A sober and humble treatise Against that Blasphemous and antichristian Doctrine of Feminism, which is Utterly Repugnant to the Word of God, the Light of Nature, and All Sound Doctrine

Intro.
1. The Definition of Feminism.
2. The Theological Source of Feminism.
3. The Principle of Authority. (From Rom. 13)
4. Feminism as witchcraft. (From 1 Sam. 15)

Introduction.

A deadly and destructive movement is sweeping across America, laying waste to persons, families, churches, and governments. Since its birth from hell and rise to power in this land, it has accomplished many of its commissions—unchecked by law and unbridled by restraint. This movement is known as feminism, and it has brought untold havoc upon the world since the early 20th century (though the seed was doubtless planted long before then).

We must first establish that its astonishingly rapid ascent, and now almost universal acceptance is due not to the strength of women, but to the weakness of men—yea, not to the weaker vessel obtaining dominion, but to the original head conceding and deferring to it.

For undoubtedly, womankind lacks the strength, conviction, and resolve to lead a successful revolt against man. For women to have any authority at all, it must be derived from men. And if their liberty and power comes from men, it is not liberty and authority in the truest sense but borrowed and derived. Truly, then all women exercising authority outside of their sphere is a mockery of the very office they occupy and a contempt of power and the concept of authority. It is, therefore, rather a perversion of authority than authority in a true sense, and we must condemn it as madness and idolatry; A false opinion which has been accepted and elevated by the pride and vain opinion of sinful man.

And who would be so willfully blind as to imagine that the strength of idolatry lies in the carved wood which receives homage? That it has gained wide acceptance and is so prevalent in American cultural philosophy is not because it is a viable and rational policy. For men by reason of their fall are become spiritually mad, averse to wisdom, and wholly inclined to all error. Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. Sinners therefore, by reason of their natural corruption, are wholly bent on accumulating to themselves false opinions, presumptuous notions, and fatuous inventions without any divine authority or sanction. And once they have accepted such lies, those lies become an essential part of their pride, which they will not abide to be touched; and being unable to repent and perform—or even think—that which is good, they rather enforce them, pretending that their word is law and their doctrine descends from the highest power. They have invented a form of disobedience and seek to promote it, not because it is wise, right, prudent, or beneficial to a people or nation, but because it has been handed down to them as a cherished vanity. The elevation of any principle which is not set down and authorized in the word of God is idolatry, regardless of who promotes it, how many promote it, or how it is promoted. It is not therefore for the strength of the cause that it remains entrenched in the highest places of culture and society, but because of the weakness of men, who are subject to delusion and willingly make themselves the habitation of devils and every hateful opinion.

Idolatry is the work of error: men paying homage to, and willingly subjecting themselves before a lifeless thing. So it is with feminism.

The idea, in itself, is void of merit—easily refuted, rationally dismantled, and rightly scorned by natural prudence and common sense. Even the ancient Romans cast contempt upon the prospect. Yet in recent history it has gained acceptance, even dominion over the minds of men, not by the might of argument, but by guile, deceit, and presumption. They made for themselves idols, and now they will not let them go. It is the duty of godly ministers and magistrates, therefore, to burn these detestable things before the eyes of the people: ministers by the word of God, magistrates by making and enforcing good laws. As it is written, “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.” Mankind, ensnared by the gold of pride and the praise of men—in this case, women—and by the silver of liberty falsely so called, have taken this idol into their pantheon and therewith defiled themselves.

It is not as if women have never lusted after rule, or nursed wanton fantasies of authority, but rather that such aspirations were once restrained by lawful government—by men of character, integrity, and principle, who understood that the rule of women signals the end of true justice and equity, the collapse of moral order, and the rise of emotional and sentimental terror. The modern woman’s demand to rule, speak, lead, and govern is nothing new. It was declared in Eden: “Thy desire shall be to thy husband”—a desire not of affection, but of dominion. And God’s response is just as enduring: “He shall rule over thee.” The feminist impulse, then, is not a new movement, but an ancient rebellion; and those who defend it are not pioneers, but children of the Fall. Feminism takes what is holy and makes it profane. It calls male headship “toxic,” female submission “slavery,” and feminine modesty “oppression.” It trades virtue for vice and replaces truth with delusion. But,“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.”

And although it be a strange and unnerving thing even to imagine that man would raise up an idolatrous tradition which places woman above her lawful station—seeing there is nothing more beautiful than a woman in her God-ordained place within the covenant home—yet beholding multitudes of depraved and deluded men rallying to a doctrine so plainly repugnant to reason, so abhorrent to philosophy, and so openly contradictory to the word of God, we are therefore behooved and compelled by divine authority to oppose and utterly confute this vile and accursed doctrine, in faithfulness to Christ’s word, for the sake of His church and kingdom.

We aim in this treatise to strike a blow at this monstrous witch with the golden sword of antithesis, and to show that since Holy Scripture speaks so expressly and unequivocally concerning what principles we are to believe, and how a woman ought to behave and live as one who fears God, it must necessarily follow that feminism, being so contrary to that holy and perfect rule, is thereby to be utterly detested and condemned, together with every other idolatrous opinion and practice. And all who do not take up this cause with zeal and devotion deny the fear of God, cast contempt upon His word, and make war against the King of heaven and Him that said unto woman, “He shall rule over thee.” As it is written, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” And again, “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand.”

Therefore, as God gives grace by His Holy Spirit—filling us with zeal for His truth and contempt for every unholy ambition—we will, in firm belief that Scripture is the very word of God, submit to that word humbly, defend its doctrine zealously, and, being much grieved, saddened, yea, stirred to righteous anger by the apostasy of what is falsely called the church, and by the rebellion of the people and princes alike, raise a banner against this madness until it lies in the dust at our feet.

We will confront it point by point—first in defining what we oppose, then in proving by the word of God that it is contrary to nature, obnoxious to His law, antithetical to piety, and therefore utterly unjustifiable and worthy of detestation. And as this grace has been mercifully given to us by God—to raise voice and pen against such impudent lawlessness—so we shall do, in meekness and in submission to His revealed will.

John Knox before us, that Scottish Reformer and lion of the pulpit, wrote a famous treatise against the reign of Queen Mary, entitled The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. He intended to augment it with a second and third blast, but it was not the Lord’s will, and these were never completed. Nevertheless, the original work remains a marvellous testimony to Knox’s faithfulness to the word of God, despite fierce opposition, persecution, and the shameful silence of those in the English church who refused to suffer alongside him in the fire.

In that treatise Knox mourns the gross cowardice of bishops and churchmen unwilling to stand against prevailing corruption and tyranny. He argues from Scripture and sound reason that it is repugnant to holiness, and a monstrosity in nature, for a woman to bear rule over a man. He opens with fire and conviction, full of courage and the Spirit of God:

“Wonder it is, that amongst so many pregnant wits as the isle of Great Britain has produced, so many godly and zealous preachers as England did sometime nourish, and amongst so many learned, and men of grave judgment, as this day by Jezebel are exiled, none is found so stout of courage, so faithful to God, nor loving to their native country, that they dare admonish the inhabitants of that isle, how abominable before God is the empire or rule of a wicked woman …”

Here Knox, with clarity, boldness, and righteous justice, rebukes the Queen of England—Mary I, “Bloody Mary”—for her spiritual whoredoms and her high wickedness. With impiety and impunity she persecuted the true church of God, banishing and burning those who held fast the gospel of justification by faith alone. And by consequence Knox lays the charge also upon all who approved of or permitted such an abomination to take place.

This opening passage remains a beacon of courage for us, an exhortation to raise up the banner of godliness without fear of princes or mobs. We must not fall prey to the vain traditions of men, whether ceremonial, personal, or political. As it is written: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”

So then, just as Knox, and also the prophets of the LORD, wept bitterly over the widespread abuse and contempt of God’s law, we likewise lament—both over the transgression committed by the ignorant masses, and by consequence, the unfaithfulness and apostasy of those modern pastors who bear that holy title falsely, and the utter cowardice of men in public office who tolerate so great an abomination as the rule and dominion of women.

It is a doctrine to be abhorred—a vile opinion, spawned in the pit of hell, planted in men’s minds by the father of lies, that old serpent, that great dragon, called Satan—whom the Lord shall destroy on the last day, together with all those who belong to him.

For truly, though wicked women rise to power by craft and deceit, and though they build their Amazonian empire as high as the heavens—filling the land with their connivings, errors, whoredoms, and witchcraft—yet the land, which is the LORD’s and ruled by Jehovah the King, will not abide them. It shall vomit them out, and they shall fall suddenly, with a great and terrible fall, from which they shall never rise again. As the Scripture saith: “He shall break them with a rod of iron.” And again, “I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” And again, “She that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her … now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.”

And such shall be the consternation and terror of her fall—even the fall of the whole empire of rebellious women and the men enslaved to them—that they shall look upon her from afar, fearing to draw near, and shall say, “Alas, what great city is this, that in one moment is brought to nothing?” She shall be consumed by the breath of God’s mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of His coming.

The great day of the LORD is approaching, and who shall abide His judgment?

Both men and women who submit to lies shall on the Last Day be destroyed, as it is written: “Their land also is full of idols … therefore forgive them not.” And again: “Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” And again: “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

We aim in this treatise, therefore, to topple this idolatrous empire of feminism by plain and practical arguments, and to make it plain to every reader that Scripture assuredly teaches that all feminists, being enemies of God’s created order and His most holy law, shall be destroyed by God with fire on the Day of Judgment.

This treatise is not aimed against flesh and blood, but is spiritual in nature, aimed at a kingdom or city of false philosophy and demonic ideology. It is for the benefit of the church and the defence of true Christian doctrine in a world of iniquity, in the spirit of Augustine and Knox.

Augustine writes:“The glorious city of God is my theme in this work … I have undertaken its defence against those who prefer their own gods to the Founder of this city … And therefore, as the plan of this work requires, we must speak also of the earthly city, which, though it be mistress of the nations, is itself ruled by its lust of rule.”

As the once-great Roman Empire was ruled by lust of rule—which in itself is not rule, but slavery to lust—so shall we take up the sword of our lips against this never-once-great empire of women, whose rule is not rule, but a usurpation granted to them by weak and effeminate men, who have bestowed upon them unnatural and unlawful authority to make and enforce laws according to emotional frenzy. From this come forth in our day every conceivable mischief: the murder of unborn children, transgender confusion, open borders, the invasion of foreign nations, and the continuation of financial instability through debt in the country and its people. As women are more inclined to live by lust and wanton sentiment, forsaking law, order, justice, and sound reason, so they have by their weakness opened the door to an innumerable plague of worthless notions, fitter to be whipped out of the unlearned than to sit in the highest places of public office. As it is written, “Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women.” And again, “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.”

Feminism is a newly formed head of the great dragon, an idol in the city of wickedness, and it is to be combated only by spiritual weapons, as Paul writes: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh … casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.”

As feminism is the product of demonic influence, so there is no merely earthly power that can dissolve it. As Augustine rightly attributed the idolatry of Rome to the work of demons, so we attribute America’s unnatural obsession with unlawful liberties to the devil and his horde. Augustine writes: “When they make to themselves gods of such as are not even demons … they are possessed by such as are not gods, but demons.” So when men uphold and promote ideas not even given to them by those they call gods, and make much ado about what is not even by their own confession divine, they show themselves worse than the Romans, given over to a base and contemptible spirit. For the Romans by their gods attempted to teach fear and virtue; the Americans by theirs teach profligacy and rebellion. Judge then how advanced we are into the twenty-first century.

Feminism is a monstrous plague—a vile and accursed doctrine of error—fuelled by pride and self-righteousness, the mother of lies. It turns its back on order, scoffs at justice, embraces treachery, lies down with cruelty, and by propagating its unnatural brood corrupts entire civilizations and societies. It tears down political institutions and marriages, destroys the sacred fabric of public, social, and family life, seizes unlawful dominion over reproduction, misidentifies God’s appointed gender, slaughters the unborn, perverts truth, undermines peace and order, and lays waste to the church. It deceives both men and women, infecting their minds with poison and holding them captive in bondage to the devil. It promises women liberty—freedom from home, husband, and child—but makes them slaves to vanity, sin, and fear. “They promise them liberty, but they themselves are the servants of corruption.” The woman designed to nurture now demands to dominate. The womb becomes the grave; the voice meant to sing becomes a shrill cry of resistance. “God gave them up unto vile affections.”

For that woman who exalts herself above male headship, and that wife who rebels against her husband’s God-given authority, is a vile and vicious rebel. She does not merely oppose her husband; she opposes the law of God and the order of creation. In seeking her own path to that demonic liberty so foolishly praised, she marches against heaven, despising the ordinance of the Lord.

And what is her end?

As Jezebel was cast down from her high tower, so shall she fall from her pedestal of pride. Her head, bloated with delusion, shall be dashed to the ground, and the body she pampered and adorned shall be left for the dogs. Nothing shall remain to bury but the skull, the hands, and the feet. And all who look upon her mutilated corpse shall tremble, and say: “This is the end of that woman who sought dominion over man. This is the end of that woman who rebelled against the law of God. This is the end of that woman who set herself against the Lord and against His Christ.”

As it is written: “The head of the woman is the man.” And again: “The kings of the earth set themselves … against the LORD and against His Christ … He shall break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Therefore let it be known and firmly established: any woman who desires headship over man is antichrist. Though it be natural to her fallen condition to desire rule, as it is written—“Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee”—yet the command is set down as an abiding and invincible principle. Woman shall by sin seek dominion, but he shall rule. Calvin says on the verse that the woman, who had perversely exceeded her proper bounds, is forced back into her own position; formerly her subjection was gentle, but now she is cast into servitude.

Every female preacher, judge, magistrate, and law-officer therefore—or even the wife or mother who, though in her proper domestic sphere, seeks dominion over her husband in opinion or force of words—and likewise the men who placed them there and allow it by unnatural forbearance, are striving with all their might to overthrow the good and righteous order that God Himself has placed in His creation by immutable decree for the benefit of the creature.

As it is written: “The LORD commanded us to do all these statutes … for our good always.” And again: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” The laws of God are not arbitrary; they are for our good, and those who oppose them, or allow others in their midst to sin with impunity, oppose not man, but God. Here is the sentence for the prevention of the plague. Here is the word to stay back the Lord’s hand from destroying the city.

The end of the Lord’s second coming shall be the establishment of His everlasting kingdom, foretold by the prophets. In that day He shall sit as ruler over all and reign in righteousness by His law. The faithful shall willingly abide under His rule, joyfully submitted to His ordinances.

Now then, if only they who uphold, keep, and promote the word of God are counted as His sheep—“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments … shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven”—and all the wicked shall be cast into hell, what shall be said of those who reject not only the revealed law of Scripture, but even the more rudimentary ordinances written into nature? Light and dark, male and female, warm and cold, taste and smell, parental authority and patriarchy—all these are known even by many who do not possess the Word. Have we not proved that America is more detestable than Rome, who taught monstrous things passed down to them by their gods? There will be a final judgment against both cities, and it will be far worse for those who revolt against God’s law and nature, who have heard the moral voice of the prophets crying against sin and yet chose vanity and corruption over the fear of God. As it is written, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” And again, “Thou hast multiplied thine abominations.”

What shall we say, then, of those who rebel against both law and nature? Of those who have rejected not only the light of Augustine, but of Calvin and the Reformers? Shall it be said on the last day that they are in the favour of God? Shall they be accounted righteous? God forbid. All who resist His order—whether the word of His lips or the law of nature—shall be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. If God has written a law in the hearts of men so distinct and transparent that not only scholars and philosophers, but even the most base and unlearned may see it, truly their judgment shall be great who reject this light and cast it aside as a vain thing. Can a man take coals of fire in his bosom and not be burned? How shall men deny that which is plain and simple and not be harmed by it? The mind is the seat of reason, and when it is subjected to base appetite and lust, it becomes less than vile and more than contemptible.

