Queen Esthers Resolve

ORdered by the Commons Assembled in Parliament, That Colonel Moore do from this House, give Thanks to M ^r Heyricke for the great pains he took in the Sermon he Preached this Day, at the entreaty of this House at S ^t Margaret's Westminster, it being the day of public Humiliation; And to desire him to Print his Sermon: And it is Ordered that none shall presume to Print his Sermon without leave under his hand writing.

I do appoint LUKE FAWNE to Print this Sermon.

A Sermon Preached at a late Solemn Fast, before the Honorable House of COMMONS. May 27. 1646.

R Esolution is the life of Action, a thing well resolved is more then half done, Vita sine proposito languida. Of all the Resolutions that I have read of, I find none parallel with, nor comparable to this of Queen Esther. And this will appear if you will consider the Resolution it self, the acting or executing of this Resolution, the success and issue; The Resolution had the royal stamp of Virtue and Glory; the Execution, of Wisdom and Courage; the Success, of Wonder and Honor: The Resolution did breath an Heroic Virtue, the Execution a Religious Fortitude, the Success Honor and Glory.

1.The Resolution is commended from the beauty, the Majesty, of her that resolved, a Woman, a Queen.

2. From the preparation she makes unto it, wherein we have.

• 1.
  Her discreet deliberation with her self.
• 2.
  Her wise Consultation with others.
• 3.
  From the difficulties and dangers she was to encounter withal.
  • 1.
    She must go uncal'd to the King, there she exposed herself to the penalty, to the danger of the Law.
  • 2.
    She was to affront and confound the Minion of the Court, the Favorite of the King, she was to hazard the frowns the thunder of the Kings Creature.
  • 3.
    She must attempt to reverse a Law of the Medes and Persians, which were not to be changed, to be canceled.

In the first there was evident danger, in the second eminent difficulty, in the third apparent impossibility; but not the one, nor the other, nor the third; not the danger, not the difficulty, not the Impossibility, could weaken or shake her Resolution.

4. This Resolution receives commendation from the Motives that invites her, from the Object, the end that encourageth and strengthens her to it.

• 1.
  The preservation of her Country people, unjustly and wickedly doomed to ruin and destruction.
• 2.
  The continuation of her Jewish Religion, attempted to be corrupted, extirpated.
• 3.
  The Vindication of the glory of her God, which would be eclipsed, blasphemed.

The Execution of this Resolution is commended: First, from the means by which she accomplisheth it, they are all fair, direct, and Lawfull.

2 ^lie , From the circumstances which accompany it, they are Religious, Honest, and Seasonable; the means proclaims her Piety to God, the circumstances her policy to man.

The Success and issue answerable to both these; she is crowned with glory, her enterprize with honor, God graciously heard her prayer, the King smilingly received her Person, Mordecai her Uncle advanced, Haman the common Enemy hanged, the Jews her people rescued, the confederate combined conspirators executed, her Religion established, God's glory mightily exalted. This is the resolution of this Resolution, of which briefly by way of Explication, then of Observation, and Confirmation, and in the close by Application.

[ 1] The first thing that adds luster to this Resolution, was the Beauty, the Majesty, the Sex, the quality of her that resolved; Ester, a Woman, a Queen. Admirabilior in foemina quam in viro virtus. We use to admire, saith Quintilian, the same virtue more in women then in men, whence his sentence is, If we desire to beget in any the love and emulation of courage, the instance of Horatius and Torquatus would not prove of so great efficacy, as of that woman who with her own hand slew Pyrrhus: In persuading you to true Christian resolution, the instance of Cato, the example of Joab, cannot be so powerful as this of Queen Esther. It was a blindness to be pitied in Seneca, that he could not see a fairer Object for God, than Cato standing bolt upright in the midst of public ruin; were it lawful to speak in his swelling language, Ecce spectaculum, behold a spectacle truly worthy of God, not an Heathenish man desperately struggling with a private misfortune, but a virtuous woman more then manfully wrestling with public danger and destruction; Behold strength in weakness, virtue in infirmity, Resolution in inconstancy; strength, virtue, resolution in a woman, Graetior est virtus veniens e corpore pulchro.

[ 2] Nor doth her Sex cast a brighter beam on her resolution then her condition; Majesty makes high the commendation; Had Queen Esther been yet amongst the Virgins of the common rank, within the walls of her obscure family, a Captive, a Stranger, she had then lost much of the glory of this Sacred Resolution; when Poverty and Obscurity exposeth itself to a doubtful danger for a public safety, few observe them; many stars may be Ecclipsed and few take notice of it; miscarriage itself to a desperate condition is the cure of its misery, what is it for hunger-starved Lepers to adventure on the Enemy? If they kill us we shall but die, this is not resolution, but necessity; But for one without the verge of danger, to interest and hazard herself in another's rescue, is a Character of true fortitude, for one preferred to the height of Majesty, encompassed within the walls of strength and safety, encircled with Guards and Pensioners, for a Queen to expose herself in a voluntary compassion to the danger of a fall of death, this blazons an Heroic spirit and proclaims a Royal goodness, this commands amazement and admiration; the sun Eclipsed, all eyes are fixed upon it.

[ 2] Nor doth her Sex and quality, her beauty and Majesty more eternize her Resolution, then her wisdom in the manner of resolving; none are but what of necessity they cannot avoid, to commit their affairs to any contingency; Esther wisely considers the nature of the business, not only in the superficial and outward appearance, but she penetrates into the inside, she weighs and considers the accidents and consequences, she balanceth the beauty, the excellency, the glory of the enterprize, together with the trouble, difficulty, and danger. True Resolution is not an inconsiderate and rash temerity, not a senseless and brutish stupidity; this virtue cannot be without knowledge and apprehension; she seriously and soberly pondereth and weigheth all things, she ballanceth and poyzeth together the eminency, the worthiness of her undertaking, with her strength and ability; the weakness of her Sex, nor the Majesty of her Person doth not more commend her Resolution, then her wisdom in deliberating, her judgment and discretion in consulting about it, another circumstance that commends the Resolution.

