"'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.