First, the woman reverenced for the Son"s sake, then the woman reverenced above the Son and adored. This is the history. To account for it, various theories have been advocated. One, a.s.suming it as a principle that no error has ever spread widely that was not the exaggeration or perversion of a truth, finds in the influence exerted by Christ the germ out of which Mariolatry springs. But surely nothing could be farther from what Christ taught. By word, by look, and by action, Christ opposed the debasing and degrading thought. Mariolatry, like idolatry, is the outgrowth of the religion of nature. The carnal heart is at enmity with G.o.d. It prefers to worship something besides G.o.d, and so in the old dispensation it found its idol in the hero.
As the heathen counted for divine the legislative wisdom of the man,--manly strength, manly truth, manly justice, manly courage, Hercules with his club, Jupiter with his thunderbolt, so Baal, representing the primeval power of nature, became the object of idolatrous worship. After Christ, partly because of the new spirit which pervaded the world, and largely because the carnal heart, ruled by Satan, is glad of any pretext to neglect Christ, Mary, the mother, became preferable to Christ the Son. Salvation depends upon faith in Christ. Whosoever believeth in the Son hath everlasting life. For G.o.d so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This being true, a belief in Mary as an intercessor is as sinful in G.o.d"s sight, and is as directly opposed to a faith in Christ, as was a belief in Baal or Jupiter. By whatever means Satan induces men to reject Christ, he ruins them, and destroys their hope of salvation.
Satan induced Eve to reject G.o.d, to believe in him, and to serve him.
There is no evidence that Mary would have consented to occupy the place to which an idolatrous world has raised her, but Satan cares not for that, so that "he may work with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish."
The peril arising from the perversion"s of biblical truth is ill.u.s.trated by the history of the diaconate as well as by the history of the motherhood of Jesus. The influences set in motion by the life of Christ deserve to be carefully pondered. Perverted, they have helped on error. Used and employed as Christ designed them, they are subservient of the highest interests of society. Truly has it been said, The life and the cross of Christ shed a splendor from heaven upon a new and till then unheard of order of heroism--that which may be called the feminine order--meekness, endurance, long-suffering, the pa.s.sive strength of martyrdom. For Christianity does not say, "Honor to the wise," but, "Blessed are the meek." Not "Glory to the strong,"
but "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see G.o.d." Not the Lord is a man of war; Jehovah is his name, but G.o.d is love. In Christ, not intellect, but love, is glorified. In Christ is magnified, not force of will, but the glory of a Divine humility. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore G.o.d hath also exalted Him. Therefore it was, that from that time forward, woman a.s.sumed a new place in the world. It is not to mere civilization, but to the spirit of life in Christ, that woman owes all she has and all she has yet to gain. In Christ, manly and womanly characteristics were united, and were in equipoise. He was not the Son of the Man, but the Son of Man. It was not manhood, but humanity, that was made divine in him. Humanity has its two sides: one side in the strength and intellect of manhood; the other in the tenderness and faith and submission of womanhood; man and woman, the two halves of one thought, make up human nature. In Christ, not one alone, but both were glorified. Strength and Grace, Wisdom and Love, Courage and Purity,--Divine Manliness, Divine Womanliness. In all n.o.ble characters, the two are blended; in Him--the n.o.blest--blended into one entire and perfect humanity. The spirit which pervades the world because of Christ"s coming, and of the influence exerted by his Gospel, opens to woman a faith which has been growing clearer and brighter for eighteen centuries. By this we do not affirm or imply that the coming of Christ restored woman to the equality she enjoyed in the morning of creation, or that his coming removed the curse then p.r.o.nounced upon her. If Christ"s coming removed a part of the curse, then it must have removed all, which we know is false; woman still has sorrow in child-bearing, and man earns his daily bread by the sweat of his brow. Christ"s coming removed the disabilities from woman. He turned the attention of the world to feminine characteristics, and shed over them the halo of a divine light. He brought the woman up as he lowered the glory hitherto attached to characteristics distinctively manly. Where Christ is loved, the gladiator and prize-fighter are despised, and a meek and quiet spirit is honored.
The heart is the seat of power more than the intellect. Blessed are the pure in heart, rather than the great in intellect. Pureness rather than strength is the ideal of the human heart, since Christ was slain.
