Ornaments for the daughters of Zion, or, The character and happiness of a virtuous woman in a disocurse which directs the female-sex how to express the fear of God in every age and state of their life, and obtain both temporal and eternal blessedness / written by Cotton Mather.

Ornaments for the Daughtes of Zion. OR, The Character and Happiness of A Virtuous Woman

From the words of the Wise Woman In Proverbs 31. 30.

Favour is deceitful, and Beauty is vain, but A WOMAN THAT FEARETH THE LORD, She 'tis that shall be praised.

IT may well be reckoned the bright∣est Honour of that Sex, which the Holy Spirit of God has declar'd worthy of a Chast and a Kind Honour from us; That when the Fulness of Time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a Woman. As a Woman had the Dis∣grace to go first in that horrid and woful Transgression of our first Parents, which has been the Parent of all our Misery; so a Woman had the Glory of bringing into the World that Second Adam, who

is the Father of all our Happiness. A Woman had the Saviour of Mankind in the Circumstances of an Infant Miracu∣lously Conceiv'd within her; and of a Mary was born that Holy Thing, which is called, The Son of God. There is a Wo∣man, whom we do now without the mistakes, which made that expression the occasion of many Antient, and no less furious than curious Controversies, call, The Mother of Him that is God; in as much as that very Flesh which was born of her, and which the Trembling Hereticks of this Age, do not now Tremble to vilifie and nullifie with frequent Blas∣phemies; I say, That Visible Tangible Flesh, is Personally United unto the Se∣cond Person in the Adorable Trinity. Though we do not like the Popish Ido∣laters, for this cause, imagine that Blessed Virgin to have been free from Original Sin, when she was on Earth, nor now Implore her Mediation and Intercession in Heaven for us; and though I do not think, that the Holy Ghost referr'd unto her peculiarly, as there are Expositors who think he does, when he says, The Woman that fears the Lord, she 'tis that shall be praised: Yet we may safely

account the Female Sex herein more than a little dignified. And how should it en∣courage all Women to seek a saving Inte∣rest in that Redeemer, who was Born of a Woman! How should all Women make their Hearts a Lodging for that Lord, who in a Woman received The Body pre∣pared for him!

The Second, or a priviledge not far from the Second Advancement of that Sex, may be esteemed, the Share which it has had in Writing those Oracles, which make us wise unto Salvation. As one Woman was the Mother of him who is the Essential Word of God, so divers Women have been the Writers of his De∣clarative Word. Though the Apostle does abundantly intimate unto us, that such Inspirations as compos'd the Scrip∣tures are not now to be expected, when he gives the prohibition so much Trans∣gress'd by the most Absurd Sect in our Days, That the Woman may not speak in the Church; yet our God has Employ'd many Women to Write for the Chu••ch, and Inspir'd some of them for the Writing of the Scriptures. We have not only seen Women doing service for the Taber∣nacle by such Ingenious Writings as we

find mention'd in the Catalogues of Be∣verovicius, Hottinger, and Voetius; or such as that most accomplish'd Lady, Anna Maria Schurman has in our Age ad∣dressed the World withal; for even the Books publish'd by that Sex, were enough to make a Library far from con∣temptible; nor has even the New-Eng∣lish part of the American Strand been without Authoresses that would challenge a Room in such a Library: They to whom the common use of Swords is nei∣ther Decent nor Lawful, have made a most Laudable use of Pens; and they that might not without Sin, lead the Life which old Stories ascribe to Ama∣zons, have with much praise done the part of Scholars in the World: But we sometimes also find a Woman among the Amanuenses or Scribes of that Spirit, who moved holy Men to write the most sure Word of Prophecy. And how much does this oblige all Women to study that pre∣cious Bible, to the curious Workman∣ship whereof, the hand of a Woman has contributed? How ready should Women be to Read the pages, upon which they may see transcribed the heavenly dis∣coveries made by the God of Heaven

to an holy Woman; rather than to mis∣spend their hours, and infect their hearts by the revolving of such Romances, as commonly leave a sensible Taint upon the minds of their unwary Readers?

We have not only the Song of De∣borah, the Song of Hannah, the Song of Mary, and the Prophecy of Huldah, in this matchless Book of our God; but the Instructions of Bathshebah too, are entered in these blessed Registers. The thirty first Chapter of Proverbs contains a direction of Bathshebah to her darling Solomon. Solomon that in the fourth Chapter of this Book, records the Counsels of his Father, now in the last Chapter adds the Counsels of his Mo∣ther thereunto. So careful will wise Children be to remember the gracious Counsels of their godly Parents: We have Solomon here addressed by the name of Lemuel, which name some In∣terpreters judge to be a little and a lo∣ving imitation of his true Name; as 'tis useful with our Mothers, from the names of Edward and William, and the like, to form affectionate Appel∣lations for us; but others waving so small a consideration, do look upon Le∣muel

as one of the eight Names which the Jews do ascribe unto that Man of Name, and they tell us, that as Jedidiah proclaimed his being Beloved of the Lord, Lemuel signified his Belonging to the Lord. Some famous persons in the World, have been signaliz'd by that Character of being Mother taught; such an one was our Solomon, who had not on∣ly a Father, that lest behind him Tran∣scendent Songs for Solomon, but also a Mother, who taught him such things as the best should not be unwilling to learn. How free, how rich is the Grace of God unto Repenting Sinners! Bath∣shebah, after a very scandalous Fall, be∣comes a very eminent Saint, yea a Pro∣phetess of the Lord. Although a Wo∣man may have been remarkable and no∣torious for sin, yet let her endeavour to make her Peace with God: It may be made, and she may enter into the King∣dom of Heaven, before others that have not had such wounds upon them.

'Tis evident, that the nine first verses of the Chapter, are spent in Reciting the most prudent and winning Lessons of Bathshebah to her Solomon. But it is con∣ceived that the rest of the Chapter is

only Solomons Reciprocation in the prai∣ses of Bathshebah. It is indeed a most lovely thing to see such Correspon∣dencies of Desert and Duty, as make Children to count their Mothers wor∣thy of their honour: Noble Romans have sometimes made Florid Speeches at the Funerals of their Mothers, and professed, That they had never in their Lives been reconciled unto them, inasmuch as (they meant) they had never fallen out: It is the happiness of a Mother sometimes to have such Sons as Nazien∣zen and Austin were unto theirs, whose Names are by their means forever Ce∣lebrated: although for the most part we see in mens Readiness to Slight their Mothers, the Reason why the Mother is put first in that Charge of our God. Ye shall fear every man his Mother, and his Father. It is the Opinion of others, That the Conclusion of the Chapter, is also the Composure of Bathshebah; and that which confirms them in this Opinion is, The Skill in Houshold Affairs here manifested, which Carries a Little of a Female Aspect with it. However it be, we have here the De∣scription of, A Virtuous Woman, in

twenty two Verses, according to the Number and Order of the Letters, in the Hebrew Alphabet; Every letter in due sequence beginning a several Verse. 'Tis reported, that Children among the Jews of old Learning to Write, had their Copies usually given them from those Portions of the Scrip∣tures, which were drawn up with such an Alphabet of the Hebrew Letters in them; whether that were so, or no, I am sure that Women among the Gen∣tiles in our Days, Learning to Live, cannot easily find better Copies to fol∣low, than those which are in our Context here set before them. It were to be wished, That the Sex which so often looks into the Glass, would sometimes cast an eye upon this part of that Sa∣cred Word, which is compar'd unto a Divine Glass; that they may see whe∣ther they have the Features, or Habits of The Virtuous Woman, on them. And I pray, let no Woman count her self so great a Lady as to put in her Excep∣tions, against that Stroke in the Cha∣racter of the Virtuous Woman here; She seeks Wooll and Flax, and Works willingly with her Hands, till she has procured

the Alteration of the English Laws, wherein, Spinster, is a Term given to Women of the greatest Quality. When a Gentlewoman of Extraordinary Learn∣ing was presented before the first King of Great Britain, his first Question to her, was, Madam, Can you Spin? And several of the most Renowned Empe∣rours▪ have not only Obliged their Daughters to Spin, but also Wore such Garments as those Princely Hands had prepared for them. The Cards at which many Gentlewoman Play wickedly with their Hands, are far more Debasing, than those Cards which fit the Wooll for the Wheel: and the Distaff is an Instrument of better Quality than the Dice. The Famous Queen Katharine, when persons of high Rank were sent unto her with a Message from King Henry, counted it no Disgrace to be found with a Skein of Red Silk about her Neck, at Work, with a Maid of Honour by her side. She that hath Bought a Field has not thereby Bought a Re∣lease from Domestick Businesses; the Hands which Carve at the most Noble Tables, may be Laid unto the Spindle, without

being Dishonourably Blistered or Dirt∣ed there.

'Tis a foolish Custom which the Jews have in Reading Solomons Book of Eccle∣siastes; that they Print the Last Verse but One, of it, over again in the Close of all, because they would have the re∣membrance and Impression of that Verse to be Stronger upon them, than that of the terrible verse which follows it. But having laid before you the Descrip∣tion of A Virtuous Woman, which closes up Solomons Book of Proverbs; I must upon another Account Print, and ask the Daughters of our Common Mother to Read the last verse but one, over again; 'tis this.

FAVOƲR is Deceitful, and Beauty is Vain; but a Woman, that Fears the Lord, She 'tis that shall be Praised.

The Words are, as one says of them, A Royal Garland set on the Head of a Vir∣tuous Woman by the Hand of God. Some Interpreters do so Allegorize these Words, that they make this Virtuous Woman to be the Church of God. In∣deed, there are more Women than Men,

in the Church; and the more Virtuous they prove, the more Worthy will the Church be, to be figured by, A Wo∣man that Fears the Lord. Some Inter∣preters again, do so Sublimate the words, that they understand every Ho∣ly, Pious, Devout Soul by this Virtuous Woman. And it were well, if Women were generally so Virtuous, as that they might worthily impart unto every God∣ly Soul, the Denomination of, A Wo∣man that Fears the Lord. Other Inter∣preters do suppose Virtue it self to be meant by the Virtuous Woman. But, we should be sorry, if a Virtuous Wo∣man prove so rare a thing, as to afford a stile for a Parable rather than an Histo∣ry. I confess, Virtue it self, and the Names of all Particular Virtues, are Grammatically of the Female Gender; and that the Things may Theologically abound in that Gender, is what we may thence take occasion to be wishing for. But after all, 'Tis a Real, Proper, Gracious Woman, that has her Character and Blessedness in these words Exhibited unto us.—

The first thing with which we are here treated is,

I. THE CHARACTER of a Virtuous Woman.

And this Character is both Negatively and Positively offered. Negatively, 'Tis not a Deceitful Favour, or, a Vain Beauty that sets her off; Women that have none but those things to Value themselves upon, are driven out from The Temple of Honour, here. But, Po∣sitively, 'Tis the Fear of the Lord that is her Commendation. 'Tis implied, not only that Favour and Beauty are poor things compar'd with the Fear of God, but also that they who have the Fear of God, will not Value themselves upon their Favour and Beauty. Yea, that there is a Favour and Beauty Oppo∣site, Contrary, Destructive to the Fear of God. We may reflect upon the whole, in these Conclusions.

Conclusion. 1.

The Virtuous Woman counts the best Female Favour to be Deceitful, the

best Female Beauty to be Vain.

By Favour is meant, a Comely Presence, an Handsome Carriage, a Decent Gesture, a ready Wit agree∣ably expressing it self, with all other Graceful Motions, and whatsoever pro∣cures Favour for a Woman among her Neighbours. The Virtuous Woman is willing to have this Favour, so far as is consistent with Virtue; She counts it a Favour of God for one to be graced with it; But still she looks upon it as a Deceitful thing. She is careful, that She do not hereby Deceive her self into proud Imaginations, and into an Hu∣mour, Conceited of her self, or Contemp∣tuous towards others. Careful She like∣wise is, lest hereby She Decieve Unwary men, into those Amours which bewitch∣ing looks and smiles do often betray the Children of men, especially those that are but Children of men, into.

By Beauty is meant, a good Propor∣tion and Symmetry of the parts, and a skin well Varnished, or that which Chrysostom calls, A good mixture of Blood and Flegm shining through a good Skin; With all that Harmonious Air of the Countenance, which recommends it

self, as a Beauty to the Eye of the Spe∣ctator. The Virtuous Woman is not un∣thankful for this Beauty, when the God of Nature has bestow'd any of it on her; and yet she counts it no Virtue for her to be very sensible of her being illustrated with such a Beauty. But still she looks upon it as a Vain thing. She reckons it so Vain, that she has no Assurance for the continuance of it; but that it is tem∣poris & Morbi Ludibrium, as one of the Antients has descanted on it; a thing neither Age-proof, nor Ague-proof. She sees that Vanity in it, which is upon the quickly Withering Roses and Lillies of the Field: Such a Vanity as that Sick∣beds or Sun beams, or a thousand Ca∣sualties may soon destroy that Idol of the Amorites. And upon these thoughts, a Virtuous Woman takes heed of becom∣ing so Deceitful and Vain, as many Wo∣men are tempted by their Favour and Beauty to become.

Conclusion 2.

There is a Favour so particularly De∣ceitful, and a Beauty so remarkably Vain, as that a Virtuous Woman would be loth to be Deformed with it.

The Favour whereat a Virtuous Woman has a particular Distast, is that which promiscuous Dancing is applauded for. The exercise of promiscuous Dancing is that which pretends to be a piece of Breeding which demands the Favour of Woman-kind; but a Virtuous Woman esteems them deceived who count it so; nor will she affect such an Exercise. Job recounts it as part of the Breeding which the Ungodly bestow upon their Children, in Chap. 21. 11. Their Children Dance. Now the Virtuous Woman is not fond of being that way employ'd. We read the Haughty Daughters of Zion described and threatned in Isa. 3. 16. as walking and min••ing as they go. Very Renowned Expositors conceive that Scripture to refer unto the Haughty Carriages learned in the Dancing School. The Apostle Paul in Rom. 13. 13. con∣demns Rioting; and the Apostle Peter, in 1 Pet. 4. 3. condemns Revelling Now the most Learned Criticks in the Greek Tongue, judge Dancing to be the thing intended in the word there used by those Apostles. Moreover, the Reve∣rend Assembly of Divines, in their Larger Catechism, very justly mention

Dancings among the things forbidden in the Seventh Commandment of our God. Nor does the Levity of Dancings wherein persons leap and fling about so like Bedlams, that the wisest Men have call'd it, A Regular Madness, now agree well with the Gravity, which Holiness is to be accompanied withal. Such things as these are enough to make a Virtuous Woman to discard such Dancings from among the things of good report; and leave them either to the Pagans, whose manner 'twas to Dance in the Worship of Bacchus, or to the Monkeys, whom of old they brought forth to Dance at the Festival of Diana. Some of the more sober Papists have not stuck to say, The Dancer breaks the Covenant of God, made in Baptism; he promised to renounce the Devil, and his Pomps: But when he enters into a Dance, he goes in the Pompous Pro∣cession of the Devil. They are not a few silly scrupulous Precisians, by whom these Dancings have been stigmatized. In the Primitive Times, more than one or two of the Fathers thundred against them as a Diabolical practice; and whole Synods did prohibit the usage of them, even at Weddings as well as at other

Seasons. Nor have Reforming Synods of later days in France, Holland, Poland, forborn to brandish the Sword of Church-Discipline, and provide Censures for any Dancers that might be found among their Communicants. Austin says, The miserable Dancer knows not, that as many paces as he makes in Dancing, so many steps he makes to Hell. And the blessed old Waldenses testified, In a Dance one breaks all the Ten Commandments of God. The most Eminent Reformers above an hundred years ago, concurred in witnessing against these Dances, as an Ʋnlawful Recreation; and among the English Divines, yea among the English Bishops, they have been decry'd by a Cloud of Witnesses; they have branded our Dancers as the Capering Goats, that will not be found among the Sheep in the Day of the Lord. Shall we say it? Even the Antient Romans, although they were Heathens, yet reputed skill in Dancing an Infamous thing. Scipio call'd a Dance, Impudent; Salust call'd a Dance, Dishonest; and they cited it as a Note of Infamy. Tully could say, A Dancer is doubtless either drunk or mad; and he argued against some, that they

must needs be Vicious, inasmuch as they were Dancers; nor did Seneca think it any other than a matter of bitter com∣plaint, That there were Dancing-Schools tolerated in the City. These are consi∣derations enough to deter a Virtuous Woman from the Dances, which are now become so acceptable to This Adulterous Generation. Pardon me this freedom; I had been worse than an Infidel, if I had not used it; for I remember Plutarch himself enumerating the Qualifications of a Virtuous Woman; gives this for one, She must not be a Dancer. The Daughter of Herodias has been so stigmatized, that a Virtuous Woman will not be for Dancing after her.

