Imprimatur,  
Guil. Needham, R. R. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. à Sacr. Domest. Ex Aed. Lamb. Febr. 21. 1688.   

A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church OF St. Peter in York, January 30th 1688/9. AND Published at the request of the Auditors.  
By WILLIAM STAINFORTH, Residentiary Canon of York.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kettilby, at the Bishop's-head in St. Paul's Churchyard, and Francis Hildyard, Bookseller in York, 1689.   
II. CHRON. 35. 24. — And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 
MOURNING supposeth Grief, as being the proper effect and natural indication of it; for though Grief is a secret and hidden passion, and inwardly seated in the Mind, yet, as all other passions, when they are suffered to swell and grow up to any considerable degree of strength, it affects our Bodies in such a sensible manner, as renders it apparent and manifest to all, who look upon us: For the Soul and the Body are so closely united together, and have such a dependency and influence on each other, that their interests are inseparable, and they mutually partake in each others impressions; so that whatever affects the Mind in a troublesome manner, and sits heavy upon it, the Body falls under the weight, and shares in the pressure and uneasiness of the burden; for the grief of the mind contracts and oppresseth the Heart, it checks the motion of the Blood, retards and slackens its Circulations; it damps and clogs the vital Spirits, relaxeth the Nerves, and enfeebleth the Animal faculties, and prejudices and weakens them in their necessary operations. And from hence proceed those sad Looks and dejected Countenances, those deep Sighs and heavy Groans, those loud Complaints and effusion of Tears, which are properly called Mourning, and which are so discernible in all persons, who are oppressed and afflicted with any considerable degree of Grief and Trouble of mind.  
So that Mourning signifying all the outward signs and sensible expressions of Grief, it must suppose Grief, if it is not counterfeit and dissembled, as the inward and necessary cause of it.  
And as Mourning supposeth Grief, so Grief in some measure or other is the natural and common portion of all mankind. Our state and condition in this world does necessarily subject us unto it, and we can no more resist the impressions than we can prevent the cause 
Job 5. 7.  of it. Job tells us, That man is born to trouble as the sparks sly upwards. By which he means, that our Nature does as necessarily expose us to sufferings and grief, as the nature of sparks does determine their motion upwards. We came into the world with Tears in our Eyes, and we no sooner breathe out we cry; and those Infant-Tears and Ories are Ominous and Prophetic of our future succeeding condition, and sadly presage, that our continuance in the world will be like our entrance into it, and that we shall never want, in some respect or other, cause of Grief and matter of Complaint. And indeed whoever considers the frailty of our Nature, and the passiveness of our Tempers, the instability of humane Affairs, and the uncertainty of all earthly Comforts, will find the evidence of this great Truth too bright and convincing to suffer a contradiction. But alas! I need not discourse on the Reason and Philosophy of it to gain your assent to it, every man's personal experience is a sufficient argument for this purpose, and there is no necessity of appealing to any thing but that for a demonstrative proof and full conviction of it: For what man is there upon Earth, who has not his infelicities as well as his sins, his misfortunes as well as his guilts to wound and afflict his Soul? What man is there whose Sun is always so bright and shining as never to be overcast and clouded? whose days are always so calm and serene as never to be ruffled and discomposed with any rude storms and boisterous tempests? Alas! what man is there but frequently suffers in his private and personal interests, as he stands considered by himself, and without relation to the public Community, of which he is a member? Thus how often do we suffer in our Health, in our Reputations, in our Estates, in our Friends and Relations? How often are we crossed in our desires, and disappointed in our hopes, and frustrated in our designs, and deprived of our choicest, and most valuable earthly Comforts? But when an affliction becomes National and is as public and extensive as the whole Kingdom, than every man must be a sufferer on that account, and partake of the common Calamity, because every man makes a part of the Nation, on which it is laid. And have not Kingdoms and public Societies of men, considered as such, Afflictions and Distresses as well as private Persons? Are not those equally with these obnoxious to Calamities, and liable to Losses? And is not the death of good King such a public loss, such a common Calamity? And can such a loss, such a Calamity happen, and not be regarded and considered? Or can it be considered and reflected on, and not be resented with a quick and passionate Grief, with a Grief as universal as the Loss, and with a Mourning loudly indicative, and emphatically expressive of that Grief? This is impossible to humane Nature, except where it is so far hardened by Folly, or corrupted by Vice, as to become insensible of its most tender and concerning Interests: For it's as natural to grieve for any Good which we lose, as it is to rejoice in the use and possession of it, and our Joy and our Grief are in both cases proportionable to the nature and importance of it. And as no earthly Good is of greater advantage to us than a good King, because nothing is of such public and universal influence to the whole Nation, so the Loss of such a King cannot but be lamented and bewailed by all thinking and considering People, with all the signs and expressions of an hearty Grief and affectionate Sorrow. And so the whole Jewish Nation did, when good Josiah died, for my Text tells us, That all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.  
