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 Army 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 â—…oth 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 defiâ—…'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 pâ—…rsu'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 Thcodosius'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 aâ—…ominable Custom they had which was abolish'd also by this Emperor of which he gives the following Account If a Woman were taken in Adultery they shut her up in a narrow Brothel-house and forc'd her to play
some Interpreters did both of 'em center in this Lamech who is thought to have been a bloody cruel Man as is gathered from this discourse to his Wives in that Chapter viz. I have slaâ—…n a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt This bad example of Lamech's digamy did quickly infect the Infant World for we find in the next Chapter That when men began to multiply and that daughters were born unto them the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair and they took them Wives of all that they chose It s still to be observed that as Whoredom and Uncleanness began in Cain's Family so there it continu'd and increas'd and by their Contagious Example the Family of Seth which did then contain the Visible Church became also infected and the Members of the Church having more regard to the Beauty and Comeliness of the Women of Cain's Race than to the vertue of those who were of their own Religion their Eyes betrayed their Hearts they lusted after their Beauty and without any consideration of Religion or Laws took them Wives of all that they chose by which Interpreters understand promiscuous Marriages Polygamy unjust Divorces Rapes and all manner of Lewd and Licentious practises which brought the Wrath of God upon the old World and occasion'd his saying as in the 3d verse That his spirit should not always contend with Man The occasion of this General Corruption of Manners is hinted to be the multiplication of Men and particularly of the Women of Cain's Posterity who being under no discipline and wanting the benefit of pious Instruction and good Example became dissolute and wanton and no care being taken to dispose of them duly in Marriage they took all occasions to satisfie their brutal desires for which their dwelling in Cities whereof Cain was the first Founder amongst multitudes of people gave them great opportunities it being always observ'd that in Great Cities the numbers of dissolute persons makes them to despise Laws and follow such practices as they durst not venture upon in Villages and Countries where they could be more easily restrained and punisht not that I would be understood to be against the building and maintaining of Cities which increase the Glory Riches and Strength of Nations but would to God that the great Cities of Christendom were not still too justly chargeable with avowed Impurities of the same nature which a zealous Magistracy might easily prevent It is also the opinion of some of the learned that the Cainites did first build themselves a City that they might strengthen one anothers hands in Cruelty and Uncleanness and follow such practises with all manner of impunity which gave their Women opportunity to pamper and deck themselves that they might be the more agreeable objects of Lust and this might also render them more amiable in the Eyes of the Posterity of Seth who living as 't is presumed a Rural Life for the most part and their Women being kept in order by Laws and Religion and applying themselves to the Affairs of their Families that they might approve themselves meet helps to their Husbands according to the design of God at the first Creation of Woman did not mind the decking and adorning of their Bodies nor the pampering of their Flesh and cherishing their Beauties as the Cainites did and therefore were not so pleasing to the Eye as those lascivious Women who behaved themselves as if God and Nature had design'd them for nothing else but a Man's bed whereas the Divine Goodness appointed that they should be meet-helps in their Religious Conversation Industry Care and Education of Children to all of which those loose practices of the Cainites were diametrically opposite From those unequal Marriages and promiscuous Copulations proceeded a contempt of Laws and Religion amongst the Cainites and an Apostacy from Godand Religion amongst many of the Posterity of Seth and it hath been observed amongst all Nations since that when Religion decays uncleanness increases and that a love to Licentiousness hath always been a great cause of Apostacy as is but too too observable in those that are called Deists and Socinians in this present Age most of their New Converts or rather Perverts being people of a loose life especially as to the point of Chastity The next effect of