his countrey Far be it from me to out-live Troy Curtius telleth us that Alexander the great when he was extreme thirsty and had water offered him he would not receive it Curt. 17. but put it by with this brave speech Nec solus bibere sustineo nec tam exiguum dividere omnibus possum There is not enough for all my souldiers to share with me and to drink it alone I cannot finde in my heart I will never do it Compare herewith this speech of Esther and you shall finde it far the better as being full of those precious graces whereunto Alexander was a perfect stranger humility prudence faith zeal toward God and ardent love toward his people Oh how great is the number of those now adayes saith Lavater here qui ne micam Spiritus Estherae habent who have not the least parcel of Esthers spirit but are all for themselves and for their own interests Or how can I endure to see Heb quomodo potero videbo How can I and shall I see how should I do otherwise then sink at the sight as she did in the Romane history when her sonne was butchered and as the Virgin Mary felt a sword at her heart when she beheld Christ crucified Luke 2.35 Melancthon said that good Oecolampadius died of grief for the Churches calamities Nehemiah was heart-sick for the breaches of Joseph chap. 2.3 with Amos 6.6 Moses wished himself expunged and Paul accursed rather then it should go ill with Gods people Verse 7. Then the King Ahashuerus said unto Esther c. Here Hamans letters of Mart are reversed by Ahashuerus whose answer to Esther is full of gentlenesse and sweetnesse but yet such as discovereth a minde perplexed and cast into straits as Princes eft-soones are by the subtilties and malice of wicked counsellours Dan. 6.15 so that they cannot do as they would unlesse they will bring all into a combustion though usually where the word of a King is there is power Eccles 8.4 and the old Lord Treasurer Burleigh was wont to say that he knew not what an Act of Parliament could not do in England and King James in his speech in the Starre-chamber Anno 1616. said as much Behold I have given Esther the house of Haman i. e. I have done somewhat toward the performance of my Promise made to Esther chap. 7.2 and more I am willing to do only I must observe good order and do things with discretion Behold I give you potestatem plenariam omnimodam all the power I have that therewith you may help your selves only my former decree I cannot reverse but I shall stirre up great garboiles in the Kingdome Josephus indeed telleth us that Ahashuerus did retract the Edict procured by Haman and further gave power to the Jewes that if any withstood the Kings will herein they should kill them c. But we are not bound to believe him in all things as neither Herodotus Livy nor any of the Historians the Sacred always excepted for Vopiscus In vita Aure â—â—iani who was one of them confesseth nominem historicorum non aliquid esse mentitum that there is none of them that hath not taken liberty to lie more or lesse and it is manifest that Josephus his manner is to recite what he thinks likely to have been done and what is fit to be written of such a businesse Baronius annales facit non scribit saith one think the same of Josephus he rather maketh an history sometimes then writeth it And therefore that is but a sorry excuse that the Papists make for their sacrilegious forbidding the people to reade the Scriptures when they refer them to Josephus as having the History of the Bible more largely and plainly described Joh. Barclai M. Paraenesi Because he laid his hands upon the Jewes He did it because he designed it Like as Balak also arose and fought with Israel Josh 24.9 and yet the story saith nothing so But that is in Scripture said to be done that is intended or attempted And this the Heathen also saw by the dimme light of nature Hence that of Seneca Fecit quisque quantum voluit And another saith Quae quia non licuit non facit illa facit Polybius attributeth the death of Antiochus to his sacriledge only in his purpose and will This Josephus thinks could not be scil that a man having a purpose only to sinne should be punished by God for it Hence he derideth Polybius for the forecited censure but he had no cause so to do for the Heathens herein exceeded the Pharisees who helâ— thought free and Josephus was sowred with their leaven Verse 8 Write ye also for the Jews Here was one Syngram or authoritative writing crossing another What could the people think of this but that crownes have their cares and it were a wonder if great persons in the multitude of their distractions should not let fall some incongruities We must not think saith Lavater here if Princes or States command things different one from another that it proceedeth from lightnesse of minde but that they make Lawes and set forth Edicts according to the state and necessity of the times and as the publick good requireth In the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reign here when mens mindes differed concerning Religion and Reformation could not safely be wrought at once it was by one and the same Proclamation commanded that no man should speak unreverently of the Sacrament of the Altar Camd. Eliz. p. 9. Ib. 17 20 and both kindes were permitted in the administration Religion was changed without commotion by degrees after that the Romish superstition had stood a whole moneth and more after the death of Queen Mary as afore The sacrifice of the Masse was not abolished till half a yeare after nor images cast out of Churches till two moneths after that Here then let St. James his counsel take place Be swift to hear slow to speak to speak evil of Governours when they answer not our expectations but seem to command contradictories There are certain Arcana imperii secrets of State that most men understand not and must therefore dedicate them to victory as the Romanes did that lake the depth whereof they could not fathom nor finde out Besides we must know that there will be faults so long as there be men and faults will slip betwixt the best mens fingers as Bishop Jewel was wont to say And as we endure with patience a barren yeare if it happen and unseasonable weather so must we tolerate the imperfections of Rulers and quietly expect either reformation or alteration As it liketh you Having been so lately deceived in Haman and by him miscarried to the ratifying of that bloody Edict he will no more trust his own judgement but referres the managing of the Jewes deliverance which now he greatly desired to their prudence discretion and faithfulnesse Few Kings would have yielded to have retracted lest they should thereby seem light and inconstant
