Chapter XI.

Account of Paul and his Companions meeting with Lydia by the River-side

at Philippi--the Impression produced upon her Heart by the Preaching of

Paul--Remarks on Conversion as exemplified in the Case of this

Disciple--its Seat the Heart--its Accomplishment the Result of divine

Agency--the Manner of it noticed--the Effects of a divine Influence upon

the human Mind, namely, attention to the Word of God and the Ordinances

of the Gospel, and affectionate Regard to the Servants of

Christ--Remarks on the Paucity of real Christians--the multiplying Power

of Christianity--its present State in Britain--Efforts of the

Bible Society.

The historical part of the New Testament, called the ACTS or THE APOSTLES,

contains a faithful record of the early propagation of the Gospel and the

incessant exertions of the first labourers in the vineyard. They were not

men who "wasted their strength in strenuous idleness," or dissipated the

time of action in "laboriously doing nothing;" but were endowed with

extraordinary qualifications and an inextinguishable zeal for their novel

and interesting employment. They reflected the light of the Sun of

Righteousness upon a dark age, and glowed with the very spirit of their

ascended Lord. Remarkable effects were produced upon the moral world,

notwithstanding the counteracting influence of human prejudice and

opposition; and as they quitted the world, amidst the whirlwinds of

persecution and in the flames of martyrdom, they dropped from their

ascending chariots the mantle upon their successors in office, who

"entered into their labours," and continued "with great power" to give

"witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon

them all."

So wonderful are the appointments of Providence, that we find a youth who

took an active part in the murder of the first martyr to the Christian

cause, and afterward breathed forth an unrelenting hostility against all

its adherents, selected as the chief instrument of its extension in

various countries. That mighty energy which "commanded the light to shine

out of darkness," as he was on a persecuting expedition to Damascus,

"shined into his heart," and by a miraculous interposition not only

checked him in his career, but communicated to him "the light of the

knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus," and turned all

the energies of his character into a new and most important course of

exertion. He became a Christian, a preacher, an apostle, and a missionary

to the Gentile world: and while by his indefatigable labours he benefitted

so large a proportion of his contemporaries, by his inspired epistles he

has instructed the church 'of God in every succeeding age of the world.

Paul appears to have travelled over a considerable portion of Asia and

part of Europe. Barnabas, and afterward Silas and Timotheus, accompanied

him. In many places he suffered great personal injury, and his valuable

life was repeatedly endangered. Having passed through Phrygia and the

proconsular province of Asia, of which Ephesus was the capital, Paul and

Silas came at length to Troas, where the former had a vision, in which he

saw an inhabitant of Macedonia standing before him, and uttering this

request, "Come over and help us." This impressed his mind with a

conviction that he was called in providence to preach the gospel in that

part of Greece; and he immediately sailed down the Aegean Sea by the

island of Samothracia and the port of Neapolis, and from thence to

Philippi, which was a Roman colony. [45]

In this city, whither it seems probable from the history, that Luke had

accompanied them, they remained some days; and here we are introduced to

the brief but instructive account of the excellent woman whose name is

prefixed to this chapter.

Paul, and the companions of his missionary tour, first met with Lydia at

one of the Jewish places of prayer by the river-side, which ran near the

city. The Temple at Jerusalem, and previously the Tabernacle, were the

appointed places for the public worship of God, in the open court of

which, before the altar, the people assembled. But such as lived at a

distance, or from local inconveniences could not constantly repair to the

place of general association, were allowed to build _Proseuchiæ_, or

_Oratories_, in one of which our Saviour continued all night in prayer.

They had no covering like synagogues, but were surrounded by porticoes, to

afford shelter from the inclemency of the weather, and were erected in the

suburbs of a city, by the baths or near rivers, on account of the

purifications so frequent with the Jews, and usually on very elevated

spots of ground. The proseucha signalized by the devotions of Christ was

on a mountain. Some have supposed that Isaac went out to meditate in the

evening in a place of this description. These were probably the _high

places_ of ancient times, in or near which groves were planted, and which

are only condemned in Scripture when appropriated to idolatrous purposes.

"I am like a green olive tree," says the Psalmist, "in the house of God."

Availing themselves of the opportunity afforded by the resort of devout

persons to these religious retirements, these zealous ministers of the

Gospel conversed and preached to the people, who on this occasion were

chiefly women. But though many were addressed, it does not appear that

more than one was substantially benefitted. Her attention was excited, her

heart opened, and her profession of the name of Jesus immediate and

public. The several points of her character deserve particular and

distinct illustration.

Lydia is said to have been of the city of Thyatira; but whether she had

removed to Philippi, or was only come for the purpose of trade, is not

certain. She was one who "worshipped God," that is, one who, in

distinction from the heathen around her, had learned the character of

Jehovah, and was probably a Jewish proselyte. [46] Instructed in the

ancient records of that extraordinary nation, which had been so many past

ages the only depository of divine truth, she was expecting the predicted

Messiah; and while, from the natural aversion of mankind to the

humiliating doctrine of salvation through a crucified person, the greater

proportion of Jews rejected him, she experienced a true conversion, not

only from the principles of heathenism, but from those of Judaism, to the

Gospel of Jesus Christ. A few instances of this description occur in the

evangelical record to show the sovereignty and diversified operations of

the grace of God.

That moral change, that spiritual renovation, which has been called

CONVERSION, is, we are aware, and ever will be, the subject of profane

ridicule amongst unbelievers. It does not indeed produce any astonishment,

although it awakens extreme regret, that one of the most obvious effects

resulting from the publication of the Gospel of Christ should be so

unblushingly denied by this class of mankind. "The natural man discerneth

not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are spiritually

discerned." The scriptures themselves predict this incapacity, even in

some of the most refined and intellectual of our species, to form a

conception of this marvellous change; and experience evinces the truth of

what they affirm, and which originates in the very nature of things. It

is characteristic of human perversity to disbelieve what is imperceptible

to reason or invisible to sense, and to vaunt itself upon that very

infidelity as a distinctive mark of pre-eminence, which is, in fact, a

proof of debasement and guilt. If a system of religion were to be so

constructed as to be exempt from the ridicule of the profane, it must be

itself ridiculous; because their distorted minds cannot discern the

beauties of truth, and their depraved feelings will not admit her claims.

To secure their approbation religion must change her character, alter her

doctrines, new cast her precepts, and new modify her principles.

Lydia presents an interesting specimen not only of the reality but of the

nature of the great work of conversion; and, however contemptible the

subject may appear in the eye of a dissipated world, or to the mind of a

prejudiced reader, we hesitate not to state the sentiments which

necessarily arise out of the present example respecting the seat and

source of this change, the agent by whom it is accomplished, and the

corresponding effects produced.

1. Our attention is, in the first place, to be directed to _the seat of

this spiritual renovation_. It is said of Lydia, that her HEART was

opened. This change, therefore, is of a moral nature, not merely

circumstantial, but radical. It does not consist in assuming a new name,

professing new opinions, using a new language, performing a few rites and

ceremonies, or reforming a few exterior vices, These are only

branches--the tree itself must be made good--the crab stock of nature must

be grafted with spiritual principles, and by being planted in the garden

of the Lord be brought under a heavenly culture. It is then only "the

fruits of righteousness" may be anticipated, "which are to the glory and

praise of God."

The disordered state of the passions is a striking evidence of human

degeneracy. In consequence of this a thousand mistakes are committed, and

a thousand follies practised. Each passion is fixed on a wrong object,

pursues an unworthy end, and is susceptible of false impressions. Indeed,

the will is totally perverted, and chooses, with obstinate resolution,

whatever is erroneous and criminal; on which account men are represented

in the metaphorical language of Scripture, as "loving darkness rather than

light." So astonishing is the degree of this perversion, that the Supreme

_Good_ is dreaded and avoided as if he were the only _evil_ in the

universe; and, however vain the attempt, guilt is continually seeking

concealment in some secret covert, some supposed security from his

omniscient inspection. Captivated by deceitful appearances, human

confidence is perpetually misplaced, and therefore perpetually betrayed;

the siren song of pleasure soothes the unhappy captives of her bewitching

charms into the bosom of destruction--the splendour of earthly

distinctions dims the eye of sense, and prevents its perception of the

bright realities of heaven. In fact, such has been the melancholy effect

of sin upon the perceptions of the human soul, that every thing is seen

through the medium of sensual passions in an inverted position--good seems

evil, and evil good--and till this disorder become rectified by a divine

touch, the heart will remain at enmity against God, the refuge and resort

of the worst dispositions, and the great central pandemonium of every

diabolical affection. Such is the statement of Jesus Christ himself, "From

within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,

fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,

lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these

things come from within, and defile the man."

As the intellectual and moral state of man are, in a religious view,

closely connected, the renovation of the heart is essentially connected

with an important change in the understanding. The latter may, indeed, be

considerably improved and informed when no spiritual effect is produced

upon the former, but the former cannot be renewed without corresponding

and coincident effects on the latter; and the illumination of the

understanding is so universal, that believers are said to be "light in the

Lord." Their perceptions of truth are not mere gleamings and streaks of

divine radiance thrown across the obscurity of the mind, but all is light.

Nor is it merely new light diffused over objects familiar to the thoughts,

but a discovery of new scenes. The soul, in a sense, changes its

hemisphere, emerges from darkness, ascends to the summits of Pisgah, and

contemplates the ineffable glories of a new creation. "If any man be in

Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all

things are become new." How touching and how worthy of adoption the

poet's language:

"Celestial light

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers

Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence

Purge and disperse!"

MILTON.

