LACRYMAE ECCLESIAE; OR The mourning OF HADADRIMMON For England's JOSIAH. Delivered in two Sermons, Janu. 30. 1660. at the solemn Fasting and Humiliation, for the Martyrdom and horrid Murder of our late gracious King Charles the First, of ever blessed Memory, In the Church of the Borough of Blechingley in the County of Sury.  
By Wil Hampton Rector of the said Church.  In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the Mourning of Hadadrimmon, in the Valley of Megiddon, Zach. 12.11. Nunc requiescit in sinu Abrahae dulcis amicus noster nam quis alius tali animae locus? Aug. de Nebridio. 
LONDON, Printed for Wil Hope, at the sign of the blue Anchor on the North side of the Royal Exchange, 1661.   

To the Right Honourable Charles Lord Cokaine, Viscount Cullen; Grace, Mercy, and Peace be multiplied.  
Right Honourable, and my very good Lord,  
As you have been a great sufferer in your Person and Estate, to the loss of more than thirty thousand pounds for your fidelity and loyalty to his late Majesty of blissed memory, and yet were cheered more with the continual feast of a good and a quiet Conscience (as I have heard you confess) than you could have been, had you saved your estate and gained ten times that sum by engaging on the other side: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed, and be guildesse? 1 Sam. 26.9. So no less sorrow for his sad sufferings, and chief that last fatal blow brought upon his sacred Person by the furious rage of merciless, and bloody men, when a sword did even pierce through your heart as your Lordship hath often expressed in my hearing, & in my house, whither you were pleased to retire yourself aster your releasement from Oxford, and at other times; and to honour me with your presence, when we did in private power forth our souls together in utter detestation of that horrid Fact, and in bitter lamentation for it: Therefore upon this account, I think not these Sermons more due to any one than yourself; as also for the many obligations that lie upon me for your manifold favours and respects to me, even from your youth up till now.  
It is framed in a low and plain stile, sitted for a Country Auditory, and it hath always been my desire and endeavour to condescend to the meanest capacity. My warning was very short for such a work, having scarce two days to prepare, by notice given me by a worshipful Neighbour, one of our late Burgesses in the late healing Parliament, of such a day to be kept, of which I knew nothing before.  
And although the short warning, the exhaustion of my Spirits, in Preaching twice the Lords day preceding, together with my age might have pleaded my excuse for such a task, and confined me to praying and weeping: Yet (as nothing seems hard to a willing mind) my cordial affection to the duty (for I have in my secret prayers long wished I might live to see such a day as this, wherein we might in public as well express our detestation of, as lamentation for that monstrous and bloody Act) put me on with the assistance of the Divine Spirit, to a performance beyond my strength and expectation.  
The dead Letter cannot be answerable to the lively Delivery; which was to the content of my Auditory, which that day was great, many of the adjoining Parishes, where no notice was given of the day, repairing to my Church: And which was to my content, as it drew tears from mine, so from the eyes of a great part of my hearers; which is the best commendation of a Preacher.  
The Lord grant it may work upon their Souls, to whose sight it shall come, whose hearts or hands, or fingers were defiled with that innocent blood; that they may be deeply humbled, and moved to repentance for such a crimson scarlet sin; and find Mercy, and obtain Pardon from Heaven, by having their hearts sprinkled with that blood, which speaks better things than the blood of Abel. And that it may blunt and alleviate the asperity of their Spirits, who have great thoughts of heart, and those evil too, against this blessed Change, a work even of Omnipotency: And against our dear and gracious Sovereign (whom God long preserve) a King of such asweet Christian temper, for Wisdom, Discretion, Meekness, Gentleness, Pity, Piety, Mercy, as is too good for such a churlish and unthankful People. Thus commending this poor labour to the blessing of God; and your Lordship, and family to his grace, and safe protection, I humbly take my leave, and remain  
Your Honours humble Servant in the work of Christ W. Hampton. From my Study in Blechingley, February 12, 1660.   

The mourning of Hadadrimmon for England's Josiah.  The Text. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men, and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their Lamentations to this day; and made them an Ordinance in Israel; and behold they are written in the Lamentations, 2 Cron. 35.4, 25. 
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 grief of all good Christians, by the traitorous heads, treacherous 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 Sovereign.  