In the discoursing on these words, I will,  
1. Consider the general Reason which induceth a People or Nation in common to grieve and mourn for the death of a good King.  
2. Consider how much the Jewish Nation were concerned in this general Reason to grieve and mourn for the death of Josiah.  
3. Consider what particular and additional Reason they had, besides the general one, to grieve and mourn for his death.  
4. Consider our own case in relation to the sad occasion of this day's Assembly, and show you, that though the Jews had great and extraordinary reason to mourn for Josiah, yet these Nations had not only as much but more reason, nay, still have more reason to mourn and lament the death of our late Dread Sovereign King CHARLES I. of ever Blessed Memory.  
1. I will consider the general Reason which induceth a People or Nation in common to grieve and mourn for the death of a good King. Now all Grief supposeth the Loss of something which we esteemed and valued, and which some way or other contributed to our delight or our advantage: For Grief is a trouble and perturbation of Mind, which is raised and effected in us through the sense and experience of such a loss; and therefore when we grieve and mourn for the death of any Person, our Grief speaks the interest we had in his Life, and the sufferings we feel by his Death. And as the very Make and Principles of humane Nature, by a strong and powerful Bias, incline us to love and esteem those who oblige us by their favours and kindnesses, who are useful and beneficial to us, who are the happy instruments of the ease and comfort of our lives; so the same Nature as strongly disposes us for Grief, when Death takes such a dear Friend from us, and will not allow us to consider the loss which we sustain by his departure, without a real and hearty concernment, without a sensible and afflictive Sorrow.  
And as our Natures urge and necessitate us to grieve on such a sad occasion, so Religion allows it; for the Design of Religion is not to extinguish our affections, but to rectify them; not to root out our passions, but to reclaim and reduce them, to bring them into good order, to put them under the discipline and conduct of right Reason, and to keep them within those bounds and limits which were originally set and prescribed unto them. Religion allows us to love the good things of this world, in proportion to their worth and value, their conveniency and usefulness, and in subordination to our love of God and of the things above: And it allows us to grieve for the loss of what we love, so long as our Grief exceeds not the causes of it, nor riseth beyond the merits of the things whose loss affect us with it; so long as it does not grow up into Fret, and Vexation, and Impatience, nor sallies out into Murmur and Repine, but keeps a just decorum, and due consistency, with our dutiful submissions and humble resignations to the Will of Almighty God. Thus our Blessed Saviour himself, who had no passions but what were natural and innocent, grieved 
John. 11. 35.  for the death of Lazarus, and expressed that Grief by shedding Tears, which the Jews interpreted as an argument of the Love and Affection which we had for him. And thus may we love our Friends and Relatives, and mourn for the death of those we love, without any guilt or danger, without any disparagement to our Reason, or any offence to God, if we do but take care to avoid the criminal and intemperate Excesses of either.  
And if our Nature constrains, and our Religion allows us to grieve for the death of a private Friend, whose kindnesses perhaps went no farther than ourselves, or at most were extended but to a few besides, how much more than for the death of a good King, whose Benefactions were as diffusive as his Authority, and, like the benign influences of the Sun, ran through all the parts of the Nation, visited all the corners of the Kingdom, and gave life, and vigour, and spirit, to the whole Community: for a good King is the most public and comprehensive Blessing imaginable, because such a King derives and secures unto his People all the Blessings and Comforts which can proceed from a wife and gentle, a just and merciful administration of Government: For it is inconsistent with the notion and nature of a good King to govern arbitrarily, as that signifies governing by mere Will, Humour, and Passion, for that is the proper temper and character of a Tyrant, who abuseth his just Authority to evil purposes, and instead of protecting his Subjects, oppresseth them; and instead of ruling them prudently with all his Power, turns his Power into an instrument of his rage and folly, and exerciseth it upon his People, not for their preservation but destruction, and so makes his Government a Curse instead of a Blessing.  
