Hadassa: OR THE HISTORY OF QUEEN ESTER: With Meditations thereupon, Divine and Moral.  Horat. Ode 6. 
Conamur tenues, grandia; nec pudor,  
Imbellisque Lyrae Musa potens vetat.  
By FRA. QVARLES.  
AT LONDON, Imprinted for Richard Moor, and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstan's Churchyard, in Fleetstreet. 1621.   

TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE, RENOWNED FOR LEARNING, PIETY, AND ALL GRACIOUS GOVERNMENT:  
JAMES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE AND IRELAND, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.  
FRANCIS QVARLES, HIS MOST HUMBLE SERVANT, and faithful Homager, dedicates, presents, and consecrates these his labours, to receive honour from his gracious countenance, and to be glorified by his approbation.   

A PREFACE TO THE READER.  
A Sober vaine best suits Theology: If therefore thou expectest such elegancy as takes the times, affect some subject as will bear it. 
Audire fabulas, est impedimentum cognitioni veritatis. Arist. 2. Metaphis.  Had I laboured with overabundance of * fictions, or flourishes, perhaps they had exposed me, censurable, and disprized this sacred subject: Therefore I rest more sparing in that kind.  
Two things I would treat of: First, the matter, secondly, the manner of this History.  
As for the matter, (so far as I have dealt) it is Canonical, and indicted by the holy Spirit of God, not liable to error, and needs no blanching.  
In it Theology sits as Queen, attended by her handmaid 
The excellence and use of this History.  Philosophy; both concurring, to make the understanding Reader, a good Divine, and a wise Moralist.  
As for the Divinity, it discovers the Almighty in his two great Attributes; in his Mercy, delivering his Church; in his justice, confounding her enemies.  
As for the Morality, it offers to us the wholly practice part of Philosophy, dealt out into Ethics, Politics, and Economics.  
The ethical part (the object whereof is the Manners of a private man) ranges through the whole book, and empties itself into the Catalogue of Moral virtues, either those that 
Heiland in Eth. Moor's instituunt ad virtutem.  govern the body; as Fortitude, Chap. 9 2. and Temperance, Chap. 1. 8. or those which direct the soul, either in outward things, as Liberality, Chap. 1. 3. Magnificence, Chap. 1. 6. Magnanimity, Chap. 2. 20. and Modesty, Chap. 6. 12. or in conversation, as justice, Chap. 7. 9 Mansuetude, Chap. 5. 2, etc.  
The Political part (the object whereof is Public Society) instructs, first, in the behaviour of a Prince, to his Subject; in punishing his vice, Chap. 7. 10. in rewarding of virtues, Chap. 8. 2, 15. Secondly, in the behaviour of the Subject to his Prince; in observing his Laws, and discovering his enemies, Chap. 2. 22. Thirdly, the behaviour of a Subject, to a Subject; in mutuality of love, Chap. 4. 7. in propagation of peace, Chap. 10. 3.  
The Economical part (the object whereof is Private Society) teacheth, first, the carriage of the Wife, to her Husband; in obeying, chap. 1. 22. of the Husband, to his Wife, in ruling, chap. 1. 22. Secondly, of a Father, to his Child, in advising, chap. 2. 7, 10. of a Child, to his Father, in observing. chap. 2. 20. Thirdly, of a Master, to his Servant, in commanding. chap. 4. 5. of a Servant, to his Master, in effecting his command, chap. 4. 6.  
Furthermore, in this History, the two principal faculties of the soul are (nor in vain) employed.  
First, the Intellect, whose proper object is Truth. Secondly, 
Arist. Eth 3. Obiectum voluntatis non est nisi bonum. Arist. Eth. 10.  the Will, whose proper object is * Good, whether Philosophical, which that great Master of Philosophy calls * Wisdom; or Theological, which we point at now, hoping to enjoy hereafter.  
Who the Penman of this sacred History was, or why the 
De dubijs non definies, sed suspensam teneas sententiam; Seneca de formali vita.  name of God (as in few other parts of the Bible) is unmentioned in this, it is immaterial, and doubtful. For the first, it is enough for an uncurious questioner to know, it was indicted by the Spirit of God: for the second, let it suffice, that, that Spirit willed not here to reveal his name.  
As for the Manner of this History (consisting in the Periphrase, the adiournment of the Story, and interposition of Meditations) I hope it hath not injured the Matter: For in this, I was not the least careful, to use the light of the best Expositors (Authoritatis quorum sum germanus) not daring to go un-led, for fear of stumbling. Some say, Divinity in Verse, is incongruous and unpleasing: such I refer to the Psalms of David, or the Song of his son Solomon, to be corrected. But in these lewd times, the salt, and soul of a Verse, is obscene scurrility, without which it seems dull, and liveless: And though the sacred History needs not (as humane do) Poetry, to perpetuate the remembrance, (being by Gods own mouth blest with Eternity) yet Verse (working so near upon the soul, and spirit) will oft times draw those to have a History in familiarity, who (perchance) before, scarce knew there was such a Book.  
Reader, be more than my hasty pen styles thee: Read me with advice, and thereafter judge me, and in that judgement censure me. If I jangle, think my intent thereby, is to toll better Ringers in. Farewell.   

THE INTRODUCTION.  

WHen Zedechia (He whose hapless hand  
Once swayed the Sceptre of Great Iudah's Land)  
Went up the Palace of proud Babylon,  
(The Prince Seraiah him attending on,)  
A dreadful Prophet, (from whose blasting breath 
jerem. 52.   
Came sudden death, and nothing else but death)  
Into Seraiah's peaceful hand betook  
The sad Contents of a more dismal Book:   

Break epe the leaves, those leaves so full of dread,  
Read (son of thunder) said the Prophet, read,  
Say thus, say freely thus, The Lord hath spoke it,  
'Tis done, the world's unable to revoke it;  
Woe, woe, and heavy woes ten thousand more  
Betid great Babylon, that painted whore;  
Thy buildings, and thy fensive Towers shall  
Flame on a sudden, and to cinders fall;  
None shall be left, to wail thy grief with Howls:  
Thy streets shall peopled be with Bats, and 
* Isay 13. 21.  Owls:  
None shall remain, to call thy places void,  
None to possess, nor aught to be enjoyed;  
Nought shall be left for thee to term thine own,  
But helpless ruins of a hapless town:   

Said then the Prophet, When performance hath  
Emptied thy Cheeks of this thy borrowed Breath,  
Even so the Persian Host itself bestirred,  
So fell great Babel by the Persian sword,  
Which warm with slaughter, and with blood imbrued,  
Ne'er sheathed, till wounded Babel fell, subdued.   

But see! These brave joint-tenants that survived  
To see a little world of men unlived,  
Must now be parted: Great Darius dies, 
Darius dies.   
And Cyrus shares alone, the new-got prize; 
Cyrus, King alone.   

* Carionis Chro. lib. 2. p. 81. 2. Chro. 36. 23.  He fights for Heaven, Heaven's foemen he subdues:  

* Carionis Chro. lib. 2. p. 81. 2. Chro. 36. 23.  He builds the Temple, he restores the jews,  
By him was Zedechias force disjointed,  
Unknown to God he was, yet Gods Anointed; 
Isay 4. 45.   
But mark the malice of a wayward Fate;  
He whom success crowned always fortunate,  
He that was strong t'achieve, bold to attempt,  
Wise to foresee, and wary to prevent,  
Valiant in War, successful to obtain,  
Mustnow be slain, and by a 
* Tomyris. Cyrus dies.  Woman slain.   

Accursed be thy sacrelegious hand,  
That of her Patron robbed the holy Land;  
Cursed be thy dying life, thy living death,  
And cursed be all things, that proud Tomyris hath. 
Tomyris Queen of the Massagetans.    

O worst that Death can do, to take a life,  
Which (lost) leaves kingdoms to a Tyrant's knife:  
For now, alas! degenerate Cambyses (vices) 
Cambyses King succeeded Cyrus   
(Whose hand was filled with blood, whose heart with  
Sits crowned King, to vex the Persian state,  
With heavy burdens, and with sore regrate.  
O Cyrus, more unhappy in thy Son,  
Then in that stroke wherewith thy life was done!  
Cambyses now sits King, now Tyrant (rather:)  
(Unlucky Son of a renowned Father.)  
Blood cries for Blood: Himself revenged hath  
His bloody Tyranny, with his own death; 
Cambyses dies.   
That cruel 
* Chro. Carionis. lib. 2. p. 89.  sword on his own flesh doth feed,  
Which made so many loyal Persians bleed,  
Whose woeful choice made an indifferent thing,  
To leave their lives, or lose their Tyran' King:  
Cambyses dead, with him the latest drop▪  
Of Cyrus blood was spilt, his death did stop  
The infant source of his brave Syers worth,  
Ere aftertimes could spend his rivers forth.   

Tyrant Cambyses being dead, and gone,  
On the reversion of his empty Throne, 
A Magus succeeds Cambyses.   
Mounts up a Magus, which dissembled right,  
Forging the name of him, whose greedy night 
Smerdis.   
Too early did perpetuate her own,  
And silent Death did snatch away unknown.  
But when the tidings of this Royal cheat,  
Time's loyal Trump had famed, th'usurped seat  
Grew too too hot, and longer could not bear  
So proud a burden on so proud a Chair:  
The Nobles sought their freedom to regain,  
Not resting, till the Magis allwere slain; 
The Magis slain by the Persians.   
And so renowned was that happy slaughter,  
That it solemnised was for ever after;  
So that what pen shall write the Persian story,  
Shall treat that Triumph, and write that day's glory;  
For to this time the Persians (as they say) 
The feast is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is the slaughter of the Magi.   
Observe a Feast, and keep it holiday;  
Now Persia lacks a King, and now the State  
Labours as much in want, as it of late  
Did in abundance; Too great calms do harm  
Sometimes as much the Seaman, as a storm;  
One while they think t'erect a Monarchy;  
But that (corrupted) breeds a Tyranny,  
And dead Cambyses fresh before their eyes,  
Affrights them with their new-scaped miseries;  
Some to the Nobles would commit the State, 
Otanes.   
In change of Rule, expecting change of fate;  
Others cried no, more Kings than one encumber; 
Darius, Gobrias, Asphatines, Hidarnes.   
Better admit one Tyrant, than a number:  
The rule of many doth disquiet bring;  
One Monarch is enough, one Lord, one King:  
One says, Let's rule ourselves, let's all be kings;  
No, says another, that confusion brings;  
Thus modern danger bred a careful trouble,  
Double their care is, as their fear is double;  
And doubtful to resolve of what conclusion,  
To bar confusion, thus they bred confusion;  
At last (and well advised) they put their choice 
They put the choice of their King to seven Electors.   
Upon the verdict of a juries' voice;  
Seven is a perfect number; then by seven,  
Be Persia's royal Crown, and Sceptre given;  
Now Persia, do thy plagues, or joys commence;  
God give thy jury sacred evidence:   