those unclean and beastly Commixtions was an off-spring of Giants so called as some Interpreters think from the vastness of their bulk as being begot in raging Lust or as others because of their Barbarous and Salvage Manners and filling all the World with Rapes Cruelty and Devastation so that by the just Judgment of God the Children of those unlawful Marriages and Promiscuous Copulations became the plague of their Parents and the scourge of Mankind as well as the declared Enemies of Heaven and Religion Whence the old doting Poets took occasion to amuse the World with the fabulous War of the Giants against Jupiter c. Noah not being able by his preaching of Righteousness to reform the World from this horrid Debauchery it provok'd God to bring the Deluge which drown'd that lascivious and wicked Generation of Men who had drown'd themselves in all manner of sensual Impurities with so much obstinacy that when that fatal Flood came it surpriz'd them as eating drinking marrying and giving in marriage Thus then it 's apparent that Whoredom was one of the principal Causes that brought the Wrath of God upon the old World And it deserves our observation that God by his Command to Noah to take only his own VVife and the three Wives of his three Sons into the Ark with him as he did thereby give another Testimony of his honouring and approving of Marriage he did also plainly testifie against Digamy Polygamy and Concubines and that as the World was peopled at first by lawful Marriage it should be also peopled in the same manner a second time To come next to the times after the Flood the first instance of impurity that occurs to us is Ham's deriding his father Noah 's nakedness by which there are some Interpreters who understand that he not only told it his Brethren but also before Women and Children in a lascivious and filthy manner and took occasion to fall into foolish Jesting and Sarcasms Nay if we give credit to the opinion of Berosus and the Rabbins he inchanted his Fathers Virile parts and unman'd him but however that is this is certain that he discover'd a frothy unclean lascivious temper for which he was severely punisht in his posterity The Canaanites who wallowed also in those fleshly impurities when God destroyed them by the Israelites the posterity of Sem as shall be taken notice of in its proper place From Ham did also proceed Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and cruel oppressor who was the first that laid the foundation of a Tyrannical Government after the Flood so that the observation still holds that Uncleanness Murder and those other Crimes which lay
Nations wast are near a kin and generally the off-spring and product of one and the same Family That Abraham seem'd to have this Notion appears from his advice given to his beautiful Wife Sarah when he travelled with her into Egypt viz. to say she was his Sister because the Egyptians he supposed would have kill'd him that they might enjoy her Whence we may likewise observe that the Holy Patriarch knew that lustful persons would rather commit Murder than be baulkt in the satisfaction of their Lusts and yet tho the World was at that time so much degenerated it 's plain from this passage that the Egyptians look'd upon Marriage as Sacred and Inviolable otherwise Sarah's calling her self Abraham's Sister could have been no defence of her Husbands life Nay it is manifest from the History that Pharaoh design'd to have taken her to Wife so that those Heathen Egyptians will rise up in Judgment against our Christian Debauchees who think neither Fornication nor Adultery to be Crimes for it 's evident from this passage that both he and his Subjects tho abominably lustful had a great regard to Marriage which it's plain he thought necessary to render his enjoyment of Sarah lawfull There are several other things to be learned from this remarkable instance as that the vanity of matching with none but those of Royal Extract had not then invaded the Thrones of Princes But at the same time it is as plain that it hath been an old and wicked Custom amongst Courtiers and Nobles to be Panders to the lusts of their Monarchs for here we find that Pharaoh's Princes Commended Sarah's Beauty to him which occasioned her being taken into his House and would to God that no such thing had ever been justly chargeable upon the Court of England There are only two Remarks more which I have to make on this Story and shall then proceed to another viz. that God by smiting Pharaoh and his Household all of sudden with Plagues did both give a Testimony of his divine displeasure against such lustful practices and of his being a protector of Conjugal Chastity What the nature of this Plague inflicted upon Pharaoh and his houshold was is not agreed upon amongst Interpreters The Hebrews say that it was a Gonorrhoea or Ulcer in his secret parts