wasted the Fig-tree Christ cursed so forcible is his curse Vers 37. Mark the perfect mâ—n c. As we must treasure up experiences our selves so we must stir up others to do the like There is a wo â—o such as consider not the operation of Gods hands Isa 5.12 For the end of that man is peace Though his beginning and middle may bee troublesome yet his end his after-and at least shall be peace He shall by death enter into peace rest in his bed Isa 57.2 Vers 38. But the transgressours c. Here the end is worse than the beginning Sin ever ends tragically The end of the wicked shall be cut off Their end is not death but destruction they are killed with death Rev. 2.23 life and hope end together Vers 39. But the salvation of the righteous c. 〈◊〉 ut paâ—oâ—i◠〈◊〉 coâ—â—lectar their salvation temporal and eternal is of the Lord so is also the destruction of the wicked as is here necessarily implied He is their strength c. That they faint not sink not under the heaviest burden of their light afflictions which are but for a moment Vers 40. And the Lord shall help them c. He shall He shall He shall Oh the Rhetorick of God! the safety of the Saints the certainty of the Promises PSAL. XXXVIII A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance Made purposely for a memorial both of what he had suffered and from what he had been delivered See 1 Chron. 16.4 Exod. 30.16 Lev. 2.2 6.15 Recordatâ—â—â— autem intelligitur miserie ex misericordia Psal 132. Isa 62.6 63.7 It is probable that David had so laid to heart the Rape of his Daughter Tamar the Murther of his eldest Son Amnon the flight of his next Son Absolom and other troubles that befell him Basil thinks Absoloms conspiracy Ahitophels perfidy Shimeies insolency c. that it cost him a great fit of sickness out of which hardly recovering he penned this and some other Psalms as the 35.39 40. but this especially for a Momento to imminde him of his own late misery and Gods never-failing mercy to him Both these we are wondrous apt to forget and so both to lose the fruit of our afflictions by falling afresh to our evil practices as Children soon forget a whipping and to rob God our Deliverer of his due praises like as with Children eaten bread is soon forgotten Both these mischiefs to prevent both in himself and others for we are bound not only to observe Gods Law but also to preserve it as much as may be from being broken David composed this Psalm for to record or to cause remembrance See the like title Psal 70. and for a form for a sick man to pray by as Kimchi noteth not to be sung for those in Purgatory as some Papists have dreamed Vers 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath He beginneth and endeth the Psalm with Petitions filleth it up with sad complaints wherein we shall finde him groaning but not grumbling mourning but not murmuring for that is not the guise of Gods people He beginneth with Eheu Jehova non recuso coargui castigari Correct me O Lord but with Judgement not in anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10.24 See Psal 6.1 with the Notes Vers 2. For thine arrows stick fast in me i. e. Sicknesses of body R. Obadiah Deus amatquod sagittat Aug. and troubles of minde Job 6.4 Psal 18.14 the Jew-Doctors say that he had a Leprosie for fix Months and that the Divine presence was taken away from him so that he complained not without cause But these were sagitta salut is saith Chrysostom Arrows of Salvation Love-tokens from the Lord not unlike Jonathans arrows 1 Sam. 20.36 and he had been fore-warned of them by Nathan the Prophet 1 Sam. 12 and so bore them the better Praevisa jacula minus forinnt Darts fore-seen are in a manner dintless And thine band presseth me sore Heb. Thou lettest down thy hand upâ—s me Now Gods hand is a mighty band 1 Pet. 5.6 and the weight of it is importable but that Vna eademque manus c. Vers 3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of 〈…〉 This was the immediate cause of Davids misery it came from â—ove displeased and 〈…〉 sins seldom â—â—â—pe better But blessed be our Almighty 〈…〉 who 〈◊〉 health out of sickness by bringing thereby the body of death into a Consumption Neither is there any rest in my bones â—is repetit mere lâ—gentium He saith the same thing twice as Mourners use to do but with an aggravation of his pain reaching to his very bones Because of my sin This was the remote cause of his present sufferings and is the true Mother of all mans miserie Now when these two Gods wrath and mans sin meet in the soul as physick and sickness in the stomack there must needs be much unrest till they be vomited up by confession T is as naturall for guilt to brâ—â—d disquiet as for putrid matter to brâ—â—d vermin Let God therefore be justified and every mouth stopped Vers 4. Sicut aquae praevalentes in quibus erat absorptus Kimchi For mine iniquities are gone over my head So that I am even overwhelmed by them and almost drowned in perdition and destruction The Gospel is post naeufragium tabula and assureth us that God hath cast all our sins into the bottom of the Sea and this keepeth the head of a sinking soul above water As an heavy burden How light soever sin seemeth in the committing it will lye full heavy even as a Talent of lead Zach. 5.7 or as an huge Mountain Heb. 12.1 A facie irae tuae A facie peccati mei A facie stulritiae meae when once we come to a sight and sense of it when Gods wrath and mans sin shall face one another as the former verse hath it according to the originall Vers 5. My wounds stink and are corrupt What his grief or disease was we read not some say the Leprosy some take all this allegorically the word rendred wounds Livores vibices turnices signifieth stripes scarres wailes mattery soares running ulcers the effects of the envenomed arrowes of the Almighty Could we but foresee what sin will cost us we durst not but be innocent That we do not is extream foolishnesse as David here acknowledgeth Because of my foolishnesse In not considering aforehand the hainousnesse of my sinâ—nor the heavinesse of the divine displeasure The word signifieth unadvised rashnesse Prov. 14.17 and t is probable he meaneth his great sin with Bathsheba wherein he was miscarried by his lusts to his cost See Psal 107.17 18. Because of my foolishnesse i.e. Quia non praveni Nathanons confessione saith R. Obadiah because I prevented not Nathans comming by a voluntary confession of my sin unto the Lord. Vers 6. I am troubled Heb. wryed I am bowed down c. Incurvus et prorsuâ— obstipus arroque vulâ—u squallidus
thus to sell the Hide before they had taken the beast He that sate in heaven and had otherwise determined it laughed at them the Lord had them in derision With him alone is strength and wisdom the deceived and the deceiver are his He leadeth Counsellours away spoiled and maketh the Judges fooles He leadeth Princes away spoiled and overthroweth the mighty Job 12.16 17 19. Psal 2. The people also to do with them Here Haman was made here he had more then heart could wish as Psal 73.7 and holdeth himself therefore no doubt the happiest man under heaven But Nihil sanè infelicius est felicitate peccantium saith Hierom there cannot befall a man a greater misery then to prosper in sinne for such a one is ripening for ruine as fatting cattel are fitting for the shambles They prosper and live at ease saith God yet I am extremely displeased with them Zech. 1.15 As they say of the metal they make glasse of it is nearest melting when it shineth brightest so are the wicked nearest destruction when at greatest lustre Meane-while see here what many times is the condition of Gods dearest children viz. to fall into the power and pawes of Lions Leopards Boares Beares Tygers of men more savage then any of these whose tender mercies are meer cruelties Poor blinde men they are that offer violence to the Saints as Sampson laid hands upon the pillars to pluck the house upon their owne heads To do with them as it seemeth good to thee O bloody sentence Such words as these Lenitèr volant sed non lenitèr violant So Dioclesian gave leave