abroad upon the British shoar with inestimable Blessings in Her hands to bestow upon all but the unthankful the evil tho' upon them too She found the Nation tir'd out with Sorrow a Leaning her weary drooping Head on the Bosome of her Dearest Prince who surely then if ever any one before bad the fairest for our most sincere Love and Fidelity And she kind virtuous Soul as she ever lov'd to do Good was glad to be by at hand an Assistant a Counsellor and a Witness of our Wonderful Restauration She found the Nation that She lov'd the most in it the Church of England a' entring in melancholy plight the Plague of an Aegyptian Darkness the Land from one corner to another a swarming with Popish Emissaries and like the Locusts there darkn'd the Skye I mean the Nation full and crowded with ' em But tho' so full emptied much faster than they fill'd in well nigh six years before in a very short time as our day broke up again when our Guardian Angels in conjunction at God's immediate Direction appear'd above our Horizon with Healing in their Wings I think 't is own'd on all hands that Popery especially as 't is of late years refin'd by new Jesuitical Morals is a Terror to all Protestant Kingdoms As for us we are not half so much afraid of St. Peter's Keys as St. Pauls Sword which of late for some Centuries past the New Church of Rome takes indifferently into her hand with the other We need not go far to have the footsteps of her Cruelty which bleed so fresh in our own Annals and tho' our English Courage has been far ever from being thought contemptible yet we have always been very backward to Defend our Religion by such Material Weapons 'till the time we believ'd our Lives as well as our Consciences were assaulted which if any thing will prove the Justice of our Arms when imploy'd at the Command of our Lawful Governors As for the Truth of our Religion we modestly conceive we have made it good with no small advantage and have shew'd abundantly that our Church is very far from fearing any reasonable Engagement of that kind having never been once outpowr'd since our Reformation onely rudely oppress'd and Discountenanc'd sometimes by Brutish Cruelty and Force of Arms. When a Popish King our late Dread Sovereign was ready with a Numerous well appointed Army in the Field and our Charters and our Properties for a great part Seiz'd and constru'd into Forfeiture and Prerogative and a new fine Aequivalent offer'd us in exchange for our most Antient Franchise Our Penal Laws to be voted down with our Protestant Test by a choice prepared Assembly when a Conversion to Popery was a currant Excuse to other Crimes and Illegalities it self the greatest Execution of Good wholsome Laws generally suspended and a wide door set open upon a Religious Design to entertain all the Debauchery Licentiousness and Atheism of a Wicked Age and an unlimited Liberty tacitly allow'd to Mens Lusts and Passions with a very small share of Wit and no Religion to push on for Tumult and Confusion as fast as they could Besides what we don't love to remember but cannot so soon forget as it suppos'd us much more Dull and Wretched than indeed we were injoyn us to Subscribe publish I mean a large Form of Declaration virtually to the overthrow of our Establish'd Religion and all whatever else is ours We blush'd at this time to think being Innocent how we had so ill-deserv'd of our Governours as to find so little Credit with 'em We were as many as observ'd it extreamly sorry at this and that we could now Obey no longer tho' threatn'd aloud with Penalty enough to our Temporal Vndoing We trusted in the Mercy and Compassion of our Good God who Deliver'd us then with the Rescue of those famous Confessors of our Sacred Hierarchy Men of Renown The honest good peaceable Loyal Subject all this while nothing in his hand for his sustenance but a Dry unsavory Morsel of Passive Duty which he had already chew'd and Liv'd so long upon that he became every day more and more naked of all other Refreshments and thought he was a'shipping ready for the stake of Martyrdom When our Popish Governours were so impatient tho' of prudent Delays and were all for making long steps hastily to our Overthrow And alas our Unfortunate Monarch so Bigotted and plainly infatuated by Jesuited Counsels that nor the most humble modest Complaints nor Tears of his Faithful Subjects could prevail any thing When Altars and Popish Habits appear'd openly in the Imperial City and Countrey and began to Nest together in Societies and in the name of a Catholick King outbrav'd all even the most modest Pretences and Priviledges of a Different Religion and would have stifled and suffocated all our Learning and smother'd our Profession with an heavy indigested Mass of their Exploded Forgeries and Nonsense which turn'd upon our judicious Desence so much to their Shame and Decay which indeed was the greatest kindness they could do us to give us opportunity thus to shew our strength on this manner I would not be misunderstood all