The Beauty whereof a Virtuous Woman hath a remarkable dislike, is that which hath Artificial Painting in it. The usage of Artificial Painting is practised by many Women, who think thereby to be valued for a Beauty, which they are not really the owners of: But a Virtuous Woman will not be guilty of such a Va∣nity. There is a wicked Book that pleads for this ungodly practice; but that good Lady uttered the Language of a Virtuous Woman upon reading such a

Book, O Lord, I thank thee, that thou gavest me not Wit enough to write such a Book, u••less withal thou hadst given me Grace enough not to write it. Although it be not unlawful for a Person transi∣ently to preserve or to restore her Na∣tive Complexion by convenient Medi∣cines, when she is in any special danger of losing it; yet for a Person to Paint her self, that she may make some osten∣station of a Complexion which God has not made her the owner of, is a thing that has heard ill among the most godly Christians; nor will a Virtuous Woman easily be reconcil'd unto it; lest when the Saints Rise as Tertullian wished he might at the Resurrection of the Righ∣teous, To see whether the Angels are then carrying any Painted Ladies in their Arms to meet the Lord Jesus Christ with Joy; there will be no such sight then to be met withal. The wicked Harlots of old Painted their Eyes, as 'tis said in Ezek. 33. 40. Thou paintest thy Eyes; under∣stand it of their Eye-brows and Eye lids, which they ting'd with a preparation of Antimony to blacken them, and beautifie 'em. This was accounted an extraordi∣nary Comliness; and therefore about

the Harlot is the Young Man advised in Prov. 6. 25. Let her not take thee with her Eye-lids. Of such Eyes 'twas that Cyprian said, These are not Eyes with which our God is to be look'd unto! And Jerom reckons 'em among scandalous Harlotries. Now this is one Argument which the Virtuous Woman has against the Painting of her Face in any part of it; It is the Guise of an Harlot. An Adulterate Complexion is but agreeable to an Adulterous Condition. A Painted Face is but a Painted Sign hung out for advice to Strangers, that they shall find Enter∣tainment there. 'Tis often the VVhores Forehead which admits Paint upon it. 'Tis well if you do not find a Snake where you see a Painted Skin. More∣over, our Face is a Seat which has much of the Divine Image and VVisdom ap∣pearing in it; and it is a vile Affront unto God, for a Woman to Deface the Workmanship of the Almighty there; by such an Inversion, as the Hebrew word for this Painting signifies. Now, the Paint which is laid upon it, not only dis-figures the Face for the present, but also do's corrupt it and corrode it, and poison it, and hasten wrinkles and ruines there∣upon:

it will Rent the Face, as the Scripture speaks of it; and I am sure, it should Rent the Heart, of them that use it. Besides, Our Lord Rebuked it, as a base Hypocrisie for Persons to alter their Faces that they might appear to be Fasting, when they were so indeed; how much more basely Hypocritical is it, for Persons to alter their Faces that they might appear to be Comely when indeed they are not so? There is no Sincerity in these Butterflies. It is a Cheat which there is no enduring of. The more Moral Heathen shew'd a great Indignation at it; and shall we think a Vertuous Woman can allow of it? And alas, what a World of Precious Time, is thus thrown away, by poor Creatures, who are so taken up with Painting of the Sepulchres in which their Souls lye Dead, as that they do little or nothing for the Beautifying of those Black, Forlorn, Forsaken Souls? The sin committed in Paintings we must sup∣pose committed in Patches too. When the Face is Patched the Heart is Rotten, the Heart has more Black Spots than the Face upon it. Some unhappy Ladies by the Just Judgment of God, have

brought forth Children with Natural Patches on: so has Go•• been offended at them. The Antients tell us, that the Devil was the Inventor of this Hellish Art; and it can be nothing but either Lust or Pride (both Bras of the Devil!) that shall dispose any to the using of it. If they that Please men, much more, I am sure they that thus Cheat men, cannot be The Servants of Christ; Tertullian well calls them, The Handmaids of the Devil; nor when they Paint their Bodies do they Glorifie the Lord with their Bodies. A Virtuous Woman would be loth to fol∣low no better Patterns than Jezebel or Maximilla, both of which Woful Creatures have this related of them, That they Paint••d their Faces. For such would She leave these foul Paintings; and now the old Picts are dead, She would not help to Revive that Pagan Generation or make her self a Sister to the Squaws in the Thickets of Ame∣rica. Nor would She be in the way of such Thunder-bolts, as Dr. Hall in Imitation of the blessed Ancients once darted against such Transgressors, Hear this, ye Plaister-faced Jezabels; if you will not leave your Dawbings and your High

Washes, God will one Day wash them off with Fire and Brimstone!

Conclusion. 3.

The Fear of God is that which the Heart of a Virtuous Woman is under the Power of. The Female Sex is naturally the Fearful Sex; but the Fear of God is that which Exceeds (and sometimes Extinguishes) all other Fears in the Virtuous Woman. To state this matter aright, we are to know, That the Fear of God is an Old Testament Expression, as the Love of God is a New Testament one, for all true Religion whatsoever. It may then be said of a Virtuous Woman, That she is a Religious Woman; She has Bound her self again to that God, whom She had by the Sin and Fall of her First Mother departed from; She has a Love which does not cast out the Fear that is no Fault, but confirm and settle her in that Fear of God; That all kind of Piety and Charity is prevailing in her Disposition; That Sobriety, and Righ∣teousness, and Godliness are Visible in her whole Behaviour; and, that She does Justice, loves Mercy, and walks

Humbly with her God. But that we may speak somewhat more particularly.

First, A Virtuous Woman has Awful as well as Real Apprehensions, That there is a God. When Jacob of old per∣ceived the Presence of God, it is said, in Gen. 28. 17. He was Afraid. The Vertuous Woman in like manner Be∣lieves the Essence of God; and that thought, God is, it raises a Sacred Fear of Him in her humble and moved Soul. She sees the Being of a God prov'd from the Works of Creation: even as he that made the Image of Minerva ingraved his own Name upon it so, that it could not be taken out without breaking all to pieces. The whole World is a Book, and all Creatures are the Letters in it, whereby She Spells out the Existence of a GOD. Even the Dumb, the Mute Creatures do loudly speak this Truth unto her she Considers, That the World had a Beginning; inasmuch as 'tis Older and Changing every Day: And that it could not have its Beginning from it self; inasmuch as Nothing would then be the cause of Something. So, She sees, there is a GOD; and She sees the Wisdom of a GOD, the Power of a GOD, the

Goodness of a GOD, throughout the Universe. She sees likewise the Being of GOD plain in the Works of Provi∣dence; which preserves all things in a most Excellent Order, Subordinate and Subservient unto a Glorious End. She sees the World like a Vast Army Com∣posed of Quarrelsome, Contentious, Contrary things, and yet holding well together; whereupon she concludes, There is a GOD who is the Wise General over all. She considers the extraordina∣ry Occurrences in the World; and when She sees Prophecies that exactly foretell what comes to pass many Ages after; When she sees Miracles, that give Check to the Common Course and Road of Nature; When She sees Pray∣ers extraordinarily Answered, Good Men extraordinarily Rewarded, Ill men Extraordinarily Punished, She cries out, The Finger of a GOD is here! She finds her self born with a Notion of a GOD, wherein she has not been by any Tradi∣tion or Policy of others Impos'd upon; and She graciously Cherishes that No∣tion. All Ancient Histories hardly mention above Twenty Profest Atheists; and of those that were counted such,

there never was one, without frequent and vehement suspitions of a GOD. But all Tendencies to Atheism are most abominable to the Soul of a Virtuous Woman. She is not such a Fool, as to say with her Mouth, or to Think with her Heart, or to say in her Heart, and Wish, There is no God. The Being of a GOD is at once the Fear, and yet the Wish of her Godly Soul. If any De∣signing, Debauched Atheist, go to in∣sinuate unto her; That the Notion of GOD, and HEAVEN, and HELL, and an Immortal SOUL, is but a Trick of some cunning Divines. her Answer is with an Indignation, Speedy and An∣gry like a Flash of Lightning, Satan, be gone!

Next; A Virtuous Woman has a most Reverent Respect and Regard unto all that has the Name of God upon it. They that have the Fear of God in them, are by Him so stiled, in Mal. 4. 2. You that Fear my Name. The Name of God is all that, whereby He makes Himself Known unto us; and a Virtuous Wo∣man will not Irreverently Use any such Thing, lest She should be held not Guilt∣less before the Lord. She will not utter

the Titles of God in any Frothy and Foolish manner; nor will she have a low opinion of His Attributes; nor will she with a Carnal Spirit come unto his Ordinances. Yea, so far she is from Affronting the Name of God her self, that although she should be Dressed ne∣ver so Fine, yet if she Chance to hear the Name of God Blasphemed, she can scarce forbear the Rending of her Clothes, as the Usage of the Jews was on such a Provocation; be sure, it causes the Reading of her Heart. Especially, the Word of God, is what she Fears to De∣spise or Controul, or Disobey; it may be said of her, She Fears the Commandment; it may be said by her, My Heart stands in Fear of thy Word. Of the Precepts in that Word, it is then, Fear, Oh let me not break them! Of the Promises there, 'tis her Fear, Oh let me not fall Short of them! Of the Menaces there, 'tis her Fear, Oh let them never take hold of me! And at the same time, the Virtuous Woman is very much Concerned, That the Name of God may be duely honour∣ed in the World. Sanctify'd be thy Name is the first Petition of her Soul unto her Lord. She would not for the

most Massy Wedges of Gold, ever do any thing, that may bring Reproach to the dear Name of God; but she Stu∣dies, Contrives, Labours to Advance that Blessed Name as far as ever she can; Oh (she thinks) How may the Name of my Good God, be by my means Exalted in the World!

Thirdly; A Virtuous Woman is very circumspect and solicitous to avoid what the God of Heaven may be offended at. The Wise-man takes notice of this, as one Ingredient in the Fear of God, Prov. 16. 6. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. And it is accordingly the desire of the Virtuous Woman, to shun all that Evil which God may be displea∣sed at. She flies from every Known Sin, as from a direful Serpent, or from a deadly Poison; because that she sees it offensive unto that God, who is of purer Eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity. What we read of Job, is likewise to be said of her, She is a perfect woman, one that fears God, and eschews evil. She cannot bear the thought of incurring the Anger of that God, who Overturns the Mountains in his Anger; and she trembles before that God, at

whose Voice even the Pillars of Heaven do tremble. She had rather undergo any miseries, than incur the intollerable and interminable Torments which the Om∣nipotent God has to inflict upon them that provoke him to Jealousie; and upon that account she is fearful of every thing that may be provoking to her Holy Fa∣ther. When she over-hears the Lord, saying, Oh do not the Abominable things that my Soul hates, her answer is in words like those that Joseph had unto his Bre∣thren, Oh I dare not, cannot commit such things, for I fear God! If other Women will speak vainly, dress proudly, live lewdly, she can say as Nehemiah did of old, But so do not I because I have the Fear of God! The Exquisite Pen of a Dutch Lady hath Celebrated the Zeal of a Scotch Woman, who for her Zeal having her Leg tortured in that cruel Horrid Engine call'd the Boot, bravely said, My God I bless thee that thou hast given me a Leg to be thus used for thee! Thus would this Person rather have all her Bones broken, than to sin so against God, that like David she must cry out of, Broken Bones.

Fouthly, A Virtuous Woman Labours to Please and Serve the great God, with the greatest of her cares. The Fear of God, is thus described by the Apostle, in Heb. 12. 28. Let us Serve God Accepta∣bly with Reverence and Godly Fear. And nothing is more Acceptable to the Vir∣tuous Woman, than that she may Ac∣ceptably Serve her God. Let her be of never so High Rank, she thinks it no stoop for her, to be a Servant of that Lord, who has all the Angels in Hea∣ven for his Ministers; nor do's her Opi∣nion vary from that of those Apostles who chose, to be call'd, The Servants of Jesus Christ, when they might have been called, His Kinsmen; or of those Empe∣rours, who valued it as one of their Prerogatives, to subscribe themselves, The Vassals of the Lord Jesus Christ! Let her be of never so Low Rank, She will not stoop to be a Servant of the World, or of the Flesh, or of the Di∣vel; nor can she brook that the Curse of so being A Servant of Servants, ever should come upon her. When she con∣templates that Lord, who is A greater than Solomon, she cries out, Happy are thy Servants; Oh that I might be one of

them! And she would always be doing the will of God, in such a manner, as may be pleasing to Him. We read of One, He had this Testimony, that He pleased God. Now, That is the Testi∣monial to be given of the Virtuous Woman; She aspires after the Imitation of the Lord Jesus, in, Doing always the things that please the Father. It is the Name of a good man, The man that pleaseth God; and whatever Change the Name of this Woman may undergo, still she keeps that Name, The Woman that pleaseth God. How so? Even be∣cause that she do's all she can in and for the Service of God; and she would not leave Room for that Expostulation of the Lord, If I be a Master, where is my Fear? No, as often as she says, Our Father, so often do's her Heart within her say, Our Master is in Heaven! We read in the Bible, concerning, certain Women that Ministred unto Jesus; and this Woman is Ambitious to be of that Blessed Company.

Fifthly, A Virtuous Woman does attend the Worship of God, with an Unwearied and Exemplary Dili∣gence. The Proselytes, that of old were

brought unto the Worship of the True God, are thus distinguished, in Psal. 115. 11. Ye that Fear the Lord. And the Virtuous Woman accordingly ex∣presses her Fear of God. by Worshiping of Him that is Worthy to be Feared. It may with only the necessary Variation, be said of her, as it was of Cornelius long ago, She is a Devout Woman, and one that Fears God, and Prays to God, always. As the Almighty God was called, The Fear of Isaac; because He was Worshiped by that Renowned man; so may He be called, The Fear of the Virtuous Woman; because this Woman will observe all the parts of that Worship which is due unto the Lord. There is the Natural Worship of God, whereto she is no less Piously Affected, than Con∣stantly Accustomed. She is a Woman full of Prayer, and Perhaps it may be said concerning every Room of her House, She has Perfum'd it with her Pray∣er. Prayer is what she will be Early as well as often at; and she is every Morn∣ing Jealous, lest like Origen, she give the Devil an advantage by omitting of it. She makes not her Closet a place for meer Trifles and Pictures, but for

Prayers with Devoutest Meditations. She retires into her Closet every Day, that she may there have a Visit from the Eternal Bridegroom of her Soul; and whatever Exercises may be at any time upon her mind, She does as Hannah did; She Pours out her Soul unto the Lord, that she may be no more sad. Yea, she is not unacquainted with solemn Humilia∣tions, and solemn Thanksgivings, upon the Just Occasions of them. She is a Woman whom Scriptures and Sermons are very dear unto: and it is not every Trifle (as the want of a Garment, or a dread of the Weather) that she will make her excuse for her Absence from the means of Grace. How fain would she be with Mary, always hearing the sweet Admonitions of her Lord, about, The One Thing Needful, and The Good part which cannot be taken way! The Sab∣bath she calls Her Delight; nor will she wast the Sacred hours of it, in the Naughty Superfluities of Diet and Ray∣ment; but be as often as well she can, in the Congregation of, The People of God; and there, as her Voice makes a sound that shall be no Base, for the Mu∣sick of the Publick Psalms, thus her

Heart is an Altar from whence, during the whole Solemnity, there ascend un∣to God, The Sacrifices which He desires. There is likewise, the Appointed Wor∣ship of God, whereto she counts her self most Indispensably Obliged. She can∣not bear to be shut out from the Church of God, any more than Miriam from the Camp of old; but whatever Longings ever may disturb her, she never has any more Craving and Raging ones than this, Oh God, Thou art my God, my Soul Thirsteth for thee, my Flesh Longeth for thee, to see thy Power and thy Glory in the Sanctuary! Indeed among the Turks the Women do never go to Church; but Christian Women would count it Hell up∣on Earth to be so debarr'd. She is De∣sirous to Eat and to Drink, where she may not Speak; and having been Bap∣tized, she is not satisfied until she come to Eat among the Friends, to Drink among the Beloved, of the Lord Jesus Christ. She will not make part of that Ʋnworthy Croud, which throng out of Doors, when the Supper of the Lord is going to be administred, as if they were Frighted at it; or had cause to say, The Table of the Lord is Polluted. She dares

not indeed come without a Wedding Garment, but she will not stay away like those, whose only Real Apology can be, They are loth to be at the Pains of put∣ing the Garment on. Although she some∣times counts her self as a Dog, yet like that Syrophenician Woman, she will ask for some Crumbs from the Table of the Lord. Having had her Soul Purify'd by Regeneration, she brings her Offerings to the Tabernacle. She presents unto the Church (if it be asked for) a sensible Account, like another Lydia, of some never to be forgotten Things which God has done for her Soul; or at least, she makes the Church to understand, like Ruth of old, That she would come to Rest under the Wings of the God of Israel. Nor would she let the Buffetings of the Devil altogether discourage her from joining her self to some Holy Society of Believers, where she may have her Soul bound up in the bundle of Life. She was a Noble Woman of Bohemia, that left her Friends, her House, her Plate, and all, and because the Gates of the City were Guarded, Crept through the Common Sewer, that she might Enjoy the Institutions of the Lord Jesus Christ

at another place where they might be had. Such is the esteem which a Vir∣tuous Woman has for the Institutions of our Lord, she can say, Lord, I have loved the place where thy Honour dwells! and when she can't Go, yet she'll Creep to, The Habitation of His House.

