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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	city_n	king_n	lord_n	4,004	5	3.6249	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33247	A looking-glass for religious princes, or, The character and work of Josiah delivered in a sermon upon 2 Kings XXIII.XXV : the substance whereof was preached April 5 1691 at Pershore in Worcester-shire ... / by Richard Claridge ...	Claridge, Richard, 1649-1723.	1691 (1691)	Wing C4433; ESTC R2252	26,502	40

and Vice because as they reign by him so they should reign for him too God puts the Crown upon their Heads and Scepter into their Hands for other purposes than to suffer (i) 1 Kings 12 28. Micah 6.16 Jeroboams Calves Omri's Statutes and the Works of the House of Ahab He exalts them to Soveraign Dignity for more excellent Ends They should always have his Glory in their Eye and postpone all other Ends to that Herein we have an Example of a King the most illustrious Scripture History affords and who hath left a Copy of Extraordinary Zeal for God to all succeeding Kings to write after 't is Josiah King of Judah And like unto him was there no King before him that turn'd to the Lord with all his heart c. The Text contains the Character and Commendation of Josiah with the Work and Duty of his Day and in him presents us with a Looking-Glass for Christian Princes Or 't is a compleat Idea and exact Description of a truly Religious King He turned to the Lord with all his heart When Josiah came to the Crown he found the Kingdom universally polluted with Idolatry both Priests and People were infected and every Age and Sex a Remnant excepted had corrupted their ways His Great Grandfather Hezekiah was a very good King and had destroyed all publick Idolatry in the Land * 2 Kings 18.4 5. He removed the high places and brake the Images and cut down the Groves and brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made because it was abused to Idolatry for unto those days the Children of Israel burnt Incense to it He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him But in the Reigns of his Grandfather Manasseh and Father Amon whose History is set down 2 Kings 21. and 2 Chron. 33. Idolatry increased like Hydra's heads and the worship of Baalim or Idols of the Sun prevailed over the Worship of the True God For (i) 2 King 21.3 Manasseh built up again the High Places which his Father Hezekiah had destroyed and he reared up Altars for Baal and made a Grove as did Ahab and worshipped all the Host of Heaven and served them And if we look into the (k) Regnavit Annis 2. short Reign of his Son Amon we shall find he was no better than his Father but succeeded him in his Throne and Impieties together For (l) 2 Kings 21 20. he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord as his Father Manasseh did 'T is true Manasseh as wicked a King as he had been after his Repentance (n) 2 Chron. 33.12 16.6 v. 17. did pretty considerably toward a Reformation (o) 2 Chron. 29.3 Nevertheless the People did sacrifice still in the High Places But in Amons time the Reformation was utterly quasht till the Reign of Josiah in whose time it was carried on with wonderfull zeal and success For like unto him was there no King before him neither after him arose any like him But how can this be when the same Character is given of Hezekiah For 't is said 2 Kings 18.5 After him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him For resolution of this Question several things may be offered in Answer First It must be understood with Exception of Hezekiah because this Commendation is likewise given to him Secondly The Phrase denotes them both to have been eminently Religious Thirdly They had their particular Excellencies wherein they both outstript Hezekiah shew'd his zeal for the true Religion at his very Accession to the Throne (p) 2 Chron. 29 3. In the first year of his Reign in the first Month he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them For his Father Ahaz being distressed by Tiglath-Pileser King of Assyria sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus in expectation of help from them and shut up the doors of the Temple 2 Chron. 28.22 23 24. Josiah being a Minor of eight years old when he came to the Crown had no sooner attained to the sixteenth year of his age most commonly the time of Sport and Dalliance to many other Princes but while he was yet thus young he began to seek after the God of David his Father Fourthly The Expression is Hyperbolical and qualified thus Vix eis par c. they scarcely have been or shall be parall'd Fifthly Their Zeal was equally fervent in restoring the pure Worship of God but Josiah's Reformation was more extensive than Hezekiah's for Josiah reformed (q) Non in suo solum sed etiam in alieno regno Sanctius sup 2 Reg. 23.25 not in the Kingdom of Judah only but in Israel too When therefore we read that Hezekiah threw down the High places and the Altars not only out of all (r) 2 Chr. 31.1 Judah and Benjamin but in Ephraim also and Manasseh which two Tribes were part of the Kingdom of Israel It is to be understood with restriction to that (s) Jun. sup loc Grot. ibid. part of those Tribes which was subject to the Kings of Judah either by Conquest or a voluntary submission by reason of the present troubles of that Kingdom But Josiah's Reformation extended to the Altar at (t) 2 Reg. 23.15 Bethel and all the (u) v. 19. houses also of the high Places that were in the Cities of Samaria which the Kings of Israel made to provoke the Lord to anger Sixthly There are two things peculiar in Josiah's Case in regard of which the precedency may well be given him First He was prophesied of above (w) Post annos circiter trecentos Jun. sup 1 Reg. 13.2 three hundred years before he was born and mention'd expressly by name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Josiah and which is very remarkable it was presently after Jeroboam had devised his Calf worship in Dan and Bethel for as he stood by his new Altar in Bethel to burn Incense behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the Word of the Lord and cry'd against the Altar in the Word of the Lord and said O Altar Altar thus saith the Lord Behold (x) Heb Son a Child shall be born unto the house of David Josiah by Name and upon thee shall he offer the Priests of the High Places that burn Incense upon thee and mens bones shall be burnt upon thee 1 Kings 13.1 2. Where Observe that God's jealoulousie of his own Honour and Love to his own Worship is such that he cannot endure to be rival'd by Man but immediately protests against False Worship and False Worshippers by his Servants and thô he bears with them both for a Season yet there is a Time secret to us but fixt in God's Eternal Decree wherein both shall be destroyed Thus he dealt with Jeroboam's Altar and the Priests of the High Places and the

