TIS want of sorrow, that is the greatest cause of sorrow: Want of godly sorrow to com­punction, that is the cause of wofull sorrow to confusion; Dives being in Torments hath not his memento given him for nothing, Luke 16. 25. Son, remember that thou in thy life time, &c. for Eterni­tie and Time are as different in their condition as in their continuance: Heavinesse must endure for the night of this life, that joy may come in the morning of Eternitie (Psal. 30. 5.) (such a Morning as never drawes to an Evening, and cannot bee overshadowed with night:) Joy and gladnesse may be a vanitie at all times, but 'tis also an impietie at such a time, when God calls to weeping and to mourning; And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning, Isa. 22. v. 12. And behold joy and gladnesse, [Page 2] v. 13. but what followes? next, Surely this iniquitie shall not be purged from you, till ye die, saith the Lord God of Hosts. At such a time Joy is not onely a great Vanitie, but also a great iniquitie, a very great ini­quitie, For this iniquitie shall not be purged from you, till ye die saith the Lord God of Hosts: 'Tis not an Host of men may forbid it, when the Lord of Hosts calls for it: Judah and Jerusalem would not be guil­ty of this iniquitie; The Prophet Jeremie durst not be guilty of it: For when God called unto mourning for the Untimely Death (so untimely, that time it selfe could wish to be untimed in that part of its suc­cession) the untimely death of their King Josiah, their Religious, their Devout, their unparalelled King Jo­siah, the Text saith, All Judah and Jerusalem mour­ned, and Jeremiah mourned, and the Singing men and singing women mourned, and left a Pattern of mour­ning to all Ages and all Sexes, and all conditions, and made them an Ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Tears are the best comment upon the Text, and they cannot be brought into method; for sorrow is an ill Courtier, and me­thod is but the Courtship of Learning; The eye that waters is not so quick-sighted, as to spie out elegan­cies: And where the Heart is full, the Hand cannot hold, till the eye hath done watering. But saith Ju­dah as he goes along mourning, for he mourns till this day, saith the Text (and wee may trace him by his teares) when I look upon the Parallel of the place, Zach. 12. 11. I am directed to mourn with one eye for my King, with the other for my Saviour; and indeed he saith true, for in this dismall Tragedie of Josiah, there was very much of Christ, both for the Innocen­cie of the sufferer, and for the manner of his suffering. [Page 3] The Archers that shot Josiah knew him not to bee King of Judah; And the Jewes that crucified Christ knew him not to be their King; denying Pilats que­stion in stead of answering it, John 19. 15. Shall I cru­cifie your King? for they said, We have no King but Cae­sar, Professing that if hee were their King (in their own knowledge,) they would never crucifie Him: O Generation of Christians, worse then Jewes.

