him to be one of the little snarling Animals that are angry at its Light and Glory 'T is not the first time a Woman has appear'd in Public and 't will be hard for any to accuse us for taking up Weapons since they are only defensive and we are provok'd into the Field by so great and honourable a Champion Besides the itch of being in Print which the Men have infected us with and the Glory of having but lifted up a Pen against so great a Man must needs be a sufficient Excuse beyond all Reply But you may easily imagin notwithstanding all these Thoughts and strong Resolutions how I began to tremble when I came within sight of the Enemy and perceiv'd with what a Front he appear'd Not Don Quixot was more scar'd at the first sight of the Giant Caraculiambro However the greater Danger the greater Honour So on I went with a mighty Courage till I came within reach of him and began the Battel which if it be not orderly and well pitch'd 't is owing to the motions of the Enemy whom I must follow up hill and down hill till he comes to the same place again To begin therfore with his forlorn Hope he tells the World in his Preface that we may easily see cause enough to believe 't was design'd for the Pulpit not for the Press No certainly he meant no such thing at all as to affront the Ladies in public and indeed he must be possest of very strange Thoughts and exceding vain in his Imagination that could hope to do the least good by such a Discourse from the Pulpit and yet much vainer to hope it from the Press And yet that very Reason which should have deter'd him for ever from the least thought of preaching at this rate is made an excuse why he should print it It hath he says so fallen out and that one half blind might have seen before-hand that the Doctrine therein contain'd is unhappily represented to the World by some ill-natur'd Females Now by the way this is a very pleasant Invention for any well-dispos'd Person to get into the World by 'T is but to utter some Doctrine or other that a Man may be sure before-hand will be justly spoken against and because 't is unhappily represented by some ill-natur'd People away to W. B y's of Bristol with it or any other Printer that has no other Business but Mountebanks Bills Wedding-Sermons and Ballads with such other honourable things and so immediately set up for an Author and expect that every one should complement him on the occasion Ay and this is a most clever excuse too for a second and third Edition with Additions c. So that if this Reverend Gentleman should have the Mortification to find at Christmas that some ill-natur'd Females had been so spiteful and profane as to have put his excellent Discourse at the bottom of minc'd Pies he may hereupon tell the World that they have found out a wicked way to obscure the Glory of so dread an Author and therefore for this and many other reasons him thereunto moving he resolves to reprint it and 't is no hard matter to prophesy with what Success But that it may not be thought that I suppose the Author has not purchas'd that Reputation which he deserves and which he seems to be so very apprehensive of when he talks so prophetically of purchasing the Character of a dull Blockhead I think it will without much dispute be granted that his words were ominous only this I must add that Dulness and Malice are commonly very near Companions and help out one another at a dead lift And yet he hopes he says good Gentleman that he shall avoid the imputation of Impudence yes tho it be by one of the grossest Instances of it that a Person of his Character is capable of As a proof of which in the next words he makes Proclamation Be it known unto all Men that I have not met with one Woman among all my Accusers whose Husband is able to give her the Character of a dutiful and obedient Wife And this also is a most infallible way of defending any thing in the World Just so when the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance was cry'd up and down with a mighty Confidence 't was but to say that all that spoke against this Doctrine were disloyal and rebellious and the business was compleatly done and ended and needed no further Confirmation So because the Ladies can't bear so harsh and imperious a Doctrine as his is therfore it shall be a Justification of his Doctrine that they cannot and prov'd to be reasonable because 't is intolerable Strong Thoughts a mighty Argument especially if we consider that the Husbands he speaks of 't is likely measure the Duties of their Wives by the boundless Limits which this Gentleman has laid out for them and if so no wonder if they are not able to give them the Character of dutiful and obedient Wives Then he tells us that good Wives are not offended with his Discourse now by good Wives he certainly means such as he describes and then no wonder they say not much against him since a word against his Doctrine is enough to purchase them a very rough and unwelcome Salutation from their Lords and Masters But I believe it would be no hard task to make a Catalogue of very good Wives who have censur'd him as an Instrument of Oppression