like dealing may all others dread who are involved in the like guilt To ballance this Instance 't is urg'd Isaiah Prophesied of Cyrus an Heathen Monarch by Name long before his Nativity for according to Junius from the time of the Prophecy to the fulfilling of it were 170 Years or after Grotius 210 and therefore the Prediction of Josiah is not singular I Answer their Case was very different Cyrus was foretold as a Passive Instrument to bring about the design of God's Providence in the Restauration of the Jews from their Babylonish Captivity and giving them Liberty to Re-edisie the Temple Josiah as an Active Instrument to accomplish God's Pleasure in the Extirpation of Idolatry in Judah and Israel Cyrus did the Will of God but 't was without any sincere Affection to or Religious Knowledge of God for God says twice to him Isa 45.4 5. Thou hast not known me Josiah perform'd the Will of God in Faith Love and Obedience to him He turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might Secondly Another thing extraordinary in Josiah was his most exact Conformity to the Divine Law in purging his Kingdom of Idolatry 2 Chron. 31.20 21. Hezekiah wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God and in the Law and in the Commandments to seek his God he did it with all his heart This is an ample Character but Josiah's is somewhat fuller For he 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 His Conversion was Universal for he did all according to all the Law of Moses His Father and his Grandfather turn'd from the Lord and his Law but he made the Law of God his Counsellor He sought to the God of David his Father and declined neither to the right hand nor the left 2 Chron. 34.2 3. He Consulted not with a Carnal Priesthood and a sensual Sanhedrim but he sent to Huldah the Prophetess for Direction Many Princes will Reform a Little as Afa Jehosaphat Joash Amaziah who were good Kings so far as they did Reform but the Blot that is upon their Names is the High Places were not taken away 1 Kings 15.14 22.43 2 Kings 12.3 14.4 Now Josiah pull'd down these High Places he left not one of them remaining Indeed notwithstanding all he did or could do Idolatry was so riveted in many of the Princes Priests and People that Baal had a remnant among them Jeph 1.4 for he had his Chemarims his profess'd Priests and he had others too who pretended to be Priests of the True God but would be now and then tampering with Baal's Idolatrous Rites They durst not exercise their Idolatry publickly for sear of the King but they Worship'd the Host of Heaven on the house tops and swore by the Lord and Malchom V. 5. they mingled true and false Worship together And because there is often mention in Scripture of these High Places and the pulling of them down is recorded as an High Act of Reformation we will enquire what they were and this will not be loss of time because the Heathen had their High Places as well as the Jews The High Places then Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Altars erected upon Hills upon which they offered Sacrifices the Heathen to their Idols and the Jews to the True God For after the Tabernacle and Ark were removed from Shiloh which was in the dayes of Eli when the Ark was taken and his two Sons Hophni and Phinehas were slain by the Philistines 1 Sam 4.3 4 11. The Jews used the High Places as most proper and convenient for their Worship thus Samuel and the People sacrificed in the High Place 1 Sam. 9.12.19 and so it continued 'till David brought the Ark to † 2 Chron. 1.4 Jerusalem and then it became the People's Duty to Sacrifice where the Ark was And hence we read that Solomon when the * V. 3. Tabernacle was at Gibeon and the Ark at Jerusalem sacrificing in the High Places and especially at the great High Place in Gibeon where thô the Lord appeared to him in a Dream by Night yet hath this Note of Irregularity put upon him Solomon loved the Lord walking in the Statutes of David his Father only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the High Places And the King went to Gibeon to sacrifice there for that was the Great High Place 1 Kings 3.3 4. After the Temple was built and the Ark placed in it the People were to bring their Sacrifices thither according to that in Deut. 12.13 14. Take heed to thy self that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest but in the place which the Lord shall chuse in one of thy Tribes there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee It was the People's sin to Sacrifice any where else but at Jerusalem thô they Sacrificed to the True God His positive Command made that to be Sin which was not sin before When he had placed his Name at Jerusalem and pitch'd his Tabernacle there thither the People were bound to bring all their Offerings But alas they soon forsook the Temple at Jerusalem and return'd to their High Places where not content to Worship the True God thô even that Worship perform'd there now was sinful because uncommanded they fell to Worshipping of Baal or the Sun and other Idols of the Nations which Worship notwithstanding they pretended it was for the Honour of the True God is every where condemned for abominable Idolatry Men may not intermeddle in the Worship of God to institute or alter according to their Fancies I know they endeavour to excuse their Innovations as Aaron did his Golden Calf who made proclamation and said To morrow is a Feast to the Lord Exod. 32.5 Not a Feast to the Calf they think Religion too plain of it self and therefore they will set it out in a more pompous Garb of their own devising which is very apt to take with Carnal Worshippers But is not acceptable with God because he approves of none no not that which Men call Divine Service because but of Humane Contrivance and neither in respect of Matter Manner or End such as is prescribed in the Word Jeroboam had invented a notable Semblance of Divine Worship and made it look as like that of God's own appointing at Jerusalem as might be But was God to be found in that Calfish Worship Surely No. And as he was not to be met with there so may we despair to find him in that Theatrical Worship which he hath not Ordained and wherewith the Ignorant World is cajol'd at this day There is a natural Inclination in Men to be mixing something of their own with