No; a good King is acted by other principles, and proceeds by other measures, and takes his aims and directions from other ends. He considers the ends for which Government was instituted, and his Authority given him; and because both were designed for the Peace, and Order, and Prosperity, of the whole Community, therefore he never exerciseth his Authority but with respect to these public ends, and in subserviency to them. As he has a tender and paternal care for his People, so in all the expresses of his sovereign Power he consults and intends their common interest and welfare; and instead of governing them with the ungrateful roughness and severity of an imperious Lord, he rules them with the endearing affections and compassions of an indulgent Father. And upon this account good Kings are in Holy Scripture compared to the most useful and beneficial Things and have Titles and Appellatives of Honour given them, which are borrowed from those excellent Things. Thus they are called, The Healers of 
Isai. 3. 7.  a Land, because by their wise and prudent administration of Government they apply proper remedies to the diseases and distempers of it, and cure the wounds and breaches which have been made in it: The Bars of it, because 
Lam. 2. 9  by their watchfulness, and providence, and necessary preparations, they secure it from being invaded and rifled by foreign force and violence: The Shields of it, because by their 
Psal. 47. 9  power and strength they defend it from mischief, and protect it from violence: The Foundations 
Psal. 11. 3.  of it, because by their prudent care and conduct, and discreet management of public affairs, they support the peace and prosperity of it, and preserve it from sinking into confusion and falling into disorder by intestine Seditions and Commotions. They are styled Shepherds and Fathers, which import not only their power and dominion over their People, but also their watchful care and tender affections for them: Nay, as if every thing upon Earth were too scanty and little to make up a just Comparison, and to set forth the mighty usefulness and excellency of their Persons, they are styled Gods, which would have been accounted a piece of Court-blasphemy, if we had not had the Authority of Holy Scripture to warrant the use of it. And indeed a good King may in some sort be justly reckoned an earthly God, because he represents the heavenly One, not only in his Majesty and Power, but also in his Love and Goodness, and in those invaluable blessings and benefits which he procures for and conveys to his People: And therefore no wonder that such a King is dear to his Subjects and gains such an interest in their affections, and extends his Empire to their very Souls, which no earthly force can reach, no humane power can subdue, and makes him reign over their minds as well as their bodies, and establisheth his Throne in their hearts, which is a more sure and lasting establishment than his Sword can give him.  
And then it is as little wonder, That when such a King dies, the whole Nation is struck with Grief, and invaded with Sorrow, and bewails the said Accident with all the mournful Expressions imaginable; for the Love which they had for his Person, and the benefits which they enjoyed under his Government, and the frightful apprehensions which they may entertain on such a dreadful change, are so many powerful causes to produce an universal Grief in their Minds, and to crowd their Eyes with Tears, and to fill their Mouths with doleful Complaints and Lamentations; for all such changes are dangerous, and full of hazard; and though they do not always prove fatal and mischievous to the Government, yet there is always reason to suspect that they may; for where there is no cause to hope that things can grow better, there is always cause to fear that they may grow worse: And therefore whensoever a good King dies, Fear and Love combine and unite, to afflict all his Subjects with a pungent and hearty Grief, and People of all Nations and all Religions have felt and experienced this troublesome Passion on such a moving and affecting Occasion, and have owned and published it by solemn and ceremonious Mournings; and so in particular, All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah: which brings me to the  
II. Which is to consider how much the Jewish Nation were concerned in this general Reason, to grieve and mourn for the death of Josiah.  
The general Reason which induceth any People to mourn for the death of a good King is (as I have shown you) the consideration of those various Blessings and manifold Benefits which they reaped and enjoyed under the Exercise of his Sovereign Power and Administration of his Government: For these Blessings are so near and concerning, and do so sensibly touch us, that we cannot consider the death of the happy instrument of them without being affected with a real and hearty Grief for the Loss of him. Now that Josiah was such a King, and such an Instrument, will appear, if we consider that He was endued with all those natural, spiritual, and moral Excellencies and Perfections which are necessary to make up and complete the just character of a good King, and to render him the greatest Blessing to his People. For,  
1. Josiah was a King of an excellent Understanding and Wisdom, which in others is the fruit of long experience and much observation; the acquist of study and industry seemed to be innate to him, and born with him: For he gave early proofs of a Wisdom so extraordinary, as no less distinguished him from his Subjects, and set him above them, than the Dignity of his regal Office and the Eminency of his supreme Power. For as he began to reign when he was but eight years old, so within eight years after he entered upon his Government; the Wisdom, which was so peculiar to himself, broke out in a most conspicuous manner, and the first Essays of it appeared in that which is both the indication and beginning of true Wisdom; for the Scripture tells us, That in the eighth year of his reign, while 
2 Chron. 34. 3.  he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: Afterwards he proceeded to consider the Actions of his Predecessors, and according to the dictates of his own Wisdom, and the counsels of the Elders, (which, as Josephus observes, he always took along with him,) he rectified their errors and mistakes with as much exactness and circumspection as if he had been an old man, and promoted and imitated what he found established by them with good advice, and settled upon just and weighty reasons.  
