The Conspicuous Place Which Woman Occupies in Holy Scripture

‘ After this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands.” — 1 Purp, iii. 5

Ir will probably be objected against some of the subjects selected for this course of Sermons, that they are not exclusively appropriate to the class of persons to whom they are addressed — that is, Young Women. This, however, so far from being a fault, is an excellence. Most conditions of human life are prospective, and have not only some proximate object and duties connected with them, but also some ultimate ones to which the others look onward; and he who wo.ld lead persons to the right discharge of the whole range of their obligations, must set before them the future as well as the present, especially when the due preparation for the remote must not only be made in the present, but must be considered to a considerable extent the object and design of the present. Neither childhood nor youth is an ultimate condition of haman existence, but each leads on, looks to, and prepares for manhood or womanhood. Surely it must be appropriate then to those who are already arrived at adult age, or are fast approaching it, to have the whole view of their future condition laid before them, at least in general outline. How else can they prepare for it?

Those to whom the following discourses are addressed, are supposed to have arrived at that period of youth, when the judgment is sufficiently matured and reflective to be capable of studying and appreciating their future relations and duties, and who, therefore, ought to have the subject laid before them. Who can be rightly educated for any future situation, from whom it is concealed till all its obligations and responsibilities burst suddenly upon them? True, there is in some minds an almost instinctive kind of perception of what is proper to be done in any new conjuncture of circumstances, so that almost without training, they are prepared for whatever situation is before them. But this is not the case with all. The greater number of mankind must, as far as possible, be trained for the various situations of life. As in the education of a boy, especially when learning a trade or profession, the future good tradesman, master, father, and citizen, must be set before him as that for which he must prepare himself; so in the training of young women, the whole of womanhood, in its full expansion, ripened excellences, and complete relations, obligations, and responsibilities must be laid before them, We know that there is much which can be learned only from experience, yet is there much also «nat may be learned by observation, reading, and refleotion. Mothers and governesses, authors and preachers, who take up the subject, should ever bear in recollection that the girl is to develop in the woman; and in teaching the girl, should ever have their eye fixed ultimately upon the woman, and should with all possible earnestness fix the eye of the girl also upon her future womanhood. Not that she is to be so taken up with the remote as to neglect the proximate — the future as to neglect the present — or to acquire that precocious matronly air and gravity which shall repress the ardor and vivacity of youth, and by anticipated cares and solicitudes go out to meet half-way the coming troubles of life. Remember, then, my young female friends — and the lesson can not be too deeply impressed upon your minds — that the seeds of woman’s life-long excellences must be sown in the spring-time of life; and it must be done in part by her own hand, though aided and taught by others to prepare the soil. The very flowers of womanly excellence she would have to grow in her future character, must be previously and carefully selected, and be contemplated and anticipated by her in all their full-blown beauty and their richest fragrance, even while she is yet in youth.

With these remarks as our justification in presenting to the younger of the sex, what in fact appertaina to the more advanced in years, we now advance to the subject of the present sermon.

When we consider the importance of woman in the great human family, it would be strange if in a volume given by inspiration of God for regulating the conduct, and promoting the happiness of mankind, she had no place assigned to her, commensurate with the influence she is destined to exert. The Bible gives us an account of the origin and construc. tion of society, and is designed, among other and still higher purposes, to direct its movements and promote its welfare. This it could not do, if it left out woman; or if it failed to bring her prominently forward, or did not prescribe with much form and detail, her rank, her mission, and her duties. In the coins which were struck in the reigns of our William and Mary, when the wife was queen regnant as well as queen consort, the busts of both husband and wife. were represented on the face of the coin — the king in front, and the queen next — so if a frontispiece were designed for the human history of the Bible, man and woman should be exhibited in something of a similar manner, with this inscription round the two-fold portrait — Ma re anp FrmMaLe CREATED HE THEM.

The subject of this Sermon was entered upon in the last; it will be here continued and expanded into wider dimensions. Man, of course, is the chief subject of revealed truth. He occupies there, as he does in society, the first place. More is said of him, to him, and by him, than applies to woman. He is the prime actor, but not the sole one, in the great drama of Providence, as it is developed in the pages of inspiration. His companion in pilgrimage is brought furward into notice, and does not sink into his shadow, or peep out occasionally only from behind his more portly form and loftier stature. Her name and history, her virtues and vices, her services and sorrows, occupy a considerable space in the holy canon. She has no right to complain that she is overlooked or forgotten, or that she is thrust into a corner and hidden from observation. There is more than enough said about her to make her contented. She ought to be thankful, and without divine grace, may even be tempted to be vain. She can not be deprived of self-respect, or of the respect of others, on account of the manner in which she is treated in the Scriptures, In this respect the Bible stands a bright and beautiful contrast to the Koran.

