Part 5 (1/2)

1. The position of woman, between her humiliation in Eden and her restoration in Bethlehem, was in many respects sad to contemplate.

She was more of a slave than an equal. Eve pa.s.ses, unrecognized and unnamed, to her grave. Sarah, the wife of Abram, finds mention, and is described in such a manner that you behold her sharing her husband's love, though the picture of her in the home is not a pleasant one. We can hardly understand how Abram could have suffered her to enter the house of Abimelech, nor how she could have taken Hagar to her husband, and thus again have led man astray--the man whom G.o.d called to be the Father of the Faithful. Eve, the mother of the race, tempted Adam, and Sarah, the mother of the patriarchs, tempted Abram; and lack of faith in G.o.d was the cause of their ruin, and consequent humiliation. There is something sad about the manner of her life. Her home was a simple tent, surrounded by flocks and herds, and crowded with rubbish of every description. Woman in the East is very much to-day what Adam saw her on his first entrance into the wilderness. The effects of sin followed her from generation to generation. The gloom of the night is still over her as she spends her days in out-door labor. She weeds the cotton, and a.s.sists in pruning the vine and gathering the grapes.

She goes forth in the morning, bearing not only her implements of husbandry, but also her babes in the cradle; and returning in the evening, she prepares her husband's supper and sets it before him, but never thinks of eating of it until after he is done. One of the early objections the Nestorians made to the Female Seminary was, that it would disqualify their daughters for their accustomed toil. In after years woman might be seen carrying her Spelling-book to the field along with her Persian hoe, little dreaming that she was thus taking the first step towards the subst.i.tution of the new implement for the old.

Nestorian parents used to consider the birth of a daughter a great calamity. When asked the number of their children, they would count up their sons, and make no mention of their daughters. The birth of a son was an occasion for great joy and giving of gifts. Neighbors hastened to congratulate the happy father, but days might elapse before the neighborhood knew of the birth of a daughter. It was deemed highly improper to inquire after the health of a wife, and the nearest approach to it was to ask after the house or household. Formerly a man never called his wife by name, but in speaking of her would say the mother of ”so and so,” giving the name of the child; or the daughter of ”so and so,” giving the name of her father; or simply that woman did this or that. Nor did the wife presume to call her husband's name, or to address him in the presence of his parents, who, it will be borne in mind, lived in the same apartment. They were married very young, often at the age of fourteen, and without any consultation of their own preference, either as to time or person.

There was hardly a man among the Nestorians who did not beat his wife when the missionaries commenced their labors. The women expected to be beaten, and took it as a matter of course. When the men wished to talk together of anything important, they usually sent the women out of doors or to the stable, as unable to understand or unfit to be trusted. In some cases, says the author of ”Woman and Her Saviour,”

this might be a necessary precaution; for the absence of true affection, and the frequency of domestic broils, rendered the wife an unsafe depositary of any important family affair.[A]

[Footnote A: Woman and her Saviour, pp. 18 and 19.]

In Paraguay a female child is described by Southey as lamenting, in heart-breaking tones, that her mother did not kill her when she was born; and Sir A. Mackenzie declares that there is a cla.s.s of women in the north who performed this pious duty towards female infants, whenever they had an opportunity. But wherever Christ is known and loved, the daughter is a gift of G.o.d as well as a son. Woman owes to her Saviour all she has of joy in time, as well as all she has of hope in eternity. Though she does not obtain the heads.h.i.+p, though her sorrow and her pain are not removed, though her desire continues to be to her husband, and though the rule of the husband continues in every well-regulated home, yet woman is elevated to become a shareholder of the pleasures of the home, of the honors and emoluments of life, of the riches obtained by toil, and of the enjoyments derived from culture. Woman in the Christian home is the soul, the pride, the ornament, and the helper. Through Christ she obtains a recognition, so that when we speak of man we mean the race, men and women, for these become the two halves of one thought, so that no especial stress is laid on the welfare of either, but the development of one is secured by the development of the other. To such an extent have the disabilities been removed from the s.e.x, that a leading writer has been compelled to admit, that ”in our own country, women are, in many respects, better situated than the men. Good books are allowed, with more time to read them. They are not so early forced into the bustle of life, nor so weighed down by demands for outward success. They have time to think, and no traditions chain them, and few conventionalities, compared with what must be met in other nations.

Doors swing open to them, and they are invited to walk the fields of literary and artistic success, and whatever tends to the development of their higher nature is freely placed within their reach.”

2. _The trials of motherhood deserve notice_. We have seen the hopes that came to Eve, and beheld their realization in and through Christ.