We who are God’s church, the bride of Christ, His chosen possession, are willingly ruled by His holy law. We are taught sound doctrine by Christ as Prophet, we worship as justified saints through Him as Priest, and by His Spirit we obey His laws joyfully under His kingly mediation.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly declares: “Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies.”

So then, just as the true church, comprised of all who profess the true religion, submits to God in Christ, so must the God-fearing woman submit with reverence and fidelity to her husband. She will not cavil or contend, nor bark, rage, or dispute, but will cheerfully submit to his counsel and wait upon his word.

There is, therefore, a striking antithesis between a woman who fears the Lord and a woman who loves the world; between a Christian woman and a feminist.

Feminism is the cursed offspring of self-love, the fear of man, and all that which is, in the sight of God, an abomination. It is one of the great idols of this age which, according to the prophets, shall be utterly destroyed. And the carcasses of all those men who bowed in homage before it shall be thrown before its lifeless gaze, there to be devoured by the fiery worm of a guilty conscience, tormenting them through all eternity with the cry: “Was this the idol you gave yourself to? This emasculating impotence? This stupefying vanity? O what an everlasting fool art thou!”

As it is written: “All the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces.” And again: “Their land also is full of idols.” And again: “As for my people … women rule over them.” And again: “I will destroy your high places … and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols.”

Therefore bewail, O men, if ever you allowed the slightest tincture of feminism to lodge itself in your mind. This degrading plague, which presents itself under the guise of freedom and liberty, makes the heart fertile with folly, irreverence, licentiousness, perverseness, and rebellion against God.

Man was created upright and endowed with natural reason. But when he yields his members unto iniquity, it brings forth a most unnatural offspring—a generation of vile filth and moral degradation. O what an empty husk man has become, to surrender himself to such worthless ideas, or to be so feeble as to endure such intellectual rape.

God has written in His word that He will destroy the idols of men. Therefore He has commanded plainly: “Flee from idolatry.” Flee from this rotting carcass of an idol, if ever you value your soul.

The proverb saith: “He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”

The word of the Lord is sure and unchanging. What He has spoken, He shall surely perform. All who give themselves to the pursuit of idols—whether of wood, silver, theory, or philosophy—shall be utterly destroyed and abhorred for ever.

So then, here in this discourse, our aim is to reveal—by the testimony of faithful guides and by the authority of Holy Scripture—what a horrible and detestable doctrine feminism truly is. It is an accursed idol, which by deceit has corrupted the world, and which God has promised to destroy along with every false and vain imagination of men.

This is not a matter of small consequence. We do not speak against subtle variations of opinion among sincere brethren. We do not divide over secondary matters of practice or ideal. We wage open war against a doctrine which turns the world upside down, mocks God, spits upon His law, and transforms freemen into slaves.

Feminism is not a minor error. A feminist is not a Christian. All who are entangled in her web are enemies of the Most High God. And thus, by the power of the Spirit of God, we go forth to pull down this stronghold, to declare its end, and to pronounce its doom:

“None shall escape the fire of the Lord.”

1. The Definition of Feminism.

Before we can successfully strike at the root of a disease to remove it, we must first identify where the malady lies, what it is, and wherein its vitality consists. Without this, we labour in vain. Feminism is not a person. It is not Hillary Clinton. It is not Planned Parenthood. It is not a political party, nor is it the Democrats. Feminism is a doctrine, an idea, a belief—with definable characteristics reaching into every major domain of philosophy and society.

Google defines feminism as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.” But this definition is unsatisfactory, for it begins with advocacy, while feminism in fact precedes it. Nor does it limit itself to rights. Britannica offers a clearer description: “the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.” These are the three fortresses of error which we intend to bombard—social, economic, and political equality—and to these we must add a fourth: liberty. When these are rightly defined and set in their godly and natural bounds, the feminist philosophy collapses under its own weight.

Far from advocating liberty, feminism promotes slavery. For liberty must rest on judicial authority—true rights derive from divine law. Feminism, having no such warrant from Scripture, and contradicting nature, promotes not liberty but licentiousness and idolatry. Neither men nor women have any divine right to advocate for “women’s rights” in rebellion against the order of God. Scripture never permits the woman to depart from her domestical role, but rather condemns it. God made man from the dust to rule, and woman from the man to help—not to contend, but to complete, and she is not lesser because she submits, any more than Christ was lesser for obeying the Father. Thus, this will be our ground of engagement: What is liberty? And where is the stability of a nation found, if not in obedience to divine authority? “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:39)

Feminism, defined as the belief that women are equal in the social, economic, and political realm, is a monstrous plague and a doctrine worthy of utter abhorrence. It is not merely the belief in equal value (a point we will address), but the notion that women ought to forsake their domestic sphere—assigned to them by nature—and invade the spheres of male authority, where throughout history men have held prominence almost universally.

Notably, modern definitions exclude intellectual and physical equality—for these would be too easily disproven. But if feminism demands total equality, should we not first ask whether women are, in fact, equal absolutely? Otherwise, we build upon a lie, and our society collapses under the weight of its own self-deception. Are not women the weaker vessel? (1 Pet. 3:7)

Suppose feminism claims physical equality. Am I not a fool if I expect a woman to lift an eighty-pound container necessary for operational success, when I or another man could have done so with ease? Studies show that men possess over 90% greater upper body strength than women. If I delegate such work based on ideological equality rather than prudence, I imperil the task and hinder success. And is not America guilty of just such asinine imprudence? To assign the same task to those not equally fitted for it is not justice, but sabotage. Such equality is not the measure of righteousness, but of blindness; for only a blind judge weighs a crying infant and a warrior by the same scale.

So then, if women are to be considered equal in all spheres, they must demonstrate equality in each. Failing that, feminism is exposed—not as a doctrine of equity, but of madness. If it cannot be supported by biology, Scripture, or reason, then those who hold to it are blind and deluded hypocrites.

Even before the discussion begins, the position is already crumbling. For even the blind mole-rat can discern the difference in physiology between the sexes. They are distinct, and therefore not equal absolutely.

Now, if not equal, they must be either lesser or greater. Yet we do not refer here to absolute value, for we uphold the equal spiritual worth of men and women before God. As it is written: “There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). This equality pertains to salvation, covenant grace, and spiritual inheritance, not political governance or natural function. Not all inequality is injustice; for the stars differ in glory, and the members of the body in strength.

The value in question is statistical or categorical. For example, the average height of a man is 5’8″; for a woman, 5’6″. The average value in this sphere is greater in men. So too with strength, stamina, risk tolerance, and leadership under pressure. On these principles, we will build the case.

The Roman statesman Cato wisely observed: “As soon as they begin to be your equals, they will have become your superiors.”

i. Feminism as social equality.

As these are particular branches of the greater error of feminism, I will now define what I call domestic egalitarianism, and in doing so hope to alleviate any confusion regarding its meaning and application.

Domestic egalitarianism is the belief that women are equal to men in all social fields. This is frankly absurd. Women are not fashioned by God as primarily rational, but emotional—and this, we must remember, is a gift, not a flaw. Their emotional richness is necessary for the nurture of children and the preservation of human sympathy. Without such tenderness, the care of infants would fall by the wayside, and society would rot from the roots.

As stated earlier, this treatise is not an attack on women as women, nor on their created worth, but rather on poisonous ideas concerning their role. Our aim is to refute the illogical belief that women have no fixed station given them by their Creator. In doing so, we also affirm those truths which every well-ordered society ignores to its peril.

In the case of social feminism, we are speaking particularly about human relationships in general, and marriage and family in particular. At its root, social feminism undermines the very idea of authority in the household. For if a woman is the equal of her husband in authority, then there can be no final word in moments of disagreement. Neither can there be unity in consequence, for two equal voices in conflict make resolution impossible.

Even in our modern, feminist-saturated culture, the average conversation still tends to defer to the opinions of men—and rightly so. This is due to the nature of the sexes: men are more direct, more assertive, and more willing to confront. Women, being less comfortable with conflict, tend to defer or avoid open disagreement. This is not oppression, but nature.

Social feminism is irrational, then, because it expects women to assume a posture of leadership and finality which their temperament does not sustain. This is not to say that women should never be heard—indeed, a wise man listens to his wife, and confesses his fault when she is in the right. But in matters requiring finality, the man must be the final authority.

In all relationships, we must consider the principles of superiors, inferiors, and equals, and know our station. Feminism encourages a man of lower estate to believe himself equal to one above him—not by merit, wisdom, or office, but by ideological fiat. As though a farmer should correct the mathematician, or a doctor silence the preacher. Every man has his place, his gifts, his measure. And let no man think more highly of himself than he ought. All pride is abomination in the sight of God.

Social feminism seeks to flatten all distinctions between men and women in relationships. But to do so is to destroy order in the household, and stability in the fabric of daily life.

ii. Feminism as economic equality.

As we have previously defined, domestic egalitarianism is the belief that women are equal absolutely in the realm of household authority—an error we reject utterly. While we affirm the woman’s equal essential value in the image of God, we deny that she holds equal function or authority in the covenant home or broader society.

Having addressed the household, we now proceed to the economic sphere, to examine the full extent of this plague. Just as feminism seeks to unseat God’s order in the home, so it labours to expand its diabolical empire into commerce, career, and finance.

But first, let it be declared unequivocally and authoritatively, by the Word of God, that the will of God for women is not to pursue careers, worldly advancement, or academic acclaim, but rather:
“To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:5).

We are not pleading with the world to accept Christian doctrine. We are declaring divine truth. Whether the nations hear, or whether they rebel, we stand with the Word. It shall profit a soul nothing to abandon one sin while clutching ten thousand others. Yet the wrath of God already burns against these abominations, and every godly minister is bound by duty to cry aloud against them.

Women could not be “equal” in wages if they had remained in their homes, as Scripture commands. This is not to say that women must have no dealings with money, nor that they may not manage household finances, nor earn what is due. The error lies in the doctrine—that it is unjust to pay men and women differently for unequal labor.

A company ought to have the freedom to pay less when a worker does less. Where a woman, due to natural limitation or lack of stamina, cannot perform the same task with the same consistency, it is folly and tyranny to demand she be paid equally. Nor are we ignorant that, due to feminism, many modern men have become effeminate and equally unfit for labor. Yet the standard must be productivity, not sentimentality.

It is feminism that compels companies to bow to the selfish delusions of weak workers—paying them twice what they are worth, raising minimum wages not in justice, but in vain appeasement. We do not argue that women must earn less always, but rather that equal pay without equal output is theft, institutionalized.

Let us remember the tragedy of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, who went out to wander the land alone—and the evil that came upon her and the city for that sin (Gen. 34). This is the end of wandering daughters. It begins not in tragedy, but in fathers failing to teach their daughters to be women, not men.

We therefore conclude two things. First, it is contrary to godliness and womanly virtue for women to roam freely and aspire to the spheres of man. Second, it is an economic abomination to pay man or woman by abstract equality, rather than by actual merit and output. Equal wages by default are unjust wages by design.

Equality, in the absolute, is the undoing of society. It is not liberty—it is Marxism, baptized in sentiment and enforced by tyranny. It is a plague upon this nation and upon the world.

iii. Feminism as political equality.

Although social and economic feminism are destructive in themselves, political feminism is arguably the most grievous of all its manifestations—both in consequence and in principle. It is also the most recent, having taken real form in the last century, especially in America.

Politics and civil governance belong to men. The state exists to enact righteous laws, to reward the good and industrious, to punish evildoers, to protect its borders, and to defend its people from the threat of foreign powers. It is the state’s duty to uphold justice, suppress heresy, promote true religion, and preserve the stability of its institutions under God’s revealed law.

But since the rise of feminism, we have seen the toleration—and even celebration—of abominations: abortion, sodomy, gender confusion, and illegal immigration. These things would never be tolerated by wise and sober-minded men. Yet they abound, because government has opened its gates to those unfit to bear the weight of rule.

Women, by nature, are emotional, empathetic, and nurturing. These qualities are not curses, but gifts—suited for their ordained station in the home, where children are shaped and households preserved. But when these qualities are placed in the courts, in law enforcement, or in the halls of civil authority, they corrupt the sword of justice and turn order into confusion.

As John Knox wrote in his treatise The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women:
“To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature, a contempt of God, contrary to His revealed will and approved ordinance, and finally the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice.”

Observe carefully: Knox’s words are not directed at social squabbles, but at the political reign of women. To elevate woman into dominion is to mock her created form, to insult God who fashioned her for gentleness and submission, and to overthrow the hierarchy He has established.

Her first sin was not in taking power—but in seeking freedom outside the home. What a monstrous inversion of nature it is to see women abandoning their children, forsaking their families, and seeking occupation in strange fields! And not only this, but to then climb further into authority—as officers of the law, attorneys, judges, and civil rulers.

Woe unto this nation that has dared to offend God by placing women in power. “He repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack… Therefore keep the commandments and statutes and judgments which I command thee this day” (Deut. 7:10–11).

IV. Submission to the Biblical definition.

Inasmuch as we have defined and refuted the idea of feminism as political and social equality, it is incumbent upon us to dig deeper into its true definition, that we neither inadvertently join with our adversaries who accidentally agree with us, nor waste our blows upon branches while leaving the root untouched.

Therefore, in order to define feminism properly, we must uncover its spiritual source—and that from the Holy Scriptures. In a large part, we have already done so; yet it is essential that we also deal with it formally, as the prophets dealt with the sins of their day—not in vague condemnation, but with clear, divine warrant.

For as David was separate from the wicked and would not sit with them, yea, hated their congregation (Ps. 26), so we likewise must separate—not only from the feminists themselves, but also from those who, whether consciously or unknowingly, aid their cause. For the devil goeth not about openly to slay, but first to deceive. His power is restrained, and God doth not allow him to ravage the world directly, but by subtlety, manipulation, craft, lies, and deceit.

Thus there are many in the churches today—conservative or otherwise—who, without realizing it, are feminists. They may voice opinions contrary to some secular extremes of feminism from the pulpit or from their social media platforms, but without pronouncing an anathema against all ungodly and idolatrous opinions, they miss the mark, fall short of the Biblical duty, and will be joined with the feminists in hell.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that we define and identify feminism by the Holy Scriptures, which are our rule, our guide, our sword, that we may faithfully approve what God approves and condemn what He condemns. For to be a Christian is to be of one mind with the Lord and to desire what He desires. As it is written of David, he was “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14). And again: “The desire of the righteous is only good” (Prov. 11:23). If, therefore, we can suitably demonstrate that feminism is evil—which will not be difficult—we can easily conclude that the righteous do not rejoice in it; for being full of love and the Spirit of God, they rejoice in the truth (1 Cor. 13:6).

We therefore oppose not merely the liberal, the activist, or the silly and stupefied women who are caught up in it, but all who dissent from the Scripture’s record and rule concerning it. If any man say, “Feminism is disagreeable and disadvantageous to society,” it is but a half-truth and unworthy of our consent. We mean to say what God says—that feminism is a filthy abomination worthy of utter abhorrence—and that all who follow after this lie shall have their part in the lake of fire.

“And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not” (Isa. 2:9). Here the foolish Israelites were promised no mercy, because they bowed to their idols and humbled themselves under their abominations. Their worship belonged to the LORD alone; yet, forsaking His Word, they crafted idols for themselves—which the apostle calls devils, saying, “they sacrifice to devils, and not to God” (1 Cor. 10:20).

Thus, to worship that which is not God—whether it be an image of wood or a construct of man’s wicked imagination—is to worship devils and, by that token, Satan himself. For there is no mean between the two. God has declared in His Word the manner in which He is to be served and worshipped, and moreover how we are to behave toward our neighbor.

And inasmuch as women’s “rights” are condemned, rather than approved, in Scripture, it is plain to see that those who hold to them, believe them, live according to them, tolerate them, and do not consider them accursed excrement from Satan, walk contrary to the law of God. For the Word of God saith: “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Gen. 3:16). This is as much to say that women will indeed seek dominion, but are commanded rather to defer and submit to their husband’s desire. This was commanded to Eve, not only as a mother in the Church, but as a public person, the mother of all living.

