Lord cast out before the Children of Israel so that Idolatry Adultery and Unnatural Lust were productive of one another it being Just with God to give up those who did not like to retain him in their knowledge to work all manner of Unncleanness with Greediness It 's proper also to observe here that as the Wicked Princes and Rulers erected those Groves and high Places so the good ones whenever they attempted a Reformation remov'd and broke them down as in the Instances of Jereboam Asa Ahab c. The next Remarkable Instance is in Jezebel who was an Harlot Persecuter Idolater and bloody Woman those sins being so near a kin that they were many times found in one and the same subject we find that she was rather worse then Ahab her Husband who sold himself to do evil and was more wicked than any King of Israel had been before him but that which more particularly relates to our purpose is her Uncleanness and many Whoredoms wherewith she is so plainly Charged by Jehu The Judgment of God upon her for those Crimes is very observable she seem'd to have so little sense of approaching Vengeance tho' she had heard how Jehu cut off all Ahab's House that as he was coming to the Pallace she painted her self in an Obstinate and Whorish manner as if she were either resolv'd to outbrave the Judgments of God and to die with Obstinacy and Impenitence in that very sin which hastned wrath upon her or that she thought thereby to bewitch Jehu and convert his Rage into an Amorous Passion but behold the Event he Commands her to be thrown headlong out at the Window which being effected that Body which she had so much pampered and adorn'd had the burial of an Ass viz. To be eaten up by Dogs and thrown as dung upon the face of the Field as had been threatned by the Prophet a suitable Exit for such a Vile and Abominable Life which may serve as a dreadfull warning to our Painted Ladies Having thus run thro' all the principal old Testament Instances of Uncleanness and the Judgments inflicted upon those that were guilty by God from the Creation to the Captivity of Israel The next thing that offers it self to our observation is that passage in the 9th and 10th of Ezra where after the Restoration of the People One of the General sins which they lamented and reformed was their having taken strange Wives and liv'd a Loose and Licentious life according to the Abominations of the Canaanlies Hittites Perizzites Jebusites Ammonites Moabites Egyptians and Amorites whom the Lord had destroyed for those Crimes and we find that the very Priests were polluted with this Contagion so far had Lust got the ascendent over the Laws of God But when they had been harass'd with Judgments and brought to set about a Reformation then they willingly put away those strange Wives according to the Command of the Prophets on pain of Forfeiture and Excommunication We find also that when Nehemiah came to Rebuild Jerusalem and reform the Jews he insisted upon their putting away of their strange Wives and chas'd away one of the Priests because he was Son-in-Law to Sanballat the Horonite concerning which Josephus tells us the following Story viz. That the Person thus chased away by Nehemiah was Manasses Brother to the High Priest Jaddus who refusing to put away this strange Woman was driven out of the Priesthood and thereupon going to his Father in-Law Sanballat who was made Prince or Governour of Samaria by Darius the last King of the Persians he told him how he had been treated and thrust from the Priesthood by his Brother Jaddus or Jaiada whose Colleague he was upon the account of his marriage whereupon Sanballat encouraged him to retain his Wife promising that he would take care that he should not only enjoy the Priesthood but also the Principalâ—ty of the People and that he would obtain leave from King Darius to build a Temple upon Mount Gerizim which hangs over Samaria and was much higher than the rest of the Hills and resembled that of Mount Moriah upon which the Temple of Jerusalem stood which design took so well that all the Jews who had transgressed in the matter of strange Wives followed this Manasses and made him a strong party Darins in the mean time being overcome by Alexander who was then Besieging Tyre Sanballat went thither acknowledged Alexander for his Soveraign and obtained leave from him to build the said Temple wherein his Son-in-Law Manasses officiated as High-Priest and all such as transgressed the Law at Jerusalem fled to him for Protection so that it became an Asylum or Sanctuary for dissolute Persons This hightned the Enmity so much betwixt the Jews and Samaritans that the former could never be reconciled to the latter even after that Temple was demolish'd by Hircanus after 100 years standing and the Samaritans after the said demolition still held the Mountain on which it stood Sacred and hated those who went to Jerusalem to worship as appears by the Woman of Samaria's treatment of our Saviour Luke 9. 53. Where she told him that their Fathers worshipped in that Mountain c. The Observation which naturally results from this passage and makes it applicable to our purpose is that Lust or Unlawfull Love to strange Women does naturally turn away the heart from God and makes Men become easie Proselytes to Idolatry or a false Religion Having thus gone thro' all the material passages of the old Testament which have any reference to our Subject it may not be improper to close that part of our History with Solomon's Character of Lewd Women Whoremongers Whoredom c. of which he was the best able to give an account of any Man that ever liv'd not only because of the assistance of the Divine spirit which inspired his Pen but because of his own Experience In the second of the Proverbs he tells us That Wisdom will deliver us from the Strange Woman who flattereth with her words forsaketh her Husband the guide of her youth and forgetteth her Marriage Vows the Covenant of her God her House inclineth unto death and her Paths unto the dead that is lead both to Temporal and Eternal destruction none that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the Paths of Life That is few who haunt the Society of such Women do ever find Grace to repent of it or to betake themselves again to a chaste Life In his 5th Chapter he pursues her Character thus That her Lips drop as an Hony-Comb and her Mouth is smoother than oil but her end is bitter as Wormwood sharp as a two edged Sword her feet go down to death her Steps take hold on Hell her ways are moveable that thou canst not know them That is sometimes fawning and sometimes frowning as she thinks she can best work upon the humours of her Lovers and therefore he advises to remove far from her and not to come nigh her House
of and in one of them David run great risk of being kill'd had he not bee seasonably rescued by Abishai The last thing we meet with in this Box which any way relates to our purpose is Thâ— Interpreters think that the General Luxury and Dissolution of manners which reigned mongst the Israelites after so many Victoriâ— over their Enemies and that Peace and Pleâ—ty was Restored to them was the Cause â— God 's stirring up David to Number the people which occasioned a Plague amongst then that like a deluge sweept away 70,000 â— the people so usual is it for Generaâ— Prophanity to be followed by Generaâ— Judgments The first Book of Kings begins with an Account of a new Rebellion hatcht against David by his Son Adonijah Brother to Absalom which was another bitter effect of David's Unlawful Marriage with Maachah and likewise another Instance of the Accomplishment of Nathan's threatning that the Sword should not depart from his House so that he was disturb'd as one may say in his last Minutes with an Unnatural Rebellion by an Ungrateful Son whom he had so tenderly Indulged that he had not at any time displeased him Nay nor so much as reproved him This young man as he was Absalom's Brother did exactly tread in his steps resembled him both in Person and Manners and had the like fatal Exit which tho' he was pardoned for his Rebellion he drew upon himself by his Uncleanness in desiring to Wife Abishag the Shunamite who as Interpreters think was Married to his Father tho' he never knew her because of his Age upon which Account Solomon cut him off This is another Instance of the Tragical Effects of Unnatural Lust The next that falls under our Notics is Solomon himself of whom we have this Account in the 11th Chap. of 1 Kings that he loved many strange Women together with the Daughter of Pharaoh Women of the Moabites Ammonites Edomites Sidonians and Hittites of the Nations concerning which the Lord said unto the Children of Israel Ye shall not go in to