{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_9880/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_9880","id":"gutenberg_9880","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9880","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Commentaries","Bible -- Feminist criticism","Category: Gender & Sexuality Studies","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Women in the Bible"],"text":"Produced by Carrie Lorenz and John B. Hare\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOMAN'S BIBLE.\n\n\nPART I.\n\n\n\nComments on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.\n\n\n\"In every soul there is bound up some truth and some error, and each\ngives to the world of thought what no other one possesses.\"--Cousin.\n\n\n\n\n1898.\n\n\n\n\nBy\n\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton\n\n\n\n\n\nREVISING COMMITTEE.\n\n\n\"We took sweet counsel together.\"--Ps. Iv., 14.\n\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton,\n\nLillie Devereux Blake,\n\nRev. Phebe A. Hanaford,\n\nMatilda Joslyn Gage,\n\nClara Bewick Colby,\n\nRev. Olympia Brown,\n\nRev. Augusta Chapin,\n\nFrances Ellen Burr,\n\nUrsula N. Gestefeld,\n\nClara B. Neyman,\n\nMary Seymour Howell,\n\nHelen H. Gardener,\n\nJosephine K. Henry,\n\nCharlotte Beebe: Wilbour,\n\nMrs. Robert G. Ingersoll,\n\nLucinda B. Chandler,\n\nSarah A. Underwood,\n\nCatharine F. Stebbins,\n\nEllen Battelle Dietrick,[FN#1]\n\nLouisa Southworth.\n\n\n\n[FN#1]  Deceased.\n\n\n\n\nFOREIGN MEMBERS.\n\n\nBaroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland,\n\nUrsula M. Bright, England,\n\nIrma Von Troll-Borostyant, Austria,\n\nPriscilla Bright Mclaren, Scotland,\n\nIsabelle Bogelot, France\n\n\n\n\n\nCOMMENTS\n\nON\n\nGENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS AND DEUTERONOMY,\n\n\n\nBy\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton,\nLillie Devereux Blake,\nRev. Phebe Hanaford,\nClara Bewick Colby,\n\nEllen Battelle Dietrick,\nUrsula N. Gestefeld,\nMrs. Louisa Southworth,\nFrances Ellen Burr.\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nSo many letters are daily received asking questions about the Woman's\nBible,--as to the extent of the revision, and the standpoint from which\nit will be conducted--that it seems best, though every detail is not as\nyet matured, to state the plan, as concisely as possible, upon which\nthose who have been in consultation during the summer, propose to do\nthe work.\n\n\nI. The object is to revise only those texts and chapters directly\nreferring to women, and those also in which women are made prominent by\nexclusion. As all such passages combined form but one-tenth of the\nScriptures, the undertaking will not be so laborious as, at the first\nthought, one would imagine. These texts, with the commentaries, can\neasily be compressed into a duodecimo volume of about four hundred\npages.\n\n\nII. The commentaries will be of a threefold character, the writers in\nthe different branches being selected according to their special\naptitude for the work:\n\n1. Two or three Greek and Hebrew scholars will devote themselves to\nthe translation and the meaning of particular words and texts in the\noriginal.\n\n2. Others will devote themselves to Biblical history, old manuscripts,\nto the new version, and to the latest theories as to the occult meaning\nof certain texts and parables.\n\n3. For the commentaries on the plain English version a committee of\nsome thirty members has been formed. These are women of earnestness and\nliberal ideas, quick to see the real purport of the Bible as regards\ntheir sex. Among them the various books of the Old and New Testament\nwill be distributed for comment.\n\n\nIII. There will be two or more editors to bring the work of the\nvarious committees into one consistent whole.\n\n\nIV. The completed work will be submitted to an advisory committee\nassembled at some central point, as London, New York, or Chicago, to\nsit in final judgment on \"The Woman's Bible.\"\n\n\nAs to the manner of doing the practical work:\n\nThose who have been engaged this summer have adopted the following\nplan, which may be suggestive to new members of the committee. Each\nperson purchased two Bibles, ran through them from Genesis to\nRevelations, marking all the texts that concerned women. The passages\nwere cut out, and pasted in a blank book, and the commentaries then\nwritten underneath.\n\nThose not having time to read all the books can confine their labors\nto the particular ones they propose to review.\n\nIt is thought best to publish the different parts as soon as prepared\nso that the Committee may have all in print in a compact form before\nthe final revision.\n\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\nAugust 1st, 1895.\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nFrom the inauguration of the movement for woman's emancipation the\nBible has been used to hold her in the \"divinely ordained sphere,\"\nprescribed in the Old and New Testaments.