to people to kill up Christians without more ado whereever they met them the like was done by authority in the French Massacre but though Tyrants restraine not their Agents yet God will Psal 76.10 And though they bandy together and bend all their forces to root out true Religion yet are they bounded by him and shall not do what themselves please but what he hath appointed My times are in thine hand saith David and Pilate had no more power to crucifie Christ then what was given him from above John 19.11 Verse 12. Then were the Kings Scribes called Then presently upon 't so soon as the word was out of the Kings mouth licet quod libet the Scribes were called and all things dispatched with all possible haste art and industry So Judas what he did did quickly he was up and at it when Peter and the rest of the Apostles were sound asleep The children of this world are wiser in their generation then the children of light for why they have the devil to help them and to prick them on and hence their restlesnesse On the thirteenth day of the first moneth Soon after they had begun to cast lots verse 7. and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded Right or wrong that was never once questioned by these over-officious Officers If the King command it and Haman will have it so the Secretaries and Rulers those servile soules are ready to say as Tiberius once did to Justinus Si tu volueris ego sum si tu non vis ego non sum Or as he in Lucan did to Caesar Jussa sequi tam velle mihi quà m posse necesse We are wholly at your devotion and dispose We are only your clay and wax c. It is not for us to take upon us as Counsellours but only to write what is dictated unto us c. But this was no sufficient excuse for them before God as neither was it for Doeg that he was commanded to slay all the Lords Priests which Abner and other of Sauls servants rightly and stoutly refused to do 1 Sam. 22. A warrant once came down under seal for Lady Elizabeths execution whilest she was prisoner at Woodstock Steven Gardiner like another Haman being the chief Engineer But Mr. Bridges her Keeper mistrusting false play presently made haste to the Queen who renounced and reversed it So might Ahashuerus haply have done this bloody Edict had his officers shewed him the iniquity of it But they took not this to be any part of their businesse Or if any one of them should be more conscientious yet he might be surprized by a sudden onset as the Lord Cromwell when by the instigation of Gardiner he was commanded by King Henry the eighth to reade the sentence of death against Lambert the Martyr whereof he repented afterwards sending for Lambert and asking him forgivenesse as Mr. Fox relateth And to every people after their language See chap. 1.22 In the name of the King Ahashuerus For more authority sake and that Hamans malice and cruelty might lie hid under the Kings cloak So Jezabel wrote letters in Ahabs name against Naboth so the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites in the name of their King the Jewes pretended to be all for Caesar when they sought and suck't our Saviours blood The Popish Persecutours here did all in Queen Maries name when as it might be said of her as Josephus doth of Queen Alexandra among the Jewes Ipsa solùm nomen regium ferebat c. She had the name only of Queen but the Pharisees ruled the Kingdome so did the Bishops in those dayes and some of them would have done the like in ours and that was their downfal after that as rotten teeth they had put the King and Kingdome to a great deal of misery And sealed it with the Kings ring Lest it should by any meanes be reversed Dan. 6.8 12 15. Of the right antiquity use and matter of rings let them that will read Plin. lib 33. cap. 1. 37.1 Macrob. lib. 1. Saturn cap. 13. Alexand. ab Alex. lib. 2. genial dier Rhodig lib. 6. cap. 12. Verse 13. And the letters were sent by Postes These the Persians called Angari or as Ruffin writeth it Aggari But why was this done in such post-haste so long before the day of execution was it not to hold them all that while on the rack and so to kill them peece-meale as Tiberius used to do by his enemies whilest through feare of death and expectation of that doleful day Heb 2.15 they were all their life-time subject to bondage To destroy to kill and to cause to perish Words written not with black but with blood and therefore multiplied in this sort to shew that it mattered not how so they were made away by any meanes and the world well rid of them Reade the History of the French Massacre and heare Reverend Merlin who narrowly and indeed miraculously escaped those bloody Villaines as being Chaplaine to the Admiral and praying with him in his Chamber a little before he was murthered heare him I say commenting upon this text Sic nostro saeculo si scribenda fuerint edicta adversus Religionem non potuerunt sibi Scribae satisfacere in excogitandis verbis significantibus quibus atrociora magis sanguinaria redderentur c. that is in our age also if
of Haman yet God was righteous in measuring to him as he had meted to others by belying and slandering so many innocents as he had designed to destruction The devil was and still is first a liar and then a murtherer he cannot murther without he slander first But God loves to retaliate and proportion device to device Mic. 2.1 3. frowardnesse to frowardnesse Ps 18.26 spoiling to spoiling Esa 33.1 tribulation to them that trouble his people 2 Thes 1.6 As the word went out of the Kings mouth Either the former words or else some words of command not here related such as are Corripite velate vultum take him away cover his face And this word was to Haman the messenger of death driving him from the light into darknesse and chasing him out of the world Job 18.18 Nay worse That book of Job elegantly sets forth the misery of a wicked man dying under the notion of one not only driven out of the light by devils where he shall see nothing but his tormentors but also made to stand upon shares or grinnes with iron teeth ready to strike up and grinde him to pieces having gall poured down to his belly with an instrument raking in his bowels and the pains of a travelling woman upon him and an hideous noise of horrour in his eares Job 18.18 20.24 15. 