Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	holy_a	place_n	scripture_n	3,179	5	5.3996	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10054	A treatise of the nobilitie and excellencye of vvoman kynde, translated out of Latine into englysshe by Dauid Clapam; Declamatio de nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus. English	Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius, 1486?-1535.; Clapham, David, d. 1551.; Margaret, of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, 1480-1530.	1542 (1542)	STC 203; ESTC S104365	25,704	101

are softe and tender her backe playn and streyght her armes long and ful her handes white and softe with fingers longe and small stretched forth a length from the ioyntes and proprely set and knytte to gither her hyppes thyes and legges well brawned fleshy and full her fingers endes and toos are propre rounde lyke a lyttel circle and al the partes of her body well furnished with humour More ouer her pace and going is right comely her mouynge honest her port and chere very cōmendable and in the order of al the body in shap figure proportion and disposition aboue al other she is farre the fairest creature In al the hole heape of creatures there is noo thynge so wonderfull to see ne noo miracle so maruaylouse to beholde In so moche that there is no man excepte he be starke blynde but he maye see that god hym selfe coniested and heaped togyther in woman what so euer was beautiful in all the holle world which causeth euery creature to be astonyed and amased at her yea and many wayes they louen and worshyppe her in so moch that we se it chance ofte tymes that the bodiles spirites and diuels are ardently taken and rauyshed with the beautie of women out of al measure which opinion is not false but the truth by many experyences is notablye knowen And to passe ouer those thynges that the poetes haue left to vs in wrytynge of the loue of the goddes and of theyr louers coneubines as of Apollo Daphnes Neptunus Salmonea Hercules Hebe Iole Omphale and of the other goddis louers ye and many of Iupiters him self This gyfte of beaute so diuine so beloued of god and man holye wrytte in many places doth hyghly commende and prayse aboue al other gyftes and qualities For it is red in Genesis That the chyldren of god seinge the daughters of men that they were faire did chose and toke vnto theym wyues suche as they liked We rede also of Sara the wyfe of Abraham that she was fayre yea the fairest of al women on the erthe Soo whan the seruant of Abraham had sene Rebecca a maide of excellēt beautye he said secretly to hym selfe This is she whiche god hath prepared for Isaac the sonne of Abraham And Abigail the wyfe of the wicked churle Naball was prudente wyse and fayre wherby she saued the life and goodes of her husbād from the furye of kynge Dauid and the yuell man was saued by the fayre woman for Dauid sayd to her these wordes Go peasably into thy house loo I haue harde thy voyce and honoured thy face For seynge that all beautie is eyther spirituall vocal or corporal Abigail was all fayre in prudency of spirite in eloquēce of spech and beautie of body whiche caused Dauid after the dethe of Naball her husbande to take her to his wyfe And Bathsaba was a womanne of so excellent beautie that Dauid beinge rauished and taken with her loue after the deth of her husband exalted her aboue all other to be his wyfe queene Also Abisag a Sunamite by reason she was a mayden most faire was chosen out to lye with kyng Dauid waxinge very olde to restore his naturall hete Wherfore the aged kynges wyll was highly to aduance her in honour And also after the dethe of this mighty kynge she was enterteyned as a queene We rede of the excellent beautie of queene Vasti and also of Nester which was preferrid before the other bycause she was more goodlye and fayre of face We rede of Iudith whose fayrenesse god so moche encreased that all that behelde her were wonderfully amased And shortly to speke we rede that Susanna was very delycate goodly and beautiful We rede also that after Iobs dyuers temptations vexations and greuous troubles finyshed besydes all other thynges whiche his gret pacience deserued god gaue vnto hym three daughters fayrer than the three Charites yea there were found no where so fayre women More ouer we maye rede histories of holy vyrgins doubtles to our gret wonder howe far howe beautyfull they were aboue al other the childrē of men whose laude and prayse the catholyke churche dothe solempnely synge but specially the prayse of the immaculate and vndefiled princesse the mother of god