\n\nThe canon and civil law; church and state; priests and legislators;\nall political parties and religious denominations have alike taught\nthat woman was made after man, of man, and for man, an inferior being,\nsubject to man. Creeds, codes, Scriptures and statutes, are all based\non this idea. The fashions, forms, ceremonies and customs of society,\nchurch ordinances and discipline all grow out of this idea.\n\nOf the old English common law, responsible for woman's civil and\npolitical status, Lord Brougham said, \"it is a disgrace to the\ncivilization and Christianity of the Nineteenth Century.\" Of the canon\nlaw, which is responsible for woman's status in the church, Charles\nKingsley said, \"this will never be a good world for women until the\nlast remnant of the canon law is swept from the face of the earth.\"\n\nThe Bible teaches that woman brought sin and death into the world,\nthat she precipitated the fall of the race, that she was arraigned\nbefore the judgment seat of Heaven, tried, condemned and sentenced.\nMarriage for her was to be a condition of bondage, maternity a period\nof suffering and anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to\nplay the role of a dependent on man's bounty for all her material\nwants, and for all the information she might desire on the vital\nquestions of the hour, she was commanded to ask her husband at home.\nHere is the Bible position of woman briefly summed up.\n\nThose who have the divine insight to translate, transpose and\ntransfigure this mournful object of pity into an exalted, dignified\npersonage, worthy our worship as the mother of the race, are to be\ncongratulated as having a share of the occult mystic power of the\neastern Mahatmas.\n\nThe plain English to the ordinary mind admits of no such liberal\ninterpretation. The unvarnished texts speak for themselves. The canon\nlaw, church ordinances and Scriptures, are homogeneous, and all\nreflect the same spirit and sentiments.\n\nThese familiar texts are quoted by clergymen in their pulpits, by\nstatesmen in the halls of legislation, by lawyers in the courts, and\nare echoed by the press of all civilized nations, and accepted by woman\nherself as \"The Word of God.\" So perverted is the religious element in\nher nature, that with faith and works she is the chief support of the\nchurch and clergy; the very powers that make her emancipation\nimpossible. When, in the early part of the Nineteenth Century, women\nbegan to protest against their civil and political degradation, they\nwere referred to the Bible for an answer. When they protested against\ntheir unequal position in the church, they were referred to the Bible\nfor an answer.\n\nThis led to a general and critical study of the Scriptures. Some,\nhaving made a fetish of these books and believing them to be the\nveritable \"Word of God,\" with liberal translations, interpretations,\nallegories and symbols, glossed over the most objectionable features of\nthe various books and clung to them as divinely inspired. Others,\nseeing the family resemblance between the Mosaic code, the canon law,\nand the old English common law, came to the conclusion that all alike\nemanated from the same source; wholly human in their origin and\ninspired by the natural love of domination in the historians. Others,\nbewildered with their doubts and fears, came to no conclusion. While\ntheir clergymen told them on the one hand, that they owed all the\nblessings and freedom they enjoyed to the Bible, on the other, they\nsaid it clearly marked out their circumscribed sphere of action: that\nthe demands for political and civil rights were irreligious, dangerous\nto the stability of the home, the state and the church. Clerical\nappeals were circulated from time to time, conjuring members of their\nchurches to take no part in the anti-slavery or woman suffrage\nmovements, as they were infidel in their tendencies, undermining the\nvery foundations of society. No wonder the majority of women stood\nstill, and with bowed heads, accepted the situation.\n\nListening to the varied opinions of women, I have long thought it\nwould be interesting and profitable to get them clearly stated in book\nform. To this end six years ago I proposed to a committee of women to\nissue a Woman's Bible, that we might have women's commentaries on\nwomen's position in the Old and New Testaments. It was agreed on by\nseveral leading women in England and America and the work was begun,\nbut from various causes it has been delayed, until now the idea is\nreceived with renewed enthusiasm, and a large committee has been\nformed, and we hope to complete the work within a year.\n\nThose who have undertaken the labor are desirous to have some Hebrew\nand Greek scholars, versed in Biblical criticism, to gild our pages\nwith their learning. Several distinguished women have been urged to do\nso, but they are afraid that their high reputation and scholarly\nattainments might be compromised by taking part in an enterprise that\nfor a time may prove very unpopular. Hence we may not be able to get\nhelp from that class.