them neither shall they come in to you for surely they will turn away your hearts after their Gods Solomon clave unto these in Love and he had 700 Wives Princesses and three hundred Concubines and his Wives turned away his heart after other Gods when he was old so that he went after Ashtaroth the Goddess of the Zidonians after Milcom the Abomination of the Ammonites and built an high-place for Chemosh the Abomination of Moah and for Moloch the Abomination of the Children of Ammon This is certainly one of the most surprizing Instances and greatest Evidences of the mischief that Raging Lust brings upon Men that is to be found either in Sacred or Profane History That Solomon the Wisest of men should be so far besotted with Lust or to use a softer Term Amorous Inclinations to as transgress that Royal Law which forbid Kings to Multiply Wives to themselves and that other Law which forbid the Children of Israel to marry with such and such Nations but yet more that he should be so excessive in Number which we find to be no less than 1000 whereof 700 were of Noble Extract or Princesses and 300 of lower degree and that which is still more surprizing that Solomon whom God call'd Jedidiah his beloved and made him a Type of Christ and to whom he had twice appeared in such a solemn manner should be so far overcome with the Inticements of those Outlandish and Strange Women as to worship their Gods and promote their Idolatry when he was betwixt 50 and 60 years of Age a time as one would think more proper for him to have been preparing for Death and Eternity and Establishing the true worship of God for which he was the first that had built a Temple than to be led away by such youthfull Lusts and to build high places for the abominable Idols of the Moabites Zidonians c. which Interpreters say were Immodest Statues of Priapus and Venus that were worshiped by the Incestuous off-spring of Lot by his own Daughters This is another Confirmation of what has been so often observed that there is no such powerfull attractive to Idolatry and false Religion as an Impure Life The next thing we are to take notice of is the punishment inflicted upon Solomon and his Posterity for their Crimes which we find to be that the Lord was Angry with him threatned to rend the Kingdom from him and to give it to his Servant and stir'd up Enemies against him both at home and abroad as Hadad the Edonâ—te Rezon the Son of Eliada and Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who was made King by the Children of Israel when the Ten Tribes Revolted from Rehoboam Solomon's Son as an accomplishment of this threatning It likewise deserves our Remark that this foul defection of Solomon occasions a great dispute amongst Interpreters whether ever he recovered or not because the Scripture is silent concerning it Gregory the Great Theodoret Prosper Aquitanus Beda Rabanus Peter Martyr and others think that he was damn'd for it and Jerome Ambrose Isidore Epiphanius Crissus and others think that God gave him Repentance and that he wrote the Ecclesiastes after his Recovery However this is plain that Solomon's Lustfulness occasioned his Idolatry and both together that Revolt of the Israelites from his Posterity which is not the only Instance that we shall meet with of Thrones being overturned by Uncleanness We shall also observe here once for all that those high Places and Groves which in the time of Jeroboam Rehoboam and other Kings the Israelites are accus'd of worshipping their Idols in were chosen as places fit for their purpose not only upon the Account on which the Heathens chose such places viz. Because they thought them nearer the Heavens and the Heavenly Gods as on the Contrary they worshiped in Dens and Caves to the Infernal Gods but because there they had a greater Conveniency of fullfilling their Brutish Lusts to which they were incited by the fulsome Statues of Venus and Priapus which they had in those places and to whom they thought that was agreeable worship and therefore it is that the Prophets do so often upbraid them with going a Whoring from the true God and being lain with under every Green-Tree and upon every High-Hill c. which was true in a Literal as well as Metaphorical and Spiritual Sense so inseparable are Idolatry and Impurity and here likewise we may observe once for all That in all those Captivities and publick Calamities which befell the People of God Uncleanness and Idolatry concurr'd as procuring Causes of which we have a clear Proof in the 14th of the 1st Book of Kings 23d and 24th Verses where after they are accused of building them high places Images and Groves under every Green-Tree and upon every high Hill it 's straightway subjoyned that there were also Sodomites in the Land and they did according to all the Abominations of the Nations which the
Vngodly Lusts to be mockers which is as Visible in our modern Beans and Gallants as ever it was in any there being none who do more mock and despise Religion then such and now 't is become Familiar to them to run down Revelation and the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures In the 14th of the Revelations and 4th The 144000 who are there said to be singing a new song in Heaven in the Company of the Lamb are describ'd to be such as had not defiled themselves with Women That is such as had not polluted themselves with Unlawfull Lusts but had possessed their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour as Christians are advised to do 1 Thess 4. 4. Not that they had abstain'd from Marriage for that is Honourable and such a state as tends to the preservation of Chastity but they had escaped the pollution which was in the World thro' Lust its true that the Sense of the place is not wholly restricted to a bodily Chastity but includes also a Spiritual Purity Freedom from Idolatry and Communication with false Religions but that it does also relate to bodily Chastistity is unanimously agreed upon by Interpreters It is also observable that the Holy Ghost to testify his hatred of Uncleanness hath represented Antichrist the Anti-christian Church and the Idolatry of that Society under the name of a Whore the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth those that are poyson'd with her Idolatrous Doctrine here presents as having committed Fornication with her and drunk of her Golden Cup full of Abominations and Filthiness of her Fornication Rev. 17. And indeed to any that have read the wicked Lives of many of the Popes and consider the impurity of their Monks and Nuns their contempt of Marriage their Unlawfull Divorces and Dispensations for Unlawfull Marriages It will appear that there 's great reason to call the Church of Rome a Whore in a Literal Sense In the 21st of the Revelations we are told that Whoremongers shall have their part in the Lake which Burneth with Fire and Brimstone and in the 23d we are told That Whoremongers are excluded from the new Jerusalem in Company of Murders Idolaters and Sorcerers So much for the History of Whoredom as far as it is touched in the Old and New Testament either as to the Instances thereof the Judgments inflicted upon the practioners of it the Laws concerning it and the punishments threatned against the Breakers of those Laws both in this World and that which is to come Having finished that part of our History for which the Scripture hath furnished us with materials We come in the next place to profane History for Instances relating to our Subject We have already made use of some Instances from Josephus and other Historians Obiter as they had a Relation to the Scripture passages that we were upon but come now to make use of them intirely for our Collections and think it fit to acquaint the Reader that we must look back again in order of time because 't was thought best to have the Scripture Instances altogether We have formerly made mention of Semiramis in the Account which we gave of the destruction of Babylon all that we have now to add is that Justin Lib. 1. gives this Account of her that after her Husband Ninus's Death she puts on Mans apparrell and feigned her self to be Ninus her own Son who was but a Youth and therefore she was affraid that he would not be able to manage the Scepter Semiramis being a Woman of low Stature and small Voice was easily mistaken for her Son and the better to conceal the fraud she covered her Arms and Legs put a Tiara or round Ornament resembling a Bonnet upon her head and the better to prevent suspicion of a disguise Ordered her Subjects to apparell themselves in that same manner under the Notion of a new fashion so that she pass'd for her Son without any doubt or hesitation and having under this disguise