The total renovation of the heart is evinced by susceptibility of

conscience. This moral faculty, in an unregenerate state, is either

perverted or hardened. In the former case, our obligations are not

clearly discerned, or are easily dispensed with; in the latter, the most

powerful appeals to love or fear are resisted. In the progress of sin to

its most awful consummation, those gentle whispers which were at first

noticed, and made the transgressor tremble till he sometimes let fall the

forbidden fruit, are at length unheard. Every intimation is silenced by

guilty merriment, which perhaps was at first forced, but soon becomes

habitual. Where conscience is not lulled into total inaction, it is, in

this state of character, violated with little remorse. The mind loses

sight of the glory of God, its best regulating principle; it is alive to

personal interests only, and discards every thing of a nobler nature. But,

in the sincere and humble Christian, conscience is tender, easily offended

with evil, and gradually approximating that state of susceptibly in

respect to sin, in which it resembles a well-polished mirror, that shows

the slightest particle of dust or damp upon its surface. Such a conscience

is no less _rigorous_ than it is tender, and repels temptation with

persevering energy. It will hold no debate with the tempter; and so far

from seeking to ascertain how far it may advance towards sinful

compliances without contracting actual guilt, it will "abstain from all

_appearance_ of evil."

In stating that the heart is the seat of those principles and the source

of that transformation of character which is comprehended in the term

_conversion_, it is intended to express the _permanent_ nature of the

change. It is not an opinion or an emotions resembling the morning cloud

and early dew that pass away, but an abiding and deep-wrought alteration.

"He which hath begun a good work in you, will carry it on until the day of

Christ Jesus;" in consequence of which, "the path of the just is as the

shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

"That such improvements of character often _have_ occurred, and are often

taking place now, cannot be denied by any philosophic observer of human

nature: to disregard them, or to neglect an investigation of their use, is

to neglect one of the most interesting classes of facts observable amongst

mankind. Who has not either heard of or witnessed the most extraordinary

changes of conduct, produced through the _apparent_ influence (to say the

least) of religious motives? I say nothing here of the _three thousand_

converted in one day at the feast of Pentecost--of the conversion of St.

Paul and others mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles--because those are

usually ascribed to the miraculous and _extraordinary_ influences of the

Holy Spirit in the apostolic times. But I may call your attention

ttomatters of more recent occurrence. You have witnessed instances of men

running eagerly the career of folly and dissipation, who have been

suddenly arrested, and changed from 'lovers of pleasure' to 'lovers of

God.' You have known others who have devoted themselves early to the

military profession, who literally knew _no_ fear, who have spent their

lives in the pursuit of glory, who have approached the verge of life full

of scars and full of honours, still panting after 'glory, honour,

immortality,' but thinking nothing of 'eternal life;' till, touched by an

irresistible hand, they have been transformed from good soldiers to 'good

soldiers of Jesus Christ,' have buckled on 'the armour of God,' 'fought

the good fight of faith,' and following 'the Captain of their salvation,'

have obtained 'the victory,' and been rewarded with _unfading_ laurels.

Others again, you have known, who have been strong and _high-minded_,

professing never to be subdued but by the force of argument, and

dexterously evading an argument when it _was_ forcible, if it were

calculated to expose the sophistry of 'free-thinking,' (as it is called,)

or to exhibit the reasonableness and advantages of being pious; you have

seen them increase in the dexterity of unbelief, and in callousness to

_moral_ impression, year after year,

'Gleaning the blunted shafts that have recoil'd,

Aiming them at the shield of truth again;'

and when a band of them has gone to church for the purpose of quizzing, or

of staring out of countenance some preacher of rather more than usual

energy and zeal, have known one of this band pierced by 'a dart from the

archer,' convinced that religion is 'the one thing needful,' and though he

came 'to scoff, remaining to pray.'" [47]

II. The second observable circumstance in the inspired account of Lydia's

conversion is, _its accomplishment by divine agency_. It is stated that

the LORD opened her heart. The effect is not ascribed to the apostle Paul,

or his illustrious coadjutors in the Christian ministry. They might speak

with the tongue of angels, and hum with the zeal of seraphs; to them might

be given in trust "the everlasting Gospel," which, like the apocalyptic

angel, they were carrying through "the midst of heaven" to the inhabitants

of the earth, "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people;" they

might indeed possess the power not only of placing facts in the clearest

light, or urging arguments in the most forcible manner, but even of

working miracles; still they could not "open the heart." Indefatigable as

they were in their labours, they could not command success. At this

precise point human instrumentality ceases, and divine agency commences.

It is by no means an unfrequent effect of ministerial fidelity, to confirm

the native aversion of the impenitent to the doctrines of Christ. Pride

resists conviction, and fosters prejudice; and however unanswerable the

statements, or fervent the appeals which may be addressed to them, the

mind still remains unsubdued, the heart is still unopened. It requires the

interposal of a mightier power than either reason, remonstrance, or

miracle, to accomplish this wonderful transformation of character. Hosts

of apostles and legions of angels would be incompetent by their own

unaided exertions, to do "any thing as of themselves;" to give light to

_one_ blind eye, or to rectify _one_ prejudiced heart.

Human agency, then, cannot be of itself effectual. It is the _Lord_ who

opens the ear, the eye, the conscience, the understanding, and the

_heart_. The weapons of that spiritual warfare, in which Christian

ministers are engaged, can alone "pull down strong holds, cast down

imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the

knowledge of God," and "bring into captivity every thought to the

obedience of Christ," being "mighty _through God_." What would the weapon

accomplish, if the hand of Almighty power were not to grasp and wield it?

The experience of modern preachers, no doubt, resembles that of their

apostolic predecessors in the same field of holy labour. When

stout-hearted sinners have been attacked by all the force of argument, all

the power of eloquence, all the fire of zeal, all the holy violence of

appeal, all the tenderness of tears, and all the terrors of

denunciation--and when it might have been expected that a heart of marble

thus smitten must yield and break, and yet no emotion, at least no

repentance, no relinquishment of sin, and no obedience to Christ has

resulted--how often have they retired exclaiming, "_O the impotence of

human instrumentality!_" But when returning to their work, desponding or

deeply apprehensive, "going forth weeping, bearing precious seed," they

have at length seen the rebel struck, and in a moment abashed, humbled,

penitent--melted at a word--his prejudices dashed to the ground, like

Lucifer from heaven--his heart opened, like that of Lydia, and the bitter

stream of his enmity turned into the sweetness of Christian love--They

have paused--inquired--wondered--beheld the "_excellency_ of the power,"

which was "not of man, but of God;" and have retired exclaiming, "_O the

omnipotence of divine grace!_"

It is an extraordinary circumstance, that the agency of God, in the

production of the natural world, should be universally admitted, because

no other adequate cause can be assigned; and yet that it should, with so

little hesitation, be denied in the moral world. Why is God to be excluded

from this superior creation, but because men "do not like to retain him in

their knowledge," and because corrupted reason would deify itself and

dethrone the Almighty?--And here we have the characteristic distinction

between religion and irreligion. The former assigns God as the cause and

agent in every thing, born interior and exterior to us. It places him upon

the throne, subordinates every thing to his will, attributes every thing

to his influence. It contemplates his dominion as infinite, and his will

as the law of nature and of nations. It fully believes, that naturally and

spiritually "in him we live, and move, and have our being."

Irreligion--and we may comprehend in the term, not only extravagant

immorality or gross impiety, but a system which is found to exist under

the cloak of religion, and the pretence of doing God service--irreligion

of every class and in every form is perpetually limiting the empire of the

Deity, prescribing bounds to his influence, criticising and defining his

prerogatives, and refusing him the "right to reign over us."

The Scriptures uniformly ascribe the first principle, all the successive

actions, and the final consummation of religion in the heart, to the

Spirit of God. It is the subject of express promise: "And the Lord thy God

will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord

thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest

live."--"This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of

Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their

inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and

they shall be my people."--"A new heart also will I give you, and a new

spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of

your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit

within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my

judgments and do them." The nature of this moral transformation is

distinctly stated in such passages as the following--"_Born_, not of

blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of

God"--"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the Spirit of

God dwell in you. But if any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of

his"--"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of

God"--"We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

which God hath ordained, that we should walk in them." In the same manner,

the increase of religion is ascribed to the Spirit. "He which hath begun a

good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ"--"Now the

God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great

Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make

you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which

is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ." Let us then, as

Moses expresses it respecting the bush which he saw at the back of Horeb,

burning, but still unconsumed, "turn aside and see this great sight." "God

is every where by his _power_. He rolls the orbs of heaven with his hand,

he fixes the earth in its place with his foot, he guides all the creatures

with his eye, and refreshes them with his influence; he makes the powers

of bell to shake with his terrors, and binds the devils with his word, and

throws them out with his command, and sends the angels on embassies with

his decrees.... God is especially present in the hearts of his people, by

his Holy Spirit; and indeed the hearts of holy men are temples in the

truth of things, and in type and shadow they are heaven itself. For God

reigns in the hearts of his servants: there is his kingdom. The energy of

grace hath subdued all his enemies; this is his power. They serve him

night and day, and give him thanks and praise; that is his glory. The

temple itself is the heart of man; Christ is the high priest, who from

thence sends up the incense of prayers, and joins them to his own

intercession, and presents all together to his Father; and the Holy Ghost,

by his dwelling there, hath also consecrated it into a temple; and God

dwells in our hearts by faith, and Christ by his Spirit, and the Spirit by

his purities; so that we are also cabinets of the mysterious Trinity; and

what is short of heaven itself, but as infancy is short of manhood, and

letters of words?" [48]

How inconceivably glorious is the beauty of holiness in the renovated

soul! That "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness," should

"shine into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of

God in the face of Christ Jesus"--that the vileness of our nature should

be superseded by the purity of grace--that sinners should be pardoned and

sin subdued--that the good seed should vegetate in such a barren and

overgrown wilderness of desolation--that we who were "sometime darkness"

should become "light in the Lord," is truly marvellous. This establishment

of "the kingdom of God _within_ us," excites the gratitude of saints, the

wonder of angels, and the loud anthems of triumph that vibrate from the

harps of heaven. When God made a fair world from a formless mass of

matter, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted

for joy;" but when he devised the plan to make a holy human being from a

base and fallen rebel, they sung "Glory to God in the HIGHEST."

