N00896:27
The excellency of a public spirit discoursedThe excellency of a publick spirit discoursed
The excellency of a public spirit discoursed: in a sermon, preached in the audience of the General Assembly of the province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, May 27. 1702. Being the day for election of counsellors in that province. / By Increase Mather. ; [Four lines of quotations]The excellency of a publick spirit discoursed: in a sermon, preached in the audience of the General Assembly of the province of the Masachusetts Bay in New England, May 27. 1702. Being the day for election of counsellors in that province. / By Increase Mather. ; [Four lines of quotations]
printed by B. Green for Nicholas Boone, 1702
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
THE Public Spirited Man.
THE Publick Spirited Man.
Esther X.3. — Seeking the Wealth […] his People, —
Esther X.3. — Seeking the Wealth 〈…〉 his People, —
Concerning the Penm•• of this portion of Scripture, there are Various Conjectures. It is generally thought that it was written •y Mordecai. Only Philo Judaeus tells us that Joa•him a Son of the high Priest wrote this book at the desire of Mordecai. It is not necessary for us to know who was the Author, as long as we know that whoever it were, he was divinely & so infallibly inspired in what he delivered unto us. The Church of the old Testament to whom were committed the Oracles of God, did with great care preserve them. And with them this book was not only esteemed as Sacred, but they had a more then ordinary veneration for it. It is (as indeed the greatest part of the Scripture is) Historical. We have therein an account of ⟨p. 2⟩as great a distress, and as wonderful a deliverance of the Church of God, as ever happened in any age of the World; which came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus one of the Kings of Persia: but which of those Kings is controverted: Ahasuerus is a Persian word, signifying one that has Majesty. The dignity of the person is signified thereby, but it is not a proper name to distinguish one man from another. As Pharaoh was a common name to all the Kings of Egypt, and Caesar to the Roman Emperors, so was Ahasuerus to the Kings of the Medes; and of such Persian Kings as were of the Median blood. But there are chiefly two persons concerned in the History of this Book, who were near Relations, both of them good, and at last great ones. One was Esther made a Queen of Persia, who was born for the welfare of her People. The Jews therefore call this Book Megillath Esther, the Volume of Esther, because she is the principal person spoken of in it. The other great and good person treated of therein is Mordecai the Jew. Of whom three particulars are noted in this verse. (1) His advancement, He was next unto the King. i. e. next in Power and Authority. He was under the King the chief Ruler. (2) Here is noted the Esteem which he had with them that were both his own and also the Lords people: He was great among them, i. e greatly esteemed and honoured by them. And accepted of the Multitude of his brethren. Commonly if