hole churche that euerie one shuld communicate with the coÌ„gregation what God had reueled to them prouidinge that it were orderlie done But frome this generall priuiledge he secludeth all woman sayinge let women kepe silence in the congregation And why I pray you was it because that the apostle thoght no womaÌ„ to haue any knowledge no he geueth an other reason saying let her be subiect as the lawe saith In which wordes is first to be noted that the apostle calleth this former sentence pronounced against womaÌ„ a lawe that is the immutable decree of God who by his owne voice hath subiected her to one meÌ„bre of the coÌ„gregatioÌ„ that is to her husbaÌ„d wherupon the holie ghost concludeth that she may neuer rule nor bear empire aboue man For she that is made subiect to one may neuer be preferred to many and that the holie ghoste doth manifestlie expresse saying I suffer not that woman vsurpe authoritie aboue man he sayth not I will not that woman vsurpe authoritie aboue her husband but he nameth man in generall taking frome her all power and authoritie to speake to reason to interprete or to teache but principallie to rule or to iudge in the assemblie of men So that woman by the lawe of God and by the interpretation of the holy ghost is vtterly forbidden to occupie the place of God in the offices afore said which he hath assigned to man whome he hath appointed and ordeined his lieutenant in earth secluding frome that honor aÌ„d dignitie all woman as this short argument shall euidentlie declare The apostle taketh power frome all woman to speake in the assemblie Ergo he permitteth no woman to rule aboue man The former parte is euideÌ„t wherupon doth the couclusion of necessitie folowe For he that taketh from womaÌ„ the least parte of authoritie dominion or rule will not permit vnto her that whiche is greatest But greater it is to reigne aboue realmes and nations to publish and to make lawes and to coÌ„mande men of all estates and finallie to appoint iudges and ministers then to speake in the coÌ„gregation For her iudgemeÌ„t sentence or opinioÌ„ proposed in the coÌ„gregation may be iudged by all may be corrected by the learned and reformed by the godlie But womaÌ„ being promoted in souereine authoritie her la wes must be obeyed her opinion folowed and her tyraÌ„nie mainteined supposing that it be expreslie against God and the prophet of the common welth as to manifest experience doth this day witnesse And therfore yet againe I repete that whiche before I haue affirmed to witt that a woman promoted to sit in the seate of God that is to teache to iudge or to reigne aboue man is a monstre in nature contumelie to God and a thing most repugnaÌ„t to his will aÌ„d ordinaÌ„ce For he hath depriued them as before is proued of speakinge in the congregation and hath expreslie forbidden them to vsurpe any kinde of authoritie aboue man Howe then will he suffer them to reigne aÌ„d haue empire aboue realmes and nations He will neuer I say approue it because it is a thing most repugnant to his perfect ordinance as after shalbe declared and as the former scriptures haue plainlie geuen testimonie To the whiche to adde anything were superfluous were it not that the worlde is almost nowe comen to that blindnes that what soeuer pleaseth not the princes and the multitude the same is reiected as doctrine newelie forged and is condemned for heresie I haue therfore thoght good to recite the mindes of some auncient writers in the same mater to the end that suche as altogither be not blinded by the deuil may consider and vnderstand this my iudgement to be no newe interpretation of Goddes scriptures but to be the vniforme consent of the most parte of godlie writers since the time of the apostles Tertullian in his boke of womens apparell after that he hath she wed many causes why gorgious apparell is abominable and odiouse in a woman addeth these wordes speaking as it were to euery womaÌ„ by name Dost thou not knowe saith he that thou art Heua the sentence of God liueth and is effectuall against this kind and in this worlde of necessity it is that the punishement also liue Thou art the porte and gate of the deuil Thou art the first traÌ„sgressor of goddes law thou diddest persuade aÌ„d easely deceiue him whome the deuil durst not assault For thy merit that is for thy death it beho ued the soÌ„ne of god to suffre the death aÌ„d doth it yet abide in thy mind to decke the aboue thy skin coates By these aÌ„d many other graue senteÌ„ces and quicke interrogations did this godlie writer labour to bring euerie woman in contemplation of her selfe to the end that euerie one depelie weying what sentence God had ê“nounced against the hole race aÌ„d doughters of Heua might not onely learne daily to humble and subiect them selues in the presence of God but also that they shulde auoide aÌ„d abhorre what soeuer thing might exalte them or puffe them vp in