15.20 21 26 30. and a great Giant with a speare running upon his neck and a flame burning upon him round about c. and yet all this to hell it self is but as a prick with a pin or a flea-biting They covered Hamans face In token of his irrevocable condition See Job 9.24 Esa 22.17 The Turks cast a black gown upon such as they sit at supper with the great Turk Grand Sign Serag 148. and presently strangle them Many of their Visiers or greatest Favourites die in this sort which makes them use this proverb He that is greatest in office is but a Statue of glasse Plutarch wittily compareth great men to counters which now stand for a thousand pound and anon for a farthing Sic transit gloria mundi Quem dies veniens vidit superbum Hunc dies abiens vidit jacentem Haman for instance and so Sejanus the same Senatours who accompanied him to the Senate conducted him to prison they which sacrificed unto him as to their god which kneeled down to adore him scoffed at him seeing him dragged from the Temple to the Goale from supreme honour to extreme ignominy Ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus â—ertinax Imp. fortunae pila dictus est One reason why the King flang out of the room and went into the Palace-garden might be because he could not endure the sight of Haman any more Wherefore upon his return they instantly covered his face Some say the manner was that when the King of Persia was most highly offended with any man Tanquam indignus qui regem oculis uâ—rparet Drus Sen. Tac. Tull. pro Rab. Liv. his face was immediately covered to shew that he was unworthy to see the Sun whom they counted their god or to be an eye-sore to the displeased King Among the Romanes it was Majestas laesa si exeâ—â—ti Proconsulimerettix non sun movetur high treason for any Strumpet to stand in the Proconsuls way whensoever he came abroad The statues of the gods were transported or covered in those places where any punishment was inflicted That in Tully and Livy is well knowen Iâ—lictor colliga manus caput abnubito arbori infelici suspendito Go Hangman binde his hands cover his face hang him on the Gallow-tree This was their condemnatory sentence Verse 9. And Harbonah one of the Kings Chamberlaines c. See chapter 6.14 with the Note Said before the King Not a man opens his mouth to speak for Haman but all against him Had the cause been better thus it would have been Every curre is ready to fall upon the dog that he seeth worried every man ready to pull a branch from the tree is falling Cromwell had experience of this when once he fell into displeasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speed by speaking against the Kings match with Lady Katherine Howard in defence of Queen Anne of Cleeve and discharge of his conscience for the which he suffered death Steven Gardiner being the chiefe Engineere Had Hamans cause been like his albeit he had found as few friends to intercede for him as Cromwell yet he might have died with as much comfort as he did But he died more like to the Lord Hungerford of Hatesby Speed who was beheaded together with the noble Cromwell but neither so Christianly suffering nor so quietly dying for his offence committed against nature viz. buggery Cromwell exhorted him to repent and promised him mercy from God but his heart was hardened and so was this wicked Hamans God therefore justly set off all hearts from him in his greatest necessity and now to adde to his misery brings another of his foule sins to light that he might the more condignely be cut off Behold also the Galloweâ— fifty cubits high See chap. 5.14 This the Queen knew not of when she petitioned against Haman But now they all heare of it for Hamans utter confusion Which he had prepared for Mordecai At a time when the King had done him greatest honour as his Preserver and near Ally by marriage as now it appeared This must needs reflect upon the King and be a reproach to him Besides the King looked upon him as one that went about either to throttle the Queen as some understand the words verse 8. or to ravish her and this was just upon him say some Interpreters eò quò aliis virginibus matronis vini intulisset because it was common with him to ravish other maids and matrons and hence the Kings suspicion and charge whereof before Who had spoken good for the King All is now for Mordecai but not a word for Haman the rising Sun shall be sure to be adored And the contrary Sejanus his friends shewed themselves most passionate against him when once the Emperour frowned upon him saying that if Caesar had clemency he ought to reserve it for men and not use it toward monsters This is Courtiers custome ad quamlibet auram sese inclinare to shift their sails to the sitting of every winde to comply with the King which way soever he enclineth It is better therefore to put trust in the Lord then to put confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 9. If Harbonah spake this out of hatred of Hamans insolency and in favour of Mordecai's innocency and loyalty he deserved commendation Howsoever Gods holy hand was in it for the good of his people and overthrow of their enemy and little did this night-sprung-Mushrom Haman that suck't the earths fatnesse from far better plants then himself take notice till now of the many hands ready to
with his mouth as once with Moses Exod. 4.11 and taught him what he should say There is no mouth into which God cannot put fit words and how oft doth he chuse the weak and unwise to confound the learned and mighty as he did Balaams Asse to convince his Master Vnto the Jewes To them first because they were in their deepest dumps and stood in need of comfort Go tell my disciples and Peter let him know with the first that I am risen for he is in greatest heavinesse And to the Lieutenants and the Deputies c. That they might know that the Kings minde was altered and that the Jewes were now to be favoured and furthered in their just and necessary defence The equity of this Edict so opposite to the former they were not to dispute but to dispatch To argue or debate the businesse were presumption proud curiosity to search the reason thereof to detrect or disobey high offence equal to rebellion Vnto every Province according to the writing thereof In their several characters and manner of writing The China and Japan writing is from the right hand to the left but with the lines down the leafe not crossing c. And unto every people after their language The whole earth was once of one language lip and speech Gen. 11.1 This was the Hebrew-tongue called the Jewes language here and more plainly Esa 36.11 though some fond men have given the seniority to other languages many ages younger then the Hebrew ever since the building of Babel languages were confounded and thereby a great labour laid upon the sonnes of men The Hebrew Doctours say that thenceforth for one tongue there were seventy two languages Others think there were as many tongues as several kindreds and families and these have multiplied also since that time exceedingly It was Mordecai's care here that all Nations under the Persian Dominion might have the Kings Edict in their several dialects that so none might plead ignorance It should be the Magistrates care that their people have the Law of God the holy Scriptures in a known language sith the ignorance thereof is destructive to the soule This the Pope denieth to those misled and muzled soules that are fast locked up in his dark dungeon and giveth this bald reason Ne sacra verba vilescerent lest those holy words should be undervalued and become too cheap This is good Turcisme the Mahometans reade their Alcoran which is their Bible in the Arabick which is their learned tongue lest if translated it should be prophaned by the vulgar Verse 10. And he wrote in the King Ahashuerus name For he knew that where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What doest thou Eccl. 8.4 See Dan. 5,19 Mordecai as he was careful not to abuse his authority so he spareth not to improve it to the utmost for the Churches good We may also lawfully and comfortably improve the benefits and priviledges granted us by Princes and other Benefactors Constantines donation and Peters patrimony is much boasted of by that Antichrist of Rome A meer fiction as divers learned men of their own side have proved Cusanus Ficinus Volates Oâ—ho Frising But if it were never so true what power and Constantine to give away and alienate such a considerable