Despysers of WOMEN and take example by Cyrus the Emperour who as long as his Emperesse lived being a good and mercifull Prince afterwards became a cruell vnmercifull Tyrant But what followed The Historie sayeth that Thomyris Queene of Scythia waged Battell THOMYRIS agaynst him whom she tooke and caused cut off his head And for a reward of his bloodie crueltie she put his head into a vessell full of mens blood saying Satisfie nowe thy selfe with blood which here-to-fore thou couldst never get anough More-over Amongst the rest of worthie Women let vs speake somewhat of Ieane of Orleans or of Arke IEANE of ORLEANS for whom the French-men haue great cause to praise GOD for by her godlie Skill and willing forewardnesse the kingdome of France was fred from conquering English-men who had imperiouslie possessed that kingdome aboue fourtie years together But yet as the English-men were alwayes valourous Conquerours so also haue they ever beene knowne to bee verie mercifull Enemies and friendlie Foes For though they had conquered all yet of their courtesie they suffered the King of France to possesse Bourdeaux with some other adjacent little Townes for his mayntaynance whereby hee might spende everie day a Sheepe at the least and two Capons besides Leekes Salats c. as sayeth Iohn Marconville in his book of the Prayse of Women chap. 7. Now I will not lose my tyme for the prseut to argue the matter with William Bellay of Lange in his learned Booke Deremilitari concerning the aforesayd Ieane named from Vacolours and called The Mayd of France or The Mayd of Helpe whether thorow the hand of GOD or by Witch-Craft she brought such great things to passe How-so-ever true it was that France by her meanes was set free at that tyme all except Cales which the English-men kept still from the dayes of Philip of Valoys till the Reygne of Heurie the second which was two hundreth and eleven yeares But at last the English Armie lying in siedge before the citie of Campaigne and Jeane making her selfe thither-wardes to relieue the French-men shee was betrayed by John of Luxemburgh and delivered vnto the English who burnt her to powder at Rowane in the moneth of May 1340. To testifie Shee had done good Her deeds were sealed with her blood And therefore Let FORTVNE smyle or frowne bee still content In all Essayes beare still an Heart true bent CHAPTER VI. Of the wonderfull goodnesse of GOD towardes Man whicth He hath wrought by Religious Women And how by a Woman Britayne first receaved the Christian Fayth IT is manifest vnto all men who are not bereaft of their wits and altogether voyd of Understanding That the greatest Benefite vnder the Sunne is THE GIFT OF FAYTH and TRVE BELIEFE whereby wee come neare vnto GOD frame our selues to loue and feare Him and so attayne to the knowledge of His just Iudgements and tender Mercies And this great and excellent Gift of GOD is manifested vnto Mankynde next vnto His Sacred Word even by chosen holie Women whom it pleased GOD to make the first Heraulds of Christ's Glorious Resurrection as sayde is before in our second Chapter And also manie worthie Ecclesiasticall Writers testifie That Marie Magdalene Martha c. did first publish the Gospel and preached CHRIST Crucified and His Resurrection and Ascension in the Countrey of Illyrica which is nowe called Slavonia and also in the Land of Provence where they converted the people and brought them to the true Fayth Wee reade of Apollos a learned Jew of Alexandria an eloquent Man and mightie in the Scriptures And altho hee was alreadie well instructed in the way of the LORD yet Aquila by the ACTS 18. 24. 25. 26. helpe of Priscilla his wyfe expounded vnto him the way of GOD more perfectlie than ever hee knew of before And the great King Agrippa was ACTS 26. 27. 28. 29. but almost perswaded by Paul to bee a Christian But to the contrarie GOD had mercie on good Lydia opened her ACTS 16. 14. 