this while as tho' in what I have said I should seem the least inviduous I am forc'd to mention a little for that our Publick Blessings receiv'd cannot be duly prized without some competent sence of our former Vnhappiness and undoubtedly we should deserve to be constru'd more than Passive could we so soon forget our own History which is so plain and dates so close upon our Memories Briefly then when our Reform'd Religion which we place ever before all other our worldly Comforts was in such unquestionable apparent Danger that upon our most accurate Projections all Humane means fail'd for our Deliverance and our Misfortunes too inspir'd and back'd by so potent an Enemy a Tyrant Neighbour who upon his own single stake for many years together has held almost all Christendom in Play In this Critical juncture by a strange Miracle of the Divine Providence say others what they will came the Blessed Pair William and Mary to our seasonable rescue which by the same indulgent Providence they effected without one Drop of Blood by a natural chearful Surrender of their own Rights into their hands after the Royal Zealot was gone when He had so unkindly Refused a just Restitution of our Laws and Liberties then by a general Consent of the Desolate People for how can any Kingdom stand without an Head to Govern it They the next together in Succession are both plac'd in the Throne And then and just before the Pride of the New Catholick Religion and it's Empire utterly vanish'd The Zealous Priests make haste away and leave their Devotion as their Saints too of both Sexes a'starving at their Shrines The Crafty Jesuite packs up with the first and leaves the new Converts behind astonish'd at their Religion suddainly grown so unfashionable and some came back to us again
A SERMON Preach'd at the PARISH-CHURCH OF St. Chad's in SHREWSBVRY March 5.1694 5 BEING THE Funeral Day of our Most Gracious Sovereign Queen Mary By THOMAS DAWES B. D Minister of the Church of St. MARY in the said Town LONDON Printed by F. C. for Gabriel Rogers in Shrewsbury and are to be Sold by John Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1695. To the Right Worshipful Samuel Adderton Esq Mayor And other the Members of the Corporation Together with the Gentry c. of the Town of Shrewsbury WHen my Service was desired to assist on the much Lamented Occasion of our Good Queens Funeral Day I confess I thought the Solemnity so agreeable to my own particular respect and Duty that as a Son of the Church I could not well refuse But when afterwards your Requests proceeded so much farther than I had reason to expect and your Importunity would not easily admit of any Excuse I am more unwillingly forced thus a second time to Gratifie you by appearing more publick than I intended which I am sensible might as well have been spared were it not for your Serious Regard to the common Loss in which I own a real Concern and in so doing am sure to approve my self more acceptably as I am Your most Affectionate Humble Servant THO. DAWES 2 Chron. Chap. 35. latter part of the 24 v. He Dyed and was Buried in one of the Sepulchres of his Fathers and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah COuld our Grief be always hid and modestly conceal'd we Christians need no stronger Antidote than that of our Religion as it teaches us Submission to all Gods Providences when they look unfavourably to our Temporal Interests Thus we have often in silence put our hands upon our mouths and with Reluctancy stop'd th' eruption and clamour of many of our Sorrows and would have done so now and stoop'd particularly under our Fate which is our pressure very sensible but that our Loss is so confessedly great and our Passions in their resentments more than usually high lavish and indeed ungovernable All Afflictions we find by woful experience are not equal and of the same size and magnitude 'T is alas more than once we have lost a Dear Friend who living stood very nigh our tender heart and when Dead we could not but Lament but seldom so loud as now when we are forced to exchange our Patience for our Pious Sorrow we Weep and mean it so as we think it is our Religious Duty to bewail I need not name th' Occasion when I see here all Faces gather Blackness and strive with concern zealously to augment the serious Pomp of our Funeral Lamentation We have lost but could our Loss be utter'd I am not able equally to express your Grief who want Words so many to express my own But here this Day when all the English Nation Mourns as we do and the vast Deluge of our Tears swells so universally wide that they waft a far of our Sorrow as they roal from shore to shore and drown our Neighbours too as well as we how can we refrain Let this day pass ever then for a Day of Sorrow Yet tho' I cannot possibly excuse your Mourning give me leave to inquire a little into the Nature of our Common Distress thereby to justifie our Grief as approveable to all Mankind and to shew how 't is not only a violent hasty Tempest of our