and Tyranny to others tho they themselves are not under it However he is in a good humour for once and tells us he 'll promise to say as much to the Men I 'll forgive him if he does when this Discourse of his has reform'd imperious Wives Now this is a most dexterous turn and has very much in it and supposing his Notions to be ever so just and reasonable yet hereby he 'll excuse himself from ever publishing any thing for the instruction of Mankind how to behave themselves towards us for doubtless there are and will be still some imprudent and unreasonable Creatures on both sides Now as he makes this a Reason why he will not speak to the Men so if he had begun with them he might have made it a Reason why he would never have vouchsafed to dictate to the Women In the Conclusion of his Preface he begins a Triumph tho it may not seem a very proper place for it especially considering the Foundation on which he grounds it He finds he says upon the whole that 't is Womens Guilt that puts 'em to so much Pain which they feel in their Consciences for which he knows no better an Antidote you must know he has an insight into Physic than a speedy Repentance and Reformation very well but I wonder how he came to know that the Women feel such Pain in their Consciences for I suppose very few will make him their Father-Confessor This Gentleman has a most absolute way to discipline his Consort if she ever
'l own to be their Duty for they are not ambitious of the Revenues of the Church nor envy any Man the Glory especially of such Sermons as this I am now considering However since it hath pleased God so far to repair the honour of our Sex as to send a Saviour into the World by the means of a Woman methinks that should more than recompense for the consequences of the other since we are told that the Happiness we are advanced to by the second Adam is much more great and certain than that which the first possessed If God hath so far pardon'd the fatal Transgression of the Woman it looks a little too bold and revengeful for Man to pretend not to do it but to exact so many unreasonable things on this pretence Nay a late learned Man whom I suppose the Author honours has on the Verse following in Timothy these words viz. That by a Woman a Saviour came into the World which is some reparation of the Honor of the Sex Now this coming from a Man and one that was known not to be blass'd by any Passion for Women it is the more noted and singular a Confession Then he tells us that God impos'd this Task upon her as a Punishment for seducing her Husband Very true And thy Desire shall be to thy Husband and he shall rule over thee Gen. 3. 16. And the Comment on this is very admirable indeed Wherein is implied says he not only Subjection to him in obeying his Commands but it reacheth farther to the bringing under unto him the very Desires of her Heart to be regulated by him so far that it should not be lawful for her to will or desire what she her self liked but only what her Husband should approve and allow P. 13. I suppose this good Gentleman believes that these words contain part of the Curse for the Primitive Trespass and by consequence he thinks it the Duty of a Man to execute the Curse of God upon his Wife But let us try the Consequence which he makes and see if the Thred of the Argument is not stretch'd very far Suppose that be the meaning of the words that our Sex shall have an universal desire to theirs tho I believe if they were all such obliging Sparks as the Author 't would cure them of their Passion quickly yet it no way follows with submission to the ruling Judgment of the Men that therefore it shall not be lawful for her to will or desire any thing but what her Husband approves of I think in some cases 't is an Impossibility Let it be granted that 't is the part of a Woman being the weaker Vessel to submit and learn as well as she can the hard Lesson of Passive Obedience yet I defy the meekest Woman in the World if she meets with an unreasonable imperious domineering insolent Creature I defy such a Lady with all her Virtue and Patience to forbear wishing at least it were otherwise No she must not our Author tells us never groan never sigh for a happy deliverance from her hated Chains To use the same Phrase suppose I say my Desire is towards my Friend does it therefore follow that I must necessarily wish nothing whatever till I know 't is agreeable to her Humors But by virtue of his Office this Gentleman I see can interpret this way and that way and every way 'T is to be consider'd upon this Head that whatever was pronounc'd in general then can't be applied to every individual now For instance with modesty be it spoken the Curse of Child-birth which God may be thought to have denounc'd on the whole Sex we are told some entire Nations have escap'd as the Great Montaign tells us in his Essays I think Liv. 1. ch 14. And with like force of Reason might it be concluded that because God hath cursed the Ground and said it shall bring forth Briars and Thorns therefore it is utterly unlawful to root them out and sinful to possess any Ground but