As the immediate effects of original transgression upon the woman were most obvious and most deplorable, and as her debasement from the eminence assigned her by the Creator has been completed by the misrule of passion, and the gradual advancement of human degeneracy: so the direct operation of Christianity is apparent, according to the degree of its prevalence, in elevating her to a state which was known before only in the garden of Eden--a state in which she again assumes a rank, which regenerated man cheerfully concedes, wherein she regains the lost paradise of love and tenderness; while the more remote influence of this system is discernible in the recognition of her rights, wherever its benign dominion extends. Now she ascends to the glory of an intelligent creature, gladdens by her presence the solitary hours of existence, beguiles by her converse and sympathy the rough and tedious paths of life, and not only acquires personal dignity and importance, but in some measure new modifies, purifies, and exalts the character of man. If we cannot but weep over the affecting representation of the departure of Adam and Eve from the scene of innocence and of celestial manifestation, when
"The brandish'd sword of God before them blaz'd
Fierce as a comet: which with torrid heat
And vapours, as the Libyan air adust,
Begun to parch that temperate clime; whereat
In either hand the hast'ning angel caught
Our ling'ring parents, and to the eastern gate
Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
To the subjected plain----"
and when, taking a hasty retrospect of their lost felicity, in consequence of transgression, and cherishing gloomy forebodings of that melancholy futurity, which seemed already to pour from its dark clouds the deluging rain of grief and misery--
"Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wip'd them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide;
They, hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow
Through Eden took their solitary way;----"
--if we must mourn over so sad a scene, Christianity a wakens sympathies of an opposite description, by exhibiting a goodly number of their descendants as inhabitants of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH--the grand repository of heavenly blessings, and the dwelling-place of peace--at whose holy altar of truth souls are wedded, and at whose sacramental board they celebrate an everlasting union. Nothing can present a scene more worthy the attention of mankind, or more attractive to the eyes of witnessing angels, than this association of persons in pious fellowship, without distinction of birth or country, age or sex; participators in equal proportions of the same happiness, children of one common parent, and heirs of one rich inheritance!
3. The, great principles asserted by the religion of Jesus, secure to women, as an unquestionable right, that exaltation in society, which his conduct, and that of his followers conferred. These principles may he traced in the New Testament, either as necessarily comprehending, by their generality, a proper treatment of the female sex, or as developing themselves in particular regulations and enactments.
Christianity breathes a spirit of the most diffusive charity and good will: and wherever its "power" is felt, it moulds the character into the image of benevolence. Love is the beauty and the strength of this "spiritual building;" a love, at once comprehensive in its range, and minute in its ramifications: adjusting the diversified claims of society and religion with perfect exactness, and directing the exercise of all the social affections. The fountain being purified, the streams become pure; the heart, which is the centre mid spring of moral action, being renewed, the conduct will be distinguished by a corresponding degree of virtue, goodness, and sanctity. But as Christianity produces a general transformation of character, by subduing the ferocious and brutal propensities of man; clearing away the rank and noxious weeds that overspread human nature, and sowing the seeds of moral excellence, the effect must be discernible in the whole intercourse of life. Immorality trembles, domestic tyranny retires abashed before the majesty of religion, and peace pervades that dwelling where power was law, and woman a slave. In fact, every precept of the Gospel that inculcates kindness, sympathy, gentleness, meekness, courtesy, and all the other graces that bloom in the garden of the Lord--indirectly, and by no unintelligible or forced application, provides for the honour and glory of the female sex. If the most effectual method of degrading woman be to barbarize man, the certain means of dignifying her is to christianize him.
It is to be noticed also, that there is no sex in conscience, and that for the discharge of the duties of piety, each is equally capacitated, and therefore equally responsible. If men were to give an account at the tribunal of heaven, not only for their personal actions and principles, but for those of women, to whom they are related by the ties of consanguinity, or with whom they are connected by circumstances, there would be some reason in assuming a jurisdiction over their faith, and disputing their claims to rationality and to respectful treatment; but not to insist upon the moral constitution of the female sex, and the whole drift of divine revelation, the very terms of the initiatory ordinance of the Christian church, to which they are equally entitled, illustrates and secures their prerogatives--for it is "the answer of a good conscience towards God." When men impose fetters upon other men, condemning, imprisoning, fining, scourging, burning, and anathematizing them, merely because they dare to think for themselves in matters which can only concern God and their own souls, and will not have their faith decreed by arbitrary power and exasperated ignorance, it need not excite surprise, that they should assume the right of behaving to the weaker sex with all the capriciousness of despotism; and no authority but that of Scripture, which maintains the privileges of all thinking beings, can effectually restrain the wickedness of man's UNMANLY usurpation.
The precepts of Christianity bespeak its characteristic regard to the reciprocal duties and respective rank of the sexes, adjusting their claims with a nicety that precludes disputation, and an authority that commands assent. They are not arbitrary enactments; but being founded in the highest reason, and connected with individual felicity, approve themselves to every well-regulated mind. In our behaviour to others, we are not only prohibited from indulging the vindictive and malignant passions, but exhorted to do them good by the employment of our pecuniary resources, social opportunities, and moral means, to advance both their temporal and eternal interests. While these principles necessarily comprise the discharge of all relative duties, these are besides specifically enumerated and enforced. Husbands, in whose hands barbarism had placed a tyrannic sceptre, are required by the religion of Jesus to renounce their unjust domination, and to descend to the regulated and affectionate intercourse of the domestic hearth. It is expressly enjoined upon them to "love their wives," and not to be "bitter against them." "Let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself: so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies."--"Ye husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life." "Let one of you in particular so love his wife as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband."
Christianity also expressly abolishes, at least by necessary implication, polygamy and the power of divorce, as they existed among barbarous nations, perpetuating the degradation of women, and spreading confusion in society. "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery." "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law.) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as be liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband." And, "Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." Paley remarks, "The manners of different countries have varied in nothing more than in their domestic constitutions. Less polished and more luxurious nations have either not perceived the bad effects of polygamy, or, if they did perceive them, they who in such countries possessed the power of reforming the laws, have been unwilling to resign their own gratifications. Polygamy is retained at this day among the Turks, and throughout every part of Asia in which Christianity is not professed. In Christian countries it is universally prohibited. In Sweden it is punished with death. In England, besides the nullity of the second marriage, it subjects the offender to transportation, or imprisonment and branding, for the first offence, and to capital punishment for the second. And whatever may be said in behalf of polygamy when it is authorized by the law of the land, the marriage of a second wife during the lifetime of the first, in countries where such a second marriage is void, must be ranked with the most dangerous and cruel of those frauds by which a woman is cheated out of her fortune, her person, and her happiness.