John Trapp on Esther 9:29

Verſe 29. Then Eſther the Queen, &c.] See chap. 2.15. Mordecai had written thus before; now for more authority-ſake, and to ſhew her forwardneſſe to further ſo good a work, Eſther joyneth with him, not for a name, or out of an humour of fooliſh forth-put ting, but out of an holy zeal for God and a godly jealouſie over her people, leſt they ſhould hereafter ſlight or ſlack this ſervice. And indeed the Jewes Chronicle (called by them Sedar olam Rabbah) telleth us, that this letter of Eſther was not written,Anna ſequent con[illegible: 1 letter]igit quod icriptu[illegible: 1 letter] eſt. Eſth. 9.29. Sed. Ol. c. 29. till a yeare after Mordecai's firſt letter: when thoſe dayes of Purim haply began to be neglected and intermitted. She might therefore well ſay as Saint Peter did afterwards. This ſecond Epiſtle beloved I now write unto you, in both which I ſtir up your pure mindes by way of remembrance, 2 ep. 3.1. True grace in the beſt heart is like unto a dull ſea-coalefire: which if it be not ſometimes righted up, will of it ſelf go out, though there be fuel enough about it. This good Queen was no leſſe active in her generation, then before had been Miriam, Deborah, Bathſheba, &c. and after her were Serena the Empreſſe, Sophia Queen of Bohemia a Huſſite, Queen Katherine Parre the Doctoreſſe, (as her husband merrily called her ſomtimes) and that matchleſſe Queen Elizabeth, whoſe Sunny dayes are not to be paſſed over ſleightly (ſaith one) without one touch upon that ſtring, which ſo many yeares ſounded ſo ſweetly in our eares, without one ſigh breathed forth in her ſacred memory. Oh, what an happy time of life, had that famous light of our Church Mr. William Perkins, who was borne in the firſt yeare of her reign, and died in her laſt yeare.

And Mordecai the Jew] Theſe two joyned together to adde the more force to the Ordinance.

Wrote with all authority] Heb. with all ſtrength, viz. of ſpirit, and of ſpeech, of affection and expreſſion.

To confirme the ſecond letter] Leſt, for fear of the friends of ſuch as they had ſlain, the Jewes ſhould be ſlack in obſerving this feaſt of lots.