The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-06-23
Woman's Work and Mission.

1t is not by clamoring for rights that have
been conferred upon others; it is not by
restless discomfort, by partisan appeals, by
stepping out of her God given sphere, and
by attempting to destroy the network of
holy influences by which He ever has sur
rounded her; it is not by ridiculing marriage
and casting scorn on motherhood, that she
is to obtain the blessing she courts, but by
TRANQUILITY laboring under this heaven-im-
posed law of obedience. Woman's weak
ness is transmitted into strength when she
opens her nature to the influences of love,
and when she consecrates herself to the
happiness of others. Then it is she obtains
moral and spiritual power to which man
is glad to do homage. Ambition, pride,
wilfulness, or any earthly passion, will dis
tort her being. She struggles all in vain
against Divine appointment. 1t is from
the soul of meekness that the true strength
of womanhood is derived, and it is because
it has its root in such soil that it has a
growth SO majestic, showering its blessing
and fruits upon the world.
1t was the sun and the wind that in the
fable strove for the mastery; and the strife
was for the travellers cloak. The quiet
moon had naught to do with such fierce ri.
valry of the burning or the blast; but as in
her tranquil orbit she journeys round the
world, she gently sways the tides of the
ocean. Woman's influence resembles that
exerted by the queen of night. In the con-
hicts of life she has little to do; but her in.
fuence is felt from the cradle to the grave,
and the sphere Of it is the whole region Of
humanity. Woman's worst enemy is he
who would cruelty lit her out of her sphere,
and would try to reverse the laws of God
and of nature in her behalf. They deceive
woman who cause her to believe that she
will find independence when she abandons
the positions assigned her by her Creator
and reaches one against which her nature
the interests of society and the laws of Goo
contend. Woman has her sphere and hel
work, and she is only happy when she finds
pleasure in lovingly, patiently and faithfully
performing the duties and enacting the re
lations that belong to her as woman. Sht
is not the natural head of society. Man
rough, stern, cold, and almost nerveless, i;
made to be the head of human society; and
woman, quick, sensitive, plant (as her name
indicates,) gentle, loving, is the heart of the
world. As the heart, she has power. She
rules through love, and finds the work SCI
for her to do in the doors opening before
her loving nature. She rules through love
and becomes a blessing, greater than W,
can ever acknowledge, because it is greater
than we can measure. .e
Let woman take heart. She is not il
captivity. The law of service is on her, as
it is on man. Much Of her service consists
in suffering; much of mans consists in toll
Before both there are fields of endeavor
white with beckoning harvests In litera
ture, in reforms, in ministering to the wants
and woes of humanity, in making homes
more and more like heaven, woman has al
open door set before her, which no man vii
desire to close. Let her enter it and work
There is a law of companionship far deeper
than that Of uniformity and equality, OIL