Female Religious Zeal

‘*‘Those women which labored with me in the goes pel.” — PxriipPians iv. 3

‘Pue subject on which I am to address you this morning harmonizes with the scenes which we have lately witnessed in the metropolis of our country, and which, indeed, are scarcely yet over — Il mean the missionary and other religious meetings, which are held at this season of the year in that great center of the world’s family. The month of May is wisely selected for the time of holding the anniversaries of these organizations of Christian zeal. Then, when the principle of fertility, after the dreariness of another winter, is flowing in a thousand channels, and when all nature, in this country, is verdant and blossoming with the hopes of another year, it is well for the Church of Christ to exhibit those institutions which are, in the moral world, the vernal signs of retiring frosts and approaching summer. It is a glorious sight to behold the trooping multitudes nastening with willing feet, and joyful countenances, and beating hearts, to the place of convocation, and blending all the joys of friendly

14* greetings with all the sublimer delights of Christian zeal. We feel called upon, there, to bless God, not only that we live in a world which he has visited in mercy by the person and work of his incarnate Son, but in an age and country in which so much is done for the spread of the knowledge of this great fact to the ends of the earth. At these meetings all is matter of delight. The crowded platforms, containing the pastors, deacons, and members of our churches, who have connected themselves with the missionary society; the presence of missionaries from the fields of holy labor; the eloquent addresses of the speakers; the vast crowd of listening hearers; the thunders of eloquence reverberated in other thunders of applause; all, all, are calculated to make one feel how happy an exchange we have made in giving up the pleasures of sin and the world for those of religion. But there is one other sight, on these occasions, which is as delightful as it is common; and that is, the number of women, and especially of young women, that are always present; thus reminding us how deep an interest they have in these proceedings, and how large a share they bear in them. We do not adopt the world’s vocabulary, and talk of the beautiful and elegantly dressed females that are there; we would rather speak of “the holy women,” like one apostle, and refer to them as another apostle does in the text, as “those women which labored in the gospel.”” And, indeed, without going to the metropolis in the month of May, or witnessing the soenes of Exeter Hall, what public convocaticn for any religious object is ever held in our own, or any other town, of which women are not far the larger portion?

But let us attend to what the text says. “Help those women that labored with me in the gospel.” Then women may labor in the gospel, for-they did in apostolic times, and received the commendation of the apostle for so doing. If they did then, they may now; and if they may, they ought. Hard would be woman’s lot, bitter her privation, and degraded her condition, if, on account of her sex, she was excluded from all participation, beyond her own personal religion, in the sublimest enterprise in the universe. She might well deplore her misfortune, if, while man was permitted the exercise of religious zeal, she was denied all service at the altar of God. “Even heathenism,” she would mournfully exclaim, “honored our sex, as it was represented by the Vestals, to whose vigilance was committed the guardianship of the sacred fire; and by its priestesses, to whose inspiration was intrusted the responses of the oracles. And does the religion of Jesus exclude us?” No, it does not, and we refer you back to our first two sermons for ’ proof that it does not; and we call your attention in the present one, to learn how you may avail yourselves of the honor placed within your reach, and discharge the obligations you are under to promote the interests of religion in this dark, disordered world.

To be useful in the cause of God! How noble, how vast, how sublime, how godlike an idea! Dwell for a moment upon it. Did you ever weigh the import of that very common, but very delightful word, userutness! Did you ever ponder in sober seriousness of thought the cognate phrase, “To BE usEFUL?’ Have you never had your admiration excited by hearing it said of any one, “She is a useful woman?’ I can not let you hear or read another syllable till I have endeavored to fascinate you, if possible, by the beauty, and to captivate you by the force of that glorious word, USEFULNESS. Look at its opposite, uselessness. How low, and dull, and mean a sound; and how despicable the character it represents. A rational, social, and immortal being, useless — doing no good — carrying on no benevolent activity — exerting no beneficial influence — a worthless weed, and not a flower — a pebble of the desert on the shore, and not a gem — a piece of dead wood floating down the stream, instead of a living fruit-tree growing on its banks. Yea, worse than all these; for weeds, stones, and rotten wood may be convertéd to some good purpose; but to what purpose can one who does no good be turned, except it be to serve as a warning to others? May I be successful in working into your mind and heart, memory and conscience, that mighty term which I have placed before you, and inspire you with an abhorrence of being useless, and an ambition to be useful. Let your young hearts beat with a desire to do good. Aspire to the honor of doing good. Contract not, shrivel not into a despicable selfishness. Cherish a yearning after benevolent activity, and feel as if it were but half living to live only for yourselves.

In this cause, I want you to be even zealous. The apostle says, “It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing.” Zeal, as you know, means an earnest, ardent desire, giving rise to a correspondent energy of action, to obtain some favorite object; and when directed to a right object is a noble and elevated state of mind. It is, however, a state of mind that requires great caution as to its management, especially in the young, and, most of all, in young females. It is like fire, which may be applied to many useful purposes when under proper direction, but which, if not kept in its proper place, and under proper restraint, may cause a conflagration. Or, to change the illustration, it may be only as the healthful vital heat which keeps the body in comfort and in action, or it may become a fever of the soul, to consume its strength and destroy its life. Or, to venture, for the sake of emphasis, even upon a third illustration, many a zealous mind is set on fire by the speed of its own action, and for want of some regulator to check its speed, and some lubricator to lessen its friction, ignites into a flame that consumes the whole machine, and does mischief to others as well as to itself. A warm heart requires a cool judgment to prevent these consequences from a misguided zeal, The female mind, being so susceptible, is perhaps far more liable to incautious action than that of the opposite sex, and is less disposed to reflection. In man, the judgment more generally keeps the heart in check till it is itself enlightened and convinced. In woman, the heart often is engaged before the judgment; and hence the danger of female zeal being sometimes wrong in its object, excessive in its degree, and impetuous in its action. Almost all new theories, whether relating to medicine, theology, or any other practical matters, find favor first of all chiefly with women. Too often led more by their feelings than their reason, they get entangled, like their first mother, by appeals to their passions and affections, and allow their hearts to lead astray their judgment. Hence, I say to you, endeavor to enter into the spirit of the apostle’s exhortation, where he enjoins the ancient matrons to “teach the young women to be sober-minded.”

