could say It is better that one man dye then that all the people should perish and here Haman can say It is better that all the people should perish then that one man should dye Thy mercy ô God by the willing death of one that had not sinned hath defrayed the iust death of a world of sinners Whiles the iniurious rigour of a man for the supposed fault of one would destroy a whole nation that had not offended It is true that by the sinne of one death raigned ouer all but it was because all sinned in that one had not all men beene in Adam all had not falne in him all had not dyed in him It was not the man but mankind that fell into sinne and by sinne into death No man can complaine of punishment whiles no man can exempt himselfe from the transgression Vnmercifull Haman would haue imbrued his hands in that blood which hee could not but confesse innocent It is a rare thing if the height of fauour cause not presumption Such is Hamans greatnesse that he takes his designe for granted ere it can receiue a motion The fittest dayes for this great massacre are determined by the lots of their common diuination according whereunto Haman chooseth the houre of this bloody suit and now waited on by opportunity he addresseth himselfe to King Ahasuerus There is a certaine people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the Prouinces of the Kingdome and their lawes are diuers from all people neither keepe they the Kings lawes therefore it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them If it please the King let it bee written that they may be destroyed and I will pay tenne thousand talents of siluer to the hands of the officers With what cunning hath this man couched his malice He doth not say There is a Iew that hath affronted mee let me be auenged of his nation this rancour was too monstrous to be confessed perhaps this suggestion might haue bred in the mind of Ahasuerus a conceit of Hamans ill nature and intolerable immanity but his precences are plausible and such as driue at no other then the publique good Euery word hath his insinuation It is a scattered people were the nation intire their maintenance could not but stand with the Kings honour but now since they are but straglers as their losse would be insensible so their continuance and mixture cannot but be preiudiciall It was not the fault it was the misery of these poore Iewes that they were dispersed and now their dispersion is made an argument of their extirpation therefore must they be destroyed from the earth because they were scattered ouer the earth As good so euils draw on each other That which should plead for pitty in the well-affected is a motiue to cruelty in sauage minds Seldome euer hath extremity of mischiefe seized where easier afflictions haue not beene billeted before All faith full Iewes had wont to say vnto God Haue mercy vpon vs O God and saue vs for our soule is full of contempt and we are scattered amongst the heathen and here this enemy can say of them to Ahasuerus Destroy them for they are scattered Root them out for they are contemned How much better is it to fall into the hands of God thē of men since that which whets the sword of men works commiseration in the Almighty Besides the dissipation of the persons Their lawes are diuers from all people All other people liue by thy lawes they onely by their owne and how can this singularity of their fashions but breed disorder and inconuenience Did they liue in some corner of the earth apart their difference in religion and gouernment could not import much now that they are dispersed amongst all thy subiects vvhat doe these vncouth formes of theirs but teach all the vvorld to bee irregular vvhy should they liue vnder thy protection that will not be gouerned by thy lawes Wicked Haman what were the lawes of Israel but the lawes of God if this be a quarrell what shall the death of the Iewes bee other then martyrdome The diuersity of iudgement and practice from the rest of the world hath beene an old and enuious imputation cast vpō Gods Church What if we be singled from others whiles wee walke with God In matters lawfull arbitrary indifferent wisedome teacheth vs to conforme our selues to all others but where God hath laid a speciall imposition vpon vs we must either vary or sinne The greatest glory of Israel was their lawes wherein they as far exceeded all other nations as heauen is aboue earth yet here their lawes are quarrelled and are made the inducements of their destruction It is not possible the Church of God should escape persecution whiles that which it hath good is maligned whiles that offēds which makes it happy Yet that they haue lawes of their owne were not so vnsufferable if withall they did obserue thine ô King but these Iewes as they are vnconformable so they are seditious They keepe not the King lawes Thou slanderest Haman they could not keepe their owne lawes if they kept not the Kings for their lawes call them to obedience vnto their soueraignes and adiudge hell to the rebellious In all those hundred and seuen and twenty prouinces King Ahasuerus hath no subiects but them They obey out of conscience others out of feare why are they charged with that which they doe most abhorre What can be the ground of this crimination Ahasuerus commanded all knees to bow to Haman A Iew onely refuses Malicious Haman He that refused to bow vnto thee had sufficiently approued his loyalty to Ahasuerus Ahasuerus had not been if Mordecai had not beene a good subiect Hath the King no lawes but what concerne thine adoration Set aside religion wherein the Iew is ready to present if not actiue yet passiue obedience and name that Persian law which a Iew dares break As I neuer yet read or heard of a conscionable Israelite that hath not passed vnder this calumniation so I cannot yeeld him a true Israelite that deserues it In vaine doth hee professe to acknowledge a God in heauen that denies homage to his deputy on earth It is not for the Kings profit to suffer thē Worldly hearts are not led by good or euill but by profit or losse neither haue they grace to know that nothing is profitable but what is honest nothing so desperately incommodious as wickednesse They must needs offend by rule that measure all things by profit measure profit by their imagination How easie is it to suggest strange vntruths when there is no body to giue an answer False Hamā hovv is it not for the Kings profit to suffer the Iewes If thou construe this profit for honor The Kings honor is in the multitude of subiects and what people more numerous then they If for gaine The Kings profit is in the largenesse of his Tributes and what people are more deepe in their payments If for
