THE TEARS OF ZION Upon the Death of JOSIAH, Distilled in some Country Sermon notes on Febr. 4. and 11 th', 1649.  
Being the Quinquagesima and SexagesimaSundayes for that year.  Gloriosius esse pro Christo mori, quàm Regnare in hoc seculo; Quid enim praestantius quàm fieri Christi Hostiam? Ambros. de bono mortis, cap. 3. Blessed are they which are persecuted for Righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven, Mat. 5.10. 
Printed in the Year 1649.   

To the Reader.  
REader, I present to you those Tears, which (if you be truly Christian) were once in your own eyes; and the cause of which can never be out of your heart, for you ought to think your life spared awhile, only to lament his Death, whose life was given in exchange for yours; and not to be spared long, because his was not spared at all: you have nothing left you now, but to live and Mourn, or to Pray and Die: For which cause you may well give us also in the Country, leave to be as dutiful as others, though not as Courtlike as Affectionate, though not as Eloquent; 'Tis not Ostentation (that after so long Reluctancy) brings these sad Drops to be drawn out into public lines, but mere Duty to the Dead King, and Charity to the Living Subjects, those especially whom it most deeply concerns to be hearty sorry, yet care not to come to the Place where this was first published, to know so much: And to them as Servants, I as a minister of Christ must give this Admonition, They take, not too little, but too much of Christ upon them to be good Christians: They are taught to learn of Christ in his Humiliation, to be meek and lowly, pitiful and Patiented; But they do assume the state of his Exaltation, to be Judges of the Quick and Dead: I dare not judge their persons, (for myself a sinner fear to be judged of God,) but I must condemn their presumption, if they measure their Religion by their success, why do they not advance Turkism above Christianity? If by themselves, why come they so fare short of the worst Christians? For in Government they know no Charity, and under it they know no Patience; A character which belongs only to those that live within the Torrid Zone of a Furious Zeal, which if it cannot call down fire from Heaven, will fetch up fire from Hell, rather than not set the whole world in a combustion: Believe it men of this Temper (or rather of this Distemper) had need either invent, or bespeak a new Christianity, for the Old will not endure, much less maintain them. I must likewise say in behalf of the Woman persecuted by the Dragon, (Apoc. 12.) And of the Man persecuted for the Woman, that though (at present) driven into the Wilderness, they are still both on the better ground: Not the more unhappy, or sinful, because the less (outwardly) successful; And in this respect doth the Disciple of the Centurists judiciously castigate Salvian, for Defending God's providence (when he suffered the Western Churches to be trampled upon by Goths and Vandals,) only with this Argument, That the said Churches had been very sinful: Debebat autem non tantum Christianorum Peccata accusare, sed (propter pios & innocentis hominis) etiam docere, Deum immittere etiam sanctis suis gravis afflictiones & aerumnas, (ut Jobo Jeremiae, Johanni Baptistae, & aliis) ut conformes fiant imagini Filii Dei, saith Osiander, Cent. 5. lib. 4. cap. 11. Salvian should not only have blamed the bad Christians, for their sins, but (for some very pious and innocent men's sakes) have also taught, That God did often inflict great temporal punishments even upon his best and dearest children, (as he brought Job to the dunghill, Jeremy to the dungeon, John Baptist to the Block) (we may add, And King CHARLES to all three) to make them exactly conformable to the Image of his only Son; that as by their do they had borne the image of the living, so by their sufferings they might bear the image of the Dying Christ. But I intent no new discourse, only the rehearsal of an old complaint; yet certainly this present Age may blush to think, and all future Ages will blush not to say, That never a more Pious, a more noble Prince, swayed the Sceptre; Never a more impious, a more ignoble People, snatched the Sword: And therefore I may not blush to say, that I was at first but Dumb in speaking, and still am but maim in writing this sorrow: Better one hand had been on my mouth to stop my Voice, th' other on my Heart to stop my Pen; For as no sorrow is like Zions sorrow, so no sorrow of Zion was ever like to this for her dearest Josiah; As no mourning like the mourning of a Dove, so no mourning of the Dove like that of Haddadrimmon: And therefore 'tis confessed, (without shame, but not without cause) that this expression of Zions sorrow is too dry, to make your eye now water at the Reading (though happily your heart did even bleed at the first hearing of the Dismal Tragedy) but sure the affection▪ made the Author's eye water at the writing of it: And you must needs have a drop in your eye too, otherwise you will see more clearly to spy out faults, than the Author could to mend them: Who verily hopes for this reason to be justly offensive to none, because he intended not to burden any guiltless heart, but to ease his own; And those that are guilty, were better feel their burden here, then hereafter. The Devout man that carried the Martyr Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him, (Acts 8. 