Those women, therefore, who do not follow the example of Scripture—pursuing their own opinions, pursuits, careers, goals, and desires, and not submitting to the desires of their husbands—are under the same curse as thieves, adulterers, and murderers. For it is written: “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10–11).

Therefore, it is not sufficient that we define feminism rightly in its social and political contagion, if we do not also agree with Scripture that the voice of the LORD alone is to be obeyed, and what He curses is indeed cursed. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).

V. The social consequence of Feminism.

As we have hitherto spoken biblically, it remains to speak politically and socially, that the mouths of the insolent may be stopped, and the rebellious reminded that their grievances are the fruit of their own folly. For as sin is ever the mother of misery, so repentance is the only path to harmony. If women complain of burdens, pressures, or dissatisfaction, let them know that these maladies are the direct offspring of their revolt against God’s order, and not the oppression of men. Much more might be said, yet a few words will suffice to summarize the many complaints of modern women in this feminist age, and to lay the blame where it belongs—at the feet of feminism itself.

Feminism is, as it were, another forbidden fruit which men have offered unto women. In Eden, Eve was beguiled by the serpent and tempted Adam, and by his fall the world was plunged into sin and death. Now the tables are turned: man has deceived woman, and offered her again the knowledge of good and evil (domestication and industrial occupation)—again, under the guise of liberty, clothed with the label of feminism. And as Adam’s disobedience once corrupted the world, so now this doctrine of rebellion has corrupted the order of nature and society. Every sin has consequences. Let none imagine, therefore, that there is a harmless kind of feminism, any more than there is a harmless kind of poison. All doctrine contrary to Scripture is contrary also to sense, reason, and nature itself, and is to be rejected—whether or not we yet see its bitter fruits, or taste of its dreadful end. For it is written, ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding’ (Prov. 3:5), and again, ‘If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them’ (Isa. 8:20).

Since, due almost exclusively to feminism, women in the modern age have refused to be women—leaving their natural and domestic sphere in the home, and taking up in utility and function the roles of men by joining the workforce, as was the goal of feminism in the first place—it should not now surprise us at all that they are being treated by men as men, and therefore are not considered “wife material,” nor pursued for long-term relationships. It seems almost astounding that anyone would be surprised that someone who cannot now possibly function as a wife and mother, due to a philosophy that has pushed them out of that sphere, would not be considered apt for the role they so willingly left behind. If you want to be treated like a woman, fragile, vulnerable, beautiful, you must play the role of the woman, and abstain from competing with men, and attempting to gain success by merit. As so eloquently put by Shakepeare, “A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labor both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience—
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.”

Let us be realistic. Historically, women were encouraged toward that role to which they are best suited as women. The absence of feminism was not the oppression of women, but their protection. Because they lacked the ability and drive to bear high-stakes decision making—and, for the most part, did not desire such responsibility—men did not “gatekeep” for their own pleasure, but shielded women from the pressures that come with it. But now, instead of admitting that such burdens are ill-fitted, women blame men for them. And, in a most extraordinary and bizarre twist, they blame most of all the patriarchal system—a system which, to their eternal shame, no longer even exists, having been destroyed and replaced by feminism itself.

In the modern world, women are not only permitted but encouraged to leave their homes, pursue higher education at secular universities, and chase careers outside of housekeeping and child-rearing. This is not (and it’s almost embarrassing that this needs saying in the first place), this is *not* the vision of a Biblical patriarchal order. So when modern women complain of beauty standards, career pressures, social drama, or rejection, and then, in a bold and incoherent frenzy, turn to accuse “traditionalists” as though we were the cause, they are in truth listing maladies which are the direct and exclusive fruits of feminism, or at the very least of modern secularism. When women complain they are not as beautiful as models—who told them they needed to be? Not fathers or husbands trained by the Word of God (which says beauty is vain), but society, peers, and worldly men. From a Reformed perspective, it is the duty of fathers and husbands to instruct daughters and wives in their God-given place. It is not theirs to decide, nor the world’s to determine. When women, left unguarded, expose themselves to worldly standards, they will naturally feel doubt and shame. But this is not because patriarchy failed them—it is because feminism removed them from the shield of their rightful guardianship.

This unveils another inherent problem aggravated by feminism: the refusal of accountability. If you want to be equal, face it. If you don’t want to face it, leave feminism far behind, say farewell and return to your domestic sphere, where the fathers and husbands make all the decisions. No one forced women to leave the home. No man of sense commanded them to go to college or to chase careers. If they were encouraged at all, it was by feminism and secular humanism—not by the patriarchy. Thus, women in the modern world have been betrayed: left helpless and hopeless by the very movement that promised them freedom. Feminism, while claiming to liberate, has instead left them caged—surrounded by doubt, fear, danger, violence, and the crushing burden of autonomy. And let it be well noted: autonomy is not liberty. Pagan humanism deceives the world with this lie. True liberty is found in submission and obedience to the truth; autonomy is slavery—slavery to ignorance, lust, and despair. [2 Pet. 2:19]

With right knowledge comes confidence and joy—but right knowledge is found only in the authoritative Word of God. Thus the duty falls to fathers and husbands to teach their households covenantal purpose, that wives and daughters may live in peace and dignity under the protection of a patriarchal order. So, bad news for feminists, your ideology is now found (big surprise) to be destructive to society, mutual companionship, and yes, women. And bad news, women, feminism has let you out of what you thought was a cage to enslave you, only to find a beast with a gaping jaw ready to swallow you whole, called the world. So it is made abundantly clear that none of these problems that modern women complain about exist outside the domestic sphere. So, get back to your kitchens and let men do *all* the decision making. It was kept from you for your good, and now that you’ve made decisions and influenced the world, you can see the wholesale destruction you’ve caused, of workforce production, law and justice, government, art, music, literature, cinema, and everything you’ve put your dirty fingers into. Feminism has done no favors to women and certainly no favors to society. It has led them from the safety of their homes to the devouring mouth of the world. And men, who once protected them, will not do so now—not because men have changed, but because women told them not to. “We are strong and independent,” they said. Then be strong indeed—defend yourselves, and cease complaining at men for your troubles. But know this: by casting off God’s order, you have ceased to function as women, and thus you are of no worth or value at all to men who still seek one.

2. The Theological Source of Feminism.

As necessary to a polemcal treatise, I aim to show also what theological movements and errors have contributed to the rise of feminism, and how it has taken root not only in the pagan world—(which, even in its madness, has at times recoiled from such absurdity)—but also in the professing church, which, while claiming to be the bride of Christ, becomes doubly vile when she rises in pride against His headship.

For what is feminism, but weakness exalting itself against strength? And what is strength, but a reflection—though but a faint one—of the Almighty power of Christ?

Therefore, let us first consider a few aspects of true strength, that silly women may be humbled and brought to repentance; that beholding the beauty of the Lord Christ, they may be ashamed, abhor themselves, and never again boast in their own voice or power. And let foolish men also—who follow after such rebellion—be likewise ashamed, for having bowed their heads to the rule of vanity and cast off the authority of their Head, which is Christ.

A revolt against Divine Sovereignty.

We must look closely at the prevailing theological trends of the modern age—even those which preceded the formal rise of feminism—to discern the connection between what the Church believes and the actions and practices that necessarily follow. For feminism, though a great evil and surely one of the many monstrous heads of the Dragon (that is, the devil), is not a spontaneous eruption. Being a corrupt practice, it is founded upon corrupt principle. Therefore, we must understand that it does not spring from itself, but has a definable source.

As unbelief is the mother of all evils—giving birth to pride, vanity, selfishness, lust, greed, covetousness, and every vice which characterises feminism—we may rightly conclude that feminism itself proceeds from unbelief. These vices, born in the corrupt nature of woman, burst forth and burn within her heart, and when society gives liberty to act without fear of God or the restraint of law, they are enacted without shame.

We must here distinguish between natural lusts and unnatural—which, if God permit, we will address again in fuller measure.

A natural lust is a human affection or inclination toward a lawful object, but in an inordinate or sinful measure. It is not the object that is sinful, but the disorder of the affections. For instance, to delight in the good gifts of God and to thank Him for His goodness is no sin; but when these delights exceed their proper bounds—when godly principle is overthrown, or the conscience is ruled by carnal indulgence—then the very motion becomes sin. This is natural lust: when the passions of the body usurp the rule of reason, and the appetite becomes immoderate toward a lawful thing.

Thus, it is not sinful to eat and drink, but it is sin to be ruled by them. A Christian may partake with thanksgiving what, in a heathen, becomes condemnation. As it is written, “Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner.” (Proverbs 13:6)

But an unnatural lust is exceedingly more sinful, because it not only shares in the disorder of natural lust, but adds to it the rebellion of overturning God’s created order. It is to love what is a lie, to trust in the flesh, to leave one’s appointed station, or to become what one is not by nature. Thus, to place one’s confidence in free will, for men to lust after men, or for women to usurp male authority—these are not merely corruptions, but perversions, unnatural in their very essence and damnable in their exercise.

Such transgressions are more grievous than natural lusts, and for them God sent fire from heaven. As the Scripture testifies, “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:6)

William Gurnall writes: “Take heed of showing thy wit in inventing new sins, lest thou stir up God in inventing new punishments. ‘Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?’ Job 31:3. Sodom sinned after a new mode, and God destroys them after a new way—sends hell from above upon them.”

Chrysostom likewise declares:
“These [Sodomites] I say are even worse than murderers: since to die even is better than to live under such insolency. For the murderer dissevers the soul from the body, but this man ruins the soul with the body. And name what sin you will, none will you mention equal to this lawlessness…

For I should not only say that you have become a woman, but that you have lost your manhood, and hast neither changed into that nature nor kept that which you had, but you have been a traitor to both of them at once…

If any one were to come and assure you that he would make you a dog instead of being a man, would you not flee from him as a plague? But, lo! You have not made yourself a dog out of a man, but an animal more disgraceful than this… How many hells shall be enough for such?

But if you scoff at hearing of hell and believest not that fire, remember Sodom… For since many would utterly disbelieve the things to come after the resurrection, hearing now of an unquenchable fire, God brings them to a right mind by things present. For such is the burning of Sodom, and that conflagration!”

Luther also speaks with sobriety and clarity:
“Now hereof spring all these mischiefs, that this cursed hypocrisy will not be justified by the divine blessing, nor formed by God the creator… Therefore it maketh itself a creator and a justifier through its own works… so that every hypocrite is both the matter and the worker…

No man therefore can express with words, how execrable and horrible it is to seek righteousness in the law by works, without the blessing. For it is the abomination standing in the holy place, which denieth God, and setteth up the creature in the place of the creator.”

Therefore, it is vital that we learn to distinguish between that which is natural—that is, the sins into which a Christian may fall through weakness or temptation, being as yet imperfect and unable to “do the things that he would”—and those principles and practices of the heathen which are so utterly repugnant to sound doctrine that no person may be said to abide in them and yet be in a state of grace. The former are the failings of the regenerate, ever at war with the flesh; the latter are the settled paths of the reprobate.

These are they whom Scripture calls “ungodly”, who are given over to a “reprobate mind”—execrable persons whom the Church is commanded to cast out from her assemblies, lest great wrath fall upon the whole body for tolerating their wickedness. As the Apostle testifies, “And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:2) And again: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14) And again: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

Therefore, it is evident that mankind lies under the dreadful and holy wrath of God for the invention of these new modes of madness—even that women should usurp the authority of men and take to themselves that which God never gave. Such rebellion is not only disobedience but open defiance of the Creator’s ordinance, and shall not go unpunished.

Now, there may be many causes which have allowed for the rise of this monstrous activity, but one stands above the rest as the theological midwife of this rebellion: that is, the pestilent and abominable doctrine of the Arminians. This doctrine denies the sovereignty of God in election and raises up in its place that accursed idol of free will. And what is this, if not the first link in a long chain of treason? For when the creature dares to rival the Creator, when man dares assert his will over God’s, is it any wonder that woman should rise to usurp man also?

What else can we expect to see in a land where divine sovereignty is denied but confusion, pride, and lawlessness? If men seek to cast down the throne of God, shall not all lesser thrones be overturned also? Shall strength be toppled to give way to weakness? Shall order yield to chaos? Shall men reign over God? Isaiah cries out against such blasphemy:
“Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.” (Isaiah 40:13–15)

Even righteous Job, beholding the majesty of God and His sovereign dominion over all creation—yea, even over Job’s affliction—was silenced in awe:
“Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.” (Job 40:4–5)
Then the Lord answered him:
“Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” (v. 7–8)

What then shall we say to those who persist in asserting the sovereignty of man over the decrees of God? They are no different than those who say to the potter, “Why hast thou made me thus?” They are like worms who raise themselves against the burning sun, like specks of chaff who boast against the whirlwind. Shall man’s free will be honoured on the day when the Lord executes His judgments? Does such teaching not rob God of His deity? Is this not the very marrow of all false religion—that man is independent of God?

And as man dares assert his independence from God, so woman, emboldened by the same lie, asserts her independence from man. Arminianism, with its gospel of autonomy, is the mother of feminism. For if man is sovereign over God, then why not woman over man? Weakness over strength? If the pulpit today exalts human will, then why should the household not follow? The fault therefore, lies first in the wicked preachers spewing lies and false doctrine in the church, where these ministers of Satan preach rebellion each Lord’s Day, undermining God’s divine authority, and thereby prepare the people to receive the next lie.

The rise of Arminianism in America is the fuel that has fed the fires of feminism, and until this doctrine is utterly abolished—root and branch, principle and fruit—feminism will only grow more bold. It will not rest until dissent is crushed and every man who still possesses sense and reason is cast out as an enemy of progress. For where the doctrine of man’s sovereignty over God is preached, there also shall woman reign over man. Weakness will exalt itself against strength, and madness will mock wisdom.

God hath verily in His word pronounced all men dead in sin—not sick, not asleep, not wounded—but dead. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God… destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known” (Rom. 3:10–17).

This condition therefore requires not encouragement, nor opportunity, nor education, but omnipotent power—the same power that said, “Let there be light,” must speak again to the soul of man, or he shall never rise from death. But let none imagine this death to be passive, still, or reluctant. No, it is a malignant death, an active hatred of God. It is a death with eyes—but they behold vanity; hands—but they are swift to shed blood; feet—but they make haste toward mischief; hearts—but they are stony and impenitent. It is a death full of voice, full of passion, full of pride.

“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). Therefore, it were better never to have been born, than to enter this world as a rebel already condemned, for such is the state of all men by nature—“children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:3).

Those who propagate outside the church, outside the covenant, and raise up their seed not unto the Lord but unto themselves, are not building the kingdom of Christ, but fortifying the dominion of Satan. For Satan is a father too—“Ye are of your father the devil,” saith Christ (John 8:44)—and he too has a seed, and they are many.

It is the rankest idolatry, therefore, to suppose that man, who is in need of redemption, is able by his own power to take hold of redemption. For what man is this who can climb up into heaven by his own ladder? What sinner is this who can raise himself from the pit of corruption? If a man be dead, shall we expect him to give himself life? If he be blind, shall he give himself sight? If he be bound, shall he be his own deliverer? This is folly, and worse than folly—it is blasphemy.

Yet we are not unaware of the subtle language of hypocrites. They speak much of grace, and forgiveness, and the righteousness of Christ—but in the same breath they speak of man’s free will, his choice, his part, his power. And thus they overturn the very gospel they pretend to preach. For if grace depends upon man’s working, then grace is no more grace. And if Christ died for all, but not all are saved, then His death is a potentiality and not a power, a plea and not a purchase, a false hope and not a glorious victory. “It is finished.”

What then is left of “mighty to save” (Isa. 63:1) if He be not mighty enough without man’s permission? What glory is left to Christ if man must first open the door? Is this not the very essence of the rebellion of Babel—man reaching upward to heaven, that he might make a name for himself?

