this means &s;orted with Saints and Angels; in &s;tead of a fading and corruptible Crown, he is po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of an eternal. But his gain is his Subjects lo&s;s; though he be happy, they, as their &s;ins had de&s;erved, were mi&s;erable. All their Pro&s;perity and Felicity was buried in the Grave with him. This makes them
<PB N="8" REF="7">ready to weep out their eyes for &s;orrow; to betake them&s;elves (as our Nation this day doth) to a general mourning and bitter lamentation. <HI>And all Judah and Je|ru&s;alem mourned for Jo&s;iah. And Jeremiah, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In which Words you may ob&s;erve with me the&s;e Particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Per&s;on &s;o bitterly lamented and mourned for, <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> a Godly and Religi|ous King; yet &s;lain by a cruel hand, &s;natch'd away by a violent death. Nei|ther Goodne&s;s nor Greatne&s;s can exempt man from the &s;ore&s;t &s;ufferings, the &s;harp|e&s;t kind of death. <HI>Solomon</HI> hath ob&s;erv'd it long &s;ince, and Experience in all Ages hath verified his Ob&s;ervation, That here, in re&s;pect of Temporals, <HI>All things come alike to all, there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, &amp;c.</HI> which &s;hould teach us not to be cen&s;orious of other, to judge ra&s;hly of them, in regard of Gods outward Di&s;pen&s;ations towards them,
<PB N="9" REF="7">le&s;t we condemn the Generation of the Righteous.</P>
<P N="2">2. Here is the &s;ad lamentation and bit|ter mourning which was made for him; De&s;cribed,</P>
<P N="1">1. By the generality of the Mourners. The whole Land wore the Blacks of Sor|row, the whole Church and Nation of the Jews made Lamentations for him. The Prophet <HI>Jeremy</HI> is the chief Mourner, compo&s;eth <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI>'s Funeral Elegies (the Book of the <HI>Lamentations</HI>) gives them un|to the skilful Choire to chaunt forth: He begins the fir&s;t &s;ad Note, the Singing-men and Singing-women joyn in Con|&s;ort with him, and all <HI>Judah</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;a|lem</HI> make up the &s;ad Chorus in this gene|ral &s;orrow. A mourning, this made the highe&s;t pre&s;cript of mourning, the ut|mo&s;t bounds and confines of &s;orrow, <HI>Zech.</HI> 12.11. <HI>In that day there &s;hall be a great mourning in Jeru&s;alem, like the mourning of
<PB N="10" REF="8">Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon.</HI> And that not without ju&s;t cau&s;e, whether we con&s;ider the worth and excellency of the Per&s;on, the Happine&s;s which they enjoy|ed during his life, or the Mi&s;ery that fol|lowed upon his death.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Continuation of this general and &s;olemn Mourning and Lamentation; It la&s;ted not only for a day or two, or a week or two, or a moneth or two, and no more; but it was continued from time to time, from year to year, by an Act or Ordinance made for it in <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> It was a Cu&s;tom among the <HI>Jews</HI> to have Publick Mourners at their Funerals, both Men and Women, who u&s;ed to make La|mentations in mo&s;t doleful Tunes, at the death of Per&s;ons of Worth and Honour; as appeareth <HI>Eccle&s;.</HI> 12.5. <HI>Man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners go about the &s;treets.</HI> The&s;e Mourners in their Lamen|tations were wont to make mention of
<PB N="11" REF="8">the Parties decea&s;ed: Thus they did for <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> in their &s;olemn Mournings for o|thers, making mention of their great lo&s;s and mi&s;s of him: In&s;omuch that it became a con&s;tant Cu&s;tom, and as it were an e&s;tabli&s;hed Law or Ordinance, to make mention of the &s;ad lo&s;s of <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> in all their doleful Elegies.</P>