The Greek philosophers classed zeal under three heads — the zeal of envy, the zeal of emulation, and the zeal of piety. Extinguish all feelings of the first, as so many sparks thrown off from a flame kindled by .the fire of the bottomless pit. Have very little to do beyond an uwnenvious imitation of what is good, with the second — and let the third be put under the guardianship of a sound judgment and the guidance of Holy Scripture.

J will first of all advert to the ossgcts of your zealous activity. You dwell in a vale of tears, and amid the groans of creation, occasioned by poverty, disease, misfortune, and death, and are not to be insensible to the sights and sounds of affliction by which you are surrounded. The female heart is supposed to be the very dwelling-place of mercy, and an unfeeling woman is a libel upon her sex: formed by nature to weep with those that weep, and to minister, as we showed in a former sermon, to the bodily woes of humanity, enter into the design of Providence, and become a ministering angel in the chamber of sickness. You have seen those cloaked and demure women who issue from a conventual establishment in the neighborhood of this town, on errands of mercy to the abodes of sickness and poverty, deeming no office too menial, no service too self-denying to be performed, which can alleviate the pains or promote the comfort of the sufferer. We would not question the purity. of their motives or the tenderness of those offices which they perform for the children of want and woe; but it looks, after all, like a shallow device of the church which employs them to obtrude itself on public notice and to win converts to itself. We call upon you, without cutting the ties of your connection with society and abjuring all pretensions to the character of wife and mother, to be our Sisters of Mercy, and to make it your business and your pleasure to visit the scenes of sickness and the abodes of poverty. Even in youth, acquire the habits, the tenderness, the delicate tact of a nurse. Loathe that spurious sentimentality which can weep over the imaginary woes of a novel, but turns away either with a callous or coward heart from those real sufferings which abound on every hand. But I now more particularly refer to zeal for religion, as well as that which is manifested under its potency for any other legitimate object.

Religion is every one’s business, not only as regards the possession and practice of it as a personal concern, but also as regards its diffusion. Every one can be truly pious, and can do something, by the blessing of God, to make others so. To spread religion in our world is not merely the work and duty of its ministers, but of all without exception, whether young or old, rich or poor, learned or illiterate, male or female. Every one who understands the nature, feels the influence, and values the privileges of the gospel of Christ, can do something in order to bring others into the same happy condition. Where there are no desire and effort to do this, there can be no real piety. None have any right to conclude they are in a state of salvation who have no concern for the salvation of others. Indifference to the eternal welfare of our fellow-creatures is a certain proof of indifference to our own. There is room, and opportunity, and obligation, for all to work in this cause. Even children can do something here, and have done it. A little girl being deeply affected by the notorious violation of the Sabbath in the neighborhood where she lived, which she noticed in the number of shops that were opened on the Lord’s day, went to her minister and solicited some tracts on the subject, which, being inclosed in a neat envelope, she took round and modestly left at the different shops without saying a word. And as the result of this humble and unos. tentatious effort, seven shops from that time were closed on the Sabbath. God sometimes employs the humblest instruments for accomplishing great purposes, as we observed in one of the last sermons, when remarking upon the conduct of the little Hebrew maid in Naaman’s family. Paganism teaches us something here; for what said Jehovah to the prophet, when referring to the heathen practices which the Jews had imitated? ‘Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods”’ — Jer. vii, 17, 18. What a busy scene! all minds engaged — all hands employed — men, women, and children. Let us be instructed by this bad example, and show a zeal for the true God equal to that which those apostate Jews did for the false ones, Christianity can find work for women and children as well as Paganism; and how solemn are the obligations it imposes on all who profess it, to propogate it.

But as no service can be well peformed by those who are not qualified for it, I will here enumerate the chief pre-requisites for a course of female activity in the cause of religion.

Religious zeal should, in every case, pe the offspring of personal piety. Without this there can be no intelligent, well-sustained, or very efficient effort. Something, no doubt, may be accomplished without this. God may honor labors which were never truly directed to his glory. But it is only the truly pious mind that can understand the object of religious zeal, be actuated by 1ight motives, be likely long to continue the woik, or bring down the blessing of God upon what is done. Your own heart must be right with God, or you will know little about the way of making others so. Example must support exhortation, or the latter will have little effect. Much of the effort of the present day is sadly wanting in devout seriousness, spiritual earnestness, and holy solemnity. It is a bustling, prayerless, unsanctified activity. There is often a frivolity about it that looks as if those who were engaged in it knew not, or forgot, that they were doing the work of the Lord; all is so light and frivolous that it is evident, in this case, zeal is only another species of amusement. The zeal that is likely to be continuous, to honor God, to do good to our fellow-creatures, is that which is cherished in the closet of devotion, fed by the oil of Scripture, and fanned by the breath of prayer. There is, upon the minds of those who manifest it, “that awe which warns them how they touch a holy thing.”