We shall rirst of all advert to the account which the Bible gives of woman’s creation and fall, in the book of Genesis. We would, in passing, remark, that it is to revelation, and to that alone, we are indebted for our knowledge of the origin of the human species. Without the Mosaic account of the creation, we know neither the date nor the source of the faraily of man. There is no other oracle which can give a response to the question, “Whence came we?” This furnishes an answer, and satisfies the inquirer: but not as some would pretend, with a mere allegorical history, but with a veritable fact. I need not recite the details of the scenes cf Paradise, but cnly refer to them. It is at once a beautiful and a melancholy record. We there see woman as she came from the hand of the Creator with a body that com.

bined every charm which could captivate the being for whose companionship she was designed, and a soul that comprehended every virtue that could adorn the character, and make her an object of reverent affection. Her creation was peculiar, but not unworthy the Great Being that made her, of herself, or of him from whose own body she was derived. Her very origin seemed to dignify both her husband and herself. She was a part of his own frame. Here was his honor. She was formed of organized and vitalized matter, and not of mere dust — here was her distinction. Who can describe, or who conceive the thoughts or emotions of this holy pair at their first interview? Our great bard has attempted it in his immortal verse, where he says,

«<T beheld her, not far off,

Such as I saw her in my dream, adorn’d With what all earth or heaven could bestow To make her amiable; on she came,

Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen,

And guided by His voice —

Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,

In every gesture; dignity and love.

I, overjoy’d, could not forbear aloud — — Thou hast fulfill’d

Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,

Giver of all things fair! But fairest this

Of all thy gifts! nor enviest. 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.”

Painters and sculptors have joined with poets, to represent to the senses and the imagination the first woman, in all her untainted loveliness. It is the Scriptures, be it recollected, that supplies to them all the enrapturing subject of their art.

Thus far we see woman, man’s companion, in holiness and bliss, tenanting with him the Garden of Eden, enjoying its beauties, and helping to preserve them. With him, joining in the morning song and vesper hymn. Confessing no sin, for they had committed none; pouring out no sorrow, for they felt none; and disburdening themselves of no care, for none pressed upon them. All was praise, while their own notes of thanksgiving, blended with the toelodies of the grove and the music of the fields, caused even the ear of God to listen with delight, and to say, “It is all very good.”

Alas, how soon and how suddenly changed thie scene of Paradisaic bliss! Man was placed in Eden not as we shall be in heaven, if we are so happy as to reach it, in a state of confirmed happiness; bu’ a8 we are now upon earth, in a condition of probation. His submission to God must be tested; and this was done in a manner that exactly suited his condition. A garden became his state of innocence as a residence; and the fruit of a particular tree equally well suited his circumstances for the proof of his entire and implicit subjection. The test was as easy as it was rational and suitable. Traditions of the state of primeval felicity are current among many nations. They are discoverable in Greciav and Roman history, in the fables of the gardens of Flora, of Alcinous, and of the Hesperides; and in the pleasing fiction of the poet’s golden age. To induce Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit was the scheme of Satan for his fall. It is difficult to conceive in what other way he could tempt them. And how did he succeed? You know the melancholy sequel. The assault of the tempter was made upon woman. She was the selected victim of his wiles. It is evident, therefore, that he regarded her, while in a state of innocence,’as more likely and easily to be vanquished than man; and thus considered her, even then, as the weaker vessel. At the same time, does it not seem as if he had marked her out from the beginning, as the chief instrument for accomplishing his future purposes of mischief toward the family of man? Events have justified the sagacity of his malignity: for to her influence how much may be traced of the crimes and calamities which desolate our earth. He saw in the conduct of the first pair the love which woman inspires and cherishes, and was confident that if he could subdue her, he might leave her to subdue the man.

The apostle in referring to this event says, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, was first in the transgression.” — 1 Tim. ii. 14. From the very creation, woman has shown a feebler power of resistance, a greater pliancy of disposition, than man. How Satan should know this, we are not informed; but that he did know it, is evident from his commencing the assault on Eve instead of Adaza.

The passage just quoted seems to imply all this. It is not meant that Adam did not sin, and was not deceived by the tempter, but that the woman opposed a feebler resistance to the temptation than he would have done; and that the temptation, as applied to her mind, would have been ineffectual on him. To tempt and seduce him to sin, there needed all the soft persuasions, the entreaties, and example of his wife, Satan understood this, and approached man not with the specious argument of the serpent, but through the allurements of his wife. Some have supposed that Adam was not at all deceived by the tempter; that he saw at once all his suggestions were lies; but that foreseeing what Eve had done, how she had plunged herself into ruin, he, out of mere love to her, and with his eyes open, determined to share her fate. But the apostle’s words do not necessarily convey this; but merely that he was not deceived jérs?, nor directly, by the tempter, but after, and by his wife. Her fall was occasioned by the deception of Satan alone; his by the deception of Satan, aided by the persuasion of the woman.* Srconpiy. Having considered the Scriptural account of woman’s condition at the creation, and the means by which, through her, the human race was brought into its present state of sin and misery, we may next notice the very explicit and frequent mention which is made in the Scripture of her numerous relations in social life, with the descriptions tt gives of her various characters. It certainly tends deeply See Barnes’s Note on the passage.

to impress us with the importance of woman, and to raise her in her own and in our estimation, to see how every one of her relations is constantly brought before us on the sacred page, as if the duties connected with each were of vast consequence to society. Not one is omitted: all are recognized and dwelt upon. Woman is ever before us in one or other of her many relations to the community.