2.) Burdened their shoulders by the carriage, but eased their hearts by the Lamentation; Nor would the Jews that found so many stones to force St. Stephen's death, find one to throw at him that so openly bewailed it; The reason was sure, they were overcome by his Incomparable Patience, which spent his living spirits in converting his persecutors, But much more by his Divine charity which poured out his dying spirit in praying for them; And so did our lately deceased Sovereign, which melted the eyes (if not the heart) of that Officer of war, who guarded him to his Death; And much more should it pierce the very soul of a Son of Peace, who now Preacheth the Gospel of Peace, and never stretched out his hand against the King's life to harden his Heart, but for the King's Bread to strengthen it, which was the staff of his Life at Westminster, and the University above twenty years, and bound him by the piety of Education, not to study or play, not to eat or drink, not to sleep or wake, without praying for a Blessing upon the King, as well as upon himself. And though he hath these two last Olympiads of the bloody Game (for sure some men, like Abner, 2 Sam. 2. 14. made it but a Pastime) been wholly trained up in the severe School of conscience, (not only speculatively for the care of his own, but also practically for the cure of other men's souls) yet is forced to confess, that he cannot live in so great Patience (and charity) as his King could Diego For which cause he conceives himself unworthy to be enquired after, either for Approbation, or for Reprehension; And having undertaken to be Zions Penman, (though with Pan's Reed, in stead of Apollo's Quill) he is resolved to be known by no other Character than this of a true Citizen of Zion, that he is yours in all brotherly love, whether you be his so or no: Yet if you be any other so, he beseeches you not to separate those, which God hath joined together, Love the Brotherhood, Fear God, Honour the King: He desires that all three may be inseparably 
1 Pet. 2. 17.  joined in himself, and remains  
Your servant in Christ, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   

The Tears of Zion upon the Death of JOSIAH, etc.  2 CHRON. 35. 24, 25. 24. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25. 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 Ordubabce in Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. 
'tIS want of sorrow, that is the greatest cause of sorrow: Want of godly sorrow to compunction, that is the cause of woeful sorrow to confusion; Dives being in Torments hath not his memento given him for nothing, Luke 16. 25. Son, remember that thou in thy life time, etc. for Eternity and Time are as different in their condition as in their continuance: Heaviness must endure for the night of this life, that joy may come in the morning of Eternity (Psal. 30. 5.) (such a Morning as never draws to an Evening, and cannot be overshadowed with night:) Joy and gladness may be a vanity at all times, but 'tis also an impiety at such a time, when God calls to weeping and to mourning; And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning, Isa. 22. v. 12. And behold joy and gladness, v. 13. but what follows? next, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die, saith the Lord God of Hosts. At such a time Joy is not only a great Vanity, but also a great iniquity, a very great iniquity, For this iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die saith the Lord God of Hosts: 'Tis not an Host of men may forbid it, when the Lord of Hosts calls for it: Judah and Jerusalem would not be guilty of this iniquity; The Prophet Jeremy durst not be guilty of it: For when God called unto mourning for the Untimely Death (so untimely, that time itself could wish to be untimed in that part of its succession) the untimely death of their King Josiah, their Religious, their Devout, their unparalelled King Josiah, the Text saith, All Judah and Jerusalem mourned, and Jeremiah mourned, and the Singing men and singing women mourned, and left a Pattern of mourning to all Ages and all Sexes, and all conditions, and made them an Ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Tears are the best comment upon the Text, and they cannot be brought into method; for sorrow is an ill Courtier, and method is but the Courtship of Learning; The eye that waters is not so quicksighted, as to spy out elegancies: And where the Heart is full, the Hand cannot hold, till the eye hath done watering. But saith Judah as he goes along mourning, for he mourns till this day, saith the Text (and we may trace him by his tears) when I look upon the Parallel of the place, Zach. 12. 11. I am directed to mourn with one eye for my King, with the other for my Saviour; and indeed he saith true, for in this dismal Tragedy of Josiah, there was very much of Christ, both for the Innocence of the sufferer, and for the manner of his suffering. The Archers that shot Josiah knew him not to be King of Judah; And the Jews that crucified Christ knew him not to be their King; denying Pilat's question in stead of answering it, John 19 15. Shall I crucify your King? for they said, We have no King but Caesar, Professing that if he were their King (in their own knowledge,) they would never crucify Him: O Generation of Christians, worse than Jew's.  