what is overgrown with them The Country People would quickly discern the force of such Reasoning in spite of all their Duties So that tho we grant this to be the true sense of the place yet it does not follow that the very Desires and every Desire of the Heart of a Woman must be according to the will and pleasure of the Man this way and that way and every way But if I should meet this Gentleman out of the Pulpit with his Hands tied behind him and his Cane secur'd that he might not use that method of Conviction which he thinks proper for a Woman I would humbly presume to tell him there is a far other meaning of the place and that not a late Fancy but a very antient Translation The LXX and they were all of his own Sex take it thus and thy Refuge or Recourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be to thy Husband he shall be thy Refuge in Dangers This old Egyptian Translation no question he knew well enough and I suppose some will make bold to think it more easy and natural than the forc'd Construction and unconscionable meaning he puts upon the words Methinks it should suffice that the Women don't contradict their Lords and Masters that they tamely submit and bear with Patience what is impos'd on them No unless they are enamour'd of their Miseries and the very Desires of their Hearts brought under and in subjection they are threaten'd in our Author's Preface with Judgment and Damnation This is a Tyranny I think that extends farther than the most absolute Monarchs in the World for if they can but fill their Gallies with Slaves and chain them fast to the Oar they seldom have so large a Conscience to expect they should take any great pleasure in their present Condition and that the very Desires of their Hearts should strike an Harmony with the clattering Music of their Fetters Certainly he said very true when he told us that Women were of weak Abilities to learn as they must needs have so hard and impossible a Task After all this he acknowledges in plain words that since the Fall Man is grown more humorsom and hard to be pleas'd which tho he feelingly knows it he would never have own'd if he had not design'd to make even that an Argument against us for says he 't is not the Woman's pleading that her Husband is hard to be pleased that will excuse her no tho it be impossible for an incarnate Angel to bring him into a good Humor and cure him of his Frowardness And if the impossibility of a thing be not an excuse I know not what is yet I suppose there are some Instances to be given of such Tempers This may he says be a Memento to her of her original Guilt and why may not the Humors and unsufferable Passions of some Men be a Memento to them of theirs too But however he is resolv'd to advance an unheard-of Notion That the ill
the General reply'd I 'll give you twice as many times to do it The Application is easy According to this rule what strange Inferences do naturally follow Suppose a Master and his Servants a Lawyer and his Clients a Physician and his Patients 't is you 'll say the duty of these Servants Clients and Patients to be govern'd and submit But a Servant may be abus'd by his Master a Client cheated and impoverish'd by his Lawyer and the Patient genteely dispatch'd by his Doctor Now certainly any Man would be of a weak Capacity to endure these things and therefore the Duties of Servants Clients and Patients must be always rung in their Ears and the Duties of Masters Lawyers and Physicians never Who sees not the mighty force and feels not the close girds of so sinewy an Argument His third Reason is because according to the Observation that he has made most of the Distractions and Disturbances of a married Life are owing to the Indiscretion and Folly of disobedient Wives Now if this Gentleman has spent the time past of his Life in making these Observations he may have made a great many in his time and deserves the name of the New Observator and then no wonder having been otherwise employ'd that his Lucubrations produce such Sermons as this on so solemn an occasion I suppose in his Observations he always happen'd to have the Women on that side he could see clearest and either knew not or wink'd at the Mens Mismanagements But suppose it were true that his Observations had furnish'd him with few or none of the Mens Faults it dos not follow that no ones Observation else has However he has an unquestionable Argument in store which is this I shall not scruple to affirm says he that the number of bad Husbands which their Wives have made so is greater by far than the number of those whom their Wives have found so Under which Head he is to be plac'd I need not determine I had heard indeed before of a very short way of proving things and that is by strong Affirmation And this is an Argument so ready at hand that it has been his inaccessible Refuge in several places throughout the Book Yet I think here he has pass'd an Act of Oblivion upon himself and has forgot that he uses this very Argument of strong Affirmation in a thing quite contrary to this when he says of Eve's Daughters or Women in general that if they will