To all virtuous Ladies Honorable or Worshipful, and to all other of Hevah's sex fearing God, and loving just reputation, grace and peace through Christ, to eternal glory.

      It was the simile of that wise and learned Lactantius, that if fire, though but with a final spark kindled, be not at the first quenched, it may work great mischief and damage: So likewise may the scandals and defamations of the malevolent in time prove pernicious, if they be not nipped in the head at their first appearance. The consideration of this (right Honorable and Worshipful Ladies) has incited me (though young, and the unworthiest of thousands) to encounter with a furious enemy to our sex, least if his unjust imputations should continue without answer, he might insult and account himself a victor; and by such a conceit deal, as Historiographers report the viper to do, who in the Winter time does vomit forth her poison, and in the spring time sucks the same up again, which becomes twice as deadly as the former: And this our pestiferous enemy, by thinking to provide a more deadly poison for women, then already he has foamed forth, may evaporate, by an addition unto his former illiterate Pamphlet (entitled The Arraignment of Women) a more contagious obtrectation (?) then he has already done, and indeed has threatened to do. Secondly, if it should have had free passage without any answer at all (seeing that Tacere is, quasi consentire) the vulgar ignorant might have believed his Diabolical infamies to be infallible truths, not to be infringed; whereas now they may plainly perceive them to be but the scum of Heathenish brains, or a building raised without a foundation (at least from sacred Scripture) which the wind of God's truth must needs cast down to the ground. A third reason why I have adventured to fling this stone at vaunting Goliah is, to comfort the minds of all Hevah's sex, both rich and poor, learned and unlearned, with this Antidote, that if the fear of God reside in their hearts, mavgre (?) all adversaries, they are highly esteemed and accounted of in the eyes of their gracious Redeemer, so that they need not fear the darts of envy or obtrecators (?): For shame and disgrace (said Aristotle) is the end of them that shot such poisoned shafts. Worthy therefore of imitation is that example of Seneca, who when he was told that a certain man did exclaim and rail against him, made this mild answer: Some dogs bark more upon custom then crustiness; and some speak evil of others, not that the defamed deserve it, but because through custom and corruption of their hearts they cannot speak well of any. This I allege as a paradigmatical pattern for all women, noble and ignoble to follow, that they be not enflamed with choler against this our enraged adversary, but patiently consider of him according to the portraiture which he has drawn of himself, his Writing being the very emblem of a monster.

      This my brief Apology (Right Honorable and Worshipful) did I enterprise, not as thinking myself more fit then others to undertake such a task, but as one, who not perceiving any of our Sex to enter the Lists of encountering with this our grand enemy among men, I being out of all fear, because armed with the truth, which though often blamed, yet can never be shamed, and the Word of God's Spirit, together with the example of virtue's Pupils for a Buckler, did no whit dread to compare with our said malevolent adversary. And if in so doing I shall be censured by the judicious to have the victory, and shall have given content unto the wronged, I have both hit the mark whereat I aimed, and obtained that prize which I desired. But if Zoilus (?) shall adjudge me presumptuous in Dedicating this my Chirograph unto personages of so high rank; both because of my insufficiency in literature and tenderness in years: I thus Apologize for my self: that seeing the Baiter of Women has opened his mouth against noble as well as ignoble, against the rich as well as the poor; therefore meet it is that they should be joined spectators of this encounter: And withall in regard of my imperfection both in learning and age, I need so much the more to impetrate [entreat] patronage from some of power to shield me from the biting wrongs of Monus, who oftentimes sets a rankling tooth into the sides of truth. Wherefore I being of Decius his mind, who deemed himself safe under the shield of Caesar, have presumed to shelter my self under the wings of you (Honorable personages) against the persecuting heat of this fiery and furious Dragon: desiring that you would be pleased, not to look so much ad opus, as ad animum: And so not doubting of the favorable acceptance and censure of all virtuously affected, I rest

                                    Your Honors and Worships
                                    Humble at commandment

                                    Rachel Speght

[End of section A]  I f Reason had but curb'd thy witless will,
O r fear of God restrained thy raving quill,
S uch venom foul thou would not have blushed to spew,
E xcept that Grace have bidden thee adieu:
P rowess disdains to wrestle with the weak,
H eathenish affected, care not what they speak.

