and household affaires.”^71 Earlier Gataker reminds both husband and wife to
recognize that their respective partner is a gift from God.^72 William Whately argues
that a husband and wife “are indebted each to other in reciprocall debt.”^73 However,
the husband’s higher position of authority also included greater responsibility and he
was expected to provide a good example for his wife.^74 Puritan pastors were typically
very perceptive of human nature and Richard Steele in his sermon on Ephesians 5:33
declares that the apostle Paul was observing the most frequent failings of couples, that
“husbands too commonly being defective in their love, and wives most defective in
their reverence and subjection.”^75
William Gouge provides a striking illustration of the dynamics of hierarchy.
The publication of his Of Domesticall Duties created an outcry among many of the
women in his London congregation. By the third edition he acknowledged that they
felt he was overbearing and excessive in his teaching. Significantly these women felt
the freedom to voice their concerns and equally that Gouge acknowledged this in
print.^76 It is also noteworthy that his teaching on sex within marriage was very
reciprocal and he was the most progressive Puritan on this subject. The recent
research of Christine Peters further clarifies both the dynamics within Gouge’s
71
Gataker, Certaine Sermons, 128. The likely original source of this imagery is
Chrysostom’s homily on Ephesians. Steele, “Duties of Husbands and Wives?” 290. cf. Packer, Quest for Godliness, 262 and Longfellow, Women and Religious Writing,
120 for other variations. For John Donne’s opposing view of Genesis 2 imagery see
Todd, “Spiritualized Household,” 113n72. 72
73 Gataker, Good Wife Gods Gift, 22-3.^
74 Whately, Bride-Bush (1617), 1.^
75 Whately, Bride-Bush (1617), 19.^
76 Steele, “Duties of Husbands and Wives,” 274.^
All citations from Gouge in this thesis are from the 1634 third edition. Gouge, Domesticall Duties, 4. This does not appear in the 1627 second edition.