Of Woman's Excellency, with the causes
of her creation, and of the sympathy which
ought to be in man and wife toward other.
The work of Creation being finished, this
approbation was given by God himself, that
All was very good. 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 good,
yet by giving ear to Satan's temptations,
brought death and misery upon all posterity.
* * * To the first of these objections I
answer, that Satan first assailed the woman,
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 than a strong stone pot. Yet we shall
find the offense of Adam and Eve almost
to parallel: for as ambitious desire of being
made like to God, was the motive which caused
her to eat, so likewise was it his. * * *
Woman sinned, it is true, by her infidelity
in not believing the word of God, but giving
credit to Satan's fair promises, that
{she should not die}; but so did the man
too.
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 eat." For the 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 than the
woman to have resisted temptation, 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
was 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 till the man had sinned:
then it is said, Their eyes were opened, the
eyes of their mind and conscience; and then
they perceived themselves naked, that is,
not only bereft of that integrity, which
they had originally had, but felt the rebellion
and 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) it is said
that they saw it, as if sin were imperfect,
and unable to bring a deprivation of the
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 Augustine thus distinguished, the
man sinned against God and himself, the woman
against God, herself, 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 that sauce,
wherewith Satan had served her, whose sourness
before he had eaten she did not perceive,
was that which made her sin to exceed his.
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 Serpent's
head be broken. Whereupon Adam calls
her Hevah, life, 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 women, no less than of men.
The efficient cause of woman's creation
was, Jehovah the Eternal; the
truth of which is manifest in Moses his narration
of the six days works, where he said, God
created them male and female. * * * That
work then cannot choose but be good, yea
very good, which is wrought by so excellent
a workman as the Lord: for being a glorious
Creator, must needs effect a worthy creature.
Secondly, the material cause, or matter
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
soul: 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 fowls of the Heaven, and over every beast
that moves upon the earth: by which words
he makes their authority equal, and all creatures
to be in subjection to 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 flesh. As also, that * * * men
ought to love their wives as themselves,
because he that loves his wife, loves himself.
And never man hated his own flesh (which
the woman is) unless a monster in nature.
Thirdly, the formal cause, fashion, and
proportion of woman was excellent. For she
was neither like the beasts of the earth,
fouls 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 upward toward Heaven, so did
he likewise give to woman. And as the temperature
of man's body is excellent, so is woman's.
* * * 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, for
which woman was made, was to glorify God,
and to be a collateral companion for man
to glorify God, in using her body and all
the parts, powers, and faculties thereof,
as instruments of his honor. * * * No power
external or internal ought woman to keep
idle, but to employ it in some service to
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 domestic affairs and maintenance
on the shoulders of their wives. For, as
yoke-fellows they are to sustain part of
each other's cares, griefs, 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
than his wife. * * * 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. * * * [So] I may reason a
minore ad maius,
>> note 1 that
much more should man and woman, which are reasonable creatures, be helpful
each to other in all things lawful, they having the Law of God to guide them,
his word to be a Lantern to their feet, and a Light unto their paths, by
which they are excited to a far more mutual participation of each other's
burden, than other creatures.