Josiah kept a most solemn Passeover, and after it was made the Paschal Lamb; So Christ: But with this Difference; Christ for expiation and Diminution: Josiah for denunciation and increase of Vengeance; Bothinnocencies suffer upon Golgotha; in Christ to quicken the skulls, in Josiah to increase them: God permitted Christ to be slain, that he might reconcile Israel; But Josiah, that he might reject & remove it out of his sight, 2 Kings 23. 27. Josiah had not fought against Necho, if God had not fought against Judah; He stood like Aaron betwixt the Dead and the living; and God put him aside, being resolved to destroy all by Death; whiles Josiah lived, Judah could not die, and now Josiah is Dead, Judah may not hope (and scarce desire) to live. This is the Reason of the sad Ditty in the mouths of all the singing men and the singing women, who seem to groan and sigh out rather than sing this heavy Lamentation; Ah thou bloody Egyptian Tyrant, Hadst thou brought all the plagues of Egypt with thee, and left those Archers behind that shot Josiah, well thou mightest have grinded Judah and Jerusalem into Powder, but thou couldst never have dissolved it into Tears: And now, O ye singing men, and ye singing women, forget all the songs of Zion, as if ye were already in Babylon, (for it will not be long before you will be carried away captive thither,) Let all your mirth be turned into mourning; your Josiah is fallen, and your Hopes and Hearts are fallen with him, your voices must fall too. Yet a deeper note of sorrow, your singing must be turned into groaning, that your wail may be as sad as are your spirits; sigh out your last groan, and when you have thus quite mourned away your voices, then mourn out your eyes; Let not the Crocodiles of Egypt, outvie the men of Judah; They weep over their slain traveller before they devour him, having mercy in their eyes to check the want of it in their jaws: why should we that have, or aught to have so much mercy in our Hearts, have none at all in our eyes? If this Josiah and his goodnesses, (2 Chron. 35. 26.) (A magazine of all that's good, in all other good men, laid up in one Josiah) move you not, yet the other Josiah in Zacharie must needs move you; If not his kindnesses, yet your own unkindnesses must needs excite you; And were your hearts as Rocks, yet struck with Moses his Rod (the terrors of God's wrath against sinners, which your Josiah did undergo in your stead) there must needs issue forth Rivers of waters: If you can exceed in sorrow for Josiah, because he was taken away from the evil to come, yet you cannot for your own sins by which he was taken away: I am brought into so great trouble and misery (saith the tenderhearted King, Psa. 38. 6.) that I go mourning all the day long: He for my sins, and not I much rather for mine own? Sorrow is certainly most agreeable with a godly heart, or the man after Gods own heart could not have spoken thus, much less in the Person of the Son of God; not is the Precept and practise thereof merely legal, for those only that were under the curse of the Law; but also Evangelicall, for those that are under the Cross of Christ, and the blessings of the Gospel, James 4. 8, 9 They that are sinners must be afflicted, and mourn and weep▪ though they are bound to believe the Remission of sins; (And they must be sinners here in their own, who hope to be Saints hereafter in God's account:) Let us then join ourselves to this sad Choir of mourners, the season calls for it; Lent was anciently a time of mourning; The occasion calls for it, our Josiah is slain, and we have yet, a twofold louder call, that of our own sins and of God's judgements, both which cry aloud for the most bitter kinds of Lamentation: If not for our interest in the life of our King, yet for our sin in his Death, we must hearty lamenr, and that we may so do, we must ever hereafter speak of josiah in all our Lamentations; [They spoke of josiah in their Lamentations to this day.]  