How animating the consideration, that the hope of salvation inspired in

the soul by the Spirit of God, can never be extinguished! The grace that

powerfully impels him to take the first step in the Christian life, as

forcibly urges him forward to the end of his course. The light which is

kindled in his bosom will burn and brighten, and consummate his immortal

bliss. It is itself the pledge of this increase and perfection. The

felicity of the Christian here is similar in its essence to his glory

hereafter, as the first ray of morning is the same in nature with the

noontide brightness. It may struggle through obscurities, but will rise to

perfect day. Death indeed is rapidly approaching: but as the solar orb

plunges for a short season into darkness, to reappear with new splendour;

so will the righteous eventually ascend above the tomb and, the worm, to

"shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

The manner of Lydia's conversion ought not to be overlooked. Her heart was

_opened_. There is something gentle, as well as effectual, in the

representation. The Spirit of God not only operates by a variety of

instruments, but by a considerable diversity of modes. He descends on

Sinai in tempests, and on Calvary in smiles. Sometimes his manifestations

are terrible, and sometimes soothing; sometimes he breaks, and sometimes

opens the heart. In scripture we are furnished with illustrations of this

diversified operation. Manasseh, who "made Judah and the inhabitants of

Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen," and who "would not

hearken" to divine monitions, was taken by the Assyrians "among the

thorns, and bound with fetters, and carried to Babylon." He who was

unaffected, either by mercies or menaces, in his prosperity, "when he was

in affliction, besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly

before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him; and he was entreated

of him and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into

his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God." Paul, who

breathed out threatening and slaughter against the Christian church, was

suddenly struck to the earth by a miraculous light from heaven, and from a

persecutor transformed into an apostle. The Philippian jailer exclaimed

amidst his terrors, "What must I do to be saved?" and was not only

prevented from committing suicide, but directed to heaven by the doctrine

of his apostolic prisoner, which through grace he cordially received:

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thine

house." On the other hand, Samuel, Timothy, and Lydia, were "drawn with

bands of love." They heard the whispers of mercy, and felt the attractions

of grace. Each of their hearts, like that of Lydia, was _opened_. Passion

subsided, prejudice withdrew, ignorance melted away. They were not taken

by storm, but made "_willing_ in the day of his _power_."

The importance of this change is intimated in the remarkable declaration

of Jesus Christ to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see

the kingdom of heaven." It is essential to the possession of paradise; it

constitutes the very basis of the Christian character; and to be

indifferent to it is a mark of condemnation. Its present influence, and

its future consequences, are so wonderful, that it becomes us to cherish

an immediate and incessant solicitude upon the subject. Look

upward--Almighty love "waits to be gracious"--Is it not recorded, and can

it ever be forgotten, that "every one that asketh receiveth; and he that

seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened? If a son

shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall

ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how

to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly

Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

III. The account of Lydia is further illustrative of the _effects

resulting from a divine influence upon the human heart_.

The first of these effects is intimated by the statement, that "she

attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." Her spirit was

exceedingly different from that of the hearers of Ezekiel: "Thou son of

man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the

walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one

to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that

cometh forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh,

and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they

will not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their

heart goeth after their covetousness And lo, thou art unto them as a very

lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an

instrument; for they hear thy words, but they do them not." Lydia, on the

contrary, heard to profit. She listened, reflected, and "inwardly

digested," the truths of the Gospel. She heard with seriousness and with

self-application. The doctrine was to her novel and interesting. The

Gospel came to her, "not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy

Ghost, and in much assurance;" for she "received the word of God which she

heard, not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God,"

which "effectually worketh" in believers.

And is this descriptive of _our_ views and feelings? Do we _pay attention_

to divine instructions, and "hear so that our souls may live?" Is the word

of God to us like descending manna from the skies, which we go forth with

eager haste to gather for our spiritual subsistence? Whenever we repair to

"the house of God," are we "more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice

of fools?" Do we dwell upon the lips of the preacher? Do we aim to

remember, seek to understand, and humbly resolve to practise what is

taught? Or, do we go to public worship with reluctant and hesitating

steps, compelled alone by the force of habit, education, example, or

terror? When _arrived_, do we enter with irreverence, assume a careless

and familiar attitude, give the rein to our wandering thoughts, resign our

bodies or our consciences to unhallowed slumber, or watch with frequent

glances the slowly revolving hour that will free us from an irksome

service? When _retired_ from public engagements, do we forget God our

Maker, dissipate consecrated hours, and at length lose every salutary

impression amidst the cares of life, and the subordinate concerns of

a moment?

It is possible you may even plead temporal anxieties and business, as an

extenuation of the guilt of religious negligences, or as a sufficient

ground of exemption from the claims of piety. You are forsooth too busy,

too needy, too perplexed in establishing connections or conducting

commercial transactions, to pay an immediate regard to the interests of

the soul and eternity; and although you at present defer such

considerations, you apologize for your folly by saying, it does not arise

from aversion, but inconvenience. You do not deny, you only procrastinate.

But who has insured your life? Who has perused for you the page of

destiny, which numbers the years of your mortal existence? Who has given

you any evidence, that the distant day of intentional repentance, shall be

a day of health, seriousness, and leisure? Who can tell that the sun,

which illumines the path of your prosperity at this period of

irresolution, will not, upon the arrival of the predicted hour of

penitence, shine only upon your grave? Who has given you authority to

invert the order which Christ has established in the admonition, "Seek ye

FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness?"

But we have a valuable example to cite. Go to Philippi. Learn of a woman,

whose name cannot perish, though generations pass away, and the stars

become extinct. _Lydia_ was not a person of leisure; she was a "seller of

purple," or cloths, which were died of a purple colour, or purple silks.

[49] She had surely sufficient occupation, and yet she has no apologies

at hand. She was not too much engaged to be concerned about her eternal

salvation; but when the apostle of the Gentiles preaches, she _must_ go,

she _must_ hear, she _must_ attend. She was "diligent in business," but

this did not preclude her being "fervent in spirit." As a seller of purple

she could only have become _rich_--the acmè, indeed, and summit of human

wishes, but a miserable barter for real and everlasting happiness; as a

hearer of Paul, she might and did become "_wise to salvation."_

Every thing is beautiful in its season. We must not wander from our proper

business under pretence of religion, nor must we neglect religion upon a

plea of business. Religion does not require a relinquishment of our

calling and station in society, but no civil engagements can justify a

disregard of religion. We may sell our purple--but we must also attend to

the instructions of the ministry and the word of God. If we imitate Lydia

in diligence, let us not forget to imitate her in piety. It is vain and

wicked to aver, that, the concerns of this world and those of another

interfere; because an ardent religion is not only compatible with worldly

occupations, but promotes both their purity and integrity, if it do not

secure their success.

Another effect of divine influence upon the heart of Lydia, and

essentially connected with her reception of the great principles of

Christianity, was an immediate attention to the ordinance of baptism. "She

was baptized and her household." In the true spirit of that apostle from

whose lips she received the truth of heaven, and by whom she was directed

to "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," "she conferred

not with flesh, and blood." With a promptitude which was at once

expressive of the sincerity of her faith and the zeal of her mind, she did

not hesitate to observe the baptismal institution of her Lord and Saviour.

What were to her the wonder of ignorant spectators--the ridicule of her

fellow-traders--the reflections of her heathen neighbours--when balanced

against the approbation of God and her own conscience? She had "bought the

truth," and would not sell it--she had found "the pearl of great price,"

and went and sacrificed every temporal consideration for it--she had

"found the Messiah," and was resolved to follow his foot-steps

whithersoever they conducted her. She did not dispute or hesitate, but she

obeyed. May the bright example of Lydia stimulate us to a similar conduct!

In the primitive times it is obvious that whoever received the Gospel was

baptized in the name of Christ, and to express a resolution to adhere to

him. And this obedience is a part of that decision of character which

should distinguish the genuine disciple of Christ. He demands it as a

proof of love, and by virtue of his supreme authority in the church. The

command to be baptized is, in the New Testament, usually connected with

the exhortation to repent, because this is the order of things which the

Son of God has established, and the most convincing evidence that we have

voluntarily devoted ourselves to his service. Baptism was significant of a

burial and resurrection with Christ, of being regenerated by his Spirit,

renewed by his influence, and separated from all the unholy principles of

a depraved nature, and from the sinful practices of a corrupt world. The

abundant use of water in this institution was considered as illustrative

of the purifying influences of the Holy Spirit, of his miraculous descent

on the day of Pentecost, and of the overwhelming sufferings of the

crucifixion. The precursor of our Lord predicted Christ as coming to

"baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire." John immersed our

Saviour himself in the river Jordan; when, as he "went up straightway out

of the water," he beheld the "heavens opened unto him," saw the descending

Spirit of God like a dove, "lighting upon him," and heard a voice saying,

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Viewing in awful

perspective the tragical scenes of his life, which were to terminate in

the more tragical sufferings of his last hour, he exclaimed, "I have _a

baptism_ to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be

accomplished!"

Happily, Lydia was not alone in her public profession of religion. She had

the satisfaction of seeing her household introduced by baptism into the

church of Christ. We are not informed either of their number, sex, or age.

The circumstances of the case seem most naturally to point out her

servants or adult children, to whom, as in the instance of the jailer, the

word of the Lord might be addressed. She no doubt felt extreme solicitude

for their spiritual interests, and from the moment of her own conversion

would give them every opportunity of attending the apostolic instruction.

To have witnessed in them the kindlings of divine love, the workings of

genuine penitence, the dawnings of true religion, must have afforded her

the richest pleasure, in comparison with which all the accumulations of

trade and commerce dwindled into perfect insignificance.

