Parochial and Plain Sermons

"Because thine heart was tender, and thou tas! httrnbled thd«elf before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake affainst this place, and affainst the inhabitants thereofl, that they shouhl beeome a desolation and a curse, atd hast rent tky elothes, and weTt beflore lle; I also bave heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will #alher thee unto thd fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy ff-rave iz peaee; and thine eyes shall net sec all the evil whieh I will brin# upon this 39lace.'"

ING JOSIAH, te whom these words are addressed, was one of the most pious of the Jewish kings, and the nmst eminent reformer of them all. On him, the last sovereign of David's bouse (for his sons had net an independent rule), descended the zeal and prompt obedence wMch raised the son of Jesse frein the sheepfold te the throne, as a mn after God's own heart. T|ms, as an honour te David, the blessing upon his posterty rcmained in ifs fulness even te the end; its light net waxing "dira," ner "its natural force abating." Both the character and the fortunes of Joslah are deseribed in the text; his eharaeter, in its saying that his "heart was tender," and that he feared God; and his fbrtunes, viz. an untimely death; dcsigned as a reward for lais obedience: and the text is a prt or  the answer which the Prophctess Huldah was instructed [o make to him, xvhen he rpplied for encout'agelnent and g'uidance after accidentally findin the book of 3[oses' Law in the Temple. This discovcry is the most remarkable occurrence of lais reign, and will fitly serve fo introduce and connect toether what I wish now to set betore you concernin Josiah. The discovery of ]XIoses' Laxv in the Temple is a very important occurrence in the history, because if shows us that Holy Scripture had been for a long while neglected, and to all practical purposes lost. By the book of the law is meant, I need scarcely say, the rive books of 5Ioses, which stand first in the Bible. These made up one book or volume, and xvere fo  Jew the most important part of the Old Testament, as containing the original covenant between God and His people, and explaining to them what their plce was in the seheme of God's providence, what were their duties, and what their privileges. Ioses had been directed fo enfbrce the study of this laxv on the Israelites in various wys. He exhorts them fo "lay up his words in their heart and in their soul, and fo bind them for  sign upon their hand, that they might be as frontlets between their eyes." "And ye shall teach them your children," he proceeds,

osia]z, a Patterz for t]ze Zgrzora¢t. 93 « speaking- of them w.hen thou sittest in tline bouse, and Mmn thon walkest by the vay, when thon liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine bouse, and upon thy ffates ." Besides this g'eneral provision, it was ordered that onee in seven years the law should be read fo the whole people assembled at the feast of tabernacles  And further still, it was provided, that in case they ever had king% eaeh king was fo write ou the whole of i from the ofiinM eopy Mfieh was kept in the ark. "And it shall be wih him, and he shall read therein all the days of his lire.., that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn hot aside from the eommandment, to the right hand or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel ." However, considering • how soon the nation fe]l into a general disregard of the law and worship which God gave them, it is hot wonderful that these wholesome precepts were neglected, which could hot be performed without testifying against their multiplied transgressions. And much more when they took to themselves idols, did they neglect, of course, to read the law which condemned them. And when they had set a king over them against the will of God, if is hot strange that their kings, in turn, should neglect the direction given  Deut. xi. 18—20.  Deut. xxxi. 9—13.  Dêut. xvil. 19, 20.

