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diff --git a/12790-0.txt b/12790-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f32dc0e --- /dev/null +++ b/12790-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4660 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12790 *** + +THE TRUE WOMAN: + +A SERIES OF DISCOURSES + +BY REV. J. D. FULTON, (TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON.) + +TO WHICH IS ADDED + +WOMAN VS. BALLOT. + +BOSTON, 1869 + + + + + + + +TO + +THE TRUE WOMAN, + +WHO, THROUGH CHRIST, BLESSES MAN, AND HELPS TO MAKE HIS HOME A JOY AND +HIS LIFE A PRIVILEGE, + +THIS BOOK + +IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This book grew. Its history is very brief. The lecture entitled "Woman +_versus_ Ballot," while well received by the majority, has met with +a strong opposition from those who do not believe in the position +assigned to Woman in the Word of God. This turned the attention of +the author to the scriptural argument more and more, and resulted in +producing the impression that the effort to secure the ballot for +woman found its origin in infidelity to the Word of God and in +infidelity to woman. + +In "Woman as God made Her" we saw Eve as she was brought to Adam, and +familiarized ourselves with the purposes He had in her creation, which +were chiefly embodied in the one word "_Helpmeet_." In "Woman as +a Tempter" we saw the _ideal_ woman despoiled of her glory, and +influencing the world to turn from the worship of the Creator to that +of the creature. For ages woman suffered the consequences of sin. In +Eve she lost her recognition; through Christ she regained it. The +study of the Bible has convinced the writer that the purpose of God, +in creating woman, still lives, and is to find its complete fulfilment +under the New Dispensation. We have seen that Christ--the embodiment +of all manly properties--turned his face towards and lavished his +blessings upon womanly characteristics, such as meekness, purity, +love, and humility, and that, because of His influence, woman is +invited to take her place in the church on an equality with man, to +help on the cause of truth by an illustration of those virtues which +received the glory shed upon them by the life of the Son of Man and +the Son of God. + +In the work devolving upon mankind, woman has a distinct mission to +fulfil. Society owes to her love, honor, and protection. Every right, +social and religious, should be guarded. Associations calculated to +secure for her every privilege enjoyed by man, should be formed and +supported. Above all else, efforts should be made to lead her to +recognize in Christ her Saviour, for Christ in woman is her hope of +glory, her joy and strength. Said Florence Nightingale,-- + +"I would say to all women, Look upon your work, whether it be an +accustomed or unaccustomed work, as upon a trust confided to you. This +will keep you alike from discouragement and from presumption, from +idleness and from overtaxing of yourselves. Where God leads the way, +he has bound himself to help you _to go the way_. I would say to +all young ladies who are called to any peculiar vocation, Qualify +yourselves for it, as man does for his work. Don't think you can +undertake it otherwise. + +"And again, if you are called to do a man's work, do not exact a +woman's privileges--the privileges of inaccuracy, of weakness, of the +muddle-head. Submit yourselves to the rules of business, as men do, by +which alone you can make God's business succeed. For he has never said +that he will give his blessing to sketchy, unfinished work. And I +would especially guard young ladies from fancying themselves like +Lady Superiors, with an obsequious following of disciples, if they +undertake any great work. I would only say, Work, work, in silence at +first, in silence for years. It will not be time wasted. And it is +very certain that without it you will be no worker--you will not +produce one 'perfect work,' but only a botch, in the service of God." + +In the above spirit, and with a kindred desire, this volume was +written. For good or ill, for better or worse, the book is sent forth +in the hope that it may recall attention to the Divine IDEAL for +Woman, and aid in inducing man, to prize her as the first gift of God +to him, designed "as a helpmeet for him." + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +WOMAN AS GOD MADE HER + Man's Faith in a Helper suited to him + Woman Man's Complement + What Man desires to have loved + Woman is God's Gift to Man + What the Fact implies:-- + 1. The Father's Right to give away the Child + 2. The Purpose for which God created her + +WOMAN A HELPMEET + Man's Longing for Companionship + Meaning of the Word Woman + Woman dislikes to give a Reason for her Faith + Requisites to Companionship + Count Zinzendorf's Tribute to his Wife + Irving's Description of a Wife + The Advantages derived from Culture + Mrs. Thomas Carlyle and others + Why the Ballot injures Woman + +WOMAN AS A TEMPTER + Satan undermines Woman's Confidence in God + Satan raises Suspicion + Ritualism the Outgrowth + Mother Superior and Sisters of Charity + Satan employs Mystery + Spiritualism + Satan's Influence deceived Woman + The Girl of the Period + Woman's Peril and her Hope + The Effects of Sin + Characteristics of Woman's Power as a Tempter + Influence of Married Women + How Rome uses Woman + The Remedy + +THE GLORY OF MOTHERHOOD + Woman's Hope of Triumph + Man's Destiny and Mission + Woman ignored in Eve + Woman recognized in Mary + Woman in Nestoria and the East + Trials of Motherhood + The Glory of Motherhood + +MARIOLATRY NOT OF CHRIST + The Worship of the Virgin Mary + Woman's Position previous to the Advent + The Place she fills in the Scheme of Redemption + The Influences set in Motion by the Life of Christ + Christ's personal Relations to Mary reviewed + A Lesson for Woman + Peril arising from Perversions of Truth + Mary's Glory + +WOMAN'S WORK AND WOMAN'S MISSION + Woman's Work and Mission go hand in hand + Love lightens Labor + Woman's Work a Work of Charity + Cause of Trouble with Servants + Education must fit Woman for the Home + Woman's Mission inferred from the Wants of Man + A proper Conception of the Truth a Help to Woman + Woman's Mission social as well as domestic + Woman's Help needed in the Cause of Reform + Woman needs Help + A Mother's Power--her Mission religious + The Value of her Sympathy + Woman's Power a Glory and a Joy + +WOMAN vs. BALLOT, + Three Facts which stand in the Way of Woman's being + helped by the Ballot--God, Nature, and Common + Sense + The Scriptural Argument + God's Care for Woman + Her Condition in other Countries + An Illustration of Woman's Nature + Teachings of Nature + Teachings of Common Sense + Gail Hamilton vs. Ballot + Woman not a Lawmaker + Education essential for her + Woman not in Captivity + + + + +WOMAN AS GOD MADE HER. + + +The biography of our first parents, as God made them, and described +them, before sin ruined them, is very brief and truly suggestive. It +is as follows:-- + +"And Jehovah God created the man in his image; in the image of God +created he him; a male and a female created he them. And God blessed +them; and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the +earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the +fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the +earth. And God said, Behold, I have given to you every herb scattering +seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in +which is the fruit of a tree scattering seed, to you it shall be +given."--Gen. i. 27-30. + +"And Jehovah God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and he +breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a +living soul. And Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, on the east, +and there he put the man whom he formed, ... to till it and to keep +it. And God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden +thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil +thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou +shalt surely die. And God said, It is not good that the man should be +alone. I will make for him a helper, suited to him. And God caused a +deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his +ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. And of this rib which he +took from the man, Jehovah God formed a woman, and brought her to the +man. And the man said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my +flesh. This shall be called Woman, because from man was she taken. +Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall +cleave to his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And they were both +naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."--Gen, ii. 7, 8, +15-18, 21-25. + +Brief as are these utterances, and familiar as is this language, it is +interesting to notice that God has crowded into them every essential +fact concerning the origin of woman, the purpose of her creation, and +the sphere marked out for her by the Creator's hand. + +The simple outline of the story is given us, yet how wonderful is the +picture! In the first chapter the origin of man is proclaimed, and +his work, "to fill earth and subdue it," is placed before him. In the +second chapter, the relation of the sexes is given, and the nature of +marriage is explained. What arrests the attention most surely is the +resemblance that exists between the experience of our first parents +and of their descendants, or between Adam and Eve and ourselves. The +"It is not good for man to be alone," spoken by God in Eden, embodies +a truth which has lived with the ages, and sets forth an experience +felt by every son of Adam. The words "I will make for him a helper +suited to him," is man's authority for the faith, that somewhere on +the earth God has made a helper suited to him, whom he will recognize, +and who will return the recognition. For in all true marriages, now as +in Eden, the man and woman do not deliberately seek, but are brought +to one another. Happy those who afterwards can recognize that the hand +which led his Eve to Adam was that of an invisible God. Man knows that +it is not good for him to be alone. Separated from woman's influence, +man is narrow, churlish, brutal. Woman is a helper suited to him. With +her help he reaches a loftier stature; for love is the very heart of +life, the pivot upon which its whole machinery turns, without which no +human existence can be complete, and with which it becomes noble and +self-sacrificing. + +Woman's origin is thus declared:-- + +"And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he +slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its +place. And of the rib which he took from the man God formed a woman, +and brought her to the man. And the man said, This now is bone of my +bones, and flesh of my flesh. This shall be called Woman, because from +man was she taken. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his +mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be one flesh."[A] +_Woman was taken out of man_. It is man's nature to seek to get her +back. He feels that a part of _him_ is away from him, until he obtains +her. Long years before he sees the woman whom he feels God designed to +be his wife, if he be a Christian, believing that she is on the earth, +he prays for her weal. + +[Footnote A: Gen. ii. 21-24.] + +"_Taken out of man!_" How significant these words! Man, without woman, +wants completeness--physically, mentally, and spiritually. First, +physically. The fact is noticeable that short men often marry tall +women, and tall men marry short women. Nervous men marry women who are +opposites to them in temperament. This is not a happen so, for that +which so often to the unreflecting mind seems unnatural and absurd, +to the thinking soul appears as an evidence of God's provident care. +Second, mentally. Man desires in his wife that which he lacks. A +bookish man seldom desires a wife devoted to the same branch of +literature, unless she works as a helpmeet. In taste and in sentiment +there must be harmony without rivalry. They must bring products to +the common garner, gathered from varying pursuits and from different +fields of thought. In music the same law rules. Man, from his very +nature, finds in woman a helper in song. Their voices blend in +harmony, and give volume, symphony, and variety to the melody +produced. Jenny Lind married her assistant, because in sympathy they +were one. He was essential to her womanly strength, and without her, +he was a mere cipher in the musical world. Together they were a power, +felt and acknowledged. + +A man full of thought and of genius requires for a wife, not only one +who can understand his moods and enjoy his creations, but one who is +content to take care of the home, and, perhaps, to manage the business +affairs; while many a woman of genius and ability links her fortunes +with a plain and appreciative husband, who gladly affords her every +means in his power to work in her special sphere. When the wife +refuses to act thus wifely, because of her talent, the happiness +of the home is imperilled, and the children suffer quite as much, +comparatively, as they do in those manufacturing neighborhoods where +the wife forsakes the home for the shop, and gives up the vocation +of woman to do the work which belongs to man. God made them male and +female. He fitted each for separate duties, not for the same duties. +Each fills a sphere when each discharges the duties enjoined upon them +by their Creator and by society. Wonderful women there are; few of +them care to duplicate their power. They prefer to obtain by marriage +that which they have not, and which must be supplied by material from +without. Homely people oftentimes find beautiful ones to mate them. +The rugged seeks the weak. The nervous, the lymphatic. Counterpart +that which makes itself complete. This tendency to assimilate is +often carried to extremes, because all naturally love that which they +possess, and come to prize highly those who regard it with favor. +Hence, poor men sometimes marry rich wives, and seldom fail to give +something in return. The story is familiar of the two foppish young +men who were said to have met at a noted hotel or on change, when one +accosted the other by the question, "Who did you marry?" "Ah," said +he, "I married fifty thousand dollars. I forget her other name." +Such men, however, are exceptions to the rule. There are brainless +creatures called men, who will marry a pretty face, though the heart +and brain be uncultured, provided there be associated with her +sufficient of this world's goods to gratify a mercenary ambition; but +the majority, both of men and women, wisely prefer to marry money in +a partner rather than money with a partner. The world has a profound +contempt for shallow, fussy, empty people, no matter what positions +they may occupy. + +All sympathize with the rebuke administered to a so-called lady of +quality by a Quaker gentleman, who occupied a seat near her in a +public coach. She wore an elegant lace shawl, and was dressed to the +top of the fashion, but was suffering from the cold. Shivering and +shaking, she inquired, "What shall I do to get warm?" "_Thee had +better put on another breastpin_," answered old Broadbrim. The rebuke +was timely. Woman degrades herself when she surrenders to fashion that +which helps the woman, and which aids her in securing the confidence, +the friendship, the respect, and admiration of sensible men. + +The truth embodied in the words, "This shall be called Woman, because +_from man was she taken_" sheds light upon many a mysterious chapter +in life, reconciles the union of contraries in accordance with the law +of God, and fills wide realms of life with the radiance of hope, which +otherwise would remain mantled in perpetual gloom. If we depended upon +those who are like ourselves to sympathize with us, and gird us with +strength, we should utterly fail. Oaks cannot lend support to oaks. +The vine can do this for the oak, and the oak can give support to the +vine; but an oak cannot give strength to its kindred while fulfilling +the functions of its life. The same law rules in the mental world. +Genius seldom applauds genius, working in its own realm. Very likely +it loathes it. The tributes paid to labor are given by the soft-handed +rather than by the hard-handed sons of toil. This principle lies back +of the appreciation, the commendation, and the support rendered by the +different classes of a community to each other. + +The God-given and Christ-restored thought of equality between the +sexes is seen in the household partnership, where the woman looks for +a "smart, but kind" husband, the man for a "capable, sweet-tempered" +wife. The man furnishes the house, the woman regulates it. Their +relation is one of mutual esteem, mutual dependence. Their talk is of +business; their affection shows itself by practical kindness. They +know that life goes more smoothly and cheerfully to each for the +other's aid; they are grateful and content. The wife praises her +husband as a "good provider;" the husband, in return, compliments her +as a capital housekeeper. This relation is good as far as it goes; +but the heart of the man or woman is unsatisfied, if to household +partnership intellectual companionship be not added. + +Men can hire their houses kept. Love cannot be purchased. Soul +communion is the gift of God. It is very often enjoyed on earth. Men +engaged in public life, literary men and artists, have often found +in their wives companions and confidants in thought, no less than in +feeling. And as the intellectual development of woman has spread +wider and risen higher, they have, not unfrequently, shared the same +employments. + +Thirdly, spiritual. The highest grade of marriage union is the +spiritual, which may be expressed as a pilgrimage towards a common +shrine. + +There is something in every man which he feels to be the essential +thing about him. This it is which he desires to have loved. Neglect +what else you choose, you must not neglect that. It is the spiritual +part of man,--the God-given characteristic which longs for sympathy. +Men feel that this want has been met when they say, "Such a one +understands me, knows me, sees me, is in sympathy with me." Such +moments are to all of priceless value. Whoever meets this want is a +boon from God. No matter what the complexion, nor how the features +seem: soul meets soul. The heart feels a new life. The union is +formed. _Call it affinity, or what you will_, they love in one another +the future good which they aid one another to unfold. This includes +home sympathies and household wisdom. Such fellowship makes of home a +joy, and of toil a delight. When first the joy is reached, a foretaste +of heaven is enjoyed. "For it is the one rift of heaven which makes +all heaven appear possible; the ecstasy of hope and faith, out of +which grows the love which is our strongest mortal instinct and +intimation of immortality." + +Women are as conscious of this feeling as are men. There are times +when women meet their counterpart. The nature they long for and seek +after with unutterable longing, is before them. Finding it, they +recognize their lord, under whose protection they take shelter, and +to whose rule they submit, because of love which masters and controls +them. The heart cries out for a person--not for things. Spirit +desires spirit; soul yearns for soul. It is the genius of woman to be +electrical in movement, intuitive in penetration, and spiritual in +tendency. She excels not so easily in classification or recreation as +in an instinctive seizure of causes, and a simple breathing out of +what she receives, that has the singleness of life, rather than the +selecting and energizing of art. More native is it to her to be the +living model of the artist, than to set apart from herself any one +form in objective reality. More native to inspire and receive the poem +than to create it. In so far as soul is in her completely developed, +all soul is the same; but in so far as it is modified in her as +woman, it flows, it breathes, it sings, rather than deposits soil, +or furnishes work; and that which is especially feminine, flushes in +blossom the face of the earth, and pervades, like air and water, all +this seeming solid globe, daily renewing and purifying its life. Such +is the especial feminine element which man desires as a helper, and +which is suited to him, and which compels him to exclaim, "O, my God, +give it to me _for mine_!" + +It is said, "A woman will sometimes idealize a very inferior man, +until her love for him exalts him into something better than he +originally was, and her into little short of an angel; but a man +almost invariably drops to the level of the woman he is in love with. +He cannot raise her; but she can almost unlimitedly deteriorate him." +This was true of Adam. Eve, sinning, brought him to her level. Why +this should be, Heaven knows; but so it constantly is. We have but +to look around us, with ordinary observation, in order to see that a +man's destiny, more than even a woman's, depends far less upon the +good or ill fortune of his wooing than upon the sort of woman with +whom he falls in love. + +Before a man loves, he is under obligations to himself, to his future, +and to the world, to ask himself, Is this woman suited to me? Will she +help me to fulfil my mission? Does she supply my want? Can I recognize +her as God's gift to me? If Yes, then he is right in loving; for + + "He either fears his fate too much, + Or his deserts are small, + Who dares not put it to the touch, + And win or lose it all." + +A woman, writing of woman, has truly said, "There are but two ways +open to any woman. If she loves a man, and he does not love her, to +give him up may be a horrible pang and loss; but it cannot be termed +a sacrifice: she resigns what she never had. But if he does love her, +and she knows it, and if she loves him, she has a right, in spite of +the whole world, to hold to him till death do them part. She is bound +to marry him, though twenty other women loved him, and broke their +hearts in loving him. He is not theirs, but hers; and to have her for +his wife is his right and her duty." "And in this world are so many +contradictory views of duty and exaggerated notions of light, so many +false sacrifices and remunerations, weak even to wickedness, that +it is but fair sometimes to uphold the right of love,--love sole, +absolute, and paramount,--firmly holding its own, and submitting to +nothing and no one, except the laws of God and righteousness." Well +and truthfully spoken. Lift up this principle, and behold how it +showers benedictions upon all classes and upon all men. + +Much is said against amalgamation, as though it were a crime. There is +no crime in it or about it. There is much of prejudice, but no crime. +Soul marries soul. If a white man loves the soul of a black woman, +there is no law in God's code forbidding the union. God made of one +blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. +Complexions may differ, owing to climate, or temperament, but the +blood is the same. The race has a common Father in God. + +In this intermingling of races, coming to this land from all climes, +we perceive the seedling of a glorious hope. The future American is to +be the product of this blending of the distinctive features of all the +various nations of earth. + +Against this result there is an immense amount of prejudice, born +of slavery; but in Europe it does not exist, nor is it in fact so +universal in this land as many suppose. Many a white man has found his +helpmeet in a black woman, and many more will find helpmeets from the +same source. + +2. "_Woman was taken out of man_." There is significance in the +locality from which she was taken. Not from the superior part, that +she might think herself superior to man, or endowed with the right to +rule him. Her sin consisted in her failing to recognize the position +assigned. She was created an associate and an equal, and acted +independently, and as an adviser. She took advantage of her position +as wife, and became an ally of Satan. + +She was not taken from an inferior portion of his body, that he might +think her inferior to himself, and to be trampled on by him, but out +of his side,--from his rib,--that she might appear to be equal to him; +and from a part near his heart, and under his arm, to show that she +should be affectionately loved by him, and be always under his care +and protection. + +Wherever man has failed to recognize this truth society has gone back +to barbarism, and the very conception of a home has been banished from +the mind. In the East man rules woman as lord. She is his slave; and +in the Arabic language there is no word meaning "home." Christian +civilization lifts woman up, and thrones her in the heart of a _home_. + +She was made from "bone and flesh,"--quickened dust,--and so in her +make and constitution she is of superior quality and of finer mould. + +The Hebrew word translated "made," means _built_. From the rib God +built this woman. How instructive the fact! Woman added to man is the +foundation of the home or family. She is built out of man. Man is +necessary to her development. A man can continue the work begun by +God. He can build up a woman; and as he builds her up he builds up +himself. She is also a builder. She builds up a home, or degrades it. +If woman is honored in a home, she makes it honorable. + +At the outset she was man's equal: perhaps she may have thought +herself to be superior to him--more refined, of better material. She +forgot her place, and ignored her sphere, and lost all. She was not +created as things were, out of nothing. She was meant to be something +better than a _thing_; and she must be something better than a thing, +or she is nothing. She was not formed as Adam was, out of the dust of +the earth. Had she been, perhaps she would not have disliked dust so +terribly. She is a part of man's life. This describes her mission. The +life of a woman who does not care to be a man's toy or ornament, but +desires rather to be his helpmeet,--supplying all he needs, as he +supplies all she needs,--is but the continuance, the flowing out and +flowing on of man's higher life, into the flowers of love, which +decorate the home, and make that chosen retreat the very portals of +heaven. + +As man feels that in woman he finds the complement to himself, and +almost his other self, woman finds in man the same complement to +herself, and recognizes in him the ruler of her life, her friend, +her lover; and happy is she if she finds in him her husband, who +rightfully assumes his rights and his sovereignty. + +3. "_God brought her unto man_." Woman is God's first gift to man. +She must never occupy a second place. In the heart she holds a first +place, or she holds none at all. The moment she holds a secondary +place she is ruined. It is in her power to hold the first place. To do +this, she must prize it; make sacrifices to keep it; almost, at times, +deny herself, and bear a cross, to hold on to it. Yet it is hers, and +God will see to it that she maintains her right. + +"_God brought her_." Every husband in this world should feel that +his wife is God's gift to him, and it is his duty to study its +characteristics, and minister to them. Every man can make the partner +of his life a good wife, and can feel that she was God-given, and must +be used in such a manner that when the day of reckoning comes, he can +give a good account of the manner in which he has used this blessing. +To go to the judgment, and meet a broken-hearted woman, over whom man +has exercised tyranny, and to whom he has been a monster, until hope +died, and the grave became a refuge, will not be a pleasant meeting. + +In this bestowal of woman upon man, we recognize two facts. + +1. The father's right to give away his child--a right which exerts its +influence at the present time, and which every young man who seeks +properly the hand of woman is compelled to recognize. In that act of +Eden lie the rule and example to be followed by parents and children: +the one to dispose of their children, and the other to have the +consent of their parents in reaching conclusions upon which hinges the +destiny of the individual for time, and perhaps for eternity. Happy +the child that trusts a wise parent, and refuses to walk a path over +which the shadow of parental disapproval rests! Happy the parent who +finds pleasure in the fresh young love of the child, and watches the +opening flower and the ripening fruit with pride and pleasure. + +This giving away of the child requires the enjoyment of perfect +confidence between father and daughter and mother and son. + +God knew Eve, for he built her. He knew her heart, her mind, her +aspiration. A parent knows something of the child; and well it is for +both parent and child when this knowledge is perfect, and when the +relation subsisting between parents and children is such that home is +a place of consultation. A home without secrets, without closed doors, +and locked drawers and sugar-boxes,--a home where thought is free, and +mind is untrammelled, is the very gate of heaven. + +There are homes where the children are excluded from counsel, from +love, from plan, from association. Those children live in a world +apart from their parents, and it will not be strange if they are swept +out by the waves of evil to ruin. + +There are homes where the father shuts himself away from the wife and +children. To the children he is harsh, unsympathetic, and morose. Ah! +there is sorrow in that house. The mother--God bless her!--has a hard +time. She has to keep in with the father, and she will keep in with +the children. In that bundle of life the tendrils of her nature are +bound up. She fights a prolonged battle in regard to expenditure and +education. Happiness only comes when the household is one, and the +relations between father and children are perfect, as God designed +them to be. + +Again, God gives his sanction not only to the truth that man's wants +can only be met by the gift of woman,--a fact which every man has +felt, and which causes every man to feel that somewhere on earth his +wife is living, who will recognize and welcome him to the bliss of +love and to the joy of companionship,--but this additional truth is +taught: Man has a right to marry. Love is no disgrace. It is the +pretence of it, for base purposes, which is disgraceful. The nuptial +vow was first whispered in the garden. God was sponsor, and all Eden +witnesses. This bond of union was God's gift to the race. The curse +did not touch it. The marriage vow and marriage rite, with the faith +in woman as a helpmeet, have survived the fall, and are our joy and +rejoicing at this time. + +In conclusion, think of God's care for man, in providing woman as a +blessing. There is no necessity for man's being alone. Some one waits +to bless or has blessed him. Let us make more of our wives and sisters +than ever before. Let us build them up in love and in those generous +qualities which fit woman for her high destiny in this fallen world. + +2. Think, woman, of your noble mission. You are to be a help to man. +You are to help him morally and spiritually. For this God created you. +For this he preserves you. "You are queens and bondmaids too, as royal +when you serve as when you rule." Man must respect you, for when +man loses his respect for woman he is lost. He goes down, down to +irremediable ruin. With woman as God designed her, man gets much of +Eden back, for in Christ she is reconciled to God. It is for man and +woman to get back Eden. Christ came to be our common helper. He is +woman's Saviour as well as man's, and offers to all that help which +changes life's desert into a garden, and life's gloom into the +brilliancy of an eternal day. + + "Hail, woman! Hail, thou faithful wife and mother, + The latest, choicest part of heaven's great plan. + None fills thy peerless place at home, no other + Helpmeet is found for laboring, suffering man. + Hail, thou home circle, where, at day's decline, + Her moulding power, her radiant virtues shine! + Not in the church to rule or teach, her place; + Not in the mart of trade, or senate halls; + Not the wild, festive scene is hers to grace; + Not Fashion's altar her its victim calls; + Not here her field of triumph; but alone + She moves the queen of her own quiet home." + + REV. MARK TRAFTON. + + + + + + +WOMAN A HELPMEET. + + +The purpose of God in the creation of woman was to provide man with a +helpmeet. The language is unmistakable. "And the Lord God said, It is +not good that the man should be alone. I will make for him a helper +suited to him." Woman was made to be man's helpmeet in Eden; that +purpose survives the _fall_. For right or wrong, for good or ill, her +influence is felt. She lifts man up or drags him down. Scoff at it, +oppose it, cast opprobrium upon this ancient utterance, the fact +remains, woman is made for man. Helpmeet she was, helpmeet she must +be, or leave her work undone, and suffer the blight that results from +the lack of love. God placed man in the garden to keep it, and he +placed woman there to fill the bower with love, and his home with joy. + +The coming of Eve to Adam is a beautiful story. He had been taught to +realize his need of her. It was a part of his constitution. The same +is true now wherever woman is appreciated. The felt want is the +recognition of the fact. A wife chosen by one's parents, not by +himself, is devoid of all of those special characteristics which +distinguish her where processes of love begin, go on, deepen and +tighten, until the bond is woven and the union formed. + + "Nothing so delights man as those graceful nets, + Those thousand delicacies that daily flow + From all her words and actions, mixed with love + And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned + Union of mind, or in them both one soul."