Josiah kept a most solemn Passeover, and after it was made the Paschal Lamb; So Christ : But with this Dif­ference; Christ for expiation and Diminution: Josiah for denuntiation and increase of Vengeance; Bothin­nocencies suffer upon Golgotha; in Christ to quicken the skulls, in Josiah to increase them : God permitted Christ to be slain, that he might reconcile Israel; But Josiah, that he might reject & remove it out of his sight, 2 Kings 23. 27. Josiah had not fought against Necho, if God had not fought against Judah; He stood like Aa­ron betwixt the Dead and the living; and God put him aside, being resolved to destroy all by Death; whiles Josiah lived, Judah could not die, and now Josiah is Dead, Judah may not hope (and scarce desire) to live. This is the Reason of the sad Dity in the mouths of all the singing men and the singing women, who seem to groan and sigh out rather than sing this heavy Lamentation; Ah thou bloudie Egyptian Tyrant, Hadst thou brought all the plagues of Egypt with thee, and left those Archers behind that shot Josiah, well thou mightest have grinded Judah and Jerusalem into Powder, but thou couldest never have dissolved it in­to Tears: And now, O yee singing men, and yee singing women, forget all the songs of Sion, as if yee were al­ready in Babylon, (for it will not be long before you will be carried away captive thither,) Let all your [Page 4] mirth be turned into mourning; your Josiah is fallen, and your Hopes and Hearts are fallen with him, your voyces must fall too. Yet a deeper note of sorrow, your singing must be turned into groaning, that your waylings may be as sad as are your spirits; sigh out your last groanings, and when you have thus quite mourned away your voyces, then mourn out your eyes; Let not the Crocodiles of Egypt, outvie the men of Judah; They weep over their slain traveller before they devoure him, having mercy in their eyes to check the want of it in their jawes: why should we that have, or ought to have so much mercy in our Hearts, have none at all in our eyes? If this Josiah and his goodnesses, (2 Chron. 35. 26.) (A magazine of all that's good, in all other good men, layed up in one Josiah) move you not, yet the other Josiah in Zacharie must needs move you; If not his kindnesses, yet your own unkindnesses must needs excite you; And were your hearts as Rocks, yet struck with Moses his Rod (the terrours of Gods wrath against sinners, which your Josiah did undergoe in your stead) there must needs issue forth Rivers of waters: If you can exceed in sor­row for Josiah, because he was taken away from the evill to come, yet you cannot for your own sinnes by which he was taken away: I am brought into so great trouble and miserie (saith the tender-hearted King, Psa. 38. 6.) that I go mourning all the day long: Hee for my sinnes, and not I much rather for mine own? Sorrow is certainly most agreeable with a godly heart, or the man after Gods own heart could not have spoken thus, much lesse in the Person of the Sonne of God; not is the Precept and practise thereof meerly legall, for those onely that were under the curse of the Law; but also Evangelicall, for those that are under [Page 5] the Crosse of Christ, and the blessings of the Gospel, James 4. 8, 9. They that are sinners must be afflicted, and mourn and weep▪ though they are bound to be­lieve the Remission of sins; (And they must be sin­ners here in their own, who hope to be Saints hereaf­ter in Gods account :) Let us then joyn our selves to this sad Quire of mourners, the season calls for it; Lent was antiently a time of mourning; The occasi­on calls for it, our Josiah is slain, and wee have yet, a twofold lowder call, that of our own sinnes and of Gods judgements, both which cry aloud for the most bitter kinds of Lamentation : If not for our interest in the life of our King, yet for our sin in his Death, we must heartily lamenr, and that we may so do, wee must ever hereafter speak of Iosiah in all our Lamen­tations; [They spake of Iosiah in their Lamentations to this day.]

Sorrow is very unwilling to lift up either Head or Eye, and therefore though we have heard some of the mournings of Iudah, yet we have not looked so much about us, as to see either the occasion of the mourning, or the condition of it: The Text directs us immedi­ately unto both.

First, The occasion of this bitter mourning, it was the untimely death of Josiah, untimely to all but to himselfe : They mourned for Iosiah.

2. The condition of it in the train of the Mourners; All Judah and Jerusalem mourned, and Jeremiah la­mented, and all the singing men, &c.

First the occasion of this bitter mourning, the un­timely death of Iosiah, lamentable in it selfe slain by Egyptians, in a full age and ripenesse of years to go­vern both himselfe and Iudah, 2 Kings 22. 1. But more lamentable in its circumstances, for hee had newly [Page 6] made a Religious Real, not a specious Phantasticall league and covenant with God, 2 Chron. 34. 31. A Co­venant that bound him to change his heart, not his Re­ligion; and to keep the cōmandements which God had given, not to give a new Commandement in the name of God: He had taken away all the abominations of Is­rael, (34. 33.) Kept a most solemne Passeover (35. 18.) and both, with so great a Humiliation and Devotion, as might have exempted a most wicked Ahab from a judgement already denounced against him, not onely in his own (as 1 Kin. 21. 29.) but also in his sons daies.

