to keepe counsell they are familiar words that must conuey ought to the vnderstanding Leud men are the worse for admonitions Rabshakeh had not so strained his throat to corrupt the citizens of Ierusalem had it not beene for the humble obtestation of Eliakim Now he reares vp his voyce and holds his sides and roares out his double blasphemies one while affrighting the people with the great power of the mighty king of Assyria another while debasing the contemptible force of Hezekiah now smoothly alluring them with the assurances of a safe and successfull yeeldance then discouraging them with the impossibility of their deliuerance laying before them the fearfull examples of greater nations vanquished by that sword which was now shaken ouer them triumphing in the impotency and mis-cariage of their gods Who are they among all the Gods of the countries that haue deliuered their Country out of mine hand that the Lord should deliuer Ierusalem out of mine hand Where are the Gods of Arpad and of Hamath Where but in that hellish darknesse that is ordained both for them and for thee barbarous Assyrian that darest thus open thy mouth against thy Maker And can those Atheous eyes of thine see no differēce of Gods Is there no distance betwixt a stocke or stone and that infinite Deity that made heauen earth It is enough that thou now feelest it thy torments haue taught thee too late that thou affrontedst a liuing God How did the fingers tongues of these Iewish Peeres and people itch to be at Rabshakeh in a reuengefull answer to those impieties All is whus ht not a word sounds from those vvalls I doe not more wonder at Hezekiahs wisedome in commanding silence then at the subiects obedience in keeping it This rayler could not be more spighted then with no answer and if he might be exasperated he could not bee reformed besides the rebounding of those multiplyed blasphemies might leaue some ill impressions in the multitude This sulphurous flaske therefore dyes in his owne smoke onely leauing an hatefull stench behind it Good Hezekiah cannot easily passe ouer this deuillish oratory no sooner doth he heare of it thē he rends his clothes and couers himselfe with sack-cloth and betakes himselfe to the house of the Lord and sends his officers and the grauest of the Priests clad in sack-cloth to Esay the Prophet of God with a dolefull and querulous message Oh the noble piety of Hezekiah notwithstanding all the straits of the siege and the danger of so powerfull an enemy I find not the garments of this good King any otherwise then whole and vnchanged but now so soon as euer a blasphemy is vttered against the Maiesty of his God though by a Pagan dog his clothes are torne and turned into sack-cloth There can bee no better argument of an vpright heart then to be more sensible of the indignities offered to God then of our owne dangers Euen these desperate reproches send Ezekiah to the Temple The more we see Gods name profaned the more shall we if we be truely religious loue and honor it Whither should Hezekiab run but to the Temple to the Prophet There there is the refuge of all faithfull ones where they may speak with God where they may bee spoken to from God and fetch comfort from both It is not possible that a beleeuing heart should bee disappointed Isaiah sends that message to the good King that may dry vp his teares and cheere his countenāce and change his suit Thus saith the Lord Be not afraid of the wordes which thou hast heard with which the seruants of the King of Syria haue blasphemed me Behold I will send a blast vpon him and bee shall heare a rumor and shall returne to his owne Land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his owne Land Loe euen whiles Senacherib was in the height of his iollity assurance Gods Prophet foresees his ruine and giues him for dead whiles that Tyran thought of nothing but life and victory Proud secure worldlings little dreame of the neere approach of their iudgements whiles they are plotting their deepest designes the ouer-ruling iustice of the Almighty hath contriued their sudden confusion and sees and sets them their day Rabshakeh returnes and finding the King of Assyria warring against Libnah reports to him the silent and therein contemptuous answer and firme resolutions of Hezekiah In the meane time God pulls Senacherib by the eare with the newes of the approching army of Tirhakah King of Ethiopia which was comming vp to raise the siege and to succour his confederats That dreadfull power will not allow the Assyrian King in person to lead his other forces vp against Ierusalem nor to continue his former Leaguer long before those walls But now hee writes big words to Hezekiah and thinks with his thundering menaces to beat open the gates and leuell the bulwarks of Ierusalem Like the true master of Rabshakeh hee reuiles the God of Heauen and basely parallels him with the dunghill deities of the heathen Good Ezekiah gets him into his Sanctuary there he spreads the letters before the Lord and calls to the God that dwells between the Cherubims to reuenge the blasphemies of Senacherib to protect and rescue himselfe and his people Euery one of those words pierced heauen which was no lesse open to mercy vnto Hezekiah then vengeance to Senacherib Now is Isaiah addressed with a second message of comfort to him who doubtlesse distrusted not the first onely the reiteration of that furious blasphemy made him take faster hold by his faithfull deuotion Now the iealous God in a disdaine of so blasphemous a contestation rises vp in a stile of Maiesty and gloriously tramples vpon this saucie insolency Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is comne vp into mine eares therefore I will put my hooke into thy nose and my beidle into thy lips and will turne this backe by the way thou camest Lod Senacherib the God of heauen makes a beast of thee who hast so brutishly spurned at his name If thou be a rauenous Beare hee hath an hooke for thy nosthrils If thou be a resty horse he hath a bridle for thy mouth In spight of thee thou shalt follow his hooke or his bridle and shalt be led to thy iust shame by either It is not for vs to bee the Lords of our owne actions Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a banke against it by the way that he came shal he returne c. Impotent men what are we in the hands of the Almighty we purpose he ouer-rules wee talke of great matters and thinke to doe wonders he blowes vpon our proiects and they vanish with our selues He that hath set bounds to the Sea hath appointed limits to the rage of the proudest enemies yea euen the Deuils themselues are confined Why boast yee
a receit for the recouery The decree of God includes the meanes neither can the medicine worke without a word neither will the word worke without the medicine both of them must meet in the cure If we so trust the promise that we neglect the prescript we presume to no purpose Happy is that soule that so regards the promise of Gods Prophets as that withall he receiues their counsells Nothing could bee more proper for the ripening of hard and purulent tumors then dryed figs Herein Isaiahs direction was according to nature Wherefore should wee balke the ordinary road when it is both fayre and neere The sudden contradiction of the message causes a iust difficulty in the assent Hezekiah therefore craues a signe not for that he distrusted but that hee might trust the more wee can neuer take too fast hold of those promises of God which haue not more comfort in the application then naturall impossibility in the performance We beleeue Lord helpe our vnbeleefe The sicke King hath his option His father was offred a signe and refused it hee sues for one and obtaines it Shall the shadow goe for ward ten degrees or backe ten degrees As if heauen it selfe lay open to his choyce and were ready either to mend this pace or retire for his confirmation What creature is not cheerfully forward to obey the faith of Gods seruāts Hezekiah fastens rather vpon that signe which is more hard more disagreeing from the course of nature not without good reason Euery proofe must bee clearer then the thing to bee proued neither may there want a meet proportion betwixt both now the going forward of the shadow was a motion no other thē naturall the recouery of that pestilent disease was against the streame of nature the more difficult signe therefore the surer euidence Whether shall we more wonder at the measure of the loue of God to Hezekiah or at the power of Isaiahs faith in God Out of both either the Sun goes backe in heauen that his shadow may goe backe on earth or the shadow no lesse miraculously goes backe on earth whiles the Sunne goes forward in heauen It is true that the Prophet speakes of the shadow not of the Sun except perhaps because the motion of the Sun is best discerned by the shadow and the motion of the shadow is led by the course of the Sunne besides that the demonstration of this miracle is reported to be locall in the Diall of Ahaz not vniuersall in the sensible length of the day withall the retrait of the Sunne had made a publike and noted change in the frame of nature this particular alteration of the shadow in places limited might satisfie no lesse without a confusiue mutation in the face of the world Whethersoeuer to draw the Sun backe together with the shadow or to draw the shadow backe without the Sunne was the proofe of a diuine omnipotency able therefore to draw backe the life of Hezekiah fifteene degrees from the night of death towards which it was hasting O God thou wilt rather alter the course of heauen and earth then the faith of thy children shall sinke for want of supportation It should seeme the Babylonians finding the Assyrian power abated by the reuengefull hand of Gods Angell and their owne discord tooke this aduantage of a reuolt and now to strengthen their part fall in with Hezekiah King of Iudah whom they found the old enemy to the Assyrians the great fauourite of heauen him they wooe with gifts him they congratulate with Ambassages The