15 heart and not almost but altogether made her His chosen Vessell Reade the Chronicle of fayre England and you shall vnderstand that in the dayes of King Egilbert the whole Realme was infected with the damnable Heresie of Pelagius And Saynct Augustine comming thither to preach the Christian Religion by mediation of the Queene after great and serious paynes and loving intreatie the King gaue eare and was converted together with his People See thus did England first receaue the true Fayth by the meanes of a Woman sayeth Gaguinus Hermigidus King of Gothes beeing GAGUINUS infected with the Heresie of Arrius is also converted and brought to the true acknowledgement of CHRIST crucified even by his Wyfe Nigegond as sayeth the same Gaguinus in his second Booke Also thorow the earnest travell of Clotildis Queene of Perthan the King Clowis her Husband was baptized and greatlie rejoyced with thanksgiving vnto GOD who had brought him from Darknesse to Light and that by the meanes of a Woman sayeth John Marconville Amongst aboundance of other worthie Authors it is manifest by Plutarch Boccace and Symphorian Champer That manie men both mightie and wyse haue gotten their best Education even by Women and receaved from Them next vnto GOD their best and most wholsome Benefites as well concerning the good of the Soule as the profit of the bodie And this was more than manifest on Flavius Clemens in the dayes of Domician the Emperour But now I will not tarrie vpon such an extraordinarie Subject lest our pievish Disgracers of Women should run mad and altogether despare of their Pardon for their misbehaviour in chatting agaynst Women MERCURIUS TRISMEGISTUS Mercurius Trismegistus duelie considering the wonderfull Goodnesse of GOD towards Man in Women sayth That such a Man as in all manner of wayes showed not his full indevour in the Honour yea service of Women let him bee accursed And that such a Man as avoydeth the Companie of Woman let him bee buried quicke But foolish senselesse and irregular Man who will not bee perswaded neyther by Reason nor Trueth to shun his objections That they are but Men and dead long agoe whom I cite for my Warrandize in the just prayse of Women let him hearken then what GOD sayeth vnto Righteous Abraham In all that Sarah sayeth vnto thee GEN. 21. 12. hearken vnto her voyce sayeth the Lord. Then thou that wilt not hearken vnto the voyce of thy Gracious Wyfe I denye thee to bee a sonne of Abraham but rather of Satan the Enemie of all Loue Concord and good Connsell Thus doe we find that Womē in all things Health happines vnto the man still brings And yet envious vnbelieving Man His hardned heart hee never settle can For to implore the Heavens to be so kinde To keepe her state according to her minde CHAPTER VII Of the Wisedome Learning Discipline and good Manners wherein Women haue proven farre more excellent and perfect than Man THE
THE GLORIE OF MAN Consisting in The Excellencie and perfection of Woman Gathered out of Holie SCRIPTVRES and most Renowned Wryters as well Ancient as Moderne Ecclesiasticall as Morall Wherevnto is annexed The duetie of Husbands ABERDENE Printed by the Author June 6 1638. To the Right Honorable and Jllustrious LADIE ANNA CAMBEL LADIE MARQVES of HVNTLEY COVNTESSE of AENZIE BADINACH LOCHABRE STRADOWN AND STRABOGIE LADIE GORDON c. MADAME TO Vindicate and deliver my self from the imputation of Sarcastick bitter too loose liberall speaches agaynst the most Noble Worthie and Transcendant Sexe of WOMEN which some knowing their own imperfect weaknesse may apprehend to be Calumnies and detractiue to the whole Sexe I here make humble Oblation with all Reverence present vnto your Ladiships Honorable Hands this litle TREATISE as a part of my Studie in my wearisome Journie this halfe yeare by-past in forraygne Countreys Which indeed MADAME I aimed for Your La the last New-years-day if distresse of weather and contrarie winds had not hindered But through the mercie of GOD your La Servant being safelie arrived I desire no more but that this Abortiue may shelter it self vnder the shadow of Your La Honourable Affection Then may I think my selfe happie and the payns well bestowed Not doubting but that it shall so plead for me that by a just judgement of all Your La most Glorious Noble and Gracious Sexe I shall be pronounced guiltlesse quyte and free from all Aspersion and Imputation vnjustlie here to fore layd to my charge How-so-ever Madame if eyther this Subject maye anie wayes seeme pleasing vnto Your La or my selfe serviceable all my cited Authors never thought themselues halfe so GRACED as I will continuallie confesse MY FORTVNES HONOVRED And thus MOST