Yet after all this, comes his untimely Death, as it is said, 2 Chro. 35. 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepa­red the Temple, Necho King of Egypt came up, &c. Af­ter all this, when Iosiah had prepared the Temple, then himselfe was made the Sacrifice; So that this one oc­casion affords in truth many causes of their mourning, which are all reducible to these two Heads, Their Af­fection, and their Apprehension; their Affection, for what had befallen Iosiah; and their Apprehension, for what was like to befall them.

1. There Affection for what had befallen Iosiah: So the Prophet Ieremy begins his Lamentations, How is the City become a widow? Amisso Rege optimo, qui Regni quasi meritus est, & popularium quasi Pater, saith Tre­melius, a very good Protestant, but in this a far better Christian; Ierusalem was a widow having lost her Husband, and an Orphan having lost her Father, in the death of one Iosiah; And so comes both with the Affe­ction of a widow to mourn for her husband, and with the affection of a child to mourn for her Father. If Ra­chel mourned so affectionately for her children, much more for her Husband, Ierem. 31. 15. Do but change the persons, and you may see how Ierusalem mourned [Page 7] for Iosiah; A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, not Rachel weeping for her chil­dren, but Ierusalem weeping for her Husband, refuseth to be comforted for her Husband, because hee is not: If Ieremy could lament so exceedingly for the slain of the Daughter, then how much more for the slaying of the Father of his People? Doe but so change his words, and you have a short view how Ieremiah lamen­ted for Iosiah, as he went along with the mourners, Ier. 9. 1. O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a foun­taine of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the Daughters, but much more, for the slain of the Father of my people.