had detected reioyeeth to heare of his presence and now as hauing forgotten that he had sent a vvhole host to besiege the Prophet in Dothan sends an honorable messenger to him laden with the burden of fourty Camels to consult with this Oracle concerning his sicknesse and recouery This Syrian belike in his distresse dares not trust to his owne gods but hauing had good proofe of the power of the God of Israel both in Naamans cure and in the miraculous defeats of his greatest forces is glad to send to that seruant of God whom he had persecuted Wicked men are not the same in health and in sicknesse their affliction is worthy of the thankes if they be well-minded not themselues Doubtlesse the errand of Benhadad was not onely to inquire of the issue of his disease but to require the prayers of the Prophet for a good issue Euen the worst man doth so loue himselfe that hee can be content to make a beneficiall vse of those instruments whose goodnesse he hateth Hazael the chiefe Peere of Syria is designed to this message The wealth of his present striues with the humility of his cariage and speech Thy sonne Benhadad King of Syria hath sent me to thee saying Shall I recouer of this disease Not long since Iehoram King of Israel had said to Elisha My father shall I smite them and now Benhadad King of Syria sayes My father shall I recouer Lo how this poore Meholathite hath Kings to his sons How great is the honor of Gods Prophets with Pagans with Princes Who can bee but confounded to see Euangelicall Prophets despised by the meanest Christians It is more then a single answer that the Prophet returnes to this message One answer he giues to Benhadad that sent it another hee giues to Hazael that brings it That to Benhadad is Thou maiest surely recouer That to Hazael The Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely dye What shall we say then Is there a lye or an equiuocation in the holy mouth of the Prophet God forbid It is one thing what shall be the nature and issue of the disease Another thing what may outwardly befall the person of Benhadad The question is moued of the former wherto the answer is direct The disease is not mortall But withall an intimation is giuen to the bearer of an euent beyond the reach of his demand which hee may know but eyther needs not or may not returne The Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely dye by another meanes though not by the disease The Seer of God descries more in Hazael then hee could see in himselfe hee fixes his eyes therefore stedfastly in the Syrians face as one that in those lines read the bloody story of his life Hazael blushes Elisha weepes The intention of those eyes did not so much amaze Hazael as the teares As yet he vvas not guilty to himselfe of any wrong that might straine out this iuyce of sorrow Why weepeth my Lord The Prophet feares not to foretell Hazael all the villanies which he should once do to Israel How he should fire their forts and kill their yong men and rip the mothers and dash the children I maruell not now at the teares of those eies which foresaw this miserable vastation of the inheritance of God The very mention whereof is abhorred of the future author What is thy seruant a dog that I should doe this great thing They are sauage cruelties whereof thou speakest It were more fit for mee to weepe that thou shouldest repute mee so brutish I should no lesse condemne my selfe for a beast if I could suspect my owne degeneration so farre Wicked men are caryed into those heights of impiety which they could not in their good mood haue possibly beleeued Nature is subiect to fauourable opinions of it selfe and will rather mistrust a Prophet of God then her owne good disposition How many from honest beginnings haue risen to incredible licentiousnesse whose liues are now such that it were as hard for a man to beleeue they had euer beene good as to haue perswaded them once they should proue so desperately ill To giue some ouerture vnto Hazael of the oportunitie of this ensuing mischiefe the Prophet foretells him from God that hee shall be the King of Syria He that shewes the euent doth not appoint the meanes Far was it from the spirit of Gods Prophet to set or encourage a treason whiles hee said therefore Thou shalt be King of Syria he said not Goe home and kill thy master The wicked ambition of Hazael drawes this damnable conclusion out of holy premises and now hauing fed the hopes of his Soueraigne with the expectation of recouery the next day he smothers his Master The impotent desire of rule brookes no delay Had not Hazael been gracelesly cruell after hee had receiued this prediction of the Seer hee should haue patiently awaited for the crowne of Syria till lawfull meanes had set it vpon his head now he will by a close execution make way to the throne A wet cloth hath stopt the mouth of his sicke Soueraigne No noyse is heard the carcasse is faire Who can complaine of any thing but the disease O Hazael thou shalt not thus easily stop the mouth of thine owne conscience that shall call thee Traytor euen in thy chaire of state and shall checke all thy royall triumphs with Thou hast founded thy throne in blood I am deceiued if this wet cloth shall not wipe thy lips in thy iollyest feasts and make thy best morsells vnsavory Soueraignty is painfull vpon the fairest termes but vpon trechery and murder tormenting Wofull is the case of that man whose publike cares are aggrauated with priuate guiltinesse and happy is he that can inioy a little with the peace of an honest heart IEHV with IEHORAM and IEZEBEL YEt Hazael began his cruelty with losse Ramoth Gilead is won from him Iehoram the son hath recouered that which Ahab his father attempted in vaine That City was dear-bought of Israel it cost the life of Ahab the blood of Iehoram Those wounds were healed with victory The King tends his health at Iezreel whiles the Captaines were enioying and seconding their successe at Ramoth Old Elisha hath neither cotage nor foot of land yet sitting in an obscure corner he giues order for Kingdomes Not by way of authority this vsurpation had been no lesse proud then vniust but by way of message from the God of kings Euen a meane Herald may goe on a great errand The Prophets of the Gospell haue nothing to doe but with spirituall Kingdoms To beate downe the kingdomes of sinne and Satan to translate soules to the Kingdome of heauen Hee that renued the life of the Shunamites sonne must stoope to age That blocke lies in his way to Iehu The aged Prophet imployes a speedier messenger who must also gird vp his loynes for hast No common pace will serue vs when we goe on Gods message The very losse of minutes
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
leader Well did Nehemiah fore-cast these circumstances both of act and euent and therefore resoluing to distrust a Prophet that perswaded him to the violation of a Law hee reiects the motion with scorne Should such a man as I flee Should I goe into the Temple to saue my life I will not goe It is fit for great persons to stand vpon the honour of their places Their very stations should put those spirits into them that should make them hate to stoope vnto base conditions Had God sent this message wee know hee hath power to dispence with his owne Lawes but well might the contradiction of a Law argue the message not sent of God God as he is one so doth hee perfitly agree with himselfe If any priuate spirit crosse a written word let him be accursed AHASVERVS Feasting VASHTI cast off ESTHER chosen WHat bounds can be set to humane ambition Ahasuerus that is Xerxes the sonne of Darius is already the King of an hundred and seuen and twenty Prouinces and now is ready to fight for more Hee hath newly subdued Egypt and is now addressing himself for the conquest of Greece Hee cannot hope euer to see all the land that hee possesseth and yet hee cannot be quiet whiles he heares of more Lesse then two ells of earth shall ere long serue him whom for the time a whole world shall scarce satisfie In vaine shall a man striue to haue that which he cannot inioy and to inioy ought by mere relation It is a windy happinesse that is sought in the exaggeration of those titles which are taken vpon others credit without the sense of the owner Nothing can fill the heart of man but he that made it This great Monarch partly in triumph of the great victories that