What Reason can be assign’d why the Mothers of the Kings of _Judah_, are so frequently noted in those very short Accounts that are given of their Reigns, but the great Respect paid them, or perhaps their Influence on the Government, and Share in the Administration? This is not improbable, since the wicked _Athaliah_ had Power to carry on her Intrigues so far as to get Possession of the Throne, and to keep it for some Years. Neither was there any Necessity for _Asa_’s removing his Mother (or Grandmother) from being Queen, if this were merely Titular, and did not carry Power and Authority along with it. And we find what Influence _Jezabel_ had in _Israel_, indeed to her Husband’s and her own Destruction. It was a _Widow-Woman_ whom _GOD_ made choice of to sustain his Prophet _Elijah_ at _Zarephah_. And the History of the _Shunamite_ is a noble Instance of the Account that is made of Women in Holy Scripture. For whether it was not the Custom in _Shunem_ for the Husband to dictate, or whether her’s was conscious of her superior Vertue, or whatever was the Reason, we find it is she who governs, _dwelling_ with great Honour and Satisfaction _among her own People_. Which Happiness she understood so well, and was so far from a troublesome Ambition, that she desires no Recommendation to _the King or Captain of the Host_, when the Prophet offer’d it, being already greater than they could make her. The Text calls her a _Great Woman_, whilst her Husband is hardly taken Notice of, and this, no otherwise, than as performing the Office of a Bailiff. It is _her_ Piety and Hospitality that are Recorded, _She_ invites the Prophet to _her House_; who converses with, and is entertained by _her_. She gives her Husband no Account of _her_ Affairs any further, than to tell him _her_ Designs, that he may see them executed. And when he desires to know the Reason of her Conduct, all the Answer she affords is, _Well_, or, as the Margin has it from the _Hebrew_, _Peace_. Nor can this be thought assuming, since it is no more than what the Prophet encourages, for all his Addresses are to _her_, he takes no Notice of her Husband. His Benefits are conferr’d on _her_, ’tis _she_ and _her Household_ whom he warns of a Famine, and ’tis _she_ who Appeals to the King for the Restitution of _her House_ and _Land_. I would not infer from hence, that Women, generally speaking, ought to govern in their Families when they have a Husband; but I think this Instance and Example is a sufficient Proof, that if by Custom or Contract, or the Laws of the Country, or Birth-right, (as in the Case of Sovereign Princesses) they have the supreme Authority, it is no Usurpation, nor do they act contrary to Holy Scripture, nor consequently to the Law of Nature. For they are no where, that I know of, forbidden to claim their just Right: The Apostle, ’tis true, would not have them _usurp_ Authority, where Custom and the Law of the strongest had brought them into Subjection, as