Of Domestical Duties, Treatise 4 · Section 44
§. 44. Of husbands beating their wiues.
Contrary are the furious, and ſpightfull actions of many vnkinde husbands (heads too heady) whoſe fauours are buffets, Vipera virus ob venerationem nuptiarum euomit. Et tu duritiem animi, tuferitatem, tu crudelitatem ob vnionis reuerentiam non deponis? Baſil. Hexaem. hom. 7. Ambr. Hexaem. l. 5. c. 7. vrget hanc ipſam ſimilitudinem.blowes, ſtrokes, & ſtripes: wherein they are worſe then the venemous viper. For the viper for his mates ſake caſteth out his poiſon: and wilt not thou, ô husband, in reſpect of that neere vnion which is betwixt thee and thy wife, lay aſide thy fierceneſſe and cruelty? Many wiues by reaſon of their huſbands furie, are in worſe caſe then ſeruants: for
1. Such as will not giuegive a blow to a ſeruant, care not what load they lay vponupon their wiues.
2. Where ſeruants hauehave but a time and terme to be vnderunder the tyranny of ſuch furious men, poore wiues are tied to them all their life long.
3. Wiues can not hauehave ſo good remedy by the helpe of law againſt cruell husbands, as ſeruants may hauehave againſt cruell maſters.
4. Maſters hauehave not ſuch opportunity to exerciſe their cruelty ouer ſeruants as husbands ouer wiues, who are to be continually at boord and bed with their husbands.
5. The neerer wiues are, and the dearer they ought to be to their husbands, the more grieuous muſt ſtroakes needs be when they are giuen by an husbands hand, then by a maſters.Huiuſmodi virum (ſiquidem vir appellandus eſt potius quàm fera) & patricidae, & matricidae ſimilem dixeris. Chryſ. hom. 26. in 1 Cor. 11.
6. The leſſe power and authority that an husband hath to ſtrike his wife, then a maſter to ſtrike a ſeruant, the more heauie doe his ſtroakes ſeeme to be, and the worſe doth the caſe of a wife ſeeme to be in that reſpect, then of a ſeruant. Not vnfitly therefore is ſuch a man (if he may be thought a man rather then a beaſt) ſaid to be like a father-queller and mother-queller.
Queſt. May not then an husband beat his wife?An husband may not beat his wife.
Anſw. With ſubmiſſion to better iudgements, I thinke he may not: my reaſons are theſe.
1. There is no warrant thorowout the whole Scripture Reaſons. 1. No warrant in the word.by precept, or example for it: which argument though it be negatiue, yet for the point in hand is a forceable argument in two reſpects. 1. Becauſe the Scripture hath ſo plentifully and particularly declared the ſeuerall duties of husbands and wiues: and yet hath deliuered nothing concerning an huſbands ſtriking and beating his wife. 2. Becauſe it hath alſo plentifully and particularly ſpoaken of all ſuch as are to correct, and of their manner of correcting, and of their bearing correction who are to be corrected, and of the vſe they are to make thereof; and yet not any thing at all concerning an husbands puniſhing, or a wiues bearing in this kinde. The Scripture being ſo ſilent in this point, we may well inferre that God hath not ranked wiues among thoſe in the family who are to be corrected.
2. That ſmall diſparity which (as I hauehave *§. 4.before ſhewed) is 2. Small diſparity.betwixt man and wife, permitteth not ſo high a power in an husband, and ſo low a ſeruitude in a wife, as for him to beat her. Can it be thought reaſonable that ſhe who is the mans perpetuall bed-fellow, who hath power ouer his body, who Summa iniuria eſt vitae ſociam, & in rebus neceſſarijs tibi coniunctam, taquàm mancipium ignominia affioere. Chryſ. ibid.is a ioynt parent of the children, a ioynt gouernour of the family, ſhould be beaten by his hands? What if children or ſeruants ſhould know of it? (as they muſt needs: for how can ſuch a thing be done in the houſe and they of the houſe know it not?) can they reſpect her as a mother, or a miſtreſſe who is vnderunder correction as well as they?
3. The neere coniunction, and very vnion that is betwixt 3. Neere coniunction.man and wife ſuffereth not ſuch dealing to paſſe betwixt them. The wife is as a mans ſelfe, aEph. 5. 31.They two are one fleſh. No man but a frantike, furious, deſperat wretch will beat himſelfe. Two ſorts of men are in Scripture noted to cut and lanch their owne fleſh, idolaters, as the b1 King. 18. 28.Baalites, and Daemoniacks, as cMar. 5. 5.he that was poſſeſſed with a legion of deuils. Such are they who beat their wiues, either blinded in their vnderſtanding, or poſſeſſed with a deuill.
