Christendom But God who derides at the ambition of Princes which do not tend to the execution of his secret will brought all his ambitious designs to nothing for his invincible Navie was beaten and scattered by the English valour and the greatest part of it swallowed up by the roaring Seas And the Catholike League in France was utterly subdued by the activity wisdom and valour of Henry the Fourth their lawfull king See the Netherland History Yet notwithstanding that the Hollanders have deprived him of seven of the Netherland Provinces and the Portuguies from his usurped kingdom of Portugal he hoped still ambitiously to make himself the absolute Monarch of Christendom by the divisions he hath lately fomented in Holland England France Scotland and Ireland by the means of the Machiavellian Principles spread abroad by the Jesuitical Locusts that he hath scattered among these Nations like so many swarms of Bees But I hope God will turn his Counsels into foolishness 2 Sam. 17.14 as he did that of Achitophel and make his unlimited Ambition the cause of his utter annihilation The Second Propriety of Ambition is That it hateth Parity and all Competitors and Equals Numerous Instances might be produced for proof of it but half a dozen shall serve 1. Romulus and Remus brethren having been chosen kings or Governors of the Fugitives that were the first Erectors of the Roman Commonwealth did not raign two years together Livie in his first Decade Lib. 1. but Romulus out of ambition to raign alone slew his brother Remus under colour that he had in derision leaped over the mud wals of the City of Rome 2. Lucius Tarquinius impatient of the long life raign of Servius Tullius his Father-in-Law possessed with an ambitious desire to raign in his stead by the wicked instigations of his wife Tullia Lib. 1. p. 76. threw him down the Senate-Chamber stairs and caused him to be murthered in the streets of Rome and this accursed and abhorred Tullia coming from the Senate in a Chariot with four horses where she had caused her Husband to be proclaimed King caused her Coachman to drive the Chariot over her Fathers body as he lay a dying and goared in his blood in the street And no marvel it was that she who to prosecute her ambitious design had already caused her Husband to murther her own sister and his own brother that was her first Husband would omit to act this unparalleld cruelty towards her Father-in-Law by whose untimely and violent death she came to have the fruition of her accursed ambition See Plutarch in their lives 3. Crassus Pompeius and Caesar having divided the power of the Roman Common-wealth between them Crassus being gone with a great Army into Asia to subdue the Parthians and Caesar with another Army into France and Pompeius with another Army left at Rome to preserve Italy all three of them being excessively ambitious and specially the two last could not be contented with their condition but under-hand aspired to be absolute Monarchs which Caesar after the death of Crassus easily obtained 4. After the death of Caesar Lepidus Marcus Antonius and Augustus Caesar did divide the power of the Roman Empire between them but before seven years came about Augustus Caesar the most ambitious of them became the absolute Monarch of the World by these means first Antonius and Augustus joyned together to deprive Lepidus of his part then Antonius and Augustus came to a second division but ambition being more predominant in Augustus then in Antonius who was addicted to volupty he soon deprived him of his part and became the only Monarch upon earth 5. See Herodian in his Life The Emperour Severus at his death left his two sons Bassianus and Geta equal Heirs of the Roman Empire but Bassianus transported with an unnatural ambition slew his brother Geta before a year came about in his Mothers arms to raign alone 6. Lewis the Twelfth King of France and Ferdinando King of Arragon by a mutual consent did divide the Kingom of Naples between them See the French History in the Life of Lewis the Twelfth But the Spaniard being more ambitious then the French under colour of a Toll paid for Cattel which did really appertain to the French but fained to be the Spaniards Ferdinando's pride and ambition disdaining to have a Competitor or Equal in that Kingdom deprived the French of all he held in the same The third Propriety of ambition is That it is never free from jealousie I mean that which is called the jealousie of State And for proof of it these following instances shall suffice 1. The Emperour Tiberius out of an ill-grounded jealousie that Germanicus his own Nephew who was extreamly beloved of the Senators Souldiers and common People for his vertue valour and noble parts should aspire to the Empire before his death See Tacitus in his Life caused Lucius Piso Governour of Syria to poyson him at a Banquet and then forsook the said Piso being accused and convinced of the Fact and suffered him to be sentenced and executed although he had a warrant under his own hand