THis day is a day of blackness, and gloo­miness, a day of clouds, & thick dark­ness, a day of mourning for a good and a religious King cut off by un­timely, violent death, to the unexpres­sible griefe of all good Christi­ans, by the trayterous heads, treche­rous hearts, and bloody hands of wicked, and ungodly men; yet great pretenders to holi­ness above all other. Now (I say) this being a black day, a day of mourning, I have chosen a Text of mourning, of mourning for a godly and a religious King Josiah, the fittest parallel I can find in the whole sacred book, for our Martyred Soveraign.

Josiah was one of the best of all the Kings of Iudah; whose History you may read at large in the foregoing Chapter: and in the former part of this Chapter, and also in the 22, and 23. book of the Kings.

He came to the Crown young, at eight yeares old; and sought the Lord while he was yet young in the eight year of his raign: and the twelfth year began the great work for advancing Religion and Piety. He purged Ierusalem of I­dolatry, reformed abuses, repaired Gods House, restored his worship, regarded his Ministers, kept such a Passeover, as had not been kept before since the dayes of Samuel the Prophet; neither did all the Kings of Israel keep such a Passeover, as Iosiah kept, Vers. 18. 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 arose there any like him, 2 King. 23.25.

And though he was thus good and zealous, yet for the peoples sin was he taken away by a violent death; as it followeth; Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, where with his anger was kindled against Iudah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withall. And the Lord said, I will remove Jerusalem out of my sight, as I have remo­ved Israel, and will cast off this City Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the house of which I have said, my name shall be there 2 King. 23.26.27.

So that for the great sin of the Land was this blessed King snatched from his People by untimely death, as a pu­nishment (not of his but) of their iniquity. According as Huldah the Prophetesse had informed the Messenger sent to her by him, 2 King. 22. from ver. 15. to 20. Thus saith the Lord, Tell the man that sent you to me: Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the Inhabi­tants [Page 3]thereof, even all the words of the book, which the King of Judah hath read; because they have forsaken me, and have burnt Incense to other gods to provoke me to anger; Therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the King of Judah that sent you; Thus shall you say to him: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, as touching the word which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thy selfe before me, when thou heardest what I said against this place, and against the Inhabitants thereof, to make it a desolation, and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and hath wept before me, I have also heard thee, saith the Lord, Behold therefore I will gather thee unto thy Fathers, and thou shalt be gathered unto thy Grave in peace, and thy eies shall not see all the evill that I will bring upon this Land.

Now that this judgement pronounced might be accom­plished upon the Nation: This godly and religious King was unhappily drawn into a destructive War. Pharaoh Necho King of Egypt going to War against Carchemish King of Assyria, to the river Euphrates, Iosiah is drawn in to aid the Assyrians: Necho sends Ambassadours to disswade him from it; what have I to do with thee thou King of Iudah? I come not against thee this day, but against the House wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make hast; for bear thee from medling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless Iosiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him, and hearkned not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight with him in the valley of Megidd [...]. And in this battel he lost his life, Vers. 23. And the Archers shot at King Josiah; and the King said to his Servants, have me away, for I am sore wounded. His Servants therefore took him out of that Chariot, and put him into the second Chariot that he had; and they brought [Page 4]him to Jerusalem, and he dyed, and was buried in one of the Sepulchres of his Futhers: And then followes my mournful Text; And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, &c. Jusiah dyed by a fa­tall arrow, (as our Iosiah by a dismall blow) to the unex­pressible griefe of his People, the Church of God, decay of Religion, and damage of the State; which the Nation being sensible of, betake themselves (as our Nation now doth) to a generall lamentation, and a bitter mourning: And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned, &c. and Jeremiah &c. Wherein we have,

• 1. The Person lamented, and mourned for; and that was Iosiah a godly and religious King, yet slain by cruell hand; The Archers shot him, wounded him sore, and he dyed.
• 2. The sad lamentations made for him: where we have,
  • 1. The generality of the mourners; The whole Land mourned, the whole Church and Nation of the Jews. All Iudah and Ierusalem; Jeremiah the Prophet, all the singing men, and singing women; all the People, both City and Country, Prophets and others. This was the greatest mourning that we read of; Therefore the very quintes­sence of mourning is set forth by this, Zach. 12.11. In that day there shal be a great mourning in Ierusalem, like the mour­ning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Magiddon. And that not without cause, whether the worth of the man, the good that he did, or the evill that followed upon his death be considered.
  • 2. The continuation of this mourning; It was not only for a time, for a day or two, or a week or two, a month or two, and no more; but it was continued from time to time, from year to year, by an Ordinance made for it in Israel.

  It was a custom amonst the Iews to have publick mour­ners at their Funerals, both men and women, who used to [Page 5]make lamentations in dolefull Tunes, at the death of Persons of worth; as appeares, Eccl. 12.5. Man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners go about the streets. In these lamentations they used to make mention of the parties deceased, and to mourn for them. Thus they did for Iosiah in their solemn mournings for others, making mention of the great losse of him: Insomuch that it became a constant custom, and as it were a set­led Law or Ordinance, to make mention of the sad loss of Josiah, in their dolefull Elegies: Or it may be, that by reason of the losse of so worthy a King, a speciall Law was enacted for it (as our Nation and State hath now piously, and prudently done) that at all other so­lemn mournings, there should be mourning for Josiah; and that publike Mourners observed the same. This is meant when 'tis said, And made them an Ordinance in Israel.

• 3. The Record for the commemoration of this holy man in the continued mourning for him; And behold they are written in the Lamentations. Some conceive the Lamentations of Jeremiah, registred in sacred Scripture to be here meant; which seemes to them to be hinted, Lam. 4.20. The breath of our nostrils, the anoyn­ted of the Lord is taken in their Pits, &c. But the most reject this, and think there might be some other La­mentations remaining then upon record, and where­in the losse of Josiah was set down. And all Iudah and Ierusalem mourned for Iosiah, and Ieremiah lamented for Iosiah, &c.

I shall not now by reason of my very short warning exactly handle every branch of the text, but only gather for you from hence three generall observations, wher­in I shall comprise and bind up together, as with a [Page 6]threefold cord, the whole sum and substance of the Text.

• 1. That the child, the dearest child of God may un­dergo a violent death; and this I gather from the Per­son lamented; Iosiah a good and godly King, a blessed Saint, yet slain by cruell hands. The Archers shot him.
• 2. That it hath been an ancient custom among the people of God to mourn for the dead: And this I ga­ther from the mourners in the Text, The Church of God, Iudah and Ierusalem; Ieremiah the prophet; All betak­ing themselves to sad and solemn mourning for Josiahs death.
• 3. That the death, especially the violent death of a good King, is a ground of a great mourning to all good people. Good Iosiah being so unhappily slain; Iudah and Ierusalem, all the good people in that Church and Nation, betake themselves to dolefull lamentations: And all Judah and Jerusalem, &c.