he hath lately wonne in Egypt and partly for the animation of his Princes and souldiers to his future exploits makes a feast like himselfe royall and magnificent What is greatnesse if it bee not showed And wherein can greatnesse bee better showne then in the atcheiuments of warre and the intertainments of peace All other feasts were but hunger to this of Ahasuerus whether we regard the number of guests or the largenesse of preparation or continuance of time During the space of a whole halfe yeare all the tables were sumptuously furnished for all commers from India to Ethyopia A world of meat was euery day dressed for a world of men Euery meale was so set on as if it should haue beene the last Yet all this long feast hath an end and all this glory is shut vp in forgetfulnesse What is Ahasuerus the better that his Peeres then said hee was incomparably great What are his Peeres the better that they were feasted Happy is he that eates bread and drinkes new wine in the Kingdome of God this banquet is for eternity without intermission without satiety What variety of habits of languages of manners met at the boards of Ahasuerus What confluence of strange guests was there now to Shushan And lest the glory of this great King might seeme like some coorse picture only faire a farre off after the Princes and Nobles of the remote Prouinces all the people of Shushan are intertained for seuen daies with equall pompe and state The spacious Court of the Palace is turned into a Royall Hall the walls are rich hangings the pillars of marble the beds of siluer and gold the pauement of porphirie curiously checkered The wine and the vessels stroue whether should bee the richer no man drunke in worse then gold and whiles the mettall was the same the forme of each cup was diuers the attendants was answerable to the cheare and the freedome matched both Here was no compulsion either to the measure or quality of the draught euery mans rule was his owne choice Who can but blush to see forced healths in Christian banquets when the ciuility of very pagans commands liberty I cannot but enuy the modesty of heathen Dames Vashti the Queene and her Ladies with all the seuerall rankes of that sexe feast apart intertaining each other with a bashfull curtesie without wantonnesse without that wild scurrility which vseth to haunt promiscuous meetings Oh shamefull vnchastity of those loose Christians who must feed their lust whiles they fill their bellies and thinke the feast vnperfit where they may not sate their eye no lesse then their palate The last day of this pompous feast is now come King Ahasuerus is so much more cheerfull by how much his guests are neerer to their dismission Euery one is wont to close vp his curtesie with so much more passion as the last acts vse to make the deeper impression And now that he might at once amaze and indeare the beholders Vashti the Queene in all her royalty is called for Her sight shall shut vp the feast that the Princes and people may say How happy is King Ahasuerus not so much in this greatnesse as in that beauty Seuen officers of the chamber are sent to cary the message to attend her entrance and are returned with a deniall Perhaps Vashti thought What meanes this vncouth motion More then sixe moneths hath this feast continued and all this while wee haue inioyed the wonted liberty of our sexe Were the King still himselfe this command could not bee sent it is the wine and not hee that is guiltie of this errand Is it for mee to humour him in so vaine a desire Will it agree with our modest reseruednesse to offer our selues to bee gazed at by millions of eyes Who knowes what wanton attempts may follow vpon this vngouerned excesse This very message argues that wit and reason haue yeelded their places to that besotting liquor Nothing but absence can secure vs from some vnbeseeming profer neither doubt I but the King when he returnes to himselfe will giue me thankes for so wise a forbearance Thus vpon the conceit as is likely that her presence would bee either needlesse or vnsafe Vashti refuseth to come Although perhaps her great spirits thought much to receiue a command frō the hand of officers The blood that is once inflamed with wine is apt to boyle with rage Ahasuerus is very wroth with this indigne repulse It was the ostentation of his glory and might that hee affected before those Princes Peeres people and now that seemes eclipsed in the shutting vp of all his magnificence with the disgraceful affront of a woman It vexes him to thinke that those Nobles whom hee meant to send away astonished with the admiration of his power and maiesty should now say What boots it Ahasuerus to rule afarre off when hee cannot command at home In vaine doth he boast to gouerne Kings whiles hee is checked by a woman What euer were the intentions of Vashti surely her disobedience was inexcusable it is not for a good wife to iudge of her husbands will but to execute it neither wit nor stomacke may carie her into a curious inquisition into the reasons of an
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
people which made themselues vnworthy to bee the Lords inheritance And what becomes of Ioash Hee is left in great diseases when his owne seruants conspired against him for the blood of the sonnes of Iehoiada and slew him on his bed and he dyed and they buryed him not in the Sepulcher of the Kings Dying Zechariah had sayd in the bitternesse of his departing soule The Lord looke vpon it and require it I confesse I had rather to haue heard him say The Lord passe it ouer and remit it so said Steuen such difference there is betweene a Martyr of the Law and of the Gospell although I will hope the zeale of iustice not the vncharitable heate of reuenge drew forth this word God heares it and now giues an account of his notice Thus doth the Lord require the blood of Iehoiadaes son euen by the like vnthankfull hand of the obliged seruants of Ioash He that was guilty of abhominable Idolatry yet as if God meant to waue that challenge is called to reckoning for his cruell vnthankfulnesse to Iehoiada This crime shall make him odious aliue and shall abandon him dead from the sepulcher of his fathers as if this last royalty were too good for him who had forgotten the law of humanity Some vices are such as Nature smiles vpon though frowned at by diuine Iustice Others are such as euen Nature it selfe abhorres such is this of Ingratitude which therefore caries so much more detestation from God as it is more odious euen to them that haue blotted out the image of God IOASH with ELISHA dying THe two Kingdoms of Iudah and Israel how euer diuided both in gouernement and affection yet loued to interchange the names of their Kings Euen Israel also had their Ioash no better then that of Iudah he was not more the father of a later Ieroboam then in respect of mis-worship he was the son of the first Ieroboam who made Israel to sin Those Calues of Dan and Bethel out of a politick mis-deuotion besotted all the succession of the ten vsurped Tribes yet euen this Idolatrous King of Israel comes downe to visit the sicke bed of Elisha and weeps vpon his face That holy Prophet was neuer any flatterer of Princes neyther spared he inuectiues against their most plausible sinnes yet King Ioash that was beaten by his reproofes washes that face with the teares of loue and sorrow which had often frowned vpon his wickednesse How much difference there was betwixt the Ioash of Israel and the Ioash of Iudah That of Iudah hauing beene preserued and nurtured