fame of Hezekiahs sicknesse recouery forme and assurance of cure haue drawne thither messengers and presents from Berodach Baladan King of Babylon The Chaldees were curious searchers into the secrets of nature especially into the motions of the celestiall bodies Though there had beene no politicke relations this very Astronomicall miracle had beene enough to fetch them to Ierusalem that they might see the man for whose sake the Sun forsooke his place or the shadow forsooke the Sun How easily haue we seene those holy men mis-caried by prosperity against whom no miseries could preuaile Hee that stood out stoutly against all the Assyrian onsets clinging the faster to his God by how much he was harder assaulted by Senacherib melteth now with these Babylonian fauours and runnes abroad into offensiue weaknesses The Babylonian Ambassadors are too welcome to Ezekiah As a man transported with the honor of their respectiue and costly visitations he forgets his teares and his turning to the wall he forgets their incompatible Idolatry so hugging them in his bosome as if there had beene no cause of strangenesse All his doores fly open to them and in a vainglorious ostentation all his new-gathered treasures all his strong armoryes entertaine their eyes nothing in his house nothing in his Dominion is hid from them Oh Ezekiah what meanes this impotent ambition It is not long since thou tarest off the very plates of the Temple doores to giue vnto Senacherib and can thy treasures be suddenly so multiplied that they can be worthy to astonish forraine beholders Or if thy store-house were as rich as the earth can thy heart be so vain as to be lifted vp with these heauie metals Didst thou not see that heauen it selfe was at thy becke whilest thou wert humbled and shall a little earthlie drosse haue power ouer thy soul Can the flattering applause of strangers let thee loose into a proud ioy whom the late message of Gods Prophet resolued into teares Oh God if thou do not keepe vs as well in our sun-shine as in our storme wee are sure to perish As in all time of our tribulation so in all time of our wealth good Lord deliuer vs. Alas how sleight doth this weaknesse seeme in our eyes to reioyce in the abundance of Gods blessings to call in forraine friēds to be witnesses of our plenty to raise our conceits some little vpon the acclamations of others vpon the value of our owne abilities Lay thine hand vpon thy mouth ô foolish flesh and blood when thou seest the censure of thy Maker Isaiah the Prophet is sent speedily to Hezekiah with a sharpe and heart-breaking message Behold the dayes come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers haue layd vp in store vnto this day shall be caried into Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord And of thy sonnes that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget shall they take away and they shall bee Eunuches in the Palace of the King of Babylon No sinne can bee light in Hezekiah the holinesse of the person addes to the vnholinesse of the act Eminency of profession doubles both the offence and the iudgement This glory shall end in an ignominious losse The great and holy God will not digest pride in any much lesse in his owne That which was the subiect of Hezekiahs sin shall be the matter of his punishment those with whom he sinned shall be his
Bidkar his Captaine that the bleeding carkasse of Iehoram should be cast vpon that very platt of Naboth Oh Naboths blood well paid for Ahabs blood is licked by dogs in the very place where those dogs lickt Naboths Iehorams blood shall manure that ground which was wrung from Naboth and Iezebel shall adde to this compost Oh garden of hearbes dearly bought royally dunged What a resemblance there is betwixt the death of the father and the sonne Ahab and Iehoram Both are slaine in their charet Both with an arrow Both repay their blood to Naboth and how perfit is this retaliation Not only Naboth miscaried in that cruell iniustice but his sonnes also else the inheritance of the vineyard had descended to his heires notwithstanding his pretended offence and now not onely Ahab forfaits his blood to this field but his sonne Iehoram also Face doth not more answer to face then punishment to sinne It was time for Ahaziah King of Iuda to flee Nay it had beene time long before to haue fled from the sins yea from the house of Ahab That brand is fearfull which God sets vpon him Hee did euill in the sight of the Lord as did the house of Ahab for he was the sonne in law of the house of Ahab Affinity is too often guilty of corruption The son of good Iehosaphat is lost in Ahabs daughter Now hee payes for his kinde alliance accompanying the son of Ahab in his death whom hee consorted with in his Idolatry Yong Ahaziah was scarce warme in his throne when the mis-matched blood of Athaliah is required from him Nothing is more dangerous then to be imped in a wicked family this relation too often drawes in a share both of sin and punishment Who would not haue lookt that Iezebel hearing of this bloody end of her son and pursuit of her allye and the fearfull proceedings of this prosperous conspiracy should haue put her selfe into sack-cloth and ashes and now finding no meanes either of defence or escape should haue cast her selfe into such a posture of humiliation as might haue moued the compassion of Iehu Her proud heart could not suddenly learne to stoope rather she recollects her high spirits and in stead of humbling her soule by repentance and addressing her selfe for an imminent death she pranks vp her old carkasse and paints her wrinkled face and as one that vainly hopes to daunt the courage of an vsurper by the sudden beames of Maiesty she lookes out and thinks to fright him with the challenge of a traitor whose either mercy or iustice could not be auoided Extremitie findes vs such as our peace leaues vs Our last thoughts are spent vpon that wee care most for those that haue regarded their face more then their soule in their latter end are more taken vp with desire of seeming faire then being happy It is no maruell if an heart obdured with the custome of sinne shut vp gracelesly Counterfait beauty agrees well with inward vncleannesse Iebues resolution was too strongly setled to bee remoued with a painted face or an opprobrious tongue He lookes vp to the window and sayes Who is on my side who There want not those euery where which will be ready to obserue preuailing greatnesse Two or three Eunuchs looke out He bids them Throw her downe They instantly lay hold on their lately adored Mistris and notwithstanding all her shrieks and prayers cast her downe headlong into the street What heed is to be taken of the deepe professed seruices of hollow harted followers All this while they haue with humble smiles and officious deuotions fawned vpon their great Queene now vpon the call of a prosperous enemy they forget their respects her royalty and cast her downe as willing executioners into the iawes of a fearfull death It is hard for greatnesse to know them whom it may trust Perhaps the fairest semblance is from the falsest heart It was a iust plague of God vpon wicked Iezebel that shee was inwardly hated of her owne He whose seruants she persecuted raised vp enemies to her from her owne elbow Thus must pride fall Insolent idolatrous cruell Iezebel besprinkles the walls and pauement with her blood and now those braines that deuised mischiefe against the seruants of God are strawed vpon the stones and she that insulted vpon the Prophets is trampled vpon by the horses heeles The wicked is kept for the day of destruction and shall be brought forth to the day of wrath Death puts an end commonly to the hyest displeasure He that was seuere in the execution of the liuing is mercifull in the sepulture of the dead Goe see now this cursed woman and bury her for she is a Kings daughter She that vpbrayded Iehu with the name of Zimri shall be interred by Iehu as Omries daughter in law as a Sydonian Princesse Somewhat must bee yeelded to humanity somewhat to State The dogs haue preuented Iehu in this purpose and haue giuen her a liuing toomb more ignoble then the worst of the earth Onely the scull hands and feet of that vanished carkasse yet remaine The scull which was the roofe of all her wicked deuices the hands and feet which were the executioners these shall remaine as the monuments of those shamefull exequies that future times seeing these fragments of a body might say The dogges were worthy of the rest Thus Iezebel is turned to dung and dogs-meat Elijah is verified Naboth is reuenged Izreel is purged Iehu is zealous and in all God is iust IEHV killing the sonnes of AHAB and the Priests of BAAL THere were two prime Cities of the Ten Tribes which were the set Courts of the Kingdome of Israel Samaria and Iezreel The chiefe palace of the King was Iezreel the mother City of the Kingdome was Samaria Iehu is possessed of the one without any sword drawne against him Iezreel willingly changes the master yeelding it selfe to the victor of two Kings to the auenger of Iezebel the next care is Samaria Either policy or force shall fetch in that head of the Tribes The plentifull issue of Princes is no small assurance to the people Ahab had sonnes enough to furnish the Thrones of all the neighbour nations to maintaine the hopes of succession to all times How secure did he think the perpetuation of his posterity when he saw seuenty sons from his owne loynes Neither was this Royall issue trusted either to weake walls or to one roofe but to the strong bulwarkes of Samaria and therein to the seuerall guards of the chiefe Peeres It was the wise care of their parents not to haue them obnoxious to the danger of a common mis-cariage or of those emulations which wait vpon the cloyednesse of an vndiuided conuersation but to order their separation so as one may rescue other from the perill of assault as one may respect other out of a familiar strangenesse Had Ahab and Iezebel beene as wise for their soules as they were for their seed both had prospered Iehu is
