The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-04-25
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOertlser.
SATURDAY, APRIL p.
WOMAN AND HER INFLUENCE.
A SERMON,
By Rev. W. Frear, Preached in Fort Street Church.
Sunday Evening, april 18th.
PRINTED JU Re0test)
PRINTED b. Request

N8Fu4rH " HH4tE+f
Psov. 81. 30. 81 -Fayar ; dseeAtal and beauty s vain
= Give her Of the fruit Of her hands and let her own ToiAs
praise her IN the gates"
These are The concluding verses of a noble
eulogy on woman, words Of King Lemuel, which
his mother taught him. The eulOgy is an alpha
betical song, an acrOstic of twenty-five verses,
the verses in the original beginning with the He
brew letters in their order. King Lemuel, as
taught by his mother, draws this portraiture OF
q true and finished woman. lie uses no honeyed
words Of lattery. He makes her no trail form
of mere beauty, no ethereal figure that the fancy
paints, and that has little to do with lie IN ITS
reality but strength and honor are her clothing.
She eateth not the bread of idleness. She open
eth her mouth with wisdom. In her tongue is
the law Of kindness, and she reaeheth forth her
hands to the needy. In her domestic economies
she Is skilled, and prosperity Is the reward OF her
diligence. Hex household is respected and es-
teemed because of her. By her prudence and
forethought she surrounds her home with the
comforts and refnements of life, and nils 1t with
sunshine and gladness. She is not afraid OF
fatigue or care, and is blessed in the fruit OF her
hands. Sine is substantial, discreet, sensible,
wise, prudent, strong. finished, and true. The
heart Of her husband doth safely trust her. Such
an one says Lemuel it is not easy to find, for her
price Is far above rubies.
Taking into account the customs Of the times
IN which lt was written, we can not Wei see HOW
anything could be more beautifully descriptive OF
the true and noble woman, than this unaffected
and sweet eulOgy. 1t is but u Just tribute oil
praise, showing her power and influence, mark
ing out her sphere Of action and duty, and pre-
senting her with a model by which TO mould a
genuine and lovely character. Since then, it is
Very true, customs and manners have changed.
The lady now spins not, nor weayes. She gath
ers not the wool, nor makes the fine linen as she
did then. Mightier and cheaper agencies have
taken such tolls from her hands. The spindle
now twirls by mechanical force, and art and in
vention have modified and reyolutionized the
works and ways of us all. Still the same princi-
Piles underlie the true character now rs then.
The same virtues now as then are her true
strength and ornament, and her work in the
highest sense is the same. Her sphere is I'M
changed, and her power for good or evil undim-
inished, nay rather it is vastly increased, and
her mission exalted. The prudent mind, the
pure and devoted heart, the ready hand are still
her beauty and her praise. There is need still
that the ideal of the true woman be held up.
In fact we can not do otherwise than recognize
that woman and her work, is one of the earnest
and living questions of the day. What is her
sphere? Wherein is her power? In what is her
praise to be? are questions IN which not only
lecturers and legislators, but all the world are
more or less Interested. Can the field of her
activities be enlarged? Can her privileges be
greater, and her responsibilities increased? These
are common themes of pen and speech. What
ever may be the final result of agitation and dis
cussion on these questions, certain it is that there
is for every woman a noble work to do, a noble
influence to exert, and a noble praise to be at
tanned. There is a blessed ministry for her to
render, and there is q crown for her to wear.
No influence is more pervading and controlling,
and no sphere of life, in a true sense is broader
than hers. Whether it would be better for her
and for society that she should cast the ballot,
and sit in the jury box, and stand side by
side with man in all duty and work l leave for
others, or for time to determine, but certain it is
that in the home, and in the home neighborhood,
and in the home church, she should not be as n
painted picture hung on the wall. Her own
works should praise her in the gates. There is a
Pe~S- s. ---~I-- ~ hA- LAaA and IN hs-
lips, and IN her eye, and in her heart. What
she can do by word or look or act, to awaken
love and inspire faith and hope in others, and to
win them to purity and to God, that is her privi-
lege and her duty to do. The paths of useful
ness open to her she should not hesitate to tread.
Public sentiment is no longer a lion in her way
ON any mission of love or service that she NAV
choose to enter. No false modesty restraining
her from any impulse to do good, to speak a
right word, to plead a right prayer, to do a right
deed, to stand on a right principle, is worthy
IF her.
Whatever justice there may be in the clamor
of some for further rights so called, there can be
no question but that the woman of to-day may
distinctly and boldly recognize her almost limit
less influence, and her responsibility in her pres
ent position. 1t is a question if she may not
even yet be falling behind the spirit of the age,
and coming short of her privilege in this respect.
while some may run to extremes in their de-
mand for social changes, may it not be true that
Christian women have been shrinking too much
into the background? May it not be, that there
is a higher line Of effort for them than they have
been willing to recognize? May it not be that a
false delicacy or prejudice has been standing in
the way Of the very ministry and service that the
world now is most in need of? Is not God pre-
pairing the way in the world for woman's more
asserted and prominent activity There is cer-
tainly a tidal movement in this direction. The
coming woman is to be more active, more earnest,
more self a~ssertive, than the woman of the past.
Not so much the beauty of her person, as the
fruit of her hands shall praise her. All her
power of love, her depth Of emotion, her tact,
her graces, Will show their excellence in the line
OF usefulness. Her power for good will be her
glory. Her backwardness, wherever anything is
to be done to kindle and elevate and purify and
save human hearts and souls, or work q reform,
will not add to but rather detract from her
praise. She will be emancipated from false con-
ventionalities, and her whole nature will 90
forth freely in the blessed activities Of life.
Every true woman ought to be in readiness for
this, ought to be willing to be and do all that
God would have her be and do.
And while we all feel that the ideal woman is
something purer and better than the ideal man,
while we expect to see in her a more spotless vir-
tue, a more stainless morality, a holier, deeper
spirituality than we find in man, while we should
be surprised not to see her recOil more quickly
from vice of every sort, and tremble at its touch
yet is not the day at hand, when we may look
also for her to lead in influences for good, and to
go forth succeeding with her peculiar power in
works of mercy, and in crusades against evils
and vices and miseries, in which men have failed?
What she is doing to-day in Ohio and other
States of the Union in the temperance crusade
points to and illustrates this. Feeling in the
depths of her heart the terrible curse and woe of
strong drink, realizing the infamy of putting
that cup of death to a neighbours lips, and grid
power, moved as by an inspiration, she has gone
out into the street and into rough places of dissi-
patton to do and has done what men had not the
courage to do, and could not have done. She
has gone, not with invective nor with threat, but