by Iehoiada the Priest after all professions of dearnesse shuts vp in the vnkinde murther of his sonne and that meerly for the iust reproofe of his own Idolatry This of Israel hauing beene estranged from the Prophet Elisha and sharply rebuked for the like offence makes loue to his dying reprouer and bedewes his pale face with his teares Both were bad enough but this of Israel was howeuer vicious yet good-natur'd That of Iudah added to his wickednesse an ill disposition a dogged humor There are varieties euen of euill men some are worse at the root others at the branch some more ciuilly harmlesse others fouler in morality According to the exercise of the restraining grace naturall men doe eyther rise or fall in their ill The longest day must haue his euening Good Elisha that had liued some ninety yeares a wonder of Prophets and had outworne many successions in the thrones of Israel Iudah is now cast vpon the bed of his sicknesse yea of his death That very age might seeme a disease which yet is seconded with a languishing distemper It is not in the power of any holinesse to priuiledge vs from infirmity of body from finall dissolution He that stretched himselfe vpon his bed ouer the dead carkasse of the Shunamites sonne and reuiued it must now stretch out his owne limmes vpon his sicke bed and dye Hee saw his Master Elijah rapt vp suddenly from the earth and fetcht by a fiery chariot from this vale of mortalitie himselfe must leasurely wait for his last pangs in a lingring passage to the same glory There is not one way appointed to vs by the diuine prouidence vnto one common blessednesse One hath more paine another hath more speed Violence snatcheth away one another by an insensible pace drawes euery day neerer to his terme The wisedome and goodnesse of God magnifies it selfe in both Happy is he that after due preparation is past through the gates of death ere he be aware Happy is he that by the holy vse of long sicknesse is taught to see the gates of death afarre off and addressed for a resolute passage The one dyes like Elijah the other like Elisha both blessedly The time was when a great King sent to Elisha to know if he should recouer now the King of Israel as knowing that Elisha shall not recouer so had his consumption spent him comes to visit the dying Prophet when his teares would giue him leaue breakes forth into a passionate exclamation O my father my father the chariot of Israel and the horsmen thereof Yet the Calues of Dan and Bethel haue left some goodnesse in Ioash As the best man hath something in him worthy of reproofe so the faultiest hath somthing commendable Had not the spirit of God himselfe told vs that Ioash did that which was euill in the sight of the Lord wee had admired this piety this reuerent respect to the Prophet The holiest man could not haue said more It is possible for the clients of a false worship to honor out of another regard the professors of Truth From the hand of Elisha had Iehu the grandfather of Ioash receiued his vnction to the Kingdome this fauour might not be forgotten Visitation of the sicke is a duty required both by the law of humanity and of religion Bodily infirmity is sad and comfortlesse and therefore needs the presence and counsell of friends to relieue it Although when wee draw the curtaines of those that are eminently gracious wee doe rather fetch with Ioash then bring a blessing How sensible should wee bee of the losse of holy men when a Ioash spends his teares vpon Elisha If we be more affected with the forgoing of a naturall friend or kinsman then of a noted and vsefull Prophet it argues more loue to our selues then to the Church of God then to GOD himselfe What vse there was of charets and horsemen in those warres of the Ancient all Histories can tell vs All the strength of the battell stood in these There could bee neither defence nor offence but by them such was Elisha vnto Israel The greatest safegard to any nation is the sanctity and faithfulnesse of their Prophets without which the Church and State lyes open to vtter desolation The same words that Elisha said of his master Elijah when he saw him taken vp from the earth doth Ioash now speake of Elisha neere his dissolution O my
euer he sped in his first onsets now hee distressed Iudah but strengthned it not The charge was as great as the benefit small sooner shall hee eate them out then rescue them No arme of flesh can shelter Ahaz from a vengeance Be wise ô ye Kings be instructed ô yee Iudges of the earth serue the Lord with feare and reioyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little His subiects complaine that he died so late and as repenting that he euer was deny him a roome in the sepulchers of Kings as if they said the common earth of Ierusalem is too good for him that degenerated from his Progenitors marr'd his kingdome depraued his people forsooke his God The vtter Destruction of the Kingdome of ISRAEL IVdah was at a sore heaue yet Israel shall mis-cary before it such are the sins of both that they striue whether shall fall first but this lot must light vpon the ten Tribes though the late King of Iudah were personally worse then the most of Ieroboams successors yet the people were generally lesse euill vpon whom the incroachments of Idolatry were more by obtrusion then by consent besides that the thrones of Iudah had some interchanges of good Princes Israel none at all The same iustice therefore that made Israel a scourge to Iudah made Assyria a scorpion to Israel It was the quarrell of Iudah that first ingaged the King of Ashur in this warre against Israel now he is not so easily fetcht off So we haue seen some eager mastiue that hath beene set on by the least clap of the hand but could not bee loosned by the force of staues Salmaneser King of Assyria comes vp against Hoshea King of Israel and subdues him and puts him to his Tribute This yoke was vncouth and vnpleasing The vanquisht Prince was neither able to resist nor willing to yeeld secretly therefore he treats with the King of Egipt for assistance as desiring rather to hazard his liberty by the hand of an equall then to inioy a quiet subiection vnder the hand of an ouer-ruling power wee cannot blame Princes to bee iealous of their soueraignties The detaining of his yearely Tribute and the whisperings with new confederates haue drawne vp the King of Ashur to perfect his own victories He returnes therefore with a strong power and after three yeares siege takes Samaria imprisons Hoshea and in the exchange of a wofull captiuity he peoples Israel with Assyrians and Assyria with Israelites Now that abused soyle hath vpon a surfet of wickednesse cast out her perfidious owners and will try how it can fare with heathenish strangers Now the Assyrian gallants triumph in the Palaces of Samaria and Iezreel whiles the Peeres and Captaines of Israel are driuen manicled through the Assyrian streets and billeted to the seuerall places of their perpetuall seruitude Shortly now the flourishing Kingdome of the tenne Tribes is comne to a finall and shamefull end and so vanished in this last dissipation that since that day no man could euer say This was Israel Oh terrible example of vengeance vpon that peculiar people whom God hath chosen forhimselfe out of all the world All the world were witnesses of the fauours of their miraculous deliuerances and protections All the world shall be witnesses of their iust confusion It is not in the power of sleight errors to set off that infinite mercy What was it ô God what was it that caused