But let us inquire whether we resemble Lydia. Do we monopolize the hopes

of salvation and the cup of spiritual blessing? or are we active

distributors of the heavenly bounty? What do we _feel_ for our families,

our children, our domestics, our dependants, our friends and connections?

What have we _done_ for them? They need instruction--they possess souls to

be saved, or lost--they are responsible creatures--they are given us in

charge by providence, and will finally meet us at the tribunal of God.

Should it not awaken alarm to be accessary in any degree to their

destruction by negligence, if not by compulsion or by bad example? Is it

not worthy of a holy ambition to become instrumental to their eternal

welfare? Do you lead them to the domestic altar? Do you watch over their

conduct with a vigilant and paternal eye? Do you guide them to the house

of God?--To show them the path to heaven--to be instrumental in lodging

_one_ important sentiment in their minds--to sow, if but a single grain,

that may vegetate and rise into a tree of holiness, is incalculably more

satisfactory and more honourable than to obtain the victories of an

Alexander, or the riches of a Croesus. O, let us never remain content with

a solitary religion; but aim, like Lydia, to multiply our satisfactions,

and in the spirit of an exalted charity, to distribute happiness in the

earth! "None of us liveth to himself, and no man (as a Christian,) dieth

to himself."

A third and most visible effect of Lydia's conversion, was an affectionate

regard to the servants of Christ. With the zeal of a new convert and the

generosity of a genuine Christian, she invited Paul and the companions of

his labours to "come into her house and abide there." She thus proved

herself "a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men;" which although it

be one of the appropriate characteristics of "a bishop," or spiritual

overseer and pastor, enters into the very elements of a religious

character in every station. We are exhorted "to do good to all men,

especially to them that are of the household of faith:" and Jesus Christ

has represented love to the brethren as an indication of discipleship.

The invitation of Lydia was not cold and formal. She did not merely pass

the compliment of asking these holy guests to her board, but solicited it

as a favour, and with an unusual degree of importunity. She entreated--she

"constrained" them. Her plea was modest, but so expressed as to be

irresistible. They could not deny her request when put upon this basis:

"If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house."

Gratitude was undoubtedly a principal occasion of this urgency. She had

received through their instrumentality the best gift of Heaven. The eyes

of her understanding had been enlightened--the affections of her heart had

been excited and sanctified to a noble purpose. They had proclaimed to her

with surprising effect, "Jesus and the resurrection;" and, although she

had been a devout proselyte of the Jewish religion, she would not, humanly

speaking but for them, have become acquainted with the Christian, of which

the former was only a pre-figurative shadow. They had unlocked the door

of wisdom, and put her in possession of the ample treasures of truth;

they had taught her the evil of sin, and shown her "the Lord our

righteousness;" they had dispersed her doubts, dispelled her fears,

removed her darkness, satisfied her inquiries, and conducted her to "the

light of the world," new risen upon benighted nations, and whose blessed

radiance was already diffused in every direction. Lydia was anxious to

repay these benefits, or rather to testify her overwhelming sense of their

immensity. What could she do but invite them home? They were "strangers,"

amongst senseless idolaters and persecuting foes, and she "took them in,"

conscious of having incurred an obligation which she could but imperfectly

discharge. And have we cherished similar sentiments? Have we revered and

ministered to the servants of our Lord? Have we supplied their

necessities--cherished their persons--guarded their reputation? Have we

thus "rendered honour to whom honour is due"--esteeming them very highly

in love for their work's sake--and having made "partakers of their

spiritual things," considered it our "duty to minister unto them in carnal

things?" Respect for the truth itself ought to generate a suitable

predilection for such as faithfully dispense it. We should value the

"earthen vessels" for the sake of "the heavenly treasure" they contain. If

in any instances the professed ministers of the Gospel act inconsistently

with their character, a mind like that of Lydia, would not become

dissatisfied with the truth itself, nor hastily utter extravagant censure.

We have known persons take an apparent pleasure in detailing the faults of

persons eminent either for character, or for official situation. They have

betrayed, by their triumphant air, significant inuendoes, or needless

circumstantiality, a secret and criminal gratification, whilst loudly

protesting their sorrow. But a sincere piety, which sympathises with all

the adversities and prosperities of the Christian cause, and knows the

general and especially the personal consequences of such deplorable

inconsistencies, will commiserate, and weep, and pray.

The importunity of Lydia was no less honorable to Paul and his coadjutors

than to herself. It proves their delicacy and consideration. They felt

unwilling to accept her hospitality, lest it should prove burdensome or

troublesome. These were not men to take advantage of the impressions they

produced, and to gain a subsistence by art and fraudulence. They knew how

to use prosperity, and how to sustain adversity, how to "abound, and to

suffer want." They were not ashamed of poverty, nor afraid of labour.

Hardship, imprisonments, scourgings, and even death, had lost their

terrors; and on every occasion they were solicitous of evincing a

disinterestedness of spirit that might compel their bitterest enemies to

attest the purity of their motives. Hence Paul could appeal to the elders

of the Ephesian church, "I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or

apparel. Yea, you yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto

my necessities, and to them that were with me;" and to the Corinthian

believers, "what is my reward then? Verily, that when I preach the gospel,

I may make the gospel of Christ without charge; that I abuse not my power

in the gospel." His language to the Thessalonians is still more

remarkable: "We did not eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with

labour and travel night and day that we might not be chargeable to any

of you."

Lydia might probably be influenced in making this request by another

consideration. She expected great advantage from more familiar intercourse

with her guests. In the social hour--at the friendly table--in the

retirement of home--she could propose inquiries, which such a man as Paul

would be happy to hear, and ready to answer. He who could thus address the

saints at Rome--I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some

spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be

comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me--"must

have proved an interesting companion to so pious and inquisitive a woman."

She would receive him as a father and honour him as an apostle. Happy,

thrice happy for us, when we make a proper selection of our bosom friends,

and improve the hours of social intercourse to the purposes of spiritual

improvement! Nothing is more advantageous than reciprocal communication;

it elicits truth, corrects mistake, improves character, conduces to

happiness, animates to diligence, and gives anew impulse to our moral

energies. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and

the Lord hearkened and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written

before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name.

And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up

my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth

him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the

wicked; between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not."

In reviewing this history, we cannot help regreting the specimen it

affords of the paucity of real Christians. The whole city of Philippi

furnished only Lydia, the jailer, and a few others, who attended to the

preaching of Paul. Immersed in business, devoted to superstition, or

depraved by sensuality, the glad tidings of salvation were despised or

disregarded. They had neither eyes to see, ears to hear, nor hearts to

feel. The God of this world blinded them, that they did not believe. There

was not even a Jewish synagogue in Philippi--not one altar erected to the

true God--and only a small retreat by the river-side, to which a few

female inquirers resorted unnoticed or abhorred. Such is the world in

miniature! In reviewing the long track of ages, we can observe but here

and there a traveller along the road to Zion. The "narrow way" appears an

unfrequented path, while thousands and myriads crowd the "broad road that

leadeth to destruction." The page of history is not adorned with the

names of saints, but, blessed be God, they are recorded in Scripture, and

will shine forever in the annals of eternity.

The subject, however, presents another aspect. Lydia was the first convert

to the Christian faith in EUROPE! In her heart was deposited the first

seed that was sown in this new field of labour, in which so rich and

extensive a harvest has since sprung up. It was then, indeed, according to

the parabolical representations of Christ, but as "a grain of mustard

seed," which is the "least of all seeds;" but what a plant has it since

become, striking deep its roots, and waving wide its branches, so that the

nations recline beneath its refreshing shade, and feel the healing virtue

of its sacred leaves! At that distant period, while Asia was under

spiritual culture, Europe presented nothing to the eye but an outstretched

wilderness of desolation--ignorance spread over her fairest regions "gross

darkness," and the very "shadow of death"--and superstition reigned upon

his gloomy throne with triumphant and universal dominion. The particular

state of Britain may be inferred from the general condition of the world;

but if any difference existed, there is reason to suppose, from its

peculiar disadvantages and insular situation, that a blacker midnight

enveloped this region, than spread over the more civilized provinces of

the Roman empire. There was, indeed, no nation in which the grossest

practices of idolatry did not prevail, and where human nature did not

appear in a state of awful degeneracy. Their very reason was folly; their

very religion impiety. Let us, then, be unceasingly grateful to that

providence, which has not only sent the gospel to Europe, but has caused

the light to shine with peculiar glory in this favoured land, which, at

its first promulgation, was in a state of singular depravity; fixed, so

to speak, in the very meridian of the benighted hemisphere.

Britain has now emerged into day; and has not only caught the rising beam

of mercy, but is becoming the very centre of illumination to every kindred

and people of the globe. The different orders of Christians engaged in

missionary under-takings--_Moravian, Baptist, Independent_, and _Church

Societies_, ought to be mentioned with distinguished approbation, and

hailed as FELLOW LABOURERS in the vineyard. May they ever co-operate and

not control each other! May they be one in spirit, though diverse in

operation! May they unite their respective energies in one common cause,

while bigotry retires abashed from the glory of such a scene!

Above all, "the United Kingdoms may fairly claim, what has been freely and

cheerfully accorded by foreign nations, the honor of giving birth to an

institution, (the British and Foreign Bible Society,) the most efficacious

ever devised, for diffusing that knowledge which was given to make men

wise unto salvation.

"But although the approbation so generally bestowed on the British and

Foreign Bible Society, may be received as a gratifying homage to the

simplicity, purity, benevolence, and importance of its design, it is not

to the praise of men, but to the improvement of their moral and religious

state, that the Society aspires. Acting under the influence of an ardent

desire to promote the glory of God, and adopting the spirit of the

apostolic injunction, 'As we have opportunity let us do good unto all men,

especially to those who are of the household of faith;' its object is to

administer comfort to the afflicted, and rest to the weary and

heavy-laden; to dispense the bread and water of life to those who hunger

and thirst after righteousness; to feed the flock of Christ at home and

abroad; and to impart to those who sit in darkness the cheering rays of

the Sun of Righteousness.

