Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	bear_v	birth_n	child_n	2,032	5	5.7088	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26841	The history of the court of the king of China out of French.; Histoire de la cour du roy de la Chine. English	Baudier, Michel, 1589?-1645.	1682 (1682)	Wing B1165; ESTC R13758	39,916	119

which they hold in singular reverence Its Form is human and Majestick Out of its Shoulders grow up three Heads equal and alike which incessantly behold one another for to let us understand that they have but one and the same Will This may be taken for some Remains of the Mystery of the most holy Trinity which the blessed Apostle St. Thomas heretofore preached unto them when going to the Oriental Indies where the Martyrdom which he suffered crowned his Life with an immortal Diadem he passed through China as is reported in the ancient Writings of the Armenians but finding the Chineses wholly taken up with Wars he passed on farther after he had briefly explicated to them the Verities of the Gospel In the same Temple where this Image with three H●ads is adored they venerate Pictures which are not unlike to those of the twelve Apostles The Christians who observed these Representations asked the naturāll Chineses what men these twelve Apostles had been and had no other answer but that these twelve Personages had been great Philosophers who had so ardently embraced Vertue in this World that after their Death it had elevated them up to Heaven and made them Angels thereof For a third Testimony that they have heretofore had some Ray of Christian Verity they venerate also in the same number of sacred Pictures the Image of a Woman perf●ctly fair that bears a Child in her Arms which they say she brought forth without violating h●r Virginity and whose Conception and Birth were not soiled with any Sin they know no more thereof The double Cloud of Ignorance of the holy Books and of the Si● of Id●latry has hid the rest from th●m Never●heless all these Marks explica●●d by the eloquent Mouth of some pious and f●rvent Christian might reproach them with being no more what they have been and would be no u●pro●itable Means to render succes●ul the Cares which should be employed ●or their Salvation Besides that the excell●ncy of their Wits capable of Reason would give a freer Access thereunto and even their Oracles would lend an helping hand to such Workmen for the effectuating their good Designs for they have a Prophecy that saith That from th● West must come the true Faith which shall lift them up ●o Heaven for to be th●r● made Angels Certainly the Court of China woul● be unto us an agreeable Abode in th● Conversation of its Courtiers learned and endued with a very excellent Wit and amidst the honest Recompences which are there given to Vertue but the false Worship of Idols and the abominable Superstitions w●ich are there committed force us to quit it It is then time to depart thence to turn our Thoughts another way and to besto● our Labors upon a more holy Employm●nt We shall do it with the Divine assistance of him that has conducted our Works after we shall have acquainted you with the Ceremonies which are used at the D●cease and Funerals of the Soveraign Pri●ces of this gr●at Monarchy When their King is dead th●y wash his C●●ps with Aromatick waters perfume his Royall Habits and cloath him in the most sumptuous manner that ever he was in his Life they s●at him in his Throne to the end all his Court may come to pay him their last Devoirs and to bewail his Loss The first who present themselves are the Prince's Children if he had any after them the Queen his Wife and the neerest of his Relations they all put themselves on their Knees before his Body abide there some time and then retire with Tears in their Eyes and Sighs in their Mo●ths The Chancellor or President of his Councell accompanied with all the Councellors of State pays there the same Funerall honors all the Courtiers and Domesticks of the Royal House being also on their Knees before the Deceased bewail the Loss of their Lord. This sorrowfull Ceremony being performed they take the Body from the Throne and strip it of its precious Habits they put it in a Coffin It is the ordinary passage of the Pomps of the World from their Grandeur to Death mad● of rich and odoriferous Wood closed in such a manner that no Air can enter thereinto they put it upon a Table in the middle of the Royal Chamber adorned and hung the most sumptuously that is possible they spread upon it a white Linen Cloth hanging down to the Ground upon which the Portrait of the deceased King is drawn to the Life the Autichamber is also superbly adorned and therein are set many Tables with a great number of Funeral Lights amongst which is served up a great quantity of Viands for the Priests and Religious of China who come to sing after their mode to pray and off●r Sacrifices for the Repose of him who is dead in eternall Inquietudes To these vain Devotions they add many Sorceries they put upon th● Coffin a great number of little painted Papers a part whereof they burn the rest they tye to the Bier with little Cords they shake and move them incessantly with such dreadfull Cries and Howlings that it is difficult to hear them without Terror They say that by this frantick fashion of succoring the Dead they send the Soul of the dec●ased Monarch into Heaven to the number of those that are happy This Tintamarre or Spirituall Charivary of the Priests of China endures the space of fifteen Dayes after which they conduct the Body of the King to the Grave The Procession is in this manner Before the Body go all the Chinese Priests and Religious that are found in the Court they carry in their hands lighted Tapers The Kindred of the Prince follow the Corps severely clad in Mourning they have great Cassocks of wool next their●l●sh and are gi●t about their Reins with Cords their Head is simply covered with great broad-brim'd Bonne●s of wool like to our Hats a-la-Mode such as are worn in our Countreys about the end of this present yeer 1625 which is strictly observed For in China Mourning consists not only in the Meen ●t pas●es beyond Tears and Sighs which proceed only from Decency The greater Persons to observe well the Mourning for the Death of a Father or Mother deprive themselves of their Offices and ●he Vice-Royes in the like sorrow remit into the Kings hands the Governments that they had received from him To do otherwise there would be no less shamefull and impious than it would be in our Countries for a Son to laugh dance and rejoyce publickly at the Death of his Father The Councell with the honorable Marks of their Dignity go immediately after these and all the Officers of the Royal House and of the Court assist thereat in order and according to the rank of their Employs In this Pomp the Body of the deceased King is conducted to the Grave but not interred without Train they burn at the putting him th●rein the Pictures of many Slaves of a great number of Horses of an heap of Gold and Silver and of some Pieces of Silk which they believe follow the Departed into the other World In truth if these Burnings in e●●igie are Marks of the foolish Superstitions of the Chines●s they are also Signs of the sweetness of their Dispositions more humane than those of some Barb●rians their Neighbors and of some people which have been ours who at the interm●nt of their Princ●s really burnt their Wives and the Men who had served them and prodigally cast into the fire the Gold Silver and Jewels which they found in their Coffers This light Burning being ●inished and the Pictures reduced into Ashes they descend and close in a little Earth him who command●d a World of Men and Land who might have crowned his Head with fifteen Diadems For the Provinces of China which make this number are in greatness and goodness so many Realms and in doing this they bring unto Dust the greatest and most glittering Pomp of the World And certainly since that all things of the Court and of the Earth are nothing but Dust and that of Dust have the fair●●t and noblest parts of the Universe been formed when Men who are the Kings of the World go down to their Grave we put Dust to Dust. For a Lesson un●o Soveraign Monarchs that in their superb Thrones the Royal Crown and Mantle cover only a piece of animated Earth and an heap of living Dust except they have a great Courage a generous Soul and a pious Disposition Then by these Royal and excellent Qualities they will draw their Names out of the Dust of oblivion and if by the common Law of Nature the Body which is but Dust descends into the Dust the Spirit which was never Dust will go to receive in Heaven the immortal Crowns which are the Rewards of magnanimous and pious Kings FINIS