2. He was a King of extraordinary Piety: For his Soul was filled with a just and powerful sense of God, which discovered itself in suitable Acts of Holiness and correspondent Practices of Religion and Goodness throughout his whole Conversation. He had a mighty and active Zeal for the Glory of God, and could not endure that his Honour should be given to another, or that he should have any Corrivals and Competitors in his Worship; for he purged the Land from Idolatry by demolishing the Altars of Baal, and destroying the Groves, which were the places of their Idolatrous Worship, and breaking their carved Images, which were the Objects of it, and putting to death their Priests, who were the Instruments and Ministers of it, and reducing the misled People to a just sense of their duty and service which they owed to the only true God, the God of Israel. He repaired the decays and ruins of the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem with extraordinary diligence and dispatch, and adorned it not only with material Ornaments, but with the spiritual Beauty of Holiness, by restoring the public Worship of the true God to its ancient Glory and Purity.  
Nor can we doubt, but that the whole course of his Life was uniform, and in all the parts of it consistent with his ardent and flaming Zeal for God's Worship; That it was entirely governed by the same holy Principles, and directed by the same holy Rules, and was in all respects a bright and illustrious Example of sincere Piety and true Religion; especially if we consider the glorious character which the Holy Ghost gives us of him in the Scriptures, for there we are told, That he did that 
2 Kings 22. 2.  which was right in the fight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or the left.  
3. He was a King of strict and impartial Justice; for he governed his People by just and equal measures, such measures as were the legal standards of Right and Wrong, and were essential and fundamental to that National Constitution: For though God instituted the Jewish Monarchy, and set Kings over them, and vested their Kings with a Supremacy of Power, yet he did not leave the Exercise of this Power to the boundless and mischievous Liberty of their own Wills, but prescribed them certain Rules, which they were inviolably to observe, both in the Decision of Controversies concerning Civil Right and Property, and in the management and determination of Criminal Causes. And these Rules are known by the Name of the Judicial Law of the Jews, in contradistinction both to the Moral Law, which respected things of eternal and universal Obligation, and to the Ceremonial Law, which related to the positive and instituted Worship of God. And the Jewish Kings had no Authority to dispense with or abrogate this judicial Law, either in whole, or in part, but were bound by the Command of God to conform themselves unto it as the standing and unalterable rule of their Government: And therefore when the King came to his Throne, and entered upon his Government, He was commanded to write a Copy 
Deut. 17. 18, 19, 20.  of the Law with his own hand, and to read in it all his days, that he might learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep all the words of this Law, and these Statutes to do them.  
Now Josiah, out of a just regard to the Authority of God, and a tender respect to the Welfare of his People, contains himself in the exercise of his Sovereign Power within those bounds which God had set him, and administers his Government according to those Laws which God appointed to be the constant 
2 Kings 23. 25.  and fixed rules of it; for so we are told, that like unto him was there no King before him, that turned unto the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like him.  
Where by all the Law of Moses must be meant the judicial as well as the moral and ceremonial Laws, and consequently this noble Character of Josiah must imply his exact and punctual Observance of that in matters civil and political, as well as his strict Conformity to the other in things of a moral and ceremonial nature.  
