There is a force more powerful than tempest or whirlwind, more irresistible than the fiercest brutal passion, a power which works in nature unseen but ceaselessly, repairing all destruction, accomplishing a mighty plan; a power which works in the human soul, enabling it to learn truth, to understand principles, to love justice and humanity, and to reach steadily onward to the attainment of the highest ideal. It is the creative and regenerating force of Wisdom, gradually but irresistibly penetrating the mind of Humanity. This mighty governing Power, call it by what name we may—Religion, Truth, Spiritual Christianity, Jehovah—uses human means, and works through the changing phenomena of daily life. It is our part to make the forms of human life exponents of this Divine force.
The principles here laid down are true. They rest upon the firm foundation of physiological law, and are confirmed by facts of universal experience. Let the younger generation of parents accept them in their great significance, making them the guiding influence in all social relations. Then will human life at once begin to shape itself according to God’s Truth; the law of inheritance will strengthen each generation into nobler tendencies; and our nation, renewing its strength, will grow into a humble but glorious exponent of the Divine Idea.
APPENDIX I. (Page 262)
Christian Duty in regard to Vice
Cruelty and Lust are the twin evils that now most seriously afflict our race, and which women—the mothers of the race—are especially called on to fight. Women must act. No one not partially blind can fail to see that the onward movement of events is carrying women forward into positions of active influence in social life that they have not hitherto occupied. Whether we welcome or dread this change, it goes on irresistibly, based upon industrial activity, and extending into every other department of life. The command of wisdom is to accept this advance, recognise its responsibilities, and bravely rise to meet them. Women, by the endowment of Motherhood, are created with special powers. This endowment, which is a mighty spiritual as well as a physical force, indicates their distinctive line of active influence, and will show why they are especially called on to combat cruelty and lust, which kill motherhood.
In this special subject, women must initiate their own lines of action, for they are called on by the constitution of Humanity to lead in this moral warfare, not be led. Equal justice to all, with protection for the most defenceless, is the only foundation on which both custom and legislation can safely rest in any attempt to improve the relations of the sexes or to remedy the direful evils which these relations at present engender.
APPENDIX II. (Page 265)
Terrible instances of this may be seen in Trélat’s medical work, La Folie Lucide, etc. Lallemand and other French surgeons report numerous cases of fatal injury done even to nursing infants by the wicked actions of unprincipled nurses. I have myself traced the ill-health of children in wealthy families to the habits practised by confidential nurses, apparently quiet, respectable women! Abundant medical testimony confirms these observations.
It is not the plan of the present essay to enter into minute details and suggestions relative to every step of family life which bears upon our subject; such details are more suited to the private and familiar conferences of those who are resolved to ennoble the life of sex. When this high resolve has become a guiding principle, it will throw light upon every practical arrangement from infancy onward. It will then be seen that no details are insignificant to the watchful mother; that the shape of the child’s nightdress, made in the form of loose drawers; the manner of washing and of attending to its natural wants; the nightly prayer; simple and respectful answers to the questions of awakening curiosity—all endless applications will flow from a perception of the necessity of securing the slow and healthy development of sex.
Dr. Acton has called attention to the necessity of securing local cleanliness, and to the evil arising from worms and from the habit of wetting the bed.