S educer of the vulgar sort of men,
W as Satan crept into thy filthy Pen,
E nflaming thee with such infernal smoke,
T hat (if thou had not thy will) should women choke?
N efarious fiends thy sense here in deluded,
A nd from thee all humanity excluded.
M onster of men, worthy no other name,

For that thou did not assay our Sex to shame.

Ra. Sp.

Faults escaped in this Impression

Page I, line 12 in the Preface for rearing read reaving
page 4 line 17 for Ironica read Ironia
page 7 line 19 for not touch read not to touch
page 11 line 20 for Meriam read Miriam
page 21 line 13 for tongs read tongues
page 32 line 21 for adulterous read idolatrous
page 33 line 30 for Arganox read Organox¹

      From standing water, which soon putrefies, can no good fish be expected; for it produces no other creatures but those that are venomous or noisome, as snakes, adders, and such like. Semblably (?), no better stream can we look, should issue from your idle corrupt brain, then that whereto the ruffe (?) of your fury (to use your own words) has moved you to open the sluice. In which excrement of your roaring cogitation you have used such irregularities touching concordance, and observed so disordered a method, as I doubt not to tell you, that a very Accidence Scholar would have quite put you down in both. You appear herein not unlike Painter, who furiously endeavoring to portray Cupid's Bow, forgot the String: for you being greedy to botch up your mingle mangle invective against Women, have not therein observed, in many places, so much as as [sic] Grammar sense. But the emptiest Barrel makes the loudest sound; and so we will account of you.

      Many propositions have you framed, which (as you think) make much against Women, but if one would make a Logical assumption, the conclusion would be flat against your own Sex. Your dealing wants so much discretion that I doubt whether to bestow so good a name as the Dunce upon you: but Minority bids me keep within my bounds; and therefore I only say unto you, that your corrupt Heart and railing Tongue, has made you a fit scribe for the Devil.

      In that you have termed your virulent foam, the Bear-baiting of Women, you have plainly displayed your won disposition to be Cynical, in that there appears no other Dog or Bull, to bait them, but your self. Good had it been for you to have put on that Muzzle, which Saint James would have all Christians to wear; speak not evil one of another: and then had you not seemed so like the Serpent Porphirus, as now you do; which, though full of deadly poison, yet being toothless, hurts none so much as himself. For you having gone beyond the limits not of Humanity alone, but of Christianity, have done greater harm unto your own soul, then unto women, as may plainly appear. First, in dishonoring God by palpable blasphemy, wresting and perverting every place of Scripture, that you have alleged; which by the testimony of Saint Peter ², is to the destruction of them that so do. Secondly, it appears by your disparaging of, and opprobrious speeches against that excellent work of God's hands, which in his great love he perfected for the comfort of man. Thirdly, and lastly, by this your hodge-podge of heathenish Sentences, Similes, and Examples, you have set fort your self in your right colors, unto the view of the world: and I doubt not but the Judicious will account of you according to your demerit: As for the Vulgar sort, which have no more learning then you have showed in your Book, it is likely they will applaud you for your pains.

      As for your Bug-bear or advice unto Women, that whatsoever they do think of your Work, they should conceal it, lest in finding fault, they betray their galled backs to the world; in which you allude to that Proverb, Rub a galled horse, and he will kick: Unto it I answer by way of Apology, that though every galled horse, being touched, does kick; yet every one that kicks, is not galled: so that you might as well have said, that because burnt folks dread the fire, therefore none fear fire but those that are burnt, as made that illiterate conclusion which you have absurdly inferred.

      In your Title Leaf, you arraign none but the lewd, idle, forward, and inconstant women, but in the Sequel (though defect of memory as it seems) forgetting that you had made a distinction of good from bad, condemning all in general, you advise men to beware of, and not to match with any of these six sorts of women, viz. Good and Bad, Fair and Foul, Rich and Poor: But this doctrine of Devils Saint Paul foreseeing would be broached in the latter times, gives warning of³.

      There also you promise a Commendation of wise, virtuous, and honest women, when as in the subsequent, the worst words, and filthiest Epithets that you can devise, you bestow on them in general, excepting no sort of Women. Herein may you be likened unto a man, which upon the door of a scurvy house sets this Superscription, Here is a very fair house to be let: whereas the door being opened, it is no better then a dog-hole and dark dungeon.

      Further, if your own words be true, that you wrote with you hand, but not with your heart, then are you an hypocrite in Print: but it is rather to be thought that your Pen was the betrayer of the abundance of your mind, and that this was but a little mortar to daub up against the wall, which you intended to break down.