<P>Or it may be, that by rea&s;on of the lo&s;s of &s;o worthy a King, a &s;pecial Law was Enacted for it (as our Parliament hath piou&s;ly and prudently done) that at all other &s;olemn Mournings, there &s;hould be Mourning and Lamentations made for <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> and that the Publick Mourners ob&s;erved the &s;ame. This I take to be the meaning of tho&s;e Words, <HI>And made them an Ordinance in I&s;rael.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Here is the Record for the Comme|moration of this Religious King, in the continued Mourning for him; <HI>And be|hold, they are written in the Lamentations.</HI> Some
<PB N="12" REF="9">conceive the <HI>Lamentations</HI> of <HI>Jeremy</HI> to be here meant, which were compo&s;ed upon this &s;ad occa&s;ion: The Death of <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> and the numerous Calamities which by his death he fore&s;aw would befal the <HI>Jews,</HI> being the ground work and foun|dation on which the Prophet <HI>Jeremy</HI> did erect the whole &s;orrowful Structure of that Book; which &s;eems to be hinted, <HI>Lam.</HI> 4.20. <HI>The breath of our no&s;trils, the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits, of whom we &s;aid, Under his &s;hadow we &s;hall live among the heathen.</HI> But the mo&s;t reject this, and think there might be &s;ome other <HI>Lamentations</HI> remaining then upon Re|cord, and wherein the lo&s;s of <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was &s;et down. <HI>And all Judah and Jeru&s;alem mourn|ed for Jo&s;iah. And Jeremiah lamented for Jo|&s;iah, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The Time will not give me leave to handle every Branch of the Text (a great part whereof is already &s;pent) I
<PB N="13" REF="9">&s;hall pre&s;ent you therefore with one ge|neral Ob&s;ervation, wherein I &s;hall com|pri&s;e and bind up together the whole &s;um and &s;ub&s;tance of the Text.</P>
<P><HI>That the death,</HI> <MILESTONE UNIT="Ob&s;erv."> <HI>e&s;pecially the violent and un|timely death of a good and gracious King, is a ju&s;t ground of bitter mourning and lamenta|tion to all good People.</HI> This good King <HI>Jo|&s;iah</HI> being &s;o unhappily &s;lain, <HI>Judah</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> the whole Land and Nation of the <HI>Jews,</HI> all the good People both in Church and State, betake them&s;elves to doleful Lamentations. A Truth this &s;o apparent, it needs not much proof; yet it may be further illu&s;trated and cleared upon the&s;e accompts.</P>
<P N="1">1. The death of a Friend, and Friend, doth occa&s;ion &s;orrow; much more of a|choice Friend, a common Friend, e&s;peci|ally if he fall into the hands of cruel Thieves and mercile&s;s Murderers, and come to a barbarous and bloody end:
<PB N="14" REF="10">Surely this mu&s;t needs be a cau&s;e of great mourning to all that did bear any loving re&s;pect unto him. And is not a King, a good King, a Friend, a choice Friend, to all his People, being the Mini&s;ter of God for their good? Mu&s;t not then his death, a violent and bloody death, mo&s;t unju&s;t|ly and barbarou&s;ly brought upon him, occa&s;ion &s;ad hearts and weeping eyes a|mong tho&s;e who have any &s;park of good Nature, Loyalty, or Affection towards him?</P>
<P N="2">2. A good King is not only a Friend, but a Father; <HI>Rex Pater Patriae,</HI> the Fa|ther of the Countrey, the Father of the Common-wealth; yea, and a Nur&s;ing Father of the Church too, &s;o called in Scripture-phra&s;e. And &s;urely he is no dutiful Child, that will not lament his Fathers death; e&s;pecially if he &s;ee him &s;lain and butchered by bloody hands. And certainly they are no dutiful Chil|dren,
<PB N="15" REF="10">no Loyal Subjects, that mourn not for the horrid Slaughter, the barbarous A&s;&s;a&s;&s;ination of their Civil Father.</P>
<P N="3">3. A good King is the Bridegroom of the Common-wealth, the Husband of his People: And hence it hath been a Cu&s;tom anciently retained at the Inau|guration or Coronation of Kings, to de|liver them a Ring, as a Token or Pledge of Wedding them to their People: And will not the Children of the Bride-cham|ber mourn, when the Bridegroom is ta|ken from them? Can a loving Bride, a loyal Spou&s;e, endure to &s;ee her dear Hus|band a&s;&s;a&s;&s;inated, murdered, without &s;hrieking and crying out, without ring|ing of hands, and making doleful La|mentations? Surely no. And how then can good Subjects call to mind the bar|barous Butchering of a Religious King, without bleeding hearts, and mournful &s;pirits? Thus you &s;ee, if we con&s;ider
