' Neither shall thy eyes see the misery I will bring upon this people.' Voct. 8. Here we learn again that it is the sight of misery which n-orJcs the deepest impression. It is not the hearing of a thing, but the sight of it, which affecteth most deeply ; as in the sacrament, the seeing of the bread broken, and the wine poured out, works a deep impression ; and because God knew Josiah's heart would break at the sight of the misery, therefore he tells him, ' Thine eyes shall not see the evil that I will bring upon this place.' The sight is a most working sense, to make the deepest impression upon the soul. What shall be our great joy and happiness in heaven, but that we shall see God for evermore ? Sight is a blessing upon earth, both the eyes of the body wherewith we see, and the eyes of the soul — that is, faith — which makes us see afar off, till in heaven we shall see him face to face. So that sight makes us both happy and miserable.
Use 1. How icretched, then, is the estate of them that shall see themselves, with their own wicked eyes, sent to hell, idth the creature they delighted in. That which the eyes see, the heart feels. There are many atheists, whose whole care is to preserve life. They would live, although they live the life of a dog. But the time will come, that thou wilt more earnestly desire
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deatli than life. Thy e5'es shall soe, and thy body foel, and thy conscience too, that which is worse than a thousand deaths. Thou shalt then die a living death. The worm of thy conscience shall gnaw thee for ever, and shalt see and feel the tormenting fire which shall never be quenched. That which the wicked nourish now to follow their humour, never caring to please God, the day will be when they shall desire to avoid it ; and that which they labour to avoid most now, the time will come when they shall most desire it. Deatli is the king of fears. It is terrible. But then look be- yond death : what is behind that ? Thou shalt see at the heels of it hell and eternal damnation.
Use 2. This should teach us also how to understand the jnwnlse of lonrj life. It is a promise and a favour of God to be desired. It is a prayer with condition, if God see it good ; else God may give us long life, to see and feel a world of misery. Therefore such promises are to be desired conditionally : if God see it good for us.
Doct. 9. Again, The Holy Ghost saith here, ' Thy eyes shall not see the evil I will bring upon this place.' Hence we learn, that those which be dead in the Lord, are freed from seeiar/ of any eril or misery. The godly shall see no misery after death. If this be so, then they do not go into purgatory after death, as the papists hold. The Holy Ghost saith, Josiah is taken away from seeing any evil to come. Then sure they do not fall into such misery after death, which is worse than death. True, say the papists, such excellent men as Josiah do go to heaven immediately. Ay, but the Holy Ghost saith by Isaiah, Ivii. 1, that * the righteous are taken away from the evil to come.' It is spoken of the whole generation of righteous men. Therefore it is a sottish thing for them to hold that any df'them shall see purgatory, when God saith the righteous are taken away from seeing any evil to come.
Doct. 10. And as it is against them in this, so here is another conclusion ayainst j)opery, that takes away their invocation of saints : for the righteous go to heaven, and cannot see or know our wants and miseries ; yea, they are taken away, because they should not see the miserable estate that befalls their posterity. Then if they do not know our wants, how can they hear and help us when we pray, seeing it is a part of their happiness not to understand our miseries ? For if Josiah, from heaven, could have seen the desolation and misery that befell his country afterwards, it would have wrought upon him. But Josiah was taken away, that he should not see it. Therefore, why should men spend that blessed incense and sacrifice of prayer, unto those that cannot hear ? But put case, they could hear some ; yet can they hear all that pray unto them ? A finite creature hath but a finite act and limited power. How can one saint give a distinct answer and help to perhaps a thousand prayers, as the virgin Mary hath many thousand prayers offered her ? How can she distinctly know, and give a distinct answer to every prayer ?
* Thou shalt be put in thj grave in peace, neither shall thy eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place.' Let us learn here a mystery of divine providence in his death ; for there is a mystery of providence, not only in great matters, as election and predestination, but in ordering of the common things of the world. How many excellent mysteries are here wrapt together in this death of Josiah ! As, first, it is said that he died in peace, whereas he died a violent death, and was slain by the hands of his enemies. His death was both a mercy and a correction : a correction for his error in being so hasty in going to war with Pharaoh, king of Egypt ; and yet it