So when they consult him about women's apparel (a
subject on which his opinion may be pretty correctly imagined
by the ingenious reader for himself) he takes occasion to
anticipate some of the most offensive matter of the "First
Blast" in a style of real brutality. (3) It is not merely
that he tells them "the garments of women do declare their
weakness and inability to execute the office of man," though
that in itself is neither very wise nor very opportune in
such a correspondence one would think; but if the reader will
take the trouble to wade through the long, tedious sermon for
himself, he will see proof enough that Knox neither loved,
nor very deeply respected, the women he was then addressing.
In very truth, I believe these Edinburgh sisters simply bored
him. He had a certain interest in them as his children in
the Lord; they were continually "provoking him by their
writing;" and, if they handed his letters about, writing to
them was as good a form of publication as was then open to
him in Scotland. There is one letter, however, in this
budget, addressed to the wife of Clerk-Register Mackgil,
which is worthy of some further mention. The Clerk-Register
had not opened his heart, it would appear, to the preaching
of the Gospel, and Mrs. Mackgil has written, seeking the
Reformer's prayers in his behalf.
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