In difficult and dangerous affairs, in business of great consequence and importance, the wisest, they of most understanding, are to use advice and council of others; two are better then one, In the multitude of Counselors there is safety: Non unius men's tantae molis est capax; Esther consults with her Uncle, a wise, religious and faithful friend, a grave and advised Counselor, she commends it to the whole City of Shusan, they approve it, they bless it, she doth not precipitately nor rashly, being wedded to her own judgment, conceive, resolve, and execute: but she debates the matter, she canvaseth it pro and con, she puts it to the Vote; thus being prepared and fortified, she will not be deter'd; it is not a Lyon in the way, nor a Legion of Devils, though she fore-sees she must encounter with both, yet she is armed, she knows the worst, she can but perish, and that standing in competition with her people's safety she regards it not, Go I will unto the King which is not according to the Law.

The Court of Kings ought to be as the Court of Heaven, equally near and distant to everyone; it argues more Tyranny than Majesty to have set and standing Guards to keep out Petitioners. Turks, and Persians, that make it their glory to fear all, may keep such Guards and Enact such Laws, because they are afraid of all; But Christian Princes who are to rule by Law and not by will, they are to have their Courts open to all, the poorest subject may have liberty to prefer his Petition, a privilege that Esther though a Queen could not have, but if she would go uncal'd to the King, she must run the hazard of the Law, for it was not according to the Law.

How far such Laws do bind I cannot determine; He is no transgressor, saith the Civil Law, that crosseth not the mind of the Law-giver, though he break the Letter of the Law; and a reasonable cause, as the Casuists and the Schoolmen agree, ever excuseth the breaking of a human Law; I heard it very lately from the Authority of the Honorable House of Commons, what Laws, Ordinances, or Orders soever, that are against the Law of God, are by the Laws of this Land null'd; The observation of Laws is very commendable; but when exigencies are so violent, when confusion hath turned all upside down, when the State is disturbed, when wicked men are combined, when all Order is perverted, then men are to look to the main chance, then to solicit the principal business, and so much the more zealously, as Esther did, by how much there is less possibility of compassing it the ordinary way. When necessity is so urgent that it makes the observing of the Laws impossible; Nature, Reason, Laws, Religion, all instruct us to betake ourselves to that which is most necessary; Prerogative, Privilege, Liberty, all must be laid aside: It was a reproach unto Cato, he would rather suffer the Common-wealth to run into all extremity, when he might have succor'd it, would he have a little transgres'd the Laws: and contrary wise Epaminondas is commended, that in case of necessity he continued his charge beyond his time, though the Law upon pain of life did prohibit it. The Parliament shall ever be famous, they have not only followed presidents but made them: Men may swerve from a second particular and municipal Obligation, denying obedience to the Laws and Customs of the Country, when they are against the first and more ancient, against Universal Nature and Reason: the Queen did not contemn the Law, but necessity made her pass it over; this way it might please God to bring forth a glorious deliverance, and to make her a blessed Agent in her people's rescue; if she should miscarry, she might loose some of her hopes, none of her virtues; the Laws deter her not, nor the greatness of her adversary; Go she will though Haman advanceth against her.

Satan when he cannot master the truth by meaner Agents, he interesseth great ones; Haman his name discovers his humor, he was a troubler, and at this time a troubler of Israel, by birth an Agagite, of that Nation which God cursed, and with whom the Jews were to have perpetual Hostility; this was one reason why Mordecai refused to bow, he would not stoop to so accursed an Enemy of God and his people; Haman was incorporated a Persian, whose Princes exacted more then Civil observance; this was a second reason. He was advanced the second in the Kingdom, where he plots and contrives by a desperate and bloody Stratagem, the utter ruin and destruction of the Jewish people: Kings are but men, their favorites often the worst of men, they lie open to the envy of the people, which like the Sun-beams, beats always most scorchingly upon rising grounds. What that Prerogative is I know not, that Kings cannot offend; Kings sin, and Kingdoms are ruined: Esther bows low to the King, but stands upright against Haman; she encounters his person, and is resolved either to stand by his fall, or to fall if he stands; this difficulty though a great one, yet not the only one, the last is worst, there is a seeming impossibility, she must reverse the Law, the last discouragement.

Non conveniat (saith Caesar) vel ullum verbum; disconsonant it is that one word should pass vainly out of a Princes mouth. But when laws are enacted, decreed and established, when signed and sealed with the Kings seal, and that according to the Laws of the Medes and Persians which alter not, what hope to reverse or change it? set aside Principles, Grounds, Articles of Religion, unquestionable truths and undeniable Aphorisms, the Moral and Eternal Law of God; Men are not to make, nor may any entertain the Laws with an Oath never to change them; none may vow a perpetual marriage to their own Mandates, there may be a cause for a Bill of divorce, room for retractations. What made these Persian Laws unalterable, but the Laws themselves? that power that makes, may change. This Esther knew, this might be, though there was little hope this should be, but she will venter it, it was for her people, her Religion, her God, which are the Motives that moved her, the last consideration that commends the Resolution.

[ 4] Had Esther been of the ordinary temper, as jolly and proud of her Majesty and beauty as her predecessor Vashti, how easy had it been for her to have overlooked the calamity of her people? she that before neglected her Husband her Sovereign, how would she have here under-valued her servants, her subjects? her wise Ladies would have persuaded her; yea, she would have said herself it had been an unnecessary anxiety, to have interrupted her mirth with the thought of their misery; a business beneath the State of a Queen to undertake the rescue of a few despised Countrymen, especially with the hazard of the forfeiture of her honor, the high displeasure of the King, the danger of the Law, the hazard of her life, the small hope of success. This certainly would have been her voice, if they perish they perish; but Religious Esther she more esteemeth of her people's safety then her own, her life is bound up in theirs, if they perish she could not live, she would have been more miserable had she surviv'd their Misery; who could desire to live when the Country is dead? all owe more to their Country then to themselves; this Esther knew which thus strengthened her resolution, together with the preservation of her Religion, a second consideration.