thrōg What should a religious Israelite doe in the Temple of Baal Were any such there hee had deserued their smart who would partake with their worship but if curiosity should haue drawne any thither the mercy of Iehu seekes his rescue How much more fauourable is the God of mercies in not taking aduantage of our infirmities Well might this search haue bred suspition were it not that in all those Idolatrous sacrifices the first care was to auoid the profane Euen Baal would admit no mixture how should the true God abide it Nothing wanted now but the sacrifice No doubt whole heards and flockes were ready for a pretence of some royall hecatombs whereof some had now already smoked on their Altars O Iehu what meanes this dilation If thou abhorrest Baal why didst thou giue way to this last sacrifice why didst thou not cut off these Idolaters before this vpshot of their wickednesse Was it that thou mightst be sure of their guiltinesse was it that their number together with their sinne might be complete What acclamations were here to Baal what ioy in the freedome of their reuiued worship when all on the sudden those that had sacrificed are sacrificed The Souldiers of Iehu by his appointment rush in with their swords drawne and turne the temple into a slaughter-house How is the tune now changed What shrieking was here what out-cries what running from one sword to the edge of another what scrambling vp the walls and pillars what climbing into the windowes what vaine endeuors to escape that death which would not be shunned whether running or kneeling or prostrate they must dye The first part of the sacrifice was Baals the latter is Gods The blood of beasts was offered in the one of men in the other the shedding of this was so much more acceptable to God by how much these men were more beasts then those they sacrificed Oh happy obedience God was pleased with a sacrifice from the house of Baal The Idolaters are slaine the Idols burnt the house of Baal turn'd to a draught tho euen thus lesse vncleane lesse noysome then in the former perfumes and in one word Baal is destroyed out of Israel Who that had seene all this zeale for God would not haue said Iehu is a true Israelite Yet he that rooted out Ahab would not be rid of Ieroboam He that destroyed Baal maintained the two Calues of Dan and Bethel That Idolatry was of a lower ranke as being a mis-worship of the true God whereas the other was a worship of the false Euen the easier of both is haynous and shall robb Iehu of the praise of his vprightnesse A false heart may laudably quit it selfe of some one gross sin in the meane time hugg some lesser euill that may condemne it As a man recouered of a Feuer may dye of a Iaundis or a Dropsie We lose the thanke of all if wee wilfully fault in one It is an intire goodnes that God cares for Perhaps such is the bounty of our God a partiall obedience may be rewarded with a temporall blessing as Iehues seuerity to Ahab shal cary the crown to his seed for foure generations but we can neuer haue any comfortable assurance of an eternall retribution if our hearts wayes be not perfit with God Woe be to vs ô God if wee bee not all thine wee cannot but euerlastingly depart from thee if wee depart not from euery sinne Thou hast purged our hearts from the Baal of our grosse Idolatries oh cleare vs from the golden Calues of our pety-corruptions also that thou maist take pleasure in our vprightnesse and wee may reape the sweet comforts of thy gracious remuneration ATHALIAH and IOASH OH the wofull ruines of the house of good Iehosaphat Iehu hath slain two and fourty of his issue Athaliah hopes to root out the rest This daughter of Ahab was not like to be other then fatall to that holy Line One drop of that wicked blood was enough both to impure and spill all the rest which affinity had mixed with it It is not vnlike that Ahaziah betaking himselfe to the society of Iehorams warres committed the sway of his Scepter to his mother Athaliah The daughter of Iezebel cannot but be plotting when she heares of the death of Ahaziah and his brethren inflicted by the heauy hand of Iehu shee straight casts for the Kingdome of Iudah The true heires are infants their minority giues her both colour of rule and oportunity of an easie extirpation Perhaps her ambition was not more guilty then her zeale of Baalisme she saw Iehu out of a detestation of Idolatry trampling on the blood of Iehoram Iezebel Ahaziah the sonnes of Ahab the brethren of Ahaziah the priests and prophets of Baal and in one word triumphing in the destruction both of Ahab and his Gods out of Israel and now she thinks Why should not I destroy Iehosaphat and his God out of Iudah Who euer saw an Idolater that was not cruell Athaliah must needs let out some of her owne blood out of the throat of Ahaziahs sonnes yet she spares not to shed it out of a thirst of soueraignty O God how worthy of wonder are thy iust and mercifull dispensations In that thou sufferest the seed of good Iehosaphat to bee destroyed by her hand in whose affinity he offended and yet sauest one branch of this stock of Iehosaphat for the sake of so faithfull a progenitor Wicked Athaliah couldst thou thinke God would so farre forget his Seruant Dauid though no other of those loynes had seconded his vertues as to suffer all his seed to be rooted out of the earth This vengeance was for thy father Ahab The man according to Gods owne heart shall haue a lineall heyre to succeed in his Throne when thou and thy fathers house shall haue vanished into forgetfulnesse For this purpose hath the wise prouidence of God ordained a Iehosheba and matcht her in the priestly Tribe Such reuerence did Iehoram King of Iudah though degenerated into the Idolatry of his father in law Ahab beare to this sacred function that he marries his daughter to Iehoiada the Priest Euen Princesses did not then scorne the bed of those that serued at Gods Altar Why should the Gospel poure contempt vpon that which the Law honoured That good Lady had too much of Iehosaphat in her to suffer the vtter extirpation of that royall seed She could not doubtlesse without the extreme danger of her owne life saue the life of her nephew Ioash With what a louing boldnesse doth she aduenture to steale him from amongst those bleeding carkasses in the chamber of death Her match gaue her oportunity to effect that which both nature and religion moued her to attempt neyther know I whether more to wonder at the cunning of the deuice or the courage of the enterprise or the secresie of the concealment or the happinesse of the successe Certainly Athaliah was too cruelly-carefull to forget this so late borne sonne of Ahaziah
euill Amaziah followes Dauid though not with equall paces Ioash followes Ieroboam yet is Amaziah shamefully foyled by Ioash Whether God yet meant to visit vpon this King of Iudah the still-odious vnthankfulnes of his father to Iehoiada or to plague Iudah for their share in the blood of Zechariah and their late reuolt to Idolatry or whether Amaziahs too much confidence in his own strength which moued his bold challenge to Ioash were thought fit to be thus taken downe or what euer other secret ground of Gods iudgment there might be it is not for our presumption to inquire Who so by the euent shall iudge of loue or hatred shall be sure to run vpon that woe which belongs to them that call good euill and euill good What a sauage peece of Iustice it is to put the right whether of inheritance or honor to the decision of the sword when it is no newes for the better to mis-cary by the hand of the worse The race is not to the swift the battell is not to the strong no not to the good Perhaps God will correct his owne by a foyle perhaps he will plague his enemy by a victory They are only our spirituall combats wherein our faithfull courage is sure of a crowne VZZIAH Leprous EVen the Throne of Dauid passed many chāges of good and euill Good Iehosaphat was followed with three successions of wicked Princes and those three were again succeeded with three others godly and vertuous Amaziah for a long time shone fair but at the last shut vp in a cloud The gods of the Edomites marred him his rebellion against God stirr'd vp his peoples rebellion against him The same hands that slew him crowned his sonne Vzziah so as the yong King might imagine it was not their spight that drew violēce vpō his father but his owne wickednesse Both early did this Prince raigne and late he began at sixteene and sat fifty two yeares in the Throne of Iudah They that mutined in the declining age of Amaziah the father are obsequious to the childhood of the sonne as if they professed to adore souerainty whiles they hated lewdnesse The vnchanged gouernment of good Princes is the happinesse no lesse of the subiects then of themselues The hand knowes best to guide those reines to which it hath beene inured and euen meane hackneyes goe on cheerfully in their wonted rode Custome as it makes euils more supportable so where it meets with constant mindes makes good things more pleasing and beneficiall The wise and holy Prophet Zechariah was an happy Tutor to the minority of King Vzziah That vessell can hardly mis-cary where a skilfull steres-man sits at the helme The first praise of a good Prince is to be iudicious iust and pious in himselfe the next is to giue eare and way to them that are such Whiles Zechariah hath the visions of God and Vzziah takes the counsels of Zechariah it is hard to say whether the Prophet or the King or the State be happier God will be in no mans debt so long as Vzziah sought the Lord God made him to prosper Euen what we doe out of duty cannot want a reward Godlinesse neuer disappointed any mans hopes oft hath exceeded them If Vzziah fight against the Philistims If against the Arabians and Mehunims according to his names the strength the help of the Almighty is with him The Ammonites come in with presents and all the neighbour nations ring of the greatnesse of the happinesse of Vzziah His bounty and care makes Ierusalem both strong and