While, then, it is true that the worship of Mary is idolatry, and that the worship given to her is so much taken from Christ, we must not forget that the only glory of the Virgin was the glory of true womanhood. "The glory of true womanhood consists in being herself; not in striving to be something else. It is the false paradox and heresy of this present age to claim for her as a glory, the right to leave her sphere. Her glory lies in her sphere, and G.o.d has given her a sphere distinct; as in the Epistle to the Church of Corinth, when, in that wise chapter, St. Paul rendered unto womanhood the things which were woman"s, and unto manhood the things which were man"s."
Mary"s glory was not immaculate origin, nor immaculate life, nor exaltation to Divine honors. She has none of these things. Hers was the glory of simple womanhood. The glory of being true to the nature a.s.signed her by her Maker, the glory of Motherhood; the glory of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of G.o.d, of great price.
For all women there is something n.o.bler than to be recognized as the queen of heaven. Let woman be content to be what G.o.d made her, to fill the sphere G.o.d appointed for her, in unselfishness, and humbleness, and purity, rejoicing in G.o.d her Saviour, content that He had regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden, and rejoicing that G.o.d has honored the characteristics regarded as feminine, which she possesses, and which she may use for the glory of G.o.d and the good of the race.
Now, as in the olden time, it is her privilege to minister unto the necessities of Jesus, by cheerfully contributing of her substance to the support of His cause, and by lavishing her love, upon those qualities of the head and heart, which in Christ appeared in perfected beauty, and are to-day the charm of life, the power of religion, and the glory of Christianity.
WOMAN"S WORK AND WOMAN"S MISSION.
Woman"s work is a work of charity. The fact points back to woman"s origin. G.o.d brought her as a gift to man, with characteristics and endowments which fitted her to be his helpmeet, his counsellor, and companion. Recall Adam"s position. He was alone in the garden. He found no helper in the beasts. He longed for a kindred spirit. Endowed with a nature too communicative to be content with itself, he requires society, a resting point, a complement, for he only half lives while he lives alone. Made to speak, to think, to love, his thought seeks another thought to reveal and quicken itself; his speech is lost sorrowfully in the air, or only awakens an echo which reverberates it, but cannot reply; his love knows not where to fix itself, and falling back on itself, threatens to become a barren egotism; in short, fill his being aspires to another self, but his other self does not exist.
At this time, when the desire for communion was stifling him, he slept, and from his side G.o.d took a rib and made woman, and brought her to him. Behold Adam. He sees her, and is in rapture.
"Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love."
Milton describes Adam as saying--
"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."
The imagination paints this scene. In fancy we behold Adam winning Eve, "for she would be wooed, and not unsought be won." Won she was, and Adam was brought to the sum of earthly bliss. They dwell together in sweet accord, Adam fears for her safety when apart from him. Evil threatens them. Together they would be strong, he thinks, apart they would be weak, and so in fear he speaks of the enemy lurking in the garden, and seeking to find them asunder.
"Hopeless to circ.u.mvent us joined, where each To other speedy aid might lend at need; Whether his first design be to withdraw Our fealty from G.o.d, or to disturb Conjugal love, than which, perhaps, no bliss Enjoyed by us excites his envy more; Or this or worse, leave not the faithful side That gave thee being, still shades thee and protects.
The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks, Safest and seemliest by her husband stays, Who guards her, or with her the worst endures."
Eve resents the imputation of weakness, and insists on being left forever fancy free to roam at will. In self-confidence she goes forth and falls, and in falling introduces sin into the world.
Let us review the past, and recall a few facts which, deserve consideration, before we enter upon the contemplation of Woman"s Work and Woman"s Mission. It will not be denied that Eve was created to be a helpmeet. That Satan tempted her, and converted the helpmeet into a tempter. In that light we have considered her power. We have seen that Eve, in bringing ruin to man, turned her back upon the Creator and Preserver of mankind, and paved the way for the introduction of idolatry, the shadows of whose multiplying altars shrouded the old world in the gloom of night. From the ruin of Eve to the restoration in Mary, the history of this world resembles a deep valley filled with death and sorrow and gloom. In Adam all died, in Christ all shall be made alive. Bethlehem with its manger is set over against Eden with its bower. During that old dispensation, manly qualities were honored and womanly qualities were ignored. The effects of sin are seen. G.o.d doth not hold guiltless the sinner. The consequences of sin run on.
