are lyke to enfect the best heads in Europe I meane the Italyans if God prouide not remedy Shall it be easy thynke you for euery man to ioyne with them I can not tell howe simple they be But one man of that sect so distourbed a whole vniuersitie in Germany that all the learned men there and the Prince him self Tubinga in Sueuia was not hable to scrape out that he had wickedly grauen The Swingfieldians the Maioranes the Pelagians the froward freewyll men the Adiaphoristes the Osdrianistes thenewe Marcionistes the Anabaptistes with infinite other swarmes of Satanistes do you thinke that euery pulpit man wyll be hable to aunswer them I pray God there be many that can I saye therfore because there is so muche required in a spirituall minister that all men bee not mete for the office And therfore that with good reason women bee debarred from it Albeit at some tymes it pleaseth God to vse their ministrie euen in this poynt Ioh. 4. as the woman of Samaria whiche was the fyrst preacher to hir cytezens of the Messias and the women Math. 28. Marc. 16. Ioh. 20. Ruff. li. 10 cap. 10. Theo li. 1. cap. 23. the fyrst Apostles and messengers of the resurrection And as we reade in the Ecclesiasticall historie A certen woman vnder Const Mag. was the Apostle of the Iberians whiche turned first the Kynge and Quene and then the whole countrey to the fayth of Christe This coulde not bee done without some talke in thasseÌ„blies nor without a kynde of preachyng Yea Theodoretus sayeth that she dyd preache to them wherfore me thinke euen in this poynte wee muste vse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certen moderacion not absolutelie and in euerye wyse to debarre them herein as it shall please GOD to serue Christe Are there not in Englande women thynke you that for their learnynge and wysdome coulde tell their housholde and neighbours as good a tale as the best Sir Ihon there And what if by occasion not by common office they shoulde sumtyme make their neighbours partakers of their giftes were it so heinous a matter 1. Tim. 2. I pray you what more vehemencye vseth Paule in the forbiddynge of women to preache then inforbydding them to vncouer their heads He sayeth of the one 1. Cor. 11. it is euyll fauoured and of the other that it is against nature As vvomeÌ„ be forbidden to preache so be they to go bare headed And yet you knowe that in the best reformed churches of all Germany all the maides be bare headed whiche the preachers and learned men make noo greate accompte of This I saye not because I allowe either for I assure you I dooe not But that wee should not in suche pointes grate vpon the woordes to sore as though in no respecte a woman may opeÌ„ hir mouth to edifie But if this be vtterly taken from them in this place what maketh it against their gouernment in a politike weale where neither the woman nor the man ruleth If there be no tyraunts but the lawes For as Plato saith Plato de leg lib. Illi ciuitatiparatuÌ„ est exitiuÌ„ vbi magistratê° legibus inperat et noÌ„ leges magistratui That cytie is at the pits brinke wherin the magistrate ruleth the lawes and not the lawes the magistrate VVhat could any kyng in Israell do in that coÌ„mon wealth besides the pollycie appoynted by Moyses They be but ministers obeyed for the lawes sake and not for their owne Nowe what vnhablenes is in a woman for the ministring of lawes She knoweth not the lawes no more doth your kyng She sitteth not in iudgement howe oft doth your kyng Onles you call determining matters in his priuie chamber iudging She is not mete to go to the warres she hath that bee mete Tillius Arnoldus Iust Herodot and some wemen haue gonne and sped wel She is not of so sound iudgement peraduenture beter of more lerning then your kyng as it happeneth at this tyme that you can neuer shewe in al Englande synce the conquest so learned a kyng as we haue now a Quene Men will not stande in aweso muche of a woman as of a man that is their faulte and not hirs No more will they of a childe and yet be they traytours that do disobey him Solin 43. cap. Solinus writeth that the neighbours of Sambri haue a dogge to their kynge and by his beckes and fawnings they gesse what they must do But thei were foles in obeying a brute beast and you bee Traytours in not obeying a reasonable creature It is lesse daunger to be gouerned in EnglaÌ„d by a vvoman then any vvhere els They are to obedient a shrewed faulte and you to disobedient that is no faulte VVell a womaÌ„ may not reigne in Englande Better in England theÌ„ any where as it shall wel appere to him that without affection will consider the kinde of regiment whyle I conferre ours with other as it is in it selfe and not may med by vsurpacion I can fyndenone either so good or so indifferent The regiment of Englande is not a mere Monarchie as some for lacke of consideracion thinke nor a meere Oligarchie nor Democratie The kind of gouernment