Ladiship wishes all your neighbours poor that they may the more value set off and admire your riches There may be greater pride in the want of charity and in severe censuring of others for pride in that which they use as from God so in his fear and to his glory It is good to look to the beam in our own eyes of rashness and censoriousness which is an high arrogating of God's judicial power and ascending up to his Throne or Tribunal before we quarrel too earnestly with the mote in anothers eye Why should any be judged of Pride for that wherein he owns and venerates God praising him for his bounty and keeping within his bounds Since God's eye hath been good to poor mortals not onely in native gifts but in artificial and adventitious supplies why should any Christian's eyes be evil repining at or disdaining anothers benefit who want what God hath not denied which is as if one should grudge them a plank to save themselves who have made shipwreck 'T is possible for Diogenes his Cynical slovenliness to trample on Plato's splendid garments with more pride then Plato wore them Nor is it any strange effect of pride to deny others that which may make them any way our peers or rivals in handsomeness which is as strong a leaven to puff the mind as any thing and no less fermentive when natural then when artificial And indeed artificial helps of beauty carry with them their own antidote while they are monitors of our wants and infirmities which like the swallowing down the stone keep us from surfeiting of the Cherries we eat We read no where in Scripture that the beauty and bravery of colours is either forbidden or reproved unless unseasonably worn when God calls for sackcloth and blackness of faces Lydia a seller of purple whose dye or finer tincture was of more worth then the substance or stuff it self yet is not forbidden when she was converted to be a Christian either to dye or to sell any more of that rich and orient colour Since other diseases or distempers incident to our faces are industriously to be cured without any thought or blame of pride as flushings redness inflammations pimples freckles ruggedness tanning and the like what hinders that paleness sadness and deadness may not be remedied since God hath given to mankinde not onely bread to strengthen and wine to cheer mans heart but also oil and other things proper to make him a serene and chearful countenance And where oil is not used other things may be according to that virtue and property is in them to such an end Against which honest liberty I see nothing wars so much as prejudice and a kind of wontedness to think the contrary because they never knew how innocent as well as convenient the use of such helps is to sober minds and more pallid looks OBjECTION IX The Fathers and modern Divines much against all Painting the Face BUT good Madam although you may safely contend with my weakness of understanding and want of memory which are prone to betray the strength of a good cause yet I beseech you beware how you dash against that great rock which I confess gives me such terror as I dare not touch it any more then the people or beasts might Mount Sinai I mean the uniform judgement and concurrent Testimony of very many learned and godly men both the holy Fathers of old and the most reformed Ministers of later times who as I am informed almost with one voice absolutely cry down and even damn to hell all painting or colouring the face in order to advance the beauty of it as a sin not small and disputable but of the first magnitude Which dreadful censure my self have read not without some horror as in others of our English Divines so especially in Mr. Downam's Christian Warfare the first Book and 14th Chapter where from the Fathers sense he calls painting of the face The Devil's invention absolutely a sin not onely in the abuse but the very use in the nature of the thing and not onely in the intention of the doer that it is utterly wicked and abominable against the law of God the light of nature against self-shame and conviction a reproach of God a perverting of his works in nature a cheat of others a lure and bait to sin a fruit of pride and vanity poisonous to the body and pernicious to the Soul That it is the proper practice of harlots and lewd women that it is inconsistent with a Christian profession and a good conscience He brings Tertullian arguing against it as the Devil 's counterfeiting and mocking of God by seeking to mend his works as if God needed his enemies help to compleat his creatures So he cites S. Cyprian telling the veiled Virgins that the devil by these arts doth but distort and poison what God hath made handsome and wholesome He might have added many more as I find otherwhere in our English Authors who produce the authority of S. Ambrose S. Austin S. Chrysostome and S. Jerome against all additional beauties Thus I perceive English Divines for the most part are as Boanerges sons of Thunder against these Complexionary Arts nor do I find any almost that are Barnabasses or sons of comfort as to the use of it in any kind at any time or by any person that pretends to piety Which makes me wonder how your Ladiship hath the courage and confidence to encounter such an host of Worthies men of renown or whence you are furnished with such Arms both offensive and defensive in this contest beyond what I have heard or read from any one in defence of Auxiliary beauty which must not seem to me any beauty since to so many pure eyes it appears deformity so that a painted Lady is to be looked upon rather as some Spectre or Empusa then as an handsome woman ANSWER THis black and ponderous cloud of witnesses which your Ladiship produceth against all artificial beauty from the suffrages of ancient and later Divines did I confess a long time so scare me that I feared a Deluge of divine wrath in no case to be more unavoidably poured forth upon the Soul then in this of giving any assistance to the face and complexion so terrible presages of storms did the thunder and lightning give both from the Press and Pulpits of grave and godly men No soul was more shaken then I was in the minority of my judgement when I had more of traditional superstition then of judicious religion and valued more the number of mens names then the weight of their reasons But at length finding by my greater experience in the world that many if not most women of more polished breeding every way vertuous and most commendable for all worthy qualities yet did use more or less privately and it may be less discernibly to vulgar eyes something of art to retard age and wrinckles to preserve or recover a good complexion to