94 yosia/, a Pattcrn for 1/e rg'notant. them to eopy out the law for themselves; sueh kings espeeially us fell int.o idolutrv. Ail this upplies partieula.rly to the age in whieh Josiah sueeeeded {o the throne, so thu{ if is in no way surprising tlmt he knew nothing of the law till it ws by chance round in {he Temple some years af{er his eession. The lst good kin.g of auda.h before him was Ilezekiah, who had been dead sixty or seventy years. Tha{ religions king had heen sneeeeded by his son MTanasseh, the most profime of all the line of David. IIe if was vho eommitted {lose inexpiable sins whieh sealed the sentence of Judah's des{ruetion. He had set up n.n idol in the Temple; had lnade his son pass {hrough the tire; had denlt wifl familiar spiri{s and wizards; had "shed innocent blood very mueh, till he lmd tilled Jerusulem from one end {o another;" in a word, had "done wiekedly above nll that {le Amori{es did whieh were belote him'." On his retnrn from euptivity in Babylon, whither he wns taken eup{ive, 5Ianasseh attempted a reformation; but., alas! he round if easier to seduce than fo reclaim his people . Amon, who succeedcd him, fo]lowed the first ways of his father during his short reign. Instead of rel)enting, as his ihther had done, he "trespassed more and more. '' After a while, his subjects conspired and slew him. Josiah was the son of this wicked king'. Here, then, we bave sufficient explanation of Josiah's I 2 Kings xxi. 11.: 2 Chron. xxxiii. 15—25. a Ibid. 23.

]osia,  Pallcr for 1]e ]gwrat. 9 ignoranee of the law of Moses. He was brough up among ve wieked menin a eorrup eourtafter an apostasy of mo than lmlf a centmT; far from God's Prophets, and in the midst of idols. In such times was Jos]ah bo; and, like Manasseh, he came to the throne in his boyhood. As if fo show us that religion depends on a man's self (undcr God, who gives graee)2 on the statc of his heart, hOt Oll olltward circumstances, h[anasseh was the son of thc pious IIczekiah, aud Josiah was fle son of wickcd,kmou. Josiah was but eight years old when his father was slain. We hear nothing of his boyhood; but scarcely was he of age fo think for himself, and fo profess himself a servant of the true God, btt he chose tlmt "goo«l part which could hot be taken away from him ." "Iu the eighth year of his reign" (i. e. when he was sixteen years of ae), "' whilc he was yet young, he began fo seek after the Goal of David his father:." Blessed arc thev who so seek, for they shall find. Josiah had hot the aid of a revealed volume, af least hot of the Law; he was surrounded by the diversifies of idol-worship, the sophistries of unbelief, the seductions of sinful pleasurc, tIe had every temptation fo go wrong; and had he done so, we might have made allowances, and said that he was hot so bad as the other kings, for he knew no better; he had not sinncd against light. Yes, he would bave sinned against lightthe event shows if; for if he I Luke x. 42.: 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3.

had light enough to go right (which he had, for he did go right), it follows, that if he ha.d gone wrong, if would bave been agaiust light. Not, indeed, so stron aud clear a light as Solomon disobeyed, or Joash; still a-ainst his better knowledg. This is very inaportant. Evcry one, evcn thc poorest and most ignorant, has knowledg enoug'h to be religious. Education does hot nmke a man religious: nor: again, is if ail excuse for a man's disobedience, that he bas not been educated in his duty. If onlv makes him less guilty than those who bave been educated; {hat is ail: he is still guily. Hel'e, I say, the poorest and most unlearned among us, may take a lesson from a Jewish king. Sca.rcely can any one in a Christian land be in more disadvantageous eircumstances than Josiah—nay, scarcely in a heathen: he had idolatry around him, and at the age he bean fo seek God, his mind was unformed. What, then, was it that guided him? whence his klmwledge? tic had that, which ail men bave, heathen as well as Christians, till they pervert or blunt it—a natural sense of rig'ht and wron'; and he did not l»lunt it. In the words of the text, «his heart was [euc[er;" he acknowledg'ed a constrainin- force in the Divine voice within himhe heard and obeyed. Though all the world had told him otherwise, he could not believe and would not, that he might sin without offence with impunity; that he might be sensual, or cruel, after the manner of idolaters, and nothing would corne