Sorrow is very unwilling to lift up either Head or Eye, and therefore though we have heard some of the mournings of judah, yet we have not looked so much about us, as to see either the occasion of the mourning, or the condition of it: The Text directs us immediately unto both.  
First, The occasion of this bitter mourning, it was the untimely death of Josiah, untimely to all but to himself: They mourned for josiah.  
2. The condition of it in the train of the Mourners; All Judah and Jerusalem mourned, and Jeremiah lamented, and all the singing men, etc.  
First the occasion of this bitter mourning, the untimely death of josiah, lamentable in itself slain by Egyptians, in a full age and ripeness of years to govern both himself and judah, 2 Kings 22. 1. But more lamentable in its circumstances, for he had newly made a Religious Real, not a specious Fantastical league and covenant with God, 2 Chron. 34. 31. A Covenant that bond him to change his heart, not his Religion; and to keep the commandements which God had given, not to give a new Commandment in the name of God: He had taken away all the abominations of Israel, (34. 33.) Kept a most solemn Passeover (35. 18.) and both, with so great a Humiliation and Devotion, as might have exempted a most wicked Ahab from a judgement already denounced against him, not only in his own (as 1 Kin. 21. 29.) but also in his sons days.  
Yet after all this, comes his untimely Death, as it is said, 2 Chro. 35. 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the Temple, Necho King of Egypt came up, etc. After all this, when josiah had prepared the Temple, than himself was made the Sacrifice; So that this one occasion affords in truth many causes of their mourning, which are all reducible to these two Heads, Their Affection, and their Apprehension; their Affection, for what had befallen josiah; and their Apprehension, for what was like to befall them.  
1. There Affection for what had befallen josiah: So the Prophet jeremy gins his Lamentations, How is the City become a widow? Amisso Rege optimo, qui Regni quasi meritus est, & popularium quasi Pater, saith Tremelius, a very good Protestant, but in this a far better Christian; jerusalem was a widow having lost her Husband, and an Orphan having lost her Father, in the death of one josiah; And so comes both with the Affection of a widow to mourn for her husband, and with the affection of a child to mourn for her Father. If Rachel mourned so affectionately for her children, much more for her Husband, jerem. 31. 15. Do but change the persons, and you may see how jerusalem mourned for josiah; A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, not Rachel weeping for her children, but jerusalem weeping for her Husband, refuseth to be comforted for her Husband, because he is not: If jeremy could lament so exceedingly for the slain of the Daughter, then how much more for the slaying of the Father of his People? Do but so change his words, and you have a short view how jeremiah lamented for josiah, as he went along with the mourners, jer. 9 1. O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the Daughters, but much more, for the slain of the Father of my people.  