glory as well as our own delight and content while we own him in all and bless him for all even the least help and ornament of life It is an undoubted Maxime both in Reason and Religion That the Devils or wicked Mens usurpation is no prejudice to God's dominion or donation nor to that right use and end of all things which he hath granted to mankind throughout the whole latitude and empire of his visible works If all things are therefore vain sinful and unlawful which vain and wicked minds have or do abuse what I pray will there be left for sober and vertuous persons to use or enjoy They must neither eat nor drink nor clothe nor dress themselves to any decency sweetness costliness or delight Tamar an harlot will dress her self with a vail of modesty as well as chast Rebekah The wanton and cunning woman whom Solomon describes so to the life decketh her self to all extern advantages applieth with all amorous civilities perfumeth her bed and chamber pretendeth great love offereth her holy festivities and peace-offerings at last wipeth her mouth with great demureness and sobriety Yet may we not think all these actions are hereby made scandalous and unlawful to sober women to chast and loving wives We may as well forbid the use of a staffe and a signet to honest men because Judah in his blind and extravagant desires pawns them as pledges of his love to a woman whom he took and used as an harlot not common but incestuous Youth Riches Honour Beauty Strength Policy and Eloquence might be all arraigned and condemned before such unjust and unjudicious Judges who would cry down all use of things because of some abuses which flow not from the nature of the things abused which are good but from the malice of the persons or minds abusing that native good which God diffused to every creature Nabal's churlish Covetousness Absalom's beautiful Rebellion Achitophel's politick Treachery Joab's valiant Cruelty Jehu's zealous Ambition Tertullus his eloquent Malice are all carried upon the wings or wheels of God's gifts and framing Who sees not that the corrupt hearts of men oft turn God's streams to drive the devils mill What Truth so glorious which hath not been sometime sullied eclipsed by the smoke of the bottomless pit the prejudices or scandalous imputations of some black or foul mouths On the other side what Error is so rotten and putrid which some Oratorious varnish hath not sought to colour over with shews of Truth and Piety It is a great part of calm and sober wisdome to resolve all things into their rational and pure principles of which this is one That whatever is in nature is good in its kind That the goodness of all things in nature is reducible to a good end in Reason and Religion That no person is abridged in a right and holy use of things by anothers abuse of them That the just use of things may be restrained though the abuse cals for reformation and the excess for moderation That since God doth not annihilate what he hath made as all good in nature because of mans abuse of things no more have we any cause to annul or deny our sober use of any thing for others petulancy and abuse What things vice or vanity are most prone to usurp as to the most sweet fair and inviting delights of life no doubt vertue and modesty may lawfully challenge and vindicate to their propriety We must not pull out our Eyes because some mens and womens are as S. Peter sayes full of adultery not think Sight and Light unlawful to be enjoyed because some imploy them only to objects of sin and vanity But we must the more cautiously set holy bounds to all our thoughts desires and actions which may have their occasion and fewell from the ministry of the Eyes but their kindling and flames are from the inward inordinacy of the Heart where sin is as our Saviour tels us first conceived and brought forth before it is nourished suckled or swadled in the gifts of God either natural or artificial Heal that root and fountain there is no doubt but the branches or streams flowing either from or to will soon be pure and healthful Whatever God's indulgence offers us in art or nature ought to put us in mind to ask that grace of God the giver which may give us the right use of all his sensible gifts so as not to hinder us of his spiritual and eternal gifts Thus have I good Madam with all plainness freedome and integrity furthest from any thing of fallacy and sophistry answered as I could what you were pleased to urge from Scripture-instances which obviously mention painting or colouring the eyes among other customary ornaments of those times and places but with no token of God's dislike as to that particular more then of other wonted adornings of the head face and the rest of the body whereof your Ladiship makes no scruple as to any sin So that whatever frown may seem to be in the face of the words doth fall only on the abuse of that as other things to sinful excesses and inordinate satisfactions beyond the bounds of civility modesty and honesty But this doth not amount to the force of any positive command forbidding the use of that and other helps to handsomness nor doth it import any dislike of outward comeliness when joyned with humility and holiness conform to the divine mind or will which must be the only touchstone of sin and test of Conscience wherein no great curiosity is necessary to discern God's meaning as to things importing sin or duty Which are I think alwayes set forth in the holy Scriptures not by dubious reflexions oblique and obscure intimations but by such clear direct precepts and authoritative sanctions in some place or other as becomes the majesty of the King of heaven and is most proportionate to the dimness and infirmity of humane understanding who shall never be charged for that as a sin which he could not either by innate principles of moral light or by Scripture-prescripts evidently see to be such Nor is there almost any thing of gross impiety which doth not discover to us its offensiveness against God by that check regret and disgust which it oft gives to our selves either before in or after the sin done which I believe this never did or doth to any modest and judicious users of it unless they be more scared and guided by the ignis fatuus of popular superstition then the clear and constant light of true Religion which moves not by Fancy and Opinion as Puppets do with gimmers but by Reason and divine revelation as the Body doth by its living Soul OBJECTION V. Painting the Face against the Seventh Commandment forbidding all Adultery BUT Madam I have been informed by some Divines and other godly Christians that all painting the face or adding to our handsomness in point of Complexion is directly against the 7th
