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
hundreds over fifties and over tens to disburden himself of the heavie burthen he had taken upon him to Judge the people of Israel for by this councel he eased Moses and the people and made the Elders of Israel to be sharers with him in the honor of the rule and government of the Commonweal whereby he was much beloved and honored of all the people It was a wise Policy and and a wholsom counsel that the wise g 2 Sam. 20.16 22. woman of Abel gave to her Citizens to cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and to cast it over the wall to Joab for by it she preserved the whole City from sack and ruine that might justly have been destroyed by Joab if they had persisted to be the abbettors of the rebellion of Sheba who received but a just reward for his treachery and rebellion for endeavouring to raise a new War against his lawful Prince the anointed of the Lord. And it was a Councel grounded upon true prudence and policy which was given to h See the French History in the life of Charls the seventh Charls the seventh King of France by his grave and faithful Counsellors of State to conclude a peace with Philip Duke of Burgundy although he should yield into his hands his Favorites who had by his assent murthered the Duke John of Burgundy father to Philip as he was treating a reconciliation with the said King about the murder the said John had committed upon the Duke of Orleance the Kings Uncle for by this counsel the Kingdom of France was preserved from ruine and restored again to its former flourishing condition and the murtherers had but their due deserts it being more just that half a dozen of guilty persons should perish then a whole Kingdom should be undone these Counsellors justly maintaining that these Favorites were not to commit such an act although they had a Warrant from the King Subjects being not bound to obey the commands of their Prince in things that be contrary and forbidden by the Law of God as murder is and so these Counsellors were for ever after much honored of the King and of the whole Kingdom for their wisdom and fidelity It was a wise Counsel grounded upon humanity and sound Policy that the Bishop of i See the History of Spain in Charls the fifth's life Osma gave to the Emperor Charls the fifth after Francis the first King of France became his Prisoner at the battel of Pavia that he should for his own glory and the future good of Spain set the said King of France at free liberty without ransome or capitulations at all and have him conducted with an honorable Train to the Borders of his own Kingdom but this good counsel being traversed by the Machavilian policy of the Duke d'Alva they made a prey of the said King which was the cause after the Kings release of a bloody war that was fatal to the Emperor and the Kingdom of Spain whereby it appears that by Prudence and just Policy men may attain to worldly honors and that Machavilian policy is ever destructive and subject to shame and ignominy For the eighth and the last which is Valour it hath ever been one of the first steps to worldly honors and is a commendable means so mens valor be exercised in the service of their Prince and propagation of the true Protestant Religion and for the desence of the Liberties of their native Countrey for by their valour in such cases they attain to the personal Nobility which is as I have said before the spring of the Nobility of race or descent for the Nobility obtained by valour in any of these three cases is the most honourable Nobility of all neither is it true valor to kill any one in duel but rather an effect of an inconsiderate wrath and of a desperate vindication and a meer murder in the sight of God for true valor appears onely in the Field against an open enemy and not to kill our friends for a word spoken unadvisedly or unawares and it hath been observed that these k Roarers are 〈◊〉 vâ—liant roaring Gallants that make a trade of killing of men for punctillios of honor in duels are commonly cowards and are the first that trust to their spurs in a pitcht Field by which it appears that their valor is rather a raging Passion then a vertuous valor which is always guided by Reason and Judgment Now by these eighth means by which minds most commonly attain to honour in the world the Reader may judge whether there by any probability that worldly honors should afford men any true content sith the means by which they are obtained are subject to so many accidents and are so vain and full of vanity and vexation of spirit For the second branch of this Discourse concerning the persons that deserve to be honoured I will be very brief because all rational men are acquainted with this duty first in the first of S Peter Chap. 2. ver 17. there is a general charge Honor all men love the brotherhood fear God and honor the King and Solomon in his l Prov. 39. Proverbs goes further for we are not onely to fear God but we are also to honor him Honor the Lord saith he with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase and next to God and the King we are to honor our Parents m Exod. 20 12. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee God to induce men to honour their Parents makes here a precious promise to obedient and respective children the next to our Parents we are to honor civil Magistrates and the Messengers and Ministers of God and next to them the grave and ancient men n Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the antient and yet who are more despised then old men in this corrupt Age for young men are now preferred to places of Dignity Profit and Trust contrary to former Ages for Solomon by these words As snow in Summer and rain in Harvest so is honor not seemly for a fool intimates that young men are not to be honored with places of Trust in Church or Commonweal because they are for want of experience no better then fools and yet they account themselves generally out of a vain presumption wiser then old men whom they call doting fools for want of the knowledge of this Proverb Before Honor is Humility for were they truly wise they would be humble and not presumptuous for presumption is the companion of Folly besides vertuous learned wise prudent and valiant men are to be honored I distinguish Learning from Prudence and Wisdom because learned men are not always wise nor prudent although Learning is a means to attain to Wisdom but Learning is the theorical part of Wisdom and without a
it are rather worse then better 1. It deprives men of Reason and Understanding for Sampson a Nazarite from his Mothers womb and a Judge and Deliverer of Israel was so besotted by the charms and lascivious allurements of Dalilah Judg. 13.6 that he revealed a secret unto her in the concealing of which did consist the safety of his own life and of his native Countrey 2. Solomon the wisest Prince that ever lived upon Earth 1 King 3.12 was by the allurements of his Wives and Concubines turned away from the Lord and offered Sacrifices to their Idols 3. Marcus Antonius a valiant Commander of the Romans who never had been foiled in all his Martial Archivements before he was infatuated by the alluring charms of Cleopatra was so deprived of understanding that at the Battel of Antrium when he had the better of the day he fled away Plutarch in his life to follow her that carryed his heart away and by the fond love of a woman lost his life and the Empire Charls the Seventh King of France was so besotted by the lascivious embracements of La-belle Agnes his Concubine The French History that he neglected all the Civil and Military Affairs of his Kingdom to Court and dally the time away with her and had lost utterly his Kingdom by this passion of Volupty if his Mistress that was of a generous spirit had not rouzed him out of his lascivious dumps saying thus unto him I was foretold in my youth saith she that I should be one day the love and Mistress of the greatest and most valorous Prince in Christendom But it appears by your carriage that I am the love of the most effeminate Prince in Europe for you suffer the English Nation to rent your Kingdom into piece-meals and in lieu to be King of France you are through your pusillanimity become the petty King of Bourges for shame rouze up your spirits and let not a Forraign Nation deprive you of Life and Crown These taunting reproaches coming from a woman that was dearer unto him then his own life did so enlighten his understanding and inflame his courage that he instantly undertook to relieve Orleance that was then besieged by the English And after he had enforced them to raise their Siege he drove them by degrees out of all they held in France Calice only excepted 2. It deprives the dearest childern of God for some time of the love and favour of their heavenly Father As it doth appear in the lives of King David and of Solomon his Son 2 Sam. 11.2.3 for David by the lascivious embracements of Bathsheba was cast into a spiritual Lethargy for a whole year together and deprived of the sweet communion he had formerly with his gracious God so that in lieu to be penitent for his sin of Adultery Vers 13. he committed one after another two other abhorred sins for to palliate the first he caused his Servants to allure Vriah to drunkenness that his understanding being depraved by the vapors of the Wine he might return home and lie with his Wife but this wile failing he caused him to be murthered by the sword of the children of Ammon yet was his understanding so stupified by this bewitching spirit of uncleanness that he had dyed in his sins if God out of his infinite mercy had not sent the Prophet Nathan unto him 2 Sam. 12.1 to rouze him out of this mortal spiritual slumber 1 King 3.11 12. And King Solomon lay many years in such a deadly spiritual lethargy that he was utterly insensible of his gross Idolatries and abhorred Fornications for in number of Wives and Concubines he did excel all the Turkish Emperours and had perished in his sins if God out of his accustomed mercy towards his Elect had not out of Free-grace given him the gift of an unfained repentance as it appears by his Book of Ecclesiastes written after his conversion 3. It deprives men of all true content and over-whelms them with grief and sorrows for in what condition soever voluptuous men finde themselves they neither take pleasure nor content except their minde be alwayes bent upon the means that can make them attain to the fruition of their carnal delights for in them they erroneously conceive doth consist their supream felicity whereas the termination of the pleasures of the flesh is ever the beginning of