thee to cast off thine owne inheritance What but the same that made thee to cast the Angells out of heauen Euen their rebellious sins Those sins dared to emulate the greatnesse of thy mercies no lesse then they forced the seuerity of thy iudgments They left all the commandements of the Lord their God and made them molten Images euen two Calues and made a groue and worshipped all the host of heauen and serued Baal and caused their sonnes and daughters to passe through the fire and vsed diuination and enchantments and sold themselues to doe euill in the sight of the Lord to prouoke him to anger Neither were these slips of frailty or ignorant mis-takings but wilfull crimes obstinate impieties in spight of the doctrines reproofes menaces miraculous conuictions of the holy Prophets which God sent amongst them Thy destruction is of thy selfe ô Israel what could the iust hand of the Almighty doe lesse then consume a nation so incorrigibly flagitious A nation so vnthankfull for mercies so impatient of remedies so vncapable of repentance so obliged so warned so shamelesly so lawlesly wicked What nation vnder heauen can now challenge an vndefaisible interest in God when Israel it selfe is cast off what Church in the world can show such deare loue-tokens from the Almighty as this now-abhorred and adulterous spouse Hee that spared not the naturall Oliue shall hee spare the wild It is not for vs sinners of the Gentiles to be high-minded but awfull The Israelites are caryed captiue into Assyria those goodly Cities of the ten tribes may not lie wast and vnpeopled The wisedome of the victor findes it fit to transplant his owne Colonies thither that so he may raise profit thence with security From Babylon therfore and Cuthah and Aua and Hamath and Sepharuaim doth he send of his owne subiects to possesse and inhabit the Cities of Samaria The land doth not brook her new Tenants They feared not the Lord how should they they knew him not Therefore the Lord sent Lyons amongst them which slew some of them Not the veriest Pagan can bee excused for his ignorance of God Euen the deprauedst nature might teach vs to tremble at a Deity It is iust with the Almighty not to put vp neglect where hee hath bestowed reason The brute creatures are sent to reuenge the quarrell of their Maker vpon worse beasts then themselues Still hath God left himselfe Champions in Israel Lyons teare the Assyrians in pieces and put them in mind that had it not beene for wickednesse that land needed not to haue changed masters The great Lord of the world cannot want meanes to plague offenders If the men bee gone yet the beasts are there And if the beasts had beene gone yet so long as there were stones in the wals in the quarries God would be sure of auengers There is no security but in being at peace with God The King of Assyria is sued to for remedy Euen these Pagans haue learned to know that these Lyons were sent from a God that this punishment is for sinne They know not the manner of the God of the land therefore he hath sent Lyons among them These blind Heathen that thinke euery land hath a seuerall God yet hold that God worthy of his owne worship yet hold that worship must bee grounded vpon knowledge the want of that knowledge punishable the punishmēt of that want iust and diuine How much worse then Assyrians are they that are ready to ascribe all
of Israel packing into a miserable captiuity the proud Assyrians Lording in their Cities yet euen then when hee stood alone in a corner of Iudah durst Hezekiah draw his necke out of the yoke of the great and victorious Monarch of Assyria and as if one enemy had not beene enough at the same time hee falls vpon the incroaching Philistims and preuailes It is not to be asked what powers a man can make but in what termes he stands with heauen The vnworthy father of Hezekiah had clogged Iudah with this seruile fealty to the Assyrian what the conditions of that subiection were it is too late and needlesse for vs to inquire If this payment were limited to a period of time the expiration acquitted him If vpon couenants of ayd the cessation thereof acquitted him If the reforming of religion banishment of Idolatry ran vnder the censure of rebellion the quarrell on Ezekiahs part was holy on Senacheribs vniust but if the restipulation were absolute and the withdrawing of this homage vpon none but ciuill grounds I cannot excuse the good King from a iust offence It was an humane frailty in an obliged Prince by force to affect a free and independant soueraignty What doe we mince that fact which holy Ezekiah himselfe censures I haue offended returne from mee what thou putst on mee will I beare The comfort of liberty may not be had with an vnwarranted violence Holinesse cannot free vs from infirmity It was a weaknes to doe that act which must bee soone vndone with much repentance and more losse This reuolt shall cost Ezekiah besides much humiliation three hundred yearely talents of siluer thirty talents of gold How much better had it beene for the Cities of Iudah to haue purchased their peace with an easie tribute then warre with an intolerable taxation Fourteene years had good Hezekiah fed vpon a sweet peace sauced only with a set pension now he must prepare his pallat for the bitter morsels of warre The King of Assyria is comne vp against all the defenced Cities of Iudah and hath taken them Ezekiah is faine to buy him out with too many talents The poore Kingdome of Iudah is exhaust with so deepe a payment in so much as the King is forced to borrow of God himselfe for Hezekiah gaue him all the siluer that was found in the house of the Lord yea at that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doores of the temple of the Lord and from the pillars which he had ouer-laid and gaue it to the King of Assyria How hard was good Hezekiah driuen ere he would bee thus bold with his God Surely if the mines or cofers of Iudah could haue yeelded any supply this shift had beene hatefull to fetch back for an enemy that which hee had giuen to his Maker Onely necessity excuses that from sacriledge in the sonne which will made sacriledge in the father That which is once deuoted to a sacred vse may not be called backe to a profane But he whose the earth is and the fulnesse of it is not so taken with our metals that hee should more regard our gold then our welfare His goodnes cannot grudge any outward thing for the price of our peace To rob God out of couetousnesse or wantonnesse or neglect is iustly damnable wee cannot robbe him out of our need for then he giues vs all we take and bids vs ransome our liues our liberties The treasures of Gods house were precious for his sake to whom they were consecrated but more precious in the sight of the Lord was the life of any one of his Saints Euery true Israelite was the spirituall house of God why should not the doore of the materiall tēple be willingly stripped to saue the whole frame of the spirituall Temple Take therefore ô Hezekiah what thou hast giuen no gold is too holy to redeeme thy vexation It matters not so much how bare the doores of the Temple bee in a case of necessity as how wel the insides be furnished with sincere deuotion O the cruell hard hartednesse of those men which will rather suffer the liuing Temples of God to be ruined then they will ransome their life with farthings It could not bee but that the store of needy Iudah must soone be drawne dry with so deepe an exaction that sum cannot be sent because it cannot be raised The cruell Tyran calls for his brickes