pride or that might be occasion that they shuld forget the curse and malediction of God And what I pray you is more able to cause woman to forget her owne condition then if she be lifted vp in authoritie aboue man It is a thing verie difficile to a man be he neuer so coÌ„stant promoted to honors not to be tickled some what with pride for the winde of vaine glorie doth easelie carie vp the drie dust of the earth But as for woman it is no more possible that she being set aloft in authoritie aboue man shall resist the motions of pride then it is able to the weake reed or to the turning wethercocke not to bowe or turne at the vehemencie of the vnconstant wind And therfore the same writer expreslie forbiddeth all woman to intremedle with the office of man For thus he writeth in his book de virginibus velandis It is not permitted to a woman to speake in the coÌ„gregation nether to teache nether to baptise nether to vendicate to her selfe any office of man The same he speaketh yet more plainly in the preface of his sixte boke writen against Marcion where he recounting certein monstruous thinges whiche were to be sene at the sea called Euxinum amongest the rest he reciteth this as a greate monstre in nature that women in those partes were not tamed nor embased by coÌ„sideration of their own sex and kind but that all shame laide a parte they made expenses vpon weapons and learned the feates of warre hauinge more pleasure to fight then to mary and be subiect to man Thus farre of Tertullian whose wordes be so plain that they nede no explanation For he that taketh from her all office apperteining to man will not suffre her to reigne aboue man and he that iudgeth it a monstre in nature that a woman shall exercise weapons must iudge it to be a monstre of
reuerēce that it is a thing moste repugnant to nature to Goddes will and apointed ordinance yea that it can not be without contumelie committed against God that a woman shuld be promoted to dominion or empire to reigne ouer man be it in realme natiō prouince or citie Now resteth it in fewe wordes to be shewed that the same empire of women is the subuersion of good ordre equitie and iustice Augustine defineth ordre to be that thing by the whiche God hath apointed and ordeined all thinges Note well reader that Augustine will admit no or dre where Goddes apointment is absent and lacketh And in an other place he saith that or dre is a disposition geuing their owne propre places to thinges that be vnequall whiche he termeth in Latin Parium disparium that is of thinges equall or like and thinges vnequall or vnlike Of whiche two places and of the hole disputation which is cōteined in his second boke de ordine it is euidēt that what soeuer is done ether whithout the assurance of Goddes will or elles against his will manifestlie reueled in his word is done against ordre But suche is the empire and regiment of all woman as euidentlie before is declared and therfore I say it is a thing plainlie repugnant to good ordre yea it is the subuersion of the same If any list to reiect the definition of Augustin as ether not propre to this purpose or elles as insufficiēt to proue mine intent let the same man vnderstand that in so doinge he hath infirmed mine argumēt nothinge For as I depend not vpon the determinations of men so think I my cause no weaker albeit their authoritie be denied vnto me Prouided that god by his will reueled and manifest worde stand plain and euidēt on my side That God hath subiected womankinde to man by the ordre of his creatiō and by the curse that he hath pronounced against her is before declared Besides these he hath set before our eyes two other mirrors and glasses in whiche he will that we shulde behold the ordre which he hath apointed and established in nature the one is the naturall bodie of man the other is the politik or ciuile body of that cōmon welth in which God by his own word hath apointed an ordre In the natural body of māGod hath apointed an ordre that the head shall occupie the vppermost place And the head hath he ioyned with the bodie that frome it doth life and motion flowe to the rest of the mēbres In it hath he placed the eye to see the eare to hear and the tōge to speake which offices are apointed to none other mēbre of the bodie The rest of the mēbres haue euery one their own place ād office apointed but none may haue nether the place nor office of the heade For who wolde not iudge that bodie to be a monstre where there was no head eminēt aboue the rest but that the eyes were in the hādes the tōge and mouth beneth in the belie and the eares in the feet Men I say shulde not onlie pronounce this bodie to be a mōstre but assuredlie they might cōclude that such a bodie coulde not lōg indure And no lesse mōstruous is the bodie of that cōmon welth where a womā beareth empire For ether doth it lack a laufull heade as in very dede it doth or els there