This is the Virtuous Woman! It was very cruelly spoken by those two very Ancient Poets; the first of which usually [in his Comedies] represented Women as very bad; but the latter usually repre∣sented them, very good; saying, The first represented what they are, the latter what they should be. I hope I have in this Discourse represented, not only, what all Women should be, but also, what very many of them Are. And for their Encouragement, we will now pass on unto,

II. The HAPPINESS of a Virtuous Woman.

And this happiness is here summed up in that Word, She shall be Praised. Praise, Reputation, Commendation, is that which a Woman is very tender of; 'tis most appositely then, that the Recom∣pences

of a Virtuous Woman, are set forth by the Praise that should and shall be given her. Said the Apostle of old, If there be any Virtue, and if there be any Praise, Think on these things. Truly where there is Virtue, there will be Praise; and the Virtuous Woman will have her Fear of God, recompensed with Praise from God, and be forever Glorious. We have these Conclusions therefore now before us.

Conclusion. 1.

The Fear of God will recommend a Wo∣man to the Praise and so to the Choice of such men, as it may be desireable to have the good Opinion of▪ For a Woman to be Praised, is for her to be Married, in Scrip∣tural Phraseology; thus 'tis Lamented a∣mong the Judgments of God, in Ps. 78. 63. Their Maidens were noc Praised unto Mar∣riage. Now the Fear of God is the best way for a Woman to dispose of her self to such a Marriage, as men usually Court none, but such as they hear much Praised, unto. When the Scriptuer speaks of the Marriage which Antichrist forbids unto his Filthy and Wicked Clergy, it calls

it. The desire of Women. 'Tis that which Women that have any regard unto honour, will Desire, with Disdain to be otherwise enjoy'd; like that in∣genious Woman, who having her Cha∣stity Sollicited, gave that answer, You must first give me, what you neither have, nor can have your self, and what yet you can give to me; That was, A Chast Hus∣band. The Truth is, to be Married un∣to a Vain, Wild, Ungodly man, is that which no Discreet Woman will Desire; any more than to dwell with a Dragon. The Excellent Basilla chose to be be∣headed, rather than Marry a Pagan Hus∣band. But as for Prudent and Pious Men, 'twill be their Desire to be Mar∣ried unto such a Woman as is eminent for the Fear of God. There was a Wo∣man of whom it could be said, in Ruth 3. 11. All the Town do's know that thou art a Virtuous Woman; and you know that this Woman was not long with∣out a good Husband, who had first been taken with her Praise. We say, Matches are made in Heaven; and indeed the Woman who by the Fear of God, has made sure of a great Interest in Heaven, is most like to meet with such

a Match as may give her cause to thank Heaven all her Days. 'Tis possible, that Unsanctify'd men, may Marry on∣ly for Portion or for Prettiness; how of∣ten do those Respects give us to see Matches made in Hell! and yet there are few men so Profane, as to look up∣on that Grace as undesireable in a Wife, of which they themselves are destitute! But men that have the Fear of God in themselves, when they chuse the Com∣panions of their Lives, will ordinarily chuse to have such, as they shall hear Praised for, The Fear of God; when they do otherwise, the God of Heaven often pays 'em severely for it. It is an old Rule,

Non solum est Oculis ducenda sed Auribus Ʋxor.

(i. e.) He that would Marry, and be wise, Must chuse by Ears, as well as Eyes.

When a man of Ʋnderstanding, do's understand that a Woman is prais'd for the fear of God, this is more than all other Favour and Beauty to him; and so she comes to that Room in his well-guid∣ed

Affection, which will survive the Death of all other Favour and Beauty whatsoever; and which many Waters can∣not Quench. Instead of saying as many do, There's Money, and we'll hope the fear of God will come in Time; such a man will say, There's the fear of God, and we'll hope that all these things will be added: and if he be an Isaac, who prays much over and be∣fore his Marriage, he will pitch upon such a Wife as will not Hinder but Assist his Prayers afterwards. Moreover, the Woman that has, The fear of God, need not Fear, but that she should be prais••d among multitudes of her other Neighbours whom yet she cannot be Married unto. If any do Deride her, they are none but those absurd, foolish, giddy Creatures, that will one day change their song, and with bloody Tears will then wish, O that I had fear'd God like such an one! All that have any sense of True-worth, or, whose good word is of any worth, will be sure to Admire her; 'tis a property in every Citizen of Zion, He honours them that fear the Lord; but a vile person [Such an one as do's not Fear the Lord▪] is contemned in his Eyes.

Conclusion. 2.

The Wisdom which is in the fear of God, makes Praise to be the due of the Woman that is adorned with it. A wise Woman is justly a Prais'd Woman, and a Pris'd one, all over the World. The Wise Woman in the City of Abel, doubtless was more than a little Praised in the United Acclamations of that Ci∣ty. 'Tis said in Eccles. 8. 1. A mans Wisdom makes his Face to shine, and a Womans Wisdom does as much. No Fa∣vour, no Beauty is comparable to Wis∣dom; and tho' a person were all over sparkling with peerless Pearls, yet this is a Favour and a Beauty before which, No mention shall be made of Pearls; for the price of Wisdom is above Rubies. Now, who or where is the Wise Woman? or what is true Wisdom? The Claim has been long since laid, by many sorts of witty plodders, and crafty people in the World; but the Apostle has put in that Bar unto their claim, That professing themselves to be Wise, they became Fools. If the Politician may challenge the praise of Wisdom, doubtless those four MA∣RIES

which in the last Age Sway'd the Scepters of so many Kingdoms with the Profoundest Policy, were Wise Women, and the Elizabeth which came after them, came not behind them. Thomyris that could lead an Army against the Persian, and Zenobia that could head an Army against the Roman Emperour, were Wise Women. The Sabinian Women which directed the Senate out of inex∣tricable Difficulties, were Wise ones. It was a Wise Woman of Tekoa which could manage an Intreague at Court for the Lord General of Israel. If the Phi∣losopher may Challenge the Praise of Wis∣dom, doubtless those were Wise Women who were Tutoresses, if I may call them so, to the old famous Professors of all Philosophy. The Daughter of Pythagoras who made Comments on her Fathers Books, was a Wise Woman; and so was Hippatia formerly, who taught the Li∣beral Arts, and wrote some Treatises of Astrology; and so Sarocchia more late∣ly, who was ordinarily Moderatrix in the Disputations of the Learned men at Rome. The three Corinnae, which E∣quall'd, if not Excell'd the most Cele∣brated Poets of their Times, were Wise:

and such Ladies as Olympias, or Trota, whose Physical skill, was the wonder of the Universe. The Empress Eudocia, who Composed Poetical Paraphrases on divers parts of the Bible, was a Wise Wo∣man; so was Rosuida, who compiled the Lives of Holy men, and Pamphilia who Penn'd no Despicable Histories; and the French Lady, who a while since, published Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews; and thus was the Lady Jane Grey, who so admirably could Read the Word of God in its Originals. There is Wisdom in these things; and the Women which have had it, are therefore to be Praised. But, as the Apostle said, yet I shew unto you a more excellent way; so I say, there is a greater Wisdom than all of this. It is the Asser∣tion with which the Wise Man Begins the Book of Wisdom, in Prov. 1. 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Know∣ledge. Or as the Words of his blessed Father, whom he much Imitated in his Expressions, were, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. Or, as it may be read, the chief part of it. Here then, even in, the fear of God, is the Prima Sapientia, the chief, prime, grand Wis∣dom

of a reasonable Creature. 'Tis a true saying, Non qui multa, sed qui Fructu∣osa scit, sapit; Wisdom lies not so much in the Knowledge of many things, as in the knowledge of Ʋseful ones. Now this is the Wisdom of a Woman that has the fear of God; she has the Science that will carry her safe thro' all the Storms, all the Harms, all the Temptations of this World, unto the Haven of Heaven at the last; she has the Wisdom, to Consider her latter End, and she is Wise unto Salvation. That admirable Woman, Olympia Ful∣via Morata had very great accomplish∣ments; but that which most accom∣plish'd her, was, her embracing of true Religion with all manner of Persecution for it; so that she could say, the World is now become contemptible to me. 'Twas this alone which Enabled her, when she lay a dying▪ at near thirty years of Age, to see Heaven open for her, and say to her Excellent Husband, I am now full of Joy, and Sir, I know you now no more! This then is the Praise that be∣longs unto such a Woman; it is noted unto the praise of Abigail, She was a Wo∣man of a good Ʋnderstanding, and she was of a Beautiful Countenance. As for the

Woman, that has a Beautiful Countenance without a good Understanding, as for her that is, Fair and Foolish, you can find where she is compared unto, A Swine with a Jewel in her Snout. But if a Wo∣man have the fear of God, you now see, that whether she have a Beautiful Counte∣nance or no, yet she has a good Ʋnder∣standing. And therefore such a Wo∣man shall be praised among those La∣dies whose Beautiful Aspect is particu∣larly mentioned in the Scripture; and whose Names make that Hexameter verse,

Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Abigail, Bath∣shu, Abishag, Esther.

Conclusion. 3.

The Benefits obtained by, the fear of God, procure praises for the Woman that is endued with it. Said the Psal∣mist, in Psal. 31. 19. O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! Such a profitable thing as the fear of God, must needs be a praise∣worthy thing. Let us a little specifie the Blessings, and so the praises, which, the

fear of God, is attended with. As for the Woman that has the fear of God; attend now unto the praises of such a Woman.

This is the Woman whom the Bles∣sed Lord Jesus Christ becomes, A Sun of Righteousness unto. 'Tis said in Mal. 4. 2. Ʋnto you that Fear my Name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise. We find among the Representations of the Church, A Woman clothed with the Sun. Thus do you now see this Woman Cloth∣ed! And as by Union she is got into the Lord Jesus Christ, who like the Sun is the Center of the World, and who like the Sun gives Life and Warmth, and Growth, unto her Soul; so she is by him Clothed with all that Righteousness which Delivers from Death. She not on∣ly has an Inherent Righteousness, from the Lord Jesus Christ; or a principle dis∣posing her to render both unto God and Man their Dues; but she also has the Imputed Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and being by the Grace of God allow'd an Interrest in the perfect Obe∣dience of her Lord, as she now stands as without Fault before the Throne of God, Well may she be a praised Woman, who

shall be such a Righteous one. We say, The Wife shines with the Husbands Rays. Behold here a Woman whose Husband is, The Sun of Righteousness.

This is the Woman whom the An∣gels of Heaven do most gladly Encamp about. We have received Information from the Invisible World, by Psal. 34. 7. That the Angel of the Lord Encampeth about them that Fear Him, and delivers them. A Woman is usually by Law under Covert; but it is an Angelical Co∣vert which this Woman has by the Law of Heaven placed over her▪ She some∣times has an occasion for a Deliverance; and the best Angel in Heaven, perhaps the same Angel that visited Mary of old, is upon the Wing to hasten it un∣to her. She has a continual, tho' it may be an Insensible Conversation, with Angels of better Account, than the Sons of God, which were entangled with the Daughters of Men, in the Antediluvian World; these are her Guardians, her Protectors, and her Monitors. When she was first Converted unto God, she made Joy among the Angels, because of another Spirit come in to fill up the Room left in Heaven by the Apostate

Legions: It gave a Triumph unto those Morning Stars, to see one that shall shortly come to move in Their Orb. And now she has Praise among the Angels; they shout and say, Here is an Heir of Salva∣tion; and we have the welcome and happy care of looking after her.

This is the Woman, who takes a most Laudable course for her own Tem∣poral prosperity. She is to be Praised as a Woman that prolongs her own Life. 'Tis said in Prov. 19. 23. The Fear of the Lord tendeth to Life. It keeps her from hastning an Untimely Death, upon her self, either by rash Wishes to Dye, or by the overmuch Wickedness which by the sentence of Providence become Capital, or by the Lusts which either Drown the Lamp, or Burn or Wear the Thred of Life away. She is to be Praised as a Woman that Consults her own Health. 'Tis said in Prov. 3. 7, 8. Fear the Lord—It shall be Health to thy Navel, and Marrow to thy Bones. It keeps her from the Sins, which by being the Parents of Crudities and Obstructions, are the grand Parents of all Diseases; and being thus forgiven her Iniquity, 'tis likely she will not say, I am sick; or be forc'd

like the Woman in the Gospel, To spend all upon Physicians. She is to be Praised as a Woman that Preserves her own R••∣putation. 'Tis said in Prov. 22. 4. By the Fear of the Lord is Honour. It makes her acknowledged for one that has the Image of Christ and God upon her; which is The One Thing that renders Honourable; and while she makes it her business like another Dorcas to Ho∣nour her Master, He fulfills that word unto her, Them that honour me, I will ho∣nour; and leaves her not cause for that complaint, Reproach has broken my Heart. She is to be praised as a Woman that ef∣fectually lays in for her self a Compe∣tent and Convenient Portion of Worldly Comforts. 'Tis said in Psal. 101. 5. The Lord hath given Meat unto them that Fear him. She will not be one of the Idle Souls that suffer Hunger; but according to Gods Promise, which is her Store∣house, her House has in it, all the sup∣plies which are needful for her Glorify∣ing of God; and having as much Manna as will carry her through the Wilder∣ness, she do's not Crave after those Cumbersome Additions, which may hin∣der her passing through the Eye of the

Needle: the Young Li••ns have not so good a Table! she is to be praised as a Woman that procures a special Guard of God upon her, in an Evil Day. 'Tis said in Psal. 33. 18, 19. The Eye of the Lord is upon them that Fear him,—to de∣liver their Soul from Death, and to keep them alive in Famine. Let things go ne∣ver so bad, she can with Isaiah sing, the Forty Sixth Psalm, as being one of the Alamoth, or Head Persons, concerned in it; she has the Blood of our Passover apply'd unto her, and so she is preserv'd in Christ Jesus, when the Destroying Angels are the Executioners of the Di∣vine Wrath abroad; She has Rahab's Threed for her Defence in the midst of Wasting Plagues, and she has a Mark upon her Forehead [which I am sure the Garish Attire there used in our Days is not!] for her Preservation.

This is the Woman, who takes a most Laudable way for her own Eternal Prosperity too. She is to be praised, as a Woman that has made her Peace with God. It is said in Psal. 103. 11, 12. Great is his Mercy towards them that fear him, As far as the East is from the West, so far hath he removed our Transgressions

from us. He that was Born of a Woman has made satisfaction for all the Wrongs that her Sins have done to the most Holy Lord; God for the sake of Christ has Releas'd her from whatever Punish∣ment was ever due unto her, for what∣ever Transgression of his Law; and thus, Being Justified by Faith, she has Peace with God. If any Afflictions come upon her, there are not Vindictive or Destructive, but purely Medicinal; She sees they are to do her good in the latter end; they are to make her partaker of Gods holiness; they are to Work for her a far more Exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory. She says like the Martyr, God is now Scowring of me, to set me bright on an high Shelf in Heaven for ever. She is to be prais'd as a Woman that is heard in her Prayer to God. It is said in Psal. 145. 19. He will fulfil the Desire of them that fear him, he also will hear their Cry, and he will save them. She is one who has her Hearts Delight in God, and so she has her Hearts Desire from God. Her Prayers are the Breathings which the Spirit of God have Enkindled in her, and the Power, and Wisdom of God, either in the Letter, or in the Better gives a good answer to

them all; the Almighty gives her a Right Will, which inclines her to ask of him, thing according to his Will; and then he says, as unto Her of old, Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. She is to be praised, as a Woman that gets her Soul Replenished with such Comforts as have a Fore taste of Heaven in them. It is said in Act. 9. 31. They were Edify'd, walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost Seals her with well-grounded and effectual persuasions of Gods hav∣ing Loved her with an Everlasting Love. Hence, whatever troubles do come upon her, she feels a Word set home upon her, which causes her like Hannah, to be no more sad. She is to be Praised, as a Wo∣man whom the Day of Judgment will bring Wonderful Glories and Rewards un∣to. It is said in Rev. 11. 18. The time of the Dead, that they should be Judged is come, that thou shouldest give reward unto them that Fear thy Name, small and great. She shall be one of the Early Risers in that Morning of the great Day; when the Change for which her departed Soul has been waiting, is come, her Lord-Redeemer, shall say to her, Awake and

Sing▪ thou that dwellest in the Dust; and she shall then be marvellously Changed into the Likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; She shall be made what Mo∣ses and Elias appeared in the Mount of God; The Lord Jesus will then openly Absolve her and Applaud her; and she shall sit with him on a Throne in the Re∣generation; her Heart may now even spring like John in his Mothers Belly, when she foresees the Approaches of the Lord. She is to be Praised, as a Wo∣man who is to be made partaker of Life Eternal. It is said in Prov. 14. 27. The Fear of the Lord, is a Fountain of Life, to depart from the Snares of Death. Her Spirit shall be entertained with a trans∣forming and refreshing Vision of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, amidst the Cae∣lestial Regions of Light, with all the Sacred Inhabitants of those Regions. Her Body, shall also be made Incorrup∣tible, and more Immortal than ever Eves in Eden was; it shall be made Powerful, Fulgent, Nimble, Subtile, Spi∣ritual, and after a sort Angelical. So shall she have a Fulness of Joy in the Presence of God, and Pleasures at his Right Hand for ever more. Here is the Wo∣man

that has the Fear of God! This is the Praise that belongs unto her.

