Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion, Part 2
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 Recompences 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 Woman 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 Scriptural Phraseology; thus 'tis Lamented among the Judgments of God, in Ps. 78. 63. Their Maidens were noc Praised unto Marriage. 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 ingenious Woman, who having her Chastity 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 Husband. The Truth is, to be Married unto 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 beheaded, rather than Marry a Pagan Husband. But as for Prudent and Pious Men, 'twill be their Desire to be Married unto such a Woman as is eminent for the Fear of God. There was a Woman 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 without 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 only for Portion or for Prettiness; how often do those Respects give us to see Matches made in Hell! and yet there are few men so Profane, as to look upon 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 Companions 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-guided Affection, which will survive the Death of all other Favour and Beauty whatsoever; and which many Waters cannot 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 before 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 City. 'Tis said in Eccles. 8. 1. A mans Wisdom makes his Face to shine, and a Womans Wisdom does as much. No Favour, no Beauty is comparable to Wisdom; 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 MARIES 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 inextricable 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 Philosopher may Challenge the Praise of Wisdom, 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 Liberal Arts, and wrote some Treatises of Astrology; and so Sarocchia more lately, who was ordinarily Moderatrix in the Disputations of the Learned men at Rome. The three Corinnae, which Equall'd, if not Excell'd the most Celebrated 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 Woman; 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 Assertion with which the Wise Man Begins the Book of Wisdom, in Prov. 1. 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge. 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 Wisdom of a reasonable Creature. 'Tis a true saying, Non qui multa, sed qui Fructuosa 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 Fulvia Morata had very great accomplishments; but that which most accomplish'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 belongs unto such a Woman; it is noted unto the praise of Abigail, She was a Woman 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 Woman have the fear of God, you now see, that whether she have a Beautiful Countenance or no, yet she has a good Ʋnderstanding. And therefore such a Woman shall be praised among those Ladies whose Beautiful Aspect is particularly mentioned in the Scripture; and whose Names make that Hexameter verse,
Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Abigail, Bathshu, Abishag, Esther.
Conclusion. 3.
The Benefits obtained by, the fear of God, procure praises for the Woman that is endued with it. Said the Psalmist, 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 praiseworthy 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 Blessed 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 Clothed! 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 only has an Inherent Righteousness, from the Lord Jesus Christ; or a principle disposing 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 Obedience 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 Angels 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 Covert which this Woman has by the Law of Heaven placed over her▪ She sometimes 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 unto 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 Salvation; 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 Temporal 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 Honour her Master, He fulfills that word unto her, Them that honour me, I will honour; and leaves her not cause for that complaint, Reproach has broken my Heart. She is to be praised as a Woman that effectually lays in for her self a Competent 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 Storehouse, her House has in it, all the supplies which are needful for her Glorifying of God; and having as much Manna as will carry her through the Wilderness, she do's not Crave after those Cumbersome Additions, which may hinder 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 deliver their Soul from Death, and to keep them alive in Famine. Let things go never 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 Divine 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 Punishment was ever due unto her, for whatever 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 having 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 Woman whom the Day of Judgment will bring Wonderful Glories and Rewards unto. 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 Moses 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 Regeneration; 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 Woman 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 transforming and refreshing Vision of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, amidst the Caelestial Regions of Light, with all the Sacred Inhabitants of those Regions. Her Body, shall also be made Incorruptible, and more Immortal than ever Eves in Eden was; it shall be made Powerful, Fulgent, Nimble, Subtile, Spiritual, 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 Woman that has the Fear of God! This is the Praise that belongs unto her.