They made woman"s life wretched. They changed the helpmeet into a slave. Do not rebel, woman, at the utterance, nor suffer yourself to feel that G.o.d does not care for woman, or that he willingly afflicts her.
It is at this point you do well to survey the field. We know that G.o.d"s purposes run on. That G.o.d was not and will not be defeated. That the plan formed in the councils of eternity is sure to be successfully executed.
Hence G.o.d"s idea of woman is yet to bless the world. What sin destroyed Christ came to restore, and more than to restore. In heaven if not on earth we shall see woman as G.o.d made her, and as G.o.d glorified her. This brings us to the consideration of what Christ did for her. He did not permit Mary to become Intercessor, and so give a sanction to Mariolatry, which in evil is second only to idolatry.
He did not lift woman to the position of ruler, nor did he give any sanction to the wild vagaries of the Christless ones, who are striving to overturn the foundations of society, and who rebel against motherhood, wifehood, and sisterhood; but he did turn the attention of the world towards the graces of womanhood, and while he turned his back upon those manly qualities of labor, of pluck, of brute courage, he turned his face towards meekness, gentleness, and love, and made the vales of life to blossom with a new beauty. He welcomed woman as a companion. He sought her for sympathy"s sake, and opened his heart to her in the fullest confidence.
Let us notice this truth. In making woman"s work a work of charity, he continued in the New Dispensation the work which was commenced in the Old. He lifted the thread where woman broke it, and reuniting it again sent her forth into the world to bless it with love, with sympathy, with ministrations of tenderness, with an elevating companionship, which makes man worthy of his origin, and helps him to fulfil the mission of G.o.d"s anointed.
And though Satan has taken this new thought and perverted it, as he has perverted all the rest, and though he has employed the Church of Rome, by organizing women into orders and sisterhoods of charity, so that woman may again be enslaved and destroyed; though the story of her confinement in nunneries and establishments little better in form than prisons, and far more cruel in character, has been written, let us not be discouraged, but believing that Christ"s plan is best, let us learn what his will is, and then let us do it in the fear of G.o.d and in the love of truth, a.s.sured that his ways are higher and better and grander than ours, and that it is safe to trust G.o.d even where we cannot trace him, remembering that "he doeth great things, past finding out; yea, and wonders without number."
In considering Woman"s Work and Woman"s Mission, we discover that they go hand in hand, and faith is the bond which unites them. Separate woman"s work from her mission, and you divorce it from that which makes it honorable and praiseworthy. It is the spirit of faith, and love, and hope, and charity, which pervades the life of the true woman, that is her glory and her praise. The difference between woman as a drudge and woman as a helpmeet, describes the relation existing between her work and her mission. Work separated from this path of faith, love, and charity, becomes unholy to the world and unbearable to her. The holiest of all work for a mother is to care for her child.
That child, so helpless now, is to reward her by acts of love and deeds of valor. Take away from woman her faith, let her feel that her work is a degradation, and there is nothing more beautiful in her attentions to a child than there would be in her attentions to a pig.
When in the country the children and their parents were floating in a little boat on a river"s surface, they admired the lilies with their white leaves spread out on the wave. After they had looked upon the flower, I asked them to observe the roots, and see in what they were embedded. They replied, "The roots are in the mud." That lily ill.u.s.trates truthfully the spiritual character of woman"s work. Though her life may be pa.s.sed in drudgery, yet the flower of her life is seen in the neatness, beauty, and comfort of the home, and her joy is derived from the commendation received by her diligence and toil.
Truly has the poet told, in this homely way, how
LOVE LIGHTENS LABOR.
A good wife rose from her bed one morn, And thought, with a nervous dread, Of the piles of clothes to be washed, and more Than a dozen mouths to be fed.
There were meals to be got for the men in the field, And the children to fix away To school, and the milk to be skimmed and churned; And all to be done that day.
It had rained in the night, and all the wood Was wet as it could be, And there were pudding and pies to bake, And a loaf of cake for tea.
The day was hot, and her aching head Throbbed wearily as she said-- "If maidens but knew what good wives know, They would, be in no hurry to wed."