And what greater Blessing could a Nation enjoy, or wish for, than such a King, who was so admirably qualified and fitted for Government, and who in his Government kept punctually to the legal constitution of it, and inviolably observed all the public Rules which either related to the Worship of God, and the duties of Religion, or to the civil Rights and Properties of the People? And therefore the Death of such a King could not be reckoned any otherwise than a public Loss, nor could the Notice of it be received by any thinking person without such a passionate and affective Grief, as was suitable to the nature and moment of the Consequences which depended on it. And accordingly when good Josiah died, the whole Nation was ready to die with Grief too, ready to faint and sink under the sense of their Loss, and the weight of their Affliction; for as their Loss was extraordinary, so their Grief was so excessive, and so much beyond the ordinary rate of Mourners, that it became proverbial, and the Prophet Zachary could not find a more proper instance of Grief to represent the greatness of that Mourning which the Children of the Bride-chamber would express, when Christ their Bridegroom should be taken from them, than this, wherewith the Death of Josiah was lamented; for thus he describes it, It shall be like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo. And indeed all Judah and Jerusalem had extraordinary reason to mourn at that extraordinary rate for Josiah, not only because he died, but because he died in that surprising and astonishing manner. Which brings me to consider,  
III. What peculiar and additional Reason they had, besides the general one, to grieve and mourn for the Death of Josiah. If good Josiah had died according to the ordinary course of Nature, and gone to his Sepulchre, and been gathered to his Fathers, as a shock of corn fully ripened, and in its proper Season, as Eliphaz elegantly compares it; though his 
Job 5. 26.  death, even under such circumstances, had been a loss, and an infelicity, yet the consideration that he had lived so long, and as long as the forces of humane Nature could hold out, might have been a just abatement of their grief, and disposed them to have born the Calamity with less Trouble, and more temper of Mind. But alas! the case was quite otherwise; for he not only died in the prime of his Age, in his full strength and vigour, but he died too by the hands of Violence; for he was slain in the day of Battle, as he was endeavouring to oppose the King of Egypt, and to stop his march towards the river Euphrates: For an unlucky Egyptian drew his mischievous Bow, and shot a fatal Arrow, which gave him his mortal wound, and soon put an end to his Life, and to all the joys and delights of his people; for they could not bear the death, the untimely and violent Death, of such an excellent King, without being extremely concerned at it, and almost overwhelmed with a deluge of grief and sorrow for it. And indeed the manner of his death was a just occasion for so great a grief, because it was so plain an indication of God's displeasure against them, and so clear a Prognostic of Calamities and Miseries which would follow upon it. For though Kings must die like other men, and though there seems nothing extraordinary in the untimely and violent death of a good King, when we consider only, that they are made up of the same frail perishing materials with ourselves, and, with the rest of mortal men, are equally susceptive of the fatal impressions of a destructive Violence; yet when we consider farther, that the Providence of God does in an especial manner superintend and watch over good men, and in a more particular manner over good Kings, than we cannot reflect on the untimely and violent death of a Wise, Holy, and Just King, without being convinced that Heaven is highly offended, and has a dreadful controversy with the Nation, and has removed this great instrument of its Blessing out of the way, that so its wrath may break in with greater liberty, and fall down upon it with all the dispatch and execution imaginable. And the Jews had a more than ordinary reason to make such a judgement on the untimely and violent death of their good King Josiah, and to interpret God's permission of it, as the effect of his sore wrath, and heavy displeasure, which he now seemed resolved to pour down upon them in such National Calamities and Miseries as should bear proportion to their own and their Ancestors provocations. For they had been assured by Huldah, the Prophetess, that the Idolatries and Impieties of their Forefathers had kindled and blown up the wrath of God against them to such a degree, that it should not be quenched, but should flame out upon them in Judgements as signal as their Crimes, and as extraordinary as their Offences which deserved it: But notwithstanding, for the sake of Josiah, whose heart was tender, and who 