Not only is there much said about the son, but also about the pauenrzrR. This relationship is not only included in the generic term of children, but it is also set out by itself in its own species, How commonly is it mentioned in connection with the children of the other sex, and “the sons and the daughters” are spoken of. A beautiful instance of which we have in the words of the Psalmist, “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; and our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.” Or, “as corner pillars, wrought like those of a palace,” that is, in their fittest and best proportions, combining strength, beauty, and symmetry, both of body and of soul: than which, no comparison can be more elegant and delicate. In the exquisite poetry of the Hebrews, how commonly is this relationship employed as the metaphor of countries, states, and cities! Jerusalem comes before us as “the DauGHTER of Zion,” sometimes jubilant in her prosperity, and then, as in the lamentations of Jeremiah, covered with sackcloth and bathed in tears.

The word sister occurs almost in every portion of the Word of God, like a floweret, lowly and lovely amid others of larger growth and more imposing form and color. How sweet and gentle s spirit is sometimes seen in that sister’s form amid her brothers’ more robust ones; and what a softening influence does the spell of her fascinating tenderness throw over their ruder natures. Thus we are reminded by Scripture, that the younger female branches of the family are to be thought of as having their separate claims upon parental regard and brotherly affections. How many families are laid open in the Bible o our view, of which the sisters, as well as the brothers, are brought prominently into notice.

How much may it be supposed would be said about the wire: and how much is said about the close and endearing relations. To form the character, and direct the conduct of the wzfe, is worth all the pains that have been bestowed by innumerable writers ;* and we might have been very sure, even before we had read a page of revelation, that much would be there found touching this relationship. The book of Proverbs, that admirable manual for domestic and social life, is quite a manual for wives, as well as for every other member of the family circle. Unusual pains seem taken for the right

* Mrs. Ellis’s admirable works to females, as Woman, Wives, Mothers, and Daughters, need no recommendation vf mine. The public have already set their seal of approbation upon them, by the several editions through whick they have passed.

formation of her character. How frequently and how impressively does Solomon refer to woman, as sustaining this close and tender relation. In what exalted and glowing terms does he speak of it, when it comprehends the graces and the excellences which it should always possess, ‘“Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing.” — Prov. xviii. 22. “A prudent wife is from the Lord.” — xix. 14. Who has ever read, or can read, without admiration, his beautiful. description of a virtuous woman, in the closing chapter of his inestimable Proverbs? Can we wonder that he who had this elevated idea of the value of such a companion, should again and again exhort the young husband to live joyfully with the wife of his youth, and, forsaking all others, cleave to her alone? In this he did but copy the beautiful and poetic picture of connubial happiness which had been furnished to him by his father David, if, indeed, he was the author of that Psalm, “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy children like olive-plants round about thy table.” — Psalm cxxviii. 3. ‘The vine,” says Bishop Horne, “a lowly plant, raised with tender care, becoming, by its luxuriance, its beauty, its fragrance, and its clusters, the ornament and glory of the house to which it is joined, and by which it is supported, forms the finest imaginable emblem of a fair, virtuous, and faithful wife. The olive-trees planted by the inhabitants of Eastern countries round their banqueting places in their gardens, to cheer the eye by their verdure, and to refresh the body by their cooling shade, do no less aptly and significantly set forth the pleasure which parents feel at the sight of a numerous and flourishing offspring.”.

On the other hand, Solomon directs all the powers of his bitter eloquence and irony against the degraded woman, whose deadly work none has ever signalized with more holy indignation. How does he brand the crime of the harlot in the second and fifth chapters of the book of Proverbs; and with what awful correctness describe the conduct of the adulteress in the seventh. Nor does he stop here, but descends to the characters of women who, though less guilty than those to whom we have just alluded, are still deserving of severe reprobation — “The foolish woman, who plucketh her house down with her hands” (xiv.): “the brawling woman, whose society is more intolerable than dwelling in a corner of the house-top, or in the wilderness” (xxi. 9 — xx. 24): “the woman that maketh ashamed, who is’a rottenness in the bones of her husband” (xii. 4): “the odious woman, whose marriage is one of the four things for which the earth is disquieted, and which it can not bear” (xxx. 23): “the fair woman without discretion, whose beauty is like a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout” (xi. 22): “the contentious wife, that continual dropping on a very rainy day” (xix. 18). This same Solomon, at the period when he had reached a penitent and reformed old age, and when all the events of his life had passed in review before him, is compelled to confess that he had sought ir. vain for a woman after his own heart: “I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I found (saith the preacher), counting one by one, to find out the account, which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.” — Eccles, vii. 26-28. Let not this passage, however, be mistaken, as if it meant that it was Solomon’s opinion that the number of good women. is inferior to the number of good men. Observation and general testimony assure us that this is not the truth. We are to consider where he made his inquiry for female virtue, and under what circumstances it was made. He who had crowded his court with wives and concubines, could little expect to find female excellence in such a situation. Instead of concentrating his affections on one woman as his wife, the partner of his joys and sorrows, and seeking his happiness in drinking with her the sweet cup of connubial bliss, he had gathered round him in his harem, for pride and sensuality, a multitude of women, amid whose jealousies and contentions he could no more find happiness than he could virtue amid their illicit pleasures. From such a scene virtue would retire abashed and weeping. If, therefore, in this passage, he satirized the sex,.he ad it on unjust, unwise, and unmanly grounds, “But,” says Dr. Wardlaw, “I am far from thinking that he here speaks the language of a disappointed and waspish satirist. He rather utters the feelings of an abased and self-dissatisfied penitent, of one who had felt it to be ‘an evil and a bitter thing,’ to depart as he had done from God, who remembered ‘the wormwood and the gall;’ who perceived and lamented the folly and the wickedness of all those ‘inventions,’ by which himself and others had sought to find out happiness apart from the fuvor and the ways of God.”