APPLICATION.

But shall it now be seen, that Wo∣men will more generally aspire after this Character and this Happiness? The petu∣lant Pens of some Froward and Morose Men, have sometimes treated the Fe∣male Sex with very great Indignities; Blades, I guess, whose Mothers had Un∣dutiful Children, or whose Wives have had but cruel Masters. I am loth to shew my Catalogue, nevertheless whole Volumns have been written, to disgrace that Sex, as if it were, as one of those Ʋnnatural Authors calls it, The meer Confusion of Mankind. Yea, 'tis not easie to recount how many Licentious Writers, have handled that Theme, Fe∣mina nulla bona, No Woman is good! [or the men were bad that said so] But, behold, how you may recover your Impaired Reputation! the Fear of God will soon make it evident, that you are among the Excellent in the Earth. If any men are so wicked (and some Sects of men have so) as to deny your be∣ing

Rational Creatures, the best means to consure them, will be by proving your selves Religious ones. I do assure you, and I have more than Luther to consent and concur with me, in this assertion, That the Actions of even the meanest Milk-maid or Cook-maid, when done in the Fear of God, are in the Ac∣count of God more Noble Things than the Victories of a Caesar! Thus do I set be∣fore you, the way for you to be En••∣bled; and thus Ennobled, many of you already are. When the Golden-mouth'd Ancient had so far forgot himself as to call a Woman, An Ʋnavoidable Punish∣ment, a Necessary Evil, a Desireable Ca∣lamity: With more such Iron words, he sees cause to add, Sermo est de muliere mala;—My Speech is of a bad Woman; and not of a good; for I have known many ready to every good Work. 'Tis an Ob∣servation of Solomons which has been somewhat Improv'd against you, in Eccles. 7. 28. One man among a Thousand have I found, but a Woman among all those have I not found. Nevertheless, in your own Vindication, you may reply, that Solomon speaks of what is usual about the Courts of Princes; and perhaps

about his own Court especially; A good man in such a place is a rare thing; but a good Woman there, is a black Swan in∣deed; Solomon himself Particularly had a Thousand Women to satiate his Exorbi∣tant Lust; and possibly he may intimate, that among all those he did not find One Woman truly Vertuous. Or, if this Re∣ply be not satisfactory, you may en∣quire, whether Solomon spake not of such as are by Repentance recovered from the Snares of Whoredom, when once they have been therein entangled. For a Man to be reclaimed from the Sin of Ʋncleanness when once he has been gi∣ven thereunto is rare; but for a Woman to be snatch'd out of the Ʋnclean Devils Hands, when once he has had any full Possession of her, is more extraordinary! However it be, 'tis plain, that as there were three Maries to one John, stand∣ng under the Cross of our Dying Lord, so still there are far more godly Women in the World, than there are godly Men; and our Church Communions give us a little demonstration of it. I have seen it without going a Mile from home, that in a Church of between Three or Four Hundred Communicants, there are

but few more than One Hundred Men; all the rest are Women, of whom Cha¦rity will think no Evil. Possibly, One reason of it is, because there are more Women in the World than Men; but this is not all the reason. It seems that the Curse in the Difficulties both of Sub∣jection and of Child-bearing, which the Female Sex is doom'd unto, has been turn'd into a Blessing, by the Free Grace of our most Gracious God. God sanctifies the Chains, the Pains, the Deaths which they meet withal; and furthermore, makes the Tenderness of their Disposition, a further occasion of serious Devotion in them. Now, God forbid that any of YOU, into whose Hands this little Treatise may come, should Contradict that Charitable Obser∣vation. And let me tell you, that most of You, have more Time to employ in the more Immediate Service of your Souls, than the other Sex is owner of, You are Ordinarily more within the House, and so may more mind the Work within the Heart, than We. Al∣though I must Confess, 'tis often other∣wise; Yet it is as often so, that you have little more Worldly Business, than to

Spend [I should rather say, to Save] what others Get, and to Dress and Feed [should I not also say, to Teach] the little Birds, which you are Dams unto. And those of you that are Women of Quality are excused from very much of this Trouble too. Oh! how much might you do for GOD if you duely considered, The Price in your Hands to get Wisdom.

Well then,

Counsel. 1.

The First thing unto which I would persuade you, is, to Pray most Instantly, Constantly, Importunately that the Fear of God, may be Planted in your Souls. The Fear of God, is indeed already be∣gun in that Soul, which is insatiably desirous to be therewith replenished; and Ʋnutterable Groans after that Fear, will augment the Power of that, which it already argues the Presence of. Said Nehemiah, in Chap. 1. 11. O Lord, be Attentive to the Prayer of thy Servants, who desire to Fear thy Name. The Wo∣man that most affectionately lays this

desire before God, O that I may Fear thy Name, is already among the Servants of that God, and shall certainly have her desire accomplish'd. Pray Read, Be∣lieve, Practise that Word of God, in Prov. 2. 3, 5. If thou Cryest after Know∣ledge, then shalt thou understand the Fear of the Lord. Crying is that which your Sex has its particular Easiness unto; Be∣hold, what your Cries, your Tears are best employ'd about. May it then be said about you, Behold she prays. and may your Prayer to the Lord put in suit that Promise of the Lord, in Jer. 32. 40. I will put my Fear in their Hearts. O plead earnestly for the fulfilment of that Great and Precious Word of our God, and say, Lord, Be it unto thy Hand∣maid according to thy Word.

Counsel. 2.

Having obtain'd the Fear of God, it should be your Ambition to be continu∣ally exercising of it. You are thus ad∣vised in Prov. 23. 17. Be thou in the Fear of the Lord all the day long. Let your whole walk every Day, be a Walk with God; and let every action in the

day, be so done in the Fear of God, as that Holiness to the Lord, may be writ∣ten thereupon. Be sure to Begin and Conclude the Day with God; Rob him not of his Daily Sacrifice. In the Morn∣ing be able to say, Oh God, when I a∣wake I am still with thee; take a Morn∣ings Dranght of Communion with God, first in your Closets, and then with your Houses, and of resolution to behave your selves as having The Lord always before you. In the Evening, recollect the Mercies which you have newly re∣ceived of God; and Examine whether you have been so Zealous, Watchful, Fruitful before God, as you should have been? and whether you can lye down in Peace with Him? Throughout all the Day, Interweave a Conscience of Duty, into all your motions, all your affairs. Let every Meal, every Sleep, every Visit, and all your Domestick Businesses, though it be but the Rocking of a Cra∣dle, be done with an Eye to this, This is the Thing wherein I may perform a Ser∣vice to God, and expect a Blessing from God; This is what my God would have me to be about. Herewithal, intermingle many Salleys of Soul, towards Heaven

every day; by raising of some serious gracious, divine Thoughts from the meanest occurrents that are before you; and by Pertinent Ejaculations to God, both in a way of Petition and of Thanks∣giving upon all Occasions. This 'tis to be, In the Fear of the Lord all the Day long, and Holy in every Turn!

Counsel. 3.

But at the same time you should use a good Caution against those that would Seduce you from the Fear of God. It is mention'd as the singular unhappiness of Women, in 2 Tim. 3. 6. Men having a Form of Godliness, but denying the Pow∣er thereof,—These Creep [like Serpents, as they are] into Houses, and lead Cap∣tive Silly Women, laden with Sins, led away with diverse Lusts. 'Tis noted of Seducers, that like their Father the De∣vil, the Old, the First Seducer, they have a special design upon the Weaker Sex, who are most easily gained them∣selves, and then fit Instruments for the gaining of their Husbands, to such Er∣rors as cause them to lose their Souls at last. Simon Magus Traded with his He∣lena,

and Montanus with his Maximilla, for the more effectual Propagation of their Heresies, as Jerom long since ob∣served; and as Ephiphanius tells us, A∣rius promoted his Blasphemies by first Proselyting seven hundred Virgins there∣unto. That it is no new thing for Wo∣men to become very mischievous Ad∣versaries unto the Truth, and so unto the Fear of God, is intimated from that instance in the Apostolical History, Acts 13. 51. The Jews stirred up the Devout and Honour able Women, and raised a Per∣secution against the Ministers of God. Indeed a Poison does never insinuate so quickly, or operate so strongly, as when Womans Milk is the Vehicle, which 'tis given in. But may You be always upon your Guard, against the False Teachers in these Days; and therefore become so well principled in your Catechisms, as that it may not be said of you, They are ever Learning and never able to come unto the Knowledge of the Truth. If you find your selves unable to fathom some Controversies which you see agitated in the Church of God, and if you must cry out, I have nothing to draw with, and the Well is deep, the most likely way to

be kept from going out of the Way, is This; mind what has the most obvious tendency to advance the Fear of God, in your Hearts and Lives; mind what most magnifies Christ and nullifies Man, and recommends Practical Godliness; 'tis the Doctrine according to Godliness, which is the True Doctrine. Or if thou can't Penetrate so far, then mind how those men which are most eminent for the Fear of God, are most generally inclin∣ed; mind what is most generally grate∣ful to the Sober, Gracious, Patient, Hea∣venly, Mortify'd part of Mankind; and on the other side, what the most Loose, Proud, Carnal, Railing, Profane, par∣ty chuse to fall in withal; to Walk in the Way of good Men: is most probably to Walk in the good Way.

Counsel. 4.

While you thus maintain the Fear of God, let it very particularly discover it self in your keeping the purpose of the Psalmist, I will take heed unto my ways that I Sin not with my Tongue; I will keep my Mouth with a Bridle. May it be as much a Causeless, as it is a Common report

concerning you, that your Tongues are frequently not so governed by the Fear of God, as they ought to be. The Fa∣culty of Speech is of such a Noble and of such a signal Figure in the constitu∣tion of Mankind, that it is a thousand pitys, it should be Abus'd; but Woman∣kind is usually charged with a peculiar share in the Worlds Abuses of it. It is indeed a piece of great Injustice, that every Woman should be so far an Eve, as that her Depravation should be impu∣ted unto all the Sex. Nevertheless it highly concerns you to do your part, that in Fames Trumpet, which is a Speaking One, you may be better spoken of, as to the matter of your speaking. The attainment which therefore I re∣commend unto you, is that in Prov. 10. 20. The Tongue of the Just, is as choice Silver. A Woman is often valued according to the Silver that she has to bring unto them that will call her their Mistress, in order to their being Master of that. 'Tis a few Pounds, Shilling and Pence, that makes her weigh heaviest in the Scale of the vulgar Estimation. But a Woman of a Silver Tongue is the person of whom we may most reasonably say, She is

not of little worth. As your Speech ought always to be True, and there should be no less an agreement between your Hearts and Words, than between your Words and Things, ever speaking As you think, tho' it may be not All you think; lest you put Brass or Tin instead of Sil∣ver: so your Speech ought likewise to be Rare, like Silver, which is not so common as Copper or Iron is. Be care∣ful that you don't Speak too soon, because you cannot fetch back and eat up, what is uttered; but Study to Answer. And be careful that you don't Speak too much, because that when the Chest is always open, every one counts there are no Treasures in it; and the Scripture tells us, 'tis the Whore that is Clamorous, and the Fool, that is full of words. Let there be a comely Affability and Ingenuity at the same time, in all your Spe••ch, that it may be as grateful as a Bag of Silver would be to the Receivers of it; and O let there be no Dross in your whole Com∣munication. The Dross of your own Wrath, vented in scolding, fury, vile names; the Dross of your own Worth, vented in boasting, bragging, self-osten∣tations; the Dross of all Filthiness, vent∣ed

in Baudy Talk about the Things which 'tis a shame to speak; let all this Dross be purged out of all your Speech. But instead thereof let your Speech, have so much Ʋse in it, that your Discourse may bring as much Emolument as ready Silver to the Hearers of it; that your Lips may Feed many, your Mouth may be a Well of Life, and your Tongue may be Health: and that ordinarily your Companions may not be a Quarter of an hour with you, before they may have cause to say of you, Her Discourse has been Meat, Drink and Physick to my Soul! O that when you are talking you would imagine what the Prophet says, The Lord hearkened and heard, and acknow∣ledge what the Psalmist owns, There is not a Word in my Tongue, but behold O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. I re∣member Tertullian relates, That the Primitive Christians did use to season their Feasts with very savoury Discour∣ses; and he gives this reason for it; Ita fabulantur, ut qui sciant Dominum audire; They Talk as knowing that the Lord Hears. Pray carry that in your Minds, and that will prevent the Impertinent Gossiping which you have been reproach∣ed

for, that will make you bring forth such things as you may with Joy find entred in The Lords Books of Remem∣brance.

Counsel 5.

There is one particular thing more, which you shall see that your fear of God, extends it self unto; and that is, your APPAREL, which you are often accused for transgressing in. Where the fear of God sanctifies the Heart, it will doubtless regulate the Habit. Pray let the fear of God, make you able to stand before the VVord of God; where VVo∣men are commanded in 1 Pet. 3. 2, 3, 4. to have a chast Conversation coupled with fear; whose Adorning ('tis added) let it not be the outward Adorning, but let it be the hidden man of the heart. For after this manner in the old Time, the holy women also who trusted in God, adorned themselves. And in 1 Tim. 2. 9. That they adorn them∣selves in modest Apparel with shame-faced∣ness and sobriety; not with broidered Hair, or Gold, or Pearls, or costly Array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 'Tis true, that more

Indulgence may be given to VVomen and Children in point of Apparel, than to Men; they were the VVives, and the little Sons and the Daughters, which we find wearing most of Ornament among the Antient People of God; and yet unto you also, has the God of Heaven given a Law, agreeably to which you are to Attire your selves. You shall permit me to lay before you, a few Maxims, every One of which are so many just Consequences from the Scrip∣tures that have been given you.

I. For a Woman to expose unto Com-View those parts of her Body, which there can be no good End or Ʋse for the Exposing of, is for her to expose her self unto the Vengeance of Heaven. There is indeed a covering of the Skin, which is but a black Mark of one that never yet had a covering for her Sin. The black Patches worn by too many Females, are indeed so many blew ones; they are the Tokens of a Plague in the Soul. They are not, the spots of Gods Children, but the Dapples of a Leopard that will never, learn to do well. They are for the most part upon the Faces that never were washed in the Blood of the

Lamb without Spot; nor do they argue the Soul within to be one unto whom our Lord may say, Thou art all fair there is no spot in thee. But there is a Nakedness of the Skin which is also, and as much to be accounted Criminal. The Face is to be Naked because of what is to be known by it; the Hands are to be Na∣ked, because of what is to be done by them. But for the Nakedness of the Back and Breasts, no reason can be gi∣ven; unless it be that a Woman may by showing a Fair-skin enkindle a Foul Fire in the Male Spectators; for which cause even Popish Writers have no less Righteously than severely Lashed them; and for Protestant Women to use them, is no less inexcusable than it is abomina∣ble: nor did a Golden Mouth of old stick to say, The Devil sat upon them.

II. For a Woman to put her self into a Fashion, that shall prejudice, either her Health, or her Work. is to break all the other Eight Commandments as well as the Sixth and the Eighth, which are thereby notoriously violated. They that say, Pride feels no Cold, do often catch a Mortal Cold that they may please a foolish Pride, and the Heat of Hell∣flames

is that which they thus hasten up∣on themselves. They that profanely say, As good out of the World as out of the Fashion, often follow such a Fashion as either hurries them out of the World, or unfits them for living in it. Creatures yet, than which none would be more loth to put on such a Pitch'd Coat of Mar∣tyrdome, as Nero clapp'd on the Backs of them that Worshipped our blessed Je∣sus to burn them in it. But what account can they give at last? when Women go so, that they cannot Eat or Breath, be sure they cannot Work; and it is just with God that they who cannot thus Work, should not be permitted long to Eat or Breath.

