The Influence of Christianity on the Condition of Woman

‘There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” — GaxnaTians iii. 28.

Woman was the finishing grace of the creation. Woman was the completeness of man’s bliss in Paradise. Woman was the cause of sin and death to our world. Woman was the means of our redemption. Woman is the mother of the human Face; our companion, counselor, and comforter in the pilgrimage of life; or our tempter, our scourge, and our destroyer. Our sweetest cup of earthly happiness, or our bitterest draught of sorrow, is mixed and administered by her hand. She not only renders smooth or rough our path to the grave, but helps or hinders our progress to immortality. In heaven we shall bless God for her aid in assisting us to reach that blissful state, or amid the torments of unutterable woe in another region, we shall deplore the fatality of her influence.

Such is my reason for determining to address a course of monthly sermons to her sex. They have been too much neglected in the ministrations of the sanctuary; an omission which must be traced to a morbid delicacy unworthy of the pulpit. Happily, this reproach does not appertain to the press, to which perhaps, in the opinion of some, this subject ought to be exclusively consigned. But why? Can any good and valid reason be assigned for shutting out from the house of God instructions to eo important a class of the community? Many persons almost instinctively shrink from such addresses, from a fear lest matters should be introduced at which modesty would blush, and by which the finer sensibilities would be wounded. There is prudishness in such feeling which can be justified neither by reason nor revelation, You may trust your pastor for discretion on such a subject, and feel tolerably certain that he will utter nothing which shall bring up a tinge of color on the most modest countenance, or inflict the slightest wound on the most fastidiously delicate mind.

It may be as well to announce in the opening sermon, that the whole course will be decidedly of a religious nature; more so than even the sermons to young men. For all the general directions and excellences of female character, I shall refer you to the various works which on these topics have issued from the press. My place is the pulpit — my subject is religion — my object is the soul — my aim is salvation. I view you, my female friends, as destined to another world, and it is my business to aid and stimulate you, “by patient continuance in well-doing, to seek for glory, honor, and immortality,” and to obtain eternal life. I look beyond the painted and gaudy scene of earth’s fading vanities, to the everlasting ages, through which you must exist in torment or in bliss; and, God helping me, it shall not be my fault if you do not live in comfort, die in peace, and inherit eternal life.

Give me your most serivus attention — what is more, give me your prayers — and especially pray for yourselves, that in listening to these discourses. you may not be “hearers of the ‘word only, but doers of it also.” Come to each sermon in devout seriousness of mind. Lay aside all frivolity and levity. You are not invited to an entertainment, but to listen to matters of infinite moment, of everlasting importance. The lightness of the concert, the ball-room, and the theater, would be quite out of place when called to listen to words whereby you may be saved.

I could think of no subject with which more appropriately to commence these sermons, than that which you are now prepared to hear — TnHE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE CONDITION OF Woman.

Our First attention must be directed, of course, to the condition of the sex beyond the boundaries of Christendom.

It would seem, from the words of the original denouncement upon Eve for her transgression in eating the forbidden fruit, as if, while yet the first pair were innocent, there was a more entire equality of condition and rights than there was, and is, after the fall. “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” This sounds like something penal, though perhaps some would regard it as merely predictive, and intended to describe the cruel and brutalizing tendency of sin, in turning man, who ought to be the loving companion of his wife, into a tyrant. How fearfully, if predictive, this sentence has been fulfilled, the degradation of woman — her wrongs, her sorrows, and her vices, in many cases, most painfully attest.

History, which will ever be found to accredit revelation, proves the fact that in most Pagan and Mohammedan nations, whether ancient or modern, woman has been cruelly and wickedly sunk below her proper. level in social and domestic life. “Hated and despised from her birth, and her birth itself esteemed a calamity — in some countries not even allowed the rank of a moral and responsible agent — so tenderly alive to her own degradation that she acquiesces in the murder of her female offspring — immured from infancy — without education — married without her consent — in a multitude of instances sold by her parents — refused the confidence of her husband, and banished from his table — on his death doomed to the funeral pile, or to contempt that renders life a burden.” In such a condition she has been the household drudge, or the mere object of passion. She has ministered to the gratification of man’s indolence or appetites, but has not been his companion, his counselor, or his

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comforter. In barbarous countries, she has been a public slave; in civilized ones, very generally a kind of private mistress.’ Her mind has been left untaught, as if incapable or unworthy of instruction. She has been not only imprisoned by jealousy in seclusion, but degraded and rendered vicious and miserable by polygamy — sometimes worshiped as a goddess, then fondled 4s a toy, then punished as a victim. She could never attain to dignity, and even with all her brightest charms, could rarely appear butpvith the beauty of a doll.