Thus the greatest natural and personal affection that could be to their Josiah, as a Father, as a Husband, is the cause of this great Lamentation, and yet greater is the affection they shew to themselves: For they did indeed in Josiahs death, mourn and lament their owne Funeralls: their affection to him was capable of some comfort, but their affection to themselves was capable of none; They knew that nothing but good had be­fallen Josiah, for hee was gathered to his Fathers in peace, (as Huldah had prophesied, 2 Chron. 34. 28.) But they knew that nothing but evill could befall them­selves, for whose sinnes he was so soon gathered to his Fathers: So that for their affection to him, they could comfort themselves with these two documents; First, That God will not have his faithfull servants rely up­on a temporall reward for their service, but calleth them to the contemplation and fruition of Eternitie, and yet is no debter in not paying their wages here in this world, 2 Cor. 4. 17. Secondly, That an untimely and unmercifull Death, is sometimes given in favour, not in judgement, to Righteous and mercifull men, [Page 8] even to take them away from the evill to come, Isa. 57. 1. As it was prophesied of this same Josiah, that he should be gathered to his fathers in peace, 2 Chron. 34. 28. which was without doubt fulfilled though hee was afterwards slain in Battell, which hath the most cruell, and the most dreadfull visage of War; so that their inference savours of ill Logick, but of worse di­vinity, who upon those words, Behold how he loved him, John 11. 36. Presently replyed, v. 37. Could he not have caused that this man should not have died? as if that had been the greatest testimonie of his love : For because God loved Iosiah, he suffered him to die. Thus their affection towards Iosiah, might receive comfort from these two Documents, which most of all distracts and disturbs their apprehension, when they reflect upon themselves; For both these considerations speak aloud to them this dreadfull truth, That the untimely death of their good King Josiah, was not a Judgement upon the King, but upon the People, not upon him, but up­on Judah and Jerusalem; and that's the second cause of their great lamentation, their dreadfull apprehension for what was like to befall them : Judah and Jerusalem mourned for themselves in mourning for Josiah; And the Prophet Jeremie shews them as much, who though he writ his Lamentations upon this sad occasion, the Death of Josiah, (as Jarchi expounds these words of my Text, Behold they are written in the Lamentations, [...] saith he, that is, In the Book of La­mentations, yet he begins his complaint with the mise­rable estate, not of Josiah, but of Jerusalem; How doth the Citie fit solitarie that was full of people? None of all the Prophets seem so framed for, and composed to Lamentations as Jeremiah; he had a Heart to conceive it, a Hand to endite it, and a Tongue to expresse it; [Page 9] Surely because he writ much about the time of Josiahs death, which was the Inlet of all Judahs miserie: For immediatly after that, Judah was captivated under sin, and that brought in the captivity under Babylon, whiles Josiah lived, he made Judah and Ierusalem serve God so devoutly, that Non fuit simile huic in Israel, was the Eulogie of their Passeover, 2 Chron. 35. 18. And no sooner is he dead, bus 'tis said of them, They walked after the imagination of their own heart, (a most secret, but a most sottish kind of Idolatry,) And after Baa­lim, which their fathers taught them, Jer. 9. 14. (for in all probability this Chapter was not penned till after Iosiahs death.) This is the reason Ieremiah Prophesies so mournfully, (a fit Prophet for those calamitous times, both for the Disposition in himself, and for his Invitation of others to sorrow and contrition) inso­much that a great part of his Prophesie is but a meer Lamentation, especially the former part of it, which was neerest the time of Iosiah, (for after the 21. chap­ter, all his Prophesie is in the dayes of Iehoiakim and Zedechiah) wherein he somewhat exceeds the sorrow of his own spirit, writing not onely more dolefully then any other Prophet, but also more dolefully then all the other parts of his own Prophecie, I will give you but one instance for all, and that is, cap. 4. v. 19. My bowells, my bowells, I am pained at the very heart: 'Tis in the Hebrew, [...]. I am pained as a woman in travaile, at the walls or bulwarks of my heart, that which most struggles to keep life, hath the stroke of death upon it: The sorrows of a woman in her travail are almost insupportable; But a wounded spirit who can beare? Prov. 18. 14. The pain of the heart is for greater then the pain of the bowells, but lest wee should think, he was not in the greatest extremitie of [Page 10] pain, he joyns them both together, saying [...] I am so pained at the heart, as if I were in child-birth, such was his griefe for Iosiah's death, a pain that both rends the bowells and breaks the heart, and batters down the very walls and bulwarks of life. And what's the reason of all this great pain? He tells us in the next verse, Destruction upon destruction is cryed, for the whole land is spoyled, which could not be while Iosiah lived, and therefore in these and such like sad expressi­ons, he did Prophetically foretell, if not Historically bemoan Iosiah's death, or rather indeed bemoan Ieru­salem, not but that his affection was most dutifull to Iosiah, but because his apprehension was more dread­full for Jerusalem: For he saw that Iosiah was taken to the Reward of mercy for his great zeale to God and Religion, but Jerusalem was left exposed to Judge­ment, for her multiplied Abominations and Impie­ties; And to the most heavy judgements of this world, Fire and Sword, and Bondage, and to the most heavie bondage that could be to them, a Bondage under the Egyptians. A Bondage, which their Fathers before had groaned so long under, and which they could not at that time but tremble to think upon, for Josiahs Passeovers, (according to the Law, Exod. 12. 26, 27.) could not but fill their eares with the narration, and their hearts with the horrour of it; It was the Bon­dage of Egypt, which those children could not but ex­pect mercilesse, whose Fathers had been formerly the spoylers and destroyers of the Egyptians: Let us a lit­tle view this new Bondage, that it may appeare their feares were not greater then their dangers, though they were greater then their hopes, for now Egypt had learned to act beyond it selfe in the practise of cruel­ty: Before, it was contented to take the tribute of their [Page 11] hands in work, or of their backs for not working, by the Brick-task-masters; But now besides these, it hath found out money task-masters to demand Tribute of their purses : The former Tyrants had made them slaves, but this Necho makes them pay for their slavery; nay, he made not onely their Purses Tributary, but also their Patience, whiles they were forced to see Jehoaaz, whom they had declared King in his Fathers stead, deposed by this Tyrant, and themselves puni­shed for their Alleageance towards Josiah, their beloved Jo­siah and his seed, in an hundred talents of Silver, and one ta­lent of Gold (2 Chro. 36. 3.) For it is more then probable that Necho condemned the Land in that mulct or punish­ment for presuming to be true and faithfull to the Succes­sion of the Crown without his leave : And yet there is a worse Bondage then this, the bondage of their Religion; be­gun by the Egyptians, and compleated after by the Babylo­nians. This bondage of their Religion was now begun by the Egyptians, for Necho made Eliakim change his name to Je­hoiakim, (2 Chron. 36. 4.) before he would admit him to bee King, as if he should renounce or forget his Circumcision, wherein his name was first given him, or lose his Kingdoms. And this same Bondage was compleated by the Babyloni­ans, who carried away all the Treasures of the house of the Lord, and cut in pieces all the Vessels of gold, which Solomon King of Israel had made in the Temple of the Lord; Thus were they forced to see the abomination of Desolation stan­ding in the Holy place, which carried the Desolation fur­ther then the Temple, even to their souls that saw it, whiles they were compelled to look on prophannesse in stead of Re­ligion, and see their Temple and worship both made havock of by uncircumcised Babylonians, they not in the least de­gree able to help either themselves or their Temple.