[A] + +[Footnote A: Paradise Lost, Book VIII.] + +The knowledge of congeniality of tastes can only be obtained by mutual +acquaintance, and by a careful study. It is said nothing is so blind +as love. Nothing is so foolish as a blind love. Man needs a helpmeet, +and woman needs a man she can help. It is possible to know before +marriage that the parties are able to fulfil this trust. If they +cannot fulfil it, marriage is a sin, which brings forth continuous +sorrow and discontent. + +The purpose of God to provide a helpmeet was avowed, but Adam did not +know the fact. Under the arch of God's promise we discover the working +of God's providence. The Bible, if properly studied, is a more +thrilling narrative than any novel, because in it we can behold the +infinite God working with man and for man. "It is not good that man +should be alone." This is the general proposition. As a counterpart we +find man feeling that it was very sad to be alone. In his heart there +is a want at work, making him ready for the blessing which God is +preparing for him. + +The want of the soul means a purpose on the part of God to supply +it. This is true in regard to all that vitally interests man in this +world. My want is the basis of my hope. God, who is above and around +me, would not send forward the desire unless he had purposed to grant +it. + +Prayer stirring in the soul, is to man spiritually what a bill +of goods preceding the payment is to a merchant. Do we long for +salvation, for a revival, for any spiritual outpouring? have faith +in God. There is a motive in it. Expect the blessing, and you will +receive it. + +"The Spirit itself," said Paul, "beareth witness with our spirit, that +we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, +and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we +may be also glorified together." This is enjoyed despite the curse. +"Jesus sent us the Comforter, who helpeth our infirmities, for we know +not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh +intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he +that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, +because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of +God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that +love God, to them who are thus called according to his purpose." This +fatherhood of God comes to us under all circumstances and in all +conditions. In the home, in the heart with all its wails, in the +battle, in the victory, on earth and in heaven. Notice how Adam was +made ready for his helpmeet. + +"And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, +and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he +would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, +that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to +the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam +there was not found a helpmeet for him." + +Imagine Adam feeling this want of companionship as the beasts of earth +in their pristine beauty pass before him. There are those who mate +with a horse or a dog. Who make a pet of a brute, and, ignoring their +higher relations, live for their lower nature. We know that animals +can be brought to do almost anything but talk, and some birds have the +gift of speech. It was doubtless true of Eden. The serpent's talking +did not surprise Eve. + +Perhaps Adam may have found animals that could have kept him company. +Yet he could find none who could meet his want as a helpmeet. Milton +has fancifully described Adam expressing his want to the Infinite. It +grew upon him. Then he has pictured him asleep, and seeing, as in a +trance, the rib, with cordial spirits warm, formed and fashioned with +his hands, until + + "Under his forming hands a creature grew, + Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair + That what seemed fair in all the world seemed now + Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained, + And in her looks, which from that time infused + Sweetness into my heart unfelt before, + And into all things from her air inspired + The spirit of love and amorous delight." + +Then she disappeared. The dream haunted him in his waking hours. In +the gallery of the Louvre there is a picture of Henry IV becoming +entranced by the picture of his future wife, and next to it is the +picture of the proud man being married to the woman whose face in +the picture had once captivated his fancy. Those pictures were the +realization of the one described in Milton's verse. Adam saw in Eve +the realization of his dream, and was happy when he welcomed to his +embrace this first gift of God, which met his want and answered his +prayer. God created man not only a social being but an intellectual +being. A beast can mate with beasts. They do so. A distinguished +writer says, "the family relation is almost universal among the higher +classes of animals." Adam's immortal nature longed for a kindred +spirit. One to commune with, one to love, one to guide, one to look at +life from another standpoint, one whose opinions should be diverse, +and yet alike in difference, one to help in all the affairs of life, +not only for the propagation of the species, but to provide things +useful and comfortable for him, and like himself in temper, in +disposition, and destiny. One to whom God shall be a loving Father, +and heaven a common home. One with whom soul can join with soul in +worship and love. A kindred spirit. A spirit having a common love, a +common purpose, a common aspiration, and a common interest. + +This longing for companionship was the earliest recorded emotion of +the soul. It comes earliest to us and stays longest. In childhood, +very often, instinct and desire rule wisely, and matches formed in +heaven are recognized in life's morning on earth far oftener than we +are accustomed to think. This longing never ceases. The child wants +companionship, and old age, shattered and broken, feels the need of +this loving support which God provides in the opposite sex quite as +much as does the youthful heart. Our perfect humanity is made up of +the two, and is not complete without this union. + +The most magnificent scenery is tame, unless you can point out its +beauties to the one you love. The picture gallery is worthless, unless +some other lip can press the goblet of your pleasure, and sip +nectar from the flower of beauty which blossoms in your thought or +imagination. It is not good for man to be alone, even in Eden. Eden is +not Eden without its Eve. Before Eve came, Eden was the pastureland of +beasts; after it, the place took on home-like properties, bowers of +love were formed, and the place became the house of God, and the gate +of heaven. + +The characteristics of woman as a helpmeet deserve our notice. + +1. _Consider this word "Woman._" Woman was the name given to our +mother because she was taken out of man. The word itself means +_pliant_. In this definition we discover the first characteristic of a +womanly nature. She is pliant. She adjusts herself to circumstances. +She is adapted to meet man's wants, because she finds it in her nature +to adapt herself to meet them. + +It is gentlemanly to avow an opinion. We feel that it is womanly to +waive one. We never think less of a woman for not forcing her opinions +upon a company. We do not desire her to be without opinions, nor is it +expected that she will desist from expressing an opinion, but if one +must yield, it is womanly in woman to do so. + +Indeed, oftentimes a woman of strong mental calibre, whose opinions +are derived from thought and study, has built her husband up by +permitting his expression to stand even though her own judgment might +differ from him. If she be a true wife or sister, she will seek, in +retirement, to correct an opinion which could not be avowed in public +without weakening a husband's or a brother's influence. A woman that +builds up another is herself a power and a praise. + +The word _pliant_ does not demand an absence of quality. The Damascus +blade is pliant; it can be bent but it is not easily broken, while +its edge is the keenest and its strength is a marvel. So woman is not +necessarily weak because she is pliant. She may be the very reverse, +and yet be pliant. Oftentimes her power of control is the more potent +because it is unseen and unostentatious. An opinion held, to be +uttered in the moment of cool and calm reflection, may be more telling +than if spoken while the storm of debate was raging. The still, small +voice came after the lightning and the thunder and the earthquake, and +God spake in it with power and effect. It is the quiet utterance in +the home which is of marvellous power in the world. It is womanly to +adorn rather than to plan. + +She fits herself for companionship rather than for leadership. By her +tact and by her very nature she is enabled to harmonize antagonistic +elements, and promote concord, if she cannot secure union. Like the +lily living in the water, she feeds on her native element, love. The +lily, though it floats on the wave, opens wider its leaves to the rain +and dew. So woman, though living on love, finds pleasure and rapture +in fresh manifestations of love day by day. It is her nature to love. +It is her life to be beloved. + +2. Think of this other title, _feminine_. This word, in its meaning, +furnishes the second characteristic. It pertains to woman, and denotes +a soft, tender, and delicate nature. Effeminate means destitute of +manly qualities. + +A woman truly feminine is thus described: "No coarseness was mingled +with her plainness of speech; no boisterousness with her zeal. Her +feelings, her sensibilities, her tastes were all characterized by a +gentleness and delicacy seldom surpassed. While her heroic daring +and unconquerable energy excited admiration, her love of birds and +flowers, and indeed of all that is beautiful in nature, made her seem +almost childlike." This characteristic, so loved and admired, is +woman's glory, and yet it is effeminate. Woman's mind is quicker, more +flexible, more elastic than man's, though the brain, in weight, is +much lighter. Man's brain weighs, on an average, three pounds and +eight ounces. Woman's brain weighs, on an average, two pounds and four +ounces. The female intellect is impregnated with the qualities of her +sensitive nature. It acts rather through a channel of electricity than +of reasoning. Its perceptions of truth come, as it were, by intuition. +It is under the influence of the heart, that has deep and unfathomable +wells of feeling; and truth is felt in every pulse, rather than +reasoned out and demonstrated. You cannot offend a woman so quick, in +any way, as to ask her why she wishes to do thus, or why she reaches +such a conclusion. Her reply is, invariably, "'_Cause!_" And that is +about all she knows about it; and yet woe be to the man who ignores +her intuitions, or treats with disdain her advice. Woman reads +character quicker and better than man. Her policy lies in her heart. +She feels rather than reasons. Man reasons rather than feels. Hence +she is a helpmeet. She fills a lack, and supplies a want. + +In her the imagination and fancy have such a lively play, that the +homeliest principles assume forms of beauty. In intellectual pursuits +she is destined to excel by her fine sensibilities, her nice +observations, and exquisite tastes, while man is appointed to +investigate the laws of abstruse sciences, and perform in literature +and art the bolder flights of genius. She may surpass him in +representing life and manners, and in the composition of letters, +memoirs, and moral tales, in descriptive poetry, and in certain styles +of music and painting, and even in sculpture. But she will never write +an Iliad or a Paradise Lost, or tragedies like those of Aeschylus. She +will never rival Demosthenes in producing a political oration, nor +a massive philosophic history like Thucydides. She will not paint a +Madonna like Raphael, nor chisel an Apollo Belvedere. The logic of +Aristotle, the polemics of Augustine, the prodigious onsets of a +Luther, the Institutes of a Calvin, the Novum Organum of Bacon, the +Principia of Newton, the Cosmos of Humboldt--the like of these she +will never achieve, nor is it desirable that she should. + +Women seldom invent. There are all manner of inventions, often +hundreds of applications in a single day, for patents at the Patent +Office, yet among them there are no female applicants. Woman cannot +compete with man in a long course of mental labor. The female mind is +rather quiet and timid than fiery and driving. It admires rather than +covets the great exploits of the other sex. Woman never excelled +in architecture. To her belong the gentler arts of quiet life and +retirement, where she has power to soften and refine the heart of +him who is accustomed to battle with the elements and the forces of +external nature. + +We might speak at length of woman's gentle nature, present striking +examples of female submission, endurance, and heroism, and speak in +general of her charms and of her beneficent influence in domestic +and social life. It would be equally pertinent, perhaps, to exhibit +brilliant specimens of female genius and culture in the more graceful +walks of literature, science, or art. These gay flowers of humanity +lie scattered all over the vast field of history. But our subject +leads us in another direction. Woman as a helpmeet finds in her own +nature the natural introduction to the spheres of usefulness and +influence ever open to her. She has a body, a mind, and soul. She must +help, physically, mentally, and spiritually. The household partnership +is opened to her physical nature. This relation is good as far at it +goes. But it is only the beginning. It is rather the result than the +commencement of the union. There is a closer tie found in intellectual +companionship. Mind comes in contact with mind; the wants of the +intellect are met, and a union is the result. Men engaged in public +life, literary men and artists, have often found in their wives +companions and confidantes in thought no less than in feeling. And +as the intellectual development of woman has spread wider, and never +higher, they have been mutual helpers, suited to each other. Roland +and his wife in Paris, William and Mary Howitt of England, and Mr. and +Mrs. Browning, are beautiful illustrations of this principle, though +they are exceptional in their character. As a rule, when men find +helpers in women, there is no community of employment. Harmony exists +in difference no less than in likeness, if only the same key-note +governs both parts. Woman the poem, man the poet! Woman the heart, man +the head! Such instances lie all about us. Man rides to battle, while +his wife is busy in the kitchen; but difference of occupation does +not prevent that community of inward life, that perfect esteem which +causes him to say,-- + + "Whom God loves, to him gives he such a wife" + +And yet there is a still higher realm open before woman, because of +her spiritual nature. + +Woman as a helpmeet needs something besides a well-stored mind. She +requires a heart filled with pure affections. Here we perceive how +essential to her well being is submission to Christ. + +The assumption of the New Testament is, that we possess an animal +nature. The meaning of the word _flesh_, in all the New Testament +writings, is, that the human family are living in an animal condition. +It is taught that in that condition it is impossible for them to +understand higher truths, or to feel higher influences, or to enter +into the experiences which belong to the full development of the +higher faculties. Christ came to us, suffered, and died for us, that +an escape from this lower into the higher realm might be possible. It +is possible. There is inherent under the divine influence the power of +recreating, so that the soul shall escape from the prison-house of the +flesh, and shall henceforth lead the mind and the body into a higher +realm of thought and action. The very nature of woman makes her +susceptible to religious impressions. Her lively imagination, her +quick sensibilities, and her ready sympathy enable her readily to +give Christ, the personification of every manly attribute and the +embodiment of every virtue, a welcome to her soul. + +It is possible for woman's spiritual nature to so marry Christ, that +her physical nature can, without a great sacrifice, forego the joys of +earthly companionship. Hence some women mated with a brute of a man, +shine as Christians, and make excellent mothers. Woman as a Christian +is a helpmeet indeed and in truth. Her power as such is felt in the +church and in the world. She is peculiarly adapted to carry forward +enterprises which have to do with meliorating the condition of +society. Who is so adapted as she to manage an orphan's home, or to +minister to the sick in hospitals, or to give support and sympathy to +the aged, or to train children up in the nurture and admonition of the +Lord? The first requisite to companionship is a heart imbued with the +love of Christ. _A heart must be emphasized_, for a heartless woman +is a terror in society, but a woman with a great heart, reverent +and obedient to God, and full of love for Christ and his work, is a +benefaction to a man, to a home, to a community, and to the world. +"Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the +Lord, she shall be praised." And a woman that feareth the Lord and +serveth him, is praised and prized beyond rubies. The next requisite +to holiness may be said to be skilfulness in the home. Woman must be +trained to household duties. If she lacks here, she is wanting in much +that makes her a real wife or mother or sister. + +America, the land of homes, finds the housewife essential to its +future. Housework in woman is ever honorable. It ought to be her glory +and her pride. Let us make it so more and more. + +The second requisite is intelligence. A woman must keep up with man +in literature, in general news, in what interests the community, and +especially in growth in grace, and in the knowledge of the word of +God, if she would make her home attractive. Thus shall they + + "Sit side by side full sunned in all their powers + Dispensing harvests; + Self-reverent each and reverencing each + Distinct in individualities; + But like each other even as those who love, + Then comes the statelier Eden back to man. + For it is possible in wedded pair a harmony + More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear." + +Said Count Zinzendorf, in regard to his wife, "Twenty-five years' +experience has shown me that just the helpmeet whom I love is the +only one that could suit my vocation. Who else could have so carried +through my family affairs? Who lived so spotlessly before the world? +Who so wisely aided me in my rejection of a dry morality? Who so +clearly set aside Pharisaism, which, as years passed, threatened +to creep in among us? Who so deeply discerned as to the spirits of +delusion which sought to bewilder us? Who would have governed my +whole economy so wisely, richly, and hospitably, when circumstances +commanded? Who have taken indifferently the part of servant or +mistress without, on the one side, affecting an especial spirituality; +on the other, being sullied by any worldly pride? Who, in a community +where all ranks are eager to be on a level, would, from wise and real +causes, have known how to maintain inward and outward distinctions? +Who, without a murmur, has seen her husband encounter such dangers by +land and sea? Who undertaken with him and sustained such astonishing +pilgrimages? Who, amid such difficulties, would have always held _up +her head and supported me_? Who found such vast sums of money and +acquitted them on her own credit? And, finally, who, of all human +beings, could so well understand and interpret to others my inner and +outer being, as this one, of such nobleness in her way of thinking, +such great intellectual capacity, and so free from the theological +perplexities that enveloped me?" Let any one peruse, with all +intentness, the lineaments of this portrait, and he will be impressed +with the fact, that it is possible for woman to fulfil her mission, +and become a true helpmeet. This woman was not a copy. She was not +a cipher. She was an original; and while she loved and honored her +husband, she thought for herself on all subjects, with so much +intelligence, that he could and did look on her as a sister and friend +also. + +The third and highest grade of marriage union is the religious, +which may be expressed "as a pilgrimage round a common shrine." This +includes the other,--home sympathies and household wisdom,--for these +pilgrims know how to assist each other along the dusty way. + +These facts should be remembered in her education. The beautiful forms +which everywhere exist in nature should be impressed upon the female +mind, and the treasures of elegant literature should be opened to her +in no stinted measure. + +A well-disciplined and a well-stored mind she does indeed require; +but a heart of pure affections, a lively imagination, and quick +sensibilities to give depth, and form, and beauty, and vivacity to the +character of her mind, are so peculiarly feminine accomplishments, +that without them a woman of the greatest intellect is, as it were, +unsexed and disrobed of her loveliest charms. She may be a Queen +Elizabeth, and conquer a Spanish Armada, but she will never conquer +the heart, nor be recognized as a model of female character. She is to +be the mother of her race. This fixes the sphere of her duties in the +home. Think of Helen Olcott, the wife of Rums Choate; of the first +Mrs. Webster, and of her influence upon that man who won the proud +appellation, "The Great Expounder." + +The story is told of Daniel Webster meeting a woman with her two boys +loaded down with bundles, at the Jersey Ferry, in New York. The lady +had lost her fortune through the failure of her husband. She was poor, +and the old set ignored her. But she lived in a little cottage in New +Jersey, and made it bright with her face of love. She was tired and +sad. Many had passed her. Mr. Webster, seeing her perplexity, offered +to relieve her of her bundles, and take charge of one of the boys. +They entered the cars. He talked to her of her God-given trust, of her +work, and of the results that would naturally flow from her efforts; +of the province of a mother, of the trust reposed in her by God +himself. She was encouraged and strengthened, and when she came to the +depot, she said, "Please, sir, give me your card, that I may mention +your name to my husband." She hurried out, and looked at it, and saw +the name of Daniel Webster. The woman was thrilled with the joy that +came to her in her sphere of service. Earth knows no fairer, holier +relation than that of mother; and she turned with delight from the +bubbles and froth of fashion to the grand work before her of raising +men for God and humanity. + + "The treasures of the deep are not so precious + As are the concealed comforts of a man + Locked up in woman's love. I scent the air + Of blessings when I come but near the house. + What a delicious breath marriage sends forth! + The violet bed's not sweeter." + +Think of the realm in which woman may rule. If she be elegant and +refined; if she has learned how to govern, first herself, and then +those about her, there is a charm diffused through the home which +reveals itself in the good order of the establishment, in the +politeness of the servants, in the genial disposition of the children, +in the delightful intercourse of the different portions of the +household, and in the fact that "her husband is known in the gates +when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Strength and honor are +her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her +mouth with wisdom, and her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh +well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of +idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, +and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously; but thou +excellest them all." + +In such words did King Lemuel praise this excellency of woman. Blessed +memory! Who does not remember that one form of the old-fashioned +mother,--the law of whose life was love; one who was the divinity +of our infancy, and the sacred presence in the shrine of our first +earthly idolatry; one whose heart was ever green, though the snows of +time had gathered in the boughs of her life-tree; one to whom we never +grow old, but in the plumed troop or the grave council are children +still; one who welcomed us coming, blessed us going, and forgets us +never; one who waits for the echo of our returning footstep, or who, +perhaps, has gone on to the better land, and keeps a light in the +window for those left behind. + +Such women have power now as did the Hannahs and the Ruths of the +olden time. When thinking of them, you are convinced that, young or +old, they remain among the best of God's gifts to man. This leads us +to remark further, that woman's right to be a woman implies her right +to help woman. Woman must be true to her sex, or society will neglect +its duty. That old story of Ruth and Naomi has ploughed through the +world, because it reveals woman's power as a helper. Ruth clung to +Naomi, and Naomi helped her daughter to find Boaz, that noble prince +in Israel; and so she became identified with the succession of +promise. The life of Mrs. Sigourney illustrates the same truth. See +her among the young, calling forth their powers, and starting them in +a career of usefulness. Impressed with the importance of an education, +she aided by her pen, as by her example, to induce the ladies of her +acquaintance to obtain a thorough knowledge of the primary branches +that enter into daily use. + +We want a woman to be intellectual without being puny. We ask that she +remain a pliant vine, and that she be not made into the rugged oak. + +Woman owes it to herself that she be fitted to occupy any position +in society. In this land, as in no other, the barriers of caste are +removed, and every line of separation obliterated. The rich and the +poor meet together. + +The cultured sewing-girl is quite likely to become the wife of the +future millionnaire; and the lady reared in the midst of every luxury, +and endowed with a fortune, amid the reverses of fortune may be +compelled to draw upon her own resources of labor, and of love, and +culture, to stay up the hands and encourage the heart of the man more +than ever dependent upon her for happiness and hope. + +Such a woman Irving must have painted when he wrote, "I have often had +occasion to remark the fortitude with which women sustain the most +overwhelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters which break down the +spirit of a man, and prostrate him in the dust, seem to call forth all +the energies of the softer sex, and give such intrepidity and devotion +to their character, that at times it approaches to sublimity." + +Nothing can be more touching than to behold a soft and tender female, +who had been all weakness, and dependence, and alive to every trivial +roughness, while treading the prosperous paths of life, suddenly +rising in mental force to be the comforter and supporter of her +husband under misfortunes, and abiding, with unshrinking firmness, the +bitterest blasts of adversity. + +As the vine, which has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak, +and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when the lordly plant is +rifted by the thunderbolt, cling round it with caressing tendrils, +and bind up its shattered boughs, so it is beautifully ordained by +Providence that woman, who is the mere dependent and ornament of man +in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when smitten with +sudden calamity; winding herself into the rugged recesses of his +nature, tenderly supporting the head and binding up the broken heart. + +To fill this feature of the wife, education is essential in household +affairs, quite as much as education in books, in music, and the ways +of fashion is essential to the young wife whose husband has suddenly +become rich, and has given up his chambers and taken an elegant house +in some fashionable street. + +It is as bad to fall from the heights of opulence, and know not how +to sweep a room, make a bed, or cook a meal, as it is to rise to an +exalted position, and know not how to welcome company or preside at a +feast. + +The women in America who suddenly become elevated in rank, and buy +pictures by the yard and books by the cord, are quite as abundant as +are those who lose fortune and rank, and are compelled to seek menial +employments. + +The happiness secured by the proper employment of time, and by the +cultivation of the mind, furnishes a high incentive to exertion. + +Contrast the woman who is educated with the one uneducated. See her in +her home, reigning a queen, while her uneducated sister, though she +may have wealth and beauty, will constantly feel the lack of that +which gold cannot procure nor fortune provide. "We are foolish, +and without excuse foolish," said Ruskin, "in speaking of the +'superiority' of one sex to the other, as if they could be compared in +similar things. Each has what the other has not; each completes the +other, and is completed by the other; they are in nothing alike; +and the happiness and perfection of both depend on each asking and +receiving from the other what the other only can give. Their separate +characters are briefly these: The man's power is active, progressive, +defensive. He is eminently the doer, the creator, the discoverer, the +defender. His intellect is for speculation and invention; his energy +for adventure, for work, for conquest, whenever war is just, whenever +conquest is necessary. But the woman's power is for love, not for +battles; and her intellect is not for invention or creation, but for +sweet ordering arrangement and decision. She sees the qualities of +things, their claims, and their places. Her great function is Praise; +she enters into no contest, but infallibly judges the crown of +contest. By her office and her place, she is protected from all danger +and temptation. The man, in his rough work in the open world, must +encounter all peril and trial. To him, therefore, the failure, the +offence, the inevitable error; often he must be wounded, or subdued, +often misled, and always burdened. But he guards the woman from all +this. Within his house, as ruled by her,--unless she herself has +sought it,--need enter no danger, no temptation, no cause of error or +offence. This is the true nature of home,--it is the place of peace; +the shelter, not only from all injury, but from all terror, doubt, and +derision. In so far as it is not this, it is not home; so far as +the anxieties of the outer life penetrate into it, and the +inconsistently-minded, unknown, unloved, or hostile society of the +outer world is allowed, either by husband or wife, to cross the +threshold, it ceases to be home; it is then only a part of that outer +world which you have roofed over and lighted a fire in. But so far as +it is a sacred place, a vestal temple, a temple of the hearth, watched +over by household gods, before whose faces none may come but those +whom they can receive with love,--so far as it is this, and roof and +fire are types only of a nobler shade and light,--shadows of the rock +in a weary land, and light as of the Pharos in the stormy sea; so far +it vindicates the name, and fulfils the praise, of home. And wherever +a true wife comes, this home is always round her. The stars only may +be overhead; the glow-worm in the night--cold grass may be the +only fire at her foot; but home is yet wherever she is; and for a +noble-woman it stretches far round her, better than ceiled with cedar, +or painted with vermilion, shedding its quiet light far, for those who +else were homeless." + +Possess these qualifications and woman will be respected and beloved. +Her area of usefulness will be enlarged. + +The man of brains and of industry and economy, has the promise of +wealth and position much more certainly than the indolent son of a +wealthy father. Respect such young men, and fit yourselves, young +women, to be worthy of them. + +Remember position is emptiness itself, unless there be talent, piety, +and culture to adorn it. + +We have asked the poor to help the rich. It is equally important that +the rich help the poor. It is impossible to overestimate the value of +those visitations of the noble few who leave their homes and seek out +the little room of the poor seamstress, and carry sunlight and love +and comfort into the abodes of the impoverished and the sorrowful. + +Not only that, but it is possible and practicable for women of wealth +and culture to help their sex to reach positions of respectability and +usefulness. + +Mary Lyon is known and honored throughout the world for her work in +behalf of women. + +Imagine our first ladies opening their parlors to girls who earn by +industry and diligence in study, by purity of heart and blamelessness +of life, the right to attention and respect. + +Let it be known that the woman who makes a good record in the shop +shall be respected in the home, and that she who becomes skilled in +thought and acquainted with scientific research, should find thereby +an introduction to society, that will ennoble her, and it is +impossible to describe the effect that would be produced upon the +minds of all. In this work women of culture can keep step with Jesus, +and become the benefactresses of their sex and blessings to mankind. +Let woman help woman, and society will be reformed. Let man be true to +woman, and society will be adorned. + +Of late there have been going round the press pen portraits of Bulwer, +Dickens, and Carlyle. The two first are separated from their wives, +and their lives are sunless and their homes are empty. Carlyle, that +dry and laconic talker and that fierce hater, is made beautiful when +you read that he conducts his company to the pretty sitting-room of +his wife. + +Mrs. Carlyle is a lively, pleasant creature, and a world of thought +beams from her dark eyes. She has learned a great deal; her father +gave her a most profound education, and she is possessed of a keen, +yet mild judgment, of which her husband himself is afraid. There she +sits sewing with her handsome fingers a new cravat for her Diogenes. +In these surroundings all feel at ease, and Carlyle becomes talkative +and witty, and displays his whole famous eloquence. Happy the man who +grows witty in the society of his wife, and finds there the atmosphere +calculated to promote his highest, grandest, and fullest development. + +Mutual confidence is essential to happiness. The woman cannot confide +in the man unless he can sympathize in her tenderness; nor can the man +counsel with the woman, unless she can in some measure look upon the +world as he looks upon it. + +Hence it is wisely ordained that in every great man there are to be +seen some of the feminine elements, and in every great, true woman, +there are always to be found some elements of the sterner sex. + +It is because the ballot has a tendency to make woman the rival rather +than the companion of man, that it is opposed to the purest sentiments +of woman. She wishes no division, and cannot tolerate independence or +separation from the object of her love. Love cannot feed on strife. +The husband and wife are one, though God made them male and female. If +one acts in opposition to the other, domestic peace is slain on the +altar of love. What God hath joined, let not potentates or anything +else put asunder. It is an old truth, "Better a dinner of herbs where +love is, than a stalled ox with hatred therewith." Man asks that his +wife be pure, that she know but little of the deceptions and trials of +trade, that she come not in contact with the rough exterior of life, +that ever before the mind of man there might stand forth the beautiful +ideal woman, whose influence irradiates the faith, with the light of +love, in his journeyings through the wilderness. + + "The family, and not the individual, is the true social integer. + This is implied in the inspired history of the creation of man. + God made of two 'one flesh,' or a unit of the human species. + Generals and legislators have not overlooked the fact that married + men and women can be relied on in emergencies where single persons + cannot be trusted. Either part of a social integer is a pledge + of the whole. The vitality of society lives in its integers. The + future grows out of its integers. They are, therefore, what ought + to be represented in its political structures. That it belongs + more properly to the man than to the woman to represent the + family, is manifest from revelation. 