N00500:124
Ornaments for the daughters of Zion. Or The character and happiness of a virtuous…Ornaments for the daughters of Zion. Or The character and happiness of a vertuous…
Ornaments for the daughters of Zion. Or The character and happiness of a virtuous woman: in a discourse which directs the female-sex how to express, the fear of God, in every age and state of their life; and obtain both temporal and eternal blessedness. / Written by Cotton Mather ; [Four lines in Latin from Tertullian, followed by a six line translation into English]Ornaments for the daughters of Zion. Or The character and happiness of a vertuous woman: in a discourse which directs the female-sex how to express, the fear of God, in every age and state of their life; and obtain both temporal and eternal blessedness. / Written by Cotton Mather ; [Four lines in Latin from Tertullian, followed by a six line translation into English]
printed by S.G. & B.G. i.e for Samuel Phillips, 1692
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
IV But she is for Plenty as well as Peace in her Household; and by her Thriftiness makes an Effectual and Sufficient Reply unto her Husband, when he do's ask her, as he m•st, Whether he shall Thrive or no? She is a Deborah, that is. A See, for her Diligence and Industry in her •ive. As on the one side she will have none in her House to Want, so on the other side, she will have all of them to Work; or as the Holy Spirit of God Express•s it, […] Looks will to the Wa•s of her Household, […] Eats not the Bread of Idleness. H•r Husband Gains are so managed by her Houswifry an• Providence, that he finds it his Advantage to let her keep the Keys of all; and sh• will so Regulate all the Domestic Expenses, that he shall not complain of, Any Thing ⟨image ?⟩Embezzled. Her very Fore-cast is as useful as much of her Husbands Business; and the Pennies that she Saves do add unto the heaps of the Pounds that are Got by him. He has a rich Portion wi•h her, merely in her Prudence; that is it which renders her a true Jerusha, or an Inheritance unto him. She i• particularly careful, that she do not bear such a Sail of Gallantry, either in her Table, or her Apparel,, or her Furniture, as may sink her Husband; nor will she be one of those Women, who (as one says) are now such Skilful Chymist•, that they quickly turn their Husbands Earth into Gold; only they pursue the Experiment too far, making that Gold too Volatile, and let it all Vapour away i• Insignificant, tho' Gaudy Trifles That Woman de•e•ves the Name of Delilah, that is, Poverty; [unless you will venture upon so hard a Name as Jezebel, that is, A Woe to the House;] Whose Discretion shall not be better than a Dowry, to her Owner.