have Husbands and have them good they must take a great deal of Care and Pains to make 'em so P. 18. Therfore certainly they find them very bad if they must take so much pains to make them good And yet here he says the number of bad Husbands whom their Wives have found so is little or nothing compar'd with those they make so But the Pages lying at a convenient distance from one another and hoping it's like what sort of Readers he was like to have he might think no notice would be taken of it or that none would peruse the Book but those that wanted sense to discover the Mistake But I am willing to be more merciful to him than he is to us and shall no further insist on his Failings than to manifest that they are such and for our own Defence against a Man whose Arguments are like a two-edg'd Sword and cut at once two contrary ways And therefore I pass on to the fourth Reason which is Because the Love of a Husband does very much depend upon the Obedience of a Wife P. 6. If by Obedience he means a servile Subjection 't is a very clear Argument and will be very persuasive no doubt But if he means only reasonable and generous Compliance such as is produc'd by the noble and resistless Charms of mutual Love I grant him 't is true viz. that the Love of a Husband very much depends on the Love of a Wife But my Understanding is not so far enlightened as to see any reason in this why the Women should be teez'd and the Men for ever escape And here agen he hath another Paradox and tells us that if the Wife becomes pliant and yielding that is becomes a good easy tractable Slave to her Husbands Desire she then may do e'en what she pleases with him Which is as much as to say If she be a perfect Slave she may have her Liberty I shall never be persuaded that such Gentlemen who desire the subjection of their Wives and are willing to confine them to the treatment of Servants have any great opinion of their Persons or their Liberty And yet after all this well-bred Gentleman this Learned Doctor tells us we are more afraid than hurt and if we are I am sure 't is not owing to his Temper his Wishes nor his Discourse The 5 th and the last Reason he names is this Because that all he pretends to is to lay our Duty before us Very well But where the consequence is supposing this be his true and upright Intention I can't tell It 's true I grant him 't would prove that we ought to hearken to it but however it does not offer any Reason why the other part should not be insisted on for the self-same Argument would bring the Men upon the stage If he had but said You Gentlemen Husbands I design to say nothing but what 's your Duty this would have been thought a very strange Argument why nothing should be said to us But so it is and away he goes with it and tells us as for good Wives The knowledg and practice of their Duty is so comfortable and pleasant to them that they are not listed in the number of these Objectors And hereby he affirms that 't is impossible to be a good Wife and yet object against the omission of the Mens part which is a Mistake so gross that it may be felt And in the midst of all this Goodness and Charity which this Gentleman here professes he cannot forbear but breaks out and says that he wishes where there is one good Wife there were a thousand whereby he most uncharitably insinuates that there is but one among a thousand good So that if it be as he thinks and says he has a very strong opinion of himself to imagine that one single Sermon with its poor Endeavours as he expresseth it can make so many bad Women good when the number of the Bad according to his Computation is a thousand to one These five Reasons he imagins to be so gross solid and thick that he resolves to venture under their shelter in the face of his Female Adversaries mighty Courage and an Heroic Attempt But whether I have not shot this massy fivefold Shield through and through let the World judg I mean the just and generous part of it who have at least common sense and a moderate portion of Ingenuity Having thus like a Man of Valour and one of the seven Champions cleared his way through all
Inclination in us for the preservation of those things call'd Reason and the Liberty of Rational Creatures which wild and extravagant Humour this Gentleman would by all means have timely corrected as a thing that is altogether inconsistent with his most exalted Notions and pious Design Yet in the mean time I leave the World to judg whether he has not given an infinite scope to the most wild and exorbitant Inclinations of some Men tho as he says they can learn to command fast enough In his closing Periods where he addresses himself to the Married he seems a little to tack about and endeavors to roll up his bitter Pill in a few sugar'd Sentences and bids the Men remember that our Duty is hard most undoubtedly true according to his Description of it our Frailty great and therefore our Task must not be made more difficult than necessity does require c. because they are says he to the He-yoke-fellows a part of your selves This is certainly all very good But if it be so and this be a