And do we not see this very spirit alive again in feminism? For what is feminism but woman exalting herself against the law of God, lifting herself up out of her appointed place? As it is written, “The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever” (Mic. 2:9). That “pleasant house” was her place of honour, peace, and fruitfulness. It was God’s glory to give her such a calling, and man’s joy to dwell with her in it. But feminism has cast her out.

And would it be so offensive, if not for this—that place is not determined by culture, but by the law of God? And this is the issue: Arminianism puts the power of salvation into the hand of man, just as feminism puts the power of authority into the hand of woman. In both, the principle is the same: weakness usurps the place of strength. In both, the glory is stolen from God and given to frail flesh.

For if the death of Christ be not effectual—if it doth not actually and certainly redeem—then it is not the will of God that saves, but the will of man. And if the husband’s headship be not effectual, then it is not the order of creation that governs, but the ambition of woman. In both cases, authority is reversed, power is inverted, and confusion is enthroned.

Thus you see how deeply these doctrines are joined: Arminianism prepares the way for feminism, for once God is dethroned, man rises. And when man rises against his maker, woman is not far behind.

Now, we are confidently assured by the Word of God that if Christ’s blood be not shed to save you, then God’s wrath must be poured out to destroy you. For there remaineth no third path. “He that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Either Christ is your substitute, or you shall bear your own iniquity. Either His blood covers you, or His wrath consumes you. There is no other mediator, no other name, no other hope (Acts 4:12).

But if it be said that Christ intended to save others and did not—yea, that He stretched forth His arms in earnest desire to redeem them, and they would not—then we are no longer speaking of salvation by grace, but of righteousness by the will of man. For if Christ’s desire may be thwarted, then salvation depends not upon His power but upon man’s consent. And if man’s consent is the decisive factor, then it is man’s will, not Christ’s work, that saves.

This makes the blood of Christ a common thing, and man’s decision the special thing. It profanes the Cross and exalts the sinner. It places the chief act of salvation in the hands of one who is by nature “enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). It is as if God had built a ladder to heaven, but left the last rung to sinful man. It is the exaltation of self-love—the enthronement of the creature above the Creator. And what but unbelief and wretched pride could dream of raising such an idol? What but a heart hardened against truth would bow before it?

As hath been said before, this is the very folly condemned by the prophet: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil… that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isa. 5:20–21). And again: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22). For if men will raise their fists against heaven, asserting that their own power can save them, then let them be ready to stand beneath the terrible power of the Almighty, when He rises to shake terribly the earth. “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.” (Job 40:9-14)

“Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts” (Isa. 3:17). He will tear their confidences to pieces. He will strip away their imagined righteousness, show them to be blind and naked, and punish them with His own hand. “For judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Pet. 4:17). And why? Because they stumbled at the stone of offence—Christ—“being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed” (1 Pet. 2:8). They believed not that they were dead, but imagined some glimmer of hope in themselves, and so rejected Christ. They would have none of Him.

“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed… He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure” (Psalm 2:2–5). And again: “They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way” (Prov. 1:30–31). And again: “Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved” (Isa. 57:10).

So then, we see clearly that the root and pillar of feminism is not some abstract philosophical folly evolved in the universities of men, but rather the theological idol which the world has been bowing to since Adam’s revolt—that idol called free will. Cain, having gone out from the presence of the Lord, built a city. So too have these men, exiled from truth, built their own system: a city of rebellion, a tower of confusion, a doctrine of devils.

It is shameful enough that such deranged doctrines are vomited forth by the world. But a thousand woes upon those who name the name of Christ and yet uphold this accursed system! They sing of grace but preach of self. They speak of the cross but boast in choice. They speak of righteousness, yet destroy the need for it. They call themselves Christians but have made shipwreck of the faith. “Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?” (Gal. 3:1)

O impudent and adulterous church! Departing from the Lord, bowing down before free will and worshipping that cursed thing called feminism! You have played the harlot, setting up strange gods in the house of the Lord. You have broken covenant. You have exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the image of fallen man and rebellious woman. You have called rebellion “liberty” and apostasy “progress.” “How is the faithful city become an harlot!” (Isa. 1:21)

How shall you plead when God arises to avenge His honour? What shall you say when the fire of His jealousy is kindled? “The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex. 34:14). And when He comes to judge, He will not spare. He will overturn every refuge of lies, tear down every altar of human pride, and reveal every hidden thing. For He is a God of truth and not of compromise, of justice and not of flattery. And those who have rejected His sovereignty shall drink deeply of His wrath.

But consider also the madness and delusion of the synergist—that deceived wretch who perverts the doctrine of God’s will and says, without shame, that “God desires all men to be saved.” Aye, and if a truly righteous and omnipotent God desires a thing, shall He not do it? Is His arm shortened, or His purpose frustrated? Let the Scripture answer: “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isa. 46:10). Again, “My words and my statutes… did they not take hold of your fathers?” (Zech. 1:6). And again, “The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” (Jer. 23:20, 30:24). The prophet speaketh plainly: “Like as… so.” As God thinks, so He works; and what He works, He finishes.

Let it also be remembered that many things in this present world appear out of joint—the prosperity of the wicked, the afflictions of the righteous. But we do not walk by sight, but by faith. And faith clings to this: that the will of God is never idle, never suspended, never thwarted.

So then, as much as God wills that men be saved, those whom He intends to save, He does save—and saves them fully. “No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44). “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me” (John 6:37). “My sheep hear my voice… and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:27–28). “Having loved his own… he loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). “They could not believe, because… he hath blinded their eyes” (John 12:39–40). “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep” (John 10:26).

Then is it not clear? As sure as Scripture threatens wrath, and proclaims the everlasting torment of the wicked, so is it evident that it is not God’s desire, nor His design, nor His decree to save all men—but rather to destroy many. “Narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:14). And if God had willed more than a few to be saved, then this word would not come to pass. Can His word fail? Can His will falter? Does His power prove insufficient?

God forbid! The fault lies not in the power of the Saviour, but in the impotence of the sinner. Yet the Arminian, deceived by his father the devil, imagines God to be a mere wisher, a beggar, a weak suitor hoping man will condescend to be saved. This God of theirs—this idol of human will—is not the LORD of Glory, but a caricature, a golden calf clothed in evangelical language. And through this breach have crept all the abominations we now witness—the tide of feminism and rebellion flooding even “conservative” churches.

For what is this doctrine of divine “desire,” if not a contradiction of His holy law which demands perfection? Shall God wait upon the will of man? Shall He offer salvation, and leave its success to human response? “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29). “Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” (Mic. 2:7). And again, “The voice of the Lord is powerful… The Lord will bless his people with peace” (Psalm 29:4,11). Therefore all of God’s commands to His elect are enablings, and His call is effectual. He brings to life what He commands, and sustains what He begins.

So then, let this idol of divine “desire” be cast down and dashed in pieces. Let it be ground to powder and scattered upon the waters, that no man may rebuild it. And let us see clearly—this very principle, that God is not Lord but a longing voice in the dark, is the root by which feminism has grown up into a great tree of poison, its branches covering the land and its fruit rotting the soul.

For in the doctrine of the Arminian, God is dethroned. He no longer rules with majesty, but pleads like a widow. He does not decree, but invites. He does not command, but wishes. Behold the blasphemy! A weeping deity! A God who cannot save! A feminine god, made in man’s image, “sitting in the corner and hoping for the light of day.” “Oh, when will man respond to my offer!” Away with such an accursed thing!

Therefore, if we are to understand this hideous doctrine of feminism, and tear it up by the roots, we must first see its true parentage. It is the monstrous offspring of two heresies: Arminianism and Antinomianism. It is contrary to the Gospel itself, which is the chief and principal doctrine we defend and establish. And it proceeds from that old serpent’s breath—from unbelief, pride, and rebellion, now thick in the air of the church.

For Arminianism is the back door to Rome, and Rome is the mother of abominations. And Antinomianism is the back door to Sodom, for he that abandons the law soon wallows in lawlessness. The man who trusts in his own works, failing to see their worthlessness, quickly falls beneath the weight of his own failure. Being propped up by mere social custom and habit, he is soon overthrown by temptation, and plunges from self-righteousness into unrighteousness, from Pharisee to prodigal.

And is not this precisely what we see today? You cannot expose your eyes to the least degree of public media without confronting vile and detestable filth, more worthy of execution than of sight. “They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not” (Isa. 3:9). These are the fruits of a church that has lost her salt and her lampstand. She has tolerated feminism because she has forsaken the Gospel. She has turned away from the doctrine of God, and therefore cannot stand against the doctrines of devils.

Therefore no man may rightly oppose feminism who is not first firmly grounded in the law of God. For unless the standard be fixed, what can be measured? Unless the line be straight, how can the crooked be reproved? Let all things be tested by the Word of God, which is tried, true, and sure. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).

Since we have thus far spoken of the immutability of the decrees of God, and how impossible it is for God to wish that His own decrees—especially that of reprobation—be overthrown, let us now speak plainly. For as election is the very foundation of belief in Christ—inasmuch as apart from election, we can neither be redeemed nor brought into the flock of God, and moreover that no man truly believes the gospel apart from a hearty assent to this blessed doctrine—so also the damnation of the sinner springs from the immutable decree of reprobation.

Why are men damned? For sin, you say. Yes, well. But why are they not delivered from sin, and effectually brought into an estate of salvation? The answer lies in the unchanging counsel of God—namely, His decree of reprobation. And reprobation is so closely and intimately joined to election, that to deny the one is to overthrow the other. They stand together, or fall together. Therefore, inasmuch as we have utterly confuted the Arminian position—showing it to be madness and their god a frail idol of their own making (as all the idols of the world are, specially formed to approve their sin)—let us now consider a passage which our opponents often wrest from its proper meaning: Matthew 23:37.

In that text it is written:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

This verse, they say, proves that Christ desired the salvation of all men, and that God wills the salvation of even those who perish. But such an interpretation is violent and ignorant. As all Scripture is one, and no passage contradicts another, we know that Romans 9 and Ephesians 1 speak unequivocally of election and reprobation. These cannot be overturned by a single verse, nor do the words of Christ here intend to do so. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” “Not one of my words shall fall to the ground.” And again, “Few be saved.” These statements must be upheld together. If all men were meant to be saved, then it would not be few that are saved. And if Christ desired that which the Father did not decree, then there would be division in the Godhead. But this cannot be.

Moreover, as Christ is Jehovah made flesh, God and man in one person, many of His declarations are spoken not as the divine Judge, but as the Son of Man, fulfilling His mediatorial office. As He saith, “My Father is greater than I”—not because He is less in essence, but because He humbled Himself to serve as our Redeemer. For His divine nature cannot die, yet Christ died. And God’s blood was shed—yes, for the Church. Again He saith, “No man knoweth the day nor the hour… not the angels, nor the Son, but the Father only,” to show that His mission as our Advocate involved the real experience of human limitation.

Therefore, when Jesus “loved the young man” or “wept over Jerusalem,” He was not acting as divine Judge pronouncing decrees, but as compassionate Shepherd and true King, lamenting their unbelief. He sets the example for us to follow: to weep over the unbelief of men, and to preach earnestly and sincerely, for “the Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Yet, though we preach, only those elected by the Father will come. As Christ said in John 17, “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.” And again, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me… and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The Spirit then quickens those whom the Son was sent to redeem. And ministers of the gospel go forth not to lie, but to declare the truth—fully, sincerely, boldly. As Paul saith, “if by any means I might save some.” So we act in accord with the means which God uses for the salvation of His elect, and we weep for those who will not come. But this is not because we desire to overthrow God’s decree, but because their unbelief is a thing most grievous and worthy of lamentation.

Therefore Christ wept over Jerusalem not because His will was thwarted, but because He had bestowed upon that nation every favour: He raised them from nothing, gave Abraham a son, brought Rebekah to Isaac, preserved Jacob, rebuked Laban, kept Joseph, raised up Moses, led them by cloud and fire, gave them water from the rock, manna from heaven, laws, cities, an inheritance. And they repaid Him by stoning the prophets and crucifying their King. Thus the words: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets…” are a sentence of judgment, not a wistful hope.

“How often would I have gathered” is not an expression of divine frustration, but a covenantal lament, expressing the longsuffering of God through many generations and the true compassion of Christ, Israel’s rightful King. The division is clear: “thy children” refers to those within Israel who would be saved—Paul himself among them. “Ye would not” refers to the rulers, the Pharisees, the hardened masses whose ears were dull and whose hearts were closed.

Let ministers then take this same disposition: to preach, to call, to compel, and to weep over unbelief, yet never to imagine that God’s eternal counsel can be changed. The damnation of the reprobate is fixed. But the means by which the elect are brought in includes the sincere and compassionate preaching of the gospel. And nothing is more bitter, more heartbreaking, more worthy of rivers of tears than that men reject Christ—inasmuch as He is worthy of all glory, praise, honor, and belief, and men submit not unto it.

So we see, once more, that the theological roots of feminism lie not in secular philosophy alone, but in doctrinal error—errors that crept into the Church through Arminianism, Papism, synergism, which are ultimately a rejection of divine sovereignty. For if God is imagined to be pleading and hoping, then surely man may do as he pleases, and woman as well. If the doctrine of election be denied, then reprobation is thrown out with it, and pride is enthroned in mans conscience. But if God is sovereign, and man is nothing (as the scripture teaches), then all things must be ordered according to His word—both in doctrine and in life. Thus, feminism is not only rebellion against the order of creation, but assuredly it is rebellion against the gospel itself.

3. The Principle of Authority.
Inasmuch as we have taken in hand to write on behalf of the word of God, defining feminism as it is used in both the secular and ecclesiastical world—not to weaken its arguments for the sake of feigned superiority, but to set them forth in their true and proper light—we might the more ably, effectively, and valiantly destroy them with the mighty power and authority of the word of God.

So then, to return to our main purpose, which is to exposit the word of God and prove how utterly contrary feminism is to it, we must remind you of the general points we have undertaken to demonstrate throughout this treatise.

First, that feminism is contrary to the word of God.
Secondly, that it is contrary to the laws of nature and creation, so that even unbelievers may perceive its folly.
Thirdly, that those who hold to this accursed doctrine are not Christians but members of the kingdom of Antichrist.

Moreover, according to the principles of logic and sound doctrine, one thing cannot be both agreeable and disagreeable to Scripture. Since the word of God is eternal and abides forever—“For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89); “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isa. 40:8)—it cannot condemn in one age what it permits or justifies in another.

The doctrines of free will, antinomianism, and, in this case, feminism, are everywhere condemned in Scripture—in principle, in the positive, and in the negative. For example, the principle of feminism, which is rebellion against authority, is condemned in Romans 13, where it is written:
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.”

It is condemned also in the positive, by the explicit approval of the contrary virtue, as in 1 Peter 3:
“Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands… even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.”
And again in Ephesians 5: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord… and let the wife see that she reverence her husband.”

It is condemned likewise in the negative, by the express forbidding of that which is unlawful, as when the apostle writes:
“I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (1 Tim. 2:12)

Therefore, there are clear lines in Scripture between what is permitted and what is forbidden. Female authority is everywhere spoken against, and in its place is commended the precious virtue of female submission.

We must further bear in mind that Scripture is coherent and indivisible. What the word of God teaches in any particular is in perfect harmony with divine revelation as a whole. Female authority, being contrary to both law and nature, is therefore contrary also to the gospel, which is the rule of man’s salvation from sin. To cling to doctrines of men and fall prey to seducing spirits repugnant to Scripture is proof that such a one is still in bondage to sin—from which those who are in Christ are set free.

Therefore it will do no good to say, “It is but one small difference,” when that difference stands betwixt us and God. Will the Almighty count an offense against His divine majesty and sovereign authority a small thing? On the contrary, He will come and destroy those who would not have Him reign over them, and appoint their portion with the hypocrites.