All the Book of God sets not down so sad an History of a King destroyed for his People, as this of Josiah; And there­fore [Page 10] [...] [Page 11] [...] [Page 12] no wonder if we find not any where else so sad a lamen­tation: they had kept a solemn Passeover before, but now they were forced to keep a dismall Passeover, when their in­nocent Josiah was made the Paschal Lamb, and their first born not saved, but destroyed by the sprinkling of his blood. We have but one example that comes neer this, and that is of our Saviour Christ; And he bids the women of Jerusa­lem lament not for him, but for themselves, and for their children, Luk. 23. 27. for though his death did satisfie the e­ternall wrath of God against other sinners, yet did it open the floudgates, to let in his temporall wrath upon them that crucified him by a whole deluge of Bloud. But behold in this of Josiah is somewhat a more dismal Passeover: For in the Passeover of Christ, as it was typicall in the Lamb, none but Egyptians, as it was reall in himselfe, none but Divels were smitten; But in this of Josiah, all Israel, nay the best of all Israel, Judah and Jerusalem, nay the best of Jerusalem, the Temple of God, nay the best of the Temple, the Altar, the worship of God was smitten.

All the Plagues that Israel had formerly occasioned unto Egypt, were now more then aboundantly repayed back again to them by the Egyptians, in taking away their Josiah, who stood alone betwixt them and the finall wrath of God; From henceforth Jerusalem may expect, to be made a Cup of trem­bling unto others (Zach. 12. 2.) and much more unto her selfe : And the Inhabitants of Judah may take up that sad complaint of the Psalmist, Psal. 60. 3. Thou hast given us a drink of deadly wine, Potasti nos Vino, [...] Tremoris, quod bibens homo contramiscit & moritur; Thou hast given us not onely a drink of deadly poyson, [...] as saith Jarchie, that contracts and shuts up the Heart, but also a drink of Palsie-poyson, that first brings a shaking, then death upon him that drinks it; Jerusalem had such a Cup of Trembling at Josiah's death; she could not but fear and tremble to think, [Page 13] that since her sins were now so great as to make God snatch away her Josiah, that he might recall the blessings of Peace and Truth, which he had given, they would not in hast be so little as to suffer him to renew again such blessed gifts.

This was the occasion of this great mourning, and the con­dition is answerable to the occasion, which is my second ge­nerall part, The condition of this mourning in the train of Mourners, And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned, and Jere­miah lamented, and all the singing men, and the singing women spake of Josiah in their Lamentations, &c.