Josiah was one of the best of all the Kings of judah; 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 years old; and sought the Lord while he was yet young in the eight year of his reign: and the twelfth year began the great work for advancing Religion and Piety. He purged jerusalem of Idolatry, reformed abuses, repaired God's House, restored his worship, regarded his Ministers, kept such a Passeover, as had not been kept before since the days of Samuel the Prophet; neither did all the Kings of Israel keep such a Passeover, as josiah 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 people's 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 judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 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 Prophetess 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 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 thyself 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 rend 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 eyes shall not see all the evil 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, josiah is drawn in to aid the Assyrians: Necho sends Ambassadors to dissuade him from it; what have I to do with thee thou King of judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the House wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make haste; for bear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him, and harkened 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 battle 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 him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the Sepulchers of his Futhers: And then follows my mournful Text; And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, etc. Jusiah died by a fatal arrow, (as our josiah by a dismal blow) to the unexpressible grief 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 general lamentation, and a bitter mourning: And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned, etc. and Jeremiah etc. Wherein we have, 

1. The Person lamented, and mourned for; and that was josiah a godly and religious King, yet slain by cruel hand; The Archers shot him, wounded him sore, and he died.  
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 judah and jerusalem; 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 shall be a great mourning in jerusalem, 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 evil 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 amongst the jews to have public mourners at their Funerals, both men and women, who used to make lamentations in doleful Tunes, at the death of Persons of worth; as appears, 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 josiah in their solemn mournings for others, making mention of the great loss of him: Insomuch that it became a constant custom, and as it were a settled Law or Ordinance, to make mention of the sad loss of Josiah, in their doleful Elegies: Or it may be, that by reason of the loss of so worthy a King, a special Law was enacted for it (as our Nation and State hath now piously, and prudently done) that at all other solemn mournings, there should be mourning for Josiah; and that public 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, registered in sacred Scripture to be here meant; which seems to them to be hinted, Lam. 4.20. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord is taken in their Pits, etc. But the most reject this, and think there might be some other Lamentations remaining then upon record, and wherein the loss of Josiah was set down. And all judah and jerusalem mourned for josiah, and jeremiah lamented for josiah, etc.    
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 general observations, wherein I shall comprise and bind up together, as with a 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; josiah a good and godly King, a blessed Saint, yet slain by cruel 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, judah and jerusalem; jeremiah 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 josiah being so unhappily slain; judah and jerusalem, all the good people in that Church and Nation, betake themselves to doleful lamentations: And all Judah and Jerusalem, etc.   
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 die, & whatsoever may conduce to, or bring on death, whether it be corruption from within, in these our earthly Tabernacles, our bodies breeding some noisome or grivous disease: or force and violence from without by wounds, hurts, and bruises, may befall the the one (God permitting) aswel as the other. As death is common to all, so the same causes procurers and producers of 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 God's dear child may be exposed to the one or the other.  
The Donatists of old (who were the forefathers of our anabaptistical 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 therefore would wilfully, and needlessly expose themselves to grievous sufferings, and sometimes to cruel death. As Venner the Sectarian Preacher, or rather prater, the Wine-cooper, and his cursed crew, lately gloried to shed their blood in fight for King Jesus (Thus do they blasphemously abuse that good, sweet and precious name) though in open and horrid Treason and Rebellion against the lawful 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 Gospel, That Kings should be their nursing Fathers, and Queens their nursing Mothers, would have these nurses all killed, and murdered 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 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 spoilers, lying by the highway 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 Fanatic 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 pitying the youngest, though a sucking babe, and being asked why so unnatural, and unlike Mother she forsook 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 Cross, yet he requireth not, that we should put needless crosses upon ourselves; but only to bear them patiently, when he is pleased to send them, and when he calls to suffer: As for those who rashly expose themselves to troubles, and cast themselves into wilful dangers, or death itself, without warrant of God's 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. john. Let Marculus (saith he) fling himself down headlong from a rock: and let Donatus in like sort, cast himself into a pit, both with intent to end their lives, yet shall they not be called Martyrs: or at most (as he speaks in another place) they are but Martyrs of a foolish Philosophy, mad Fanatic 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 God's favour. The dearest child of God may undergo a violent death. The Prophet, the man of God that came from judah to cry out against jereboams Idolatrous Altar at Bethel, in his return homeward was slain by a Lion, 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 josiah esteemed him; for when in accomplishment of that Prophecy, he broke down the Altar of Bethel, and burned 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 trial of cruel hands and scourge: yea moreover of bonds, and imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawen asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. Blessed Steven the Proto-martyr of the New Testament, was pelted & knocked to death with stones, and many of the best of God's Saints and Servants pledged him in the cup of Martyrdom which was very bitter and bloody. The holy Baptists head was chopped off to satisfy the appetite of a lustful and luxurious woman, and served up to her in a Charger. And God's 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 Father's favour. josiah here, a good and a religious King; yet slain by cruel hands, The Archers shot him and he died: now briefly for Application.  