2. King. 22.  humbled himself before the Lord, God would defer the Execution of his wrath, and not bring it upon them in his days. And therefore, as the Jews were warranted by this Prophecy to esteem the life of their King as the surest preservative of their own, and to look upon his Person as an happy Skrene, which interposed between them and the dismal terrors of God's justice, and kept off his destroying hand from seizing and laying hold on their guilty Nation, so they had reason to conclude from the manner of his death, that God was quite wearied out with their provocations, That his Patience and Long-suffering were utterly exhausted, and that he was now sending down upon them all those tremendous judgements, which their Prophets had so clearly foretold, and their sins so loudly called for. And all men must own this to have been a reasonable inference, gathered from the manner of his death, which carried in it such evident marks of God's fierce Anger and Displeasure against them. And must not their grief then have been as reasonable as the inference? For if they had any sense of their public loss, and of the fatal Consequences which attended it, how was it possible for them to have stood unconcerned, or to have grieved less than they did, under so awakening and astonishing a Providence? No wonder then, that when Josiah died an universal Grief ran through his Kingdom, and all his Subjects expressed their grief in such extraordinary Mourning, as became as remarkable for its Greatness as the sad Loss that occasioned it. But though the Jews had great and extraordinary reason to mourn for Josiah, yet I will,  
iv Show you, That these Nations had not only as much, but more reason; nay, still have more reason to mourn and lament the Death of our late dread Sovereign King CHARLES the First, of ever blessed Memory. And,  
1. What was there great and eminent, of public Use, and universal Benefit, in the Person, Life, and Government of King Josiah, which may not with equal Truth and Justice in all those respects be ascribed to the Royal Martyr of this day? For,  
1. As for his Understanding, it was of a Royal size, and Princely dimensions, and of such a vast Capacity and Comprehension, as showed him sitted for Empire and Government, as he was born to it. There are none can doubt of this, who have with any care and impartiality perused the Book which he composed and wrote in the state of his Sufferings; a Book which is a Lively Image of his Royal Mind, a Perfect Transcript of his Great Soul; a Book which contains in it not only such Exuberancy, such Compass, such Variety of delightful Fancy, nor only such Majesty of Style, such Elegance of Phrase, such Propriety of Language, but also such Strength of Thought, such Depth of Judgement, such Reach of Apprehension, as uncontrollably proclaims him to have been a great Man in the modern sense of the Phrase, as that signifies a Man of great Understanding.  
2. As for his Life; What was that but a visible draught of practical Christianity, a bright and illustrious example of universal Holiness? for, How did all Christian Graces and Virtues adorn his Royal Conversation? How did the Power and Spirit of true Christianity appear and manifest itself throughout the whole Course and Tenor of his Actions, notwithstanding all the softening Charms, and fascinating Temptations of a Court, with which he was surrounded? Nor was he only an eminent Example of those Graces and Virtues which are proper to a flourishing and prosperous Condition, but also of those which belong to a passive and suffering State. His Chastity and Temperance, his Mercy and Justice, His Humility and Charity, were not more remarkable in him in the time of his Prosperity, than his Meekness and Contentedness, his Patience and Submission to the Will of God in the days of his Affliction: So that if that pernicious Maxim had been true, That Dominion is founded in Grace, and Saintship gives Title to the power of Government, He would have had as clear and unquestionable a right to his own Crown and Sceptre on account of his Christian Graces and Virtues, as he had on the account of his natural and legal Inheritance.  
3. As for his Government, it was mild and gentle, just and legal, agreeable to the public Laws and fundamental Constitutions of this Nation. As he was always inclinable to pardon injuries, so he was always careful to do none; For who was ever oppressed by his Power or injured by his Authority? Whose liberties did he invade, or whose rights did he usurp? Whose Ox or, whose Ass did he take? Or who ever could truly complain of any wrong which he did them?  
Indeed there were one or two Passages in his administration which make a loud Outcry in the Nation, and were improved to the most malicious and destructive purposes against him. But whatever Causes or Counsels misled him into those Errors and Mistakes, it is plain that they did not proceed from any design which he had of overturning the legal Establishment, and setting up an arbitrary Power in the room of it, as his malicious and implacable Enemies falsely accused him: For never any Prince could be more liberal in his Concessions, and indulgent in his Grants, than he was, to allay the jealousies, and remove the fears of his People. For to assure them that he desired no more power than the Laws allowed him, he was content to enjoy less; and parted with some of his own legal Rights to convince his Subjects that he had no intention to usurp upon theirs, and divest himself of such essential and fundamental Prerogatives of his Crown as did in some measure Unking him, that so he might let them see how far he was from any thoughts of governing as a Tyrant.  
