Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	law_n	sin_n	9,645	5	5.2654	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75977	The glory of women: or, A treatise declaring the excellency and preheminence of women above men, which is proved both by scripture, law, reason, and authority, divine, and humane. Written first in Latine by Henricus Cornelius Agrippa Knight, and doctor both of law and physicke. And presented to Margaret Augusta, Queen of the Austrians and Burgundians. And now translated into English, for the vertuous and beautifull female sex of the Commonwealth of England By Edvv. Fleetvvood, Gent.; Declamatio de nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus. English	Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius, 1486?-1535.; Fleetwood, Edward.	1652 (1652)	Wing A788; Thomason E655_7; ESTC R205944	27,257	39

blessing therefore is given for the womans sake but the law for the man the law I say of anger and malediction the man was forbid to eate of the fruite of the tree the woman not so who neither as yet was created when the command was given to the man for woman God willed to be free from the beginning the man therefore sinned by eating not the woman the man brought death not the woman and wee all have sinned in Adam not in Eve we have drawn originall sin not from the Mother the Female but from the Father the Male therefore the old law hath circumcised every Male and the Females abide uncircumcised ordaining originall sin to be punished in that sex only which transgressed neither did God accuse Eve because she had eaten but because she had given occasion of evill to the man and that unwittingly by reason she was tempted of the Devill The man knowingly sinned the woman ignorantly and deceived hath erred for she was tempted of the first devill who knew the woman to be the most excellent of all the creatures And as Bernard saith the devill seeing her beauty to be admired knowing her to be such a one as he had knowne before whilst he stood which above all Angells had the fruition of God he cast envy against the woman alone for her excellency Wherefore Christ was borne most humble into the world that he might by his humility expiate the pride of the sinne of our first parents he took the mans Sex as being more humble he took not the womans Sex being more sublime and noble Moreover because we were condemned for the sinne of the man not for the sinne of the woman God willed that by which Sex the sinne came in the same the expiation of sinne should be made and the Sex which through ignorance was deceived by the same punishment should be made Therefore it was said to the Serpent because the woman or which is truer read because the seed of the woman shall bruise his head not the man neither the seede of the man And hence it is that the order of Priest-hood is committed by the Church rather to the man then to the woman because every Priest representeth Christ but Christ the first man being a sinner to wit Adam from this the Canon is understood which beginneth thus This Image that woman is not made to the Image of God to wit the corporeall image of Christ for God willeth I say Christ to be the sonne not of the man but of the woman whom he honoured so far that he would put on the flesh of woman alone for in regard of the woman alone Christ is called the son of man not in regard of the man This is the great Miracle which the Prophet was very much amazed at because a woman compasseth a man to wit when the whole Sex of man is comprehended in a Virgin and she beareth Christ in her body Also Christ rising from the dead appeared to women first and not unto men neither is it unknown that after the death of Christ men departed from the faith but women it is manifest never fell away from the faith and Christian Religion Furthermore no persecutions for the faith at any time no Heresie no Errour hath ever risen from women but otherwise it is concerning men Christ is betrayed sold bought accused condemned suffered was crucified at length put to death and all by men Yea he was denied of Peter forsaken of the rest of the Disciples accompanied of women alone to the crosse and to the Sepulcher And the wife of Pilat a heathen did more indeavour to save Christ then any of those men which had beleeved To this may be added that almost all the whole Schoole of Divines affirm that then the Church abided not except in one woman alone to wit the Virgin Mary and for that thing deservedly the Female Sex is called religious and holy Now if any should say with Aristotle that the Males are more strong more wise and more noble amongst living creatures the excellent Doctor Paul answers this saying God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of this world God hath chosen to confound the strong and the ignoble and contemptible God hath chosen and those things which are not that he might destroy those things that are For who amongst men in all gifts of Nature was more eminent then Adam but a woman humbled him Who stronger then Sampson but a woman over-came his strength Who chaster then Lot yet a woman provoked him to incest Who more religious then David but a woman perverted his holinesse Who wiser then Salomon but a woman deceived him Who patienter then Job whom the devill stript of all his goods killed his Daughters and his Sonnes filled him with Ulcers all over his body notwithstanding he was not able to provoke him from his ancient sincerity but the woman being in this superiour and