enlarged her Husband's Conquests as was formerly said she conceived that the Greatness of her Actions had put her beyond the reach of Envy and therefore discovered her self which was so far from lessening her that it mightily advanced her Reputation but giving her self up afterwards to Brutish Lusts as was formerly mentioned she became enamoured on her own Son who thereupon killed her and thus she tarnish'd all her former Glory and brought her self to an untimely death by her unnatural Lust after she Reign'd 42 years in Great Honour Her Son Ninus tho' he abhorred his Mothers Incestuous Amours yet being Heir to her Vices as well as her Throne as if he had really changed Sexes as well as Habit with his Mother he became Effeminate and Lustful and spending his time Ingloriously among Women was rarely seen of any men and so concluded his days with Ignominy leaving that unmanly pattern to his successors that they seldom were seen of any of their Subjects and thus the Assyrian Empire which continued near 1300 years was extinguished by the Effeminacy and Lusts of their Princes and People and came to a Conclusion in the Inglorious Reign of Sardanapalus who Reigned as some Authors think when Jonah was sent to Preach Repentance to Ninive but this cannot be relied upon the Learned do so much differ as to the point of Chronology However this is agreed upon by all hands that he was a Lustfull and Effeminate Prince and gave himself so much up to Voluptuousness that he would sit and Spin in a Woman's Habit amongst his Concubines And seeing it is commonly found by Experience that people imitate the bad example of their Princes there 's no great reason to doubt but that the Ninivites amongst whom he resided were tainted with his Vices and became dissolute so that they very well deserved those Judgments denounc'd against them by Jonah and Historians as Justin Pâ—taâ— and Scaliger acquaint us That the wiser part of his Subjects loathing to be Govern'd by such an unmanly Debauchee Rebell'd against him under the Conduct of Arsaces Governor of Media who coming to see him and being admitted to his presence with Great difficulty found him in Woman's Habit Spinning purple upon a Distaff amongst a Company of his Whores to whom he divided their several Tasks of Wool c. And perceiving him to be more Effeminate and Lascivious in his looks than any of the Women he conceiv'd great Indignation that so many Warlike Men should be Governed by a Person who disown'd his Sex and handled a Distaff instead of a Sword so that having acquainted his Companions with what he had seen they Conspired against him Besieged him in Ninive for two years and reduced him to such straits that in a desperate humor he retired into his Palace where having Erected a Funeral Pile and laid all his most precious Moveables upon it he burnt himself with his Wives Children and Pallace which was the only thing wherein he discovered a Manly temper Ordering the
acceptable to the Persians and in their place brought in as many young Men in Womens Habit with orders to punish the Ambassadors for their lasciviousness and accordingly when they begun to handle them as they had done the Women the young men kill'd every one of the Ambassadors with Swords which they had concealed under their Garments In that same Book we have an instance of an abominable Incestuous Intrigue of Eurydice Wife to another Amyntas King of Macedonia and Nephew to the former who falling in Love with her Son-in-Law upon promise of Marriage undertook to murder her Husband and advance her Gallant to the Throne but was prevented by her Daughter who discovered her Mother's Incest and bloody design yet Amyntas for the Love which he bare to the Children that he had by this wicked Woman spar'd her and the Unnatural Beast after his Death murdered her own Sons Alexander and Perdiccas by him tho' for their sakes he had spared her Life and all this mischief she committed that she might wallow without Interruption in her Impure Lusts In his 9th Book he gives us an account of the death of Philip of Macedon â—ather to Alexander the Great which was occasioned partly by his having Divorc'd Olympias on suspicion of Adultery or with an Adulterous design to marry Cleopatra and partly because he had not executed Judstice upon Attalus for having Committed Sodomy upon Pausanias who frequently complained of it but was always dismiss'd with scorn and therefore watching his Opportunity he stabb'd Philip on the day that he was married to Cleopatra as walking betwixt his own Sons afterwards Alexander the Great and Alexander his Son-in-Law Thus this Great Prince who had Conquer'd many Nations and Countries became a Conquest and Victim to his own Lusts and the Lusts of others and occasioned likewise the death of his Paramour Cleopatra Olympias having first murdered her Daughter and then forc'd Cleopatra to hang her self His 10th Book furnishes us with a very remarkable instance of Artaxerxes King of Persia who had 115 some say 160 Sons by Concubines and three only by Lawfull Marriage for which Incontinence he was punish'd in the following manner his Son Darius being by the Indulgence of Artaxerxes admitted to the Throne while he himself was alive contrary to the Custom of the Persians he ungratefully Conspired against his Father's Life and engaged 49 of his Brethren in the Conspiracy The occasion of this Unnatural Plot was yet more vile than the Plot it self which Justin relates thus Artaxerxes having defeated and killed his Brother Cyrus in the War betwixt them he married Aspasia Cyrus his Concubine and her Darius wou'd have his Father to resign to him as well as his Throne which the Indulgent Father promised to do at first but repenting of it afterwards he made her priestess to the Sun that he might have a fair pretence of denying her to Darius because according to the Persian superstition those of that Office must observe perpetual Chastity Darius taking this as a great affront entred into the Conspiracy as abovementioned which being discovered the Incestuous and Unnatural Traitor with all his Associates their Wives and Children was cut off that there might be no memorial left of such a horrid piece of Villainy Thus was Uncleanness justly punish'd both in Father and Children and this Instance is so much the more remarkable that it fell out but a few years before the overthrow of the Persian Monarchy by Alexander the Great which the Lasciviousness and Effeminacy of the Persians made easy to be effected Our next instance is Alexander the Great who tho' in the height of his Youth and Conquests he obtain'd so much Glory by abstaining from Darius his Beautiful Queen and Daughters who were his Captives yet giving himself afterwards up to Impure Pleasures he hath thereby rendred his Infamy as Immortal as his Fame It 's observed of him by his Historian Curtius that he was always more Famous in War than after Victory and that having broke the Power of the Persian Empire he degenerated into those very Manners or rather Vices which made the Persians such an easie Conquest to him That same Author in his 5th Book gives us an Account that Alexander having staid much longer at Babylon than he did at any other place the Corrupt Manners of the Citizens did more prejudice to the Discipline of his Army than any thing they had met with before that time and indeed the Description that Curtius gives us of the abominable Luxury and Impurity which reign'd in that City is sufficient to convince us that the Empire of which that was the Metropolis or at least the most Renowned and Greatest City was ripe for ruin The words of the Historian are as follow There was nothing more corrupt than the manners of that City and nothing more Accommodated to incite and provoke Voluptuousness and Lust The Parents and Husbands permitted their Wives and Daughters to lie with their Guests provided they gave them a Reward Banquets Revells and Plays were the Chief delights of the Kingâ— and Princes of Persia The Babylonians â—ere wholly giv'n up to Wine Drunkenness and the Consequences of it Their Women when they first came in to their Feasts and Banquets were apparelied modestly enough but in a little time after they threw off their upper Garments and in the last place with modesty be it spoken uncover'd their Nakedness nor was this only the practise of the Common prostitutes but of 〈◊〉 Matrons and married Women who esteem'd such promiscuous dalliance a Great piece of Complaisance and Good breeding with which Debauches says our Author that Army which Conquer'd Asia being glutted for 34 days they had doubtless been rendred very unfit for what they under took afterwards if they had not been Reinforc'd by fresh supplies of uncorrupted men from Macedonia c. Our Author gives us another Instance of the Idleness and Luxury of the Persian Women viz. That when Alexander the Great had received Purple and Macedonian Apparel made by his own Sisters in a Present from home be ordered the same to be Presented to Sysigambis the Mother of Darius with this Complement that if she lik'd them he would surnish her with those who shou'd teach her Grand Daughters to make such which presently drew Tears from the Persian Princess there being nothing reckon'd more dishonourable amongst the Persian Women than to Card and Spin which I take to be the meaning of our Author's words to touch Wool How much this differs from Solomon's Character of a good Houswife and whether the handling of Wool had not been more commendable than such Dissolute Revels as we just now mentioned let the World judge But to return to Alexander the Great After he had with great difficulty and danger past the straits of Susis and taken Persepolis the Royal Residence of the Kings of Persia the Lascivious Inhabitants became Executioners of Divine Justice upon themselves and their Impure City for putting on