Having therefore established the principle of the rule of faith, and shown openly that those doctrines which stand opposed to the doctrine taught in Scripture cannot bring the assurance of salvation but rather the certainty of damnation, we shall now set forth the principle of authority from the holy scripture and especially Romans 13—that we may the more powerfully enforce our argument and silence every proud imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

i. What is authority?
The word authority comes from the Latin auctor, meaning “leader” or “master.” A suitable definition of authority is, “the right to command or give orders.” Now, this very principle drives at the root and substance of our argument, which is simply that women do not have the right to command or give orders, and therefore have no authority. Might and power belong to God, and He alone distributes authority as He wills. So it is said in the Scripture that He appoints kings and turns their hearts where He will: “He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Dan. 2:21), and again, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will” (Prov. 21:1). Therefore those who have authority have it from God, and those who are denied it are so denied according to His infinite wisdom.

So a woman may respond, “So just because I’m a woman means I don’t have authority?” But this answer is simplistic and incoherent. It is as if a lion or a horse, noble creatures in their sphere, should say, “Because I am such, may I not fly?” The answer, of course, is yes—because they were not made for that. Even so, woman was created for a very specific purpose: “to be an help meet for man.” Power, rule, and authority are utterly forbidden her. Let no one complain that what he has is not to his taste. God distributes His gifts as He pleases, and too often we look too closely at the shining gifts of others when instead we should look to our own, endeavoring in thanksgiving to make the most of them.

Rather than striving to gain authority and usurp the power God has given to men, women should look to themselves and labor to benefit mankind in that which they were created for. Imagine the absurdity of the modern woman who seeks sexual freedom and autonomy, when her very physical and emotional constitution in itself declares that she was created to bear and nurture children. What brave and bold absurdity has formed such a radical notion in women—and in men, to tolerate it! Such is the madness of a degenerate society. But the Christian is free from such delusion, having the knowledge of God: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

By this then comes a paradox. If female authority is to be rejected as a doctrine, what of female government? Truly, this was the cause of that most excellent, sober, and noble treatise The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, penned by that holy man of God John Knox, even upon the occasion of that wicked and idolatrous woman Mary I being raised to power in England. So then there is a question: God has truly forbidden dominion and power to women, and yet, according to providence, they are sometimes raised up as queens and magistrates. How comes it to pass? And does God approve of it?

We answer: God does not approve of it according to His revealed will, yet He permits it according to His secret decree, as with all other offenses against Him committed in this world. He does it to shame men and to humble them—sometimes by incompetent or wicked queens (Jezebel, Athaliah, Mary I)—to show the vanity and disorder of this world, so that the righteous will long for the final judgment. “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” (Isa. 3:12) Truly a prophetic remark of mockery and divine condescension!

At times He raises up competent or godly women to shame men and bring them to repentance, because they have not governed as they ought—as Deborah, Huldah, and Elizabeth. It is truly a miracle of grace that more was accomplished in the service of Christ’s church during the reign of Elizabeth than in many of the ages before her. Let us therefore have wisdom and know how we ought to respond to each case in its own kind.

Therefore our conclusion is that God oftentimes permits what He does not approve of, that men might seek His face and await His judgment on the last day. For all things in this life are disordered through the fall of man and the bringing of sin, death, and misery into the world against God’s will. Yet He has brought salvation through it, as we are taught in Scripture. Therefore, if we are beset by wicked rulers and froward magistrates, let us have good hope that even these monstrous acts of confusion and egregious errors will be turned to the benefit of the church through Jesus Christ, our dear and blessed Saviour and Lord, whom alone we serve. “O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.” (Isa. 26:13)
ii. The source of Authority.
Romans 13:1; 1 Corinthians 11:3

Inasmuch as we have argued with sobriety and reverence to the word of God that power and authority are utterly denied unto women, we now mean to show the principles attending it and annexed to it, the more to enforce the point.

In Romans 13:1 the Scripture says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” In context, Paul is exhorting the Roman church to submit to their rulers; for Christianity, springing out of Judaism and fulfilling it, required clarification as to how a Christian should live in the world, even as the law taught the Jews how to live within their covenant community, separate from the nations.

We must remember that the people of God were no longer to be separate from the world in the same manner that they were under the Old Covenant. As it is written, “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou—and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them… For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods.” (Deut. 7:1–4)

Although this was certainly a religious command, we must bear in mind that it was also a national command. Israel, as a chosen and holy nation, was not permitted to make friends or alliances with the pagan nations surrounding it, and was strictly forbidden from following after their idols. Spiritually and ecclesiastically applied to the modern day, this pertains to false religion and heresy. Christians are not to invite into their religious fellowship the heretics and sectaries—Papists, Baptists, synergists, antinomians, dispensationalists, Pentecostals, and such like. These are the godless nations whose idols we are commanded to break down, as the prophets so often proclaim, and even as we aim to do in this treatise by the authority and grace of God.

But Israel was commanded particularly to smite and destroy these nations, and to offer the sword of violence against their people—a commandment which Christians are not to follow in the combative, militaristic sense. For Christians are called to be at peace with their enemies and to do good unto their neighbors. As Christ Himself says, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.” (Matt. 5:43–44)

Thus the command for Christians is not that of separation in the former, carnal sense, but of separation in spirit and in practice; for we dwell among the heathen. As Paul says, “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators; yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.” (1 Cor. 5:9–10)

It was therefore essential to remind Christians, as Paul does in Romans 13, that inasmuch as they dwell among the heathen and under the rule of heathen kings, they are commanded by Christ their true King to obey and submit to them—in good conscience and in all things lawful. For these rulers and kings, though they be among the reprobate and destined for hell, were nevertheless placed in power by God for the punishment of evil and the reward of good. If they fail in this duty, judgment will surely find them, either in this life or the next. Yet let us take heed that we are not guilty of resisting them and so heap that same judgment upon ourselves; for Paul adds immediately, “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” (Rom. 13:2)

We ought also to note that the kings and emperors we are commanded to submit to are not always morally sound or godly, but are often lustful, vengeful, petty, and enemies to the church. And while we are certainly, as the apostles say, “to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), we must also remember the words of Christ: “For this cause pay ye tribute.” (Matt. 22:21) and again, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.” (John 18:36). These words imply that we are not to resist the powers that be.

Thus we are commanded to obey not the good and gentle only—those maintainers and advancers of true religion—but also, in all things lawful and not directly sinful, those magistrates who are obnoxious and hateful, a curse and a scourge upon the nation. Christians are called to be a people of peace; and the basis for removing authority from women is this same rule—that all authority flows downward from God, not upward from man, and that the word and ordinance of God alone determine who is fit to rule and who is commanded to obey.

a. The subjection of the soul to God.
We should note here, by way of exposition, the form of words and the living principle which applies to our current discourse. For the Scripture says, “Let every soul be subject.” This shows that God holds those guilty who are not subject. For the Scripture is not full of suggestions or opinions, but of commands—absolute and veracious.

As it is written, “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” And again, “If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life.” And again, “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” And again, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

Therefore let every soul be subject—not to men as fallen creatures, but to God, and to men for His sake, knowing that there shall be a judgment, and rewards according to every man’s work.

Mark well: it does not say merely, “let every man be subject,” or “every woman,” but “let every soul be subject.” This shows that the bare mimicry of subjection is not acceptable with God, but only the full obedience of the soul unto the higher power for the sake of God’s ordinance.

It is not obedience, therefore,
– to submit without the heart,
– or to submit in some things only,
– or to submit while giving undue credit, praise, or glory to man,
– or to attribute honour to oneself for the act of submission.

But let every soul be subject to the higher power, giving all glory unto God, not worshiping or serving the creature, nor attributing undue honour to it or to self, but offering your obedience as a living sacrifice, that God may be pleased with the work and have no reason to reject it and destroy you. For all commandments improperly performed shall be counted as the non-fulfilling of them; but he that performs with love and for the glory of God doeth well.

This, then, is truly the only safe way for the soul to “be subject unto the higher powers.”

Now, we should consider well how this principle applies to our current discourse on feminism. For if the soul is subject to the higher power, and if the Scripture hath put women in subjection to the man, as in:

– “Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands.”
– “The head of the woman is the man.”
– “Thy desire shall be unto thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

—then to break this ordinance and reject the authority of the husband is not to despise man, but God.

For God does not take the rejection or trampling of His law lightly, as it is written, “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy.” And this refers even to the ceremonies which were only for a time, until the better covenant should appear. But we speak here of the moral law, that law which “is perfect, converting the soul,” “true and righteous altogether,” “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,” and which Christ came “not to destroy, but to fulfil.”

Verily, the despising of the ordinance and word of God is no light sin, but rebellion against the heavens, and a rejecting of the authority of God. Thus feminism is not a trifling or forgivable offense, but is accompanied by the flames and torments of hell; as the next verse saith, “He that resisteth shall receive to himself damnation.”

Thus we have proved that as the soul is subject to the king, so is the woman to the man.

b. The Higher powers.
There is also a brief point to be made on the definition and nature of “subjection.” For, as we have previously stated in part, subjection does not necessitate devaluation. That is, because something or someone is in subjection to another—although it is a humiliation in class—yet it is not necessarily annexed to a lack of favour before God. A perfect example of this is the incarnation and humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which condition the Catechism expresses thus:

“The estate of Christ’s humiliation was that low condition, wherein He, for our sakes, emptying Himself of His glory, took upon Him the form of a servant, in His conception and birth, life, death, and after His death, until His resurrection.”

And the same Catechism witnesses also of His exaltation and subsequent glory. Therefore it is groundless to suppose that because one is subjected, therefore one is displeasing to God.

We know and readily admit that subjection, as it stands in this fallen world, is an evil condition—necessitated by sin, contrary to the pride of man, and despised by the favour of men. Yet this is precisely why we must argue it. For our argument against feminism is but one part of a much larger theological and doctrinal system founded upon the glory of God and the subjection of man unto Him.

Christ made Himself a partaker of this condition voluntarily, taking the form of a servant, for the sake of His elect—for their salvation, encouragement, comfort, consolation, and example. And as we look unto Him for grace and guidance, we learn to submit and to be subject even as He was.

It will not do to say,
– “I do not want to,”
– “My husband is cruel,”
– “He does not mind that I have strong opinions,”

when Scripture is so decidedly in support of female silence and submission and so decidedly against rebellion against subjection. Christ Himself before Pilate submitted Himself unto death. Let us, therefore, have that same mind in us: to bear patiently with the evils of this world, and to await vindication at the Last Day from God Himself, not minding the delusions of self-justification nor the praise of men.

Subjection is necessitated both by the order of creation and the order of the fall, as the Scripture saith:

“For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived; but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression.”

Therefore let all women submit to this ordinance in all reverence and obedience. Those who resist shall receive their punishment in the life to come.

But there is another point to be made for the subjection of pious women to their husbands—and the condemnation of the rest—on the grounds of the very nature of the body. For as there are many parts to the body, and none without signification, the limbs and joints are set in motion by a center of authority—the head. They are supplied with blood and nutrients from the heart, but they are governed by the head. Even so, Paul says in Corinthians, “the head of the woman is the man,” and again, “wives, obey your husbands in everything.”

So then, the degree of authority over the wife is absolute. It is not so much, “the head controls the body, unless the head is wrong,” but rather: “the head controls the body so absolutely that a limb cannot at any time usurp the proper order and mode of function God has established.” Therefore, whatever evils the body suffers due to the poor decision-making of the head, the head is responsible—yet the whole body suffers. Such is the man and the wife.

Men are not perfect, and may fail to reach agreement with the heart, yet the rest of the body cannot revolt against this ordinance without procuring great guilt. It is upon these grounds most foolish and detrimental to the health and fabric of society, church, and government for the limbs to be reigning over the head. It is foolishness and madness, worthy of ridicule and the profoundest detestation. And yet it is wondrously common in both the secular and ecclesiastical realms for women, and those like women, to rule—while men of authority and conviction are silenced, because they pose a threat to the corrupt systems in place.

Such was one chief cause why our Lord was crucified. He came not to applaud the Jews, nor to flatter them in their sins, nor to permit them to continue their hypocrisy and will-worship, but to bring in a New Covenant by His blood—sealed and secured by His death, and realized by the gift of faith and repentance. This was an overturning of the old world, and therefore highly offensive to the Jews, who glorified men and not God, and who would hear none of Christ’s rebukes against them.

But to return to the discourse at hand: suffice it to say that the head ought to be the head, and the body in subjection to it. If the limbs should refuse obedience to the head, what confusion in society would abound!—and that is exactly what we see, and why feminism is greatly to be abhorred.

c. The Ordination of God.
Inasmuch as we have proved that there is no real evil in subjection, neither any cause why women should shy away from it rather than embrace it, we will now proceed to show that all powers that be come from God. For both the office itself, and the person occupying it, are of divine authority, and come not of themselves, but of God.

The person also occupying that office is put there and placed there by God.
Do you see wise men ruling and decreeing justice in a country? Bless God for it. Do you see fools, and wicked men and women, making laws that benefit themselves, and showing no prudence or wisdom in rule? It is to judge and punish a wicked nation that God sends them wicked rulers. The contempt of the prophet rings loudly: “children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.” Such scorn and contempt belong to those who are ruled over by women, and God means to cast contempt upon them by it.

The office itself.
It is God who raises up one and puts down another. It is God who makes men kings, or slaves, and ordains them to that life according to His own good pleasure. As we have previously proved from Romans, “there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God…” And again it is written, “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.” And again, “to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” And again, “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Therefore let no man imagine that rebellion against authority is rebellion against mere men, for that authority comes from God, and God gives it even to the basest of men. Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that they have their office and authority from God, and therefore are men bound to it, as by the Lord Himself.

Let not the Christian, then, be troubled by wicked rulers. By them God will test us, and in due time destroy them. They shall surely not rule in the kingdom to come. But it is written, “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Therefore be patient under the hand of wicked men, and foolish women. God will deliver the righteous out of all their troubles, and make us rulers over them in the final judgment.

Conclusion.
We conclude then that, inasmuch as God hath ordained both the offices of power which men hold, and also the men who hold them, so hath He undoubtedly withheld the office of authority, lawgiving, and law-enforcement from women. For as the Scripture saith, “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence,” so this prohibition extends not only to ecclesiastical office, but by good and necessary consequence to political office also.

We see the same pattern throughout the sacred histories. When God raised up judges and saviours for His people, He raised up men of valour and courage. And when such men were lacking, even then, during the time that Deborah judged Israel—though she was indeed a faithful believer in God and in His promise—yet she had no natural right to occupy that office, nor any standing approbation from the Lord for the thing itself. Though God brought good out of it, even Israel’s victory and Barak’s encouragement, yet He brought good out of David’s sin also. We are never therefore to presume upon grace, nor imagine that because God can bring good out of evil, the evil itself is thereby justified, or that good shall come regardless of what we do or how we live.

Our duty in this life is plain: to obey, and to submit to the revealed will of God.

For men, this means to be of good courage, and to lead with honour, knowledge, meekness, judgment, virtue, and godly charity. For women, this means to submit in all sobriety, humility, meekness, reverence, faith, and joy. Men are commanded to refrain from bitterness toward their wives, remembering that they are the weaker vessel; and women are commanded to submit unto them without fear, knowing that God hath placed them over them in authority, to rule with wisdom, patience, and care.

Let no woman imagine, therefore, that because a thing is so, it is therefore lawful; or that because the state hath approved it, the law of God is thereby overturned. God hateth rebellion, and feminism is as rebellion and witchcraft. He will not receive your witchcraft as acceptable service, but will surely despise it, and cast the workers of it out of His sight for ever.

Let no man think, then, that feminism is a harmless opinion. Nay, but it rends at the very fabric of God’s law, and at the order of nature itself.