misery and wo And therefore Aristotle to disswade his Disciples from carnal volupties told them that they were like the Mer-maids who are extraordinarily beautiful above water for their face is round and fair their hair as yellow as gold their eyes of a loving dark gray their mouth small their lips as red as Coral their teeth as white as snow their breast as round as an apple and their arms hands shoulders back flanks as white as Alabaster but their tail is like the tail of a great Serpent frightful full of teeth and mortal venom Even so carnal volupties are delightful to mens corrupt nature and seem to be sweeter then honey and the honey comb at the first enjoyment of them but at their adieu they are bitterer then gall and more loathsome then the snuff of a candle and for one dram of carnal delight they over-whelm their Clients with anguish and sorrow and make them shed rivers of penitent tears whensoever God is pleased to give them the gift of an unfained repentance Besides all true joy and content doth consist in the favour and love of God and in the assurance he doth infuse in the hearts of his Elect by his blessed Spirit that they are justified and reconciled unto him by the sufferings blood and passion of Christ his only Son our most gracious Saviour and this love favour and assurance is permanent and eternal but the joy and content proceeding from carnal volupties are for continuance like a fire of Thorns under a Pot or like the morning dew which vanisheth away at the rising of the Sun for the least blast of dolor and affliction doth suddenly make the very remembrance of carnal pleasures vanish away like smoak moreover the very conceits imaginations and deportments of voluptuous men are meer vanity and vexation of minde for their paradise upon Earth is to be always musing upon the beauty comliness and perfections of their Mistress Nay some are so infatuated by the spirit of uncleanness which doth possess them that they do Idolize their picture kiss their dressings and other things they wear nay the very ground they tread upon And can there be any real content in these absurd vanities mad and foolish deportments surely no for these vain phansies whereon they fix their minds divert their thoughts from being diligent Hearers of the Word of God and careful observers of his Ordinances from which they might reap true content 4. It deprives men of their means for Princes Noble-men Gentlemen Merchants and Artificers who are given to volupties do commonly fall into penury for as
Sam 23.8 to 39. from the 8 verse to the 39 verse Many other testimonies might be produced out of ancient Histories to prove that divers of the Heathen have attained to honor by their strength as three or four of the Hercules Hector Aiax Milun and divers others but in regard that the naturall strength of men is little accounted in these days when a youth of fifteen years of age can with a musket shot kill the strongest man upon earth I will onely say That strength is meer vanity and that honor obtained by it can not be grounded but upon a sandy foundation The third means to attain to honor is Beauty and Comliness sith strength is subject to many accidents and mutations For the third which is an extraordinary stature comliness and Beauty divers have attained to honor by these gifts of Nature l Sam. 10.23 24. Saul for his extraordinary stature and personal parts was chosen King of Israel as it appears in the tenth of the first of Samuel 23 24. verses And they ran and fetched him thence and when he stood among the people he was higher then any of the people from the shoulders upwards and Samuel said to all the people See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen that there is none like him among the people And all the people shouted and said God save the King but for as much as the personal representation of the body without the gifts of the minde is not sufficient for the discharge of the honorable function of a King it is said in the 9. verse that God was pleased to adorn him after he was chosen with the spirit of Government viz. with Prudence and Wisdom the chiefest ornament of a Prince And it was so that when Saul had m 1 Sam. 10.9 turned his back to go from Samuel God gave him another heart Contrarily it might be proved by divers instances that the deformity of body a small stature and the want of personal representation is a great impediment to Princes because the common people do always more regard the outward gifts then the intellectual as it doth appear in the lives of n See Plutarch and Quintius in their lives Agisclaus of Leonidas Philopoemen all wise and valourous Princes and Commanders that were despised of the vulgar sort because they were of a short stature and of no representative Majestie but the comliness of Alexander Alcibiades and of Pompeius the great made them to be honored and respected above others o 2 Sam. 14.25 Absolom was also much beloved of his father and honored of the people of Israel for his comliness and natural indowments for from the soal of his feet to the grown of his head there was no blemish in him And the comely feature and excellent beauty of p Esther 1.1 and 2.17 Esther made her from a Captive attain to that superlative honor to be the Queen of the great King Ahasuerus who raigned from India even