<PB N="16" REF="11">him in his Relations to his People, <HI>The death, e&s;pecially the violent death of a good King, is a ju&s;t ground of bitter mourning to all good People.</HI> To this I may add the con&s;ideration of the great Ble&s;&s;ings and Benefits we enjoy by the Life, the &s;ad Calamities and Confu&s;ions which follow upon the Death of a good King: And that both in re&s;pect of Temporals, and Spirituals.</P>
<P N="1">1. A good King, next under God, is a principal cau&s;e of our Temporal Well-being. 'Tis under his Shadow and Pro|tection that we enjoy our Lives, Liber|ties, E&s;tates. What can be expected but Ruine and Rapine, Violence and Oppre&s;|&s;ion, &s;o that we have nothing which we can call our own, as we have &s;een by wo|ful experience, when we are without &s;uch a King? And is it not a &s;ad thing then to be deprived of &s;uch a King? Will not all that delight not to live upon
<PB N="17" REF="11">the Plunder and Spoil of others, lament the Lo&s;s of &s;uch an one?</P>
<P N="2">2. A good King is next under God, a principal cau&s;e of our well-being, in refe|rence to &s;piritual things, &s;uch as concern our Souls: It is under him, and by vertue of tho&s;e good Laws enacted by him, that we are pre&s;erved <HI>to live a quiet and a peace|able Life in all godline&s;s and hone&s;ty;</HI> and therefore the Lo&s;s of &s;uch a King mu&s;t needs be deplorable, as opening a wide Gap to all licentiou&s;ne&s;s and wickedne&s;s, irreligion and prophanene&s;s. It was a &s;ad time in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> when there was no King there, <HI>then every man did what was good in his own eyes,</HI> Judg. 7.6. To what Exorbi|tancy and Villanies will not the corrupt heart of man left to its own liberty; and actuated by Satanical fury, breath out in &s;uch an Anarchy? As we have &s;een to the reproach of our Profe&s;&s;ion, the grief of our Hearts, the joy and deri&s;ion of our
<PB N="18" REF="12">Enemies: So that all this con&s;idered, is not the Point clear, That the Death, e&s;pecially the violent Death of a good King, is a ju&s;t ground of bitter lamenta|tion to all good people?</P>
<P>Let us now apply this Truth to our &s;elves.</P>
<P>See then in the fir&s;t place what great cau&s;e of Mourning and Lamentation we have this day, <MILESTONE UNIT="Applic."> who have &s;een a <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> a Good and Religious King, cut off by the hand of Violence. Let us a little paral|lel <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> in my Text, with our Martyr'd <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> that &s;eeing his excellent Worth, we may be the more &s;en&s;ible of his exceed|ing Lo&s;s, and finde what ju&s;t cau&s;e we have to mourn.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was a very Pious and Religi|ous Prince: It was his Care to Reform Religion according to the Law of God, found in the Temple by <HI>Hilkiah</HI> the High-prie&s;t. To this Reformed Religion he
<PB N="19" REF="12">adhered, <HI>cleaving to the Lord with all his heart, and walking in all the ways of David his father, and turned not a&s;ide to the right hand, or to the left,</HI> 2 Kings 22.2.</P>
<P>So our Martyr'd <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was zealou&s;ly affected to the true Reformed Prote&s;tant Religion, which he firmly profe&s;&s;ed, and con&s;tantly clave unto; Though his ma|licious Adver&s;aries, in the beginning of our late Troubles, bla&s;ted him with Po|pery, as though he had been a Papi&s;t, or at lea&s;t Popi&s;hly affected and enclined; (A Slander as fal&s;e as the father of lies could invent, and one of their mo&s;t cun|ning Engines, whereby <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI>-like, they &s;tole away the hearts of his people) yet he continued Con&s;tant in it to his la&s;t Breath, and &s;ealed it with his Blood: And that unparallel'd Book, His <GAP DESC="foreign"> which he wrote and left behinde him, wherein he commends the Prote|&s;tant Religion to His Son (our now mo&s;t