with it did Courteously invite the Royal Youths to Supper at which time Sextus Taâ—quinius was seiz'd with a Lust full passion for Lucretia a Lady of extraordinary Beauty and Chastity but for that night they returned again to the Camp Some days after Sextus Tarquinius in order to accomplish his Lustfull design went privily from the Camp to Collatia attended only with one Companion where he was kindly â—ntertained by Collatinus's Family who knew nothing of his Villainous intent and Conducted to his Chamber after Supper but being enflamed with Lust when he thought every body was asleep he came with his Sword drawn to Lucretia's Bed-side and laying his left hand upon her Breast told her who he was and threatned her with present death if she spoke one word The poor Lady being surpriz'd and afrighted he began to mix intreaties with his threats and to express himself in such Terms as his passion suggested but finding that neither his soft expressions nor Barbarous threats could prevail with her he told her that he would stab a Slave lay him naked by her when she was dead and raise a report that they were killed in the very Act of Adultery by this means Tarquinius overcame her and having satisfied his Lust went to Rome Lucretia being thus dishonoured sent immediately for her Husband and Father desiring them to come to her speedily with each of them a trusty Friend for a Grievous Accident had befallen her and coming accordingly they found her very Pensive her Husband having askt her the Cause and whether she was not well She burst out into Tears and answered No how can a Woman be well that has lost her Chastity there are yet the signs of another Man Collatinus in thy Bed but my Body only is violated and my mind Guiltless of which my death shall be a Witness but give me your hands and promises that the Adulterer shall not escape unpunished Sextus Tarquinius is the Man who like an Enemy rather than a Guest came Armed to my Bed last night and thence forced pleasures which if you are Men will prove fatal to him as well as to me They endeavoured to comfort her telling her that where there was no consent there could be no fault Upon which she answered Do you consider what he deserves tho' I absolve my self from the Crime I will not be free from the punishment Nor shall any Unchaste Woman live to say Lucretia was her Example and with that she stabâ—d her self to the heart with a Knife which she had hid under her Garment upon which her Father and Husband set up a loud cry Whilst they were overwhelm'd with Grief Brutus who came along with them pulling the Knife out of her Wound said I swear by this Blood which was so Chaste before the King Stain'd it and I take the Gods to Witness it that I will cut off Sextus Tarquinius Superbus his wicked Wise and Children with Sword Fire or any other violent means I can nor will I suffer them or any other from this time forward to be King of Rome The afflicted Father and Husband joined with him in this Oath and carrying Lucretia's Body into the Market-Place stir'd up the people and marching in Arms to Rome did the like there and inveighing against the Lust and Violence of Sextus Tarquinius he also provoked the Army to join with him against the King who had the Gates of Rome shut against him was Proclaimed an Exile and he and his Children expell'd the Government and the Country The Adulterer Sextus Tarquinius was murdered by the Gabii The King's Family was Plundered and Kingly Government Abolished after it had continued 244 years And thus the Government was over-turned by the Lustfulness of a Prince who thereby brought ruin and disgrace upon his Family a fatal Exit upon himself and entail'd a War upon his Country who joind in the Oath with Brutus to suffer none of the Tarquins to Reign at Rome The next passage we find for our purpose is that in Livy Decad. 1. Lib. 3. concerning the Lustfull design of Appius Claudius one of the Decemvirs upon the Daughter of Virginius a Beautifull Virgin whom he endeavour'd to win with Money and fair Promises but finding her Chastity inviolable he suborn'd a Client of his to Challenge her for his slave and adjudg'd her to be such in order to have brought her into his own Lustfull Embraces All the intreaties and Arguments of her Father Virginius and her Lover Icilius join'd with the Complaints and Murmurs of the People could not influence Appius to abandon his Lustfull Design so that Virginius finding he had no Force to stand by him sufficient to grapple with the Decemvirs he snatcht a Knife from a Butcher's Stall and cried out thus Daughter seeing I can do it no other way do I vindicate thy Liberty and immediately stabb'd her after which looking back to the Tribunal he said to the Lustful Tyrant Appius with this Blood I destine thee to death The Decemvirs order'd him to be laid hold on but making way thro' the Crowd with his Sword he went straight to the Camp whither a great number of Citizens followed him while in the mean time her Lover Icilius and Numitorius took up Virginia's Corps bewailing the Injustice of Appius the unhappy Beauty of the young Woman and the necessity of her Father's doing what he did and the Matrous at the same time cried out was that the Consequence of bringing forth Children was that the reward of Chastity and other expostulations of the like nature Virginius being arrived in the Camp all over besprinkled with his Daughters blood and the fatal Instrument of her Death in his hand the whole Army was amazed especially seeing him followed by so many Roman Citizens in their Gowns and having commanded Silence they askt him what was the matter to which assoon as Grief would permit him he held up his hands and begg'd of his fellow Soldiers that they would not impute that to him which was Appius Claudius ' s Crime nor hate him as a murderer of his own Children that his Daughter was more dear to him than his Life if she could have lived to enjoy her Liberty and preserve her Chastity But when he saw her dragged like a Slave to be made a Whore on he thought it better for him to lose his Child by Death than Disgrace that he through his Mercy to her was fallen into a shew of Cruelty nor would he have survived his Daughter unless he had been in hopes by the help of his fellow Soldiers to revenge her Death They also he knew had Daughters and Wives nor was the Lust of Appius Claudius extinguished by his Daughters Death but that the more he escaped punishment the more extravagant he would be That by another Man's Calamity they were taught to provide against the like injury As for his part his Wife was Dead his Daughter because she could live no longer in Chastity died a miserable but an