Fearful to choose, and faithless in their choice,  
(Since weal, or woe depended on their voice,)  
A few from many they extracted forth,  
Whose even poised valour, and like equal worth  
Had set a Non plus on their doubtful tongues,  
Unwitting where the most reward belongs,  
They this agreed, and thus (advised) bespoke;   

Since blear-eyed mortals, of themselves, can make 
The speech of the Electors.   
No difference 'twixt good, and evil, nor know  
A good from what is only good, in show,  
But, with unconstant frailty, doth vary  
From what is good, to what is clean contrary;  
And since it lies not in the brain of man,  
To make his drooping state more happy, than  
His unprospitious stars allot, much less  
To lend another, or a state success,  
In vain you therefore shall expect this thing,  
That we should give you fortune, with a King:  
Since you have made us means to propagate  
The joyful welfare of our headless State,  
(Bound by the tender service that we bear  
Our native soil, far then our lives more dear)  
We sifted have, and bolted from the Rest,  
Whose worst admits no badness, and whose best  
Cannot be bettered:  
When Chaunticleere, (the Bellman of the morn)  
Shall summon twilight, with his bugle horn,  
Let these brave Hero's, dressed in warlike wise,  
And richly mounted on their Palfreys,  
Attend our rising Sun-god's ruddy face,  
Within the limits of our Royal place.  
And he whose lusty 
* The Persians did dedicated Horses to their God, which was the Sun.  Stallion first shall neigh,  
To him be given the doubtful Monarchy;  
The choice of Kings lies not in mortals breast,  
This we; the Gods, and fortune do the rest.   

So said, the people, tickled with the motion,  
Some tossed their caps, some fell to their devotion,  
Some clapped their joyful hands, some shout, some sing,  
And all at once cried out, A King, A King.   

When Phoebus' Harbinger had chased the night,  
And tedious Phospher brought the breaking light,  
Complete in arms, and glorious in their train,  
Came these brave Heroes, prancing o'er the plain,  
With mighty streamers came these blazing stars,  
Portending Wars, (and nothing else but Wars;)  
Into the royal Palace now they come:  
There sounds the martial Trump, here beats the Drum,  
There stands a Steed, and champes his frothy steel,  
This strokes the ground, that skorn's it with his heel,  
One snorts, another puffs out angry wind,  
This mounts before, and that curvets behind;   

By this, the foamy Steeds of Phaethon  
Puff too, and spurn the Eastern Horizon:  
Whereat the Nobles, prostrate to the ground,  
Adored their 
* The Persian worshipped the Sun.  God, (Their God was early found.)   


* Heroditus in medio Tholiae justin.  Forthwith, from out the thickest of the crowd,  
In depth of silence, there was heard the loud,  
And lustful language of 
* Styled Assuerus, whom Metactines calls Artaxerxes.  Darius' Horse,  
Who in the dialect of his discourse,  
Proclaimed his rider, King; whereat the rest  
(Patient to bear what cannot be redressed)  
Dismount their lofty Steeds, and prostrate bring  
Their humbled bodies to their happy King;  
God save the King, they jointly say, God bless  
Thy prosperous actions with a due success;  
The people clap their sweaty palms, and shout,  
The bonfires smoke, the bells ring round about,  
The minstrels play, the Parrots learn to sing,  
(Perchance as well as they,) God save the King.  
Assuerus now's invested in the throne, 
Ester▪ 1. 1.   
And Persia's ruled by him, and him alone;  
Prove, happy Persia's Great Assuerus, prove  
As equal happy in thy people's love.   

Enough; And let this broken breviate  
Suffice to shadow forth the downfall state  
Of mighty Babel, and the conquest made  
By the fierce Medes, and Persians conquering blade;  
Whose just succession we have traced down,  
Till great Assuerus wear the Persian Crown;  
Him have we sought, and having found him, rest:  
To morrow go we to his royal Feast.   
FINIS.   

THE ARGUMENT OF THE HISTORY.  
KIng Assuerus makes two feasts: to that, he invites his Courtly guests, to this, the Citizens of Susa, whereunto he sends for Queen Vashti, who denies to come; whereupon the King is angry, and refers the censure of her offence to his Council, who give sentence that she should be degraded from her Princely estate: Forthwith the King commands the fairest Virgins in the Land to be brought before him, for him to take his choice, among whom Ester (the Orphan of a jew) is chosen, married, and Crowned Queen. Mordecai, Queen ester's Uncle, discovers a treason, which was entered into the Records: Haman, the son of Amedatha, is promoted into the King's favour: the King commands his Subjects to bow to him, which Mordecai alone refused to do: whereupon Haman is full of wrath, and (directed by a lot) begs of the King to destroy all the jews in his Provinces upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month; which the King granting, Haman sends Letters in the King's name to make the Massacre upon that day: The Queen understanding the plot, ventures in to the King, (uncalled:) The King demanding the cause of her coming; she invites him, and Haman to a feast: They come: the King is pleased to demand her further suit; whereupon she invites them both to a second Feast. In the mean while Haman, advised by his wife, builds up a Gallows for Mordecai, (intending at the Banquet to beg his life.) That night, the King (indisposed to sleep) reads the Chronicles, where he finds, that Mordecai discovered a Treason; which service the King intending to reward, asks Haman (who then came to beg Mordecai's life) what Worship best befits him that the King means to honour? Haman (supposing himself the man) spoke largely: whereupon the King commands him to do that very honour to Mordecai: So Haman goes home discomforted, and is strait sent for to attend the King to the Queen's Feast; where (in his presence) the King urges the Queen to move her suit; whereupon she humbly begs hers, and her people's life, which Haman sought to betray: whereat the King is enraged, & commands Haman to be hanged on the Gallows which he built for Mordecai, and gives his Estate to the Queen, and his Honour to Mordecai: The Queen earnestly requests the King, that he would reverse the letters which Haman had devised for the jews destruction: the King refers it to the Queen, and Mordecai, who sent Letters in the King's name, that the jews should defend themselves on the day that Haman had apppointed for their slaughter; upon which day the jews slay in Susa five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman, and in the other Provinces 70000. Whereupon the Queen desires the King, that the next day the jews might likewise defend themselves from their enemies: and that the dead sons of Haman may be hanged up; all which the King grants: so as the jews slew the next day in Susa, 300. men, and Hamans' ten sons were hanged up; whereupon the Feasts of Purim are instituted, and in the King's name confirmed for ever.   


Partly to blow the coals of old affection,  
Which now are dying through a forced subjection;  
Partly to make his Princely might appear,  
To make them fear for love, or love for fear,  
He made a Feast: He made a Royal Feast, 
The King makes a Feast to his Princes.   
Fit for himself, had he himself been Guest;  
To which he calls the Princes of his Land,  
Who (paying tribute) by his power stand;  
To which he calls his servants of Estate,  
His Captains, and his Rulers of the State,  
That he may show the glory of his store,  
The like unseen by any Prince before;  
That he may boast his Kingdom's beauty forth,  
His servant Princes, and their Princely worth;  
That he may show the Type of Sovereignty,  
Fulfilled in th'honour of his Majesty:  
He made a Feast, whose time did full extend  
One hundred fourscore days before an end:   

And when this royall-tedious Feast was ended,  
(For good more common 'tis, 'tis more commended)  
For meaner sort he made a second Feast; 
The King makes another Feast to the common people.   
His Guests were from the greatest to the least  
In Susa's place; Seven days they did resort  
To Feast i'th' Palace Garden of the Court;  
Where in the midst, the house of Bacchus stands, 
The description of the banqueting house.   
To entertain when Bounty claps her hands;  
The Tapestry hangings were of diverse hue,  
Pure White, and youthful Greene, and joyful Blue,  
The main supporting Pillars of the Place  
Were perfect Marble of the purest race;  
The Beds were rich, right Princely to behold, 
Whereon they used to feast.   
Of beaten Silver, and of burnished Gold.  
The Pavement was discoloured Porphyry,  
And during Marble, coloured diversely;  
In lavish Cups of oft-refined gold,  
Came wine unwished, drink what the people would;  
The Golden vessels did in number pass,  
Great choice of Cups, great choice of Wine there was.  
And since Abuse attends upon Excess, 
A Law against immoderate drinking.   
Leading sweet Mirth to loathsome Drunkenness,  
A temperate Law was made, that no man might  
Enforce an undisposed Appetite:  
So that a sober mind may use his pleasure,  
And measure drinking, though not drink by measure. 
Explicit Hist.    

Meditatio prima.  

NO man is borne unto himself alone;  
Who lives unto himself, he lives to none:  
The World's a body, each man a member is,  
To add some measure to the public bliss;  
Where much is given, there much shall be required,  
Where little, less, for Riches are but hired; 
Hesiod.   
Wisdom is sold for sweat, Pleasures for pain;  
Who lives unto himself, he lives in vain;  
To be a Monarch is a glorious thing;  
Who lives not full of Care, he lives no King;  
The boundless triumph of a King is such,  
To sweeten Care, because his Care is much:  
The Sun (whose radiant beams reflect so bright)  
Comforts, and warms, as well as it gives light,  
By whose example Phoebe (though more dim)  
Does counterfeit his beams, and shines from him:  
So mighty Kings are not ordained alone  
To perch in glory on the princely Throne,  
But to direct in Peace, command in War  
Those Subjects, for whose sakes they only are;  
So loyal Subjects must adapt them to  
Such virtuous actions as their Princes do:  
So shall his people, even as well as He,  
Princes (though in a lesser volume) be.  
¶ When as I fix my sharpe-contracted eye  
Upon Assuerus Feast, me thinks, I spy  
The Temple dance, in my attentive ear  
(Ravished with th'heavenly music that I hear)  
I well conceive this sence-bereaving song,  
Like dainty warbling of an Angel's tongue,  
Vashti shall fall, and Ester rise,  
Zion shall thrive, when Haman dies.  
Blessed are the meetings, and the Banquets blest▪  
Where Angels carol music to the Feast;  
¶ How do our wretched times degenerate  
From former Ages! How intemperate  
Hath lavish custom made our bedrid Age,  
Acting obscene Scenes on her drunken Stage!  
Our times are guided by a lewder lot,  
As if that world another world begot:  
Their friendly Feasts were filled with sweet sobriety;  
Ours, with obscene delights, and foul ebriety.  
Theirs, the unvalued prize of Love intended;  
Ours seek the cause, whereby our Love is ended.  
How in so blind an age could those men see!  
And in a seeing Age, how blind are we!  
¶ Let poor men than divide their wants to me,  
If not to them my wealth divided be.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

The King sends for the Queen, the Queen  
Denies to come; His hasty spleen  
Inflames, unto the Persian Laws  
He leaves the censure of his cause.   
Sect. 2.  