The condition of this mourning is such, as never was be­fore nor after it; all the imaginable degrees of sorrow are to be found in it; Gradus extensionis, Gradus intensionis, Gradus Protensionis; The greatest sorrow that ever was in Judah for its universality, for its vehemencie, for its continuance; 1. Gradus extensionis, The greatest sorrow that ever was for its Universality: For tis Omnes & singuli, all Judah and Jeru­salem in general, Then Jeremiah and the singing men & sing­ing women in particular▪ in their severall consorts and com­panies, nay in their severall Families, saith Zach. 12. 12, 13. And the land shall mourn every family apart, the family of the house of David apart, [for the great losse that is befallen the house of David.] And the family of the house of Levi apart, [for the great losse that is befallen to the house of God] Every family apart [for their great losse, in the losses of the house of David, and the house of God.] If true griefe of heart could endure to be Ceremonious, it would here easily find an employment for a Litania major; and busie another Gregory (for here is a Mauritius too slaughtered by the Cap­tain of his Armies) to order this sad Procession, wherein all the Families of Iudah and Ierusalem apart, do bewaile and lament the losse of their dearest Lord, the onely joy of their hearts whiles he lived; and now dead, the greatest griefe of them : But I can take notice onely of their Passion, which [Page 14] makes them cry out with great earnestnesse, but greater sor­row, in this dreadfull Quaking of men, as those of Constanti­nople sometimes did in that dreadfull quaking of the Earth, [...], Sanctus Deus, Sanctus Fortis, Sanctus Immortalis miserere nostri, Holy O God, Holy O mightie, Holy ô Immortal have mercy upon us; have mercy upon us that are living, who hast already mag­nified thy mercy towards the dead, in taking him away by death, from the insupportable miseries of this wretched life.

But why is there no mention of Israel in this Universall sorrow of all Judahs and Jerusalems mourning for Josiah? I answer, they were not so happy (though this happinesse was the greatest of miseries) they were not so happy as to have any share in this losse, and therefore not in this Lamentati­on; this sorrow had too much of God for the Israelites to be partners in it, who had so little of God left in them :) Nay, who had so desperately fallen away from him; which Apo­stasie of theirs is remarkably set forth by one of their own writers, R. David Kimchi upon Hos. 3. v. 4, 5. The words of the Prophet are these, Verse 4. For the children of Israel shall abide many daies without a King, and without a Prince, and without a Sacrifice, and without an Ephod, and Teraphim, Verse 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes. The fourth verse sets down Israels captivity for their sin; The fift verse, their Restauration for their Repentance : And Kimchie upon those words gives us this glosse, The children of Israel (saith he) did in the daies of Rehoboam, reject or forsake three things, [...] They did reject the kingdome of Heaven in forsaking God; [...] And the Kingdom of the house of David, in forsaking Rehoboam; [...] And the house of the Sanctuary or temple of Jerusalem, in setting up Calves at Bethel; And in these three consisted their cap­tivity. [Page 15] Therefore in the fift verse where is promised their Restauration, the Prophet saith, they shall return again to all these; They shall seek the Lord their God, there is promi­sed their return to the Kingdome of Heaven; And David their King, there's promised their return to the house of Da­vid; And shall fear the Lord and his goodnesse, [...] & Bonum ejus, [...] saith Kimchie, that is, His San­ctuary: There's promised their return to the house of God; In their defection from these was their Apostasie, in their Apostasie, was their miserie and captivitie; Before their Revolt in King Davids time, it was, O Israel trust in the Lord, and, he shall redeem Israel from all his sinnes, Psal. 130. But after Jeroboams Rebellion and Revolt from the house of David, we find that Israel had not one good King in many successions of Ages, and that it had very little share in the true worship of God, and as little in his blessing.

