surely her disobedience was inexcusable. It is not for a good wife to judge of her husband's will, but to execute it; neither wit nor stomach may carry her into a curious inquisition into the reasons of an enjoined charge, much less to a resistance; but in a hood-winked simplicity, she must follow whither she is led, as one that holds her chief praise to consist in subjection.

Where should the perfection of wisdom dwell, if not in the courts of great princes? or what can the treasures of monarchs purchase more invaluably precious, than learned and judicious attendance? or who can be so fit for honour as the wisest?

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I doubt how Ahasuerus could have been so great, if his throne had not been still compassed with them that knew the times, and understood the law and judgment. These were his oracles in all his doubts; these are now consulted in this difficulty: neither must their advice be secretly whispered in the king's ear, but publicly delivered in the audience of all the princes. It is a perilous way that these sages are called to go, betwixt a husband and wife, especially of such power and eminency: yet Memucan fears not to pass a heavy sentence against queen Vashti : Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and all the people, that are in ali the provinces of the king Ahasuerus." A deep and sore crimination. Injuries are so much more intolerable, as they are dilated unto more: those offences, which are of narrow extent, may receive an easy satisfaction; the amends are not possible, where the wrong is universal: "For this deed of the queen shall come abroad to all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes." Indeed, so public a fact must needs fly; that concourse gave fit opportunity to diffuse it all the world over. The examples of the great are easily drawn into rules. Bad lessons are apt to be taken out; as honour, so contempt, falls down from the head to the skirts, never ascends from the skirts to the head.

These wise men are so much the more sensible of this danger, as they saw it more likely the case might prove their own: "Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the kings and princes." The first precedents of evil must be carefully avoided. If we care to keep a constant order in good, prudence cannot better bestir itself than in keeping mischief from home.

The foundation of this doom of Memucan is not laid so deep for nothing: "If it please the king, let there go a royal com

mandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and Medians, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to another that is better than she." How bold a word was this, and how hazardous! Had Ahasuerus more loved the beauty of Vashti than his honour, Memucan had spoken against his own life. Howsoever, a queen of so great a spirit could not want strength of favour and faction in the Persian court, which could not but take fire at so desperate a motion. Faithful statesmen, overlooking private respects, must bend their eyes upon public dangers, labouring to prevent a common mischief, though with the adventure of their own. Nature had taught these pagans the necessity of a female subjection, and the hate and scorn of a proud disobedience. They have unlearned the very dictates of nature, that can abide the head to be set below the rib.

I cannot say but Vashti was worthy of a sharp censure; I cannot say she was worthy a repudiation. This plaster drew too hard: it was but heathen justice to punish the wife's disobedience, in one indifferent act, with a divorce. Nothing but the violation of the marriage-bed can either break or untie the knot of marriage. Had she not been a queen, had not that contemptuous act been public, the sentence had not been so hard: now the punishment must be exemplary, lest the sin should be so. Many a one had smarted less, if their persons, if their place, had been meaner.

The king, the princes, approve this heavy judgment of Memucan: it is not in the power of the fair face of Vashti to warrant her stomach. No doubt, many messages passed ere the rigour of this execution. That great heart knows not to relent, but will rather break, than yield to an humble deprecation. When the stone and the steel meet, fire is stricken: it is a soft answer that appeaseth wrath. Vashti is cast off. Letters are sent from the king, into all his provinces, to command that every man should rule at home: the court affords them an awful pattern of authority. Had not Ahasuerus doted much upon Vashti's beauty, he had not called her forth at the feast to be wondered at by his peers and people; yet now he so feels the wound of his reputation, that he forgets he ever felt any wound of his affection. Even the greatest love may be overstrained: it is not safe presuming upon the deepest assurances of dearness. There is no heart that may not be estranged. It is not possible that great

princes should want soothing up in all their inclinations, in all their actions. While Ahasuerus is following the chase of his ambition in the wars of Greece, his followers are providing for his lust at home. Nothing could sound more pleasing to a carnal ear, than that all the fair young virgins, throughout all his dominions, should be gathered into his palace at Shushan, for his assay and choice. The decree is soon published: the charge is committed to Hege, the king's chamberlain, both of their purification and

ornaments.

What strife, what emulation, was now amongst all the Persian damsels, that either were, or thought themselves fair! Every one hopes to be a queen, and sees no reason why any other should be thought more excellent. How happy were we, if we could be so ambitious of our espousals to the King of heaven!

Amongst all this throng of virgins, God hath provided a wife for Ahasuerus, having determined his choice, where most advan- | tage shall rise to his forlorn people.

The Jews were miserably scattered over the world, in that woful deportation under Jeconiah; scarce a handful of them returned to Jerusalem; the rest remain still dispersed, where they may but have leave to live. There are many thousands of them turned over, with the Babylonian monarchy, to the Persian: amongst the rest was Mordecai the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin—a man of no mean note or ability, who, living in Shushan, had brought up Hadassah, or Esther, his uncle's daughter, in a liberal fashion. It was happy for this orphan, that, in a region of captivity, she lighted into such good hands. Her wise kinsman finds it fit, that her breeding and habit should be Persian-like: in outward and civil forms, there was no need to vary from the heathen; her religion must be her own; the rest was so altogether theirs, that her very nation was not discerned.

