The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-06-10

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Made af a woman
Thi. j. PauFs brief and sublime de-
.rr.ptiou Of the incarnation Of the Di-
In regard 70 everything, politics, phil
9-gDLF. art science, social life, men,
women. children, the household, the
Church and the State, the day when
Mary iu Bethlehem held her first born
iu her arms is the diyiding-line Of all
human history.
Nothing has been the same since We
can not reason In regard TO men aud
events before Jesus as If they were such
men and such events a. might be now.
II the old Hebrew, Greek and Roman
politicians legislators philosophers, ar
lists. trade-mcu, husbands and wives
should be- set down, in our century,
among our literaturrs and our move
meuts. they would he In q new world
Jesus has done this.
Perhaps the most remarkable charac-
tcri-tic Of the external changes Of So
rlery a.. that they have been mainly
wrought through a change effected by
the life Of Jesus, In the position and
y
acter7-of woman. She has not been
the same since that wonderful birth
And she has been IN such position as 10
bring the influences Of her changed
character and modes Of life to bear on
ali society. jesus has changed the his
tory of men by having changed the CON
dluon and spirit Of women.
All OF US now living have been trained
r|. g 3 l. q
had worked eighteen centuries before
the most Of Us were born. We can not.
without an effort, conceive the state of
affairs in regard 10 women, their train
Iug their position, their influence be-
fore Jesus came. IL was so totally diff |
f.reut from what il now isl There was
nothing in the culture of power under |
the Roman civilization, nothing in the |
culture Of philosophy and taste under /
the Greek civilization, nothing in the !,
culture Of religion under the Hebrew |
civilization, which is at all like the posi- |
ton and Influence of women auder the !
culture of Christian civilization That
one Bethlehem babe of that simple !
Jewish maiden has done more for Ro. :
man, Greek and Hebrew men than the |
Cusars the Alexanders and the Macca-
bees, with their swords, or the Numas,
the Lvcurguscs and the MOseses with
their tables of laws.
Whatever may have been the case
among heather nations, we might sup
pose that, under the Hebrew theocracy
and in the Jewish church, women would
have had a place not unlike that which
she occupies under Christianity. And
yet we know that it was not so. History
teaches us as much. To me there is
something much more impressive than
mere historical statements Of ancient
social facts; il is the difference in the
tone of all literature, especially Of the
sacred books, not only in what they
specifically teach about women, but in
all their mentions of and illusions TO
women.
How very old the Old Testament is,
and how very new the New Testament
is, In the former, as in the latter, we
have allusions TO virgins, to wives and
30 widows, but how different the spirit
of the writings,
Iu regard to the first, the Old Testa-
ment is peryaded by the Oriental idea
which confined verginity to the mere
preservation Of the body inviolate, and
so young unmarried women were care
fully concealed and veiled, that men
might not reach them until they came
10 be betrothed and married. And so
the very Hebrew word for virgin, Al
mah signifies one who is hiding, con-
cealed, shut up.
In the New Testament the whole spir-
it is different Virgins may go abroad
Virgins may engage in works of religi-
Gus charity as freely as matrons or wild
ows. The whole temper of the teach
ing of the New Testament is that she
only is "a real virgin whose thought is
chaste and whose soul is pure. Jesus
mas so changed the world that while
greater freedom of social intercourse is
given 10 our daughters, the bond of duty
and purity is made stronger and more
beautiful
The same remark holds good of wives.
The tone aud temper of the Old Testa-
meut is such, that while in comparison
with the representations of the coniu-
gal estate among heathen nations, that
of wives among the Hebrews was eleva-
ted, there is almost never present the
recognition Of an equality of interest, a
partnership Of love, and an equal share
IN all the destiny of the family. The
wife was useful in being the mother of
children, of sons that might add TO the
family wealth and dignity, of daughters
who might be the wives of other men;
and the wife was further seryiceable in
the capacity of cook, housekeeper and
general servant to her lord. Sometimes
10 happened thst he loved her, as Isaac
did Rebecca, and as Jacob did Rachel,
hut that was not thought TO be absolute
ly indispensable. There was no neces-
sary partnership of love in marriage.
You will take notice | am speaking of
the general impression made by the Old
Testament.
II ia far otherwise in the New Testa-
mcnt There ID no relaxation of the tie
of marriage There is no change in the
general work of the husband and wife.
relatively. She is still to obey The
husband is still the head of the wife
lie is still to provide for the household
she not. She Is still to do the domestic
work-he not. He has no right to go
about any pleasure or business which
makes him fail toprovide Tor the family;
she has no right in any employment of
pleasure until the domestic work is done.
But now all that domestic apartment is
frightened by the gospel of the Son of
Mary! How that lord" of a man be-
came a love of mani
The old Hebrew husband had no glory
from his wife She might be beautiful
as one of the cherubim of the Mercy
seat she might be as witty as any
OF the wise ladies" of the mother of /
Slsera, she might be as good as an angel
he had no glory of it. He had all this
In the meagerness of a solitary enjoy
ment, She did not have what our wise /
and good ahd lovely wives have, the en-
Joyment OF knowing that she shed glory
on her beloved husband. She never en- |
tered into his plans of greatness in |
effort, and she was allowed to have none |
of her own.
But Jesus changed all that by lifting
the wife into a loving partnership with |
the husband, until Peters wife shared |
the tolls and glorious fruits of her hus- |
bands Apostolate, and Aqsila and Pris-
ella are coupled in loving work for |
Jesus and for humanity, and until all |
wives are placed toward their husbands |
as Jesus placed the Church toward Him |
self, His Ever-bride for whom he died, |
and who lived ever with Him in holy
work on earth and in happy glory in
heaven.
The same holds good of widows. In
the sixth chapter of the Acts we read
that "there arose a murmuring of the
Grecians against the Hebrelcs, because
their aridotes were neglected in the daily
ministration." Such a murmuring could
not have occurred in the Hebrew church,
in the state of public opinion before
Jesus Even these Hebrews had become
ful of widows. The law of the Lord
IL -.