III. For a Woman to Wear what is not evidently, consistent with Modesty, Gravity, and Sobriety, is to wear not an Ornament, but a Defilement; and she puts off those Glorious Virtues, when she puts on the Visible Badges of what is contra∣ry thereunto. The command which requires any Grace, requires also the Sign of that Grace; hence for a Wo∣man with her Garish, Pompous, Flant∣ing Modes, to hang out the Sign, upon which every Rational Beholder thinks

he has Liberty to Read, There dwells a Proud, Light, Vain, Giddy, Trifling Soul, in that Carcase! this is not according to God; who says, Whatsoever things are Venerable, whatsoever things are Lovely, whatsoever things are of Good Report, think of these things. They that would approve themselves. The Daughters of Abraham, are to be The Daughters of Sarah too.

IV. As a Poor Woman may not as∣pire to go with a Bravery, which a rich or a great Woman may be allowed in, so neither may a rich or a great Wo∣man extend her Bravery, beyond the allowance which God has given her. There is a Soft-Cloathing which our Lord Jesus does not seem to deny unto such Persons of Quality as are in Kings-Houses. But you have doubtless heard, what came of the Frog, which would not be content, except she might look as big as the Cow. The Ranks of People should be discerned by their Cloaths; nor should we go in any things but what may be called Suits. The Woman which will go as none but those who are above her, do or can, shews her self to be as much out of her Wits as out of

her Place. And she that will not Cut her Coat according to her Cloath, does but put a Fools Coat upon her; she that will have more on her Back, than can rea∣dily come out of her Purse, deserves to be stript as the Fine Jay was of her bor∣row'd Feathers. Nevertheless, Vain∣glory may insinuate it self into the rich and great, as well as the poor; and I am to Charge THEM, That they be not High∣minded.

V. A Woman, whose Raiment is too Costly to leave her capable of attend∣ing the Duties of Justice and Mercy, commits but a piece of shining Thievery, in that cheating and cruel Finery. She that through Excesses in Attiring of her self, is unfitted for the payment of what she owes, either to her private Creditors, or to the support of the Government and the Ministry, by which her Civil and Sacred well-fare is watch'd unto, is ut∣terly unworthy, either of Credit, or of any Civil or Sacred advantages. But there are Works of Charity as well as Works of Righteousness, which a Woman is also under such obligation to, that all Supe••∣fluities are to be retrenched for the sake thereof. It seems but reasonable that

whenever we lay out any thing for purely Ornamental Superfluities, we should lay out as much in Cloathing and Feeding the distressed Members of the Lord Je∣sus Christ; I doubt we shall make up very mean Accounts about our Talents, if we do not so.

VI. For an old Woman to flaunt it in a Youthful dress, is altogether as prodi∣gious a Disorder, as for the Flowers of May to appear among the Snows of De∣cember. A Summer Dress will not suit a Winter Age. The Aged shew them∣selves to be twice Children, indeed, if they go like Children, and not put away Childish things. For a VVoman that knows her self near her Winding Sheet, still to affect a Wedding Robe, is a Light∣ness than which there can be nothing more uncomely.

VII. For a Pious VVoman to Preserve no Distinction from a Debaucht one, in her Apparel, where it may be done, is to leave her self without a Dislinction which might preserve her when the common and wasting Judgments of God are Punishing the strange Apparel in her Neighbourhood. It was well advised by Tertullian to the Matrons in his Days,

Ut sit inter Ancillas Dei & Diaboli Dis∣crimen, that the Handmaids of God would go so as to distinguish themselves from the Handmaids of the Devil; and believe it, the plagues which come up∣on the Haughty Daughters of Zion, will make no difference between those that make none for themselves. VVe read concerning the Attire of the Harlot; and the VVoman that will Wear like such an one, will probably Fare like her in her Calamities. The Courtesans in some Nations of old, were known by Vails of a particular shape; and it is pity but that Vertuous People should agree to avoid such Habits, as Vicious persons have signalized themselves with∣all.

VIII. VVhen a VVoman finds her Superfluous Accoutrements, to excite any Lust in her self, she should no lon∣ger carry about her the Flint and Steel that strike Fire into the Tinder of her Corruptions. If Maries Locks have entangled her self or others, it becomes her to turn them into a Towel for the feet of the Lord Jesus. To nourish and foment any Distemper in our minds, is for us to Wrong our own Souls, with a

Phrensy greater than that of the Posses∣sed Creature, which kept Cuting and Wounding himself among the Monu∣ments of the Dead. For a VVoman to indulge her self in a Gaiety, which as often as 'tis put on, disposes her Soul to such a Vanity, as indisposes her to Devotion, or throws her into a frame disagreeable to that of a Stranger and a Pilgrim in the VVorld; this truly does not Adorn the Doctrine of God our Sa∣viour.

IX. The VVoman that must be the Highest or the soonest in every New Fashion, will herein always keep the Old Fashion of a Proud Fool. It is required of us, Let your Moderation be known unto all men, but for a VVoman to betray such a Levity, that nothing will please her but Changeable Taffata; and it shall be as easie to make a Coat for the Moon as to accommodate her fickle Humour with One unto her mind; or for her to betray such an Ambition, that none shall come to her Dimensions without an ob∣servable Exorbitancy.—this is quite contrary to a Chrisiian Moderation. If when our Lord should say, She seeks me early, 'tis only the Gallantry of the Age

that can say, She is an early seeker of me; if when our Lord asketh of her, What dost thou more than others? all her An∣swer must be, I flaunt it more, and I brave it more! 'tis but a miserable story that is to be told of her.

X. If a VVoman spend more time in Dressing, than she does in Praying, or in Working out her own Salvation, her Dress is but the Snare of her Soul. An Holy Person among the Ancients, be∣holding of one that had been long stand∣ing at the Glass, fell a VVeeping, and gave this Reason for it, There's one that has this Morning spent far more time for her Body than I have done for my Soul. How many Ladies would retire from their Glasses with VVeeping Eyes, up∣on their own Account, if their Eyes were ever turned Inward upon them∣selves, or Ʋpward unto an Angry God, or Down-ward unto a Gaping Hell, as they are turned Awry to Behold Vanity! VVhen a VVoman must be set out with almost as much Tackling, as would serve the Royal Sovereign, and must be so taken up with Decking a Body which is very shortly to feed the VVorms, that her Soul which is to live through

Eternal Ages, cannot be well Provided for, she loses her own Soul, and yet gains nothing of that, which if it were all gained, would not make up the loss.

XI. In times of terrible and general Calamity, 'tis fit a VVoman should abridge her self of that Liberty in her Garb, which at other times may be allow'd unto her. VVhen the People are in Danger of Ruine, the voice of God unto them is, Put off your Orna∣ments. And as for a VVoman to be splendidly Array'd upon a Day of Humi∣liation, is an Affront not only to the Angels that see how we look in our Sa∣cred Congregations, but also to the God of Angels, before whom we should then appear in what is equivalent unto Sack-cloth; so for her ordinarily to glitter with Costly Array, at a time when we are peculiarly to Humble our selves under the mighty hand of God, is to make her self like that Midian••tish Doxy, who had Zimri for her Gallant in the Face of the whole Congregation, which were Weeping before the Lord.

XII. The best Robes of any VVo∣man are but vile Rags, if they either do find her Destitute of, or do not make

her Concerned for The Clothing of her Soul. VVhen Athanasius beheld a VVoman gorgeously Attiring of her self, he melted into Tears, For (said he) all this preparation is for her Destruction. Truly a VVoman is but Equipping her self against a Day of Slaughter, if a Bodily Equipage be all that she is furnished with. If she do not Put on the Lord Je∣sus Christ, what signifies all her Provision for the Flesh? If she be not Array'd in the Fine Linnen clean and white, which is the Righteousness of the Saints. the Lamb of God will disdain to take notice of her. If she have not on The Wedding Garment, the King of Heaven will not acknowledge her as a Guest of His. Let her be, All glorious within, and from the Needlework of the Holy Spirit, Let have an under garment of Grace, upon which an upper garment of Glory shall shortly be induced, or else the Lord will see no Beauty in her. If she had no more than a Peascod out of which to make her a Gown and Hood, she would not be so unhappy, as if her Soul go without the White Rayment, which the Lord Jesus has Counsell'd her to Buy (that is, to Beg) of him.

These are the Lessons, by the Re∣membrance and Observance of which, you may be kept from such Transgression in your Apparrel as may say, There is no Fear of God before your Eyes.

Counsel. 6.

But, without your Faith in Christ, your Fear of God, is utterly to be de∣spaired of. No good Fruit is to be ex∣pected from you, nor do I expect any good Fruit of all the perswasives unto the Fear of God, now used with you, un∣less by a Believing on, you come to an Union with, your Lord Redeemer, who has told you, without me you can do no∣thing. Whoever pretends to Write the Calling of a Vertuous Woman, and for∣gets to urge Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Root and Source of all true Virtue, has finely left out the One Thing Needful. There is nothing so needful for Women to be advertised of, as a Message like what was carried from the Lord Jesus to that Woman of old, A∣rise, the Master calleth thee! The last thing which therefore is now set before you, is mention'd last because 'tis the

first thing that you are to set upon the practise of; 'Tis that of Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ; 'tis the answering of the Invitations which that Blessed Lord has given you, Look unto me that you may be saved, and Come unto me that you may have Rest. We are told in Heb. 11. 6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God; and we may therefore say, without Faith it is impossible to Fear God. It was when Faith in the promised Messiah was work∣ing in the Heart of our Father Abraham, that the Lord said, Now I know that thou Fearest me. Those two things are join∣ed by the Psalmist, in Psal. 115. 11. Ye that Fear the Lord, Trust in the Lord. Except we come to a Trust in the Lord, for all our Blessedness to be graciously Communicated unto us through the Me∣diator. We discover our selves to be without the Fear of the Lord; neither shall we ever grow in Grace, if we have not a sensible, affecting, fiducial Know∣ledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. O that it may now be said of you, Woman, great is thy Faith! and that whereas, Faith is not of our selves it is the gift of God, you may beg of God this Gift, with

a most becoming Importunity, Lord I would Believe, help my Ʋnbelief.

That you may not want a Descrip∣tion of that Faith, with which you should so apply your selves to the Lord Jesus Christ, as that it may be said of you, Who is this Leaning upon her Beloved? Let me distinctly entreat you, to pursue the experience of these two Attain∣ments.

First, Get a Lively sense of your own Spiritual Death, Sinfulness and Wretch∣edness. Behold your selves hunted and haunted by the Avengers of Sin, and ready to be Destroy'd if a Refuge be not provided for you. When you hear the Voice of God, as a Judge enquiring after you, let it make you as much Afraid as your first Mother in the first Garden was. Take a view of your own Con∣dition, as the Word of God has repre∣sented it; and let no Creatures whatso∣ever then quiet the Agonies thence ari∣sing in your minds. Think on the ter¦rible Wants and Woes of your Souls; think on the guilt, and filth, and slavery wherein you are perishing every day; think on the ever-burning Fire, and of the never dying Worm, which you are every

day in danger of going down into; think till you cry out, Oh Wretched Wo∣man that I am! Who shall deliver me? Let not all the Pleasures and Profits, and Honours of this World allay the Di∣stresses which your Souls are now cast into; call 'em all, Miserable Comforters! and Lying Vanities! and Physicians of no value! If Self now offer to procure your Deliverance, treat that Idol with Contempt, and unspeakable Disdain. As for any Righteousness of your own to answer the demands of the Law, ac∣knowledge, 'Tis all filthiness; as for any Strength of your own, to fulfil so much as the Commands of the Gospel, acknow∣ledge, I have no Sufficiency! pronounce your selves Lost, and write your selves, Wretched and Poor and Miserable, and Blind, and Naked.

Being thus Humbled, or having your Security in your Natural Estate so far disturbed, that you feel you must re∣nounce all but Christ, all for Christ, then cast your selves upon the Lord Je∣sus Christ for all manner of good. Humbly, Hopefully, Joyfully go to him for all the Sure Mercies of the New Co∣venant; for all the Benefits whereof

it has pleased the Father there should in him all fulness dwell; for all the Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemp∣tion which he is to be made unto us. First, Accept the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word. When you hear the tender of a Jesus made unto you, Reply upon it, Lord, let me have a Jesus upon any Terms! and like the Dying Martyr say, None but Christ! None but Christ! Pon∣der seriously, how the Lord Jesus Christ Executes the Office of a Prophet, and of a Priest, and of a King; and when you are asked, whether you are willing to enjoy the Instruction of that Prophet, the Atonement of that Priest, and the Go∣vernment of that King, let your sincere answer be, Lord, with all my Heart! And then, Present the Lord Jesus Christ, in your Prayer. When you make any Request unto the Almighty, let the Me∣rit and Virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ, be the Ground of your Hope to speed in all. The Mediation of the Lord Je∣sus, let that both Embolden your Ap∣plications to, and encourage your Ex∣pectations from, the God of Heaven. Particularly, when you Pray for the Favour of God, let this be your Depen∣dence,

The Lord Jesus Christ has made Satisfaction for us by his Obedience, and now he ever lives to make Intercession for us. When you Pray for any Counsel or Conduct, Relye upon this, Ʋnto us a Sa∣viour is given, whose Name is Wonderful, Counsellour! When you Pray for any Succour or Supply, Relye upon this, There is a Man upon the Throne, by whom all the Wheels in the World are managed! Oh let the view of a Sweet Jesus cause you to silence all your Dispair of Mer∣cy, and say, Why art thou cast down, O my Soul, Hope in God, since he has provi∣ded a Jesus for thee. This is the Faith of Gods Elect. We read in 2 Tim. 3. 6. concerning Silly Women, Laden with Sins; Creatures indeed, which do not feel their Load. But it is the Call of our Lord, in Mat. 11. 28. Come to me, all ye that are Heavy Laden. May you find your Souls Heavy Laden with a Moun∣tainous Weight of Sins upon you; and may you carry such awakened Souls unto the Lord Jesus, as unto him whom God has Exalted, that he may bestow both Repentance and Remission of Sins up∣on his Israel.

That so the Address now made you, may as well be Agreeable as Effectual, give me leave to press it, under the No∣tion of a Marriage whereof the Son of God now makes you most Condescend∣ing Overtures. Never were you treat∣ed with such an Important and Concer∣ning Affair, as that which I now chal∣lenge your Earnest Heed unto; and therefore let the Words once used by a Woman, be now with a little Alteration Mine, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for I must prevail with thee to take my God and my Christ, as thine for ever. The Ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ are called, The Friends of the Bridegroom; Now let one of them inform you, That the Prince of Life, the Lord of Glory, the King of Heaven, makes unto you, even unto sin∣ful worthless you, a Motion of a Marri∣age with Himself. O do not slight the Motion of such a Transcendent Match! but, that I may speak in the Apostles Language, Let me Espouse you to one Hus∣band, that I may present you, as a Chast Virgin to Christ. We read in Rev. 19. 6, 7. There is A Voice as it were of a Great Multitude, and the Voice of Mighty

Thunders, saying, Hallelujah, let us be glad and rejoice for the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and his Wife has made her self Ready! Could I speak with a Voice like that of Mighty Thunders, I would now call upon a Great Multitude that they would make themselves ready for a Marriage with the Lamb of God. O don't refuse a Match with the Lamb, lest you incur the Wrath of the Lamb; or indeed, lest He become a Lion, and He Tear you to pieces, while there is none to Deliver. Methinks, there should not need many Arguments to perswade you unto such a Marriage as you now have the Tenders of. If there do, then Con∣sider the Necessity of this Marriage. The Apostle speaking of a Woman, being not married unto another Man in a time of Raging Persecution, says, in 1 Cor. 7. 40. She is happier if she so abide. But for a Woman that is not Matried unto the Lord Jesus Christ, wo to her, if she so abide! she is horridly undone, and in∣terminably and intolerably ruin'd, if she so abide! If this be not enough, then Consider the Ʋtility of this Marriage. When a Woman is Married unto a Neighbour, she is made owner of what

he is, and of what he has; and a Beggar may be made an Empress when a migh∣ty Prince has taken her. But let a Wo∣man be Married unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and what follows? 'Tis no less than that in 1 Cor. 3. 22, 23. All things are yours, and ye are Christs. Oh! what unsearchable Riches, are you made pre∣sently partakers of. If this avail not, Consider, then the Excellency of the Per∣son, who Courts you to the Marriage. 'Tis said of Him, in Cant. 5. 16. He is altogether lovely; and can't you Love such an one? He is, the Desire of all Nations; and will not you Desire Him? He is, The Pearl of great Price; and will you set no Price upon Him? He is, The Christ of God; and O why should not you say, Let Him be my Christ for ever? And if none of all this will break your Hearts, let it be Considered, that it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who has made the First Offers of this Astonishing Match. We forlorn Creatures, by the Hedges and in the Di••ches of Hell, never durst have dreamt of such an Exaltation, if that Glorious Monarch himself had not made the First offers of it; He was him∣self Made of a Woman, on purpose that

so he might be Married unto the Children of Men; and the Souls of Women as well as of Men are capable of this Mistical Marriage. This Illustrious Lord, who is infinitely Higher than the Kings of the Earth, does now himself do so strange a thing, as to Beseech you, That you would accept of him as the Husband of your Souls; and that you would be willing to have an interest in that priviledge, Thy Maker is thy Husband, and thy Redeemer; The Lord of Hosts is his Name; and thy Re∣decmer. O Heart of Adamant, which these Considerations do not Overcome and Mollify!