Religious knowledge is essential to well-directed efforts to do good. I now more particularly refer to a knowledge of the object to be accomplished, and the means of accomplishing it. A young per fon, anxious to do spiritual good, should well understand three great principles in religion — the ruin of human nature by sin — its redemption by Christ — and its regeneration by the Spirit; and should consider that all efforts of zeal must be directed to the accomplishment of the two latter. To fit her for this work, she should study well the Word of God, read some of the many treatises on the subject of religion, with which the press teems, and make herself acquainted with some of the best tracts and books for putting into the hands of those who become anxious about religion.

An intense and longing, desire to be useful must lie at the bottom of all her efforts. It is nota mere love of activity®¥a taste for social union and occupation — a desire for power and influence over others — an ambition for distinction, that is the impulse of religious activity, but a tender pity for the immortal souls of our fellow-creatures, an earnest solicitude for their salvation, coupled with an enlightened and fervent zeal for the glory of God. It is the piety that melted the heart of David when he said, “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law;” and which agitated the soul of Paul the apostle, when amid the splendors of Athenian architecture and sculpture, he was insensible to all the glory that surrounded him, in consequence of the sin with which it was associated, and felt his spirit moved within him at seeing the city “wholly given to idolatry:” and which, indeed, is taught in the first three petitions of our Lord’s

Prayer: “Hallowed be thy name. Toy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Understand, my young friends, then, what you have to do — not the work of a low and narrow sectarianism, in proselyting persons from one denomination to another; nothing resembling the uperations of female Jesuitism; nothing of zeal to establish one denomination upon the ruins of another: no, but the nobler and holier work of saving the souls of your fellow-creatures, especially those of your own sex, from the dominion of sin here, and from the wrath to come hereafter. Begin life with an abhorrence of bigotry, and never let your zeal degenerate into the meanness and malignity of that earth-born spirit; let it be a fire kindled by a coal taken, by the seraphim, from the altar of God, and not a flame lighted by a scintillation from the bottomless pit. Be it your aim to spread that religion which consists not in forms of government and religious ceremonies, but of faith in Christ, and love to God, and love to man. To accomplish this, let there be real engagement of the heart. Give up your soul to the passion for being useful. Cherish the most expansive benevolence. Feel as if you did not understand, or secure, or enjoy, the end of life, unless you live to be useful. Account usefulness the charm of existence; the sugar that sweetens the cup of life. Ever feel as if you heard a voice saying to you, “Do something; do it at once; do it heartily; do good — this good — good to the soul,”

FEMALE RELIGIOUS ZEAh. 173

A habit of self-denial is essential to the exercise of religious zeal and Christian benevolence. Our Lord said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” This is true of the way of holiness, but it is especially so in that of benevolent activity. Christ could do us no good without his cross; nor can we do others much good without ours. We would not deceive you, and endeavor to lure you into the career of holy activity by representing it as leading through a garden of Eden, where all is blooming and beautiful, ease and enjoyment. No such thing. The course of religious zeal is often in a wilderness, over sharp stones and bare rocks, and amid thorns and nettles. You must make sacrifices of time, ease, enjoyment, feeling, perhaps of friendships; you must bear hardship, and encounter many disagreeable things; you must be prepared to give up self-will, pertinacity, claims to pre-eminence. Can you be zealous of good works on such terms? If so, come on; if not, go back; for the career of mercy is not for such tender feet as yours to tread. But, my young friends, can you allow yourselves to sink into such effeminacy and feebleness of character? Can you be content to degenerate into littleness, and pass through life as a species of nonentity, because you can not endure a noble self denial! I do not appeal to your love of romance. I would not set your imagination on fire, in order that you might offer up yourselves a burnt-offering to benevolence in the flames of enthusiasm. I do not stimulate you to become heroines of mercy, and to set all the comforts of life at defiance. There are some who love the adventures of a career of active mercy. There is romance in every thing, even in pity. I want not this, but I do want to see young women practicing a sober self-denial, a judicious disregard of ease and comfort, in order to do good. Unite a masculine hardihood of endurance with a feminine tenderness of feeling, and delicacy of manner. Passive fortitude belongs to you. Patience is another qualification for doing good. They that would accomplish this must not be weary in well-doing. There are many things to make them so — the neglect of others — opposition — disappointment — ingratitude — perhaps censure. They who expect to benefit their fellow-creatures with as much ease and as speedily as others do them injury, had better not make the attempt, for they are sure to fail. Scarcely any people in the world have more need of patience than they who set themselves to instruct the ignorance, to relieve the wants, to alleviate the sorrows, and to reform the vices of their fellow-creatures. See how this was illustrated in the history of our Lord. Consider how his benevolence was ever resisted by the malignity of those whom he sought to benefit. He lavished upon them his mercy, and they upon him their ingratitude. They refused his offers — rejected his invitations — misrepresented his actions — disbelieved his words — and misconstrued his motives, Never was 80 much goodness met with so much envenomed opposition. Yet behold his patience. A thousandth part of the opposition which he met with would have exhausted the forbearance of an archangel; and yet he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself — gave them his tears when they had refused his miracles — shed for them his blood when they despised his tears — and bade his disciples to make to them the first proclamation of his grace, when they had even scoffed at his blood. Study the history of Christ, my young friends, for the purpose of seeing, next to your regard to it as the means of salvation, an example for you to imitate in the career of mercy. Follow him going aout doing good, to teach you with what patience y7u should go and do likewise.

Many who are all ardor at starting, soon grow tized, because they do not find the course easy, reach not the goal at a bound, or are opposed in their way. It is a despicable, as well as pitiable sight, to behold a young person entering into the work of benevolence so confident and eager, as if she would surpass all others, and then almost at the first stage, when the novelty is over, and difficulties arise, and the expected flowers in the path do not appear — giving all up, and turning back to indolence, ease, and uselessness, On the contrary, it is a sight on which angels and God himself might look down with delight, to see another holding on her way, even in her humble career of benevolence, amid disappointment and opposition, persevering in her attempts to do good, and finding in the consciousness of her aims and motives, and her knowl.- edge of the excellence of her object, a sufficient inducement to persevere, though at present she reaps little else bat discouragement and defeat.