      The revenge of your railing Work we leave to Him, who has appropriated vengeance unto himself, whose Pen-man has included Railers in the Catalogue of them, that shall not inherit God's Kingdom, and your self unto the mercy of that just Judge, who is able to save and to destroy.

                                    Your undersigned friend,

                                    Rachel Speght

If little David that for Israel sake,
	esteemed neither life nor limb to dear,
In that he did adventure without dread,
	to cast at him, whom all the host did fear,
A stone, which brought Goliah to the ground, 
Obtained applause with Songs and Timbrels found. 

Then let another young combatant
	receive applause, and thanks, as well as he:
For with an enemy to Women kind,
	she has encountered, as each wight may see:
And with the fruits of her industrious toil,
To this Goliah she has given the foil. 

Admire her much I may, both for her age, 
	and this her Muzzle for a black-mouthed wight,
But praise her, and her work, to that desert,
	which unto them belongs of equal right
I cannot; only this I say and end,
She is unto her Sex a faithful friend.

Philalethes

If he that for his Country does expose


himself unto the fury of his foe,

Does merit praise and due respect of those,

for whom he did that peril undergo:

Then let the Author of this Muzzle true
Receive the like, of right it is her due.

For she to shield her Sex from Slander's Dart,


and from invective obtrectation,

Has ventured by force of Learnings Art,

(in which she has had education)

To combat with him, which does shame his Sex,
By offering feeble women to perplex.
Philomathes

Praise is a debt, which does of due belong
To those, that take the path of Virtues trace,
Meeting their ways and works by Reasons rule,
Having their hearts so lightened with God's grace,


That willingly they would not him offend,
But bodily their lives begin and end.

Of such a pupil unto Piety
As is described, I do intend to speak.
A Virgin young, and of such tender age,
As for encounter may be deemed too weak,


She having not as yet seen twenty years,
Though in her carriage older she appears.

Her wit and learning in this present Work,
More praise does merit, then my quill can write:
Her magnanimity deserves applause,
In venturing with a fiery foe to fight:


And now in fine (?), what shall I further say?
But that she bears the triumph quite away.
Favor B

      If lawful it be to compare the Potter with his Clay, or the Architect with the Edifice; then may I, in some sort, resemble that love of God towards man, in creating woman, unto the affectionate care of Abraham for his son Isaac, who that he might not take to wife one of the daughters of Canaanites, did provide him one of his own kindred⁴.

      Almighty God, who is rich in mercy, having made all things of nothing, created man in his own image⁵: that is, (as the Apostle expounds it ) In wisdom, righteousness and true holiness, making him Lord over all ^{6, 7} : to avoid that solitary condition that he was then in, having none to commerce or converse withal but dumb creatures, it seemed good unto the Lord, that as of every creature he had made male and female, and man only being alone without mate, so likewise to form an help meet for him. Adam⁸ for this cause being cast into a heavy sleep, God extracting a rib from his side, thereof made, or built, Woman; showing thereby that man was as an imperfect building before woman was made; and bringing her unto Adam, united and married them together.

      Thus the resplendent love of God toward man appeared, in taking care to provided him an helper before he saw his own want, and in providing him such an helper as should be meet for him. Sovereignty had he over all creatures, and they were all serviceable unto him; but yet before woman was formed, there was not a meet help found for Adam⁹. Man's worthiness not meriting this great favor at God's hands, but his mercy only moving him thereunto: I may use those words which the Jews uttered when they saw Christ weep for Lazarus, Behold how he loved him¹⁰: Behold, and that with good regard, God's love; yea his great love, which from the beginning he has borne unto man: which, as it appears in all things; so next, his love in Christ Jesus apparently in this; that for man's sake, that he might not be an unite, when all other creatures were for procreation dual, he created woman to be a solace unto him, to participate of his sorrows, partake of his pleasures, and as a good yoke-fellow bear part of his burden¹¹. Of the excellencies of this Structure, I mean of Women, whose foundation and original of creation, was God's love, do I intend to dilate.

      The work of Creation being finished, this approbation thereof was given by God himself, That All was very good¹² : If All, then Woman, who, excepting man, is the most excellent creature under the Canopy of heaven. But if it be objected by any.

      First, that woman, though created good¹³, yet by giving ear to Satan's temptations, brought death & misery upon her posterity.