\n\nOthers fear that they might compromise their evangelical faith by\naffiliating with those of more liberal views, who do not regard the\nBible as the \"Word of God,\" but like any other book, to be judged by\nits merits. If the Bible teaches the equality of Woman, why does the\nchurch refuse to ordain women to preach the gospel, to fill the offices\nof deacons and elders, and to administer the Sacraments, or to admit\nthem as delegates to the Synods, General Assemblies and Conferences of\nthe different denominations? They have never yet invited a woman to\njoin one of their Revising Committees, nor tried to mitigate the\nsentence pronounced on her by changing one count in the indictment\nserved on her in Paradise.\n\nThe large number of letters received, highly appreciative of the\nundertaking, is very encouraging to those who have inaugurated the\nmovement, and indicate a growing self-respect and self-assertion in the\nwomen of this generation. But we have the usual array of objectors to\nmeet and answer. One correspondent conjures us to suspend the work, as\nit is \"ridiculous\" for \"women to attempt the revision of the\nScriptures.\" I wonder if any man wrote to the late revising committee\nof Divines to stop their work on the ground that it was ridiculous for\nmen to revise the Bible. Why is it more ridiculous for women to protest\nagainst her present status in the Old and New Testament, in the\nordinances and discipline of the church, than in the statutes and\nconstitution of the state? Why is it more ridiculous to arraign\necclesiastics for their false teaching and acts of injustice to women,\nthan members of Congress and the House of Commons? Why is it more\naudacious to review Moses than Blackstone, the Jewish code of laws,\nthan the English system of jurisprudence? Women have compelled their\nlegislators in every state in this Union to so modify their statutes\nfor women that the old common law is now almost a dead letter. Why not\ncompel Bishops and Revising Committees to modify their creeds and\ndogmas? Forty years ago it seemed as ridiculous to timid, time-serving\nand retrograde folk for women to demand an expurgated edition of the\nlaws, as it now does to demand an expurgated edition of the Liturgies\nand the Scriptures. Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew\noff your spectacles, and see that the world is moving. Whatever your\nviews may be as to the importance of the proposed work, your political\nand social degradation are but an outgrowth of your status in the\nBible. When you express your aversion, based on a blind feeling of\nreverence in which reason has no control, to the revision of the\nScriptures, you do but echo Cowper, who, when asked to read Paine's\n\"Rights of Man,\" exclaimed \"No man shall convince me that I am\nimproperly governed while I feel the contrary.\"\n\nOthers say it is not politic to rouse religious opposition.\n\nThis much-lauded policy is but another word for cowardice. How can\nwoman's position be changed from that of a subordinate to an equal,\nwithout opposition, without the broadest discussion of all the\nquestions involved in her present degradation? For so far-reaching and\nmomentous a reform as her complete independence, an entire revolution\nin all existing institutions is inevitable.\n\nLet us remember that all reforms are interdependent, and that whatever\nis done to establish one principle on a solid basis, strengthens all.\nReformers who are always compromising, have not yet grasped the idea\nthat truth is the only safe ground to stand upon. The object of an\nindividual life is not to carry one fragmentary measure in human\nprogress, but to utter the highest truth clearly seen in all\ndirections, and thus to round out and perfect a well balanced\ncharacter. Was not the sum of influence exerted by John Stuart Mill on\npolitical, religious and social questions far greater than that of any\nstatesman or reformer who has sedulously limited his sympathies and\nactivities to carrying one specific measure? We have many women\nabundantly endowed with capabilities to understand and revise what men\nhave thus far written. But they are all suffering from inherited ideas\nof their inferiority; they do not perceive it, yet such is the true\nexplanation of their solicitude, lest they should seem to be too self-\nasserting.\n\nAgain there are some who write us that our work is a useless\nexpenditure of force over a book that has lost its hold on the human\nmind. Most intelligent women, they say, regard it simply as the history\nof a rude people in a barbarous age, and have no more reverence for the\nScriptures than any other work. So long as tens of thousands of Bibles\nare printed every year, and circulated over the whole habitable globe,\nand the masses in all English-speaking nations revere it as the word of\nGod, it is vain to belittle its influence. The sentimental feelings we\nall have for those things we were educated to believe sacred, do not\nreadily yield to pure reason. I distinctly remember the shudder that\npassed over me on seeing a mother take our family Bible to make a high\nseat for her child at table. It seemed such a desecration. I was\ntempted to protest against its use for such a purpose, and this,\ntoo, long after my reason had repudiated its divine authority.