proud of her new Towers yea the very Desert must tast of his munificence The outward magnificence of Princes cannot stand firme vnlesse it be built vpon the foundations of prouidence and frugality Vzziah had not beene so great a King if he had not been so great an husband he had his flockes in the deserts and his heards in the plaines his plowes in the fields his vine-dressers vpon the mountaines and in Carmel neither was this more out of profit then delight for he loued husbandry Who can contemne those callings for meannesse which haue beene the pleasures of Princes Hence was Vzziah so potent at home so dreadfull to his neighbours his warres had better sinewes then theirs which of his predecessors was able to maintaine so setled an army of more then of three hundred and tenne thousand trained souldiers well furnished well fitted for the suddenest occasion Thrift is the strongest prop of power The greatnesse of Vzziah and the rare deuices of his artificiall Engines for war haue not more raised his fame then his heart so is hee swolne vp with the admiration of his owne strength and glory that he breaks againe How easie it is for the best man to dote vpon himselfe and to bee lifted vp so high as to lose the sight both of the ground whence he rises and of the hand that aduanced him How hard it is for him that hath inuented strange engines for the battering of his enemies to find out any meanes to beat downe his owne proud thoughts Wise Salomon knew what he did when hee prayed to bee deliuered from too much Lest said he I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord Vpon this Rocke did the sonne of Salomon run and split himselfe His full sayles of prosperity caryed him into presumption ruine what may he not now doe what may he not be Because hee found his power otherwise vnlimited ouer-ruling in the Court the Cities the Fields the Deserts the Armies and Magazins therefore he thinkes hee may doe so in the Temple too as things royall ciuill husbandly military passed his hands so why should not thinkes hee sacred also It is a dangerous indiscretion for a man not to know the bounds of his owne calling What confusion doth not follow vpon this breaking of rankes Vpon a solemne day King Vzziah clothes himselfe in Pontifical robes and in the view of that populous assembly walkes vp in state into the Temple of God and boldly approching to the Altar of Incense offers to burne sweet odours vpon it to the God of heauen Azariah the Priest is sensible of so perillous an incrochment he therefore attended with fourscore valiant assistants of that holy Tribe hastēs after the King and finding him with the censer in his hand readie addressed to that sinfull deuotion stayes him with a free and graue expostulation There is no place wherein I could be sory to see thee ô King but this where thou art neither is there any act that wee should grudge thee so much as this which is the most sacred Is it possible that so great an ouersight should fall into such wisedome Can a religious Prince trained vp vnder an holy Zechariah after so many yeares zealous profession of piety be either ignorant or regardlesse of those limits which God hath set to his owne seruices Oh what meanes this vncouth attempt Consider ô deare Soueraigne for Gods sake for thy
calamities to nature to chance that acknowledging but one God of all the world are yet carelesse to know him to serue him One of the Priests of Israel is appointed to bee caried backe to Samaria to teach the Assyrian Colony the fashions of the God of the land not for deuotion but for impunity vaine Politicians thinke to satisfie God by patching vp religions any formes are good enough for an vnknowne deity The Assyrian Priests teach and practise the worship of their own Gods The Israelitish Priest prescribes the worship of the true God The people will follow both the one out of liking the other out of feare What a prodigious mixture was here of religions true with false Iewish with Paganish diuine with diuellish Euery diuision of these transplanted Assyrians had their seuerall deities high places sacrifices this Priest of Israel intercommons with euery of them So as now these fathers of Samaritanisme are in at all They feare the Lord and serue their idols No beggers cloak is more peeced then the religion of these new inhabitants of Israel I know not how their bodies sped for the Lyons I am sure their soules fared the worse for this medlie Aboue all things God hates a mungrell deuotion If we be not all Israel it were better to bee all Ashur It cannot so much displease God to bee vnknowne or neglected as to bee consorted with Idols HEZEKIAH and SENACHERIB ISrael is gone Iudah is left standing or rather some few sprigs of those two Tribes so we haue seene in the shredding of some large Timber-tree one or two boughes left at the top to hold vp the sap Who can but lament the poore remainders of that languishing kingdome of Dauid Take out of the two Tribes of Iudah and Beniamin one hundred and twenty thousand whom Pekah the King of Israel slew in one day Take out two hundred thousand that were caried away captiue to Samaria Take out those that were transported into the bondage of the Edomites and those that were subdued in the South parts by the Philistims alas what an handfull was left to the king of Iudah scarce worth the name of a dominion Yet euen now out of the gleeds of Iudah doth God raise vp a glorious light to his forlorne Church yea from the wretched loynes of Ahaz doth God fetch an holy Ezekiah It had beene hard to conceiue the state of Iudah worse then it was neither was it more miserable then sinfull and in regard of both desperate when beyond hope God reuiues this dying stocke of Dauid and out of very ruines builds vp his owne house Ahaz was not more the ill sonne of a good father then he was the ill father of a good sonne He was the ill sonne of good Iotham the ill father of good Hezekiah Good Hezekiah makes amends for his fathers impietie and puts a new life into the hartlesse remnant of Gods people The wisedome of our good God knowes when his ayd will bee most seasonable most welcome which hee then loues to giue when he findes vs left of all our hopes That mercifull hand is reserued for a dead lift then he failes vs not Now you might haue seene this pious Prince busily bestirring himselfe in so late and needfull a reformation remouing the high places battering and burning the Idolls demolishing their temples cutting downe their groues opening the Temple purging the altars and vessells sanctifying the Priests rekindling the Lampes renuing the incense reinstituting the sacrifices establishing the order of Gods seruice appointing the courses setling the maintenance of the ministers publishing the decrees for the long-neglected Pass-ouer celebrating it and the other feasts with due solemnity incouraging the people contributing bountifully to the offerings and in one word so ordering all the affayres of God as if hee had beene sent downe from heauen to restore Religion as if Dauid himself had been aliue againe in this blessed heyre not so much of his Crowne as of his piety Oh Iudah happy in thy Ezekiah Oh Ezekiah happy in the gratious restauration of thy Iudah Ahaz shall haue no thanke for such a sonne The God that is able of the very stones to raise children to Abraham rayses a true seed of Dauid out of the corrupt loynes of an Idolater That infinite mercy is not tyed to the termes of an immediate propagation For the space of three hundred yeares the man after Gods owne heart had no perfect heyre till now Till now did the high places stand the deuotions of the best Princes of Iudah were blemished with some weake omissions Now the zeale of good Ezekiah cleares all those defects and workes an intyre change How seasonably hath the prouidence of God kept the best man for the worst times When God hath a great worke to doe hee knowes to fit himselfe with instruments No maruell if the Paganish Idolls goe to vvracke vvhen euen the brazen Serpent that Moses had made by Gods owne appointment is broken in peeces The Israelites were stung with fiery Serpents this brazen Serpent healed them which they did no sooner see then they recouered But now such was the venome of the Israelitish Idolatry that this Serpent of brasse stung worse then the fiery That which first cured by the eye now by the eye poysoned the soule That which was at first the type of a Sauiour is now the deadly engine of the Enemy Whiles it helped it stood it stood whiles it hurt not but when once wicked abuse hath turned it into an Idoll what was it but Nehushtan The holinesse of the first institution cannot priuiledge ought from the danger of a future profanation nor as the case may stand from an vtter abolition What antiquity what authoritie what primary seruice might this Serpent haue pleaded All that cannot keepe it out of the dust Those things which are necessarie in their being beneficiall in their continuance may still remaine when their abuse is purged but those things whose vse is but temporary or whose duration is needlesse and vnprofitable may cease with the occasion and much more perish with an inseparable abuse Ezekiah willingly forgets who made the Serpent when he fees the Israelites make it an idoll It is no lesse intolerable for God to haue a riuall of his owne making Since Hezekiah was thus aboue all his Ancestors pright with the Lord it is no maruell if the Lord were with him if he prospered whither soeuer hee went The same God that would haue his iustice magnified in the confusion of the wicked Princes of Issrael and Iudah would haue his mercy no lesse acknowledged in the blessings of faithfull Hezekiah The great King of Assyria had in a sort swallowed vp both the Kingdomes of Iudah and Israel yet not with an equall cruelty He made Israel captiue Iudah vpon a willing composition tributary Israel is vanished in a transportation Iudah continues vnder the homage wherein Ahaz left it Hezekiah had raigned but sixe yeares when he saw his neighbours