4. Feminism as Witchcraft.

Now, inasmuch as we have discussed the theological origin of this cursed movement, we ought also to consider its central matter—not merely as it pertains to politics, philosophy, or social disorder, nor even as it affects most immediately the home and family, but as it stands before the knowledge and law of Almighty God. For what does it profit if we oppose feminism with our mouths, yet agree not with the Lord, who “looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God” (Psalm 14:2), and found them altogether become filthy? (Genesis 6:5; Ecclesiastes 7:29)

If our opposition to feminism be only political, or practical, or cultural, and not grounded upon the holy character and unchanging justice of God, then our righteousness is but rebellion clothed in borrowed truth. It is but enmity veiled in propriety. For “the Lord seeth not as man seeth” (1 Sam. 16:7), and though we may call evil ‘foolishness’ or ‘unwise,’ unless we call it sin—yea, rebellion—our voice is not united with His.

Let us therefore be warned: it is no great virtue to be right by accident, or to stumble into agreement with Scripture without heart, faith, or the new birth. Many shall be condemned who held to fragments of the truth, but never bowed to the whole counsel of God. They may have opposed feminism on the basis of statistics or sentiment, yet being without the Spirit, they opposed one idol only to set up another. The talent was in their hand, but they did not trade with it. The sword was in their mouth, but they struck not at the root. Therefore shall they be judged not only for their silence, but for their cowardly consent.

You may denounce feminism from a conservative pulpit or a senator’s dais—but if your judgment springs not from Him who “commanded light to shine out of darkness,” then your lamp is false, and your fire is strange. For the carnal mind, even when it mimics virtue, “is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7), and therefore “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8).

Let it be understood, then, that this treatise, while containing political, social, and familial considerations, is above all things religious and spiritual. For our aim is not to ‘make the world a better place,’ seeing that “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19), but rather to bear witness against its madness, to unmask its idols, and to exhort the Church to be separate, as a virgin bride to her Lord. If we declare what feminism is politically (“equal rights”) or practically (“women should not vote”) or domestically (“a contentious wife destroyeth the home”), but do not declare what it is in the sight of God—namely, rebellion, idolatry, and enmity—then we have not yet begun to speak as prophets.

And if we speak not as prophets, then let us not expect the blessing of the Lord, nor His Spirit to accompany our words. Therefore, before we proceed to classify and expound upon the several kinds of feminism, its demonic origins, and its manifold corruptions, let us begin with the Word of the Lord, that our foundation may be sure.

The text which we will now expound is 1 Samuel 15:22–23. In it, the holy prophet Samuel delivers a withering rebuke to Saul, Israel’s king, who presumed to offer sacrifice in place of obedience. But the Lord delights not in sacrifice without submission, nor in burnt offerings offered upon the altar of rebellion. As the prophet saith:

“And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”

Let us now lay down the necessary context. First, observe the speaker: Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, in a time when “the word of the Lord was precious; there was no open vision” (1 Sam. 3:1). He was no mere teacher of moral principles, but a chosen instrument of divine judgment—one of those sacred men whom God anoints not to entertain sinners, but to confront them. He was a prophet in the fullest sense, one to whom the people trembled to approach, and kings dared not gainsay.

And as it was with Samuel, so it was with Jeremiah and Ezekiel—men sent not to the crowds, but to the leaders of men. Jeremiah was sent to the king, and Ezekiel to the elders. One to rebuke political apostasy, the other to cast down ecclesiastical corruption. None were spared, for the word of the Lord reaches from the throne to the temple, and from the crown to the ephod. As the Lord said to Jeremiah:

“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms,
to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down,
to build, and to plant” (Jer. 1:10).

And again:
“Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee:
be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city,
and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land,
against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof,
and against the people of the land.
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee;
for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee” (Jer. 1:17–19).

This is the mantle of the prophet—not merely to declare mercy to the penitent, but to pronounce judgment to the rebels, and to cast down every high thing that exalteth itself against God. Those towers that are raised like Babel, built upon the proud opinions of foolish mortals will be reduced to rubble like Sodom, under the authority and judgment of the living God. Therefore if we will be faithful, we must take up this same mantle, and set our faces against them like flint. 

Ezekiel, likewise, was not sent to pagans, but to the elders of Israel, those who presumed to hold the law of God while walking in rebellion. As the Lord said: “Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me:
they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day…
And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear:
for they are most rebellious” (Ezek. 2:3,7).

And again:
“Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart,
and hear with thine ears.
And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people,
and speak unto them, and tell them,
Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear” (Ezek. 3:10–11).

And again:
“Set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart;
and prophesy thou against them…
And I will set my face against that woman, and will cut her off from the midst of my people” (Ezek. 13:17,21).

Observe carefully how none are spared: kings, princes, priests, elders, daughters—all alike judged by the word of the Lord. For rebellion defiles all ranks and must be cast down from all heights. If the prophet flinches before the crown or the veil, he is no prophet but a hireling. For, “if I please men…I am not the servant of Christ.”

So let it be said of us. We preach not against feminism merely as a social disorder of the people, but as a rebellion among rulers and leaders, both civil and spiritual. For it has entered the palace and the pulpit, the school and the sanctuary. It is a plague upon the world, and a cancer within the Church. Therefore, we must speak as prophets, and not as politicians. We must declare not only what is wrong, but what God hath said. For “he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully” (Jer. 23:28).

Next, observe the subject of his rebuke: Saul, king of Israel, anointed and appointed by God Himself. The prophet did not spare him for his title, nor show partiality for his crown. For God is no respecter of persons. The higher the position, the greater the sin; and so too must be the severity of the correction.

What then was Saul’s fault? The Lord had commanded, “Smite Amalek, and utterly destroy.” But Saul spared what seemed good to his eyes, and justified it with pious pretense: “to sacrifice unto the Lord.” But God desires not pious rebellion, nor religious innovation, but humble submission to His word. Therefore the prophet struck him down—not with sword, but with the judgment of the Most High—and declared him rejected.
God will be taken at His word, and not suffer His word to be taken from. Those who reduce scripture to only those principles their sinful conscience can bear and subtract those holy laws which condemn what they love, shall themselves be subtracted from the book of life, and they will be reduced to nothing. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall never pass away.” 

So too is feminism today rejected by the Lord as Saul was. It is not a new sin, but the age-old rebellion clothed in modern garb. It is the sinful curiosity of Eve, the pride of Jezebel, and the sorcery of Babylon. The Church that tolerates such impudent behavior is not merely misguided, but bewitched. “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.”

Therefore, let this text stand as our banner, our judgment, and our foundation for all that follows. For we speak not to flatter kings, nor to please fools, but to declare with trembling the Word of the living God. 
a. The word of the prophet, “and Samuel said”.
Here are powerful words against all impotent rebels, and presumptuous independents. If God would deliver a message to a people, doth He not send a prophet? “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Cor. 1:21) “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14)
And if He send a prophet, is it not to proclaim the iniquity of the people and denounce their error? “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” (Hos. 5:15)
Then hear ye the word of the LORD from the mouth of Samuel to wicked king Saul: Rebellion is as witchcraft. Disobedience is devil-worship.
Do not add to his words with poisonous opinions, lest the noxious plagues of the word be added to you! Knowest thou not that Egypt was destroyed? Do not take away the curse which is necessary for the humbling and bruising of men lest the blessing be removed with it! He who slights God’s word, removing the curse of hell, God will slight him into hell. Those who add to the word, and invent new idolatries from the furnace of their wicked imagination, God will invent plagues for them, taking from the holy treasury of His infinite wrath. He will show them his furnace. You conjured a new modes of worship, which he did not command, and he will invent a new way to torment you, which you did not wish!
Or do you imagine, because we are but men, that we do not speak with power? Behold—God is with us. (Isa. 8:10) Who shall withstand our words or gainsay our doctrine, when every line is drawn from the eternal Word and tendeth wholly to His glory?
Shall God be pleased with that worship which is done without the authority of His word (though it be done in His name), when He has magnified His word above His name! (Ps. 138:2) That worship and service which has the name of God without the word of God will be rejected by the decree of God. “What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.” The righteous have ever the Lord and His word before them, but the wicked cast it behind them. It is beneath them to submit to a higher authority; therefore they will be thrown from the highest dignity. “Before honor is humility.” “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.” “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
Doth God change? Doth His Word fail? Then let no man say that He willed patriarchy in the days of Abraham and Moses, but approves of feminism now that the calendar reads twenty twenty and beyond. Doth God require fresh opinions with every new moon? O fools and blind! This is not liberty, but lawlessness. “My words shall never pass away.”
Damnable pride and militant ignorance to suppose that God’s law is now slacked! Shameful contempt of the everlasting God!
“Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting.” We, His ministers, do speak only what we have received. Those who reject the doctrine of the prophets who are sent by God reject the God who sent them! “He that heareth you, heareth me.” (Luke 10:16) We come in God’s stead—not with new inventions, but with that old word which is able to convert, and condemn, reprove, and restore, rebuke and reform. “These things I speak unto you are for your good.” (Deut. 10:13) Therefore, those who reject the simple and wholesome words that proceed from the wooden pulpit reject the rich and saving lifeblood that flows from the wooden cross. “My words are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63) “He that heareth my word, and believeth… hath everlasting life.” (John 5:24)

Though the world reject our message, yet will we preach to the world. Though we preach as dead men to dead men and see not the fruit, yet shall they know a prophet hath been among them. A prophet sent to root up false doctrine, to cast down strongholds, to build up what is stable and true and cast down what is false and spurious—and they would have none of it. The prelude to their destruction is written in the declaration of the prophet. For thus it was in Ezekiel, the prophet fell upon his face. Then the Spirit entered into him and set him upon his feet. And the voice said, “Son of man, I send thee to a rebellious house… whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, yet shall they know that there hath been a prophet among them.” (Ezek. 2:3–5)
So too in the Proverbs, Wisdom crieth in the streets—lifteth up her voice in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates. She calleth, “Turn you at my reproof!” but they refused. “They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.” Therefore, saith the Lord, “I also will laugh at your calamity… When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind… then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.” (Prov. 1:24–28)

Thus the message remains the same: Thus saith the LORD.

And what saith the LORD here? “And Samuel said.”
God ever vindicateth His servants. Those who slander the prophets of the Lord shall be slain by the Lord of the prophets. Though they have nothing to fear from us, who are called to be meek as lambs, yet they have everything to fear from Him, who is called a Lion—and who teareth in pieces that none may deliver. (Ps. 50:22) “Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell!” (Matt. 10:28)
O therefore, it is wise, it is safe for the precious soul, to hear the word of the Lord from the mouth of His prophets. “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life.” (Prov. 10:11) We have drunk deeply from the fountain of life (Ps. 36:9) and do now point men to the stream. Hear us, that your soul may live.
b. The offended party, “the LORD”
The verse in our consideration reads: “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?” (1 Sam. 15:22).
God is known only by His Word, which He hath declared, and our course of duty is set down therein so that none may excuse himself from service or plead ignorance. It is God Himself who is offended by this accursed idol, feminism.

We do not speak as angry men, venting against the impudence and stupidity of a fallen world, but as humble servants of the Most High God, who hath said in His Word that women are to be “discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:5). Hath not God exalted His Word above His name? (Ps. 138:2). Does He not highly prize His Word, and curse those who rebel against it? Is not His Word a reflection of His own divine character? And does not the Word speak chiefly of the things pertaining to the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father loveth dearly?

Then when His Word is blasphemed, contemned, or lightly esteemed, He takes great offence, inasmuch as it is an insult to the majesty, holiness, and truth of the Author thereof. Therefore, we are offended as God is offended.

We do not speak of feminism uncertainly, as philosophers seeking a better order of life, who, observing much discord, social inconvenience, and unrest arising from feminism, aim merely to ameliorate the social atmosphere. Nay—we are men well convinced that “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19), that it shall be purged with fire, and that Christ shall return to bring again His kingdom of righteousness, destroying all these miserable sinners.

Why, then, take the trouble of all this writing and rebuke? Because it is our bounden duty, and we are undoubtedly called of God to do so. The minister may relinquish his service only upon his death, and not before. We are commanded to blow the trumpet and declare unto men their sins (Isa. 58:1). Therefore, because it is commanded of God, and because He is greatly offended by this wickedness, we come forth and make our case.

Inasmuch as wives are commanded to submit to their husbands, even so we submit to Christ our Head, proclaiming to you the message we have received of Him, in full agreement with His Word, His doctrine, and the faithful servants He hath called and sent by His own almighty power.

And if you would be further acquainted with the uniformity of the Reformed Church on this subject, see John Knox’s treatise The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, which we have before cited and recommended—“that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established” (2 Cor. 13:1).

c. The cause of the offense (disobedience), “to obey is better”

Here we must once again argue on the basis of Holy Scripture, even that doctrine which is directly related to hearkening to its holy commands and trembling at its threatenings. For the Scripture says, “The fear of the LORD, that is wisdom” (Job 28:28), and again, “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13)—which is as much as to say that to believe God and to do His will is the whole of true religion, the summary of the law and the gospel, yea, of all Holy Scripture. For it is impossible to obey—really obey from the heart—without faith; “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Heb. 11:6), and “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Nor can any be possessed of true faith (the gift of God) apart from a willingness to do His will: “Faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:26), and “faith which worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6).

So here, when the Scripture says, “to obey is better,” the substance of the argument is this: to hear His Word and do His will—believing the doctrine He teaches and applying it to everyday life—is better than to offer Him sacrifices devoid of faith, understanding, and covenant love. Mark well the sign of Saul’s apostasy: he saith “thy God” and not “my God”—for he stood outside the bond of covenant, a disobedient and impudent rebel. So also with our generation: many mouth God’s name while contradicting His order. They seize offices not given them, and justify their theft with pious pretense. Thus the feminist, taking to herself the office of a man—preacher, magistrate, law-officer—will say, “He would not; therefore I must.” The contentious wife will bite her husband and murmur, “He deserved it.” Yet the Scripture answers simply and finally: “To obey is better.”

So we come full circle to our original complaint: by this abomination of feminism the Word of God is broken and His law transgressed. Did not God command, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Gen. 3:16)? And again, “After this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement” (1 Pet. 3:5–6). Therefore we frame our arguments from the Word of God and protest against this wicked people that “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Will we be vilified for refusing to bow to this Dagon? Hunted as outcasts for refusing homage to this Baal? Be it so. Yet even those beastly gods were not so base and worthless as this sordid doctrine of feminism. It were less absurd to worship a stone, or a rock, or a fish—things with some weight and use—than to adore that which overthrows sense and reason and personifies weakness. A stone is heavy and keeps its place; wood builds houses and warms the cold; but “a continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike” (Prov. 27:15). A rebellious woman is the dry rot of the home and a plague upon the polis. To exalt her is to promote weakness above strength; to serve her leisure is to become the slave of the basest lusts. Well might men who obey this harpy be called simpletons: they forfeit sense for a moment of sensuality; they substitute logic for lust.

We therefore choose the narrower path: it is better to obey God and bear the world’s contempt than to yield one iota on this point of doctrine. Woman’s place is where Scripture has placed her—and not beyond. Therefore, it is better to obey: “He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:9). “Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me” (Luke 19:27). “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity”—anomia, that is, lawlessness (Matt. 7:23).

d. The cause for stumbling, “than sacrifice”
What meaneth the prophet, when he crieth, “To obey is better than sacrifice”? (1 Sam. 15:22) Did not God command sacrifice? Was not the law full of altars and blood, of feasts and oblations? And yet, again and again, God disdains the very offerings He prescribed. Why?

“Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.” (Mal. 1:10)

“Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts.” (Mal. 2:3)

“Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.” (Jer. 7:4)

These were not idol feasts. They were not pagan rituals. They were the very ordinances of Jehovah, performed by the covenant people in the appointed place. Yet God rejected them. Not because the sacrifices were unlawful—but because the hearts that offered them were. Not because they were uncircumcised, but uncircumcised in heart.

The attendance was performed, without the affection. They honoured God with their lips, without their heart. (Isa. 29:13) Thus, their religion turned from piety to provocation, and all their pompous and pretentious service was utterly repudiated. They offered a stench rather than a savour.