      Secondly, that Adam was not deceived, but that the woman was deceived¹⁴, and was in the transgression. ¹⁵       Thirdly, that Saint Paul said, It were good for a man not to touch a woman^{16, 17} .

      Fourthly, and lastly, that of Salomon, who seems to speak against all of our sex; I have found one man of a thousand, but a woman among them all have I not found, whereof in it due place^{18, 19} .

      To the first of these objections I answer that Satan first assailed the woman²⁰, because where the hedge is lowest, most easy it is to get over, and she being the weaker vessel was with more facility to be seduced: Like as a crystal glass sooner receives a crack then a strong stone pot. Yet we shall find the offense of Adam and Eve almost to parallel: For as an ambitious desire of being made like unto God, was the motive which caused her to eat, so likewise was it his; as may plainly appear by that Ironica [sic], Behold, man is become as one of us²¹: Not that he was so indeed; but hereby his desire to attain a greater perfection then God had given him, was reproved. Woman sinned, it is true, by her infidelity in not believing the Word of God, but giving credit to Satan's fair promises²², that she should not die, but so did the man too: And if Adam had not approved of that deed which Eve had done, and been willing to tread the steps which she had gone, he being her Head would have reproved her, and have made the commandment a bit to restrain him from breaking his Maker's Injunction: For if a man burn his hand in the fire, the bellows that blew the fire are not to be blamed, but himself rather, for not being careful to avoid the danger: Yet if the bellows had not blew, the fire had not burnt; no more is woman simply to be condemned for man's transgression: for by the free will, which before his fall he enjoyed, he might have avoided, and been free from being burnt, or singed with that fire which was kindled by Satan, and blown by Eve. It therefore served not his turn a whit, afterwards to say, The woman which thou gave me, gave me of the tree, and I did eat²³: For a penalty was inflicted upon him, as well as on the woman, the punishment of her transgression being particular to her own sex, and to none but the female kind: but for the sin of man the whole earth was cursed. And he being better able, then the woman, to have resisted temptation²⁴, because the stronger vessel, was first called to account, to show, that to whom much is given, of them much is required; and that he who the sovereign of all creatures visible, should have yielded greatest obedience to God.

      True it is (as is already confessed) that woman first sinned, yet find we no mention of spiritual nakedness til man sinned: then it is said, Their eyes were opened²⁵, the eyes of their mind and conscience; and then perceived they themselves naked, that is, not only bereft of that integrity, which they originally had, but felt the rebellion & disobedience of their members in the disordered motions of their now corrupt nature, which made them for shame to cover their nakedness: then (and not before) is it said that they saw it, as if sin were imperfect, and unable to bring a deprivation of a blessing received, or death on all mankind, till man (in whom lay the active power of generation) had transgressed. The offense therefore of Adam and Eve is by Saint Austin thus distinguished, the man sinned against God and himself, the woman against God, her self, and her husband: yet in her giving of the fruit to eat had she no malicious intent towards him, but did therein show a desire to make her husband partaker of that happiness, which she thought by their eating they should both have enjoyed. This her giving Adam of the sauce, wherewith Satan had served her, whose sourness before he had eaten, she did not perceive, was that, which made her sin to exceed his²⁶: wherefore, that she might not of him, who ought to honor her, be abhorred, the first promise that was made in Paradise, God makes to woman, that by her Seed should the Serpents head be broken: whereupon Adam calls her Hevah, Life²⁷, that as the woman had been an occasion of his sin, so should woman bring forth the Savior from sin, which was in the fullness of time accomplished; by which was manifested, that he is a Savior of believing women²⁸, no less then of men, that so the blame of sin may not be imputed to his creature which is good; but to the will by which Eve sinned, and yet by Christ's assuming the shape of a man was it declared, that his mercy was equivalent to both Sexes; so that by Hevah's blessed Seed (as Saint Paul affirms) it is brought to pass, that male and female are all one in Christ Jesus²⁹.

      To the second objection I answer, That the Apostle does not hereby exempt man from sin³⁰, but only gives to understand that the woman was the primary transgressor; and not the man, but that man was not at all deceived, was far from his meaning: for he afterward expressly said, that as in Adam all die, so in Christ all be made alive³¹.