osiah, a Paltern for tke Ignorant. 97 of if. And further, amid all the rations worships offered fo his aeeeptanee, this same inward sense of his, streng'thened by praetiee, unhesitatingly chose out the true one, the worship of the God of Israel. ehose betveen the better and the worse, thoug'h if eould not have diseovered the better of itself. Thus he vas led right. In his case was filfilled the promise, "Who is among" you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voiee of Ilis servant, that walketh in darkness, and lmth no liht? Let him trust in the naine of the Lord, and stay upon lais God 1.» Or, in the Psalmist's words, "The fear of the Lord is the beinning" of wisdom: ood understanding" have all they that do His eommandments ." Or (as he elsewhere expresses it), "I understand more than the aneients, beeause I keep Thy preeepts ." Sueh was the beinning of Josiah's lire. Af sixteen he bean to seek afer the God of his fathers; wenty he eommeneed his reformation, with a resolute faith and true-hearted g'enerous devotion. From the lang'uae of Seripture, if would seem, he beg'an of kim«elf; thus he is lef a pattern to all ags of prompt obedienee for eonseienee' sake. Jeremiah did not bein to prophesy till aller the king" entered on his reformation, as if the reat prophet's eall were delayed on purpose fo try the treng'th of Josiah's loyalty to his God, while his hands were yet unaided a Isa. 1. 10. " P. exi. 10.  Ps. exix. 100. [VIII]

by the exertions of others, or by the guidance of inspired men. What knowledge of God's dealings with his nation and of His revealed purposes Josiah had at this time, we can only conjecture; from the priests he miht learn much generally, and from the popular belief. The miraculous destruction of Sennacherib's army was hot so lon since, and it proved fo him God's especial protection of the Jewish people. Manassch's repentance was more recent still; and the Temple itself, and its service, contained much doctrine to a relig, ious mind, even apart from the law or the prophets. But he had no accurate knowledge. At twenty, then, he commenced his reformation. At first, hot having the ]3ook of the Law to guide him, he took such measures as natural conscience suggested; he put away idolatry generally. Thus he set out, not knowing whither he went. But if is the rule of God's providence, that those who act up to their light, shall be rewarded with clearer light. To him that hath, more shall be given. Accordingly, while he was thus engaged, after a few years, he found the ]3ook of the Law in the course of lais reformations. He was seeking God in the way of His commandments, and God met him there. He set about repairing the Tcmple; and if was in the course of this pious work that the high priest found a copy of the Law of Moses in the Temple,

osa, a Palh'rn.for te [gorant. 99 probbly the originl copy which wa plaeed in the ark. Joiah' conduet on thi discovery mark hi clmracer. Mny men, ertainly many young mn, who had ben so zea]ous as he had a]ready shown himself for six years, would have prided themselves on what they had done, and though they began humbly, by this rime would have become self-willed, self-confident, a.nd hard-hearted. He had already been engaged in repressing and l)unishing God's enemies—this had a tendency fo infect him with spiritual pride: and he had a work of destruction to do—this, too, might have made him cruel. Far fi'om it: his peculiar praise is singleness of mind, a pure conscience. Even after years of activity agiust idolatry, in the words of the texf, "his hea.rf was tender," and he still "humbled himoelf before God." tIe felt full well the immeasurable distance between himself and his Maker; he felt his own blindness and weakness; and he still earnestly sought to know his duty better than he did, and to practise if more entirely. His was not that stern enthusiasm which has displayed itself in some so-called reformations, fancying itself God's peculiar choice, and "despising others." Here we have the pattern of reformers; singleness of heart, gentleness of temper, in the midst of zeal, resoluteness, and decision in action. All God's SMnts bave this union of opposite g'races; Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Nehemiah, St. Paul: but in which of them all is the wonder-working"