commanding him to rid him out of the way the which Warrant he durst not produce out of fear the Tyrant would deprive his children of his incredible Riches and yearly Revenews 2. Nero out of the same ambitious jealousie caused young Germanicus the true Heir of the Empire to be poysoned as he sate at his own Table 3. Domitianus out of the like jealousie See Tacitus and Dion in these Empeiors lives caused divers Roman Senators to be slain and was resolved to do the like to the Captain of his Guard and to the best beloved of his Concubines if they had not prevented him by taking away his life to preserve their own 4. Lewis the Eleventh King of France out of an ill-grounded but violent ambitious jealousie that his Brother Charls Duke of Normandy did aspire to the Crown See the History of France and of England caused him to be poysoned secretly by one of his own servants 5. Edward the Fourth King of England by the false impressions that his younger Brother Richard Duke of York had malitiously infused in his heart of this ambitious jealousie caused the Duke of Clarence his brother to be arraigned and drowned in a Butt of Malmsey 6. Richard the Third out of this State jealousie caused the Duke of Buckingham to be beheaded because he conceived him to be as willing then to disthrone him and to set his Crown upon the Earl of Richmonds Head as he had been ready in former times to make him that was an Usurper King of England 7. This ambitious jealousie is so cruel that it makes men trangress the Law of Nature and to put their own sons to death as Herod did Antipater his son See Josephus whereupon Augustus Caesar said ingeniously that it was better to be Herods Swine then his Son See the
two sorts viz. Evil and Good The first evil effect of it is The evil effects of Fear That it dants the courage of men and makes valiant Souldiers become cowards and this is called a Panick Fear The Greek and Roman Histories are full of instances to prove it which I will pass over for brevity sake and will onely relate this ensuing See Philip de Commines in the War of the Publike good for so it was called or the battel de Monlebery recorded by Philip de Commines In the beginning of the reign of Lewis the eleventh King of France the Duke Charls of Burgundy and the discontented Officers of the Crown of France joyned with him raised a great Army and came neer to Paris against the said King who hearing of their approach came against them with another great Army and having both pitched their Camp within a mile one of another with a resalution to give battel the next day it fell out to be a misty morning and certain Troops of Horse being on both sides sent out to discover the intentions of both Armies they saw as they imagined a great range of Lanciers standing on a high ground the Bourgonians conceiving they came towards them and the French imagining they came towards their Camp and so transported both with a Panick fear they fled as hard as they could drive towards their Camp and raised a fearful alarm saying The enemies were at hand and so put both Armies into a strange confusion but when the Sun had dispersed the mist it was apparently seen that these imaginary Lanciers were but Tysels growing upon a long high bank And the two Armies being mixt the French having the better another Panick fear came amongst the French Horse Fear begets cruelty in effeminate Princes by a false rumor that the King was slain that made them flee as if all had been lost and had not the King suddenly shewed himself the French Army had utterly been routed Secondly Fear begets cruelty in the hearts of effeminate Princes for it hath been observed that Pusillanimity is ever accompanied with Fear The effeminate Emperors of Rome have all been addicted to this passion of Fear See Tacitus Dion Herodian and Suetonius Caligula did usually hide himself under a bed out of fear when it Thundred and Lightned and Nero Domitianus Commodus and Heliogabalus were afraid if men did but whisper together and they were all more cruel then Tygers or Cannibals Thirdly Fear hath no regard to consanguinity Tiberius Nero out of fear destroyed by one means or other all his nearest kinsmen See Tacitus in the Life of Nero. and caused the valorous and noble Germanicus his Nephew to be poysoned by Piso And Lewis the Eleventh King of France caused his own Brother Charls Duke of Normandy to be poysoned out of Fear See the History of France and of England and so did Richard the Third his two hopeful Nephews And out of reason of State or more properly out of Fear The elder sons of the Ottoman Family have for these many years caused their younger Brothers to be strangled Fourthly Fear doth in admirable Effects go beyond Nature for a Secretary of the State of Florence being over night condemned to die was so transported with the Fear of death that out of the violent apprehension of it the hair of his head and beard See the Florentine History which was as black as a Crow became before the morning as white as snow Lastly