whiles he allowes no straw His anger is kindled because Ezekiahs cofers haue a bottome with amighty host doth he come vp a gainst Ierusalem therefore shal that City be destroyed by him because by him it hath bin impouerished the inhabitants must bee slaues because they are beggers Oh lamentable and in sight desperate condition of distressed Ierusalem wealth it had none strength it had but a little all the Country round about was subdued to the Assyrian that proud victor hath begirt the wals of it with an innumerable army scorning that such a shouell-full of earth should stand out but one day Poore Ierusalem stands alone block't vp with a world of enemies helplesse friendlesse comfortlesse looking for the worst of an hostile fury when Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh the great Captaines of the Assyrians call to a parlee Hezekiah sends to them three of his prime officers his Steward his Secretary his Recorder Lord What insolent blasphemies doth that foule mouth of Rabshakeh belch out against the liuing God against his anointed seruant How plausibly doth hee discourage the subiects of Ezekiah how proudly doth hee insult vpon their impotency how doth he braue them with base offers of aduantage and lastly how cunningly doth he fore-lay their confidence which was onely left them in the Almighty protesting not to bee comne vp hither without the Lord The Lord said to me Goe vp to this land and destroy it How fearfull a word was this The rest were but vaine crackes this was a thunderbolt to strike dead the heart of Ezekiah If Rabshakeh could haue been beleeued Ierusalem could not but haue flowne open How could it think to stand out no lesse against God then men Euen thus doth the great enemy of mankinde if hee can dis-hearten the soule from a dependance vpon the God of mercies the day is his Lewd miscreants care not how they be-lye God for their owne purposes Eliakim the steward of Hezekiah well knew how much the people must needes bee affected with this pernicious suggestion and faine would therefore if not stop that wicked mouth yet diuert these blasphemies into a forraigne expression I wonder that any wise man should looke for fauour from an enemy Speak I pray thee to thy seruants in the Syrian language What was this but to teach an aduersary hovv to doe mischiefe Wherfore came Rabshakeh thither but to gall Ezekiah to vvith-dravv his subiects That tongue is properest for him vvhich may hurt most Deprecations of euill to a malicious man are no better then aduices An vnknowne idiome is fit
to re-indeare himselfe so doth Iosiah here No indeauor is enough to testifie his zeale to that name of God which was so profaned by his peoples Idolatry What euer monuments were yet remaining of wicked Paganisme hee defaces with indignation hee burnes the vessels of Baal and puts downe his Chemarim destroyes the houses of the Sodomites strawes the powder of their idols in the brooke Kedron defiles Topheth takes away the horses of the Sun burns the charets of the Sun with fire and omits nothing that might reconcile God cleare Iudah perfit a reformation Neither is this care confined to Ierusalem and the neighboring Townes but stretches it selfe to the vtmost coasts of Iosiahs Kingdome Bethel was the infamous seat of the pollution of Israel it seemes the heyres of Ieroboam who set vp his goldē calfe there inioyed it not long the Kings of Iudah recouered it to their crown but it had not yet recouered it selfe from that ancient infection Thither doth good Iosiah send the vnhallowed ashes of Baals Reliques to staine that altar first which hee will soone after deface The time was and it was no lesse then three hundred and fiftie yeares since that the man of God out of Iudah cried against Ieroboams altar O Altar Altar Thus saith the Lord Behold a Child shall be borne vnto the House of Dauid Iosiah by name and vpon thee shall he offer the Priests of the high-places that burne incense vpon thee and mens bones shall be burnt vpon thee And now is the houre come wherein euerie of those words shall bee accomplished It could not but bee a great confirmation to Iosiah to see that God had so long agoe fore-markt him for his owne and fore-nam'd him to so zealous a seruice All our names are equally fore-known of that diuine prouidēce though not fore-spoken neither can any act passe from vs which was not pre-determined in that eternall Counsell of the Almightie neither can any act that is there pre-determined bee vnfulfilled vpon earth Interuention of time breakes no square in the diuine decrees Our pur-blind eies see nothing but that which toucheth their lidds the quicke sight of Gods prescience sees that as present which is a world off According to the prediction the stench of dead mens bones is a fit perfume to send vp from this altar to heauen whose best sacrifices sauoured worse in the nosthrils of God And the blood of the idolatrous sacrificers was a meet oblation to that God who had beene dishonoured by their burnt-offerings to his base corriualls Euen that Prophet who fore-told this had his toomb in Bethel and that toomb had his inscription His last weakenesse might not rob him of the honour of his sepulture How palpablie doe these Israelites condemne themselues whiles they reserue so famous a monument of their own conviction It was no preiudice to this holy Prophet that his bones lay amongst the sepulchers of idolaters His Epitaph preserued those bones from burning vpon that altar which he had accursed As the Lyon might not teare his carcasse when hee died so now the furie of the multitude may not violate his verie bones in the graue I doe not see Iosiah saue them for reliques I heare him command they shall rest in peace it is fit the dead bodies of Gods Saints should be as free from contempt as from superstition After the remouall of these rites of false worship it is time to bring in the true Now a solemne Passouer shall be kept vnto the Lord by the charge of Iosiah That book of the Law sets him the time place circumstances of this sacrament his zeale so carefully followes it that since the dayes of Samuel this feast was neuer so gloriously so punctually celebrated Ierusalē is the place the fourteenth day of the first moneth is the time the Leuites are the actors a yearling and spotlesse Lambe is the prouision no bone of it is broken the blood is sprinkled vpon the doore-postes it is roasted whole eaten with sowre herbs with bread vnleauened the remainder is consumed by fire The law the sacrifices had beene in vaine if the Passouer had beene neglected No true Israelite might want whether this monument of their deliuerance past or this Type of the Messiah to come Rather then faile Iosiahs bountie shall supplie to Iudah Lambs for their paschall deuotion No almes is so acceptable as that whereby the soule is furthered IOSIAH 'S Death with the desolation of the Temple and Ierusalem IOsiah hath now happily setled the affaires both of God the state and now hath sweet leisure to inioy himselfe and his people his conscience doth not more cheare him at home then his subiects abroad Neuer King raigned with more officious piety to God with more loue and applause of men But what stability is there in these earthly things how seldome is excellency in any kind long-liu'd In the very strength of his age in the height of his strength is Iosiah withdrawne from the earth as not without a mercifull intention of his glory on Gods behalfe so not without some weaknesse on his own Pharaoh Necho King of Egipt comes vp to fight