Volume VIII Part 4 (2/2)

He felt how incomplete his reformation had been, and he felt how far more guilty his whole people were than he had supposed, receiving, as they had, such precise guidance in Scripture what to do, and such solemn command to do it; and he learned, moreover, the fearful punishment which was hanging over them; for in that Book of the Law were contained the threats of vengeance to be fulfilled in case of transgression. The pa.s.sages read to him by the high priest seem to have been some of those contained in the Book of Deuteronomy, in which Moses sets good and evil before the people, to choose their portion.

”See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. . . . . I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing[14].”

”A blessing and a curse; a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your G.o.d: . . . a curse if ye will not obey[15].” And there was more than the mere words to terrify him; there had been a fulfilment of them. Samaria, the ten revolting tribes, the kingdom of Israel, had been led away captive. Doubtless he already knew that their sins had caused it; but he found in the Book of the Law that it had been even threatened them beforehand as the punishment; and he discovered that the same punishment awaited his own people, should they persist in sin.

Nay, a judgment had already taken place in Judah; for Mana.s.seh, his grandfather, had been carried away into Babylon, and only restored upon his repentance.

In the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, you will see what was to be the curse of disobedience: or again, consider the words of the twenty-ninth chapter: ”Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your G.o.d . . . that thou shouldest enter into covenant with Him, and into His oath; . . . neither with you _only_ do I make this covenant and this oath; but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our G.o.d, and _also_ with him that is not here with us this day: . . . lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our G.o.d” (alas!

as it had happened in the event, even all _ten_ tribes, and then the whole twelve had fallen away) ”to go and serve the G.o.ds of these nations, lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pa.s.s, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, . . . so that . . . the strangers that shall come from a far land . . . when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it . . . that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any gra.s.s groweth therein, . . . even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord G.o.d of their fathers, . . . for they went and served other G.o.ds, . . . and the Lord 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[16], Josiah read in the Book of the Law, and thinking of the captivity which had overtaken Israel already, and the sins of his own people Judah, he rent his clothes. Then he bade the priests inquire of G.o.d for him what he ought to do to 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 found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book[17].”

It is observable, that not even yet does he seem to have known the prophets Jeremiah or Zephaniah, though the former had been called to his office some years. Such was G.o.d's pleasure. And the priests and scribes about him, though they seconded his pious designs, were in no sense his guides: they were unacquainted with the Law of Moses, and with the prophets, who were interpreters of that Law. But prophets were, through G.o.d's mercy, in every city: and though Jeremiah might be silent or might be away, still there were revelations from G.o.d even in Jerusalem. To one of these prophets the priests applied. Shallum was keeper of the king's wardrobe--his wife Huldah was known to be gifted with the spirit of prophecy. To her they went. She answered in the words of which the text forms a part: ”Thus saith the Lord G.o.d of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to Me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read; because they have forsaken Me, and have burnt incense unto other G.o.ds . . . My wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d of Israel, as touching the words which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shall be gathered into thy grave in peace: and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.”

How King Josiah conducted himself after this message I need not describe at any length. We have heard it in the First Lesson of this Service[18]. He a.s.sembled all Judah at Jerusalem, and publicly read the words of the Book of the Law, then he made all the people renew the covenant with the G.o.d of their fathers; then he proceeded more exactly in the work of reformation in Judah and Israel, keeping closely to the directions of the Law; and after that he held his celebrated pa.s.sover.

Thus his greater knowledge was followed by stricter obedience: his accurate attention to the whole ritual is the very praise bestowed on his pa.s.sover; ”Surely there was not holden such a pa.s.sover from the days of the judges[19].” Whatever he did, he did it with all his heart: ”Like unto him was there no king before him, that 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[20].”

Pa.s.sing by the particulars of his reformation, let us come to the fulfilment of the promise made to him by Huldah, as the reward of his obedience. ”Behold therefore, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.” His reward was an early death; the event proved that it was a violent one also.

The king of Egypt came up against the king of a.s.syria through the land of Judah; Josiah, bound perhaps by an alliance to the king of a.s.syria, or for some strong reason unknown, opposed him; a battle followed; Josiah disguised himself that he might not be marked out for death; but his hour was come--the promise of release was to be accomplished. ”And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants, therefore . . .

brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers[21].” Thus the best king of Judah died like Ahab, the worst king of Israel; so little may we judge of G.o.d's love or displeasure by outward appearances. ”The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness[22].”

