Look, as when the Israelites came near the land of promise, there was a swelling Jordan betwixt it and them, which seemed to forbid their farther passage and progress; but is is said. Josh. iii. 17. '' The priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood *' firm on the ground in the midst of Jordan ; and all the Israelites ^' passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean " over Jordan."" Just so it is here : The covenant of grace stands on firm ground, in the midst of all the deep waters of tribulation you are to pass through, to secure unto you a safe passage through them all. Rejoice, therefore, and triumph in the fulness and firm- ness of this blessed covenant, and whatsoever affliction your God shall please to lay upon you, or whatsoever comfort he shall please to remove from you, still comfort and encourage yourselves, as David here doth. " Yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, " ordered in all things, and sure : For this is all my salvation, and ^^ and all my desire ; although he make it not to grow."
Preached for the Funeual of that Excellent and Religious Gentleman,
JOHN UPTON, OF LUPTON, Esq.
2 Che.on. XXXV. 24, 25.
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put hirji in the second chariot that he had ; and they brought him to Jerusa^ lem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers : and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing-men and the singing-womeyi spahe of Josiah in their lamentations to this day^ and made them an ordinance in Israel : and behold they are writ-' ten in the lamentations.
XN this context we have the history of the pious life^ and tragical death of good king Josiah. The history of his life gives us an ac- count of both what he was, and what he did. As to his personal endowments and qualifications, they were singular and eximious, as appears by the fourfold character by which he is described in the context: For,
First, He espoused the interest of religion betimes, even in his youth ; chap, xxxiv. ver. 3. " For in the eighth year of his reign, ^' while he v/as yet young, he began to seek after the God of David " his father :" And that under the great disadvantage of an ill education, such a morning promised a glorious day.
Secondly, He hated all corrupt mixtures in the worship of God, and was answerably zealous for reformation : " And in the twelfth " year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, ^* and the groves,*'' &c. as knowing well he and his people might expect no more of God's blessing on the ordinances, than there was of his presence in them ; and no more his presence can rationally be ex- pected, than there is of his own order and institution.
Thirdly, He was of a very tender and impressive heart, mourning for public sins and dangers ; chap, xxxiv. 26, 27. " Because thy heart " was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when " thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabi- *' tants thereof; and humblest thyself before me, and didst rend thy *' clothes and weep before me," &c. He was not so intent upon his own pleasures, (though in the sprightly vigour of youth) nor on the
A SERMON PREACHED, kc. 121
•weio-hty concerns of the kingdom, as to forget the interest of God, and the greater concerns of his glory.
Fourthly, He was exceeding careful to propagate the interest of re- ligion, and spread it far and wide among his people. Though he could not infuse the inward principle^ (that was the work of God) yet he did enjoin the extei-nal practice of it upon all his subjects, which was his part and duty: chap, xxxiv. ver. 33. " He made all that " were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their " God. And all his days they departed not from following the God " of their fathers."
But yet good Josiah had his mistakes and failings. The best of men are but men at best: he was too rash and hasty in resolving, and too stiff and obstinate when resolved ; and this was the occasion of his ruin. The case v/as thus :
Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, was at that time making war upon Charchemish, a place tliat belonged to him, but was taken from him by the king of Assyria; so the war .of Necho was a just war; and Judah lying between him and Charchemish, and being at peace with Judah, he requests leave of Josiah to march his army peaceably througli his country to the seat of war : Josiah takes an alarm from this message, and arms against him. Hereupon Necho sent ambassa- dors to Josiah, chap. xxxv. ver. 21. saying, " 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 ; forbear thee from meddling with God, who is '' with me, that he destroy thee not."
Expositors conceive Necho had this discovery of the mind of God, from the prophet Jeremiah, Per oraculum non sc7^iptum,sed viva voce editum'^^ : even by word of mouth. If so, no doubt Jeremiah ajso dissuaded Josiah from going out against him : however, this is clear, Josiah did not consult the mind of God about that expedition as he ought, and was too hasty and resolute therein ; chap. xxxv. 22. " Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him," &c. By this means this excellent man came to a tragical end, and that in the very flower of his days. He dies in that unhappy expedition, from which he would not be diverted ; is brought home to Jerusalem in the second chariot : dies, and is buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, to the universal sorrow of all good men in Israel, as you read in the text ; wherein we have these two parts to consider ;
I. The nature and quality of the lamentation.
II. The cause and grounds of it.
1. For the lamentation here made, it was extraordinary; never such cries heard before in Israel at any funeral, whether we consider it either,
* Jerom. a Lapide. Just. Mart.
1S2 A SERMON PREACHED AT THE
3. Protensively. 1. Extensively^ AllJudah and Jerusalem, that is, city and country mourned that day ; not every individual, but all that had any sense of the worth of the man, the good that he did, or the evils that fol- lowed upon his removal. No doubt the priests of Baal, their abettors and associates, secretly rejoiced at his fall; but all good men mourned. But among all the mourners, one is only specified by name, and that is Jeremiah the prophet, in whom all the faithful ministers of God were included. To them he was a true and faithful friend; and in him they lost a father, and a famous instrument of reformation.