in England Amonarchie is vvher one alone rule An Obligarchie vvhere a fevv rule A Democratie vvher the people rule Architas de leg iustit but a rule mixte of all these wherein ech one of these haue or shoulde haue like authoritie Thimage whereof and not the image but the thinge in dede is to be sene in the parliameÌ„t hous wherin you shal find these .3 estats The King or Quene which representeth the Monarche The noble men which be the Aristocratie And the Burgesses and Knights the Democratie The verye same had Lacedemonia the noblest aÌ„d best city gouerned that euer was thei had their kings their senate aÌ„d Hippagretes which wer for the people As in Lacedemonia none of these could make or breake lawes order for warre or peax or do any thing without thother the king nothinge without the Senate and commons nor either of theÌ„ or both withoute the kinge Albeit the Senate and the Ephori had greater authoritie then the Kinge had In like maner if the parliament vse their priuileges the King can ordein nothing without them If he do it is his fault in vsurping it and their follye in permitting it wherefore in my iudgement those that in King Henry the .viii dais The Parliament in Kinge Henry .8 daie would not graunt him that his proclamacions shuld haue the force of a statute were good fathers of the countri and wurthy coÌ„mendacion in defending their liberty Vvold God that that court of late daies had feared no more the fearcenes of a woman then they did the displeasure of such a man Then should they not haue stouped contrary to their othes and alledgiaunce to the crowne againste the preuilege of that house vppon their marye bones to receiue the
order of nature for the moste parte As it is naturall for an olde man to haue whyte heere 's in his age or for a woman to brynge forthe one childe at a burden and then reason it is agaynst nature for an olde man to haue black heres or a gainst nature for a vvoman to bringe furth twoo children or three at a burden no man would allowe your reasonyng For though the one be accordynge to nature as it is for the moste parte yet is not the other that happeneth some tyme vtterly againste nature In lyke maner thoughe it bee for the mooste parte seene that men and not vvomen doo rule common welthes Yet when it happeneth somme tyme by the ordinaunce of God and course of enheritaunce that they beare rule it is not to bee concluded that it repungneth against nature no more then the old mans black heere 's or the vvomans two twynnes So that you see that in this acception of nature their rule can not be against nature On the other syde if you take it in a generalite as when so euer the stoone moueth vpvvarde it is violent and againste nature or vvhen so euer the fyer consumeth not the matter that is put to it then are you further vvyde For it chaunseth not seldome but ofte not in one countrey but in manye not emong the barbarous but in the chefest Empires and Monarchies and not only in them but in the common vvealth of the Ievves more then ones or tvvyse that vvomen beinge inheritours haue ruled after their parentes vvyues after their husbandes and Systers after their brethrē as I shal at large declare But before I come to that poynte I muste vvade a lytle further vvith hym in his argument of nature VVherfore I reason against him thus To preser ue cōmon vvealths is not agaist nature vvhat so euer preserueth commō vvealthes and destroyeth them not is not againste nature but the rule of vvomen hath prese rued common vvealthes ergo it is not against nature The maior is playne for it is mooste naturall to preserue and maynteine the societe of men seing man and cities vvhiche consiste vpon the companie of menne be the chiefest vvoorke of God by nature for all other thynges bee prepared for that as the chiefe ende That menne lyuinge together in a cyuill companye maye peaceablie and quietly honour GOD the author and preseruer of that societie So that there is no doubte of the maior For the minor vvhiche is that the rule of vvomen preserueth common vvealthes it muste be proued by histories VVhiche I truste to make so manifest that not only the matter shal be out of controuersie But also that men of indifferent iudgement shall see playnlie that this man fell chiefly into this errour either by cause he red not or conferred not thauncient histories vvhiche record this matter I shall therefore not onely oute of the Histories of the people of GOD the Ievves but also oute of the Ethnikes and Christian Stories proue that in alages in many coūtreis and vnder euery monarck wemen haue not only ruled Many coūtreis haue bene vvel gouerned by vvomē but happely and vvell yea whiche is a great matter cmong those that in that sexe bare rule you shal fynde none or very few in vvhose reigne their countrey vvas the vvorse for their gouernment but muche the better VVhere of the cōtrary hovv many misfortunes ouerthrovves