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The same God, that had given incomparable beauty to this Jewess, gave her also favour in the eyes of Hege, the keeper of the women she is not only taken into the Persian court, as one of the selected virgins, but observed with more than ordinary respect all necessaries for her speedy purification are brought to her; seven maids are allowed for her attendance, and the best and most honourable place in that seraglio is allotted to her; as if this great officer had designed her for a queen, before the choice of his master.

What strange preparation was here for the impure bed of a heathen! Every virgin

must be six months purified with the oil of myrrh, and six other months perfumed with sweet odours, besides those special receipts that were allowed to each upon their own election. O God, what care, what cost is requisite to that soul which should be addressed a fit bride for thine own holy and glorious Majesty! When we have scoured ourselves with the most cleansing oil of our repentance, and have perfumed ourselves with thy best graces, and our perfectest obedience, it is the only praise of thy mercy that we may be accepted.

The other virgins passed their probation unregarded. When Esther's turn came, though she required nothing, but took what was given her; though she affected nothing, but brought that face, that demeanour which nature had cast upon her, no eye sees her without admiration: the king takes such pleasure in her beauty, that, contemning all the other vulgar forms, his choice is fully fixed upon her. All things must prosper, where God hath intended the success. The most wise providence of the Almighty fetches his projects from far: the preservation and advantage of his own people is in hand; for the contriving of this, Vashti shall be abandoned, the virgins shall be chosen ; Esther only shall please Ahasuerus; Mordecai shall displease Haman; Haman's ruin shall raise Mordecai. The purposes of God cannot be judged by his remote actions; only the accomplishment shows his designs: in the meantime, it pleaseth him to look another way than he moves, and to work his own ends by arbitrary and unlikely accidents.

None but Esther shall succeed Vashti; she only carries the heart of Ahasuerus from all her sex; the royal crown is set upon her head; and as Vashti was cast off at a feast, so with a solemn feast shall Esther be espoused. Here wanted no triumph to express the joy of this great bridegroom, and, that the world might witness he could be no less loving than severe, all his provinces shall feel the pleasure of this happy match, in their immunities, in their rich gifts.

With what envious eyes do we think Vashti looked upon her glorious rival! how does she now, though too late, secretly chide her peevish will, that had thus stript her of her royal crown, and made way for a more happy successor! Little did she think her refusal could have had so heinous a construction; little did she fear, that one word, perhaps not ill-meant, should have forfeited her husband, her crown, and all that she was. Whoso is not wise enough

the king in him: neither do we regard so much the man, as the command; let him be never so vile whom the king bids to be honoured, with what safety can a subject examine the charge, or resist it? His unworthiness cannot dispense with our loyalty. What a dangerous wilfulness should it be to incur the forfeiture of thy place, of thy life, for a courtesy? If thou wilt not bow with others, expect to suffer alone; perhaps they thought this omission was unheedy, in a case of ignorance or incogitancy; it was a friendly office to admonish; the sight of the error had been the remedy.

Mordecai hears their challenge, their advice, and thinks good to answer both with silence, as willing they should imagine his inflexibleness proceeded from a resolution, and that resolution upon some secret grounds, which he needed not impart : at last, yet he imparts thus much, Let it suffice that I am a Jew, and Haman an Amalekite.

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After a private expostulation, the continuance of that open neglect is construed for a sullen obstinacy; and now the monitors themselves grow sensible of the contempt men are commonly impatient to lose the thank of their endeavours, and are prone to hate whom they cannot reform. Partly, therefore, to pick a thank, and partly to revenge this contumacy, these officers turn informers against Mordecai; neither meant to make the matter fairer than it was: they tell Haman, how proud and stubborn a Jew sat amongst them; how ill they could brook so saucy an affront to be offered to his greatness: how seriously they had expostulated, how stomachfully the offender persisted; and beseech him that he would be pleased, in his next passage, to cast some glances that way, and but observe the fashion of that intolerable insolency. The proud Agagite cannot long endure the very expectation of such an indignity on purpose doth he stalk thither, with higher than his ordinary steps, snuffing up the air as he goes, and would see the man that durst deny reverence to the greatest prince of Persia.

Mordecai holds his old posture, only he is so much more careless, as he sees Haman more disdainful and imperious. Neither of them goes about to hide his passion: one looked, as if he had said, I hate the pride of Haman; the other looked, as if he had said, I will plague the contempt of Mordecai. How did the eyes of Haman sparkle with fury, and, as it were, dart out deadly beams in the face of that despiteful Jew: how did he swell with indignation, and

then again wax pale with anger! shortly, his very brow and his motion bade Mordecai look for the utmost of revenge.