Exceptions to this, of some extent, may be made in favor of the polished Greeks and proud Romans; but only to some extent; for did time permit, and necessity require, it could be shown that even Athenian refinement and Roman virtue rarely gave ‘to woman her just rank by the side of her husband, or her proper place in his affection, esteem, and confidence. The laws of Rome, it is true, gave to woman greater liberty and consideration than she had before received; still, she was so treated even there as to sink into degradation disgraceful to her purity, and destructive of her happiness. ‘No happy influence did she exert on the public or private welfare of the State. Politicians intrigued with her; ambition combined with passion to corrupt her; and her liberty degenerated into licentiousness. Through her influence, the streets of the capital were sometimes deluged with its best blood; and to such an extent was her profligacy carried, that among the decrees which passed the Senate during the reign of Tiberius, against the licentious. ness of female manners, it was ordained, ‘that no woman whose grandfather, father, or husband, was a Roman knight, should be allowed to make her person venal.’ The laws of a nation are an instructive and faithful history of its manners. If such was the condition of a Roman baroness, what must have been that of the subordinate classes?” Neither Paganism nor Mohammedanism ever yet understood the female character, or conceded woman’s just claims. In many nations, the degffation has been excessive. You remember, probably, the reply of a pagan mother, who, having been expostulated with for the murder of her female child, contended that she had performed an act of mercy in sparing the babe the miseries of a woman’s life. All travelers and all missionaries attest the fact of woman’s humiliation, beyond the boundaries of revelation.*

If we go to the Bible, we shall learn that it is to Christianity, as distinct even from Judaism, that

* The reader is referred for detailed statements of the condition of woman in Pagan and Mohammedan countries, to a very able and interesting work by my friend, Dr. Sox, of Hackney, entitled, ‘‘ Female Scripture Biography, with an Essay on what Christianity has done for Woman.” At my instigation, I believe, the esteemed Author is about to publish a new edition of this very valuable work. It is to me surprising it should have been allowed so long to remain out of print. I am indebted to it for some of the ideas contained in this chapter, and am happy thus to announce its expected reappearance.

woman owes her true elevation. Polygamy is, and ever must be, fatal to female dignity and happiness; this, or at any rate concubinage, was practiced, no doubt, from mistaken views, by the patriarchs, not that it was ever positively sanctioned by God, for, from the beginning, he made one woman for one man, and by the providential and extraordinary general equality of the sexes as to numbers, he still proclaims, in unmistakable language, the law of monogamy — but to use an expression of the apostle, ‘“‘he winked at”* these things: he did not regard it as innocent or convenient, yet he did not say much about it, or punish it, but left it to punish itself, which it most certainly did. If we ex. amine the Levitical code we shall find that even this, though a Divine dispensation, contained some regulations which evinced that the time of woman’s full emancipation from a state of inferiority had not yet arrived: and that it was reserved for that glorious and gracious economy under which we are placed to raise the female sex into their just position and influence in society. Christianity, as in other things, so in this, is an enlargement of privilege; and among other blessings which it confers, is its elevation of woman to her proper place and influence in the family and in society.

Sreconpiy. I now go on to consider what there is in Christianity that tends to elevate and improve the condition of woman.

To the oppressive and cruel customs of Mcoham

* Acta xvii. 80. p medanism and Paganism, in their treatment of the female sex, Christianity presents a beautiful and lovely contrast; while to the partial restoration of female rights in Judaism, it adds a complete admission of their claims. It is the glory of our holy religion, and shows it to be an emanation from the Divine beneficence, and the friend of humanity at large, that it is the enemy of oppression in every form and every condition, and gives to every one his due. It tramples on no rights — it resents and resists all wrong; but not one of all the children of men is more indebted to its merciful and equitable reign than woman. From Christianity woman has derived her moral and social influence: yea, almost her very existence as a social being. The mind of woman, which many of the philosophers, legislators, and sages of antiquity had doomed to inferiority and imbecility, Christianity has developed. The gospel of Christ, in the person of its Divine founder, has descended into this neglected mine, which even wise men had regarded as not worth the working, and brought up a priceless gem, flashing with the light of intelligence, and glowing with the lovely hues of Christian graces, Christianity has been the restorer of woman’s plundered rights, and has furnished the brightest jewels in her present crown of honor. Her previous degradation accounts, in part at least, for the instability of early civilization. It is impossible for society to be per inanently elevated where woman is debased and servile. Wherever females are regarded as inferior beings, society contains within iteelf, not, indeed, the elements of dissolution, yet the obstructions of all solid improvement. It is impossible that institutions and usages which trample upon all the very instincts of our nature, and violate the revealed law of God, should be crowned with ultimate success, Society may change in its external aspect, may exhibit the glitter of wealth — the refinements of taste — the embellishments of art, or the more valuable attainments of science and literature — but if the mind of woman remain undeveloped, her taste uncultivated, and her person enslaved, the so. cial foundations are insecure, and the cement of society is feeble. Wherever Christianity is understood and felt, woman is free. The gospel, like a kind angel, opens her prison doors, and bids her walk abroad and enjoy the sunlight of reason, and breathe the invigorating air of intellectual freedom. And in proportion as a pure Christianity prevails, this will be ever found to be the case.