of more power then the devill himself provoked him to curse Yea if it were lawful to call Christ himselfe into these comparisons then whom nothing is more powerfull nothing more wise since he is the eternall wisdome and power of God did not he suffer himselfe to be overcome by the Woman of Canaan he saying It is not good to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs She again answered Yea Lord but the dogs eate the crums that fall from their Masters table and now with reverence be it spoken as it were overcome by this Argument he blessed her saying Be it done unto thee as thou wilt Who more ferventer in the faith then Peter the chiefe of the Apostles a woman seduced him not the least Pastor of the Church to deny Christ Let the Canonists say what they wil that their Church cannot erre but hath not the woman Pope her name Joane deluded it with an egregious imposture but who ever shall say these things more bend themselves to the reproach of women then to adde to their praises To whom women in this manner shal answer If there be a necessity that one of us make a losse of some good or life I had rather destroy thee then be destroyed my selfe and that by the example of Innocent the third who in his own Epistle decretall to a certain Cardinall whom he sent Legat for the Roman See who left this in writing If it cannot be avoided but that I or thou must be confounded I will chuse rather to confound thee Furthermore the civill Lawes take that care of and provide for women so that they shall be sure to have their right although it cannot be without damage and injury to men And in holy Writ is not even the wickednesse of women commended and extolled oftentimes more then men doing wel Is not Rachel praised which deluded her Father with a neate invention when he sought his Idolls Is not Rebecca praised

and dasht out the brains of Abimelech being the rod of divine vengeance upon him because he had done evill before the Lord against his owne Father his seventy brethren being slaine by him upon one stone So Hester the wife of King Ahasuerus not onely freed her People from a certaine death but also inriched them with great Honour When the Roman City was besiedged by the Volscians Cneus Martius Coriolanus being Captaine and the men were not able to defend it by their Armes Veturia a woman of noble birth and the Mother of Coriolanus saved it by the chiding of her Sonne Arthemisia defeated the Rhodians of their Army rising up against her brought the Isle into subjection and erected a Statue in the City of Rhodes for a Monument of her noble acts Who can sufficiently praise that most noble Maide although of mean discent who in the year of Christians One thousand four hundred twenty eight the Kingdom of France being possessed by the English taking Armes like an Amazon led the Army so stoutly and fought so happily that she did restore the lost Kingdom to the King of France the English being overcome by many Battells to whose perpetuall memory a Statue is erected at the Towne Genabum which is now called Orleans on the Bridge which is over the river Ligur I could reckon up besides these others innumerable most excellent women of the Greeks Latines Barbarians as well from old as moderne Histories But I will study brevity least the worke should swel too big For Plutarch Valerius Bocatius and many others have writ concerning them Hence it is that I have not spoken so many things of the praises of women as I have kept silent Because I am not so ambitious that I should presume that I am able to comprehend the infinite Excellencies and Vertues of women in so small a speech Who can be sufficient to enumerate the infinite praises of women on whom all our being and the whole conservation of man-kinde which otherwise in short time would perish and every Family and Common-wealth dependeth Which thing Romes Builder understood very well who whilst he wanted women doubted not to ravish the daughters of the Sabins and in defence of the Rape made War with their Fathers for hee knew that an Empire of men alone would be but of a short age At length the Capitoll being taken by the Sabins when they had fought most bloodily together in the middest of the Market-place at the running in of women between the two Armies the War ceased and at length a Peace and League was made and they entered into a perpetuall Friendship wherefore Romulus put the names of them upon the family of the Curii and by consent of the Romans it was set down in publick Records that women should neither grind nor play the Cook That women should be forbid to receive any thing from the Husband by gift and the Husband to receive any thing by gift from the Wife that they might know that all good things were common Hence arose the custom that in their marriages the wife should be brought in saying ubi tu ego denoting wher thou art Master I am Mistris where thou art Lord I am Lady Afterwards when the Bands of the Volscians pitched their Camp within five miles of the City when their Kings being expelled Coriolanus Martius was Captain they were turned back by women In honour of which exploit a famous Temple was dedicated to Womens Fortune Yea notable ensignes of great honour and dignity were given to them by Decree of the Senate So it comes about that they take the upper-hand in the way and men rise up and give them place Furthermore Purple garments with gold Lace Ornaments of Gems Earings Golden-Chains are allowed them for it was provided by the Lawes of following