your selues ô ye Tyrans that ye can doe mischiefe yee are stinted and euen within those lists is confusion O the Trophees of diuine Iustice That very night the Angell of the Lord went out and smote in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred fourescore fiue thousand and when they arose earely in the morning behold they were all dead corps How speedy an execution was this how miraculous No humane arme shall haue the glory of this victory It was God that was defied by that presūptuous Assyrian It is God that shall right his owne wrongs Had the Egyptian or Ethyopian forces beene comne vp though the same God had done this worke by them yet some praise of this slaughter had perhaps cleau'd to their fingers Now an inuisible hand sheds all this blood that his very enemies may cleare him frō all partnership of reuenge Go now wicked Senacherib and tell of the gods of Hamath and Arpad and Sepharuaim and Hena Iuah which thou hast destroyed and say that Hezekiahs God is but as one of these Goe and adde this Deity to the number of thy conquests Now say that Ezekiahs God in whom hee trusted hath deceiued him and graced thy Tryumphes With shame and griefe enough is that sneaped Tyran returned to his Niniue hauing left behinde him all the pride and strength of Assyria for compost to the Iewish fields Well were it for thee ô Senacherib if thou couldst escape thus vengeance waits for thee at home and welcomes thee into thy place whiles thou art worshipping in the house of Nisroch thy god two of thine own sons shall be thine executioners See now if that false Deity of thine can preserue thee frō that stroke which the true God sends thee by the hand of thine owne flesh Hee that slew thine hoast by his Angell slayes thee by thy sonnes The same Angell that killed all those thousands could as easily haue smitten thee but he rather reserues thee for the further torment of an vnnaturall stroke that thou mayest see too late how easie it is for him in spight of thy God to arme thine owne loines against thee Thou art auenged O God thou art auenged plentifully of thine enemies Whosoeuer striues with thee is sure to gaine nothing but losse but shame but death but hell The Assyrians are slaine Senacherib is rewarded for his blasphemy Ierusalem is rescued Ezekiah reioyces the nations wonder and tremble O loue the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserueth the faithfull plenteously rewarded the proud doer HEZEKIAH sicke recouered visited HEzekiah was freed from the siege of the Assyrians but hee is surprised with a disease he that deliuered him from the hand of his enemies smites him with sicknesse God doth not let vs loose from all afflictions when he redeemes vs from one To thinke that Ezekiah was either not thankfull enough for his deliuerance or too much lifted vp with the glory of so miraculous a fauour were an iniurious mis-construction of the hand of God and an vncharitable censure of an holy Prince For though no flesh and blood can auoid the iust desert of bodily punishment yet God doth not alwayes strike with an intuition of sinne sometimes he regards the benefit of our triall sometimes the glory of his mercy in our cure It was no sleight distemper that seized vpon Ezekiah but a disease both painfull and fierce and in nature deadly O God how thou lashest euen those whom thou louest Hadst thou euer any such dearling in the throne of Iudah as Hezekiah Yet he no sooner breatheth from a miserable siege then hee panteth vnder a mortall sicknesse when as yet he had not so much as the comfort of a child to succeed him thy Prophet is sent to him with the heauy message of his death Set thine house in order for thou shalt dye and not liue It is no small mercy of God that he giues vs warning of our end we shall make an ill vse of so gratious a premonition if we make not a meet preparation for our passage Euen those that haue not an house yet haue a soule no soule can want important affaires to be ordered for a finall dissolution the neglect of this best thrift is desperate Set thy soule in order ô man for thou shalt dye and not liue If God had giuen Ezekiah a son nature had bequeathed his estate now hee must study to find heyres Euen these outward things though in themselues worthlesse require our carefull disposition to those we leaue behind vs and if wee haue delayed these thoughts till then our sicke beds may not complaine of their importunity We cannot leaue to our families a better legacy then Peace Neuer was the Prophet Esay vnwelcome to this good King vntill now Euen sad tidings must be caried by those messengers which would be faithfull neither may wee regard so much how they will bee taken as by whom they are sent It was a bold and harsh word to say to a King Thou shalt dye and not liue I doe not heare Hezekiah rage fret at the message or threat the bearer but he meekly turnes his face to the wall and weepes and prayes Why to the wall Was it for the greater secrecie of his deuotion was is for the more freedome from all distraction was it that the passion which accompanied his prayer might haue no witnesses Or was it for that this wall lookt towards the Temple which his heart and eyes still moued vnto though his feet could not Howsoeuer the patient soule of good Ezekiah turnes it selfe to that holy God from whom hee smarts and bleeds and poures out it selfe into a feruent deprecation I beseech thee O Lord remember now how I haue walked before thee in truth and with a perfect hart and haue done that which is good in thy sight Couldst thou feare ô Ezekiah that God had forgotten thine integrity The grace that was in thee was his owne worke could he in thee neglect himselfe Or dost thou therefore doubt of his remembrance of thy faithfulness because hee summons thee to receiue the crowne of thy faithfulnesse glory and immortality wherein canst thou bee remembred if this bee to forget thee What challenge is this Is God a debter to thy perfection Hath thine holy cariage merited any thing from that infinite Iustice Farre farre were these presumptuous conceits from that humble and mortified soule Thou hadst hated thine owne brest if it could once haue harboured so proud a thought This perfection of thine was no other then an honest soundnesse of hart life which thou knowest God had promised to reward It was the mercy of the couenant that thou pleadedst not the merit of thine obedience Euery one of these words were steeped in teares But what meant these words these teares I heare not of any suit moued by Hezekiah onely he wishes to bee remembred in that which could neuer bee forgotten though hee should haue intreated for an obliuion Speake out
vp it is not so easily left After a common deprauation of religion it is hard to returne vnto the first purity as when a garmēt is deeply soiled it cannot without many lauers recouer the former cleannesse IOSIAH'S Reformation YEt if wee must alter from our selues it is better to bee a Manasseh then a Ioash Ioash beganne well and ended ill Manasseh began ill and ended well his age varied from his youth no lesse then one mans condition can varie from another His posterity succeeded in both Amnon his sonne succeeded in the sinnes of Manassehs youth Iosiah his grandchild succeeded in the vertues of his age What a vast differēce doth grace make in the same age Manasseh began his reigne at twelue yeares Iosiah at eight Manasseh was religiously bred vnder Hezekiah Iosiah was mis-nurtured vnder Amnon and yet Manasseh runs into absurd Idolatries Iosiah is holie and deuout The Spirit of God breathes freely not confining it selfe to times or meanes No rules can bind the hands of the Almightie It is in ordinarie proofe too true a word that was said of old Woe be to thee O Land whose King is a child the goodnesse of God makes his owne exceptions Iudah neuer fared better then in the green years of a Iosiah If wee may not rather measure youth and age by gouernment and disposition then by yeares Surely thus Iosiah was older with smooth cheekes then Manasseh with gray haires Happy is the infancie of Princes when it falls into the hands of faithfull Counsellors A good patterne is no small helpe for young beginners Iosiah sets his father Dauid before him not Amnon not Manasseh Examples are the best rules for the inexperienced where their choice is good the directions are easiest The lawes of God are the wayes of Dauid Those lawes were the rule these wayes were the practice Good Iosiah walkes in all the wayes of his Father Dauid Euen the minority of Iosiah was not idle we cannot be good too early At eight yeares it was enough to haue his eare open to heare good counsaile to haue his eies hart opē to seek after God At twelue he begins to act and showes well that hee hath found the God he sought Then he addresses himselfe to purge Iudah and Ierusalem from the high places groues images altars wherewith it was defiled burning the bones of the idolatrous Priests vpon their altars strawing the ashes of the idols vpon the graues of them that had sacrificed to them striuing by those fires and mattocks to testifie his zealous detestation of all idolatry The house must first be clensed ere it can bee garnished no man will cast away his cost vpon vncleane heaps so soone as the Temple was purged Iosiah bends his thoughts vpon the repayring and beautifying of this house of the Lord. What stir was there in Iudah wherein Gods Temple suffered not Sixe seuerall times was it pillaged whether out of force or will First Iehoash King of Iudah is faine by the spoile of it to stop the mouth of Hazael Then Ioash King of Israel fils his owne hands with that sacred spoile in the dayes of Amaziah after this Ahaz rifles it for Tiglath Pileser King of Assyria then Hezekiah is forced to ransacke the treasures of it for Senacherib yet after the sacriledge of Manasseh makes that booty of it which his later times indeuoured to restore and now lastly Amnon his sonne neglects the frame embeazels the furniture of this holy place The very pile began to complaine of age and vnrespect Now comes