sensual Passion but a calm deliberate sound resentment if our Sorrow be capable of so much Moderation which has invited us hither to Condole together the Death of our Good Queen To this end I have pitch'd upon one of the Greatest Instances in the History of the Antient Jewish Church Josiah by name famous for Goodness and Virtue with a real Zeal for the Worship and Honour of the true God which is all indeed besides what is less Lustre and Magnificence which raises and supports the Throne of Majesty We find here his Good Subjects of all sorts assembled 't is like as well as we all over the Land Town and Countrey to Mourn and Lament his Funeral He Dyed and was Buried says the Text in one of the Sepulchres of his Fathers i. e. in the Sepulchres of the Kings and all Judah and Jerusalem mourn'd for Josiah The Royal Person here spoke of and Lamented was a King of Judah inclusive of the Tribe of Benjamin which were the only two which remained whole of the Twelve all the rest excepting some few persons having gone off generally long before from the true Church of God as then 't was into Idolatry at the fraudulent Instigation of a wicked King Jeroboam who made Israel to sin and not long after into remediless Captivity under the Tyranny of the Heathen their Neighbours There had been some Good and many Bad Kings 'till the succession of Josiah whose Government commenc'd about 385 years after the Death of King David the second in order but yet the first of their Religious Kings Josiah was a Good Son of a very Bad Father Amon who was the Son of Manasseh Manasseh went off and apostatiz'd from his Religion and turn'd a profess'd Idolater He did evil after the Abominations of the Heathens Built High places and Altars to Baal c. made his Son to pass through the Fire a cruel bloody Sacrifice or rather here a kind of Lustration to the Idol Molech so prevalent is Superstition and Bigottry even to the loosing the strongest Bond of Natural affection You 'll see his History more at large here Cap. 33. 2 Kings 21. where 't is said v. 20. He Amon did evil in the sight of the Lord as did Manasseh his Father They were both Father and Son immediately descended of that Good King Hezekiah who did much for the Worship of the true God and confiding in his Religious Integrity and the favour and protection of th' Almighty he manfully withstood the Blasphemy of Sennacherib here Cap. 32. 2 Kings 18 There passed 56 years betwixt the Reign of Hezekiah and Josiah all which time the Government was wretchedly Debauch'd with Idolatry and other grievous Abominations for which Mannasseh is drove out of his Kingdom into a Forreign Land From all which you will easily guess there was more than a little for our Religious Prince to do when he came to the Throne and intended a Thro-Reformation and the the truth is He did not Delay but set presently about it with all his power which will better appear if we consider how He came very young to the Crown 2 Kings 22. and here Cap. 34. but what he wanted in Age He made up in Virtue He was says Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an excellent Disposition and naturally inclin'd to Virtue and good Life which is a mighty Character of a Young Prince agreeable to what the Antient Scripture says of him from whence the Antiquary took it When this Godly man was but 20 years old He began to purge Judah and Jerusalem
Town and Countrey as I said from the High Places of Idolatrous Worship he brake down the Altars of Baalam in the plural signifying the many False Gods they Worshipp'd and in the 26 year of his Life and the 18 of his Reign He and Hilkiah the High Priest with other of his Friends and Servants whom he trusted purges and repairs the Temple It appears they had Built an Heathen Altar there as also many other in the Royal City and Regions adjoyning as you will read here in their story which he visited personally for the greatest part and utterly Destroy'd not omitting the search even of their private Houses so to root out effectually all Heathen Abominations out of the Land the accursed object of God's otherwise implacable Hatred and Displeasure Hilkiah hy a special order from the King searching into the Ruines of the Temple not totally Destroy'd till afterward in Zedekiah's time but too sadly Decay'd by the many Sacrilegious abuses of the Idol-Priests he chances to light upon an old Authentick Copy of the Law which he found Buried in the Rubbish in some close part of the Building which was neglected 't is like that was the only true Copy they had left probably all the rest being forced out of their hands and Burnt or otherwise effectually Destroy'd by a cruel Inquisition it being usual with the Heathen so to do as since with a Religion as Heathenish for so much as they tho' call'd Christian and Catholick 'T was so before and in the Empire of Julian th' Apostate when the Holy Books were gathered with all imaginable Industry of the Heathen and Destroy'd to make room for the Lying Oracles of Apollo and their Idol Gods