<PB N="20" REF="13">Gracious Sovereign) to be con&s;tantly em|braced and profe&s;&s;ed by him; which he found by proof to be the be&s;t of all Re|ligions, and neare&s;t to the Apo&s;tolical Primity and Purity: I &s;ay this Bok &s;hall &s;tand as a La&s;ting Monument to all Po|&s;terity, to the perpetual &s;hame of tho&s;e malicious Slanderers and Traducers.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was very zealous for the Hou&s;e of God, took great care for the Repairing and Beautifying of the Temple, 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 22.31. 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 35.20. So our <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was zealous for the Repairing and Beautify|ing of all the Hou&s;es of God through the Land, e&s;pecially that great Mother-Church (the Ornament of this City) a great part of the Charge whereof he took upon Him&s;elf; which with his fall, fell to ruine apace, and (O &s;hame to Chri|&s;tianity!) made for many years by our pretended Reformers, not only a Den of Thieves, but a Stable for Hor&s;es.</P>
<PB N="21" REF="13">
<P N="3">3. <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was a great Friend to the Cler|gy, to the Prophets and Mini&s;ters of God, the Prie&s;ts and Levites, giving them great Encouragement in their Service, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 35.2. So was our <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> a great Lover and Re&s;pecter of Learned and Pious Men; The greate&s;t Countenancer and Encourager of the Clergy and Mi|ni&s;ters of <HI>England</HI> of any King before him; A tender Nur&s;e, a mo&s;t propitious Father of the Church and Church-men; &s;o that no weight of difficulties could &s;o pre&s;s upon him, as to alienate Gods por|tion, the Churches Patrimony: To pre|&s;erve which from the Sacrilegious hands of the fir&s;t Movers of the Rebellion, He tendred the Sale of &s;o much Crown-land as would amount to the Value of the Church-land. Hear his own Words in that Heavenly Book of His: <HI>I am &s;o much a Friend unto Church-men, that hath any thing in them be&s;eeming that Sacred Function, that I
<PB N="22" REF="14">have hazarded mine own Intere&s;t, chiefly upon Con&s;cience, and Con&s;tancy to maintain their Rights, whom the more I look upon as Orphans, and under the Sacrilegious hands of many cruel and rapacious Reformers, &s;o I thought it my du|ty the more to appear as a Father, and Patron of them and the Church.</HI></P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg">He had tho|rowly learn'd King <HI>Lemuels</HI> L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;on which his mother taught him, <HI>It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for Princes &s;trong drink.</HI> And for Cha&s;tity, he might give that as his Motto, <HI>Mar|riage is honor|able, the Bed undefiled.</HI></NOTE>4. <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was a King unblameable as to any notorious per&s;onal Crime; we do not finde him noted with any remark|able Mi&s;carriage, as mo&s;t of his Prede|ce&s;&s;ors had been; Some are &s;aid to be good, and &s;ome bad, but the be&s;t of them had their &s;pots and blemi&s;hes: We read of <HI>Davids</HI> Adultery, of <HI>Solomons</HI> Idolatry, but we do not read that <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was any where taxed with any &s;uch &s;candalous &s;in.</P>
<P>So our <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was of a mo&s;t unblame|able Life and Conver&s;ation, free from any notorious per&s;onal Crime; as Swea|ring, Drunkenne&s;s, Uncleanne&s;s, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> be|ing
<PB N="23" REF="14">the mo&s;t Cha&s;te, Temperate Prince that ever &s;wayed <HI>Englands</HI> Scepter; even his mo&s;t malicious enemies mu&s;t in this re&s;pect be his Compurgators.</P>