"The theatre on which the Society displays its operations, is that of the

whole world. Considering all the races of men as children of one common

Father, who 'maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and

sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust;' and who wills 'that all men

should come to the knowledge of the truth;' the British and Foreign Bible

Society offers the records of eternal life to the bond and the free, to

Heathens and Christians,--in the earnest hope that they may become a lamp

unto the feet, and a light unto the paths of those who now receive them,

and of generations yet unborn.

"To support the character which the British and Foreign Bible Society has

assumed, to realize the hopes which it has excited, to foster and enlarge

the zeal which it has inspired, are obligations of no common magnitude,

and which cannot be discharged without correspondent exertions. 'As a city

that is set on a hill cannot be hid,' the eyes of nations look up to it

with expectation. Immense portions of the globe, now the domains of

idolatry and superstition; regions where the light of Christianity once

shone, but is now dim or extinguished; and countries where the heavenly

manna is so scarce, that thousands live and die without the means of

tasting it,--point out the existing claims on the benevolence of

the Society.

"To supply these wants, fill up these voids, and display the light of

revelation amidst the realms of darkness, will long require a continuance

of that support which the British and Foreign Bible Society has derived

from the public piety and liberality, and perhaps the persevering efforts

of succeeding generations. Let us not, however, be weary in well doing;

'for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.'

"Whatever may be the extent of the existing or increasing claims on the

British and Foreign Bible Society, it has ample encouragement to proceed

in its sacred duty of disseminating the Word of Life.

"'I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in

paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them,

and crooked things straight.'

"These are the words of the Almighty himself. Let the British and Foreign

Bible Society, uniting its prayers with those that are daily offered up at

home and abroad for the blessing of God on its proceedings, humbly hope

that it may become the instrument of his providence, for accomplishing his

gracious promises; and that, by means of the Scriptures distributed

through its exertions, or by its influence and encouragement, nations now

ignorant of the true, God, may learn 'to draw water from the wells of

salvation.' The prospect is animating, the object holy, its accomplishment

glorious; for the prospective efforts of the Society are directed to a

consummation, (whether attainable by them or not, is only known to Him who

knoweth all things,) when all the ends of the earth, adopting the language

of inspiration, shall unite their voices in the sublime strains of

heavenly adoration: 'Blessing and honour, and glory and power, be unto Him

that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever:

Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"' [50]

Essay on What Christianity Has Done for Women.

At this distance of time, and possessing only the very brief information

with which it has pleased Infinite Wisdom to furnish us in the commencing

chapters of the book of Genesis, it is impossible to ascertain with

precision the nature of that disparity which originally subsisted between

the first parents of mankind. The evidence does not seem to be decisive,

whether their characteristic differences were merely corporeal or mental,

exterior or internal, natural and essential, or accidental. It is

questionable whether the superiority of Adam arose out of the revelations

he received, and the priority of his existence to his "fair partner Eve,"

or from an innate pre-eminence which marked him, not only as the head of

the inferior creation, but as the appointed lord of the woman. A close

examination of the subject, perhaps, would lead us to infer, that an

equality subsisted in all those respects which are not strictly classed

under the epithet _constitutional_; and that the authority which

revelation has conceded to the man, results from his present fallen

condition.

It is indeed observable, that when God determined upon the creation of the

woman, because it was not deemed good that the man should be alone, she is

represented as the intended "help meet _for_ him;" but this expression is

not perhaps to be understood, as referring so much to subserviency as to

suitability. The capacity of one being to promote the happiness of

another, depends on its adaptation. The virtuous and the vicious, the

feeble and the strong, the majestic and the mean, cannot be associated

together to any advantage, and a general equality appears requisite, to

render any being capable of becoming the _help meet_ to a perfect

creature. This idea of his new-formed companion pervades the language of

Adam, when she was first brought to him by her Almighty Creator: "This,"

said he, "is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be

called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man

leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and _they

shall be one flesh_."

To this it may be added, that subjection to the man is expressly enjoined

as a part of the original curse upon the female. This infliction

necessarily implies a previous equality in rank and station. There was

evidently before, no competition, no struggle for dominion, and no sense

of inferiority or pre-eminence. The language of Jehovah in denouncing the

respective destinies of these transgressors, unquestionably conferred a

power or claim upon man, which he did not originally possess, and which

was intended as a perpetual memento of the woman having been the first to

disobey her Maker. "Unto the woman" he said, "I will greatly multiply thy

sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shall bring forth children; and

thy desire shall be to thy husband, and _he shall ride over thee_."

But, whatever were the original equalities or inequalities of the human

race, this, at least, is certain, that the influence of depraved passions

since the fall, is sufficiently conspicuous in rendering the claims and

duties of both sexes more and more ambiguous, and disarranging the

harmonies of the first creation. In proportion to the degree in which

society is corrupt, power will assume an authority over weakness, and they

who ought to be help meets will become competitors. Opposition generates

dislike, and dislike, when associated with power, will produce oppression.

It is in vain to plead the principle of right, to solicit attention to the

voice of reason, or to attempt to define the boundaries of influence, when

no means exist of enforcing the attention of him who can command

obedience. There is no alternative but submission or punishment. Upon this

principle, the female sex may be expected to become the sport of human

caprice, folly, and guilt. But Christianity tends to rectify the disorders

which sin has introduced into the universe, and both in a natural and

moral sense, to restore a lost paradise. Like that mighty Spirit, which in

the beginning moved upon the surface of the waters, when the earth was

without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, it

corrects the confusion of the moral system, pervades and reorganizes the

formless mass of depraved society, and pacifies the turbulence of human

passions. With a majesty that overawes, a voice that will be heard, an

influence that cannot be resisted, it renews the world, and will

eventually diffuse its unsetting glory through every part of the

habitual globe.

The subject before us presents a large field of research, and it would

well repay the labour to walk with a deliberate step around its spacious

borders and throughout its ample extent; but we must content ourselves

with tracing out some of its principal varieties, and collecting

comparatively a few of its productions.

Our plan will require the induction _of facts_, as the necessary basis of

argument or illustration; and these refer to the state of women, in

countries and during periods in which the religion of the Bible was wholly

unknown, as in the nations of Pagan antiquity, in Greece and Rome; in

savage, superstitious, and Mahometan regions; and their condition

previously to the establishment of Christianity, in patriarchal time and

places, or during the Jewish theocracy.

I. The Pagan Nations of Antiquity demand the first consideration.

Our knowledge of the _ancient Egyptians_ is extremely limited, being

derived from the Greek writers, whose accounts are often contradictory.

Their testimony, however, is sufficiently precise respecting the

prevalence of domestic servitude. The Egyptians were a people remarkable

for jealousy, which was carried to such an extreme, that after the death

of their wives, they even entertained apprehensions respecting the

embalmers. [51] Having decreed it to be indecent in women to go abroad

without shoes, they deprived them of the means of wearing them, by

threatening with death any one who should make shoes for a woman. They

were forbidden music, probably with a view of preventing their possessing

so dangerous an attraction as that of an elegant accomplishment.

With regard to the _Celtic nations_, it is true, that the Romans were

surprised at the degree of estimation in which these barbarous tribes held

their women, and the privileges which they conceded to them; and it must

be admitted that certain stern virtues characterized those who were

addicted to military achievements, resulting partly from their incessant

occupation as warriors, and partly from some indefinite but splendid

ideas of fame and glory. Seduction and adultery were vices of rare

occurrence; the bridegroom bestowed a dowery upon the bride, consisting of

flocks, a horse ready bridled and saddled, a shield, a lance, and a sword;

[52] and they were often stimulated by their presence and excitement in

their warlike expeditions. But though generally contented with one wife,

the nobles were allowed a plurality, either for _pleasure_ or _show_; the

labours of the field, as well as domestic toil, devolved on the women;

which, though practised in very ancient times, even by females of the most

exalted rank, evidently originated in the general impression of their

inferiority in the scale of existence. Their great Odin, or Odinus,

excluded from his paradise all who did not by some violent death follow

their deceased husbands; and in time they were so degraded, that by an old

Saxon law, he that hurt or killed a woman was to pay only half the fine

exacted for injuring or killing a man. But the argument in favour of

Christianity, as assigning women their _proper place_ in society, is

corroborated by observing the extremes of oppression and adulation, to

which the Scandinavian nations alternately veered. While polygamy and

infanticide prevailed, the practice of raising into heroines,

prophetesses, and goddesses, some of their women, was no less indicative

of a very imperfect sense of the true character of the female sex. [53]

The public and domestic life of the _Greeks_ exhibit unquestionable

evidences of barbarity in the treatment of women. Homer, and all their

subsequent writers, show that they were subjected to those restrictions,

which infallibly indicate their being regarded only as the property of

men, to be disposed of according to their will. Hence they were bought and

sold, made to perform the most menial offices, and exposed to all the

miseries and degradation of concubinage. The daughters, even of persons of

distinction, were married without any consultation of their wishes, to men

whom, frequently, they had never seen, and at the early age of fourteen or

fifteen; previous to which period, the Athenian females were kept in a

state of as great seclusion as possible. Their study was dress; and

slaves, their mothers excepted, were their only companions. The duties of

a good wife were, in the opinion of the wisest of the Greeks, comprised in

going abroad to expose herself as little as possible to strangers, taking

care of what her husband acquired, superintending the younger children,

and maintaining a perpetual vigilance over the adult daughters. After

marriage, some time elapsed before they ventured to speak to their

husbands, or the latter entered into conversation with them. At no time

were wives intrusted with any knowledge of their husbands' affairs, much

less was their opinion or advice solicited; and they were totally excluded

from mixed society. One of the most excellent of the Athenians admitted,

there were few friends with whom, he conversed so seldom as with his

wife. [54]

Solon, in his laws, is silent with regard to the education of girls,

though he gave very precise regulations for that of boys. That legislator

imagined that women were not sufficiently secluded, and therefore directed

that they should not go abroad in the daytime, except it were in full

dress; or at night, but with torches and in a chariot. He prohibited their

taking eatables out of the houses of their husbands of more value than an

obolus, or carrying a basket more than a cubit in length. [55] The

Athenians had previously possessed the power of selling their children and

sisters; and even Solon allowed fathers, brothers, and guardians, this

right, if their daughters, sisters, and wards, had lost their innocence.

