The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-05

WOMEN AND CHRISTIANITY.

In the GOSpelS women followed christ
and ministered unto Him. including a
woman who had had five husbands
and was living with a man not her hus-
band. With this woman Christ holds
earnest conversation. and to her he pro-
claims the grandest truths of His revela-
ton. 1t is a woman described by st.
Luke as "a sinner of the city, that
anoints Christ's feet and washes them
with her hair. Christ is dear to the
women Of the family of Bethany and
talks freely to his sisters on spiritual sub
jects. According to St. John, Christ first
makes his appearance to Mary Magdalen
after the resurrection, and Christ treats
the woman caught in adultery with mild
ness rather than severity. Passing from
Christ, whose example in the matter of
the Magdalen is not part of the modern
imitation of the Great Master, since
The sin forgiven by Christ in Heaven
By man 10 cursed AWAY,
We find that st. Paul's opinions con-
corning the marriage and conduct of
women are of a stern and restrictive
nature, and these opinions were made the
groundwork and the support of the
depreciation of marriage prevalent in the
third and fourth centuries, when women
had come to be regarded by the Christian
fathers as tempters of men. They were
vigorously excluded from every sacred
function. in marked contrast with both
heather and heretical practices. In Rome
the wife of the Pontifex Maximus
took the lead in the religious rites
that specially concerned women.
The priest, known as the ''hamen
dialis," must be married and his wife
was also a priestess. The vestal virgins
were treated with the highest public re-
spect and enjoyed the largest liberty. The
heretical Christians alone initiated these
heather religious honors to women. They
gave special thanks to Eve and celebrated
the sister of Moses and the four daughters
of Philip. because they asserted the right
of women to preach the Gospel in public.
In this sect of here teal Christians women
held the place of bishops and elders and
deacons as well as men, and it was this
sect that Tertullian denounced when he
said: "The women of these heretics are
bold enough to teach. to dispute, to under
take cures, it may be even to baptize."
1t is clear, also. that marriage fell into
disrepute. Methodius claimed that mar
riaga is state of inferiority, and Tertul.
liam speaks Of wives as women OF the sec
churches: "Let them be silent. and at
home consult their own husbands" This
ascetic antagonism OF the early church
had degrading influence on family life.
Children are seldom mentioned in the
Christian writings of the third and fourth
centuries. Nothing is said of their train
ing; no efforts are made for their instruc-
ton, for the head of the early church had
made the orthodox Christians believe that
the world had enough of children and
was fully stocked, and that every birth
was cause of sorrow. not Of joy."
The ascetical Tertullian calls women
"the devils gateway, the unsealer of thar
forbidden tree" and orders women TO take
and keep subordinate place. obey their
husbands, serve them and refrain from all
unnecessary publicity. Tertullian was
supported by Clement of Alexandria, and
Gregory Thaurnaturgus brutally denounces
women, saying: Verify person NAV
find one man chaste among a thousand.
but a woman never" The Testament of
the Twelve Pa:riarchs makes the same
vulgar statement concerning the chastity
of women.
The early Christian church was un-
doubtedly taught &c treat women las
frivolous, dress-lovinE. lust-inspiring crea-
lures" The consequence of this vile esti-
mate Of women by the early church was 4
deteriorating effect on posteriiy, as the
best men and women. the spiritually
minded and the virtuous. obeyed the
church and left no children. The laymen,
being taught that marriage might be
hcen6ous, were disposed TO neglect matri-
mony for loose connections, and the re-
suit was the survival Of the unittest"
Principal Donaldson. of the great
Scottish University Of st. Andrew, rever-
ent Christian scholar of high rank, thinks
that this absence OF domestic affection.
this deficiency II heslthy snd vigorous
offspring. this homelessness, accounts IN
some degree for the prevalent hardness of
heart Of the next century, when treatises