'The head of the woman is the + man, whom she is commanded to obey.'" + + ANONYMOUS. + + + + +WOMAN AS A TEMPTER. + + +It will be admitted by all who will read the history of man's ruin, as +recorded in Genesis, the third chapter, and sixth verse, that woman +first partook of the forbidden fruit, and "gave also to her husband, +and he did eat." Admit the truth of history, and woman appears as +man's first tempter. + +"Woman as a Helpmeet" described her condition before the fall; "Woman +as a Tempter" describes her in the fall; and, alas! while it is the +high privilege of woman to be a helpmeet in the midst of the ruin +wrought by sin, it is unwise to disguise the truth that as a _tempter_ +she has not abandoned her vocation. + +Plain speaking may prove to be disagreeable. God grant that it may +prove to be profitable. There is need of it. Disguise it as we may +talk as we choose about man in his narrowness, in his degradation, a +wicked woman _was_, and to a large extent _is_, the means employed by +Satan in leading astray the unwary. The manner of her fall has been +declared. It may be profitable to review the steps of her downward +descent from the bliss of Eden to the woe of the desert; from the +position of an equal to the position of a subject. + +1. _Satan, in the form of the serpent, undermines woman's confidence +in God_. The serpent, the most subtle beast of the field, said to the +woman, "Is it even so, that God has said, Ye shall not eat of every +tree of the garden?" Thus he attempted to weaken the child-like +confidence she reposed in her Creator, and endeavored to inspire in +its place a spirit of unbelief and distrust. This done, and the battle +was half won, and the work was well nigh accomplished. Truly has it +been said, "The sure basis of simple trust in God as the all-loving +and the all-wise, once shaken, there is little left to be done." This +is the rock on which character builds its hopes. There is nothing so +essential to woman as faith in God. Destroy this, or let woman attempt +to live without it, and she is in imminent peril. It was an infidel +woman who declared, "It has been said that marriage is a divine +institution, because all power comes from God. _We know very well +that all power comes from God', and therefore we wish neither God nor +power._" Shall professedly Christian women, by action, give their +assent to such an utterance? + +2. _Satan rouses woman's suspicion_. "And the woman said to the +serpent. Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But of +the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has +said, Ye shall not eat of it, and ye shall not touch it, lest ye die. +And the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God +knows that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes will be opened, and ye +will be as God, knowing good and evil." + +"Your eyes will be opened," expresses the power of mentally +apprehending things before unperceived and unknown; but, of course, +both in an intellectual and moral sense. The position taken appeared +reasonable, and had a semblance of truth, and exerted its consequent +influence. + +"_Will be as God, knowing good and evil._" Knowing for yourselves, +and able to choose between the evil and the good. Here ambition again +overleaped itself. Humility was slain, and a womanly virtue was +destroyed by the tempter, who aimed to infuse into the mind of the +woman, first, a doubt of the truth of the Word of God, and of the +certainty of the divine threatening; second, a suspicion that God was +withholding from her a good, instead of guarding her against an evil; +and, third, he attempted to induce her to believe that adherence to +this divine command stood in the way of her freedom, of her growth, +and so by the words, "Ye will be as God, knowing good and evil," he +strove to awaken the feeling of self-exaltation,--the longing for a +higher development, in which she should attain to self-discretion and +freedom of choice and action. + +This suspicion is very common, even among our good women. When a woman +gets cold in her love for Jesus, she becomes suspicious of those +she loves. She permits the feeling, "My husband gives too much for +benevolence, too little to me, and he is away too much in meetings, +and is too little in his home," to influence her. She begins to talk +against the church, and loves to stay at home. Finds excuses for +keeping away from the prayer meeting or from the paths of endeavor, +and becomes a hinderance instead of a blessing to husband, to +family, and to society. A man finds it difficult to push the bark of +benevolence and of holy endeavor up against the current of womanly +opposition and suspicion, but when in the work of God she acts the +part of a helpmeet, everything moves smoothly. A recent writer uses +this language: "Expel woman as you will, she is in fact the parish. +Within, in her lowest spiritual form, as the ruling spirit she +inspires, and sometimes writes the sermons. Without, as the bulk of +his congregation, she watches over his orthodoxy, verifies his texts, +visits his schools, and harasses his sick." ... "The preacher who +thunders so defiantly against spiritual foes, is trembling all the +time beneath the critical eye that is watching him with so merciless +an accuracy in his texts. Impelled, guided, censured by woman, we can +hardly wonder if, in nine cases out of ten, the parson turns woman +himself, and the usurpation of woman's rights in the services of +religion has been deftly avenged by the subjugation of the usurpers. +Expelled from the temple, woman has simply put her priesthood into +commission, and discharges her ministerial duties by proxy." Woman is +the mainspring and the chief support of Ritualism. Things were at +a dead lock and stand still, until the so-called devotion gave an +impetus to the movement. The medieval church have glorified the +devotion of woman; but once become a devotee, it had locked her in the +cloister. As far as action in the world without was concerned, the +veil served simply as a species of suicide, and the impulses of woman, +after all the crowns and pretty speeches of her religious counsellors, +found themselves bottled up within stout stone walls, and as inactive +as before. From this strait woman released herself by the organization +of charity. The Sisters of Charity at once became a power. They +discovered the value of costume. The district visitor, whom nobody had +paid the smallest attention to in the common vestments of the world, +became a sacred being as she donned the crape and hideous bonnet of +the "Sister." + +"The 'Mother Superior' took the place of the tyrant of another sex who +had hitherto claimed the submission of woman; but she was something +more to her 'children' than the husband or father whom they had left +in the world without. In all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil, +she claimed within her dominions to be supreme. The quasi-sacerdotal +dignity, the pure religious ministration which ages have stolen from +her, was quietly resumed. She received confessions, she imposed +penances, she drew up offices of devotion. If the clergyman of +the parish ventured an advice or suggestion, he was told that the +sisterhood must preserve its own independence of action, and was +snubbed home again for his pains. The Mother Superior, in fact, soon +towered into a greatness far beyond the reach of ordinary persons. +She kept her own tame chaplain, and she kept him in a very edifying +subjugation. From a realm completely her own, the influence of woman +began to tell upon the world without. Little colonies of Sisters, +planted here and there, annexed parish after parish. Astonished +congregations saw their church blossom its purple and red, and frontal +and hanging told of the silent energy of the group of Sisters. The +parson found himself nowhere, in his own parish: every detail managed +for him, every care removed, and all independence gone. If it suited +the ministering angels to make a legal splash, he found himself landed +in the law courts. If they took it into their heads to seek another +field, every one assumed it a matter of course that their pastor would +go too." It is because of this influence that in certain quarters the +ecclesiastical hierarchy are taking, year by year, a more feminine +position. It is not impossible that a church who worships Mary as the +Mother of God may be brought to recognize woman as the proper head of +the church. True, as the writer quoted above adds, "she must stoop +to conquer heights like these." Yet the question has been seriously +asked, "Is not the Episcopal office admirably adapted to woman?" +Between a priest and a nun there is only the difference of a bonnet +in their dress, and we know how easily woman can be persuaded to go +without a bonnet, or to exchange it for a hat such as is worn by men. +In England, the curate is sometimes called the first lady of the +parish; and what he now is in theory, a century hence may find him in +fact. "It would be difficult, even now, to detect any difference +of sex in the triviality of purpose, the love of gossip, the petty +interests, the feeble talk, the ignorance, the vanity, the love of +personal display, the white hand dangled over the pulpit, the becoming +vestment, and the embroidered stole, which we are learning gradually +to look upon as attributes of the British curate. So perfect, indeed, +is the imitation, that the excellence of her work may, perhaps, defeat +its own purpose, and the lacquered imitation of woman may satisfy the +world, and for long ages prevent any anxious inquiry after the real +feminine Brummagem." + +The tendency thus truthfully described furnished the seedling out of +which grew the Monasticism of the past, and in which the Ritualism of +the present finds its underlying cause. The Church of Rome harnesses +woman to her system, and compels her to contribute greatly to its +prosperity. In Europe the people tire of those great establishments +and endowments, which rest like an incubus on the national life. +In America we are so blind that we foster them by grants from our +legislatures, by giving up the care of hospitals to their use, where +the weak are subjected to the influences of superstition, and the +thoughtless are led astray. Another avenue to power is opened by the +ballot. Grant this to that church, which, through a fatherhood of +priests and a sisterhood of nuns, reaches every portion of the body +politic, and the promise of Religious Liberty and a Free Republic is +at once exchanged for the despotism of Rome and the imperialism +of France. Infidelity joins hands with Rome in asking this power. +Christianity, united with patriotism, must refuse to grant the +request. + +3. Mystery was employed as an instrument in securing woman's fall. +Rouse a womanly curiosity, and there is little difficulty in leading +the excited one astray. Hold out to her a key which promises to unlock +the hidden and concealed glories of the unexplored future, and woman +will be tempted again to forego God's favor and the joys of paradise +to grasp or wield it. In every heathen religion women occupied a +prominent place. Priestess or prophetess, she stood in all ministerial +offices on an equality with man. Christianity rejects the ministerial +services of women, and selects for its standard bearers men acquainted +with life, filled with religious zeal, and capable of hardy endeavor, +assuring faith and martyr patience. + +The Church of Rome dealt with women as the Empire dealt with its +Caesars: it was ready to grant her apotheosis, but only when she was +safely out of this world. It was only when the light of revelation +was extinguished in her midst that the teachings of the Bible were +ignored, and woman was welcomed back to the place she held in pagan +climes and at heathen shrines. + +Spiritualism, that scourge of modern times, which has swept like the +breath of a pestilence over the land, found in woman its prophetess +and minister. Satan works in erring woman now, as in the past, to +destroy and to delude. That power was resisted by Christian woman. +Many an irreligious man was saved from this delusion by the fidelity +of his wife. Many a good man has been ruined because his wife listened +to the siren voice of the tempter, and desired to explore and explain +this mystery. The forbidden fruit ever grows upon the tree beside her. +Those who would be wiser than that which is written, have plucked +and eaten it, and have given to others that which is so destructive. +Witchcraft is a womanly profession. The heathen divinities were nearly +all ministered unto by woman, and mystery was the influencing cause. +We know the result in the case of Eve. It led her away from God. It +caused her to listen to the enemy of her soul. Does it not become +woman to ask herself, "Am I losing my hold on God? Is suspicion that +some good is being withheld, or does the desire to pry into the +future, exercise an undue influence upon my heart and imagination?" If +so, your ruin has commenced, and a speedy return to God is your only +door of escape. + +4. Deception was the result. "And the woman saw the tree was good for +food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to +be desired to make her wise; and she took of its fruit and ate, and +gave also to her husband and he ate." Sight deceived, desire allured, +and action born of a delusive faith destroyed her happiness. The +process of temptation culminated in deception. This is the end ever +kept in view by Satan. Every individual that refuses to be ruled +absolutely by God, in little or great affairs, may know of a truth +that the end is deception, and the consequent ruin is sure to follow. +There is no exception to the rule. Paul felt this when he wrote the +church in Corinth, concerning his interest in them, saying, "For I am +jealous over you with a godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one +husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ;" "But I +fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, by his subtlety, +so your minds should be corrupted from your simplicity toward Christ." +Many claim that error is not mischievous while truth is left free to +combat. Error poisons the mind, and so produces disease, and bars out +truth, which carries health to the mind and blesses the soul. + +Eve knew the law, for she quotes it word by word. She deliberated as +to obeying it. Here she made her first mistake. A woman cannot do +this. The moment a woman hesitates in regard to discharging the duties +she owes to herself or to God she falls. She seems to be provided +with an almost self-acting nature. It is natural for her to protect +herself. She revolts against her higher self when she hesitates. Her +intuitions, allied to a sensitive nature, unite in defending against +evil. Had Eve said, "I do not need to sin to secure the development of +my higher nature; the Creator knows my wants much better than one who +seeks to be my destroyer," she would have been saved. Faith in God +would have been a sure defence against the tempter's wiles. + +But she deliberated, yielded, and fell, and the world is still full of +the resounding echoes of that fall. The race fell with her. That fact +teaches its lesson. Some one falls with every ruined soul. We lift +up or drag down those associated with us. "For none of us liveth to +himself, and no man dieth to himself;" an influence goes out from +us, which is a felt power in the world either for or against God and +humanity. + +Consider the effects of the temptation. 1. It caused Eve to become to +Adam an agent of Satan. Tempted herself, she became a tempter. Ruined +in her nature by this exclusion of God, and by this welcome of Satan, +she seeks to ruin her companion. This principle rules now. The carnal +heart is at enmity with God, the converted heart is in union with God. +Here is a significant fact. A man loves to have woman pure, if he is +impure. Temperate, if he is intemperate. Holy and Christian, if he is +the opposite in every particular. Not so a woman. Intemperate herself, +she seeks to induce others to be like her. Here is the peril of +society. If our fashionable women love wine, they become emissaries of +the wicked one to a fearful extent. It is almost an impossibility for +the tempted to withstand their wiles. In fashionable, perhaps, more +than in the other grades of life, woman as a leader in intemperance, +in extravagance, and in opposition to Christ, is to be feared. Her +power is fearful to contemplate. The Secretary of the Treasury +declares that the national debt is increased, and threatens to +increase, unless the fashionable world shall declare against the, +importation of that which costs gold, but which fails to contribute to +the prosperity of the community. This is by no means wholly chargeable +to women. Men share in the blame. A sadder fact is the expressed +dissatisfaction with woman's work and with woman's sphere. The home +of the olden time is passing out of mind, and in its place is the +fashionable boarding-house. The skilled housewife is felt to be +unappreciated. Men, they tell us, prefer a pretty face to a noble +heart, a delicate to a skilled hand, a girl who can play the piano +rather than one who can cook a dinner, a pretty doll instead of a +glorious woman capable of keeping the house, and of guiding the man +with womanly strength. Ah, it is a mistake. America is the land of +homes. Our undeveloped territory offers to every man a farm. Men and +women need not to be cooped up in garrets or shut up in cellars, if +they will but possess the spirit of those who sought in this Western +world a home, and who, as they toiled with the axe, the plough, and +the loom, + + "Shook the depths of the forest gloom + With their hymns of lofty cheer." + +The cause of this discontent is apparent. There is something in the +commonplaces of fashionable life which turns woman from the real to +the unreal, from the substantial to the superficial, which smothers +all originality of thought, and makes her a simple reproduction +in appearance, if not in disposition, of the "Anonyma," with her +meretricious beauty and dashing toilets. Is it well for woman to +subject herself to be criticised as follows? "The girl of the period +is a creature who dyes her hair and paints her face, whose sole idea +of life is a plenty of fun and luxury, and whose dress is the object +of such thought and intellect as she possesses. Her main endeavor +is to outvie her neighbors. She cares little for advice or counsel. +Nothing is too extraordinary, and nothing too extravagant, for her +vitiated taste; and things which in themselves would be useful reforms +if let alone, become monstrosities worse than those which they have +displaced, so soon as she begins to manipulate and improve. If a +sensible fashion lifts the gown out of the mud, she raises hers midway +to the knee. If there is a reaction against an excess of hair oil, and +hair slimy and sticky with grease is thought less nice than if left +clean with a healthy crisp, she dries and frizzes and sticks hers out +on end like certain savages in Africa, or lets it wander down her back +like Madge Wildfire's, and thinks herself all the more beautiful the +nearer she approaches in look to a maniac or a negress! What the +_demi-monde_ does in its frantic efforts to excite attention, she also +does in imitation. If some fashionable courtesan is reported to have +come out with her dress below her shoulder blades, and a gold strap +for all the sleeve thought necessary, the girl of the period follows +suit next day, and then wonders that men sometimes mistake her for +her prototype, or that mothers of girls, not so far gone as herself, +refuse her as a companion for their daughters." + +If the fashionable danseuse is imported from the brothels of Paris, +and is brought to our cities to exhibit herself to whoever is vulgar +and lewd enough to desire to see her, thousands of the fashionables go +with opera glass, and tolerate a disgusting play that they may enjoy +a sight which is a guarantee to every young man that the woman knows +little of and cares less about the virtue which distinguished the girl +of the olden time, before whom men bowed in admiration, and concerning +whom an impure thought seemed like an unpardonable sin. Women may say +that "men desire them to go, and they must gratify them." It is not +true. Every man loves to have his wife and daughters virtuous, and +unless he be besotted by intemperance, or given over to courses of +shame, will quietly and joyfully yield to the remonstrance of a +virtuous wife or daughter against patronizing scenes which degrade, +and against permitting the mind and heart to give welcome to thoughts +which pollute. True men desire to love, and to be influenced by pure, +tender, loving, retiring, and domestic women. + +Woman, it is your fault if you do not retain the affections of a true +and noble man. Alas, how frequently young men mourn your fickleness, +your frivolity, your fondness for show and dress, and your total lack +of desire for the more solid attainments which enrich character, and +beautify life. "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far +above rubies." Whoever conforms to the requirements of fashion, at the +expense of culture, is false to her high nature, and degrades herself +in the estimation of every true man. A woman is constructed for +companionship, and in her normal condition her yearnings are more +mental than physical. It is natural for man to desire to enjoy this +God-given boon. A talented woman, that will talk sense, is the idol of +sensible men. Nothing displeases a true woman more than to waste an +evening on a brainless fop. Nothing is more needless. Let her develop +herself, and she will be sought after by men whose opinions are +valuable, and whose love is a recompense. Better far would it be for +women who are poor, to spend their evenings in reading, writing, and +study, in familiarizing themselves with those themes of ennobling +thought, which will fit them to win love by conversation, by culture, +by the graces of refinement, rather than by the outward adorning, by +plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold and of costly apparel; "for it +is 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." + +Young women need to be reminded of this. They are in peril. Exposure +lines the paths of those who pass from the factory, or from the +workshop, to their little rooms and cheap boarding-houses. You see it +in the leering look of depraved men, and in the atmosphere of crime +that contaminates their shops. They show it by their themes of +conversation. Woman must be resolute, if she would change all this. +Let her be true to herself and to Christ, and there will be no danger. +The condition of women in many of our factory villages is frightful to +contemplate, and few seem to have any knowledge of it. They pass from +their factory to their boarding-houses. Their rooms are cold and +cheerless in winter. There is no common reading-room or sewing-room. +Unless they will suffer from cold, they must retire to their beds, or +seek warmth and companionship in the world without. As a result they +are watched by men who care not for their comfort or happiness, +but for the gratification of passion and the pleasures of social +excitements. Hence, thousands of good country girls are annually +ruined in many of our large factory villages and cities, for the +lack of comfortable houses or associations, where talents can be +cultivated, piety promoted, and virtue protected. + +1. "_She gave to her husband, and he did eat._" It was altogether +natural. She was the provider in the home, as he was the keeper of the +garden. She gave him and he ate. Man fell because of woman's fall. A +woman can repel a man. It is difficult for a man to resist the wiles +of a woman. God has placed in woman a fearful power, and devolves +unmeasured responsibilities upon her in the home, in society, and in +the world. + +2. The second result is seen in the effect produced. "Lust conceived +and brought forth sin, and sin brought forth shame." And the eyes of +both of them were opened, not so as to have an advanced knowledge of +things pleasant, profitable, and useful, as was promised and expected, +but of things very disagreeable and distressing. Their eyes were +opened to see that they had broken God's law, lost his favor, +destroyed their home, and left themselves exposed to the terrors of +the judgment. They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the +garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves +from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. + +They knew that they were naked. In place of conscious innocence and +purity came the sense of guilt and shame. "We are not to understand," +says Dr. Conant, "that there is allusion here to any physical effect +of the eating of the forbidden fruit. So gross a conception is foreign +to the spirit and purpose of the narrative. As the language in ch. ii. +v. 5, is an expression of purity and peace of mind, so the language +used here is the expression of conscious guilt, of self-condemnation +and shame." Look at that criminal arrested. See him shiver as if cold. +His nature is exposed because it is weakened. Righteousness is a +defence. A man in sweet communion with God is girded with strength and +endurance, with recuperative energies, of which a man is ignorant when +he is alienated from God, and exposed to wrath. "For the word of God +is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing +even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, +and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there +is no creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are +naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." The Lord +God was abroad. They hid themselves. They were afraid. Ah, there is a +nakedness which the culprit feels, which cannot be covered up. God's +eye pierces through every form of concealment, and lays bare the cause +of ruin and the deed of shame. It is impossible to hide from God. If +this world is deceived by our disguises, and pasteboard faces, and +long robes, the Being with whom we have to do shall laugh at our +calamities and mock when our fear cometh, as we shall stand out in our +true characters, and shall be judged for the deeds done in the body, +whether they be good or evil. + +3. Sin not only changed their relations to each other, awakening their +animal nature and killing their spiritual hope of sweet communion with +God, but it changed their relations towards God. They became aliens to +him. They lost their love, and were tortured by fear. They feared him +whom they once loved. "And Jehovah God called to the man, and said to +him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and +was afraid because I was naked, and hid myself. And he said, Who has +showed thee that thou art naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree which +I commanded thee not to eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou +gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." + +Adam, in his beginnings of sin, furnishes an example to sinners, which +has been abundantly copied. He says, "The woman whom thou gavest to be +with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." He finds fault with +God the giver, and fails to condemn woman the sinner. The passage is +sometimes falsely interpreted, as an unworthy attempt of the man to +cast the blame of his offence on the woman. But the emphasis lies on +the words _whom thou gavest to be with me_, by which utterance he +seeks to transfer the responsibility from himself to God, who gave him +the companion by whose example he was betrayed into sin, instead of +placing it upon the woman, who was the guilty cause. Thus he refuses +or neglects to denounce the sin; but takes for granted that woman was +as God made her, and acted in accordance with her mechanism. Hence, +Adam argued, if any one was responsible, it was her Maker. She acted +in accordance with the nature which had been given her. We hear this +doctrine advanced daily. "I am what God made me." A cotton mill weaves +cotton because it was made to weave cotton. It is not responsible. It +weaves well or ill in accordance with the skill of the mechanism, and +not in accordance with the desire of the proprietor. If it weaves +ill, you blame the maker. If well, you praise the maker. Adam, in his +reply, ignored woman's moral nature, and talked of her as though she +had been a machine. "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she +gave me of the tree, and I ate." He forgot his own higher nature, +forgot his position, and fell. How he differed from the second Adam we +shall see before we are done. + +It is noticeable, not only that Adam ignored woman's moral nature, and +the ruin wrought by sin, but he asserts a truth. Woman was given to +man to provide him with food, to spread the feast, and to keep the +house; and in her vocation, and while performing the duties assigned +her, she led him astray. It is noteworthy that God does not reply to +Adam, but turns to woman with the question, "_What is this that thou +hast done?