Delaware gazette and state journal., 1895-12-05

The following sermon, recently
preached in st. Paul's M. e. Church
by the Rev. Thomas E. Terry, is pub
lished by request His subject was
1.-THE Coming Woman" and his text,
Isaiah xxxii., g.; "Rise up, ye women
that are at ease; hear my voice, ye
careless daughters; give ear unto my
speech. He said!
One great mistake most persons who
speak or write concerning human pro-
gress to-day make, is in assuming that
the interests Of either sex can be ma
terially advanced apart from the other.
God made man and woman for com
panionship, made them to dwell to-
gether, each to be the complement of
the other, assigned them their re-
spective places and spheres of activity,
and appointed them their duties, and
every attempt to separate them is an
effort to undo what God has done, and
what He intends shall stand as long
as time and human relations endure,
and SO, the one important thing for us
men and woman to do is to inquire
how we may best aid each other, and
having found out how this may be
done, do 1T the best we can.
In the Scriptures the same attention
is given to the development of charac-
ter in woman as in man. There we
see demonstrated the unfaltering faith
of Abraham, the shrewd business ca
pacity Of Jacob, the intrepid warrior
in Joshua and Gideon, the patient
endurance of Job, and the scholarly
David, and their virtues are empha-
sized by contrast with the dis
obedience of Saul, the impiety of Ellis
SONS, the jealous ambition Of Jeroboam,
and the wickedness Of Ahab. Here,
too, we see the maternal partiality Of
Rebeka, the fidelity of Rachel tho
patriotic ardour of Deborah, the un-
faltering devotion of Esther and Of
Ruth; and these are set against the
dark background of the treachery Of
Delilah, the cruelty of Jezebel, and
the implaoable vengeance of Herodias
and her proffligate daughter. Here,
too, as with the man, SO also with the
woman the ideal life is set before us
life of useful employment. 1t
d is not idle, luxurious enjoyment; it is
not to do nothing, to he eternaly
waited upon and ministered unto, TO
grow torpid by inaction, to slumber
away life in lethargic dream, and TO
lose the powers of the soul and body
by disuse; but to earn cheerfulness
and eelf-approbation by the sweet con-
sciousness that you are not living
wholly in vain, and to rise into i'm
portance by being useful to your fellow
creatures. Which of the two is the
more pleasing picture, which is the
happier of the two, Ruth, laden with
the corn she has labored to gather,
Fastening home TO the hut of obscuritv,
to administer food and comfort to old
age and sorrow, or modern belle
going forth under a load of uneasy
tinery, to imaginary triumphs, and
certain disappointments?"
When we consider what woman has
been in the rasr, what she is to-day,
and what she may become, aye, and
what the purpose OF God in her
creation and the necessities of the race
demand she shall become, the ringing
challenge of the text demands careful
attention.
Hear the challenge-"R Rise up We
women that are at ease; hear my voice
ye careless daughters. " Put YOUR
selves in position to hear the message
that comes to you to-day; for YOU
cannot, YOU dare not disregard the
voice of duty, it is the voice Of God.
Woman has always been the source of
man highest Joys and Of his bitterest
woes. Adam could not have been
either very happy or very useful with
out her, for he was alone, but she who
was his crowning blessing led the way
also to his ruin. Solomon, whose re-
nown has filled the earth and who en-
joyed understandable riches and honor
as the gift Of God, renounced his
faith in God and became a miserable
ldolator, and the secret of his ruin is
told In the single sentence "But King
Solomon loved many strange women
together with the daughter Of Pharoah,
and his wives turned away his heart
after other gods. " Mark Antony
found in the society of Cleopatra more
pleasure than in the governing of
Rome, but her friendship cost him the
sceptre OF the empire. The history OF
Rome is stained with the foul deeds
OF a wicked Tulla, while England
dates the beginning Of her glorious era
from the reign of Elizabeth. There is
no evil that curses our civilization
that is not rendered worse by womans
influence, nor is there any reformation
that has blest us that sho has not pro-
NOTED. There is no crime committed
by man into which she has not led
him, neither is there any virtue that
adorns his life that is not the effect of
her influence.
Every impersonation of the highest
conception of art is represented by
woman. In ancient mythology she
plays prominent part. In Ephesus
the highest conception Of divinity was
the goddess Diana. Among the ancient
Greeks while the mighty Jupiter was
In some respects the greater, Minerva,
or Athene as she was afterward named
mad no less respect paid her. She was
considered the patron of heroism, of
agrlcuiture, philosophy and art. In
ner hand she held the spool, the
spindle and the needle thus represent.
Ing the chief arts in which the women
OF that period exceled, and waa re.
garded as the symbol of Thought and
the goddess of wisdom. In Rome. M
Other deity held such undisputed SWAY
over the masses as Venus, the goddess az
beauty and love, and however rorrunt
her worship may have been t6e
principle holds true it was simnlv
their highest conception of beaiity
represented by art. il va look NJ Nh
national coat of arms we find our
national liberties represented by ia.
male figure, the Goddess of Liberty.
Whether for good or for evil woman .
influence is always greater than mans
influence and that for two reasons
First because OF her positive, personal
aud indomitabe spirit. Sac has struck
cant" out Of her vocabulary and
always assumes the possibility of what
she undertakes. Secondly, her infu.
ence is greater because Of the respect
that we, as men, naturally e,+..t"ia