THis Day is a day of blackness and gloominess , a day of clouds and thick darkness , a day of mourning and lamentation , for the best of Kings , the Mirrour of Princes , hurried away by a violent , and ( unto all but himself ) untimely death , by the hand of barbarous , traiterous , blood-thirsty men ; to the great dishonour of God , the reproach of the Gospel , the shame of the Protestant Religion : but to the unexpressible grief of all good Christians . A wonderful and a horrible thing was on this day committed in the Land ; such as no Chronicle hath recorded the like , nor Age can parallel : For though Kings have heretofore been secretly murdered , and in a corner ; yet never was such a bare-fac'd , Heaven-daring Treason ( set aside only that Violence which was offer'd to the Lord of Glory our blessed Saviour ) beheld by the Sun ; and that acted too under the pretence of Justice , entitling God to so unparallell'd a wickedness , & making him such an one as themselves . The consideration whereof cannot but pluck up the sluces of our sorrow , and let in flouds of tears , if it were possible , this day , to lament and bewail before the Lord the matchless guilt of this crying sin . Now , I say , this being a black and gloomy day , a day of mourning and bitter lamentation , for the horrid and barbarous Murder of a most vertuous and Religious King , I have chosen a Text of mourning and lamentation , for the untimely death of a Godly and Religious King , King Josiah , the fittest parallel that I can find in the whole Sacred Story , for our late Martyr'd Sovereign .

Josiah was the best of all the Kings of Judah ; there lies not among all the Files of Sacred Records , an evidence of so exemplary and Princely Piety as King Josiah , whose History you may read at large in the Chapter immediately foregoing , and in the former part of this Chapter , as also in Chap. 22. and 23. of the second Book of Kings .

He restored the Law , even lost ; punished and extirpated Idolatry , reformed Abuses , repaired God's House , restored his Worship , setled Religion , encouraged the Priests the Ministers of God , and judiciously ordered the whole Service of God . In a word , such was his signal and exemplary Piety , that the Holy Ghost giveth him this great and gracious Testimony , Like unto him there was 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 , 2 Kings 23.25 . And besides his Acts of Royal Prudence and Publique Zeal , as for his personal and private Sanctimony , we read , That his heart was tender , and that he did humble himself before the Lord , 2 Chron . 24.27 . A soft and tender heart is the best tempered for God ; and what a gracious tenderness was this in Josiah's heart ? He doth but once hear the Law read , and in special those dreadful threats of Judgment against the Idolatries of his Judah , and he rends h●… Clothes , to shew his Heart rent with so●… row , and washes his Bosom with Tear●… is humbled , thus humbled for his Father sins , for his Peoples sins . How many o●… us , after a thousand hammerings of th●… menaces of Gods Law upon our guilty Souls , continue yet obdurate , and insensible of our danger ? The very Reading of the Law did thus affect him , the Preaching of it moves not us : The sins of others fetcht tears from his eyes , our own sins are not sorrowed for by us .

Yet this Great , this Royal Pattern of Piety , King Josiah , who was thus good , thus gracious , was for the sins of his People snatch'd away by a violent death . The Thred of his precious Life was untimely snapt asunder , as a punishment not of his , but their iniquity .

Judahs sins had so exceedingly provok'd God , that he was resolved now no longer to withhold the execution of those Judgments formerly denounced against them . To this end he first removes the Remora unto his Justice ( this good King ) , plucks down their Hedge and Fence , their Religious Prince , that so his Judgments might rush in upon them without stop , and destroy them . How is the Happiness of a Kingdom twisted with the Welfare of a Religious King ? How close doth the Misery and Calamity of a People follow the Loss of a Pious Prince ? It proved so here , and therefore well might they mourn for his decease .

This good and godly King is unhappily drawn into a destructive War : Pharaoh Necho King of Egypt comes up to fight against the King of Assyria ; Josiah is drawn in to aid the Assyrians : That he might be the less noted in the Battel , he disguiseth himself : The fatal Arrow of an Egyptian 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 Jerusalem .

What eye doth not now pity and lament the untimely end of good Josiah ? Whom can it chuse but affect , to see a Religious , Just , Vertuous Prince , thus violently snatch'd away ? Indeed Josiah happily gain'd by it ; In stead of a froward People , he is by this means sorted with Saints and Angels ; in stead of a fading and corruptible Crown , he is possessed of an eternal . But his gain is his Subjects loss ; though he be happy , they , as their sins had deserved , were miserable . All their Prosperity and Felicity was buried in the Grave with him . This makes them ready to weep out their eyes for sorrow ; to betake themselves ( as our Nation this day doth ) to a general mourning and bitter lamentation . And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah . And Jeremiah , &c.