_" recognizing the fact that she turned from God, and turned +towards God's enemy, and in listening, sinned; and in sinning, fell; +and in falling, carried with her man; and in carrying man, whelmed the +race in the ruin of the fall. + +In speaking of woman as a tempter, we are not to forget that she is +woman. The serpent beguiled her, and she ate. Satan found in her an +ally; an so pleased was he with the results of the partnership he has +never dissolved the firm. While woman, as a helpmeet, becomes an ally +of Christ, as a tempter she is the ally of Satan. Not as a woman, but +as a tempter, she is the ally of the evil one. Satan works in her, +as a tempter, both to will and to do according to his good pleasure, +whenever she submits to his sway. The reason for this is recorded in +the Word of God. Some sneer at the reference to this time-honored +record; but we reassert the truth. The Bible is the revealed will of +God, and it declares the God-given sphere of woman. The Bible is, +then, our authority for saying woman must content herself with this +sphere, and try to meet its responsibilities, or she will lose +self-respect and cast away the regard of the community. Without the +Bible, her life is everywhere proven to be gloomy. With it, and +beneath its protection, she becomes an heir of hope. + +Notice the characteristics of her power as a tempter. + +1. She is regarded as God's best gift to man. She fills a place in +man's heart which is empty without her. It is difficult to think of +her as an ally of Satan. We prefer to think of her as God's first +and best gift to man. Even a fallen woman is regarded as a poor +unfortunate, and is tolerated because the many claim she has been more +sinned against than sinning. Excuses are woven for her, out of the +statements ever afloat, that she was in a starving condition, and was +driven to desperation; that she was turned out upon the world, was +deceived, led astray, and shipwrecked, and then did not care, and so +went from bad to worse, until she became the wreck of her former self, +and was given up to lust and the pollutions of shame. God forbid that +we should cast stones at her. In the words of Christ, let us rather +say to every fallen woman, "Go, _and sin no more_." But when a woman +persists in sinning, we should speak of her in the language of +Scripture, and boldly warn against her wiles. + +A fallen woman is not God's gift to man. Before her fall she was God's +gift. In beauty Eve still remains the model. The artist delights to +paint her, and the poet sings her praises. But in conduct she is a +warning. Scripture pictures her going to Adam, hiding from him the +ruin wrought, and pressing to his lips the fruit which carried death. +(Then she was the devil's gift to a sin-cursed world.) A fallen +woman--a woman who refuses to love Christ and to serve him, who sweeps +out into the paths of dissipation and of lust, and becomes a seductive +wile--is the devil's ally; "for she forsaketh the guide of her youth, +and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto +death. None that go unto her returneth again, neither take they hold +of the paths of life." + +Against such a woman God warns us in the thunder tones of wrath, +and the picture of her doom is lurid with the glow of the devouring +flames, "for her feet go down to death and her steps take hold on +hell." + +This is but a single characteristic of her power as a tempter, and +we love to think that it is the least employed. A mind retaining the +perception of woman's worth, shrinks from the idea of linking her name +with impurity. We cherish the hope that she is virtuously inclined, +and cannot bear to think that she willingly forsakes the right and +casts herself down the steeps of ruin. Ah, woman, when this is not the +case society has a right to cast you off. It is because of this +faith that the good despise the woman who persists in folly, and who +secretly tries to seduce the unwary. God's judgments seem not too +severe, and the language is none too strong, though the denunciation +is terrible and the destruction certain. God makes no apologies for +sin. A fallen woman is an abomination. Her crimes are terrible. She is +the foe of the home, and the enemy of all that is pure. Hence she +is thrown out upon the rocks, and left there to die, unpitied and +unbefriended, without God and without hope in the world. By every +virtuous person she is despised. Hence, between a virtuous woman and +ruin there is a bridged chasm; whoever crosses that bridge leaves +hope, and honor, and happiness behind. Think of the thousands about us +going, unprayed for, down to perdition! + +Society tolerates a man as it does not tolerate a woman. God did +business with Adam, but he does not mention Eve after her fall. +Society recognizes a fallen man as it cannot recognize a fallen woman. +Thus her crime is proclaimed to be the greater than man's, even by the +world. Let us be just. We do not heap the blame all on woman, even of +her fall. All we say is, she bears the burden of the woe. In this fact +she is warned. Society may pity her: it cannot palliate her guilt. +Thus is she advised against throwing herself away, and casting off her +allegiance to Christ, to herself, and to humanity. Let her fall, and +almost without exception she is hopelessly ruined. Society points the +finger of scorn at her, and, what is worse, the barriers to virtue +having been broken down, they seem to be destroyed. It is as difficult +to get back what a woman loses when she falls, as it would have been +to have forced an entrance back into Eden after the banishment. + +2. The fact that she is a woman gives her influence. In her terrible +work beauty is an aid. God says, "Desire not her beauty in thy heart, +neither let her take thee with her eyelids." That is, look for +something besides a pretty face or a twinkling eye. "Pretty is that +pretty does," is a good motto, and utters a truth which is quite too +frequently ignored. Beauty is not to be despised or condemned. God, +who painted the lilies' bloom, and covered the sky with the wondrous +tints of a glowing sunset, must enjoy beauty, and surely made it to +please and to bless us. Yet when it comes to be used as an agent of +evil, it is to be shunned and disregarded. In all this world there is +nothing so empty as a heartless, brainless woman, with a pretty face. +Yet beauty is a power; so the heathen declare, "Every woman would +rather be handsome than good." That may be true in heathen, but it is +not true of all in Christian climes. If there is one woman who thinks +more of dress than duty, more of shadow than substance, more of Vanity +Fair than of Virtue's bower, then beware. You are not an ally of +Christ. At once begin a new life, if you would shun the dangers and +avoid the terrible doom threatening you. Cast away that which excites +passions and gives the body unrest, and seek the food for mind and +soul which gives rest and peace. Seek Christ, and through him victory +over self and over sin. Do something to brighten your home life and to +honor your Master. Clear your soul from the taint of vanity. Do not +rejoice in conquests, either that your power to allure may be seen by +other women, or for the pleasure of rousing passionate, feelings that +gratify your love of excitement. It must happen, no doubt, that frank +and generous women will excite love they do not reciprocate; but, in +nine cases out of ten, the woman has, half consciously, done much to +excite it. In this case she shall not be held guiltless, either as +to the unhappiness or injury of the lover. Pure love, inspired by a +worthy object, must ennoble and bless, whether mutual or not; but that +which is excited by coquettish attraction, of any grade of refinement, +must cause bitterness and doubt as to the reality of human goodness so +soon as the flush of passion is over. And that you may avoid all taste +for these false pleasures, + + "steep the soul + In one pure love, and it will last thee long." + +The love of truth, the love of excellence, whether or not you clothe +them in the person of a special object, will have power to save you +much of evil, and lead you into the green glades where the feet of the +virtuous have trod. Preserve the modesty of your sex by filling the +mind with noble desires, that shall ward off the corruptions of vanity +and idleness. "A profligate woman, who left her accustomed haunts and +took service in a New York boarding-house, said, 'She had never +heard talk so vile at the Five Points as from the ladies at the +boarding-house.' And why? Because they were idle; because, having +nothing worthy to engage them, they dwelt, with unnatural curiosity, +on the ill they dared not go to see." This seems like an exaggeration. +Yet Margaret Fuller is responsible for the utterance.[A] Avoid +idleness. The mind, like a mill, must have some thought in the hopper +of reflection, or the machinery will prove to be self-destructive. +Shun flattery. The woman who permits in her life the alloy of vanity; +who lives upon flattery, coarse or fine, is lost, and loses the +tribute paid the woman by the iron-handed warrior, whom he rejoiced to +recognize as his helpmeet, saying, "Whom God loves, to him he gives +such a wife." + +[Footnote A: Woman of the Nineteenth Century, p. 168.] + +The influence of married women over their younger sisters may be +beneficent and good. It often is pernicious and bad. Young women judge +of men very much by what married women say concerning men. If they +speak of men as virtuous and pure, as noble and generous; if they can +talk of their husbands as of men who have honored them with their +love, and whose kindness blesses their daily life, then will the +maiden of a pure heart believe that her dream is real, and that the +man of her choice is pure; whose heart is free and open as her own; +all of whose thoughts may be avowed; who is incapable of wronging the +innocent, or still further degrading the fallen,--a man, in short, +whose brute nature is entirely subject to the impulses of his +better self. Such men there are in countless numbers, who have kept +themselves free from stain, and who can look the purest maiden in the +eye and not shun the glance. Through God's grace they have been saved +from the path full of peril, and desire nothing more than to share +the confidence and friendship of the pure. If, on the other hand, the +unmarried are assured by the married that, "if they knew men as they +do,"--that is, by being married to them,--"they would not expect +continence or self-government from them;" if mothers permit their +daughters to mingle freely with the dissipated and vile because of +rank or wealth, and when warned that such are not fit companions for +a chaste being, reply, "All men are bad sometimes in their life; but +give them a pure wife and a home and they will not want to go wrong," +then be not surprised if homes are converted into abodes of perpetual +sorrow, if not of shame, and the fair young bride is left to weep over +the sacrifice of virtue, of honor, and of love, on the altar of an +unholy passion. The influence of a pure woman over young women is +invaluable. + +"Do not forget the unfortunates who dare not cross your guarded way. +If it do not suit you to act with those who have organized measures of +reform, then hold not yourself excused from acting in private. Seek +out these degraded women, give them then tender sympathy, counsel, +employment. Take the place of mothers, such as might have saved them +originally. If you can do little for those already under the ban of +the world,--and the best considered efforts have often failed, from a +want of strength in those unhappy ones to bear up against the sting of +shame and the frigidness of the world, which makes them seek oblivion +again in their old excitements,--you will at least leave a germ of +love and justice in their hearts, that will prevent their becoming +utterly embittered and corrupt." And you may learn the preventives +for those yet uninjured. These will be found in a diffusion of mental +culture, simple tastes, best brought by your example, a genuine +self-respect, and, above all, the love and fear of a divine in +preference to a human tribunal. Let woman live for God and the +development of her higher nature,--live so that she can be +self-helped, as well as helping,--then if she finds what she needs in +man embodied, she will know how to love, and be worthy of being loved. +Much is said about the underpay of woman as a cause of temptation. It +is for the interests of society that there should be an equality of +compensation wherever there is an equality of distribution. It is well +for woman to ask herself if she is ready to assume the burdens that +come from an equality of compensation, such as giving up the prospect +of marriage, or of sharing with man the toil of the field, of the +factory, as well as of the house. Would woman be willing to take upon +herself the responsibility of planning to economize, of building +churches, railroads, of entering into a competition with man?--Woman +is dependent, not independent.--For this reason man toils to keep his +wife, and is ashamed to have his wife keep him. His pride lies in +having his home a joy and his wife a helpmeet, rather than to have his +wife a rival and his home empty of happiness. + +It is not alone by an excess of passion or of beauty that woman +becomes a tempter. The absence of love, and of beauty, sins of +omission as well as sins of commission, are sources of temptation. Man +desires an educated woman. Intellectually and spiritually she must be +able to meet his wants, and render help, or she is a failure. He tires +of a useless toy or plaything, and cries out for a helpmeet. Another +has said, "The bad housekeeping, and the neglect of domestic duties, +on the part of many wives, is, no doubt, attributable to the slovenly +tenements, and inadequate providings, and careless neglect of the +husbands. But more husbands, we fear, are driven to shiftlessness +and discouragement--driven to the saloon and gambling-room--by the +extravagance or inefficiency, the disorderly arrangements or badly +prepared food, the irritating complaints or exacting demands of those +who preside in the home. None but a man of low instinct, of base +passion, of weak character, will turn away from and neglect a home +where order reigns, where a cheerful smile, well-prepared food, neatly +arranged table await him; where a word of cheer greets him, and where +patient forbearance is exercised, even with his irregularities and +faults. It is the part of woman to win; and her winning arts should +not be laid aside when she grasps what she has considered a prize. She +should seek in every way to win, beyond the possibility of loss, the +abiding love, the unwavering confidence, the undoubting respect of +her husband. If woman would be man's equal, she must challenge the +equality by proving herself mistress of those arts that minister the +highest comfort to his physical nature, as well as to his affections, +that further his interests as well as his happiness." + +Alas! how many fail here because they know not how to make a home +pleasant. Such are the slaves of servants and the creatures of +circumstances. In some cases the fault is man's, in others it is +woman's. Perhaps in all cases both are somewhat at fault; yet the +responsibility rests on woman to make home a delight. When she fails +she must take the consequences. Failure with her is often a mistake. +She knows no better. Ignorance, in some, is wilful, but in more it +is educational. Their mothers, through ill-judged kindness, mistaken +notions of life, or careless neglect, suffered them to grow up without +the necessary practical training; or else they failed before them; and +inefficiency and slatternliness, bad cooking, and worse manners, are +the patrimony bequeathed in perpetuity to the daughters. Happy is the +man who has a wife capable of getting a better meal than the hired +help, and whose smile is the light of his dwelling! Sometimes a girl +knows how to win, but cares not to keep. She gives place in her heart, +and a welcome in her home, to others more readily than to the one she +has given her plighted troth. This is criminal. A woman who does it is +a suicide. She is bent on ruin, and will find the pit ere long. + +_Consider her wiles of speech_. Mystery here brings ruin to man as it +brought ruin to woman. Young ladies of culture and of refinement are +not ashamed to employ the language of the Parisian to lead astray the +companion of her life. God curse the language and the forms of speech +whose words drop with the very gall of death, which revel in elegant +dress as near the edge of indecency as is possible without treading +over the boundary! Her wiles of speech are bad, but her wiles of love +are the most perilous of all. Man needs love. He is fond of it. It is +his joy, come from whence it may. Love is the mind's light and heat. A +mind of the greatest stature, without love, is like a huge pyramid of +Egypt--chill and cheerless in all its dark halls and passages. A mind +with love, is as a king's palace lighted for a royal festival. Shame +that the sweetest of all the mind's attributes should be suborned to +sin. Think of it! each wile, rightly used, is a power given to woman +to make her man's helpmeet, and wrongly used will make her man's +destroyer. + +Some one asked a minister for his conception of the personal +appearance of the devil. His reply was, "A false-hearted and +well-dressed gentleman, or a vain and fashionable woman." Woman was +Satan's first ally, though he worked in ambush, and approached man +in concealment. In the wisdom of his choice we discover the peril of +woman. It may be well briefly to review the public manner in which +Satan employs her talent for the ruin of man and in opposing the rule +of Christ. + +1. Passing over her social power, and without referring to her wiles +of speech, of dress, of flattery, and of love, think of her in the +arena of politics, joining her forces to infidelity, and with the +disbelievers of the Bible, to obtain for woman a place for which she +is not fitted, and which will destroy her peace, injure and undermine +her influence in the home, and cause her to neglect wifehood and +motherhood, to turn from the interior world of a quiet home, to the +outside world of conflict and strife. It is the boast of a writer in +favor of "Woman's Rights," that "among the disbelievers of revealed +religion, I have not found, during a life of half a century, a single +opponent to the doctrine of equal rights for males and females." The +correctness of this statement is to a wonderful extent true. The +believers of the Bible claim that the teachings and commands of the +Word of God are in opposition to the doctrine. When woman joins the +ranks of the infidel, she turns from God, and loses her power in her +former sphere. + +2. If there is one foe more than another, that threatens us as a +nation, nearly all agree in pronouncing that foe to be Romanism. Take +this fact in connection with the obvious truth, that it is fashionable +to pander to Rome. Because of this tendency ripening into results, the +State of New York, politically, is lost to Protestantism, and is as +much Roman Catholic as is Italy or Rome. Whence comes this influence, +or producing cause? Can we trace it to woman? It will be admitted that +the influence of Roman Catholic servants in our homes has never been +measured. The nurse teaches the child the use of the beads, and +familiarizes the child, committed to her keeping, to the cross, as +an emblem of worship. Imagine the alarm of a Christian mother, when, +because of the absence of the nurse it became a necessity to see the +child to bed, when, to her surprise, the little girl of five years +pulled out from beneath the pillow her beads and cross, and began +going through the Papal forms of worship! The mother wisely forbore a +rebuke, changed her nurse, and led her child back to Christ, and so +rescued her. How many children are finding in their nurses, rather +than in their mothers, their religious teachers? The influence of +Romish servants in our homes is felt in still another way. Because +of them there is a barrier to discussion, or even to conversation, +concerning this monstrous error, which, like the frogs of Egypt, +invades our very bread-troughs. No man dare express his mind +concerning Romanism at his table if the servant is a Romanist, lest +he lose the services so much in demand, or lest he be reported to +the priest, and so be placed under the ban or the displeasure of the +Church of Rome, which is used as an engine of political and social +power against the truth as it is in Jesus. + +3. The influence of education deserves consideration. Fashionable +women send their daughters to Roman Catholic institutions of learning, +where the Sister or Mother Superior carries her to the chapel, bows +reverently before the altar, and kissing the cross, exclaims, "How can +Protestants be so blind as to reject the cross on the ground that it +savors of Popery, when they know that all their own hopes of salvation +must hang upon it?" or where the morning service concludes with a +prayer to the "Mother of God," in these words: "Most holy Virgin, I +believe and confess thy most holy and immaculate care of man, pure and +without stain. O most pure Virgin, through thy virginal purity, thy +immaculate conception, thy glorious quality of Mother of God, obtain +for me of thy dear Son, humility, charity, great purity of heart, of +body and of mind, holy perseverance in my cherished relations, the +gift of prayer, a holy life and a happy death."[A] Thus is the dogma +of the Immaculate Conception thrust upon the memory, and the gate is +opened to a denial and rejection of Christ as the Saviour, and to an +acceptance of Mary as the Intercessor. The result manifests itself in +two ways. The fashionable boarding-school girl comes to think kindly +of Rome, and rebukes all opposition to the church as bigotry or +ignorance on the part of those with whom she associates. The influence +is noticeable. It is fashionable to attend the Papal Church, +fashionable to contribute to its prosperity, fashionable for men to +smother their opinions, fashionable for the politician to seek the +favor of that power that furnishes, in its subtlety and in its power +to work in darkness, a perfect mechanism for Satan. + +[Footnote A: Miss Bunkley's Book, pp. 22 and 68.] + +4. Our wealthy women, by their patronage of Roman Catholic fairs, and +by their gifts to the so-called charitable fund, enable the enemies +of the cross of Christ to build these magnificent cathedrals and +religious establishments, while the churches of Christ languish for +support. + +Give to woman the ballot, let these girls in our kitchens become +voters, and it will not be difficult to understand how "a man's foes +shall be those of his own household." + +_The Remedy_. Induce Protestant girls to work, by treating them as +sisters rather than as servants. Talk free in the house and at the +table against Romanism, let the consequences be what they may. Educate +children so that they shall know the characteristics of this lifelong +foe of the church of Christ; and, lastly, resist this movement to +change the order of God's government in the home and in the state. + +Ignore it as we may, the beguiling serpent is busy with our Eve in +America, this Eden of liberty, and God only knows the result. It is +a question which cannot be trifled with. That the drift to-day is +against the teachings of the Bible, none can doubt. Victory for Satan +is a terrible calamity for humanity. Let us then, as an antidote, +preach Christ, and strive to make woman the helpmeet of man and the +ally of our Divine Master, and then she becomes the deadliest foe of +Satan, and the most aggressive champion of the truth. + + "Her rash hand, in evil hour, + Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate! + Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat, + Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe + That all was lost." + + MILTON. + + + + +THE GLORY OF MOTHERHOOD. + + +To understand the tragedies of the present, it is essential that we +re-read the tragedies of the past. Too many, in forming their opinions +of what should be, ignore in their calculations what has been, and +what must be. Those who are dissatisfied with the position assigned to +woman, must recall the fact that God's decrees are unchangeable. We +may resist them, but we cannot destroy them. They were in existence, +before our birth; they will survive our dissolution. It is for us to +recognize God as Ruler as well as Creator, and adjust our views, our +lives, and our labors in accordance with an infinitely wise system, +formed in the counsels of an eternity past, and running on to the +eternity of the future. + +If we speak of Woman as God Made Her, of Woman as a Helpmeet, we find +a warrant for it in the Word of God. In Eden she was God's ally. When +she fell, she became, in sin, the ally of Satan. The truth may be +unpalatable, but it is the truth. + +In considering woman as a mother, we stand on the hill-top of the +past. Before us lies a valley, stretching on from the ruin wrought in +Eden by sin, to the restoration wrought in the world by Christ. During +these ages of wickedness, of sorrow, and of crime, woman felt the +curse heavy upon her. She was made to feel that the _woe_ pronounced +upon her was a fact; and yet, during all these ages of trial, there +was a gleam of hope shining into her soul, because God said, "And I +will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and +her seed; he shall bruise thee on the head, and thou shalt bruise him +on the heel." Thus there came to woman, who had the first encounter +with the wily enemy of the race, the hope of a triumph over, and a +subjugation of this enemy, through her offspring. It is an instinct of +a boy to crush the head of a snake; but you cannot readily get a girl +to do so: she will run from the beast so identified with her sorrow. +The reason for this is explained in the prophecy of Eden. In a +mystical sense, Christ, the deliverer foretold in Genesis, the eminent +seed of the woman, was to bruise the head of the "old serpent, the +devil," that is, destroy him, and all his principalities and powers, +break and confound all his schemes and ruin all his works, crush his +whole empire, strip him of his sovereignty and authority, of his power +over death, and his tyranny over the bodies and souls of men. Here, +then, was a purpose worth living for and suffering for. True, Satan, +or the serpent, is to bruise his heel, or wound his human nature; but +there is no promise of his triumph. + +It is not difficult to discover how this hope must have thrilled the +heart of Eve with joy. Her life was not to be a failure. Though clouds +might rest upon her, it was impossible to shut out the fact that the +star of hope was soon to rise, and to usher in the dawn of a glorious +day. + +Much has been written against the fact that a daughter is not prized +in a home as much as is a son. We can understand it, when we go back +to Eden and see that the seed of the woman, called "_a he_," a male +child, was to be the instrument of working out the disinthralment +of the race. The feminine gender is sometimes used in declaring the +glories of the future. Zion is called a bride, but her glory is +all reflected from the bridegroom. Woman is a helpmeet, but the +king-bearer is the man Christ Jesus. The world turned from Christ +because he had the appearance of a man. It was a great mistake. It is +not a popular saying,--women say it is not complimentary to them to +declare it,--yet it remains true, that "God draws by the cords of a +man." All along the past men have been recognized as the gift of God. +Women rejoice when a man is born into the world; not that women are +disliked, but because there is something involved in life more than +mere existence. There are faint foreshadowings of the tasks laid on +the race. Work is to be done for God and man. Principalities and +powers are to be fought and overcome. An invisible world is in league +against the race, and an invisible God, once robed in flesh, and +living among men, is Our Advocate with God, our Redeemer and Saviour. +There is significance in the language, "I have gotten a man from the +Lord." The language of Eve, as a mother, furnishes the key-note to +that maternal song which yet floats through the world, which makes +women in China, in India, in Africa, and in South America, among the +inhabitants of Russia, and of Paraguay, anywhere and everywhere, +rejoice with the same old joy, when a man is born into the world, +because then she feels that somehow she has given birth to a hero and +a champion who shall be identified with that song of world-triumph +which is yet to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; and the +only exception to this is found among the Hebrews, where a virgin was +revered as the possible mother of the Messiah, and so received her +dignity as a reflection from the man. To understand this problem of +human nature, we must go back to God, and study his word. Those who +reject the Word, of God are surrounded by mysteries which they cannot +solve. They behold tendencies, and instincts, and dispositions, which +are explained in Genesis, and which are parts of God's prophesies yet +to be fulfilled in this world. Ignoring the prophecy, they cannot +comprehend the facts of existence, which must exist and will exist, +whether men will hear or forbear. + +Says a writer of some note, "The severe Nation which taught that the +happiness of the race was forfeited through the fault of a woman, +showed its thought of what sort of regard man viewed her, by making +him accuse her in the first question to his God,--who gave her to +the patriarch as a handmaid, and by the Mosaical law bound her to +allegiance like a serf,--even they greeted, with a solemn rapture, all +great and holy-women as heroines, prophetesses, judges in Israel; and +if they made Eve listen to the serpent, gave Mary as a bride to the +Holy Spirit. In other nations it has been the same down to our day." +In this extract, the Jewish nation and the Bible are referred to in +the same tone that we refer to Mahommedans and to the Koran. Is not +this tendency perceptible elsewhere? In looking at woman, we ignore +the Bible, and God, and history, and talk of her as though the past +had no influence with the present and future. The Bible, God, and +history have to do with the present and the future, and whoever +studies history has been compelled to recognize the truth. This same +writer was compelled to declare, "It is the destiny of man, in the +course of the ages, to ascertain and fulfil the law of his being, so +that his life shall be seen, as a whole, to be that of an angel or +messenger." This is his destiny, because it is God-given. Hence man +was the bearer of good tidings all along the past. Prophets were +generally men. Christ was a man. The apostles, Christ's chosen +standard-bearers, were men. The powers in the moral and spiritual +world are men. All that is great in history, all that thrones one +nation upon a mountain height and buries another in the fathomless +grave of infamy, comes from man. The ages were dark, because of the +lack of a man. Christ came, and the apostolic age became the noontime +of the world, not because of what the race did for themselves, but +because of what was done for the race. If a nation sinks, because the +man who has the brain, the wisdom, the power from God, is wanting, who +shall build up a people in hope, inspire them with grand resolves? +It will rise and prosper when the man comes. Christ was a necessity, +because infinite work was to be performed. Is he not a necessity now? +Is it not a man in Christ, and with Christ, who is ever the worker +on the earth? Christ speaks through the gospel, and "the key" of the +moral universe is still upon his shoulders. This hope and dream came +to Eve way back there in the confines of the wilderness, and so +incidentally as well as actually, she became identified with it, and +rejoiced when she could declare, "I have gotten a man from the Lord," +whom she believed to be the "_promised seed_." + +Notice, to Eve, as to woman now, a baby was more than a little child; +she saw in him all the possibilities of a man, who was to become a foe +worthy to meet the enemy of her soul. Her faith in this child to be +born was similar to our faith in the Child that was born in Bethlehem. +Hence her joy when she exclaimed, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." + +It will seem to many as singular that there should be no mention of +the daughters born of Eve. The generations or names of men are given, +but not of the daughters. Even there and then the custom now prevalent +in the East found its origin. No account is made of the birth of a +daughter in that land. Congratulate a man upon the accession to +the family of a daughter, and the father will hide his shame with +difficulty, and exclaim, "O, that God had given me a son!" + +Again, in reading this story some will be surprised to find no mention +made of the mother's grief when her youngest child was slain, and that +no mention is made of the mother's death. We know that after Seth was +born, Adam lived eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters; +but woman's curse bore fruit. Men ruled over her, and her +individuality was lost in the headship of Adam. Do not blame me for +saying it; I simply declare the fact. This state of things continued +until Christ came. When Mary gave birth to Jesus, woman resumed her +place. The curse was met by its antidote. From God came the wave of +influence which met the wave that flowed out from Eden, the conflict +began, higher and higher rose the flood, until the ark of hope by it +was placed on the mountain peak of human history, in sight of all +races, and tribes, and peoples of the whole world. Calvary is set over +against Ararat, as Mary is set over against Eve. After the birth-song +of Eden came the tragedy, in which Abel lost his life and Cain his +character. After the birth-song of Bethlehem came the tragedy of +Calvary, in which Christ gave up his life, that he might open to man, +enveloped in the ruins of the fall, a way back to the Eden in reserve +for the redeemed. + +In speaking of Eve as a mother, there is little that can be said +founded on fact. Eve passes from sight, though the prophecy, "And I +will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and +her seed; he shall bruise thee on the head, and thou shall bruise him +on the heel," worked on, and lived on, and found its fulfilment in the +triumph won by Christ. It is certainly significant, that Eve, through +whom sin came, should pass out of the world's mind, and Mary, through +whom Christ came, should vault to a seat in the affections of a world? +Is it not also significant that Mary should become an object of +worship to many millions of people in this and in other lands, and +that Satan, through Mariolatry, should strive to do in the New +Dispensation what he wrought by Idolatry in the Old? The opposition of +Satan runs on. The purposes of God run on. The prophesies of the Word +of God abide, and are sure of fulfilment, in spite of Satan. Against +prophecy combinations of men and nations have united; but the truths +sweep on resistlessly, and reach the destination for which God +ordained them. + +The curse that came to woman in the hour of her fall rested on her +until Christ came. "Unto thy husband shall be thy desire,"--an +expression of subordination and dependence. "He shall rule over thee," +expresses the general effect of the apostasy on woman's relations in +the married state. The stronger party in this relation, instead of +being the guardian and protector of the weaker, did use his superior +power to oppress and debase her. Such has always been the case, except +so far as the influence of revelation has counteracted the evils of +the fall, such is the case to-day. Woman owes her recognition to +Christ, and she is indebted for her position in the civilized portions +of the world wholly to the gospel. Wherever Christ is not worshipped +woman is despised. + +Woman as a mother, under the Old Dispensation, differs in many +important respects from woman as a mother under the New. The history +of woman is divided into three portions: 1. Woman as God made her; 2. +Woman as Sin made her; 3. Woman as Christ made her. + +1. The position of woman, between her humiliation in Eden and her +restoration in Bethlehem, was in many respects sad to contemplate. +She was more of a slave than an equal. Eve passes, unrecognized and +unnamed, to her grave. Sarah, the wife of Abram, finds mention, and is +described in such a manner that you behold her sharing her husband's +love, though the picture of her in the home is not a pleasant one. We +can hardly understand how Abram could have suffered her to enter the +house of Abimelech, nor how she could have taken Hagar to her husband, +and thus again have led man astray--the man whom God called to be the +Father of the Faithful. Eve, the mother of the race, tempted Adam, and +Sarah, the mother of the patriarchs, tempted Abram; and lack of faith +in God was the cause of their ruin, and consequent humiliation. There +is something sad about the manner of her life. Her home was a simple +tent, surrounded by flocks and herds, and crowded with rubbish of +every description. Woman in the East is very much to-day what Adam +saw her on his first entrance into the wilderness. The effects of sin +followed her from generation to generation. The gloom of the night is +still over her as she spends her days in out-door labor. She weeds the +cotton, and assists in pruning the vine and gathering the grapes. +She goes forth in the morning, bearing not only her implements of +husbandry, but also her babes in the cradle; and returning in the +evening, she prepares her husband's supper and sets it before him, but +never thinks of eating of it until after he is done. One of the early +objections the Nestorians made to the Female Seminary was, that it +would disqualify their daughters for their accustomed toil. In after +years woman might be seen carrying her Spelling-book to the field +along with her Persian hoe, little dreaming that she was thus taking +the first step towards the substitution of the new implement for the +old. + +Nestorian parents used to consider the birth of a daughter a great +calamity. When asked the number of their children, they would count up +their sons, and make no mention of their daughters. The birth of a son +was an occasion for great joy and giving of gifts. Neighbors hastened +to congratulate the happy father, but days might elapse before the +neighborhood knew of the birth of a daughter. It was deemed highly +improper to inquire after the health of a wife, and the nearest +approach to it was to ask after the house or household. Formerly a man +never called his wife by name, but in speaking of her would say the +mother of "so and so," giving the name of the child; or the daughter +of "so and so," giving the name of her father; or simply that woman +did this or that. Nor did the wife presume to call her husband's name, +or to address him in the presence of his parents, who, it will be +borne in mind, lived in the same apartment. They were married very +young, often at the age of fourteen, and without any consultation of +their own preference, either as to time or person. + +There was hardly a man among the Nestorians who did not beat his wife +when the missionaries commenced their labors. The women expected to be +beaten, and took it as a matter of course. When the men wished to talk +together of anything important, they usually sent the women out +of doors or to the stable, as unable to understand or unfit to be +trusted. In some cases, says the author of "Woman and Her Saviour," +this might be a necessary precaution; for the absence of true +affection, and the frequency of domestic broils, rendered the wife an +unsafe depositary of any important family affair.[A] + +[Footnote A: Woman and her Saviour, pp. 18 and 19.] + +In Paraguay a female child is described by Southey as lamenting, in +heart-breaking tones, that her mother did not kill her when she was +born; and Sir A. Mackenzie declares that there is a class of women +in the north who performed this pious duty towards female infants, +whenever they had an opportunity. But wherever Christ is known and +loved, the daughter is a gift of God as well as a son. Woman owes to +her Saviour all she has of joy in time, as well as all she has of +hope in eternity. Though she does not obtain the headship, though her +sorrow and her pain are not removed, though her desire continues to be +to her husband, and though the rule of the husband continues in every +well-regulated home, yet woman is elevated to become a shareholder of +the pleasures of the home, of the honors and emoluments of life, +of the riches obtained by toil, and of the enjoyments derived from +culture. Woman in the Christian home is the soul, the pride, the +ornament, and the helper. Through Christ she obtains a recognition, so +that when we speak of man we mean the race, men and women, for these +become the two halves of one thought, so that no especial stress is +laid on the welfare of either, but the development of one is +secured by the development of the other. To such an extent have the +disabilities been removed from the sex, that a leading writer has +been compelled to admit, that "in our own country, women are, in many +respects, better situated than the men. Good books are allowed, with +more time to read them. They are not so early forced into the bustle +of life, nor so weighed down by demands for outward success. They +have time to think, and no traditions chain them, and few +conventionalities, compared with what must be met in other nations. +Doors swing open to them, and they are invited to walk the fields of +literary and artistic success, and whatever tends to the development +of their higher nature is freely placed within their reach." + +2. _The trials of motherhood deserve notice_. We have seen the hopes +that came to Eve, and beheld their realization in and through Christ. +The trials were born of sin. Eve's eldest child, Cain, possessed a +narrow, selfish nature. He was a tiller of the ground. Abel was a +keeper of the sheep. The first born met this curse in the soil. The +second born looked forward to the restoration. In process of time Cain +brought of the fruit of the ground. Tradition has it that he brought +what was left of his food, of light and tempting things, flax or hemp +seed. + +Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, which was a proper type +of Christ. His offering pleased God, Cain's niggardly gift displeased +God. The selfish man wreaked his vengeance in the usual way. He slew +his brother, who was better than himself. The heavens are black with +gathering gloom. Murder is in the air. The shock is felt everywhere. +God comes, and sternly asks, "_Where is thy brother?_" Cain impudently +replies, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Then comes the curse. It is a +self-invited curse, for the gift he gave to God is the harvest in +future for himself. Ah, what a lesson. How early it is taught. If you +hate God, if you regret what you give, if you make it small, if you +see to it that you give the leavings rather than the firstlings, then +beware. Cain said his punishment was greater than he could bear. He is +getting back what he gave. The command is, Give, and it shall be given +back. The converse is true--Keep, and it shall be kept back. + +The hopes of Eve were centred in the victory to be achieved over the +enemy of her life, by means of the triumph to be won by her children. +Her trials really began when she saw that sin was not an accident. It +was rebellion which bore fruit. Her treachery to God came back to her +in this treachery of her first born to her second child, whom she +loved with maternal tenderness. Thus the gates of evil were thrown +open, and they filled the land with violence, and the flood became a +necessity. + +What was true of Eve was more or less true of woman until Christ +came. She inherited sorrow, and was born to a life of humiliation and +wretchedness. The history of woman in the olden time and at this hour, +wherever Christ is not known, is full of sorrow. In Christ she finds +an emancipator from sorrow. + +There is another strange fact. In the Old Dispensation, the first born +son is the child of promise. But wherever the influence of Christ's +gospel rules, there the rule of the first born disappears, and all, +both sons and daughters, share in the patrimony of the house and in +the honors of the household. Despite this, it is natural for a father +to love his first born son the best, and for the mother to find her +heart clinging involuntarily to the younger and weaker. From the +unfortunate the father may turn, but the mother never. She will bind +her love tightest about the birdling that, from some misfortune, is +unable to leave the maternal nest. + +Turn we to the Old Testament, we find that whenever man was brought +near to God, as was Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and others, woman was +held in respect, and was permitted to exercise an elevating influence +in the home; and yet it remains true, that in nearly every instance +she failed to prove herself a helpmeet. + +Sarah introduced Abraham to polygamy, Rebekah was a pattern of lying, +and Rachel of deception. The three celebrated women of history are +destitute of those characteristics which make of a wife a companion, +counsellor, and friend. + +Do we study the history of Miriam, of Deborah, and Esther? we behold +women rising up in the name of God to help their people to save their +kindred. They were the introduction to a noble succession. Woman then, +as now, is loved for bringing _help_ to those on whom God devolves +responsibility. + +The picture best loved and most praised in the Old Testament is that +of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, as she fits him for his post of duty +in the service of the Lord. In Hannah the world finds their beau ideal +of a mother, actuated by principle and ruled by love, recognizing her +allegiance to God, and her obligations to her child and husband, and +there is hardly a child in this Christian land who does not dwell with +delight upon this fact, that each year the mother made for her boy a +little coat. It was a motherly deed, and links her to the history of +the race by the blessed tie which finds its origin in maternal care. + +Ruth comes next, because of her fidelity to her mother, and her love +of virtue. It is by her life we are introduced afresh to the golden +vein of prophecy that runs through the Old Testament, and which ever +pointed towards the coming of Christ as the hope of woman and the +hope of the world. Esther's love of her race, and her noble daring +of Eastern despotism for the good of her people, lifts her to a high +place, though as a wife and mother we know nothing more than that she +was hedged round by the iron regulations of a paganized court. The +revelations made concerning the daughter of Jacob, or of Bathsheba, +the loved wife of David, and in fact of nearly all of the women of the +Bible, prove that the women of the olden time left as well as received +an inheritance of shame. The names we have mentioned are among the +brightest and the best. We will draw a veil over the characters of +women such as the wife of Lot, or of Potiphar, the would-be seducer +of Joseph, or of Job, the betrayer of her husband in misfortune, of +Jezebel, the fury, or of Delilah, the traitress to her husband, and of +a score of others, that make the age in which they lived seem like the +night of humanity. + +3. _Woman obtains her recognition in Christ._ From the moment God +pronounced sentence upon Eve to the moment when the angel appeared +to Mary, man was recognized as the head. Even Miriam wrought through +Moses, and Deborah, the judge and prophetess, lays no claim to +personal communication with God, but quotes his promises, and +stimulates Barak to action, So also when the angel came from the court +of heaven to foretell the joy that was to come to the world in the +birth of John, the forerunner of Christ, he came to Zacharias instead +of to Elisabeth. But when the message related to Christ, _then the +angel passed by man, and approached woman direct_. God never forgets. +A thousand years are but as a day to Him. Yesterday, in Eden, he +foretold the coming of Christ to Eve. To-day, in Nazareth, the angel +comes to Mary, and makes her heart glad with the fact, that she +was chosen to become the mother of our Lord. Eve lost by sin God's +companionship. Mary obtained, through Christ, favor with God and man. +The valley is spanned with this arch of hope. The night of woman's +humiliation is passing away. And the angel came in unto her, and said, +"Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed +art thou among women." + +Strange words these, as we can readily perceive, from the position +held by woman previously. No wonder that when she saw him, she was +troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation +this should be. And the angel said unto her, "Fear not, Mary, for thou +hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shall conceive in thy +womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall +be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God +shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign +over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be +no end." No wonder that the air seemed full of music. Woman, made so +beautiful, woman, so beloved of God, and so prized by Adam, before sin +blighted the bud of hope and spoiled the flower of beauty, was now to +come forth from the darkness and gloom of her life of shame to the +light of an unclouded day, henceforth to be made glorious by her +ministrations of love. The glory of motherhood "is the man gotten from +the Lord," and raised to work for God in this sinful world. The glory +of woman is to share this man's home as a helpmeet, and contribute by +her love, and sympathy, and efforts to his happiness and usefulness +here, that she may wear the crown of joy in heaven. + + + + +MARIOLATRY NOT OF CHRIST. + + +If ever woman had reason to sing, "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my +Saviour," it was Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ. God recognized her +as a helper in restoring man from the ruins of sin. To her the angel +spake, saying, "Hail, thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with +thee. Blessed art thou among women." And in pondering in her heart the +strange coincidences, she exclaimed, "God hath regarded the low estate +of his handmaiden; for behold from henceforth all generations shall +call me blessed." + +From these words it is evident that Mary appreciated the honor +conferred upon her by her Creator and rightful Ruler. It is a singular +fact, that Eve, betrayed by Satan, betrayed the race. Mary held +steadfast to God and to truth; and yet Satan has the second time taken +woman and used her as an ally, and so has brought an influence to bear +upon the minds of men which has led millions astray, and covers vast +portions of the world with the gloom of a moral night. Mary, the +"Mother of Jesus," is made to take the place of "Christ, the Son of +God," and is declared to be the Mother of God. In this land we can +form no conception of the extent to which this worship of Mary is +carried in Roman Catholic countries. To the Italians Mary is God, and +worship is simply the adoration of the Virgin. Viewing Romanism in the +light of the Bible, this is its crowning sin; viewing it as a system +combined to seduce and enslave, this is its masterpiece. To understand +how it is so, let us think how deep in man's nature is placed the +feeling of the need of a being like unto himself, to mediate between +him and God. The Bible completely meets this want in the God-man. But +Popery blots out the God-man as mediator, and in his stead presents us +with Mary, who is to the devotee the "one living and true God;" for, +though the Father and Son are known, they are accessible only through +Mary, and they stand so far behind and beyond her, that to the +Romanist they are vague, shadowy, and unknown. Mary is the first name +to be lisped in childhood, the last to be uttered by the quivering +lips before they are closed in death. Around the neck of the infant is +suspended a small image of the Virgin; when the babe seeks the breast +it must kiss the image, and thus literally does it draw in the +adoration of Mary with its mother's milk. "Were the New Testament to +be written at this hour, Rome would blot out the name of Christ and +substitute that of Mary. Take a proof: The church close by the Vatican +has upon its marble pediment, graven in large letters, 'Let us come to +the throne of the Virgin Mary, that we may find grace to help us in +our time of need.' The Roman sees Heb. iv. 16 quoted, but cannot +verify it if he would, seeing the Bible is forbidden to him." Pius +IX., at the foot of the column of the Immaculate Conception, erected +to perpetuate the fact that he was permitted to decree the dogma, has +Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah casting crowns before the Virgin, +saying, "Thou art worthy; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to +God by thy blood." When it was announced that the French occupation of +Rome should cease, the Pope published a decree calling on all Rome +to go with him to the feet of Mary, if haply by cries and tears they +might prevail with her to avert from the throne of God's vicar the +dangers that threaten it; and in that act the Pope led the way.[A] + +[Footnote A: Minister _versus_ Priest, page 7.] + +For this worship of the Virgin Mary there is a reason. Satan could +not successfully lead astray so many millions of people, despite a +preached gospel and a printed Bible, unless there was some truth lying +at the root of this ineradicable Virgin worship. This root we shall +discover when we recall woman's position prior to the advent of +Christ, the place she was called upon to fill in the scheme of +redemption, and the influences set in motion by the life of Christ +upon the earth. + +1. _Let us notice woman's position previous to the advent_. Before +Christ came, woman was regarded as inferior to man. She had lost +her equality. She was excluded from general intercourse, and her +confinement to her own home and apartments, without education, +without social recognition, left her without strength of character, +self-reliance, or resources with herself. "Woman's safety in society +lies in two elements: her own virtue and intelligence, and the +consequent respect for her which such a character inspires. Where +these two things are found, she may participate in general society, +mingling freely with men as their equals, and regarded, it may be, +even as their superiors. Here, it may be worthy of note, that no such +estimate or honor is ever put upon woman except when Christianity has +given her this elevation." + +Before Christ appeared, the qualities honored as divine were +peculiarly the virtues of the man--courage, wisdom, truth, strength. +Womanly virtues were regarded as puerile and contemptible, and woman +herself was little better than a slave. + +2. _Notice the place woman filled in the scheme of redemption_. It is +admitted by those who recognize the Word of God as authority, that +the Atonement required the sacrifice of one whose nature represents +equally the dignity of the Law-maker and the humanity of the +transgressor. In him Deity and humanity must be united: Deity, that +he may give value to the offering; humanity, that he may obey the +positive precepts and endure the penal sanction of the law human +nature has violated. It was therefore essential that the prophecy +of Isaiah, uttered six hundred years before the advent, should be +fulfilled, viz., "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a +son, and they shall call his name Immanuel--God with us." This work +had been accomplished, and Mary was honored with the privilege of +taking the words of Eve, "I have gotten a man with Jehovah," and +making it no longer a prophecy, but a fact. So we sing,-- + + "Thou wast born of woman; them didst come, + O, Holiest! to this world of sin and gloom, + Not in thy dread omnipotent array; + And not by thunder strewed + Was thy tempestuous road,-- + Nor indignation burned before thee on thy way; + But thou, a soft and naked child, + Thy mother undefiled, + In the rude manger laid to rest, + From off her virgin breast." + +Then, for the first time, the mother resumed her place. When the +wise men came into the house they saw the young child, with Mary his +mother, and fell down and worshipped him; and when they had opened +their treasures they presented unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense, +and myrrh. The old Eastern custom, which placed the child before the +mother, was now understood. God guarded against making Mary first, and +at the same time provided for her a place. When God appeared to Joseph +in a dream, he did not say, Take the mother and child, but the "young +child and his mother, and flee into Egypt." This brings us naturally +to consider-- + +3. _The influences set in motion by the life of Christ upon the +earth_. First, let us review the history of Christ's personal +relations to Mary. Up to twelve years of age, his home was in +Nazareth; and Luke declares (second chapter, fortieth verse), "The +child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the +grace of God was upon him. And when he was twelve years old, his +parents went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast. And when +they had fulfilled the days, as they returned the child Jesus tarried +behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. For +three days he was away from them. When they found him he was in the +temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and +asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his +understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: +and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? +Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." + +It is noticeable that Luke mentions Joseph before he mentions the +mother; and when Mary speaks, she ignores the miraculous conception, +and calls him the son of Joseph. But Jesus _does not forget_ his +origin, nor does he recognize Joseph as father, but says, How is +it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's +business? And they understood not the saying he spake unto them. And +he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto +them; but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. "And Jesus +increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."--Luke +ii. 42. + +Again, at Cana of Galilee, there was a marriage, and the mother of +Jesus was there. Eighteen years have passed since we last saw him in +the temple, when Mary ignored his miraculous conception, and when +Jesus rebuked her, by asserting his Sonship and by claiming God as +Father. At Cana both Jesus and his disciples are invited to the +wedding. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto +him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, what have I to +do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." Plainly, and in the most +emphatic manner, Christ refuses to recognize Mary as intercessor or +director. A third instance is still more marked. Jesus is talking +to an immense multitude, and is making a hand-to-hand fight with +Pharisees and Scribes. "While he yet talked to the people, behold, his +mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him." +Evidently Mary had no idea of the character or the mission of the Man +Christ Jesus, but feeling that he was popular, she was glad to exhibit +her relationship in a public manner, and so through the throng sent in +word, saying, "Tell Jesus his mother and his brethren stand without, +desiring to speak with him." But he answered, and said unto him that +told him, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" It is not +difficult to picture the God-man shaking off the trammels of the +flesh and rising to the height of his great work. What a contrast +is presented between the second and the first Adam! The first Adam +yielded without remonstrance to Eve, who had worshipped the creature +rather than the Creator, and thus paved the way for the introduction +of idolatry; while the second Adam--the Lord of Glory--withstood the +influences of Mary, rebuked her intermeddling and dictation, and stood +forth to his work in the declaration as he Stretched out his hand +towards his disciples, and said, "Behold my mother and my brethren. +For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the +same is MY BROTHER, AND SISTER, AND MOTHER." + +Again, while Christ was conversing with his disciples, a certain woman +of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, "Blessed is +the womb that bore thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." Thus +suddenly flamed up this passion for Mariolatry. It was instantly +rebuked by the words, "Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the +Word of God and keep it." Thus he tore the crown from the brow of Mary +woven by the irreligious, and intimated that, as Mary was greater than +Eve, because of her identification with Himself, so whosoever should +believe in Christ, and serve him, should be the equal of Mary. The +purpose of God in forming Eve, should be realized in the womanly +character resulting from a reception of the truth as it is in Jesus, +and by doing the will of God on the earth. + +Thus he severed the tie binding him to family, and proclaimed himself +the Son of Man, and the Son of God, the Brother of the Faithful. From +this declaration came the brotherhood and sisterhood of the church +of Christ, so that no matter what be the rank or position of the +worldling redeemed by the blood of Christ, he becomes an equal +shareholder in love, and is recognized as a partaker in the fellowship +of the church. + +At the cross we find Mary standing with others. When Jesus therefore +saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith +unto his mother, "Woman, behold thy son." Then saith he to the +disciple, "Behold thy mother." And from that hour the disciple took +her unto his own house. Once more she appeal's as worshipper, and not +as the worshipped. Her name is mentioned, with others, in Acts i. 14, +as being with the disciples in the Pentecostal chamber waiting for the +descent of the Holy Spirit. + +From this scriptural testimony, it is apparent that the Saviour, by +his conduct towards his mother, shielded the church from the curse of +Mariolatry. Had he yielded in one instance, reasons for supporting the +claims of Romanism had been furnished. Mary was only a woman. She was +honored of God just as far as she served God, and when she turned +aside she was no more than any other person. Her perceptions of +Christ's work were not as distinct or comprehensive as were those of +Mary the sister of Lazarus, or of Mary Magdalene. In this Mary was not +peculiar. Very frequently women associated with great workers fail to +appreciate the character of the work committed to them to do. To the +world a worker may seem to be a wonder. To the one most intimately +associated with him he is a very ordinary individual. It is said a man +is never a hero to his servant. Is it not almost as true of his wife? +A living great man is ordinary in so many things in his daily life, +that the wife forgets his greatness. The wife of John Milton saw but a +blind man in the bard, dwelling upon his immortal thought and evolving +his world-renowned poem. As the eagle stirs up her nest, compelling +her broodlings to exert themselves, so God sometimes suffers a good +man to link his fortunes with a woman who is ill-mated with him in +every way. In the light of the fact that Jesus found little or +no appreciation in the society of Mary, and sought the home-joys +elsewhere, woman ought to learn a lesson. Is it not possible that you +mistake your mission, and strike the rock of stumbling in your home, +rather than avoid it by ignoring that which is grand and admirable in +the life of him with whom you are associated? Doubtless in a busy man, +now full of joy, and now morose; now engrossed by a thought or scheme +to such an extent that he forgets himself and his family, and now idle +and listless as a boy,--it may be hard, yet it is none the less a duty +for woman to love him for what he is, and to see to it that he be +ministered unto in his efforts. O, how dear to the heart of a working +man--no matter whether he toil with brain or hand--who feels that his +wife understands him, defends and protects him, and keeps the home +bright with love, though tempests may sweep across the path that leads +him into the world! There is a lesson here which belongs to men. +Mary's lack of appreciation did not turn Jesus from his work. It +permitted his true character to appear to better advantage. It tore +down the scaffolding of Mariolatry, and permitted the God-man to +stand forth in his grand proportions. "Wist ye not I must be about +my Father's business?" said Jesus. Many men make trouble at home an +excuse for going to the bad. It is not an excuse. The design of home +trouble may be to send a man to Jesus; to make the tendrils of love +twine about the heavenly rather than the earthly. It surely is not to +induce a man to twine his affections about the devilish and earthly. +It is not manly thus to do. + +_Man moves in three circles_. The first is that of Self; the second +that of Family; the third that of Country. A man who properly performs +duties that pertain to himself, we shall not call noble. By neglecting +family he becomes less than a man. By performing them never so well +he comes not to merit applause. Distinctive nobleness begins with the +third class. It is when he rises above self and family, when he looks +abroad on the family of mankind, that he takes the altitude which in +a man is distinctively great; when he feels no longer the little +necessities which compel, or the little pleasures which allure, and +yet is able to contemplate men as a great brotherhood of immortals, +with a gaze analogous to Him in whose image he is made; when he can +look on the world through the light of eternity, and is willing to +suffer all things, and to endure all things, that by him and through +him blessings may reach others,--then it is he does that which it is +the high privilege of man on this earth to do, and becomes a power to +which under God humanity owes all it has achieved in time. "I serve" +is the law of the living forces of mankind. Each man and woman has +a place. If they fill it, they furnish a channel along which God's +beneficent purposes find their way to a lost world. If they do not +fill it, they are set aside, and the verdict of the world is, Served +them right. + +It if surprising that, after Mary had been rebuked at Cana of Galilee, +that she should have presumed to have interrupted Jesus in the +presence of the multitude. It is instructive that Christ taught us +that the tie binding us to God and to humanity, is the most sacred +of all; for while it made the God-man a brother to us, it makes us +co-workers with God in carrying forward the enterprises with which men +are identified on the earth. When a man is true to self, to humanity, +and to God, and so girds himself with the strength arising from +confidence, he deserves the support, if not the admiration, of those +with whom he is associated. It was unworthy of Mary to ignore the +Divine origin of Jesus, and call Joseph his father before the elders. +She thought to raise herself by lowering him. He would not be lowered. +By his mother and by the world he knew that he had a right to be +recognized as the Son of God. This tendency