Thus the greatest natural and personal affection that could be to their Josiah, as a Father, as a Husband, is the cause of this great Lamentation, and yet greater is the affection they show to themselves: For they did indeed in Josiahs' death, mourn and lament their own Funerals: their affection to him was capable of some comfort, but their affection to themselves was capable of none; They knew that nothing but good had befallen Josiah, for he was gathered to his Fathers in peace, (as Huldah had prophesied, 2 Chron. 34. 28.) But they knew that nothing but evil could befall themselves, for whose sins he was so soon gathered to his Fathers: So that for their affection to him, they could comfort themselves with these two documents; First, That God will not have his faithful servants rely upon a temporal reward for their service, but calleth them to the contemplation and fruition of Eternity, and yet is no debtor in not paying their wages here in this world, 2 Cor. 4. 17. Secondly, That an untimely and unmerciful Death, is sometimes given in favour, not in judgement, to Righteous and merciful men, even to take them away from the evil to come, Isa. 57 1. As it was prophesied of this same Josiah, that he should be gathered to his fathers in peace, 2 Chron. 34. 28. which was without doubt fulfilled though he was afterwards slain in Battle, which hath the most cruel, and the most dreadful visage of War; so that their inference savours of ill Logic, but of worse divinity, who upon those words, Behold how he loved him, John 11. 36. Presently replied, v. 37. Can he not have caused that this man should not have died? as if that had been the greatest testimony of his love: For because God loved josiah, he suffered him to die. Thus their affection towards josiah, might receive comfort from these two Documents, which most of all distracts and disturbs their apprehension, when they reflect upon themselves; For both these considerations speak aloud to them this dreadful truth, That the untimely death of their good King Josiah, was not a Judgement upon the King, but upon the People, not upon him, but upon Judah and Jerusalem; and that's the second cause of their great lamentation, their dreadful apprehension for what was like to befall them : Judah and Jerusalem mourned for themselves in mourning for Josiah; And the Prophet Jeremy shows them as much, who though he writ his Lamentations upon this sad occasion, the Death of Josiah, (as Jarchi expounds these words of my Text, Behold they are written in the Lamentations, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he, that is, In the Book of Lamentations, yet he gins his complaint with the miserable estate, not of Josiah, but of Jerusalem; How doth the City fit solitary that was full of people? None of all the Prophets seem so framed for, and composed to Lamentations as Jeremiah; he had a Heart to conceive it, a Hand to indite it, and a Tongue to express it; Surely because he writ much about the time of Josiahs' death, which was the Inlet of all Judah's misery: For immediately after that, Judah was captivated under sin, and that brought in the captivity under Babylon, whiles Josiah lived, he made Judah and jerusalem serve God so devoutly, that Non fuit simile huic in Israel, was the Eulogy of their Passeover, 2 Chron. 35. 18. And no sooner is he dead, bus 'tis said of them, They walked after the imagination of their own heart, (a most secret, but a most sottish kind of Idolatry,) And after Baalim, which their fathers taught them, Jer. 9 14. (for in all probability this Chapter was not penned till after josiahs' death.) This is the reason jeremiah Prophecies so mournfully, (a fit Prophet for those calamitous times, both for the Disposition in himself, and for his Invitation of others to sorrow and contrition) insomuch that a great part of his Prophecy is but a mere Lamentation, especially the former part of it, which was nearest the time of josiah, (for after the 21. chapter, all his Prophecy is in the days of jehoiakim and Zedechiah) wherein he somewhat exceeds the sorrow of his own spirit, writing not only more dolefully than any other Prophet, but also more dolefully than all the other parts of his own Prophecy, I will give you but one instance for all, and that is, cap. 4. v. 19 My bowels, my bowels, I am pained at the very heart: 'Tis in the Hebrew, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I am pained as a woman in travail, at the walls or bulwarks of my heart, that which most struggles to keep life, hath the stroke of death upon it: The sorrows of a woman in her travail are almost insupportable; But a wounded spirit who can bear? Prov. 18. 14. The pain of the heart is for greater than the pain of the bowels, but lest we should think, he was not in the greatest extremity of pain, he joins them both together, saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am so pained at the heart, as if I were in childbirth, such was his grief for Iosiah's death, a pain that both rends the bowels and breaks the heart, and batters down the very walls and bulwarks of life. And what's the reason of all this great pain? He tells us in the next verse, Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is spoilt, which could not be while josiah lived, and therefore in these and such like sad expressions, he did Prophetically foretell, if not Historically bemoan Iosiah's death, or rather indeed bemoan jerusalem, not but that his affection was most dutiful to josiah, but because his apprehension was more dreadful for Jerusalem: For he saw that josiah was taken to the Reward of mercy for his great zeal to God and Religion, but Jerusalem was left exposed to Judgement, for her multiplied Abominations and Impieties; And to the most heavy judgements of this world, Fire and Sword, and Bondage, and to the most heavy bondage that could be to them, a Bondage under the Egyptians. A Bondage, which their Fathers before had groaned so long under, and which they could not at that time but tremble to think upon, for Josiahs' Passovers, (according to the Law, Exod. 12. 