      For the third objection, It is good for man not [to - sic] touch a woman³²: The Apostle makes it not a positive prohibition, but speaks it only because the Corinths present necessity, who were then persecuted by the enemies of the Church³³, for which cause, and no other, he said, Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife: meaning while the time of these perturbations should continue in their heate (?); but if thou art bound, seek not to be loosed: if thou married, thou sin not, only increase thy care: for the married care for things of this world, And I wish that you were without care, that you might cleave fast unto the Lord without Separation: For the time remains, that they which have wives be as though they had none: for the persecutors shall deprive you of them, either by imprisonment, banishment, or death; so that manifest it is, that the Apostle does not hereby forbid marriage, but only advises the Corinth to forbare a while, til God in mercy should curb the furry of their adversaries. For (as Eusebius writes) Paul was afterward married himself, the which is very probable, being that interrogatively he said, Have we not power to lead about a wife, being a sister, as well as the rest of the Apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas?³⁴

      The fourth and last objection, is that of Salomon³⁵, I have found one man among a thousand, but a woman among them all have I not found³⁶: for answer of which, if we look into the story of his life, we shall find there in a Commentary upon this enigmatical Sentence included: for it is there said, that Salomon have seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, which number connexed make one thousand. These women³⁷ turning his heart away from being perfect with the Lord his God, sufficient cause had he to say, that among the said thousand women found he not one upright³⁸. He said not, that among a thousand women never any man found one worthy of commendation, but speaks in the first person singularly, I have not found, meaning in his own experience: for this assertion is to be holden a part of the confession of his former follies, and no otherwise, his repentance being the intended drift of Ecclesiastes.

      Thus having (by God's assistance) removed those stones, whereat some have stumbled, others broken their shins, I will proceed toward the period of my intended task, which is, to decipher the excellency of women: of whose Creation I will, for orders sake observe; First, the efficient cause, which was God; Secondly, the material cause, of that whereof she was made; Thirdly, the formal cause, of fashion, and proportion of her feature; Fourthly and lastly, the final cause, the end or purpose for which she was made. To begin with the first.

      The efficient cause of woman's creation, was Jehovah the Eternal; the truth of which is manifest in Moses his narration of the six day's works, where he said, God created them male and female³⁹: and David exhorting all the earth to sing unto the Lord; meaning, by a Meronimie, earth, all creatures that live on the earth, of what nation or Sex soever, gives this reason, For the Lord has made us⁴⁰. That work then can not choose but be good, yea very good, which is wrought by so excellent a workman as the Lord: for he being a glorious Creator, must needs effect a worthy creature. Bitter water can not proceed from a pleasant sweet fountain, nor bad work from a workman which is perfectly good^{41, 42}, & in propriety, none but he.

      Secondly, the material cause, or manner whereof woman was made, was of a refined mold, if I may so speak: for man was created of the dust of the earth, but woman was made of a part of man, after that he was a living soul⁴³: yet was she not produced from Adam's foot, to be his too low inferior; nor from his head to be his superior, but from his side, near his heart, to be his equal; that where he is Lord, she may be Lady: and therefore said God concerning man and woman jointly, Let them rule over the fish of the Sea, and over the fowl of the Heaven, and over every beast that moves upon the earth⁴⁴: By which words, he makes their authority equal, and all creature to be in subjection unto them both. This being rightly considered, does teach men to make such account of their wives, as Adam did of Eve, This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh⁴⁵: As also, that they neither do or with any more hurt unto them, then unto their own bodies: for men ought to love their wives as themselves, because he that loves his wife, loves himself⁴⁶: and never man hated his own flesh (which the woman is) unless a monster in nature.

      Thirdly, the formal cause, and proportion of woman was excellent: For she was neither like the beasts of the earth, fowls of the air, fishes of the Sea, or any other inferior creature, but Man was the only object which she did resemble. For as God gave man a lofty countenance, that he might look up toward Heaven, so did he likewise give unto woman. And as the temperature of man's body is excellent, so is woman's. For whereas other Creatures, by reason of their gross humors, have excrements for their habit, as fowls, their feathers, beasts, their hair, fishes, their scales, man and woman only have their skin clear and smooth⁴⁷. And (that more is) in the Image of God were they both created; yea and to be brief, all the parts of their bodies, both external and internal, were correspondent and meet each for other.