The trials were born of sin. Eve's eldest child, Cain, possessed a narrow, selfish nature. He was a tiller of the ground. Abel was a keeper of the sheep. The first born met this curse in the soil. The second born looked forward to the restoration. In process of time Cain brought of the fruit of the ground. Tradition has it that he brought what was left of his food, of light and tempting things, flax or hemp seed.

Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, which was a proper type of Christ. His offering pleased G.o.d, Cain's n.i.g.g.ardly gift displeased G.o.d. The selfish man wreaked his vengeance in the usual way. He slew his brother, who was better than himself. The heavens are black with gathering gloom. Murder is in the air. The shock is felt everywhere.

G.o.d comes, and sternly asks, ”_Where is thy brother?_” Cain impudently replies, ”Am I my brother's keeper?” Then comes the curse. It is a self-invited curse, for the gift he gave to G.o.d is the harvest in future for himself. Ah, what a lesson. How early it is taught. If you hate G.o.d, if you regret what you give, if you make it small, if you see to it that you give the leavings rather than the firstlings, then beware. Cain said his punishment was greater than he could bear. He is getting back what he gave. The command is, Give, and it shall be given back. The converse is true--Keep, and it shall be kept back.

The hopes of Eve were centred in the victory to be achieved over the enemy of her life, by means of the triumph to be won by her children.

Her trials really began when she saw that sin was not an accident. It was rebellion which bore fruit. Her treachery to G.o.d came back to her in this treachery of her first born to her second child, whom she loved with maternal tenderness. Thus the gates of evil were thrown open, and they filled the land with violence, and the flood became a necessity.

What was true of Eve was more or less true of woman until Christ came. She inherited sorrow, and was born to a life of humiliation and wretchedness. The history of woman in the olden time and at this hour, wherever Christ is not known, is full of sorrow. In Christ she finds an emanc.i.p.ator from sorrow.

There is another strange fact. In the Old Dispensation, the first born son is the child of promise. But wherever the influence of Christ's gospel rules, there the rule of the first born disappears, and all, both sons and daughters, share in the patrimony of the house and in the honors of the household. Despite this, it is natural for a father to love his first born son the best, and for the mother to find her heart clinging involuntarily to the younger and weaker. From the unfortunate the father may turn, but the mother never. She will bind her love tightest about the birdling that, from some misfortune, is unable to leave the maternal nest.

Turn we to the Old Testament, we find that whenever man was brought near to G.o.d, as was Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and others, woman was held in respect, and was permitted to exercise an elevating influence in the home; and yet it remains true, that in nearly every instance she failed to prove herself a helpmeet.

Sarah introduced Abraham to polygamy, Rebekah was a pattern of lying, and Rachel of deception. The three celebrated women of history are dest.i.tute of those characteristics which make of a wife a companion, counsellor, and friend.

Do we study the history of Miriam, of Deborah, and Esther? we behold women rising up in the name of G.o.d to help their people to save their kindred. They were the introduction to a n.o.ble succession. Woman then, as now, is loved for bringing _help_ to those on whom G.o.d devolves responsibility.

The picture best loved and most praised in the Old Testament is that of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, as she fits him for his post of duty in the service of the Lord. In Hannah the world finds their beau ideal of a mother, actuated by principle and ruled by love, recognizing her allegiance to G.o.d, and her obligations to her child and husband, and there is hardly a child in this Christian land who does not dwell with delight upon this fact, that each year the mother made for her boy a little coat. It was a motherly deed, and links her to the history of the race by the blessed tie which finds its origin in maternal care.

Ruth comes next, because of her fidelity to her mother, and her love of virtue. It is by her life we are introduced afresh to the golden vein of prophecy that runs through the Old Testament, and which ever pointed towards the coming of Christ as the hope of woman and the hope of the world. Esther's love of her race, and her n.o.ble daring of Eastern despotism for the good of her people, lifts her to a high place, though as a wife and mother we know nothing more than that she was hedged round by the iron regulations of a paganized court. The revelations made concerning the daughter of Jacob, or of Bathsheba, the loved wife of David, and in fact of nearly all of the women of the Bible, prove that the women of the olden time left as well as received an inheritance of shame. The names we have mentioned are among the brightest and the best. We will draw a veil over the characters of women such as the wife of Lot, or of Potiphar, the would-be seducer of Joseph, or of Job, the betrayer of her husband in misfortune, of Jezebel, the fury, or of Delilah, the traitress to her husband, and of a score of others, that make the age in which they lived seem like the night of humanity.