Now how happy might these Nations have been under the indulgent Government of such a Prince, if they had but understood their own happiness, and would but have been contented to have enjoyed it, as their duty, and their interest obliged them? But as it is not in the power of the wisest and best of Kings to make their Subjects happy against their own wills, so if Subjects will be querulous and murmuring under Peace and Plenty, if they will be unaccountably fearful and unreasonably jealous, and fancy Hobgoblins and Bugbears ready to seize and devour, when there appears nothing but their Guardian-angel to defend and protect them: If they will be seditious and turbulent under the best of Governments, and the best of Kings, their Follies are both their Sins and their Punishments, and as they stand accountable to God and Man for their Guilts, so they may thank themselves for the mischievous Consequences of them. But though our contemptuous thoughts of a Blessing, and ingrateful behaviour under it, may keep us from reaping the happy and comfortable effect of it; yet they cannot change the Nature, nor lessen the Worth of it; but the Enjoyment of it will be a Happiness, and the Deprivation of it a Loss, notwithstanding our mistaken opinions, and scornful neglect, or despiteful treatment of it. And therefore though many rejoiced at the death of our Royal Martyr, and others were stupidly unconcerned at it, yet all wise and good Men considered it as it really was, a Public Loss, and resented it as a general Calamity, and were affected with a pungent Grief, and expressed a passionate Sorrow for it: And they had extraordinary reason for so doing, as will farther appear if,  
2. We consider the Manner of his Death; for his Death was neither in the common course of Nature, nor according to the ordinary periods of it, but it was violent and untimely; for he fell by the hands of cruel and bloody-minded Men, and was ravished from us, when in all appearance he might have lived to a far longer date, to have been the blessed instrument of much Glory and much Happiness to these Kingdoms: For by the healthfulness of his Constitution, and the soundness of his Vitals, he seemed to have been designed for a long Life, and in all probability his Moderation, and Temperance, and Sobriety, which he practised on all occasions, might have lengthened his days very nigh these of ours, if not to them. But he was too great a Blessing for such an ingrateful and sinful People to enjoy any longer; and therefore God suffers him to fall into the bloody hands of his implacable Enemies, and to be cut off by them; that so the Nation might be involved in those Confusions, and groan under those Miseries, which the provoking guilts and impieties of it so abundantly deserved. And all Men had great reason to apprehend beforehand those dismal Evils which soon followed his Death, when they considered the Manner and Circumstances of it: For that God should suffer so Holy a King to be so inhumanely treated, and so barbarously murdered, could proceed from nothing but his hot-burning Wrath against the Nation, and his  purpose to pour down his heavy Judgements upon it. And the Event sadly demonstrated the reasonableness of such pre-apprehensions; for when he suffered, our Religion and our Laws suffered with him, and the Government both in Church and State expired and died in the very same moment with him: For than our Holy Religion was banished from our Churches, and the Ministers of it driven into Corners, or forced into Prisons, and the Abomination of desolation stood in our Holy Places: Then Hypocrisy pulled off its Mask, and Atheism appeared barefaced, and Profaneness grew impudent, and Sacrilege laid its devouring hands on all holy Things: then innumerable Swarms of new and unheard of Sects sprang and grew up among us, and walked abroad in their uncouth Forms and monstrous Shapes: Then Popery prevailed, and increased, and seduced many weak and unstable Souls, and gained more Proselytes in those dark times of trouble and confusion, (as some have made the computation,) than in all the peaceful Reign of King CHARLES the second. So that Cardinal Richilieu seems to have had some grounds for that Maxim of his, viz. Till the Monarchy of England was changed into a Commonwealth, there was little reason to hope for the return of Popery: Then our Laws were either laid aside, or turned against themselves, expounded and interpreted to their own ruin, and the destruction of those who adhered to them, and so were executed in no other sense, than in that in which their Royal Fountain and Guardian was executed, that is, by being destroyed. Thus you see how the manner of our King's death was an Index of God's fierce displeasure, and a Prologue to Tragical Miseries, which immediately succeeded it, and what great reason the Nation had upon that account to grieve and mourn for him.  