which prevented his design Josephus thinks it was a Pestilence and sudden Sedition in the Palace Philo Judaeus says it was a Distemper both of Body and Mind and Chrysostom is of opinion that it was some Bodily Plague inflicted upon him just as Sarah was brought to his Bed but however those things be this is certain that Sarah's pollution was prevented and Pharaoh oblig'd to own that it was not lawful to take another Man's Wife The next instance is of Abraham himself who is the first of the Posterity of Seth after the Flood that we find to have been guilty of Digamy it 's plain that the occasion of his taking his Handmaid Haga to Wife was his VVife Sarah's advice and the Cause of her giving that advice was her own Barrenness advanced age and fear that she should not otherwise have the promised Seed The Causes of Abraham's consenting so easily were no doubt the same and Polygamy being then Common in the World his Practice administred no occasion of Scandal so that his practice of marrying his Maid in those times of Ignorance which God winked at can not afford any argument for Polygamy now and seeing he had his Wifes consent it will far less warrant those lascivious Intrigues which many Masters have now a days with their Maid-Servants But that this practice of the Holy Patriarch was displeasing to God will easily appear from the punishment inflicted upon his Family the Peace of which was immediately broke by Hagar's despising her Mistress assoon as she found her self pregnant with the promised Seed as she vainly believ'd Then Sarah upbraids Abraham with the wrong whereof she her self was the occasion and forc'd him to a breach of that Marriage Bond which by her own advice he had contracted Hagar was also punisht for her unlawful Consent first by being severely dealt with by Sarah who gave her for a Wife to her Husband and then by being thrust out of the Family and expos'd to the World and though she was brought back again for some time till she was delivered of her Son Ishmael yet her abode was of no long continuance for she was thrust out again with this additional affliction that she had her Son to provide for was expos'd to the cruel necessity of seeing him die of thirst as she apprehended and instead of his being the promised Seed she and he were both Ignominiously thrust out from partaking of the Inheritance with Isaac and she was plainly told from Heaven that he should be a wild Man having his hand against every Man and every Man's hand against him which was speedily verified for he became a profane scoffer at Religion and the promise of God which occasioned his expulsion from his Fathers Family and the Church His crime is by the Apostle Paul called persecution and his Posterity we find complained of by the Psalmist in the 83. Psalm amongst the other persecutors of the people of God and so they have continued under several denominations to this day as Ishmaelites Hagarens c. of which latter name being ashamed as denoting their Spurious Original they assumed to themselves the Title of Saracens as if they were Sarah's off-spring under which they were formidable to the Christian World for some Ages and continue irreconcilable Enemies to the Christian Religion to this day under the name of Arabians Turks c. Such unseparable Vices are Uncleanness Cruelty and Persecution and so easie and natural is the Transition from an unclean person to become an Apostate and Enemy to true Religion Nor is it fit to let it pass unobserved that aâ—… he himself waâ—… unlawfully begot his Posterity to this day have continued to be a vile and lustful people and itis known to the world that it is now become an Article of their horrid Religion that they place their chief happiness both in this Life and that to come in the enjoyment of those impure pleasures Nor is it fit we should pass over what is commonly observ'd by Divines that the very Ordinance of Circumcision by which the fore-skin was appointed to be cut off was a mark of God's displeasure at Incontinence upon the Instrument of Generation and likewise an evidence that those who expect his favour should mortifie that Corruption and that it only took place upon Males was because the beginning of Generation and consequently of natural Corruption is from that Sex The next dreadful Instance of God's hatred and indignation at VVhoredom and Uncleanness is his raining of Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim c. the cry of their lewdness being such that it seemed to drown the noise of all other Sins at that time This is
