San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-08-29
THE WOMAN IN THE CASE.

The Light preacher has been asked
by one of the deacons of his congre-
CATION, why he has not turned the
hose ON 1.-THE woman in the case"
charging that the structures of these
Sunday discourses have always been
made upon men and not upon the wo-
men. The plea to this charge is ''Not
guilty" for there has been no such
discrimination. The file of Light SER
mons on hand, in the old barrel, effec
tually disprove all such accusation
of discrimination. No class, no sex,
no sect have been put into the frame
work of these discOurses to the neg
lect of any other. If there has SEEM
ed to be any such preference for the
woman, then it is because the con-
sciences of men have pricked them,
and the result simply approves the
missionary work of this pulpit.
But the charge against the dis
courses of the Light pulpit should not
be lightly dismissed. A deeper read
ing of the law of selection, wiser dis
elimination of the law of relation is
hereby suggested, and because of this
suggestedness the present discourse is
prepared and committed to the mer-
ganthalers of the ever growing Sun
day Light.
The woman in the case has been in
it ever since those old days in which
the man. said "the woman which
thou gavest me beguiled me-" The
beguiling business has been going on
ever since, according to the mans
side of the story, and there is nothing
on earth that transpires, particularly
IL there is something shady and secret
in it, that it is not current report
that there is woman at the bottom
of it all. This may be true, and is true
in a sense, but without that dispar-
ragement of the woman that is usually
intended in the remark. AS woman is
the other half of man and his equiva-
lent in the work and worship of the
world it would be hard to have a man |
in the case without having a woman in |
it also. In this respect the earth diff |
fers from the moon.
The real cause of the woman in the |
case, in so far as her being in it is
charged as a reason or an excuse for
something, is because of the cowardice
of the man. Man is a coward, intern
ally much more than externally. He
is afraid of himself. He would sooner
face almost anything than sit soberly
down and face his own positive, de-
liberate, intelligent, honest judgment
of himself. This Discrimination to face
the situation inside leads him natur-
ely the conditions that he will not
face upon some one else. Who should
ne charge them upon, if not the wo-
man who is his natural half?
Not that he would permit the woman
outwardly to become the scapegoat of
his sins or fOolishness, for the ordinary
man, like the ordinary beast will de-
fend his female, but in his mind and
in so far as he excuses himself to
others, he will not lay the blame on
himself. There is another reason for
this. Woman is more self-sacrificing
than man, and will assume his guilt
for no other reason than to defend
him whom she loves. The maternal in
stinct in woman is strong. All true
women are as much mothers to their
husbands as wives and companions,
and this instinct of defense is in all
her movement. The reincarnationists
say that it is a survival from her old
condition in some lover form Of ami
NAL existence. Be that as it may, it
is there.
But outside Of this there is another
thing to be considered. The woman in
the case has the faculty Of
believing what she wishes to
This faculty is largely denied the
man. The man faces facts in all the