Emperours as often times as there were Statutes made which prohibited certaine Garments and Ornaments that womens Garments should not be comprehended under them they were also rewarded with successions of inheritances and possessions and it was permitted by the Lawes to celebrate with publick praises the Funeralls of Women as the Funeralls of famous Men in regard that when the present was to be sent to Delphian Apollo by the desire of Camillus and so much gold could not be had the women brought the Ornaments of their bodies of their own accord towards it Furthermore In that War with Cyrus carried on against Astyages the Army of the Persians being turned to flight it was by the reprehension of women made ashamed and brought againe into a good posture of defence and gave to their enemies a notable overthrow for which deed it was determined by the Lawes of Cyrus that the Kings of Persia as they enter the City should give to each woman some summes of gold which Macedo twice entering the City twice payed Moreover hee commanded the gift should be doubled to women with childe So women were presented with every kind of honour by the ancient Kings of the Persians and Romans from the cradles as I may say of the Roman City and Empire yea and not lesse honoured by the Emperours themselves Hence Justinianus the Emperor did think fit that the advice and counsel of his Wife should be taken in making Laws And elsewhere the Law saith because the Wife shineth in the honour of the Husband that he might take notice of her splendor as in how much the Husband is exalted so much is the Wife So the Wife of an Emperour is called an Emperesse and the Wife of a King a Queen and the Wife of a Prince a Princesse and illustrious howsoever she was borne And Vlpianus saith a Prince or Emperour is freed from and above Lawes but Augusta which is the Wife of an Emperour although she be not free from the Lawes by her selfe notwithstanding the Prince or Emperour brings the same Priviledges to her as he hath himselfe Hence it is that famous women are permitted to judge and to arbitrate and that they might be capable to investe into Fee-Farme Land and of being invested and to determine what right vassalls have And it appertaineth to the same thing that women may have particular Servants as the man hath and the woman is able to judge amongst strangers she is also of power to put a name upon a family so that Sons might be denominated from their Mother not from their Father they have also great Priviledges concerning Dowries here and there exprest in divers parts of the body of the Lawes where also provision was made that women of honest life and fame ought not to be imprisoned for civill debtes yea that Judge was punished with death which should put her in prison But if she were suspected of a fault she was thrust into a Monastery or was delivered to the custody of women to be secured because by the testimony of the Law the woman is in better condition then the man as also in the same kind of offence the man

deservedly therefore every creature loveth reverenceth and observeth her deservedly every creature is subject and obeyeth her as their Queen being as the end so the glory and perfection of all the works of God Wherefore the wise man speaks concerning her He glorifieth the Nobility of the Woman having fellowship with God and above all the Lord loveth her How much also in respect of the place in which the woman was created she excelleth man the holy Scriptures plainly testifie in that the woman was formed in Paradise being a most Noble and most pleasant place with the Angells when as the man was made in the ordinary field out of Paradise with bruit creatures and afterwards for the sake of the woman to be created was brought into Paradise therefore the woman by especiall and extraordinary priviledge of nature as it were accustomed to the highest place of her Creation although looking down from high is not giddy neither doe her eyes dazle as it is wont to happen to men Furthermore if it happen that a woman together with the man be in danger by waters all outward helps being laid aside the woman longer swimmeth above the water when the lumpish man presently sinkes to the bottom That the dignity of Place maketh to the Nobility of a man both civill Laws and holy Canons do abundantly confirm and it is the general observation of all Nations not only of men but of every animate creature yea and inanimate also That by how much more worthy soyl they draw their originals from by so much the more generous they are counted Wherfore Isaac commanded his Son Jacob that he should not take a wife in the land of Canaan but from Mesopotamia of Syria being in better condition Not unlike to this is that in St. John which Philip said We have found Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth Nathaniel said unto him can any good thing come out of Nazareth But to proceed to other Arguments The woman excelleth the man in respect of the matter of which she was made which was not dead and vile clay as mans was but a purified substance enlivened and endued with a soule yea a rationall soule participating of the divine mind Hereunto I shall adde that man was made of the earth which of its own nature heavenly influences co-operating produces living creatures of all kinds But the Woman above the influences of heaven promptitude and potentiality of nature and concurrence of secondary causes was made by God alone in all things like unto him intire and perfect