26, 27.) could not but fill their ears with the narration, and their hearts with the horror of it; It was the Bondage of Egypt, which those children could not but expect merciless, whose Fathers had been formerly the spoilers and destroyers of the Egyptians: Let us a little view this new Bondage, that it may appear their fears were not greater than their dangers, though they were greater than their hopes, for now Egypt had learned to act beyond itself in the practice of cruelty: Before, it was contented to take the tribute of their hands in work, or of their backs for not working, by the Brick-task-masters; But now besides these, it hath found out money taskmasters to demand Tribute of their purses: The former Tyrants had made them slaves, but this Necho makes them pay for their slavery; nay, he made not only their Purses Tributary, but also their Patience, whiles they were forced to see Jehoaaz, whom they had declared King in his Father's stead, deposed by this Tyrant, and themselves punished for their Allegiance towards Josiah, their beloved Josiah and his seed, in an hundred talents of Silver, and one talon of Gold (2 Chro. 36. 3.) For it is more than probable that Necho condemned the Land in that mulct or punishment for presuming to be true and faithful to the Succession of the Crown without his leave: And yet there is a worse Bondage than this, the bondage of their Religion; begun by the Egyptians, and completed after by the Babylonians. This bondage of their Religion was now begun by the Egyptians, for Necho made Eliakim change his name to Jehoiakim, (2 Chron. 36. 4.) before he would admit him to be King, as if he should renounce or forget his Circumcision, wherein his name was first given him, or lose his Kingdoms. And this same Bondage was completed by the Babylonians, who carried away all the Treasures of the house of the Lord, and cut in pieces all the Vessels of gold, which Solomon King of Israel had made in the Temple of the Lord; Thus were they forced to see the abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy place, which carried the Desolation further than the Temple, even to their souls that saw it, whiles they were compelled to look on profaneness in stead of Religion, and see their Temple and worship both made havoc of by uncircumcised Babylonians, they not in the least degree able to help either themselves or their Temple.  
All the Book of God sets not down so sad an History of a King destroyed for his People, as this of Josiah; And therefore no wonder if we find not any where else so sad a lamentation: they had kept a solemn Passeover before, but now they were forced to keep a dismal Passeover, when their innocent Josiah was made the Paschal Lamb, and their first born not saved, but destroyed by the sprinkling of his blood. We have but one example that comes near this, and that is of our Saviour Christ; And he bids the women of Jerusalem lament not for him, but for themselves, and for their children, Luk. 23. 27. for though his death did satisfy the eternal wrath of God against other sinners, yet did it open the floudgates, to let in his temporal wrath upon them that crucified him by a whole deluge of Blood. But behold in this of Josiah is somewhat a more dismal Passeover: For in the Passeover of Christ, as it was typical in the Lamb, none but Egyptians, as it was real in himself, none but Devils were smitten; But in this of Josiah, all Israel, nay the best of all Israel, Judah and Jerusalem, nay the best of Jerusalem, the Temple of God, nay the best of the Temple, the Altar, the worship of God was smitten.  
All the Plagues that Israel had formerly occasioned unto Egypt, were now more than abundantly repaid back again to them by the Egyptians, in taking away their Josiah, who stood alone betwixt them and the final wrath of God; From henceforth Jerusalem may expect, to be made a Cup of trembling unto others (Zach. 12. 2.) and much more unto herself: And the Inhabitants of Judah may take up that sad complaint of the Psalmist, Psal. 60. 3. Thou hast given us a drink of deadly wine, Potasti nos Vino, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tremoris, quod bibens homo contramiscit & moritur; Thou hast given us not only a drink of deadly poison, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as saith Jarchie, that contracts and shuts up the Heart, but also a drink of Palsie-poyson, that first brings a shaking, than death upon him that drinks it; Jerusalem had such a Cup of Trembling at Josiah's death; she could not but fear and tremble to think, that since her sins were now so great as to make God snatch away her Josiah, that he might recall the blessings of Peace and Truth, which he had given, they would not in haste be so little as to suffer him to renew again such blessed gifts.  
This was the occasion of this great mourning, and the condition is answerable to the occasion, which is my second general part, The condition of this mourning in the train of Mourners, And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned, and Jeremiah lamented, and all the singing men, and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their Lamentations, etc.  