From various enactments, it appears that adultery was extremely common,

and female modesty could not be preserved even by legislative restraint.

Most of the Greeks, and even their philosophers, concurred with the

Eastern nations in general in associating with courtesans; who were,

indeed, honoured with the highest distinctions. The Corinthians ascribed

their deliverance, and that of the rest of Greece, from the power of

Xerxes, to the intercession of the priestess of Venus, and the protection

of the goddess. At all the festivals of Venus, the people applied to the

courtesans as the most efficacious intercessors; and Solon deemed it

advantageous to Athens, to introduce the worship of that goddess, and to

constitute them her priestesses. In the age of Pericles, and still more

afterward, prostitution, thus yoked with superstition, and sanctioned by

its solemnities, produced the most baneful effects upon public morals.

From idolatrous temples, the great reservoirs of pollution, a thousand

streams poured into every condition of life, and rolling over the whole of

this cultivated region, deposited the black sediment of impurity upon the

once polished surface of society, despoiling its beauty, discolouring its

character, and ruining its glory.

The Athenians did not hesitate to take their wives and daughters to visit

the notorious Aspasia in the house of Pericles, though she was the teacher

of intrigue, and the destroyer of morals. The most celebrated men lived in

celibacy, only to secure the better opportunities of practising vice,

which however did not conceal her hideous deformity in the shades, but

stalked forth at noonday, emblazoned by the eloquence of a Demosthenes,

and enriched by treasuries of opulence.

In many respects the Spartans differed from the other Greeks in their

treatment of the female sex. The women were as shamefully exposed as those

of the other states were secluded; being introduced to all the exercises

of the public gymnasium at an early age, no less than the other sex, and

taught the most shameless practices. The laws of Lycurgus were in many

instances utterly subversive of morality, and too outrageous for citation.

The depravity of the sex was extreme even at an early period, and

Xenophon, Plutarch, and Aristotle, impute to this cause the ultimate

subversion of the Spartan state.

The _Romans_ differed materially from the Greeks and the oriental nations

in one point with regard to their treatment of women; namely, in never

keeping them in a state of seclusion from the society of men: but the

husbands were very incommunicative: and it seems at least to have been an

_understood_, if not a written law, that they should avoid all

inquisitiveness, and speak only in the presence of their husbands. In the

second Punic war, the Oppian law prohibited the women, from riding in

carriages and wearing certain articles of dress; which was, however,

afterward repealed. The ancient laws considered children as slaves, and

women as children who ought to remain in a state of perpetual tutelage.

According to the laws of Romulus and Numa, a husband's authority over his

wife was equal to that of a father over his children, excepting only that

he could not sell her. The wife was stated to be in servitude, though she

had in name the rights of a Roman citizen. From the moment of her marriage

she was looked upon as the daughter of her husband and heir of his

property, if he had no children; otherwise she was considered as his

sister, and shared an equal portion with the children. Wives had no right

to make wills, nor durst they prefer complaints against their husbands;

and the power of the latter over them was as unrestricted as that which

they possessed over their children: in fact, the husband could even put

his wife to death, not only for gross immoralities, but for excess in

wine. [56]

Considerable changes took place in the laws after the period of the

destruction of Carthage, some of which allowed greater privileges to

females; but as divorces became more frequent, crimes multiplied. In the

latter periods of the republic women had the principal share in public

plots and private assassinations, and practised the worst of sins with the

most barefaced audacity.

The morals of women are indicative of the state of society in general, and

of the estimation in which they are held in particular. If the other sex

treat them as slaves, they will become servile and contemptible, a certain

degree of self-respect being essential to the preservation of real dignity

of character. The way to render human beings of any class despicable is

to undervalue them; for disesteem will superinduce degeneracy. If this be

the case, then the state of women in any age or country is a criterion of

public opinion, since the vices of their lives indicate their condition;

upon which principle, Greece and Rome exhibit wretched specimens of female

degradation.

But there is one circumstance in the history of the Romans which must not

be wholly overlooked. Their conduct was marked by _capriciousness._ Though

the usual treatment of their women resembled that of other Pagan nations

in barbarity, like some of them, too, they frequently rendered them

extraordinary honours. On some occasions they even transferred to their

principal slaves the right of chastising their wives; and yet, on others

they paid them distinguished deference: as in the case of vestals, and the

privileges conceded to them after the negotiation between the Romans and

Sabines. Various individual exceptions to a barbarous usage might be

adduced; sufficient, however, only to evince the general debasement of the

female sex, and the total absence of all fixed principles of moral action

in unchristianized man.

II. Next to the nations of antiquity, the state of women in SAVAGE,

SUPERSTITIOUS, AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES, comes under review.

In treating this part of the subject, it will be necessary to make a rapid

circumnavigation of the globe, touching at least at the most

remarkable places.

EUROPE.

GREENLAND. The situation of females in this country might well justify the

exclamation of an ancient philosopher, who thanked God that _he was born a

man and not a woman_. The only employment of girls, till their fourteenth

year, is singing, dancing, amusements, attending on children, and fetching

water; [57] after which they are taught, by their mothers, to sew, cook,

tan the skins of animals, construct houses, and navigate boats. It is

common for the men to stand by as idle spectators, while the women are

carrying the heaviest materials for building; the former never attempting

to do any thing but the carpenter's work. Parents frequently betroth their

daughters in infancy, and never consult their wishes respecting marriage;

if no previous pledge be given, they are disposed of to the first suiter

that chances to make the application. From their twentieth year, the usual

period of marriage, the lives of the women, says Cranz, are a continued

series of hardships and misery. The occupations of the men solely consist

in hunting and fishing; but so far from giving themselves the trouble to

carry home the fish they have caught, they would think themselves

eternally disgraced by such a condescension.

The Greenlanders have two kinds of boats, adapted to procure subsistence.

One of them is the great woman's boat called the _umiak_, from twelve to

eighteen yards in length, and four or five in width. These boats are rowed

by four women, and steered by a fifth, without any assistance from the

men, excepting in cases of emergency. If the coast will not allow them to

pass, six or eight women take the boat upon their heads, and carry it over

land to a navigable place.

Mothers-in-law are absolute mistresses in the houses of their married

sons, who frequently ill-treat them; and the poor women are sometimes

obliged to live with quarrelsome favourites, and may be corrected or

divorced at pleasure. Widows who have no friends, are commonly robbed of a

considerable portion of their property by those who come to sympathize

with them by an affected condolence; and can obtain no redress,--on the

contrary, they are obliged to conciliate their kindness by the utmost

obsequiousness. After a precarious subsistence in different families, and

being driven from one hut to another, they are suffered to expire without

help or notice. When widows have grown-up sons, their condition is much

superior to that in which they formerly lived with their husbands. When

aged women pretend to practise, or are suspected of witchcraft--if the

wife or child of a Greenlander happen to die--if his fowling piece miss

fire, or his arrow the mark at which it was shot--the supposed sorceress

is instantly stoned, thrown into the sea, or cut in pieces by the

_angekoks_ or male magicians. There have even been instances of sons

killing their mothers, and brothers their sisters. The infirmities of age

expose women to violent deaths, being sometimes with their own consent,

and sometimes forcibly, interred alive by their own offspring.

RUSSIA. Over this extensive empire, including sixteen different nations,

the condition of women is such as equally to evince the degraded character

of the men. Among the Siberians, an opinion is entertained that they are

impure beings, and odious to the gods; in consequence of which, they are

not permitted to approach the sacred fire, or the places of sacrifice. In

the eastern islands, in particular, there exists tribes to whom the

nuptial ceremony is unknown; and in cases where the daughters are

purchased by goods, money, or services, their fathers never consult their

children, and their husbands treat them as slaves or beasts of burden. In

Siberia, conjugal fidelity is bartered for gain, or sacrificed at the

shrine of imaginary hospitality. The sale of their wives is by no means

uncommon, for a little train oil, or other paltry considerations. To this

the women offer no objection, and at an advanced age frequently seek

younger wives for their husbands, and devote themselves to domestic

drudgery. [58] The same degrading facts apply to the Tungusians and other

tribes. In some respects the Kamtschadales differ from the rest, but the

extreme debasement arising from their libidinous brutality must not be

described, and can scarcely be credited. [59]

Among all the Slavon nations of Europe, wives and daughters have ever been

kept in a state of exclusion. Brides are purchased, and instantly become

slaves. Formerly sons were compelled by blows to marry, and daughters

dragged by their hair to the altars; and the paternal authority is still

unbounded. The lower classes are doomed to incessant labour, and are

obliged to submit to the utmost indignities. [60]

The picture of Russian manners varies little with reference to the prince

or the peasant.... They are all, high and low, rich and poor, alike servile

to superiors; haughty and cruel to their dependants, ignorant,

superstitions, cunning, brutal, barbarous, dirty, mean. The emperor canes

the first of his grandees; princes and nobles cane their slaves; and the

slaves their _wives_ and _daughters_. [61]

ITALY AND SPAIN. These two countries may be classed together, because the

condition of the female sex is very similar in both: the education of

woman is totally neglected, and they are not ashamed of committing the

grossest blunders in common conversation. Such is their situation that

they cannot intermeddle with the concerns of their husbands, without

exciting their jealousy. Girls are in early years left to the care of

servants who are both ill educated and immoral; the same may be said of

their mothers, whose conversation and public conduct tend to perfect the

growth of licentiousness in their uncultivated children.

