This then is the punishment of the woman, which righteously fell upon her as the consequence of original sin, which she bears quite as unwillingly as she does those pains and troubles, righteously imposed on her flesh in child-bearing. Wherefore the rule and government of all things remain in the power of the husband whom the wife according to the command of God is bound to obey. The husband rules the house, governs the state politic, conducts wars, defends his own property, cultivates the earth, builds, plants, etc. The woman on the other hand as a nail driven into the wall sits at home. Hence it is that the Apostle Paul calls women OIKOUROUS, "keepers at home," Titus 2:5. For this same reason the ancients represented Venus sitting on a shell; because as the shell-fish always carries its shell with it, so the woman ought always to be constantly at home attending to her domestic affairs; as one deprived of the right of governing outside of her house and in public, and as one whose duty is never to go beyond her own most private and domestic concerns in the matter of government. Had Eve therefore stood in the truth she would not only have been free from all subjection to the rule of the man, but she herself also would have been an equal partaker of government, which now belongs to men alone. Women however are generally impatient of this burden and by nature aim at the assumption of that, which by their sin they have lost; and when they can do nothing more they at least show their unwillingness to bear the yoke by a murmur of discontent. Whereas they are not competent to undertake the management of men's affairs, of teaching, ruling, etc. Of bearing children, and of feeding, nursing and bringing up their offspring they are capable. In this manner therefore was Eve punished; and all womankind endure the same curse. But, as I have before said, this very punishment is a joyful one, if you look at the hope of eternal life which springs from her Seed, out of the midst of her child-bearing pains; and if you consider also the glory of maternity or motherhood left to her. II. V. 17. _And unto Adam he said, "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life."_