The condition of this mourning is such, as never was before nor after it; all the imaginable degrees of sorrow are to be found in it; Gradus extensionis, Gradus intensionis, Gradus Protensionis; The greatest sorrow that ever was in Judah for its universality, for its vehemency, for its continuance; 1. Gradus extensionis, The greatest sorrow that ever was for its Universality: For 'tis Omni & singuli, all Judah and Jerusalem in general, Then Jeremiah and the singing men & singing women in particular▪ in their several consorts and companies, nay in their several Families, saith Zach. 12. 12, 13. And the land shall mourn every family apart, the family of the house of David apart, [for the great loss that is befallen the house of David.] And the family of the house of Levi apart, [for the great loss that is befallen to the house of God] Every family apart [for their great loss, in the losses of the house of David, and the house of God.] If true grief of heart could endure to be Ceremonious, it would here easily find an employment for a Litania major; and busy another Gregory (for here is a Mauritius too slaughtered by the Captain of his Armies) to order this sad Procession, wherein all the Families of judah and jerusalem apart, do bewail and lament the loss of their dearest Lord, the only joy of their hearts whiles he lived; and now dead, the greatest grief of them: But I can take notice only of their Passion, which makes them cry out with great earnestness, but greater sorrow, in this dreadful Quaking of men, as those of Constantinople sometimes did in that dreadful quaking of the Earth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sanctus Deus, Sanctus Fortis, Sanctus Immortalis miserere nostri, Holy O God, Holy O mighty, Holy o Immortal have mercy upon us; have mercy upon us that are living, who hast already magnified thy mercy towards the dead, in taking him away by death, from the insupportable miseries of this wretched life.  
But why is there no mention of Israel in this Universal sorrow of all Judah's and Jerusalem's mourning for Josiah? I answer, they were not so happy (though this happiness was the greatest of miseries) they were not so happy as to have any share in this loss, and therefore not in this Lamentation; this sorrow had too much of God for the Israelites to be partners in it, who had so little of God left in them:) Nay, who had so desperately fallen away from him; which Apostasy of theirs is remarkably set forth by one of their own writers, R. David Kimchi upon Hos. 3. v. 4, 5. The words of the Prophet are these, Verse 4. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a King, and without a Prince, and without a Sacrifice, and without an Ephod, and Teraphim, Verse 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. The fourth verse sets down Israel's captivity for their sin; The fift verse, their Restauration for their Repentance: And Kimchie upon those words gives us this gloss, The children of Israel (saith he) did in the days of Rehoboam, reject or forsake three things, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They did reject the kingdom of Heaven in forsaking God; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Kingdom of the house of David, in forsaking Rehoboam; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the house of the Sanctuary or temple of Jerusalem, in setting up Calves at Bethel; And in these three consisted their captivity. Therefore in the fift verse where is promised their Restauration, the Prophet saith, they shall return again to all these; They shall seek the Lord their God, there is promised their return to the Kingdom of Heaven; And David their King, there's promised their return to the house of David; And shall fear the Lord and his goodness, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & Bonum ejus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Kimchie, that is, His Sanctuary: There's promised their return to the house of God; In their defection from these was their Apostasy, in their Apostasy, was their misery and captivity; Before their Revolt in King David's time, it was, O Israel trust in the Lord, and, he shall redeem Israel from all his sins, Psal. 130. But after Jeroboams Rebellion and Revolt from the house of David, we find that Israel had not one good King in many successions of Ages, and that it had very little share in the true worship of God, and as little in his blessing.  