2. Religion is the very Nerves and sinews of the Common-wealth, the very heart and prime fountain of life and livelihood, the Crown, the glory of a Nation, the beauty, the strength, the perfection, the Spirit, the soul of a Kingdom; In Religion is Embarqued the public safety; when that is aimed at, the danger is dreadful, the loss beyond recovery; Eli's heart trembled whilst the Ark was in the field, in doubtful disputation; but when he heard the Ark was taken, he fell from his seat, whose heart was sooner broken then his neck; yet with that he died; Happy death that made him not out-live the loss of the Ark! none but Atheists that know no life but the present, but they make Religion the first thing. The Heathen is recorded to all ages, for the laying aside his Father, Wife, and Children, and taking the care of his Country gods; few make Religion their business, especially they that sit at the top of the wheel, clothed in soft raiment, dandled on the knee and lul'd in the bosom of sovereignty; there are that will sell Paradise for Paris, and will launce no farther forth, then they may return safe again; but Esther is of a more divine temper, she stands up for the defense of her Religion; In her Religion, she saw the glory of God had founded it, and it could not be ruined without a manifest hurt to the glory of that God which was dearer to her then her own life: the third and last encouragement.

[ 3] Nothing is more dear, yea so dear to a Religious soul, as the glory of God; the glory of its own soul is valued at a cheap rate in respect of this; God's glory is the supreme, the highest glory, the sun of glory; if that be darkened, though all the stars shine, it is still night, whereas if that shines in its glory, though no stars shine, yet it is day: Chrysostom professed he loved nor honored Rome so much for her Antiquity, her multitude of inhabitants, her sumptuous fair buildings, the great privileges and immunities of the Citizens, the beauty and glory of the City, as for that the Lord of Glory was held forth there in the preaching of Peter and Paul: Heaven itself is not so glorious, as a poor Country Village, where the King of glory is preached: Queen Esther rather then the glory of God should be obscured by a black cloud of his servants blood, rather then the miscarriage and downfall of Religion should open the mouth of blasphemy to spit reproach in the face of God's people, she will stake her own soul, lay her life at pawn to redeem the glory of God from such an injury, Finis dat amabilitatem, the end beautifies the enterprize; if any end can add glory to any, surely this doth multiply on the head of Ester, she is resolved, actum est, it is done already in her unbended resolution, she clothes herself with Virtue, and puts on courage with her Jewels; Thus accompanied with Divine beauty, and heavenly Valour, she sets forward to her already bleeding Nation; her Weapons are faith and prayer, her Armor courage and resolution, her Attendants beauty and virtue, her word Si pereo pereo, nor can danger, difficulty, or impossibility, Haman, Death, nor Devil turn her back again, Go I will.

Thus you have heard with what cautions, with what courage and wisdom Queen Esther, and by her Example, every good Christian ought to enter into a Resolution; here was an absolute integrity of all concurrencies, which made this resolution good, acceptable to God, comfortable to herself, profitable to her people; The person that made it fitly qualified, the end moving sufficiently warrantable, the circumstances honest and seasonable, the means direct and lawful: Here was no defect, iniquity and exorbitancy of any particular, but a general combination of all requisites: The Resolution was necessary and religious, which will the better appear, if we compare what Queen Esther did in Persia, with what the Scriptures testify the Saints and servants of God have done at other times, and ought to do at all times, which is my second thing, the Doctrine and the confirmation of it.

In the Cause of God, Religion, and our Countries, we are not to pass for perishing. Gratious and Religious spirits, neither are nor ought to be out-dared in the cause of God, Religion, and their Countries safety, by the fear and danger of perishing.

They that are on God's side as Moses proclaimed in the gate, they are to know neither father nor mother, but everyone to stay his brother, companion and neighbor; Christ teacheth us to hate father and mother and wife and children and Brethren and Sisters; yea, and our own lives also, when they stand in competition with God; Saint Paul saith, 1 Cor. 16.22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha; he speaks not of the Jews and Heathens, but of Christians; the Apostle blesseth those and prays for them that love Jesus Christ in sincerity, Ephes, 6.24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; as the blessing is so is the curse, Anathema Maranatha to them that love not the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity: None can love Jesus Christ in sincerity, that love their lives before and above Christ. Saint Jerome protested he would trample upon Father and Mother, if they hindered his way to Christ; Cursed be he, said that noble Marquess, that counts the whole world to one hours enjoyment of Jesus Christ. Saint Paul could not by the prayers and tears of his friends be kept back from going to Jerusalem (though the Spirit witnessed, Bonds and afflictions did attend him there) why do ye break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the Name of the Lord Jesus; All their tears and entreaties could no more prevail with him, then Dido's did with Aeneas, when Jupiter commanded his departure; For my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh, I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ: Moses full of zeal and compassion, when wrath was going forth against Israel, when the destroying Angel was waving his sword over them, his sword furbished and garnished to make a sore slaughter, He bows his knee to the father of Jesus Christ, he crieth out; O this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold; yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin: and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy Book, which thou hast written. He speaks after the manner of men, in whom compassion and passion stops passage to further speech; an abrupt kind of speaking, an imperfect sentence, wherein much more is implied then was expressed: Luther would to Wormes, though there were as many devils as tiles; and Antonius Marinarius said, standing up in the Council of Trent, Though heaven fall and the whole world run headlong, yet I will look up to the goodness of God, and though an Angel from heaven should persuade me the contrary, yet I would say Anathema to him. A French Cavalier protested for the recovery of Calais he would be content to lie two years in hell. A reverend Bishop lying at the point of death, spake zealously and soberly Me moriente let me die so the Church may flourish. Sejan with the hazard of his own life did bear off the burden that would have crushed Tiberius to death, and our Santleger received the Arrow into his own breast, that would have pierced the King to the heart. Those Worthies did worthily, that presented the first Petition at York; and this Parliament shall live forever, for the first Remonstrance and Protestation. This is a duty that we all owe to God, to our Religion and Country, which all that are eminently godly, truly religious and zealous Patriots, have ever preferred before their particular estates, honors, and Lives. I shall but commend one Precept to you, with an example to illustrate and back it, you have them both in one verse of the same chapter, 1 John 3. v. 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he hath laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, the example is the highest that can be given, and the Precept in every word emphatical; we ought in point of duty, it is not arbitrary nor voluntary, a necessity lies upon us, and woe unto us if we lay not down our lives for the brethren, to lay down freely and of our own accord, not by constraint and of necessity, but of choice and desire; Our lives the highest thing in our power, higher then our honors, our estates, our liberties, our privileges, our present comforts, for the brethren, the Saints, the servants of God.