the virgin Marie whose fayre beautie the sonne and moone wōder at from whose moste fayre visage so great clerenes of beautie with chastitie and holynes dyd shyne that although she moued the myndes and lykewyse the eies of all men yet for al that no mortall man at any tyme was allured or inticed by her beutie ones to thynke amysse ¶ Those thynges all thoughe some what at lengthe I haue rehersed vnto you and that almost the very selfe same wordes out of holy scripture where mention of beautie is so ofte made to the intent we shulde playnely perceyue that the beautie of women is not onely among men but also of god hyghly estemed and honoured ¶ In an other place of holy scripture we lyke wyse rede that god commanded all the men and men children to be slayne but the faire women to be saued In the booke of Deuteronomy it was permytted to the chyldren of Israell eche to chose hym a fayre womanne to wyfe of those that were taken prysoners ¶ And besydes this wounderfull beautie woman is endowed with a certaine dignitie and worthines of honestie whiche is not gyuen to man for the heare of her head hangeth downe soo lowe that yt wyll couer and hyde all the pryuy partes of her body Farther it is not nedefull for a woman to handle these partes of her body in the workes of Nature whiche man customably vseth to doo Finally Nature hathe soo wounderfullye wrought for the comelynes of woman that her priuie partes nr not so apparant as mans but set in a place more secretely And nature hath gyuen more shamfasines to woman than to man Wherfore it hath ofte chanced that a woman greuousely dyseased in her prime partes hath chosen rather to dye than to abyde the syght and hand lynge of the surgian to be cured and healed And this shamefaste honestie they obserue and kepe both in dyenge and after they be dead as it appereth by them that be drowned For as Plinie and experience witnessen a woman lyeth grouelyng whan she is deade by the fauour that nature bereth to her shamefaste honestie but a man swymmeth vpryghte on his backe Farther the most worthye parte of man wherby we chiefly differre from other brute beastes and doo represente the dyuine nature is the heade and in it chiefly the countinaūce Truely a mans heade is deformed with baldnes and contrary a womanne by the great pryuilege of nature is not bald Moreouer the countinaūce and face of man is by the bearde to hym hateful so oft defiled and hyd with filthy heares that scarse from brute beastes he may be discerned in woman contrary wise the face doth alway remayn pure and comely Wherfore it

man beinge ouer aged vnmeete for mariage or otherwise vnlusty to do the dedes of Venus had maried a maiden it shoulde be laufull for his wyfe to chose a goodly and a tall younge manne to dalye and play with her and the chylde gotten betwene theym shoulde be ascribed to her housbande and not to be called a bastarde and though those lawes were made and establyshed yet we rede not that they were kepte not so moche through the sturdynesse of the men as by the chastitie of the womenne refusynge those lawes ¶ There be innumerable excellent women whiche with notable clennesse of lyfe and perfet wiuely loue haue farre passed al men as Abigail the wyfe of Naball Arthemisia the wyfe of Nausoleus Argia the wyfe of Policinis a Chebane Iulia the wife of Pompeius Portia the wyfe of Cato Cornelia the wife of Gracchus Messalina the wife of Sulpice Alceste the wyfe of Admetus Hypsicratea the wife of Mithridates kynge of Pontus and also Dido the buylder of Carthage and the Romayn Lucrece and Sulpitia the wyfe of Lentulus There be innumerable other whose hartes were so fyxed on vyrgynitie and chastitie that the very dethe coulde not remoue theym of whom thexamples are manyfest and playne as Athlanta Calidonia Camilla Volsca Iphigenia of Grece Cassandra and Crise With these gone the Vyrgynes of Lacedemonye of Spartane of Milesia of Thebes with other innumerable of whome the storyes of the Hebrewes of the Grekes and of other Macyons doo make mencyon the whyche estemed vyrginite aboue kyngdomes yea and aboue theyr very lyues ¶ If the examples also of pitie and louing kyndnes be required amonge al other Claudia Vestalis towarde her father and that poore yonge woman of the whiche we spake afore towardes her mother are wonderfull ¶ But here some enuious felow wyl obiect ageinst those thynges the deadely mariages of Sampson of Iason of Deiphebus of Agamemnon and such other tragedies on whyche as saythe the prouerbe if a man loke throughly with clere eies he shall fynde that theyr wyues are falsely blamed of the whyche neuer