NOBLE AND GRACIOVS LADIE With humble Heart true mynd and tempred Brayne NED vowes Your Sexe poore PRINTER to remayne The Prologue SOme Men are so vncharitable sayth Master Feltham RESOL◠pag. 10◠100. as to thinke All Women bad and others so credulous as they belieue They are all good But surelie although everie man speaketh as hee findeth yet there is Reason to direct our Opinion without experience of the whole Sexe Which in a strict Examination maketh more for The Honour of Women than most men as yet haue acknowledged At the first She was created his Equall Onelie the difference was in the Sexe Otherwyse GEN. 5. they both were Man If anie will argue from the Text That Male and Female made Man so the Man being put first was therefore the worthiest I answere So the Euening and the Morning were the first day sayth the Scripture putting ever the Night before the GEN. 1 Day otherwyse the Day was vnperfect And altho Peter Martyr absurdlie wold seeme to affirme That before the Fall Man had Prioritie Yet Saynct Chrysostome stronglie and truelie confuteth his Grosse Opinion Now all must grant Her Bodie to bee more Amiable Admirable and Beautifull than Mans. She is fuller of Curiosities and Noble Natures Wonders both for Conception and fostering the producted Birth And who then dare thinke that GOD would put a worser Soule into a better Bodie It is certayne that Women are of colder Constitution than boyling Man and so more temperate Heate it selfe transporteth Man to Immoderation and Furie and hurrieth him to a Savage and Libidinous Violence But Women are naturallie more modest And Modestie is indeede the verie Seat and Dwelling-place of Vertue And Fond Fortunes blasts cannot prevayle To over-throw Dame Vertues Sayle Whence I pray you proceede the most abhorride Villanies but from a Masculine vnblushing Impudence And what a deale of Sweetnesse doe wee finde in a mylde Disposition For When Rage runnes swiftlie step aside and see How hard th' Approaches of fearce Furie bee If a Woman groweth bolde and daring wee dislyke her and say Shee is too lyke a Man And yet in our selues wee magnifie what in her wee condemne Is not this great injustice Everie Man is so much the better by how much the nearer hee commeth vnto GOD. And in nothing can Man bee more lyke vnto GOD than in beeing Mercifull Yet Woman exceedeth Man verie farre in Mercie Pittie Pietie Chartie and Rueth And whereas wee are still exhorted to loue I am assured that Women are everie where spoken of for transcending in that Qualitie Men indeede haue ever holden Parliament beene Judges in their owne causes inacting their owne Wills and not bearing the Women speake whereby verie easilie they may bee concluded guiltie But let Men know that Who judgement giues and will but one side heare Though hee judge right is no good Iusticiere How-so-ever for my part I would gladlie honour Vertue in everie Sexe And I thinke in the Generall I shall finde it more in Women than in Men though weaker and more infirmlie guarded And though Women bee the Better yet may they bee wrought by wicked Men to bee the worser Neyther shall the faults of manie make mee vncharitable to all nor the Goodnesse of some make mee credulous of the rest Yet hitherto I confesse I haue found more sweete and constant Goodnesse in Women than in Men for of such men as are constant in true Goodnesse I haue found no great Number And thus I end my Prologue which beginneth not with Apologies neyther doe I end it with any intreatie of a kinde censure which might seeme to disparage this Work and beg partialitie But if in these weake Extractions the Judicious and Godlie Women may bee anie wayes pleased in their increasing affections still towardes Godlinesse and Vertue all by-Respects put away my Petitions shall ever bee to the GOD of all Goodnesse to perpetuate their Happinesse I ever remayning Their ImmutablE HonoureR HAUD INFERIORA SEQUTUS The Authors from whom this little Treatise hath its originall Beside the Holie Scriptures and Chronicles of all Nations and in all Languages 1 AMmianus Marcellius 2 Aristotle 3 Aulus Gellius 4 Boccace 5 Bohem. 