The Reasons that strengthen this Doctrine are mighty convincing, and strong to invite if not to enforce the obedience to it.

This we ought to do in point of Equity, Honor, and Policy.

1. In point of equity, what can we stake in God's cause and our Countries, that we have not received from God and for God's purposes? The Lord hath made all things for himself, the Lord found nothing made to his hand; what is there in heaven and earth, that can stand out against God and say, I made myself; it was a blaspheming sin, no sin of ignorance, which King Pharaoh, belched forth, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go: The great Turk blasphemed God in heaven, when he cried out; O God hast thou not enough to do with thine own business in heaven, but thou interesteth and interposeth thyself with mine on earth; it was sordid & base flattery, Jupiter in coelis, God ruleth in heaven, Caesar on earth; the Tyrant set his mouth against heaven when he said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my Majesty? And as God made all himself, so he made all for himself; whē he made them, he made no overture of his interest & propriety: All that man hath, & all that man is, is from God, and therefore all that he hath and all that he is, must be for God, Of him and to him, there is S. Paul's Alpha and Omega; when God endowed man with the greatest trust, power, and prerogative; when he made him his Vice-Roy, his Vicegerent, his Lieutenant General, when he gave the foul of the Air, the beast of the field, the fish in the sea, the trees in the Garden to his command, yet then the Lord laid this restraint, but of the tree in the midst of the Garden thou shalt not eat; That tree could then baffle Adam, when all the creatures besides would bow unto him, and give homage and obedience, then that would stand upright and say, Adam touch me not, pass by, lay no hand on me, lest thou diest; what can we lay out for God, which we have not received from God, & for God's purposes? if we lay out much of our silver and gold for God, God therefore hath given us much because we should use much; Of thine own saith David we have given unto thee, when the Kings and Princes offered liberally towards the building of the Temple; If we have large parts, hearts and heads enlarged as the sand on the sea shore, so that we had as many choice notions as sands on the sea shore, God intended to make large use of them; Wisdom and Understanding calls God Father, life itself was bestowed on man by God, that it might be bestowed on God by man; The Lord Jesus Christ himself received a body, not that he needed a body, but that with that body he might serve the great design of God's Predestination, and so he understood and acknowledged it, A body hast thou prepared for me, I come to do thy will O God. The whole Church resolves according to this, My beloved is mine and I am his, He is mine in all he hath, he is mine in all he did, in all he suffered; he for my sake encountered with the malice of men, with the rage of devils, with the wrath of God, and therefore good reason I should be His, His in all I have, His in all I am, His in all I can do and suffer: O saith Spira, Were it with me as in times post, I would scorn the threats of the most cruel Tyrant with invincible Resolution, and glory in the outward profession of Christ, till I were choked in the flame and my body consumed to Ashes: Certainly they are to be begged as fools, and to be esteemed as mad, that rise against the Parliament that hath stood for them; we have received all from God, Judge ye, owe we not all to God? is not this equal?

[ 2] In point of Honor; They that honor me, them will I honor, God honors them that are of public Spirits, that will lay out themselves and what they have for God; the greatest title of honor among the Romans, was to be entitled patres patriae, they had divine honors and were enrol'd among the God's; the name of Quintus Curtius, of Attilius Regulus, of Papilius Decius the father and son, others are famous and renowned to this day; Constantine had the name great, and Theodosius had the name good, not from the greatness of their Empire, but from the goodness of their Religion. You have studied to set marks of honor upon them that have jeoparded their lives in the high places of the Earth. King Darius upon a time opening a great Pomegranate, and being asked of what he would wish to have as many as there were grains in that Pomegranate, he answered presently, So many Zopirusses; Zopirus was a Valiant and Noble Commander, who seeing the King his Master could hardly surprise Babylon, where the traiterous Assyrians were intrenched, put in execution this wonderful and strange Stratagem, he caused his servants to rent his whole body all over with scourging, to slit his nose, to cut his lips and ears, then flying covertly to Babylon he made the Assyrians believe Darius had used him so, because he had spoken in their behalf, councelling him to break up his siege and to remove his Army from assaulting them; they believing the story, seeing his Massacred and dis-figured body, they gave him the first command, by which means he delivered them and the City into Darius power. When the Lord Jesus heard of the faith of the Centurion, the Text says, He wondered, 'tis read, he honored it; this raiseth a man above himself, and showeth that he hath more then man, somewhat of God in him; as there cannot be a greater reproach, ignominy and obloquy upon the name of any, then of them that have betrayed their Country, their names shall rot forever, and their memorials shall perish, it is their curse, and let their heirs inherit it. The Jews to this day when they read this History of Esther, as often as mention is made of Haman, they stamp with their feet, frown, knock with their hands, shout and make an hydeous noise: the name of the gunpowder Traitors is abhorred, and is in execration to this day, and after ages will abominate their baseness and villainies, that have lifted up their hand against the Parliament; but the Esther's, the Mordicai's, the Religious Patriots, that have acted in the sphere, the brave soldiers whose lives were not dear unto them, the faithful Ministers, the Horsemen, the Chariots of Israel, they shall be had in everlasting remembrance, their names shall be perpetuated to all generations, and their memory shall live forever; Jael shall be blessed above women, and David for killing Goliath shall marry the Kings daughter, and his house shall be free in Israel; He is worthy, He loved our Nation and hath built us a Synagogue. Where ever (saith Christ) this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, for a memorial of her. Pilate is gibbited up in the Creed for condemning Christ, whilst Christ for dying for his people, Is exalted above all principalities and powers.