For no work is holy unless it bears all three marks:

1. It must be commanded by God.

2. It must be done in faith.

3. It must be directed to the glory of God.

If it lack any one of these, it will not be counted for currency, but cast out as counterfeit. Even if the act be noble, even if it be seemingly useful to men, even if it appear outwardly religious—without these, it is but “the sacrifice of fools” (Eccl. 5:1). God will not have His holy name yoked together with rebellion, even when it comes clothed in professed piety.

Behold then, the sin of Saul. He transgressed by offering what was only lawful for the priest. Well might he have lost his crown, for laying it aside! He left the bounds of his office, stepped beyond the express commandment of God, and justified his vanity with pretended devotion. He thought to pacify God with the filthy works of his hands, while disobeying His voice. He took upon himself the office of the priest, looking for double honor, and instead lost his office of kingship, bringing upon himself double shame.

Even so is the sin of feminism.

For as Saul left his proper office and usurped the priesthood, so feminist doctrine calls women to leave theirs and usurp the authority given only to men. It is the same spirit: pride masked as principle, rebellion under the pretense of righteousness.

“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Sam. 15:23)

Feminism is witchcraft—for it charms the heart against God’s order, and teaches women to conjure a new law and a new gospel from their own lusts. It is idolatry—for it exalts the self above the Scriptures, man’s rights above God’s rule, and fashions a god after their own image who allows them these. It is treason—for it seeks to overthrow the natural and God-ordained harmony which He has provided for the house, the church, and the world. Feminism seeks to overthrow the most High God, and establish a lie in His place.

And though they offer many supposed good works—as teaching, building, writing, nurturing—if they be offered in rebellion, they are not holy. Even if the deed in itself be commendable, if the order is perverted, the whole is polluted.

Let them take heed to the holy scripture and know: when we sin, it is still an offer. But rather than righteousness which we owe, a spotless lamb which was commanded, we offer the lame, the blind, the blemished—sacrifices which God hath expressly forbidden. (Mal. 1:8) And shall He accept this at our hand?

No—“present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1), saith the apostle. Which is to say: let every member, thought, and action be offered to God in its proper place, with its proper spirit, by His appointed rule. There is no neutrality in any part of worship. Every deed is either sweet smelling incense or a noisome and abominable stench.

God hath set order in the household: the man as head, the woman as helper. He calleth her a “weaker vessel” not in value and virtue, but in office, function and design; for she was formed not from dust like the man, but from his side, as one made for him. (Gen. 2:22; 1 Pet. 3:7) And Adam was not deceived by Satan, but the woman was deceived, and Adam by her. Therefore was this singular judgment passed on women for her sake, as sin was passed on mankind for Adam’s.

Let her not leave that domain God has placed her in. Even if her husband err—even if men fall short—she is not justified in overstepping her bounds. Presumption in the name of order is still disorder. Uzzah stretched forth his hand to steady the ark and was struck dead. He meant well—but he died because he did not fear the Lord, and regard the strict commandments pertaining to the proper transportation of the ark. (2 Sam. 6:6–7)

So too when women seize authority, even to “do good,” they commit sacrilege and God standeth ever ready to strike. They defy the created order, and think to bring peace by rebellion. But God saith: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” (1 Cor. 14:40) and, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? Not one.”

Say not, then, “We are in Christ; the law is no more.” The law is no longer our condemner, but it is still our compass. The law is not dead; it is fulfilled. And those who love Christ keep His commandments—not as bondsmen under the yoke of Sinai, but as sons walking in the light of His holiness.
“Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” (1 Cor. 7:19)

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

“Walk not as other Gentiles walk… but be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” (Eph. 4:17,23)

To be in Christ is to keep the law and not break it. It is to serve God with a willing heart and a ready mind. It is to walk lawfully—under grace—and under God. The old covenant is fulfilled, and the moral order remains. The Spirit writes the law no more on tablets, but on the hearts of His people. “I shall be their God and they shall be my people.”

Therefore, you cannot be a feminist and a Christian. The two are as contrary as light and darkness, Christ and Belial. For feminism is a rival gospel, a counterfeit creed. It denies the roles God hath expressly ordained, the authority He hath divinely established, and the submission He hath undoubtedly required.

Let those who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity—and that includes this iniquity which hath swallowed the world whole as of late. (2 Tim. 2:19)

As Saul was stripped of his kingdom for one act of proud disobedience, so shall the feminist be stripped of every crown she thinks to earn. For “to obey is better than sacrifice,” and to submit unto righteousness is better than to lead into darkness.

Now, although we have briefly shown in what way feminism may be likened to sacrifice without obedience, we spoke so chiefly because our text demands it; yet we must also speak of feminism in this text, and by this text. For the Word saith, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22). In one sense, feminism pretends to “sacrifice”—that is, it attempts to do good without the express commandment of God; but looked at more closely as a social cancer, it proves not sacrifice at all, but the refusal of sacrifice: not the form of religion without the heart, but wholesale rebellion of the heart against the form. Therefore, as we used the likeness, we must also press the difference, that our judgment be righteous and our indictment exact. When Saul sacrificed sheep and oxen, he violated the command and excused himself by appealing to another command—the ceremonial sacrifices—which in their own place were pleasing to God. But the Lord is pleased with things abiding in their place: sacrifices where sacrifices belong (always subordinate to His moral law and present command), kings where kings belong (not usurping the priest’s office), and women where women belong (not usurping the man’s authority). “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33), and “let all things be done decently and in order” (v. 40).

Accordingly, feminism is not merely “sacrifice without obedience” (as with Saul, who lied about his motive while keeping what God had cursed); rather, it is the non-sacrifice of the heathen, the doctrine of devils, the rule of disorder, and an open invitation to emotional frenzy and social ruin. Saul at least pretended, “to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God” (1 Sam. 15:15, 21); the feminist has no lawful pretext at all. Filled with the same greed, lust, ambition, and spirit of defiance, she not only refuses to obey and revolts against the express Word, but also abandons the very altar on which she ought to lay herself—as Scripture requires of every believer: “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom. 12:1). What is taken out of its God-appointed sphere is no fit offering. “Bring no more vain oblations” (Isa. 1:13). “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice” (Prov. 21:3). “I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:6; cf. Matt. 9:13; 12:7).

Mark the contrast. Saul still had something outward to lay upon the altar, though it made his worship abominable; the feminist, by transgressing order itself, has nothing to lay there that God will receive. For every acceptable work bears three marks: (1) it is commanded by God; (2) it is done in faith (because He commanded it); and (3) it is aimed at His glory (Ps. 115:1). Lacking any one, it is counterfeit coin and “the sacrifice of fools” (Eccl. 5:1). Hence the Lord rejected even His own ordinances when severed from obedience: “This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me” (Isa. 29:13). “I will take no bullock out of thy house” (Ps. 50:9). “Who hath required this at your hand?” (Isa. 1:12). So too here: if the order is perverted, the whole is polluted (Mal. 1:8).

Let us, then, remember creation and command. “The head of the woman is the man” (1 Cor. 11:3); “Adam was first formed, then Eve” (1 Tim. 2:13); “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man” (v. 12); “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Gen. 3:16); “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:22–24; Col. 3:18); “keepers at home… that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Tit. 2:5); “even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1 Pet. 3:5–6). Presumption “for good” remains presumption. Uzzah stretched out his hand “to steady” the ark and was struck dead (2 Sam. 6:6–7). He meant well, but he did not fear the command. So when women seize authority—“to set things straight”—they defy the order by which things are set straight. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” (Job 14:4).

Say not, “We are in Christ; the law is no more.” The law no longer condemns the believer (Rom. 8:1), yet it still instructs him; it is not Sinai’s chain, but Zion’s compass. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God” (1 Cor. 7:19). “Walk not as other Gentiles walk… but be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:17, 23). Christian liberty is not license: “Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh” (Gal. 5:13); “as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness” (1 Pet. 2:16). Christ did not abolish the law, but fulfilled it (Matt. 5:17–19), and the Spirit now writes that law upon the heart (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10). Therefore, whatever liberty God hath not expressly given is theft; whatever authority He hath not clearly assigned is usurpation; and whatever office He hath not plainly ordained is witchcraft. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Sam. 15:23)

Away, then, with the vain pretense of “virtue” and the dark arts of a liberty uncommanded. God will have obedience and not sacrifice. And what He hath not granted in His Word is no part of Christian service, but revolt. “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” (Deut. 12:32)
e. The root of obedience (the hearing of faith), “to hearken”

Let us now return to a proper and sober definition of that heresy which has so plagued our generation—feminism—that we may rightly show its opposition to the most precious of all graces, namely, faith.

Feminism, according to the common definitions of our time, is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes,” or, as another source has it, “the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.” These definitions are not biased interpretations—they are the very self-descriptions of the movement itself. Thus, we take feminism at its word, and by its own profession, feminism is nothing less than a revolt against God’s ordained order of nature, law, and society.

At the heart of feminism is a claim of injustice: that women have been deprived of something that belongs to them by right, and that this deprivation must be rectified by reordering society, family, and power. But this very claim presupposes that the creature may judge the Creator. For who made them male and female? Who determined the roles, distinctions, and purposes of men and women in the covenantal order of creation? It was not the state. It was not man. It was not the woman. It was the Lord of Hosts. And what He has decreed, let no man—or woman—presume to alter. To assert that women have been historically denied “rights” that belong to them by divine justice is to accuse God of injustice, and to exalt man’s sentiment above God’s law.

Scripture teaches no such doctrine of human equality in function or office. Rather, it teaches divine purpose in all things. God hath appointed to each his station, calling, and burden, and hath done so with wisdom, not cruelty. Feminism, in its essence, denies this divine appointment and substitutes for it a man-made theory of interchangeable sexes—a flat, sterile, soulless vision that denies the beauty of distinction and the harmony of God’s order.

This is why feminism cannot coexist with faith. It is not merely an error in sociology; it is a sin against the first commandment. It introduces another law, another righteousness, another god. For faith, properly considered, is that grace whereby the soul receives and rests upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and glory. But it is also, in its active fruit, the obedient response to God’s every word: “Faith worketh by love.” It believes what He says, and submits to it. It does not quarrel with His commandments, nor seek to improve upon them.

Therefore, the feminist cannot truly believe in Christ. For faith requires submission and feminism is by definition rebellion.”
Where the one says, “Thy will be done,” the other says, “My voice must be heard.” Where faith says, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,” feminism demands, “Listen, for we will decide what is best for us.”

Let us go further. Feminism is not only a denial of faith in the practical sense—it also obscures and denies the gospel itself. For the gospel is not a message of equality, but of mercy. It does not tell us that all men and women are equally suited to the same tasks, or that each may choose their own path without consequence. It tells us that we are sinners, and that Christ alone is righteous. And it commands all to repent, believe, and obey—according to the order God hath established. That order includes, without ambiguity, the submission of the wife to her husband, the modesty and silence of the woman in the congregation, and the distinct calling of men to public authority and teaching in the church and home.

To reject this is to reject not merely Paul, or Peter, or Moses—but Christ, whose word it is. As it is written, “He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me.” Therefore, let no one claim to follow Christ while despising the roles He has commanded and the structures He has built.

The effect of feminism, then, is not joy but judgment. It promises liberty, but brings confusion. It boasts of progress, but ends in perversion. It multiplies grievances, stirs up discontent, undermines the family, pollutes the church, and dishonours the gospel. And though it may offer women a fleeting sense of empowerment, it cannot give peace, for there is no peace apart from submission to God.

Only the truth brings joy. And the truth is this: that God’s law is good; that His wisdom is unsearchable; and that His order is not bondage, but beauty. Let women believe this, and they shall be happy. Let them deny it, and they shall undoubtedly be miserable—though they be applauded by the whole world.

On the Nature of Civil Rights and the Feminist Distortion Thereof being antithetical to True Faith in the Word of God.

The modern concept of “civil rights” or “social liberties” is grounded in the Enlightenment dogma that men possess an inherent value which obligates governments to guarantee their liberties. Chief among these—according to the American creed—are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet this trinity of carnal idealism is itself a monster, a grotesque idol, whose vague and unbounded nature renders it susceptible to the most barbarous and depraved interpretations.

What if a man’s idea of life includes defiling the innocent?
What if liberty is used to poison the minds of children, to mock God, and overturn the natural affections?
What if a woman’s “pursuit of happiness” is found in abandoning her household, despising her husband, snuffing the life of her unborn child, and exalting herself over men?

Shall we still call these rights “sacred”? Shall we defend them under the guise of freedom, when their fruit is clearly anarchy, misery, and moral suicide?

It is evident that such “rights” must be restrained, defined, and subjugated to the law of God, else society will be swallowed whole by villainy and debauchery. Indeed, this has already come to pass. America, in her recent history, has utterly failed to define rights according to the light of nature and the standard of Scripture. Consequently, the gates of hell have been flung open, and into the streets have poured every vile thing—abortion, sodomy, transgenderism, pedophilia, and the fuel of many of these woes: feminism.

Among these abominations, feminism occupies a unique seat, for it is not merely a moral failing or perverse practice—it is a political doctrine aimed at dismantling the entire framework of created order. It removes the woman from the station to which God appointed her and thrusts her into places she was never meant to be: the university, the courtroom, the boardroom, the laboratory, the army, the pulpit, the judge’s bench, the political throne. This is monstrous.

But it is not simply the woman who has done this. The rebellion was not accomplished by her strength—for she had none to do it alone. Rather, she has been aided by the apostate church and the effeminate state. The one surrendered its theology to devils (when Reformed pulpits gave place to Arminians), and the other surrendered its duty to govern to atheists and cowards who fear man more than God.

By what madness do men now exalt women to places of dominion—fragile, panicked, emotionally governed creatures—placing them over households, corporations, and nations? Can she, whose strength is in her womb and nurture, now bear the sword, adjudicate disputes, and legislate justice? Shall she who was made to bear children now bear rule over men?

Let it not be named. For in doing so, we have not elevated woman—we have degraded man. Indeed, the rule of woman is not the advancement of female liberty, but the deprivation of male duty. It is a crime against the order of creation, a theft of God’s design. As surely as God cannot remain sovereign if man is free, neither can man remain sovereign if woman is loosed from her place and enthroned as his equal.

But some will say: “Is not the woman equal in value, and thus equal in right?” We answer: Her person is not her office. Her dignity as a human bearing a personal and unique soul does not imply her fitness for governance. Her usefulness in childbearing is not her qualification for ruling. Equality of being does not entail equality of function. God never approved of women in authority—not once in all of Scripture. And creation itself renders her unfit: physically weaker, emotionally governed, and innately fashioned for a different glory.

Let it be known: we are not attempting to persuade the world. The world is mad, and its conscience seared. The sycophants, the mobs, the politicians, the influencers—they cannot be convinced. But our task is not to convert the mob, but to demolish the strongholds of falsehood with the weapons of righteousness.

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God…” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

And feminism is such a high thing. It is a lie. A deceit. A rebellion against God. It is the religion of the Whore of Babylon, repackaged with smiling faces and talk-show sermons. It is the philosophy of hell—cloaked in glitter and victimhood. It is irrational, unnatural, unbiblical. It is the injection of death into the bloodstream of a nation.

And this we say not alone. John Knox thundered the same truth centuries ago in The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, rebuking with holy violence the wicked reign of Mary Tudor and others like her. We now echo that trumpet blast in our day, not against a queen, but against a movement—a global whoredom whose tentacles reach into every home, school, and pulpit.

Let our words then be as swords, and let the axe be laid to the root of the tree.