against the King of Assyria What is that to Iosiah Perhaps the Egiptians attempted to passe through the land of Iudah towards Carchemish the seat of his war but as a neighbour not as an enemy Iosiah resists him as neither holding it safe to admit a forraigne power into the bosome of his Countrey nor daring to giue so faire an occasion of prouoking the Assyrian hostility against him The King of Egipt mildly deprecates this enmity hee sends Ambassadors to Iosiah saying What haue I to doe with thee thou King of Iudah I come not against thee this day but against the house wherewith I haue warre for God commanded me to make hast forbeare thee from medling with God who is with me that hee destroy thee not What friend could haue sayd more what Prophet could haue aduised more holily why doth not good Iosiah say with himselfe There may bee truth in this suggestion God may haue sent this man to be a scourge of mine old enemy of Ashur If the hand of the Almighty be in this designe why doe I oppose it The quarrell is not mine why do I thrust my finger into this flame vnbidden Wherefore should I hazard the effusion of blood vpon an harmlesse passage Can I heare him plead a command from God and not inquire into it How easie is it for me to know the certainty of this pretended commission Haue not I the Priests and Prophets of God about me Let mee first goe and consult his oracle If God haue sent him and forbidden mee why should my courage cary me against my piety It is strange that the good hart of Iosiah could escape these thoughts these resolutions Yet hee that vpon the generall threats of Gods Law against Iudah sends messengers to inquire of a Prophetesse now vpon these particular threats of danger to
seruices what people are more officious How can it stand with the Kings profit to bereaue himselfe of subiects his subiects of their liues his Exchequer of their tributes his state of their defence Hee is a weake polititian that knowes not to guild ouer the worst proiect with a pretence of publike vtility No name vnder heauen hath made so many fooles so many villaines as this of profit Lastly as Ahasuerus reapes nothing but disprofit by the liues of the Iewes so hee shall reape no small profit by their deaths I will pay tenne thousand talents of siluer to the Kings treasuries for this execution If reuenge were not very sweet to the malicious man hee could not be content to purchase it at so high a rate How doe we see daily that the thirst hereof caries men to a riotous prodigality of estate body soule Cruell Haman if thou couldst haue swim'd in a whole Sea of Iewish blood if thou couldst haue raised mountaines of their carcasses if thou couldst haue made all Persia thy shambles who would haue giuen thee one farthing for all those piles of flesh for all those streames of blood yea who would not rather haue beene at charge for the auoyding of the annoyances of those slaughtered bodies which thou offerest to buy at ten thousand talents It were an happy thing if charitie could inlarge it selfe but so much as malice if the preseruation of mankinde could be so much beholden to our bountie as the destruction Now when all these are laid together the basenesse and dispersednesse of the people the diuersitie of their lawes the irregularitie of their gouernment the rebellion of their practice the inconuenience of their toleration the gaine of their extirpation what could the wit or art of man deuise more insinuatiue more likely to perswade How could it bee but Ahasuerus must needs thinke since he could not suspect the ground of this suit What a zealous patriot haue I raised that can be content to buy off the incōmodity of the state at his own charge How worthy is hee rather of the aide both of my power and purse why should I be fee'd to ease my Kingdomes of rebels The siluer is giuen to thee the people also to doe with them as seemeth good to thee Without all delay the secretaries are call'd to write the warrants the Kings ring is giuen to seale them the posts are sent out to cary them into all Prouinces The day is set wherein all Iewes of all ages of both sexes through the hundred and seuen and twenty prouinces of the King shall be sacrificed to the wrath of Haman In all the cariage of Ahasuerus who sees not too much heddinesse of passion Vashti is cast off for a trifle the Iewes are giuen to the slaughter for nothing his rage in the one his fauour in the other is too impotent Hee is not a worse husband then a King the bare word of Haman is enough to kill so many subiects No disposition can bee more dangerous in great persons then violence of affectiō mixed with credulity Oh the seeming inequality of humane condicions The King and Haman sate down to drink but the City of Shushan was perplexed It is a wofull thing to see great ones quaffe the teares of the oppressed to heare them make musick of shriekes With what lamentation doe we thinke all the Synagogues of Iewes through the world receiued this fatall message of their proclaimed destruction How doe they bemone themselues each to other How doe their conioyned cries fill heauen and earth But aboue all what sack-cloth and ashes could suffise wofull Mordecai that found in himselfe the occasion of all this slaughter What soule could bee capable of more bitternesse then he felt Whiles he could not but think Wretched man that I am It is I that haue brought all this calamity vpon my nation It is I that haue beene the ruine of my people wo is me that euer I put my selfe into the Court into the seruice of a Pagan how vnhappy was I to cast my selfe into these straits that I must either honour an Agagite or draw a vengeance vpon Israel Yet how could I imagine that the flame of Hamans rage would haue broken out so farre might that reuenge haue determined in my blood how happy should I haue been now I haue brought death vpon many thousands of innocents that cannot know wherefore they dye Why did I not hide my selfe rather frō the face of that proud Amalekite Why did I stand out in contestation with so ouer-powerfull an enemy Alas no man of Israel shall so much as liue to curse me onely mine enemies shall record my name with ignominy and say Mordecai was the bane of his nation Oh that my zeale should haue reserued mee for so heauie a seruice Where now are those vaine ambitions wherewith I pleased my selfe in this great match of Esther How fondly did I hope by this vndue meanes to raise my selfe and my people Yea is not this carnall presumption the quarrell that God hath against me Doe I not therefore smart from these Pagans for that I secretly affected this vncircumcised alliance Howsoeuer it bee yet ô God what haue thy people done Oh let it be thy iust mercy that I may perish alone In these sad thoughts did Mordecai spend his hart vvhiles hee vvalked mournfully in sackcloth before that gate wherein he vvas wont to sit now his habit bars his approach no sackcloth might come vvithin the Court Lo that vvhich is vvelcomest in the court of heauen is here excluded from the presence of this earthly royaltie A broken and a contrite hart O God thou wilt not despise Neither did it a little adde to the sorrow of Mordecai to heare the bitter insultations of his former monitors Did wee not aduise thee better Did we not foreadmonish thee of thy danger see now the issue of thine obstinacy now see what it is for thine earthen pitcher to knock vvith brasse now vvhere is the man that vvould needs contest vvith Haman hast thou not now brought thy matters to a fair pass Thy stomacke had long owed thee a spight and now it hath paid thee vvho can pitty thy wilfulnesse since thou vvouldest needs deride our counsell vvee vvill take leaue to laugh at thy sackcloth Nothing but scornes and griefes and terrors present themselues to miserable Mordecai All the externall buffets of aduersaries were sleight to the vvounds that he both made and felt in his owne heart The perpetuall intelligences that were closely held betwixt Esther and Mordecai could not suffer his publique sorrow to bee long concealed from her The newes of his sackcloth afflicts her ere she can suspect the cause her crowne doth but clog her head vvhiles shee heares of his ashes True friendship transformes vs into the condicion of those vvee loue and if it cannot raise them to our cheerfulnesse drawes vs downe to their deiection Faine vvould shee vncase her foster-father of these mournfull