Foretops if any thing lie out of order if every thing fall not even into their Rings and Curls which of these would not chuse that the State whereof he is a Member should be in Combustion rather than his Hair should be displaited It was common for them to have their Hair plaited behind and besmear'd with Oyntments and Perfumes and for their Faces they us'd so much Slibber-sauce such daubing and painting that they look'd like Ulcers Their Garments were artificially press'd to make them shine brighter and so curiously plaited that Hortensius the Orator commenced a Suit against his fellow in Office for that meeting him by chance in a narrow way he had disorder'd the Plaits of his Robe he held it a capital matter that a Fold upon his Shoulder was displac'd And so excessive they were in the multitude of their Apparel that when any of them went to the publick Baths they had as much Apparel carried after them as might well suffice a dozen of Men. Lucullus says Horace Ep. 6. had Five thousand short Cloaks and at their publick Feasts they chang'd Suits at the coming in of every Course meerly for Ostentation as we have shew'd already It was also usual with them to have Rings on every Finger and sometimes one for every Joynt Nay 't is recorded of Charinus that he wore six upon every Finger and they arriv'd to that heighth of Luxury in this point that they had Summer-rings and Winter-rings Then as to their Women If the Men were so nice we may well suppose that their Women exceeded concerning whom Seneca de Benef. 7. 9 says ' I see their Silken Apparel if it may be call'd Apparel wherewith they can neither cover their Bodies nor their Shame which when a Woman wears she cannot safely swear that she is not naked Yet these things are brought from Nations with whom we have no Traffick that our Women may expose no less to the publick view when they come abroad than they do to their Paramours in Bed Lollia Paulina a Wife and afterwards Widow to Caligula the Emperor when she went to any ordinary Feast us'd to have so many Jewels about her that she shone again as she went and offer'd to prove that those Ornaments alone stood her in Four hundred thousand Sesterces St. Jerome in Vita Pauli Eremitae and Tertullian de habitu Muliebri complain of the Prodigality of their Times saying That upon one Necklace hung the price of diverse Lopps and that upon one Twine there were threaded up Ten hundred thousand Sesterces Nay one Pearl bought by Julius Caesar for his Paramour Servilia the Mother of Brutus cost him Sixty hundred thousand Sesterces or near Forty-five thousand pounds Sterling Nay saith Seneca the Women had not sufficiently brought the Men into subjection if they did not hang two or three Patrimonies at each Ear. Propertius accuses the Roman Matrons of jetting it about with the Estates of their Heirs upon them Yet all this had been more tolerable had they not worn them upon their Feet of which Pliny can hardly speak with Patience Lib. 33. 3 Let our Women saith he wear their Pearl and precious Stones upon every Finger about their Necks in their Ears upon their Chappelets and Tresses but must they also wear them upon their Feet And Book 9. 35 he says Nay they garnish their Feet with them and not only the higher but the lower part of their Slippers so that it is not held sufficient to wear Pearl unless we tread and walk upon it Lampridius tells us of Heliogabalus that he wore Jewels curiously engraven on his Feet as if the Gravings of famous Workmen could be discern'd there Their Women did not blush to own that they painted their Eyebrows and Faces and dy'd their Hair and had such infinite numbers of little Boxes full of Trash for hiding their Deformities that Ovid as great an Admirer of the fair Sex as he was says Non semel hic stomacho nausea facta meo i. e. They had oftentimes turn'd his Stomach Their Looking-glasses were in heighth and breadth answerable to their Bodies engraven in their Borders with Gold and Silver and emboss'd with precious Stone Some of those says Seneca Nat. Quaest. lib. 1. 17 cost more than the Ancients gave in Dowry with their Daughters nay than that which by publick allowâ—… ance was given the Daughters of the poorer Emperors And a little further he says Now a days says he that Dowry which the People of Rome gave with Scipio's Daughter will not suffice to buy a Glass for a Manumited Slave's Daughter and that was Eleven thousand Asses which was upwards of Forty pound Sterling so that by this we may guess what Luxury reign'd among Persons of Quality Then as to the number of their Servants they were so numerous that Athenaeus says some of them had above Twenty thousand Marcellinus describes their Order of ranging their Servants when they went abroad as if it had been an Army insomuch that they were under a necessity of having Comptrollers or Nomenclators to tell them the Names of their Servants And that their Women did also exceed in this kind may be gather'd from St. Jerome's Epistle to Furia wherein he forbids her to go abroad with an Army of Eunuchs marching before her after the manner of licentious Widows Thus we have finish'd our Collections from the Roman History