part of the Empire Might he not well have been therefore called Pupillus as he was in scorn by some Heathen Historians for his bounty to poor Christians or with what conscience could the Bishop of Rome have accepted of such a gift Lavat in loc and left it to his Successours But it was neither so nor so Not Constantine but Pepin enlarged the Popes territories as not Peter but Phâ—cas is the right craggy rock upon which is founded the Popes Supremacy And sealed it with the Kings ring See chap. 3.12 and observe what a strange turne of things here was all on the sudden Merlin from this clause gathereth that the King perused and approved whatsoever the Scribes wrote by the appointment of Mordecai he saw it and signed it And sent letters by Posts Chap. 3.23 That was a witty speech of him who said of Sectaries that pretend much to Scripture they were like Posts that bring truth in their letters and lies in their mouthes And of another that they do angariare make Posts of the holy Scriptures Equitantes in equis angariis Tremel compelling them to go two miles which of themselves would go but one And riders on mules Which are counted swifter then horses and yet an horse is so swift a creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Argives consecrated a horse to the Sun as the swiftest beast to the swiftest Planet Camels These were large strong beasts that could endure long and hard travel It is said of them that they do drink in praesens in posterum and can hold out travelling three dayes together without meat And young Dromedaries These were also swift beasts Jer. 2.23 and therefore it is by Antiphrasis that amongst us a slow person is called a Dromedary Vt lucus à non lucendo bellum quasi minimè bellum Verse 11. Wherein the King granted the Jewes The slaughter therefore that they made of their enemies was not unlawful Because 1. They were armed with authority 2. In their own necessary defence To gather themselves together With till now they might not do lest it should seem a riot or rebellion Conquerours use to disarme and disperse those whom they have vanquished ut sit Vna salus victis nullam spirare sallutem that they may not make head and shake off the yoke And to stand for their life Life is a precious mercy such as all creatures make much of from the highest Angel to the lowest worme See the sweetnesse of it 1 Kings 20.32 Jer. 39.18 and 45.5 Eccl. 9.4 Job 2.4 Quis vitam non vult saith Austin Joseph is yet alive saith Jacob Gen. 45.26 This was more joy to him then all his honour A man is bound to sacrifice all he hath to the service of his life and to die in the defence of it to kill another rather then to be killed by another If it be the defence of a mans own life which the King himself attempteth violently and injuriously to take away Suar. l. 6. c. 4. sect 4. Sebast Huissius in such a case ordinarily it shall be lawful for a subject to defend himself although the death of the Prince follow thereupon saith Suarez In the defence of himself and his friends it may be lawful for a private person to lay hands upon his lawful Prince that setteth upon him without cause saith another Casuist Only such an act as this must not proceed out of hatred or desire of revenge but out of right self-love and pure necessity adhibitâ magna inculpatae tutelae moderatione as the Lawyers call it using great moderation of harmlesse defence To destroy and to slay and to cause
his Captains promised Camd. Rem p. 214. for his sake they would not leave one Dane alive in his land thought it better to lead a private and unbloody life then to be a King by such bloody butcheries Now what is thy petition and it shall be granted thee c. An uxorious Prince not propitious only to his Queen but morigerous and obsequious He was only her clay and wax and had she been an Eve a Jezabel or an Eudoxia what might she not have done with him or had of him Our King Edward the third was wholly possest and ruled by his Mistris Dame Alice Pierce an impudent woman who so wrought upon the Kings impotencies that she caused the Speaker of the Parliament to be committed to perpetual imprisonment at Nottingham At length she grew so insolent that she intermedled with Courts of Justice and other offices where she her self would sit to effect her desires But though holy Esther was none such yet it behoveth Kings to be lesse Prodigal of their Promises and not to leave the lives and estates of their liege subjects to the lusts of that weaker sexe especially as having lesse of discretion and more of immoderation Verse 13. Then said Esther If it please the King c. See chap. 5.4 8. Let it be granted to the Jewes c. The enemies at Shushan could not be all caught the first day lest therefore those that lurked should hereafter prove troublesome to the Church by hatching new plots she begs that they also may receive condigne punishment and Hamans sonnes be hanged up for an example This she requested not out of private and personal spleen to any but for the glory of God and the Churches peace Had her aims been otherwise then good her good actions could not have shewed her a good woman For though a good aime doth not make a bad action good as we see in Vzzah yet a bad aime maketh a good action bad as we see in Jehu Lavaters note may not here be let slip the diligence that Esther used in rooting out her temporal enemies should quicken us to do the like to our spiritual viz. those evil affections motions and passions that warre against the soule These be our Medes and Persians with whom we must make no truce but maintaine a constant deadly feud till we have mastered and mortified them all Col. 3.5 Rom. 8.13 for till that be done effectually we must never look to have true peace either within our selves or with others And let Hamans ten sonnes be hanged Had Haman been now alive himself by right should have been their Hangman There was a young man among the Switzers that went about to usurp the Government and alter their free State Him they condemned to death and appointed his father for Executioner as the cause of his evil education But because Haman was hanged before his sons though dead shall now hang with him Neither was it cruelty or revenge in Esther to crave this of the King but zeale to God and fervent love to his people whose welfare she sought by all means possible to promote As for her self she could joyfully say of Haman as David did of Doeg Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickednesse But I am like a green Olive tree in the House of God I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever I will praise thee for ever because thou hast done it and I will wait on thy Name for it is good before thy Saints Psal 52.7 8 9. Verse 14. And the King commanded it so to be done He feared not that thereupon the people would rise and call him Tyrant to his teeth as when Bajazet the second had cast Achmetes Bassa into prison the Janizaries in an uproar insolently answered the great Turk Turk hist fol. 444. that they would by and by teach him as a drunkard a beast and a rascal to use his great place and calling with more sobriety and discretion Ahashuerus well enough knew his own power and was therefore the more bold in disposing after this manner of the lives of his subjects who were ready to say to him as once Tiberius did to Justinus Si tu volueris ego sum