Man's Duty then hence I collect that a Man goes beyond his Bounds when he imposes things unnecessary tho they be not impossible which does not much resemble what he has told us that nothing but vitious or impossible things are excluded from the compass or the enchanted Circle of a Husband's Authority This makes me conclude that he would never have once mentioned the Mens Duty when he tells them They must bear with and pardon our Weakness And submit to many Inconveniences for our sakes And interpose between us and Dangers And endeavour to promote our spiritual Good and Welfare Indeed I have heard of a Roman Catholic who attempted to persuade a Protestant that Marriage was a Sacrament because it did administer Grace and being demanded what Grace replied the Grace of Repentance Now in this sense the obliging Husbands that follow his Directions may easily promote their Wives spiritual Good and Welfare for I 'll engage that any Women of sense enough to distinguish between Liberty and Bondage after they have been a while within the compass of such a Husbands Authority shall attain to the perfect exercise of a most true and unfeigned Repentance But these Duties of the Men he would I suppose never have mentioned if it had not been for the sake of a most surprizingly witty Jest which he designed to break and leave with us for the parting Blessing It is this That he must forbear Enlargement he means on the Duty of Mankind lest by overlading the Memories of the Women he should cause them to forget that Duty which hath been set before them He might very well have spared this Jest with which he does conclude his pious and ingenious Discourse for no doubt the Women will not forget him in hast nor the Doctrine he has delivered as he will certainly find if ever he should have any occasion once more to attempt to persuade any one of them to renew the Experiment how obliging and extraordinary a Husband he would prove Thus I have hastily considered this extraordinary Piece in which I suppose the Author takes abundance of Pleasure and Satisfaction But what could move him to vent such high-flown ranting stuff as we find here I cannot imagin If the Parliamert were all of his mind we should have the Salique Law establisht on this side the Water tho he scarcely hoped so great an effect of his first Endeavors But I suppose he was resolved since what he had hitherto published had not made him so famous as he deserved he would now do something that should for ever mark him to posterity and get him a Name let it be what it will as he that burnt the Temple of Diana at Ephesus purely that the memory of the Fact might eternize his Name Or perhaps he so dearly loves his present Consort that he was resolv'd should he lose her never once to think of another and to that end and purpose hath done something to make it impossible for him to hope any other would ever smile upon him or that he should read Come love me in any of them But I know not what he will say to justify the Reverence of the Pulpit after he has preached a Sermon calculated to spoil the Gravity and debauch the Devotion of a Saint Those persons that could refrain from a loud Laughter at many of his Periods must have a greater degree of command over themselves than the Author has Had he resolved to have talkt thus the only time had been while he was slabbering the Sack-posset or untying the Bride-woman's Garters And it looks the more awkward because he has here and there mingled Gravity even to Terror and ever now and then all the Levity and Buffoonery of one that harangues the People from a large wooden High-place at Bartholomew Fair which in the Pulpit is not I think in its proper place Such a Discourse might have passed well enough in Spain or Muscovy where the Discipline of the Crab-tree is patiently suffer'd by the Women and he lost a mighty opportunity in not transporting himself with the Czar But the mischief on 't is that here in England tho he has done his endeavor to make it no more the Paradise of Women yet there are many of the Men so generous that they were ashamed of his Design and as 't is reported earnestly persuaded him to let it die and be buried in deserved Oblivion but certainly one possest of such Notions is utterly beyond all advice Notwithstanding all the good he may think he has done by the preaching and publishing this learned Sermon I suppose it will not be very hard to prove that he has done some mischief by it As suppose he hath caused hereby several poor patient Creatures to be made Muscovites and to be cudgel'd two or three times a week more than usually Suppose he has inflam'd the domineering Temper and heighten'd the insulting Carriage of many a barbarous Husband Why all this is nothing They must thank their Mother Eve for it tho in truth if such Principles as his had never come abroad in the World they might have scap'd tolerably well for all Mother Eve But however the poor distressed Lady for whom this was preach'd is doubtless very much edified by it To come from Your humble Servant and Yours to Command tho it be my Life c. to the Persian Shoo and the