Mordecai foresees his danger, and contemns it ; no frowns, no threats, can supple those joints: he may break, he will not bow. What shall we say then to this confirmed resolution of Mordecai? What is it, what can it be, that so stiffens the knees of Mordecai, that death is more easy to him than their incurvation? Certainly, if mere civility were in question, this wilful irreverence to so great a peer could not pass without the just censure of a rude perverseness. It is religion that forbids this obeisance, and tells him, that such courtesy could not be free from sin: whether it were, that more than human honour was required to this new erected image of the great king, as the Persians were ever wont to be noted for too much lavishness in these courtly devotions, or whether it were, that the ancient curse wherewith God had branded the blood and stock of Haman, made it unlawful for an Israelite to give him any observance; for the Amalekites, of whose royal line Haman was descended, were the nation, with which God had sworn perpetual hostility, and whose memory he had straitly charged his people to root out from under heaven. How may I, thinks he, adore where God commands me to detest? how may I profess respect, where God professeth enmity? how may I contribute to the establishment of that seed upon earth, which God hath charged to be pulled up from under heaven? Outward actions of indifferency, when once they are felt to trench upon the conscience, lay deep obligations upon the soul, even while they are most slighted by careless hearts.

In what a flame of wrath doth Haman live this while! wherewith he could not but have consumed his own heart, had he not given vent to that rage in his assured purposes of revenge. Great men's anger is like to themselves, strong, fierce, ambitious of an excessive satisfaction. Haman scorns to take up with the blood of Mordecai: this were but a vulgar amends. Poor men can kill where they hate, and expiate their own wrong with the life of a single enemy Haman's fury shall fly a higher pitch: millions of throats are few enough to bleed for this offence: it is a Jew that hath despited him; the whole nation of the Jews shall perish for the stomach of this one. The monarchy of the world was now in the hand of the Persian; as Judea was within this compass, so there was scarce a Jew upon earth without the verge of the Per

sian dominions: the generation, the name, shall now die at once; neither shall there be any memory of them but this, There was a people, which having been famous through the world for three thousand four hundred and fourscore years, were, in a moment, extinct by the power of Haman, for default of a courtesy.

Perhaps that hereditary grudge and old antipathy, that was betwixt Israel and Amalek, stuck still in the heart of this Agagite; he might know that God had commanded Israel to root out Amalek from under heaven; and now therefore an Amalekite shall be ready to take this advantage against Israel. It is extreme injustice to dilate the punishment beyond the offence, and to enwrap thousands of innocents within the trespass of one. How many that were yet unborn, when Haman was unsaluted, must rue the fact they lived not to know! How many millions of Jews were then living, that knew not there was a Mordecai! All of them are fetched into one condition, and must suffer, ere they can know their offence. O the infinite distance betwixt the unjust cruelty of men, and the just mercies of the Almighty! Even Caiaphas himself could say, "It is better that one man die, than that all the people should perish;" and here Haman can say, "It is better that all the people should perish, than that one man should die." Thy mercy, O God, by the willing death of one that had not sinned, hath defrayed the just death of a world of sinners; while the injurious 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 sin of one, death reigned over all; but it was because all sinned in that one: had not all men been in Adam, all had not fallen in him, all had not died in him; it was not the man, but mankind, that fell into sin, and by sin into death. No man can complain of punishment, while no man can exempt himself from the transgression. Unmerciful Haman would have imbrued his hands in that blood, which he could not but confess innocent.

It is a rare thing, if the height of favour cause not presumption. Such is Haman's greatness, that he takes his design for granted, ere it can receive a motion: the fittest | days for this great massacre are determined by the lots of their common divination; according whereunto, Haman chooseth the hour of this bloody suit; and now, waited on by opportunity, he addresseth himself to king Ahasuerus: "There is a certain people scattered abroad, and dispersed among

the people, in all the provinces of the kingdom, and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws, therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them: if it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of the officers." With what cunning hath this man couched his malice! He doth not say, There is a Jew that hath affronted me, let me be avenged of his nation: this rancour was too monstrous to be confessed; perhaps this suggestion might have bred in the mind of Ahasuerus a conceit of Haman's ill nature, and intolerable immanity: but his pretences are plausible, and such as drive at no other than the public good. Every word hath its insinuation: "It is a scattered people :" were the nation entire, their maintenance could not but stand with the king's honour; but now, since they are but stragglers, as their loss would be insensible, so their continuance and mixture cannot but be prejudicial: it was not the fault, it was the misery of these poor Jews, 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 over the earth. As good, so evils, draw on each other: that which should plead for pity in the well-affected is a motive to cruelty in savage minds. Seldom ever hath extremity of mischief seized, where easier afflictions have not been billeted before.

All faithful Jews had wont to say unto God, "Have mercy upon us, O God, and save us, for our soul 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, than of men, since that which whets the sword of men, works commiseration in the Almighty! Besides the dissipation of the persons, "Their laws are diverse from all people." All other people live by thy laws, they only by their own; and how can this singularity of their fashions but breed disorder and inconvenience? Did they live in some corner of the earth apart, the difference in religion and government could not import much; now that they are dispersed amongst all thy subjects, what do these uncouth forms of theirs but teach all the world to be irregular? why should they live under thy protection, that will not be governed by thy laws? Wicked Haman! what were the laws of Israel, but the laws of