But all this is vague and general assertion. We now descend to the proof:

1, Christianity elevates the condition of woman by ils very genius asa system of universal equity and benevolence. When it descended from heaven to earth, it was heralded into our world by the angel’s song, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth, peace and good will to man.” The offspring of Infinite Love, it partakes entirely of the spirit, and reflects the character of its Divine Parent. It ia essentially and unalterably the enemy of all injustice, cruelty, and oppression; and the friend of all that is just, kind, and courteous. The rough, the brutal, and the ferocious, are alien from its spirit; while the tender, the gentle, and the courteous, are entirely homogeneous with its nature. Tyranny, whether in the palace or the parlor, it frowns upon with indignant countenance, while it is the friend of liberty, and the patron of all rights. The man who understands its genius, and lives under its inspiration, whether he be a monarch, a master, a husband, or a father, must be a man of equity and love, Christianity inspires the purest chivalry — a chivalry shorn of vanity, yurified from passion, elevated above frivolity — a :hivalry of which the animating principle is love ta ‘sod; and the scene of its operation the domesti:: circle, rather than the tournament. (He who is unjust or unkind to any one, especially to the wiaker sex, betrays a total ignorance of, or-a maniitat repugnance to, the practical influence of the gosp:! of Christ.) It is a mistake to suppose that the fait: cf Jesus is intended only to throw its dim religion: light over the gloom of the cloister, or to form the character of the devotee; on the contrary it is pre-euirestiy a social thing, and is designed as well as adapted vo form a character which shall go out into the veri in a spirit of universal benevolence: to such a character the oppressor or degrader of womat ca. make 1.9 pretensions.

2. The incarnation of Christ tenasa t. sxalv the dignity of the female sex, His assumiy, heme.-ty has given a dignity to our nature which it had never received before, and could not have rvoeived in any other way. Christ is “the Pattern Man” of our race, in whom all the lines of humanity converge and unite, so far as the existence of our race goes. “When he took man’s nature, he vouchsafed to ally himself to all the members of this ex sended series, by the actual adoption of that transmitted being, which related him to the rest. Ile not only became like men and dwelt among them, but he became man himself — an actual descendant from their first progenitor.” He was made man. This is why the existence of human nature is a thing so precious. By the very manner of his birth, he seemed to associate himself with our nature. This appears to be the meaning of the apostle in his. quotation of the eighth Psalm, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to show the dignity conferred upon humanity by its being assumed by so glorious a person as our Lord Jesus Christ in his divine nature was. Jf, then, manhood is honored by Chriat assuming itybow much more is woman exalted, who, in addition to this, was made the instrument of giving birth to the humanity of Christ)

It is emphatically said by the apostle, “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, MADE OF A WOMAN, made under the law.”’ — Gal. iv. 4. In the person of the Virgin Mary, and by her giving birth to that holy Being that was born of her, the sex was elevated. True, it was a personal distinction, that she should be the mother of our Lord’s humanity; and though she has veer by the apostate Church of Rome wickedly exalted into an object of idolatrous homage, all generations justly call her blessed. Yet the honor is not limited to herself, but passes over to the sex which she represented; and it is this to which the apostle alludes. He does not even mention the honored individual, says nothing of the Virgin Mary, but dwells upon the abstract, general term, “made of a woman.” Every female on earth, from that day to this, has had a relative elevation, by and in that wonderful transaction. Woman is not the mother of God, as the Papists absurdly, and, as I think, almost blasphemously, say; but the mother of that humanity only which was mysteriously united with Divinity. Does not this great fact say, “Let the sex which alone was concerned in giving birth to the Son of God, and Saviour of the world, be ever held in high estimation.”

