Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A77394
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A Brief anatomie of women: being an invective against, and apologie for the bad and good of that sexe.
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1653
(1653)
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Wing B4524; Thomason E722_2; ESTC R207228
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5,478
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8
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much to be controverted that they are a help unto man is indisputable but in what sence to exhaust his estate divulge his secrets and be a continual trouble and vexation to his spirit all the daies of his life It we look upon their outward beauty we shall find it like those Indian Apples which are seemingly fair without but poison within if upon their carriage and behaviour we shall find that as far distant from their inward nature and conditions as the East is from the West And if we but observe their actions and undertakings it will manifestly appear that they are fickle changeable and various as the weather-cock constant in nothing but inconstancy and humane creatures meerly metamorphosed seeming to be that which truly and really they are not and in a word it is most apparent that they onely are the greatest and most powerfull temptations to evill of all other the very gulf where mans reason governance and discretion is often swallowed up and the Adamantine Rocks whereon many have been shipwracked Neither is there any thing except Sathan it self that captivates mans sences or predominates more over his understanding and will then they by their subtile falacies and bewitching illusions which hath been sufficiently manifested not onely in former ages but also in this present and that of late years by men of no mean degree and quality that have deeply suffered by those causes But I shall not insist on these particulars neither proceed to a further relation and discovery of those many evils and inconveniences that men are drawn into by the attractive power of women but rather with care and diligence seek to eschew and prevent them advising others as they find cause to indeavour to do the like for as man is incident unto many and divers temptations in this life even so also is there several means given him and waies of resistance which we ought vigilently to observe and put in practice But alas when I consider how the flesh overcometh the spirit I cannot but admire at mans frailtie and weaknesse and again when I consider that the tree is known by his fruit and that man is the fruit of that corruptible tree my admiration is soon taken off I therefore conclude that man in this his depraved condition is not able of himself to speak a good word think a good thought and much lesse perform any good action without the immediate and effectual working of the divine Creator in his heart which gives us an assurance that although our natures are weak and indisposed yet there is a spirit of power and strength to assist and direct us It now remains that we humbly and earnestly desire of the Almightie that he would be pleased to confer upon us some portion of this his spirit that thereby we may be inabled to withstand the temptations of this world amongst which that of women appears to be none of the least An Apologie for good Women HAving briefly laid open the evills and discommodities that proceed from and attend bad women it now remains that I say something in commendation of the good and although the number of the one so far exceed the other yet in all ages there hath been some whose Godly zeal and virtuous piety together with their names ought to be had in memorial to all posterity For if we consider how mans fall from that estate of grace and innocency wherein he was first placed was acted and brought to passe by woman we also find that the heavenly Creator out of his infinite and unsearchable wisdom so ordained that mans salvation proceeded from woman also so that by them came death by them likewise we were restored to life what creature can be more excellent than that whom God hath made an instrument to act so great a work If we search the Scriptures we may plainly see how great how good and excellent performances have been put in practice by some women tending to the worship of God the good of his Church and benefit of his people As namely Qu. Esther who after the decree was past for the destruction of the Jews besought the Lord three days by fasting prayer for their preservation which afterward was accomplished she finding favour in the sight of K. Ahasuerus who not onely repealed that decree but also caused the proud and wicked contriver thereof to be executed and Mordecay from a mean and low condition to be promoted to great honot and dignity by means whereof the whole nation of the Jews the then reputed people of God obtained more liberty and freedom than ever And also Iudith when the City of Bethulia was besieged by Holosernes and his Host and the inhabitants thereof by reason of their fins driven into great miseries and extremities she I say by a worthy and notable stratagem raised the siege and freed that City from utter ruine and destruction And of late years Queen Elizabeth of famous memory who so long ruled this realm of England in quiet peace and tranquility with divers others before and since whose worthy deeds and renowned virtues are never to be forgotten but remain as due trophies of honour to that sex to the worlds end But my pen is not of virtue or words of force to expresse their just praise and commendation neither is there any earthly blessing so great either in prosperitie or adversitie sickness or health as for a man to injoy a good and vertuous woman In regard therefore they are so helpfull comfortable and generally usefull unto man as that without them the world would be at a period how then can we sufficiently love respect and reverence the virtuous But some perhaps may object and say that in this age there are very few of those and they hard to be found out to which I answer that as indeed they are not many that may be an argument their virtue and goodnesse may be the more for we find by sure and infallible arguments that the number of the righteous are but few and the wicked very numerous And we must also acknowledge that women in their natural inclinations are all in extreams for they that are good are really good indeed and they that are bad are usually extreamly evill Neither is mans weaknesse more apparent then in his choice betwixt good and evill for oftentimes he takes the one for the other which is the cause that we all fall into so many evills and inconveniences for prevention whereof we ought carefully and advisedly to look upon the reall substance and not upon the seeming shew or shadow upon the inward grace and perfection and not upon the outward beauty and deceitfull appearance But above all upon true faith and Godlinesse without which we cannot attain to any good or perfect gift tending to our comfort and consolation whilest we remain in this life or that which is to come And thus gentle Reader I have in some brief measure anatomized the feminine sex in generall and also in some particulars which I refer to thy favourable censure and good construction that so whatsoever is therein am sle may be by thee corrected and that which is worth observation more inlarged and amended it being a matter of general concernment and a subject in it self commendable profitable unto all and hurtfull unto none but the compleating thereof would require some labour as well as time and also imploy many sheets of paper in regard therefore I may not exceed one being confined within those narrow limits by some considerations at this time I am forced to desist from that enterprise and must now conclude by way of exhortation unto all sorts of men which is That those who injoy a Godly virtuous and loving wife esteem of her accordingly prising her as a most rate precious and inestimable jewel rendring most humble and hearty thanks unto the God of Heaven for so great a blessing upon earth And those who are made partakers of so great an evill and discommoditie as to possesse a lewd and wicked woman let them indeavour to arm themselves with all possible patience earnestly craving aid and assistance from above that so they may be the better enabled to undergo that heavy punishment here below which their own inconsiderate rashnesse hath drawn them too But those who lead single lives and have not yet made choice of either let not such I say in their actions and performances be also guided by single judgements but rather take advice from others which being seasoned by their own experience may give them a further knowledg what it is to make a choice of that nature it being the greatest and most material action of our whole lives and that wherein we yeeld our bodies in bondage to good or evill untill death makes a final separation FINIS