Use. 1. Learn here first, That neither goodness nor greatness can exempt man from the saddest sufferings josiah a King as good as great, yet slain in battle. The Lord seethe good sometimes to have it so, to humble the best and greatest; that none may presume or trust to any worldly privilege or dignity: and to prepare his servants for a suffering condition.  
2. Let us be instructed to beware of rash judgements, 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 aught from their future happiness, but rather promote them in the way to glory. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, (saith St Peter) or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busy body in other man's matters; yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf, 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 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 jerusalem? I tell you nay, But except you repent you shall likewise perish, Lu. 13.2, 3, 4.  
And though our late dear josiah, underwent a bloody death (made as it were a sacrifice for the Church, and his people) by the rage, malice, and immane cruelty of merciless, and perfidious men, or rather monsters: (Horrendum factum, dictu Horrendum.) Yet God forbidden any of us should have the least doubt of his souls felicity: Although his hard hearted, and implacable enemies denied him (that which is freely granted to the vilest and most notorious condemned malefactors) the help and comforts of his Chaplains, for his souls refreshment, in the time of his hard imprisonment, and therein (as he complains 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 sense, charity itself can hardly pick out of these repulses, I received, saith he; Yet we have good ground to conclude and full assurance to persuade 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 happiness: calix mortis, calix salutis, the cup of death, and Martyrdom was to him a cup of Salvation. His meek submitting to the will of God; his patiented bearing taunts, reproaches, and injuries, evento shameful spitting on his meek yielding to an unjust and bloody stroke, his hearty praying for his enemies, and murderers, 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 soul, are comfortable evidences of a saved soul. Though his death was bloody and violent, yet being sweetened with Christ's death, and his being washed and bathed in the blood of the Lamb, we have firmperswasion and good assurance, that he lived and died the dear child of God, and is now a Saint in Heaven, praising God among the noble army of Martyrs: an heir of salvation, and of that immarcescible Crown of glory, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.  
Use 3. Let it prepare and arm us against the fear and terror of violent death, if such should befall any of us, we know not but it may; it is sometimes the lot of God's dearest children. Let us not then overmuch disquiet ourselves with the fear of violent death, by thiefs, robbers, murderers, or by the rebellious rout of fanatics. 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 rejoicing, yet we shall ere long have a time of howling and crying; our harp shall be turned into mourning, and our mirth into the voice of them that weep: but we hope their horns will be clipped, and their nails 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 break out in murder 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 arm and prepare ourselves with the shield of Faith, and be always 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 Father's 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 custom hath been very ancient: Solomon speaks of it, as a thing commonly used in his time, Eccl. 12.5. And we find it more ancient, Abraham the Father of the faithful, bewailed his dead wife Sarah, Gen. 23.2. Sarah died 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 days 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 days for Moses, Deut. 34. David mourned for Ammon, and for Absolom, and for Abner; yea, he was the chief mourner there: King David himself followed the bier, and the King lift up his voice 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 Tabytha, Act. 6.39. Christ wept at the grave of Lazarus, Joh. 12. And the good woman mourned, and wept when he died. And devout men carried Steven to his burial, and made great lamentation over him, Act. 8.2. And here all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, etc. 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 Stoics, or rather Stocks void of all natural affection.  
But to this I shall not need to exhort, nature itself is apt enough to show itself upon all occasions of this nature. In mourning for our near relations, we are more apt to err in the excess, then in the defect, to mourn immoderately, then to fail 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 seeing them again, because they were not persuaded 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 believe that Jesus died 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 entered into the world, 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 happened 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 himself, 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 myself any more?  
2. Because death comes by God's appointment and determination; with him are the issues of death, he hath fixed and appointed our time here. All the days of my appointed time, will I wait till my change come, saith Job. So that God hath set down how long every one's time shall be. The number of our months, years, and days 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 full 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 mortal 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 bliss 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 rejoiced 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 die 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 again, rise again at that great day when the Lord jesus shall show 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 yourselves, and one another, with these words.   

The second Sermon.  
And all judah and jerusalem mourned for josiah.  
And jeremiah lamented for josiah; etc.  2 Chron. 35.24, 25. 