3. The personal conduct of our Lord durivg his sqjourn upon earth, tended to exalt the female sex to a consideration before unknown.

Follow Him through the whole of his earthly career, and mark the attention he most condescendingly paid to, and as condescendingly received from, the female sex. He admitted them to hie pres. ence, conversed familiarly with them, and accepted the tokens of their gratitude, affection, and devoted. ness. See him accompanying his mother to the marriage-feast of Cana in Galilee. See him conversing with the woman of Samaria, “instructing her ignorance, enduring her petulance, correcting her mistakes, awakening her conscience, converting her soul, and afterward employing her as a messenger of mercy and salvation to her neighbors. See him rebuking his disciples for discouraging the approach of mothers and their infants. See him compassionating the widow of Nain, and restoring her son to life. See him in the little family of Bethany, blending his sympathies with the bereaved sisters; and on another occasion entering into familiar conversation with this same Martha and Mary, faithfully rebuking one, and kindly commending the other. See him receiving the offerings of those women who ministered to him of their substance. Witness the attendance of pious women upon him in the last scenes of his life. It was on Mary Magdalene that the honor of the first manifestation of the risen Saviour was made; and thus a woman was preferred to apostles, and made the messenger of the blissful news to them. “The frequent mention,” says Doddridge, “which is made in the evangelists of the generous courage and zeal of some pious women in the service of Christ, and especially of the faithful and resolute constancy with which they attended him in those last scenes of his suffering, might be very possibly intended to obviate that haughty and senseless contempt which the pride of men, often irritated by those vexations to which their own irregular passions have exposed them, has in all ages affected to throw on that sex, which probably, in the sight of God, constituted by far the better half of manxind, and to whose care and tenderness the wisest and best of men generally owe, and ascribe much of the daily comfort and enjoyment of their lives.” — Compare this behavior toward the sex, the chaste, holy, dignified conduct of our Lord, with the polygamy licentiousness, and impurities of Mohammed; not merely as evidence of their claims, but as regards their influence upon the condition of woman while the one does every thing by example and by precept to corrupt, to debase, and to degrade, the other does every thing to purify, to elevate, and to bless. The conduct of the Arabian enthusiast and impostor, and not less the boast of his followers and admirers, are too revolting for description — al most for allusion. But, on the contrary, what one syllable of the Saviour’s utterance, or what one scene of his life was there which tainted the immaculate purity of his language, or left the slightest stain upon the more than snow-like sanctity of his character? What part of his conduct might not be unvailed and described before a company of the most modest, and most delicate, and even most prudish-minded females in existence? His treatment of woman raised her from her degradation without exalting her above her level. He rescued her from oppression without exciting her vanity, and invested her with dignity without giving her occasion for pride. He allowed her not only to come into his presence, but to minister to his comfort, and inspired her with awe, while he conciliated her grateful and reverent affection, and thus taught man how to behave to woman, and what return woman was to make to man. The conduct of Jesus Christ toward the female sex, was one of the most attractive excellences of his beautiful character, though perhaps one of the least noticed; and to him they must ever point, as not only the Saviour of their souls, but as the advocate of their rights, and the guardian of their peace.

4. The virtual abolition of polygamy by Christianity is a vast improvement. in the condition of woman. Wherever this prevails, and as long as it prevails, the female sex must ever be in a state of degradation and misery. ‘“Experience has abundantly and painfully proved that polygamy debases and brutalizes both the body and the soul, and renders society incapable of those generous and refined affections, which, if duly cultivated, would be found to be the inheritance even of our fallen nature. Where is an instance in which polygamy has not been the source of many and bitter calamities in the domestic circle and in the state? Where has it reared a virtuous and heaven-taught progeny? Where has it been distinguished for any of the moral virtues, or, rather, where has it not been distinguished for the most fearful degeneracy of manners?” By this practice, which has prevailed so extensively through nearly all countries and all ages where Christianity was not known, marriage loses all its tenderness, its sanctity, and its reciprocal confidence — the cup of connubial felicity iS eX