But this is not all, but there's something more of a sadder Consideration still behind, and which extremely differenceth our Case from that of the Jews concerning the death of that good King Josiah, and shows that these Nations not only had but still have more reason to grieve and mourn for the violent and untimely death of that blessed Martyr, and glorious Saint, King CHARLES the First, of ever Blessed Memory; and this will appear if,  
3. We consider the Instruments by which this bloody and untimely death was effected and brought to pass: For it was not an Assyrian or an Egyptian, not a Stranger or Foreigner, which slew him, but his own native Subjects, who by all the Laws of God and Man, by all the Ties of Oaths, and Engagements of Promises, by all the Obligations of Gratitude and Interest, were bound to preserve and protect his Royal Person against all attempts of Violence whatsoever. And if the Jews mourned so heavily for Josiah, who died by the chance of War, and by the hands of an Alien from the Commonwealth of Israel, how much more ought we to mourn for our Gracious Sovereign, who was put to death as a Criminal and Malefactor in his own Kingdom, and in the great and famous Metropolis of that Kingdom, and before the Gates of his own Royal Palace in that Metropolis, and by the hands of his own natural Subjects? This was a prodigious Wickedness, a Complicated Villainy, an Unprecedented Excess of Unrelenting and Impudent Barbarity: It was Murder and Treason too, and both of them heightened to the utmost degree of Aggravation, by being dressed up in the forms and methods of public Justice. And if all Murder is a crying Sin, which importunes the Justice, and wearies the Ears of the Almighty, until it be avenged, how clamorous must the blood of innocent Majesty be? and how great must those Judgements be which must silence its loud Cries, and atone the Wrath which is due for it? And can this Nation then sit down under the sense and remembrance of this sad and deplorable Evil, without being touched and affected with it, without being humbled and grieved for it, without accompanying their Grief and Humiliations with a sincere and hearty repentance for the Gild of this day's Wickedness, as well as of all other their Offences? For the Gild of this Murder was as National as the Loss which was sustained by it, and all the People of this Kingdom were accessary to it, either as the Instruments, or the occasions of it; some by their actual putting him to death, and imbruing their wicked hands, in his Innocent blood; some by their unnatural Rebellion and Treasonable Fight against him; some by their cowardly Neutrality, and treacherous Unconcernedness; and all by their personal Sins and Vices, which inflamed the Wrath of God, and contributed to the general Provocation.  
And let us not vainly imagine that we are no way concerned for this great Evil, no way obliged to be grieved and humbled for it, because it was committed Forty years ago, when most of us were not born, and most of of us, who were then born, not capable of knowing good from evil; for it being a National Sin, a National Judgement is due for it: And because this World is the proper Season for inflicting such Judgements, we have reason to dread, that God will bring upon us the Judgement which is due for this Sin (if he has not already brought it) with all the Circumstances of Terror, and Severity of Execution, except we endeavour to avert it with sincere Humiliations and unfeigned Repentances.  
Remember that it was not till Forty years after the death of our Blessed Saviour, that God visited the Jewish Nation; for the guilt of shedding his Innocent blood, and it is very probable that very few of those, who either petitioned for his Crucifixion, or apprehended and Murdered him, were living at that time: And yet when God, after so long forbearance, visited that Nation for that Sin, neither Age, nor Sex, nor Rank or Quality were spared, but all were involved in the same common Fate, and felt the severe effects of the Public Calamity.  
It's true indeed, God provided an opportunity for the Christians to escape, and to fly beyond the reach of the public Judgement; but that we may not presume on impunity, from the Example of their deliverance, we must know, that they were Christians not only in Name and Profession, but in Life and Practice, and their Graces and Virtues, were as singular and extraordinary as their Preservation: And therefore consider it is now just Forty years since the horrid Fact was committed, which we either do, or should commemorate this day with Fasting and Humiliation, and Penitential Sorrows. And consider farther, that the public Affairs of this unsettled Kingdom, seem now to be brought to a Crisis, and to move on the point of Life and Death, of Happiness and Misery. How things will go, and what will be the issue and event of them, God only knows; but I am sure there is no such certain and effectual way to make them go well, and succeed to our preservation and happiness, as to humble ourselves under the hand of God, to lament and bewail all our Sins, both Personal and National, Private and Public; and particularly the Sin of this day, which was such a scandal to the Protestant Religion, such an Infamy to the English Nation, and such an offence to Almighty God: And therefore with contrite Hearts, and devout Minds, let us pray to God, that he would deliver us from Bloodguiltiness, and particularly from the guilt of that Royal Blood which we now bewail and mourn for, that so it may not be charged upon us or our Posterity. And to our devout Prayers, let us add Works of Mercy and Charity, which are Sacrifices wellpleasing to God; and throughout the whole course of our Lives, let us keep innocence, and do that which is right, and upon all occasions be followers of that which is good; and then we may hope that God, for the sake of Christ, will pardon and forgive us all our offences, receive us into his favour and protection, own us for his People in this World, and receive us into his Glory in that to come; which God grant for Christ Jesus' sake; To whom, with the Father and Holy Spirit, be ascribed all Might, Majesty, Dominion, Praise, and Thanksgiving, now and for ever. Amen.  
FINIS.