man loosing but one single rib of which the woman was formed to wit Eve of Adam sleeping and that so deeply that he did not feele when it was taken away which God taking from the Man gave to the Woman Man therefore is the worke of Nature but Woman the Artifice of God And therefore for the most part Woman is more capable of divine splendor then Man and often is found full of the same which may easily appear from the serenity and pulchritude with which she is even to wonder blest For since beauty is nothing else but the divine light and splendor shining through faire bodies he certainly hath chose to dwell in and fill with it Women rather then Men Hence the Body of WOMAN is most delicate to the eye and touch her flesh most soft and tender her colour bright and lustring Skinne cleare Head comely Locks faire haire soft shining and long her Countenance majesticke Aspect pleasant her Face surpassing in beauty necke milke white fore-head high eyes sparkling with a lovely chearfulnesse mixt with tenne thousand graces above them eye-browes smooth and thin divided with decent distance from the middle of which descendeth her nose streight and of due proportion under which is her mouth neat round and lovely with small fresh and red lips within which her teeth appeare when she gently smiles being very small and evenly placed overcoming Ivory with their whitenesse and to whom they are fewer in number then to man because she is not given so much to eating and consuming About them her jaw-bons rise handsomely and cheeks of a tender softnesse a rosie brightnesse and full of modesty Next take view of her round and dimpled Chinne in a pleasant manner under which the neck is placed which is small but something long fairly erected upon her round shoulders a delicate throat white and of an indifferent thicknesse her voice sweet and pleasant her brest somewhat large and prominent adorned with two Nectar-fill'd Paps the roundnesse of which doth suite and agree well with the roundnesse of her belly her sides soft back smooth and erect armes stretched out hands small and slender fingers ●●●…tly joynted her flanks and hips more full the calves of her legs more fleshy the tips of her hands and feet ending in a round orbicular compleatnesse and every member ful of juyce and moisture Adde to these her composed gate modest deportment graceful motion gallant carriage besides the order symmetrie figure and habitude in all parts most specious that I may say there is no creature so admirable no wonder so to be admired and that no man except he be blind cannot but see God himselfe what pulchritude soever the universal world is capable of to have heaped upon women to the end that every creature might stand amazed at her love and reverence her as we see by experience that incorporeall spirits doate upon women with most ardent affections which is such an approved truth that none I think dare offer to deny it And that I may omit that which Poets manifest to us concerning the Loves of the gods and their Paramours as of Apollo and his Daphne Neptune and his Salmonea Hercules and his Hebe Jole and Omphale and of the Mistrisses of other gods and more then many of Jupiter himselfe The holy Scriptures in many places highly commend beauty in women above all other gifts and graces hence it is read in Genesis that the Sons of God seeing the daughters of men that they were fair took them wives of all they would We read also of Sarah Abrahams wife that she was a fair woman to look upon above all other women in the Land When the Servant of Abraham saw Rebecca a maid of an excellent beauty he said silently within himselfe This is she which the Lord hath prepared for Isaac the sonne of Abraham And Abigal the wife of wicked Nabal as she was prudent and discreet in like manner she was fair and beautiful and therfore she saved the life and the goods of her Husband from the fury of David and the evill man was saved by the faire and vertuous woman for with these words David spake unto her Goe in peace unto thy house behold I have heard thy voice and honoured thy face For since every beauty is either spirituall vocall or corporeall Abigal was wholly beautifull both by prudence of spirit comelinesse of body eloquence of speech upon which

account when Nabal was dead she became one of the wives of David And Bathsheba was a woman of so excellent a forme that David was taken with the love of her and after the death of her Husband did extol her with Queenly dignity before the rest when she was espoused to him Abishag the Shunamite because she was a Virgin most faire therefore was chosen to lye with the King in his extream age to recover his heat Whereupon the King being old did inrich her with the highest honours and after his death she was accounted in the place of Queen Hitherto appertaine those things which we read concerning the wonderful beauty of Queen Vasti and Hester who was yet preferred before her and was more excellent and of a more exceeding fair and comely face We read concerning Judith whose beauty the Lord increased so much as in beholding her men were struck with astonishment We read concerning Susanna which was ravishingly delicate and beautifull We read concerning Job that after his various temptations and his involved miseries besides other things the Lord gave to him three most fair daughters more gracious then the three Graces fairer then whom there was not any in the whole earth found out If we read the history of holy Virgins truely wee