“> aot Va changed for that of mere animal pleasure — woman panders to the appetite of man, instead of minis. tering to his comfort — and the home assumes much of the character of a brothel. There may be several mistresses, but there can be only one wife, and though there may be mothers, they are without a mother’s affection; presenting a scene of endless envy and jealousy, before which domestic comfort must ever retire, to make way for mere sensual gratification. No stimulus to inprovement — to fidelity — to ambition to please, can be felt, where the individual may be supplanted the next month by a new favorite. And thus there is no room and little occasion for the display of those virtues which constitute female honor. Here, then, is the glorious excellence of Christianity; inasmuch as it revives and re-establishes the original institute of marriage — restores to woman her fortune, her person, her rank, and thus her happiness, of all which she has been cheated by polygamy, and has thus raised the condition of the female sex to the elevation to which they were destined by their wise and beneficent Creator. True it is that Christianity has not by direct, explicit, and positive precept, effected this great change, so beneficial not only to the sex, but to society, yet it has done so by an implication so clear as not to be mistaken as to the reality of the fact, nor to be resisted as to its obligation. All its provisions, its precepts, and its promises, go on the supposition of each man who is a husband being the husband but of one wife.

Ana we would here take occasion to remark with emphasis upon the adaptation of Christianity to promote the well-being of the community at large, by advocating and protecting the rights of all; by opposing all those evil practices, which insinuate mischief and misery into the great human family; and by upholding those institutions which in their turn uphold the interests of nations. The springs of national prosperity rise from beneath the family hearth — the domestic constitution is the mould where national character is cast — and that mould must of necessity take its form from the unity, the sanctity, and inviolability of marriage.

5. The jealousy with which Christianity guards the sanctity of the marriage tie must ever be regarded as having a favorable influence upon the condition of woman. Let this be relaxed or impaired, and that moment woman sinks in dignity, in purity, and in happiness. There have been nations in which the facility of divorce took the place of polygamy, and of course, was accompanied with some of its vices, and many of its miseries too. This was eminently the case with ancient Rome. It is true this applied rather to Rome in the time of the Empire, than during the continuance of the Republic, examples of which will be found in the annals of its history, and allusions to it in the pages of its poets. Let the nuptial tie be weakened, and the wife lives in perpetual fear that her union is placed in jeopardy by a law of which her husband may take advantage, and at the instigation of passion or

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eaprice dissolve the bond — and without either penalty, remorse, or shame, dismiss her from her home — and there is an end to her peace, and perhaps to per purity. For it is to be recollected that it is she who has most to dread from the license of divorce. She is likely to be the victim of such a liberty. With what devout and reverential gratitude should she turn then to that Divine Teacher, who has interposed with his own personal authority to strengthen the marriage bond, and to guard it from being severed at the demand of illicit passion, or the dictates. of humor or eaprice. How should she rejoice to hear Him say, “Whoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another; committeth adultery; and whoso marrieth her that is put away, doth commit adultery.” — Matt. xix. 9. The indulgence granted to the Jews of greater latitude and liberty in this matter, was thus suspended by Christianity; a greater security provided for woman’s honor and felicity; and a broader basis laid for domestic harmony and happiness. If it were only for this, Christianity deserves the gratitude of mankind. It is only half its glory that it has abolished the custom of many wives; its crowning achievement is that it has protected the rights, the dignity, and the comfort of the one wife. It has shut out intruders from her home, and guaranteed the safe and permanent possession of it to herself.

6. I may surely mention the equal participation of religious blessings to which women are admitted by the Christian religion. How explicitly and how firmly has the apostle claimed for woman all the blessings obtained by Christ for the human race, where he says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” — Gal. iii, 28. There is woman’s charter of all the blessings of salvation — there is woman’s proof of equal consideration in the sight of God — there is woman’s claim to equal rank in the institutes of man. There is not a blessing necessary to eternal life, which they do not receive in the same measure and in the same manner as the other sex. There is a popular tradition among the Mahommedans, which is prevalent among them to this day, that women are not permitted to enter Paradise: the houris of that region being a special creation for the purpose.. What a degradation is there in such an idea: this Mohammedanism, and it is in its own spirit, and harmonizes with its own genius, which regards woman more as the slave of man’s passions, than as the companion of his life. -Christianity places the wife by the side of the husband — the daughter by the side of the father — the sister by the side of the brother — and the maid by the side of the m/stress — at the altar of the family — in the meeting of the church — at the table of the Lord — and in the congregation of the sanctuary. Male and female meet together at the cross, and will meet in the realms of glory. Can any thing more effectually tend to raise and sustain the condition of woman than this?