But it is possible the Women to whom I write, may find their Hearts complying with the Proposals of the Blessed Saviour, when they see those Proposals more distinctly laid before them. It is therefore Desired, First, That you would Renounce all other Lo∣vers besides the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Demind of our Lord Jesus, in Hos. 3. 3. Thou shalt not play the Harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee. You have indeed given your First Loves, unto the Idols of your Souls; but O where are your

Wonderments that the Son of God should not be averse after all, to make you, His! Although the Priest of old, might not Marry a Widom; yet our Magnifi∣cent High Priest, Jesus, is willing to Marry a Soul that has been fearfully Vitiated and Prostituted; Thou hast play'd the Harlot with many Lovers, yet return again unto me saith the Lord. But that which the Lord now expects of you is, to forsake and and shake off, all the old Oppressours of your Souls for ever. Unto the Flesh now say, I will not have thy Lusts to be my Laws any more! Unto the World now say, I will not seek my chief good among thy Vexatious Vanities any more! And unto the Devil say, I will no more be among thy Slaves, whom thou lead∣est Captive at thy will! Resolve, that if ever these Other Lords do after this ob∣tain any thing from you, it shall be by the Violence of a Rape, which you will never cease crying to Heaven for help against. And it is Then, desired that you would receive the Lord Jesus Christ, With and For all His Mercies. Receive him with the Wish of your Souls, to be by him Furnished and Provided with all manner of good, and by him to bring

forth Fruit unto him. Receive him free∣ly, fully, firmly, hoping to live on him, to him, and with him World without End. Fall down like Mary in the Gar∣den crying out, Rabboni; O my Lord! my Lord! With a Transported Affecti∣on say unto him, Lord, be thou mine, make me thine, and let my Jesus be for ever the Beloved of my Soul! and upon your own Souls lay that charge continually, Hearken, O Daughter; He is thy Lord, and Worship thou him! But receive him also very Thankfully; for if when the Servants of David came to Abigail, say∣ing, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him, to Wife, 'tis reported in 1 Sam. 25. 41. She bowed her self on her face to the Earth, and said, Behold, let thine Handmaid, be a Servant, to Wash the Feet of the Servants of my Lord. Much more, when our Heavenly David, sends to Marry your Souls unto himself, it be∣comes you, most humbly to cast your selves at His Feet, and adore his good∣ness with never ending Hallellujahs. It was uttered with some Extasie, by that Woman of Old, Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me! But surely then, you have cause to

say with as Rapturous Elevations and Acclamations of your Souls. O whence is this to me, that my Lord himself, should not only come, but also give himself, to such a Wretch as I am! In the mean time, let not your want of a Dowry discourage you from receiving of that Rich Lord, who has infinitely more than The Earth and the Fulness thereof. Many a Poor Soul is Afraid of receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, because they have nothing to bring unto him; they see themselves vile, forlorn, lothsome, and think they, Will the Glorious Jesus Look upon such an One! Yes, that he will; nor will he look upon any but such as count and feel themselves to be such: and can venture to throw themselves into his Arms. notwithstanding their being so. You must come to the Lord Jesus, with such Acknowledgements as these; Lord, if thou Marry me to thy self, I have horrible Doubts upon me, which thou must answer for. I have nothing but Guiltiness, Wretchedness, Ignorance and Slavery, to recommend me to thy favours, that, and some little sense of that, is all that I have to bring unto thy Majesty. With all that, I now cast my self upon thee, and according

to thy Glorious Grace, I must now be thine for ever.

I Pray, that this matter may be brought unto a happy Issue before we part. Reader, As an Embassador, for Christ, I do in the stead of Christ beseech you, That you would be Married unto that Lord Redeemer. Will you give your Consent unto the motion? Give but that and the Match is made; and so, Blessed you, that ever you were Born? Let your Hearts within you, now an∣swer, I will, and you will make this, The Day of your Espousals, and the Day of the Gladness of your Hearts. Hear the sweet Voice of the Lord Jesus, from the Lofty Battlements of Heaven, this Day calling upon you. His Voice is, Art thou willing, that my Righteousness, and Satisfaction, and Intercession, be that alone which may purchase for thee all thy Blessed∣ness? Reply, Lord, I am willing. His Voice is, Art thou willing that my Teach∣ing and my Eye-salve, should lead thee in the way of peace? Reply, Lord, I am wil∣ling. His Voice is, Art thou willing, that I should set up my Kingdom in thee, and strengthen thee against all the Enemies thereof? Reply, Lord, I am willing.

Behold. the Knot is now ty'd; and it won't be long before the Consummation of it, and your Cohabitation with the Lord. The Lord Jesus will shortly fetch you away to the Mansions in his Fathers House; and so you shall Be for ever with the Lord. What shall I say more? Let me plead with you like a Servant of my Lord: If you will deal kindly and truly with my Master, tell me; Will you go to the Son of God for Life, or no? What is your Answer? Oh! let it be like that which Rebeckah made, in Gen. 24. 42. I will go. I have only this to tell you, That you'll spend Eter∣nal Ages in Praising of God for sending this little Book into your hands. If this may be the Result and Effect of your perusing it. But Oh! the incredi∣ble Torments of that Wrath, which is reserved for, The Children of Ʋnperswade∣ableness.

I Therefore now bow my Knees unto thee, O Father of Spirits, That a Day of thy Power may come unto the Reader of these Lines, and that she may be made willing in this Day of thy Power, to give her Self and her Love unto the Eternal Son of thy Love; AMEN. And let her that

Reads also say, AMEN and AMEN.

COƲNSEL. 7.

And yet there is this one thing more, which Women are to be advised unto; Namely, To maintain, The Fear of God, in every condition of Life, into and thorow which the, will of God may carry them. There are particularly, Four States, in one of which all Women are, and to most of which, perhaps most Women come. Let there be set be∣fore you, the portraiture of, A Virtuous Woman, in each of those Four States; and let it be your study to answer that portraiture by the Fear of God, in all. While I manage this Discourse, I shall take the liberty to touch now and then upon the signification of such NAMES as are most usual with the Female Sex; partly, because it is a Curiosity which you would willingly be entertained with; but cheifly, because I may make some Lessons the more easily remem∣bred, yea, and the more thoroughly at∣tended by that Curiosity. At least I hope, I shall not meet with such an hard Fate, as that German Divine

who telling his Auditory, that Ʋrsula signified, A litttle Bear, a Woman of that Name caused such an Up-roar a∣mong the Women against him, as drove him out of the Town.

The Virtuous MAID.

'TIS the wish of the Psalmist, in Psal. 144. 12. That our Daughters may be as Corner Stones, Polished after the Similitude of a Palace. The Name of Pernel, [or Petronella] which signifies, A pritty little Stone, has been sometimes put upon a Daughter. And now behold, A Virtuous Daughter is here styled, A Polished Corner Stone by the Spirit of God; She is indeed a Margaret, that is to say, A precious one. It seems 'tis a thing that more than a little sets off the happiness of a People, when the Young Women among them have Accomplish∣ments which render them, like the Tall, Fine, Costly Pillars, that are usu∣ally at the Gates of Palaces. The most Christian Jew in his Translation of that place, makes the wish to run, That our Daughters may be—the Building of the Temple. And indeed it is no small hap∣piness

unto a People, when the Young Women among them, do Build the Temple of God, and become Stones fit for a Room in that Building. It has doubt∣less been a most Encouraging thing un∣to some one Gathered Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, to see about Thirty or Forty Gracious Young Women, in two or three years time (as perhaps there have been seen) Addressing them for their Sacred Communion at the Table of the Lord. Now 'tis by, The Fear of God, that a Maid may become one of these Happy Daughters. A Virtuous Maid, will not Count her self too Youg to be concerned about, The Fear of God, but she Obeys that Call, Re∣member thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth; She believes that word, Behold, Now is the accepted Time, Behold, now is the Day of Salvation! And let us now see what her Carriage is.

I. Such is her Devotion, that while she prudently avoids the Reading of Romances, which do no less Naturally than Generally inspire the minds of Young People with Humours, that are as Vicious as they are Foolish; on the o∣ther side, she Piously Reads the Bible

Every Day, and she thence fetches those Humble and Holy, and seriou•• Prayers which do obtain for her, all manner of Grace to help in a Time of Need. The Name of Agatha, of A good one, is that which for this cause pertains unto her; and she is an Anna, or an Hannah, which is to say, A gracious one.

II. Such is her Purity, that while she will not suffer the least Behaviour or Expression to proceed from her, which may Savour of obscaenity; so neither will she Permit, much less Invite, the Dalliances of any Wanton Creatures which may design any thing besides what is Honourable on her; nor will she En∣dure to hear any talk that shall not sound innocently, without bestowing the re∣buke of, at least that which for her sake we stile, A Maiden-Blush upon it. She is an Agnes, that is, A Chast one. The Name of Catharine, that is, A Puritan, agrees well unto her; and she had ra∣ther have it, though with a scornful Nick-name, than go without it.

III. Such is her Modesty, that she chooses to be Seen rather than Heard wherever she comes; And instead of that Confidence in Repartees and Railleries

which passes for Good-breeding with a Debauched Generation, or instead of being like those who (as one says) More Bridle in their Chins, than their Tongues, she counts Tace, which in Eng∣lish is, Hold your Peace, a Name some∣times worn by some of her Sex, to be a Rule always to be heeded by her self. But if she be constrained at all to speak, she still is an Eulalia, or, A Well-spoken One; and though she will not be, As an Hind let loose, yet she will ever, Give Goodly Words.

IV. Such is her Industry, that she be∣times applies her self to learn all the Af∣fairs of Housewifry, and besides a good skill at her Needle, as well as in the Kitchen, she acquaints her self with Arithmetick and Accomptanship, [perhaps also Chirurgery] and such other Arts re∣lating to Business, as may enable her to do the Man whom she may hereafter have, Good and not Evil all the days of her Life. If she have any Time after this to learn Musick and Language, she will not loose her Time, and yet she will not be proud of her Skill; though the Name of Lora, that is, Learning, (which the Saxons had in use among them for

their Women) should justly belong unto her. She would with all good Ac∣complishments be a Ruth; which is to say, A Filled one.

V, Such is her Discretion, that while 'tis too absurdly counted a Great Curse to be an Old Maid, she makes her Single State a Blessed one, by improving her Liesure from the Encumbrances of a Family, in Cairing for the Things of the Lord, that she may be Holy both in Body and in Spirit: And when she sees what Liberty she thereby has, To serve the Lord without Distraction, she calls her self a Beatrice, that is, A Blessed Woman. She does not Vow a perpetual Virginity, lest her Vow should happen to expose her; while there are Devils as well as Angels, which do not Marry, nor are gi∣ven in Marriage. But yet instead of using any Hasty Method to get into the Married Row, and instead of taking a Bad Husband meerly to avoid the little Reproach of having None, she do's by her Gravity and Holiness, convince all the World, that her present circumstan∣ces are of Choice rather than Fo••ce; and the longer she is in them, the more she do's Consecrate her self unto the Lord

VI. Such is her Obedience, that as 'twas none of her manner to seek a Match for her self, by putting her self into a Flanting Dress, knowing that such a Dress would make a Wiseman afraid of her, and it were better to have no Husband, than to have such a Buzzard as could be caught by any Cassandra's [or Women that set Men on fire] in the Snares of an extravagant Gaity and Bra∣very; so when a Match do's offer him∣himself unto her, she wisely leaves it unto the Reasonable Judgment of her Parents or Guardians, whether he be indeed a Match for her, or no; nor will she dispose of her self without their Consent, Conduct and Blessing in it. Indeed she reckons this is a proper Test, by which a Real and a Worthy Lover may be try'd; Let my Superiors, that have the Disposal of me▪ know your Mind! so doth she make her self an Abigail, or her Fathers Joy: and not a Dinah, that is, a Judgment unto him.

This is a Virtuous MAID! And those Virgins which are so Sacred among the Ancient Romans; as to be made the Sanctuaries of the greatest Reve∣rence, did not more deserve all Respect

and Honour, than the Virgins which thus manifest, The Fear of God. But we hope it will not be long before she becomes a WIFE; which will render her a Mary, that is, an Exalted one; and let us now see, what a Virtuous one.

The Virtuous WIFE.

VVHEN Mr. William Whately, was going to Publish a Book which insisted much on the Duties of a Wife, he Dedicated the Book to his Father-in-law; and in the Epistle, af∣ter Solemn Thanks unto him for his be∣stowing on him, A most Excellent and Virtuous Wife, he adds; I have been the better able to show, what a Good Wife should be, by finding the full Duty of a Wife con∣tinually performed unto me, in my own House; most easily therefore might I set out a Picture of that (says he) which is hourly conversant before my Eyes. I cannot say that I am any farther; but I have cause to render unto Heaven my daily and Hearty Thanks, that I am thus far, ad∣vantaged for my describing of A Vir∣tuous Wife; and if I thus Publish this

Mercy of God unto my self, the un∣worthiest of Men, let me not be Cen∣sured as if my Freedom were a Folly; not only because those Eminent Persons Budaeus and Paraeus have before me, in Print Celebrated each of them the worth of his Virtuous Wife, but also be∣cause the Wise Man reckons it among the priviledges of a Virtuous Wife, in Prov. 31. 28. Her Husband also, he Prai∣seth her.

It was a great abuse which the Anci∣ents who doted upon Virginity, put upon those words of the Apostle, in Rom. 8. 8. Those that are in the Flesh cannot please God; when they supposed all Mar∣ried Persons to be those intended. A Virtuous Wife is one that pleaseth God, as much as if she were cloistered up in the strictest and closest Nunery; and there∣with, yea, therein she pleaseth a Virtu∣ous Husband also; she studies to render her self a true Mabel, or Amiable person, in his Eyes; and a Right Evodias, or, One of a Good Savour to him. You shall now hear her Qualities.

I. As for her Love to her Husband, I may say, 'Tis even strong as Death, ma∣ny

waters cannot quench it. neither can the Floods drown it. She can like Sarah, Rebeckah, Rachel, freely leave all the Friends in the World for his Company; and she looks upon that charge of God unto his Ministers, Teach the Young Wo∣men to Love their Husbands, as no less profitable, than highly reasonable. When she reads that Prince Edward in his Wars against the Turks, being stab∣bed with a poisoned Knife, his Princess did suck the poison out of his Wounds with her own Royel Mouth; she finds in her own Heart a principle disposing her to show her own Husband as great a Love. When she reads of a Woman called Herpine, who having her Husband Appoplex'd in all his Limbs, bore him on her back a Thousand and three Hun∣dred English Miles to a Bath, for his Recovery; she finds her self not alto∣gether unwilling to have done the like. When she reads of those famous Wo∣men, who after a hot Siege in the Castle of Winsberg, having obtained this liberty from therir enraged Enemies, That they might themselves go out, and also take any one thing they could carry with them; very bravely took up each one her Husband.

and so delivered them: She applauds the Example and would follow it. And when she reads of that Generous Young Woman, Clara Cerventa, who having for her Husband one Valdaura, that prov'd full of most loathsome Dis∣eases, yet she tended him with all the care and cost imaginable, and sold her Jewels to maintain him; and at his Death, after ten long years of Languish∣ment, she reply'd unto her Friends who would rather have Congratulated her Deliverance, That she would freely lose the best of her Enjoyments to purchase her Dear Valdaura again! She resolves the Imitation of such a Carriage, while she bestows an Admiration on it. Her Af∣fections were not at first founded on the Estate or Beauty of her Husband; and therefore These happen to be consumed, Those do out-live their Funeral, 'Tis her Piety towards the Commandment and Ordinance of God, that Inspires her Affections; and so they do not grow cold like a Smiths red hot Bar of Iron, when taken out from the Fire of a misplaced Lust. When she addresses him, with such a Compellation, as,

LOVE, her Heart goes with her Lips, and she means what she speaks.