that were ravished which the Senate resented so much that Pleminius and above thirty of his Associates were sent in Chains to Rome where Pleminius made his Exit in a Dungeon a just and suitable punishment for one that had been guilty of so many works of Darkness Our next Instance is that of Sophonisba Decad 3. Book 10 Chap. 15. She was daughter to Asdrubal the Famous Carthaginian General and Married to Syphax King of Numidia who being routed by Massinissa King of Massilia and an Allie of the Romans whom he had dispoiled of his Kingdom Massinissa was so enchanted with Love to Sophonisba that he married her within a few hours of his having taken her Captive such was his impetuous Lust and her accursed Inconstancy for when he came into the Pallace where she was her adress to him savoured more of a Courtesan than either of a Constant Wife or a Generous Queen so that she seem'd rather to Court him than avoid his Embraces for which Divine Justice soon found her out Her Husband Syphax being taken and carried before Scipio who asked him why he made War upon the Romans answered That his Palace was set on fire by Nuptial Torches when he married Sophonisba who never rested till she had armed his Hands against himself as well as his Guest and good Friend yet That amidst all his Miseries he had this Comfort still that he saw the same Pest and Fury was got into the House and Family of his greatest Enemy and that Massinissa was not more prudent or constant than Syphax This obliged Scipio to rebuke and expostulate with Massinissa privately thus Massinissa I believe that you saw some good things in me not only when you came first into Spain to contract Friendship with me but afterwards also when I came into Africa you committed both your self and all your Hopes to my protection But there is no Virtue for which I seem to be a fit Object of your Affections wherein I glory so much as in the government and mastery I have over my Lusts and this I would have you also Massinissa add to your other extraordinary Qualifications for there is not believe me so much Danger to be fear'd in our Age from armed Foes as from Pleasures that surrounds us on every side After a great deal more to this purpose he concluded thus Subdue your passion and have a care you do not deform many Virtues with one Vice c. Massinissa was so much struck with this Mercurial Speech that after a sharp Conflict with his Passion and impetuous Amour he sent a trusty Servant with a Cup of Poyson to Sophonisba and to tell her That Massinissa would willingly have perform'd his first Promise to her as an Husband ought to his Wife but since they that were able to do it had taken that Power out of his Hands he was resolved to make good his second Promise That she should not be whilst alive in the Hands of any Roman as being mindful of her Father who was a General her Country and the two Kings to whom she had been married and that she therefore should consult her own Good To which Sophonisba with a Constancy much more commendable than she was endow'd with when Massinissa accosted her with his Amours answer'd I accept this Nuptial Present nor is it unwelcome to me if my Husband could do no more for me yet tell him this from me That I should have dy'd much better if I had not been married at my Funeral And so drank it off without any more ado Thus was she punish'd for her Disloyalty to her Husband Syphax for it had been an easie matter for a Woman of such vast Courage as she appears to have been to have deliver'd her self by Death from Massinissa's Embraces as well before as after she had polluted her self with such an Unlawful Marriage The next thing suitable to our Subject which occurs to us in this Historian is the Controversie which happen'd among the Romans about abrogating the Oppian Law for restraining the Luxury of Women's Apparel Marcus Portius Cato was for continuing the Law and in his grave Oration on that Head had these remarkable Sayings concerning it viz. That if every one of the Romans had resolv'd to maintain the majesty and prerogative of an Husband over his own Wife we should not have had all this Trouble with the Women in general but now our Liberty being restrain'd at home by the Tyranny of our own Women 't is intrench'd and trampl'd upon here in the Forum Our Ancestors would not suffer Women to do any private Business without the Advice of a Man but to be at the disposal of their Parents Brethren or Husband but We forsooth now-adays let them manage even the Commonwealth it self You have often heard me complain not only of the Prodigality of Women but of Men too and those as well Magistrates as private Persons and that the City labours under two different Vices of Avarice and Luxury which have been the Bane of all great Empires But says a great Lady I cannot endure this levelling and equality why should not I appear all glittering with Gold and cloathed in Purple Why should the Poverty of others lie hid under the Vmbrage of this Law so as what they cannot have they if it were lawful should seem able to buy Will you Romans give your Wives occasion to contend in this manner that the Rich Women shall desire to have what no Woman else can purchase and the poorer sort lest for this very Reason they should be contemn'd to stretch beyond their Abilities She that can out of her own Stock will purchase the thing she lacks and she that cannot will ask her Husband and woe be to that man who either does or does not grant their Requests when he shall see that which he himself would not give her given her by another man And abundance more to this purpose which is the Opinion that the Wisest of the Romans had of Temperance and the Abhorrence they had of Luxury as being always the Forerunner of the Ruine of any State or People In the 8th Book cap. 24 Decade 11 he gives us an Account of a memorable Judgment upon a Roman Centurion for violating the Chastity of a petty Grecian Queen who was committed to his Custody among other Captives The Centurion being taken with her Beauty did first sound her Inclinations but finding her averse to Voluntary Adultery he offer'd Violence to her Body which Fortune had made a Slave after which he put her in Hopes of returning into her own Country but at the same time bargain'd with her for so much Gold and lest any of his own People should know it he permitted her to send one of the other Captives whom she pleas'd to bring the Money and two of her Friends to receive her at the side of a River whither he went the next Night with his Captive to meet them As soon as they had shew'd him the Gold
next day set forth a Decree declaring That he was married according to the Example of Romulus and Augustus Lollia Paulina being married to a Person of Consular Degree and General of the Army upon hearing that her Grandmother was one of the most beautiful Ladies of her Time he became so enamour'd of the Grandchild that he sent for her out of the Province where she was forc'd her from her Husband took her to himself and in a short time likewise turn'd her off forbidding her for ever after the knowledge of any other Man Cesonia tho' neither handsom nor young and the Mother of three Daughters by another Man he lov'd so passionately that he would often shew her to his Souldiers riding by his side with her Horseman's Coat embroider'd and frequently stark naked to his Familiars Being brought to want Money by those his extravagant Courses he invented new and unheard-of Imposts one was that he exacted from common Prostitutes the Gratuity for one Nights Familiarity and oblig'd married People also to pay a certain Rate for the use of the Marriage-bed He built also a Brothel-house in his own Palace with Apartments suited to the Dignity of the place for Ladies and Gentlemen to enjoy their clandestine Amours and to force a Trade he sent his Officers about to invite both young and old to bring their Mistresses to his Conveniencies of whom when they came he receiv'd his ignominious Toll which there were Persons ready to receive and set down the Names of every Man in a Book as Benefactors to Caesar's Revenue We come now to take notice of the Punishments which befel him It is natural to conceive that those Debauches impair'd his Health so that he never had any either in Body or Mind It was believ'd that his Wife Cesonia had drench'd him with a Philter or Love-potion which depriv'd him of his Senses and almost made him mad so that he never slept above three hours in a Night and then also was disturb'd with troublesome Dreams and Visions at last becoming hateful and intolerable by his Lusts and Cruelty he was cut off by Cassius Cheraea and Cornelius Sabinus Tribunes and other Conspirators as he was going to see the Pyrrhick Dances the one giving him a mortal Wound in the Neck with his Hanger and the other running him quite through the Body This vicious Monster had render'd the Name of the Caesars so odious that the Romans had a mind after his Death to have abolish'd their Memory and lay their Temples in Ashes The next Instance is Claudius Drusus Caesar whose Father Drusus being unlawfully begot the lustful Contagion was it seems by that same means convey'd to the Grandson who in his Youth kept company with none but loose debauch'd Fellows and follow'd their bad Example Livia Medullina died on the very day appointed for her being married to him His Wife Vrgulanilla he divorc'd for notorious Prostitution and every-body knows how unfaithful the infamous Messalina his Cousin-German was to him upon which he solemnly declar'd that he would for the