I oo 'osia/t, a Patter, z for the Inorant. power of grnee shown more a.ttraetively thnn in aosiah.9 "' Out ot" the strong eame forh sweetness 1;! or perhaps, as we may say more truly, Out of the sweet came forth streng'th. Observe, then, his eonduet when the Law was read fo him: "When the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he ret hic clolhes'2' IIe thought far more of what he lmd not donc, tlmn of what he had donc. I-[e felt how incomplete his retbrmation had been; and he felt how fitr more guilty lais whole people were than he had supposed, receiving, as they had, such precise guidance in Scripture what to do, and such solemn command to doit; and he learned, moreover, the fearfid punishment which was hanging over them; for in that 13ook o1" the Law were contained the threats of vengeance fo be fultilled in case of transgression. The passages read to him bv the high priest seem to have been some of tlmse contained in the Book of Deuteronomy, in which Moses sers good and evil belote the people, to choose their portion. " Sec, I have set betbre thee this dag lire and good, and death and evil..... I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I lmve set before you lire and death, blessing and eursing" .'" "A blessing and  ourse; a blessing if ye obey the commandments ot' the Lord your God:... a ourse if ye will hot obey ." And there was more than the  Judges xiv. lg.  2 Kings xxii. 11. a Dèut. xxx. 1. 19.  Deut. xi. 26—28.

mere words to terrify him; there had been a fulfilm,mt of them. Samaria., the ten revoltin tribes, the kin.- dom of Israêl, had bêên led tway captive. Doubtless hê already knêw that thêir sins had eaused if; but he ibund in thê Book of thê Law that if had bêên êven threatêned them bêforeha.nd a.s the l)unishment; a.nd he diseovered that the saine punishment awaited his own pêoplê, shouhl thêy persist in sin. Nay, a ju(lg'mênt had already taken phteê in Judah; for Manassch, lais grandt:,tthêr, had been earried away into Babylon, anti only restored upon his rei)êntaneê. In the twenty-eighth chapter of Deutêronomy, yo will sêê what was fo bê thê eusse of disobedieneê: or aain, eonsider thê words of thê twent.y-ninth chapter: "Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God. that thou shouldest enter into covenant with Ilim, a.nd into His oath;... neither with you o1do I makê this covenaut and this oath; btd; with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is hOt here with us this day:... lest therê should bê alnong" you man, or woman, or family, or tvibe, whose hea.rt turneth away this day from thê Lord our God" (alas! as if had happencd in the event, even ail [e» tribes, and thên the whole twelvê had fallen axvay) "fo o and serve thê gods of thesê nations; lest therê should be among)ou a root that bêareth g'all and wormwood; and if corne fo pass, when he heareth thê words of this eurse, ha. he bless himself in his hear, soEvin, I slmll hve peace, Houh I walk in the imagination of mine heart, fo add drunkenness fo thirs: the Lord will no spare him, bu then the ang'er of the Lord and Ilis jealousy shall smoke ag'ains that nmn, and all the eurses ha.t are written in this book shall lie upon him,... so that. the strang'ers that shall corne from a lr land... whcn they see the p]ges of that land, and the sickncsses which the Lord hafla laid upon it that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any gss zroweth therein,... evcn all nations shall say, Wheretbre bath thc Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have fi)rsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers,... for they went and served other gods,... and the LoM rooted them out of their land in anger, and cast them into another land." These words, or such as these, either about the people or relating to his own duties , Josiah read in the Book of the Law; and thinking of/he eaptivity which had overtaken Israel already, and the sins of his own people Judah, he rent his clothes. Then he bade the priests inquire of God for him what he ought to do fo avert His anger. "Go," he said, "inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is round: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us,  çide Deut. x-ii.

because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book '." If is observable, that hot even yct does he seem fo have known the prol)hets Jercmiah or Zephaniah, though the former had been called to lais office some years. Such was God's pleasure. And the priests aud scribes about him, though they seconded lais pious designs, were in no scnse his guides: thcy were unacquainted with the Law of Moses, and with the l)rophets, who wcrc interpretcrs of that Law. But prophcts were, through God's mcrcy, in every citv: and though Jercmiah n6ght, be silent or might be away, still there were revelations fr,)m God even tu Jerusalem. To one of these prophets the 1)riests applicd. Shallum was kceper of the king"s wardrobe— his wife IIuldah was known fo be gitted with the spirit of prophecy. To her they went. She answered in the words of which the text forms a part: "Thus saith thc Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent. you fo Me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will briug evil upon t.his place, and upon the inhabitants thereo[; cven all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: 1)ecause they have forsaken Me, and have burnt incensc unto other gods My wrath shall bc kindlcd against this ])lace, and shall hot be quenched. But fo the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, as touching the words which tllou hast heard;  2 Chron. xxxir. 21.