A spirit of dependence upon God for success, united with a high sense of the importance and neces. sity of human effort, is essential to religious zeal. This gives a two-fold boldness of mind, and firmness of step; and makes us not only to be strong, as instruments, in ourselves, but also in the Lord and in the power of his might. What courage is derived in the career of benevolence from such a consideration as this: “I know I am seeking a good object by right means, and I will go in the strength of the Lord.” Young women, even in your humble sphere and efforts to do gvod, a spirit of believing prayer, which, indeed, is the spirit in which every thing should be done, will bring the God of Angels to your help — the Lord of Hosts to your aid. Go forth with the consciousness that you are doing right, and with a belief that Omnipotence is by your side. It is not pride nor self-conceit, but that proper sense of capability which every one should cherish, to say, “I feel I am something, and can do something; I need not be a cipher, for God has not made me one. I have a mind, and heart, and will, and tongue, and with these I may do something for God and my fellow-creatures. Others of my own age and sex, feeble and humble as I am, have done something, and so may I, and by God’s help and blessing I will.” You are right — it is all true

This is not self-esteem, but only self-knowledge Cherish these thoughts; act upon them, and you will do something. With such qualifications, you may go to the work of religious zeal.

Permit me now to point out to you the ways in which your zeal may be employed appropriate to your sex, age, and circumstances. “As we have opportunity,” said the apostle, “‘let-us do good.” Opportunity is a golden word, and is itself more precious than rubies, and should never be lost by neglect. There are three things, which if lost, can never be recovered — time, the soul, and an opportunity. And it is of importance for you to ponder this. It becomes us all to remember the advice of the sage to his disciples, ‘“‘ Be ye mindful of oppor. tunities.” Youth is your opportunity for doing good; not, indeed, if you live, your only one, but it is a very precious one. The remarks made in the last sermon on the subject of the leisure afforded by your present situation for the cultivation of piety, apply with equal force to the opportunities it affords for usefulness. In married life, with a family around you, and ali the cares it brings with it, you will have comparatively little opportunity, at least, for some of those activities which you can now carry forward.

Among the ways in which female activity could be appropriately carried on, I must begin, of course, with the education of children in our Sunday-schools. The instruction of the girls is, of course, intrusted to females, and what an honor is thus assigned te them! It is passing strange how any young womas pretending to religion can satisfy herself that she is doing all she can, or all she ought fur God’s glory and the good of her fellow-creatures, who is not devoting her youthful energies to this blessed work. And yet it is somewhat painful to observe how many of the young women of the more respectable families of our congregations, withhold their ser-Vices from this useful and valuable sphere of female activity. I am not unaware of some difficulties and objections to this engagement for their daughters that present themselves to the mind of a careful, judicious, and anxious mother. But surely the proper exercise of maternal influence and authority would, in most cases, be sufficient to counterbalance those contingent evils to which the mixed society of the Sunday-school community might expose young females: [ mean in the way of forming acquaintance and unsuitable connections. A well-taught and wisely-trained girl will surely know, and ought to know, how to avoid a general and undesirable familiarity, without being suspected of a haughty disdain, or a proud neglect of those who are not upon her level in the ranks of social life. It does require care, admit, but this care will be sufficient to avoid the contingent evils alluded to. And Iam free to confess that the frequent and mixed meetings of the teachers, of both sexes, which are held in some schools, are by no means necessary for the good working of the system, and are very undesirable on other accounts; and it is not to be won.

a Tea dered at, that for this reason many mothers do not allow their daughters to become teachers, and that daughters themselves do not wish to engage in the work. Acquaintances have, no doubt, in some cases been formed, by no means suitable. It is therefore eminently incumbent upon all who are thus engaged to be anxiously watchful that no part of their conduct give occasion to those who seek it, to speak ill of the effect of Sunday-school teaching upon the character and conduct of the devoted females who are engaged in it.

District-visiting societies and benevolent institutions for affording temporal relief and spiritual instruction to the sick poor, conducted by female agency, are become very common, both in the Church of England and among Dissenters. It would not be desirable, of course, that these should be chiefly conducted by young women. Matronly age, experience, and weight, are necessary to give propriety and effect to such a labor of love, but surely there would be no impropriety in associating even in these good works, a youthful female with an elderly one.

The Bible and missionary societies, and other religious institutions, have called into operation a large number of females who are employed in collecting money for those important organizations, and for supplying the poor with copies of the Word of God. There can be no objection to this, provided the more youthful portion of the sex so employed be associated with those who are older, and also that very young girls be not employed at all in the work. Nothing can be more repugnant to my sense of propriety, than for young females to be sen* out with what are called “collecting cards,” to wander over a town, knocking at the doors of any body and every body, for the purpose of begging money, and sometimes entering into counting-houses, and assailing even young men with their importunities.

The distribution of religious tracts is another line of female activity in which many may be eminently useful. This is a means of doing good universally characteristic of the age. The press was never so active either for good or for evil as it is now. Its productions are instruments which every hand can wield, not excepting that of a young and even comparatively illiterate female. But the same caution must be here applied also, that nothing be done to break down the barriers of female modesty.