TO add more honour to this Royal Feast, 
Chap. 1. 9 Queen Vashti makes a Feast.   
That Glory may with Glory be increased,  
Vashti the Queen, (the fairest Queen on earth)  
She made a Feast, and put on jolly mirth,  
To bid sweet welcome with her Princely cheer  
To all her Guests; Her Guests all, women were.   

By this the Royal bounty of the King  
Hath well-nigh spent the seven days banqueting.  
Six jovial days have run their hours out,  
And now the seventh doth wheel the week about,  
Upon which day, (the Queen's unlucky Day)  
The King, with jollity enticed away,  
And gently having slipped the stricter reynes  
Of Temperance, (that over-mirth restrains) 
The King sends for Queen Vashti.   
Rose up, commanded that without delay,  
(Howe'er the Persian custom do gainsay     


How hast thou thus defiled thy Yu'ry feet!  
Thy sweetness that was once how far from sweet!  
Where are thy maiden smiles? thy blushing cheek?  
Thy Lamblike countenance, so fair, so meek?  
Where is that spotless flower that while-ere  
Within thy lilly-bosome thou didst wear?  
Has wanton Cupid snatched it? Hath his Dart  
Sent courtly tokens to thy simple heart?  
Where dost thou bide? The Country half disclaims thee;  
The City wonders when a body names thee:  
Or have the sounding Woods engrossed thee there,  
And thus fore-stal'd our empty Markets here?  
Sure thouart not, or hid where no man shows thee,  
Or changed so much, scarce man or woman knows thee.  
¶ Our Grandam Eve, before it was forbid,  
Desired not that Fruit, she after did:  
Had not the Custom of those times ordained  
That women from men's Feasts should be restrained,  
Perhaps (Assuerus) Vasti might have stayed  
Unsent for, and thyself been undenayed:  
Such are the fruits of mirths, and Wines abuse,  
Customs must crack, and Love must break his Truce,  
Anger, contentious Wrath, and wrathful Hate  
Attend the Feast, where Wine's immoderate.  
¶ Moore difficult it is, and greater skill  
To bear a mischief, than prevent an ill:  
Passion is natural, but to bridle Passion,  
Is more Divine, and virtue's operation:  
To do amiss, is Nature's Act; to err,  
Is but a wretched mortals Character:  
But to prevent the danger of the Ill,  
Is more than Man, surpassing humane skill▪  
Who plays a happy game with crafty sleyte,  
Confirms himself but Fortune's Favourite;  
But he that husbands well an ill-dealt Game,  
Deserves the credit of a Gamesters name:  
¶ Lord, if my Cards be bad, yet lend me skill  
To play them wisely ', and make the best of ill.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

The learned Council plead the case,  
The Queen degraded from her place,  
Decrees are sent throughout the Land,  
That wives obey, and men command.   
Sect. 3.  

THe righteous Council (having heard the Cause) 
Chap. 1. 16.   
Advised awhile, with respite of a pause,  
Till Memucan (the first that silence broke)  
Unsealed his serious lips, and thus bespoke:   

The Great Assuerus sovereign Lord and King, 
Memucan's speech.   
(To grace the period of his Banqueting)  
Hath sent for Vashti: Vashti would not come,  
And now it rests in us to give the doom.  
But lest that too much rashness violate  
The sacred justice of our happy state,  
We first propound the height of her offence,  
Next, the succeeding Inconvenience,     


Thus broke in two, he did anew ordain  
That these same two should be made One again:  
Till singling Death this sacred knot undo,  
And part this newmade One, once more in two.  
¶ Since of a Rib first framed was a Wife,  
Let Ribs be Hi'rogliphicks of their life:  
Ribs coast the heart, and guard it round about,  
And like a trusty Watch keep danger out;  
So tender Wives should loyally impart  
Their watchful care to fence their Spouses heart:  
All members else from out their places rove,  
But Ribs are firmly fixed, and seldom move:  
Women (like Ribs) must keep their wont home,  
And not (like Dinah that was ravished) room: 
Genes. 34. 2.   
If Ribs be overbent, or handled rough, 
Costa dura est & difficiliter flectitur: Sphinx. joh. Stig. in Poematis▪ Coniugium humanae divina Academia vitae est.   
They break; If let alone, they bend enough:  
Women must (unconstrained) be plyent still,  
And gently bending to their Husbands will.  
The sacred Academy of man's life  
Is holy wedlock in a happy Wife.   

It was a wise man's speech, Could never they  
now to command, that knew not first t'obey:  
where's then that high Command, that ample Glory,  
Which for a pattern (left in endless story)  
Your noble Sex in former days achieved?  
Whose sounding Fame no aftertimes outlived.  
What brave Command? How well-succeeding broils?  
What stately Triumphs? What victorious spoils 
Hand ulla unquam salua mansit familia, parts priores uxor in qua gesserit. Euripid. in Androm.   
Their hands achieved? They swayed their Sceptres then  
As well in Kingdoms, as in hearts of men;  
And sweet obedience was the lowly stair  
Mounted their steps to that Commanding chair:  
A woman's Rule should be in such a fashion,  
Only to guide her household, and her Passion:  
And her obedience neuer's out of season,  
So long as either Husband lasts, or Reason:  
Ill thrives the hapless Family, that shows 
Non placet mihi ista domus, in qua Gallina cantat, Gallus tacet.   
A Cock that's silent, and a Hen that crows.  
I know not which live more ungodly lives,  
¶ 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Obeying Husbands, or commanding Wives.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

Assuerus pleased, His servant's motion  
Propounded, gain his approbation.  
ester's descent, her jewish race:  
Her beauties, and her perfect Grace.   
Sect. 4.  

WHen Time (that endeth all things) did assuage 
Chap. 2. 1.   
The burning Fever of Assüerus rage,  
And quiet satisfaction had assigned  
Delightful Iu'lyps to his troubled mind,  
He called his old remembrance to account  
Of Vashti, and her Crimes that did amount  
To th'sum of their divorcement: In his thought  
He weighed the censure of her heedless fault:  
His fawning servants willing to prevent him,  
If too much thought should make his love repent him,  
Said thus: (If it shall please our gracious Lord 
The King's servants speech to the King.   
To crown with Audience his servant's word)  
Let strict Inquest, and careful Inquisition  
In all the Realm be made, and quick provision  
Throughout the Medes and Persians all among,  
For comely Virgins, beautiful and young,  
Which (curiously selected) let them bring  
Into the Royal Palace of the King;  
And let the Eunuches of the King take care  
For Princely Robes, and Vestures, and prepare  
Sweet Odours, choice Perfumes, and all things meet,  
To add a greater sweetness to their sweet;  
And she, whose perfect beams shall best delight,  
And seem most gracious in his Kingly sight;  
To her be given the Conquest of her face,  
And be enthroned in scornful Vashties place.   

The project pleased the King, who made an Act 
The King pleased with the speech. Mordecai's parentage.   
To second what was said with soon effect.  
Within the walls of Shusa dwelled there one,  
By breeding, and by birth a jew, and known  
By th'name of Mordecai, 
* 1. Sam. 9 1.  of mighty kin,  
Descended from the Tribe of Benjamin,  
(Whose neck was subject to the slavish yoke,  
When 
* 2. Kin. 24. 15.  jeconiah was surprised and took,  
And carried captive into Babel's Land,  
With strength of mighty Neb'chadnezzars' hand;)  
Within his house abode a Virgin bright,  
Whose name was Ester, or Hadassa hight, 
ester's parentage, virtue, and beauty.   
His brother's Daughter, whom (her parents dead)  
This jew did foster, in her father's stead;  
She wanted none, though father she had none,  
Her uncle's love assumed her for his own;  
Bright beams of beauty streamed from her eye,  
And in her cheeks sat maiden modesty;  
Which peerless beauty lent so kind a relish  
To modest virtue, that they did embellish  
Each others excellence, with a full assent,  
In her to boast their perfect compliment. 
Explicit Hist.      

Meditatio quarta.  

THe strongest Arcteries that knit and tie  
The members of a mixed Monarchy,  
Are learned Counsels, timely Consultations,  
ripened Advice, and sage Deliberations;  
And if those Kingdoms be but ill be-blest,  
Whose Rule's committed to a young man's breast;  
Then such Estates are more unhappy far,  
Whose choicest Councillors but 
* Iwines meribus.  Children are:  
How many Kingdoms blest with high renown,  
(In all things happy else) have placed their Crown  
Upon the temples of a childish head,  
Until with ruin, King, or State be sped!  
What Massacres (begun by factious jars,  
And ended by the spoil of civil wars)  
Have made brave Monarchies unfortunate,  
And razed the glory ' of many ' a mighty State?  
How many hopeful Princes (ill-advised  
By young, and smooth-faced Council) have despised  
The sacred Oracles of riper years,  
Till dear Repentance washed the Land with tears!  
Witness thou luckless, and succeeding 
* Rehoboam. 1. King. 12. 8.  Son  
Of (wisdoms Favourite) great Solomon;  
How did thy rash, and beardless Council bring,  
Thy fortunes subject to a stranger King?  
And laying burdens on thy people's neck,  
The weight hung sadly on thy bended back.  
Thou second 
* Son to the black Prince.  Richard (once our Britain King,  
Whose Syr's, and Grandsyr's fame the world did ring)  
How was thy gentle nature led aside,  
By green advisements, which thy State did guide,  
Until the title of thy Crown did crack,  
And fortunes (like thy Father's name) were black?  
¶ Now glorious Britain, clap thy hands, and bless  
Thy sacred fortunes; for thy happiness  
(As doth thy Island) does itself divide,  
And sequester from all the world beside;  
Blest are thy open Gates with joyful peace,  
Blessed are thy heaped barns with sweet increase,  
Blest in thy Council, whose industrious skill,  
Is but to make thy fortunes happy still;  
In all things blest, that to a State pertain;  
Thrice happy in my dreaded Sovereign,  
My sacred Sovereign, in whose only breast,  
A wise Assembl ' of Privy Counsels rest,  
Who conquers with his princely Heart as far▪  
By peace, as Alexander did by War,  
And with his Olife branch more hearts did board,  
Then daring Cesar did, with Caesar's sword:  
Long mayst thou hold within thy Royal hand,  
The peaceful Sceptre of our happy Land:  
¶ Great Iudah's Lion, and the Flower of jesse,  
Preserve thy Lynes, and thy Flowers bless.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

Fair Virgins brought to Hege's hand,  
The custom of the Persian Land;  
ester's neglect of rich attire,  
To whet the wanton King's desire.   
Sect. 5.  

