a through the land
of Judah; Josiah, bound perhaps by an alliance to the king of Assyria,
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 God'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. God
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 God'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 ungodly he established
the worship of God. 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 bre