future keep himself a Widower and that he would freely forgive them tho' they should kill him if not Yet soon after he fell in Treaty with Pelina whom he had put away before and then with Lollia Paulina at length he engag'd in an incestuous Amour with Agrippina Daughter to his Brother Germannicus and suborn'd certain persons to move that he might be constrain'd to marry Agrippina as being the only means conducible to perpetuate the Publick Tranquility and that there might be a Toleration also for others to contract Marriages in the same degree which till that time had always been accounted incestuous He was so impatient that he could not stay till the next day to prepare for his Wedding There was none however that follow'd his incestuous Example but a certain Libertine and a chief Centurion of a Legion to both which Weddings he invited himself and his Wife Agrippina for the encouragement of others His Uncleanness was punish'd amongst other things by the loss of his Son Drusus who having toss'd a Pear up into the Air and gaping to catch it again it fell so exactly into his Throat that it choaked him He was so much besotted he sign'd Writings for the settlement of a Dowry upon the Contract of Marriage between his Wife Messalina and her Adulterer Silius being made believe that 't was only a Contrivance found out to delude the Fates themselves and to transfer upon the Head of another Man those Disasters which the Predictions of the Soothsayers and several Prodigies had six'd upon his Person and at last he was poison'd by a Mushroom which Agrippina gave him The next Instance is Nero the Son of Domitius and the wicked Agrippina above mention'd whose future Mischievous Temper his Father predicted when the Nobility came to compliment him upon Nero's Birth viz. That there could nothing proceed from him and Agrippina but what was detestable and would prove pernicious to the Commonwealth Which every man who is acquainted with History knows to have been exactly fulfill'd Suetonius gives this following Account of him viz. That his Petulancy Lust Luxury Avarice and Cruelty he practis'd by degrees and at first conceal'd 'em under the Excuses of Indiscretion and Heat of Youth but yet he could not carry it so but that every-body saw they were rather the Vices of Nature than Age. So soon as it grew duskish away he flew in disguise to Tippling-houses Cooks-shops c. frolicking and scouring about the Streets beating such as were going home late from Supper some little Shops he would also break open and risle and afterwards sell the Spoils In those Quarrels he several times ran the hazard of his Life being once almost bruis'd to death by a Senator whose Wife he would have taken from him in the Street Besides a great number of Pages whom he made use of in his unlawful Pleasures and his Contaminations of married Women he deflower'd Rubria one of the Vestal Virgins and would very fain have married Acte a Slave suborning several Persons of Consular degree to swear that she was of Royal Extraction Sporus a young Boy after he had caus'd him to be gelt he endeavour'd to have altogether transform'd into a Woman and after he had veil'd him married him and settl'd a Dowry upon him with all the Ceremonies of a sumptuous Wedding he kept him at home as his Wife upon which the Wits of those times said It had been well for the World if Domitius his Father had had such a Wife This Sporus he carried about with him in a pompous and costly Habit as if he had been the Empress her-self under the Title of Augusta to all the trading Towns of Greece and soon after shew'd him openly at Rome in the Sigillarian Street and would frequently kiss him as they sate together in the same Litter He sent for a Harlot who was very like his Mother Agrippina and entertain'd her among the rest of his
thereof Some take Hemlock before they sit down because they must drink perforce then or else die and others the Powder of the Pumice-stone and such-like Stuff which I am asham'd to rehearse and teach those that be ignorant of such Lewdness and yet we see those that be the stoutest Drinkers lye sweating so long in the Baths and Brothel-houses to digest their Surfeit of Wine that ever now and then they are carried forth dead for their labour You shall have some again when they are in the Hot-house that won't stay so long as they may go to their Beds nay nor as they may put on their Shirts but immediately naked as they are and panting and puffing for Breath catch up great Tankards of Wine to shew what valiant Champions of Bacchus they are and pour them down one after another till they vomit twice or thrice what they have drank Then describing their Pots out of which they us'd to quaff They were engraven says he with fair portraitures of Adulteries as if Drunkenness it self were not sufficient to kindle the heat of Lust and to teach them Wantonness Then continues he when they come to be fuddled they cast their wanton Eyes upon Men's Wives then fall they to court fair Dames and Ladies and openly bewray their Folly even before their jealous and stern Husbands And thus many a Man by his lavish Tongue in his Wine hath come by his Death and had his Throat cut But if they escape these Dangers they never live to be old Men but dye in the strength of their Youth Hence cometh it that some of them look pale with flaggy Cheeks others have bleared and sore Eyes and there be of 'em that shake so with their Hands that they cannot hold a full Cup but pour it on the Floor They are generally disturb'd with fearful Dreams which is the very beginning of their Hell in this Life or else have restless Nights and finally if they chance to sleep for a due reward of their Drunkenness they are deluded with the imaginary Conceits of the Delights of Venus defiled with filthy abominable Pollutions and thus sleeping or waking they sin with pleasure Then he proceeds to particular Instances and names Nivellius Torquatus a Milanois who won the Victory from all the Italians in Drinking adding That he had gone thro' all the Degrees of Dignity at Rome had been Pretor and Proconsul and in all these Offices of State he won no great Name but for drinking in the presence of Tiberius three Gallons of Wine at one draught for which he was dubb'd Knight by the Surname of Tricongius or the Three Gallon Knight This Torquatus had the Art of Drinking never was known to falter in his Tongue never eased himself by vomiting always drank without drawing his Breath and never left a drop behind in the Cup. His next Instance is in Mark Antony who strove to win the Victory in Drinking and made a Profession thereof as appear d by a Book which he publish'd under the title of his own Drunkenness whereby he was not asham'd to justifie his Excesses that way and thereby approved under pretence of his Drunkenness all the Outrages he committed and all those Miseries and Calamities that he brought upon the World This Treatise says Pliny he vomited out a little before his Defeat at Actium That same Author gives us two other memorable Instances of Antony's Drunkenness the first as follows Cleopatra his Paramour perceiving his Jealousie of her insomuch that he would neither eat nor drink without his Taster she design'd to make Sport of his needless Fear and therefore causing a Chappelet or Garland of Flowers to be made for Antony she dipp'd all the edges of the Flowers in strong Poyson and having thus prepar'd it set it upon Antony's Head and having sate at Meat a good while and drank themselves merry she challeng'd Antony for each of them to drink their Chappelets and having first drank off her own Antony minc'd his and putting it into his Cup prepar'd to drink it off but just as he was setting it to his Head she put her Hand between and staid him and then utter'd these Expressions My dear and best-beloved Antony now see what she is whom thou dost so much dread and stand in fear of that for thy security thou must have extraordinary Tasters a Curiosity more nice than needful Lo how I am not to seek of Means and Opportunities to compass thy Death if I could find in my Heart to live without thee And then she sent for a Prisoner out of the Jayl whom she caus d to drink off the Cup that Antony had prepar'd for himself and the poor Wretch died by that time he had well taken the Cup from his Lips The next Instance is this Cleopatra being possess'd of two Pearls the richest and fairest that were ever known in the World being left to her by descent and accounted Nature's Wonder she began to undervalue the Expence that Antony had been at in treating her from day to day to the utmost of his might and when he demanded of her how it was possible to go beyond the magnificence and