"Jennie, what do you think I told Ben Brown?"
Called the farmer from the well; And a flush crept up to his bronzed brow, And his eye half bashfully fell; "It was this," he said, and coming near, He smiled, and stooping down, Kissed her cheek--""twas this, that _you were the best And dearest wife in town_!"
The farmer went back to the field, and the wife, In a smiling and absent way, Sang s.n.a.t.c.hes of tender little songs She"d not sung for many a day.
And the pain in her head was gone, and the clothes Were white as foam of the sea; Her bread was light, and her b.u.t.ter was sweet, And golden as it could be.
"Just think," the children all called in a breath, "Tom Wood has run off to sea!
He wouldn"t, I know, if he only had As happy a home as we."
The night came down, and the good wife smiled To herself, as she softly said, ""Tis sweet to labor for those we love-- "Tis not strange that maids will wed!"
There is a glory in motherhood which robes woman in beauty, and fills the home with the light of heaven. The mother, busy with her cares, and attending to the wants of her children, is honored wherever Christ is loved.
Now, because the world links woman"s work and mission together, the world is full of pictures of the mother and the child. To a true-hearted man, it is almost impossible to find any picture to which his nature turns with fonder delight than to that of a mother with a child sleeping on the breast, full of sweet trust and enjoying a dreamless repose, or being ministered to in his nude state in the morning bath. The spiritual covers the common with a halo of glory, and robes woman in the light of love.
The same is true of the housewife. In the daily routine of duty, which is essential to the comfort and bliss of home life, there is nothing very attractive in the ordinary occupations of the home. Let a woman attempt the task with no outlook, with no hope. Let her do it for so much money, and nothing more, and she becomes morose, discontented, sad and cheerless. Let her do this for love. Let her feel that she is contributing to some one"s joy, or that she is to use the money earned for some worthy purpose, and at once the loftiness of her purpose sanctifies her deed, and renders that which would have been unbecoming, if done without a motive, right and n.o.ble when performed under the pressure of a great and n.o.ble aspiration, for ""tis sweet to labor for those we love."
Woman"s work is defined by her Creator to be a work of charity. She is a helpmeet. A gift she came to man. Her life is a constant giving up of rights and privileges for the happiness of others. She waits on man not for pay, but for love. She ministers to him in sickness and in health. It is not the deed, but the spirit which sanctifies the deed, that makes it lovely. Compel her by force, by fear, or by rewards, to do what she performs because of love, and you destroy all the beauty of the action, and convert the ministering angel into a menial, the G.o.d-appointed woman into a brutalized slave. G.o.d made her a gift, and the law of her life is in giving. She fulfils the functions of her life by living in harmony with the law of love. The woman, described with such inexpressible tenderness by Luke (vii. 37-50), attracts attention by this feature. She came to Christ while he was reclining at table. She had sinned. Still she loved. Here were Christ"s feet hanging over the table"s edge, while Christ reclined. As he was talking, behold this woman bending over them, her hot tears raining on them, and she busy wiping off the tear-drops with her hair, and kissing them, anointed them with costly ointment. She loved, and therefore evidenced it by deeds. Her love, blossoming into action, won Christ. He saw that she loved. Perhaps love had led her astray at first. No matter. Love she possessed, and love she desired to lavish on some object worthy of her regard. That object she discovered in Jesus. She took her alabaster-box of precious ointment, and went after him. She enters the Pharisee"s house; it may have been the house where she had fallen. The Pharisee seemed to know her character, and so he said, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner."
Christ did not at once recognize the suspicion, but supposing the case of the two debtors, and having obtained from Simon the declaration, that the one would love most who was forgiven most, turned upon him the force of the logic, by saying, "Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she both washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since the time I came, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. And he said to the woman, _Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace_."
Let woman"s work be regarded as a work of charity by man, and the larger portion of women will be satisfied. The servant finds pleasure in service, when the obligation is recognized as a debt not to be paid for in money.
No wife would do what she is compelled to perform, or suffer what she is compelled to endure, for her board and clothes. It is when man refuses to give her more than these, she revolts. Man never won woman to leave her single life and her home comforts to enter his house as a helpmeet by a consideration of the work to be done. It was not in the contract. He talked then of love, of companionship, of help. The other was in the bond by mutual consent, but it was regarded as beneath their notice to talk about it. Her nature yearned for love, and lives on love.