chaunges and translations of monarchies haue happened vnder the regiment of men it is harde to nūber and impossible to declare But hereby I meane not either to preferre or matche this sexes gouernement vvith the mās For I coūt it in dede the more conuenient only my meaning is to shevv that such kynde of regiment is not so heinous and intollerable or in any vvyse euel as this man maketh it Deborah shal marche in the first ranke and haue the first place both for thantiquite of the tyme Deborah the authoritie of the story and the happy successe of hir reigne Deborah saieth the scripture iudged the people of Israell Iud. 5. and the people resorteth vnto hir she delyuered them out of thraldome and set them at libertie In this vvomans doinges is playnlie set out that she both gouerned in peace and in vvar and so did cōsequently al that any ruler by ciuil authorite might or is vvont to do She iudged saith the scripture and she sent Barake to the vvarre vvho beinge of lesse courage or lesse zeale then she vvas refused to goo onles she vvent vvith him And vvhen they came to encoūter vvith their enemies if she had not bene both Barake and al his souldiors lyke vvite lyuered warriars had geuen backe ānd marred all This woman is coūted of some of the Hebrues to be Barakes wife and yet sent she him to the warre gaue him his commission and made him the generall whereby apeareth that to be true which we saide before that a woman as a wife must be at commauudement but a woman as a magistrate may lawfullye commaunde but this exāple the blast bloweth awai as a peculier example and extraordynarie because wee finde no more the like in the Scripture but that is no sound reason it is but once in the Bible Ergo it is no suffient example we rede not in the scripture more then once or twise that a childe reigned therfore shall it followe that a childes reigne is not by that example stablished VVe find not in the scipture that the Apostles were baptized and yet we thinck they wer VVe rede but once in the scripture that Peter checked a Magistrate and yet some there be that dare affirme and wryte bokes of it that it is not only lawfull to checke but to kil an euil Magistrate But that you may see that wemen reigned in Iudah ofter thē at one time though it be not conteigned in the Bible I shall proue out of Iosephus a Iew born wryting the Iewish history that diuers beside this woman gouerned Iohannes ruler of the Iewes 470. yeares after the captiuitie of Babilon at his deathe left his wife Quene and gouernes who ruled as it apereth rightwel vntil thambition of her sonne contrary to his fathers order troubled her gouernmēt for at the last as a wicked graft Iosep li. 1. de capt he conspired against her and pined her in prison vnto death Not long after Ioseph li. pri Egesip lib pri cap. 12 Aristobulus beinge ruler of Iewrye at his deathe lefte his wyfe Quene to gouerne in his place vnder whose gouernment the lande was in quyet And after she crowned Alexander her husbandes brother whome Aristobulus hadde imprisoned and gaue ouer her title to him VVhereby it do the appeare that she did not onlye gouerne but hadde also authoritie to place a Kinge This Alexander dyinge lefte Alexandra his wife Alexandra Quene of the Countrey who vsed suche mercye and modestie towarde her people that she kept them in peax and wanne their good
Nunquid sacerdote maior esse poterat Exproprat Psalmus quia et ipse sacerdos erat Moises et Aarō c. In that place Aaron is plainly called a priest but of Moises it is not said that he was a priest If he were not that what was he than Could he be greater then a priest The Psalme doth vtter it that he was a priest To this exposition I saye myne answere is that saint August Not vnderstanding the Hebrewe was easely deceaued and being wrapped in these two places of scriptures wherin there semed cōtradictiō leaueth thē at a iarre as he found thē the one to say he was and the other he was not whiche maner of interpretacion reconciliation of scriptures howe it is to be lyked I leaue to the learned reader to iudge 24. Exod. Heb. 9. 3. That whiche Moises is reported in Exodus and the Hebrewes to haue done as a priest it hurteth vs nothing For he might do sometimes that extraordinarely which be longed to the priest as we read that kinges readde the boke of the law and yet were no priestes Yea al the children of Israel at their cōming out of Egipt dyd as much as this came to for euery one sprīkled bloud vpon theit dore postes in the passeouer and yet they could not all be pristes And this sprincling of bloud vpon the aultar was but a solempne ceremony for the time done and not suche a function as than was proprely appointed to the priestes But to put the matter out of doubt If Moises were a prieste than were there two highe priestes at ones whiche coulde not be by the lawe and also Moises must nedes be in feriour to Aaron because Aaron