\n\nTo women still believing in the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures,\nwe say give us by all means your exegesis in the light of the higher\ncriticism learned men are now making, and illumine the Woman's Bible,\nwith your inspiration.\n\nBible historians claim special inspiration for the Old and New\nTestaments containing most contradictory records of the same events, of\nmiracles opposed to all known laws, of customs that degrade the female\nsex of all human and animal life, stated in most questionable language\nthat could not be read in a promiscuous assembly, and call all this\n\"The Word of God.\"\n\nThe only points in which I differ from all ecclesiastical teaching is\nthat I do not believe that any man ever saw or talked with God, I do\nnot believe that God inspired the Mosaic code, or told the historians\nwhat they say he did about woman, for all the religions on the face of\nthe earth degrade her, and so long as woman accepts the position that\nthey assign her, her emancipation is impossible. Whatever the Bible may\nbe made to do in Hebrew or Greek, in plain English it does not exalt\nand dignify woman. My standpoint for criticism is the revised edition\nof 1888. 1 will so far honor the revising committee of wise men who\nhave given us the best exegesis they can according to their ability,\nalthough Disraeli said the last one before he died, contained 150,000\nblunders in the Hebrew, and 7,000 in the Greek.\n\nBut the verbal criticism in regard to woman's position amounts to\nlittle. The spirit is the same in all periods and languages, hostile to\nher as an equal.\n\nThere are some general principles in the holy books of all religions\nthat teach love, charity, liberty, justice and equality for all the\nhuman family, there are many grand and beautiful passages, the golden\nrule has been echoed and re-echoed around the world. There are lofty\nexamples of good and true men and women, all worthy our acceptance and\nimitation whose lustre cannot be dimmed by the false sentiments and\nvicious characters bound up in the same volume. The Bible cannot be\naccepted or rejected as a whole, its teachings are varied and its\nlessons differ widely from each other. In criticising the peccadilloes\nof Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel, we would not shadow the virtues of\nDeborah, Huldah and Vashti. In criticising the Mosaic code, we would\nnot question the wisdom of the golden rule and the fifth Commandment.\nAgain the church claims special consecration for its cathedrals and\npriesthood, parts of these aristocratic churches are too holy for\nwomen to enter, boys were early introduced into the choirs for this\nreason, woman singing in an obscure corner closely veiled. A few of\nthe more democratic denominations accord women some privileges, but\ninvidious discriminations of sex are found in all religious\norganizations, and the most bitter outspoken enemies of woman\nare found among clergymen and bishops of the Protestant religion.[FN#2]\n\n\n\n[FN#2]  See the address of Bishop Doane, June 7th, 1895, in the closing\nexercises of St. Agnes School, Albany.\n\n\n\nThe canon law, the Scriptures, the creeds and codes and church\ndiscipline of the leading religions bear the impress of fallible man,\nand not of our ideal great first cause, \"the Spirit of all Good,\" that\nset the universe of matter and mind in motion, and by immutable law\nholds the land, the sea, the planets, revolving round the great centre\nof light and heat, each in its own elliptic, with millions of stars in\nharmony all singing together, the glory of creation forever and ever.\n\n\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF GENESIS.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nGenesis i: 26, 27, 28.\n\n\n\n26 And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness:\nand let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl\nof the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every\ncreeping thing that creepeth upon the earth 27 So God created man in\nhis own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female\nimage, created he them.\n\n28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and\nmultiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion\nover the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every\nliving thing that moveth upon the earth.\n\n\nHere is the sacred historian's first account of the advent of woman; a\nsimultaneous creation of both sexes, in the image of God. It is evident\nfrom the language that there was consultation in the Godhead, and that\nthe masculine and feminine elements were equally represented. Scott in\nhis commentaries says, \"this consultation of the Gods is the origin of\nthe doctrine of the trinity.\" But instead of three male personages, as\ngenerally represented, a Heavenly Father, Mother, and Son would seem\nmore rational.