The sacred narrative continues: ”And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel:” probably there was a yearly commemoration of his death; and so great was the mourning at the time, that we find it referred to in the Prophet Zechariah[23] almost as a proverb. So fell the last sovereign of the house of David. G.o.d continued His promised mercies to His people through David's line till they were too corrupt to receive them; the last king of the favoured family was forcibly and prematurely cut off, in order to make way for the display of G.o.d's vengeance in the captivity of the whole nation.

He was taken out of the way; they were carried off to Babylon. ”Weep ye not for the dead,” says the prophet, ”neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country[24].” As for Josiah, as it is elsewhere written of him, ”His remembrance . . . is sweet as honey in all mouths, and as music at a banquet of wine. He 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 time of the unG.o.dly he established the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d. All, except David, and Ezekias, and Josias, were defective; for they forsook the law of the Most High, even the kings of Juda failed[25].”

In conclusion, my brethren, I would have you observe in what Josiah's chief excellence lay. This is the character given him when his name is first mentioned; ”He did . . . right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left[26].” He kept the narrow middle way. Now what is this strict virtue called? it is called _faith_. It is no matter whether we call it faith or conscientiousness, they are in substance one and the same: where there is faith, there is conscientiousness--where there is conscientiousness, there is faith; they may be distinguished from each other in words, but they are not divided in fact. They belong to one, and but one, habit of mind--dutifulness; they show themselves in obedience, in the careful, anxious observance of G.o.d's will, however we learn it. Hence it is that St. Paul tells us that ”the just shall live by faith” under _every_ dispensation of G.o.d's mercy. And this is called _faith_, because it implies a reliance on the mere word of the unseen G.o.d overpowering the temptations of sight. Whether it be we read and accept His word in Scripture (as Christians do), or His word in our conscience, the law written on the heart (as is the case with heathens); in either case, it is by following it, in spite of the seductions of the world around us, that we please G.o.d. St. Paul calls it faith; saying after the prophet, ”The just shall live by faith:” and St. Peter, in the tenth chapter of the Acts, calls it ”fearing and _working righteousness_,” where he says, that ”in every nation he that feareth G.o.d and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him.” It is all one: both Apostles say that G.o.d loves those who prefer Him to the world; whose _character and frame_ of mind is such. Elsewhere St. Paul also speaks like St. Peter, when he declares that G.o.d will render eternal life to them, who by ”patient _continuance_ in well-doing seek for glory[27].” St. John adds his testimony: ”Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous[28].” And our Saviour's last words at the end of the whole Scripture, long after the coming of the Spirit, after the death of all the Apostles but St. John, are the same: ”Blessed are they that _do His_ commandments, that they may _have right_ to the tree of life[29].”

And if such is G.o.d's mercy, as we trust, to all men, wherever any one with a perfect heart seeks Him, what think you is His mercy upon Christians? Something far greater, and more wonderful; for we are elected out of the world, in Jesus Christ our Saviour, to a glory incomprehensible and eternal. We are the heirs of promise; G.o.d has loved us before we were born. He had us taken into His Church in our infancy. He by Baptism made us new creatures, giving us powers which we by nature had not, and raising us to the unseen society of Saints and Angels. And all this we enjoy on our faith; that is, on our believing that we have them, and seriously trying to profit by them.

May G.o.d grant, that we, like Josiah, may improve our gifts, and trade and make merchandise with them, so that, when He cometh to reckon with us, we may be accepted!

[1] Deut. xi. 18-20.

[2] Deut. x.x.xi. 9-13.

[3] Deut. xvii. 19, 20.

[4] 2 Kings xxi. 11.

[5] 2 Chron. x.x.xiii. 15-25.

[6] Ibid. 23.

[7] Luke x. 43.

[8] 2 Chron. x.x.xiv. 3.

[9] Isa. l. 10.

[10] Ps. cxi. 10.

[11] Ps. cxix. 100.

[12] Judges xiv. 14.

<script>