[ 3] In point of Policy, were there nothing but self, self security and safety, yet this would prompt us to it, Christ layeth it down as an irrefragable Axiom, Luke 17.33. He that loseth his life shall preserve it; No man can give a cup of cold water, but shall have his reward: Who saith God hath shut my door for naught? God is not nor cannot be a barren wilderness. He that hath pity on the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again: read what Mordecai told Esther when her fear at first prevailed with her, chap. 4. v. 13, 14. Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the Kings house more then all the Jews; for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed; and who knoweth whether thou be come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. A gracious spirit cannot enjoy itself, while the public is in danger; that History is worthy your observing though Apocryphal: A spark is safer in the fire then separate alone; how easy may it be quenched? join'd to the rest it preserves itself, and may burn them that seek to extinguish it: a drop taken from the rest instantly dries away, in the sea it lives whiles the sea lives: one soldier from the Army in continual danger, in the Army safe: certainly that policy is folly, that council foolishness, that leaves men to themselves to divide from the whole. He that bottles all the Tears, that numbereth all the hairs, that pondereth all the steps, that keepeth all the Bones, so that not a tear shall be lost, not a hair fall, not a foot dash against a stone, not a bone break: if God takes care of the tears, the hairs, the out-goings, the bones of his people, how much more for their Liberty, for their livelihood, for their blood, for their lives, for their bodies, for their souls? peruse the sacred book of God, search all the Annals, the Histories, the Records of the Bible, and find me one, one example, one man, one woman, that ever were of public spirits, that did but lay to heart the miseries of the Country, that did but weep and mourn for the Abominations and Desolations, and see if God did not ever preserve them, if he was not a Sanctuary, a City of Refuge, a hiding place, a Royal Pavilion to them; I could give twenty instances, how God hath preserved them, Enoch, Noah, Lot, Jeremy, Barach, Ebedmelech. God gives in express charge, Ezek. 9.4. Go through the midst of the City, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of them that sigh and that cry for all the Abominations that be done in the midst thereof: Certainly they that will not perish for their Country, shall perish without it or with it; whereas they that care nor to perish, so that their Country perish not, they may be saviors to themselves and to the Country; neither they nor the Country shall perish, witness the success and issue of this Resolution of Esther's perishing: and thus much for the Observation and Confirmation; I come in the third and last place to the Use and Application.

Learn, God sometimes brings his people into a perishing condition, he leaves them hopeless and helpless, as Orphans and Widows; the Jews they were at this time in a low and sad condition, the Decree was gone forth, the day was assigned, the Executioners ready; the Israel of God they have been as a valley of dead & dry bones, without skin, without flesh, without life; the Church of God as Isaac, bound hand and foot, the knife at the throat, the fire burning; as Jonah in the belly of the Whale, in hell, as Christ in the Grave. How desperate was the condition of the Jewish Estate, in the Reign of King Ahaz, they were so low, that they knew not by what possibly they could rise again, God said to him, Ask a sign of the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above; But Ahaz said I will not ask; and why would not he? He thought nothing in heaven, nor in earth could do him good. Israel was in Egypt as a burning Lamp in a smoking furnace, as Abraham in a deep sleep, full of horror and of great darkness; in Babylon as a Lyon dead, in Rome as men killed, whose bodies lie unburied; the Church sometimes passeth through the waters, through the Rivers, through the fire, through the flame. Christ the head of the Church (therefore much more the Church) was as a Plant or Root, in a dry ground, without form, without comeliness, without beauty; despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, one acquainted with griefs. Yea the Heroes, the worthies, they of the first Three, they are sometimes necessitated to pass through the Pikes, to break through an Host, an Army, to gain a little water. You yourselves the Worthies of the Kingdom, have you not several times received the sentence of death within yourselves? have you not been at your stands, at your loss, God will raise up Mountains of opposition that you may be nothing in yourselves, that you may be all in him.