and not he is there called the highe priest Thus we se how lightly light argumentes may be aunswered and I would wyshe that as easely obstinate men could be satisfied The last is of as litle force as the rest and therfor I say to it shortly that it is grounded vpon a false principle or maxima whiche is that none can giue to another that it hath not it selfe VVe see that as the phisicions say the braine being the origine of the senewes giueth to the whole body sensum motū sense and mouing and yet by their opinion lacketh it selfe Againe the earth giueth to all frutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche Arist saith is spēs motus that is that they should growe and moue to a greater quantitie and yet the earthe it selfe neither moueth toward bygnes nor increaceth one way nor other And if a prince may geue to a lawyer authoritie to plead lawe though he can not pleade him selfe and prescribe a Tanner how he shall tanne though he tanne not him self being neither a lawyer nor a tanner why may he not I pray you in lyke maner constitute apoint correct and ouerse the church men though he be no churche man him self But the meaning of these mē is to driue prīces frō ouerseing them that they might in the meane time liue out of subiection And now the name being odious because theire dissolute lyfe hath purchased them an euell name they thinke when no shifte els will serue that princes will not medle with the authoritie les they should be combred with the priestes infamie VVhat the Princes authorite was ouer the bysshoppes and priestes aperith in the .2 of the kinges 2. Re. ca. 12 where Ioas checketh the bysshop and priestes for not bestowing the offeringes vpon the reparation of the the temple and enioyneth them to do it If the prince hadd not this authorite ouer his bisshoppes and priestes why should S. Paul haue said omnis anima Let euery soule be subiect to the higher power Rom. 13. he saith not al tēporal soules or al saue priests This authorite kept the prīces emperours after christs time vntil the beast of Rome made thē worse thē beasts as apearith by Cōstantinus Magnus who was the moderator of the great counsell of Nece And by Iustiniane whiche writeth to Peter the maister of his chappel matters Neceph lib 8. Tripart hist cap. 5 where he saieth Iuuemus we commaunde that all Bysshops and Priestes do not from henceforth whisper thir Seruice but so pronounce it with an audible voyce that the people may heare vnderstāde thē c. In nouell consti 123. This Emperour euen in matters of the churche toke vpon him thauthoritie to appoint them an order in their Seruice howe dare then our proude prelates very fooles in deede to them that were then wrastle with the Prince in this matter But to oure matter we see by these examples that the Princes hadde authorite in spiritualties to ouersee them and order them but meddled not with the function in executing for that belonged only to the Priestes Lo I truste you nowe perceaue howe the functions doo differ But thautorite ouer both may lawfully be in one And that maketh not the Prince beynge a woman vtterlye vnmete to gouerne because she hath in somme repect to doo in bothe This I haue sayde by the waye lest our aduersaries the Papistes should snatche this at my hande whyle I thus seuer thoffices that I meane as they doo to pull from the Prince the ouersight and gouernmēt of the churche I may not tary longer in that matter at this tyme. A tyme shall come peraduenture when it shall be more largly handeled In the meane tyme I retourne to my purposed argument Furthermore where it is sayde thou shalt chuse a Kynge amonge thy brethren and not among thy systers Deut. 17. And thereuppon is inferred that we may haue no Quene It is the like reason as if a man shuld say Mar. 2. Christ said Veni ad vocandum peccatores ad penitentiam that is I am come to cal men sinners and not women sinners Therfor either womē be no sinners or if they be they shal not bee saued or as one resoned examinet se ipsū homo let a mā examin him self and thē cōmunicate ergo 1. Cor. 11. womē may not And Christ shal at the latter day saye Venite benedicte ād not Benedicte Therfore the womē shal not com in heauē or nearer to this our purpose Math. 18 Luk. 18 si peccauerit in te frater tuus If thi brother offēd the neuer so oft forgeue him hereupō I gather that I nede not to forgeue mi sister In al tōgs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a singuler good grace and speciallye in the Hebrue tonge wher Ach which signifieth a brother dothe not only comprehend also a sister but a nephewe to Ach. signifieth brother sister and Nephevv And through out the whole scripture the masculine comprehendeth the feminin or els sure we must say with the phrenitik postellus that women be not yet redemed but men and that they must haue a woman to dye for them aswell as men hadde Christe Postellus phrensy That place of