cannot but admire their wonderfull beauty and specious form before other children of men But above all both far and near as the immaculate Princesse of all shines forth the blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Christ at whose beauty the Sun and Moon stands amazed from whose glorious countenance such a lustre of chastity and holinesse floweth as that it was able to dazle the minds of all men no man for all that at any time through the temptation and inticements of so stupendious a beauty falling in the least thought These although more largely set downe in the holy Bible where so often mention is made concerning beauty I have related almost in the very words themselves by which we are given plainly to understand that the beauty of women not onely with men but with God is esteemed and hath its honour Therefore we read in holy Writ that God commanded every male child to be slaine but the fair women to be saved alive In Deuteronomy the children of Israel were permitted to chuse themselves Wives out of the fair women captives Besides this admired beauty also the woman is endowed with a certaine grace of comelinesse which happeneth not unto men For the hairs of women grow to such a length as that they may cover those parts of the body wherein there is lesse comelinesse Of which parts it is not necessary at this time I should treat Onely this I shall say that in wonderfull decency Nature hath ordained these in women being not prominent as in men but biding within in a more secret and sure place Furthermore Nature hath afforded women more modesty then men Wherefore often times it happens that women being diseased with the dangerous Ulcer in the secrets they have rather chosen death then to submit themselves to the sight and handling of a Chirurgeon that they might be healed And they retaine this grace of modesty not onely living but dying yea and also dead which appeareth cheifly in those which perish in waters For as Pliny writeth and experience testifieth the woman lyeth with her face downwards nature sparing the modesty of the dead but the man swimmeth with his face upwards To these may be added the worthiest member in man by which we differ chiefly from bruits and shew forth the divine nature is the head in which head the chiefest part is the countenance the head in men is deformed with baldnesse the woman contrariwise by a great priviledge of Nature waxeth not bald The countenance moreover in men is often times so soiled with a most odious beard and covered with nasty haires that they can scarcely be discerned from beasts in woman contrarywise the face alwayes abides pure and comely Hence there was in the law of the twelve tables that women should not shave their cheeks least when a beard should bud forth their modesty might be hid and it is to all for an argument of the cleanlinesse of women that when a woman is once cleanly washed as often as she washeth afterwards in cleane water the water receiveth not the least foulnesse but man when he hath been washed often times very clean he muddieth and soileth the water Moreover by the ordinance of nature women through secret places every moneth expell their superfluities but mens are continually expelled through the face the most comely part of the body Furthermore since amongst all other living creatures it is given only to man to look with the countenance erect towards heaven Nature and Fortune have respected woman cheifly in this and are so propitious that if by chance she falls she almost alwayes falls upon her backe and seldome or never on her head or face There is another thing which we may not omit Do not we see that in the procreation of mankind nature preferreth women before men which is cheifly perspicuous because the womans seed alone as Galen and Avicen say that is the matter and nutriment of the child not the mans because it entreth into the woman as an accident into the substance For as the law saith that is the greatest and cheifest office of women to conceive and to nourish the thing conceived for which cause we see that many are like their mothers because they are procreated of the blood of them and that holds also very much in the habit of the body alwayes in the manners if the mothers be foolish also the sons are foolish if the mothers be prudent the sons are prudent But contrary wise in fathers if they be wise for the most part they beget foolish children and foolish fathers wise children provided alwayes the mothers be wise Neither is there any other reason why Mothers love their children more then Fathers except that because the mothers are sensible they have more of their owne substance then the fathers for the same cause also I think it is naturall to us to be more affected towards the mother then towards the father so as we seem but to affect the father but passionately to love the mother And therfore nature affordeth to women milk of such a strength which doth not only nourish infants but also restore them being sicke which also when they are grown up may suffice for saving of life The experiment we read in Valerius Max. concerning a young maid of the common people which by suckling nourished her mother in Prison when otherwise she was condemned to have perished with hunger for which piety of hers life was not only given to the mother but a settled maintenance to both and the prison was afterward dedicated to the goddesse Piety For it is most commonly seen that the woman is more full of compassion and piety then