\n\nThe first step in the elevation of woman to her true position, as an\nequal factor in human progress, is the cultivation of the religious\nsentiment in regard to her dignity and equality, the recognition by the\nrising generation of an ideal Heavenly Mother, to whom their prayers\nshould be addressed, as well as to a Father.\n\nIf language has any meaning, we have in these texts a plain\ndeclaration of the existence of the feminine element in the Godhead,\nequal in power and glory with the masculine. The Heavenly Mother and\nFather! \"God created man in his own image, male and female.\" Thus\nScripture, as well as science and philosophy, declares the eternity\nand equality of sex--the philosophical fact, without which there could\nhave been no perpetuation of creation, no growth or development in the\nanimal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms, no awakening nor progressing in\nthe world of thought. The masculine and feminine elements, exactly\nequal and balancing each other, are as essential to the maintenance of\nthe equilibrium of the universe as positive and negative electricity,\nthe centripetal and centrifugal forces, the laws of attraction which\nbind together all we know of this planet whereon we dwell and of the\nsystem in which we revolve.\n\nIn the great work of creation the crowning glory was realized, when\nman and woman were evolved on the sixth day, the masculine and feminine\nforces in the image of God, that must have existed eternally, in all\nforms of matter and mind. All the persons in the Godhead are\nrepresented in the Elohim the divine plurality taking counsel in regard\nto this last and highest form of life. Who were the members of this\nhigh council, and were they a duality or a trinity? Verse 27 declares\nthe image of God male and female. How then is it possible to make woman\nan afterthought? We find in verses 5-16 the pronoun \"he\" used. Should\nit not in harmony with verse 26 be \"they,\" a dual pronoun? We may\nattribute this to the same cause as the use of \"his\" in verse 11\ninstead of \"it.\" The fruit tree yielding fruit after \"his\" kind instead\nof after \"its\" kind. The paucity of a language may give rise to many\nmisunderstandings.\n\nThe above texts plainly show the simultaneous creation of man and\nwoman, and their equal importance in the development of the race. All\nthose theories based on the assumption that man was prior in the\ncreation, have no foundation in Scripture.\n\nAs to woman's subjection, on which both the canon and the civil law\ndelight to dwell, it is important to note that equal dominion is given\nto woman over every living thing, but not one word is said giving man\ndominion over woman.\n\nHere is the first title deed to this green earth giving alike to the\nsons and daughters of God. No lesson of woman's subjection can be\nfairly drawn from the first chapter of the Old Testament.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe most important thing for a woman to note, in reading Genesis, is\nthat that portion which is now divided into \"the first three chapters\"\n(there was no such division until about five centuries ago), contains\ntwo entirely separate, and very contradictory, stories of creation,\nwritten by two different, but equally anonymous, authors. No Christian\ntheologian of to-day, with any pretensions to scholarship, claims that\nGenesis was written by Moses. As was long ago pointed out, the Bible\nitself declares that all the books the Jews originally possessed were\nburned in the destruction of Jerusalem, about 588 B. C., at the time\nthe people were taken to Babylonia as slaves too the Assyrians, (see II\nEsdras, ch. xiv, V. 21, Apocrypha). Not until about 247 B. C. (some\ntheologians say 226 and others; 169 B. C.) is there any record of a\ncollection of literature in the re-built Jerusalem, and, then, the\nanonymous writer of II Maccabees briefly mentions that some Nehemiah\n\"gathered together the acts of the kings and the prophets and those of\nDavid\" when \"founding a library\" for use in Jerusalem. But the earliest\nmention anywhere in the Bible of a book that might have corresponded to\nGenesis is made by an apocryphal writer, who says that Ezra wrote \"all\nthat hath been done in the world since the beginning,\" after the Jews\nreturned from Babylon, under his leadership, about 450 B. C. (see II\nEsdras, ch. xiv, v. 22, of the Apocrypha).\n\nWhen it is remembered that the Jewish books were written on rolls of\nleather, without much attention to vowel points and with no division\ninto verses or chapters, by uncritical copyists, who altered passages\ngreatly, and did not always even pretend to understand what they were\ncopying, then the reader of Genesis begins to put herself in position\nto understand how it can be contradictory. Great as were the liberties\nwhich the Jews took with Genesis, those of the English translators,\nhowever, greatly surpassed them.