Perhaps it will be thought I ought not to overlook one line of female usefulness peculiar to the sex, and especially to the youthful portion of it, and that is, furnishing articles by their pencil and their needle, the products of which, when sold, shall go to the support of the cause of Christ. There is one way of doing this, about which I confess I have serious doubts: I mean the modern practice of Bazaars, or, as they are now called, “Fancy Sales.” Iam aware of all the arguments that are employed in favor of them — such as their gainfulness, and their calling fcrth contributions from those who would give or could give in no other way. A very beautiful little tract, entitled, “The Bazaar,” was published twc years ago, in which the writer, with tolerable show of argument, endeavored to prove that these means for the support of religion hardly comport with the sanctity of the object. A certain air of frivolity and worldliness at these sales is thrown over the whole; so that such a scene looks like piety keeping a stall at “Vanity Fair.” “Recall,” says this writer, “the scene itself, the gay dress, the music, and the raffle — flattery and compliment instead of truth. Purchases made from regard to man, and not free-will offerings to God. Mortification and disappointment, in place of the approving consciousness of her who ‘had done what she could.’ Skill exercised in making that which is worthless pass for much. Arts practiced, advantage taken, with the excuse that it is for a religious purpose, that would be thought dishonorable in the common business transactions of the world. Then follows ennni after excitement; the gaze of the heap of left things to be disposed of, or that will do for other bazaars, with the false estimate of the result of this, There is another fact in the history of such sales: some who shun the ball-room and the concert, and never entered a theater, act there the shop-woman, talk the nonsense befitting the bazaar-room, and are as worldly, vain, and foolish, as she who seldom dreams of any thing but pleasure, earth, .and time.”

Now this, I admit, is rather severe, and is, per bapa, a little tinetured with the ruby color of exaggeration. Still there is some truth in it, and it moy.serve as a corrective, if it should not as a destruetive. To the pure, all things are pure, and there may be those who can enter, pass through, and. leawe such scenes, without receiving the smallest injury to the devout and happy seriousness of their religious character. At any rate, it is coming near the appearance of evil, and should excite caution and prayer on the part of those who gonsider the matter as innocent and therefore lawful. Bazaars, however, are not the only way in which the needle may “= {ae and is employed by pious females for works of charity. Working parties are very common. I a: have one that moets .periadically in my own vestry, es where articles of utility are made and shipped for .x: sa in India, the produce of which, amounting some- 4 -“S”-t$mes for one year’s labor to eighty pounds, is devoted to the support of orphan-schuols connected with’ our missionary stations abroad. At these meetings, piety, friendship, and zeal, all blend their feelings of enjoyment, and furnish happy seasons

for those who attend them.

I knew a most accomplished woman, long since in. heaven, who was called by grace out of the gay world, and who, after her conversion, felt an irresistible desire to do something for the spiritual welfare of her fellow-creatures and the glory of God; but her means were. more limited than her aspirations. - She thoroughly understood the science of

i music, and her most exquisite singing had-been the delight of gay and fashionable circles. Her taste in drawing and painting was equal to her skill in music. After her conversion to God, she turned these elegant accomplishments to the noble purpose of glorifying God, “who doth instruct man to discretion,” by setting some of the most admired Italian and German airs to sacred words, and painting some Scripture subjects, both of which she sold among the circle of her friends, often receiving large sums, especially for her paintings, and consecrating all, like the woman who broke her alabaster box of ointment, to the honor of the Saviour whom she intensely loved. Perhaps the eye of some gifted woman may range over these pages, who may have a heart for Christ and his cause, with as scanty means and as rare talents to serve both, as the female above alluded to; to her would I say, “Go thou and do likewise.”

Is there not one way in which young females, unable to do much in producing tasteful works, may be occupied in doing goud for God and their fellow-creatures, without, in the smallest degree, violating the rule of decorum or infringing on the delicacy of female modesty — I mean visiting the chamber of sickness or the cottage of poverty, to read to the poor invalid or to the ignorant of their own sex the Word of God and religious tracts. Surely it is no invasion of either the rights of man or the duties of the minister, for a pious, modest female, though young — I do not mean children, of course — to go to the bedside of the sufferer, and from Holy

Scripture pour into her ears the words, and into her heart the sacred truths of that precious volume, which are the best balm for a wounded spirit, and the only consolation for a broken heart. Nor can it be improper for her to take her chair by the side of a poor mother plying her needle, or watching the cradle, and ready to hear words whereby she may be saved. What a field of usefulness, almost unoccupied, is here opened to the ambition and the energies of our pious young women who have leisure for such occupation! Is it not thus the deficiencies of church accommodation and ministerial instruction can be best supplied, and our laboring population, as to their destitution of religious advantages, be best overtaken? How many thousands of women in the laboring class are there in this large town, and in every other of magnitude, who are so occupied by the cares of their families and the demands of their husbands, as never to join the public assemblies for worship, nor to hear the joyful sound of the sermon, or the psalm, who would hail as a ministering angel the female that would come to their scene of constant monotonous care and labor, and cause their dreary abode to echo with the music that tells them of a present salvation even for them, and of a land hereafter where the “wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are forever at rest.” Oh, ye “devout women, not a few,” if ye have hearts of pity for the poor, or compassion for the souls that are likely to be lost amid their “being

. gareful and troubled about many things and their

be much serving;”’ or if you have any zeal for the glory of God, do, do, employ your leisure hours in paying these visits of mercy to the houses of poverty, ignorance, sickness, and misery. Here there can be nothing in opposition to female modesty, nothing that can minister to female vanity. The seclusion of the scene prevents all this; no rude or inquisitive gaze follows her there; no language of fulsome compliment or sickly adulation is addressed to her there; she is alone with sorrow, or witnessed only by her conscience and her God. Oh, what, to a young female so occupied, is the most elegant and beautiful woman glittering in the gay scene of fashionable folly, the admiration of many eyes, and the envy of more? What is all the adulation poured by the lip of flattery into the ear of beauty, compared with the blessing of her that was ready to perish, so gratefully bestowed on that sister of mercy, who had thus “caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy!”

