John Trapp on Esther 5:11

Verſe. 11. And Haman told them of the glory of his riches] Favourites (obſerving their molliſſima fandi tempora,) get many times much wealth under Princes: as did Sejanus under Tiberius, Seneca under Nero, that rich and wretched Cardinal Henry Beauford, Biſhop of Wincheſter, and Chancellour of England, in the reigne of Henry the ſixth, Cardinal Woolſey, under Henry the eight. That Haman had well-feathered his neſt, appears by his large offer to the King of ten thouſand talents of ſilver, &c. Now riches render a man glorious in the worlds eye; hence they go coupled together. Prov. 3.16. and 8.18. Hence that of Labans grumbling ſonnes, Gen. 31.1.Quicquid non acquiritur damnum eſt. Sen. Jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers, (nay, not all, but as avarice made Sejanus think all which he acquired not, to be loſt; ſo did theſe loſels) and of that which was of our fathers hath be gotten all this glory. But what were all this glory of his riches, if, for want of children, Haman ſhould leave it to thoſe, Quos vel neſcit, vel nolit, as Auſtin hath it,De C D. l. 5. c. 18. to ſtrangers or enemies? He tells them therefore

Of the multitude of his children] His ſonnes and his ſucceſſours like to be. I ſay, likely to be, not ſure to be, for Omnia ſunt hominum tenui pendentia filo. God gave Leda, Luctuoſam foecunditatem, as Hierom ſaith of her,Epíſt 7. a ſorrowful fruitfulneſſe, becauſe ſhe lived to bury her many children. There were two and twenty children, and childrens children of the Houſe of Portugal, betwixt Philip the ſecond of Spain, and that Crown; and yet he out-lived them all, as Hiſtories ſhew,Balthaſ Exuer. and his ſucceſſours held that Kingdome till within theſe ſew years. It is but a vain thing therefore for a man to boaſt of the multitude of children, ſith he may either loſe them,Utinam aut coeiebs vixiſſem, aut orbus per[illegible: 1 letter]iſſem. or live to wiſh as Auguſtus the Emperour did, Oh that I had either lived a Batchelour, or died childeleſſe!

And all the things wherein the King had promoted him] Wherein, but Wherefore, he ſheweth not. Dignity ſhould wait upon deſert; but many times we ſee it otherwiſe, and it was of old complained of, Pſal. 12. ult. He telleth what the King had done for him, but not a tittle what God. God was not in all his thoughts. He might juſtly have been twitted, as once that Pope was pithily, when he had engraven upon the gates of his new-built Colledge. Ʋtrecht (where he was borne) planted me; Lovain (where he was bred) watered me; but Ceſar (who had promoted him to the Popedome) gave increaſe: a merry Paſſenger under-wrote Hic Deus nihil fecit, here God did nothing. God had done much for him, but for a miſchief to him; as he once gave the Iſraelites quailes to choke them, and a King to vex them; as Saul gave Michal to David to be a mare to him; and as our Saviour gave Judas the bag, to diſcover the rottenneſſe of his heart. This Bernard calleth, Miſericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem. God gives outward bleſſings to wicked perſons to furniſh their enditement out of them: as Joſeph put a cup into his brethrens ſack, to pick a quarrel with them, and lay theft to their charge.

And how he had advanced him above the Princes] What an impudent Thraſo was this Haman? this odious bragging of his, Gregory referreth to that third kinde of pride,Lib. 25. Marol. ſuch as Gods ſoule abhorreth, and ſurely puniſheth; as he did in the Prince of Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Herod, whoſe hearts were liſted up with their eſtates, as a boat, that riſeth with the riſing of the water, whoſe bloods and goods roſe together.

Corde ſtat inflato, pauper honore duto.

But as the Peacock ſo delighteth to be ſeen, and to behold his own taile, that he diſcovereth his filthy parts behinde, ſo do vain glorious Bragadochio's. It is therefore very good counſel, that a grave Divine giveth to ſuch, as are advanced above others. Carry humble hearts, and adde grace and vertue to your places, elſe they ſhall prove but as an high gibbet to bring you to more diſgrace in this world, and torment in the next.Whatcleys Archetype. That of the Poet alſo is very ſavoury and ſoveraign.

Deſinat elat is quiſquam confidere rebus: Magna repentè ruunt,Claudian. ſumma cadunt ſubitò.