[ 2] Let them perish that bring the people of God into the hazard of perishing. Haman the common enemy that plotted and contrived the utter ruin of the people of God, was himself hanged upon the same gallows that he prepared for Mordecai. —nec lex est justior — Nor did Haman die alone, as the head of the Malignant partee, but Haman's ten sons drank of the same cup; yea, they that would have acted in so hellish a design, the Jews put to the sword 76000 men; it is worthy of your observation, the Jews that stood up for their Liberties, for their Religion, yet the Text twice expressly Records, That they laid not their hands on the Prey. See what the Gibeonites asked of David, 2 Sam. 21.3, 4, 5, 6. What shall I do for you, and wherewith shall I make the Atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say that will I do for you: And they answered the King, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us, that we should be destroyed for remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us▪ and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose: And the King said, I will give them. I do not deny but the Law of God, doth itself allow composition for men's lives, men may in some cases redeem their lives with their Estates. Ishmael did not slay them that said, They had treasure in the field: But if there be any whom God hath marked out for destruction, they that give their lives to them, their lives may go for their lives, Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently. All are not involved in the same guilt, that are in the same Action; 200 joined themselves to Absalom in his treasonable practice, yet they went in the simplicity of their hearts: Yet there are a partee that are leaders to the blind, that Justice may not shut her eye against them; in Babylon there are some that have not the mark of the Beast upon them, they are to be invited, to be called out, to be received in▪ but they that have the name, the number, the mark of the beast, they must die without mercy, and like millstones be thrown into the midst of the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone: the commands of God are not only peremptory, Reward her even as she hath rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup that she hath filled fill to her double: but a blessedness is promised to them that execute this command: O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us, Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones: peruse that of the Lamentations and you shall see who they are that are to be destroyed, and how to be destroyed; Render unto them a recompense O Lord according unto the work of their hands, give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them, persecute and destroy them in anger, from under the Heavens of the Lord: [Give them sorrow of heart] there is their character, there is their mark by which they are set out for destruction, there is that black beane, that fatal robe which designs them for death; the margent of your Bible reads it, give them obstinacy of heart; an hard heart is a great evil; but an heart hardened, an obstinate heart, obstinacy of heart, such a heart that will not, that cannot be softened: one reads it give them a veil upon their heart, they upon whose heart there is a veil, that when God's hand is lifted up they will not see: give them a shield upon their heart, a shield not to defend them from the fiery darts of Satan, but as the Interlineary gloss reads it, ne penetrentur jaculo praedicationis. The sin against the holy Ghost is unpardonable, and could we distinctly know that sin, men should not pardon it more then God; blasphemy was to be punished by death, this sin the highest blasphemy; I believe there are many at this day that are guilty of this sin; to sin against mighty convincement (so Christ argueth against the Pharisees) is to sin this sin; they that fight against God as the Jews did that opposed Stephen, who were not able to resist the spirit by which he spake, yet they were cut to their heart, they gnashed on him with their teeth, they stopped their ears, they stoned him to death; if some are not guilty of this sin against the holy Ghost, yet there are many that are guilty of that sin which is unto death, of that sin which leads unto death, which shall never return again, that have stood out against the Word of God, the Providences of God, the mercies of God, that have grieved the Holy Spirit, resisted the Holy Ghost, quenched the Spirit and done despite unto the Spirit of grace: Christ would not spare the fig tree above three years; they that stand out this year, after the master of the Vineyard hath been at so great cost, and hath taken so great pains, after he hath done so great things, that heaven and earth are astonished, I fear not to say, they have sinned this sin which is to death, which God will not, which men should not pardon: but if your charity be yet above my faith, That you believe there are that have not sinned, neither the one nor the other, yet your sense cries loud unto you, they have shed innocent blood, precious blood, the blood of the sons of God, which God will not, nor you may not pardon; they have not only filed Jerusalem, shed the blood of many of your Citizens, but they have filed England, Scotland, Ireland, with blood; Recompence them according to their work, they whose sword hath made many childless, let your sword make their mothers childless, Recompence them according to their work, yea, give them double not only according to the work of their hands, but according to the mischief of their heart, which far exceeds the work of their hands, yea it is double unto it; and therefore God which sees their bloody minds, bids his people recompense them according to what they have done, double unto them according to what they would have done: It was a bloody speech of one, once your prisoner, now Governor of a strong hold, that yet stands out against you: If the King commanded him, he would not care but glory in it, to burn all the Cities of the Kingdom, to lay the Land as Sodom and Gomorrah, to sow this Garden of Eden with salt. O let not these sons of Zeruiah that have shed the blood of war in peace, and have put the blood of war upon their girdle, and in their shoes that were on their feet, let not their hoary head go down to the grave in peace, they have been the troublers of Israel; God and you trouble them; enter into your chamber and shut the doors upon you, and then revolve again and again all the sad stories of these men's cruelty, sum up whatever loss or damage the three Kingdoms have suffered by them; yea, exact not the principal but the utmost farthing of Use and Interest: Our Savior Christ tells the Pharisees, That they have filed the measure of their sins, and that they had brought upon them all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom they slew between the Temple and the Altar: these men are guilty of all the blood that hath been shed in this Kingdom, in the cause of Liberty, of Privilege, of Religion; God will lay all the blood to their charge, he will not loose one drop of the blood of his Saints. Abel's blood yet cries for vengeance: God when he comes to make Inquisition for blood, he will account for every drop of blood; he that pardons all other sins, will not pardon innocent blood. Tears shall not wipe away the guilt of blood, Reformation cannot hinder when God inquires for blood; God may defer his Visitation, yet come he will, and he will inquire whether there be any of the house of Babylon alive, to make restitution for blood. The same Spirit that actuated Cain to kill his brother Abel, actuated the Pharisees to kill the servants the sons of God: the same have actuated these men to kill the Saints. The devil was a Murderer from the beginning; the whole world lies in the wicked one, they all walk by the same bloody principles, they have the same enraged spirit, with the same hellish rage which reacheth up to heaven, by which they have shed any of the blood of the Saints, they would have shed all; if all the blood that were shed from Abel to this time, did run in the veins of any one child of God, they would open that vein, and let out that blood, and spill it as water upon the ground: Caligula's bloody wish is in all their hearts, O that all the Saints and servants of God had but one head, that with one blow I might strike it off.

Neither let your eyes spare, though there are great ones that are guilty; Queen Vashti too curiously wedded to the observation of the Persian Law which inhibits women to be seen of strangers, and too much doting upon her own beauty and Majesty, refuseth to come, though the King sends a first and second time, and therefore she shall never come more, the King and his Council Decree it, and give a Moral Reason for it; greatness and wickedness may not twin together, Princes have not any license to offend, Queens themselves have not an Obstante for sin: 'It is the misery of greatness, the offense is as great as the offender, the sin as sovereign as the Person; great Persons do not so much commit sin as teach it; their disobedience is ever Masculine, and it begets followers of it, as of their Persons; they are of a diffusive and spreading nature. The highest Court may reach the highest Persons; Causes and not Persons are to be heard in Your Parliament: I will conclude this with that of Ezra chap. 7. ver. 26. Whosoever will not do the Law of thy God, nor the law of the King, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods or to Imprisonment.