Secondly, Gradus intensionis, The greatest sorrow that ever was in Judah for its Vehemency; mourning, lamenting, speaking, ordaining, writing not words enough to express this Lamentation, Therefore is that for the death of Christ compared to it, and expressed by it, Zach. 12. 11. To show, that not words, but only tears can speak it: Those silent orators make least noise, but greatest moan: Christ answers the tears of the weeping Woman, when he would not answer the words of the insolent Judge; I hope he will so answer us, and in mercy look back upon us, (as he did upon them, Luk. 23. 28.) Bewailing and lamenting our sins, that brought death both upon him, and upon our Josiah; we have no other Balm to afford him at his Burial, but what grows in our heads, and drops from our eyes: Joseph is acquitted from consenting to the counsel of them that killed Christ, by providing a Tomb to bury him, Luk. 23. 51. Let us acquit ourselves too, by providing tears to embalm him: And notwithstanding the outcry of the people in their general Petition for Justice against the Lords anointed, for Christ is so both to Heaven and Earth, as against one that had injured God and Caesar, the Text seems to speak favourably of them who smote their breasts and returned, Luk. 23. 48. for such did certainly either show their innocence, or wish themselves innocent: Let us earnestly follow after such an innocence, which what it wants in Righteousness, hath in Repentance; Necho himself though he opened that dismal Urine of Blood, yet cared not to stop this milder Vein of water; He had filled their hearts too full, to deny them to fill their eyes: And that man would profess himself worse than an Egyptian Tyrant who should go about to forbid such mourning for a dead King, as testifies sorrow for the sin that killed Him; for that were all one as to forbid Repentance, and to encourage an impenitent course of sinning No Conqueror may expect to exercise his conquest over the affections, And least of all should he desire to exercise it over that of sorrow, because that most plainly, though unwillingly acknowledgeth his Conquest: But if Necho should have desired this, he would have desired it in vain; for none can take away tears from the eyes, but he that made them to be there; It was an easier task for him to gain a conquest over the men's hands, then over women's eyes: nay in this respect, he had made the most courageous and stouthearted men of Judah, to become women; that whom by their Swords they could not preserve from falling, him being fallen they might bewail with their tears; thinking it more honourable to pay the tribute of women to their dead King, than the tribute of men to a living Tyrant: And yet indeed those tears were not so much the expresions of duty to their dead Lord, as of Piety to their living God; Tears of Repentance and remorse of conscience; The man of Judah highly disdaining to become tributary to Egypt, before they had been tributary to Heaven, and therefore they first pay God tribute of their tears, than Pharaoh of their money; first God the tribute of their souls by a hearty sorrow, than Necho the tribute of their bodies by a constrained Captivity.  
Thirdly, Gradus Protentionis, The greatest sorrow that ever was in Judah, for its continuance: For, To this day, saith the Text, and an Ordinance in Israel, and written in the Lamentations. Till this day, id est, till Ezra's time, after the Captivity of Babylon; nay indeed, till our time, till all time, if not in the sorrow itself (which is too too certain) yet in the Records of it, The Book of the Lamentations. 'Twas happily a practice for some few, but sure 'twas a Pattern for all Ages; An Ordinance in Israel, for in all public lamentations ever after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Jarchie▪ They took an occasion to rub up this sore, to make mention of this bitter weeping. It seems they had a Remembrance of this in all their great mournings, as they had of worshipping Aaron's Calf in all their great Repentances. And as in all their Epidemical miseries and calamities after their Idolatry, they supposed they saw a Dram of Aaron's Calf, which made them still bewail that sin; So in all the bloodshed that ever after came upon Jerusalem, they might well suppose they did behold some one drop of Josiahs' Blood, and that made them multiply those tears, which though they could not wipe away their guilt, yet could weep out their sorrow.  
O God put thy Jerusalem's tears into thine own bottle, who didst first put them into her eyes; Let thy hand wipe them away from thence, because thy Spirit first put them there; And lest (passing through so muddy a channel of sinful earth) they should defile thy Hand to touch them, Wash we beseech thee both our Bodies and Souls in the Blood of thy Son, that though we mourn for a season in this life, yet we may be everlastingly comforted in the life to come, even in the blessed Vision and fruition of God the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost, world without end, Amen.  
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〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉:  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Whom God hath crowned, whom God hath ever taught,  
For him God would not have deliverance wrought;  
And is he gone! may flames earth overthrow,  
And gloomy darkness Heavens overgrow:  
It was not Ink but Tears that filled my Pen,  
When I did write, King CHARLES is crowned in Heaven.  
Thus did I sigh, this was my hearty Groan,  
Who loved my King's life better than mine own.  
FINIS.