3. _Woman obtains her recognition in Christ._ From the moment G.o.d p.r.o.nounced sentence upon Eve to the moment when the angel appeared to Mary, man was recognized as the head. Even Miriam wrought through Moses, and Deborah, the judge and prophetess, lays no claim to personal communication with G.o.d, but quotes his promises, and stimulates Barak to action, So also when the angel came from the court of heaven to foretell the joy that was to come to the world in the birth of John, the forerunner of Christ, he came to Zacharias instead of to Elisabeth. But when the message related to Christ, _then the angel pa.s.sed by man, and approached woman direct_. G.o.d never forgets.

A thousand years are but as a day to Him. Yesterday, in Eden, he foretold the coming of Christ to Eve. To-day, in Nazareth, the angel comes to Mary, and makes her heart glad with the fact, that she was chosen to become the mother of our Lord. Eve lost by sin G.o.d's companions.h.i.+p. Mary obtained, through Christ, favor with G.o.d and man.

The valley is spanned with this arch of hope. The night of woman's humiliation is pa.s.sing away. And the angel came in unto her, and said, ”Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.”

Strange words these, as we can readily perceive, from the position held by woman previously. No wonder that when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, ”Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with G.o.d. And behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord G.o.d shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” No wonder that the air seemed full of music. Woman, made so beautiful, woman, so beloved of G.o.d, and so prized by Adam, before sin blighted the bud of hope and spoiled the flower of beauty, was now to come forth from the darkness and gloom of her life of shame to the light of an unclouded day, henceforth to be made glorious by her ministrations of love. The glory of motherhood ”is the man gotten from the Lord,” and raised to work for G.o.d in this sinful world. The glory of woman is to share this man's home as a helpmeet, and contribute by her love, and sympathy, and efforts to his happiness and usefulness here, that she may wear the crown of joy in heaven.

MARIOLATRY NOT OF CHRIST.

If ever woman had reason to sing, ”My spirit hath rejoiced in G.o.d my Saviour,” it was Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ. G.o.d recognized her as a helper in restoring man from the ruins of sin. To her the angel spake, saying, ”Hail, thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.” And in pondering in her heart the strange coincidences, she exclaimed, ”G.o.d hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

From these words it is evident that Mary appreciated the honor conferred upon her by her Creator and rightful Ruler. It is a singular fact, that Eve, betrayed by Satan, betrayed the race. Mary held steadfast to G.o.d and to truth; and yet Satan has the second time taken woman and used her as an ally, and so has brought an influence to bear upon the minds of men which has led millions astray, and covers vast portions of the world with the gloom of a moral night. Mary, the ”Mother of Jesus,” is made to take the place of ”Christ, the Son of G.o.d,” and is declared to be the Mother of G.o.d. In this land we can form no conception of the extent to which this wors.h.i.+p of Mary is carried in Roman Catholic countries. To the Italians Mary is G.o.d, and wors.h.i.+p is simply the adoration of the Virgin. Viewing Romanism in the light of the Bible, this is its crowning sin; viewing it as a system combined to seduce and enslave, this is its masterpiece. To understand how it is so, let us think how deep in man's nature is placed the feeling of the need of a being like unto himself, to mediate between him and G.o.d. The Bible completely meets this want in the G.o.d-man. But Popery blots out the G.o.d-man as mediator, and in his stead presents us with Mary, who is to the devotee the ”one living and true G.o.d;” for, though the Father and Son are known, they are accessible only through Mary, and they stand so far behind and beyond her, that to the Romanist they are vague, shadowy, and unknown. Mary is the first name to be lisped in childhood, the last to be uttered by the quivering lips before they are closed in death. Around the neck of the infant is suspended a small image of the Virgin; when the babe seeks the breast it must kiss the image, and thus literally does it draw in the adoration of Mary with its mother's milk. ”Were the New Testament to be written at this hour, Rome would blot out the name of Christ and subst.i.tute that of Mary. Take a proof: The church close by the Vatican has upon its marble pediment, graven in large letters, 'Let us come to the throne of the Virgin Mary, that we may find grace to help us in our time of need.' The Roman sees Heb. iv. 16 quoted, but cannot verify it if he would, seeing the Bible is forbidden to him.” Pius IX., at the foot of the column of the Immaculate Conception, erected to perpetuate the fact that he was permitted to decree the dogma, has Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah casting crowns before the Virgin, saying, ”Thou art worthy; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to G.o.d by thy blood.” When it was announced that the French occupation of Rome should cease, the Pope published a decree calling on all Rome to go with him to the feet of Mary, if haply by cries and tears they might prevail with her to avert from the throne of G.o.d's vicar the dangers that threaten it; and in that act the Pope led the way.[A]

[Footnote A: Minister _versus_ Priest, page 7.]