PORTUGAL. Young women in this kingdom are not instructed in any thing

truly useful or ornamental; and even those who belong to respectable

families, are often ignorant of reading and writing. Parents keep their

daughters in the most rigid confinement, frequently not allowing them even

to go abroad to church to hear mass, and never unattended. They are

secluded from all young persons of the other sex, who are not permitted to

visit families where there are unmarried females. The consequence of this

austerity is an extended system of intrigue, for the purpose of evading

all this circumspection--by which means they are full of cunning

and deceit.

TURKEY. Women, in Constantinople, are confined in seraglios for life, or

shut up in their apartments. They are not permitted to appear in public

without a vail, and can only obtain their freedom by devoting themselves

to prostitution.

"The slave market," says Mr. Thornton, "is a quadrangle, surrounded by a

covered gallery, and ranges of small and separate apartments. The manner

of purchasing slaves is described in the plain and unaffected narrative of

a German merchant, which, as I have been able to ascertain its general

authenticity, may be relied on as correct in this particular. He arrived

at Kaffa, in the Crimea, which was formerly the principal mart of slaves;

and hearing that an Armenian had a Georgian and two Circassian girls to

dispose of, feigned an intention of purchasing them, in order to gratify

his curiosity, and to ascertain the mode of conducting such bargains. A

Circassian maiden, eighteen years old, was the first who presented

herself; she was well dressed, and her face was covered with a vail. She

advanced towards the German, bowed down, and kissed his hand: by order of

her master, she walked backwards and forwards in the chamber to show her

shape, and the easiness of her gait and carriage: her foot was small, and

her gesture agreeable. When she took off her vail, she displayed a bust of

the most attractive beauty. She rubbed her cheeks with a wet napkin, to

prove that she had not used art to heighten her complexion; and she opened

her inviting lips, to show a regular set of teeth of pearly whiteness. The

German was permitted to feel her pulse, that he might be convinced of the

good state of her health and constitution. She was then ordered to retire,

while the merchants deliberated upon the bargain. The price of this

beautiful girl was four thousand piastres, [equal to four thousand five

hundred florins of Vienna."] [62]

GREECE. The condition of females, in Modern Greece, may be inferred from

an anecdote or two related by _Lieutenant Collins_. He and his friends

were approaching _Macri_, on the coast of Asia Minor. "Encouraged to

proceed," he remarks, "we approached the second groupe, which we passed

in a similar manner; but some woman, who were near them, appeared to fly

at our approach, and view us at a distance with astonishment and fear. But

no sooner had we advanced, than, as with general consent, they all caught

their children in their arms, and with the fears of a mother apprehensive

for the safety of a beloved child, flew to their houses, and shut

themselves in, and we saw no more of them till our return.

"Our company during dinner consisted of Greeks only--it was served up by

the women, attended by one of her children, who with all the family

appeared in an abject state; for on offering her a little of the wine,

which they so kindly furnished us with, she shrunk back, with an

expression of surprise at our condescension, which excited ours also; and

the man understanding a little Italian, we inquired the reason; 'Such,'

says he, is the inferiority and oppression we labour under, that it is in

general thought too great honour for a Turk to present a person of this

description with, any token of respect, and forward in her to accept it,

which is the reason of her timidity, in not accepting the wine from

you.'" [63]

In Greece, the women are closely confined at home; they do not even appear

at church till they are married. The female slaves are not Greeks, but

such as are either taken in war or stolen by the Tartars from Russia,

Circassia, or Georgia. Many thousands were formerly taken in the Morea,

but most of them have been redeemed by the charitable contributions of the

Christians, or ransomed by their own relations. The fine slaves that wait

upon great ladies, are bought at the age of eight or nine years, and

educated with great care to accomplish them in singing, dancing,

embroidery, &c. They are commonly Circassian, and their patron rarely

ever sells them, but if they grow weary of them, they either present them

to a friend, or give them their freedom.

ASIA.

TARTARY. This immense country, in its utmost limits, reaches from the

Eastern Ocean to the Caspian Sea; and from Corea, China, Thibet,

Hindoostan, and Persia, to Russia, and Siberia; including a space of three

thousand six hundred miles in length, and nine hundred and sixty in width,

and comprehending all the middle region of Asia. Its two great divisions

are into Eastern and Western; the former chiefly belongs to the emperor of

China, the latter to Russia.

The Mahometan Tartars are continually waging war against their neighbours

for the purpose of procuring slaves. When they cannot obtain adults, they

steal children to sell, and even make no scruple of selling their own,

especially daughters. In case of any disgust, their wives share a similar

fate. Among the pagan Tartars incestuous practices are prevalent, and

their wives are generally dismissed at, or previous to, the age of forty.

The mothers of sultans, among the Crim Tartars, neither eat with their

sons, nor sit in their presence. They are, in fact, the slaves of their

caprice, often ill-treated by them, and sometimes even put to death. [64]

The _Calmucks_ are considered as remarkably lenient in their conduct to

the women: but fathers dispose of their daughters without their consent,

and even antecedently to their birth. Their chiefs and princes have,

besides, large harems or seraglios where domestic rivalship imbitters

existence. They are, moreover, regarded in general as servants, and

infidelity is compensated by a trifling offering to their

mercenary rapacity.

The _Georgians and Circassians_ are celebrated for their surpassing

beauty, and their young women are brought up to some industrious habits.

The daughters of slaves receive a similar education, and are sold

according to their beauty, at from twenty to a hundred pounds each, or

upwards. They consider all their children in the light of property,

exposing them to sale as they would their cattle, and too often obtain

large sums from the agents of despotism and depravity.

CHINA. In this, and almost all the countries of Southern Asia, the

condition of women is truly deplorable. Forced marriages and sales are

universal, and the Chinese are so excessively jealous, that they do not

permit their wives to receive any visitors of the other sex, and transport

them from place to place in vehicles secured by iron bars. Their

concubines are not only treated with the most degrading inhumanity, but

are slaves to the wives, who never fail to sway a despotic sceptre; they

are besides liable at any time to be sold. The children of concubines are

regarded as the offspring of the legitimate wife; hence they manifest no

affection for their real mothers, but often treat them with the most

marked disrespect. The laws of China and Siam allow the lawful wives and

sons, after the death of their husbands and fathers, to exclude concubines

and their children from all share in the property of the deceased, and to

dispose of their persons by public or private sale.

The wives of people of rank are always confined to their apartments from

motives of jealousy; those of a middle class are a kind of upper servants

deprived of liberty; and the wives of the lower orders are mere domestic

drudges. The handsomest women are usually purchased for the courts and

principal mandarins.

"We can readily," says a respectable writer, "give credit to the custom of

a landlord taking the wife of a ryat or peasant, as a pledge for rent, and

keeping her till the debt is discharged (in the kingdom of Nepaul;) since

we know, on the best authority, that their wise polished neighbours, the

Chinese, have found it necessary to enact a prohibitory statute against

lending wives and daughters on hire." [65]

Another writer observes, "Since the philosophical inquiry into the

condition of the weaker sex, in the different stages of society, published

by Millar, [66] it has been universally considered as an infallible

criterion of barbarous society, to find the women in a state of great

degradation. Scarcely among savages themselves is the condition of women

more wretched and humiliating than among the Chinese. A very striking

picture of the slavery and oppression to which they are doomed, but too

long for insertion in this place, is drawn by M. Vanbraam. [67] Mr. Barrow

informs us, that among the rich, the women are imprisoned slaves; among

the poor, drudges; 'many being,' says he, 'compelled to work with an

infant upon the back, while the husband, in all probability, is gaming,--I

have frequently seen women,' he adds, 'assisting to drag a sort of light

plough, and the harrow. The easier task, that of directing the machine, is

left to the husband.' [68] The Chinese value their daughters so little,

that when they have more children than they can easily maintain, they hire

the midwives to stifle the females in a basin of water as soon as they are

born.' [69] Nothing can exceed the contempt towards women which the maxims

of the most celebrated of their lawgivers express. 'It is very

difficult,' said Confucius himself, 'to govern women and servants; for if

you treat them with gentleness and familiarity, they lose all respect; if

with rigour, you will have continual disturbance.'

"Women are debarred almost entirely from the rights of property; and they

never inherit. Among the worst savage nations, their daughters are sold to

their husbands, and are received and treated as slaves. [70] When society

has made a little progress, the purchase-money is received only as a

present, and the wife, nominally at least, is not received as a slave.

Among the Chinese, the daughter, with whom no dowry is given, it uniformly

exchanged for a present; and so little is the transaction, even on a

purchase, disguised, that Mr. Barrow has no scruple to say, 'the daughters

may be said to be invariably sold.' [71] He assures us, that 'it is even a

common practice among the Chinese to sell their daughters, that they may

he brought up as prostitutes.' [72] [73]

BIRMAN EMPIRE. This extensive dominion comprehends the state of Pegu, Ava,

Arracan, and Siam. Women are not secluded from the society of men, but

they are held in great contempt. Their evidence is undervalued in judicial

proceedings. The lower classes sell their women to strangers, who do not,

however, seem to feel themselves degraded. In Pegu, Siam, Cochin China,

and other districts, adultery is regarded as honourable. Herodotus

mentions a people called Gendanes, where the debasement of the female

character is such, that their misconduct is an occasion of boasting and a

source of distinction.

HINDOOSTAN. The following extracts, from the letters of the Baptist

missionaries, in India, will speak volumes, and might, if it were

necessary, be corroborated by a thousand similar citations.

At an early period of the Baptist mission to India, Dr. Carey communicated

the following interesting account to a friend:--"As the burning of women

with their husbands is one of the most singular and striking customs of

this people, and also very ancient, as you will see by the _Reek Bede_,

which contains a law relating to it, I shall begin with this. Having just

read a Shanscrit book, called _Soordhee Sungraha_, which is a collection

of laws from the various Shasters, arranged under their proper heads, I

shall give you an extract from it, omitting some sentences, which are mere

verbal repetitions. Otherwise, the translation may be depended on as

exact. The words prefixed to some of the sentences are the names of the

original books from which the extracts are made.

