Part 2 (1/2)
Their efforts have been seen in determining the general character of the Christian world. If any age has been peculiarly spiritual, or any people more than ordinarily devout, it was because woman was there true to the holiest impulses of her nature. Point me to the most prosperous era of the inst.i.tutions of Christianity; shew me a sect, who honor the Sabbath, or who sustain most liberally the ministers of Christ, and I am confident that then and there the female s.e.x will be found most active in defence of the holy day, and of sanctuary privileges.
Look at the Church of Christ. Who are they that confessed their Lord before men, in the early ages of the gospel? ”Within a few years after Christ, the Christian martyrologies are full of the names of female sufferers, who, for Jesus' sake, went to the stake, with all the courage and inflexibility of apostles.”
Whence come the majority of church communicants? Let woman reply. She, who at first encountered danger and death, and who inspired man to do likewise, has always been prompt to profess her faith at the table of her Lord, and give her influence to the honor of his visible church. Had this work been left to the other s.e.x, where had been now this goodly fellows.h.i.+p of avowed believers? Should woman ever forsake her Master, or shrink from bearing his name at the altar, it would portend gloom, decay, and desolation, to the fair fabric she now so devoutly upholds.
To the female s.e.x we owe a large share of the benefits resulting from the present enlarged means and methods of religious education. Not only in the day school, and at the fireside, but in the Sunday school, we find this s.e.x occupied in one of their most hallowed services, the training of the young. Difficulties occur in securing and retaining the aid of male teachers in the Sabbath school. The heart of man is not always so disengaged from the world, and so intent on the calls for a pious benevolence to the young, as to come cheerfully and punctually to this divine work. But our female teachers are prompt to a.s.sume, and unwearied in the discharge of, this function. What were the inst.i.tution, without the spirit of woman operating on its vital principles, toiling and praying, and sacrificing herself, to save those ”little ones” whom Jesus loves?
”Meekly ye forfeit to your mission kind The rest of earthly Sabbaths.--Be your gain A Sabbath without end, 'mid yon celestial plain.”
Let me add, that the Benevolent Enterprizes which mark the train of Christianity, have received much of their support from woman. Previous to the coming of Christ, public charities were nearly unknown. Among the names of the disinterested women of the first century, who were ”full of good works, and alms-deeds, which they did,” stands that of Dorcas. Her example was not lost on the ages that followed. And in the Catholic church, the kind, self-denying labors of the ”Sisters of Charity,” are worthy of all commendation.
To whom, but to this s.e.x, are we indebted for the sacred and sympathetic services rendered by the multiplied Benevolent a.s.sociations and Inst.i.tutions of our own age? So long as the Orphan has a tongue to tell of her deeds, or the sick-bed of Poverty can show a gleam of grat.i.tude, or the Seaman's heart shall beat and glow, they will testify, that it is woman, who is G.o.d's high-priest of mercy to the suffering.
Legislation may appropriate its thousands for the Blind, the Dumb, and the Insane; but how poor were its consolations, did not she who best knows how to smooth the pillow for the aching head, and cheer the spirit in its heaviness, administer to each sufferer the public bounty? Who can estimate her influence in originating, and directing, in co-operation with man, and in giving its final efficacy to, every blessed charity, that springs from the soil of Christianity?
Such being the influence of woman on all the great interests of humanity, how should she exert it? Is there any peculiar inference to be drawn from the possession of this mighty power? No candid mind can deny that it involves responsibilities, corresponding precisely to its extent. To whom much is given, of them much is required. Were this s.e.x of insignificant moment in the world, then might they plead for an exemption from its duties and obligations. But now the burden presses on them, and no individual can cast it lightly from herself.
In society, woman should ever bear with her a deep conviction of the power she there exercises. Her deportment should never be of that frivolous, or insipid character, which betrays no consciousness of a share in the dignity of our nature. She should carry to the social circle a sense of the value of human life, and a resolution to acquit herself as becomes an intelligent and immortal being. A courteous, yet perfectly natural manner, a cultivated understanding, and pure morals, are the tribute she should lay on this altar.
Why should our approach to a lady be the signal for trifling and nonsense? How long shall there be circles of this s.e.x, from which a man of sense must turn away with the caustic saying of Wallenstein,
”I cannot traffic in the trade of words With that unreasoning s.e.x.”?
When will the civilities of social life become, through her influence, something beside an exchange of heartless forms, or of self-seeking attentions? Precisely so soon, and so fast as woman shall determine to reject the empty adulation of fops and simpletons, to be commended only for what deserves praise, and to be entirely sincere and Christian, in the social interview, no less than by her own fireside. Until this take place, society, in fas.h.i.+onable circles, will be, as an auth.o.r.ess remarks, like ”the brilliant a.s.semblies of Paris, a collection of young men who have nothing to do, and young women who have nothing to say.”
