The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-18
W0MAN AND CHRISTIANITY
HER CONDITION UyIlfR PAGANISM
AND UNDER CHRIS TfAHIIY.

bhow OF Learning Anht II Wae better III
tho Pagan world Than Now-Father
shahan Replies to Some Opponents-An-
other Cathode Says the State, Not
the Church, Helps Woman Upward.
To n EprroR OF THE SUH-Sfr. To show
how utterly untennble Is Cardinal Gibbons's
statement regarding the position OF pagan and
Christian women l call your attention to Ger.
tain data.
In nearly every pagan religious GUMS the ie-
male deity has shared equally the divine power
OF the male. In ancient Babylonia and Assyria
Ishtar occapies a supreme place among the
deities. Jastrow t"Rslision OF Babylonis and
Assyria." 69il tells us that the standard OF
morality was high both In Babylonla and AS
syria. The legal and commercial tablets re-
veal that proper consideration was given to
the treatment OF women-a most satisfactory
fudsx Of ethical conditions. She could hold
property and dispose OF II. Before the courts
her status did not differ materially from that
OF the male population. The husband could
not divorce his wife without sufficient cause.
and children owed obedience to the mother as
we'll a. to the father" Among the Egyptians
the female element entered into every trinity
and Isis shared with Osiris divine worship
Diodorus Siculus tom. ILL., tells us that the
superiority OF the female sex was established
IN Egypt as a civil and religious institution.
In the oldest book In the world. THE Precepts
OF Ptah- Hotep," now easily accessible IN Prot.
Sayce's additions to The Records OF the
Past" tvol. ILL., II says txxi.): Love thy wife
without alloy: Ali her stomach. clothe her
back. caress her. iulnl her desires during the
time OF her existencs: 1t 10 a kindness which
does honor 10 its possessor. Be not brutal
tact will influence her better than violence.
Open thy arms to her. display TO her thy love"
In the Greek Olympus the female divinity is
very much in evidence. The women Of Homer
we're exceptionally honored. Among the
Dorians the vito received equal consideration
with the husband. receiving the title OF mis-
tress and as mana ger Of the household and as
mother. her position was supreme. Plutarch,
in his Lycurgus. tells that In Sparta young men
lived In the presence Of unmarried women. and
as their derision was an object OF dread. so to
be the theme OF their praise was the highest
reward for noble action OF the Athenian
woman outside Of the hetaire. there Ia much
10 show that her POSITION was not that degraded
one which Christian writer's delight In draw.
ing. II we may believe ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS"
tx. the supreme control OF everything inside
the house rested with the wife. In Plutarch's
life OF ~Themistocles he tells us that one day
EHlle iOUOlluk MS " no Sulu' AUS HNllt
fellow 10 the most important person | know"
His friends inquired his meaning. when he
answered; why. he completely rules his
mother. while che governs me and / the whole
OF Greece" In the Laws Of Plato he says that
he who does not marry for money will not be
the humble servant OF his wife. and for a re-
pressed woman Xantippe made It pretty hot for
Socrates.
But OF no epoch In all written history has
there been so many falsehoods advanced by
Christian writer's as that OF Rome at the ad-
vent OF Christianity but they can paint no
background black enough to dim the horrors
OF the ten centuries that followed. II we ac-
cent as absolutely true the ertravagances OF
professed ~satirists. like Juvenal and Perseus.
the pagan women would. even then. compare
favorably with the Christian woman as
pictured In the Epistles OF St. Jerome.
Father OF the Church. or with the Christian
world In England In the reign OF George ~. !;
or with the nobility Of Queen Victoria as dis
closed In the trial Of Oscar Wilde or. with that
lower strata. which Gen. Booth has exploited
In Darkest Ens or. coming nearer
home. In that other hall. Of which Jacob Riis
has written so much. That there were cor
rupt pagan women during the closing years Of
the Roman Empire goes without saying. but
then there we're also pure. sweet pagan women
in innumerable numbers. women like the wife
Of Plutarch. who could extort from him one OF
the tenderest epistles In any language women
like Fabia. the wife OF Pratextatus Readers
who care for a most admirable summary OF the
state Of Roman society In the middle OF the
frst century. will And It In the eighteenth
chapter Of Remains Apostles"
OF the elevated position OF the Tentonic
woman, both as deity and helpmate. the litera-
ture Is superintendent. Both Caesar and Taci-
tus attest it. and Gummers In his "Germanic
Origins" has presented the facts In concise
order. No one can read O'Curry's Manners
and Customs Of the Ancient Irish" Wood.
Martins Pagan Ireland" and Rhys's Celtic
Heathendom" and doubt that all which goes to
make up the freedom. the happiness, the honor
and we'll being OF womankind was more as
sured to the pagan Irish woman than all the
Church OF Rome has ever given her.
OF the pagan o. the Orient, regarding
whose sad condition Christian missionaries
have written so much. their fate Is not wholly
%untoward. Sir Monier Williams C'Brah-
nanism and Hinduism" 1917 tells US that the
Hindu wife IL generally loved and that cruel
treatment by brutal husbands Is utterly un-
known /, that Hindu wives often possess greater
1nnuence IMAM the wives OF Europe, tnht they
are generally satisfied with their position and
desire no change. He adds that without their
support both Brahmanism and Hinduism
would rapidly collapse, thus proving how wide
and close are tho instincts Of humanity. for
who can doubt how soon Christianity would
10 relegated to the forgotten creeds were
women to withdraw themselves from the rews?
Without them II would never have existed.
without them 1t would die.
OF the women Of China. DR.. S. Wells WILL
Jams C'Middls Kingdom" /. 572 seq. 6Sll
tells US that seminaries for their education are
not at all uncommon and that 1t Is not unusual
TO find private tutors giving instruction to
young women IN their homes. Literary,at-
tainments are considered creditable to women.
and a list OF Chinese authoresses would be
long. The picture he draws OF the Chinese
woman Invested OF those sober shades with
which every missionary paint pot overtiows.
the Chinese woman would have no occasion to
resent. Pan Hwui-pan. one OF the most dis
tinguished female writer's OF China. tells US that
female virtue does not consist In extreme in
telligence. but In being modestly grave and in
violably chaste. Should a disciple of Confuclus
attend a unction Of the Four Hundred in any
city Of the United States what would he report
Of the hall. Christian women who would
welcome him to the mazes Of IN" waltz?
Mrs. Ieon-Owens went to the court OF the
King Of Siam hoping to convert to Christianity
the royal household, but she found there pure