Obiect. He that is beſt in his wits will ſuffer his body to be pinched, pricked, lanched, and otherwiſe pained, if it be needfull and behoofull.
Anſw. 1. A mans heart will not ſuffer him to doe any of theſe himſelfe: their are Chirurgions whoſe office it is to doe ſuch things: if the Chirurgion himſelfe hauehave need of any ſuch remedy for his owne body, he will vſe the helpe of another Chirurgion. If the caſe ſo ſtand as a wife muſt needs be beaten, it is fitter for an husband to referre the matter to a publike Magiſtrate (who is as an approued and licenſed Chirurgion) and not to doe it with his owne hands.
2. Though ſome parts of the body may be ſo dealt withall, yet eueryevery part may not, as the heart, which the wife is to the man.
3. The compariſon holdeth not. For the fore-named pinching, lanching, &c. is no puniſhment for any fault, as the beating of a wife in queſtion is, there is no queſtion but a man that hath skill may if need be open a veine, lanch a boile, ſplinter a broken bone, or diſioynted ioynt in his wiues body, which may be more painfull then correction: and herein the compariſon holdeth, but not in the other.
2. Obiect. There is as neere a coniunction betwixt Chriſt and his Church, as betwixt man and wife: yet Chriſt for beareth not to correct and puniſh his Church.
Anſw. There is a double relation betwixt Chriſt and the Church: he is an husband vntounto it, hauing made it of his fleſh, and of his bones: and a ſupreme Lord ouer it, hauing all power Eph. 5. 30. Mat. 28. 18.in heauen and earth committed vntounto him. In this latter reſpect he puniſheth, not in the former. An husband is not ſuch a ſupreme Lord ouer his wife: therefore Chriſts example, is no warrant to him.
4. There is no hope of any good to proceed from an huſbands 4. No profit: much miſchiefe.beating of his wife: for where the party corrected is perſwaded that the party which correcteth hath no authority or right ſo to doe, it will not be brought patiently to take it: but will reſiſt, and ſtriue if it be poſſible to get the maſtery. Let a ſtranger ſtrike ſuch a childe of yeeres or a ſeruant as will patiently beare many ſtroakes at a parents or maſters hand, they will turne againe at that ſtranger, and indeauour to giuegive him as good as he brings: now a wife hauing no ground to be perſwaded that her husband hath authority to Adhibitis verberibus morbus non tollitur, ſed augetur, & exaſperatur. Melch. Iun. quaeſt. Polit. par. 2.beat her, what hope is there that ſhe will patiently beare it, and be bettered by it? Or rather is it not likely that ſhe will, if ſhe can, riſe againſt him, ouer-maſter him (as many doe) and neuer doe any duty aright? A fault in a wife is not taken away but increaſed by blowes.
Obiect. Smart and paine may make her dread her husband, ſtand in awe of him, and doe her duty the better.
Anſw. Such dread and awe beſeemes neither the place of an husband to exact it, nor the place of a wife to yeeld it. Though perforce ſhe may be brought to yeeld ſome outward ſubiection, yet inward hatred of her husbands perſon may be ioyned therewith, which is as bad, if not worſe then outward diſobedience.
Obiect. She may be of ſo outragious a diſpoſition, as, but by Nullum ſit tam magnum peccatum, quod ad verberandum vxorem compellat. Chryſ. hom. 26. in 1 Cor. 11.force, ſhe will not be kept in any compaſſe.
1. Anſw. It hath beene of old time anſwered, that no fault ſhould be ſo great, as to compell an husband to beat his wife.
2. Anſw. Other forceable meanes may be vſed beſides beating by her husbands hands: ſhe may be reſtrained of libertie, denied ſuch things as ſhe moſt affecteth, be kept vp, as it were, in hold; and, if no other meanes will ſerue the turne, be put ouer to the Magiſtrates hands, that if ſhe be of ſo ſeruile a diſpoſition, as by no other meanes ſhe will be kept vnderunder then by feare and force, by ſmart and paine, ſhe may feare the Magiſtrate, and feele his hand, rather then her husbands.
Obiect. If a wife waxe ſo manniſh, or rather mad, as to offer to ſtrike and beat her husband, may he not in that caſe beat her to make her ceaſe her outrage?
Anſw. I doubt not but that that good prouiſion which is made in law to preſerue a mans life, may be applied to this purpoſe. The law ſimply condemnes all murther; yet if a man be ſo aſſaulted, as there is no way to preſerue his owne life, but by taking away his life that aſſaults him, it condemneth not him as a murtherer, becauſe he did it in defence of himſelfe. So if an huſband Sedefendendo.be ſet vponupon by his wife, it is lawfull and expedient that he defend himſelfe, and if he can doe it no other wayes but by ſtriking her, that is not to be reckoned an vnlawfull beating her.