1. Of the first of these; That the child, the dearest child of God may undergo a violent death. As a child of God may be exposed in this world to any tempra­tion that is common to the Nature of man, to the so­rest and sharpest affliction so to the sharpest kind of death. The reason is, because death by the decree of God & by the desert of man, is the inseparable sequel of sin to all the sons of Adam, aswel to the godly, as to the wicked; forasmuch as all have sinned all must dye, & whatsoever may conduce to, or bring on death, whe­ther it be corruption from within, in these our earth­ly Tabernacles, our bodies breeding some noysome or grivous disease: or force and violence from without by wounds, hurts, and bruises, may befal the the one (God permitting) aswel as the other. As death is common to all, so the same causes procurers and producers of [Page 7]death are incident, and alike common to all.

As the the undergoing any sore affliction, or a vio­lent death, is no sure argument, that a man is the child of God, so the undergoing the like is no certain evidence that he is not the child of God; we cannot conclude any one to be a reprobate, simply from a­ny kind of suffering, or from any kind of death; be­cause Gods dear child may be exposed to the one or the other.

The Donatists of old (who were the forefathers of our Anabaptisticall fanatique Section, separating brood) vainly supposed, that the undergoing of sore afflictions and violent death was the most ready way to bring them to heaven, and a sure character of emi­nent Saints; and therfore would willfully, and need­lesly expose themselves to grievous sufferings, and sometimes to cruell death. As Venner the Sectarian Preacher, or rather prater, the Wine-cooper, and his cursed crue, lately gloried to shed their blood in figh­ting for King Jesus (Thus do they blasphemously a­buse that good, sweet and precious name) though in open and horrid Treason and Rebellion against the lawfull powers ordained by God, and in plain oppo­sition to the laws of God, and of the Land, as if Christ who foretold by his Prophets, as a great blessing to his Church and People under the Gospell, That Kings should be their nursing Fathers, and Queens their nursing Mothers, would have these nurses all killed, and mur­thered by their own children: And not remember what he hath said; They that take the sword (upon such false grounds) shall perish by the sword.

St. Austin Epist. 50. ad Bonifacium, speaketh of three kinds of death, wherewith the said Donatists desired [Page 8]to be killed, or rather indeed killed themselves: Some of them would make request unto the worshippers and keepers of Idols to destroy them; others would offer themselves to armed men, robbers and spoylers, lying by the high-way side to be slain of them: and there wanted not such among them, as delighted to cast themselves headlong from high places, into the water, and into the fire. In this last age some Fana­tick people have traced their steps. Gualterus that fa­mous Preacher of Zurich, who lived about an hun­dred years since, Hom. 209. in Mat. cap. 16. Relateth that he himself saw a woman (after she had lived ma­ny years honestly with her husband and among her neighbours) being instructed, or rather seducted by the Anabaptists, ran away from her husband, and forsook her seven little children nothing pittying the youngest, though a sucking babe, and being asked why so unnaturall, and unlike Mother she forsooke her children; she had that pretence which the rest of the Anabaptists have; Christ exhorts us to bear the Cross.

But though he exhort to bear the Crosse, yet he requireth not, that we should put needless crosses up­on our selves; but only to bear them patiently, when he is pleased to send them, and when he cals to suffer: As for those who rashly expose themselves to trou­bles, and cast themselves into wilful dangers, or death it self, without warrant of Gods word: their actions are so far from pleasing, that they are very displeasing to him: As Saint Austin very well affirmeth, Tract. 11. in 3. Iohn. Let Marculus (saith he) fling himselfe downe headlong from a rock: and let Donatus in like sort, cast himself into a pit, both with intent to [Page 9]end their lives, yet shall they not be called Martyrs: or at most (as he speakes in another place) they are but Martyrs of a foolish Philosophy, mad Fanatick Martyrs.

Now as these or like sufferings, were no evidence to them of their salvation; because it is not the meet suffering, or the kind of death, but the cause that makes a Martyr: So the like being undergone, are no argument that a man is not in Gods favour. The dea­rest child of God may undergo a violent death. The Prophet, the man of God that came from Iudah to cry out against Iereboams Idolatrous Altar at Bethel, in his return homeward was slain by a Lyon, yet all agree, though his body suffered yet his soul was saved; he was the dear child of God; so esteemed by the old Prophet, who took care for his decent burial, and laid him in his own Sepulchre; and they mourned o­ver him, saying, alas my brother: and laid a charge upon his sons to lay him in the same Sepuchre, lay my bones besides his bones, 1 Kin. 13.31. So this good King Iosiah esteemed him; for when in accomplishment of that Prophesie, he brake down the Altar of Bethel, and burnt many bones upon it, digging up the bones of the Idolatrous Priests, and burned them; when he came to the Sepulchre of this man of God, and under­tood by the title whose it was, he gave charge to let him alone, Let no man move his bones, deeming him the servant of God, 2 Kin. 23.18. And all those Worthies of the Old Testament, spoken of, Heb. 11.36, 37, 48. Being too good to live in this world, received hard mea­sure from the world; And had tryall of cruell hands and scourgings: yea moreover of bonds, and imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawen asunder, were tempted, were [Page 10]slain with the sword. Blessed Steven the Proto-martyr of the New Testament, was pelted & knockt to death with stones, and many of the best of Gods Saints and Servants pledg'd him in the cup of Martyrdom which was very bitter and bloody. The holy Baptists head was chopt off to satisfie the appetite of a lustful and luxu­rious woman, and served up to her in a Charger. And Gods holy child Jesus, that just and religious one, tak­ing our sins upon him, and standing in that place, un­derwent a violent death, the painful, shameful, and ac­cursed death of Cross, yet still most dear in his Fa­thers favour. Iosiah here, a good and a religious King; yet slain by cruell hands, The Archers shot him and he dyed: now briefly for Application.

Ʋse. 1. Learn here first, That neither goodnesse nor greatness can exempt man from the saddest sufferings Iosiah a King as good as great, yet slain in battell. The Lord seeth good sometimes to have it so, to humble the best and greatest; that none may presume or trust to any worldly priviledge or dignity: and to prepare his servants for a suffering condition.

