The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1908-11-12
WOMEN AND THE TEN COM
MANDMENTS,


ter: Are women bound by the Ten
/ Commandments? Doubtless many
will regard this as a foolish inquiry.
However this may be it is gravely dis
cussed in a late number of one of the
! great magazines, the North American
I Review. and by none other than It's
editor, George Harvey, who has one OF
! the brightest minds and most faciie
! pens in the world of modern letters.
/ The question came up n a discussion
upon plane of absolute equality with
men, including the right or privilege
( of the franchise. Colonel Harvey ex-
pressed doubt if women generally ap-
| preciate the magnitude of the sacri-
| fee they would be required TO make II
| they should be so placed He pointed
out that they cannot hope to acquire
equal rights and privileges without as
Stunning simultaneously equal obliga-
tions under religious as we'll as under
secular law. He conceded that TO
those who are unacquainted with the
inestimable boon which they now pos
se3s in being exempt from the prohibit
! tons imposed by the Decalogue upon
men in respect of certain specified
acts, the acceptance of full RESPONSE
bility signifies little, If any, addition
to the burdens now borne. But wiser
ones he went on to say, doubtless
appreciate the extent of the immunity
which they now enjoy, and they may
well hesitate for long time to for
sake, for mere temporary advantages,
position likely to prove so service
able in tle hereafter" Whether fem
mime opposition to the attempt to es-
tablish equal rights on earth is based,
in part, upon intelligent realization of
! the accompanying necessity of waiv-
ing this precious privilege he did not
undertake to say, but he held it to be
clear that no woman should be per-
mitted, through ignorance or misap-
prehension, to adopt a course which
might tend to her undying regret in
the world to come.
The point that Colonel Harvey seeks
to make is that women are not only
not bound by, but are freed at least by
inference, from any obligation to
observe the requirements of our fun
damental religious law He holds that
the Ten Commandments were written
for men and apply to men exclusively,
except in so far as indirectly, through
the agency of men, certain minor du.
ties are imposed upon members of
their households, and that even here
the full responsibility deYolves upon
the head of the tribe or family. In
support OF this contention he SAYS:
THE Fourth Commandment. p-o-
vidfng for proper yet practicable
observance of the Sabbath directs
that in it thou shalt not do any work
thou. nor thy son. nor thy daughter.
thy man-servant: nor thy maid-ser-
want. nor thy stranger that is with
in thy gates All members of the
household are comprised within the
prohibition except one Nor thy
wife does not appear, and some have
been led to suppose that the signifi-
cant omission means that thou in
cludes both husband and wife. -he
true explanation is quite different. as
We Immediately perceive upon com
pairing this with the Tenth Command
ment: Thou shalt not coyet thy
neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-ser-
want, nor his maid-servant, nor his
OK nor his ass. nor anything that is
thy neighbours
Clearly here thou does not in
clude the wife with the husband: the
Injunction is addressed explicitly and
exclusively to the head of the house
hold, who is very properly forbidden
to coyet any of his neighbors op-
critics. some of which are specified
in the order OF their value. wo
omissions from this Commandment as
contrasted with the Fourth possess
peculiar significance The head of the
family must not permit his son or
daughter 10 -ork on the Sabbath. but
ne is not forbidden to coyet the chill
dren OF his neighbor The reason for
this differentiation is plain Any ex.
cept necessary toll on the seventh
day would be unseemly in the one
case. and in the other. there was nc
need to forbid the coyeting Of the priv
ilege Of supporting non-produeing
young persons Only the wives and
servants and oxen and asses pos
sesssd actual value IN common with
inanirnats possessions
The reason for the omission Of 'thy
wife from the Fourth Commandment
now becomes manifest. Nature re
quired that sustenance should be up
Piled to the human bodY even on tht
seventh day, and It had, Of course. II
be preuared and served by some per
. son. The Injunction against work be
2 ing performed b. any member Of tbs
9 household except the wife leaves NJ
/. room for doubt "a 10 who that rersoI
n was. Moreover. the custom Of the Jew
at that period and 70 Z much later ia,
!, confirms the theory that on this ia,
:, even the servants we're 70 -emsin idle
- that they II the anpIised Denteron
n omy version may rest as thou e
4 the head Of the and that n
D. wives should perform the necessar
IF services.
i. THE careful phrasiug in both form
of the Fourth and Tenth Command
=. ments definitely disposes Of AM ide
: that +[a 1a-- ra-1 r-e.sp. ~ ar-7