Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion, Part 1
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, Positively, '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 Opposite, 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 agreeably expressing it self, with all other Graceful Motions, and whatsoever procures 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 Humour, Conceited of her self, or Contemptuous towards others. Careful She likewise is, lest hereby She Decieve Unwary men, into those Amours which bewitching 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 Proportion 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 Spectator. The Virtuous Woman is not unthankful 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 temporis & 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 Sickbeds or Sun beams, or a thousand Casualties may soon destroy that Idol of the Amorites. And upon these thoughts, a Virtuous Woman takes heed of becoming so Deceitful and Vain, as many Women are tempted by their Favour and Beauty to become.
Conclusion 2.
There is a Favour so particularly Deceitful, 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. condemns 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 Reverend 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 Procession 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 complaint, That there were Dancing-Schools tolerated in the City. These are considerations 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 Vanity. 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 transiently to preserve or to restore her Native Complexion by convenient Medicines, when she is in any special danger of losing it; yet for a Person to Paint her self, that she may make some ostenstation 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 Righteous, 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; understand 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 extraordinary 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 Entertainment 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. Moreover, our Face is a Seat which has much of the Divine Image and VVisdom appearing 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 thereupon: 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 suppose 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 follow 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 America. 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 Righteousness, 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 perceived the Presence of God, it is said, in Gen. 28. 17. He was Afraid. The Vertuous Woman in like manner Believes 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 Providence; which preserves all things in a most Excellent Order, Subordinate and Subservient unto a Glorious End. She sees the World like a Vast Army Composed 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 extraordinary 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 Prayers 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 Tradition or Policy of others Impos'd upon; and She graciously Cherishes that Notion. 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 Designing, Debauched Atheist, go to insinuate 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 Angry 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 Woman will not Irreverently Use any such Thing, lest She should be held not Guiltless 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 never 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 Despise 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 honoured 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 Studies, 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 displeased 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 Omnipotent 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 Father. 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 Brethren, 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 Acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear. And nothing is more Acceptable to the Virtuous Woman, than that she may Acceptably 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 Heaven for his Ministers; nor do's her Opinion 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 Emperours, 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 Divel; nor can she brook that the Curse of so being A Servant of Servants, ever should come upon her. When she contemplates 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 Testimonial 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 because 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 Diligence. 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 expresses 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 Constantly 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 Prayer. Prayer is what she will be Early as well as often at; and she is every Morning 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 Humiliations, 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 Sabbath she calls Her Delight; nor will she wast the Sacred hours of it, in the Naughty Superfluities of Diet and Rayment; 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 Musick of the Publick Psalms, thus her Heart is an Altar from whence, during the whole Solemnity, there ascend unto God, The Sacrifices which He desires. There is likewise, the Appointed Worship of God, whereto she counts her self most Indispensably Obliged. She cannot 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 upon Earth to be so debarr'd. She is Desirous to Eat and to Drink, where she may not Speak; and having been Baptized, 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 puting the Garment on. Although she sometimes 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 Virtuous 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 represented 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,