If we speak of woman as a moTHER, how often does that endearing relationship come upon us in holy Scripture: both literally and metaphorically, both in the Old Testament and in the New, both in the way of example and of precept. The maternal relationship is the theme of constant reference, both for the sake of illustrating other subjects, and for enforcing its own claims as those of the female head of the household. Had this character been omitted, or only introduced occasionally, and then invested with no more than a second-rate importance, the Bible would have been wanting in one of its sweetest harmonies with the feelings of nature, one of its strongest appeals to the sympathies of humanity: and we should have doubted if it had come from Him who created woman and gave her as a helpmeet for man. The paternal character and resation are maintained in their primary rank, and authority, and dignity; no invasion is made upon the prerogative, or usurpation of the rights of the father

—he is not called to yield his place of rule, nis supremacy of condition, to the mother; and yet how is all her proper rank, and station, and influence maintained. There she is exhibited as being in the family circle, if not the circumference which includes all, yet in one sense as the center, in which husband, children, and servants, all meet. How resonant are the Scriptures with that sweet and tender vorable — how redolent with the fragrance of that odoriferous word — how rich with the ornament of that beautiful term — a MOTHER. There is sustained the poet’s declaration —

‘‘ A mother is a mother atill:
The holiest thing alive.”

If the mother’s importance be not known — the mother’s claims not conceded — her influence not felt — her duties not rightly discharged — it is not the fault of the Bible, which is the friend of society by exalting the relationship of a mother. Nor is the MisTRESS Overlooked or forgotten, nor her duties left out of consideration.

The wipow — that name for desolation — that sorrowful epithet — that type of woe, meets us at every turn. She passes before us in her weeds and in her tears, leading in her hand her fatherless children, and saying to us, “Pity me, pity me, O my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me!’ More is said about, and for, and to, this bereaved one, than to any other class of women: a circumstance which exhibts with uncommon force and beauty the compassion

5% of God. But there is a discrimination on this sub. ject which shows the wisdom as well as tenderness of God. Young and vivacious widows are admonished, while aged and helpless ones are comforted. — 1 Tim. v.

Nor is the FEMALE sERVANT left out. <A place for her is found among the various other and -higher ranks and conditions of her sex. Her humble lot is recognized amid the provisions and commands of the law, and was announced and defended by the thunders of Mount Sinai. We find it protected by precept and illustrated by example, as if woman in her lowest grade of society should not be overlooked in the Bible — that blessed and glorious charter of rights and privileges. There the little maid lifts up her head among the queens and the peeresses of Scripture history.

Tuirpiy. But the most impressive and important point of view in which this subject can be placed, and the most convincing proof of the bearing of Scripture on woman’s sex, is the very great number and variety of female ExaMpLes in the Word of God. It is one of the surpassing excellences of the Bible, that it is replete with narrative, history, and biography. And thus, apart from ite, sacred character and its momentous importance, it is one of the most entertaining bouks in the world. lt is full, not only of precept, but of living, acting patterns of the virtues it inculcates and of the vices, which it prohibits. It is a complete picture gal-. lery, in surveying which we see portraits of every size, from the miniature to the full-length painting, and in every degree of representation, from the mere outline to the most finished production of the artist’s pencil. Among these it would have been strange if female characters had been wanting. They are not wanting. There, amid kings, priests, warriors, and prophets, are to be seen, profusely intermingled, the portraits of “the holy women of the old time, who trusted in God,” as well as of: those who had disgraced themselves and dishonored their sex. In the great drama of life, as it passes before us in the Bible, no mean or inconsiderable part is assigned to female character. Her place among the dramatis persone is not that of some airy vision which lights upon our path, and which, after surprising and dazzling us for a moment, straightway vanishes and is seen no more, but of one of the veritable actors in almost every place and every scene.

