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A33247
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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 ...
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Claridge, Richard, 1649-1723.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing C4433; ESTC R2252
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26,502
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40
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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
those Princes be that are truly Religious because many pretenders are in the World is not very easie for us to know The Heart falls not within our Cognizance for no man can sufficiently understand his own and how then should he know another Mans we leave that therefore to his Judgment who is the Maker and Searcher of it The Text describes them to us by an universal Conformity to the Law of God in turning to him with all their heart with all their Soul and with all their might which shews the nature of true Conversion it must be Universal A partial Change is an imperfect one for half an Heart is such an Offering as God will have no respect unto He who made the whole requires the whole and therefore he who gives him not the whole but reserves a part for another robs God of his Right and by that reservation desperately cheats himself too Our exactest Scrutinies cannot penetrate any further into the Heart of Man because it lyes quite out of our sight than it discovers it self by Overt Acts. This we know an Hypocrite may for a time appear to be a Saint but his Vizor will off at one time or other for will he delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God Job 27.10 But where there is true Grace in the Heart there will not be a Personating but a real Acting of Holiness in the Life Can the Fountain be sweet and yet send forth bitter streams Can the Tree be good and not the Fruit So it is impossible for a Sanctified Heart not to shew it self in a Reformed Life In whomsoever the principle of true Sanctification is rooted it will spread and branch out it self and extend to others Holiness is not only of a Diffusive but also of an Assimilating Nature and would have all like it self When men are throughly converted they will endeavour the Conversion of others Having effectually tasted of the immerited Love of God they will be telling what he hath done for their Souls and having their Hearts perfumed with the fragrancy of Free-Grace they will always retain the Scent and be ever admiring and commending it to others We may then say that truly Religious Princes will not put their Candle under a Bushel but set it in a Candlestick that it may give light to their Subjects nor hide their precious Oyntment but break the Box of Spikenard that the Odour may perfume the People For they are under an Obligation to countenance and encourage the Gospel and to endeavour the Reformation of those under them For Secondly There is more required of such Princes than Obj. 2 their own private Assent and Consent to the true Religion they must promate it in their Dominions by all such ways as are allowed or commanded of in Scripture It is the Duty of every Christian to do what he can for God and the Kingdom of his Son in his private Capacity and then much more the Prince's who is exalted to an higher station and placed in an Orb wherein he may shine as the Sun before his people It is no part of my present work to speak of the power of Princes in matters Civil and Political the Laws and Constitutions of the Government must be the Rule there * Defence of the Present Government We must have recourse to the wholsome Laws and Customs of our Countrey for our direction in Civil Proceedings Neither our Saviour nor his Apostles intermeddled with Civil Government but left that as they found it Christs Kingdom was not of this World and therefore he and his Apostles medled no farther with the Kingdoms of the World than to teach all their Duties in their respective Stations the Magistrates to Rule and the people to Obey in the fear of God The Standard of our Civil Government is the Law of the Land it is superiour to all Orders and Ranks of Men and looks with an equal aspect upon the Prince and People The Author of Jovian says that the King is a Soveraign doubly limited p. 212. by the Laws of God and the Civil Laws of his Kingdom And out of Bracton adds Et sub Lege ibid. quia Lex facit Regem He is under the Law because the Law makes the King And Dr. Hammond upon the words Pract. latech l. 2. p. 160. He beareth not the Sword in vain he is God's Minister an Avenger for wrath to him that doth ill says By this is intimated that the Sword is as far as respects this Life put into the hands of the lawful Magistrate with Commission to use it as the Constitution of the Kingdom shall best direct I shall therefore limit my Discourse to things pertaining to Religion and enquire briefly how far the Civil Magistrate is interested therein and this I shall do with humble reverence to Almighty God and a due respect to those whom he hath set over us in the Government of this Realm by laying down a few Theses or Positions 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Supream Head Governour Eph. 5.23 Col. 2.10 and Legislator of his Church and he hath not delegated this his Headship Government and Legislature Mat. 28.18 19 20. Joh. 15.14 Jam. 4.12 Isai 9.6 7. to any Person or Persons upon Earth He hath left no Humane Vicar or Deputy to preside over it for neither Pope nor general Councils nor National Synods nor the Civil Magistrate singly or with the Body Representative in Parliament have any Soveraign Authority in Church Affairs In things purely Divine they cannot make one Law to bind the Conscience to Obedience They have nothing to do to make Articles of Faith to compose Forms of Prayer and Worship and impose them upon the people under Penalties to make Ecclesiastical Canons and Rubricks and to decree Rites and Ceremonies Christ hath strictly tyed his Church to the observation of the Rules laid down by him in his Word Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 I your sole Lord Head and Master to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth is given Mat. 28.18 And therefore the Churches of Christ own none other Head but him nay they dare not own any other because God hath put all things under his feet and given him to be the Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.22 To admit of any other Head whether Polilical or Ministerial were to deny his Headship The Saints are the best friends to Caesar they are as Elisha said of Elijah The Chariot of Isrrel and the Horsmen thereof 2 Kings 2.12 But they are forbidden to give to Caesar the things that are Gods With respect to things Civil they will yea they must own the Supream Magistrate but with respect to Divine Worship they must own no Master or Superior but Christ The Argument that the Sticklers for Magistratical Authority in Religion draw from the Jewish Kings is of no force under the Dispensation of the Gospel could they prove