to belittle greatness +lives yet. Men are seldom known until they die. We praise the dead and +ignore the living, as a rule. There is too little respect shown to men +occupying positions of public trust. There is too little respect shown +in the household. The father and mother are not honored in the home as +they deserve to be, and in the state the same principle rules. "Thou +shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy people," is an apostolic +precept, and the command, "Honor thy father and thy mother," was +repeatedly reiterated by Christ. + +It is a significant fact, that Eve was led astray by Satan in the +same direction that was Mary. Mariolatry is only the outgrowth of the +seedling that lay dormant in Mary's heart, and is indigenous. It is +not natural for us to be contented with being used as an instrument +for glorifying God. We desire to be honored, as something more than an +instrument. In fact, it is true, that all are, no matter what their +powers or capacities, instrumentalities employed of God for distinct +purposes. Against this power we revolt and are thrust aside. The +_really_ great delight to recognize this truth, and their prayer is, +"Use me for thy glory" and for the world's advantage. + +Another truth incidentally appears, and furnishes the root of +Mariolatry. We come to appear to the world what we really are. Mary +was tempted to place herself above Christ, and so we are not surprised +that those who have turned against Christ should join the tempter in +placing Mary above her Son. The refutation is the life of Christ, +who died for man, and the life of Mary, who never forgot herself in +thinking of others. The triumph of Mary was won by submission. Had she +revolted against Christ, she had lost all. In the First Epistle of +Paul to the Corinthians, the apostle speaks of the glory of the women +as of a thing distinct from the glory of the men. They are the two +opposite poles of the sphere of humanity. "Their provinces are not +the same, but different. The qualities which are beautiful when +predominant in one are not beautiful when predominant in the other. +That which is the glory of the one is not the glory of the other." The +glory of true womanhood is a combination of various qualities, many +of which were illustrated by the life of Mary. She was considerate of +others. She was submissive. As has been said, "In the very outset of +the Bible, submission is revealed as her peculiar lot and destiny. +If you were merely to look at the words as they stand declaring the +results of the fall, you would be inclined to call that vocation of +obedience a curse but in the spirit of Christ it is transformed, like +labor, into a blessing." The origin or root of Mariolatry has been +accounted for in the following manner: "In all Christian ages the +especial glory ascribed to the Virgin Mother is purity of heart +and life. Gradually in the history of the Christian church, the +recognition of this became idolatry. The works of early Christian +art commonly exhibit the progress of this perversion. They show how +Mariolatry grew up. The first pictures of the early Christians simply +represent the woman. By and by we find outlines of the mother and the +child. In an after age, the Son is seen sitting on a throne, with the +mother crowned, but sitting, as yet, below him. In an age still later, +the crowned mother is on a level with the Son. Later still, the mother +is on a throne above the Son. And, lastly, a Romish artist represents +the Eternal Son, in wrath, about to destroy the earth, and the Virgin +Intercessor interposing, pleading by significant attitudes her +maternal rights, and redeeming the world from his vengeance. Such was, +in fact, the progress of virgin worship." + +First, the woman reverenced for the Son's sake, then the woman +reverenced above the Son and adored. This is the history. To account +for it, various theories have been advocated. One, assuming it as +a principle that no error has ever spread widely that was not the +exaggeration or perversion of a truth, finds in the influence exerted +by Christ the germ out of which Mariolatry springs. But surely nothing +could be farther from what Christ taught. By word, by look, and by +action, Christ opposed the debasing and degrading thought. Mariolatry, +like idolatry, is the outgrowth of the religion of nature. The carnal +heart is at enmity with God. It prefers to worship something besides +God, and so in the old dispensation it found its idol in the hero. +As the heathen counted for divine the legislative wisdom of the +man,--manly strength, manly truth, manly justice, manly courage, +Hercules with his club, Jupiter with his thunderbolt, so Baal, +representing the primeval power of nature, became the object of +idolatrous worship. After Christ, partly because of the new spirit +which pervaded the world, and largely because the carnal heart, ruled +by Satan, is glad of any pretext to neglect Christ, Mary, the mother, +became preferable to Christ the Son. Salvation depends upon faith in +Christ. Whosoever believeth in the Son hath everlasting life. For God +so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever +believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This +being true, a belief in Mary as an intercessor is as sinful in God's +sight, and is as directly opposed to a faith in Christ, as was a +belief in Baal or Jupiter. By whatever means Satan induces men to +reject Christ, he ruins them, and destroys their hope of salvation. +Satan induced Eve to reject God, to believe in him, and to serve him. +There is no evidence that Mary would have consented to occupy the +place to which an idolatrous world has raised her, but Satan cares not +for that, so that "he may work with all power, and signs, and lying +wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that +perish." + +The peril arising from the perversion's of biblical truth is +illustrated by the history of the diaconate as well as by the history +of the motherhood of Jesus. The influences set in motion by the life +of Christ deserve to be carefully pondered. Perverted, they have +helped on error. Used and employed as Christ designed them, they are +subservient of the highest interests of society. Truly has it been +said, The life and the cross of Christ shed a splendor from heaven +upon a new and till then unheard of order of heroism--that which may +be called the feminine order--meekness, endurance, long-suffering, the +passive strength of martyrdom. For Christianity does not say, "Honor +to the wise," but, "Blessed are the meek." Not "Glory to the strong," +but "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Not the +Lord is a man of war; Jehovah is his name, but God is love. In Christ, +not intellect, but love, is glorified. In Christ is magnified, not +force of will, but the glory of a Divine humility. He was obedient +unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God hath also +exalted Him. Therefore it was, that from that time forward, woman +assumed a new place in the world. It is not to mere civilization, but +to the spirit of life in Christ, that woman owes all she has and all +she has yet to gain. In Christ, manly and womanly characteristics were +united, and were in equipoise. He was not the Son of the Man, but the +Son of Man. It was not manhood, but humanity, that was made divine +in him. Humanity has its two sides: one side in the strength and +intellect of manhood; the other in the tenderness and faith and +submission of womanhood; man and woman, the two halves of one thought, +make up human nature. In Christ, not one alone, but both were +glorified. Strength and Grace, Wisdom and Love, Courage and +Purity,--Divine Manliness, Divine Womanliness. In all noble +characters, the two are blended; in Him--the noblest--blended into +one entire and perfect humanity. The spirit which pervades the world +because of Christ's coming, and of the influence exerted by his +Gospel, opens to woman a faith which has been growing clearer and +brighter for eighteen centuries. By this we do not affirm or imply +that the coming of Christ restored woman to the equality she enjoyed +in the morning of creation, or that his coming removed the curse then +pronounced upon her. If Christ's coming removed a part of the curse, +then it must have removed all, which we know is false; woman still has +sorrow in child-bearing, and man earns his daily bread by the sweat +of his brow. Christ's coming removed the disabilities from woman. He +turned the attention of the world to feminine characteristics, and +shed over them the halo of a divine light. He brought the woman up +as he lowered the glory hitherto attached to characteristics +distinctively manly. Where Christ is loved, the gladiator and +prize-fighter are despised, and a meek and quiet spirit is honored. +The heart is the seat of power more than the intellect. Blessed are +the pure in heart, rather than the great in intellect. Pureness rather +than strength is the ideal of the human heart, since Christ was slain. +While, then, it is true that the worship of Mary is idolatry, and that +the worship given to her is so much taken from Christ, we must not +forget that the only glory of the Virgin was the glory of true +womanhood. "The glory of true womanhood consists in being herself; not +in striving to be something else. It is the false paradox and heresy +of this present age to claim for her as a glory, the right to leave +her sphere. Her glory lies in her sphere, and God has given her a +sphere distinct; as in the Epistle to the Church of Corinth, when, in +that wise chapter, St. Paul rendered unto womanhood the things which +were woman's, and unto manhood the things which were man's." + +Mary's glory was not immaculate origin, nor immaculate life, nor +exaltation to Divine honors. She has none of these things. Hers was +the glory of simple womanhood. The glory of being true to the nature +assigned her by her Maker, the glory of Motherhood; the glory of a +meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of great price. +For all women there is something nobler than to be recognized as the +queen of heaven. Let woman be content to be what God made her, to fill +the sphere God appointed for her, in unselfishness, and humbleness, +and purity, rejoicing in God her Saviour, content that He had regarded +the lowliness of His handmaiden, and rejoicing that God has honored +the characteristics regarded as feminine, which she possesses, and +which she may use for the glory of God and the good of the race. +Now, as in the olden time, it is her privilege to minister unto the +necessities of Jesus, by cheerfully contributing of her substance +to the support of His cause, and by lavishing her love, upon those +qualities of the head and heart, which in Christ appeared in perfected +beauty, and are to-day the charm of life, the power of religion, and +the glory of Christianity. + + + + +WOMAN'S WORK AND WOMAN'S MISSION. + + +Woman's work is a work of charity. The fact points back to woman's +origin. God brought her as a gift to man, with characteristics and +endowments which fitted her to be his helpmeet, his counsellor, and +companion. Recall Adam's position. He was alone in the garden. He +found no helper in the beasts. He longed for a kindred spirit. Endowed +with a nature too communicative to be content with itself, he requires +society, a resting point, a complement, for he only half lives while +he lives alone. Made to speak, to think, to love, his thought seeks +another thought to reveal and quicken itself; his speech is lost +sorrowfully in the air, or only awakens an echo which reverberates it, +but cannot reply; his love knows not where to fix itself, and falling +back on itself, threatens to become a barren egotism; in short, fill +his being aspires to another self, but his other self does not exist. +At this time, when the desire for communion was stifling him, he +slept, and from his side God took a rib and made woman, and brought +her to him. Behold Adam. He sees her, and is in rapture. + + "Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, + In every gesture dignity and love." + +Milton describes Adam as saying-- + + "I now see + Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself + Before me; Woman is her name, of man + Extracted: for this cause he shall forego + Father and mother, and to his wife adhere; + And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul." + +The imagination paints this scene. In fancy we behold Adam winning +Eve, "for she would be wooed, and not unsought be won." Won she was, +and Adam was brought to the sum of earthly bliss. They dwell together +in sweet accord, Adam fears for her safety when apart from him. Evil +threatens them. Together they would be strong, he thinks, apart they +would be weak, and so in fear he speaks of the enemy lurking in the +garden, and seeking to find them asunder. + + "Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each + To other speedy aid might lend at need; + Whether his first design be to withdraw + Our fealty from God, or to disturb + Conjugal love, than which, perhaps, no bliss + Enjoyed by us excites his envy more; + Or this or worse, leave not the faithful side + That gave thee being, still shades thee and protects. + The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks, + Safest and seemliest by her husband stays, + Who guards her, or with her the worst endures." + +Eve resents the imputation of weakness, and insists on being left +forever fancy free to roam at will. In self-confidence she goes forth +and falls, and in falling introduces sin into the world. + +Let us review the past, and recall a few facts which, deserve +consideration, before we enter upon the contemplation of Woman's Work +and Woman's Mission. It will not be denied that Eve was created to be +a helpmeet. That Satan tempted her, and converted the helpmeet into a +tempter. In that light we have considered her power. We have seen that +Eve, in bringing ruin to man, turned her back upon the Creator and +Preserver of mankind, and paved the way for the introduction of +idolatry, the shadows of whose multiplying altars shrouded the old +world in the gloom of night. From the ruin of Eve to the restoration +in Mary, the history of this world resembles a deep valley filled with +death and sorrow and gloom. In Adam all died, in Christ all shall be +made alive. Bethlehem with its manger is set over against Eden with +its bower. During that old dispensation, manly qualities were honored +and womanly qualities were ignored. The effects of sin are seen. God +doth not hold guiltless the sinner. The consequences of sin run on. +They made woman's life wretched. They changed the helpmeet into a +slave. Do not rebel, woman, at the utterance, nor suffer yourself to +feel that God does not care for woman, or that he willingly afflicts +her. + +It is at this point you do well to survey the field. We know that +God's purposes run on. That God was not and will not be defeated. That +the plan formed in the councils of eternity is sure to be successfully +executed. + +Hence God's idea of woman is yet to bless the world. What sin +destroyed Christ came to restore, and more than to restore. In heaven +if not on earth we shall see woman as God made her, and as God +glorified her. This brings us to the consideration of what Christ did +for her. He did not permit Mary to become Intercessor, and so give a +sanction to Mariolatry, which in evil is second only to idolatry. +He did not lift woman to the position of ruler, nor did he give any +sanction to the wild vagaries of the Christless ones, who are striving +to overturn the foundations of society, and who rebel against +motherhood, wifehood, and sisterhood; but he did turn the attention +of the world towards the graces of womanhood, and while he turned his +back upon those manly qualities of labor, of pluck, of brute courage, +he turned his face towards meekness, gentleness, and love, and made +the vales of life to blossom with a new beauty. He welcomed woman as a +companion. He sought her for sympathy's sake, and opened his heart to +her in the fullest confidence. + +Let us notice this truth. In making woman's work a work of charity, he +continued in the New Dispensation the work which was commenced in the +Old. He lifted the thread where woman broke it, and reuniting it again +sent her forth into the world to bless it with love, with sympathy, +with ministrations of tenderness, with an elevating companionship, +which makes man worthy of his origin, and helps him to fulfil the +mission of God's anointed. + +And though Satan has taken this new thought and perverted it, as he +has perverted all the rest, and though he has employed the Church of +Rome, by organizing women into orders and sisterhoods of charity, so +that woman may again be enslaved and destroyed; though the story of +her confinement in nunneries and establishments little better in form +than prisons, and far more cruel in character, has been written, let +us not be discouraged, but believing that Christ's plan is best, let +us learn what his will is, and then let us do it in the fear of God +and in the love of truth, assured that his ways are higher and better +and grander than ours, and that it is safe to trust God even where +we cannot trace him, remembering that "he doeth great things, past +finding out; yea, and wonders without number." + +In considering Woman's Work and Woman's Mission, we discover that they +go hand in hand, and faith is the bond which unites them. Separate +woman's work from her mission, and you divorce it from that which +makes it honorable and praiseworthy. It is the spirit of faith, and +love, and hope, and charity, which pervades the life of the true +woman, that is her glory and her praise. The difference between woman +as a drudge and woman as a helpmeet, describes the relation existing +between her work and her mission. Work separated from this path of +faith, love, and charity, becomes unholy to the world and unbearable +to her. The holiest of all work for a mother is to care for her child. +That child, so helpless now, is to reward her by acts of love and +deeds of valor. Take away from woman her faith, let her feel that her +work is a degradation, and there is nothing more beautiful in her +attentions to a child than there would be in her attentions to a pig. + +When in the country the children and their parents were floating in a +little boat on a river's surface, they admired the lilies with their +white leaves spread out on the wave. After they had looked upon the +flower, I asked them to observe the roots, and see in what they +were embedded. They replied, "The roots are in the mud." That lily +illustrates truthfully the spiritual character of woman's work. Though +her life may be passed in drudgery, yet the flower of her life is +seen in the neatness, beauty, and comfort of the home, and her joy +is derived from the commendation received by her diligence and toil. +Truly has the poet told, in this homely way, how + +LOVE LIGHTENS LABOR. + + A good wife rose from her bed one morn, + And thought, with a nervous dread, + Of the piles of clothes to be washed, and more + Than a dozen mouths to be fed. + There were meals to be got for the men in the field, + And the children to fix away + To school, and the milk to be skimmed and churned; + And all to be done that day. + + It had rained in the night, and all the wood + Was wet as it could be, + And there were pudding and pies to bake, + And a loaf of cake for tea. + The day was hot, and her aching head + Throbbed wearily as she said-- + "If maidens but knew what good wives know, + They would, be in no hurry to wed." + + "Jennie, what do you think I told Ben Brown?" + Called the farmer from the well; + And a flush crept up to his bronzed brow, + And his eye half bashfully fell; + "It was this," he said, and coming near, + He smiled, and stooping down, + Kissed her cheek--"'twas this, that _you were the best + And dearest wife in town_!" + + The farmer went back to the field, and the wife, + In a smiling and absent way, + Sang snatches of tender little songs + She'd not sung for many a day. + And the pain in her head was gone, and the clothes + Were white as foam of the sea; + Her bread was light, and her butter was sweet, + And golden as it could be. + + "Just think," the children all called in a breath, + "Tom Wood has run off to sea! + He wouldn't, I know, if he only had + As happy a home as we." + The night came down, and the good wife smiled + To herself, as she softly said, + "'Tis sweet to labor for those we love-- + 'Tis not strange that maids will wed!" + +There is a glory in motherhood which robes woman in beauty, and fills +the home with the light of heaven. The mother, busy with her cares, +and attending to the wants of her children, is honored wherever Christ +is loved. + +Now, because the world links woman's work and mission together, +the world is full of pictures of the mother and the child. To a +true-hearted man, it is almost impossible to find any picture to which +his nature turns with fonder delight than to that of a mother with +a child sleeping on the breast, full of sweet trust and enjoying a +dreamless repose, or being ministered to in his nude state in the +morning bath. The spiritual covers the common with a halo of glory, +and robes woman in the light of love. + +The same is true of the housewife. In the daily routine of duty, which +is essential to the comfort and bliss of home life, there is nothing +very attractive in the ordinary occupations of the home. Let a woman +attempt the task with no outlook, with no hope. Let her do it for so +much money, and nothing more, and she becomes morose, discontented, +sad and cheerless. Let her do this for love. Let her feel that she is +contributing to some one's joy, or that she is to use the money earned +for some worthy purpose, and at once the loftiness of her purpose +sanctifies her deed, and renders that which would have been +unbecoming, if done without a motive, right and noble when performed +under the pressure of a great and noble aspiration, for "'tis sweet to +labor for those we love." + +Woman's work is defined by her Creator to be a work of charity. She is +a helpmeet. A gift she came to man. Her life is a constant giving up +of rights and privileges for the happiness of others. She waits on man +not for pay, but for love. She ministers to him in sickness and in +health. It is not the deed, but the spirit which sanctifies the deed, +that makes it lovely. Compel her by force, by fear, or by rewards, to +do what she performs because of love, and you destroy all the beauty +of the action, and convert the ministering angel into a menial, the +God-appointed woman into a brutalized slave. God made her a gift, and +the law of her life is in giving. She fulfils the functions of her +life by living in harmony with the law of love. The woman, described +with such inexpressible tenderness by Luke (vii. 37-50), attracts +attention by this feature. She came to Christ while he was reclining +at table. She had sinned. Still she loved. Here were Christ's feet +hanging over the table's edge, while Christ reclined. As he was +talking, behold this woman bending over them, her hot tears raining +on them, and she busy wiping off the tear-drops with her hair, and +kissing them, anointed them with costly ointment. She loved, and +therefore evidenced it by deeds. Her love, blossoming into action, +won Christ. He saw that she loved. Perhaps love had led her astray at +first. No matter. Love she possessed, and love she desired to lavish +on some object worthy of her regard. That object she discovered in +Jesus. She took her alabaster-box of precious ointment, and went after +him. She enters the Pharisee's house; it may have been the house where +she had fallen. The Pharisee seemed to know her character, and so he +said, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what +manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner." +Christ did not at once recognize the suspicion, but supposing the case +of the two debtors, and having obtained from Simon the declaration, +that the one would love most who was forgiven most, turned upon him +the force of the logic, by saying, "Seest thou this woman? I entered +into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she both +washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. +Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since the time I came, hath +not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; +but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. And he said to the +woman, _Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace_." + +Let woman's work be regarded as a work of charity by man, and the +larger portion of women will be satisfied. The servant finds pleasure +in service, when the obligation is recognized as a debt not to be paid +for in money. + +No wife would do what she is compelled to perform, or suffer what she +is compelled to endure, for her board and clothes. It is when man +refuses to give her more than these, she revolts. Man never won woman +to leave her single life and her home comforts to enter his house as a +helpmeet by a consideration of the work to be done. It was not in the +contract. He talked then of love, of companionship, of help. The other +was in the bond by mutual consent, but it was regarded as beneath +their notice to talk about it. Her nature yearned for love, and lives +on love. + +Now, when a man forgets that love, companionship, and the thousand +attentions which sweeten and brighten life, are due to his wife, and +when he lifts up the drudgery and the slavery of life into prominence, +and tells her that she is only fitted to hold a menial place, he +insults, if he does not destroy the woman, and degrades himself. On +the other hand, let a woman refuse to be influenced by this law of +charity, and she becomes a curse instead of a blessing, a hinderance +instead of a helpmeet. + +It is a very common complaint that a good servant is difficult to +find. Some are slovenly, some are dishonest, while those who are both +able and truthful, are pronounced intolerable, frequently because of +their impertinence. All can understand the reason. The servant has no +interest in her employer who refuses to _give_ anything. The servant +works for so much money. "As to rights, privileges, and perquisites, +it is not unfrequently either a battle or a sort of armed treaty +between kitchen and parlor." Many will admit this, and will forget or +ignore the cause. Listen to the servants' story, and you will find +them complaining of the stinginess, or tyranny, or selfishness of the +employer. + +Let the law of charity rule both employer and employed, and behold the +change. The mistress recognizes her weight of obligation to a good +and faithful domestic. She feels that her services are beyond price, +invaluable to her. The effect is seen at once. The sluggish step is +quickened. Love takes the place of indifference if not of dislike, and +the relations of friendship are at once recognized. No mistress has a +right to expect that her servants will be bound to her by the ties of +friendship, if she manifest no friendly feeling for them; or that they +will become devoted to her interests, if she take no interest in their +welfare. The law of mutual dependence must be recognized and obeyed. +God is love. God loves. Therefore, it is a pleasure to love and serve +God. It is a pleasure to serve whoever is appreciative and lovable. It +is a task to serve those who are unappreciative and unlovable. At the +same time a Christian servant has no right to slight her work, or be +unfaithful, because of the harshness or unkindness of her employer. +Live for God, and serve Christ in serving well those by whom you are +employed, and you will not lose your reward on earth nor in heaven. +Trusty and true, your services will become of immense importance, and +doors to usefulness will open before you because of the superintending +care of Him who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind. Let not +woman dislike the term _service_ or _servant_. Christ honored it by +becoming the servant of all, and made it honorable by commanding that +he who would be chief must serve, and by his service rise. + +Woman sometimes revolts because her work is classed under the head +of _domestic_, and yet this is the chief characteristic that must +distinguish it. That is, her work must have a look homeward, whether +she toils in the store or factory or printing-office or kitchen. +Somehow the stream of love must sing as it goes babbling by, "Home, +home, there is no place like home," else woman fails in her life-work. + +Her education must fit her for a home and for home work. Let a man +learn that he married a toy, a plaything, a lay figure, useful only +for the purposes of exhibiting his taste in jewelry and dress, who +desires to be petted and fondled, to be caressed and flattered, but +who is incapable of doing anything to contribute to his happiness at +home or to his influence abroad, and he comes to feel that she is +an encumbrance. If he clings to the old love, and cherishes the old +conviction, he learns to treat his wife as a plaything, and to forget +her as a helpmeet. He thinks of her as of a toy, which may be used or +cast aside at pleasure. She knows and feels the lack of his love. If +she becomes dissatisfied, and refuses to make the effort to become a +helpful wife and a loving companion, or to be influenced by the law +of charity; if she determines to seek happiness in obtaining the +admiration of others, which once unwittingly came from her husband; +then is she probably ruined, and becomes a "body of death" fastened to +one who looks forward to the grave as a refuge and a release, or who +finds in the society of other women that pleasure which is denied him +at home. Perhaps nothing is more disgusting than to see an empty brain +hidden behind a pretty face, or an empty heart concealed beneath +costly drapery. A woman who is handsome and is illiterate, who is +incapable of speaking entertainingly, is far more homely than a plain +face in front of a well cultivated intellect; and a plain dressed +woman, with a heart full of love, is to be preferred to a splendidly +dressed form which is destitute of soul. Jewels, laces, and silks are +not a fit dress for a corpse, and yet a heartless woman is to a man +who knows her as soulless as an inanimate body coffined for the tomb. +Having thus briefly considered the necessity of linking woman's work +and mission together, let us define her work, and consider what is her +mission. + +Woman has work to do. Though idleness does not destroy her as it does +a man, yet it does not become her. Merely to display her charms for +the admiration of others cannot be the destiny of one created with a +woman's hand and head, and endowed with woman's soul. From the nature +of the case, her work should be womanly in its character; that which +is within doors rather than without; which belongs to the ornamental +rather than to the mechanical. There is no sense in woman's working in +the field while man measures tapes or counts thimbles, or in his doing +other in-door work for which woman's light touch renders her better +qualified. When we look at women who have become coarse in the +expression of their features, and ungainly in form and movement, +through the weight of their daily toil, we see the folly of those who +would make the woman the equal, or the rival, instead of the helpmeet +of man; and feel indignation that, since many of our women must earn +their own livelihood, we have not a more natural division of labor, +which would assign to man the heavier, and to woman the lighter +kinds of work. As woman's faith blesses as well as saves her; it is +essential that her work be linked in some way to the exercise of +faith, and to the unfolding of love. For the character of the work +exerts an influence upon woman's body as well as upon her soul. If +you will contrast the looks of a happy housewife or domestic with the +looks of a majority of the faces that are seen in factories, the truth +of the position taken will be abundantly sustained. It matters not so +much where the roots of woman's life-work grow, if up through it all, +and above it all, the vine may twine its tendril, and send forth its +flower, and yield its fruit. For this cause the love of Christ and +the hopes of a Christian life seem so essential to her growth and +development, that it is almost impossible to write of a happy, +contented woman, without describing a woman whose faith in Jesus has +regenerated and disinthralled her. Love is the prime requisite to +successful endeavor on a woman's part to be her husband's true +helpmeet; and so, in discharging the duties incident to a life of +toil, woman must be soothed and sustained in her tasks by the joys of +a Christian life. Hence the ruin wrought in shops and factories, in +stores, and homes where Christ is cast out, and where the bliss of +high and holy living is denied. + +Woman's mission is to be inferred from a consideration of the wants of +man. Created to be a helpmeet for man, it is essential, if we would +determine her mission, that we ascertain for what purpose man needs +her influence. + +God declared, "It is not good for man to be alone," and woman was +brought to him as a companion, to charm his life, to prolong it by +sharing it with him. Her vocation, by birth, is a vocation of love. To +be his helpmeet, not his rival; not to increase, but to lighten, or to +support him, under his cares; to recognize him as the immediate object +of her existence, instead