new-fashion'd Motto was a vast change From the melting Accents of a desperate Lover to the harsh Cadence of such rugged Sentences and such threatning Pronouncements From such Prayers to such Preaching was a mighty Leap and no doubt gave the poor tender Heart a most abominable Jolt 'T is very natural also from this Discourse to observe the vast alteration there is in some men after they are sure of their Game Beforehand they 'l do all the mean things in the World and afterwards all the ungrateful and disingenuous ones I am sure whatever a Woman is antecedently obliged to that when the Men shall promise and vow when they shall protest by the most sacred things that such shall be their Indulgence and Tenderness as shall never give the least cause of Repentance when they shall declare and swear to be for ever their Servants they hereby oblige themselves before-hand to consider the Complaints that shall be made to them if they are severe So that in this sort of Tyranny a Man not only violates common Justice but his own Vows and Obligations This Gentleman knows the vast difference between Bright and Transcendental Madam and the Persian Shoo between Yours to the Center of the Earth and your Servant to the Antipodes and know your Lord and Master Now those that are of this absolute and unlimited Gentleman's mind if they 'l be generous and honest ought to tell the Ladies they address what sort of Life they are like to lead what sort of Bonds they are to come under what vast Authority must be exercised and that the very Desires of their Hearts must be under Government Masculine and if after all this they 'l come under Male-Administration and then complain they are certainly the persons most concerned in the Author's Discourse and ought to consider it and reap the benefit of it accordingly Thus I have cast away a few leisure hours on these Reflections which I have ventured to make and done this Author an honour he could not expect And being engaged in defence of the Sex if he shall preach such another Sermon I hope some generous Gentleman or other will save me the trouble and let the World see that even among his own Sex there are some who are not Partakers with him but hate the mean and dishonourable Design with which he was certainly big when he uttered so ungenteel and unmanly a Discourse FINIS
is uneasy at any of his Impositions 't is but for him to tell her this is a Pain in her Conscience and then the spiritual Antidote is whatever he shall command her to repent of or reform But the Conclusion is bolder than all he is not contented to make them bear the Cross and suffer Persecution in this Life but he tells them these things shall pursue them to Judgement But under favour he must first of all perswade us that what he says is Jure Divino before he can fright any of us with a Purgatory hereafter for not being willing to endure a Hell upon Earth while we are here I shall make but one Remark more on his Preface and the strength of the Arguments he makes use of As to his Sermon he has this to say for it that 't was not design'd for the Press so that 't is to be expected that the Preface which certainly was design'd for it should be much more strong and labour'd than his careless Discourse which he deliver'd from the Pulpit I have consider'd it I think with abundance of Patience and Fairness so that we may judg by the strength of the Arguments in the one what we are to expect in the other which he has attempted to force from these words 1 Cor. vii 34. But she that is married careth for the things of the World how she may please her Husband This the Author makes the bottom of his Harangue and to give us a taste of his Learning he tells us p. 1. the original meaning of the hard and obscure word careth and by a most deep and doughty Criticism neatly contrives his Doctrine which he makes so very much haste to be at that he seems to leap quite over the Connexion between the Text and the Argument The Criticism is this that the word careth take notice Ladies signifies more than ordinary Care and implies a dividing of the Mind into divers thoughts casting this way and that way and every way how to give best Content that is to say Fetch and bring Go and she goeth Come and she cometh To the Right to the Left as you were and so on Now to use a hard word this is a most Etymological Argument and worthy of Consideration Thus some Divines tell us the word signifies a dividing distracting Care whence at this way of arguing we might be told that Marriage was a divided distracted Condition c. which would not be a Doctrine calculated to increase the number of this Gentleman 's Female Proselytes I could by the same method prove a Doctrine not very pleasing to him for in the words before ver 33. He that is married careth for the things of the World how he may please his Wife the original word is the very * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 same therefore I say that a Man ought to divide his Mind to cast this way and that way and every way how to please and content his Wife since he tells us this is the true and proper signification