si tu non vis ego non sum I am wholly yours to command And the decree was at Shushan Dictum concessum illicò factum The King was not willing to crosse Esther in any thing saith Josephus And they hanged Hamans ten sonnes For greater ignominy and terrour to others Thus God commanded the heads of the twelve Princes of Israel to be hanged up against the Sun Numb 25.4 Joshua hanged the King of Ai upon a Gallowes until the evening chap. 8. and after that the five Kings of the Amorites chap. 10. God hang'd up Absalom with his own bare hand Abslon marte furens pensilis arbore obit Verse 15. For the Jewes that were in Shushan They did not stand to cast perils or frame excuses but with singular courage and constancy went an end with the work whereunto they saw themselves to be rightly called by God and man keeping themselves still within the compasse of the Kings Edict and so carrying the matter that those that were slaine were judged by their own fellow-Citizens to have deservedly perished And slew three hundred men at Shushan Besides the former five hundred All these with Haman their Chieftain might have lived long in honour and safety could they have kept them quiet But by the just and secret judgement of God they kindled a fire with great force that consumed themselves according to that in the Prophet Esay chap. 33.10 11 12. Now will I rise saith the Lord of recompences now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self Ye shall conceive chaffe ye shall bring forth stubble your breath as fire shall devoure you and the people shall be as the burnings of lime as thorns â—utup shall they be burnt in the fire But on the prey they laid not c. See verse 10. Verse 16. But the other Jewes that were c. Though they were but a Nation scattered and peeled a contemptible and feeble folk lately destined to destruction yet by faith they subdue Kingdomes escape the edge of the sword out of weaknesse become strong wax valiant in fight turne to flight whole Armies of the Aliens Heb. 11.33 34. prevaile and prosper against all the malignant power of Persia Thus were they helped with a little help as it is Dan. 11.34 that God might have a great deal of glory as indeed he had Gathered themselves together United their forces as verse 2. which whilest our Ancestours the old Britans did not against the Romanes who invaded them they were easily and quickly conquered Et dum pugnabant singuli vincebantur vniversi saith Tacitus who was here with his father-in-law Agricola an eye-witnesse of what he writeth And stood for
fugitivus Tertul. as Cain that Caitiff and those Hivites with their hornets of a clamorous conscience worse to them then if their bodies had been tormented with stings or torn with stripes Exod. 23.28 What a sound of terrour in their ears frighted those Syrians 2 Kings 7.6 And those Persians and Saracenâ— overcome by Theodosius Panice terrore incusso saith the Historian afraid of their own shadowes they desperately cast themselves into the River Euphrates and there perished above an hundred thousand of them Auno Dom. 394. Fusic The wicked flyeth when none pursueth Prov. 28.1 The sound of a shaken leaf chaseth him Lev. 26.36 when the righteous is bold as a Lion and not dismayed at evil tidings Psal 112.7 His heart is balanced with the fear of God and thence it is that he floateth steddily blow what wind it will he sailes to the Port stormes and tempests do but beat him into it In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him Heb. In peace when he shal say Peace and safety 1 Thes 5.3 When he is at the highest he shall be destroyed Dan. 4.30 31. In the fulnesse of his sufficiency he shall be in straits Job 20.22 his short Spring shall have an eternal Winter Psal 92.7 Vltimus sanitat is gradut est morbo proximus say Physicians the utmost degree of health is nearest to sickness so the wicked when nearest misery have greatest prosperity Verse 22. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness He despondeth and despaireth of a better condition sighing out that doalful ditty Desperat qui summus est diffidentiae greadus Jun. Spes fortuna valete he looks for no further light and delight of former comforts he knowes that they that go down into the dark pit cannot hope for Gods truth Isas 38.18 There being left them neither hope of better nor place of worse And he is waited for of the sword Or looked upon by the sword which waiteth as it were an opportunity to slay him Circumspectans undique gladium so the Vulgar He looketh this way and that way as fearing the Murderer his guilt representing to him on all sides nothing but naked swords he believeth that they will assassine him in his bed This was the case of Saul who suspected his best servants of Dionysius the Tyrant who durst not trust his own daughter with his throat Of Alexander Pheraeus who would not go to bed to his wife Thebe whom he loved Tul. Offic. lib. 2. till he had first searched the room and her pocket for edge-tools Dan. Hist 249. Of Richard the third who after the death of his two innocent Nephewes had fearful dreames and apprehensions insomuch that he did often leap out of his bed in the dark and catching his sword which alway naked stuck by his side he did go distractedly about the Chamber every where seeking to find out the cause of his own occasioned disquiet saith the Chronologer Tiberius felt the remorse of conscience so violent Tacit. that he protested to the Senate that he suffered death daily through fear of death whereupon the Historian maketh this profitable Observation Tandem faâ—inora fâ—agitia in supplicium vertuntur Heinous sins will at length have heavy punishments Verse 23. He wandreth abroad for bread saying Where is it He is hard put to it for necessaries and would be glad of a piece of bread as 1 Sam. 25.36 Herodot This was the case of Pythias once so rich that he entertained a million of men even Xerxâ—s his whole huge Hoste for three dayes space at his own proper charge but afterwards so poor that he dyed through hunger And the like befell Gillimer King of Vandales of whom it is storied that being overcome and beleagured by Bellisarius he sent to him for a Sponge to dry his tears a Cittern to ease his grief and a piece of bread to save his life Bellisarius himself was afterwards glad to beg his bread And Henry the fourth Emperour of Germany after ten years Raign was desposed and driven to the like exigent whereupon he is said to have made use of those words of Job chap. 19.21 Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me And there is no doubt but Eliphaz glanceth at Job in all these expressions as if he were the man whom he here describeth with much Eloquence but small charity He knoweth that the day of darknesse is ready at his hand His conscience telleth him that he is not yet at worst he knowes in himself say the Septuagint that further evil shall be upon him that his misery is inevitable and at next door by and this knowledg being ful of feare is also full of torment it is even hell afore hand and above ground Verse 24. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid Or Scare him not only out of his comforts Mentis inops moritur Epist Hist Gal. Plut. but out of his wits and senses too as it did Charles the great Cardinal of Lorrain See Deut. 28.34 Tullus Hostilius the third King of Romans deriding the Religion of his Predecessour Numa as that which did emasculate mens minds was afterwards so terrified that he set up and worshipped two new gods viz Pavorem Pallorem Trouble and anguish which he had perpetually present with him as Lactantius reporteth What a pitiful agony Vitellius the Emperor was in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when Vespasians Army marched toward Rome is notably set forth by Dio in his life Not long after that at the sack of Jerusalem some Jewes killed themselves left they should fall into the hands of Vespasians souldiers Hic rego non furor est ne moriare mori They shall prevail against him Or begirt him as a King is inviron'd in peace by his Guard in War by his Army Or They shall destroy him as a King ready to the battle doth his enemies forces which he routeth and ruineth Fear hath a deadly force upon feeble spirits neither is it nay wonder that they ring their bells backward when things begin once to be on fire Verse 25. For he stretcheth out his hand against God Worthy therefore to have a dead Palsie transfused into it or dryed up as Jeroboams was when but stretched out against a Prophet and as Valens the Emperors hand was made unable to hold a pen when he would have subscribed a Warrant for the banishing of Basit Such a Giant-like generation there are to this day among men as face the heavens cast down the gantlet against God Erecto collo valido impetu arrogantiâ incurvi cervicâ saith Brentius upon the Text with stiff necks full force and insufferable insolence as it were on purpose to crosse the Almighty and to wrestle a fall with him they sin with an high hand Levit. 26.21 Numb 15.30 and do as wickedly as they can Jer. 3.5 yea with both hands earnestly Mich 7.3 Persecuting his
of Socrates Aristides Scipio Atticus Cato and other honest Heathens they were no better than splendida peccata glistering sins because they failed 1 Quoad fontem they did not out of the good treasure of their hearts bring forth those good things they were strangers to the Life of God to the new Nature 2 Quoad finem they brought forth fruit to themselves Hof 10.1 they had not good aims in their good actions Now Bonum non fit nisi ex integra causa malum ex quolibet defectu say the Schools No not one Vsque ad unum i. c. ad Christum saith Austin not considering the force of the Hebrew phrase which importeth an utter denial of any meer man that of himself doeth good Vers 4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge No not so much as Pilates Wife had in a Dream for else they would take heed of having any thing to do with those justmen But they are workers of iniquity habituated and hardned in cruelty fleshed in bloud and having an hoof upon their hearts so that they are Masters of their Consciences and have taken a course with them In this question here asked the Psalmist doth not so much quaerere as queri ask as chide and complain Who eat up my people as they eat bread That is quotid'e daily saith Austin as duly as they eat bread or with the same eagerness and voracity These man-caters these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cruel Cannibals make no more conscience to undoe a poor man than to eat a good meal when they are hungty Like Pickerels in a Pond or Sharks in the Sea they devour the poorer as those do the lesser Fishes and that many times with a plausible invisible consumption as the Usurer who like the Ostrich can digest any metal but especially mony They call not upon the Lord viz. for a blessing upon that their bread as some sense it how should they sith God abhorreth them Psal 10.3 But better take it for neglect of the duty of Prayer they rob God of his inward and outward Worship and so deal worse with him than Idolaters do with their Dunghil-deities whom they cease not to call upon These will commit no Solecism in Gods Service and be sure that their prayer like that of Hamaus Esth 7.7 shall never be turned into sin If they pray in extreamity as then a Joah will lay hold on the Horns of the Altar it is but as blinde Beggers are forced to ask though they know not of whom Vers 5. There were they in great fear â— There and they and in great fear where and who and what kind of fear was it they were in For answer There that is in the generation of the righteous in the assemblies of the Saints according to that Psal 76.3 There brake he the arrows of the Bow the Shield and the Sword and the Battel Selah There that is in Salem where is Gods Tabernacle and in Sion where is his dwelling place vers 2. in the Congregation where the Saints were praying Or There that is in the very place where they oppressed and devoured the poor they were surprised with a sudden horrour even there where they had said In locoubi opprimuâ—â— R. David peace and safety c. and where no fear was Psal 53.5 no apparent cause of such an amazement Isa 13.8 A panick terrour fell upon them they feared a fear as the Hebrew hath it but could not tell why The Hornet within stings them and they have many a secret twinge that the World is never aware of Saul was afraid of David and Catiline trembled upon the least noyse made For God is in the generation of the righteous And natural Conscience cannot but do homage to the Image of God stamped upon the natures and works of the godly See it in the carriage of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius toward Daniel sticking stoutly to his Principles The piety patience mercy goodness exprest by the righteous when oppressed makes the hearts of wicked men ake within them and they are sore afraid of the Name of God called upon by them Deut. 38.10 Or God is in the generation of the righteous scil Ad juvandum eum saith Aben-Ezra to support and succour them and that strangely many times the enemies themselves being Judges to their great astonishment Vers 6. You have shamed the counsel of the poor And thought to mock him out of his confidence as Sennacherib did by Hezekiah and the Jews by our Saviour Religion was long since grown as it is also at this day among many not more a matter of form than of scorn In our wretched days as the Turks count all fools to be Saints so many with us account all Saints to be fools He is a fool we say that would be laughed out of his Coat but he were a double fool that would bee laughed out of his skin that would hazard his Soul because loath to bee laughed at Because the Lord is his refuge Sed Jehovah Protector ejus because he runs to God by prayer and commits himself wholly to him for direction and success in all his enterprises Pudefacitis id est facitis ut videatur putidum you'jeer and hold it an egregious silliness You reject his confidence and relye on the arm of flesh which yet was never true to those that trusted unto it Vers 7. O that the Salvation of Israel c. This is the second part of the Psalm wherein David prayeth to God to deliver his Israel out of the hands of those Atheists and Oppressors The whole Church must be remembred in our prayers Sanhed c. 11. and that ancient people of God the Jews not forgotten Many of their Rabbins make this whole Psalm a Prophecie of their dispersion among the Genitles their Oppressors and this a prayer for their restauration For our sins say they which are many the coming of the Messiah that Salvation of Israel is deferred the time of his coming is sealed up Dan. 12.4 Verum enimverò Deus nos dignabitur clarissima visione cum reducet Zionem tunc intelligemus res ipsas prout sunt saith Jachiades on that Text but God shall give us a clear sight of all things when he shall bring back Zion c. This is truth and we must hasten that time by our heartiest wishes for that obdurate people that a Redeemer would come to them out of Zion Rom. 11.26 that the covering cast over that people might be destroyed Isa 25.7 and a general joy conceived throughout all the Churches for their happy re-admission Out of Zion i.e. Out of the Church whence all good cometh and such blessings as are better than all else that Heaven or Earth affordeth Psal 134.3 PSAL. XV. VErs 1. Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Heb. who shall sojourn for that is our condition whiles here in a forein Country and not at home The Church Militant also is Transportative as well as the Tabernacle and not fixed to one