Now, when a man forgets that love, companionship, and the thousand attentions which sweeten and brighten life, are due to his wife, and when he lifts up the drudgery and the slavery of life into prominence, and tells her that she is only fitted to hold a menial place, he insults, if he does not destroy the woman, and degrades himself. On the other hand, let a woman refuse to be influenced by this law of charity, and she becomes a curse instead of a blessing, a hinderance instead of a helpmeet.
It is a very common complaint that a good servant is difficult to find. Some are slovenly, some are dishonest, while those who are both able and truthful, are p.r.o.nounced intolerable, frequently because of their impertinence. All can understand the reason. The servant has no interest in her employer who refuses to _give_ anything. The servant works for so much money. "As to rights, privileges, and perquisites, it is not unfrequently either a battle or a sort of armed treaty between kitchen and parlor." Many will admit this, and will forget or ignore the cause. Listen to the servants" story, and you will find them complaining of the stinginess, or tyranny, or selfishness of the employer.
Let the law of charity rule both employer and employed, and behold the change. The mistress recognizes her weight of obligation to a good and faithful domestic. She feels that her services are beyond price, invaluable to her. The effect is seen at once. The sluggish step is quickened. Love takes the place of indifference if not of dislike, and the relations of friendship are at once recognized. No mistress has a right to expect that her servants will be bound to her by the ties of friendship, if she manifest no friendly feeling for them; or that they will become devoted to her interests, if she take no interest in their welfare. The law of mutual dependence must be recognized and obeyed.
G.o.d is love. G.o.d loves. Therefore, it is a pleasure to love and serve G.o.d. It is a pleasure to serve whoever is appreciative and lovable. It is a task to serve those who are unappreciative and unlovable. At the same time a Christian servant has no right to slight her work, or be unfaithful, because of the harshness or unkindness of her employer.
Live for G.o.d, and serve Christ in serving well those by whom you are employed, and you will not lose your reward on earth nor in heaven.
Trusty and true, your services will become of immense importance, and doors to usefulness will open before you because of the superintending care of Him who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind. Let not woman dislike the term _service_ or _servant_. Christ honored it by becoming the servant of all, and made it honorable by commanding that he who would be chief must serve, and by his service rise.
Woman sometimes revolts because her work is cla.s.sed under the head of _domestic_, and yet this is the chief characteristic that must distinguish it. That is, her work must have a look homeward, whether she toils in the store or factory or printing-office or kitchen.
Somehow the stream of love must sing as it goes babbling by, "Home, home, there is no place like home," else woman fails in her life-work.
Her education must fit her for a home and for home work. Let a man learn that he married a toy, a plaything, a lay figure, useful only for the purposes of exhibiting his taste in jewelry and dress, who desires to be petted and fondled, to be caressed and flattered, but who is incapable of doing anything to contribute to his happiness at home or to his influence abroad, and he comes to feel that she is an enc.u.mbrance. If he clings to the old love, and cherishes the old conviction, he learns to treat his wife as a plaything, and to forget her as a helpmeet. He thinks of her as of a toy, which may be used or cast aside at pleasure. She knows and feels the lack of his love. If she becomes dissatisfied, and refuses to make the effort to become a helpful wife and a loving companion, or to be influenced by the law of charity; if she determines to seek happiness in obtaining the admiration of others, which once unwittingly came from her husband; then is she probably ruined, and becomes a "body of death" fastened to one who looks forward to the grave as a refuge and a release, or who finds in the society of other women that pleasure which is denied him at home. Perhaps nothing is more disgusting than to see an empty brain hidden behind a pretty face, or an empty heart concealed beneath costly drapery. A woman who is handsome and is illiterate, who is incapable of speaking entertainingly, is far more homely than a plain face in front of a well cultivated intellect; and a plain dressed woman, with a heart full of love, is to be preferred to a splendidly dressed form which is dest.i.tute of soul. Jewels, laces, and silks are not a fit dress for a corpse, and yet a heartless woman is to a man who knows her as soulless as an inanimate body coffined for the tomb.