2. Let us be instructed to beware of rash Iudgmen, not to be censorious of all that suffer either sharp af­fliction, or some bitter death: if they die penitently, &c in true faith of Christ, or in a good cause, it doth not diminish ought from their future happinesse, but ra­ther promote them in the way to glory. But let none of you suffer as a murtherer, (saith St Peter) or as a thief, or as an evill doer, or as a busie bodie in other mans matters; yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorifie God on this behalfe, 1 Pet. 4.15, 16. Christ hath taught us not to deem them the greatest sinners who are the greatest sufferers, Eo nomine, for that very [Page 11]reason, because sufferers by the example of those Ga­lilaans, who sacrificing were sacrificed. Pilate mingling their own blood with the blood of the beasts which they offered: and of the other who were mangled, and quashed to death by the sudden fall of a Tower. Sup­pose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell and flew them, think ye that they were sinners a­bove all men that dwell at Ierusalem? I tell you nay, But except you repent you shal likewise perish, Lu. 13.2, 3, 4.

And though our late dear Iosiah, underwent a bloody death (made as it were a sacrifice for the Church, and his people) by the rage, malice, and immane cruelty of mercilesse, and perfidious men, or rather monsters: (Horrendum factum, dictu Horrendum.) Yet God forbid any of us should have the least doubt of his souls feli­city: Although his hard hearted, and implacable ene­mies denyed him (that which is freely granted to the vilest and most notorious condemned malefactors) the help and comforts of his Chaplaines, for his souls re­freshment, in the time of his hard imprisonment, and therein (as he complaines in his Soliloquies) might seem as they sought to deprive him of all things else, so to be afraid he should save his soul, other sence, chari­ty it selfe can hardly pick out of these repulses, I recei­ved, saith he; Yet we have good ground to conclude and ful assurance to perswade us, that the better part of him is safe, they which killed the body had no power to hurt the soul. That bitter cup conduced much to his souls happinesse: calix mortis, calix salutis, the cup of death, and Martyrdom was to him a cup of Salvati­on. [Page 12]His meek submitting to the will of God; his pa­tient bearing taunts, reproaches, and injuries, evento shameful spitting on his meek yeelding to an unjust and bloody stroak, his hearty praying for his enemies, and murtherers, according to that glorious pattern of his blessed Master, his commending his soul to God trusting to his mercies in Jesus Christ our only Savi­our for an eternal crown; all being fruits of a sanctifi­ed soule, are comfortable evidences of a saved soule. Though his death was bloody and violent, yet being sweetned with Christs death, and his being washed and bathed in the blood of the Lamb, we have firmperswa­sion and good assurance, that he lived and dyed the dear child of God, and is now a Saint in Heaven, praising God among the noble army of Martyrs: an heire of salvation, and of that immarcescible Crown of glory, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Ʋse 3. Let it prepare and arm us against the fear and terrour of violent death, if such should befal any of us, we know not but it may; it is sometimes the lot of Gods dearest children. Let us not then overmuch disquiet our selves with the fear of violent death, by theeves, robbers, murtherers, or by the rebellious rout of Fanaticks. The Sectaries talk high, and hope yet to have a day; their hearts are bloody, and their hands would be at work; these times, they say, will not hold; we shall have a change, though we have now a time of rejoycing, yet we shall ere long have a time of howling and crying; our harp shall be turned into mourning, and our mirth into the voyce of them that weep: but we hope their hornes will be clipt, and their nailes pared, a book be put into their nostrils, and a bridle in their lips, to hold them back from rebellion and mischief. If they should [Page 13]break out in murther as they did begin; and if any of us should fall by their knives, swords, or guns, let not the fear, or thought of this too much affright us. Let us arme and prepare our selves with the shield of Faith, and be alwaies ready: and if we die in the Faith, and favour of our God in Christ, it shall not hinder us at all to our way to heaven, but bring us the sooner to our Fathers House, the place of true rest, and happiness.

I proceed to the second Observation; That it hath been an ancient custom among the people of God to mourn for the dead; and in a moderate manner to mourn for our departed friends, is not unlawful, but rather Christian and commendable. The custome hath been very ancient: Solomon speakes of it, as a thing commonly used in his time, Eccl. 12.5. And we find it more ancient, Abraham the Father of the faith­full, bewailed his dead wife Sarah, Gen. 23.2. Sarah dyed in Kirjath-arba, the same is Hebron, in the Land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. Joseph mourned many dayes for his Father Jacob. They mourned with a very great and sore lamentation, and with grievous mourning, Gen. 50.10.11. All the people mourned thirty dayes for Moses, Deut. 34. David mourned for Ammon, and for Absolom, and for Abner; yea, he was the chiefe mourner there: King David himselfe followed the biere, and the King lift up his voyce and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the peo­ple wept; yea, all the people wept again for Abner, 2 Sam. 3.31, 32. And as in the Old Testament so we find it used in the New. The devout widows wept for the death of Tabitha, Act. 6.39. Christ wept at the grave of Laza­rus, Joh. 12. And the good woman mourned, and wept [Page 14]when he dyed. And devout men carryed Steven to his bu­riall, and made great lamentation over him, Act. 8.2. And here all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, &c. From all which examples we see the the antiquity of this custom, and hence,

Use. May learn, That moderate mourning for the dead is not unlawful, but rather commendable. Chri­stians are not to be like Stoicks, or rather Stocks void of all naturall affection.

But to this I shall not need to exhort, nature it self is apt enough to shew it self upon all occasions of this nature. In mourning for our near relations, we are more apt to erre in the excess, then in the defect, to mourn immoderately, then to faile in mourning for our friends deceased. Therefore let us take heed that we do not exceed, nor give too much way to our passi­on. The Apostle doth not forbid all sorrow for the dead, but immoderate sorrow; That we should not grieve, and take on like the Gentiles, who were ignorant of the blessed state of the dead that die in the Lord; and had no hope of ever seing them again, because they were not perswaded of the Resurrection, and so mourned out of measure, 1 Thes. 4.13. I would not have you ignorant bre­thren of them that are asleep; as ye sorrow not even as o­thers that have no hope: for if we beleeve that Jesus dyed and arose again, even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

There are four cordials let me give you to mode­rate, and mitigate this sorrow; regulate this passion.