which are sufficient to demonstrate that that great Empire was ruin'd by Luxury and Uncleanness and will serve to convince any judicious Reader what Monsters particular Men and whole Nations become when judicially given up of God to work all manner of Uncleanness with Greediness We come in the next place to search into Ecclesiastical History to see what we can find for our purpose there In the 2d Book of Eusebius we find that Simon Magus that great Enemy to the Christian Religion is accus'd of keeping company with one Helena who had formerly been a common Prostitute in the Stews of Tyre a City of Phoenicia whom his Followers call'd the prime Notion or first Conception from him and us'd to prostrate themselves before the Images and Pictures of this Simon and his Strumpet Helena And suitable to this was their Practise viz. so impure that 't was impossible for Men of Modesty to utter them by reason of their excessive Obscenity there being nothing to be invented so impure which their lewd Sect did not far surpass deluding silly Women laden with all manner of Iniquity a pregnant and strong Instance that Impurity of Life and Principle leads Men naturally to a hatred of true Religion The next Instance is in Book 3 Cap. 28 of the Heretick Cerinthus of whom he says That being a Lover of his Body and altogether carnally minded he earnestly lusted after those things wherein he dreamt the Kingdom of Christ consisted viz. in the satiety of the Belly and of those parts beneath the Belly that is Meats Drinks and Marriages And Nicephorus lib. 3 cap. 14
ExternaI as well as Internal Wars Here are diverse Battles with the Philistines taken notice of and in one of them David run a great risk of being kill'd had he not been seasonably rescued by Abishai The last thing we meet with in this Book which any way relates to our purpose is That Interpreters think that the General Luxury and Dissolution of manners which reigned amongst the Israelites after so many Victories over their Enemies and that Peace and Plenty was Restored to them was the Cause of God's stirring up David to Number the people which occasioned a Plague amongst them that like a deluge sweept away 70000 of the people so usual is it for General Prophanity to be followed by General Judgments The first Book of Kings begins with an Account of a new Rebellion hatch'd 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 youngman 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 Notice is Solomon himself of whom we have this Account in the 11th Chap. of I 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 Moab 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 ofChrist 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 Edomite 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 fouâ—… 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 IdoIatry 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 Pròof 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
that come out of such an obscene Brothel-house Will such Fellows as these that are cover'd all over with Buggeries of their own and other men fight for the Chastity of their Wives and Children And setting forth at large the Danger that might accrue to the State by those Nightly Meetings the Bacchanalian Rites were prohibited by Order of the Senate all the Priests of the Order were commanded to be shut up and the Frequenters of those Nightly Meetings enquir'd after such of them as they found to have been only initiated and had said Prayers according to the Sacred Form which the Priests repeated before them in which was contain'd a cursed Obligation to commit all Acts of Villany and Lechery but had not committed them them they imprison'd â—…ut those whom they found to have been defil'd by Lust or Murder false Testimonies false Tokens forging of Wills or other Frauds they put to Death after which the Bacchanalia were pull'd down at Rome and all over Italy We shall conclude our Instances from Livy with this Passage which is the last that fam'd Historian affords us that any way relates to our Subject It is proper however to observe here that the Bacchanalia which we have now describ'd may justly be reckon'd a-Kin to if not the Off-spring of the Eleusina Sacra formerly mention'd both of them had their Original from Greece and were solemniz'd with much the like Secrecy and Outrage and both of them serve to let us see how far Humane Nature may be deprav'd by raging Lust when a Person or People are justly given up to it of God We think it proper before we come to the Instances of the Roman Emperors c. which are but too too numerous to take a view of those persons whom Plutarch has honour'd to be their Biographer and to excerpt from thence what suits with our purpose We have taken notice that Rome was founded by a spurious Brood and in the Life of Theseus which is the