good Iosiah and in his eighteenth yeare when other young Gallants would haue thought of nothing but pleasure and iollity takes vp the latest care of his father Dauid and giues order for the repayring of the Temple The keepers of the doore haue receiued the contribution of all faithfull Iewes for this pious vse the King sends Shaphan the scribe to Hilkijah the Priest to summe it vp and to deliuer it vnto Carpenters and Masons for so holy a worke How well doth it beseeme the care of a religious Prince to set the Priests and Scribes in hand with reedifying the Temple The command is the Kings the charge is the high-Priests the execution is the workmens when the laborers are faithfull in doing the worke and the high Priest in directing it and the King in inioining it Gods House cannot faile of an happy perfection but when any of these slackens the businesse must needs languish How God blesses the deuout indeuours of his seruants Whiles Hilkijah was diligently suruaying the breaches and the reparation of the Temple hee lights vpon the booke of the Law The authenticke and originall Booke of Gods Law was by a speciall charge appointed to be carefully kept within a safe shrine in the Sanctuary In the depraued times of idolatry some faithfull Priest to make sure worke had locked it fast vp in some secret corner of the Temple from the reach of all hands of all eyes as knowing how impossible it was that diuine monument could otherwise escape the fury of prophane guiltinesse Some few transcripts there were doubtlesse parcels of this sacred Book in other hands neither doubt I but as Hilkijah had been formerly well acquainted with this holy volume now of long time hid so the eares of good Iosiah had beene inured to some passages thereof but the whole body of these awfull Records since the late night of Idolatrous confusion and persecution saw no light till now This precious treasure doth Hilkijah find whiles he digs for the Temple Neuer man laboured to the reparation of Gods Church but he met with a blessing more thē he looked for Hilkijah the Priest and Shaphan the scribe do not ingrosse this invaluable wealth into their owne hands nor suppresse these more then sacred roles for their owne aduantage but trans-mit them first to the eares of the King then by him to the people It is not the praise of a good scribe to lay vp but to bring forth both old and new And if the Priests lips shall keepe knowledge they keep it to impart not to smother The people shall seeke the Law at his mouth for hee is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts So soone as the good King heares the words of the booke of the Law and in speciall those dreadfull threats of iudgement denounced against the Idolatries of his Iudah he rends his clothes to show his heart rent with sorrow and fearfull expectation of those plagues and washes his bosome with teares Oh gracious tendernesse of Iosiah he doth but once heare the Law read and is thus humbled humbled for his fathers sins for the sins of his people how many of vs after a thousand hammerings of the menaces of Gods Law vpon our guilty soules continue yet insensible of our danger The very reading of this Law doth thus affect him the preaching of it stirs not vs The sinnes of others strucke thus deepe with him our owne are sleighted by vs
place according to the cōceit of Iewes hath profaned it The true God I haue heard is curious neither will abide those vessels which haue beene polluted with idolatrous vses It shall bee enough if I loose the bonds of this miserable people If I giue liberty let the next giue wealth they will think themselues happy in bare walls in their natiue earth To what purpose should I pamper their penurie with a sudden store But the Princely hart of Cyrus would admit of no such base sacrilegious thoughts Those vessels that hee finds stampt with Gods marke he will returne to their owner neither his owne occasions nor their abuse shall be any colour of their detention O Cyrus how manie close-handed griple-minded Christians shall once be choked in iudgement with the example of thy iust munificence thou restoredst that which wee purloine woe bee to those houses that are stored with the spoiles of Gods Temple woe bee to those fingers that are tainted with holy treasures Kings can hardly doe good alone their lawes are not more followed then their examples No sooner doe the chiefe of the fathers of Iudah and Beniamin and the Priests and Leuites set their faces towards Ierusalem for the building of the Temple then the liberall hands of their Pagan neighbours furnish them with gold and siluer and precious things Euer Persian is glad to be at the charge of laying a stone in Gods house The same God that had giuen them these mettals out of his cofers of the earth giues it out of their cofers to his Temple He that tooke away by the Chaldees giues by the Persians Where the Almighty intends a worke there cannot bee any want of meanes Thus hartened thus laded doe the ioyfull families of Iudah returne to their old home How many thousands of them were worne out and lost in that seuenty yeares seruitude How few of them yet suruiued that could know the place of their birth and habitation or say Here stood the Temple here the Palace Amongst those fourty and two thousand three hundred threescore Iewes that returned in this first expedition there were whō the confusion of their long captiuity had robbed of their pedigree They knew themselues Iewes but could not deriue their line these were yet admitted without difficulty But those of the Priestly tribe which could not deduce their genealogy from the register are cashiered as vncleane Then God would bee serued in a blood now in a due succession If we could not fetch the line of our pedigree from Christ and his Apostles we were not fit for the Euangelicall altars Their calling was by nature ours by grace The grace of inward abilities of outward ordination if we cannot approue both these we are iustly abādoned now had the children of Israel taken down their Harpes from the Willowes which grew by the waters of Babylon could vnbidden sing the true sōgs of their recouered Zion They are newly setled in their old māsions when vpō the first publike feast in the Autumne immediately following their return they flock vp to Ierusalē their first care is their publike sacrifice That school of their Captiuity wherin they haue been long trained hath taught them to begin with God A forced discontinuance makes deuotion more sauoury more sweet to religious hearts whereas in an open freedome piety doth too often languish Ieshua the Priest and Zorobabel the Prince are fitly ioyned in the building of the Altar neither of their hands may be out of that sacred worke no sooner is that set vpon the bases then it is imployed to the daily burnt-offerings The Altar may not stay the leisure of the Temple Gods Church may not want her oblations He can be none of the sons of Israel that doth not euery day renue his acknowledgements of God How feelingly doe these Iewes keepe their feast of Tabernacles whiles their soiourning in Babylon was still in their thoughts whiles as yet their Tēts must supply their ruined houses The first motions of zeale are commonly strong and feruent How carefully doe these Gouernours and Priests make preparatiō for Gods Temple Carpenters and Masons are hyred Tyrian workmen are againe called for and Lebanon is now anew solicited for Cedar trees The materials are ready Euery Israelite with such courage addresses himselfe to this seruice as if his life lay in those stones And now whiles the foundation of the Temple was laying the Priests stand in their habits with Trumpets the Leuites with Cymbals interchanging their holy Musicke and melodiously singing praises to the God of Israel who had turned their captiuity as the streames in the South and honoured their eyes and hands with the first stones of his house The people second their songs with shouts The earth sounds and heauen rings with the ioyfull acclamations of the multitude It is no small comfort in a good action to haue begun wel The entrance of any holy enterprise is commonly encountred with many discouragements which if wee haue once ouercome the passage is smooth How would these men haue shouted at the laying on of the last stone of the battlements who are thus ioyed with laying the first stones of the foundation The end of any thing is better then the beginning that hath certainty this danger this labour that rest little did these men thinke that for all this few of them should liue to see the roofe What different affections shall wee see produced in men by the same occasion The younger Iewes shouted at this sight the elder wept The yonger shouted to see a new foundation The elder wept to remember the old They who had seene no better thought this goodly They who had seen the former thought this meane and homely more sorrowing for what they had lost then reioycing in so vnequal a reparation As it may fall out it is some peece of misery to haue beene happier euery abatement of the degrees of our former height laies siege to our thankfulnesse for lesser mercies Sometimes it proues an aduantage to haue knowne no better he shall more comfortably inioy present benefits who takes them as they are without any other comparisons then of the weakenesse of his owne deseruings It is nothing to mee what my selfe or others haue beene so I bee now well Neither is it otherwise in particular Churches if one be more gloriously built then another yet if the foundation be rightly layd in both one may not insult the other may not repine Ech must congratulate the truth to other each must thankfully inioy it selfe The noise was not more loud then confused here was a discordant mixture of lamentation and shouting it was hard to say whether drowned the other This assembly of Iewes was a true image of Gods Church on earth one sings another cries neuer doth it all either laugh or mourne at once It shall bee in our triumph that all teares shall be wipt from our eyes till then our passions must bee mixed according to the occasions