      Fourthly and lastly, the final cause, or end, for which woman was made, was to glory God, and to be a collateral companion for man to glory God, in using her body, and all the parts, powers, and faculties thereof, as instruments for his honor: As with her voice to sound forth his prayers, like Meriam⁴⁸ [sic], and the rest of her company; with her tongue not to utter words of strife, but to give good consul to her husband, the which he must not despise. For Abraham was bidden to give care to Sarah his wife⁴⁹. Pilate was willed by his wife not to have any hand in the condemning of Christ⁵⁰; and a sin it was in him, that he listened not to her: Leah and Rachel⁵¹ counseled Jacob to do according to the word of the Lord: and the Shunamite put her husband in mind of harboring the Prophet Elisha⁵²: her hands should be open according to her ability, in contributing towards God's service, and distressed servants, like to that poor widow, which cast two mites into the Treasury⁵³; and as Marie Magdalen, Susanna, and Joanna the wife of Herod's Steward, with many other, which of their substance ministered unto Christ. Her heart should be a receptacle for God's Word, like Mary that treasured up the sayings of Christ in her heart⁵⁴. Her feet should be swift in going to seek the Lord in his Sanctuary, as Marie Magdalen made haste to seek Christ at his Sepulcher⁵⁵. Finally, no power external or internal ought woman to keep idle, but to employ it in some service of God, to the glory of her Creator, and comfort of her own soul.

      The other end for which woman was made, was to be a Companion and helper for man; and if she must be an helper, and but an helper, then are those husbands to be blamed, which lay the whole burden of domestical affairs and maintenance on the shoulders of their wives. For, as yoke-fellows they are to sustain part of each other's cares, grieves, and calamities: But as if two Oxen be put in one yoke, the one being bigger than the other, the greater bears most weight; so the husband being the stronger vessel is to bear a greater burden then his wife; And therefore the Lord said to Adam, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread⁵⁶ til thou return to the dust. And Saint Paul said, That he that provides not for his household is more then an Infidel⁵⁷. Nature has taught senseless creatures to help one another; as the Male Pigeon, when his Hen is weary with sitting on her eggs, and comes off from them, supplies her place, that in her absence they may receive no harm, until such time as she is fully refreshed. Of small Birds the Cock always helps his Hen to build her nest; and while she sits upon her eggs, he flies abroad to get meat for her, who cannot then provide any for her self. The crowing Cockerel helps his Hen to defend her Chickens from peril, and will endanger himself to save her and them from harm. Seeing then that these unreasonable creatures, by the instinct of nature, bear such affection each to other, that without any grudge, they willingly, according to their kind, help one another, I may reason a minore ad maius, that much more should man and woman, which are reasonable creatures, be helpers each to other in all things lawful, they having the Law of God to Guide them, his Word to be a Lantern unto their feet, and a Light unto their paths, by which they are excited to far more mutual participation of each others burden than other creatures. So that neither the wife may say to her husband, nor the husband unto his wife, I have no need of thee, no more then the members of the body may so say each to other, between whom there is such a sympathy, that if one member suffer, all suffer with it⁵⁸: Therefore though God bade Abraham forsake his Country and Kindred, yet he bade him not forsake his wife, who being Flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone, was to be copartner with him of whatsoever did betide him, whether joy or sorrow. Wherefore Salomon said, Woe to him that is alone⁵⁹; for when thoughts of discomfort, troubles of this world, and fear of dangers do possess him. he wants a companion to lift him up from the pit of perplexity, into which he is fallen⁶⁰: for a good wife, said Plautus, is the wealth of the mind, and the welfare of the heart; and therefore a meet associate of her husband; and Woman, said Paul, is the glory of the man⁶¹.

      Marriage is a merri-age, and this world's Paradise, where there is mutual love. Our blessed Savior vouchsafed to honor a marriage with the first miracle that he wrought⁶², unto which miracle matrimonial estate may not unfitly be resembled: For as Christ turned water into wine, a far more excellent liquor; which, as the Psalmist said, Makes glad the heart of man⁶³; a Bachelor to a Husband, a far more excellent title: from a solitary life unto a joyful union and conjunction, with such a creature as God has made meet for man, for whom none was meet til she was made. The enjoying of this great blessing made Pericles more unwilling to part from his wife, then to die for his Country; and Antonius Pius to poor forth that patheucal (?) exclamation against death, for depriving him of his dearly beloved wife, O cruel hard-hearted death in bereaving me of her whom I esteemed more then my own life! A virtuous woman, said Salomon, is the Crown of her husband⁶⁴; By which metaphor he showed both the excellency of such a wife, and what account her husband is to make of her: For a King does not trample his Crown under his feet, but highly esteems of it, gently handles it, and carefully lays it up, as the evidence of his Kingdom; and therefore when David destroyed Rabbah he took off the Crown from their King's head⁶⁵: So husbands should not account their wives as their vassals, but as those that are heirs together of the grace of life, and with all lenity and mild persuasions set their feet in the right way⁶⁶, if they happen to tread awry, bearing with their infirmities, as Elkanah⁶⁷ did with his wives barrenness.