ANd when the lustful King's Decree was read 
Chap. 2. 8.   
In every ear, and Shire proclaimed, and spread,  
Forthwith unto the Eunuch Hege's hand 
Virgins brought to the Eunuch Hege.   
The Bevy came, the pride of beauty's band,  
Armed with joy, and warring with their eyes,  
To gain the Conquest of a Princely prize;  
But none in peerless beauty shined so bright, 
Hege affects Ester.   
As lovely Ester did, in Hege's sight,  
In loyal service he observed her;  
He sent for costly Oils, and dainty Myrrh,  
To fit her for the presence of the King:  
Rich Tires, and change of vesture did he bring;  
Seven comely maids he gave, to tend upon her,  
To show his service, and increase her honour:  
But she was watchful of her lips, and wise,  
Disclosing not her kindred, or allies:  
For trusty Mardocheus tender care  
Gave hopeful Ester Items to beware  
To blaze her kin, or make her people known,  
Lest for their sake, her hopes be overthrown;  
Before the Gates he to and fro did pass,  
Wherein enclosed (the Courtly) Ester was,  
To understand how Ester did behave her,  
And how she kept her in the Eunuch's favour.   

Now when as Time had fitted every thing,  
By course these Virgins came before the King.   

Such was the custom of the Persian soil, 
The Persian custom.   
Six months the Maids embalmed in Myrrh and Oil,  
Six other months perfumed in odours sweet,  
That perfect lust, and great excess may meet;  
What costly Robes, rare jewels, rich attire,  
Or, curious Fare, these Virgins did desire,  
'Twas given, and freely granted, when they bring  
Their bodies to be prostrate to the King:  
Each Virgin keeps her turn, and all the night  
They lewdly lavish in the King's delight,  
And soon as morning shall restore the day,  
They in their bosoms bear black night away,  
And (in their guilty breasts, as are their sins  
Close prisoners) in the house of Concubines,  
Even so are they, until the King shall please,  
With lustful bail their bondage to release.   

Now when the turn of Ester was at hand, 
ester's behaviour.   
To satisfy the wanton King's command,  
She sought not (as the rest) with brave attire,  
To lend a needless spur to foul Desire,  
Nor yet endeavours with a whorish Grace,  
T'adulterate the beauty of her face:  
Nothing she sought to make her glory braver,  
But simply took, what gentle Hege gave her:  
Her sober visage daily won her honour:  
Each wand'ring eye inflamed, that looked upon her. 
Explicit Hist.      

Meditatio quinta.  

WHen God had with his All-producing Blast,  
Blown up the bubble of the World, and placed  
In order that, which he had made in measure,  
As well for needful use, as joyful pleasure:  
Then out of earthy mould he framed a 
* Genes. 1. 26.  creature  
far more Divine, and of more glorious feature  
Than erst he made, endued with understanding,  
With strength victorious, & with awe commanding,  
With Reason, Wit, replete with Majesty,  
With heavenly knowledge, and Capacity,  
True emblem of his Maker: Him he made  
The sovereign Lord of all; Him all obeyed;  
Yielding their lives (as tribute) to their King;  
Both Fish, and Bird, and Beast, and every thing:  
His body's reared upright, and in his eye,  
Stand Radiant beams of awful sou'rainty;  
All Creatures else poor downward to the ground,  
Man looks to heaven, and all his thoughts rebound:  
Upon the Earth (where tides of pleasures meet)  
He treads, and daily tramples with his feet;  
Which read sweet Lectures to his wand'ring eyes,  
And teach his lustful heart to moralise:  

* Gen. 2. 25.  Naked he lived, naked to the world he came;  
For he had then nor fault to hide, nor shame:   


He liked them all, but when with strict revye,  
He viewed ester's face, his wounded eye 
The King favoured Ester.   
Sparkled, whilst Cupid with his youthful Dart,  
Transfixed the Centre of his feeble heart;  
Ester is now his joy, and in her eyes,  
The sweetest flower of his Garland lies:  
Who now but Ester? Ester crownes his bliss;  
And he's become her prisoner, that was his:  
Ester obtains the prize, her high desert  
Like Di'mond's richly mounted in his heart;  
Iö, now Io Hymen sings; for she 
Ester made wife, and Queen.   
That crownes his joy, must likewise crowned be:  
The Crown is set on Princely ester's head,  
Ester sits Queen in scornful Vashties stead.   

To consecrate this Day to more delights, 
The Nuptials celebrated.   
In due solemnising the nuptial rites,  
In ester's name, Assuerus made a Feast,  
Invited all his Princes, and released  
The hard taxation, that his heavy hand  
Laid on the groaning subjects of his Land;  
No rites were wanting to augment his joys,  
Great gifts confirmed the bounty of his choice:  
Yet had not ester's (lavish) tongue descried  
Her jewish kin, or where she was allied;  
For still the words of Mordecai did rest  
Within the cabin of her Royal breast,  
That was as plyent (being now a Queen)  
To sage advice, as ere before she'd been.   

It came to pass, as Mardochaeus sat 
Mordecai over-heares treason.   
Within the Portall of the Prince's gate,  
He overheard two servants of the King,  
Closely combined in hollow whispering,  
(Like whistling Notus that foretells a rain)  
To breathe out treason 'gainst their Sovereign:  
Which, soon as loyal Mardochaeus heard, 
Discovers it to the Queen.   
Forthwith to ester's presence he repaired;  
Disclosed to her, and to her care commended  
The Traitors, and the treason they intended:  
Whereat, the Queen (impatient of delay) 
The Queen discovers it to the King.   
Betrayed the Traitors, that would her betray,  
And to the King unbosomed all her heart,  
And who her Newesman was, and his desert.   

Now all on hurly-burly was the Court,  
Filled with the foulness of this sad report:  
The watch was set, pursuit was sent about, 
The traitors pursued.   
To guard the King, and find the Traitors out,  
Who found, and guilty found, by speedy trial, 
Found, and tried.   
(Where witness speaks, what boots a bare denial?)  
Were both hanged up, upon the shameful tree: 
Hanged.   
(To bear such fruit let trees ne'er barren be▪)  
And what success this happy Day afforded,  
Was in the Persian Chronicles recorded.    
Explicit Hist.   

Meditatio sexta.  

THe hollow Concave of a humane breast  
Is God's Exchequer, and therein the best,  
And sum of all his chiefest wealth consists,  
Which he shuts up, and opens when he lists:  
No power is of man: To love, or hate,  
Lies not in mortals breast, or power of Fate:   


Who was the issue of a Royal breed,  
The offcast offspring of the cursed seed  
Of Amalek, from 
* Esau.  him descended right,  
That sold his birthright for his Appetite;  
Haman his name; His fortunes did improve, 
Haman comes into favour with the King.   
Increased by favour of the Prince's love:  
Full great he grew, preferred to high command,  
And placed before the Princes of the Land:  
And since that honour, and due reverence  
Attend, where Princes give preeminence;  
The King commands the servants of his State,  
To suit Respect to Hamans' high estate,  
And do him honour, fitting his degree,  
With veiled Bonnet, and low bended knee:  
They all observed; But aged Mordecai 
Mordecai refuseth to reverence Haman.   
(Whose stubborn joints-neglected to obey  
The seed, which God with infamy had branded)  
Stoutly refused what the King commanded;  
Which, when the servants of the King had seen,  
Their fell disdain, mixed with an envious spleen,  
Inflamed; They questioned how he durst withstand  
The just performance of the King's Command:  
Daily they checked him for his high disdain,  
And he their checks did daily entertain  
With silent slight behaviour, which did prove  
As full of care, as their rebukes of love.   

Since than their hearts (not able to abide  
A longer sufferance of his peevish pride)  
(Whose scorching fires, passion did augment,)  
Must either break, or find a speedy vent: 
The King's servants complain of Mordecai, to Haman.   
To Haman they th'unwelcome news related,  
And what they said, their malice aggravated.  
Envy did open her Snake-devouring jaws,  
Foamd frothy blood, and bend her unked Paws,  
Her hollow eyes did cast out sudden flame,  
And pale as ashes looked this angry Dame,  
And thus bespoke! Art thou that man of might,  
That Imp of Glory? Time's great Favourite?  
Hath thy deserved worth restored again  
The blemished honour of thy Princely strain?  
Art thou that Wonder which the Persian State  
Stands gazing at so much, and pointing at?  
Filling all wondering eyes with Admiration,  
And every loyal heart with Adoration?  
Art thou that mighty He? How haps it then  
That wretched Mordecai, the worst of men,  
A captive slave, a superstitious jew,  
Slights thee, and robs thee of thy rightful due?  
Nor was his fault disguised with Ignorance,  
(The unfee'd Advocate of sin) or Chance,  
But backed with Arrogance and foul Despite:  
Rise up, and do thy blemished honour right.   

Up (like his deep Revenge) rose Haman then, 
Hamans' passion.   
And like a sleeping Lion from his Den,  
Roused his relentless Rage; But when his eye  
Confirmed the news Report did testify,  
His Reason strait was heaved from off his hinge,  
And Fury rounded in his ear, Revenge,  
And (like a rash Adviser) thus began:   

There's nothing (Haman) is more dear to man,  
And cools his boiling veins with sweeter pleasure,  
Than quick Revenge; for to revenge by leisure,  
Is but like feeding, when the stomach's past,  
Pleasing nor eager appetite, nor taste:     


¶ Lord, let my fortunes be or rich, or poor:  
If small, the less account; if great, the more.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

Unto the King proud Haman sues,  
For the destruction of the jews:  
The King consents, and in his name  
Decrees were sent t'effect the same.   
Sect. 8.  

NOw when the year had tumed his course about, 
Chap. 3. 7.   
And fully worn his weary hours out,  
And left his circling travel to his heir,  
That now sets onset to th'ensuing year,  
Proud Haman (pained with travel in the birth,  
Till aftertime could bring his mischief forth)  
Cast Lots, from month to month, from day to day,  
To pick the choicest time, when Fortune may  
Be most prospicious to his damned plot;  
Till on the last month fell th'unwilling Lot:  
So Haman guided by his Idol Fate,  
(Cloaking with public good his private Hate)  
In plaintiff terms, where Reason lent the relish,  
Unto the King, his speech did thus embellish:   

Upon the limits of this happy Nation, 
Hamans' speech to the King.   
There floats a scum, an offcast Generation,  
Dispersed; despised, and noisome to the Land,  
And Refractory to the Laws, and thy Command,  
Not stooping to thy Power, but despising  
All Government, but of their own devising,  
And stir the glowing embers of division,  
The hateful mother of a State's sedition,  
The which (not soon redressed by Reformation)  
Will ruin breed to thee, and to thy Nation,  
Begetting Rebels, and seditious broils,  
And fill thy peaceful Land, with bloody spoils: 
His request.    