THe third observation which I gave you from this Text, which I chief 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. josiah a good, religious, zealous King, being slain in battle, 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 fall into the hands of merciless thiefs 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 child that will not mourn for his father's death; especially if he see him slain and murdered 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 ourselves 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 ruin, rapine, confusion and misery, oppression and calamity, as we have felt by woeful 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 profaneness, 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, judg. 17.6. and to what exorbitances and villainies 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 practice 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 Zion, and are well affected to Religion, to the service and worship of God, see such a one snatched 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 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 custom, 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 Bride-chamber that mourn not for such a loss: what then are they that rejoice? Can the Bride, a loving Spouse, endure to see her dear Husband assassinated, murdered by cruel Butchers, and that in the Bride-chamber; 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 wring 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 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 lose 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 murderer's escape, they new-model Religion, and fit it to their own Standard, and make it a mere Machiavillian, politic Engine to prop and bolster up their usurped power.  
When jeroboam wrested the ten Tribes from the house of David, with his new Kingdom, he set up a new Religion, for fear lest if the people kept to their old Religion, they would return to their old King, 1 King. 12.26, 27, 28. jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the Kingdom return to the house of David, if this people go up to do sacrifice in the House of the Lord at jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people burn again unto their Lord, even to Rehoboam King of judah, 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 jerusalem: whereas it was for his own base ends, and according to his new Religion, he made a new sort of Priests, not of the sons of Aaron, according to God's 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 jeroboam, 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 thiefs and robbers, john 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 days 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: They which kill the Heir to gain the inheritance, and stone Naboth to seize his Vineyard, must maintain with a vast expense 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 over-heavy burdens, besides devouring freequarter (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) than we ourselves) 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 Caesar's death, between Octavius, Lepidus, Marcus Antonius, and others; there is a furious bustling and struggling, 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 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.  
Use 1. First then see here what great cause we have of sad mourning, and of great lamentation, who have seen a josiah, 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 England's josiah.  
Let us a little parallel josiah in my Text with our josiah, 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. josiah was a very pious and religious Prince, well affected to Religion, to the true Religion, the reformed Religion, as it was by his care reform and restored according to the Law of God, found in the Temple by Hilkiah the Highpriest: to this he adhered, cleaving to the Lord with all his heart, and walking in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand, or to the jest, 2 King. 22.2.  
So our josiah 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 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 unparallelled book which he wrote and left behind, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, wherein he commends that Religion to his son, our now gracious Sovereign, to be constantly embraced and professed by him, which he found by proof to be the best of all Religions, and nearest to the Apostolical primity and purity. I say, this shall stand as a lasting monument to all posterity, to the perpetual shame of those malicious Traducers. Out of that divine book (so I may call it, for much of a divinely inspired 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 tried 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 reform, keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitious tyranny, and the meanness of fantastic 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 gives such rule, nor ever before set such examples.  
2. josiah was very zealous for God's 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 josiah was zealous for the houses of God; in the year of his reign he took order that the Temples and Churches through the Kingdom 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 himself: 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 thiefs, but a stable for horses: As the barbarous Turks dealt with that renowned 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 josiah, 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 book; Pag. 208. I am so much a friend to all Churchmen that have any thing in them beseeming that sacred function, that I have hazarded mine own interest, chief upon conscience, and constancy to maintain their rights; whom the more I looked upon as Orphans, and under the sacrilegious eyes of many cruel 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 denial 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 own 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 than my own, or other men's; by how much they flow from minds more enlightened, and affections less distracted, than those which are encumbered with secular affairs: 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 grief and impatience, the want of my Chaplains, then of any other my Servants, and next (if not beyond in somethings) to the being sequestered 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 cordial expressions could come from a pious soul, of love and affection to that calling?  
4. josiah was a great promoter, and furtherer of God's public and solemn worship, that it might be decently, and reverently performed; as appears by 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 cattles, 2 Chron. 35.7.  
So our josiah was a zealous furtherer of the public 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 God's 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 thereof, was the great crime that provoked the Sectaries to hasten his destruction.  
5. josiah was a King unblameable in regard of any notorious personal crime; we find him not noted for any remarkable personal evil, as most of the former Kings had been: foam are said to be good, and some bad; but the best of them had their naevus, their spots and blemishes; we read of David's Adultery, and of Solomon's Idolatry: but none was stamped upon josiah. The greatest blemish I can possible discover in him, was a little too much wilfulness, his rash, and unadvised rushing into that fatal battle at Megiddon; for which the good man paid dear.  