1. Because it is our common condition; death is no new or strange thing; but the lot and portion of every child of Adam. As by one man sin entred into the world, [Page 15]and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for that all men have sinned, Rom. 5.12. Do we see some friend go before us? let us not be too much troubled: nothing hath hapned to them, but what must happen to us, yea to all; it is the case of all to die. Our Fathers are gone before us, and we must follow after them, and our children after us; one generation passeth, and ano­ther succeedeth: all things are here in a mutable con­dition, and so are we. Omnia peribunt, sic ibimus, ibitis ibunt. Demonax the Philosopher, seeing one make great lamentation for a friend departed, wished him to make enquiry among all that company, being very numerous, and see if he could find any one, who by death had not been deprived of some friend or other: which when he did, and could find none; with the community of the case, he comforted himselfe, and bridled his sorrow. So if by death we have been de­prived of Parents or Brethren, Husbands or Wives, children and Friends; let us remember nothing comes to us, but that which is common to all, and let this re­strain us from moderate mourning. With this thought David put an end to that sorrow for his child which he so dearly loved, But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast, can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me, 2 Sam. 12.23. As if he had said, death is common to all, I shall die as well as he; I must follow him in the way of death, the way of all the earth, from which there is no returning hither: Therefore why should I afflict my selfe any more?

2. Because death comes by Gods appointment and determination; with him are the issues of death, he hath fixed and appointed our time here. All the dayes of my appointed time, will I waite till my change come, [Page 16]saith Job. So that God hath set down how long every ones time shall be. The number of our moneths, years, and dayes is with him; he hath set us our bounds which we can­not pass. Job. 14. Indeed to our apprehension many times, some are taken away untimely, unseasonably, suddenly, husbands from the wives, and wives from their husbands, children from their parents, and pa­rents from their children, some in their youth and sull strength, when their breasts are full of milk, and their bones full of marrow: but let it not seem strange to us; Their appointed times were come; the will of God is done and we must be content, and with pa­tience submit to it.

3. Because by death the faithful go to a better mansion, and mend their condition: they make a happy change; they change their mortall for immor­tality; this corruption, this earthly house for an hea­venly house. They are freed from their labours, sor­rows, troubles, miseries, afflictions, molestations of this present evill-world, and brought to the desired home of true aest, of blisse rnd perfect happiness; ut non tam plangendus sit, qui hac luce caruerit, quam gra­tisicandum ei quod de tantis malis eraserit, saith the Fa­ther; That he which departed hence in the Lord, is not so much to be lamented for, because he is deprived of this light, as to be rejoyced for, in that he is escaped out of such a Sea of misery, and landed safely in the sure harbour of endless felicity; taken up to the true light.

4. Because we have assurance of a joyful Resur­rection, they that dye in the Lord, are not lost, or gone from us for ever; but only gone before us: they are fallen into a sweet sleep, and shall for certain awake [Page 17]again, rise again at that great day when the Lord Ie­sus shall shew himself from heaven, and change our vile body, and make it like unto his own glorious bo­dy, when we shall enjoy the company and society of our Christian friends in body and soul for ever; there­fore (as the Apostle exhorteth) comfort your selves, and one another, with these words.

THe third observation which I gave you from this Text, which I chiefly intended and aimed at for this day, as being most suitable to our present occasi­on and meeting, and which follows now to be spoken of, was this:

That the death, especially the violent death of a good King, is a ground of great mourning to all good peo­ple. Iosiah a good, religious, zealous King, being slain in battel, the Church and good people among the Jews, yea the whole Nation, City and Country, Prophets and others, all the Inhabitants of the Land, fall to sad mourning and doleful lamentation.

This truth is so apparent, that it needs not much proof, yet it may be further made out upon these ac­counts.

1. The death of any friend doth occasion sorrow and mourning, much more the death of a choice friend, of a chief friend, of a common friend, especially if he [Page 18]fall into the hands of merciless thieves and murderers, and come to a barbarous and bloody end; this must needs be a cause of great mourning to all that did bear any loving respect to him.

And is not a King, a good King a friend, a chief and choice friend, a common friend to all his good people, being the Minister and Vicegerent of God, for the pu­nishmen: of evil doers, but for the praise of them that do well? 1 Pet. 2.14. Must not then his death, a violent and bloody death, unmercifully and unjustly brought upon him, occasion sad hearts and great mourning a­mong those who had any spark of goodness and affecti­on towards him?

2. A good King is not only a friend, but a Father, Pater Patriae, the Father of his Country, and of the Commonwealth; and surely he is no good and duti­ful childe that will not mourn for his fathers death; e­specially if he see him slain and murthered by bloody hands, in such a case not to shed tears, were a sign of a graceless and godless son: and certainly they are no good children, no loyal or dutiful subjects, that mourn not for the horrid slaughter, and barbarous as­sassination of their civil father.

3. A good King is the light of our eyes, and breath of our nostrils, yea the very life of our lives, a prin­cipal means under God of our temporal weal and be­ing, under whose shadow and protection we enjoy our selves and all in safety, life, goods, and estate: He is the Minister of God to thee for good, Rom. 13.4. And is it not a sad thing to have such a pillar broken down, such a one taken away by cruel hands? What can be expected to follow but ruine, rapine, confusion and misery, oppression and calamity, as we have felt by [Page 19]woful experience? and will not all that have any good­ness, that delight not to live by devouring others, la­ment for the loss of such a one?

4. A good King is under God a principal cause of our well-being, in relation to spiritual things for our souls benefit, it is under him, and by his power and Law, that we are preserved to live a quiet and peace­able life in all godliness and honesty, 1 Tim. 2.2. there­fore the loss of him must needs be deplorable, as open­ing a wide gap to all prophaneness, and dissolute li­ving. It was a sad time with Israel when there was no King in Israel, every man did what was good in his own eyes, Iudg. 17.6. and to what exorbitances and villanies will not the corrupt nature of man left to its own liberty, and actuated by satanical fury, break out in such an Anarchy? will not this make a good heart mourn?

5. A good King is a nursing Father of the Church, so called in Scripture phrase; it is by his care and providence, by his good example and diligence in the service of God, and in the holy duties of his worship, that Religion is upheld, and the practise of it further­ed, and the Church maintained in a flourishing condi­tion.

Regis ad exemplum to tus componitur orbis, people are much inclined to follow the example of the Prince: And can good people that wish well to Sion, and are well affected to Religion, to the service and worship of God, see such a one snatch'd from them by violent death, to the great decay of Religion, abolishing of the solemn worship of God, and the bringing in a Ba­bel-like confusion of hearts and Tongues (as we have seen to our reproach, to the breaking of our hearts, to [Page 20]the joy and derision of our enemies) and not be filled with extreme grief, and betake themselves to great and bitter mourning.