Now therefore, if it please my gracious Lord,  
To right this grievance with his Princely sword,  
That Death, and due Destruction may be sent,  
To take the Covey of this rabblement,  
Unto the Royal Treasure of the King,  
Ten thousand silver Talents will I bring.   

Then gave the King, from off his heedless hand, 
The King grants Hamans' suit.   
His Ring to Haman, with that Ring, command,  
And said: Thy proffered wealth possess,  
Yet be thy just Petition nevertheless  
Entirely granted. Lo, before thy face  
Thy vassals lie, with all their rebel race;  
Thine be the people, and the power thine,  
To doom the Traitors their deserved Fine.   

Forthwith the Scribes were summoned to appear, 
The Decree was made.   
Decrees were written, sent to every Shire;  
To all Lieutenants, Captains of the Band,  
And all the Provinces throughout the Land,  
Styled in the name and person of the King,  
And made authentic with his Royal Ring;  
By speedy Post-men were the Letters sent;  
And this the sum is of their sad content:   

Let every Province in the Persian Land, 
The Decree.   
(Upon the 
* The 13. day of the twelfth month, which was part of February, part of March.  Day prefixed) prepare his hand,  
To make the Channels flow with Rebel's blood,  
And from the earth to root the jewish brood:  
And let the softness of no partial heart,  
Through melting pity, love, or fond desert,  
Spare either young or old, or man, or woman,  
But like their fault, so let their plagues be common;  
Decreed, and sealed by our Princely Grace,  
And given at Sushan, from our Royal Place.   

So Haman filled with joy (his fortunes blest  
With fair succeeding of his foul request)  
Laid care aside to sleep, and with the King,  
Consumed the time in jolly banqueting:  
Mean while, the jews, (the poor afflicted jews  
Perplexed, and startled with the newbred news)  
With drooping heads, and selfe-imbracing arms,  
Wept forth the Dirge of their ensuing harms. 
Explicit Hist.      

Meditatio octava.  

OF all diseases in a public weal,  
No one more dangerous, and hard to heal,  
(Except a tyrant King) than when great might  
Is trusted to the hands, that take delight  
To bathe, and paddle in the blood of those,  
Whom jealousies, and not just cause oppose:  
For when as haughty power is conjoined  
Unto the will of a distempered mind,  
What e'er it can, it will, and what it will, 
Paling. Cui ius est, ius non me●uit, ius obruitur vi.   
It in itself, hath power to fulfil:  
What mischief then can linger, unattempted?  
What base attempts can happen, unprevented?  
Statutes must break, good Laws must go to wrack,  
And (like a Bow that's overbent) must crack:  
justice (the life of Law) becomes so furious,  
That (overdoing right) it proves injurious: 
Summum ius est summa iniuria.   
Mercy (the Steare of justice) flies the City,  
And falsely must be termed, a foolish Pity:  
Mean while the gracious Princes tender breast  
(Gently possessed with nothing but the best  
Of the disguised dissembler) is abused▪  
And made the cloak, wherewith his fault's excused:  
The radiant beams that warm, and shine so bright, 
Simile.   
Comfort this lower world with heat, and light,  
But drawn, and recollected in a glass,  
They burn, and their appointed limits pass:  
Even so the power from the Prince's hand,  
Directs the subject with a sweet command,  
But to perverse fantastics if conferred,  
Whom wealth, or blinded Fortune hath preferred,  
It spurs on wrong, and makes the right retire,  
And sets the grumbling Commonwealth on fire:  
Their foul intent, the Common good pretends,  
And with that good, they mask their private ends,  
Their glory's dim, and cannot b'vnderstood,  
Unless it shine in pride, or swim in blood:  
Their will's a Law, their mischief Policy,  
Their frowns are Death, their power Tyranny:  
Ill thrives the State, that harbours such a man,  
That can, what e'er he wills, wills, what he can.   

May my ungarnisht Quill presume so much,  
To glorify itself, and give a touch  
Upon the Island of my Sovereign Lord?  
What language shall I use, what newfound word,  
T'abridge the mighty volume of his worth,  
And keep me blameless, from th'untimely birth  
(Of false reputed flattery?) He lends  
No cursed Haman power, to work his Ends  
Upon our ruin, but transfers his grace  
On just desert, which in the ugly face  
Of foul Detraction, (untouched) can dare,  
And smile till black-mouthed Envy blush, and tore  
Her Snaky fleece. Thus, thus in happy peace  
He rules, to make our happiness increase,  
Directs with love, commands with Princely awe,  
And in his breast he bears a living Law:  
Defend us thou, and heavens thee defend,  
And let proud haman's have proud Hamans' end.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

The jews, and Mordecai lament,  
And wail the height of their distresses:  
But Mordecai the Queen possesses,  
With cruel Hamans' soul intent.   
Sect. 9  

NOw when as Fame (the daughter of the earth 
Chap. 4. 1.   
Newly disburdened of her plumed birth)  
From off her Turrets did her wings display,  
And perched in the sad ears of Mordecai,  
He rend his garments, wearing in their stead 
Mordecai's passion.   
Distressed sackcloth: on his fainting head  
He strewed Dust, and from his showering eyes  
Ran floods of sorrow, and with bitter cries  
His grief saluted heaven; his groans did borrow  
No Art, to draw the true portrait of sorrow,  
Nor yet within his troubled breast alone,  
(Too small a stage for grief to trample on)  
Did Tyrant sorrow act her lively Scene,  
But did enlarge (such grief admits no mean)  
The lawless limits of her Theatre  
Ith' hearts of all the jewish Nation, where  
(With no dissembled Action) she expressed  
The lively Passion of a pensive breast.     


Above, or here below; And he that doth  
Enjoy the one, may never taste of both;  
Sweeting, and constant labour wins the Goal  
Of Rest; Afflictions clarify the soul,  
And like hard Masters, give more hard directions,  
Tut'ring the nonage of uncurbed affections:  
Wisdom (the Antidote of sad despair)  
Makes sharp Afflictions seem not as they are,  
Through patient sufferance, and doth apprehend,  
Not as they seeming are, but as they end:  
To bear Affliction with a bended brow,  
Or stubborn heart, is but to disallow  
The speedy means to health; salve heals no sore,  
If misapplyed, but makes the grief the more:  
Who sends Affliction, sends an end; and He  
Best knows what's best for him, what's best for me:  
‛ 'tis not for me to carve me where I like;  
Him pleases when he list, to stroke or strike:  
I'll neither wish, nor yet avoid Tentation,  
But still expect it, and make Preparation:  
If he think best my Faith shall not be tried;  
(Lord) keep me spotless from presumptuous pride:  
If otherwise; with trial, give me care,  
By thankful patience, to prevent Despair;  
Fit me to bear what e'er thou shalt assign;  
I kiss the Rod, because the Rod is thine.   

Howe'er, let me not boast, nor yet repine,  
With trial, or without (Lord) make me thine.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

Her aydimplored, the Queen refuses  
To help them, and herself excuses:  
But (urged by Mordecai) consents  
To die, or cross their foes intents.   
Sect. 10.  

NOw when the servant had returned the words 
Cahp. 4. 9   
Of wretched Mordecai, like pointed swords,  
They near impierced Queen ester's tender heart,  
That well could pity, but no help impart;  
Ballast with grief, and with the burden foiled,  
(Like Ordnance overcharged) she thus recoiled:   

Go, Hatach, tell my wretched kinsman thus, 
ester's message to Mordecai.   
The case concerns not him alone, but us:  
We are the subject of proud Hamans' hate,  
As well as you; our life is pointed at  
As well as yours, or as the meanest jew,  
Nor can I help myself, nor them, nor you:  
You know the Custom of the Persian State,  
No King may break, no subject violate:  
How may I then presume to make access  
Before th' offended King? or rudely press  
(Uncalled) into his presence? How can I  
Expect my suit, and have deserved to dye?     


Must suit his dear endeavour to his might;  
Each one must lift, to make the burden light,  
Proving the power, that his gifts afford,  
To raise the best advantage for his Lord,  
Whose substitute he is, and for whose sake  
We live and breathe; each his account must make,  
Or more, or less; and he whose power lacks  
The means to gather honey, must bring wax:  
Five Talents double five, two render four;  
where's little, little's craved, where much, there's more:  
Kings by their Royal privilege may do,  
What unbefits a mind to search into,  
But by the force of their Prerogatives,  
They cannot free the custom of their lives:  
The silly Widow, (from whose wrinkled brows  
Faint drops distil, through labour that she owes  
Her needy life,) must make her Audite too,  
As well as Kings, and mighty Monarches do:  
The world's a Stage, each mortal acts thereon,  
As well the King that glitters on the Throne,  
As needy beggars: Heaven Spectator is,  
And marks who acteth well, and who amiss.   

¶ What part befits me best, I cannot tell:  
It matters not how mean, so acted well.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

Unto the King Queen Ester goes,  
He (unexpected) favour shows,  
Demands her suit, she doth request  
The King and Haman to a Feast.   
Sect. 11.  

WHen as Queen ester's solemn three days Fast 
Chap. 54.   
Had feasted heaven, with a sweet repast,  
Her lowly bended body she unbowed,  
And (like fair Titan breaking from a cloud)  
She rose, and with her Royal Robes she clad  
Her liveless limbs, and with a face as sad  
As grief could paint, (wanting no Art to borrow  
A needless help to counterfeit a sorrow,)  
Softly she did direct her feeble pace  
Unto the inner Court, where for a space,  
She boldly stood before the Royal Throne,  
Like one that would, but durst not make her moan:  
Which when her gracious Lord did well behold,  
His heart relented, (Fortune helps the bold)  
And to express a welcome unexpected,  
Forth to the Queen his Sceptre he directed;  
Whom (now emboldened to approach secured)  
In gracious terms, he gently thus conjured:   

What is't Queen Ester would? What sad request 
The King's speech to the Queen.   
Hangs on her lips, dwells in her doubtful breast?  
Say, say, (my life's preserver) what's the thing,  
That lies in the performance of a King,  
Shall be denied? Fair Queen, what e'er is mine  
Unto the moiety of my Kingdom's thine.   

So Ester thus: If in thy Princely eyes 
The Queen invites the King to a feast.   
Thy loyal servant hath obtained the prize  
Of undeserved favour, let the King  
And Haman grace my this-dayes-banqueting,  
To crown the dainties of his handmaid's Feast,  
Humbly devoted to so great a Guest.   