first in Plutarch We shall find that Athens had much the same sort of Original which is the more observable because from those two Cities the Christian Religion met with the greatest Opposition viz. from the vain Philosophy of the former and the more bloody and cruel Persecution of the latter Our Author tells us That Theseus seems to resemble Romulus in many particulars and in his Birth especially both of 'em being born out of Wedlock and of uncertain Parentage Ageus however is reckon'd to be Father to Theseus by Athia Daughter to Plitheus whom having got with Child he left a Sword and a pair of Shoes hiding them under a great Stone and making her only privy to it commanding her that if she brought forth a Son who when he came to Man's estate should be able to lift up the Stone and take away what he had left there she should send him away to him with those things with all Secrecy Which she having accordingly observ'd her Son Theseus after he had slain Sinnis who from his way of murthering Men was call'd The Bender of Pines committed Fornication with his Daughter Perigune begot Menalippus upon her and afterwards married her to another The next Feat Theseus did was the killing of Phea a Beast of great fierceness according to some or a cruel and lustful Woman according to others who had the Name of a Sow given her from the beastliness of her Life which if true she was remarkably enough punish'd by one that was as guilty of Incontinence as her self The next thing we have of his Amours is that with Ariadne by whose Advice and Assistance he overcame the Miâ—…aur but having serv'd his Ends he deserted her for another viz. Aegle with whom he fell in Love and thereupon Ariadne died of Grief as some say tho' others contradict it and alledge She died in Childbed Our Author gives us also an Account of his Rape of Antiope Princess of the Amazons and in short sums up his unlawful Amours and the fatal Consequence of them in a few words thus That the Marriages of Theseus were neither honourable in their beginning nor fortunate in their Events and recounts them thus viz. that he forc'd Anaxo the Traxenian ravish'd the Daughters of Sinnis and Cercyon married Peribaea the Mother of Ajax and then Pheribaea and then Iope the Daughter of â—…phicles Further he is accus'd for deserting Ariadne as is before related being in love with Aegle the Daughter of Panopeus an Action neither just nor honourable and lastly for the Rape of Helen when he was fifty Years old which fill'd all Attica with War and Blood and occasion'd his Banishment and Death Lycomedes having thrown him headlong from a Rock as he had hurried himself headlong into Lustful Passion Such was the fatal Exit of this Ethnick Hero occasion'd by his Uncleanness In the Life of Lycurgus that great Lacedemonian Philosopher and Law-giver we have an eminent Instance of the truth of that of the Apostle concerning the Heathens that because when they knew God they glorified him not as God he gave them up to work all Uncleanness with greediness for what less than a Judicial Blindness could so much infatuate such a wise man as Lycurgus to allow a Communitv of Wives and the promiscuous Dancings of young Men and Women together naked that must necessarily inflame their Lusts Which is own'd by Plutarch himself tho' cover'd under the handsom Expressions of alluring them to Marriage not upon Interest and Equality of Fortune and Birth but from the sweet Constraint and unsophisticated Dictates of Nature The Reasons of this Community of Women he enforc'd by these Arguments following viz. That Children are not so much the Propriety of their Parents as of the Commonwealth and therefore he would not have 'em begot by the first Comers but by the best Men that could be found That the Laws of other Nations seem'd to him very defective and incongruous who were very sollicitous for the Bread of their Dogs and Horses and sent a great way to get the best Stallions and yet kept their Wives under Lock and Key for fear of other Men whereas themselves were craz'd old or infirm and more fit to propagate Diseases than their Species Certainly any man at first sight must needs see that those Dictates of our Philosopher are contrary to the Dictates of Nature and naturally Introductive of all manner of Villany and Disorders Reason as well as Revelation teaches us that Jealousie is the Rage of a Man and that there is nothing more unsupportable to Humane Nature All Histories are full of Tragical Instances of it and Experience teaches us that those Nations where such promiscuous Copulations are allow'd differ but very little from Brutes whose Example Lycurgus proposes and they follow If it be objected What we find in the Life of our Author that so long as these Ordinances were observ'd the Women were so far from that Scandalous Liberty which hath since been objected to them