6. A good King is the Bridegroom of the Com­monwealth, the Husband of his people: and hence it hath been an ancient custome, at the Inauguration or Coronation of Kings to deliver them a Ring, as a pledge or token of wedding them to their people, and will not the children of the Bride-chamber mourn, when the Bridgeroom is taken away from them? Christ himself in the Gospel assures us, that they will and shall mourn in that day. And here I pray take no­tice, that they are no children of the Bridechamber that mourn not for such a loss: what then are they that rejoyce? Can the Bride, a loving Spouse, endure to see her dear Husband assassinated, murthered by cruel Butchers, and that in the Bridechamber; in his own house, or at his own gates? Can she endure for ever to have him separated from her, or to have his head separated from his body before her eyes, without shrieking out, and wringing hands, without bitter tears and doleful lamentations? surely no: And how then can good people, good Christians, good Subjects, call to mind the murdering of a good King at the door of his own Royal Palace, by some of his own people, of his own subjects and servants, without bleeding hearts, weeping eyes, and mournful spirits?

These may stand as so many grounds or arguments to confirm the point in hand, that the death, especially the violent death of a good King, is a ground of great mourning to all good people.

To all these, I might add the confusion that follows such a black deed. The barbarous murder of a good [Page 21]King is commonly attended with a deplorable Chaos of confusion, both in Church and State: The plot­ters and actors in such a foul work are none of the best, yea they are the very worst and vilest of men, men of hard hearts, and seared consciences, of wild, large and loose principles, who having swallowed Royal blood, do easily glut themselves with the blood of Nobles, and other of their fellow subjects, and like ravening Wolves having slain the Shepherd, sport themselves in tearing and worrying the sheep; and to conclude, make no bones of the greatest evil, so it may promote their wicked designs: And must not this needs bring on a rueful confusion?

1. There follows a Chaos of confusion in the Church when a good King is murdered, if the murde­rers escape, they new-model Religion, and fit it to their own Standard, and make it a meer Machiavilli­an, politick Engine to prop and boulster up their u­surped power.

When Ieroboam wrested the ten Tribes from the house of David, with his new Kingdome, he set up a new Religion, for fear least if the people kept to their old Religion, they would return to their old King, 1 King. 12.26, 27, 28. Ieroboam said in his heart, Now shall the Kingdome return to the house of David, if this people go up to do sacrifice in the House of the Lord at Ie­rusalem, then shall the heart of this people burn again un­to their Lord, even to Rehoboam King of Iudah, and they shall kill me: Whereupon he took counsel, and made two calves, and set the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan, and pretended all to be done for the good and ease of the people; it is too much for you to go up to Ierusa­lem: whereas it was for his own base ends, and ac­cording [Page 22]to his new Religion, he made a new sort of Priests, not of the sons of Aaron, according to Gods Ordination, but whosoever would, might be a Priest for that State-Religion, and served well enough to serve calves. He made of the lowest and meanest of the people Priests of the high places, whosoever would he con­secrated him, and he became one of the Priests of the high places; and this thing became a sin unto the house of Iero­boam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth, 1 King. 13.33, 34. I need not tell you, how exactly the late Tyrants our Masters followed his steps, the sad thought of it is too fresh in our memo­ries. Our old true and established Religion must be thrown down, and turned out, both for government, discipline, doctrine, manner of worship, and Divine Ordination, as if all had been nought, and a boundless toleration given for a monstrous many headed new Religion, and Priests start up of the meanest and low­est of the people; many boldly intruded upon that ho­ly work to administer the Word and Sacraments, without a lawful call and separation to it; they climb­ed up, and crept in the wrong way, like thieves and robbers, Iohn 10. they consecrated themselves with audacious and sacrilegious presumption, rushing up­on that sacred Function, and came not in by the door of Divine Ordination, which none ever durst pre­sume to do since the Apostles time, till these daies of confusion; and these were the Priests of the high pla­ces, these, these, the only men in those disorderly times, who having never taken holy Orders, were thought most worthy to be mounted to the high places of preferment.

2. A Chaos of confusion follows also in the state: [Page 23]They which kill the Heir to gain the inheritance, and stone Naboth to seize his Vineyard, must maintain with a vast expence of blood and treasure what they have unjustly gotten, by which means the poor peo­ple are oppressed and squeezed, harrowed and peeled to the very bones: We have found and felt this true, what sore oppressions, unsupportable taxes, and over­heavy burthens, besides devouring free-quarter (when our Lord-Danes boasted that all was theirs, and that they had more to do in our houses, and with our goods (expertus loquor) then we our selves) have we under­gone since the oppression and murder of our good King.

Besides, there is a vast confusion after such a fact, by reason of contestations between Competitors, as was in the Roman Empire upon Caesars death, between Octavius, Lepidus, Marcus Antonius, and others; there is a furious busling and strugling, who shall be Master and Supreme; now one strives for it, and now ano­ther; now one hath it, and then another; now one Government is up, and then another, and so the op­pressed people in this time of confusion are the great­est sufferers, pelted and buffeted between both, tum­bled and tossed, and emptied from one vessel to ano­ther, till their purses are as empty of money, as their hearts of content, or their lives of comfort.

Now then seeing such a Chaos of confusion both in Church and State follows upon the murder or violent death of a good King, as we all alas can too feelingly and knowingly speak, is not the point clear, that the death, especially the violent death of a good King, is a ground of great mourning to all good people; for I am sure none will grant them to be good people (un­less [Page 24]themselves may be Judges, and their own mouths praise them) who applaud a Chaos of confusion in Church and State, and delight, like Sharks, Harpies and Cormorants, to fish in troubled waters; or like Tories to live upon spoil and rapine, because there out, they have formerly sucked no small advantage.

I hasten on to the application of this truth to all our souls.

Vse 1. First then see here what great cause we have of sad mourning, and of great lamentation, who have seen a Iosiah, a good and religious King, our great, our chief friend, our common Father, our Bridegroom, our dear Husband snatched from us by bloody hands, and by a violent death, well may this day be called a bitter day, as the mourning for one only son, or the mourning of Hadadrimmon for Englands Iosiah.

Let us a little parallel Iosiah in my Text with our Iosiah, that so seeing his excellent worth, we may be the more sensible of this exceeding loss, and find what cause we have for great mourning.

1. Iosiah was a very pious and religious Prince, well affected to Religion, to the true Religion, the re­formed Religion, as it was by his care reformed and restored according to the Law of God, found in the Temple by Hilkiah the High-Priest: to this he adhe­red, cleaving to the Lord with all his heart, and walk­ing in all the wayes of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand, or to the lest, 2 King. 22.2.