\n\nThe first chapter of Genesis, for instance, in Hebrew, tells us, in\nverses one and two, \"As to origin, created the gods (Elohim) these\nskies (or air or clouds) and this earth. . . And a wind moved upon the\nface of the waters.\" Here we have the opening of a polytheistic fable\nof creation, but, so strongly convinced were the English translators\nthat the ancient Hebrews must have been originally monotheistic that\nthey rendered the above, as follows: \"In the beginning God created the\nheaven and the earth. . . . And the spirit of God (!) moved upon the\nface of the waters.\"\n\nIt is now generally conceded that some one (nobody pretends to know\nwho) at some time (nobody pretends to know exactly when), copied two\ncreation myths on the same leather roll, one immediately following the\nother. About one hundred years ago, it was discovered by Dr. Astruc, of\nFrance, that from Genesis ch. i, v. 1 to Genesis ch. ii, v. 4, is given\none complete account of creation, by an author who always used the term\n\"the gods\" (Elohim), in speaking of the fashioning of the universe,\nmentioning it altogether thirty-four times, while, in Genesis ch. ii,\nv. 4, to the end of chapter iii, we have a totally different narrative,\nby an author of unmistakably different style, who uses the term \"Iahveh\nof the gods\" twenty times, but \"Elohim\" only three times. The first\nauthor, evidently, attributes creation to a council of gods, acting in\nconcert, and seems never to have heard of Iahveh. The second attributes\ncreation to Iahveh, a tribal god of ancient Israel, but represents\nIahveh as one of two or more gods, conferring with them (in Genesis ch.\nxiii, V. 22) as to the danger of man's acquiring immortality.\n\nModern theologians have, for convenience sake, entitled these two\nfables, respectively, the Elohistic and the Iahoistic stories. They\ndiffer, not only in the point I have mentioned above, but in the order\nof the \"creative acts;\" in regard to the mutual attitude of man and\nwoman, and in regard to human freedom from prohibitions imposed by\ndeity. In order to exhibit their striking contradictions, I will place\nthem in parallel columns:\n\n\nELOHISTIC. --- IAHOISTIC.\n\nOrder of Creation: --- Order of Creation:\nFirst--Water. --- First--Land.\nSecond--Land. --- Second--Water.\nThird--Vegetation. --- Third--Male Man, only.\nFourth--Animals. --- Fourth--Vegetation.\nFifth--Mankind; male and female. --- Fifth--Animals.\n --- Sixth--Woman.\n\nIn this story male and female man are created simultaneously, both\nalike, in the image of the gods, after animals have been called into\nexistence. --- In this story male man is sculptured out of clay,\nbefore any animals are created, and before female man has been\nconstructed.\n\nHere, joint dominion over the earth is given to woman and man, without\nlimit or prohibition. --- Here, woman is punished with subjection to\nman for breaking a prohibitory law.\n\nEverything, without exception, is pronounced \"very good.\" --- There is\na tree of evil, whose fruit, is said by Iahveh to cause sudden death,\nbut which does not do so, as Adam lived 930 years after eating it.\n\nMan and woman are told that \"every plant bearing seed upon the face of\nthe earth and every tree. . . To you it shall be for meat.\" They are\nthus given perfect freedom. --- Man is told there is one tree of which\nhe must not eat, \"for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely\ndie.\"\n\nMan and woman are given special dominion over all the animals-\"every\ncreeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.\" --- An animal, a\n\"creeping thing,\" is given dominion over man and woman, and proves\nhimself more truthful than Iahveh Elohim. (Compare Genesis chapter ii,\nverse 17, with chapter iii, verses 4 and 22.)\n\n\n\nNow as it is manifest that both of these stories cannot be true;\nintelligent women, who feel bound to give the preference to either, may\ndecide according to their own judgment of which is more worthy of an\nintelligent woman's acceptance. Paul's rule is a good one in this\ndilemma, \"Prove all things: hold fast to that which is good.\" My own\nopinion is that the second story was manipulated by some Jew, in an\nendeavor to give \"heavenly authority\" for requiring a woman to obey the\nman she married. In a work which I am now completing, I give some facts\nconcerning ancient Israelitish history, which will be of peculiar\ninterest to those who wish to understand the origin of woman's\nsubjection.\n\n\nE. B. D.\n\n\n\nMany orientalists and students of theology have maintained that the\nconsultation of the Gods here described is proof that the Hebrews were\nin early days polytheists--Scott's supposition that this is the origin\nof the Trinity has no foundation in fact, as the beginning of that\nconception is to be found in the earliest of all known religious nature\nworship. The acknowledgment of the dual principal, masculine and\nfeminine, is much more probably the explanation of the expressions here\nused.