      The Kingdom of God is compared unto the marriage of a King's son⁶⁸: John called the conjunction of Christ and his Chosen, a marriage⁶⁹: And not few, but many times, does our blessed Savior in the Canticles, set fort this unspeakable love towards his Church under the title of an Husband rejoicing with his Wife; and often vouchsafed to call her his Sister and Spouse, by which is showed that with God is not respect of persons⁷⁰, Nations, or Sexes: for whosoever, whether it be man or woman, that does believe in the Lord Jesus, such shall be saved⁷¹. And if God's love even from the beginning, had not been as great toward woman as to man, then would he not have preserved from the deluge of the old world as many women as men; nor would Christ after his Resurrection have appeared unto a woman first of all other, had it not been to declare thereby, that the benefices of his death and resurrection, are as available, by belief, for women as for men; for he indifferently died for the one sex as well as the other: Yet a truth ungainsayable is it: that the Man is the Woman's Head⁷²; by which title yet of Supremacy, no authority has he given him to domineer, or basely command and employ his wife, as a servant; but hereby is he taught the duties which he owes unto her: For as the head of a man is the imaginer and contriver of projects profitable for the safety of his whole body; so the Husband must protect and defend his Wife from injuries: For he is her Head, as Christ is the Head of his Church⁷³. which he entirely loves, and for which he gave his very life; the dearest thing any man has in this world⁷⁴; Greater love than this has no man, when he bestows his life for a friend⁷⁵, said our Savior: This precedent passes all other patterns, it requires great benignity, and enjoys an extraordinary affection, For men must love their wives, even as Christ loved his church. Secondly, as the head does not jar or contend with the members, which being many, as the Apostle said, yet make but one body⁷⁶; no more must the husband with the wife, but expelling all bitterness and cruelty he must live with her lovingly⁷⁷, and religiously, honoring her as the weaker vessel. Thirdly, and lastly, as he is her Head, he must, by instruction, bring her to the knowledge of her Creator⁷⁸, that so she may be a fit stone for the Lord's building⁷⁹. Women for this end must have an especial care to set their affections upon such as are able to teach them, that as they grow in years, they may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus: Our Lord⁸⁰.

      Thus if men would remember the duties they are to perform in being heads, some would not stand a tip-toe as they do, thinking themselves Lords & Rulers, and account every omission of performing whatsoever they command, whether lawful or not, to be matter of great disparagement, and indignity done them; whereas they should consider, that women are enjoined to submit themselves unto their husbands no otherwise then as to the Lord⁸¹; so that from hence, for man, arises a lesson not to be forgotten, that as the Lord commands nothing to be done, but that which is right and good, no more must the husband; for if a wife fulfill the evil command of her husband, she obeys him as a tempter, as Saphira did Aranias⁸². But least I should seem too partial in praising women so much as I have (though no more than warrant from Scripture does allow) I add to the premises, that I say not, all women are virtuous, for then they should be more excellent than men, fith [sic - first?] of Adam's sons there was Cain as well as Abel, and of Noah, Cham, as well as Sein; so that of men as of women, there are two sorts, namely, good and bad, which in Matthew the five and twenty chapter, are comprehended under the name of Sheep and Goats. And if women were not sinful, then should they not need a Savior: but the Virgin Mary a pattern of piety, rejoiced in God her Savior⁸³. Ergo, she was a sinner. In the Revelation the church is called the Spouse of Christ; and in Zachariah, wickedness is called a woman⁸⁴, to show that of women there are both godly and ungodly: For Christ would not Purge his Floor if there were not Chaff among the Wheat; nor should gold need to be fined, if among it were no dross. But far be it from any one, to condemn the righteous with the wicked⁸⁵, or good women with the bad (as the Baiter of women does:) For though there are some scabbed sheep in a Flock, we must not therefore conclude all the rest to be mangy: And though some men, though excess, abuse God's creatures, we must not imagine that all men are Gluttons: the which we may with as good reason do, as condemn all women in general, for the offenses of some particulars. Of the good sort is it that I have in this book spoken, and so would I that all that read it should so understand me: for if otherwise I had done, I should have incurred that woe, which by the Prophet Isiah is pronounced against them that Speak well of evil⁸⁶, and should have instifed (?) the wicked, which thing is abominable to the Lord⁸⁷.