But not so totally Destroy'd then nor here in Josiah's time nowithstanding the Dotage of Haman and Manasseh Hilkiah having thus found the Book and shew'd it to the good King He entertains it with great Reverence and causes it to be read in the ears of the People to teach 'em what they had forgot be sure in too great a measure the true Worship of God By this and other such his Religious pious Arts he brought back again the Holy Worship and the People the Worshippers to the Temple which they with their Forefathers had so long forsaken having already notoriously disgrac'd their Profane Altars by Burning the Bones of their Idolatrous Priests upon 'em some of 'em that were Dead all the rest but those he slew having fled and and made their escape 't is like upon this signal Revolution and left thus ingloriously their Temples and their Gods all a Sacrifice to the Zeal of good Josiah who put a fatal period to their sensless tho' cruel Devotion Manasseh and Amon now dead their great Patrons it having been till then the Kings Religion behold The Idol stoops and tamely resign'd it's feign'd Omnipotency and owns a Conqueror Nor was this any suddain start and heat of Passion in Josiah as Zeal is too apt to extravagance in unwary hands for we find here after He had purg'd and restor'd the Temple He deliberately with the joynt advise and consent of his People who were by this time return'd to their right Vnderstandings in the 18 year of his Happy Reign already named Josiah sends and proclaims a Passover to the Lord which he celebrates on such a splendid manner with so much magnificence in honour of the true God that the Tale and number of the Sacrifice is almost incredible which made such an extraordinary solemn figure in the Worship of the Jews that never was the like Festivity in such Glorious Preparation seen among them 'T is describ'd at large here Cap. 35. there was never held such a Passover from the Days of the Judges which judged Israel c. i. e. never such an one before since the Beginning of their Government which was a joyful sight we may well think at Jerusalem where 'till that time the Worship of the Temple had lain so long neglected 't was so magnificent that I observe Josephus their Antiquary seems somewhat concerned at it as tho' it reflected upon the Poverty of the Devotion of the Antient Church and excuses it thus Lib. 10. c. 5. Ant. the reason says he why there was no such Festivity from the days of Samuel mention'd here 2 Chron. 35.18 was because in those early Times all things were perform'd in exact complyance to Moses Ritual and the Customs then on foot tho' the Levitical Law left place for Free-will-Offerings and such according to Josephus was a great part of this Celebrated Passover of Josiah Which therefore is a singular argument of this Good Kings more than ordinary Devotion and his Zeal in promoting the Worship and the Honour of God And hence 't is we read 2 Kings 23.25 And like unto him there was no King before him that turn'd to the Lord with all his heart c. neither after him arose there any like him The truth is Josiah was one purposely raised up of God for this Noble Design It was Prophetically foretold 360 years and more says the Jew in the Reign of Jeroboam that thus it should be 1 Kings 13.2 Behold a Child shall be born to the House of David Josiah by name and upon Thee i. e. the Altar at Bethel which the Son of Nehat had then newly set up shall he offer the Priests of the High-Places c. and it fell out exactly 2 Kings 23.15 16. You see then how for this very end in a long course of Providence Josiah was raised of God to Root out by his means and to Destroy Idolatry from out of Judah and Israel as much as was left of the foregoing Captivity Such and so remarkable was this Pious Kings singular Devotion and to the great joy and satisfaction of all his Subjects but some who had little or no Religion and others that hanker'd after that He had Destroy'd by the will of God He Reigned 31 years and Liv'd in the whole 40 bating one prosperous in Wealth and Glory and then very unfortunately by the incessant Provocation of the Crying sins of Judah as Huldah the Prophetess at that time foretold God was finally resolv'd to punish very grievously as He did in the ensuing Captivity which lasted no less while than 70 long years under the King of Babylon as Jeremy Prophesy'd 22 years after Josiah's Death unfortunately I say He makes War against Necho the Aegyptian King who was upon his March against th' Assyrian denies him passage throâ— his Country imagining 't is like he was a going up against Judah when it seems as he signify'd by his Embassaders He intended no such thing But Josiah listned not and rashly opposes Himself upon the Borders in the Valley of Megiddon where He is mortally wounded by an Aegyptian Archer as He rode in his Chariot thereupon carry'd back to Jerusalem where He Dyes This Good King so necessary to the Happiness of his People which Dyes together with Him Their Dreadful Calamity was only