heart by the wise and godly There and thus Ezra sits astonied vntill the euening sacrifice others resorted to him the while euen all that trēbled at the words of the God of Israel but to help on his sorrow not to relieue it neither doth any man with a mitigation of his owne or others griefe At last hee rises vp from his heauinesse and casts himselfe vpon his knees and spreads out his hands vnto the Lord his God Wherefore was all that pensiuenesse fasting silence tearing of haire and clothes but to serue as a meete preface to his prayers wherein he so freely powres out his hart as if it had beene all dissolued into deuotion professing his shame to lift vp his face towards the throne of God confessing the iniquities of his people which were increased ouer their heads and growne vp vnto heauen fetching their trespasse farre and charging them deepe feelingly acknowledging the iust hand that had followed them in all their iudgements and the iust confusion wherein they now stand before the face of their God Teares and sighes and grouelings accompanied his prayers the example and noise whereof drew Israel into a participation of this publike mourning For the people wept very sore How can they choose but thinke If he thus lament for vs how should wee grieue for our selues All Iudah went away merrily with their sinne till this checke of Ezra now they are afflicted Had not the hands of the Peeres beene in this trespasse the people had not beene guilty had not the cheekes of Ezra beene first drenched with teares the people had not beene penitent It cannot be spoken what power there is in a great example whether to euill or good Prayers and teares are nothing without indeauors Shechaniah the sonne of Iehiel puts the first life into this businesse Hauing seconded the complaint of Ezra he now addes Yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Now therefore let vs make a couenant with our God to put away all the wiues and such as are borne of them Arise for this matter belongeth to thee wee also will be with thee Be of good courage and doe it When mischiefe is once done the chiefe care is how to redresse it The best way of redresse is the deliberate vndoing of that which wee haue rashly committed The surest obligation to the vndoing of an euill act is an oath or couenant made with God for the performance There is no man so wise but hee may make vse of good counsell there is no man so forward but he may abide incitation It is no small incouragement to see an harty assistance in an enuious and difficult seruice Then arose Ezra and made the chiefe Priests the Leuites and all Israel to sweare that they should doe according to this word It is halfe done that is thus assured There was need of a strōg power to dissolue a matrimoniall though inordinate loue Doubtlesse these men had maried out of affection their hearts were no lesse set vpon these wiues though heathenish then if they had beene of their owne Tribes neither were their children thus begotten lesse deare vnto them then if they had laine in Iewish wombes Nothing lesse then an oath of God therefore could quit these passions That is both required and taken Now begins Ezra to conceiue some hope of present redresse the comfort whereof yet cannot turne off his sorrow for the offence passed Hee neither eates bread nor drinkes water willingly punishing himself because Israel had sinned Now shall his Countreymen easily reade in his face their owne penance and iust humiliation and say This man takes no ioy in our sufferings hee would not smart thus for vs if he did not descry more danger towards vs then we can apprehēd Proclamation is made through Iudah and Ierursalem vnder paine of forfaiture of substance and excommunication from Gods people that all the children of the captiuity should gather themselues together vnto Ierusalem They are met accordingly The Courts of Gods house are thronged with penitents and now as if the heauen would teach them what to doe the cloudes raine downe aboundance of teares What with those sad showres what with their inward remorse the people sit trembling in the open Courts and humbly wait for the reproofe for the sentence of Ezra He rises vp and with a seuere countenance layes before them their sinne their amends The sinne of their strange wiues the amends of their confession of their separation not sparing to search their wound not neglecting the meet plaister for their cure The people as willing to bee healed yeeld themselues patiently to that rough hand not shrinking at the paine not fauouring the sore As thou hast said so must wee doe Onely crauing a fit proportion of time and a due assistance for the dispatch of so long and important a worke Ezra gladly harkens to this not so much request as counsell of Israel The charge is diuided to men and dayes For two moneths space the commissioners sit close and within that compasse finish this businesse not more thanklesse then necessary Doubtlesse much varietie of passion met with thē in this busie seruice Here you should haue seene an affectionate husband bitterly weeping at the dismission of a louing wife and drowning his last farewell in sobs there you might haue seen a passionate wife hanging vpon the armes of her beloued husbād and on her knees coniuring him by his former vowes and the deare pledges of their loues and profering with many teares to redeeme the losse of her husband with the change of her religion Here you might haue seene the kindred and parents of the dismissed shutting vp their denyed suites with rage and threats There the abandoned children kneeling to their seemingly-cruell father beseeching him not to cast off the fruit of his owne loynes and expostulating what they haue offended in being his The resolued Israelites must be deafe and blind to these mouing obiects and so farre forget nature as to put off part of themselues Personall inconueniences haue reason to yeeld to publike mischiefes Long intertainment makes that sinne hard to be eiected whose first motions might haue beene repelled with ease Had not the prohibition of these mariages been expresse and their danger and mischiefe palpable the care of their separation had not bred so much tumult in Israel Hee that ordained matrimony had vpon fearefull curses forbidden an vnequall yoke with Infidels Besides the marring of the Church by the mixture of an vnholy seed religion suffered for the present and all good hearts with it Many teares many sacrifices needed to expiate so foule an offence and to set Israel straight againe All this while euen these mesline Iewes were yet forward to build the Temple The worst sinners may yeeld an outward conformity to actions of piety Ezra hath done more seruice in pulling downe then the Iewes in building without this act the temple might haue stood religion must needes haue falne Bebel had beene
vvhen we are throughly empty A short hunger doth but whet the appetite but so long an abstinence meets death halfe way to preuent it Well may they inioyne sharp penances vnto others who practise it vpon themselues It was the face of Esther that must hope to win Ahasuerus yet that shall be macerated with fasting that she may preuaile A carnall heart would haue pampered the flesh that it might allure those wanton eyes shee pines it that she may please God and not she must work the hart of the King Faith teaches her rather to trust her deuotions then her beauty ESTHER suing to AHASVERVS THE Iewes are easily intreated to fast who had receiued in themselues the sentence of death what pleasure could they take in meat that knew what day they must eate their last The three dayes of abstinence are expired now Esther changes her spirits no lesse then her clothes Who that sees that face and that habit can say she had mourned she had fasted Neuer did her royall apparell become her so well That God before whom she had humbled her selfe made her so much more beautifull as she had beene more deiected And now with a winning confidence she walks into the inner court of the King and puts her selfe into that forbidden presence as if she said Here I am with my life in my hand if it please the King to take it it is ready for him Vashti my predecessor forfaited her place for not comming when she was called Esther shall now hazard the forfaiture of her life for comming when she is not called It is necessity not disobedience that hath put me vpon this bold approch according to thy construction O King I doe either liue or dye either shall be welcome The inexpectednesse of pleasing obiects makes them many times the more acceptable the beautifull countenance the gracefull demeanure and goodly presence of Esther haue no sooner taken the eyes then they haue rauished the hart of King Ahasuerus Loue hath soone banished all dreadfulnesse And the King held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand Moderate intermission is so farre from cooling the affection that it inflames it had Esther been seene euery day perhaps that satiety had abated of the height of her welcome now three and thirty dayes retirednesse hath indeared her more to the surfeted eyes of Ahasuerus Had not the golden Scepter been held out where had Queen Esther beene The Persian Kings affected a stern awfulnesse to their subiects It was death to solicit them vncalled How safe how easie how happy a thing it is to haue to doe with the King of heauen who is so pleased with our accesse that he solicits sutors who as he is vnweariable with our requests so is infinite in his beneficences How gladly doth Esther touch the top of that Scepter by which shee holds her life and now whiles she thinks it well that she may liue she receiues besides pardon fauour What wilt thou Queene Esther and what is thy request it shall be giuen thee euen to the halfe of the Kingdome Commonly when wee feare most wee speed best God then most of all magnifies his bounty to vs when we haue most afflicted our selues Ouer-confident expectations are seldome but disappointed