In which Words you may observe with me these Particulars .

1. The Person so bitterly lamented and mourned for , Josiah , a Godly and Religious King ; yet slain by a cruel hand , snatch'd away by a violent death . Neither Goodness nor Greatness can exempt man from the sorest sufferings , the sharpest kind of death . Solomon hath observ'd it long since , and Experience in all Ages hath verified his Observation , That here , in respect of Temporals , All things come alike to all , there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked , &c. which should teach us not to be censorious of other , to judge rashly of them , in regard of Gods outward Dispensations towards them , lest we condemn the Generation of the Righteous .

2. Here is the sad lamentation and bitter mourning which was made for him ; Described ,

1. By the generality of the Mourners . The whole Land wore the Blacks of Sorrow , the whole Church and Nation of the Jews made Lamentations for him . The Prophet Jeremy is the chief Mourner , composeth Josiah's Funeral Elegies ( the Book of the Lamentations ) gives them unto the skilful Choire to chaunt forth : He begins the first sad Note , the Singing-men and Singing-women joyn in Consort with him , and all Judah and Jerusalem make up the sad Chorus in this general sorrow . A mourning , this made the highest prescript of mourning , the utmost bounds and confines of sorrow , Zech . 12.11 . In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem , like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon . And that not without just cause , whether we consider the worth and excellency of the Person , the Happiness which they enjoyed during his life , or the Misery that followed upon his death .

2. The Continuation of this general and solemn Mourning and Lamentation ; It lasted 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 Israel . It was a Custom among the Jews to have Publick Mourners at their Funerals , both Men and Women , who used to make Lamentations in most doleful Tunes , at the death of Persons of Worth and Honour ; as appeareth Eccles . 12.5 . Man goeth to his long home , and the Mourners go about the streets . These Mourners in their Lamentations were wont to make mention of the Parties deceased : Thus they did for Josiah in their solemn Mournings for others , making mention of their great loss and miss of him : Insomuch that it became a constant Custom , and as it were an established Law or Ordinance , to make mention of the sad loss of Josiah in all their doleful Elegies .

Or it may be , that by reason of the loss of so worthy a King , a special Law was Enacted for it ( as our Parliament hath piously and prudently done ) that at all other solemn Mournings , there should be Mourning and Lamentations made for Josiah , and that the Publick Mourners observed the same . This I take to be the meaning of those Words , And made them an Ordinance in Israel .

3. Here is the Record for the Commemoration of this Religious King , in the continued Mourning for him ; And behold , they are written in the Lamentations . Some conceive the Lamentations of Jeremy to be here meant , which were composed upon this sad occasion : The Death of Josiah , and the numerous Calamities which by his death he foresaw would befal the Jews , being the ground work and foundation on which the Prophet Jeremy did erect the whole sorrowful Structure of that Book ; which seems to be hinted , Lam . 4.20 . The breath of our nostrils , the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits , of whom we said , Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen . But the most reject this , and think there might be some other Lamentations remaining then upon Record , and wherein the loss of Josiah was set down . And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah . And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah , &c.

The Time will not give me leave to handle every Branch of the Text ( a great part whereof is already spent ) I shall present you therefore with one general Observation , wherein I shall comprise and bind up together the whole sum and substance of the Text .

That the death , especially the violent and untimely death of a good and gracious King , is a just ground of bitter mourning and lamentation to all good People . This good King Josiah being so unhappily slain , Judah and Jerusalem , the whole Land and Nation of the Jews , all the good People both in Church and State , betake themselves to doleful Lamentations . A Truth this so apparent , it needs not much proof ; yet it may be further illustrated and cleared upon these accompts .

1. The death of a Friend , and Friend , doth occasion sorrow ; much more of achoice Friend , a common Friend , especially if he fall into the hands of cruel Thieves and merciless Murderers , and come to a barbarous and bloody end : Surely this must needs be a cause of great mourning to all that did bear any loving respect unto him . And is not a King , a good King , a Friend , a choice Friend , to all his People , being the Minister of God for their good ? Must not then his death , a violent and bloody death , most unjustly and barbarously brought upon him , occasion sad hearts and weeping eyes among those who have any spark of good Nature , Loyalty , or Affection towards him ?