of fancying that he was formed to wait on +her; this is the end for which God has called her into being. As has +been said, "This representation may not satisfy the ambition of some, +who do but degrade themselves by aspiring to occupy a position for +which they are neither intended by God nor qualified by nature,--even +as men and angels fell when they sought to become as gods,--but in +reality it tends to woman's elevation; and, as the whole history of +Christianity doth show, where its truth is most recognized and relied +upon, there woman is happiest and greatest." + +The word "mission," as applied to woman, refers to the purpose for +which she was created and brought to man. In considering her mission, +we are safe in avowing that woman found her mission, 1. At home. +Her mission is in the home. Her training must fit her for the home, +whether she serves as a wife or as a domestic. Her life is a success +when she makes home a pleasure and a joy to those to whom the home +properly belongs. It is for this reason that there is deep concern on +the part of many thoughtful minds because the drift of the times is +against educating women for the home. Of the women who are compelled +to earn their own subsistence many prefer the factory and the store to +the work in the family, and, as a result, there are large numbers of +young women who cannot make a loaf of bread or cook a meal, who would +not hesitate to become wives of working-men, who expect to find in +them a helpmeet in building a home like that which blessed their +childhood. The result is dissatisfaction and recrimination, leaving +the wife for the club, and turning from the joys of the home to the +revel of jovial companions. + +The same is true of the class of young ladies who know something of +music, vocal and instrumental. They can dance. They have studied +drawing sufficiently to be able to sketch a few flowers and figures. +Perhaps they can speak French and translate German. They know in what +position to sit, and how to move gracefully. All very well these +things in their places, and fitted to increase the charm of manner +when the eyes are lighted up by the informing soul; not undeserving +notice either in their influence upon man, when they are accompanied +by something better, for, amid all the weighty cares of life, he +is sometimes in the mood when such things do please; but sadly +over-estimated when they are made the sole substance and end of a +woman's education. They might nearly all be done by a being without +a soul. They do nothing to draw out the noble qualities of her deep +womanly nature. They leave her altogether unfitted for her peculiar +mission of a wife and mother. + +Now, there are times when a woman, despite her imperfect education, +acquires after marriage the knowledge which fits her for the duties +appertaining to wifehood. But where nature yields to such training, +the woman fails both in filling her sphere and in fulfilling her +mission, and falls beneath her true position as the helpmeet of man. +How bitter his disappointment, who, having been smitten by these +gewgaw attractions, and having put faith in the mother of the child +that with this outward attraction she had corresponding qualifications +to fill the home with helpful counsel and sustaining sympathy, when he +comes to find that, instead of a _wife_, he has married a plaything, +and that his children are being committed to the care of a helpless, +unformed companion, rather than to the guidance of a true and noble +wife. + +A proper conception of woman's mission as the helpmeet of man would +tend greatly to her elevation. A man who knows for what woman has been +made, and what advantage he should look for from the woman whom he +calls wife, will not select a mere toy as the partner of his life; and +when woman properly recognizes her place, mothers will not be content +to give their daughters, nor will daughters be ambitious, or even +content to receive only such a training as fits them for amusing or +pleasing man in his playful hours, but leaves them altogether unfit +to be his companion under the weightier cares and graver concerns of +life. + +Let it be understood that woman's life and labor, mission and work, +point ever homeward, and whether she serve in the store or shop, +in the factory or in the home, she will be ready, whenever God's +providence opens the way, to make home bright for another, because it +has been made bright for herself. In her reading, in her planning, in +her waking dreams and in her night visions, let her live to make +her own home joyous, and she will not live in vain. To do this +successfully in the future, she must make home bright and beautiful in +the present. It is the girl, whose hand is skilful in the home, who +is prized as a companion, because of the substantial linked with +the ornamental. The same is true of a man. Talent, genius even, is +valueless unless it can earn bread. There must be something to make +home pleasant with, which it is the duty of man to provide, else woman +finds it hard to do her work or fulfil her mission. This does not +disparage woman. Her intellect should not be regarded as inferior to +man's because it differs from his. Her mind is formed for a distinct +work and sphere, just as truly as is her body. In that sphere she +is endowed with faculties superior to that of man. Here she has her +requital: here she proves herself mistress of the field, and employs +those secret resources which might be termed admirable, if they did +not inspire a more tender sentiment, both towards her, and towards +God, who has so richly endowed her. "Her practical survey, equally +sure and rapid; her quick and accurate perception; her wonderful power +of penetrating the heart in a way unknown and impracticable to man; +her never-failing presence of mind, and personal attention on all +occasions; her numerous and fertile resources in the management of her +domestic affairs; her ever ready access and willing audience to all +who need her; her freedom of thought and action in the midst of +the most agonizing sufferings and accumulated embarrassments; her +elasticity,--may I say her perseverance,--in spite of feebleness; her +tact to practise it, were it not instinctive; her extreme perfection +in little things; ... her incomparable skill in re-awakening a +sleeping conscience, in re-opening a heart that has long been closed; +in fine, innumerable are the things which she accomplishes, and which +man can neither discern nor offset without the aid of her eye and +hand. Thus, mentally as well as physically, is she predestined for a +work and sphere different from those of her stronger companions. And, +as everything is beautiful in its place and season, so is woman most +beautiful and useful when, like a modest flower, she blooms in +the privacy for which her nature fits her, and perfumes, with the +fragrance of her character, the hallowed precincts of home."[A] "No +man," says Mr. Jay, "was ever proof against the kindness of a sensible +woman; but where, in all history, can an instance be produced in which +an ascendency over him has been obtained by forwardness, scolding, and +strife for preeminence? No wife has such influence with, or even such +control over, her husband, as + + "'She who never answers till her husband cools, + Or, if she rules him, never shows she rules; + Charms by accepting, by submission sways, + Yet has her humor most when she obeys.'" + +[Footnote A: Woman's Sphere and Work, by Rev. Wm. Landels, D.D., +London.] + +2. Woman's mission is social as well as domestic. The domestic part +of her life is the garden, in which the seed is planted, which brings +forth the flower of social joy. A woman who is the soul of a beautiful +home is a power in society. No matter what her talents may be, let it +be known that she is a slattern at home, and she is without influence. +The pen may serve as a feather to adorn her social life, but it looks +mean when the use of it causes the neglect of the needle. + +Woman may be a secret power in the home. She may make home attractive +to the refined and cultured, and thus prove to be the magnet +attracting to herself and to her fireside those gifted sons and +daughters, the scintillations of whose genius and the dissemination of +whose beautiful thoughts make the home luminous with a light which is +inextinguishable. The influence of such a woman over her children and +over the young cannot be overestimated. + +"Such a sphere, so far from being insufficient to satisfy a true +woman's ambition, is well fitted, by its tremendous responsibilities, +to excite her fears. There is not one, perhaps, which a human being +can occupy, on which hang more stupendous issues. Though less public, +it is still more potential than man's." + +The influence of a true woman cannot be confined to the home. Home +is the fountain, and the world gladly furnishes channels for the +diffusion of her influence. In promoting the cause of reform, in +alleviating the woes of the unfortunate, in carrying forward the cause +of temperance, in ministering to the sick, either as a nurse or a +physician, in using her pen to delight and guide the thoughts of the +young and old along the garden paths of her own loving life, thick +with the blossoms of hope, and made glorious by deeds of charity,--in +these, and in numberless other ways, woman, finding her throne in the +house, is welcomed as a ruler in the world. + +For woman there is a felt a necessity which should send her forth as a +missionary to those like herself in everything but blessings. Think of +our large factory towns, where women are congregated by hundreds and +thousands. Let it be remembered that there is something unnatural in +all this. Woman was made for man, for home, for love. Separate her +from them all, herd her with her kind, subtract from her the incentive +to endeavor, leave her mind to brood in fancy, to welcome unholy +aspirations and degrading thoughts to her soul, and you leave her to +prey upon herself. Let woman see to it that reading-rooms for women be +established in our factory towns, that their boarding-houses be warmed +and rendered inviting, that the talented be encouraged to exertion, +and that tidiness and neatness be made an incentive for all, and woman +will do a work of immeasurable importance,--a work on which God's +blessing will rest,--and those who toil to accomplish it will obtain +an abundant reward from Him who declares, "Inasmuch as ye did it to +one of the least of these, ye did it unto me." + +In the cause of Reform woman's help is needed. From the earliest +commencement of the temperance movement, appeals, arguments, and +expostulations have been addressed by earnest reformers to woman, +because it was felt that on any great social question the power of +woman to help, or to hinder, was all-important. When it is remembered +that woman is the greatest sufferer from the vice of intemperance, +that she regulates the customs of society, it is apparent that she +should seek to abolish bad, and promote good customs. More than others +she trains the young and builds up character, and therefore she +should, by example and precept, implant such habits as may be not +only a safeguard in childhood and youth, but become fixed as moral +principles in those she has reared, when the responsibility arrives; +because of these, we find reasons in abundance why woman must help, or +aid cannot reach the imperilled and undone. + +Again: Woman needs help. Addison well said, "Women are either the +best or the worst of human beings." The very feelings which, rightly +directed, prompt her to soar even to the apex of the pyramid of human +virtue, warped from their right exercise, precipitate her to the +lowest and most grovelling depths of human vice. Is woman intemperate, +she differs from man in the gratification of her appetite. He seeks +the social club. Woman seeks retirement, and drinks alone and apart. +Her appetite, from this very cause, becomes unmanageable. Men will +stop drinking, oftentimes, when the open bar is closed. Woman, with +an appetite formed, drinks the more, because she drinks in secret. +Because of this fact, woman is in peril if she form an appetite for +strong drink. + +Woman as a Mother has work to do as a teacher. "We hear a great deal +about education in the present day; but," said Mrs. Ellis, "my strong +impression is that there will have to come a teaching out of the +mother's heart and life,--herself being taught of God,--such as alone +can save us as a nation and a people from falling from our high +material prosperity into a condition of moral degradation, which it is +terrible to contemplate." Such being the case, every woman should ask, +What have I done in those opportunities which God gave me with the +young? What did I pour into that open heart and mind? Was my influence +for Christ or against him? Which way did I point out to those +uncertain feet? Who can estimate a mother's influence! There is a +power in a mother's love greater than any other human power,--a power +to suffer, to serve, and to save; a power which many waters cannot +quench, and which is stronger than death. As she leads, the broodlings +will follow. Does she sanction card-playing, theatre-going, dancing, +and what are called innocent recreations, or does she set herself +against them, and turn the thoughts of her children to books that +treat of science, of philosophy, and of religion? Upon the answer to +this question the future of children and the young depends. Many a boy +has been checked in a career of shame by a mother's sad look; many +have been encouraged by a mother's smile. God help women to know +how to use their power for home, for woman-kind, for man-kind, for +country, and for God! + +"No one has such power over a river as he who stands near its source. +No one has such power over the tree as he who plants and tends it +while yet it is a pliant sapling. And no earthly power is to be +compared with that which, humanly speaking, determines the course +and destiny of an immortal soul. Under God the mother is the first +guardian of the child's eternal interest. It is from the mother, who +moves constantly among her little ones, much more than the father, +whose vocation necessitates his absence from home, and prevents his +being much in their presence, that children receive their bias. Her +gentle hand gives to our ductile natures the impress which we wear +through life; her loving voice awakens in the soul those sweet echoes +which never cease to sound; and her look and manner fill the mind with +images which haunt our memory until our dying day." + + "O, Mother! sweetest name on earth; + We lisp it on the knee, + And idolize its sacred worth + In manhood's ministry." + +A mother's hand gave us our first welcome, and hers was the last we +grasped in our farewell. She is the nurse of both of our childhoods; +the queen of the home, and the friend of the heart. + + "And if I e'er in heaven appear, + A mother's holy prayer,-- + A mother's hand and gentle tear,-- + That pointed to a Saviour here, + Shall lead the wanderer there." + +Woman's mission is religious. Christ recognized her as a helpmeet, as +a comforter, and a companion. Woman ministered to him with delight, +and gladly made a resting-place for him in the quiet retreat of the +home in Bethany. He recognized her faith as an element of strength, +which saves her when properly exercised. The spiritual life of woman +is her glory. We think of the woman who had sinned looking in love and +faith on Jesus, bathing his feet with her tears, and wiping them with +her hair, kissing and anointing them, with a feeling akin to devotion. +The Magdalene, delivered of her seven demons, because of her devotion +to Christ, and the triumph won by her faith, achieved a position +which, in the regards of the church, is equal to that held by the +Mother of our Saviour. + +Woman's daily life is to her spiritual life what the debris of the +stream is to the water-lily that floats upon the surface. What cares +the servant girl of Rome for the place where she toils? The cathedral, +and the wonderful pictures that hang upon its walls, are her glory +and pride. Look at her toil from that stand-point, and she becomes a +helper in the estimation of the world that cannot be ignored. We have +said woman's work is a work of charity. Satan has warped the truth and +wielded it against Christ; but as it is wrong to give up a good tune +because bad men sing it, so we must not give up a truth because Satan +takes advantage of it. This work of charity,--of giving up for others, +of denying self for another's advantage, of abandoning comfort to +assuage another's grief,--so wonderfully illustrated by a Florence +Nightingale, and by women quite as worthy in our own land, whose +presence in the hospitals was like a benediction from God, and whose +presence in our homes, in our churches, beside the sad and sorrowing +everywhere, is proof that woman has a mission which she alone can +fill, and a work which she alone can perform. "And now abideth faith, +hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is charity." Man has +faith, he has hope; but he lacks, to a large extent, in the charities +which come to woman as gifts of God, because of which Christ employed +her as an agency to win men back to faith in God. In the sick chamber +she moves with step noiseless as falling snow-flakes, and speaks in +a voice soft as an angel's whisper. Her touch is so gentle that it +soothes the sufferer, and her sympathy is more precious than rubies. +On this account she is man's first and last solace. Suffering never +appeals to woman in vain. "I never addressed myself," says Ledyard, +"in the language of decency and friendship to woman, whether civilized +or savage, without receiving a decent and friendly answer. With man +it has often been otherwise. In wandering over the barren plains of +inhospitable Denmark, through honest Sweden, frozen Lapland, rude and +churlish Finland, unprincipled Russia, and the wide-spread regions of +the wandering Tartar, if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, woman has +ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so; and, to add to this +virtue,--so worthy of the appellation of benevolence,--these actions +have been performed in so free and kind a manner, that if I was dry, I +drank the sweet draught, and if hungry, ate the coarse morsel, with +a double relish." Park, and many other travellers, bear similar +testimony. + + "Woman all exceeds + In ardent sanctitude, in pious deeds; + And chief in woman charities prevail, + That soothe when sorrow or desire assail; + Ask the poor pilgrim on this convex cast,-- + His grizzled locks, distorted in the blast,-- + Ask him what accents soothe, what hand bestows + The cordial beverage, raiment, and repose. + Ah! he will dart a spark of ardent flame, + And clasp his tremulous hands, and Woman name. + Peruse the sacred volume. Him who died + Her kiss betrayed not, nor her tongue denied; + While even the apostles left Him to His doom, + She lingered round His cross and watched His tomb." + +How precious is such sympathy in her who is to be the solace, because +the helpmeet, of man! How it qualifies her for being the priestess of +the temple of home; the gentle nurse of helpless infancy, manhood's +counsellor and comforter! + + "O Woman! Woman! thou wast made, + Like heaven's own pure and lovely light, + To cheer life's dark and desert shade, + And guide man's erring footsteps right." + +This is a power which monarchs well might envy,--a power to bless +mankind and honor God; a power which, working in obscure and limited +sphere, is yet felt in the high places of the earth, and identified +with the deeds of men whose names are renowned in the history of the +world, and shine as stars in the diadem of God. + + + + +WOMAN _versus_ BALLOT. + + +Three facts stand in the way of Woman's being helped by the +Ballot,--God, Nature, and Common Sense. The purpose for which God made +or "formed" woman is clearly avowed in the history of her origin and +in the assignment of her duties. + +In discussing this question, whether the ballot, and all the +immunities growing out of the right to vote, shall be granted to +woman, it is essential that we inquire reverently and earnestly, on +which side is God. That the question in its philosophical treatment +can only be fathomed by the profoundest intellect, and that it can +be embraced, in all its details, only by the most comprehensive +knowledge, is but a partial statement of this truth. The question can +only be understood, measured, and gauged by that Being who sees the +end from the beginning, and can follow into its infinite ramifications +the influence which must result from our actions. God does understand +it. Being infinitely wise, there can be no new issues, no new facts, +or combinations of facts, to influence the decisions of the Omniscient +Mind. It becomes us then to inquire what sphere God assigned to woman. +Having found it, we shall see that Nature and Common Sense unite in +making manifest the wisdom in adhering to the Divine Plan. + +The necessity of recalling attention to the portraiture of woman as +God made her, is the more apparent, when we remember that those who +ask the ballot for woman practically ignore the teachings of the Bible +and the right of God to rule, and claim by word, as well as by deed, +that they have outgrown the wisdom of the past, and have entered upon +a stage of progress in advance of old time precedents. We believe in +the rule of God, and in the wisdom of God, and claim that Omniscience +is not dependent either upon a morning newspaper, or upon the crude +conjectures of a godless Infidelity, for wisdom or light in adjusting +means to an end, or in assigning to woman her proper sphere. + +Again. We are impelled to seek wisdom from God, because we seek for +it in vain elsewhere. As to how the ballot is to help woman, even its +advocates give us no light. Whether it is proposed to lighten by its +aid the penalties, and do away with the ruin of the fall, we are left +in doubt. + +If we give to woman the ballot, shall the equality which woman lost, +when she ate of the forbidden fruit, be restored, and shall she be +made again the equal of man? Shall the sorrow in child-bearing be +removed? Can housework, or the duties of motherhood, and wifehood, and +sisterhood, be met and discharged by the use of the ballot? + +These are questions which deserve to be answered. It is patent to +every one that this attempt to secure the ballot for woman is a revolt +against the position and sphere assigned to woman by God himself. It +is a revolt against the holiest duties enjoined upon woman. It is +an attempt to reorganize society upon a new basis; to change the +relations of men and women; to secure the millennium by a vote, and by +majorities to do away with the rule of God. The Bible declares that +the headship of the house devolves on man. Man is lawgiver. Woman is +not slave: she is helpmeet; the sharer of man's joys and sorrows; the +light of his home, if there be any light in his home; the solace of +his life, if his life have solace; the mother of his children, if +children there be. Now, as then, woman, in her natural state, before +she makes the attempt to unsex herself, and render herself a monster, +finds it in her nature to look to man as lawmaker, and expects to +submit to his rule in the home. We do not say that all women submit +cheerfully to this rule, for there are some who do not. But when this +is the case, from the nature of things, happiness takes its flight, +the marriage-bed is defiled, woman becomes an outlaw in her heart, and +the two bound together by a chain rather than by the silken cord of +love, are candidates for a peaceable divorce or a continuous battle. + +The advocates of the ballot for woman hope through its aid to secure +an overthrow of this rule, or escape from this so-called bondage. They +demand a change in public sentiment regarding the sphere woman is to +fill, securing to her an equality before the law, in representation, +in privileges, and in wages. + +In other words, there are women who hope and expect to do away with +the disabilities incident to the female portion of the community, and +by education and culture, obtain for woman this same strength, this +same ability to study, to think, to work, and to plan, that is enjoyed +by man. In short, some believe that a woman can be so changed that +she can, for all practical purposes, get on without man's help or +protection. + +Against this revolutionary scheme we protest, because, by a reference +to the Word of God,[A] we find reasons for believing that it is in the +constitution and nature of woman, with some slight modifications, to +occupy the place assigned her in this land, where Christian influence +unites with the better instincts of humanity in lightening her +burdens, smoothing her pathway, and filling her lap with the tributes +of manly regard. + +[Footnote A: I am aware that this sneer is often made: "The same class +oppose us who defended the divine right of slavery." This is untrue +so far as I am concerned. I was second to no man in condemnation of +slavery, because the Bible condemned it. That one utterance, "God hath +made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face +of the earth," was the seedling out of which liberty, equality, and +fraternity grew. Liberty was won because of the faith, and prayers, +and efforts of a God-believing and a Christ-loving church. Their +prayers and their faith girded the nation with strength, and their +prowess, aided by those who followed their lead, secured victory.] + + + + +I. + +_The Scriptural Argument_. + + +To state our faith more definitely, we believe that in Eden woman +enjoyed an equality with man; that she took advantage of her +privilege, and, transgressing the law of God without consulting her +husband, proved treacherous to her high trust, opened the gate of +perdition to the enemy of souls, and brought upon man and the race +the curse consequent upon sin, and the ruin wrought by the fall. In +consequence of this, God pronounced a curse upon her; gave her sorrow +in child-bearing, as he gave to man fatigue in toil; changed the +relations hitherto subsisting between man and woman, and compelled +her to live henceforth in another; to sink her own individuality, and +merge it in that of her husband. This is the language. Unto the woman +he said, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in +sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to +thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." This is her portion of the +curse. This portion endures. Man from that moment became ruler. The +wife's desire was to the husband, so that whatever she desires is +naturally referred to him. He became adviser, lawmaker and head. The +right or wrong of God's action it does not become us to discuss. It is +right because God did it. Dispute the right who will, but the curse +lives. The serpent crawls on his belly and eats dust. The wife has +sorrow in conception; her desire is to her husband, and he rules her; +and man, by the sweat of his brow, eats his bread. + +But, says some one, did not the coming of Christ change the status of +woman, and place her again on the same equality which she enjoyed +when Adam led the beautiful Eve to her nuptial bower, and found it +impossible to exist without what the poet describes as + + "Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self, + Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire?" + +If we have not mistaken the relations subsisting even in Eden between +the original pair, woman was not the ruler even there. Milton has +truthfully said,-- + + "For well I understand in the prime end + Of Nature her the inferior, in the mind + And inward faculties which most excel, + In outward, also, her resembling less + His image who made both, and less expressing + The character of that dominion given + O'er other creatures; yet when I approach + Her loveliness, so absolute she seems, + And in herself complete, so well to know + Her own, that what she wills to do or say + Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best: + All higher knowledge in her presence falls + Degraded; wisdom in discourse with her + Loses discountenanced, and like folly shows; + Authority and reason on her wait, + As one intended first, not after made + Occasionally; and to consummate all, + Greatness of mind and nobleness their seat + Build in her, loveliest, and create an awe + About her, as a guard angelic placed." + +With woman, as God made her, we are not acquainted. Glimpses of her +pristine beauty, and characteristics of her former excellence, shine +forth; but sin has marred the original picture, and defaced the model +fashioned by the Creator's hand. The ruin wrought by the fall brought +Christ to earth. He opened a way back to Eden--not on earth, but in +heaven. The curse remains. The race is under it, because sin is in the +world. The law, formed after the fall, is the expressed will of God. +Christ did not come to do away with it, but to fulfil it. Then, as +now, it was a law of love, of good will, of peace. When Christ came, +woman's condition was deplorable. She was the abject slave of man in +nearly all the world. Yet Christ made no attempt to break down their +original arrangements. He knew that without a change in woman herself, +no external changes in her condition could be of any benefit to her. +He recognized the great fact that she herself must be educated to a +better life, that she must have a character which in itself would +command respect, and make her worthy of a higher place and a larger +liberty. Truly has it been said, "Institutions, of themselves, can +never confer freedom upon a people. They must be free men, capable +of liberty, and then they will be able not only to make their own +institutions, but keep and defend them also. So the emancipation of +woman can be effected only by breaking the bonds of her ignorance, +frivolity, and vice. A character must be given her, and then the iron +door of her prison-house will open to her of its own accord, and +she will find that the angel of liberty has been leading her forth +indeed." In this direction Jesus labored. Paul, in his Epistles, gave +emphasis to the teachings of the Old Testament, and so he wrote, "Let +your women keep silence, in the churches, for it is not permitted them +to speak; but they are to be in subjection, as the law also says; and +if they will to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; +for it is a shame for women to speak in the church,"--I Cor. xiv. 34, +35. + +Against this command many arguments have been brought to bear, and +despite this apostolic command, some women insist upon their right to +preach. It is a significant truth, that whoever does this, enters upon +a conflict with public sentiment born of God, and subjects herself to +terrible mortification. The refusal of lending Universalist divines to +share the exercises of an ordination with a woman, illustrates this +principle. The recognition given to man as the head of the household, +involves the loss of woman's individuality, and of her right to a +support. It opens a window to life, and shows why our higher nature +revolts against woman being compelled to labor in the field. That is +man's place, and the labor elevates him. It degrades a woman. The +praises of agricultural toil for man find a place in song and story; +but labor in the field is destructive of womanhood, of motherhood, and +of wifehood. + +We have seen that the Scriptures declare, 1. That it is not well for +man to be alone. He is not complete until woman is joined to him in +marriage. 