in cases of so private and retired use of such things as these are by which women preserve or advance the handsomeness of their looks wherewith none are acquainted and of which none can be assured unless they list who use them as I see no cause to own the use of any such thing to them whom I find not to have judgement or charity sufficient to interpret or bear such things well so nor have I any reason to ask their leave nor more to be shaken with these scandals which are needlesly taken by them not willingly given by me Though others rather out of obstinacy then scrupulosity out of peevishness more then tenderness do pretend scandal more then they prove it yet my care must be in the use of such things seriously to assert my own freedome as to my confcience by being rightly perswaded both of the lawfulness of the thing and looking to the innocency of my own intentions in the use of it Thus the Apostle tels us some Christians lawfully might observe a day to the Lord and eat meats offered to Idols as to their private practice notwithstanding others doubted and would be offended if they were acquainted with their so doing which yet was no hinderance to anothers private liberty grounded on God's grand Charter and donation which is The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Nor is any thing in nature denied us where the use of it falls under the regulation of Reason Grace and Vertue which in these things of artificial beauty as in all extern ornaments and enjoyments are strictly required and being exactly observed do abundantly vindicate both the goodness of the things in nature and the lawfulness of them as to mine or any others use of them OBJECTION XI Painting the Face a thing of ill report and so not to be followed BUT suppose Madam these artificial helps of womens beauty should not be in the nature and use of them absolutely sinful so as to violate the conscience yet since it cracks womens credits and exposeth them to reproach which the Apostle calls the snare of the devil it ought to be wholly avoided not onely as to others scandal and perception but also as to our own private use since the Apostles tenderness bids us not onely provide things honest before all men but also to follow things of good report that we may not onely be good but preserve the fragrancy of a good name which gives a great sweetness to goodness and is as perfume to a good garment or as incense to the Temple consequently we ought to avoid those things which are under any cloud of infamy or blasted generally with an ill report though not so notoriously convicted of immorality I am sure the art and mode of adding any tincture or colour to the face or complexion generally hears ill with us though it shews never so well done and is not so much to the advantage of womens aspects as to the disadvantage of their reputation and honour which is and hath been the sense almost of all people in all times that had any remark for civility and piety yea the vulgar simplicity is every where severe against those that are but suspected to use any such arts No Lady or Gentlewoman is so commendable for her piety chastity and charity but this comes in as a dead fly in a precious confection when it is suggested O but she painteth A little false colour though but fancied discolours all her other lustre because it makes such generally esteemed as the cheats deceivers and impostors of mankind the greatest Hypocrites and Jugglers because they use artifice and falsity in that which they pretend not to say or to doe but to be What credit can they deserve in other things which are farre inferiour to themselves when they are not upright or sincere as to their very Being but by such disguises and dissemblings make themselves a real and visible though a silent Lie Although their tongues do not speak untruths yet their hands make lies and their faces proclaim falsehood which is abominable to God yea as the Prophet speaks of other Idolaters Isai. 44. 20. so these self-Idolaters when they take the fucus or false colours to sacrifice to the Idol of their looks may justly say Is there not a lie in my right hand No person but concludes that if God threaten to punish strange apparel he will not spare strange faces which in spite of God and Nature will pretend to handsomeness and make that to be which is not Yea the self-guilt of every one that useth such arts though never so soberly and discreetly as you advise is such that they retire and hide themselves from the sight of others while they apply their face-physicks by a strange riddle being ashamed to be seen doing that which they purposely doe to make them more worthy to be seen of others If it be a practice of honesty or ingenuity why is it attended with shame and self-guiltiness which are black shadows following sin and unworthiness justly meriting to be entertained by others with reproach and disrepute when they are self-discountenanced and condemned As worthy actions bring forth honour and are accompanied with a generous boldness so also they are followed with good report and clear reputation which attends vertue as light doth the Sun If the light then of Scripture were less clear against all painting the face yet the rule of reputation which is common fame the law of honor light of Nature seems to discover the uncomeliness and dishonor of this practice The voice of people in this and many other cases is as the voice of God which is oft to be learned from the common notions and suffrages or sense of mankind which the Apostle owns in the case of womens habits and adornings as the law and dictate of Natures teaching them where Scripture is less evident None but persons impudent or foolish will neglect what is generally said of them next our Consciences and our eyes our credit should be most tender especially in our Sex who have always a hard task to play a second or after-game at reputation if a woman once dash upon this rock of Reproach she hardly ever recruits her credit as a grave sober and modest person though she should not absolutely shipwreck her conscience with God And truly Madam this sense of common fame and repute hath always in the case of Ladies complexioning arts so over-awed me that I neither durst ever use it nor take their parts or excuse those otherwise very good women who did or were but thought to use it yea it seemed a note of godliness to me to declaim bitterly against both the thing and the persons suspected or voiced to use it when indeed I had no cause to conclude that any such thing was practised by them further then I heard it from more prying eyes and censorious tongues which as it had been hard to