Companionship affords a means of usefulness of which you ought not to be slow in availing yourself. It may be you have formed friendships in the days of your thoughtlessness with some as thoughtless as yourselves. But you have been awakened to solemn and holy reflection. You have, through the work of divine grace, passed from death unto life; but your friends still remain under the power of the world and far from God. Here, then, is a most legitimate object of pious zeal, to seek by all affectionate and judicious means their conversion..

to Christ. What an honor and felicity would it be, should you be the means of saving the soul of your companion. How close and tender would be your friendship from that hour, when the tie of affection was doubled and sanctified by the bond of religion! How happy will be your intercourse, how sweet your communion! A covenant is made between you which will go with you to heaven; for all friendships formed on the basis of religion will last forever. Take with you then, if you can, to that happy world, the friend of your heart, there to renew, perfect, and perpetuate the intercourse which you have commenced on earth, and realize the idea that the closest and happiest friendship commenced below is but the bud, and scarcely even that, which will blossom with amaranthine freshness through eternity in heaven.

Woman’s talent for a flowing, easy, tender style of correspondence is generally acknowledged; and ought she not to employ ¢his as a means of serving God and her fellow-creatures? How many have been thus led to an acquaintance with religion! There is great moral power in a well-written religious letter. It is known and felt to be an effusion of love from one heart to affect another. It is read alone, when no one is a witness of the effect. There is not the reproving or monitory presence of the writer. There is no disposition to feel offended and to resent the intrusive advice or warning. Young women, employ your pen, and breathe affection from the female quill.

I shall now Jay down some russ for the direction of female activity, which must be very rigidly observed, in order to prevent it from doing harm in one way as well as good in another.

The zeal of young women must ever be exercised with the strictest regard to the modesty of youth, and especially of youthful females. It must never be forgotten that bashfulness is the beauty of female character: like the violet, which seems to court.seclusion, and indicates its coy retreat rather by its fragrance than its obtrusiveness of color or of place, her very retiringness adds to her attractions, Any thing that would destroy this — that would strip off this delicate vail of modesty, and make her bold and obtrusive; that would thrust her by an impulsive ambition of her own mind upon the public notice, instead of being sought out for usefulness; that would make her clamorous in her complaints of neglect, and imperious in her demands for employ- Mment — would inflict an irreparable injury on society by depriving her of that passive power of gentleness by which her influence can be most effectually exerted in society. I confess that with all my desires for female activity within its proper sphere, and the legitimate exercise of woman’s zeal, Iam made not — a little jealous by the active spirit of the age, and the extent to which the sex is employed, for the delicate beauty and excellence of the female character. Money might flow into the treasury of our societies, and numbers might be added to their friends — spirit might be given to our operations, and the triumphs of the cause might seem to be multiplied — but ft any injury were sustained by the female character all that was otherwise achieved would be accom. plished at a dreadful cost and a fearful loss. There. fore I entreat you, my young friends, to guard against this evil. Cultivate that meekness, gentle. ness, and retiringness, which are your brightest ornaments. Make it appear that in what you are doing for God and his cause, you neither seek publicity, nor aim to attract attention, nor to court applause. Avoid all that undue familiarity, flippancy, or trifling with the other sex, which would look as if your object was rather tu attract notice from them than really to do good. I ask for nothing prim, prudish, or repulsive; for no dread of converse with men, or flight from their company, as if there were moral contamination in their presence and pollution in their words. Excessive prudery has not always been associated with the highest-toned purity; nor has an easy, artless frankness of manner been ever the indication of a bold and forward disposition. Still be reserved, without pride or coldness; and frank, easy, and ingenuous, without familiarity and obtrusiveness. In this age your danger lies in the latter extreme rather than in the former. Be contented that your influence should flow through society like the blood in the human frame, carrying life and energy with it, but by channels where it is neither heard nor seen.

Female zeal in religious mstters must ever be carried forward with due regard to the duties of home.

‘

FEMALE RELIGIOUS ZEAL. 1s8

If, as 1 have stated, home de the sphere of woman’s mission, and the first and chief place of her duty, no public objects of any kind must be allowed to interfere with these. This I have already alluded to, but on account of its importance I refer to it again. It is not to the honor of religion, nor to the credit of a wife and mother, for a husband to come to his home at the dinner hour expecting to see every thing ready and in order, and find all in confusion, nothing properly arranged, and then have his time wasted by waiting for his wife, who has not finished her benevolent rambles, or her morning’s activity at some female meeting. Nor is it much for his happiness oncoming home in the evening, suffering from the fatig ae and vexation of the world’s rough business, and when wanting the soothing influence of a wife’s sweet voice, to have to sit hours in sadness and solitude, because she is away at some evening public meeting. This is not the way to promote connubial felicity, nor to interest his mind on behalf of the objects of his wife’s zeal. It will never do to serve the Lord with time taken from domestic order, comfort, and family duty. A neglected husband and family are a sad comment upon some women’s religious activity: and it is a comment not unfrequently expressed by others who ee it in the appearance of the children and the house. These are the instances, of which some who could do much without infringing on domestic claims, but who will do nothing, avail themselves to justify their own selfishness and indolence, and I am sorry that such instances should ever be afforded te them.