cost of his Treat she answer'd That she would spend upon him One hundred thousand Sestertii at one Supper Antony thought that impossible and therefore wager'd with her that she could not do it Next night she made him a Supper royal enough but much short of those that he had before prepar'd for her whereupon he began to laugh her to Scorn and demanded a Bill of the Particulars to which she answer'd That what had been brought in already was meer Overplus and that she would yet in that Supper eat Six hundred thousand Sestertii for her own part Upon which she took one of those Pearls from her Ears and dissolving it in Vinegar drank it off And as she was about to do the like with the other L. Placentius the Judge of that Wager laid fast hold upon it and pronounced That Antony had lost upon which he fell into a mighty Passion There was an end of one Pearl and the fellow thereof being taken from this Queen when she was a Prisoner it was divided in two in memory of that half Supper of theirs and hung in the Ears of Venus at Rome in the Temple of Pantheon And yet saith Pliny as prodigal as they were they shall not go away with the Prize for long before their time Clodius the Son of Aesop the Tragedian practis'd the like in Pearls of great price so that Antony hath to match him in all his Magnificence one little better than a Stageplayer Lest Drunkenness should be thought to be only the Vice of some particular persons among the Romans Lipsius in his Epistles tells us That it was a common Crime among them because the Emperors themselves were deeply infected with it and highly rewarded it in others He names one Firmus who was Deputy of Egypt under Aurelian and drank off two Buckets full
the satiety of the Belly and of those parts beneath the Belly that is Meats Drinks and Marriages And Nicephorus lib. 3 cap. 14 says That under the name of Sacrifices Cerinthus hid his Lusts that he might make a shew of Honesty and Decency Cap. 29 he gives us an account of the Nicolaitans who took their denomination from Nicholas one of the Deacons concerning whom they say That having a beautiful Wife and being accus'd of Jealousie by the Apostles he brought his Wife forth and permitted her to marry whom she had a mind to and that his Followers pretending to imitate him gave themselves up to all manner of Fornication but that those Hereticks were on a sudden wholly extinct Book 14 Cap. 7 he gives us an account of the Gnosticks who boasted of their amorous Potions and of certain Spirits and Familiars maintain'd that they who would arrive to Perfection in their Mysteries must act all things that were most filthy and unclean being no other ways able to avoid the Rulers of the World as they call them unless they distributed to all of them their Dues by most filthy and detestable Acts of Obscenity which brought a Scandal on the Christians of those Times as if they had indulg'd themselves in promiscuous Uncleanness with their Mothers and Sisters but the Truth and Purity of their Doctrin and Practice did quickly vindicate it self from those Calumnies Book 6 Cap. 8 he gives us an account of Origen's emasculating himself upon his understanding those words of our Saviour in a literal sense viz. Some there are who have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake This shews how much Fornication and Uncleanness was condem'd by the Christians in his time and how careful he was to avoid giving any occasion of Slander to the Enemies of the Christian Religion tho' this Act in it self was no way justifiable Book 7 Cap. 30 he gives us an Account that Paulus Samosatenus who spoke against the Godhead of Jesus Christ and became a Founder of that Heresie was a sensual Man countenanc'd those call'd Subintroduc'd Women who were neither Wives nor Concubines but a third sort whom they kept as they pretended not to gratifie their Lusts but out of a pious design And they take particular notice that this Paul glutted himself with all Sensual Delights as Feasting Drinking and the like which are the common Incentives of Lust and that he carried two beautiful Women constantly along with him And thus he is accus'd by an Assembly of Bishops in their Letter to the Bishop of Rome and Alexandria which confirms the Observation we have had sometimes occasion to make that a Love to Sensual Pleasures seems to be a great Motive to the Deists and Socinians of our Times to embrace those damnable Heresies In his 8th Book we have an Account That a Gentlewoman at Antioch and two beautiful Virgins her Daughters threw themselves into a River where they were drown'd rather than they would submit to the Brutish Lusts of their Heathen Persecuters And in Cap. 14 of that same Book we have a Relation how Maxentius and other Persecuters of the Christians omitted no manner of Action that was impure and libidinous they committed Adulteries and Rapes of all sorts he parted Husbands by Divorce from their lawful Wives and when he had defil'd them he most dishonourably sent them back again to their Husbands And thus he treated Persons of all Qualities He passed through no City in his Journey without ravishing Women and Virgins and these his vile Practises succeeded according to his desire against all Persons the Christians only excepted who having contemn'd Death despis'd his outragious Tyranny And thus one of the most noted Women of Alexandria being a beautiful Person and sollicited to commit Adultery with him chose rather to expose her Life to Danger and so was sent into Exile And a Roman Lady whose Husband was Prefect of Rome being sent for by Maxentius in order to be defil'd by him and finding that her Husband had for fear permitted the Souldiers to carry her away she kill'd her self rather than she would be defil'd by the lustful Tyrant So that to the shame of many who call themselves Christians now-adays their abominable Lecheries were formerly the Character of their Persecuters and nothing could be more odious to the Primitive Christians than such vile Practises as many who bear that Name do now indulge themselves in But to return to this Monster of Tyranny Maxentius the Divine Vengeance pursu'd him for his Armâ—â— being defeated by Constantine he himself and a great part of them were drown'd in the Tiber after which his Corps were dragg'd out and his Head being cut off it was carried about on a Launce as a joyful Spectacle to the People Eusebius also takes notice that the Heathens were at that time punish'd with intestine Wars Famine and Pestilence on the account of their Persecution and those impure Practises and that Galerius Maximianus who to his Persecution of the Christians had also added Impurity of Life died of a most dreadful Distemper in his Genitals and a Fistula in Ano to the Horrour and Amazement of all that were about him the stink of his Body being so intolerable that it kill'd divers of his Physicians In his 10th Book he gives us an Account of the wicked Emperor Licinius who to his hatred of the Christian Religion and Learning of all sorts join'd abominable Uncleanness forcing Wives from their Husbands and giving them to be defil'd by his Slaves Nay his own Lustful Rage was so great that his decrepit Years could not asswage the same but even then he abus'd married Women and Virgins towards the fulfilling of his insatiable Lust at last Judgment pursu'd him for being overcome by Constantine the Great and continuing unreclaimable notwithstanding the Clemency us'd towards him by that gracious Christian Emperor he order'd him to be strangl'd And thus was his Exit suitable to his inglorious Life Socrates lib. 5 cap 18 gives us an Account That the Heathen Romans had Victualling-houses under Ground wherein they prostituted Whores by which Devices they trepann'd many persons some going in thither to supply themselves with Food others to satisfie their libidinous and filthy Desires for by a certain Engine purposely made for that end they were convey'd from the Victualling-house down into the Bakehouse where they were forc'd to work and continued there till they were grown old and being never suffer'd to go out their Relations took it for granted that they were dead This Trick was chiefly put upon Strangers and was discover'd by one of the Emperor Theodosius's Souldiers who being trappan'd in this manner kill'd some of those with his Dagger that would have detain'd him and escaping by this means acquainted the Emperor with it who order'd those Houses to be pull'd down and the Masters of them to be punish'd Another abominable Custom they had which was abolish'd also by this Emperor of which he gives