of the word and if it be not 't is his own fault But however he thinks this one Criticism so great a thing and has so much in 't that he tells us he can meet with no other verbal Difficulties Careth for the things of the World how she may please her Husband intimating according to our Reverend Author's way of arguing that without the things of the World a Husband will not be pleas'd But it seems he was resolv'd that this Point should most clearly spring from his Text It is d Duty ineumbent on all married Women to be extraordinary careful to content and please their Husbands And if they are all such as this Gentleman how can they choose From this Doctrine he says he 'll faithfully represent the Woman's Duty and a very faithful Representer he is and by the way may not this be the reason why the celebrated Author of the Irish Scuffle gives him the renowned name of Fido in that unparallel'd Book Our Author finding that 't would be look'd upon as a very rude and barbarous thing to treat the weak and defenceless Sex with such a Discourse as he had prepar'd for 'em without saying any thing almost to the other side and how little it would become the Honour of a Gentleman the Gravity of a Minister or the Charity of a Christian to aggravate the Faults of some and impute them to the Sex and say every thing imaginable to exasperate the Government for so let the Husbands be call'd against them and never once touch the notorious and visible Faults and Barbarities of a great many He-Brutes he doubtless foresaw this and therefore before he advanc'd his precious Matter he thought it necessary to answer an Objection which he brings in the Women making and offers at some Reasons why he thought it not all convenient for his purpose as to be sure it was not to rip up his own and other Mens Faults and so condemn himself out of his own mouth The first Reason he gives for the leaving out the Masculine part of his Sermon is because the Woman's Duty is harder and more difficult than that of the Man But I always thought that it was sometimes as difficult for Governors to carry themselves well as for the Governed and that in some Tempers to avoid Tyranny and unreasonable Commands was as great a Virtue as a vile Submission in a Woman and therefore I think that Reason vanishes However I shall take notice by the way that the Subjection which he thinks belongs to a Woman is a very hard and difficult thing and therefore the Women are the more excusable if they are not always so very much under the Hatches since he owns they are but of very weak Abilities to learn You Women says he will acknowledg that Men can learn to command and rule fast enough Insolent Man To preach us gravely into Slavery and Chains and then deride and banter us as the Babylonians did the Captive Jews when they had 'em fast in their power And not contented with this he makes the Word of God come in for a share while he is insulting over us Women says he have need of Line upon Line Precept upon Precept here a little and there a little and all little enough to make them perfect in their Lesson Now here is for certain a touch of Antiquity and some of the true Veteran Jingle in little and little and little enough The second Reason he brings is Because Women are of weaker Capacities to learn than Men. P. 5. This is exceeding pleasant indeed I suppose if Men were to learn the same Lesson their Capacities would be as weak This brings to my mind the Story of the General who when he had condemn'd the Soldiers of a conquer'd Garison to leap down from a vast high Tower one of them going to leap after his dead Companions made three or four Recoils and being threaten'd with a more cruel Death by
a small matter will loosen them especially such a confounded Jog as the Author gives us but if carefully lookt to till they are well fastened and the Glue be hardened 't will not be an easy matter to disjoint or sever them A most instructing Similitude and the truth of which hath been confirm'd by very many Witnesses of good credit as they are ready to attest Either the Auditory he preached this to were persons of very wooden Understandings or else they were in danger of apprehending the Comparison to be very much akin to the Author Then he tells us Married Women are to please their Husbands by honouring them by all means Honour to whom Honour is due But I think he goes a little too far when he makes it a Woman's duty to lie like a Spaniel at her Husband's feet and suffer her self very civilly to be trampled on This he intimates by the authentic story of the Persian Ladies who had the similitude of a Foot worn on the top of their Coronets P. 34. and by the bold and insolent Comment he makes on it Now this you know is a most clear and oriental Argument and proves just as much as the strongest Hieroglyphics of Egypt Is it impos'd on them or do they wear it willingly If the former where 's the Virtue If the latter I can hardly think it proves what he would persuade us unless the Gentlemen of Persia are very obliging indeed Here again we see very clearly what this Gentleman would be at A Woman when