So our Iosiah was very pious, and zealously affected to Religion, to the true reformed Protestant Religion, which he firmly professed and cleaved to: And though his adversaries in the beginning of our troubles blast­ed him with Popery, as if he had been a Papist, (a [Page 25]slander as false as the Father of Lies could invent, and one of their most cunning Engines, whereby ( Absa­lem-like) they stole away the hearts of his people, and brought him so low) yet he continued constant in it to his last breath, and sealed it with his blood; and that unparallell'd book which he wrote and left behinde, [...], wherein he commends that Religion to his son, our now gracious Soveraign, to be con­stantly imbraced and professed by him, which he found by proof to be the best of all Religions, and neerest to the Apostolical primity and purity. I say, this shall stand as a lasting monument to all posterity, to the perpetual shame of those malitious Traducers. Out of that divine book (so I may call it, for much of a di­vinely inspir'd spirit appears in it) give me leave to add some of his own sweet words to the Prince of Wales: If you never see my face again, I do require and entreat you, as your Father and your King, that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against, or dis­affection from the true Religion established in the Church of England; I tell you I have tryed it, and after much search, and many disputes, have concluded it to be the best in the world, not only in the community as Christian, but also in the special notion as reformed, keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitious tyranny, and the meanness of fantastick Anarchy: And a little after, The scandal of the late troubles, which some may object, and urge to you against the Protestant Religion established in England, is easily answered to them, or your own thoughts in this, that scarce any one who hath been a beginner, or an active prosecutor of this late War against the Church, the Law and me, either was, or is a true lover, imbracer, or practiser of the Protestant Religion established in England, which nei­ther [Page 26]gives such rule, nor ever before set such examples.

2. Iosiah was very zealous for Gods house, he took great care for the repairing of the Temple, and the beautifying of it, 2 King. 22.3.1 Chron. 35.20. So our Iosiah was zealous for the houses of God; in the year of his raign he took order that the Temples and Churches through the Kingdome should be repaired and beautified: and attempted, and to a good degree brought on the reparation of that great Mother-Church, (the old Ornament of our Metropolis, or great City,) famous for the antiquity of it, and for its great bulk: being reputed for its building the greatest pile in the Christian world: great part of which charge he took upon himselfe: which with his fall, is falling down apace; as also are many other Churches within the Land. That (O shame to Christianity) by our great reformers for many years, made not only a den of theeves, but a stable for horses: As the barbarous Turks dealt with that renouned Temple of St. Sophia in Constantinople, when they had conquered that im­perial City.

3. Josiah was a great friend to the Clergy, to the Prophets and Ministers of God, the Priests, the Levites, and gave them encouragement in their Ser­vice, 2 Cron. 35.2. So was our Iosiah, a great lover and respecter of Godly and learned men, of able, and Orthodox Divines; a great benefactor to the Uni­versities and Schools of learning; the greatest coun­tenancer, cherisher, and encourager of the Clergy, and Ministers of England of any King before him. A ten­der nurse, a most propitious Father of the Church. Hear his own words in the foresaid heavenly booke; Pag. 208. I am so much a friend to all Church-men that [Page 27]have any thing in them beseeming that sacred function, that I have hazarded mine own interest, chiefly upon con­science, and constancy to maintain their rights; whom the more I looked upon as Orphans, and under the sacrilegious eyes of many cruell and rapacious reformers: So I thought it my duty, the more to appear as a Father, and Patron of them and the Church. And again speaking of the harsh deniall of his Chaplains attendance, during his impri­soment, But my Agony must not be relieved with the pre­sence of one good Angel, for such I account a learned, godly and discreet Divine: and such I would have all mine to be: And again, As I owe to the Clergy the protection of a Christian King, I desire from them the benefit of their gifts and prayers; which I look upon as more prevalent then my own, or other mens; by how much they flow from minds more enlightned, and affections lesse distracted, then those which are encumbred with secular affaires: besides, I think a greater blessing and acceptableness attends these duties, which are performed as proper to, and within the limits of the calling, to which God and the Church have specially designed and consecrated some men. And lastly, Pag.214. I must confess I bear with more griefe and im­patience, the want of my Chaplaines, then of any other my Servants, and next (if not beyond in somethings) to the being sequestred from my wife and children; since from these indeed more of earthly and temporary affections, but from those more of heavenly and eternal improvements may be expected. What more cordiall expressions could come from a pious soul, of love and affection to that calling?

4. Iosiah was a great promoter, and furtherer of Gods publike and solemn worship, that it might be decently, and reverently performed; as appears by [Page 28]that most famous, and solemn Passeover which he kept in this Chapter; which was done by his command, and to which he contributed upon his own charge super abundantly thirty thousand Lambs and Kids, and three thousand great cattell, 2 Chron. 35.7.

So our Iosiah was a zealous furtherer of the publike and solemn worship of God, that it might be per­formed with all holy devotion, decency and reverence; not negligently, irreverently, rudly, and slovenly. And which is to be pitied, and with a fountain of tears to be lamented, this his pious zeal for Gods house, and worship, and Ministers, for the true Protestant Reli­gion, for the Church, and its Patrimony, and for the ancient and orderly Government, and Discipline ther­of, was the great crime that provoked the Sectaries to hasten his destruction.

5. Iosiah was a King unblameable in regard of any notorious personal crime; we find him not noted for any remarkeable personal evill, as most of the former Kings had been: fome are said to be good, and some bad; but the best of them had their naevus, their spots and blemishes; we read of Davids Adultery, and of Solomons Idolatry: but none was stamped upon Iosiah. The greatest blemish I can possible discover in him, was a little too much wilfulnesse, his rash, and unad­vised rushing into that fattall battell at Megiddon; for which the good man paid dear.

So our Iosiah was of unblameable life, more entire and free from any notorious personal crime, as sear­ing, drunkennesse, whoredom, or the like, then most of the Kings before him, no such like as these could be charged upon him: even his most bitterest enemies could not taxe him: had they espied any blemish, no [Page 29]doubt we should have heard it again and again.

6. Josiah was a Prince of a soft heart, and a tender con­science: Thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thy self before me, saith the Lord, 2 King. 22.19. So our Iosiah was of a soft heart and very tender conscience: how did his conscience check and trouble him when by restless impor­tunity he had yeelded compliance (for plenary consent it was not, as he said) to the Act for the Earle of Straffords death, which in his Iudgement and conscience he could not be satisfied, was just by any clear Law? he confesseth he did never bear any touch of conscience with greater regret. How did he mourn like a Dove, and complain of itin the bitterness of his soul? How meekly did he mention it with griefe, as the main thing troubling him at the time of his Martyrdom, acknowledging that the giving way to an unjust sentence, might besome cause that the Lord per­mitted such an unjust sentence to be executed upon him? What is it that made him so firm and constant to uphold the Church in her just and ancient Rights, Government, and Patrimony, but his tender Conscience? which as also his Oath perswaded him that Epistcopacy (with some smal regulations) was most Ancient, Universall, Divine, and Apostolical; and therefore could not yeeld to the ex­tirpation of that Government, and to the alienation of the Church-revenues, without wounding his conscience, with some stain of perjury, sacraledge and impiety. This ten­dernesse of conscience, and the immeasurable, and unmer­cifull pressing him against it, struck him to the heart, and stuck nearer to him then any thing else, as we find it at large in his wofull complaints uttered between God and his own soul in his Soliloquies.