The sacred volume opens, as we have already seen, with Eve in Paradise, all beauty, innocence, and smiles, as its lovely frontispiece; and then shows us that same Eve, impelled by the vanity which she has bequeathed as a mournful legacy to her daughters, reaching forth her hand at the instigation of the tempter, to pluck that fruit which was the test of her obedience, and the hinge of our destiny, and thus exhibiting to us the sad association of beauty with sin. In tracing woman’s history from Paradise as the starting-point, as it is set forth on the page of Scripture, we will look first a¢ the darker side of the narrative. How soon do we see Adah and Zillah, women of the antediluvian world, consenting to be the joint wives of Lamech, and thus giving, for aught we can tell, the original pattern of that bane of domestic happiness — poiyg amy. — Gen. iv. 19-24. Then come “the daughters of men’’ — the women in the line of Cain, who ‘made no profession of religion, but lived in atheism — seducing and corrupting “the sons of God” — the female line of Seth and the professors of godliness — and thus preparing the way by these unsuitable and incongruous marriages, and the universal corruption that followed, for the waters of the deluge to wash away the moral filth of the old world. — Gen. vi. 1-7. Hagar comes next, troubling the faith, charity, and peace of Abraham for a time, persecuting the child of promise, and at the same time correcting by her waywardness the weakness of the patriarch, whose concubine she was. Then that family of Lot — the poor, earthly-minded mother, that was so wedded to Sodom as to cast the lingering, longing look behind, which transformed her into a pillar of salt; and the disgusting conduct of her incestuous daughters, who showed too well how they had been corrupted by the place of their abode, and how careful all parents should be to remove their children from the polluting influence of evil examples. — Gen. xix, What a revolting pattern of an adulterous woman, and to hide her shame, of a cruel slanderer, is Potiphar’s wife! — Gen. xxxix. Then there was the ensnaring and successful temptation offered by the daughters of Moab to the children of Israel in the wilderness. — Numbers xxvi. How mighty and how fatal were the powers of harlotry in Delilah, te subdue the strength and extort the secrets of Sampson; and what a forcible picture of man’s weakness before woman’s vicious wiles has it furnished to all coming ages! Who does not think of Bathsheba consenting to David’s wicked proposals, and thus causing him for a while to cease to be David? And then the strange women that threw even the mighty intellect of Solomon into the awful eclipse of idolatry! Jezebel, that Zidorian idolatress, who instigated her husband to the murder of Naboth, and exasperated the mind of Ahab to a more intense degree of wickedness than he would otherwise have attained to. — 1] Kings xxi. And Athaliah, that turbulent and idolatrous queen-mother, who counseled her son to do wickedly, and was assassinated by command of Jehoiada, the priest.*¥ — 2 Chron.: xxii.

* I have forborne, of course, to dwell on the examples and descriptions of female delinquency recorded in the Scriptures. Such instances are intended to be read alone, rather than exhibited in the pulpit. It has been a matter of surprise to some, perhaps almost of regret, that such instances of depravity should have been left on record. But shall we dispute in this matter either the wisdom, goodness, or purity of God? Are not important ends to be answered in the moral government of God, and in the religious history of man? A profligate woman is at once the most odious, mischievous, and hateful member of the community. Is it

Coming forward to the New Testament, we :meet with Ierodias, exhibiting the malignant and re

not every way proper, and even desirable, that such 9 character should be held up to detestation and scorn, as & warning to her sex, and that God should thus-set a brand upon her with his own hand, and bear his indignant testimony agninst her vices? The examples of this kind are all for warning, to show in a concrete form the excessive odiousness of female depravity. This is done in a manner the least likely to do harm, and the most likely to do good. The descriptions of female turpitude in the Word of God contain nothing to inflame the imagination or to stimulate the passions; nothing to make vice seductive by a halfconcealment of its odiousness; nothing to beat down the guards of virtue, by interesting or amiable associations of character with sin, or by sophistical and insidious excuses or defenses. The vice is left in all its naked and revolting - deformity — all its nauseating loathsomeness — to inspire disgust, and cause even those of ordinary virtue to recoil from the ugly and filthy object. How different the case with many works of fiction, both prosaic and poetic, in which, though there may be a less particularity of sinful detail, there is immeasurably more to corrupt the moral principles, to pollute the heart, and to lead astray the youthful mind from the paths of virtue. What female reader of the Word of God can rise from the exercise of contemplating even the worst characters, and perusing the most vivid descriptions of the sins of her sex, without stronger love of purity and a more deeply rooted hatred of iniquity. This is the answer we would give to infidels, who sometimes affect to be prudish, and complain of the descriptions and examples of female turpitude which are contained in the sacred volume. The use which every virtuous woman will make of them is to be inspired with a greater abhorrence of transgression, and a more holy and. intense desire to be kept from the most distant approach to it vengeful: passions of a shameless woman, against the servant of God, who had dared to reprove her paramour, and impelling Herod, against the protest of his judgment, heart, and conscience, to put John the Baptist to death, and thus involve them both in -mnurder. — Matt. xiv. 1]. And here also we read af the Jewish women that encouraged and stimulated to violence the mob that persecuted Paul and Barnabas. — <Acts xiii. 50,51; and “That wo. man Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess, and taught and seduced God’s servants to commit for. nication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.” — Rey. ii. 20.

In such instances as these, female pride, wherever it exists, may find some check to its exercise, and some motives for humiliation. To those who are prone to think of their sex more highly than they ought, we present these examples of female frailty, which the pen of inspiration has drawn upon the page of Scripture. While to those of the other sex, if there are any, who are apt to glory over their fallen sisters, we would, after reminding them that some of these instances are the result of their own seductions, present the brighter side of the picture, and would also call upon woman to contemplate the beautiful specimens of female excellence with which the firmament of Scripture is studded, like so many stars of various magnitudes

There is Sarah, who, notwithstanding her many failings, was unquestionably a good and even a great woman. In her case, as in many others, her beauty had become her snare, and if not dangerous to her own virtue, had placed the life of her hus. band in peril. She is presented by the apostle Peter as one of the holy women of old, who were patterns of domestic virtue and piety. Her defects, which consisted of a weakness of faith, that led to some strange domestic arrangements that brought their own punishment, were still surrounded with the brightness of many excellences, in which, if they were not entirely lost, they were at any rate diminished. She was a pattern of conjugal fidelity and sweet simplicity, and just matronly jealousy toward the stranger who had been brought for a while so unwisely into her place. Her faith in God’s promise was strong, though shaken for a moment by the improbabilities of the promised blessing. — Gen. xii. 5 xxii.