A Brief ANATOMIE OF WOMEN Being An INVECTIVE against and APOLOGIE for THE BAD and GOOD Of that SEXE Eccles 7.26 27.28 And I find more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands who so pleaseth God shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Behold this have I found saith the Preacher counting one by one to find out the account Which yet my soul seeketh but I find not one man among a thousand have I found but a woman among all those have I not found Nouember 30 LONDON Printed by E. Alsop 1653. To the Feminine Sex of either sort YOu whose abundant goodnesse and magnificent vertues sufficiently inform the world that you are not of the number of the bad take notice that what is spoken of the generality of women in my invective is not to detract from your noble worth but rather to adde lustre unto your Godly Zeal and honoured virtues for if there were not deformity how could there be beauty and if there were not sin how could righteousness appear The Antipathy therefore between good and evil is as great as the visible difference betwixt the most resplendant light and obscurest darkness Persist then Heroick souls in all Godliness moral virtues and heavenly graces leaving good examples unto posterity that so Phoenix like the glory of your sex may revive and continue to all Eternity But you whose corrupt natures and evil dispositions render you odious in the sight of God and Man Learn by your own deformities to hate vice and love virtue to be more Godly and lesse prophane more humble meek and lesse proud and vain glorious and in your lives and conversations more constant staid and lesse variable and dissolute So will you gain comfort unto your selves adding to the number of the good which are but few and diminish from the bad which are exceeding many This is the desire of him that is Your friend so far as you are virtues J. S. An INVECTIVE against BAD WOMEN IF we look upon Man in his first Original when the breath of life was breathed into his nostrils and the work of his creation perfected we find that there was a Rib taken out of his side whereof Woman was framed but whether this rib were of the more gross and terrestrial part of that substance I shall not here controvert seeing the almighty works and inevitable decrees of the great Creator are beyond the apprehension of man and too deep for us earthly mortals to prie into however in all the revolutions and accidents that are incident unto us it is most apparent that there is an instrumental means for the effecting and bringing those things to passe Which well may appear in this first woman who being deluded by the subtile serpent that enemy of mankind drew also Adam unto disobedience and so reduced him unto his first principle as part of that earthly masse from whence he came and we all return And if we but seriously consider the nature and qualities of the generallity of that sex even in all ages from the fall of man unto this present we may well perceive that they have not been onely extreamly evil in themselves but have also been the main instruments and immediate causes of Murther Idolatry and a multitude of other hainous sins in many high and eminent men witnesse the wife of Vriah whose beauty so ensnared religious King David as that it caused him to commit fornication and not so content but for his surer settlement and continuance in his wished content he directed the chief Captain of his Host to place Vriah in the forefront of the battel that so probably he might not escape death which fell out according to his desire Also the wives and concubines of learned and wise K. Solomon brought him unto idolatry and Dalilah the beloved of Sampson notwithstanding his great strength was by her overcome and betraied unto death likewise Potiphers wife would have allured her servant Ioseph to have committed wickedness but that he had the power given him to resist her temptation Lots daughters not onely made their father drunk but caused him to commit Incest Iob's wife when his afflictions lay sore and heavie upon him for his trial advised him to curse God and die Iesabel for her great pride and wickednesse received a just reward I might have cited innumerable more of like nature both out of divine and moral histories but I conceive these together with our own experience in this age sufficient to inform us of the general inclination of these feminine creatures I shall therefore now proceed to their more particular characters which take as followeth The golden tresses of their amorous hair which being curiously kept suitable to their outward apparel and according to the newest fashion doth manifestly express the true performance of their dutie to their great Lord and master Lucifer in observing so well his livery and that they may more reallie appear to be his and their beauty seem more gloriously light to other they parch up their visages with pieces of darkness which are as so many seals of Sathan to bind them to his pleasure and will all which out of their great pride and little modesty they cover over from the eie of the world with a sable vail called black bags Their roling eies like shining pearl seem to be the baits that insnare men in their love whose fruit is destruction Their ears delight to entertain frivolous discourses especially if it relate to their praise and commendation which is to them a thing most plausable Their tongue that stirring and active member both defensive and offensive defensive in vindicating and upholding their own supposed credit and good name though ever so bad offensive in scolding abusing and detracting from their neighbours though ever so good Their Lips are the Posterns from whence issueth lying deceit and all manner of dissimulation Their neck and brests are left bare unto the open view of the world to signifie that nature hath fairly acted her part without although there remain no grace within Their Arms and Hands are ever ready to perform their respective duties unto the other parts of the bodie whether good or evill Their bodie it self is a magazine of corrupt and ill humors which hath continual recourse to all the rest of the members Their Thighs are the ascent unto this frail fabrick of corruption their legs the supporters and their feet swift guides to the waies of vanity so that from the crown of their head to the sole of the foot there is not a good member no not one Notwithstanding it is undeniable but that they are generally usefull for there is nothing so bad that hath not some virtue in it neither was there any thing created but that is good and they being a creature it must consequently follow that they are so too but for what there is the main point of the discovery and a thing