God in all his conduct — Christ in his glorious undertaking — and the Holy Spirit in his gracious work — give her her proper place in the world, by giving her a proper place in the church. It is for her with peculiar emphasis to say, “God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places.” — Ephes. ii. 4-6. Well have women understood their privileges, for look into our congregations and churches, and see how largely they are composed of females. How many more of their sex than of the other avail themselves of the offer of gospel mercy, and - come under the influence of religion. It is in the female bosom, however we may account for the fact, that piety finds a home on earth. The door of woman’s heart is often thrown wide open to receive this divine guest, when man refuses it an entrance. And it is by thus yielding to the power of godliness, and reflecting upon others the beauties of holiness, that she maintains her standing and her influence in society. Under the sanctifying power of religion she ascends to the glory not only of an intelligent, but of a spiritual existence — not only gladdens by her presence the solitary hours of man’s existence, and beguiles, by her converse and sympathy, the rough and tedious paths of life; but in some measure new-modifies, purifies, and sanctifies him by making him feel how awful goodness ia, 7. But the finishing stroke which Christianity gives in elevating the condition of women, is, by én-

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viting and employing thetr energies and th promoting the spread of religion in the w thus carrying out, through them also, the lsreat purposes of God in the redemption of the world by the mission of his Son. To them, in common with others, the apostle says, “That ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” — 1 John i. 3. The honor so liberally bestowed upon the pious women of antiquity, in ministering to the personal wants of the Saviour, and in being so constantly about his person, was the least of those distinctions designed for them by our holy religion. They bear an exalted place in those acts and offices which were carried on for the setting up of Christ’s kingdom in the world. How instructive and impressive is it to hear an apostle say, “Help those women which la- bored with me in the gospel.” — Phil. iv. 3. What a register of names and offices of illustrious females do we find in Romans xvi. Priscilla, Paul’s helper; “Mary, who bestowed much labor upon us;” “Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labored in the Lord.” “Phebe, the servant of the church at Cenchrea,” who was sent to the church at Rome, and intrusted with so momentous a commission as to bear to that community of Christians the Epistle to the Romans, which, if we may lawfully compare one portion of Scripture with another, is the most precious portion of divine revelation. In addition to all this, there can be but little doubt that in the primitive church, not only were women occasionally endowed by the spirit with the miraculous gifts of prophesying, but were also employed in the office of deaconesses, The Christian church, in modern times, has gone backward in the honor put upon the female charac. ter. The primitive age of Christianity was in advance of ours in the respect thus paid to the female sex, by officially employing them in the services of the church, and in the wisdom which made use of such available and valuable resources. It has been said that the usages of society have somewhat changed since that time, so as to render the services of women less necessary now than they were then. The friendly and social intercourse of the sexes was more restricted, and females were kept in greater seclusion. Sore truth, no doubt, there is in these assertions; but perhaps not so much as is by some imagined. Both general and sacred history present them to us mingling in the society, and sharing the occupations of the other sex.

Turrpty. We now remark that not only does Christianity thus ¢end, by its own nature and provisions, to exalt the female character, but it has accomplished this wherever it has prevailed. If we consult the pages of history, whether ancient or modern — whether Eastern or Western, we shall find that wherever the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ has been successful, there has it achieved the emancipation of woman from her thralldom, and rescued her from degradation. I refer to modern Europe in proof of this, and to America. And may I not affirm that this emancipation and elevation are in

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proportion to the purity of that Christianity which has thus been diffused? Is it not a triumph and a trophy of Christianity to be able to point to the most polished nations of the globe as being, at any rate, professedly Christian; and at the same time to say, “Look at the improved condition of the female sex?” What a contrast is in this respect presented in those countries to all Pagan and Mohammedan nations.

If we refer to the records of modern missions, we shall find abundant proof of what the gospel does for the elevation of the female character. It has abolished the suttee in India, and the widow is no longer immolated on the same pile which consumes her departed husband. It has stopped the suicidal prostration before the idol’s car in Ceylon — the drudgery of the wives of all savage tribes — the incarcerating seclusion of Mohammedan. and Pagan nations — the polygamy, the infanticide, and the concubinage of all countries whither it has gone. Yes, Christianity in various parts of the world has, in modern times, proved itself woman’s emancipator and friend in many, very many thousand instances. It has brought woman from under the disastrous influence of the pale crescent of the impostor of Mecca, and placed her in all the irradiating and enlivening splendor of the Sun of Righteousness. It has rescued her from what I must consider the baleful power of the crucifix, and thrown over her the elevating attractions of the cross.