is an idol exalted in the place of the true head An idol I call that which hath the forme ād apparāce but lacketh the vertue and strength which the name ād proportiō do resemble ād promise As images haue face nose eyes mouth hādes ād feet painted but the vse of the same can not the craft and art of man geue thē as the holy ghost by the mouth of Dauid teacheth vs saying they haue eyes but they see not mouth but they speake not nose but they smell not handes and feet but they nether touche nor haue power to go And suche I say is euerie realme and nation where a woman beareth dominion For in despite of God he of his iust iudgement so ge uing them ouer in to a reprobat minde may a realme I cōfesse exalt vp a womā to that monstriferous honor to be estemed as head But impossible it is to mā and angel to geue vnto her the properties and perfect offices of a laufull heade For the same God that hath denied power to the hād to speake to the bely to heare and to the feet to see hath denied to womā power to cōmande man and hath taken a way wisdome to consider and prouidence to forsee the thinges that be profitable to the common welth yea finallie he hath denied to her in any case to be head to mā but plainly hath pronounced that mā is head to woman euen as Christ is heade to all man If men in a blinde rage shulde assemble to gether and apointe them selues an other heade then Iesus Christ as the papistes haue done their romishe Antichrist shuld Christ therefore lose his owne dignitie or shulde God geue to that counterfet head power to geue life to the bodie to see what soeuer might endamage or hurte it to speake in defense ād to heare the request of euerie subiect It is certein that he wold not For that honor he hath apointed before all times to his onelie sonne and the same will he geue to no creature besides no more will he admit nor accept woman to be the lauful head ouer man althogh man deuil and angel will coniure in their fauor For seing he hath subiected her to one as before is saide he will neuer permit her to reigne ouer manie Seing he hath commāded her to heare and obey one he will not suffre that she speake and with vsurped authoritie cōmand realmes and natiōs Chrysostome explaning these wordes of the apostle the heade of woman is man cōpareth God in his vniuerfall regimēt to a king sitting in his royall maiestie to whome all his subiectes cōmanded to geue homage and obedience appeare before him bearing euerie one suche a badge and cognisance of dignitie and honor as he hath geuen to them which if they despise and contemne then do they dishonor their king Euen so saith he oght man and womā to appeare before God bearing the ensignes of the condition whiche they haue receiued of him Man hath receiued a certein glorie ād dignitie aboue the woman and therfore oght he to appeare before his high maiestie bearing the signe of his honor hauinge no couerture vpon his heade to witnesse that in earth man hath no head beware Chrysostome what thou saist thou shalt be reputed a traytor if Englishe men heare the for they must haue my souereine lady and maistresse and Scotland hath drōken also the enchantment and venom of Circes let it be so to their owne shame and confusion he procedeth in these wordes but woman oght to be couered
thus talkinge with my God in the anguishe of my harte some what digressed yet haue I not vtterlie forgotten my former propositiō to witt that it is a thing repugnant to the ordre of nature that any woman be exalted to rule ouer men For God hath denied vnto her the office of a heade And in the intreating of this parte I remembre that I haue made the nobilitie both of England and Scotland inferior to brute beastes for that they do to women which no male amongest the cōmon sorte of beastes can be proued to do to their females that is they reuerēce them and qwake at their presence they obey their cōmandementes and that against God Wherfore I iudge them not onelie subiectes to women but sclaues of Satan and seruantes of iniquitie If any mā thinke these my wordes sharpe or vehement let him cōsider that the offense is more haynous then can be expressed by wordes For where all thinges be expressedly concluded against the glorie and honor of God and where the blood of the saintes of God is commanded to be shed whome shall we iudge God or the deuil to be presidēt of that counsel Plain it is that God ruleth not by his loue mercie nor grace in the assembly of the vngodlie Then it resteth that the deuil the prince of this worlde doth reigne ouer suche tyrannes whose seruantes I pray you shal then be iudged such as obey and execute their tyrānie God for his greate mercies sake illuminate the eyes of men that they may preceiue in to what miserable bondage they be broght by the monstriferous empire of women The seconde glasse whiche God hath set before the eyes of mā wherin he may beholde the ordre whiche pleaseth