chaunced vnto a good man one yll For yll wyues neuer chaunce but to ylle husbandes vnto whome all though the good somtyme chāce yet their husbandes vyces make them naught ¶ If it had bene laufull for women to make lawes too wryte histories how gret tragedies trowye wolde they haue writen of the inestimable malice of men amōg whom many ben murtherers theues rauishers of vyrgins periurers robbers burners of houses traytours of whome also in the tyme of Iosue Dauid the king so greatte a multitude were murtherers robbers that they were able to make princes capytaynes ouer theyr companies Yea and at this day there is an infinite number of them For all prisons be filled with men and al the galowes in euerye place be loded with the carcases of men But contrarye wyse womenne were the fyrste inuentours of all honest craftes of all vertue and benefittes Whiche thyng the very names of sciences and vertues beinge of the femynine gender do playnly specifye Whereof this is a notable profe that the circuite of the hole world is callyd by the names of women that is to say of the Nymph Asia of Europa the doughter of Agenor of Libia the doughter of Epaphus the whiche is also callid Aphrica And finally to recite all kyndes of vertue a woman shall euery where obteyne the hygheste place For the vyrgin Mary was a woman the whyche fyrst dydde vowe her vyrginitie to god and thereby deserued to be the mother of god The womenne prophetes were euermoore inspyred with a more diuine spyrite than the men Whiche thynge is welle knowen by that Lactātius Eusebius and Augustine wytnessen of the Sibylles ¶ So Mary the syster of Moses prophecied And whan Ieremye was taken prysoner his vncles daughter Olda rose vp and prophecied beyonde mans reache to the people of Israell atte the poynte redy to peryshe Lette vs serche holy scripture and we shall fynde that women in constancye in feythe and in other vertues ar commended farre aboue men as in Iudith Ruth Hester the whiche with so great glory and praise were celebrate and honored that holy bokes beare their names And all though Abraham for the stedfastnes of his fayth is called in scripture a iuste man by cause he surely beleued in god yet for al that he muste submyt hym selfe to his wyfe Sara For by y e voyce of the lorde he was cōmanded thus What so euer Sara saythe to the here her voyce So Rebecca beleuyng stedfastly went to aske god certayne questions and she being reputed worthy harde this oracle or aunswere of god Two maner of folke are in thy bealy and two maner of people shall be deuyded from thy bealy And the wydowe Sareptana gaue credence to Helias all thoughe it were harde to beleue that he tolde her So zachary rebuked of the aungell for his incredulitie was dumme and his wife Elizabeth with her wōbe and voyce prophecied is praysed bicause she beleued faithfully and she afterwarde praysed the most blessed virgin Mary saying Blessed art thou whyche dyddest beleue those thynges that were spoken to the of the lord So Anna the prophetesse after the reuelation of Simeon cōfessed god spake of him to al that wold here whyche loked for the redemption of Israel And Phylip had foure vyrgins to his doughters which dyd prophecy What shall I saye of her the samaritan with whom Christe spake at the well and beinge fedde with the faythe of this beleuing womā refused the meate that the apostelles broughte To these may be ioyned the faithefull woman of Chananee and the woman dyseased with the blouddye flyxe Was not also the faith and confessyon of Martha lyke the confessyon of Peter The Gospell wytnesseth howe greate constācy of faith was in Mary Magdaleyn For whyle the pristes and Iewes crucyfyed Christe she wepeth she bringeth oyntmentes vnto the Crosse she seeketh in the Tombe she asketh the gardyner for hym she aknowledgeth god she gothe to the apostles and sheweth them that he is rysen They were in doubte therof but she beleued it verily Ageyn what shall I saye of that holy woman Priscilla the whiche instructed Apollo apostolycke man perfitely lerned in the lawe and byshoppe of the Corinthians Nor it was no shame for a postell to lerne of a woman what he shulde teache in the churche ¶ Moreouer they that haue shewed the stedfastnes of theyr faith by sufferyng of Martyrdom and by the dispisynge of deathe be no fewer in number than men Nor that wonderfull mother shuld be lefte vnspoken of so worthy to be remembred the whiche not onely behelde her .vii. sonnes putte to deathe by most cruell martyrdom but also she boldly exhorted them stedfastlye to dye And she aboue all thynges trustyng in god was after her