<P N="5">5. <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was of a &s;oft Heart, a tender Con&s;cience, 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 22.12. So was our <HI>Jo&s;iah;</HI> How did his Con&s;cience check and trouble him, when by re&s;tle&s;s op|portunity he had yielded Compliance (for plenary Con&s;ent it was not, as him|&s;elf &s;aid) to the Act for the Earl of <HI>Straf|ford's</HI> Death, which in his Judgment and Con&s;cience he could not be &s;atisfied was ju&s;t and legal? How did he mourn like a Dove, and complain in the bitterne&s;s of his Soul? How was he &s;eized with continual remor&s;e for it, and did men|tion it as the main thing which did trou|ble him at his Martyrdom? Acknow|ledging that the giving way to an unju&s;t Sentence, might be &s;ome cau&s;e that the Lord permitted &s;o unju&s;t a Sentence to
<PB N="24" REF="15">be executed upon him&s;elf? And what greater Evidence of a gracious and &s;an|ctified Soul, than this &s;oft Heart, this tender Con&s;cience?</P>
<P N="6">6. <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> was a King as devout to God, &s;o devoted to the good of his people. In the ver&s;e following my Text, there is men|tion of the acts of <HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> and his good|ne&s;s: <HI>Now the re&s;t of the acts of</HI> Jo&s;iah, <HI>and his goodne&s;s, or kindne&s;s.</HI> His acts and his goodne&s;s or kindne&s;s, are joyn'd toge|ther, becau&s;e he did many acts of good|ne&s;s and kindne&s;s to his People: So our <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> had a large Heart for the good of his People; as his many Conce&s;&s;ions to his la&s;t Parliament did abundantly de|clare, denying nothing they legally chal|lenged, and indulging &s;o much of grace and favour, as all Ages cannot parallel, being bountiful above all his Royal An|ce&s;tors; And yet ready to con&s;ent fur|ther, if any rea&s;ons could be produced to
<PB N="25" REF="15">invite greater Favours, reque&s;ting His Parliament in one of His Me&s;&s;ages, only to make known what was wanting to the Kingdoms happine&s;s, and he would chearfully &s;upply it.</P>
<P>By this which you have heard, though far more might be added, you may gue&s;s what a good, what a gracious King we had, and what a Ble&s;&s;ing we enjoyed in Him; &s;o eminently good, that I could wi&s;h all the Kings and Princes of the world were altogether &s;uch as He was, except his Bonds, the heavy pre&s;&s;ure of his unmerited Sufferings.</P>
<P>Now to have &s;uch a King &s;natched from us by a violent and bloody death, is it not a &s;ad Lo&s;s, and much to be la|mented? He was &s;lain, not as <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> in my Text, by foreign Enemies, by &s;tran|gers of another Nation, and in the heat of Battel, but murthered in cold blood, and that by &s;ome of his own Subjects
<PB N="26" REF="16">and Servants, who had &s;worn Allegiance and Fidelity to him, who had Declared, Promi&s;ed, Prote&s;ted, &s;olemnly Vowed and Covenanted to Protect, Pre&s;erve and Defend him; O damnable Hypocri&s;ie! For the&s;e to murther him, and that not in prevate (as other Traitors have dealt with their Princes) but to do it openly, as men &s;olemnly wicked, and under pre|tence and &s;hew of Ju&s;tice, O helli&s;h moc|kery! as it were in defiance of Heaven, and in the &s;ight of the Sun, in oppo&s;ition to all Laws, both divine and humane, again&s;t the light of their own Con&s;cien|ces. The Powder-plotters were mode&s;t Traitors to the&s;e, they wrought under ground and in darkne&s;s; their Trea&s;on crept into the Cellar, as being a&s;ham'd of it &s;elf; but this was acted upon the Scaf|fold in the open light, without &s;hame or blu&s;hing; So that all circum&s;tances and aggravations con&s;idered which might be
<PB N="27" REF="16">named, I dare be bold to &s;ay, It was the mo&s;t daring, horrid, execrable Murther, next to the Crucifying of the Lord of Life, that ever was committed under the Sun. Oh what Tongue can expre&s;s the foulne&s;s of this Fact! the execrablene&s;s of this Parricide! For &s;uch a King to be thus murthered, is the &s;adde&s;t ground of Mourning that ever this Nation had; Therefore for this, O <HI>England,</HI> gird thee with Sackcloth, lament and howl, as it is <HI>Jer.</HI> 4.8. Oh for <HI>Jeremiahs</HI> wi&s;h, <HI>That our head were water, and our eyes fountains of tears, that we might weep night and day for the Lo&s;s of &s;uch a King;</HI> So for that horrid Sin which was this day committed in the Land, the &s;hedding of the Innocent Blood of the Lords Anointed; a &s;in &s;urpa&s;&s;ing the deeds of the wicked; a &s;in that no Nation or People, though never &s;o bar|barous, were guilty of, that we can read of in any Hi&s;tory.</P>