6 Carter 7 Cato 8 Cicero 9 Chrysostome 10 Curtius Solinus 11 Diodorus Siculus 12 Epigenes 13 Erasmus 14 Eusebius 15 Feltham 16 Giero 17 Gorgias Leotanus 18 Grantzio 19 Gybson 20 Herodote 21 Hieronymus 22 Hortantius 23 Iohan Marconville 24 Iustinus 25 Lactantius 26 Marcus Varro 27 Mercurius Trismegistus 28 Munsterus 29 Origen 30 Orosius 31 Ovid. 32 Petrus Cirnitus 33 Periander 34 Pindar 35 Plato 36 Plinius 37 Plutarch 38 Pompeïus 39 Pomponius Mela. 40 Pythagoras 41 Siculus 42 Scotus Subtilus 43 Socrates 44 Solinus 45 Stesichoris 46 Symphrorian Champer 47 Taylor 48 Theophrastus 49 Thevet Angonozin 50 Thomasius 51 Trogus 52 Virgil. 53 Xenocrates And others To the Author IN representing to the whole Worldes view The lyuelie Pourtrait of the Worlde 's Admir'd Yea Natures Darling with Her Prayses due With louelie Grace and Merits Rayes attir'd The Worth and Vertue of that Sacred Frame Thy humble Service doeth thy Presse compell To vindicate and blaze abroade Her Fame Each one must say Thou hast deserved well M. I. G.
MATTH 19. forbiddeth to separate those whom GOD hath joyned together Adulterie onlie beeing accepted But the verie fyre-brandes of Hell even the wicked and abominable Adulterers of our tyme neyther respecting the Word of GOD nor yeelding any obedience to His cōmandements or fearing the justice of His vengeance to come for their stiff-neckednesse will notwithstanding lyke the Swyne possessed by the Devill runne violentlie to their Destruction But Saynct Paull telleth playnlie that neyther Fornicators Adulterers Wantons or such 1. COR. 6 lyke shall inherite the Kingdome of GOD. Whither they shall goe then let everie good Christian tremble to thinke of For these men not regarding any thing will haue a Wyfe heere and another there one in this Countrey and another else-where or if they be no Travellers will thinke no shame to keepe a whore vnder his wyues nose and shee dare not finde fault with it but may know and dare not know Yea manie not yet contented heerewith but proceed farder for all these damnable abuses seeme sweet to a whore-monger sayeth the wyse man neyther will hee leaue off till hee perish But ECCLES 23 hearken what hee sayeth farder to wit that such a man shall be put to shame because hee would not vnderstand the wayes of the LORD What neede wee cite pettie Authors for this Adulterous generation Let the mouth of GOD take chiefe place and condemne them where Hee expresslie sayth Thou shalt not commit Adulterie EXOD. 20. thou shalt not covet thy neyghbours wyfe c. And the LORD commanded stricklie That there should bee no whore-keepers amongst His people DEUT. 23. Israell But if all such should be swept out of Britane the land would be thinlie inhabited It is counted amongst young men A tricke of youth and amongst other of middle age A veniall sinne yea the verie aged themselues with their Hoarie and Snow-lyke head and beard their furrowed and wrinckled browes and their carion face lyke a dead corpse though their abilitie of bodie be spent and consumed in abhominable and damnable filthinesse yet they will speake now more filthilie than before they lived lasciviouslie Beholde of all Monsters Lust is the worst and that especiallie in olde age testifieth that worthie Clerke Erasmus of Rotterdam in his Booke of Christian ERASMUS Warrefare Capitulo 32. Where he verie pithilie exhorteth all such men to turne backe from such great wickednesse saying That if it be possible for them to get true repentance it is also possible for them to bee saved But who so heere repenteth never A Reprobate shall die for ever So great abhominations were not committed in Sodome and Gomorrah loe as now reygne amongst vs who were consumed with fire and brimston long agoe and can wee then thinke to escape Alace no except wee repent in tyme. And therefore let vs bee warned by the holie PSALMIST who sayeth thus Oh consider this yee that forget GOD lest that Hee teare you in PSAL. 50. 