I o4 os£z/, ct lPatter for t/e Z,¢¢oraut. because thine heart was tender, and thou hast lmmbled thyself belote the Lord, when thon heardest what I spake a.g'ainst this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, ha they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent tlay clothes, and wept belote Me  I also bave heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will g-ather thee unto thy tathers, and thou shal be athered into thy grave in peace: and thine eyes shall no sec all the evil whieh I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again." How King Josiah eonducted himself after this message I need not deseribe af any leng'th. We have heard if in the Firs Lesson of this ServiceS. He assembled all Judah af Jerusalem, and publicly read the words of thc Book of the Law; then he ruade all the people renew the covenant with the God of their fathers; then he proceeded more exaetly in the work of reformation in Judah and Israel, keeping closely fo the directions of the Law; and after that he held his celebrated passover. Thus his greater knowledge was followed by stricter obedienee: his aecurate attention fo the whole ritual is the ver 3- praise bestowed on his passover; " Surely there was not holden sueh a passover ri'oto the days of the judges. '' Whatever he did, he did it with all his hcart: "Like unto him was there no king belote him, that turned fo thc Lord with all his  Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.  2 Kings xxiii. 22.

heart, and xvith all his soul, and with all his might, aeeording to ail the Law of Moses!., Passing by the partieulars of his reformation, let us eome to the fulfilment of the promise ruade to him by IIuldah, as the reward of his obedienee. " Bchold the- fore, I will gather thee to thy fathe, and thou shalt be gaflered into thy grave in peaee; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil whieh I will bringupon this place." IIis reward was an early death; the event proved t.hat it was a violent one also. The king of Eg, yl)t came up against the king of Assyria through the land of Judah; Josiah, bound perhaps by an alliance to the kin of Assy-ia, or for some strong rcason unknown, opposed him; a ba.ttle fi)llowed; Josiah disguised himself that he mig-ht hot be marked out for death; but his hour was eome—the promise of ïelease was to be aeeomplishcd. "And the arehers shot at king- Josiah; and the king said to his servants, IIave me away; for I ara sore wounded. His servants, therefore... brought him fo Jerusalem; and he died, and was bufied in one of the sepulehres of his fathers ." Thus the best king" of Judah died like Ahab, the worst king of Israel; so little may we judg of God's love or displeasure by outward appearanees. "The rihteous perisheth, and no man layeth it fo heart: and mereifnl men are taken away, none eonsidering, that the righteous is taken away from the evil to corne. He shall enter into peaee:  2 Kings xxiii. 25,  2 Chron. xxxv, 23—25.

they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness ." The sacred narrative continues: "And ail Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented tbr Josiah; and ail the singing men and the singing" women spake of Josiah in their lamentations fo this day, and ruade them an ordinance in Isracl:" probably there was a yearly commemoration of his dcath; and so grcat was the mourlinff at thc time, that we find if referrcd to in the Prophct Zechariah " ahnost as a proverb. So fcll the last sovereig'n of ille house of David. God continued Ilis promised mercies to His people throngh David's line till they were too corrupt to receive them; the last king" of the fa.voured fiunily was forcibly and prematurely cut off, in ordcr to make way for the display of God's vengeance in the captivity of the whole nation. Hê was taken out of the way; they were carried off to Babylon. "Weep ye not for the dcad," says the prophet, "neither bemoan him: but weep sore tbr him that gocth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. '' As for Josiah, as if is elsewhere written of hiln, " His remembrance •.. is sweet as honey in all mouths, and as music at a banquet of wine. Hê behaved himself uprightly in the conversion of the people, and took away the abominations of iniquity. He directed his heart unto the Lord, and in the rime of the ung, odly he established  Isa. lvii. 1.  Zech. xii. 11.  Jer. xxii. 10.