Feminism is antithetical to faith.
Feminism is irrational.
Feminism is against nature and against God.
Let it be cast down and burned with all other idols of men.
2. The nature of faith.
Now that we have shown the definition of feminism in its true light, let us also define the faith of Scripture and set forth its temper, its fruits, and the behavior it produces—so that faith, brought into the noon-day, may put impudent rebels to shame. Faith has many characteristics and operations. In a practical sense, it trusts God’s providence: “I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Ps. 56:4; Heb. 13:6). In the theological sense, it receives Christ for righteousness: “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1; cf. Phil. 3:9). In this present argument, however, we speak of faith as believing God’s Word and humbly submitting to His will in all things. Thus it is written of the patriarch: “By faith Abraham obeyed, when he was called to go out… and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Heb. 11:8). Luther rightly says, “We are justified by faith alone, not by a faith that is alone.” And James Nalton, that Westminster divine: “Although faith alone doth justify, yet that faith that is alone doth not justify… the faith that is a justifying faith is a working faith.” In sum, faith hears, hearkens, and obeys—“the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5). It “worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6), “is the substance of things hoped for” (Heb. 11:1), and “is made perfect by works” (Jas. 2:22).

This faith stands in perfect antithesis to the temper of modern feminism, which would be free from law and order, and at liberty to usurp offices not given—consuming the world through lust. Of the women of faith, Scripture speaks thus: “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed” (Heb. 11:11); and again, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives… whose adorning… let it be the hidden man of the heart… even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price… even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, while ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement” (1 Pet. 3:1–6). Here God’s imprimatur is stamped upon a definite mind and a definite manner of life. The coin that passes in the kingdom must be of the golden mint of holiness; all else is counterfeit.

The world, however, runs by its own appetites, contrary to God’s law and sound reason; hence, in our time, women take to themselves unnatural offices (that is, offices not belonging to their sphere) and impose themselves as persons in authority. This is unseemly and, in the sight of God, an abomination; for “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). The very nature of faith is to act in love according to God’s holy character and law; rebellion against His commandments is not faith but sin, for “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23), and “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Therefore that which is of faith is—by definition—in obedience to the commandments (1 John 5:3).

In these passages the Spirit commends female piety, not female authority. Instances of women appearing in public roles (Deborah, Huldah) do not overturn the rule; narrative is not norm. “Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Hence the apostolic order: “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man” (1 Tim. 2:12–14). The histories are full of the patriarchs’ faults—Samson, Jephthah, David, Solomon—by which God yet wrought good; but these were written “for our admonition” (1 Cor. 10:11), that we might discern what is right and what is sin. Likewise, God overruled female prominence at times for good, but never gave it as the pattern for the church or the home. “Let your women keep silence in the churches… as also saith the law.” (1 Cor. 14:34) “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord… for the husband is the head of the wife.” (Eph. 5:22–24) “…adorned with shamefacedness and sobriety… but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” (1 Tim. 2:9–10) “…keepers at home… that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Tit. 2:5)

Faith, then, seeks the order God appointed; feminism seeks offices God forbade. Faith loves the law and finds liberty in obedience (Ps. 119:45, 165); feminism cries “liberty” and finds bondage in revolt (2 Pet. 2:19). However the world lives, let it live and be judged; but the godly are called not to stumble into the errors of the age, but to knowledge, virtue, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity (2 Pet. 1:5–7). This is the life of faith: quiet submission to His commandments, diligent holiness in one’s appointed place, and a meek and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is of great price. Let all who possess this grace bear witness to the truth.

f. The nature of the offense, “rebellion is as witchcraft”
We now aim to establish the true definition of witchcraft, to unfold its nature, to demonstrate its inseparable link with disobedience, and to expose its living spirit in the ideology of feminism. And having set it forth by the light of holy Scripture, we shall confute it plainly, that the reader may be enlightened as to the truth and discern the substance of our argument.

Contrary to common opinion, witchcraft is not confined to the grotesque and sensational—spells, séances, black candles, pentagrams, or open pacts with devils. These are, indeed, the more ostensible and abominable forms of witchcraft. But this is not the full extent of it, nor are we free from guilt merely because we do not indulge in such overt wickedness. Scripture teaches a broader and more terrifying definition.

Which, then, is worse—to speak with devils, and know it? Or to be possessed by their doctrine, and believe you are righteous, even as your soul is black with sin and your nature utterly corrupted? Is it worse to be a devil, or a deceived devil? The first is a damnable sin, certainly. But the second is both damnable sin and hypocrisy.

Shall God judge your works by your own mouth? Are we justified because we say we are? Nay, we are judged by the word of the Lord. If we do not walk in His commandments, according to the rule of faith, then it matters not whether we bow at the devil’s altar or merely do his will. It is all the same. For witchcraft, in its essence, is the attempt to channel power that belongs only to God—to seize divine prerogative by human means, and to establish our will upon the earth in opposition to His.

Whether this manifests in divination, incantation, disobedience, or rebellion—it is all the same in kind. For sovereignty belongs to the LORD, and any challenge to His rightful dominion is treason and witchcraft.

Now let us be clear: we do not, as some slander, seek to crush women underfoot, to wound their conscience, or to exploit their weakness. Our intent, as godly men, is to rule with tenderness, knowledge, fidelity, and love, for the command is, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” (Eph. 5:25). Yet as women are commanded to submit to their husbands, so we are commanded to submit to God. Shall He be pleased if we abuse the authority He has lent us, using it for selfishness and cruelty? No—for the parable warns us of the servant forgiven much who then seized his fellow by the throat (Matt. 18:28–35). Such a man will be judged with the same severity.

But feminism has no such humility. It is not content with obedience, but clamors for dominion. It calls God’s order unjust, and seeks to overthrow it. This is witchcraft, for it is the very attempt to void God’s decree and exalt the creature above the Creator. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” (Job 14:4).

Therefore, as Samuel condemned Saul for offering sacrifice without the commandment of God, so we condemn feminism for demanding liberty where God has imposed subjection. Both sins are alike: they dethrone God in order to enthrone the will of man. Both sins are rebellion, both are witchcraft, both are treason against the Most High.

Let all who name the name of Christ tremble at this word. If any man or woman will not submit to God’s order, let them know they are not free but bewitched. Let them know they stand not in the fellowship of the saints but in the company of devils. “They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.” (Prov. 28:4). Let us, then, contend with this wickedness. Let us cleave to the Word of God, the scepter of His holy providence, and the order He hath set from the beginning. For only that people shall be blessed who fear the LORD and keep His commandments.

g. The aggravation of the offense, “stubbornness”

As we have touched upon the relationship of faith and obedience, we now proceed to the nature of stubbornness, that accursed vice which aggravates the guilt of sinners and heaps judgment upon their heads.

“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Prov. 29:1). This is no idle threat. Though there is but one end for all idolaters and rebels—hell and damnation—yet the paths that lead thereto are many, and their torment shall be in proportion to the hardness of their hearts and the stubbornness of their rebellion. “He will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:6).

Disobedience may be defined as any transgression of the express Word of God, or want of conformity thereto, as the Westminster divines rightly taught. But stubbornness is something greater still. It is the continuance in disobedience, after reproof. It is when a sinner, being admonished, warned, and exhorted, persists in evil with a high hand. Thus the proverb says, “He, that being often reproved…” It is not the sin alone, but the response to rebuke, that determines the depth of guilt.

God does not judge all transgressors equally, but according to what they have received. “That servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Luke 12:47). Those who sin in ignorance shall be judged as such, but those who hear the truth and reject it are doubly guilty. They crucify the Son of God afresh (Heb. 6:6).

Even in our own day—though there is no open vision, and few true prophets walking among us—the witness of the past remains. The Scriptures are not silent. The testimony of godly men, of faithful reformers, and of ancient paths still calls out. “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein” (Jer. 6:16). This is the spirit of our age: stubborn rejection of the good way, and bold defiance of the call to repentance.

The modern Church bears much of the blame. She is silent where she should speak. She fears man more than God. She either embraces feminism outright, or else is ignorant, ill-equipped, sympathetic, or cowardly. She has ceased to be the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), and instead has become a den of compromise. Her pastors are but dumb dogs that cannot bark (Isa. 56:10).

Yet whenever one man dares to speak—armed not with novelty but with common prudence, the testimony of scripture, and the judgments of history—he is met not with thoughtful rebuttal, but with frothing rage. These women, and their male enablers, do not answer with scripture or logic, but with slander, reviling, and mischief. They invent labels, call evil good and good evil, and bark like mad dogs at the gates of righteousness. “They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly” (Amos 5:10).

So great is their wickedness, that even worldly men, ungodly in doctrine but sensible in nature, sometimes rebuke them. For feminism is not only disobedient—it is stubborn. It resists even natural reason and order. It is void of all equity and justice. It cannot be defended by scripture, by logic, or by nature. It is the frantic terror of those who know they cannot rule by truth, and so seek to rule by force.

Recommend a feminist to read John Knox’s First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. Recommend her to read this treatise. Will she repent? Nay—she will gnash her teeth in furious rage, for the Word of the Lord has no place in her. “They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone…” (Zech. 7:11–12).

This is the spirit of the age: stubborn, implacable, unteachable. Therefore the Lord has said, “Because I have called, and ye refused… I also will laugh at your calamity… Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer” (Prov. 1:24–28). They would not hear the Word of the Lord—therefore He will not hear them.

Let us be content to have spoken, that they may have no cloak for their sin. “And they shall know that there hath been a prophet among them” (Ezek. 2:5). Though they rage and resist, yet the Word of the Lord shall not return void.

h. The scope of the offense, “iniquity and idolatry”

The way of the Lord is perfect; His judgments are true and righteous altogether. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul… the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” (Ps. 19:7–8). God has not dealt unjustly with woman, neither has He deprived her of her portion. Rather, He has ordained for her a station of honour, delight, and sanctity: to be a wife, a mother, a keeper at home, and a helper meet for man. These things are not chains but adornments, not burdens but blessings. Therefore, the prescription of woman’s role by the mouth of God is not only just and holy, but suited to her very nature, for “His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

But feminism is rebellion. It is not only contrary to God’s word—which is to say, religiously false—but also contrary to nature itself, and therefore, scientifically irrational. It wars against reason, custom, experience, and the very order which God has impressed upon creation. Thus iniquity becomes idolatry: for iniquity is lawlessness, and idolatry is to serve that which is not God. The one always leads to the other.

It is written: “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23). This is not hyperbole, but divine truth. For rebellion removes God from His throne in the heart, and sets up a new idol—whether man, woman, pleasure, or ideology. As it is written, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3), and again, “Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands… therefore forgive them not” (Isa. 2:8–9).

Feminism is precisely this: an idol of man’s own making, forged in the heart, nurtured by sin, and exalted in the public square. It proclaims liberty but births bondage. It promises enlightenment but leads to darkness. It declares justice while sowing sedition. It is not only a false doctrine, but a false god—another Baal among the nations.

And let no one say that feminism may be baptized and sanctified, for there is no good kind of poison. All that is contrary to Scripture is also contrary to reason, prudence, and the light of nature. As it is written, “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20). And again, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov. 3:5).

Now as to the fruit of this idolatry, it is manifold and monstrous: the defence of sodomy, the affirmation of transgender delusion, the embrace of witchcraft, the confusion of borders, the cry of globalism, the enthronement of self, and the redefinition of all moral absolutes. All these are the spawn of feminism’s womb. It is written, “They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them” (Ps. 106:28–29).

Therefore we affirm with full authority of Scripture: no feminist, properly so called, is justified before God. “She shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety” (1 Tim. 2:15). But feminism rejects this word. Hence, feminism rejects salvation.

Let all such idolaters know that their sorrows shall be multiplied. “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god” (Ps. 16:4). “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived… idolaters… shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9–10). The Lord shall arise to judge the world in righteousness. “The Lord shall roar from on high… he shall mightily roar upon his habitation… he shall give them that are wicked to the sword” (Jer. 25:30–31). Those who worship at the altar of feminism and bow to its gods shall be destroyed.

Feminism is a doctrine of devils. It is iniquity and idolatry, and it will receive its due reward.
i. The rule of the offense, “the word of the LORD”
We now come full circle to the final authority and source of that divine wisdom by which we speak. For we do not, as so many in our day, belch out the noisome and odious machinations of our own brain, but speak according to the word of the LORD (let the reader take careful heed) and by His authority. Therefore, as the very nature of feminism cannot be said to spring from the doctrine taught in Scripture—“wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands” (Eph. 5:22), “he shall rule over thee” (Gen. 3:16), “as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1 Pet. 3:6), “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Tim. 2:12) it is on that account antithetical to the law and gospel, the rule of faith, and the good pleasure of God—Moreover, all of these passages listed here from the Old and New Testaments are so decidedly against the corrupt doctrine of feminism that no elaborate exposition is needed; the plain and simple word is enough.

Our point here, then, is not only to show that feminism is against the Scripture, but to show that every man-made doctrine, idea, philosophy—whatever creeps into man’s mind according to his blind and ignorant nature—is witchcraft, and no better than open rebellion against God. William Tyndale writes in his most excellent treatise, The Obedience of a Christian Man (1528): “Now there is no other division or heresy in the world save man’s wisdom, and when man’s foolish wisdom interpreteth the Scripture. God is but his word, as Christ saith (John 8), ‘I am that I say unto you’; that is to say, That which I preach am I; my words are spirit and life. God is that only which he testifieth of himself; and to imagine any other thing of God than that, is damnable idolatry.” Now, while in that context he aptly applies his words to the false gospel of the Papists and their abominable horde of idols, it is no less applicable to any and all doctrines that proceed from man’s wisdom. Tyndale therefore states two things of extreme importance, which we also aim to declare: (1) that the Papists (and in our case the feminists) do not have the authority of God for their doctrine; and (2) that those who do not speak according to, or submit to the rule of the word of God are condemned by that word as heretics and outsiders.

It is said in the word, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (Gen. 3:15), spoken to the serpent—the enemy of Christ and of all righteousness. The devil’s kingdom is not manifest only by occultism, necromancy, and spirit-worship, but by all works of mankind not certified and authorized by the Word of God. The Word is often likened in Scripture to seed, and the church to a new creation. Christ Himself saith, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11); and again, “Being born again… by the word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23); and James no less confidently declares, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth” (Jas. 1:18). Therefore the seed of the woman—which is the church, also called “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), sanctified and cleansed by the word (Eph. 5:26)—no doubt has her doctrine from God Himself, as it is written, “They shall be all taught of God” (John 6:45), and, “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).

Note well: it is not enough merely to “speak of the word,” nor are we restricted in tongue and pen to the bare recitation of the word (for that would leave no room for exposition—the practice of prophets and apostles); but we must speak “according to this word.” For as Jerome said, “The gospel is not in the words of the Scriptures, but in the sense; not on the surface, but in the marrow; not in the leaves of words, but in the root of reason.” Therefore, let no one reject this word for his own opinion. For those who hold to spurious and pernicious opinions manifestly declare that they are not the seed of the woman, walking the road to eternal life, but the seed of the serpent—of Satan, of the kingdom of darkness, of rebellion and disobedience—and will assuredly perish with him and his angels. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:17
j. The condition of the offenders, “because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee.”
This leads us to the final point in this section of the treatise. We have hitherto argued that the only right and safe ground to rest upon, and to found our belief upon, is the word of God. Now what shall be said then of those who refuse and reject the word of God, continuing to walk in their own ways and according to their own wisdom? Some do not like the doctrine of original sin because they cannot grasp how sin can pass from Adam to another or defile an infant. Others reject the doctrine of predestination because they cannot allow that God will have his choice in salvation and leave them and others in unbelief and their estate of ruin. Others reject the doctrine of womanhood and take up for this vile doctrine of feminism because they will not submit to those civil ordinances that God has established for man’s good. For when God gave commandment for women to submit to men and be silent, it was not to deprive them of anything whereby they might live in true joy and harmony. But it was for the benefit of women as much as for men, as it is written, “The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.” Therefore, inasmuch as they have rejected the plain testimony of scripture, God has rejected them, and will appoint them their place with the hypocrites, and with the devil and his angels. As it is written, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” And again, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” and again, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. He that rejects the word of God therefore is antichrist and rejected by God. Such are all feminists and those who approve of them.