Rachel Speght
A Mouzell for Melastomus (1617)
[A Muzzle for the Evil-Mouth]

Rachel Speght was the first English woman to write a feminist polemic under her own name and whose existence can be corroborated by independent records. Born in 1597 to a Calvinist minister, Speght was a well-educated woman of the London middle class. Her two works, A Mouzell for Melastomus (1617) and Mortalities Memorandum (1621), are both feminist tracts and reflect her religious upbringing. Since she was living with her father when she wrote and published these two works, he must have approved of her efforts. She married a minister, William Procter, in 1621 and dropped out of the historical record although two children, Rachel Procter (1627) and William Procter (1630), were later baptized in her husband's church.

[Preface]

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 the Canaanites, did provide him one of his own kindred.
      Almighty God, who is rich in mercy, having made all things of nothing, and created man in his own image: that is, (as the Apostle expounds it) In wisdom, righteousness and true holiness, making him Lord over all: 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. Adam 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 afore 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 provide 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 afore woman was formed, there was not a meet help found for Adam. Mans worthiness not meriting this great favor at Gods 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 him: Behold, and that with good regard, Gods love; yea his great love, which from the beginning he hath borne unto man: which, as it appears in all things; so next, his love in Christ Jesus apparently in this; that for mans 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 burthen. Of the excellency of this Structure, I mean of Women, whose foundation and original of creation, was Gods love, do I intend to dilate.

________________________________________

Of Woman's Excellency, with the causes of her
      creation, and of the sympathy which ought to
      be in man and wife each toward other.

[Four Arguments Against the Proposition that Woman is Equal in Excellency to Man]

The work of Creation being finished, this approbation thereof 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 temptation, brought death & misery upon all her posterity.

      Secondly, that Adam was not deceived, but that the woman was deceived, and was in the transgression.

      Thirdly, that Saint Paul says, It were good for a man not to touch a woman.

      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[s] due place.

[Refutation of the First Argument]

      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 then a strong stone pot. Yet we shall find the offence 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 Ironi[a], Behold, man is become as one of us: Not that he was so indeed; but hereby his desire to attain a greater perfection than 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 faire promises, 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 Makers 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 mans 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 gavest me, gave me of the tree; and I did eat: 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 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 wee no mention of spiritual nakedness till man had sinned; then it is said, Their eyes were opened, 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 afore) it is 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 offence 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 that sauce, wherewith Satan had served her, whose sourness afore 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 Serpents head be broken: whereupon Adam calls her Hevah, life, that as the woman had been an occasion of his sin, so should she 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 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 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 passe, that male and female are all one in Christ Jesus.

[Refutation of the Second Argument]

      To the second objection I answer, That the Apostle does not hereby exempt man from sin, 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 says, that as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.

[Refutation of the Third Argument]

      For the third objection, It is good for a man not touch a woman: The Apostle makes it not a positive prohibition, but speaks it only because of the Corinth's present necessity, who were then persecuted by the enemies of the Church, for which cause, and no other, he says, Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife: meaning whilst the time of these perturbations should continue in their heat; but if thou art bound, seek not to be loosed: if thou marriest, then sinnest not, only increasest thy care: for the married cares for the things of this world, And I wish that you were without care, that ye 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's to forbear a while, till God in mercy should curb the fury of their adversaries. For (as Eusebius writes) Paul was afterward married himself, the which is very probable, being that interrogatively he says, 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?

[Refutation of the Fourth Argument]

      The fourth and last objection, is that of Salomon, I have found one man among a thousand, but a woman among them all have I not found: for answer of which, if we look into the story of his like, wee shall find therein a Commentary upon this enigmatic Sentence included: for it is there said, that Salomon had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, which number connected make one thousand. These women 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 upright. He says 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 his former follies, and no otherwise, his repentance being the intended drift of Ecclesiastes.

[The Causes of Woman's Creation]

      Thus having (by Gods 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, or that whereof she was made; Thirdly, the formal cause, or 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.

[1. The Efficient Cause of Woman's Creation]

      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 says, God created them male and female: And David exhorting all the earth to sing unto the Lord; meaning, by a Metonymy, earth, all creatures that live on the earth, of what nation or Sex soever, gives this reason, For the Lord hath made us. 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 that workman which is perfectly good, & in propriety, none but he.

[2. The Material Cause of Woman's Creation]

      Secondly, the material cause, or matter whereof woman was made, was of a refined mould, 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 Adams 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 says 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 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 flesh: As also, that they neither doe or wish 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 himself: And never man hated his own flesh (which the woman is) unless a monster in nature.

[3. The Formal Cause of Woman's Creation]

      Thirdly, the formal cause, fashion, 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 vp toward Heaven, so did he likewise give unto woman. And as the temperature of mans body is excellent, so is woman's For whereas other Creatures, by reason of their grosse 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 smooth. 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.

