John Trapp on Esther 3:6

Verſe 6. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. And he thought ſcorne to lay hands on Mordecai alone] He thought it a ſmall matter, ſaith Joſephus, a thing below him, too little for his revenge, which like fire burneth all it can lay hold upon, eſpecially when as here it ariſeth from ambition, which like choler a duſt, if obſtructed and ſtopped in its courſe, is a dangerous paſſion▪ and endeth in burning fevers and madneſſe. Haman thought ſcorne, (contempſit in oculis ſuis, ſo the Hebrew) to foule his fingers with Mordecai alone, the whole Nation muſt periſh, and all the children of God that were ſcattered abroad, as he once ſaid, John 11.50, 52. Semblably, noſtri temporis Hamanus (ſaith Merlin upon this text,) the Haman of our time, (meaning the Duke of Guiſe, as I ſuppoſe) when as by the Kings favour he was promoted, and promiſed himſelf the Crown, there being but one family only that ſtood in his way, he deſired together with it to overturn all the Reformed Religion, and to root out all the remembrance of the Churches in France. Hence the Pariſian Maſſacre, (wherein Merlin had his part, being houſhold-Chaplaine to the Admiral, and by a miracle of Gods mercy eſcaping thoſe helliſh cut-throates.) The firſt occaſion of that bloody Maſſacre, I have ſomewhere read, was this. (Other things I know were pretended, as if the Proteſtants had, plotted and practiced againſt the King, Queen-mother, and the Princes of the blood,Camd. Eliz. and coine ſtamped with this Inſcription, Virtus in rebelles, &c.) The Pope ſent to the Cardinal of Lorraine, (brother to the Duke of Guiſe) a Table, wherein was painted our Lady with a little childe in her armes, by the moſt excellent Painter in Chriſtendome, and conſecrated with his own hands, and encloſed it in a caſe of ſilk, and a letter withal giving him high commendation and thanks for his zeal againſt the Huguenots. The meſſenger that carried the Preſent fell ſick by the way, and finding one going into France, entreated him to deliver the Preſent to the Cardinal. The Cardinall read the letter, and laid the Table on his bed, for he would not open it, till he might do it with greater ſolemnity. For this purpoſe he invited the Duke of Guiſe to dinner with many other great Perſonages. In the mean while, one that liked not the Cardinal, found meanes to change the Table, &c. At dinner the letter was read, and the Table taken out of the caſe in the ſight of the Cardinal, and all his gueſts, wherein was painted in place of our Lady and her childe, the Cardinal of Lorraine ſtark naked, the Queen-Mother, the young Queen of Scots, and the old Dutcheſſe of Guiſe naked alſo, hanging about the Cardinals neck, and their legges wrapped between his legges. I cannot ſay much for the man that did this prank: but that the Cardinal and his Complices ſhould thereupon deſign all the French Proteſtants to deſtruction, ſhould butcher thirty thouſand of them in a moneth, one hundred thouſand of them in one year, ſome ſay three hundred thouſand: that upon the newes of it the Pope ſhould proclaim a Jubilee for joy,Act. & Mon. and the Cardinal of Lorraine give the meſſenger a thouſand Crownes, &c. This was matchleſſe immanity, this was Haman-like hatred, this was cruelty beyond that of Simeon and Levi, which made good Jacob in a deep deteſtation of that dirity, cry out, O my ſoul, come not thou into their ſecret, &c. Gen. 49.6.

For they had ſhewed him the people of Mordecai] Viz. That he was a Jew. Joſephus his note upon this text is. Haman naturally hated the Jewes, as thoſe that had anciently deſtroyed the Amalekites his Countreymen. He might eaſily call to minde what Saul had done to them, and David, and laſtly the tribe of Simeon. God had ſentenced them long ſince to utter deſtruction; and yet deferred the firſt execution for about foure hundred yeares ſpace: and now again, after more then five hundred yeares, Haman the Agagite is thus exalted, but for a miſchief, as the Eagle carrieth the Tortoiſe on high in her talons, that ſhe may break it in the fall, and feed upon it.

Patientia laeſa fit furor.

Wherefore Haman ſought to deſtroy all the Jewes] Ʋt ſanguineam famem expleret, as a wolfe breaking into the folde kills all the flock: as fowlers take away the young and the dammes together putting both into the bag (which God forbade, Deut. 22.6.) as Eſau, that rough man, came with foure hundred cut-throats at his heels, to deſtroy the mother with the children, Gen. 32.11.Turk. hiſt. 369. as Ʋladus, Prince of Valachia, was wont, together with the offendor, to execute the whole family, yea, ſometimes the whole kindred as Selimus the great Turk in revenge of the loſs he received at the battel of Lepanto, reſolv'd to put to death all the Chriſtians in his dominions,Ibid. 885. in number infinite: As Philip of Spaine ſailed out of the Low-countreyes homewards, vowing to root out all the Lutherans there.Hiſt. of Counc. of Tr[illegible: 1 letter]us. 417. and proteſting that he had rather have no ſubjects then ſuch; As cruel Doctor Story a great Perſecutor in Queen Maries reign,Anno 1571. Camd. Eliz. and hang'd for a Traitour in Queen Elizabeths, whoſe death he had conſpired, curſing her daily in his Grace at board, and greatly repenting that he and others had laboured only about the young ſprigs and twigs (as he phraſed it) while they ſhould have ſtriken at the root,Act. & Mon. 1925. and clean rooted it out. Laſtly, as the Gun-powder Papiſts, who had prepared by Proclamations to father that horrid plot (if it had taken effect) upon the Puritanes, and under that name to have murthered all thoſe that had but look't toward Religion.

That were throughout the whole Kingdome] Herein he ſhewed himſelf a right Amalekite, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. De Tib. Theodor. Gadareus. Mali corvi malum [illegible: 2 letters]um, dirt kneaded with blood, as one ſaid of Tiberius, He preſumed he might have what he pleaſed of the King, and therefore made account to make but a Breakfaſt of his enemies the Jewes, to whom he ſaid in his heart, as once Caligula did to the Romane Conſuls, Rideo, quòd uno nutu meo jugulare vos omnes poſſim. I cannot but laugh to think, that I can nod you all to death.

Even the people of Mordecai,] Who were more renowned by him then Co was by Hippocrates, Thebes by Epaminondas, Stagira by Ariſtotle, Hyppo by Auguſtine. &c.