his wisdome concerning authoritie and dominion is that common welth to the whiche it pleaseth his maiestie to apoint and geue lawes statutes rites and ceremonies not onelie concerning religion but also touching their policie and regiment of the same And against that ordre it doth manifestly repugne that any woman shall occupie the throne of God that is the royall seate which he by his worde hath apointed to man As in geuing the lawe to Israel concerning the election of a king is euident For thus it is writen If thou shalt say I will apoint a king aboue me as the rest of the nations whiche are a boute me Thou shalt make the a kinge whome the Lorde thy God shall chose one frome amongest the middest of thy bretheren thou shalt apointe kinge aboue the. Thou maist not make a strangier that is not thy brother Here expressedly is a mā apointed to be chosē king and a man natiue amōgest them selues by whiche precept is all woman and all strāgier secluded What may be obiected for the parte or election of a strangier shalbe God willinge answered in the blast of the second trumpet For this present I say that the erecting of a woman to that honor is not onely to inuert the ordre which God hath established but also it is to defile pollute ād prophane so farre as in man lieth the throne and seat of God whiche he hath sanctified and apointed for man onely in the course of this wretched life to occupie and possesse as his ministre and lieutenant secluding frome the same all woman as before is expressed If any thinke that the fore writen lawe did binde the Iewes onelie let the same man consider that the election of a kinge and apointing of iudges did nether apperteine to the ceremoniall lawe nether yet was it mere iudiciall but that it did flowe frome the morall lawe as an ordinance hauing respect to the cōseruation of both the tables For the office of the magistrate oght to haue the first and chief respect to the glorie of God commanded and conteined in the former table as is euident by that whiche was inioyned to Iosue by God what time he was accepted and admitted ruler and gouerner ouer his people in these wordes Thou shalt diuide the inheritance to this people the whiche I haue sworne to their fathers to geue vnto them so that thou be valiant and strong that thou maist kepe and do according to that hole lawe whiche my seruant Moses hath commanded the. Thou shalt not decline frome it nether to the right hande nether to the left hand that thou maist do prudentlie in all thinges that thou takest in hand let not the boke of this lawe departe from thy mouth but meditate in it day and night that thou maist kepe ād do according to euery thing that is writen in it For then shall thy wayes prosper and then shalt thou do prudētly c. And the same precept geueth God by the mouth of Moses to kinges after they be elected in these wordes when he shal sit in the throne or seate of his kingdome he shall write to him self a copie of this lawe in a boke ād that shalbe with him that he may reade in it all the dayes of his life that he may learne to feare the Lorde his God and to kepe all the wordes of this lawe and all these statutes that he may do them c. Of these two places it is euident that principallie it apperteineth to the king or to the chief magistrate to knowe the will of God to be instructed in his lawe ād statutes and to promote his glorie with his hole hart ād studie which be the chief pointes of the first table No mā denieth but that the sworde is committed to the magistrate to the end that he shulde punishe vice and mainteine vertue To punishe vice I say not onelie that whiche troubleth the tranquillitie and quiet estat of the common welth by adulterie thest or murther committed but also suche vices as openly impugne the glorie of God as idolatrie blasphemie and manifest heresie taught and obstinatly mainteined as the histories and notable actes of Ezechias Iosaphat and Iosias do plainlie teache vs. Whose study and care was not onlie to glorifie God in their own life and cōuersation but also they vnfeinedlie did trauel to bring their subiectes to the true worshipping and honoring of God And did destroye all monumentes of idolatrie did punishe to deathe the teachers of it and remoued frome office and honors suche as were mainteiners of those abominations Wherbie I suppose that it be euident that the office of the king or supreme magistrate hath respect to the lawe morall and to the conseruation of both the tables Nowe if the lawe morall be the constant and vnchangeable will of God to the which the gentil is no lesse bounde then was the Iewe and if God will that amōgest the gentiles the ministres and executors of his lawe be now apointed as sometimes they were apointed amongest the Iewes further if the execution of iustice be no lesse requisite in the policie of the gentiles then euer it was amongest the Iewes what man can be so