22. pieces and there bee none to deliver Heare yet what Saynct Paul sayeth Whore-mongers and Adulterers sayeth HEB. 13. hee GOD will judge And it is sayd in the Revelation that they shall haue their part in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is REVEL 24. the second death And thus sayeth the LORD by His Prophet IEREMIAH They assemble IEREM 5. themselues by companies in the harlots houses and ryse vp in the morning lyke fed horses everie man neyghing after his neyghbours wyfe And now mark what followeth And shall I not visit for these thinges sayeth the LORD Shall not My Soule bee avenged on such a nation as this And thus shortlie haue wee proceeded in opening the breach of Sacred Wedlocke to the ende that every one may clearlie see into what dangers those men doe daylie runne who liue not lovinglie and faythfullie yea and joyfullie with their owne Wyues even as the Word of GOD enjoyneth them to doe And such a man the wise SALOMON proveth to be the most foolish of all the fooles vnder the Sunne saying That such a man destroyeth his owne soule yea hee shall finde a wound sayeth PROV 22. hee and dishonour and his reproach shall never bee put away And into such a pit shall that man fall with whom the LORD is angrie THE FIFT CHAPTER BY our former Chapters wee haue showne howe farre manie Husbands come too short of those Dueties which by the Word of GOD they are enjoyned to performe vnto their onlie owne Wyues and the whole cause and chiefe ground whereof wee see to bee The want of Loue or rather of True Loue. For if in Husbands were that True Loue which the feare of GOD worketh in the heart of true Christians it would surelie leade them to that Knowledge wherewith Saynct Peter exhorteth them to bee 1. PET. 3 furnished and the which poynt wee must needes handle a little broader before wee ende this Treatise Now as wee haue showne before it is not anough for Husbandes to abyde and dwell with their Wyues but they must dwel with them as men of knowledge and vnderstanding well experienced in the Word of GOD yeelding whollie to the Rule thereof and obeying His holie Will and Commandementes Heereby commeth that Knowledge which will bring Husbandes to performe that Duetie which Saynct Paull teacheth them towardes their Wyues to wit To loue them even as CHRIST EPHES. 5 loved His Congregation that is with an holie heartie vnfeygned and constant loue Which wee can no other wayes attayne vnto but by the aforesayde Godlie Knowledge which must bee gathered from the Word of GOD even as a Bee gathereth her honey from the sweetest flowers and that by continual exercyse or else bee yee sure you shall never receaue true Comfort in your Marriages VVhen Samuell had anoynted Saull 1. SAM 10. to bee King of Israell the LORD gaue vnto Saull another heart than hee had before even a heart according to his Calling So no doubt but those men whom the LORD calleth vnto that Honourable Estate of Marriage Hee will and doeth furnish them with Giftes according to their places For indeed it is no small matter but verie weyghtie of a Novice to become the Father of a Familie the governour of a Wyfe Children and Servantes c. Such a man hath need of another heart than hee had before even an heart to pray vnto the LORD with Salomon That He would vouchsafe to giue him wisdome to goe in and out and governe that Charge with Godlie Knowledge which the GOD of all Wisdome and Knowledge hath committed vnto him Yet before wee conclude let vs also consider the Duetie of FORBEARANCE which Husbandes owe vnto their Wyues as beeing the weaker Vessels and Saynct PAVL teacheth vs the reason playnlie why Because sayeth hee they meaning the Wyues are Heyres with you of the Grace of Lyfe Elected by the favour of GOD in CHRIST JESVS to that fellowship of Saynctes wherein your selues hope to bee numbered And as dearlie beloved of GOD as your selues are bought out of the power of Satan by the precious Blood of His deare Sonne as well as you and Heyres also of that Eternall Lyfe which you your selues hope to enjoye And therefore if you your selues thinke to liue as Sayncts in Heaven heere-after you must first liue together as Sayncts heere on Earth Let these thnges then bee as a Load-stone to draw Husbandes vnto the performance of all their Dueties towardes their Wyues For this same Apostle yeeldeth yet a farther reason of the Dueties of LOVE AMITIE and FORBEARANCE of Husbandes to wit That your Prayers sayeth hee bee not hindered That is If you would haue GOD to heare you when you pray vnto Him and to grant you the thinges you desire of Him together vvhy then in the Name of GOD let vs agree together liue together loue together and pray together That so our praying together may receaue comfort together And That THE GOD OF LOVE may blesse our Loues togethER AMEN