The responsibleness of woman extends widely through the world of Intellect. She is called to preside over schools for the nurture of the infant mind. Every child receives thus the impress of her taste and talents. Shall she come to this work, and daily pursue it, without a thoughtful preparation for her task? Is it for the mother to say, ”I may read little or much, as I please. Of what consequence is the condition of my mind?” when she can hardly breathe on the germs before her, without either blighting their beauty, and checking their expansion, or shedding life, health, and eternal freshness, upon them?
Let no young lady disclaim for herself any lot or portion in those sober concerns. Hannah More had, at one time, more than a thousand children under her instruction. Others have recently followed in her steps. Every woman is, I maintain, by virtue of her s.e.x, a teacher. There are now, or there sometime may be, minds subjected to her influence, over whose destinies, for weal or for wo, she will exert a fearful sway. Is it certain she will never be school-mistress, or mother, or guide and guardian to another? No, it is certain that, unless her path be strange, secluded, and anomalous, she will be either the architect, or destroyer of, or at least, a more than leaden weight on, some human intellect. Let her reflect on this fact, and conduct herself always in view of it.
At the fireside, what a sum of duties does her power impose? Here she wields a more than regal sceptre. Wisely did Boaz argue the excellence of Ruth, when he said, in reply to her modest question, ”why have I found grace in thine eyes?” ”It has fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law, since the death of thy husband.” Such domestic piety, a virtue that could sacrifice home, people, substance, and which tendered even life itself for a parent, was an earnest of the choicest worth. It formed
”A wreath that cannot fade, of flowers that bloom With most success, when all beside decay.”
Of the confessed power of the mother, and the unrivalled claims of her children on her spiritual care, no language can speak too strongly, or even in adequate terms. From the hour when their first cry announces to her their utter helplessness, onward through the trials of childhood, and the crossing elements of youth, till they part from her charge,--no, this they never do,--but until she grasps their hand amid the chill of death, they draw from her, as a well-spring of life. What a question then is there to be asked, ”Does she shed upon them an Eden-like fragrance? Is she a true mother?” Worlds of wellbeing hang on the answer.
In every domestic relation, the influence of woman is of transcendent concern. Let her measure the responsibilities that attach to her position. The faithful daughter, the kind sister, the disinterested inmate, no less than the parent, must habitually realize, that around that little spot, her home, she is distilling and must distill, either dews that fertilize the spirit, or night-damps which blast what they touch.
Consider the demands of her country upon woman. Sparta required her women to bear arms in war. Rome called on hers for the austere virtues of heathenism. But America justly antic.i.p.ates in this s.e.x a union of grace with power, intellectual cultivation sustained by moral and religious attainments. During the French Revolution, we are told that the wives and daughters of the celebrated artists gave their jewels to extinguish the national debt. Would that they had added the fairer gift of the Christian graces.
She who shapes so emphatically the destinies of home, should be aware of the calls of patriotism on her s.e.x. I have read of a family in the West, in which the daily conversation of both s.e.xes is, ”What can I do for my country?” Rare as this example may be, I earnestly hope that, through a sense of her high obligations to her country, woman will everywhere emulate its spirit.
Is it not due for the rank she is allowed to hold in our republic?
Released from the servitude of her s.e.x, which prevails in so many foreign lands, and recognized as a partaker in the divinity of our nature, why should she sink into inaction? How, as if an angel spoke to her soul, should she rise and gird herself in the meek robes of righteousness, standing fast by the young, and inciting them to a lofty patriotism, quickening brother, husband and son, to public integrity, and calming the fierce spirit of political contention.
But how shall I describe the paramount necessity of woman's devotion to the interests of religion? Christianity regards her as a human being, equal in moral power to man, and accountable to the same G.o.d and Judge with him. Our religion has elevated her s.e.x from Pagan degradation, and expects a commensurate return, in her superior virtue. Let her then first give her own soul to G.o.d, and then shew forth in her works the spirit of her Savior. By the study of the Scriptures; by establis.h.i.+ng herself in a rational faith; by an humble profession of her belief in Jesus; by diligence in the Sunday instruction of the young, and by a series of benevolent and charitable offices, among the sick and the needy, let her requite the love of G.o.d, as manifested in the Gospel of his Son.
How can one of this s.e.x, const.i.tutionally gifted with strong and enduring affections, sequestered from man's peculiar temptations, and summoned by unnumbered considerations, to meditate on heaven, be other than pious, other than a beacon-light on the rock-begirt coast of human life? What can she offer at the judgment-seat of Christ, if she have denied him on earth? To every young woman, I would say, shew
”That thou, in the prime of earliest youth Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, And with those few art eminently seen, That labor up the hill of heavenly truth.”
* * * * * * ”That Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light.”