The motion pleased, and fairly well succeeded:  
(To willing minds, no twice entreaty needed)  
They came, but in Queen ester's troubled face,  
Robbed of the sweetness of her wont Grace,  
The King read discontent; her face divined  
The greatness of some further suit behind.   

Say, say, (thou bounteous harvest of my joys) 
The King's speech to the Queen.   
(Said then the King) what dumpish grief annoys  
Thy troubled soul? Speak, Lady, what's the thing  
Thy heart desires? By th'honour of a King,  
My Kingdom's half, requested, I'll divide  
To fair Queen Ester, to my fairest Bride. 
The Queen invites the King, and Haman to a second feast.    

Lo than the tenor of my dear Request,  
(Replied the Queen,) Unto a second Feast,  
Thy humble suitor doth presume to bid  
The King, and Haman, as before she did:  
Now therefore, if it please my Gracious Lord,  
To deign his Royal presence, and afford  
The peerless treasure of his Princely Grace,  
To dry the sorrows of his Handmaid's face,  
Then to my Kingly, and thrice-welcome Guest,  
His servant shall unbosom her Request. 
Expl. Hist.      

Meditatio undecima.  

HE that invites his Maker to a Feast,  
(Advising well the greatness of his Chest)  
Must cleanse his dining room from foul infections,  
And sweep the Cobwebs of his lewd Affections,  
And then provide such Cates, as most delight  
His Palate, and best please his Appetite:  
And such are holy works, and pious deeds,  
These are the dainties whereon heaven feeds:  
Faith plays the Cook, seasons, directs, and guides;  
So man finds meat, so God the Cook provides:  
His drink are tears, sprung from a midnight cry,  
Heaven sips out Nectar from a sinner's eye;  
The dining Chamber, is the soul oppressed;  
God keeps his Revels in a Sinners breast:  
The music that attends the Feast, are groans,  
Deepe-sounding sighs, and lowd-lamenting moans:  
Heaven hears no sweeter music, than complaints;  
The Fasts of sinners, are the Feasts of Saints,  
To which heaven daynes to stoop, & heavens high King  
Transcends, whilst all the Choir of Angels sing,  
And with such sense-bereaving Sonnets fill  
The hearts of wretched men, that my rude Quill  
(Dazzled with too much light) itself addressing  
To blaze them forth, obscures them in th'expressing:  
Thrice happy man, and thrice thrice happy Feast,  
Graced with the presence of so great a Guest;  
To 
* The power of a faithful man. Math. 16. 19 and 18. 18.  him are freely given the 
* The power of a faithful man. Math. 16. 19 and 18. 18.  privy keys  
Of heaven and earth, to open when he please,  
And lock when-e'r he list; In him it lies  
To open the showering floodgates of the skies, 
1. King. 18. 45.   
Or shut them at his pleasure; In his hand  
The Host of heaven is put; If he command,  
The Sun (not daring to withstand) obeys, 
2. King 20. 9 Iosh. 10. 12.   
Out runs his equal hours, flies back, or stays,  
To him there's nought uneasy to achieve; 
1. King. 17. 22. 2. King. 4. 35. Act. 9 40.   
he'll rouse the graves, and make the dead alive.  
¶ Lord, I'm unfit t'invite thee to my Home,  
My Cates are all too course, too mean my Room:   

Yet come and welcome; By thy power Divine,  
Thy Grace may turn my water into Wine.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

Good Mordecai's unreverence  
Great Hamans' haughty pride offends:  
H'acquaints his wife with the offence;  
The counsel of his wife and friends.   
Sect. 12.  

THat day went Haman forth; his swollen breast 
Chap. 5. 9   
Was filled with joys, and heart was full possessed  
Of all the height Ambition could require,  
To satisfy her prodigal Desire.   

But when he passed through the Palace Gate, 
Mordecai neglects his service to Haman.   
(His eyesore) aged Mardocheus sat,  
With dauntless head unbared, and knee unbent,  
Unapt to fawn, with slavish blandishment:  
Which when Great Haman saw, his boiling breast 
Haman discontented.   
(So foul disdain unable to digest)  
Ran o'er; his blood grew hot, and new desires  
Incensed, and kindled his avenging fires:  
Surcharged with grief, and sick with malcontent  
Of his distempered passion, home he went;  
Where (to assuage the swelling of his sorrow  
With words, the poorest helps distress can borrow)  
His wife, and friends he summoned to partake  
His cause of discontent, and thus bespoke:   

See, see, how Fortune with a liberal hand, 
Hamans' speech to his wife and friends.   
Hath with the best, and sweetest of the Land,  
Crowned my desires, and hath timely blown  
My budded hopes, whose ripeness hath outgrown  
The limits, and the height of expectation,  
Scarce to b'inioyd, but in a Contemplation:   

See, see, how Fortune (to enlarge my breath,  
And make me living in despite of Death)  
Hath multiplied my loins, that after-Fame  
May in my stock preserve my Blood, my Name.   

To make my honour with my fortunes even,  
Behold, my gracious Lord the King hath given  
And trusted to my hand the sword of Power;  
Or life, or death lies where I laugh or lower:  
Who stands more gracious in the Prince's eye?  
How frowns the King, if Haman be not by?   

Ester the Queen hath made the King her Guest,  
And (wisely weighing how to grace the Feast  
With most advantage) hath (in policy)  
Invited me: And no man else but I  
(Only a fit Companion for a King)  
May taste the secrets of the banqueting:   

Yet what avails my wealth, my place, my might?  
How can I relish them? with what delight?  
What pleasure is in dainties, if the Taste  
Be in itself distempered? Better Fast:  
In many sweets, one sour offends the palate;  
One loath some weed annoys the choicest Salad:  
What are my riches? What my honoured Place?  
What are my children? or my Prince's Grace,  
So long as cursed Mordecai survives?  
Whose very breath infects, whose life deprives  
My life of bliss, and visage sternly strikes  
Worse venom to mine eyes, than Basilisks.   

When Haman then had lanced his ripened grief  
In bloody terms, they thus applied relief:   

Erect a Gibbet, fifty Cubits high, 
The answer of Hamans' wife and friends.   
Then urge the King (what will the King deny  
When Haman sues?) that slavish Mordecai  
Be hanged thereon; his blood will soon allay  
The heat of thine; His cursed death shall fame  
The highness of thy power, and his shame;  
So when thy suit shall find a fair event,  
Go banquet with the King, and live content.   

The Counsel pleased: The Gibbet fairly stands,  
Soon done, as said: Revenge finds nimble hands. 
Expl. Hist.      

Meditatio duodecima.  

SOme Eu'ls I must approve, All Goods, I dare not,  
Some are and seem not good; some seem, and are not:  
In choosing Goods, my heart shall make the choice,  
My flattering eye shall have no casting voice;  
No outward sense may choose an inward bliss,  
For seeming Happiness least happy is:  
The eye (the chiefest Cink-port of the heart)  
Keeps open doors, and plays the Panders part  
To painted pleasures, luring the Affections,  
And masks foul faces under false complexions;  
It hath no power to judge, nor can it see  
Things as they are, but as they seem to be.   

There's but one happiness, one perfect bliss;  
But how obtained, or where, or what it is,  
The world of nature ne'er could apprehend,  
Grounding their labours on no other end  
Then supposition, dinersly affecting  
Some one thing, some another, still projecting  
Prodigious fancies, till their learned Schools  
Lent so much knowledge, as to make them fools:  
One builds his bliss upon the blaze of Glory,  
Can perfect happiness be transitory?  
In strength, another sums Felicity:  
What horse is not more happy far than he?  
Some pile their happiness on heaps of wealth,  
Which (sick) they'd loathe, if gold could purchase health;   


Be done to him the King shall most affect;  
In Robes Imperial be his body dressed,  
And bravely mounted on that very Beast  
The King bestrides; then be the Crown of State  
Placed on his lofty brows; let Princes wait  
Upon his Stirrup, and in triumph lead  
This Imp of Honour, in Assuerus stead;  
And to express the glory of his name,  
Like Heralds, let the Princes thus proclaim,  
This peerless honour, and these Princely rites  
Be done to him, in whom the King delights.  
Said then the King, (O sudden change of fate! 
The King's reply.   
Within the Portall of our Palace Gate  
There sits a jew, whose name is Mordecai,  
Be he the man; Let no perverse delay  
Protract; But what thy lavish tongue hath said,  
Do thou to him: So Haman, sore dismayed:  
His tongue (tied to his Roof) made no reply,  
But (neither daring answer, nor deny)  
Perforce obeyed, and so his Page became,  
Whose life he sought to have bereaved with shame:  
The Rites observed, Mordecai returned  
Unto the Gate, Haman went home and mourned,  
(His visage muffled in a mournful vale)  
And told his wife this melancholy Tale;  
Whereat amazed and startled at the news,  
Despairing, thus she spoke; If from the jews 
Hamans' wife speaks to him.   
This Mordecai derive his happy line,  
His be the Palm of victory, not thine;  
The highest heavens have still conspired to bless  
That faithful seed, and with affair success,  
Have crowned their just designs: If Mordecai  
Descend from thence, thy hopes shall soon decay,  
And melt like wax before the midday Sun.  
So said, her broken speech not fully done,  
Haman was hasted to Queen ester's Feast;  
To mirth and joy, an indisposed Guest. 
Expl. Hist.      

Meditatio decimatertia.  


THere's nothing under heaven more glorifies  
The name of Kings, or in a subjects eyes  
Wins more observance, or true loyalty,  
Than sacred justice, shared equally:  
No greater glory can belong to Might,  
Than to defend the feeble in their right;  
To help the helpless, and their wrongs redress,  
To curb the haughty-hearted, and suppress  
The proud; requiting every special Deed 
Solon. Praemio & poena conseruatur resp.   
With punishment, or honourable meed:  
Herein Kings aptly may deserve the name  
Of Gods, enshrined in an earthly frame;  
Nor can they any way approach more nigh  
The full perfection of a Deity,  
Then by true justice imitating heaven  
In nothing more, than in the poising even  
Their righteous balance: justice is not blind,  
As Poets fain, but with a sight refined  
Her Lyncian eyes are cleared, and shine as bright  
As do their errors, that deny her sight;  
The soul of justice resteth in her eye;  
Her Contemplation is to descry  
Thy hand maid hath found favour; let my Lord  
Grant me my life (my life so much abhorred,  
To do him service) and my people's life,  
Which now lie open to a Tyrant's knife:  
Our lives are sold, 'tis I, 'tis guiltless I,  
Thy loyal Spouse, thy Queen and hers must dye;  
The spotless blood of me, thy faithful Bride,  
Must sivage the swelling of a Tyrant's pride:  
Had we been sold for drudges, to attend  
The busy Spindle, or for slaves, to spend  
Our weary hours to deserve our bread,  
So as the gain stood but my Lord in stead,  
I had been silent, and ne'er spent my breath:  
But neither he that seeks it, nor my Death,  
Can to himself the least advantage bring,  
(Except Revenge) nor to my Lord the King.   