Fear is the cousen german of dispair for it makes men to eschew the shame of a publike death to lay violent hands on themselves For Hannibal rather then he would suffer to be made a publike spectacle of shame to the Romans poysoned himself And Cardinal Wolsey rather then he would lose his head upon Tower-Hill did the like and died in Leicester Abbey The good Effects of Fear may be these First Six good Effects of the Passion of Fear If it were not for the Fear of the punishments appointed by the Laws of the Land to chastise the misdemeanors of men the Rodes and High-ways would be so full of Thieves and Murtherers that honest men should not be able to go from one Town to another Secondly If it were not for Fear Laws and Magistrates would be trampled under feet and all manner of Obedience Reverence and respect would be banished Joane would be as good as my Lady and Jack-Straw would be as good as my Lord Mayor the Foot-man as good as his Lord and the Servant as good as his Master but Fear of correction makes every one to give honor to whom honor is due and to know his Rank and Degree Thirdly If it were not for Fear rash and timerary men would fix their hopes beyond the Stars and would think nothing impossible unto them but fear clips their wings and makes them to be more considerate Fourthly Fear is the only Antidote against the venome of presumption and were it not for Fear this world could not subsist for there never was an Age so full of Phaetons and Icarus's as this that would with their waxed wings flee to Heaven or burn the Earth by the guiding of Phoebus Chariot if Fear did not restrain them Fifthly Fear is the faithful Counsellor of great Politicians and States-men who would otherwise vaunt themselves as the great Mathematician Archimedes did to remove the World or turn it up-side down if he could finde out a solide Foundation to plant his Mathematical Instruments to set all the World together by the ears to make their Prince the only Monarch of the Earth by the means of their deep Machiavilian Policies but Fear whispers them in the ear that Policy hath ever been and ever shall be subordinate to Destiny and that the secret Decrees of God shall come to pass in despite of them and will turn their Wisdom and Policy into foolishness Sixthly As fear of temporal punishment is a Curbe to restrain open and gross Sinners from criminal offences so the Fear of eternal punishment is a strong motive to withdraw civil men from their secret sins for let civil men be as private in their sins as they can yet the All-seeing Eye of God and their own Conscience are witnesses of their sin so that their Conscience which is their Accuser doth infuse into their minde this Fear of eternal punishment whereby they are as much restrained from their secret sins as the gross Sinners are by the Fear of temporal punishment And as the hope of the recompence of reward doth draw many into the way of righteousness so the Fear of eternal punishment doth enforce many to forsake sin and to turn unfainedly unto God for Sinners must be first humbled and brought low by the terror of the Law before they can unfainedly embrace the gracious Promises of the Gospel I do therefore conclude that spiritual Fear joyned with spiritual hope are effectual means to beget in Christians a hunger
Alexander cut in Marble standing in the Market place of the City of Cadice in Spain doth evidently manifest that he was of a haughty and ambitious spirit Out of these instances it may then be collected that Ambition is as common to haughty and proud spirits as Avarice is proper and peculiar to vile and base-minded-men Fifthly The causes moving men to be ambitious may be these 1. Self-love 2. Pride 3. Vain-glory. 1. Self-love induceth to prefer their own glory to any thing under the Sun And it is certain that all the heroical Actions of the antient Heathens did rather proceed from self-love then from the love they did bear to Vertue or to their native Countrey And in these days most of the commendable Actions of Magistrates Commanders The causes moving men to be Ambitious and Learned men have a greater reference to this self-love then the glory of God and the Publick good except it be the actions of some special Saints and true children of God 2. Pride raiseth their hearts above the Moon for like proud and ambitious Haman they would have all men bow their knees before them and will be accounted as the Cedars of Libanon and not as the brambles of the Forrest And this Pride makes them aspire to the greatest Offices and Places of the Commonwealth being assured that by these Places and Dignities they will be more honoured then for their own worth Never considering that the steepest Mountains the highest Clifts Towers and Steeples are more subject to be beaten down by the boysterous winds and thunder-claps then the low trees growing in the Valleys And that God doth always exalt the humble and speaketh thus to the proud Though thou exalt thy self as the Eagle Obad. 1.4 and though thou set thy