to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty seven Provinces and the King loved Esther above all the women and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more then all the Virgins so that he set the royall Crown upon her head and made her Queen in stead of Vesta It is then apparent that personal representation comliness and beauty are means whereby men and women attain to worldly honors but how sandy the foundation of these honors is I leave it to the consideration of the Reader for nothing is more casuall and subject to mutation then comliness and beauty and therefore these honors are meer vanity and vexation of spirit Fourthly The fourth means to attain honors is by riches Riches are an ordinary means in this vicious age whereby men attain to worldly honors for honors that are the onely recompence of wisdom prudence fidelity and valour are now sold for ready money and the honorable titles of Earls Barons Knights Esquires and Gentlemen are obtained for a lump of clay gold or silver the base excrements of the earth this is one of the secondary causes of all our distractions and present miseries and hath ever been the overthrow of Kingdoms and Common-weales as long as the Roman civil Magistrates Senators and Commanders of Armies were chosen in to such places of honor and trust for their noble q See Livius Decades descent their prudence and valour their State did flourish and did inlarge its dominions more in one century of years then it did in three after these places of honor became to be venal and purchased by concession for then men of no parts were for money promoted to highest dignities whereupon civill contentions were fomented factions increased and continuall bloudy r See Appian in the Roman civil wars intestine wars maintained by which the ancient liberties of that State were suppressed and the last government of it changed into an Imperiall Monarchy As long as the chiefest Officers of the Crown of France and the places of Judicature of the Realm were given by Charls the fifth surnamed the Wise to men of learning of wisdom and valour in recompence of their loyalty vertue and merits that Kingdom did flourish with peace honor and prosperity and the Courts of Å¿ See the History of France Parliaments of France had the honor for their Justice and Equity to be the Arbitrators and Umpires of all the differences that hapned in those days between the greatest Princes of Christendom but when these places of honor and trust were made venal in the reigns of Francis the second Charls the ninth and Henry the third and sold for ready money to such as gave most for them then was Justice and Equity banished and that flourishing Kingdom reduced to the brim of ruine and desolation by variety of factions and a bloody civill war And the selling of places of honor and Judicature of late years in this Kingdom hath been the spring of all the discontents divisions and distractions which have somented this unnatural war because of the injustice rapines and oppressions that followed at the heels the sale of these places of honor and trust for such as bought them by the great sold them to their Clients by retail whereby it appears that honors bought for money are destructive to the Sellers to the State and to the Buyers and that such as injoy them carry upon their foreheads rather ignomy then honor For the fifth Concerning favors many have been promoted to worldly honors The fifth means to attain to honors is by the favor of Princes by favor of the Prince or such as are in authority for their vertue and merits but of these commendable favors I intend not to speak of as being out of fashion in these days but undeserving favors proceeding from vicious services t Esther 3.5 Haman the son of Amedatha the Agagite was promoted by King Ahasuerus to the greatest honors of his Court for he advanced him and set his
Solomon saith By the means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread I will prove the point by Instances 1. All the Treasures of Asia did not suffice to defray the excessive volupties of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra 2. All the Revenews of the Roman Empire did not serve to discharge the lascivious riots of the Emperors Caligula Nero Vitellius Domitianus and Heliogabalus 3. All the comings in of the Kingdom of France did not suffice to defray the lascivious volupties of Henry the third King of France for he left the Crown indebted fourscore millions of Crowns although he raised the Subsidies and Imposts of his Realm as much more as they were in his Fathers Reign whereby it may be collected that voluptuous Princes are the greatest Oppressors of their Subjects 4. Daily experience doth shew that many Noble-men Gentlemen and rich Merchants spend and consume their Portion or Patrimony as the Prodigal Son did with Harlots and riotous living 5. Luk. 15.13 It shortneth mens days and makes their lives miserable for none can deny but continency temperance and sobriety doth preserve men in health and doth prolong their lives And without health the greatest Monarch upon the Earth can neither have joy nor content And to that end God was pleased to add health and length of days to those extraordinary gifts he gave unto King Solomon 1 King 3.14 otherwise his Wisdom incomparable Magnificence and incredible riches had not