Still, a woman may look well to the ways of ner household, and some do, who by method, diligence, and dispatch, set their house in order, and yet have time to devote to the cause of religion and human. ity. Solomon’s description of the virtuous woman comprehends both these: “She looketh well to the ways of her household. The heart of her husband doth safely trust her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Her children rise up and call her blessed. She giveth meat to her household, and a portion te her maidens. She eateth not the bread of idleness.” Here is domestic order, management, economy, in perfection, Yet with all th’s is associated, “She stretcheth out her hands to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” There the good housewife is supposed to find time for works of mercy abroad, as well as of industry at home. Provided the comfort of a -husband is never neglected, and he has no reason to complain, and does not com plain of the want of his wife’s society; and the supervision of the children, as to their general well-being, and their education and home-training are properly attended to; and also the whole course of domestic order be maintained with regularity and precision, it is to a Christian woman’s honor that her method of dispatch and order in the regulation of her household affairs is such as to leave her ample time for usefulness, without the least infringing on her duties as a wife, a mother, or a mistress Except in the case of a large family, a destitution of all public spirit is no credit to any female. She can not be educating her family as she ought te do, if she is not by her example as well as by her precept training them to habits of benevolenee. The two extremes, then, are to be avoided — of aNowing, on the one hand, the duties of home so entirely to engross the female heart, as to feel no interest in any thing that is going on in the world for the alleviation of its sorrows, or the reformation of its vices, and to cherish no desire to promote the great objects of Christian zeal; and, on the other hand, to allow them to occupy the attention so far as to neglect the claims of husband, children, and servants. The chief danger, in this age, lies in giving too much attention to public duties, especially in the metropolis, the seat and centre of all our great societies, and the place of their annual convocation. It is not much to the credit of a mother, nor for the advantage of her daughters, to be too fond of taking them to many of these public gatherings. The month of May affords a strong temptation to this, which should be most assiduously watched. It is not only lawful, but proper and desirable, that our wives and daughters should be present at these meetings. Who would debsar them from these assemblies, or shut them out from these feasts of holy charity, or exclude them from scenes in which they take as deep an interest, and to which they have contributed equally with ourselves? Their sex is more benefitted by them even than the opposite one. Let woman’s hear. there bleed over the woes of humanity, and especially of her down-trodden sisters in the lands of darkness; let woman’s hand be there stretched out to lift them up from their degradation, and woman’s eye there sparkle with a brighter luster as it rejoices over the records of our missions, and the triumphs of Christianity. But, then, let not this rise into such a passion as shall spoil her for scenes partaking of less fascination in some respects, but to her of more importance in others.

In order to this, let our younger women in these days of general benevolence guard against acquiring in youth that taste for public activity which, though it will not prevent them from entering into domestic life, would, to a very considerable extent, disqualify them for its duties. A love of activity is a good; a passion for it would be an evil. There is such a thing as well-regulated, temperate, religious zeal, and there is also such a thing as a species of religious dissipation. When a young person loves home and home duties, but is ever willing and ready on suitable occasions, and for a proper object, to leave it for works of religious and common benevolence, she is in a right disposition. But when home and home duties are irksome, and she is ever longing for the excitement of public duties, her taste has been corrupted, her character damaged, and her prospects for future life become somewhat beclouded. If she has abjured the intention or wish ever to become a wife, and has, without entering a convent, determined to be a sister of charity, it may be all~very well to desire to give herself wholly to works of benevolent activity; but if not, let her beware how she acquires predilections and forms habits which would equally unfit and indis. pose her for the duties of wedded life.

Young females while at home should be generally regulated by the wishes of their parents, and especially by their mothers. They are not, and should neither wish nor attempt to be, independent of parental control. A good and wise daughter will ever look up with affectionate deference to a good and wise mother, and will therefure enter on no career of religious activity without consulting her. It may be that the wishes of the child and the opinions of the parent, on this point, are sometimes in opposition to each other, and it requires little argument to prove which in this case ought to give way. Perhaps some zealous, ardent, young female will put such a question as this: “I feel it my duty to God to attempt to spread religion, and to do good to my fellow-creatures, and especially in the way of saving their souls, but my parents, nut being themselves religious, oppose it, and will nut allow me either to engage in Sunday-school instruction, to collect for missionary or Bible societies, or to go and distribute tracts, or to read the Scriptures to the poor. Is it my duty to follow out my own eenvicticns, or yield up my wishes to my parents”

F- wuld be very proper for you, in a respectful and deferential manner, to state your wishes, and use every argument to obtain their compliance; but if this should prove ineffectual, you must then submit and bear the privation, without resentful sullenness. To be moody, ill-tempered, and petulant under the refusal, would too plainly indicate that you have much yet to do in your own heart to spread religion there before you seek to communicate it to others. You are under no such obligation to exercise your religious zeal in any particular way as you are to seek your own salvation. It is manifestly your duty to do good, and you can do it, even under such restrictions as those I am now supposing; for you can set a holy example, and you can pray for the spiritual welfare of others, and correspond with absent friends, and perhaps influence by conversation your companions: and thus are not, and can not be, shut out from all methods of doing good; and as to those from which you are debarred by parental authority, God will take the will for the deed, and reward the intention, as he would have done the action, had you been permitted to perform it. Consider also that as your parents do not enter into your views of religion, they will regard your conduct, if you persist, in no other light than that of a refractory spirit, and w’ thus receive a prejudice against religion on unt of your conduct; whereas a meek and goo. .atured yielding to their wishes, and sacrificing an object which they perceive to have been near your heart, will dispose them to think favorably of that religious principle which could produce such a spir‘t of unresisting and uncomplaining self-denial.