[4. The Final Cause of Woman's Creation]

      Fourthly and lastly, the final cause, or end, for which woman was made, was to glorify God, and so be a collateral companion for man to glorify 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 praises; like Meriam, and the rest of her company; with her tongue not to utter words of strife, but to give good counsel unto her husband, the which he must not despise. For Abraham was bidden to give ear to Sarah his wife. Pilate was willed by his wife not to have any hand in the condemning of C H R I S T; and a sin it was in him, that he listened not to her: Leah and Rachel counseled Jacob to do according to the word of the Lord: and the Shunamite put her husband in mind of harboring the Prophet Elisha: her hands should be open according to her ability, in contributing towards Gods service, and distressed servants, like to that poor widow, which cast two mites into the Treasury; and as Marie Magdalen, Susanna, and Joanna the wife of Herod's Steward, with many other, which of their substance ministered unto C H R I S T. Her heart should be a receptacle for Gods Word, like Mary that treasured vp the sayings of C H R I S T in her heart. Her feet should be swift in going to seek the Lord in his Sanctuary, as Marie Magdalen made haste to seek C R I S T at his Sepulcher. Finally, no power external or internal ought woman to keep idle, but to employ it in some service of G O D, to the glory of her Creator, and comfort of her own soul

[The Purpose of Woman: To be a Compaion and Helper for Man]

      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 burthen of domestic affaires and maintenance on the shoulders of their wives For, as yoke-fellows they are to sustain part of each others 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 burthen then his wife; And therefore the Lord said to Adam, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return to the dust. And Saint Paul says, That he that provides not for his household is worse then an Infidel. Nature hath 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 in danger 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 à 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 a far more mutual participation of each others burthen, then 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 it: 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 says, Woe to him that is alone; for when thoughts of discomfort, troubles of this world, and fear of dangers do possess him, he wants a companion to lift him vp from the pit of perplexity, into which he is fallen: for a good wife, says Plautus, is the wealth of the mind, and the welfare of the heart; and therefore a meet associate for her husband; And Woman, says Paul, is the glory of the man.

[The Blessings of Marriage]

      Marriage is a merry-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 wrought, 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 says, Makes glad the heart of man; So the single man is by marriage changed from 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 hath made meet for man, for whom none was meet till 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 pour forth that pathetical 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, says Salomon, is the Crown of her husband; By which metaphor he shows 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 vp, as the evidence of his Kingdom; and therefore when David destroyed Rabbah he took off the Crown from their Kings head: 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 leniency and mild persuasions set their feet in the right way, if they happen to tread awry, bearing with their infirmities, as Elkanah did with his wives bareness.

      The Kingdom of God is compared unto the marriage of a Kings son: John calls the conjunction of Christ and his Chosen, a Marriage: And not few, but many times, does our blessed Savior in the Canticles, set forth his unspeakable love towards his Church under the title of an Husband rejoicing with his Wife; and often vouchsafes to call her his Sister and Spouse, by which is showed that with God is no respect of persons, Nations, or Sexes: For whosoever, whether it be man or woman, that does believe in the Lord Jesus, such shall be saved. And if Gods 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 benefits 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 Head; by which title yet of Supremacy, no authority hath 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 Church, which he entirely loves, and for which he gave his very life; the dearest thing any man hath in this world; Greater love then this hath no man, when he bestows his life for his friend, says our Savior: This president passes all other patterns, it requires great benignity, and enjoins 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 says, yet make but one body, no more must the husband with the wife, but expelling all bitterness and cruelty he must live with her lovingly, 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 Creator, that so she may be a fit stone for the Lords building. 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 Lord.

[The Duties of Husbands]

      Thus if men would remember the duties they are to perform in being heads, some would not stand a tiptoe as the doe, thinking themselves Lords & Rulers, and account every omission of performing whatsoever they command, whether lawful or not, to be matter of great disparagement, and il dignity done them; whereas they should consider, that women are enjoined to submit themselves unto their husbands no other ways then as the Lord, so that from hence, for man, arises a lesson not to be forgotten, that as the Lord commands no thing 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 Ananias. But least I should seem too partial in praising women so much as I have (though no more then 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 then men, sith of Adams sons there was Cain as well as Abel, and of Noah, Ham as well as Shem; so that of men as of women, there are two sorts, namely, good and bad, which in Mathew 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 Savior: Ergo, she was a sinner. In the Revelation the Church is called the Spouse of Christ; and in Zachariah, wickedness is called a woman, 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; not should gold need to be fined, if among it there were no dross. But far be it from any one, to condemn the righteous with the wicked, 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 mangie: And though some men, through excess, abuse Gods creatures, wee must not imagine that all men are Gluttons, the which wee may with as good reason do, as condemn all women in general, for the offences of some particulars. Of the good sort is it that I have in this book spoken, and so would I that all that read should so understand me: for if otherwise I had done, I should have incurred that woe, which by the Prophet Isaiah is pronounced against them that speak well of evil, and should have justified the wicked, which thing is abominable to the Lord.

 

The epilogue or upshot of the premises.

Great was the unthankfulness of Pharaohs Butler unto Joseph: for though he had done him a great pleasure, of which the Butler promised requital, yet was he quite forgotten of him: But fare greater is the ingratitude of those men toward God, that dare presume to speak and exclaim against Woman, whom God did create for mans comfort. What greater discredit can redound to a workman, then to have the man, for whom he hath 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 ingratitude can be showed unto G O D then the opprobrious speeches and disgraceful invectives, which some diabolical natures doe frame against women?

Ingratitude is, and always hath been accounted so odious a vice, that Cicero says, If one doubt what name to give a wicked man, let him call him an ungrateful person, and then he hath 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 (says 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 been borne dumb and lame, then to have used their tongs and hands, the one is repugning, the other in writing against Gods handy work, their own flesh, women I mean, whom God hath 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.