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
his humble condiscent to so vnpleasing and harsh a command of his master were it not that either he durst doe no other or that hee thus stoopt for an aduantage It is a thanklesse respect that is either forced or for ends True subiection is free and absolute out of the conscience of duty not out of feares or hopes All Shushan is in an amaze at this sudden glory of Mordecai and studies how to reconcile this day with the thirteenth of Adar Mordecai had reason to hope well It could not stand with the honour of the King to kill him whom he saw cause to aduance neither could this be any other then the beginning of a durable promotion otherwise what recompence had at houres riding beene to so great a seruice On the other side Haman droupes and hath changed passions with Mordecai Neither was that Iew euer more deeply afflicted with the decree of his owne death then this Agagite was with that Iewes honour How heauy doth it lye at Hamans heart that no tongue but his might serue to proclaime Mordecai happy Euen the greatest mignons of the world must haue their turnes of sorrow With a couered head and a deiected countenance doth hee hasten home and longs to impart his griefe where he had receiued his aduice It was but cold comfort that hee finds from his wife Zeresh and his friends If Mordecai be of the seed of the Iewes before whom thou hast begunne to fall thou shalt not preuaile against him but shalt surely fall before him Out of the mouth of Pagans O God hast thou ordained strength that thou maist still the enemy and the auenger What credit hath thy great name won with these barbarous nations that they can out of all experience make maximes of thine vndoubted protection of thy people and the certaine ruine of their aduersaries Men finde no difference in themselues the face of a Iew lookes so like other mens that Esther and Mordecai were not of long taken for what they were He that made them makes the distinction betwixt them so as a Iew may fall before a Persian get vp and preuaile but if a Persian or whosoeuer of the Gentiles begin to fall before a Iew he can neither stay nor rise There is an inuisible hand of omnipotency that strikes in for his owne and confounds their opposites O God neither is thine hand shortned nor thy bowels straitned in thee thou art still and euer thy selfe If wee be thy true spirituall Israel neither earth nor hell shall preuaile against vs we shall either stand sure or surely rise whiles our enemies shall lick the dust HAMAN hanged MORDECAI aduanced HAmans day is now comne That vengeāce which hath hitherto slept is now awake and rouzeth vp it selfe to a iust execution That heauy morning was but the preface to his last sorrow and the sad presage of his friends is verified in the speaking While the word was in their mouthes the messengers were at the doore to fetch Haman to his funerall-banquet How little do we know what is towards vs As the fishes that are taken in an euill net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sonnes of men snared in an euill time when it falleth suddenly vpon them It was as Haman conceiued the onely priuiledge of his dearnesse and the comfort of his present heauinesse that he only was called with the King to Esthers banquet when this onely was meant for his bane The face of this inuitation was faire and promised much and now the ingenuous man begins to set good constructions vpon all euents Surelv thinkes he the King was tyed in his honor to giue some publique gratification to Mordecai so good an office could deserue no lesse then an houres glory But little doth my master know what termes there are betwixt me and Mordecai had he fully vnderstood the insolencies of this Iew and should notwithstanding haue inioined me to honour him I might haue had iust cause to complaine of disgrace and disparagement but now since all this businesse hath beene caried in ignorance and casualty vvhy doe I wrong my selfe in being too much affected vvith that vvhich was not ill meant Had either the King or Queene abated ought of their fauour to mee I might haue dined at home now this renued inuitation argues me to stand right in the grace of both And why may not I hope this day to meet with a good occasion of my desired reuenge How iust will it seeme to the King that the same man whō he hath publikely rewarded for his loyalty should now bee publiquely punished for his disobedience With such like thoughts Haman cheares vp himselfe and addresses himselfe to the royall banquet with a coūtenāce that wold fain seem to forget his mornings taske Esther workes her face to an vnwilling smile vpon that hatefull guest and the King as not guilty of any indignity that he hath put vpon his fauorite frames himselfe to as much cheerfulness as his want of rest would permit The table is royally furnished with all delicate confections with all pleasing liquors King Ahasuerus so eates as one that both knew hee was and meant to make himselfe welcome Haman so poures in as one that meant to drowne his cares And now in this fulnesse of cheere the King hungers for that long-delayed suit of Queene Esther Thrice hath he graciously call'd for it and as a man constāt to his owne fauours thrice hath he in the same words vowed the performance of it though to the halfe of his Kingdome It falls out oftentimes that when large promises fall suddenly from great persons they abate by leisure and shrinke vpon cold thoughts here King Ahasuerus is not more liberall in his offer then firme in his resolutions as if his first word had beene like his law vnalterable I am ashamed to misse that steddinesse in Christians which I finde in a Pagan It was a great word that he had said yet he eates it not as ouer-lauishly spoken but doubles and trebbles it with hearty assurances of a reall prosecution whiles those tongues which professe the name of the true God say and vnsay at pleasure recanting their good purposes contradicting their owne iust ingagements vpon no cause but their owne changeablenesse It is not for Queene Esther to driue off any longer the same wisedome that taught her to deferre her suit now teaches her to propound it A well chosen season is the greatest aduantage of any action which as it is seldome found in hast so is too often lost in delay Now therefore with an humble and gracefull obeysance and with a countenance ful of modest feare and sad grauity she so deliuers her petition that the King might see it was necessity that both forc't it vpon her wrung it from her If I haue found fauour in thy sight O King and if it please the King let my life bee giuen me at my petition and my people at