Like to a Lion roused from his rest,  
Raged then the King, and thus his rage expressed:   

Who is the man, that dares attempt this thing? 
The King's answer.   
Where is the Traitor? What? Am I a King?  
May not our subjects serve, but must our Queen  
Be made the subject of a villain's spleen?  
Is not Queen Ester bosomed in our heart?  
What Traitor then dares be so bold, part  
Our heart, and us? Who dares attempt this thing?  
Can Ester then be slain, and not the King?   

Replied the Queen, The man that hath done this, 
The Queen's reply.   
That cursed Haman, wicked Haman is:   

Like as a Felon shakes before the Bench,  
Whose troubled silence proves the Evidence,  
So Haman trembled, when Queen Ester spoke,  
Nor answer, nor excuse, his Gild could make.   

The King, no longer able to digest  
So foul a Treachery, forsook the Feast,  
Walked in the Garden, where consuming rage  
Boiled in his heart, with fire (unapt t'assuage.)  
So Haman pleading guilty to the fault,  
Besought his life of her, whose life he sought.  
When as the King had walked a little space,  
(So rage and choler often shift their place)  
In, he returned, where Haman fallen flat  
Was on the bed, whereon Queen Ester sat;  
Whereat the King new cause of rage debates,  
(Apt to suppose the worst, of whom he hates)  
New passion adds new fuel to his fire,  
And feigns a cause, to make it blaze the higher:  
Is't not enough for him to seek her death, 
The King's speech.   
(Said he) but with a Lechers tainted breath,  
Will he enforce my Queen before my face?  
And make his Brothel in our Royal Place?   

So said, they vailed Hamans' face, as he  
Unfit were to be seen, or yet to see:   

Said then an * Eunuch sadly standing by, 
Harbona's speech to the King.   
In Hamans' Garden, fifty Cubits high,  
There stands a Gibbet, built but yesterday,  
Made for thy loyal servant Mordecai,  
Whose faithful lips thy life from danger freed,  
And merit leads him to a fairer meed.   

Said then the King, It seemeth just and good, 
The King commands to hang Haman.   
To shed his blood, that thirsted after blood;  
Who plants the tree, deserves the fruit; 'tis fit  
That he that bought the purchase, handsel it:  
Hang Haman there; It is his proper good;  
So let the Horseleech burst himself with blood:  
They strait obeyed: Lo here the end of Pride:  
Now rests the King appeased, and satisfied. 
Explicit. hist.      

Meditatio decimaquarta.  

Cheer up, and carol forth your silver ditty,  
(Heavens winged Choristers) and fill your City  
(The new jerusalem) with jolly mirth:  
The Church hath peace in heaven, hath peace on earth;  
Spread forth your golden pinions, and cleave  
The flitting skies; dismount, and quite bereave  
Our stupid senses with your heavenly mirth,  
For lo, there's peace in heaven, there's peace on earth:  
Let Haleluiah fill your warbling tongues,  
And let the air, composed of Saintly songs,  
Breathe such Celestial Sonnets in our ears;  
That whosoever this heavenly music hears,  
May stand amazed, and (ravished at the mirth)  
Chant forth, There's peace in heaven, there's peace on earth;  
Let Mountains clap their joyful, joyful hands,  
And let the lesser Hills trace o'er the lands  
In equal measure; and resounding Woods,  
Bow down your heads, and kiss your neighbouring floods:  
Let peace and love exalt your key of mirth;  
For lo, there's peace in heaven, there's peace on earth:  
You holy temples of the highest King,  
Triumph with joy; Your sacred Anthems sing;  
Chaunt forth your Hymns, and heavenly Roundelays,  
And touch your Organs on their deeper keys:  
For Haman's dead that daunted all your mirth,  
And now there's peace in heaven, there's peace on earth:  
Proud Haman's dead, who (living) thee oppressed,  
Seeking to cut, and sear thy Lily breast;  
The ravening Fox, that did annoyance bring  
Unto thy Vineyard, 's taken in a Spring.  
¶ Seemed not thy Spouse unkind, to hear thee weep,  
And not redress thee? Seemed he not asleep?  
No, (Zion) no, he heard thy bitter prayer,  
But let thee weep: for weeping makes thee fair.  
The morning Sun reflects, and shines most bright,  
When Pilgrims grope in darkness all the night:  
The Church must conquer, e'er she gets the prize,  
But there's no conquest, where's no enemies:  
The Day is thine; In triumph make thy mirth,  
For now there's peace in heaven, there's peace on earth:  
What man's so dull, or in his brains undone,  
To say, (because he sees not) There's no Sun?  
Weak is the faith, upon a sudden grief,  
That says, (because not now) There's no relief:  
God's* bound to help, but loves to see men sue: 
By promise.   
Though dateless, yet the bond's not present due.  
¶ Like to the sorrows of our Childbed wines,  
Is the sad pilgrimage of humane lives:   

But when by throes God sends a joyful birth,  
Then find we Peace in heaven, and Peace on earth.    

Meditatio decimaquinta.  

TO breathe, 's a necessary gift of nature,  
Whereby she may discern a living Creature  
From plants, or stones: 'Tis but a mere degree  
From Vegitation; and this, hath she  
Like equally shared out to brutish beasts  
With man, who less observes her due behests  
(Sometimes) than they, and oft by accident,  
Do less improve the gift in the event:  
But man, whose organs are more fairly dressed,  
To entertain a far more noble Guest,  
Hath, through the excellence of his Creation,  
A Soul Divine; Divine by inspiration;  
Divine through likeness to that power Divine,  
That made and placed her in her mortal shrine;  
From hence we challenge life's prerogative;  
Beasts only breathe; 'Tis man alone doth live;  
The end of man's Creation, was Society,  
Mutual Communion, and friendly Piety:  
The man that lives unto himself alone,  
Subsists and breathes, but lives not; Never one  
Deserved the moiety of himself, for he  
That's borne, may challenge but one part of three;  
Triparted thus; his Country claims the best;  
The next, his Parents; and Himself, the least.  
He husbands best his life, that freely gives  
It for the public good; He rightly lives;  
That nobly dies: 'tis greatest mastery,  
Not to be fond to live, nor fear to dye  
On just occasion; He that (in case) despises  
Life, earns it best, but he that over-prizes  
His dearest blood, when Honour bids him dye,  
Steals but a life, and lives by Robbery.  
¶ O sweet Redeemer of the world, whose death  
Deserved a world of lives! Had Thy dear breath  
Been dear to Thee; Oh hadst Thou but denied  
Thy precious Blood, the world for e'er had died:   

O spoil my life, when I desire to save it,  
By keeping it from Thee, that freely gave it.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

Letters are sent by Mordecai,  
That all the jews, upon the day  
Appointed for their death, withstand  
The fury of their foe-men's hand.   
Sect. 16.  

FOrthwith the Scribes were summoned to appear: 
Chap. 8. 9   
To every Province, and to every Shire  
Letters they wrote (as Mordecai directed)  
To all the jews, (the jews so much dejected)  
To all Lieutenants, Captains of the Band,  
To all the States and Princes of the Land,  
According to the phrase, and diverse fashion  
Of Dialect, and speech of every Nation;  
All which was styled in the name of King,  
And canonised with his Royal Ring:  
Lo here the tenor of the King's Commission;   

Whereas of late, (through Hamans' foul sedition,) 
The King's commission.   
Decrees were sent, and spread throughout the Land,  
To spoil the jews, and with impartial hand,  
(Upon a day prefixed) to kill, and slay; 
* The 13. day of the twelfth month.   
We likewise grant upon that very day,  
Full power to the jews, to make defence,  
And quit their lives, and for a Recompense,  
To take the spoils of those they shall suppress,  
Showing like mercy to the merciless.  
On posts, as swift as Time, was this Decree  
Commanded forth; As fast as Day they flee,  
Spurred on, and hastened with the King's Command,  
Which strait was noised, & published through the Land,  
As warning to the jews, to make provision  
To entertain so great an opposition.   

So Mordecai (disburdened of his grief,  
Which now found hopeful tokens of relief)  
Departs the presence of the King, addressed  
In Royal Robes, and on his lofty Crest  
He bore a Crown of gold, his body spread  
With Lawn, and Purple deeply coloured:  
Filled are the jews with triumphs, and with noise 
The joy of the jews▪ Simile.   
(The common Heralds to proclaim true joys:)  
Like as a prisoner muffled at the tree,  
Whose life's removed from death scarce one degree,  
His last prayer said, and hearts confession made,  
(His eyes possessing deaths eternal shade)  
At last (unlooked for) comes a slow Reprieve,  
And makes him (even as dead) once more alive:  
Amazed, he rends death's Muffler from his eyes,  
And (overjoyed) knows not he lives, or dies;  
So joyed the jews, whose lives, this new Decree  
Had quit from death and danger, and set free  
Their gasping souls, and (like a blazing light)  
Dispersed the darkness of th'approaching night;  
So joyed the jews: and with their solemn Feasts,  
They chased dull sorrow from their pensive breasts:  
Mean while, the people (startled at the news)  
Some grieved, some envied, some (for fear) turned jews. 
Expl. Hist.      

Meditatio decimasexta.  

AMong the Noble greeks, it was no shame  
To lose a Sword; It but deserved the name  
Of Wars disastrous fortune; but to yield  
The right and safe possession of the Shield,  
Was foul reproach, and manless cowardice,  
far worse than death to him that scorned to prise  
His life before his Honour; Honour's won  
Most in a just defence; Defence is gone,  
The Shield once lost: The wounded Theban cried,  
How fares my Shield? which safe, he smiled, & died▪  
True Honour bides at home, and takes delight  
In keeping, not in gaining of a Right;  
Scorns usurpation, nor seeks she blood,  
And thirsts to make her name not great, as good:  
God gives a Right to man; To man, defence  
To guard it given; But when a false pretence  
Shall ground her title on a greater Might,  
What doth he else but war with Heaven, and fight  
With Providence? God sets the Princely Crown  
On heads of Kings; Who then may take it down?  
No juster Quarrel, or more noble Fight,  
Than to maintain, where God hath given a Right;  
There's no despair of Conquest in that war,  
Where God's the Leader; Policy's no bar  
To his Designs; no Power can withstand  
His high exploits; within whose mighty Hand  
Are all the corners of the earth; the hills  
His fensive Bulwarks are, which, when he wills,  
His lesser breath can bandy up and down,  
And crush the world, and with a wink, can drown  
The spacious Universe in suds of Clay;  
Where Heaven is Leader, Heaven must win the Day:  
God reaps his honour hence; That combat's safe,  
Where he's a Combatant, and ventures half:  
Right's not impaired with weakness, but prevails 
Nil fortitudine indigemus, si omnes iusti simus, Plutarch.   
In spite of strength, when strength and power fails:  
Frail is the trust reposed on Troops of Horse;  
Truth in a handful, finds a greater force.   

