crown ready to be set on his head, and the king's own horse, richly furnished, at his gate, and found himself raised by princely hands into that royal seat, he thinks, What may all this mean? Is it the purpose of mine adversary, that I shall die in state? Would he have me hanged in triumph? At last, when he sees such a train of Persian peers attending him, with a grave reverence, and hears Haman proclaim before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour:" finding this pomp to be serious and well meant, he imagines, in all likelihood, that this unexpected change proceeds from the suit of his Esther; now he begins to lift up his head, and to hope well of himself, and his people, and could not but say within himself, that he had not fasted for nothing. O the wondrous alteration that one morning hath made in the court of Persia! he that was yesternight despised by Haman's footmen, is now waited on by Haman, and all his fellow princes: he, that yesternight had the homage of all knees but one, and was ready to burst for the lack of that, now doth obeisance to that one by whom he was wilfully neglected: it was not Ahasuerus that wrought this strange mutation, it was the over-ruling power of the Almighty, whose immediate hand would thus prevent Esther's suit, that he might challenge all the thank to himself. While princes have their own wills, they must do his; and shall either exalt or depress according to divine appointment.

I should commend Haman's obedience, in his humble condescent to so unpleasing and harsh a command of his master, were it not, that either he durst do no other, or that he thus stooped for an advantage. It is a thankless respect that is either forced, or for ends. True subjection is free and absolute, out of the conscience of duty, not out of fear or hopes.

All Shushan is in 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 advance ; neither could this be any other, than the beginning of a durable promotion; otherwise, what recompence had an hour's riding been to so great a service?

On the other side, Haman droops, and hath changed passions with Mordecai: neither was that Jew ever more deeply afflicted with the decree of his own death, than this Agagite was with that Jew's honour. How heavy doth it lie at Haman's heart, that no tongue, but his, might serve to proclaim Mordecai happy. Even the greatest minions of the world must have their turns of sorrow.

With a covered head, and a dejected countenance, doth he hasten home, and longs to impart his grief, where he had received his advice. It was but cold comfort that he finds from his wife Zeresh, and his friends: "If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.” Out of the mouth of Pagans, O God, thou hast ordained strength, that thou mayest still the enemy and the avenger. What credit hath thy great name won with these barbarous nations, that they can, out of all experience, make maxims of thine undoubted protection of thy people, and the certain ruin of their adversaries! Men find no difference in themselves; the face of a Jew looks so like other men's, 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 Jew may fall before a Persian, and get up, and prevail; but if a Persian, or whosoever of the Gentiles, begin to fall before a Jew, he can neither stay nor rise. There is an invisible hand of omnipotency that strikes in for his own, and confounds their opposites. O God, neither is thy hand shortened, nor thy

bowels straitened in thee; thou art still and ever thyself. If we be thy true spiritual Israel, neither earth nor hell shall prevail against us; we shall either stand sure, or surely rise, while our enemies shall lick the dust.

CONTEMPLATION VIII.

HAMAN HANGED, MORDECAI ADVANCED.

HAMAN's day is now come ; that vengeance which hath hitherto slept is now awake, and rouseth up itself to a just execution; that heavy morning was but the preface to his last sorrow, and the sad presage of friends is verified in the speaking: while the word was in their mouths, the messengers were at the door to fetch Haman to his funeral banquet.

How little do we know what is towards us! As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

It was, as Haman conceived, the only privilege of his dearness, and the comfort of his present heaviness, that he only was called with the king to Esther's banquet, when this only was meant for his bane. The face of this invitation was fair, and promiseth much; and now the ingenuous man begins to set good constructions upon all events. Surely, thinks he, the king was tied in his honour to give some public gratification to Mordecai; so good an office could deserve no less than an hour's glory: but little doth my master know what terms there are betwixt me and Mordecai; had he fully understood the insolences of this Jew, and should, notwithstanding, have enjoined me to honour him, I might have

had just cause to complain of disgrace and disparagement; but now, since all this business hath been carried in ignorance and casualty, why do I wrong myself in being too much affected with that which was not ill meant? had either the king or queen abated aught of their favour to me, I might have dined at home; now this renewed invitation 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 revenge? how just will it seem to the king, that the same man, whom he hath publicly rewarded for his loyalty, should now be publicly punished for his disobedience!

With such like thoughts Haman cheers up himself, and addresseth himself to the royal banquet, with a countenance that would fain seem to forget his morning's task: Esther works her face to an unwilling smile upon that hateful guest; and the king, as not unguilty of any dignity that he hath put upon his favourite, frames himself 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 eats, as one that both knew he was, and meant to make himself, welcome: Haman so pours in, as one that meant to drown his cares; and now, in this fulness of cheer, the king hungers for that long delayed suit of queen Esther thrice hath he graciously called for it, and, as a man constant to his own favours, thrice hath he, in the same words, vowed the performance of it, though to the half of his kingdom. It falls out oftentimes, that, when large promises fall suddenly from great persons, they abate by leisure, and shrink upon cold thoughts: here king Ahasuerus is not more liberal in his offer than firm in his resolutions, as if his first word had been, like his law, unalterable. I am ashamed to miss that steadiness in Christians, which I find in a Pagan. It was a great word that he had said; yet he eats it not, as over-lavishly.

spoken; but doubles and triples it with hearty assurances of a real prosecution; while those tongues, which profess the name of the true God, say and unsay at pleasure, recanting their good purposes, contradicting their own just engagements, upon no cause but their own changeableness.

It is not for queen Esther to drive off any longer; the same wisdom that taught her to defer her suit, now teaches her to propound it: a well chosen season is the greatest advantage of any actions, which as it is seldom found in haste, so is too often lost in delay. Now therefore, with an humble and graceful obeisance, and with a countenance full of modest fear and sad gravity, she so delivers her petition, that the king might see, it was necessity that both forced it upon her, and wrung it from her. " If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request." Expectation is either a friend or an enemy, according to the occasion: Ahasuerus looked for some high and difficult boon; now that he hears his queen beg for her life, it could not be but that the surplusage of his love to her must be turned into fury against her adversary; and his zeal must be so much more to her, as her suit was more meek and humble. "For we

are sold, I and my people to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish; but, if we had been sold for bondmen, and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage." Crafty men are sometimes choked with their own plots. It was the proffer of ten thousand talents wherewith Haman hoped both to purchase his intended revenge, and the reputation of a worthy patriot: that sum is now laid in his dish, for a just argument of malicious corruption: for well might Esther plead, If we Jews deserved death, what needed our slaughter to be bought out? and if we deserved it not, what horrible cruelty was it to