      Great was the unthankfulness of Pharaoh's Butler unto Joseph; for though he had done him a great pleasure, of which the Butler promised requital⁸⁸, yet was he quite forgotten of him: But far greater is the ingratitude of those men toward God, that dare presume to speak and exclaim against Woman, whom God did create for man's comfort. What greater discredit can redound to a workman, then to have the man, for whom he has made it, say, it is naught? or what greater discourtesy can be offered to one, that bestows a gift, then to have the receiver give out, that he cares not for it: For he needs it not? And what greater invectives, which some diabolical natures do frame against women?

      Ingratitude is, and always has been accounted so odious a vice, that Cicero said, If one doubt what name to give a wicked man, let him call him an ungrateful person, and then he had said enough. It was so detested among the Persians, as that by a Law they provided, that such should suffer death as felons, which proved unthankful for any gift received. And Love (said the Apostle) is the fulfilling of the Law: But where Ingratitude is harbored, there Love is banished. Let men therefore beware of all unthankfulness, but especially of the superlative ingratitude, that which is towards God, which is no way more palpably declared, then by the contemning of, and railing against women, which sin, of some men (if to be termed men) no doubt but God will one day avenge, when they shall plainly perceive, that it had been better for them to have used their tong[ue]s and hands, the one in repugning, the other in writing against God's handiwork, their own flesh, women I mean, whom God has made equal with themselves in dignity, both temporally and eternally, if they continue in the faith: which God for his mercy sake grant they always may, to the glory of their Creator, and comfort of their own souls, through Christ. Amen.

1. Margin notes will be typed as footnotes.
2. 1 Peter 3.16
3. 1 Tim 4:3
4. Gen 24:4
5. Ephe 2:4
6. Col 3:30
7. Ephe 4:24
8. Gen 2:20
9. Gen 2:20
10. John 13:36
11. 1 Cor 11:5
12. Gen 1:31
13. 1 Objection
14. 2 Objection
15. 1 Tim 2:14
16. 3 Objection
17. 1 Cor 7:1
18. 4 Objection
19. Eccles 7:30
20. 1 Object, answered
21. Gen 3: 22
22. Gen 3:4
23. Gen 3:12
24. Gen 3:14
25. Gen 3:7
26. 1 Pet 3:7
27. Gen 3:15
28. Galat 4:4
29. Galat 3:28
30. 2 objection answered
31. 1 Cor 15:22
32. 3 Objection answered
33. 1 Cor 7
34. 1 Corint 9:5
35. 4 Objection answered
36. Eccles 7:30
37. 1 Kings 11:3
38. Pagnine
39. Gen 1:28
40. Psal 100:3
41. Psal 100:4
42. Math 19:17
43. Gen 2:7
44. Gen 1:26
45. Gen 2:23
46. Ephes 5:28
47. Gen 1:26
48. Exod 15:20
49. Gen 21:12
50. Math 27:19
51. Gen 31:16
52. 2 Kings 4:9
53. Luke 2
54. Luke 1:51
55. John 20:1
56. Gen 3:19
57. 1 Tim 5:8
58. 1 Col 12:21
59. Eccles 4:10
60. Eccles 4:10
61. 1 Cor 11:7
62. John 2
63. Psal 104:15
64. Prov 12:4
65. 1 Chron 20:2
66. 1 Peter 3:2
67. 1 Sam 1:17
68. Math 22
69. Rev 19:7
70. Rom 2:11
71. John 3:18
72. 1 Cor 11:3
73. Ephe 5:23
74. Job 2:4
75. John 15:13
76. 1 Cor 12:20
77. Col 3:19
78. 1 Peter 3:7
79. 1 Cor 14:35
80. 1 Peter 3:18
81. Ephes 5
82. Acts 5:2
83. Luke 1:47
84. Zech 5:7
85. Gen 18:25
86. E?ay 5:2
87. Prov 17:15
88. Gen 40:23

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