\n\nIn the detailed description of creation we find a gradually ascending\nseries. Creeping things, \"great sea monsters,\" (chap. I, V. 21, literal\ntranslation). \"Every bird of wing,\" cattle and living things of the\nearth, the fish of the sea and the \"birds of the heavens,\" then man,\nand last and crowning glory of the whole, woman.\n\nIt cannot be maintained that woman was inferior to man even if, as\nasserted in chapter ii, she was created after him without at once\nadmitting that man is inferior to the creeping things, because created\nafter them.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\nGenesis ii, 21-25.\n\n\n\n21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he\nslept; and be took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof.\n\n22 And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman,\nand brought her unto the man.\n\n23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh:\nshe shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.\n\n24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall\ncleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.\n\n25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not\nashamed.\n\n\nAs the account of the creation in the first chapter is in harmony with\nscience, common sense, and the experience of mankind in natural laws,\nthe inquiry naturally arises, why should there be two contradictory\naccounts in the same book, of the same event? It is fair to infer that\nthe second version, which is found in some form in the different\nreligions of all nations, is a mere allegory, symbolizing some\nmysterious conception of a highly imaginative editor.\n\nThe first account dignifies woman as an important factor in the\ncreation, equal in power and glory with man. The second makes her a\nmere afterthought. The world in good running order without her. The\nonly reason for her advent being the solitude of man.\n\nThere is something sublime in bringing order out of chaos; light out\nof darkness; giving each planet its place in the solar system; oceans\nand lands their limits; wholly inconsistent with a petty surgical\noperation, to find material for the mother of the race. It is on this\nallegory that all the enemies of women rest their battering rams, to\nprove her inferiority. Accepting the view that man was prior in the\ncreation, some Scriptural writers say that as the woman was of the man,\ntherefore, her position should be one of subjection. Grant it, then as\nthe historical fact is reversed in our day, and the man is now of the\nwoman, shall his place be one of subjection?\n\nThe equal position declared in the first account must prove more\nsatisfactory to both sexes; created alike in the image of God--The\nHeavenly Mother and Father.\n\nThus, the Old Testament, \"in the beginning,\" proclaims the\nsimultaneous creation of man and woman, the eternity and equality of\nsex; and the New Testament echoes back through the centuries the\nindividual sovereignty of woman growing out of this natural fact. Paul,\nin speaking of equality as the very soul and essence of Christianity,\nsaid, \"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,\nthere is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.\"\nWith this recognition of the feminine element in the Godhead in the Old\nTestament, and this declaration of the equality of the sexes in the\nNew, we may well wonder at the contemptible status woman occupies in\nthe Christian Church of to-day.\n\nAll the commentators and publicists writing on woman's position, go\nthrough an immense amount of fine-spun metaphysical speculations, to\nprove her subordination in harmony with the Creator's original design.\n\nIt is evident that some wily writer, seeing the perfect equality of\nman and woman in the first chapter, felt it important for the dignity\nand dominion of man to effect woman's subordination in some way. To do\nthis a spirit of evil must be introduced, which at once proved itself\nstronger than the spirit of good, and man's supremacy was based on the\ndownfall of all that had just been pronounced very good. This spirit of\nevil evidently existed before the supposed fall of man, hence woman was\nnot the origin of sin as so often asserted.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nIn v. 23 Adam proclaims the eternal oneness of the happy pair, \"This\nis now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh;\" no hint of her\nsubordination. How could men, admitting these words to be divine\nrevelation, ever have preached the subjection of woman!\n\nNext comes the naming of the mother of the race. \"She shall be called\nWoman,\" in the ancient form of the word Womb-man. She was man and more\nthan man because of her maternity.\n\nThe assertion of the supremacy of the woman in the marriage relation\nis contained in v. 24: \"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his\nmother and cleave unto his wife.\" Nothing is said of the headship of\nman, but he is commanded to make her the head of the household, the\nhome, a rule followed for centuries under the Matriarchate.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\nGenesis iii: 1-24.