afforded him any true joy or content Besides carnal volupties do not only consume mens Estates and impair their health but it makes also their life miserable and loathsome to themselves for what anguish grief and dolours perplexity and vexation of minde is it to a miserable Patient that is sick of the Venereal disease to see his members rot away by piece-meals and to smell the stinking vapours that proceed from the inward corruption of his body And what vexation is it unto him to see Wife nearest Parents and intimate friends to eschew the very sight of him and forsake him in these anxieties Oh what inward torments doth he feel by the gnawing worm of an awakned conscience which doth rack him day and night by the horrid representations of his former pollutions Oh what unspeakable terror do possess him when he sees and feels the arrows of the Almighty Job 6.4 as Job saith to be in him the venom whereof doth drink up his spirits and the terrours of God fight against him for his former transgressions Christians should then endeavor to mortifie this sinful passion if it were but to preserve their means and lengthen their days But 6. it endangers also their souls for if they continue in their impenitency till the end of their days they run a hazard without the special mercy of God to be deprived for ever of his gracious presence For S. Paul saith in the affirmative sense Heb. 13.4 Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge And by the Levitical Law Levit. 19.10 The Adulterer and Adulteress were both to be put to death yet Christ our Saviour goeth further for he saith Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her Matth. 5.28 hath already committed Adultery with her in his heart Now if the intellectual adulteries and pollutions of the imagination deserve eternal damnation the actual fornications of voluptuous men who take no other delight but in the commission of such scandalous sins must of necessity deserve a greater punishment if any did exceed the torments of Hell The consideration then of the evil nature pernitious proprieties and destructive Effects of this sinful passion should induce Christians to endeavor by all means to crush this Cockatrice in the shell before it getteth the mastery over their reason Otherwise if this evill spirit of uncleanness doth possess the noble faculties of their souls it will require an extraordinary measure of Grace to cast him out and will cost them many sighs groans and floods of penitent tears for this unclean spirit is of the same kinde as our Saviour speaks of which cannot be expelled but by fasting and prayer Math. 17.21 Now if they cannot be induced to this so necessary duty by the reasons moral precepts and strong Arguments before cited let the ensuing judgements of God inflicted upon voluptuous men awake and force them to it Sixthly The judgments of God inflicted upon particular Voluptuous men and whole Nations are so numerous that it would be an endless piece of work to speak of them all I will then make choyce but of some of them Gen. 19.5.24 1. All the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with Fire and Brimstone righteous Lot and his two Daughters onely excepted for their abhorred Lust and sins against Nature Num. 25.9 2. Twenty four Thousand of the People of Israel were consumed by the Plague for their fornications with the Moabitish women 3. Judg. 20.47 48. All the Tribe of Benjamin Six hundred only excepted were destroyed by the Sword for Patronizing the abhorred Lust of some of the Gibeahnites committed upon the Levites Concubine See Herodotus See the French Hist 4. All the Inhabitants of Ionia were destroyed by Cyrus for their lascivious Volupties 5. All the French that were in Sicilia were murthered in one night by the Sicilians for their uncleanness and fornications committed with the women of that Kingdom See the Hist of Naples 6. A great Borough near unto Putzola in the Kingdom of Naples was in one night overwhelmed by a just judgement of God with fire brimstone and the ashes of a hill near to it for the abhorred Lusts against Nature of the Inhabitants of the same 7. Gen. 34.26 Reuben was deprived of his Birth-right for defiling of his Fathers bed 8. Shechem lost his life for the rape of Dinah 9. Numb 25.8 Zimri was run through the body with a Javelin by Phinehas for his impudent Fornication with a Midianite Lady 10. Eli the High Priest 1 Sam. 4.17 18. and Hophni and Phinehas lost their lives the two last for their pollutions committed with the Israelitish women that came to Shiloh and the first for not reprehending his Sons so severely as he should have done for their lascivious courses 11. 2 Sam. 11.4 King David was severely punished for the Adultery committed with Bathsheba 12. Amnon his Son was killed by the servants of Absolom his Brother for the Rape of his sister Tamar 2 Sam. 13.14.29 And Absolom was slain by the commandment of Joab for having defiled his Fathers Concubines in the sight of the Sun and of all Israel See the Ecclesiastical History See the Millan and Florentine History Pope John the Twelfth was murthered in his bed for his Adultery committed with a Roman Lady 14. One of the Sforza's Duke of Millan was murthered in the Church of S. Steven by a Gentleman for his Adultery committed with his Wife 15. Alexander de Medecis Duke of