St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-09
THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.
Christ Taught Equality Between
the Sexes

Christ Taught Equality Between
the Sexes.
At the Church of Christ last evening
Rev. J. Lhamon discoursed upon 1.-The
Christian Woman" The equality be-
tween the Christian man and the Christ
iap woman, he said. is from Jesus, who
treated all with equal regard. if 4y
they did His fathers will. No more
potent or benefcent principle could
have been introduced into human soci-
ETY.. At the time when Jesus and His
apostles were ranking women as the
equals of men, the Roman people were
putting them in the position, legally
and socially, of slaves, or worse. Pagan
and half-pagan religions have done
nothing to better wOmankind. In India
to-day women are classed with the low
est castles; and, if they go to
heaven, they Will go as SudraS.
Arabia has maxim that when a girl
is born the threshold weeps four DAYS.
Among the Brahmins. the Buddists,
the COnfucians and the Mohammedans
a woman is held in a state of depend
ence. An old HindoO writer saws: I'm
infancy the father should guard her; in
youth. her husband, and in age, her
children; for at no time is a woman fit
10 be trusted with liberty. Infdelity,
violence. deceit, envy. extravaganza,
total want Of good qualities, with i'm
purity. are the innate faults Of women"
Another Arabian maxim, briefer than
all the others and more brutal, is that
the grave is the best son-in-law. Out of
such teaching have grown the unutter-
able woes OF pagan women. But we
turn TO the inviting pictures Of the Cos
pei, and we see Jesus treating Mary
and Martha with as much courtesy
as he did Lazarus: TO the woman at the
well in SamaTia preaching as faithfully
as TO the thousands on the n 1untain
side, refusing either 10 shame or con-
denim the woman whose accusers were
as guilty as she: and most touching of
all. in his agony on the cross, not for
getting to secure for his mother home.
''Talitha cumi, :" Maiden, arise, Woman
arise" is ChTist'S call TO all the maid
ems. wives, mothers and sisters of all
the lands where they lie dead III social
degradation, in marriage bonds where
love is not. IN motherhood that has not
the sympathy of fatherhood. or in such
a widowhOOd as makes the grave wei
come rest. and suicide seem juStifiable.
Christianity rehabilitates womanhood.
1t sends Priscilla out into the world
side by side with her husband. as
honorable as he, and with as great
possibilities for usefulness. Chris
tianity knows no geographical boun-
diaries, nor does it recognize the con-
ventiOnal limitations Of sex. but only
the natural ones. If in the garden of
Eden it was not good that man should
be alone. 50 neither is it good in any of
our modern gardens. The field of edu-
cation is but a modern Eden. wherein
AQ0ila and Priscilla must work side by
side. And so Of politics; and so of re-
IgiOn.
This Is not saying that woman must
handle the spade and hammer on horse
shoes unless she wants to; nor that she
shall vote and bear arms unless she
wants TO; it is not defining her work in
any field. though she pays taxes.
whether she wants 10 or not, and in
politics submits TO the licensing
Of the saloon against her will.
1t is simply saying that she
has a right in all these fields. and that
in none Of them can we men of any age
say to her. Thus far shalt thou come.
but no farther" The leaven of Christ
ianity working in humanity, WOman's
own sweet Will, as consecrated by that
leaven. and the prOpriet1es Of woman
hood itself, refined and glorifed by
Christian civilization will settle the
question as 10 how far she may go. or
rather how far she will go in any field.
One thing is certain-the boys and men
Of the years just at hand Will not dare
10 fall much below the highwater mark
Of manhood, or the high-tide Of coming
womanhood will roll far over it. Miss
willard says, Weighted with the
alcohol and the tobacco habits, Brother
Jonathan will have to make better time
than he is doing now if he keeps step
with Sister Deborah across the threshold
of the twentieth century"