This his tenderness of conscience was a clear evidence of a godly, gracious, and sanctified soul, wicked and ungene­rate men feel no such cheeks of conscience at sin: Though sin be an unspeakable burden, like a talent of lead, yet the [Page 30]weight of it doth not trouble them, so as to seek ease from the Lord. They complain not with David, My sin is ever be­fore me: and mine iniquities are gone over my head, and are like asore burden too heavy for me to bear.

The Philosophers observe that no Element is heavy in its own place; in the Sea, let a man be in the bottom of it, although he hath the whole Sea on his back, yet he feeles not the weight of it; but let him take but a bucket full out of the Sea, out of its place, and then he shall feel how heavy it is; So unregenerate, and gracelesse persons, though they have a huge weight of sin upon them, yet they feel it not; their consciences are not pressed nor trou­bled with it, because it is in its proper place. But the child of God is sensible of the least sin, even the appearance of e­vill: and trembles under the weight of it, because there it is out of his own place and proper Element. A soft heart, a tender conscience checking of sin, argues a divine impres­sion upon it, if the true fear of God, and of his dreadfull Majesty.

7. Iosiah was a King as devout to God, so devoted to his peoples good; good to his people, full of goodnesse to his people. In the verse following my text, there is mention of the acts of Josiah and his goodness; Now the rest of the Acts of Josiah, and his goodness or kindness, ver. 26. His Acts and his goodness or kindness are joyned together, because he did many Acts of goodness and kindness to his people; what an Act of bounty and kindnesse to his people was it, to be at that vast charge in the Passe over feast for their ease and benefit, before mentioned?

So our Iosiah did many good Acts in relation to his peo­ple. In the beginning of the long Parliament, he passed sundry Acts of grace and goodness, for the ease and com­fort of his people; as for taking away ship mony, for ta­king away all illegall taxes; for the taking down the Star-Chamber Court, and the high Commission Court, which [Page 31]were found to be oppressive to his people: for a trienniall Parliament, and other; enough to have made abundant and ample reparations for any former miscarriages of his Officers, and Ministers, had he been to deal with reasona­ble and moderate men: and more he would have done, and more he intended to do, yea more then could in reason be required, had his precious life been spared. But the gree­dy appetite of some could not be satisfied without inno­cent blood, royall blood, as the Jews would rest in nothing but our Saviours crucifige, crucifige, crucifie him, crucifie him, though they pull'd the horrid guilt of it upon them­selves, and upon their children.

Thus you have heard what a King, what a good King we had, and what a blessing in him. Now to have such a Io­siah taken from us, is it not a sad losse? and by a violent and bloody death, is it not a sad case? He was slain, not as Iosiah in my text by strangers of another Nation, and in the hear of battell; but murdered in cold blood, and that by some of his own Subjects, and Servants, who had sworn allegeance and fidelity to him, who had declared, promi­sed, professed, protested, vowed, covenanted to protect, preserve, and defend him, and to make him a glorious King: (O damnable Hypocrisie!) for these to murder him, and that not in private, as other Traytors have dealt with their Princes, but to do it openly with great pomp and artifice (as men solemnly wicked) and under pretence and shew of Justice (Oh hellish mockery of justice, added to cruelty and malice?) as it were in defiance of Heaven, in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the Sun; in opposition to all Laws, both of God and man; against the light of their own consciences. This was a sad, and a black fact. The Powder-plotters were a great deal more modest, they did their work under ground, and in darkness, as being asham­ed of it. But these played a game above board, in the open [Page 32]light, with an harlots face, without shame or blushing; so that all circumstances and aggravations considered that might be named, it was the most daring and horrid act of immanity and iniquity, that was ever perpetrated under the Sun, next to the crucifying of the Lord of Life; an act not to be equalized in any history, not only of Holy Writ, but also of prophane and heathen Authors.

For such a King to be thus murthered, is the faddest ground of mourning that ever the good people of this Na­tion had; therefore for this, O England, gird thee with sackcloth, lament and howl, Ier. 4.8. yea, wallow and rowl thy self in ashes, make thee mourning as for an only son, yea bitter lamentation, Ier. 6.26. and as it is Zach. 11.2. howl firre tree, for the Cedar is fallen: And let us everyone wish with the Prophet, O that mine head were full of water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, to weep day and night for the slain, the Ruler of the people, Ier. 9.1. or as it is, Ier. 14.17. Let mine eyes run down night and day, and let them not cease, for the Vir­gin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, and with a very grievous blow. O that blow, that very grievous blow, made the greatest breach upon the sons and daughters of Sion, upon all true children of this Church, that ever was made, to the piercing of their hearts, and wounding of their spirits, and bleeding of their very souls; therefore weep and mourn for this, let our hearts be filled with bitter grief, and our eyes with brinish tears.

And as for the loss of such a King, so much more let us mourn for that wonderful and horrid sin which was this day committed in the Land, the shedding of his innocent blood, a sin over passing the deeds of the wicked, a sin that no Nation, no people ever committed. Let us beseech 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, and cause him to poure out his fury upon [Page 33]us in blood. Let the blood of sprinkling, the blood of Christ speak better things then the blood of Abel. Abel's blood cryed for vengeance, and so may the blood of this righteous one, but the blood of Christ cryes for mercy. Holy Father, let that blood of thy dear Son out-cry the other, and bring down mercy upon the Land. O deliver us, and be merciful to us, in regard of that crying sin, for it was great; Lord lay not the guilt of that blood this day shed: upon the whole Nation, for thou hast many among us, who having neither hands not hearts defiled in it, did with abhorrency of soul detest and loath, and in much bitterness of spirit mourn for that odious fact. Thou who art the searcher of hearts, and knowest our thoughts, knowest this to be true.

Lay it home to their consciences who had a hand in it, and are yet living, that they may see the greatness of their sin, and be moved to great sorrow, and bitter repentance, and obtain pardon out of thy great and abundant mercies in Christ, that the innocency of thy blessed Martyr may be cleared, our Religion vindicated from the scandal, and out Nation cleared from the vengeance of that blood, and thy mercy glorified in the conversion of so great sinners.