Rebekah’s earlier and latter life presents to us a somewhat painful contrast. None can read the beautiful account of the mission of Abraham’s servant to her father, without admiration at the good qualities of the damsel who is the heroine of the story — her industrious and domesticated habits — her unaffected and artless simplicity — her genuine, yet not silly modesty — her graceful courtesy — her humane consideration of the comfort of the brute creation. What a bright pattern is here for the imitation of young people! But, oh! her unbelieving, injudicious, and sinful contrivances to bring about the bestowment of the Divine blessing upon the heir of promise, by that wicked imposition practiced upon her aged and blind husband. Mothers, read it, and learn to guard against sinful contrivances to get good for your children. However, Rebekah was a good, though a mistaken woman. — Gen, xxiv.; xxvii.

In Miriam, the watchful sentinel of the ark upom the waters or the Nile which contained the infant Moses, we see first the dutiful daughter and anxious sister, and, in after life, the coadjutor of her iJlustrious brother, leading the chorus of women by ber timbrel and her voice, in the triumphal song of Moses, on the borders of the Red Sea: Exod. ii. xv.; afterward, in conjunction with Aaron, his opponent through envy; but we may hope restored to her better and earlier mind, through the chastisement she received from the Lord. — Numbers xii. How much mischief may envy do to spoil the best of characters, and to poison the happiness of families.

In Deborah, we contemplate the religious heroine, and the inspired poetess, raised up by the special Providence of God, for the deliverance of his people; an instance of exalted piety -in an age of depressed religion, and still deeper national distress, — Judges iv.

Should it be asked by any one, what we are to say of Jael, celebrated by the poetess Deborah, ir her lofty strain of praise, J scarcely know what answer to give. Nothing less than a Divine mandate, which she may have received in some unknown and unrecorded manner, could have justified the

Ay YOUNG WOMAN’S FRIEND.

deed. Apart from this, even the stratagems of wat would not clear the heroine from the charge of treachery of the blackest kind. True, Sisera was an enemy, but he had trusted himself to her protection, and she slew him while sleeping under her guardianship. I leave the matter therefore as I find it, without either justifying or condemning, for I know not all the facts of the case.

What a pattern of filial obedience, piety, and patriotism, have we in Jephthah’s daughter, over whose affecting story hangs so deep a mystery! Whether, according tu the opinions of some, she was actually offered up in sacrifice, or, according to others, only consecrated by perpetual virginity to God, her own beautiful character shines out with equal brightness, in all that is amiable, dutiful, and submissive.

But now turn tu that touching and melancholy group of widows in the land of Moab — Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah. What pen but that which has done it, and done it with such inimitable simplicity, could do justice to that sweet and pathetic story. Rarely in the history of families does such a scene of affliction as this occur — a widowed mother, and the widows of her two sons! A sad proof how precarious are all the scenes of dear domestic bliss we fondly call o.r own. How tender, how dignified, and how thoughtful is the conduct of Naomi. What nobleness of resolution, what daughter-like attachment, and what piety do we see in Ruth; end if in her after-conduct there was that which would not suit the meridian of our age and country there was nothing contrary to the strictest purity af intention, or modesty of conduct, if we take into account the circumstances of her time, and the provisions of the Jewish law under which she then lived. The whole narrative presents a beautiful episode in Jewish history, and an attractive specimen of the simplicity of early manners.

Can we fail to sympathize with Hannah in her sorrows, her insults, and her joys, or to admire her zeal for the Lord, in devoting her child of promise to his service ? — 1 Samuel i. What a pattern for parents, in being willing to give up their sons for ministers and missionaries! Abigail furnishes us with a striking example of the singular prudence of & woman who was unhappily associated with a drunkard and a churl, and of her diligence and her tact in averting from her family the evils impending over it from her husband’s vices. — 1 Samuel xxv. 1-3.

What an instance of respect, gratitude, and affection, for the ministers of religion — of female influence, rightly exerted over the mind of her husband in the cause of religion — and of submission to the will of God, is the Shunamite. — 2 Kings iv. Whe can read that touching account of the death of her only son, and her own collected, composed, and energetic conduct on the occasion, without deep feeling and high admiration? We find no overwhelming or distracting grief, which prevented her frem adopting the best, the only means for obtaining relief, but a faith which sustained her courage, and directed all her actions. Multitudes in every age and country where the story has gone, have been instructed by her language, and stimulated by her example; and amid the deepest sorrows, have echoed her few noble monosyllables in reply to the question, “Is it well with thee? With thy husband? With thy child? And she answered and said, ‘It 18 WELL.””