II. But her Love to her Husband, will also admit, yea, and Produce the Fear of, A Cautious Diligence never to Displease him. 'Twas this which the Apostle Peter meant when he recom∣mends unto the Women, A Chast Con∣versation Coupled with Fear; and Paul, when he requires of the Woman, To Reverence her Husband. While she looks upon him as Her Guide, by the constitution of God, she will not Scru∣ple with Sarah to call him Her Lord; and though she do's not Fear his Blowes, yet she do's Fear his Frowns, being loth in any way to grieve him, or cause an Head-ake in the Family by offending him. She would have that famous De∣cree of the Persians mentioned in the Sa∣cred Bible, That all the Wives give to their Husbands Honour, both to great and small; to be as a Law of the Persians, altogether Ʋnalterable. In every Law∣ful thing she submits her Will and Sense to his, where she cannot with calm Rea∣sons convince him of Inexpediencies; and instead of grudging or captious con∣tradiction, she acts as if there were but

One Mind in two Bodies. If her Abra∣ham give order, Make ready quickly three Measures of Meal or the like, 'tis as quickly done; If her Jacob say to her, I must have you go with me, she most rea∣dily yields unto him. If his Ʋnreason∣able Humours happen to be such, that she must give some diversion to them▪ she remembers that Rule, In her Tongue is the Law of Kindness; 'tis by the kind∣ness, the sweetness, the goodness of her expressions that she gives Law unto him. If she speaks of him, 'tis not in such Terms as the Harlot uses in Proverbs, The Man; but it is with all manner of re∣spect: She will not Blaze any Infirmity of his, nor will she Blast his Reputati∣on; being indeed sensible that what∣ever Ignominy she cast upon him, it in∣fallibly Rebounds and Redounds upon her self: Here she is a true Milea, that is, A Woman of Counsel. If she speak to him, 'tis not with Talkative and Un∣handsome Interruptions, nor with any o∣ther mis-becoming Insolencies; though he be never so much a Churl, yet she e∣ver treats him with the Language of an Abigail. Though she be a Sarah, that is, a Mistriss; yet she owns that she

has a Master: And like a Sarah of old, she will not so much as take in, or cast out a Servant without Consulting Him; nor will she receive any Guests or Goods into her House, unless like the Shunamite, she may have her Husbands Approba∣tion; and she will have at least some Implicit or General Consent of His, be∣fore she will exercise any Secret Bounties with his Possessions. His Anger will not cause her to swallow a Reproof with discontent, and his Foundness will not make her to forget the Honour that she owes unto him. Indeed there is a Store of Michols in the World; Michol, is as much as to say, Who is all (in the House) but She? But let us leave it unto such Michols alone, To despise their Husbands in their Hearts; God will punish them.

III. But her Fear of Displeasing her Husband, most remarkably appears in the Peace that she preserves with him; and her Antipathy to all Contention, un∣less it be that of Provoking one another to Love and Good works. A Susan she is, that is, A Lilly; but never A Briar to him: Nor will she give him cau••e to call her Barbara. She will have no

such Passion towards her Husband as may make her worthy to be called, A Fury; but if he be himself in a Passion, she strives with the Soft Answers of Meekness to mollifie it first, and so to overcome it: She is a true Rachel, that is to say, A Sheep under the greatest Exasperations. A Reverend Person seeing once a Couple that were very Cholerick, yet live most lovingly and peaceably together, demanded of them Whence it was? And the man made him this Answer, Sir, When my Wife is in a Passion I yield unto her; and when I am in a Passion she yields unto me; so that we never are in our passionate fits together! The Good Woman will make it her endeavour to attend the last part of this Contrivance; and will give small or no occasion for the first. The Marriners Counts it Bodes well to see Two Fire-Balls appearing in a Ship together; but our Good Woman counts Two Fire-Balls in an House together, to Bode ill as the worst of Omens; nor will she be a party to maintain a Civil War within the Walls of her Dwelling. She thinks that if there be nothing but Fire! Fire! in the House, 'tis a sign that God, who

is The God of Peace, is not graciously present there; as the Jewish Rabbins have noted upon the Hebrew Names of Ish, an Husband, and Ishah a Wife; out of which if you take the two Letters which make the Name of Jah, there will remain only Esh, Esh, that is, Fire! Fire! The old Heathen took Gall from the Nuptial Sacrifices and threw it behind the Altar, to intimate that all Bitterness is to be thrown away by all Married People; Mercury, or good Language, is to stand by Venus. And this Woman accordingly, puts a∣way All Bitterness, Anger, Clamour, and Evil speaking; She is a Right Rebeckah, which carries The blunting or hindring of Contention in the signification of it; and a right Shelomith, which is to say, A Peaceable one.

IV. But she is for Plenty as well as Peace in her Houshold; and by her Thriftiness makes an Effectual and Suf∣ficient Reply unto her Husband. when he does ask her, as he must, Whether he shall Thrive or no? She is a Deborah, that is, A Bee for her Diligence and In∣dustry in her Hive. As on the one side she will have none in her House to Want,

so on the other side, she will have all of them to Work; or as the Holy Spirit of God expresses it, She looks well to the ways of her Houshold, and Eats not the Bread of Idleness. Her Husbands Gains are so managed by her Housewifry and Providence, that he finds it his advan∣tage to let her keep the Keys of all; and she will so regulate all the Do∣mestick Expences, that he shall not complain of Any thing Embezzled. Her very Fore-cast is as useful as much of her Husbands Business; and the Pennies that she saves do add unto the heaps of the Pounds that are got by him. He has a rich Portion with her, meerly in her Prudence; that is it which renders her a Jerusha, or an Inheritance unto him. She is particularly careful, that she do not bear such a Sail of Gallantry, either in her Table or Apparel, or her Furniture as may sink her Husband; nor will she be one of those Women, who (as one says) are now such skilful Chymists, that they quickly turn their Husbands Earth into Gold; only they pu••sue the Experiment too far, making that Gold too volatile, and let it all Vapour away in insignificant, though Gaudy Trifles. That Woman

deserves the Name of Dalilah. that is, Povert••; [unless you will enter upon so hard a Name as Jezabel, that is, A wo to the House;] whose Discretion shall not be better than a Dowry to her Owner.

VI. And this Thriftiness is accompa∣ny'd with such a Fidelity to her Hus∣band, as that she will not give a Lodg∣ing to the least stragling or wandring Thought of Disloyalty in his Bed; lest by her parling with wicked Thoughts, the Devil should insensibly decoy her to the Deeds which God will Judge. She is a Dove, that will sooner die than leave her Mate; and her Husband is to her, The covering of her Eyes, at such a rate, that she sees a Desireableness in him, which she will not allow her self to be∣hold or suppose in any other; neither will she look upon Another, any more than the Wife of Tygranes, who after the Wedding of Cyrus, whom every one did commend as the rarest Person in the Company; being by her Huband ask'd What she thought of him? Answered roundly, In truth I looked at no Body there, but you, my Husband. A Wanton had as good Eat Fire, as go to Enkindle any

False Fire, or Fools Fire in her Holy Breast; she accounts Adultery to be as the Law of Moses adjudged it, A Capi∣tal Crime; and if the Egyptians of old cut off the Nose of the Adulteress, or, if the Athenians tore her in pieces with wild Horses, rather had she undergo the Pain of such things than commit the Crime. She is a Gertude, or All true, in the Marriage Covenant. Yea, she will even Abstain from all appearance of Evil; and as 'tis abominable unto her to entertain the least groundless and causless Jealousie of her Husband, or to Torture and Expose her own Soul by the uneasie Frenzy of uncharitable sur∣mizes concerning him; so she will not give him the least opportunity to think hardly of her. She will not therefore be too much from Home, upon concerns, that perhaps to him are Ʋnaccountable: But if the Angels do Enquire, where she is, her Husband may reply as once Abraham did, My Wife is in the Tent. Although her Husband be not such an Egyptian as to deny her Shoes; yet her usage of them is, as if like a Scythian, she had the Axle-tree of the Chariot which carried her home after her Wed∣ding,

burned at the Door; and she is willing to be painted as the Wives of th•• Ancients were, with a Snail under her Feet. She affects to be an Esther, that is, An Hidden One. But if a foolish and froward Husband will wrong her with unjust suspicions of her Hon••sty▪, she will thence make a Devout Reflexion upon her Disloyalty to God; but at the same time very pa∣tiently vindicates her Innocency to man: And the more patiently, because the Water of Jealousie procures greater Bles∣sings to those that have it Unrighte∣ously and Abusively Imposed upon them.

VI. But her Fidelity is no where more signalized, than in her Sollicitude for the Eternal Salvation of her Hus∣band. O how unwilling she is that the Precious and Immortal Soul of her poor Husband, should go from her Arms, to make his Bed among the Dragons of the Wilderness for ever! The Apostles Ex∣clamation, What knowest thou O Wife, but thou mayest save thy Husband? Is her Apprecation, O that I may! Chrisostoms note upon it is, That the Wife is to remind her Husband of what was delivered in the

Church. Truly, though a Woman may not Speak in the Church, yet she may humbly Repeat unto her Husband at Home what the Minister Spoke in the Church, that may be Pertinent to his condition. Thus every Paul may have Women that labour with him in the Go••pel. Vast Opportunities are those that a Woman has to bring over her Husband unto real and serious Godliness. And a Good Woman will Ʋse those Oppor∣tunities. An Esther, a Witty Esther, what can't she do with the most haugh∣ty Husband in the World? Wat may not a Godly Domitia, or a Godly Monica do, for the Souls of their Uncon∣verted Husbands? If her Husband be a Carnal, Prayerless, Graceless man; she will not leave off her Ingenious Perswasions, till it may be said of him, Behold he I rays! If her Husband be un∣der the Power of any Temptation, she will do what she can to prevent his De∣struction, as that famous Woman did for the City of Abel. She would merit the Name of an Eunice, that is, A good Conquerer, by Conquering of her Husband unto the liking of all that is Good. In∣stead of saying to him, Curse God? She

pursues him with Loving, Winning, Unwearied Sollicitations to Fear God, and Serve God, and Never be weary of well doing. Instead of being a Dalilah, that shall entangle him in the Cords of Death, she do's all she can to be a Pris∣cilla, that shall more fully aquaint him with the Things Pertaning to the Kingdom of God.

This is a Virtuous WIFE! And such an one she will be, although her Husband should be very disobliging to her; She considers, 'Tis to the Lord I confess the difficulties that some Ʋn∣happy Wives do meet withal, are such that if they be not very Virtuous Wives they cannot possibly conform to these Di∣rections; but this I would say, their being Virtuous is the most likely way to provide against their being Ʋnhappy. But if the Case of any such Wife should be so remarkably hard, that her Hus∣band proceeds to abuse her with a Cudgel [an Hard Case indeed! that a Brides Bush ever should have any Cudgels growing in it!] I know not what fur∣ther Advice to give her: Only THIS; Let the Candidness of her Behaviour be her Charm against the Assaults of such a

Devil; and if that would further help to lay such a Friend, I am content she should Read unto him, not only the Laws of God and Man against that Bar∣barity, or the Opinion of old Cato That for a man to beat his Wife, was as bad as Sacriledge; but also the Emphatical Words of the Blessed Ancients in the Church of God, Loudly Thundring a∣gainst this Inhumanity; and particularly those of the Renowned Chrysostom, which are to this Purpose; (if you will allow me the Translating of them)

It is the highest Ignominy, not of the Wife, but of the Man, for a Man to beat his Wife. But if thou hast an Husband that will do so, bear it pati∣ently; and know thou shalt have Re∣wards hereafter for it, as well as Praises here. As for You, Man, Let me admonish you, that there is no Fault so great, as may compel you to to beat your Wives. Your Wives did I say? 'Tis a Dishonour for a Man to bestow blows upon his Maid; and much more upon his Wife—We might learn this from the Law-givers among the Gentiles, who take away a Wife from the Man that has beaten

her, for indeed he is a Man unworthy of a Wife. Such a Man, if he may be call'd a Man, and not rather a Beast, is to be counted a Murderer of his Father or Mother. If a Man must leave his Father and Mother for the sake of his Wife, by the Ordinance of God; what a mad wretch is he that shall abuse Her, for whom his very Parents were to be forsaken? Indeed there is not a simple Frenzy in this thing; an Intollerable Disgrace do's al∣so accompany it. At the Sighs and Cries of the Abused Wife, all the Neighbourhood run to the Base Fel∣lows House, as for the rescue of a Prey fallen into the Talons of a Wild-Beast that had broken in. And such a Rascal were better be Buried alive, than show his Head among his Neigh∣bours any more. See Hom. l. 26. in 1 Ep. ad Corinth.

But wishing all Good Women, a de∣liverance from such Monsters of Hus∣bands, we will suppose our Virtuous Wife now grown a Mother; and see how she acquits her self.

The Virtuous MOTHER.

THE Apostle Wills, That the Younger Women Marry, and Bear Children; and as 'tis too soon for them to Bear Children till they Marry, so 'tis ordinarily expected, that they will Bear Children when they Marry. If a Virtu∣ous Wife be deny'd the blessing of Chil∣dren, her not Bearing is not a Trial that she cannot Bear. She humbly addresses the God of Heaven, like Hanah, for that Gracious and Powerful Word of his which makes Fruitful, as remembring, That Children are an Heritage of the Lord, and the Fruitful Womb is his Reward; But she will not impatiently long like Rachel, Give me Children or I die, lest she die by her having of those Children. Much less, will she have so little Wit as to suspect her own Eternal Happiness, because of her Natural Barrenness, like those mistaken little Women who ha∣ving thus argued from that Scripture, She shall be saved in Child bearing; Very fine indeed! As if Child-bearing were no less a condition in the Covenant of Grace, than Repenting and Believing!

But her Natural Barrenness is rather im∣prov'd by her as an occasion of her E∣ternal Happiness, by the Spiritual Fulness whereto she is thereby excited and as∣sisted; it causes her to be more Fruit∣ful in all ••he good works of Piety and Charity; more Fruitful in her endea∣vours otherwise to Serve her Generation after the will of God; more Fruitful in all these things whereby, The Heavenly Father may be Glorified: And she will consider with her self, What Service of God, and his People, and my own Soul have I now a Leisure for?

Nevertheless if our Virtuous Woman become a Parent, we shall see what a Virtuous Mother she will approve her self.

I. She is no sooner sensible that she has Conceivrd, but she presently and so∣lemnly, and perhaps with Fasting as well as Prayer, applies her self to the God of Heaven, that he would with his own Holy Spirit Fill and Shape what is in her; and that what is to be Born of her, may be An Holy Thing. She ac∣counts the Treasure now lodged in her to be of more account than all the Riches of a Thousand India's, inasmuch as 'tis a

Never dying Soul, by which the Al∣mighty God may for ever be Glorify'd. And as therefore she carefully avoids all that may prejudice the Formation of the Infant in her, so she loves it afore∣hand with a due Earliness and Earnest∣ness that the Infant may be Sanctified in the Womb. She is not inordinately set upon having an Infant of one Sex, more than another; but her great concern is that which a Big-bellied Woman once recorded in a Legacy left written as her Desire for her Unborn Infant, That she may be a Mother to one of Gods Children! Suppose it be a Daughter, which usually (and perhaps needlesly) is less long'd for; yet if it may be a Bethia, that is, A Daughter of the Lord; or a Diana, that is, A Diughter of God, she has her Choice; and she is freely willing that God should have the Proporti ning of Sexes in the World.

II. That she may be Saved in Child∣bearing, She continues in Faith, and Chari∣ty, and Holiness, with Sobriety, all the Months of her Time; and puts her Husband also upon the exercise of those Virtues, that it may not only be [She] but [They] that so Continues. By

Faith she relies upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who was Born of a Woman, for the Salvation both of her Soul and of her Babe, if God should not permit her to out-live the Dangerous Agonies of her Travails: By Faith she depends upon the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness of God, for her seasonable Deliverance. Like Sarah, Judging him Faithful who has promised. The Burden which is in her, she does by Faith Transfer into the Omnipotent hands of that God, whose invitation to her is, Cast thy Burden on the Lord; and she searches the Bible, especially the Psalter, for words to plead with the Lord upon this great Affair: That word particularly is a sup∣port unto hee, Isa. 41. 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee; Be not dismay'd, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the Right Hand of my Righteousness; and that word in Psal. 34. 22. and that in Psal. 37. 5. and that in Psal. 42. 11. and that in 1 Cor. 10. 13. and that in 2 Cor. 12. 9. and that in Heb. 13. 5. And her Faith or Faithfulness to her Consort, is at the same time such as do's Adotn the Doctrine of God her Savi∣our

By Charity she professes to the Lord Jesus Christ, Thou knowest that I love thee; and she can say as that Martyr, who unto the Persecutors that threatned they would berave her of the Compani∣on of her Life, answered, Christ is my Husband, you can't strip me of him! By Charity she Loves the Brethren, and by suitable kindnesses engages them that have an interest in Heaven, to Pray for Prosperity. The Sacred Fire of her Cha∣rity flames especially towards the Man of her Desires, whom she Loves with a pure Heart servently; and this Charity helps her To endure all things. Her Ho∣liness causes her to Dedicate all that she has as well as all that she is, unto the Service of God; her Holiness makes her spend her time in much Devotion, and use all manner of Exactness and Watchfulness over all her ways; her Holiness dispoles her to be ready for whatever Event the Sovereign God may order for her; and so Ready, that she can without amazement Lay by the Lin∣nen wherein she would be Laid out, in case like Rache! she have such Hard La∣bour, that her Soul Depart. Her Sobriety renders her a true Sophronia, and causes

her with Modesty to govern all her Speeches and Passions; with Temperance like Manoahs Wife, to forbear noxious excesses in Eating or Drinking; and with Chastity to Mortifie all inclina∣tions unto whatever shall be Loose, Lewd, Lascivious. Being thus pre∣pared for the Hour, when The Anguish of bringing forth her Child is upon her, she is then found composing her self with hope in God; and resolving Lord, at what Time I am afraid, I will put my Trust in thee! Indeed the blessed Sabina, crying out when she Travelled in Pri∣son, and being asked, How she would en∣dure the Torments and Burnings which her Enemies had prepared for her? Answered, I now bear the punishment of my Sin; I shall then suffer Martyrdom for my Saviour. But a pregnant Christian will moderate her Complaints in the Hour, when Pangs take hold on her, because They have been brought by Sin, and because, There is a Saviour who thus came into the World.