Secondly, Gradus intensionis, The greatest sorrow that ever was in Judah for its Vehemencie; mourning, lament­ing, speaking, ordaining, writing not words enough to ex­presse this Lamentation, Therefore is that for the death of Christ compared to it, and expressed by it, Zach. 12. 11. To shew, that not words, but onely tears can speak it: Those silent orators make least noise, but greatest moan: Christ answers the tears of the weeping Woman, when he would not answer the words of the insolent Judge; I hope he will so answer us, and in mercie look back upon us, (as he did upon them, Luk. 23. 28.) Bewayling and lamenting our sins, that brought death both upon him, and upon our Josiah; we have no other Balme to afford him at his Buriall, but what grows in our heads, and drops from our eyes: Joseph is acquitted from consenting to the counsell of them that kil­led Christ, by providing a Tomb to bury him, Luk. 23. 51. Let us acquit our selves too, by providing tears to embalm him: And notwithstanding the outcry of the people in their [Page 16] generall Petition for Justice against the Lords anointed, for Christ is so both to Heaven and Earth, as against one that had injured God and Caesar, the Text seems to speak favourably of them who smote their breasts and returned, Luk. 23. 48. for such did certainly either shew their inno­cencie, or wish themselves innocent: Let us earnestly fol­low after such an innocencie, which what it wants in Righ­teousnesse, hath in Repentance; Necho himself though he opened that dismal Urine of Bloud, yet cared not to stop this milder Vein of water; Hee had filled their hearts too full, to denie them to fill their eyes: And that man would professe himself worse then an Egyptian Tyrant who should goe about to forbid such mourning for a dead King, as testifies sorrow for the sinne that killed Him; for that were all one as to forbid Repentance, and to encourage an impenitent course of sinning No Conquerour may expect to exercise his conquest over the affections, And least of all should he desire to exercise it over that of sorrow, because that most plainly, though unwillingly acknowledgeth his Conquest: But if Necho should have desired this, he would have desired it in vain; for none can take away tears from the eyes, but he that made them to be there; It was an easi­er taske for him to gain a conquest over the mens hands, then over womens eyes : nay in this respect, hee had made the most couragious and stout-hearted men of Judah, to become women; that whom by their Swords they could not pre­serve from falling, him being fallen they might bewaile with their tears; thinking it more honourable to pay the tribute of women to their dead King, then the tribute of men to a living Tyrant: And yet indeed those teares were not so much the expresions of duty to their dead Lord, as of Piety to their living God; Teares of Repentance and re­morse of conscience; The man of Judah highly disdaining to become tributary to Egypt, before they had been tributary [Page 17] to Heaven, and therefore they first pay God tribute of their teares, then Pharaoh of their money; first God the tribute of their soules by a hearty sorrow, then Necho the tribute of their bodies by a constrained Captivity.

Thirdly, Gradus Protentionis, The greatest sorrow that ever was in Judah, for its continuance: For, To this day, saith the Text, and an Ordinance in Israel, and written in the Lamentations. Till this day, id est, till Ezra's time, after the Captivity of Babylon; nay indeed, till our time, till all time, if not in the sorrow it selfe (which is too too certain) yet in the Records of it, The Booke of the Lamentations. 'Twas happily a practise for some few, but sure 'twas a Patterne for all Ages; An Ordinance in Israel, for in all publick la­mentations ever after [...] saith Jarchie▪ They took an occasion to rub up this sore, to make mention of this bitter weeping. It seems they had a Remembrance of this in all their great mournings, as they had of worship­ping Aarons Calfe in all their great Repentances. And as in all their Epidemical miseries and calamities after their Idolatrie, they supposed they saw a Dramme of Aarons Calfe, which made them still bewaile that sinne; So in all the bloudshed that ever after came upon Jerusalem, they might well suppose they did behold some one drop of Jo­siahs Bloud, and that made them multiply those tears, which though they could not wipe away their guilt, yet could weep out their sorrow.

O God put thy Jerusalems tears into thine own bottle, who diddest first put them into her eyes; Let thy hand wipe them away from thence, because thy Spirit first put them there; And lest (passing through so muddie a channel of sinfull earth) they should defile thy Hand to touch them, Wash we beseech thee both our Bodies and Soules in the [Page 18] Bloud of thy Sonne, that though we mourne for a season in this life, yet we may be everlastingly comforted in the life to come, even in the blessed Vision and fruition of God the Father, the Sonne, and the holy Gost, world without end, Amen.