though an heathen could say Inter caetera providentiae uivina opera boc quoque dignum est admiratione c. Among other works of the Divine providence this is admirable that the winds lye upon the Sea for the furtherance of Navigation c. Vers 26. They mount up to heaven they go down c. An elegant hypolyposis or description of a storm at Sea like whereunto is that in Virgil. Tollimur in coelum curvate gurgite iidem Subducta admanes imos descendimus undâ Tollimur in câ—â—â—um nanc 〈◊〉 tadimus undas Their soul is melted because of trouble They are ready to dye through sear of death Junius understandeth it of extreme vomiting as if they were casting up their very nâ—â—â—ts Anocbarses for this cause doubted whether he should reckon Marriners amongst the living or the dead And another said that any man will go to Sea at first I wonder not but to go a second time thither is little better than madness Vers 27. They reel to and fro c. Nutart nautae vacillant cerebro pedibus And are at their wits end All their skill and strength faileth them at once they can do no more for their lives Heb. All their wisdome is swallowed up that is the art of Navigation is now to no use with them Vers 28. Then they cry unto the Lord Then if ever Hence that speech of One Qui nescit oraâ—e discat navigate He that cannot pray let him go to Sea and there he will learn See vers 6. Vers 29. He maketh the storm a calm He that is God Almighty whose the Sea it and he made it Psal 100. not the Pagans Neptune or the Papagans St. Nicholas So that the waves thereof are still If therefore the voluptuous humors in our body which is but as a cup made of the husk of an Acorn in respect of the Sea will not be pacified when the Lord saith unto us Be still every drop of water in the Sea will be a witness of our monstrous rebellion and disobedience Vers 30. Then are they glad because they be quiet All is husht on the sudden as Mat. 8.26 both their fears and the Seas outrages being quickly reduced to a peaceable period So he bringeth them to their desired haven This is more than they then wished for God is many ties better to men than their prayers Vers 31. Oh that men would c. See vers 8. Vers 32. Let them exalt him also in the Congregation c. i.e. In all publick meetings Ecclesiastical and Civil Vers 33. He turneth vivers into a wilderness Hitherto the Psalmist hath set forth Gods good providence in delivering men from divers deaths and dangers now hee declareth the same in his just and powerful transmutations in nature whilst according to the good pleasure of his will he changeth mens condition either from good to evil or from evil to good beyond all expectation It is even He that doth it whatsoever a company of dizzy-headed men dream to the contrary as One phraseth it It is God who dryeth up those Rivers whereby the land was made fat and fertile Isa 41.17 Vers 34. fruitful land into barrenness Heb. Salâ—â—ess See Luke 14.34 35. Deut. 29.23 Jud. 9.45 Sals beendeth barrenness by eating up the lat and moisture of the earth Some think the Psalmist here alludeth to Sodâ—me and her sisters turned into the dead Sea For the wickedness of them that dwell therein Hereof Judea is at this day a noble instance besides many parts of Asia and Africa once very fruitful now since they became Mabemetan dry and desert Judea saith One hath now onely some few parcels of rich ground found in it that men may guess the goodness of the cloath by the fineness of the shreds Greece which was once Sol sal gentium saith Another terrarum flos fons lite rarum nunc vel Priams miserands manus nunc in Graecia desideremus Graeciam 't is nothing like the place it was once Vers 35. He turneth the wilderness c. Some place a again God to shew his power and providence of steril maketh to become fertil Polâ—â—ia for instance and other Northern Countries Germany and France were of old full of Woods and Lakes as Cesar and Tacitus testifie now 't is otherwise So in America at this day So divers desert places of Egypt and Ethiopia when once they became Christian became fruitfull Vers 36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell As our English and other Plantations in America where sundry poor people get fair estates That they may prepare a City The building of Cities is of God and so is their conservation Vers 37. And sow the fields and plant vineyards These are noble imployments such is the ancient Patriarchs we re much in and the most honorable among the Romons as Coriolanus M. Curius Cate Major c. Our forefathers if they could call any one Bonum colonum a good husbandman they thought it praise enough saith Cicero Which may yield The thankful earth yeelding by Gods blessing her gratum onus full burden to the laborious tiller Vers 38. He blesseth them also c. See Prov. 10.12 Psal 127.1 Jam. 4 15. They are out that rest in natural causes Vers 39. Again they are minished Minorati sunt This also is of the lord who hath treasuries of plagues and cannot be exhausted Vers 40. He poureth contempt c. See Job 12.21 24. with the Notes Poena tyrannoram est contemptus exilium nex saith Genebrard All their policy or King craft cannot save them Vers 41. Yet setteth be abe poor The godly poor as he did David And maketh him families like a flock of sheep which multiply exceedingly in a short space Vers 42. The righteous shall see it and rejoyce It shall cheer them up to see that the reigns of Government are in Gods hand and to behold such love in such providence And all iniquiry shall stop her mouth Shall be down in the mouth as we use to fay See Job 5.16 and have her tongue chambered Vers 43. Whose is wise Heb. who is wise q d. not many Rari quippe boni Exclamatio querulatoriâ— Piscat None but those that observe providences and lay up experiences which if men would do they might have a Divinity of their own were they but well read in the story of their own lives Even they shall understand c. And as for those providences that for present he understandeth not rejicit in Dei abyssâ—s he beleeveth there is a reason for them and that they shall one day be unridled PSAL. CVIII VErs 1. O God my heart is fixed For the five first verses of this Psalm see the Notes on Psal 57.7 8 9 10 11. And for the eight last see the Notes on Psal 60. vers 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. PSAL. CIX A Psalm of David Written by him usque adâ—â— terribili bâ—rrifica eratiom saith Beâ—â—â— in such terrible terms as