<PB N="28" REF="17">
<P>Oh let us be&s;eech the Lord to pardon it, to acquit the Land of it, that it may no longer cry for Vengeance, and call for Judgements to be continued upon us: Lord lay not the guilt of that Blood this day &s;hed, upon the whole Nation; for thou ha&s;t many among us, who have neither hands nor hearts defiled with it, who did with abho<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">rency of Soul dete&s;t, and in much bitterne&s;s of &s;pirit mourn for that abominable Fact; Lay it home, O Lord, lay it home to the Hearts and Con&s;ciences of all tho&s;e who are yet li|ving that had a hand in it, that they may &s;ee the hainou&s;ne&s;s of their &s;in, lament it, and repent of it, that &s;o they may ob|tain pardon and forgivene&s;s, out of the riches of thy abundant Mercies in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, that the Innocency of thy ble&s;&s;ed Martyr may be cleared, our Religion vindicated, thy Judgements averted, and thy Mercy glorified, in the Conver&s;ion of &s;o great &s;inners.</P>
<PB N="29" REF="17">
<P>And as for this horrid Fact, &s;o for all our other &s;ins and provocations, let us mourn, which help'd forward this Judg|ment, which &s;o highly incen&s;ed the Lord again&s;t us, as to deliver both us and our King into the hands of &s;uch cruel and blood-thir&s;ty men; yea, let us not onely bitterly mourn for, but unfeignedly turn from them, that &s;o we turning from our evil ways, and cea&s;ing from &s;inning, the Lord may cea&s;e from puni&s;hing, and turn from his wrathful indignation.</P>
<P>To draw to an end: See what cau&s;e we have to pour forth our mo&s;t humble Prayers and hearty Supplications to the Mo&s;t High and Mighty King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, for his merciful and powerful Protection and Pre&s;ervation of our Mo&s;t Gracious Sovereign Lord the King; That this Land may never have the like cau&s;e of Mourning; That he may be like his Royal Father, another
<PB N="30" REF="18"><HI>Jo&s;iah,</HI> (onely &s;uch Tragical act or end excepted) which the good Lord avert: While&s;t others are plotting again&s;t him, let us be praying for him.</P>
<P>Oh pray we then, that as the Lord hath even by a Miracle pre&s;erved His Maje&s;ty from the peril of the Sword, and re&s;cued him from the mid&s;t of his blood-thir&s;ty Enemies, and re&s;tored him to his ju&s;t Rights, &s;o he will vouch&s;afe &s;till to be his Rock and his Fortre&s;s, his Defence and his Strong Tower; That his Sacred Per&s;on may never come under the pow|er, or be at the mercy of &s;uch who&s;e mercies are cruel, whom nothing could &s;uffice but the Blood of a Righteous and Religious King; and (as we have ju&s;t cau&s;e to fear) who being leavened with &s;uch Antichri&s;tian Principles, thir&s;t no le&s;s after the Sons blood, than they did after his Fathers.</P>
<P>Lord therefore di&s;appoint their Plots,
<PB N="31" REF="18">and confound their Devices; let their in|tended Mi&s;chiefs come upon their own heads, and their cruelty fall on their own pates, <HI>&s;o &s;hall the King rejoyce in thy &s;trength, exceeding glad &s;hall he be of thy Salvation; and &s;o we thy people and &s;heep of thy pa&s;ture &s;hall give thee thanks for ever, and will be &s;hewing forth thy prai&s;e from one generation to another;</HI> &s;o &s;hall thy Name be glorified, thy Truth defended, thy Go&s;pel propagated, our Breaches repaired, thy Church comfort|ed: which we humbly be&s;eech thee to grant, O Father of Mercies, for his &s;ake who is the Son of thy love; To whom with thee, and the ble&s;&s;ed Spirit of Grace and Truth, be all Honour, Prai&s;e and Glory, Adoration and Obedience, now, and for ever.</P>
<CLOSER>AMEN.</CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