And then what a pattern of fidelity, and piety, and kindness, do we find for female servants in the very next chapter. to this, in that simple and beautiful story of the little Hebrew captive girl, who was nurse-maid in Naaman’s family. All, and especially they who occupy a similar situation, may learn, by what weak and humble instruments God may accomplish the purposes of his mind, and work out the schemes of his providence. To how many a charity sermon in these remote days, has that incident furnished a text; and thus the little Jewish slave not only brought healing to her master, and a knowledge of the true God into Syria, but became a pattern to myriads of children in our Own country.

Nor less to be admired, are the generosity and faith of the widow of Sarepta, whose barrel of meal and cruse of oil stand out in such relief, as among the brightest pictures of Old Testament history. In what a coruscation of glory does the name of Esther blaze forth upon us, for conjugal fidelity, piety uncorrupted by prosperity, and queenly in-WOMAN’S PLACE IN SChdPTURE. GE

fluence consecrated to the cause of true religion!

Now open the page of the New Testament. Is Christianity destitute of female worthies — women of holy renown? It would be very strange if it were, Strange, indeed, if his religion, who, though he was the Son of God, was born of woman, did not raise up many who should shine forth in all the mild and heavenly radiance of female piety.

Though, as I have said in the last sermon, we ascribe no Divine honors, and offer no idolatrous homage to the Virgin Mary, nor set her forth in the beauties of painting and sculpture; nor call her, with a singular mixture of absurdity and blasphemy, the Morner or God — we revere her as blessed and exalted among women, to give birth to the humanity of Christ, the Saviour of the world; and ascribe to her every holy and general excellence as a woman, a wife, a mother, and a saint.* We cher-

* In an age when Popery is lifting up its head in triumph and with hope, no fair opportunity should be lost to expose its pretensions and refute its errors. There is no part of this dreadful system more contrary to Scripture, or more insulting to God, than its Mariolatry, or worship of the Virgin Mary. She is styled ‘‘ Mother of God;” ‘ Queen of Seraphim, Saints, and Prophets;” ‘ Advocate of Sinners;” ‘* Refuge of Sinners;” ‘‘ Gate of Heaven;” ‘‘ Queen of Heaven.” And as the same titles are ascribed to her, or nearly so, as are ascribed to Christ; so is the same worship paid to her as to the Saviour. Churches are built to her honnr; her shrines are crowded with devotees, enriched with their gifts, and adorned with their votive offerings. Prayers are offered to her — her praises are chanted ish also a high veneration for Elizabeth her cousia, the wife of Zacharias, and the mother of John the Baptist. — Luke i. In the piety of old Anna — Luke ii, 86 — we see a bright pattern for aged widows in her believing, waiting posture, for the consolation of Israel, and an example for an aged saint, ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: the zeal,

in hymns, and blessings are offered to and asked from her as one who has power to bestow them. Five annual festivals colebrate her greatness, and keep alive the devotions of her worshipers So that Papists almost jostle out the devotion due to Almighty God and our blessed Saviour by their idolatry of her. Now, where, we ask, is one single example, command, or even hint, for all this in the Word of God? Is it any wonder the Scriptures are kept from the people, when the most common understanding could see that nothing of all this is to be found in that volume? The Acts of the Apostles make mention of her name but once, and that without any mark of eulogy; and in the Epistles she is not mentioned at all. Yea, how contrary is all this to the declaration that there is only one Mediatcr between God and Man — the Man Christ Jesus. ‘ This doctrine of the worship due to the Virgin,” says Wylie, in his admirable work on the Papacy, ‘has been exhibited in symbol, and that in so grotesque a way, that for a moment we forget its blasphemy. In the dream of St. Bernard — which forms the subject of an altar-piece at Milan — two ladders were seen reaching from earth to heaven. At the top of one of the ladders stood Christ, and at the top of the other stood Mary. Of those who attempted to enter heaven by the ladder of Christ, not one succeeded — all fell back. Of those who ascended by the ladder of Mary, not one failed The virgin, prompt to succor, stretched out her hand, and thus aided, the aspirants ascended with ease.” — Sxymour’s Mornings among the Jesuits.

so worthy to be imitated by every reclaimed sinner, of the woman of Samaria, after she had believed in Christ, for his honor and the conversion of her countrymen — John iv.: the melting penitence of the woman who had been a sinner, whose history teaches us that the most abandoned persons may be reclaimed, and find mercy, and that penitence, gratitude, and love must be in proportion to the guilt contracted and forgiven — Luke vii. 36-50: the strong and invincible faith of the Syrophenician woman which received such a tribute of admiration from Christ, and whose narrative will teach the latest generations of mankind the power of importunate, persevering, and believing prayer — Matt. xv. 23: the generosity of the poor widow who cast in her mites, the whole of her substance, into the treasury of the temple — Mark xii. 42: the beautiful account of the two sisters, Martha and Mary, and the discrimination of the characters of the careful and troubled housewife, and the anxious inquirer after salvatibn — Luke x. 38-42: the pouring out of the box of spikenard by one that loved Christ so as to give her costliest offerings to his person — John xii, 8: the grateful, devoted attention, and ministrations of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to Christ- — John xix. 25; xx. 1: what an array of female excellence is here!