osiah, a Pattcrn for thc Igor«ut. IO 7 Lhe worship of God. AI1, exeept, David, and Ezekias, and Josias, were defeet,ive; for they forsook the law of t,he iXIost, ttigh, even t,he kings of Judt tailed ." In eonolusion, my brethren, I vould have you observe in what, Josiah's chier exeellenee lty. This is t,he ehatact,er g'iven him vhen his naine is first, ment,ioned; "He did.., right, in t,he sight, of t,he Lord, and walked in all t,he ways of David his fa.ther, and turned hot, aside fo the rig'ht, hand or to the left,. '' He kept, the narrow middle wty. Nov wha.t is this st.rieL virtue ealled? it, is ealled jàilh. It, is no marrer whether ve eall it, fa.it,h or eonseientiousness, t,hey are in substanee one and t,he sanie: vhere there is tkith, there is eonseientiousness—where there is eonseient,iousness, there is fa.it,h; t,hey may be dist,inuished ri'oin eaeh other in vords, bu t,hey are not, divided in faet,. They belong" to one, and but, one, habit, of mind—dutifulness; t,hey show themselves in obedienee, in the ea.reful, anxious observance of God's will, however we learn it,. Henee it, is t,hat, St,. Paul t,ells us that, "the just shall live by th.it,h" under every dispensation of God's merey. And t,his is ealled fdth, beeause it, implies a. relianee on the mere vord of the unseen God oveqowering the temptations of sig'ht,. Whether it, be we read and aeeept, IIis word in Seript,ure (as Christ,ians do), or IIis word in out eonseienee, the lav written on t,he hearg (as is the ease with hea.t,hens); in either ca.se, it is by folloving"  Eeelus. xlix. 1—4. ,o Kings xxii. .

o8 osia], a Patterz for t]e iguorant. if, in spire of the seductions of the xvorld around us, that we please God. St. Paul calls if faith; sa.ying afr the prophet, "The just shall live by faith:" and St. Peter, in the tenth chapter of the Acts, calls it "fearin and working rigkteousness," where he says, that "in every nation he that feareth God a«d worketh righteousness is aceepted with Ilim." It is all one: both Apostles say that God h)ves those who prefer Him to the world; whose character and.])'ame of miud is such. Elsewhere St.:Paul also speaks like St. Peler, when he deelares that God will tender eternal lit to them, who by "patient coulinuanee i well-doing seek for glolTL" St. John adds his testimony: " Little children, let no man deeeive you. Ite tlmt doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteousL" And out Saviour's last words at the end of the whole Scripture, long after the eomingof the Spirit, ater the death of ail the Apostles but St. John, are the same: "Blessed are they that do Ilis commandments, that they may kave rigkt t.o the tree of life ." And if such is God's mercy, as we trust, to all men, wherever any one with a perfect heart seeks Him, vhat think you is His mercy upon Christians? Someflling çar greater, and more wonderful; for we are eleeted out of the world, in Jesus Christ out Saviour, to a glory incomprehensible a.nd etemal. We are the heirs of promise; God has loved us before we were born. He I m. ri. 7.  1 Jo iii. 7. a v. fi. 14.

had us taken into His Church in our infancy. He by Bapfism ruade us new ereatures, giving us powers whieh we by nature had not, and raisin us to the unseen soeiety of Saints and Anffels. And all flfis we enjoy on our faith; that is, on our believing tha we bave them, and seriously trying fo profi by them. ][ay God grant., tiret, we, like Josiah, may improve our g'ifts, and trade anti make merelmndise wifl [hem, so that, when IIe eolneth fo reekon with us, we may be aeeepted [