whiles humble suspicions goe laughing away It was the benefit and safety of but one peece of the Kingdome that Esther comes to sue for and behold Ahasuerus offers her the free power of the halfe He that gaue Haman at the first word the liues of all his Iewish subiects is ready to giue Esther halfe his Kingdome ere she aske Now shee is no lesse amazed at the louing munificence of Ahasuerus then she was before afraid of his austerity The Kings hart is in the hand of the Lord as the riuers of water hee turneth it whithersoeuer hee will It is not good to swallow fauours too greedily lest they either choke vs in the passage or proue hard of digestion The wise Queene howeuer shee might seeme to haue a faire opportunity offered to her suit findes it not good to apprehend it too suddenly as desiring by this small dilation to prepare the eare and hart of the King for so important a request Now all her petition ends in a banquet If it seeme good vnto the King let the King and Haman come this day vnto the banquet that I haue prepared for him It is an easie fauor to receiue a small courtesie where we offer to giue great Haman is called the King comes to Esthers table and now highly pleased with his entertainment hee himselfe solicits her to propound that suit for which her modesty would but durst not solicit him Bashfulnesse shall leese nothing at the hand of wel-gouerned greatnesse Yet still Esthers suit stickes in her teeth and dares not come forth without a further preface of time and expectation Another banquet must passe ere this reckning can be giuen in Other suitors wait long for the deliuerie of their petition longer for the receit of their answer Here the King is faine to wait for his suit Whether Esthers hart would not yet serue her to contest with so strong an aduersary as Haman without further recollection or whether she desired to get better hold of the King by indearing him with so pleasing entertainments or whether shee would thus ripen her hopes by working in the mind of king Ahasuerus a fore-conceit of the greatnesse and difficulty of that suit which was so loath to come forth or whether she meant thus to giue scope to the pride and malice of Haman for his more certaine ruine Howsoeuer it were to morrow is a new day set for Esthers second banquet third petition The King is not inuited without Haman Fauors are sometimes done to men with a purpose of displeasure Doubtlesse Haman tasted of the same cates with his master neither could hee in the forehead of Esther read any other characters then of respect and kind applause yet had shee then in her hopes disigned him to a iust reuenge Little do we know by outward cariages in what termes we stand with either God or men Euery little winde raiseth vp a bubble How is Haman now exalted in himselfe with the singular grace of Queene Esther and begins to value himselfe so much more as hee sees himselfe higher in the rate of others opinion Only surly and sullen Mordecai is an allay to his happinesse No edict of death can bow the knees of that stout Iew yea the notice of that bloody cruelty of this Agagite haue stiffned them so much the more Before he lookt at Haman as an Amalekite now as a persecutor Disdaine and anger looke out at those eyes and bid that proud enemy doe his worst No doubt Mordecai had beene listening after the speed of Queen Esther how shee came in to the King how she was welcom'd with the golden scepter and with the more precious words of Ahasuerus how shee had intertained the King how
had not beene so lauish in counselling so pompous a shew of excessiue magnificence Now the Kings owne royall apparell and his owne Steed is not sufficient except the royall Crowne also make vp the glory of him who shall thus triumph in the kings fauour Yet all this were nothing in base hands The actor shall be the best part of this great pageant Let this apparell and this horse be deliuered to one of the Kings most noble Princes that they may aray the man withall whom the King delighteth to honour and bring him on horse backe through the streets of the City and proclaime before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour Honour is more in him that giues then him that receiues it To be honoured by the vnworthy is little better then disgrace No meaner person will serue to attend this Agagite in his supposed greatnesse then one of the noblest Princes The ambition is too high flowne that seekes glory in the seruility of equals The place addes much to the act There is small hart in a concealed honour It is nothing vnlesse the streets of the city Shushan be witnesses of this pompe and ring with that gracious acclamation The vaine harts of proud men can easily deuise those meanes whereby they may best set out themselues Oh that wee could equally affect the meanes of true and immortall glory The heart of man is neuer so cold within him as when from the height of the expectation of good it falls into a sudden sense of euill So did this Agagites Then the King sayd to Haman make hast and take the apparell and the horse as thou hast said and doe euen so to Mordecai the Iew that sitteth at the Kings gate Let nothing faile of all that thou hast said How was Haman thunder-stricken with this killing word Doe thou so to Mordecai I dare say all the honors that Ahasuerus had heaped vpon Haman cannot counteruaile this one vexation Doubtlesse at first he distrusts his eare and then muzes whether the King be in earnest at last when he heares the charge so seriously doubled and findes himselfe forced to beleeue it hee beginnes to thinke What meanes this vnconceiuable alteration Is there no man in all the Court of Persia to bee pickt out for extraordinary honor but Mordecai Is there no man to bee pickt out for the performance of this honour to him but Haman haue I but one proud enemie in all the world and am I singled out to grace him Did it gall me to the heart and make all my happinesse tedious vnto mee to see that this Iew would not bow to me must I now bow to him That which he would rather dye and forfait the life of all his nation then doe to mee notwithstanding the Kings command shall I bee forced by the Kings command to doe vnto him Yea did hee refuse to giue but a cap and a knee to my greatnesse and must I lacquay so base a fellow through the streets must I be his herald to proclaime his honour through all Shushan Why doe I not let the King know the insolent affronts that hee hath offered me Why doe I not signifie to my Soueraigne that my errand now was for another kinde of aduancement to Mordecai If I obtaine not my desired reuenge yet at least I shall preuaile so far as to exempt my selfe from this officious attendance vpon so vnequall an enemy And yet that motiō cānot be now safe I see the Kings heart is vpon what groūd so euer bent vpon this action should I flye off neuer so little after my word so directly passed perhaps my coldnesse or opposition might be construed as some wayward contestation with my master Especially since the seruice that Mordecai hath done to the King is of an higher nature then the despight which he hath done to mee I will I must giue way for the time mine humble yeeldance when all the cariage of this businesse shall bee vnderderstood shal I doubt not make way for mine intended reuenge Mordecai I will honor thee now that by these steps I may ere long raise thee many cubits higher I will obey the command of my soueraigne in obseruing thee that he may reward the merit of my loyalty in thine execution Thus resolued Haman goes forth with a face and heart full of distraction full of confusion and addresses himselfe to the attyring to the attending of his old aduersary and new master Mordecai What lookes doe we now think were cast vpō each other at their first greeting their eyes had not forgotten their old language Certainly when Mordecai saw Haman come into the roome where he was he could not but thinke This man hath long thirsted for my blood and now hee comes to fetch it I shall not liue to see the successe of Esther or the fatall day of my nation It was knowne that morning in the Court what a lofty gibbet Haman had prouided for Mordecai and why might it not haue comne to Mordecaies eare What could he therefore now imagine other then that he was called out to that execution But when he saw the royall robe that Haman brought to him he thinks Is it not enough for this man to kill mee but he must mock me too What an addition is this to the former cruelty thus to insult and play vpon my last distresse But when he yet saw the royall crowne ready to be set on his head and the Kings owne horse richly furnished at his gate and found himselfe raised by Princely hands into that royall seat he thinks what may all this meane Is it the purpose of mine aduersary that I shal dye in state Would he haue me hangd in triumph At last when hee sees such a traine of Persian Peeres attending him with a graue reuerence and heares Haman proclaime before him Thus shall it bee done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour finding this pompe to be serious well meant hee imagines in all likelihood that this inexpected chāge proceeds from the suit of his Esther now he begins to lift vp his head and to hope well of himselfe and his people and could not but say within himselfe that he had not fasted for nothing O the wondrous alteration that one morning hath made in the court of Persia he that was yesternight despised by Hamans footmen is now waited on by Haman and all his fellow-Princes Hee that yester-night had the homage of all knees but one and was ready to burst for the lacke of that now doth obeysance to that one by whom hee was wilfully neglected It was not Ahasuerus that wrought this strange mutation it was the ouer-ruling power of the Almighty whose immediate hād would thus preuent Esthers suit that he might challenge all the thanke to himselfe Whiles Princes haue their owne wills they must doe his and shall either exalt or depresse according to diuine appointment I should commend Hamans obedience in