In order to be useful, it is necessary to cultivate habits of order, punctuality, and the right appropriation of time. These remarks apply, of course, to such as move in the wealthier circles of life, and whose opportunities of doing good are not confined to the Sabbath. Week-days with them should be working-days for God and man, by the offices of religion and humanity. There is no doing good without time. Benevolence requires leisure. Two things can not be done at once. How much time is wasted, which the miseries and wants of society require.* ‘Time is the most undefinable, yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past, even while we attempt to define it, and like the flash of the lightning, at once exists and expires. Time is the measurer of all things, but is itself immeasurable, and the grand discloser of all things, but is itself undisclosed. Like space, it is incomprehensible, because it has no limit, and it would be still more so, if it had. It is more obscure in its source than the Nile, and in its termination than the Niger, and advances like the slowest tide, but retreats like the swiftest torrent. It gives wings of lightning to pleasure, but feet of lead to pain, and lends expectation a curb, but enjoyment a spur. It robs beauty

* Perhaps the following very striking antithetical description of time will amuse and instruct many of the readers of this discourse.

of her charms, to bestow them on her picture, and builds a monument to merit, but denies it a house; it is the transient and deceitful flatterer of falsehood, but the tried and final friend of truth. Time is the most subtle, yet the most insatiable of depredators, and by appearing to take nothing, is permitted to take all, nor can it be satisfied, until it has stolen the world from us, and us from the world. It constantly flies, yet overcomes all things by flight, and although it is the present ally, it will be the future conqueror of death. Time, the cradle of hope, but the grave of ambition, is the stern corrector of fools, but the salutary counselor of the wise, bringing all they dread to the one, and all they desire to the other; but like Cassandra, it warns us with a voice that even the sagest discredit too long, and the silliest believe too late. Wisdom walks before it, opportunity .with it, and repentance behind it; he that has made it his friend, will have little to fear from his enemies; but he that kas made it his enemy, will have little to hepe from his friends.” Redeem the time, is a voice that ought ever to be sounding in our ears. We want it for our own improvement, and we want it for the good of others. We can do much with it, but nothing without it. There is scarcely any thing to which the injunction of our Lord more strictly applies than to this — “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” Order redeems time — so does punctuality; therefore, order and punctuality are among the mess of mercy and zeal, by supplying the time neceam y for their exercise. Redeem time from useless reading, and also from that excessive addictedness to the accomplishments of music, drawing, modern languages, and fancy work, which is so characteristic of the present day. That some portion of time may be given by females in wealthy circles to these things, is admitted. We are not for parting with even the exquisite polish which skill in these matters imparts to female elegance. We love to see even the decorations of female mind and manners, Of the one, I may have to speak again in a future discourse, and therefore shall merely now say, that when the cries of misery are entering into her ears, and the groans of creation are rising all around her; when such countless millions abroad are living and dying without the light of the gospel and the hope of salvation; when at her own doors will be found so many passing in ignorance and wickedness to their great account; is it for a humane, and especially for a religious young woman to spend so much precious time each day over her knitting, crotchet, or embroidery-work? As she sits plying those needles, and bringing out, it may be, the tasteful device hour after hour, does she never hear the plaint of human woe, “Come over and help us?” Does it never occur to her, how many souls have gone into eternity unprepared to meet their God since she took her chair and commenced her daily task? Or, even leaving out of view, for a moment, the employment of her time for deeds of religious zeal, is it not an afflictive sight to behold so much time thrown away on these elegant trifles, which might be so much better employed in cultivating the mind by useful reading? You can not do good, then, without making some sacrifices of time, which might be agreeably, if not very profitably, spent on matters of taste.

Permit me now to remind you that all your efforts of religious zeal should be carried on in a spirit of faith and prayer. It should not be merely the love of activity, much less an ambitious fondness for publicity and display, that moves you; but a strong and prevailing feeling of love to God and love to man. It must not be a substitute for religion, but the impulse and the constraining power of it. Instead of weakening your own piety, it must strengthen it. Emanating from your own holy mind, it must, like the newly-kindled flame, act back upon its source and increase the intensity of that. You must be watchful over your own spirit, and take care that your humility and spirituality be not impaired by a spirit of vanity. You should look well to your motives, and subject your heart to a most rigid self-scrutiny. In the retirement of the closet you should cultivate that spirit of dependence which expresses itself in prayer, and is cherished by prayer. The more you do for the spiritual welfare of others, the more you must do for your own. You should take alarm if you find that the excitements of zeal produce an indisposedness for the more retired and quiet exercises of devotion. A renewed consecration to your work should often take place, preceded by a renewed consecration of yourselves to God.

To encourage you in your career of holy activity, I may call you, in conclusion, to consider the nature of your work, and the consequences that will follow even your humble endeavors to carry it on. It is religion, the gift of God to man, which Jesus Christ came to our world to bring with him, which the Spirit of God is poured out to produce, and the Scriptures are written to describe and impart; it is religion, the balm of man’s wounded heart, the renovator of his corrupt nature, the means of his happiness, his preparation for immortal glory; it is religion, the source of individual comfort, domestic peace, social order, national prosperity, and the whole world’s restoration; it is religion, which shall cover our earth with the glories of the Millennium, and raise up countless millions of our race from the ruins of the fall to the heavens of the eternal God; it is religion, that shall be the glory and the bliss of the redeemed church throughout eternity; it is religion, in the cause of which prophets predicted. apostles labored, martyrs bled, ministers labor at home, and missionaries abroad; it is ¢his you are promoting by all your efforts of religious zeal. In this cause you shall not labor in vain, nor without your reward, for “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea;” and your humble labors, though as drops in that mighty ocean, fall there and help to replenish the mighty mass — and after this shall come the world where you shall be gathered unto those holy women whose lives were briefly recorded in a past sermon; and to all those chaste virgins and holy matrons, who have wrought to weave by their labors the crown of glory which shall ever flourish om the head of our Emmanuel.