_Nature teaches us the Wisdom of adhering to the Divine Plan_.
Anatomists tell us that in the embryo skeleton there is a marked
difference of general conformation in the two sexes; that in the male
there is a larger chest and breathing apparatus, which, affects the
whole organization, forming a more powerful muscular system, and
producing a physical constitution which predestines him to bold
enterprises and daring exploits. The woman, being differently
constructed, finds it natural to content herself in the house, removed
from the gaze of the world, and from rude contact with its jostling
cares.
There is an outside and an inside world. The work of the street, or
the shop, or the field, is no more essential to the well-being of the
family than is the work performed in the house. God assigned to man
the field, or out-door work, and to woman the home and housework. In
proportion as men and women fill well their separate spheres, there is
harmony and happiness. Man toils, and provides for the wants of his
household. Woman toils, and sees to it that the children are well
reared, and that the house is well kept. Woman is respected and
supported, not in idleness, but in caring for the wants of those
committed to her care. The attempt is being made to disregard these
natural laws, by those who claim to have outgrown divine legislation,
and who have the hardihood to trample upon the laws of nature. But in
vain. When God made our first parents, he made them male and female,
and it will not be difficult to believe in the impossibility of the
finite being able to undo the work of the Infinite. Each has his and
her place, and nothing goes continuously right if husband and wife
change places. Keep the positions assigned them by the laws of God and
nature, and all will go well.
Give to woman the serious consideration due from every man born of
woman's agony, and you build her up in love, endow her with respect,
encourage her to cultivate her mind, and to develop the graces of her
nature. The mightiest influence which exists upon earth is concealed
in the heart of woman. It follows that her elevation and her
happiness, her education and usefulness, are objects of deep concern.
We have seen that the legislation of Heaven provides for the
gratification of the early longing of the soul for companionship in
making marriage honorable and love the holiest of instincts.
It is fashionable to talk against an early love. It is wrong thus to
do. "Youth longeth for a kindred spirit, and yearneth for a heart that
can commune with his own. He meditateth night and day, doting on the
image of his fancy." It is the tendency of an early love to inspire
youth with grand aspirations and lofty aims. "They that love early,
shall become like-minded, and the tempter shall touch them not. They
shall grow up, leaning on each other, as the olive and the vine."
It is only when love is scorned, when passion takes its place, when
man forgets that the idol of his heart is a probationer of earth like
himself, that it is his duty to be chary of her soul, feeling that it
is his jewel. It is only when a man ceases to be a man, and becomes a
beast, that he can consent, even in thought, to despoil woman of her
virtue; to trample upon the sacred instincts of her nobler nature.
A real woman will delight to make herself worthy of love. In the
advancement of her mind, quite as much as in the adornment of her
person, she strives to make herself beautiful as well as lovable. If
she forgets her duty, and consents to seem to be what she is not, so
that her admirer finds that the appearance which charmed him was not
real, then the future of that woman is dark indeed. Her husband will
discover, when too late, that "the harp and the voice may thrill him,
sound may enchant his ear, but, by and by, the hand will wither, and
the sweet notes turn to discord; the eye, so brilliant at even, may be
red with sorrow in the morning; and the sylph-like form of elegance
must writhe in the crampings of pain."
Naturally the man and woman will recognize the rule of God in the
choice of their vocation. He will go abroad, and she will stay at
home. He will earn the bread, and she will make it. He will build the
house, and she will keep it. The difference between their spheres of
labor seems naturally to be this: one is external, the other internal;
one active, the other passive. He has to go and seek out his path;
hers usually lies close under her feet. Yet, if life is meant to be a
worthy one, each must resolutely be trod.
"When the man wants weight, the woman takes it up,
And topples down the scales; but this is fixt
As are the roots of earth and base of all:
Man for the field, and woman for the hearth;
Man for the sword, and for the needle she;
Man with the head, and woman with the heart;
Man to command, and woman to obey;
All else confusion."
Woman is not content to remain separate and apart. She will give her
love to some object, and desires to repose her faith in some person
worthy of her regard. She lives for man. She dresses and studies for
him. She acquires knowledge and accomplishments, which are known to
please and to allure.
Woman, being by nature dependent, finds it easier to lay hold of the
offer of salvation than does man. His independent spirit keeps him
back. Woman has only to recognize her dependence upon One higher than
man, and in doing this is obliged to do but little violence to
her habits of thought and feeling, and no violence at all to such
sentiments of independence as stand most in the way of man. Hence men
shrink with horror from coming in contact with a godless woman. In
their eyes she is monstrous, unreasonable and offensive. Even an
utterly godless man, unless he be debauched and debased to the
position of an animal, deems such a woman without an excuse. He looks
on her with suspicion. He would not intrust his children to her care.
Oh happy lot, and hallowed even as the joy of angels, where the golden
chain of godliness is entwined with the roses of love, as one of our
own poets wrote:--
"O, what is woman--what her smile,
Her lip of love, her eye of light;
What is she if her lip revile
The lowly Jesus? Love may write
His name upon her noble brow,
Or linger in her curls of jet;
The bright spring flowers may scarcely bow
Beneath her step, and yet, and yet
Without that meeker grace, she'll be
A lighter thing than vanity."
Thus wrote N.P. Willis. He felt that a woman, with Christ in her
heart, was the _beau ideal_ of man. The home is her kingdom, and
the heart of husband or brother is her throne. In that sphere her
influence is the most potent instrumentality on earth.
Demosthenes declared that by this influence she can in an hour upset
the legislation of a year of statesmanship. Her power is, however,
through man, not apart from him.
This is the scriptural view. Nowhere do we read of woman as though
she had a mission apart from man. We talk of men and forget women. It
seems almost impossible to legislate for woman and forget man.
Mankind includes womankind, but womankind does not include mankind.
It may not be complimentary, yet it remains true, that the Scriptures
fail to furnish us with a model woman.
Jesus was the model man; but Eve, and Mary, and Rebekah, and Rachel,
were model women to none besides those to whom they were given as
wives. This, perhaps, is well, for it would be injudicious to try and
prove to any man that his wife should differ radically from herself.