[ 3] Let not them Perish, that have adventured the perishing, that you & the Kingdom might not perish; Esther found favor in the eyes of the king & the king gave her Haman's house: It was the Piety of David that he inquired Whether there was any of the house of Saul, that he might show the kindness of God unto him: and it was a commendable custom in the Courts of Persia, to have the good Acts of the Subjects Chronicled; Mordecai was found in the History, and the King highly advanced him for it. Would you be pleased to peruse your own Records, you may find some places, that now like Mordecai lies sad and desolate in the gate, that did you admirable service, whereof you did rejoice and glory: pardon my zeal if I name the Town and Parish of Manchester unto you, a Town famous for Religion ever since the Reformation; believe it, it hath been a Goshen, a place of light, when most places of the Land have been places of darkness, it hath been an hiding-place, a place of refuge and sanctuary against the Tyranny of Prelacy, the storms and tempest of persecution; They were with the first that jeoparded themselves in the high places of the Earth, that ventured the perishing in the cause of God & the Kingdom; They offered themselves willingly amongst the people, and they laid out themselves in what they had for the public service; yea, I know there were that like the Widow threw in all their treasure into the public Treasury; God did great things by them and for them; I fear not to say they preserved the North; Manchester was the public Magazine, the Sanctuary to poor Exiles, the Prison to proud Enemies, the Bulwark to the County; but now she sits like a Widow desolate, the hand of God hath lately gone out against them, the only Town untouched by the Enemy, and the only town in all the County stroke of God: The Priests the Ministers of the Lord, that did bear the Ark of God upon their shoulders, there were sixteen of them in that Parish, and now I know but one, one alone as Elijah left to do the service of the Lord, and he is upon tiptoe, ready to take his flight, scarce having bread (through the wickedness of the times the great revenues of the Church being unjustly withheld from him) to put into his children's mouth: the Walls of the Garrison they molder away, and what the Enemy could never do, time hath made wide breaches in their Works, and there is not at this time that I know of, five soldiers to keep the Garrison; these things in a Petition, they have lately laid at your feet: Give me leave in theirs and others behalf to say, Let not so great labor of Love be forgotten, Let the blessing of them that are ready to perish be upon you, Comfort them, yea comfort them according to the time wherein they have been afflicted; yea, give them double for what they have done.

There are many Uses that I could make of this Doctrine, but time and strength would both fail me. I will conclude all with a short meditation; peruse 1 Kings 22.19, 20. And he said hear thou therefore the Word of the Lord, I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne, and all the Host of heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left: And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? and one said on this manner and another said on that. Be pleased to conceive a Parliament at this time convene'd in Heaven, and God on his Throne asking this Question, Shall I destroy England? And so some Answers after this manner and some after that.

[ 1] One stands up and says, England must be destroyed, Elijah a bold and daring man, he makes intercession to God against Israel, Lord they have killed thy Prophets, and digged down thine Altars, thou hast consumed with the Spirit of thy mouth, and hast consumed with the brightness of thy coming, the great Antichrist, the Grand Imposter, the man of sin, the son of Perdition, the wicked one; and behold there are many Antichrists, many wicked ones that are risen up in the room of him, there are little Foxes that spoil the Vines, those Vines that have tender Grapes, and they are not taken away.

[ 2] A Second seconds the former, and saith, England must be destroyed, there is a great cry of injustice, of oppression, of wrong, of injury, blood toucheth blood, Courts of Justice, Committees, are Courts of Robbery and spoil; the poor sheep flies to the bush for shelter and loseth his fleece: Papists, Malignants compound, and they oppress their poor Tenants, that have engaged themselves in the public for the Lord against their lords.

[ 3] A third assents to what the two former hath said, England must be destroyed, wrath is begun amongst them, they begin to imbrue their hands in each others blood, and because others cannot murder them, they will kill one another: Lord what fears, what suspicions, what jealousies, what sad divisions amongst thine own people! they that Affliction made friends, prosperity makes enemies; they whom one heaven will contain, one Church cannot.

[ 4] A fourth confirms and concludes with the three former, England must be destroyed, they have broke the Covenant, they have falsified the Oath of God; Oaths and Covenants are like Samson's cords, everyone makes use of them to their own Interests. To these agreed many more, there was a great cry heard in the house, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground: God looked from his throne and wondered there was not one found, not one to stand in the Gap, to make an Atonement, to speak in the behalf of England.

[ 1] After a short silence, one arose from his seat and said, Lord wilt thou destroy England, England for whom thou hast done so great things, amongst whom thou hast magnified thy Name, hast done Wonders, What Nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord their God is, in all things they have called upon him for? and what Nation is there so great, that have Statutes and judgments so righteous? Ask now of the days that are past which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon Earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing, as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the Voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard and live? or hath God assayed to go & take him a Nation from the midst of another Nation, by temptation, by signs, and by wonders, and by War, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out Arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? God never did more by Joshua, by Macchabeus, by Alexander, by the King of Sweden, then by the Parliaments Army this year; wilt thou destroy what thine hand hath done? what will the Atheists, the Papists, the Malignants say, Surely God was not able to save them? save them for thy great Names sake.

[ 2] A second ariseth and saith, England must not be destroyed, Lord wilt thou destroy a righteous Nation, if there be fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, ten, righteous there? shall not the Judge of all the Earth do that that is right? there are seven thousand at least that have not bowed their knees to Baal, there are sixty thousand and more, yea then sixty hundred thousand, that cannot discern betwixt the right hand and the left; thou never didst destroy a praying, a reforming people, wilt thou now do what was never in thy thoughts before?

[ 3] A third ariseth after the second and pleads the same cause, England must not be destroyed, there is a Parliament in the midst of them, Physicians of great value, God hath been amongst them and in the midst of them, and they are still acting for God and the Kingdoms safety, did ever Parliament perish before?

[ 4] After all these the fourth ariseth, that there might not appear fewer to speak for, then there was to speak against England, England must not be destroyed, they cannot die alone, the three Kingdoms must die with them, yea the Protestant Churches throughout the world; hast thou not said, That hell gates shall not prevail against thy people?