once she is enter'd within the Grates and the Parson has turn'd the Key upon her is no longer to look on her self as a Companion but the highest place she can expect is to be trodden under foot This is the height of Glory this is the Advancement our Sex is to meet with if all Men were of such wonderful Temper and noble Principles as this our trusty and well-beloved Friend is And under this Head he confesses something in my opinion not much to his design for says he the Apostle calls the Woman the Glory of the Man because 't is an high Honour to him that so excellent a Creature as a Woman should be his Inferior But if a Woman according to this honest Confession be so excellent a Creature then hence I think it may very fairly be infer'd that some acknowledgment is due to a Woman when she condescends to make her self inferior to any of them And can it be the Glory of a Man to trample upon and enslave and render the Life of such an excellent Creature as miserable as he can And here he insinuates that we take a great deal of freedom in our Thoughts Certainly if we had not freedom there we were very Slaves and even that he would abridg us of not that I think a Woman may harbor any wicked thoughts of her Lord and Master But 't is very hard and a strange Doctrine indeed that they must not be allow'd to have contemptible thoughts no not of Persons and Things that are in themselves contemptible to the last degree The Instance of Michal is quite another case for there was the business of Religion in it she despised David 't is like for putting on the Linen Ephod and submitting to meddle with sacred things as he did However if any of the Husbands are such brave and generous Men of such obliging Principles and such mighty Charms as David had I think their Wives will find it a very difficult matter so much as to despise them in their Hearts Reverence and Love are not things infus'd into our Breasts by hard Words high Menaces and huffing Language that dear and tender Esteem is won by the Charms of an agreeable Temper the Instances of a noble Generosity and those other powerful things which 't is impossible to resist and which will always secure Honor and Reverence from very Strangers much more in those who have the happiness of so intimate a Relation Then he tells us besides this internal there must be an external Honor and that a Woman must use those Titles which may express the Dignity and Excellency of her Husband's Person But suppose a poor Lady should meet with a Spark that is not at all dignified or distinguish'd from the common herd of Mankind that hath no Virtue no Excellency to be commended for that is of a base ungenerous and sordid Spirit yes she must give him those Titles which may bespeak the Dignity and Excellence of his Person i. e. she must banter him to his face and provoke every one to reflect upon his real faults by attempting to cover them with the vain Names of imaginary Dignity He brings the Example of Sarah calling Abraham Lord. But it must be consider'd that Abraham was indeed a great Man and rich and that it would look a little odd for a Man of low degree to be greeted My Lord Your Lordship 's most obedient Servant c. by his Lady in a blew Apron or a high-crown'd Hat And by the way he has lost a most admirable Argument which runs thus according to the way of arguing by the Persian Shoo in England the Women many of them in that part however where he is wear the similitude of a Steeple on their Heads implying by the like Consequence that Churchmen are peculiarly privileged to lord it over their Wives This would have been a home thrust and most pertinent to the matter in hand for 't would have invested his Brother Dear whom he then married with full Power and Authority to trample upon and lead captive the deluded Sister But to return from this Digression which I have made only to let him see wherein he has fail'd 't is to be consider'd that the Apostles might injoyn more than ordinary Submission in the Primitive Times that so by their humble Carriage they might charm their Husbands into a love of Christianity What knowest thou O Wife whether thou shalt save thy Husband says St. Paul 1 Cor. 7. 16. But I shall never believe they design'd such a Government for the Men as this Gentleman and his Followers would fain erect Then he bitterly inveighs against one of the most innocent things in the World at Womens calling their Husbands by their Christian Names and their using familiar terms one to another This is certainly the effect of Tenderness and Freedom which will banish all the names of haughty Distance and servile Subjection And his Consequence is very harsh and disingenuous that therefore they esteem them but as their Servants because they use such familiar Titles and complains bitterly that some will call them by the solemn Names of Fool Sloven Clown Sot c. I hope he never gives his Lady any occasion to bestow any of these venerable Titles upon his Worship But what if so strange a thing should happen that a Man should be really a Fool must a Woman call him Solomon If he be a Sloven or a Clown or a Sot must