2. Woman was made for man. Manliness is an attribute that +belongs to man; it disgraces a woman. To be womanly, is the noblest +tribute that can be paid to woman; but it disgraces a man, because +God, the Creator, placed this characteristic within the heart and soul +and nature, just as he gave a difference of nature, mould, and form, +to the outward appearance of man and woman. He made them for a +particular purpose, and not for the same purpose. They were not made +in the same manner, nor of the same material. If woman be the weaker +vessel, she is of the finer mould. God made man in his own image, and +woman was created to be his helpmeet. + +3. We have noticed the change in the relations which was the product +of the curse. Woman in Eden was the source of influence. After it, man +became the head, and her desire was unto him. + +4. Since the fall, labor has been multiplied to man, sorrow to woman; +but such is the kindness of God, that these two facts are sources of +perpetual joy in the home. The wife is proud of her toiling husband, +the man is tender of his suffering wife; and in the bliss of childhood +happiness both find their reward. + +These statements shrine all the facts of the separate histories of man +and woman. It were easier to change earth to water, and sea to land, +than it is to make a womanly woman consent to appear manly. Her God +made her a woman. It is not a fault. It is a glory. The bird that +skims the wave would not exchange places with the bird that goes to +meet the sun; but this is not to bring a charge against the eagle or +the swan. + +One more truth, and then we will pass to the consideration of +the lessons discoverable in woman's nature. All the Scripture +requirements, such as refer to the plaiting of the hair, to being +uncovered in public, are said to refer to the customs of the East, and +not to bind woman in this age of progress. The principle covered by +those requirements then, rules now. Paul said, Let not a Christian +woman break through any of the restraints of womanhood, and so appear +as do the harlots, with uncovered faces and with plaited hair, who +mingle freely with men, and are shorn of that modesty and weakness so +becoming woman. Woman's right to be a woman implies the right to be +loved, to be respected as a woman, to be married, to bring forth to +the world the product of that love; and woman's highest interests are +promoted by defending and maintaining this right. + +There are those who object to the word _service_, and claim that those +who take the Bible as authority wish to reduce woman to slavery. No +charge could be more absurd; and God's care for woman is manifest, +both in the teachings of the Bible and in the constitution of the +race. Woman owes to Christianity all she enjoys. Leave her to be +subject to the conditions imposed on her by unregenerated manhood or +womanhood, and you leave her to become either a thing in society, or +else reduce her to a level with the beasts of burden. In old savage +and pagan tribes the severest burdens of physical toil were laid upon +her. She was valued for the same reason that men prize their most +useful animals, or as a means of gratifying sensual and selfish +desires. Even in the learned and dignified forms of modern paganism, +the wife is the slave rather than the companion of her husband. She +is kept apart from him. The education of her mental faculties is +neglected. She is not allowed to walk with him; she must walk behind +him. She must not eat with him, but eat after he has done, and eat +what _he leaves_. She must not sleep until he is asleep, nor remain +asleep after he is awake. If she is sitting down, and he comes into +the room, she must rise up. She must bow to no other god on the earth +besides her husband. She must worship him while he lives, and when he +dies she must be burned with him. In case she is not burned, she is +not allowed to marry, and is considered an outcast. There is little +social intercourse between the sexes, little or no acquaintance of the +parties before marriage, and, consequently, little mutual attachment. +Women are not allowed to learn to read, because there can be no solid +foundation laid for future influence. + +Under the Crescent the condition of woman is worse rather than better, +for in pagan India she is permitted to share in the hope of religion; +but in Mohammedan countries it is a popular tradition that women are +forbidden paradise; and it requires some effort for the imagination to +conceive how debased and wretched must be the condition of the +female sex to originate and sustain such a horrible and blasphemous +tradition. + +Even in the refined and shining ages of Greece and Rome, where the +cultivation of letters and the graces of polished style, the charms +of poetry and eloquence, the elegances of architecture, sculpture, +painting, and embroidery, the glory of conquest and the pride of +national distinction, were unsurpassed,--even then and there, woman +was but the abject slave of man, the object of his ambition, avarice, +lust, and power. + +Truly has it been said that nothing more surely distinguishes the +savage state from the civilized, the East from the West, Paganism from +Christianity, antiquity from the middle ages, the middle ages from +modern times, than the condition of woman. + +In China, she is used as a beast of burden. The Chinese peasant woman +goes to the field with her male infant on her back, and ploughs, sows, +and reaps, exposed to all the changes of the weather. In Calcutta, +women are the masons, and maybe seen daily conveying their hods of +cement, and spreading it on the tops of their houses. + +In a country where no European man can labor, where the native rests +until compelled by his conqueror to work, seven thousand of these +women might have been seen, in 1859, climbing to the edge of ravines, +with baskets of stone on their heads, to fill, with these tedious +contributions, thousands of perpendicular feet, in order that a +railroad might wind among the mountains. + +In Australia, she carries the burden which man's indolence refuses; +and in Great Britain, the condition of women among the lower classes, +revealed by the statistics of her mines and of her manufacturing +districts, is such as to make a moralist blush. Behold her, with a +strap around her waist, dragging the coal-cart in the mine, and so +ignorant, that when asked if she knew Jesus, replied, "He never worked +in our shaft." + +Do we turn to America, we find that in the providence of God her +fortune has been advanced and improved by the extension of the era of +free government, and by the diffusion of the principles of the gospel +of Christ. + +True, in the past, throughout the South, a negro woman worked in the +field as a beast of burden; but emancipation and the diffusion of the +principles of Christianity changes all this in the South, as it has +changed it in Turkey and in the East. The colored man builds for his +wife a house, and toils for her in the field or shop, while she keeps +the house, and beautifies the sanctuary of the heart. + +Now, in all this land, woman's right to be a woman is recognized, and +"woman's right to be a man" is opposed, though eloquent orators of +either sex may declaim in its behalf. God's law, natural and revealed, +is against it. Woman's nature will be woman's nature no longer when +she shall desire it. + +An illustration of this fact was recently furnished. A female orator +had just left the platform for the horse-car. She was tired, and, +doubtless, needed a seat. She had been speaking in favor of woman's +rights, and had berated the opposite sex for their unwillingness to +grant them. Worn out with fatigue, and excited, her lace red, her eyes +flashing, she looked around for a seat. The car was full, and among +the number sitting down was a workingman. + +She spoke so that all could hear her, saying, "You are not gentlemen, +or you would not let a woman stand." The workingman looked up, and +replied, "Did I not just hear you speak in behalf of woman's +rights?" The woman, supposing she had found a friend, replied in +the affirmative. "Well," said he, "I will stand up any time, with +pleasure, for a housewife or a kitchen girl; but you contend for an +equality of rights with men; take it, and stand up among them." The +shout of approbation proved that the argument was not on the side of +woman. She did not herself believe in the theory advanced. Down in her +heart she felt that, because she was a woman, she was entitled to be +treated with love and respect, with honor and consideration. + +The right which exempts her from certain things which men must endure, +_grows out of her right to be a woman_. We feel that it is her +privilege and her right to be relieved from the necessity of working +in the field, from doing many things which it is manly in man to do. + +We do not object to woman's sharing in the toil of the store, the +shop, or the factory. Better this than idleness and want; yet there is +a reason for pondering the question whether woman is wise in trying to +displace man for her own advantage. If any one must be idle, let it be +woman, and not man. It has been well said, "There are in Massachusetts +over seventy thousand more females than males, and probably twice +that number in the State of New York. It is an unnatural condition of +things. At the West the number of men greatly preponderates." + +"Our young men go off early in life, leaving fathers, mothers, and +sisters behind them. The prospect for their sisters to marry, then, is +lessened by every emigration." Now, what shall be done in behalf of +these thousands of virtuous, educated, and noble girls? The cry is, +make them into clerks, and bookkeepers, and bankers, and give them all +the employments of men. Think it over. Suppose now we make these +girls into clerks in stores and counting-rooms, say ten thousand in +Massachusetts, and twenty thousand in New York--don't we displace +so many young men; drive them off to the West; prevent so many new +families from being established here; take away thirty thousand +chances of marriage from these females, and enhance the evil we are +trying to remedy? + +Is it a blessing to woman to lessen her opportunities of marriage? + +Again, a woman can be idle, and not be lost. Whereas man, if left +unemployed, runs to mischief, if not to crime. + +The history of those manufacturing districts in England, so eloquently +described by Charlotte Elizabeth, where woman is preferred because of +the cheapness and skill of her labor, proves this position correct. +The husband lives in idleness, and has the care of the house. The +result is, that comfort and neatness are at an end. The children are +reared in crime, in indolence; the men pass their time in drinking and +in gambling, prostitution abounds, and the health of the community, +socially, physically, mentally, and morally, is destroyed. + +On the other hand, enter one of those manufacturing towns where the +skilled labor of man is rewarded, and where women keep the house with +thrift and care, and you behold order, virtue, and prosperity. This is +not poetry. It is fact. It proves that God's laws must be heeded and +obeyed. "Marriage," said Gail Hamilton, "is a friendship of the sexes +so profound, so comprehensive, that it includes the whole being. The +inflow of the divine life, + + "'Bright effluence of bright essence increate,' + +"blends the man nature and the woman nature into an absolute oneness, +which shapes itself ever thereafter into the only perfect symmetry. +Thus alone comes humanity in the unity of the faith, and of the +knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of +the stature of the fulness of Christ. Thus marriage forever tends to +its own annihilation,--not the annihilation of a stream swallowed up +in desert sands, but of a river broadening to the boundless sea. The +more perfect its substance, the more yielding its form. As it gathers +power it diminishes pomp, till, by a pathway which the vulture's eye +hath not seen and never can see, marriage itself leads to the land +where they neither marry nor are given in marriage. + +"Wherever man pays reverence to woman,--wherever any man feels the +influence of any woman, purifying, chastening, abashing, strengthening +him against temptation, shielding him from evil, ministering to his +self-respect, medicining his weariness, peopling his solitude, winning +him from sordid prizes, enlivening his monotonous days with mirth, or +fancy, or wit, flashing heaven upon his earth, and mellowing it for +all spiritual fertility,--there is the element of marriage. Wherever +woman pays reverence to man,--wherever any woman rejoices in the +strength of any man, feels it to be God's agent, upholding her +weakness, confirming her purpose, and crowning her power,--wherever +he reveals himself to her, just, upright, inflexible, yet tolerant, +merciful, benignant, not unruffled, perhaps, but not overcome by the +world's turbulence, and responding to all her gentleness, his feet +on the earth, his head among the stars, helping her to hold her +soul steadfast in right, to stand firm against the encroachments of +frivolity, vanity, impatience, fatigue, and discouragement, helping to +preserve her good nature, to develop her energy, to consolidate +her thought, to utilize her benevolence, to exalt and illumine her +life,--there is the essence of marriage. Its love is founded on +respect, and increases self-respect at the very moment of merging +itself in another. Its love is mutual, equally giving and receiving +at every instant of its action. There is neither dependence nor +independence, but inter-dependence. Years cannot weaken its bonds, +distance cannot sunder them. It is a love which vanquishes the grave, +and transfigures death itself into life." + +These laws are varied by God's word, and written indelibly upon the +nature of man. Surely nothing can be more manifest than that they must +be obeyed. + + + + +II. + +_Nature teaches us the Wisdom of adhering to the Divine Plan_. + + +Anatomists tell us that in the embryo skeleton there is a marked +difference of general conformation in the two sexes; that in the male +there is a larger chest and breathing apparatus, which, affects the +whole organization, forming a more powerful muscular system, and +producing a physical constitution which predestines him to bold +enterprises and daring exploits. The woman, being differently +constructed, finds it natural to content herself in the house, removed +from the gaze of the world, and from rude contact with its jostling +cares. + +There is an outside and an inside world. The work of the street, or +the shop, or the field, is no more essential to the well-being of the +family than is the work performed in the house. God assigned to man +the field, or out-door work, and to woman the home and housework. In +proportion as men and women fill well their separate spheres, there is +harmony and happiness. Man toils, and provides for the wants of his +household. Woman toils, and sees to it that the children are well +reared, and that the house is well kept. Woman is respected and +supported, not in idleness, but in caring for the wants of those +committed to her care. The attempt is being made to disregard these +natural laws, by those who claim to have outgrown divine legislation, +and who have the hardihood to trample upon the laws of nature. But in +vain. When God made our first parents, he made them male and female, +and it will not be difficult to believe in the impossibility of the +finite being able to undo the work of the Infinite. Each has his and +her place, and nothing goes continuously right if husband and wife +change places. Keep the positions assigned them by the laws of God and +nature, and all will go well. + +Give to woman the serious consideration due from every man born of +woman's agony, and you build her up in love, endow her with respect, +encourage her to cultivate her mind, and to develop the graces of her +nature. The mightiest influence which exists upon earth is concealed +in the heart of woman. It follows that her elevation and her +happiness, her education and usefulness, are objects of deep concern. +We have seen that the legislation of Heaven provides for the +gratification of the early longing of the soul for companionship in +making marriage honorable and love the holiest of instincts. + +It is fashionable to talk against an early love. It is wrong thus to +do. "Youth longeth for a kindred spirit, and yearneth for a heart that +can commune with his own. He meditateth night and day, doting on the +image of his fancy." It is the tendency of an early love to inspire +youth with grand aspirations and lofty aims. "They that love early, +shall become like-minded, and the tempter shall touch them not. They +shall grow up, leaning on each other, as the olive and the vine." + +It is only when love is scorned, when passion takes its place, when +man forgets that the idol of his heart is a probationer of earth like +himself, that it is his duty to be chary of her soul, feeling that it +is his jewel. It is only when a man ceases to be a man, and becomes a +beast, that he can consent, even in thought, to despoil woman of her +virtue; to trample upon the sacred instincts of her nobler nature. +A real woman will delight to make herself worthy of love. In the +advancement of her mind, quite as much as in the adornment of her +person, she strives to make herself beautiful as well as lovable. If +she forgets her duty, and consents to seem to be what she is not, so +that her admirer finds that the appearance which charmed him was not +real, then the future of that woman is dark indeed. Her husband will +discover, when too late, that "the harp and the voice may thrill him, +sound may enchant his ear, but, by and by, the hand will wither, and +the sweet notes turn to discord; the eye, so brilliant at even, may be +red with sorrow in the morning; and the sylph-like form of elegance +must writhe in the crampings of pain." + +Naturally the man and woman will recognize the rule of God in the +choice of their vocation. He will go abroad, and she will stay at +home. He will earn the bread, and she will make it. He will build the +house, and she will keep it. The difference between their spheres of +labor seems naturally to be this: one is external, the other internal; +one active, the other passive. He has to go and seek out his path; +hers usually lies close under her feet. Yet, if life is meant to be a +worthy one, each must resolutely be trod. + + "When the man wants weight, the woman takes it up, + And topples down the scales; but this is fixt + As are the roots of earth and base of all: + Man for the field, and woman for the hearth; + Man for the sword, and for the needle she; + Man with the head, and woman with the heart; + Man to command, and woman to obey; + All else confusion." + +Woman is not content to remain separate and apart. She will give her +love to some object, and desires to repose her faith in some person +worthy of her regard. She lives for man. She dresses and studies for +him. She acquires knowledge and accomplishments, which are known to +please and to allure. + +Woman, being by nature dependent, finds it easier to lay hold of the +offer of salvation than does man. His independent spirit keeps him +back. Woman has only to recognize her dependence upon One higher than +man, and in doing this is obliged to do but little violence to +her habits of thought and feeling, and no violence at all to such +sentiments of independence as stand most in the way of man. Hence men +shrink with horror from coming in contact with a godless woman. In +their eyes she is monstrous, unreasonable and offensive. Even an +utterly godless man, unless he be debauched and debased to the +position of an animal, deems such a woman without an excuse. He looks +on her with suspicion. He would not intrust his children to her care. +Oh happy lot, and hallowed even as the joy of angels, where the golden +chain of godliness is entwined with the roses of love, as one of our +own poets wrote:-- + + "O, what is woman--what her smile, + Her lip of love, her eye of light; + What is she if her lip revile + The lowly Jesus? Love may write + His name upon her noble brow, + Or linger in her curls of jet; + The bright spring flowers may scarcely bow + Beneath her step, and yet, and yet + Without that meeker grace, she'll be + A lighter thing than vanity." + +Thus wrote N.P. Willis. He felt that a woman, with Christ in her +heart, was the _beau ideal_ of man. The home is her kingdom, and +the heart of husband or brother is her throne. In that sphere her +influence is the most potent instrumentality on earth. + +Demosthenes declared that by this influence she can in an hour upset +the legislation of a year of statesmanship. Her power is, however, +through man, not apart from him. + +This is the scriptural view. Nowhere do we read of woman as though +she had a mission apart from man. We talk of men and forget women. It +seems almost impossible to legislate for woman and forget man. + +Mankind includes womankind, but womankind does not include mankind. + +It may not be complimentary, yet it remains true, that the Scriptures +fail to furnish us with a model woman. + +Jesus was the model man; but Eve, and Mary, and Rebekah, and Rachel, +were model women to none besides those to whom they were given as +wives. This, perhaps, is well, for it would be injudicious to try and +prove to any man that his wife should differ radically from herself. + + + + +III. + +_Having considered the teachings of the Scripture and of Nature, let +us listen to the Voice of Common Sense_. + + +Under this head we hesitate not to declare that the hope of woman lies +in the recognition of the laws of God, and the laws of her own higher +nature. + +Look at the facts. Who demand the ballot for woman? They are not the +lovers of God, nor are they the believers in Christ, as a class. There +may be exceptions, but the majority prefer an infidel's cheer to the +favor of God and the love of the Christian community. It is because of +this tendency that the majority of those who contend for the ballot +for woman cut loose from the legislation of Heaven, from the +enjoyments of home, and drift to infidelity and ruin. + +Our wives and mothers do not ask the ballot. Our young ladies do not +care even to hear the question discussed. They believe that whatever +hinders woman from being the helpmeet of man does her injury. It is +claimed that woman needs the ballot to secure equal laws. This claim +is urged, because, it is said, women are required to obey laws which +they had no share in making. It is a mistaken notion. Woman has had +a share in the legislation of the country. Her influence pervades +society. Let her be true to temperance, and intemperance is +restrained. Let her be true to freedom, and the pulsations of her +heart find their way through the entire framework of society. Let her +be true to her own glorious nature, and this attempt to unsex and +discrown her will meet with the swift and terrible condemnation it +deserves. + +Another has said, "The Amazons have often been met with the statement, +that a large majority of the women do not wish to vote, and would +not if they could. The truth of this statement is not denied. The +advocates of the ballot confess that many noble women affect a womanly +horror of being thought strong-minded," and to offset this tendency +they declare it to be the "imperative duty of women to claim the +suffrage." "Does this mean that women are to be coerced in this +matter? that our mothers, wives, and sisters are to be punished for +staying away from the polls? We have never supposed it the imperative +duty of every man to vote. And we know that many of the most +intelligent and upright do not vote. Such is the inexpressible +nastiness of our elections, especially in the larger cities, that men +of the cleanest morals think it right to keep away from them. The +foulest portions of the men go first, stay longest, and stand thickest +at the places of voting. How then will it be when the foulest portion +of the women get packed into the same crowd, and drive modesty away by +the foulness of their speech and presence? When the aggregate filth of +both sexes shall have met together at the polling stations, as it will +be sure to do, we hardly think any chaste or modest home-loving woman +will go near this stench unless compelled to do so." + +It is because this scheme lifts the gate to the increasing wave +of corruption and pollution, that we are surprised that so-called +statesmen give their countenance to it. Give to woman the ballot, and +this country is hopelessly given up to Romanism. The priest loses the +man, but he keeps the woman. Give to the priests the control of the +votes of the thousands of servants in the great cities, and there is +an end to legislation in behalf of the Sabbath, the Bible, and the +school system, temperance, or morality. + +The right to vote implies the right to rule, to legislate, to go to +Congress, and to take the Presidential chair. On this point hear Miss +Muloch. "Who that ever listened for two hours to the verbose confused +inanities of a ladies' committee, would immediately go and give his +vote for a Female House of Congress, or of Commons? or who, on +the receipt of a lady's letter of business,--I speak of the +average,--would henceforth desire to have our courts of justice +stocked with matronly lawyers, or thronged by + + "'Sweet girl graduates, with their golden hair?'" + +Well has Gail Hamilton said, "How will the possession of the ballot +affect in any way the vexed question of work and wages? One orator +says, 'Shall Senators tell me in their places that I have no need of +the ballot, when forty thousand women in the city of New York alone +are earning their daily bread at starving prices with the needle?' But +what will the ballot do for those forty thousand women when they get +it? It will not give them husbands, nor make their thriftless husbands +provident, nor their invalid husbands healthy. They cannot vote +themselves out of their dark, unwholesome sewing-rooms into +counting-rooms and insurance offices, nor have they generally the +qualifications which these places require. _The ballot will not enable +them to do anything for which their constitution or their education +has not fitted them, and I do not know of any law now which prevents +them from doing anything for which they are fitted, except the holding +of government offices._ ... What can the ballot do towards equalizing +wages, where work is already equalized without affecting wages, as is +not unfrequently the case? There are shops of the same sort, on the +same street, with male clerks in one and female clerks in another, +where the former work fewer hours and receive higher wages than the +latter.... Moreover, the question of female clerkship is not +yet settled. There are conscientious, intelligent, and obliging +shopkeepers, who say that female clerks are not satisfactory. Their +strength is not equal to the draughts made upon it. They are not able +to stand so long as clerks are required to stand. They have not the +patience, the civility, the tact that male clerks have.... All the +voting in the world can never add a cubit to a woman's stature." + +Woman is not naturally a law-maker. Even in our homes she desires +the head of the house to lay down the law. Never shall I forget the +influence exerted by the utterance in a convention of Sabbath school +teachers. A paper was read, complaining that in a certain Sabbath +school there was a lady superintendent, because no man could be found +to take the place. In conclusion, the writer said, "We need a man in +our town. We have things that wear pantaloons, but we need a man, to +give direction to the school, and to attract the nobler and better +portion of community." It was an honest declaration, and voiced a +truth. Every town, every Sabbath school, every home, needs a man. +Women of talent have tried to figure in politics and in the pulpit, +but a sorry figure they have made of it. + +Think of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton in the train of George Francis +Train, perambulating the country in favor of the ballot in Kansas. +These are the leaders; but let it not be forgotten that they +sided against the ballot for the negro in hopes of getting it for +themselves, and proved their utter worthlessness and untrustworthiness +by trailing the banner committed to their keeping in the slime of a +convention which went for the repudiation of the national debt, the +defeat of the party of progress, and for the overthrow of republican +liberty. Had woman possessed the ballot, and had the course pursued by +the leaders of this movement exercised an influence over the majority, +this wonderful victory over the rebellious spirits of the land had +not been achieved; but, in its stead, the stars and bars would have +resumed their sway, and the stars and stripes, which now kiss the +breeze, and greet the rising hopes of uncounted millions, would have +been furled in gloom and night. + +It is claimed that the ballot will secure for woman social respect. +The claim is not well founded. Those who seek it lose social respect, +because they step out of the path marked out for them by Providence +and by Nature. Woman, in her sphere, is man's good angel and helpmeet; +out of it, she is man's bitterest foe and heaviest curse. + +There is an instinctive respect for woman in her proper sphere, which +is of itself a power superior to any merely conventional position that +a woman can build up for herself by her own hands, even through the +aid of the ballot. + +How natural to see woman waited on by man! Sir Walter Raleigh was +praised because he cast his cloak into the mud to save the foot of his +Queen from being soiled. As noble acts have been performed by many +men, times without number. The uprising of gentlemen in the cars when +a tired woman enters with a child; the disposition to lighten her +cares and sweeten her joys, is everywhere considered manly. + +Education is essential for her. She is the educator of the home, for +she is its soul. If one must be ignorant, let it be the man, and not +the woman. Many of our most intelligent men have had cultured mothers. +Very few sons ever grew to be learned whose mothers cared not for +books. This fact is appreciated, and leads us naturally to conclude +that if woman lacks social respect it is her own fault. If a woman +prefers superficiality to thoroughness; music, drawing, and dress, to +a knowledge of housework, an acquaintance with literature, and the +endowments of common sense, simply because brainless men are disposed +to seek out the effeminate and the frail in preference to the rugged +and the well-endowed, then she must suffer the consequences. If a +young lady, compelled to toil for support, will prefer the factory or +the store, with its hot air and depressing associations, to work in +the home, because she hopes in the store or factory to secure the +hand and heart of a husband sooner than elsewhere, she must suffer +accordingly. But if woman will unite in securing a reform in this +direction,--if the pure and the virtuous will say, Such a life as is +offered me in the family is in harmony with my future well-being, and +I will scorn the allurements elsewhere held out, and fit myself, by +study, for companionship with the noble of the land, she will succeed. +If woman will respect herself, she will be respected. + +It is not by clamoring for rights that have been conferred upon +others; it is not by restless discontent, by partisan appeals, by +stepping out of her God-given sphere, and by attempting to destroy the +network of holy influences by which he ever has surrounded her; it is +not by ridiculing marriage and casting scorn on motherhood, that she +is to obtain the blessings she courts, but by tranquilly laboring +under this heaven-imposed law of obedience. Woman's weakness is +transmuted into strength when she opens her nature to the influences +of love, and when she consecrates herself to the happiness of others. +Then it is she obtains a moral and spiritual power to which man +is glad to do homage. Ambition, pride, wilfulness, or any earthly +passion, will distort her being. She struggles all in vain against +a divine appointment. It is from the soul of meekness that the true +strength of womanhood is derived; and it is because it has its root in +such a soil that it has a growth so majestic, showering its blessing +and fruits upon the world. + +It was the sun and the wind that in the fable strove for the mastery; +and the strife was for the traveller's cloak. The quiet moon had +nought to do with such fierce rivalry of the burning or the blast; +but as in her tranquil orbit she journeys round the world, she gently +sways the tides of the ocean. Woman's influence resembles that exerted +by the queen of night. In the conflicts of life she has little to do; +but her influence is felt from the cradle to the grave, and the sphere +of it is the whole region of humanity. Woman's worst enemy is he who +would cruelly lift her out of her sphere, and would try to reverse the +laws of God and of nature in her behalf. They deceive woman who cause +her to believe that she will find independence when she abandons the +position assigned her by her Creator, and reaches one against which +her nature, the interests of society, and the laws of God contend. +Woman has her sphere and her work, and she is only happy when she +finds pleasure in lovingly, patiently, and faithfully performing the +duties and enacting the relations that belong to her as woman. She is +not the natural head of society. Man, rough, stern, cold, and almost +nerveless, is made to be the head of human society; and woman, quick, +sensitive, pliant (as her name indicates), gentle, loving, is the +heart of the world. As the heart, she has power. She rules through +love, and finds the work set for her to do in the doors opening before +her loving nature. She rules through love, and becomes a blessing +greater than we can ever acknowledge, because it is greater than we +can measure. Let woman take heart. She is not in captivity. The law of +service is on her, as it is on man. Much of her service consists in +suffering; much of man's consists in toil. Before both there are +fields of endeavor, white with beckoning harvests. In literature, in +reforms, in ministering to the wants and woes of humanity, in making +home more and more like heaven, woman has an open door set before her, +which no man will desire to close. Let her enter it and work. There +is a law of companionship far deeper than that of uniformity and +equality, or similarity--the law which reconciles similitude and +dissimilitude, the harmony of contrast, in which what is wanting on +the one side finds its complement on the other; for,-- + + "Heart with heart and mind with mind, + When the main fibres are entwined, + Through Nature's skill, + May even by contraries be joined + More closely still." + +Such was the exquisite companionship of the sexes as they were +represented by our first parents, and such, however they may be +momentarily disturbed, they will remain, as the ideal for all the +generations of men and women. Let woman repose her trust in man, and +then, lifting up her heart, she may sing,-- + + "Though God's high things are not all ours, + 'Tis ours to look above; + All is not ours to have and hold, + But all is ours to love." + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12790 *** |