¶ Lord, mail my heart with Faith, and be my Shield,  
And if a world confront me, I'll not yield.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

The bloody Massacre: The jews  
Prevail: their fatal Sword subdues  
A world of men, and in that fray,  
Hamans' ten cursed sons they slay.   
Sect. 17.  

NOw when as Time had ripened the Decree, 
Chap. 9 1.   
(Whose Winter fruit vnshaken from the tree  
Full ready was to fall) and brought that Day,  
Wherein pretended mischief was to play  
Her tragic Scene upon the jewish Stage,  
And spit the venom of her bloody rage,  
Upon the face of that dispersed Nation,  
And in a minute breathe their desolation;  
Upon that day (as patients in the fight)  
Their scattered force, the jews did reünite,  
And to a head their straggling strength reduced,  
And with their fatal hand (their hand disused  
To bathe in blood) they made so strong recoil,  
That with a purple stream, the thirsty soil  
O'rflowd: and on the pavement (drowned with blood)  
Where never was before, they raised a flood:  
There lies a headless body, here a limb 
The Massacre.   
Newly dis-jointed from the trunk of him     


Heaven fought for Isr'el, weakened Pharo's heart,  
Who had no Counter-god to take his part:  
What meant that cloudy Pillar, that by day 
Exod. 13. 21.   
Did usher Isr'el in an unknown way?  
What meant that fiery Pillar, that by night  
Appeared to Isr'el, and gave Isr'el light?  
'Twas not the secret force of Moses Rod, 
Exod. 14. 16.   
That charmed the Seas in twain; 'Twas Moses God  
That fought for Isr'el, and made Pharo fall;  
Well thrives the Fray where God's the General:  
'Tis neither strength, nor undermining sleight  
Prevails, where heaven's engaged in the fight.  
¶ Me list not ramble into antique days,  
To man this Theme, lest while Ulysses strays,  
His heart forget his home Penelope:  
Our jolly Britain finds sufficient Plea  
To prove her bliss, and heaven's protecting power,  
Which had she missed, her glory, in an hour  
Had fall'n to Cinders, and had passed away  
Like smoke before the wind; Which happy Day, 
5. Novemb.   
Let none but faithless Traitors ever fail  
To consecrate, and let this Age entail,  
Upon succeeding times Eternity,  
Heaven's highest love, in that Day's memory.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

The sons of Haman (that were slain)  
Are all hanged up: The jews obtain  
Freedom to fight the morrow after;  
They put three hundred more to slaughter.   
Sect. 18.  

WHen as the fame of that days bloody news 
Chap. 9 11.   
Came to the King, he said, Behold, the jews 
The King's speech to the Queen.   
Have won the Day, and in their just defence,  
Have made their wrong, a rightful recompense;  
Five hundred men in Susan have they slain,  
And that remainder of proud Hamans' strain,  
Their hands have rooted out; Queen Ester, say,  
What further suit (wherein Assuerus may  
Express the bounty of his Royal hand)  
Rests in thy bosom: What is thy demand?   

Said then the Queen: If in thy Princely sight 
The Queen's Answer.   
My boon be pleasing, or thou take delight  
To grant thy servant's suit, Let that Commisssion  
(Which gave the jews this happy day's permission  
To save their lives) to morrow stand in force,  
For their behalves that only make recourse  
To God, and thee, and let that cursed brood  
(The sons of Haman, that in guilty blood,  
Lie all ingoared, unfit to taint a Grave)  
Be hanged on Gibbets, and (like coheirs) have  
Like equal shares of that deserved shame,  
Their wretched father purchased in his name:   

The King was pleased, and the Decree was given  
From Susan, where 'twixt earth and heaven,  
(Most undeserving to be owned by either)  
These cursed ten (like twins) were borne together:   

When Titan (ready for his journal chase)  
Had roused his dewy locks, and Rosy face  
Enriched with morning beauty, up arose  
The jews in Susan, and their bloody blows  
So roughly dealt, that in that dismal day,  
A lease of hundreds fell, but on the prey 
300. in Susan slain by the jews.   
No hand was laid, so, sweet and jolly rest  
The jews enjoyed, and with a solemn Feast,  
(Like joyful Victors dispossessed of sorrow)  
They consecrated the ensuing morrow;  
And in the Provinces throughout the Land,  
Before their mighty, and victorious hand,  
Fell more than seventy thousand, but the prey 
75000. slain by the jews in the Provinces.   
They seized not, and in memory of that day,  
They solemnised their victorious Gests,  
With gifts, and triumphs, and with holy Feasts. 
Explicit hist.      

Meditatio decimaoctava.  

THe Doctrine of the School of Grace descents  
From Natures (more uncertain) rudiments,  
And are as much contrair, and opposite  
As Yea, and Nay, or black, and purest white:  
For nature teaches, first to understand,  
And then believe; but grace doth first command  
Man to believe, and then to comprehend;  
Faith is of things unknown, and must intend,  
And so are above conceit; What we conceive,  
We stand possessed of, and already have,  
But faith concerns such things, as yet we have not,  
Which eye sees not, ear hears not, heart conceives not;  
Hereon, as on her groundwork, our salvation  
Erects her pillars; From this firm foundation,  
Our souls mount up the new jerusalem,  
To take possession of her Diadem;  
God loves no sophistry; Who argues least  
In grace's School, concludes, and argues best;  
A woman's Logic passes here; For 'tis  
Good proof to say, 'Tis so, because it is:  
Had that old 
* Abraham▪ Gen. 22. 10.  Patr'arch coursed with flesh and blood,  
Bad had his faith been, though his reasons good;  
If God bid do, for man to question, Why?  
Is but an interrogative deny:  
The fleshly balances of our conceits,  
Have neither equal poysure; nor just weights,  
To weigh, without impeachment, God's design;  
There's no proportion 'twixt things Divine,  
And mortal: Lively faith may not depend,  
Either upon th'occasion, or the end.  
¶ The glorious Suns reflected beams suffice,  
To lend a lustre to the feeblest eyes,  
But if the Eye too covetous of the light,  
Boldly outface the Sun, (whose beams so bright  
And undispersed, are tootoo much refined  
For view) is it not justly strucken blind?  
I dare not task stout Samson for his death; 
judg. 16. 30.   
Nor wand'ring jonah, that bequeathed his breath  
To raging Seas, when God commanded so; 
jona. 1. 12. Ester 9 13.   
Nor thee (great Queen) whose lips did overflow  
With streams of blood; nor thee (O cruel kind) 
Ester 9 14.   
To slake the vengeance of a woman's mind,  
With flowing rivers of thy subject's blood;  
From bad beginnings, God creates a good,  
And happy end: What I cannot conceive,  
Lord, let my soul admire, and believe.   

THE ARGUMENT.  

The Feast of Purim consecrated:  
Th'occasion why 'twas celebrated;  
Letters wrote by Mordecai,  
To keep the memory of that Day.   
Sect. 19  

SO Mardocheus throughout all the Land 
Chap. 9 20. Mordecai sends letters to celebrate a Feast yearly.   
Dispersed his Letters, and with them, command  
To celebrate these two days memory  
With Feasts, and gifts, and yearly jollity,  
That after ages may record that day,  
And keep it from the rust of time, that they  
Which shall succeed, may ground their holy mirth  
Upon the joys, those happy days brought forth,  
Which changed their sadness, & black nights of sorrow,  
Into the brightness of a gladsome morrow;  
Whereto the jews (to whom these Letters came)  
Gave due observance, and did soon proclaim  
Their sacred Festivals, in memory  
Of that day's joy, and joyful victory:  
And since the Lots (that Haman did abuse, 
The original of the feasts of Purim.   
To know the dismal day, which to the jews  
Might fall most fatal, and, to his intent,  
Lest unprospitious) were in th'event  
Crossed with a higher Fate, than blinded Chance,  
To work his ruin, their deliverance:  
They therefore in remembrance of the Lot  
(Whose hoped-for sad event succeeded not)  
The solemn Feasts of * Purim did invest, 
Interp. Lo●●.   
And by the name of Purim called their Feast;  
Which to observe with sacred Compliment,  
And ceremonial rites, their souls indent,  
And firmly'inroll the happy memory  
Ith'hearts of their succeeding progeny,  
That time (the enemy of mortal things)  
May not, with hou'ring of his nimble wings.  
Beat down the dear memorial of that time,  
But keep it flowering in perpetual prime.   

Now, lest this shining day in times progress 
Ester, and Mordecai send letters to confirm the feasts of Purim.   
Perchance be clouded with forgetfulness,  
Or left the gaulled Persians should debate  
The bloody slaughter, and re ulcerate  
In aftertimes, their former misery,  
And blur the glory ' of this day's memory,     


THE ARGUMENT.  

Assuerus Acts upon Record:  
The just man's virtue, and reward.   
Sect. 20.  

ANd Assuerus stretched his heavy hand, 
Chap. 10. 1.   
And laid a Tribute, both on Sea, and Land;  
What else he did, what Trophies of his fame,  
He left for Time to glorify his Name,  
With what renown, and grace, he did appay  
The faithful heart of loyal Mordecai;  
Are they not kept in endless memory,  
Recorded in the Persian History?  
For Mordecai possessed the second seat 
The greatness and virtue of Mordecai.   
In all the Kingdom, and his name was great;  
Of God and man his virtues were approved,  
By God and man, both honoured, and beloved;  
Seeking his people's good, and sweet prosperity,  
And speaking joyful peace to his posterity. 
Expl. Hist.      

Meditatio ultima.  

THus thrives the man, Thus prosper his endeavours,  
That builds on faith, and in that faith persevers▪  
¶ It is no loss, to lose; no gain, to get,  
If he that loses all, shall win the Set:  
God helps the weakest, takes the losers chair,  
And setting on the King, doth soon repair  
His loss with vengeance; he's not always best  
That takes the highest place, nor he the least  
That sits beneath: for outward fortunes can  
Express (how great, but) not how good's the man:  
Whom God will raise, he humbles first a while;  
And where he raises, oft he means to foil.   

¶ It matters not (Lord) what my fortunes be,  
May they but lead, or whip me home to thee.    
FINIS.