So our josiah was of unblameable life, more entire and free from any notorious personal crime, as searing, drunkenness, whoredom, or the like, than most of the Kings before him, no such like as these could be charged upon him: even his most bitterest enemies could not tax him: had they espied any blemish, no 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 thyself before me, saith the Lord, 2 King. 22.19. So our josiah was of a soft heart and very tender conscience: how did his conscience check and trouble him when by restless importunity he had yielded compliance (for plenary consent it was not, as he said) to the Act for the Earl of strafford's death, which in his judgement 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 grief, as the main thing troubling him at the time of his Martyrdom, acknowledging that the giving way to an unjust sentence, might bosom 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 persuaded him that Epistcopacy (with some small regulations) was most Ancient, Universal, Divine, and Apostolical; and therefore could not yield 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 tenderness of conscience, and the immeasurable, and unmerciful 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 woeful 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 talon of lead, yet the 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 feels 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 graceless 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 evil: 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 dreadful Majesty.  
7. josiah was a King as devout to God, so devoted to his people's good; good to his people, full of goodness 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 joined together, because he did many Acts of goodness and kindness to his people; what an Act of bounty and kindness to his people was it, to be at that vast charge in the Pass over feast for their ease and benefit, before mentioned?  
So our josiah 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 money, for taking away all illegal taxes; for the taking down the Star-Chamber Court, and the high Commission Court, which were found to be oppressive to his people: for a triennial 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 than could in reason be required, had his precious life been spared. But the greedy appetite of some could not be satisfied without innocent blood, royal blood, as the Jews would rest in nothing but our Saviour's crucifige, crucifige, crucify him, crucify him, though they pulled 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 josiah taken from us, is it not a sad loss? and by a violent and bloody death, is it not a sad case? He was slain, not as josiah in my text by strangers of another Nation, and in the hear of battle; but murdered in cold blood, and that by some of his own Subjects, and Servants, who had sworn allegiance 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 Hypocrisy!) for these to murder him, and that not in private, as other Traitors have dealt with their Princes, but to do it openly with great pomp and artifice (as men solemnly wicked) and under pretence and show 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 light, with an harlot's 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 equalised in any history, not only of Holy Writ, but also of profane and heathen Authors.  
For such a King to be thus murdered, is the saddest ground of mourning that ever the good people of this Nation had; therefore for this, O England, gird thee with sackcloth, lament and howl, jer. 4.8. yea, wallow and roll thyself in ashes, make thee mourning as for an only son, yea bitter lamentation, jer. 6.26. and as it is Zach. 11.2. howl fir 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, jer. 9.1. or as it is, jer. 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 Zion, 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 pour out his fury upon us in blood. Let the blood of sprinkling, the blood of Christ speak better things than the blood of Abel. Abel's blood cried for vengeance, and so may the blood of this righteous one, but the blood of Christ cries for mercy. Holy Father, let that blood of thy dear Son outcry 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 loathe, 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 judgement, for our personal sins, and for our National sins, we have all contributed to that stock of sin which brought that stroke 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 profaneness, 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 bloodthirsty men: let us (I say) mourn for them in the 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 mortify them, that so we turning from our evil ways, and ceasing from sinning, the Lord may cease from punishing, and turn from his wrathful indignation, and restore to us his wont blessings and favours, as (praised be his name) he hath in great mercy begun.  
Our sins, our sins have been the cause of this judgement, and of all the judgements 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 julius Caesar was murdered in the Senate house, and some sought to pacify the business, he brought forth Caesar's coat all bloody, rend and cut, and spread it before the people: Look here (says he) you have your Emperor's coat thus bloody and torn; whereupon the people were presently in an uproar, and cried 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.  
Use 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 Sovereign; what good people they were, who gloried in it, rejoiced in it, and justified it being done, as I myself 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 dipped 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 works speak and let the world judge, and the Lord himself shall judge. If murder, aeason, homicide, parricide, regicide, hypocrisy, 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.  
Use 3. See what cause we have to bless God for the late blessed and healing Parliament, which hath endeavoured to avert God's wrath, and to acquit the Land of that innocent blood, by disavowing the deed, and by Justice upon the Traitors 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 fanatic 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 public.  
Use 4. See what cause we have to pour forth our humble prayers, and most hearty supplications to the most high, for his merciful and powerful protection and preservation of our most gracious Sovereign 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 Josiah (only any such tragic 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 than a miracle) to his just rights, and placed him on his Father's Throne; so he will vouchsafe to be his defence and strong Tower, to hid 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 sour 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 jabin, 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 rejoice 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 showing 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 everliving God, be all honour, praise, and glory, adoration and obedience, now and for ever, Amen.  
FINIS.