. But there is another and a more familiar way g* and one nearer home, in which we may see how Christianity, even in this Christian and Protestant nation, has benefited and raised the condition of millions of once wretched and degraded women; made such not by. their own misconduct, but by the vices and cruelty of their husbands.. How many wives have been reduced to a kind of domestic slavery by the drunkenness, the infidelity, and tyranny of those who had pledged themselves to love and cherish them. Christianity, in its power, has, in myriads of instances, laid hold of the hearts of these men, and changed them from vive to holiness; and now, the husband is as much changed as the man, and among other evidences of the reality of the change, and the manifestations of its excellence, is his altered conduct at home, where woman becomes his wife, instead of being his drudge, his slave, and his victim. Christianity has thus carried out its genius and its precepts into the actual elevation of the female character wherever it has gone, The chivalry of the dark and middle ages, whimsical as the institution seemed, which combined religion, valor, and gallantry, no doubt did something to accomplish this end. I do not dispute the truth of the remarks made by a French writer, quoted in a popular work entitled, “Woman’s Mission,” where he says, that women, shut up in their castellated towers, civilized the warriors who despised their weakness, and rendered less barbarous the passions and the prejudices which they themselves shared. It was they who directed the savage passions and brute force to an unselfish aim — the defense of the weak, and added to courage the only virtue then recognized — humanity. But even chivalry derived its existence, in some measure, from religion. And, after all, how inferior in its nature, and how different in its influence, was this system of romance, to the dignified principles and holy influence of Christianity! It did very well to figure at the joust and the tournament; in the hall of the baron, and in the circle of the fair; but its influence in the domestic scene was still slight as compared with that of the institutions of the New Testament. It was rather the romance of female rights and privileges, than a concession of them mude by intelligence, a sense of justice, and an obedience to the Divine authority; and it may be questioned whether many an illustrious knight did not, when the hour of imagination had passed away, and the ardor of passion had cooled, in the absence of Christian principles, crush and break the heart which he had been so anxious to win. It is the glory of Christianity that it supplies principles which are rooted in the soul, and sway the conscience, instead of appeals to the imagination, the senses, and the passions; and that instead of leading its possessor to expend his admiration of woman amid the exciting scenes of public amusement, it teaches and influences him first of all to contemplate her where her charms are less meretriciously adorned — in the retirement of social intercourse, and there to enjoy them, within the hallowed cir domestic life. It allows of no senseless adoration like that which chivalry promoted, and which, from its very excess, is likely to be followed with recoil or collapse. What Christianity does for woman is, to fit her neither to be the goddess nor the slave, but the friend and companion of man, and to teach man to consider her in this honorable and amiable aspect.

It’is now quite time to consider what practical inferences are to be deduced from this subject. And,

1. Do we not see in it a beautiful exhibition of the transcendent excellence of our holy religion? In every view we can take of Christianity, whether we contemplate its aspect toward another world or this, in its relations to God or society, in its sublime doctrines, or its pure morality, we see a form of inimitable beauty, sufficient to captivate every heart but that which is petrified by false philosophy, avowed infidelity, or gross immorality.. But never does it appear more lovely than in its relation to woman. What equity in holding the balances so impartially between the sexes! What kindness in throwing its shield over the weaker vessel! What wisdom in sustaining the rank and claims of these whose influence is so important to society, and yet so limiting those claims that they shall not be carried to such a length as to defeat their own end! What nice discrimination in ‘fixing her place where her power can be most advantageously employed for the cultivation of her own virtues, and the benefit of society! “Behold Christianity, then, walking forth in her purity and greatness to bless the earth, diffusing her light in every direction, distributing her charities on either hand, quenching the flames of lust, and the fires of ambition, silencing discord, spreading peace, and creating all things new. Angels watch her progress celebrate her influence, and anticipate her final triumphs! The moral creation brightens beneath her smiles, and owns her renovating power. At her approach man loses his fierceness, and woman her chains; each becomes blessed in the other, and God is glorified in both.”*

2. May we not affirm that the treatment of woman, by Christianity, is one of the proofs of tts divine origin? In this view of it, we include Judaism, with which it must ever be associated as containing a full development of the great truths contained in the symbols of that ceremonial dispensation; though, as we have already shown, even this is behind the higher excellence of the Christian economy. We have already seen how both Mohammedanism and Paganism degrade the female character and sex. It would seem, therefore, that man, left to himself, would never have set up a religion which dealt equitably and kindly with the female sex. And what has infidelity, without a religion, done for them? What would it do for them? Degrade them by demoralizing them. The patrons of impurity and licentiousness — infidels at heart —

* Dr. Cox’s Essay.