And as for this horrid fact, so for all our other sins and provocations let us mourn, which helped forward this judgment, for our personal sins, and for our National sins, we have all contributed to that stock of sin which brought that stroak of divine vengeance upon the Land. Let us weep in the bitterness of out souls for the great and crying sins of the Land, our mourning, repining unthankfulness for for­mer mercies, our barrenness and unfruitfulness under the means of grace, our swearing and blasphemy, our excess and drunkenness, our hatred and uncharitableness, our irreligi­ousness and prophaneness, and all other our heinous sins which so highly provoked the Lords anger, to deliver up both us and our King into the hands of such merciless and blood-thirsty men: let us (I say) mourn for them in the [Page 34]bitterness our souls, and beseech the Father of heaven to pardon them all for the merits sake of his dear Son.

And as we mourn for our provoking sins, so let us turn from them, subdue and mortifie them, that so we turning from our evil wayes, and ceasing from sinning, the Lord may cease from punishing, and turn from his wrathful in­dignation, and restore to us his wonted blessings and favors, as (praised be his name) he hath in great mercy begun.

Our sins, our sins have been the cause of this judgment, and of all the judgments following it. O let us stir up our hearts with indignation against our sins; as the Jews took hold of Paul, crying men of Israel help, this is the man that teach­eth every where against the people; so should we lay hold on our sins, which are the greatest disturbers, and cry to the Lord for help against them: as we read of Marcus Antonius, when Iulius Caesar was murdered in the Senate house, and some sought to pacifie the business, he brought forth Caesars coat all bloody, rent and cut, and spread it before the peo­ple: Look here (sayes he) you have your Emperours coat thus bloody and torn; whereupon the people were present­ly in an uproar, and cryed out to slay the murderers. Thus looking upon this horrid bloody fact, and the other judge­ments crowding in upon us of late years, and considering that our sins have been the murderers, and authors of all these mischiefs, our hearts should be raised to fly upon our sins with indignation, and not be satisfied without the de­struction of them which have wrought so much distraction among us.

Vse 2. If the violent death of a good King be a ground of great mourning to all good people, see here what good peo­ple they are who mourn not, nor ever did mourn upon this account; what good people they are who plotted, contri­ved, abetted, assisted, and acted in that black and bloody work, the horrid murder of our dear Soveraign; what good [Page 35]people they were, who gloried in it, rejoyced in it, and justified it being done, as I my self heard one say, that the taking off of the head of that blessed King, was the greatest and worthiest piece of Justice that ever was. We know who they were, and of what principles they were, whose hands were dipt in that blood, and whose fingers were defiled with the iniquity. The Sectarian party, Anabaptists, Quakers, Independents, fifth Monarchists of a new stamp, were the sticklers in that detestable, black business, and the approvers, ap­plauders of it▪ Judge wha they are. They have indeed of late usur­ped to themselves the name of Saints, good people, the well af­fected of the Nation, pious, precious men, the holy, the godly men, the holy, the godly party, as if all other were reprobates to them, Whether they be such or no, let their workes speak and let the world judge, and the Lord himself shall judge. If murder, aea­son, homicide, parricide, regicide, hypocrisie, perjury, immrni­ty, cruelty be piety, then let them be Saints, Solomon saith; That the mercies (not of the Saints, but) of the wicked are cruel, from such Saints, and from their mercies, good Lord deliver us.

Vse 3. See what cause we have to bless God for the late blessed and healing Parliament, which hath endeavoured to avert Gods wrath, and to acquit the Land of that innocent blood, by disa­vowing the deed, and by Justice upon the Traytors and murder­ers, and to vindicate our Nation and Religion from that shame and reproach which the adversaries cast upon both (though unjustly) for that horrid fact; whereas neither our Nation nor Religion li­ked or allowed it, but loathed abhorred and detested it, it was de­vised, hatched and perpetrated, by a Sectarian Anabaptistical fana­tick party, who (as the Act saith) were as far from being true Pro­testants, as from being true subjects: all true Protestants did abo­minate it, and in bitterness of soul mourned in secret for it. And blessed also may they be for enacting this Law and Ordinance in our Israel, for an anniversary fasting and humiliation in relation to it (a thing my soul desired) that so we may have liberty and oppor­tunity to express our detestation of it, and lamentation for it in publick.

Vse 4. See what cause we have to pour forth our humble prayers, and most hearty supplications to the most high, for his mercifull and powerful protection and preservation of our most gracious Soveraign that now is, (such a son of such a father) that this land may never have the like cause of mourning, that he may be a second [Page 36] Josiah (only any such tragick act or end excepted, which the good Lord avert) for the glory of God, and for the joy and comfort of this Church and Nation.

That as he hath even miraculously kept him from the peril of the sword, and rescued him from the midst of his furious enemies, brought him back to his people, and restored him (with little less then a miracle) to his just rights, and placed him on his Fathers Throne; so he will vouchsafe to be his defence and strong Tower, to hide him under the shadow of his wings, until uniquity be over­past. That his sacred person may never come under the power, or be at the mercy of such Saints, or rather Satanists, whom nothing could suffice but the blood of a righteous King, the Lords anoint­ed; and (as we have just cause to fear) who being levened with such sowre principles, thirst no less after his.

Lord therefore disappoint their plots, and confound them in their wicked devices. Let all that rise up against him be like Sisera and Iabin, who perished at Endor, and became as the dung of the earth: make them and their Princes like Oreb and Zeb, yea, make all their leaders like as Zeba and Salmunah: O our God, make them like a wheel, and as the stubble before the wind, persecute them even so with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storms, make their faces ashamed, let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a cloak: let their mischief come upon their own heads, and their cruelty fall on their own pates, so shall the King rejoyce in thy strength, exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation, for why the King putteth his trust in the Lord, and in thy mercy. O thou most high let him not miscarry, so we thy peo­ple, and sheep of thy pasture, shall give thee thanks for ever, and will be shewing forth thy praise from one generation to another: so shall thy name be glorified, thy son magnified, thy truth defend­ed, thy Gospel propagated, our breaches repaired, thy poor Church comforted, which we humbly beseech thee to grant, O Fa­ther of mercies, for his sake who is the Son of thy love, and our only Saviour, Jesus Christ the righteous, to whom with thee and the blessed Spirit of Grace and Truth, one Almighty and ever-li­ving God, be all honour, praise, and glory, adoration and obe­dience, now and for ever, Amen.