To these many more join'd in heart and Vote; there was a considerable partee of both sides, nor could it be determined whether had more voices, they that spake for the destruction, or they that spake for the salvation of England: and having said they were silent; And behold as we read in the Revelation there was in heaven great silence for half an hour, both sides waiting for God's determination; at last God in his glorious Majesty, raised himself from his Throne, and effectually cried out, How shall I give thee up England, how shall I give thee up? and so without Conclusion and final determination, dissolved the Session, to the admiration and astonishment of both parties.

Beloved, the truth is we are yet in an uncertain and doubtful condition, none knows what the sentence shall be at last, what God will do with us; God hath already done as much above our hopes as our deserts, God hath lengthened out our tranquility, he hath given us a breathing time, great Salvation he hath wrought for us, he hath given us. Liberty and opportunity to work our salvation with fear and trembling; believe it the Lord waits for something from us; O ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, ye Senators, ye Ministers, ye people, speak often in his ears, give the Lord no rest, ye Israel of God, ye mighty Princes of the Lord, ye men and women of Prayer, O all ye that are before the Lord this day, this Fasting day, open your mouths wide unto the Lord, ask great things of God, ye Noah's, ye Daniel's, ye Job's, ye Moses, ye Aaron's, ye Jeremiah's, ye Ba • u • hs, plead England's cause with God, and let not God go till he hath left the blessing behind him; O pray, pray, pray with strong cries and groans, pray away what ever it is, whether person or things, that keeps God from us; Esther, Mordecai, they of Shusan, they prayed Haman and all the Conspirators dead together; Haman and his wise Counselors, they for twelve Moneths together used Divination and Inchantment: Esther in three days praying, overthrew what they were contriving twelve Moneths; nothing can stand against Prayer, Prayer is omnipotent, it is a Commander of the Heavens, a Controuler of the Elements, it commands God himself; one prayerfull Christian may do more then ten thousand beside; let not then God go, lay hands upon him, pray the sentence on your side. You that are the Parliament of England, act strongly for God, act like yourselves according to the trust reposed in you. Did Publius Scipio a private man kill Tiberius Gracohus that did but lightly weaken the Commonwealth? and shall we that are Consuls, saith the Consul of Rome, let Cataline alone to work a common-destruction? let not Malignants rest quiet amongst you, there can be no safety to our Country, to our Religion whiles such misereants lurk in our dwelling; little know we what Gun-powder Plots are now in hatching, and how near they are to the Birth, whilst the Pope remains at Rome and the Devil in Hell, and their Agents in England, the sons of darkness will be still working in the vault of Darkness; to ruin the children of light; show not the least countenance to the detestable Neutrality that is practiced by many: God writes in his books, write you in yours, all Neuters Enemies, all that are not for you against you. The Hedgehog the Hierogliphick of the Newter, hath two holes the one towards the South, the other toward the North; when the South wind blows, she stops that hole that is toward the North; when the North wind blows, she stops that towards the South; such urchins are all Temporizers that halt betwixt two opinions: And as for Apostates that are falls to their Covenant and to your State, let not your eye pity them, let not your hand spare them, execute justice to the enemies of the Common-wealth, show mercy with favor to your friends. You my Beloved in the Ministry, be zealous for God; if God bids us prophecy, nullus consultandi locus, no choice is then best; that Roman Magnanimity must then take place necesse ut ease non ut vivas. Silvanus and Timothy peremptorily told the Emperor, Power thou hast O Emperor to punish us, but never to drive us from the Tenets of our forefathers: Eusebius refused to deliver Constantius the Emperor the Decree made by the Council against the Arians, though he threatened to cut off his hand, yet he refused it: Theodosius reports that the King of Scythia slew Anacharsis the Philosopher for worshiping the mother of the gods, after the Athenian manner; and the Evangelist records, that twice our Savior purged the Temple, he that was the mirror of Patience see how he looseth the Reines in an holy Indignation in Sacrilegious abuses, in Religious quarrels: The Multitude of the Offenders, the might and malice of the Observers, the danger of the Action, nor the peril of the consequence stays his hands, but he scourgeth out the buyers and sellers out of the Temple: Truly Phineas Zeal, Jehu's March, Josiah's Resolution, Luther's Heroicall Spirit are necessary for these times: It is all one to deny the faith and not to maintain it; silence strengtheneth Error, and they that through fear or negligence hold their peace like sleepy watchmen they betray the City when a truth in Religion is questioned, when error is preferred; he that to his power doth not resist, de suo damnabitur silentio shall be condemned for his silence. Courage, the Lord is with you: And ye people of the land come forth and help the Lord against the mighty. Curse ye Meroz (saith the Angel of the Lord) Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. These are not the words of an angry passionate Prophet, but of the Angel of the Lord, not rashly thundered out from the Pulpit, but zealously from Heaven, not with meekness and calmness of Spirit, but in bitterness and fervency of Spirit; Here is not a single Curse, but a double, a multiplied Curse, not against the professed open Enemies, but against the lukewarm, the feigned friends, not against the Cities of the Canaanites, but against Meroz a City now in the Confines of Israel: All Israel was against Achan, and all Israel must be for the public safety. If any man draw back, God's Soul shall have no pleasure in that man; they are no Israelites indeed that will sit still on this side Jordan, whilst their brethren are in the field. Be all active in your way: for encouragement I will only say this, you shall see your desire of your Enemy, your soul shall be filled with the goodness of the Lord; for the first see Isaiah 60.14. The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending Unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow down themselves at the soales of thy feet, and they shall call thee the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel: God will make the sons of Princes bow down unto you, the greatest that have afflicted you and despised you, shall lie at your feet. For the second, see the success of this Resolution, Esther 9.29, 30, 31, 32. Your Fasts shall be turned into Feasts, your days of mourning into days of rejoicing, your good ones shall be made great, the Esther's, the Mordicais shall be advanced; the Haman's the common Enemies shall be destroyed; Religion shall be established, the Peace and safety of the Country shall be secured, God's glory shall be exalted, and you yourselves highly Honoured; God shall have the glory, you the happiness, posterity the blessedness of this desired Work.