have put on the cloak of the philosopher, and max. ims the most licentious have found their way inte works of pretended morality, and have been inculcated with the airs of a moral sage. Atheism, the most u.disguised, has made its appearance, and alas, alas! that it should boast of a well-known priestess to conduct its homage at the shrine and upon the altar of chance! Before skepticism had reached this depth of error, and arrived at these gloomy regions of a godless void — while yet it lingered on the shores of deism, it manifested its demoralizing tendency. Hume taught that adultery, when known, was a slight offense; and when unknown, no offense at all. Bolingbroke openly and violently attacked every important truth, and every serious duty. Particularly he licensed lewdness, and cut up chastity and decency by the roots. Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, the most serious of the early English deists, declared that the indulgence of lust is no more to be blamed than the thirst of a fever, or the drowsiness of lethargy. Nor have modern infidels been behind their predecessors. Godwin and Owen have attacked the marriage tie. And let the annals of the first French Revolution, that terrible eruption from the volcano of atheism, tell by the history of Mirabeau, its type, both as regards politics and morals, what infidelity would do to corrupt and degrade the female sex. Woman’s virtue, dignity, honor, and happiness, are nowhere safe but under the protection of the Word of God. The Bible is the egis of the female sex. Beneath this protection she is secure in her rights, her dignity, and her peace. It is her vine and fig-tree, under which, in calm repose, she may enjoy the shade of the one, and relish the fruit of the other, none daring to make her afraid. It protects her purity from taint, and her peace from disturbance. Let woman know her friend, and her enem y too. An infidel of either sex is the foe of our species, either individually or collectively viewed; but a female infidel is the most dangerous and destructive of the furies, from whom, in the prosecution of her suicidal career, the virtuous of her sex recoil with horror, and whom the vicious regard as the abettor, it may be, the unintentional one, of their crimes. Woman! regard thy Saviour for the next world as thine emancipator for this present one; love the Bible as the charter of thy liberty, and the guardian of thy bliss; and consider the church of Christ as thine asylum from the Wrongs of oppression, and the arts of seduction.

3. Let woman seek to discharge her obligations to Christianity. Grateful she ought to be, for immense are the favors which have been conferred upon her. It is enough to demand her thankfulness, that in common with man, she is the object of divine love, redeeming mercy, and the subject of immortal hope; but in addition to this, she is rescued from oppression and exalted to Honor in the present world. In regard to this, your obligations to Christianity are immense. You owe infinitely more to it than you ever reflect upon, or than you will ever be able to cancel. Often as you look rourd upon your condition in society, and especially as often as you contrast your situation with that of women in Pagan countries, let a glow of gratitude warm your heart and add intensity to the fervor with which you exclaim, “Precious Bible.” Yes, doubly precious to you, as your friend for both worlds. How shall woman discharge her obligations? In two ways. First, in yielding up her heart and life to the influence and service of her benefactor — in the way of faith, holiness, and divine love. Female piety is the best, the only sincere expression of female gratitude to God. An irreligious woman is also an ungrateful one. She that loves not Christ, whomsoever else she may love, and however chaste and pure that love may be, is living immeasurably below her obligations, and has a stain of guilt upon her heart and her conscience which no other virtue can efface or conceal.

Her obligations should also be discharged by seeking to extend that benign system to others which has exerted so beneficial an influence upon herself. Of all the supporters of our missionary schemes, whether they are forined to evangelize the heathen abroad, or reform the sinful at home, women should be, as indeed they generally are, the most zealous, the most liberal, and the most prayerful supporters. Wherever she turns her eye over the distant regions of our earth, at least wherever Paganism or Mohammedanism throw their baleful shadow — and alas! how large a portion of the earth that is — there she beholds her sex degraded and oppressed. From China’s vast domain — from India’s sunny plains — from Persia’s flowery gardens — from the snows of Arctic regions — from the sterile deserts of Arabia — and from the burning line of Africa — woman lifteth up her voice from the midst of her wrongs, her woes, and her miseries, piteously imploring, “Come ovER AND HELP us.” The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, but her groans are deeper, her cries louder, than those of any other. Floated upon the wings of every breeze, and borne on the bosom of every wave that touches our shore, from those regions of sin and sorrow comes the petition to Christian females in this country for the blessings of Christianity. Cold, thankless, and unfeeling must be that heart which is unaffected by such an appeal, and makes no effort to respond to it — which prompts to no interest in our missionary schemes, and leads to no liberality in their support. The Millennium will be especially woman’s jubilee, and as no groan is deeper than hers during the reign of sin and sorrow, so no joy will be louder than hers under the reign of Christ. It belongs therefore to her to be most fervent in the cry of the church, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” 4