"_Angeera._ After the husband's death, the virtuous wife who burns herself

with him, [74] is like an Asoondhatee, [75] and will go to bliss.--If she

be within one day's journey of the place where he dies, and indeed

virtuous, the burning of his corpse shall be deferred one day for

her arrival.

"_Brahma Pooran_. If the husband die in another country, the virtuous wife

shall take any of his effects; for instance, a sandal, and binding it on

her thigh, shall enter the fire with it. [76]

"_Reek, Bede._ If a wife thus burn with her husband, it is not suicide; and

her relations shall observe three days' uncleanness for her; after which

her _Shraddha_ [77] must he properly performed.--If she cannot come to the

place, or does not receive an account of her husband's death, she shall

wait the appointed ten days of uncleanness, [78] and may afterwards die in

a separate fire.--If she die in a separate fire, three days' uncleanness

will be observed; after which the _Pinda_ must be performed.--After the

uncleanness on account of the husband is over, the _Shraddha_ must be

performed according to the commandment.--Three days after his death, the

_Dospinda_ [79] must be made, and after ten days the regular _Shraddha_.

"_Goutam. Brahmmanee_ can only die with her husband, on which account she

cannot burn in another fire. When a woman dies with her husband, the

eldest son, or nearest relation, shall set fire to the pile; whose office

also it is to perform the _Dospinda_, and all the obsequies. He who

kindles the fire shall perform the _Dospinda_: [80] but her own son, or

nearest relations, must perform the _Shraddha_.--If a woman burn

separately, only three days' uncleanness will be observed for her; but if

in the same fire ten days.

"_Asouch Shunkar_. If another person die before the last day of

uncleanness for a death or birth, then the uncleanness on account of the

second person's death will be included in the first, and the time not

lengthened out.

"_Bishnoo Pooran_. If the husband die in war, only present uncleanness, or

till bathing, will be observed for him: if, therefore, the wife burn with

him only one night's uncleanness will be observed for her; but, if in a

separate fire, three days; and in that case the husband's _Pinda_ will be

at the end of three days.--If the husband and wife burn in one fire, they

will obtain separate offerings of the _Shraddha_.--If a woman die with

her husband voluntarily, the offerings to her, and all her obsequies will

be equal to his.--If they die within a _Tithee_, or lunar day, the

offerings will be made to both at the same time.--If the person be

_Potect_, or sinful; that is, has killed a _Brahmman_, or drinks

spirituous liquors, or has committed some sin in his former life, on

account of which he is afflicted with elephantiasis, consumption, leprosy,

&c. [81] all will be blotted out by his wife burning with him, after

proper atonement has been made. [82]--A woman with a young child, or

being pregnant, cannot burn with her husband.--If there be a proper person

to educate the infant, she may be permitted to burn.--If any woman ascend

the pile, and should afterward decline to burn, through love of life or

earthly things, she shall perform the penance _Prazapatya_, and will then

be free from sin.'" [83]

The following statement is taken from the more recent communication of

another of the Baptist missionaries to India:--

"Jan. 9, 1807. A person informing us that a woman was about to be burnt

with the corpse of her husband near our house, I, with several of our

brethren, hastened to the place; but, before we could arrive, the pile was

in flames. It was a horrible sight. The most shocking indifference and

levity appeared among those who were present: I never saw anything more

brutal than their behaviour. The dreadful scene had not the least

appearance of a religious ceremony, It resembled an abandoned rabble of

boys in England, collected for the purpose of worrying to death a cat or a

dog. A bamboo, perhaps twenty feet long, had been fastened at one end to a

stake driven in the ground, and held down over the fire by men at the

other. Such were the confusion, the levity, the bursts of brutal

laughter, while the poor woman was burning alive before their eyes, that

it seemed as if every spark of humanity was extinguished by this cruel

superstition. That which added to the cruelty was, the smallness of the

fire. It did not consist of so much wood as we consume in dressing a

dinner: no, not this fire that was to consume the living and the dead! I

saw the legs of the poor creature hanging out of the fire, while her body

was in flames. After a while they took a bamboo, ten or twelve feet long,

and stirred it, pushing and beating the half-consumed corpse, as you would

repair a fire of green wood, by throwing the unconsumed pieces into the

middle. Perceiving the legs hanging out, they beat them with the bamboo

for some time, in order to break the ligatures which fastened them at the

knees; (for they would not have come near to touch them for the world.) At

length, they succeeded in binding them upwards into the fire; the skin and

muscles giving way, and discovering the knee-sockets bare, with the balls

of the leg bones; a sight this, which, I need not say, made me thrill with

horror; especially when I recollected that this hopeless victim of

superstition was alive but a few minutes before. To have seen savage

wolves thus tearing a human body limb from limb, would have been shocking;

but to see relations and neighbours do this to one with whom they had

familiarly conversed not an hour before, and to do it with an air of

levity, was almost too much for me to bear! Turning to the Brahmman who

was the chief actor in this horrid tragedy, a young fellow of about

twenty-two, and one of the most hardened that ever I accosted, I told him

that the system which allowed of these cruelties, could no more proceed

from God than darkness from the sun; and warned him, that he must appear

at the judgment-seat of God, to answer for this murder. He, with a grin,

full of savage contempt, told me that 'he gloried in it, and felt the

highest pleasure in performing the deed.' I replied, 'that his pleasure

might be less than that of his Master; but seeing it was in vain to reason

with him, I turned to the people, and expostulated with them. One of them

answered, that 'the woman had burnt herself of her own free choice, and

that she went to the pile as a matter of pleasure.'--'Why, then, did you

confine her down with that large bamboo?'--'If we had not, she would have

run away'--'What, run away from pleasure!' I then addressed the poor lad,

who had been thus induced to set fire to his mother. He appeared about

nineteen. 'You have murdered your mother! your sin is great. The sin of

the Brahmman, who urged you to it, is greater; but yours is very

great.'--'What could I do? It is the custom.'--'True, but this custom is

not of God; but proceedeth from the devil, who wishes to destroy mankind.

How will you bear the reflection that you have murdered your only

surviving parent?' He seemed to feel what was said to him; but, just at

this instant, that hardened wretch, the Brahmman, rushed in, and drew him

away, while the tears were standing in his eyes. After reasoning with some

others, and telling them of the Saviour of the world, I returned home with

a mind full of horror and disgust.

"You expect, perhaps, to hear that this unhappy victim was the wife of

some Brahmman of high cast. She was the wife of a barber who dwelt at

Serampore, and had died that morning, leaving the son I have mentioned,

and a daughter about eleven years of age. Thus has this infernal

superstition aggravated the common miseries of life, and left these

children stripped of both their parents in one day! Nor is this an

uncommon case. It often happens to children far more helpless than these;

sometimes to children possessed of property, which is then left, as well

as themselves, to the mercy of those who have decoyed their mother to

their father's funeral pile." [84]

CEYLON. "Idolatrous procession. Each carriage has four wheels of solid

wood, and requires two hundred men to drag it. When they are dragged along

the streets, on occasions of great solemnity, women, in the phrensy of

false devotion, throw themselves down before the wheels, and are crushed

to death by their tremendous weight; the same superstitious madness

preventing the ignorant crowd from making any attempt to save them." [85]

SUMATRA. "The modes of marriage," says Mr. Marsden, "according to the

original institutions of these people, are by _jujur_, by _arnbel anak_,

or by _Semando_. The jujur is a certain sum of money, given by one man to

another, as a consideration for the person of his daughter, whose

situation, in this case, differs not much from that of a slave to the man

she marries, and to his family; his absolute property in her depends,

however, upon some nice circumstances. Besides the _botang jupu,_ (or main

sum,) there are certain appendages, or branches, one of which, the _tali

kulo_, or five dollars, is usually, from motives of delicacy or

friendship, left unpaid; and so long as that is the case, a relationship

is understood to subsist between the two families, and the parents of the

woman have a right to interfere on occasions of ill treatment; the husband

is also liable to be fined for wounding her: with other limitations of

absolute right. When that sum is finally paid, which seldom happens but in

cases of violent quarrel, the _tali kulo_, (tie of relationship,) is said

to be _putus_, (broken,) and the woman becomes to all intents the slave of

her lord. She has then no title to claim a divorce in any predicament; and

he may sell her, making only the first offer to her relations."

Speaking of another part of the _country_, (Batta,) he says, "the men are

allowed to marry as many wives as they please or can afford, and to have

half a dozen is not uncommon. The condition of the women appears to be no

other than that of slaves, the husbands having the power of selling their

wives and children." [86]

JAVA. At Bantam, and in other parts of the island, fathers betroth their

children at a very early age, lest they should be taken from them to

supply the harems of kings, or be sold for slaves on the death of the

fathers by the monarch, who is heir of all his subjects. [87]

Among all the nations of Southern Asia, and the East Indian and South Sea

Islands, the women are despised and oppressed; the wives and daughters of

every class are offered to strangers, and compelled to prostitute

themselves. They are moreover used with the utmost cruelty by their

husbands, and not permitted to eat, or even to sit down, in the presence

of the men; and yet, with marvellous inconsistency, many nations allow

themselves to be governed by women, who sometimes reign with despotic

authority.

NEW HOLLAND. "The aboriginal inhabitants of this distant region are,

indeed, beyond comparison, the most barbarous on the surface of the globe.

The residence of Europeans has been wholly ineffectual; the natives are

still in the same state as at our first settlement. Every day are men and

women to be seen in the streets of Sydney and Paramatta naked as in the

moment of their birth. In vain have the more humane of the officers of the

colony endeavoured to improve their condition: they still persist in the

enjoyment of their ease and liberty in their own way, and turn a deaf ear

to any advice upon this subject." [88]