Nor should I deem it to the discredit of woman, were it incontestibly proved, that her Maker had given her less intellectual power in some provinces than man. For though, in civil affairs, in controlling the destinies of nations, in framing laws and administering justice, man labors in his exclusive sphere, yet in delicacy of perception and taste, and as a guardian at the fountains of Imagination, to woman he must yield the superiority. In the silence of her retirement she ponders on the themes of fancy, and while the consecrated names of Hemans and Sigourney shall endure, let man be slow to assume an absolute dominion in all the noble provinces of intellect.
But maintain as we may our constitutional ascendancy in the Physical and Mental capacities, there is one realm where woman reigns in undisputed supremacy; it is the realm of Moral power.
God has given her a keen sensibility, and a strength of feeling, and sympathies and affections which prepare her for singular eminence in moral attainments. In the religion of Ancient Greece, it was she who presided at the tribunal of fate; her native enthusiasm qualified her for this office. “A man,” says Diderot, “never sat on the sacred tripod; a woman alone, could deliver the Pythian oracle; alone could raise her mind to such a pitch as seriously to imagine the approach of a god, and panting with emotion, to cry, ‘I perceive him, I perceive him; there! there! the god!’ ” The same zeal which was displayed in devotion to a false faith, is seen in Christian lands, sustaining the morals and piety of eternal life.
Woman is more susceptible than man of sudden and strong impressions. Her impulses are quick and prompt, but this trait unless counterbalanced by others, would expose her to irresistible evil. She would fall an easy prey to lawless emotions. God has kindly averted this calamity, by inspiring her with a constancy and devotedness seldom witnessed in man. Let her place her affections on any object, and they will cling to it through every trial and change. What love so strong as woman’s? What moral power can compare with hers, when principle, duty, devotion, once engage the full energies of her soul?
2. What we have learned from this glance at the constitution of your sex, is verified by the Sacred Scriptures. In the book of Genesis we are told that God “took one of the ribs of Adam, as he slept, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.” Some commentators translate this passage thus: “he took one out of his side, and put flesh in its place;” and they thence infer that Adam and Eve were created at once, and joined by the side to each other; that God afterward sent a deep sleep upon Adam, and then separated the woman from him. They were thus on a perfect equality till the period of the fall. After that melancholy event, the sentence was pronounced on woman, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” And through all the subsequent history of woman, as found in the Bible, it is said, her inferiority to man is constantly implied.—Among the woes predicted by the prophet Isaiah, as awaiting Jerusalem and Judah, this is included, “Women shall rule over them.”
Let the original relative capacities of woman have been as they might, one fact is clearly apparent, that the general condition of women among the ancient Jews, and in contemporary nations, was one of degradation and servitude. She was the slave of man. The Essenes, a Jewish sect not unlike the modern Shakers, treated this sex with little respect, often with contempt. The system of polygamy, of old almost universally prevalent, tended directly to “stifle the best emotions of the female heart, and to call all its worst passions into exercise.” It has been supposed by some, that the wonder which the disciples of Christ expressed, when they found him conversing with the woman of Samaria, originated partly in their low opinion of her sex. The Talmud teaches that it is beneath the dignity of a Rabbi, to talk familiarly with a woman; and the Jew was accustomed, we are told, to give thanks to God, that he was not a woman.
But open the New Testament, and how in a moment is this estimation elevated. Of the Physical and Intellectual rank of woman, nothing is, indeed, there said. But as a creature of God, and a member of the great family of mankind, she is placed on an entire equality with man. Christianity does not make her responsible, as a moral and immortal being, to man, but represents both as having a common Master in heaven. No virtue inculcated on the one sex is omitted in describing the duties of the other. The Christian character is a moral statue, to be wrought by every living hand; and taste, composition, symmetry, effect, are required and expected, in the spiritual workmanship, no less of woman than of man.
The personal treatment which this sex received at the hand of Jesus, was always respectful, as well as tender and kind. “His earliest friend was a woman; his only steadfast friends through his ministry were women.” It was “the daughters of Jerusalem,” who wept for him in his final agony. “The last at his cross, and the first at his sepulchre, was a woman. And when, after his ascension, the little company of believers was assembled, waiting for the fulfilment of his promise, there also were found the women who had accompanied him in life and stood by him in death.” How could he, with such proofs of their piety, zeal and perseverance, fail to regard the sex with a consideration, at least equal to that he bestowed upon man?
And in the religion itself, we find qualities with which the capacities and powers of woman singularly harmonize. It is based upon the affections. Love to God, and love to man, are its two great commandments. The sacrifice it requires on the altar of life is that of the heart. And what is this but the unquestioned empire of woman? Sentiment with her is natural, the growth of her moral being; in man it is usually acquired, the result of thought. Deny, as man may, her mental equality with himself—doubt as we may, the comparative strength or capabilities of any other portion of her nature, as related to man, in the possessions of the heart, no man can contest the ascendancy with woman. She is naturally less selfish than man. She can, if she will but obey her best impulses, rise to the loftiest heights of Christian excellence. And, if serious impediments oppose her progress, on herself, her own culpableness, not on her nature, must each consequent failure be charged.
Another characteristic of our religion is its call for what have sometimes been termed the passive virtues, fortitude, submission, patience, resignation. The acquisition of these qualities is to man a most arduous task. He can toil, and struggle, and resist. In scenes of active effort, and strong conflict, he is at home. But his power of endurance is by no means commensurate with these traits. In woman they find a congenial spirit, a heart open, and waiting for their reception.—“Those disasters,” says an elegant writer, “which break down and subdue the spirit of man, and prostrate him in the dust, seem to call forth all the energies of the softer sex, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that at times, it approaches to sublimity.” Who does not perceive that this sex enjoys pre-eminent advantages for the culture of that spiritual union with God required of the Christian? And in sustaining the ordinary trials of our lot, as social beings; in cherishing forbearance toward the unjust, kindness to the thankless, and love toward those who inflict personal injuries, woman is endowed by her Maker with a divine power.
3. The History of this sex is a still farther testimony to their moral capacities. We have examples of illustrious female virtue in the annals of the Patriarchs, as Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel. In Holy Writ, we read also of Miriam and Deborah; and the picture left us by Solomon, of “a virtuous woman,” evinces not only the existence, but the appreciation of a true woman, by some in those early ages.
If we turn to the records of heathen nations, we find them occupied, when they speak of this sex, almost universally, in describing rare cases of personal prowess or physical conquests. The wealth of Babylon was such, and its advancement in science and refinement so great, that we may presume the female character to have been more elevated, than in savage countries. There was a true moral courage in that act recorded of the Phœnician women, who agreed, that if their countrymen lost a certain battle, they would perish in the flames, and who crowned with flowers her who made that proposition in a council. Would that history had transmitted the testimony of those quiet,