nest among the stars thence will I bring thee down saith the Lord. 3. Vain-glory gives wings to the ambitious men and makes them undertake the most perilous enterprises if they conceive they may obtain in this life the prayse and the applause of men and make their memory famous in the Generations to come This moved the two Decii to throw themselves in the midst of the Enemies Army to save and to give the Victory to the Roman Legions See Livie in his first Decade It moved Martius Curtius to cast himself on Horse-back armed from head to foot into a bottomless Pit to free the City of Rome from the contagion of a consuming Plague It moved Scevola to burn his own hand before King Porsenna in the flame of a lighted Torch to obtain an advantageous Peace for his native Countrey And the ancient Romans knowing what power vain-glory hath over ambitious men did ordain to this purpose three kinde of Triumphs to incite them by these vain shews and the applause and acclamations the common people made at their entring See Livie in his 1.2 and 3. Decade to hazzard their lives in Martial Atchievments the first of these Triumphs excelling in honour the second and the second the last that their valour might be honoured according to the degrees as it did really deserve Whereby it appears that vain-glory hath from the beginning to this day been the only aym of proud and ambitious men Sixthly The proprieties of ambition are numerous but for brevity sake I shall onely speak of three of them The first proprietiy of it is That it hath neither limits nor bounds and this I will prove by three instances that are known to such as are vers'd in ancient and Modern Histories 1. The Ambition of the Democratical Commonwealth of Rome had no bounds although the beginning of it was vile and small it was vile because the first erectors of it were for the greater part Out-laws Fugitives and Vagabonds and it was small because their number did not exceed three thousand before the Sabines joyned with them the first object of their Ambition was the City of Alba See Livie in his 1. Decade Lib. 1. which was destroyed in one day the second was Gabes and the Citizens of them both were joyned with the Romans which did much encrease their number and so by degrees subdued all their neighbouring Princes and Commonwealths then Sicilia was the object of their Ambition then Carthage Spain France England Greece Macedonia and Armenia And when they had in their possession the greatest part of Europe See Caesars Commentaries Asia and Africa then the ambition of Caesar swallowed up them who from a servant became their imperious Lord. Neither was the ambition of their Emperors ever limited for the greater part of them did endevor to enlarge their Monarchy till the days of the Emperor Trajan See Dion and Apian at which time it had the largest extent that it ever had for presently after it began to decay and was annihilated by its own waight as all great Politick Bodies are commonly 2. The Ottoman ambition was never limited to this day At the first it was contained within the Circumference of a Countrey Village their number not above six hundred then they extended the same in the Lesser Asia and then it came over Hellespontus into Greece conquered Constantinople See the Turkish History suppressed the Greek Empire subdued Servia Dalmatia and a great part of Hungaria then Egypt Syria and Armenia with the Iland of Cyprus Rhodes and all the Islands of the Archipelago then they extended the same into Persia but were enforced to give it over because of their Civil Divisions The Janisaries and the Spahis holding at this present the helm of the ship of that great Monarchy for they have of late years placed and displaced to and from the Throne such as pleased and displeased them yet is not their ambition limited for Candia is now the object of it 3. The ambition of the House of Austria was never yet limited 1. In the days of Ferdinando and Isabella they conquered the Kingdom of Grenado See the German and Spanish History and the West Indies and by a wile possessed themselves perfidiously of the Kingdom of Navarr and drove the French out of the Kingdom of Naples and the Dutchy of Milan and having by the Heir of the House of Burgundy obtained the rule of the seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands Charls the Fifth the son of that Heir was chosen Emperor of Germany when he was already King of Spain which Kingdom he left to Philip the Second his son and the Empire of Germany to his brother Ferdinande whom he caused to be chosen by his power in his life time and so ambitiously and cunningly made the Empire of Germany Hereditary to that Family that was formerly elective his son Philip the Second of that name King of Spain following his ambitious steps by the invincible Navie he sent to conquer England See the French and English History and the Catholike League that were his Emissaries to betray into his hands France their native Countrey came very near to be the absolute Monarch of