Rooms with the Pictures of their Gods drawn in the most obscene postures and engag'd in the most filthy and dishonest actions enough to shame even Vice it self These says he are the Original Patterns of your soft Effeminacy this is your brutish and prophane Divinity these are the Doâ—â—rines of your Gods Copartners with you in your â—ncleanness and Adultery The like we may observe from that passage of Tertullian ad Nationes lib. 1 cap 4 where he says That he knew of some Husbands when Heathens who were so very jealous of their Wives and possibly not without reason that a Mouse could not stir in the Room but it must be a Gallant creeping to their Bed Yet upon their turning Christians they became so eminently reserved chaste and modest that there was not the least Foundation of Suspicion their Jealousie was converted into Hatred and they vow'd they had rather their Wives should be Strumpets than Christians Of the same nature is the Passage of Origen to Celsus lib. 1 p. 21. where he says They meaning the Heathens must needs confess the Excellency and Divinity of Christ's Doctrin who do but look into the Lives of those who adhere unto it comparing their former Course of Life with that which they now lead and considering in what Impurities Lusts and Wickedness every one of them wallow'd before they embraced this Doctrin but since how much better they are become insomuch that some of them out of a more transcendent desire of Purity and that they may worship God with a chaste Mind deny themselves even the Pleasures of a Lawful Bed And lib. 7 p. 365 That the Christians had no need as some of the best among the Gentiles had to use Arts and Medicines or to have Guardians over them to preserve their Chastity the Word of God being sufficient to expel irregular Appetites Nay and that which is more observable Pliny tho' a Heathen himself and a persecuter wrote to the Emperor Trajan That the Christians detested Murther Adultery and such other Vngodliness Tertullian in his Apology cap. 9 p. 10 says of the Heathens Wherever you are at home or abroad Lust is your Companion whereas Chastity diligently and faithfully preserv'd keeps us from any such Event and we are far from Incest which ye often stumble upon in your Lusts as we are from Whoredom or any Excess in a married state And in the close of his Apology cap. ult p. 40 he says While you chuse to condemn a Woman that is a Christian to the Stews rather than to the Lions you plainly own that the violation of Chastity is accounted by us an heavier Penalty than any Punishment or kind of Death which you can inflict upon us And that this may appear not to have been their Doctrin only but also their Practise we referr to the Instances of the Chastity of the Governor of Rome's Wife who chose rather to kill her self than to be defil'd by the Emperor Maxentius as before mention'd And that remarkable Instance related by St. Jerome in the Life of Paul the Hermit Tom. 1 p. 237. In the Decian Persecution a young Man a Christian in the Flower of his age was carried into a Garden that had all things conspiring to make it a place for pleasure and delight being laid upon a Bed of Doune and fasten'd to it with silken Cords the Company withdrawing a beautiful Strumpet was sent in to him who caressing and treating him with all the Arts of Wantonness not consisting with Modesty to name the young Man finding the Temptation ready to prevail presently bit off his Tongue and spit in her Face as she attempted to kiss him Many other Instances of this nature might be added but these are enough to testifie how much the Primitive and Ancient Christians abhorr'd Uncleanness in Practice as well as Principle Then as to the Opinion which the Primitive Christians had of Marriage and their Reasons for entering into it let us hear what Athenagoras says in his Apology p. 37. Either says he we marry not at all but keep our selves always continent or if we do marry 't is for no â—ther End but the bringing up of Children Whoever among us takes a Wife according to the Laws prescrib'd us he reckons he does it only for â—â—e begetting of Children within this his Desires â—re bound and limited as the Husbandman conâ—â—rns himself no further in tilling his Ground and â—owing his Corn than to bring forth the Crop at Harvest And hence it was that they seldom â—arried oftener than once as Minutius Faelix â—ays p. 26. Origen against Celsus lib. 5 p. 264 says We in all our Abstinences do it only to keep under â—he Body and to bring it into subjection endeaâ—ouring to mortifie the Deeds of the Body to exâ—el and extinguish our Members upon the Earth â—ornication Vncleanness Inordinate Affection â—nd every evil Concupiscence and Desire The Hatred which that Great Man had against Uncleanness is sufficiently manifest by his â—ismembring himself as formerly mention'd â—nd chusing rather to have Incense forc'd inâ—o his Hand and so offer'd up to Idols at Athens than to have his Body abus'd by an Ethiopian which the Heathens threatned him with How careful the Primitive Christians were â—o avoid all occasions of Uncleanness appears â—rom Cyprian de Discip Habit. Virg. p. 167. where he justly chides some Virgins for being present at Weddings where they laugh'd freely could not but hear loose Discourses see uncomely Behaviour feed upon luxurious Dishes all which must not only kindleâ— but add Fuel to the Fire and fill the Minâ— with undecent Thoughts and Desires St. Jerome on the other hand does as mucâ— commend such Virgins who always kept aâ— home on Festival days to avoid the crowdâ— and Gazes of the People and would neveâ— go abroad at those times when they coulâ— not venture into the publick without thâ— greatest Care and Custody of themselves Such was the Cautiousness of the Primitivâ— Christians they stood at a distance from whatever was offensive either to their Eyes or Ears Their Ears they stopp'd against all loose idle Songs all filthy and obsceneâ— Discourses their Eyes they shut against alâ— uncomely Objects all wanton and lascivious Pictures and as Clemens Alexandrinus tells us not doing any thing that seem'd to carry anâ— ill colour with it The Council of Laodicea in their 30th Canon forbad Christian Men to use the same common Baths with Women nay so abominable were all Uncleannesses to the ancient Church that they were even too severe against second Marriages as Zonaras tells us Can. 7 Concil Neocaes suspended such as married twice from the Communion a whole Year And the Council of Laodicea Can. 1 requir'd that they should spend some time at least in Pennance Fasting and Prayer before they be receiv'd to the Communion Tertulâ—ian Cyprian Minutius Faelix and St. Jerome â—â—veigh d also against second Marriages â—herein tho' they acted not only without â—ut even against Divine Authority seeing â—he Apostle limits no number of Times but â—â—ys positively that it is better to marry than to â—â—rn yet it shews how careful the ancient Christians were to avoid those Impurities â—hich many who call themselves Christians â—ill scarcely own now to be a Crime St. Ambrose says The Apostle did well to warn â—hristians to flee Fornication by which the Sons of â—od says he are made the Children of the Deâ—il Nay the Schoolmen make simple Forâ—ication to be a deadly Sin and that in such â—easure as Peraldus a Papist concludes That â— one who had never before sinned but had done â—ll the Good that could be imagin'd should but â—nce commit this Sin he must of necessity be damn'd â—ithout Repentance Aquinas says That simple â—ornication inasmuch as it is against the Good of â—he Offspring to be brought forth is so unlawful â—â—at it is a deadly Sin Epiphanius against the â—arpocratians Lib. 1 Tom. 2 Cap. 27 says That because of their Debaucheries they were â—â—t forth by Satan to the Reproach and Scandal â—â— the Church of God as the Gnosticks had been â—efore them Gluttony Drunkenness and Effeminacy were much exclaim'd against by the Ancients â—ecause they were Incentives to Uncleanness whereupon St. Jeroâ—e says It 's a difficult thing to preserve Chastity in the midst of Feasting Bernard says That Chastity is much endanger'â— by Delicacies Ericius Putecinus saith Thaâ— Lust is nourish'd by Feasting and Dainties Anâ— St. Augustine in his 33d Sermon ad Fr. â—â— Er. gives us this strange Instance of the Effect of Drunkenness viz. That the Son oâ— one Cyril a noble Citizen of Hippo who haâ— a Son whom he lov'd even above his Maker not contradicting him in any Desire nor correcting him for any Fault Thiâ— riotous Youngster not content to roar iâ— abroad and spend his Father's Estate camâ— home drunk villainously ravish'd his owâ— Mother big with Child endeavour'd to deflower one of his Sisters wounded two oâ— them that they dy'd and kill'd his Father outright FINIS