2. A good King is not only a Friend , but a Father ; Rex Pater Patriae , the Father of the Countrey , the Father of the Common-wealth ; yea , and a Nursing Father of the Church too , so called in Scripture-phrase . And surely he is no dutiful Child , that will not lament his Fathers death ; especially if he see him slain and butchered by bloody hands . And certainly they are no dutiful Children , no Loyal Subjects , that mourn not for the horrid Slaughter , the barbarous Assassination of their Civil Father .

3. A good King is the Bridegroom of the Common-wealth , the Husband of his People : And hence it hath been a Custom anciently retained at the Inauguration or Coronation of Kings , to deliver them a Ring , as a Token or Pledge of Wedding them to their People : And will not the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn , when the Bridegroom is taken from them ? Can a loving Bride , a loyal Spouse , endure to see her dear Husband assassinated , murdered , without shrieking and crying out , without ringing of hands , and making doleful Lamentations ? Surely no . And how then can good Subjects call to mind the barbarous Butchering of a Religious King , without bleeding hearts , and mournful spirits ? Thus you see , if we consider him in his Relations to his People , The death , especially the violent death of a good King , is a just ground of bitter mourning to all good People . To this I may add the consideration of the great Blessings and Benefits we enjoy by the Life , the sad Calamities and Confusions which follow upon the Death of a good King : And that both in respect of Temporals , and Spirituals .

1. A good King , next under God , is a principal cause of our Temporal Well-being . 't is under his Shadow and Protection that we enjoy our Lives , Liberties , Estates . What can be expected but Ruine and Rapine , Violence and Oppression , so that we have nothing which we can call our own , as we have seen by woful experience , when we are without such a King ? And is it not a sad thing then to be deprived of such a King ? Will not all that delight not to live upon the Plunder and Spoil of others , lament the Loss of such an one ?

2. A good King is next under God , a principal cause of our well-being , in reference to spiritual things , such as concern our Souls : It is under him , and by vertue of those good Laws enacted by him , that we are preserved to live a quiet and a peaceable Life in all godliness and honesty ; and therefore the Loss of such a King must needs be deplorable , as opening a wide Gap to all licentiousness and wickedness , irreligion and prophaneness . It was a sad time in Israel , when there was no King there , then every man did what was good in his own eyes , Judg . 7.6 . To what Exorbitancy and Villanies will not the corrupt heart of man left to its own liberty ; and actuated by Satanical fury , breath out in such an Anarchy ? As we have seen to the reproach of our Profession , the grief of our Hearts , the joy and derision of our Enemies : So that all this considered , is not the Point clear , That the Death , especially the violent Death of a good King , is a just ground of bitter lamentation to all good people ?

Let us now apply this Truth to our selves .

See then in the first place what great cause of Mourning and Lamentation we have this day , who have seen a Josiah , a Good and Religious King , cut off by the hand of Violence . Let us a little parallel Josiah in my Text , with our Martyr'd Josiah , that seeing his excellent Worth , we may be the more sensible of his exceeding Loss , and finde what just cause we have to mourn .

1. Josiah was a very Pious and Religious Prince : It was his Care to Reform Religion according to the Law of God , found in the Temple by Hilkiah the High-priest . To this Reformed Religion he adhered , cleaving to the Lord with all his heart , and walking in all the ways of David his father , and turned not aside to the right hand , or to the left , 2 Kings 22.2 .

So our Martyr'd Josiah was zealously affected to the true Reformed Protestant Religion , which he firmly professed , and constantly clave unto ; Though his malicious Adversaries , in the beginning of our late Troubles , blasted him with Popery , as though he had been a Papist , or at least Popishly affected and enclined ; ( A Slander as false as the father of lies could invent , and one of their most cunning Engines , whereby Absolom-like , they stole away the hearts of his people ) yet he continued Constant in it to his last Breath , and sealed it with his Blood : And that unparallel'd Book , His {αβγδ} which he wrote and left behinde him , wherein he commends the Protestant Religion to His Son ( our now most Gracious Sovereign ) to be constantly embraced and professed by him ; which he found by proof to be the best of all Religions , and nearest to the Apostolical Primity and Purity : I say this Bok shall stand as a Lasting Monument to all Posterity , to the perpetual shame of those malicious Slanderers and Traducers .

2. Josiah was very zealous for the House of God , took great care for the Repairing and Beautifying of the Temple , 2 Kings 22.31 . 2 Chron . 35.20 . So our Josiah was zealous for the Repairing and Beautifying of all the Houses of God through the Land , especially that great Mother-Church ( the Ornament of this City ) a great part of the Charge whereof he took upon Himself ; which with his fall , fell to ruine apace , and ( O shame to Christianity ! ) made for many years by our pretended Reformers , not only a Den of Thieves , but a Stable for Horses .