Passing on to the Acts of the Apostles, what delight ful mention is made of Dorcas, full of good works and alms deeds which she did, as evinced by her coats and garments for the poor, and the tears which were produced by her death, and which embalmed her memory — Acts ix. 36-41: and of Lydia, who resorted to the place of prayer at Philippi, whose heart the Lord had opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul, and who afforded the rights of hos. pitality to the apostle and his companion — Acts xvi.: and of the chief women, not a few, at Thessalonica, who believed in the apostle’s doctrine concerning Christ — Acts xvii. 4. Nor are the Epistles barren of female names deserving ever to be held in remembrance for their piety, zeal, and good works, There we find Phebe, the deaconness and bearer to Rome of the epistle to the church in that city — Rom. xvi. 1: and Euodia, and Syntyche; Lois and Eunice, the mother and grandmother of Timothy, renowned for the unfeigned faith which dwelt in them — 2 Tim. i. 5: and those women also that labored with Paul in the gospel — Dhil. iv. 2. And what shall we say more of Priscilla, Paul’s helper in Christ, and the instructress of the eloquent Apollos; and Mary, “who bestowed much labor upon him;”° and Tryphena, and Tryphona, and Julia, “who labored in the Lord?” — Rom. xvi. No, my female friends, you see, we repeat, the Scriptures of truth have not passed over your sex in silence, nor thrust it into a corner, nor thrown it into a shadow. On the contrary, the sacred page is rich and luminous, with bright and beautiful examples of female excellence. You stand there, side by side, with man in the practice of piety, and are exhibited as not a whit behind him in all that apper ns

tains to the glory of humanity. In the Bible, we have now proved that woman is seen in every gradation of rank, from the queen upon the throne to the menial grinding at the mill; in every variety of condition — the maid, the wife, the mother, and the mistress; in every circumstance of grief and Joy — the happy bride, the mourning widow; in every phase of moral character — the faithful spouse, and the shameless adulteress; in every scene of active duty, whether in the family, the church, or the world; in every changeful aspect of fortune — rolling in affluence, or pining in want; there she is seen enlivening the sacred page with her narrative — adorning it with her beauty; sometimes darkening it with her crimes, at others, brightening it with her virtues; now calling us to weep with her in her sorrows, then to rejoice with her in her joys. In short, woman is everywhere to be found wrought into the details of God’s Scriptures, a beacon to warn us, or a rule to guide us. And, as written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it. is to be considered as his testimony to the excellence and importance of your sex, and the influence it is intended and destined to exert upon the welfare of mankind. Had the Bible — I will not say been against you — but had it passed you over in silence, or only referred to you incidentally, or looked at you with sidelong glances, you would have sunk in general estimation; and man’s neglect of you would have been defended or excused by that of God himself. But now, no one car plead the example of the Bible for any attempt to neglect, despise, or op. press you. While it protects woman from the inaults, the injuries, and the oppression of the other sex, it protects her with no less care and benefit from the sad effects which would arise from an assumption of prerogatives which do not belong to her, and from those excuses of ambition to which her own vanity might otherwise prompt her. It guards her dignity from being trampled down by others, and equally prevents her from lowering it herself, by pretensions which would only make her ridiculous. It describes, with accuracy, the circle within which it is the will of Providence she should move; presents to her the mission which she is sent into the world to fulfill; furnishes her the rules by which she is to act; proposes to her the rewards which she may legitimately seek and surely expect, if she be faithful to herself; and offers her the assistance necessary for the fulfillment of her high and holy vocation. What this is, will be the subject of our next sermon.

In the meanwhile, let me exhort you not only to study the Scriptures, but to study them — next to your desire to learn the way of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus — to form your own character as women, by its precepts and its examples. Many and precious are the volumes that have been written for your benefit by your own sex. Female pens have been most happily and usefully employed in delineating female excellence; the productions of which you would do well to read. Bat, after all, there is no guide for the formation of female character, morally or religiously considered, like the inspired one. A woman unacquainted with the Bible, and ignorant of its contents, as affecting her own conduct,‘ character, and history, has yet to know the finest patterns of female love. liness. The Bible is the best mirror by which most accurately to know what you are, and to become what you should be; before whose reflecting surface you may adjust all the moral habiliments of the soul, and from which you may go forth adorned with all the beauties of holiness, clothed with the garment of purity, and decorated with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.*

* The author is indebted for some things in this sermon and the next to an incomparably beautiful little work by Adolphe Monod, formerly Professor of Theology at Montauban, but now Minister of the French Reformed Church in Paris. A preacher so celebrated, that when Lacordaire, the most renowned of Roman Catholic public orators, was complimented upon being the first French preacher in France, he replied, «No: I am only the second — Adolphe Monod is first.” A very elegant little work has lately been published by the Rev. John Jessop, M.A., entitled, ‘*‘ Woman,” for which the author candidly acknowledges himself indebted chiefly to ‘‘ a late highly esteemed French Protestant clergyman.” Mr. J. does not seem to be aware that happily Mr. Monod is still living. His exquisitely beautiful little work has been admirably translated by Miss Lloyd; and is of such excellence, that it can not be spoken of in terms of eulogy which are too high and emphatic.