III. When she is well Delivered, she is a true Judith or a Praising One; Oh! how is that Thankful Question imme∣diately working in her Breast, What shall

I render to the Lord for all his benefits? When she finds her self strong enough to Hear and Think, she make•• The hun∣dred and Sixteenth Psalm to be Read un∣to her; and when she Contemplates what a Million of Mercies there are in the Birth of one Perfect Child, she would, if it were Proper, Name every one Mehetabel, that is, How good is God! However she now Devotes her Child unto God, saying with Hannah, I have lent it unto the Lord as long as it Lives; even every Daughter shall be a Bathsheba, that is, A Daughter of an Oath, to God, that so she may be a Bathshua, that is, A Daughter of Salvation from the Lord. And she desires the Baptism of it, not as the Formality of putting a Name upon it, nor as an opportunity for Dressing and Showing of it, but that thus Coming into the Bond of the Covenant, it may Pass under the Lords Tything Rod, as a Lamb set a part for him. And how Ardent are her Groan's as if she were e∣ven Travelling in Birth again, that her Child may be washed in the Laver of the New Birth betimes!

IV. Her care for the Bodies of her Children, shows it self in her Nursing of

them her self, if God have made her Able for it, and it Easie for her. She is not a Dame that shall scorn to Nourish in the World, the Children whom she has already Nourish'd in her Womb: If like Sarah she be a Lady, yet she counts it not below her to be a Nurse. If God have granted her Bottles of Milk on her Breast, she thinks that her Children have a Claim unto them. It shall not be her Niceness, but her Necessity and Calamity, if she do not Suckle her own Off-Spring; and she will not from Sloth and Pride, be so Unnatural as to give Cause for that Exclamation. The Sea Monsters draw out the Breast, they give suck to their Young ones; But the Daugh∣ter of my People is become Cruel, like the Ostrich in the Wilderness, who is hardened against her Young ones, as though they were not hers. Now having Nurs'd her Young ones, 'tis her next care that they be well provided, as with such Conveni∣encies as belong to their present state, so with such Callings and Portions as may hereafter make them serviceable in their Generation; and when they are grown Marriageable, her Discretion and

her Tenderness is yet more Eminently seen in her Matching of them.

V. But her Zeal for the Spirits of her Children, is that which do's most Eat her up; O how concerned she is, that they may be Brought up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord! When she first received her Children, she imagi∣ned the Immortal God committing them to her charge, as the Princess of Egypt unto the Mother of Moses, Here, Take this Child, Nurse it for me, and I'll give thee thy Wages. Wherefore she be∣comes a Martha, that is, A Teacher, to them all. She begins with them while they are upon her Knees, and in∣structs them how to fall down in Prayer upon their own. She will not put them upon Revenge, by asking them to give her a Blow that she may B••••tt any thing that vexes them; but she fears they will soon Learn That, and every other Vice without a Teacher. The First Liquors that she puts into those Little Vessels, are Histories and Sentences fetch'd from the Oracles of God, and and Institutions How to Pray in Secret un∣to their Heavenly Father. She then pro∣ceeds to make 'em Expert in some Or∣thodox

Catechisms, and will have 'em Learn to Read and Write, as fast as ever they can take it; and so she passes to the other parts of an Ingenuous Education with them. She is like another Bath∣sheba, always instilling into their Chil∣dren something that is Wise and Good; and she keeeps up that Authority over them that they Fear as well as Love her; and they dare not Refuse what she shall Command. Unto her Instruction she also joyns an Inspection of them; so that she is very gravely Inquisitive into their Employ∣ments, their Companies, their Experi∣encies: Nor will she spare Corrections where there Miscarriages do call for the Rod; and she will not overlay them with her Sinful Fondness, lest God make them Cross••s to her, for her being afraid of Crossing them in their Exorbi∣tancies. And besides the Example of all Virtue that she sets before them, she is frequently Praying with them, as well as for them, That they may be saved. She pursues the Lord with such Cries for her Children as the Canaanitess used, Lord, Heal my Child, that is annoy'd by a Devil! and such as Monica used for Aushtin, upon which a great Person said

unto her, 'Tis impossible that a Child of so many Tears should ever Perish! And she will carry them one after another alone into her Closet with her, where she do's wrestle with God for them all, professing I will not let thee go, except thou Bless them. Her Children being thus well Brought up, she will do as the Lady Cornelia did unto the Ladies who expected she would show them her Jewels, as they had shown her Theirs; even Bring forth her well Educated Chil∣dren as her Jewels.

VI. If she meets with any Disasters in her Children, by her Patience and her Piety she turns them into Benefits. 'Tis possible her Children may Sin, but this causes her presently to reflect upon the Errors of her own Heart and Life, and especially upon any defect in her con∣duct unto them; So she is put upon The Repentance which is not to be Repented of. 'Tis also possible her Children may Die, but she is not then like the over∣whelmed Women of Bethlehem, Weeping for their Children, and not willing to be Comforted because they are not. Instead of saying like Jacob, All these are against me; she rather says with Joseph,

God may mean it unto God. She do's not Roar like a Beast, and Howl, I cannot bear it; but she rather says, I can take any thing well at the hands of God. She follows them to the Grave as a very moderate Mourner, with Hopes that God is carrying on the Everlasting de∣signs of His Grace in her Soul by these Dispensations; and with Hopes that their Souls are gone to be With Christ, which is by far the best of all. She look'd upon her Children as meer Loans from God, which he may call for when he please; and she quietly submits, if God say, Give them up, you have have had them long enough! Of old such as could not Encounter an Affliction patiently, were condemned therefore, To wear Womens Cloaths; but the Cloaths of our Good Woman, will not be a Bar to her bearing of this Affliction patiently. She parts with her Children in such Terms as Jerom on that occasion directs his Friends unto; Lord, thou hast now taken from me, the Children which thou hadst first given to me; I do not complain that thou dost now Receive them; I give Thanks that ever thou didst at first bestow them. She has already pluck'd out a

Right Eye, and cut off a Right Hand for God; and so she can readily part with another Limb at a call of his: Yea, though the Death were never so awful∣ly circumstanced, yet she says, The will of the Lord be done! And she will not let one Sorrow swallow up the sense of a Thousand, a Million of Mercies, but she approves the Temper of that Good Woman, who having Two Children by a violent stroak taken from her, hand∣somely took up the Third, and said, Blessed be God that has left me this! If they were Infant Children; whereof she is bereaved, she Assures her self, that the Lord is their God, and so they can't be miserable. No, Let me go to them, (saith she) They shan't return to me. If they were Adult Children, she Comforts. her self that they might have The Root of the Matter in them, under whatever Clods of Airiness or Bashfulness it might have been concealed; and that what∣ever suspicious marks might have been upon them, they might seek and find mercy, Between the Stirrup and the Ground. So she takes that Counsel, Refrain thy Voice from Weeping, and thine

Eyes from Tears, for thy Work shall be Rewarded.

This is the Virtuous MOTHER; And she is one that also counts her Servants to be after a sort her Children too: She Guides the House according to her Office prescribed by the Apostle; so that with a Motherly Deportment unto them, with an Obliging, but yet Reserved Carriage towards them, and with a Charitable Regard unto the Everlasting Welfare of their Souls: You may see her acquitting her self ever∣more as a Virtuous Mistress likewise in the Family. But there is danger lest she become a Widdow before she die; if she do, let us now take notice of her Frame and Mein, in the Sorrowful Condition that is now come upon her.

The Virtuous WIDOW.

THE Vast Numbers of Poor Widows in every Neighbourhood, make it very suspicious that our Virtuous Mother may at some time or other tast the Sad, Sowre, Tear-ful Cup of Wid∣dow-hood. If this be the Portion of her

Cup, we must suppose that she gives her Husband a Decent Burial; that is, as on the one side, a Funeral that shall not be below his Figure, so on the other side, a Funeral that shall not be above her E∣state; and while she dislikes the expen∣sive Humours of Poland, where two or three Funerals coming one upon ano∣ther, are so extravagantly Chargable as to Ruine a whole Family: She ne∣vertheless will give as Honourable an Enterment as ever she can to the Forsaken Mansion of the Soul which was dearer to her than the World.

Conceiving our Virtuous Woman to have her Widows Vail upon her, we may behold her demeaning her self as a most Virtuous Person in it.

I. Her Grief on the Death of her Husband is Great, and yet Wise, and as Wisely Great as Greatly Wise. Her Mourning is more like a still Rain, than a loud Storm; and instead of Bellowing Passions which usually moulder aawy into a total and the coldest Forgetfulness, faster than the Corpse of the Husband in the Grave; she has a Silent but a Lasting sorrow; and yet that sorrow moderated by a Filial Submission to the

hand of that Glorious God, before whom she Opens not her Mouth any more than humbly to say, Lord, thou didst it. She will not by intemperate Vexations and Afflictions of her self, make her self like the Frantick Women in the East-Indies, which burn themselves to Death in the Fire wherein they consume the Dead-Bodies of their Husbands; but yet she calls her self Marah, saying, The Lord has dealt bitterly with me!

II. It is now her main study and solace to have an Interest in that Pro∣mise, Isa 54. 5. Thy Maker is thy Hus∣band. And therefore like her whom the Apostle calls A Widow indeed, she Trust∣eth in God, and continueth in Supplications and Prayers Night and Day. She consi∣ders her self as now more than ever be∣longing to the Family of God; with a per∣swasion that he will certainly and Faith∣fully Provide for her. Hence also the time that she formerly spent in Conversa∣tion with her Husband, she now spends in Sutplication to, and Meditation on her God; and by an extraordinary Devotion, she seeks to find all that in the Alsuffi∣cient JESUS, which may repair the absence of the best Husband upon

Earth. She is an Elizabeth, or one to whom the Fulness of God in the Promise of God is enough.

Moreover, if she be capable of st, she will now more abound in all the Exercises of Charity towards her needy Neighbours; whether she have the Name of Alice or no, yet according to the signification of it, She'll be Noble: And she will be an Helena, or an Eleanor, which is to say, as much as Pi∣tiful: Her Visits, her Bounties, and her Succcours to the poor are now increased rather than abated, with her new Leifure for them; and if she be a Person of Quality, she becomes yet more excellent for this Quality - What is a Lady in true and old English, but a Loaf dian, that is, A Bread server? Or one that will give Loafs of Bread unto the Indi∣gent. She is both an Anna a Widow which departs not from the Temple, but serves God with Fastings and Prayers Night and Day; and a Dorcas, A Widow full of Good Works and Alms-Deeds. Thus will she to better purpose than once another Woman did, explain the Riddle of Sampson by finding Honey in a Carcase: Promoting the Life of her

own Soul, by the Death of him whom she loved as her own Soul. Much less will she ever venture to do any thing unworthy the Character and Relation of that Petson (if he were a Worthy Per∣son) whose Relict she is now be∣come.

III. She reckons that she must now be Father as well as Mother to the Or∣phans with whom she is left Entrusted; and their Fathers beloved Image on them, dos farther Augment, yea, Double her Care concernlng them. While her Husband was Alive she still acted as a Deputy Husband, for the maintaining of all good Orders in the House, when he was out of the way. And now her Husband is Deceas'd, she thinks that upon the Setting of the Sun, the Moon is to Govern; and there shall not be one Prayer the less performed, or one Fault the more indulged among her poor Lambs, because he is gone. The Kindred of her Expired Husband are also still welcome and grateful to her, upon his Account. But she is now particularly more Sollicitous than ever to teach her Children how to ob∣tain that Favour of God, When my Fa∣ther

is gone, the Lord shall take me up. Some Women have the Names of Men a little altered, as Jaquet (from Jacoba) Joanna, Joan, Jane, Jennet (all from John.) Thomasin, Philippa, Frances, Henrietta, Antonia, Julian, Dionysià, and the like. But all our Widows are thus put upon doing the Works of Men; may their God help them!

IV. She is not Forward and Hasty now to take the Liberty which the Scripture does Give unto Younger Wi∣dows; that is, to Marry. While she has one Eye Weeping for her Departed Husband, she has not the other open to see Who comes next? Nor will she think an Ephesian Matron a fit Copy for her. She counts it no hard Law, which e∣ven the Ancient Pagans kept with great severity; That no Widow should Marry within Ten or Twelve Months after the Death of her Husband: And she won∣ders that any Christians ordinarily can Marry sooner. If she had a Good Hus∣band, his Memory has been so Embal∣med with her, that she cannot presently make room in her Affections for ano∣ther. If she had a bad Husband, the

Cross felt so heavy, that she will be Slow to be Sure that it been't renew'd upon her. But if after a convenient stay she do Marry, it shall be, Only in the Lord; unto a Man that shall be nei∣ther Heretical in his Principles, nor Ex∣orbitant in his Practices; and unto one that may be proper for her. Wherefore also if she be very Old, she will not without special causes marry one that is very Young; suspecting that such a pre∣tended Lover may Court Hers more than Her; and that if there be too much (as perhaps a score of years) Ina∣quality of Age, it may otherwise Prove as Temptatious, as it Looks Indecent. Indeed Jerom tells us of an Old man at Rome who had Buried Twenty Wives, which he took one after the Death of t'other; and that he then took the Twenty first, who also had Buried Nineteen Husbands; but methings they were an Ʋgly Couple. And the Woman whereof Buxtorf relates in his Talmudic Lexicon, that she Buried Eleven Hus∣bands, and had then an Epitaph of Ele∣ven Verses bestowed upon her self, deserved sure the last stroak of her Epitaph, which was to this purpose,

A Woman fit to have no Bed but a Cold Grave.

V. When she is Match'd unto a Se∣cond Husband, whom she will never twit with any Reflecting and Uncomely Remembrances of her First; She is more than ordinarily sollicitous to be A Good Mo••her-in-Law, if she must be one at all; and so do her part for the removing of those Imputations which Mother-in-Law have generally laboured under. She knows that the way for her to have the Blessing of Heaven upon Her Children, is for her to make her self a Blessing to His; and Unkindnes∣ses to the Motherless little Birds which now call her their Dam, will certainly be repay'd by the Just Revenges of God. She is therefore so far from the partiality of that Mother-in-Law, who when her own Child hurt a Child of her Hus∣bands by throwing of a Stone, Whipped the Child that felt the Stone, for standing in the way of the Child that slung it; that she makes no observable difference between his Children and hers; unless it be This, that she Corrects hers her self, and refers his to him; and yet for her at any time to inform her Husband of

any ill Manners in his Children, is a thing whereto she has an Aversion so ex∣tream, that she will never do it, unless upon extream Necessity. Indeed she Essays to be such a Wife unto him, that she may not merit the Name which the Second Wise of Lamech had; Namely, Zillah, or, but A Shadow of a Wife: Much less would she be as the First of them was called, an Anah, that is, An Affl••cter to him.

VI. At length Old Age comes upon her; and Prisca, or Priscilla, that is. An Old Woman, is her Title; but by an Hoary Head found in the way of Righteous∣ness it is that she now Challenges the Honour of A Saint, even from those abusive Tongues, which use to traduce for A Witch, every Old Woman, whose Temper with her Visage is not emi∣nently Good. She thoroughly studies every particle of the Apostolical Charge, That the Aged Women, be in behaviour as becometh Holiness; not make bates, not given to much wine, Teachers of good things; That they may Teach the Young Women: And the nearer she comes to her End, the more acquainted she is with Him that is from the Beginning. She is not impati∣ent

of being Esteemed Old; and styled Bilhah, that is, Fading; nor do's it of∣fend her, as once an English Queen, to be told that, That Age hath sprinkled its Meal upon her Head. But she keeps long∣ing for the Day, when the Lord Jesus will send his Angels to fetch her unto the Regions of Everlasting Light and Life, and keeps wishing Oh come Lord Jesus! till she arrive to be For ever with the Lord.

This is a Virtuous WIDOW. God grant that our Widows may not be Multi∣ply' d; but for them that are, God grant that they may be thus Virtuous! That is it which will render them all Jochebeds, which is, Most Glorious Ones.

I now Praise thee, O my God for thy Assisting my Endeavours to describe the Praises of the Virtuous Woman; and rely upon thy Grace in thy Son, that these my poor Labours may be Accepted and Succeed∣ed among the Daughters of thy People. AMEN.

FINIS.