\n\n\n\n1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which\nthe Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,\nYe shall not eat of every tree of the garden?\n\n2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the\ntrees of the garden:\n\n3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,\nGod hath said Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest\nye die.\n\n4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:\n\n5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes\nshall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.\n\n6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it\nwas pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,\nshe took of the fruit thereof, and did eat and gave also unto her\nhusband with her; and he did eat.\n\n7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were\nnaked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.\n\n8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in\nthe cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the\npresence of the Lord God amongst the trees in the garden.\n\n9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?\n\n10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,\nbecause I was naked; and I hid myself.\n\n11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of\nthe tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?\n\n12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she\ngave me of the tree, and I did eat.\n\n13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast\ndone? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.\n\n14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done\nthis, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the\nfield; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the\ndays of thy life:\n\n15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy\nseed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his\nheel.\n\n16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy\nconception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children: and thy desire\nshall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.\n\n17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice\nof thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee,\nsaying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in\nsorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;\n\n18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou\nshalt eat the herb of the field;\n\n19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return\nunto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and\nunto dust shalt thou return.\n\n20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve: because she was the mother of\nall living.\n\n21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins\nand clothed them.\n\n22 And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to\nknow good and evil; and now, let he put forth his hand, and take also\nof the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever;\n\n23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to\ntill the ground from whence he was taken.\n\n24 So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of\nEden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the\nway of the tree of life.\n\n\nAdam Clarke, in his commentaries, asks the question, \"is this an\nallegory?\" He finds it beset with so many difficulties as an historical\nfact, that he inclines at first to regard it as a fable, a mere symbol,\nof some hidden truth. His mind seems more troubled about the serpent\nthan any other personage in the drama. As snakes cannot walk upright,\nand have never been known to speak, he thinks this beguiling creature\nmust have been an ourang-outang, or some species of ape. However, after\nexpressing all his doubts, he rests in the assumption that it must be\ntaken literally, and that with higher knowledge of the possibilities of\nall living things, many seeming improbabilities will be fully realized.\n\nA learned professor in Yale College,[FN#3] before a large class of\nstudents, expressed serious doubts as to the forbidden fruit being an\napple, as none grew in that latitude. He said it must have been a\nquince. If the serpent and the apple are to be withdrawn thus\nrecklessly from the tableaux, it is feared that with advancing\ncivilization the whole drama may fall into discredit. Scientists tells\nus that \"the missing link\" between the ape and man, has recently been\ndiscovered., so that we can now trace back an unbroken line of\nancestors to the dawn of creation.\n\n\n\n[FN#3]  Daniel Cady Eaton, Professor of Botany.\n\n\n\nAs out of this allegory grows the doctrines of original sin, the fall\nof man, and woman the author of all our woes, and the curses on the\nserpent, the woman, and the man; the Darwinian theory of the gradual\ngrowth of the race from a lower to a higher type of animal life, is\nmore hopeful and encouraging. However, as our chief interest is in\nwoman's part in the drama, we are equally pleased with her attitude,\nwhether as a myth in an allegory, or as the heroine of an historical\noccurrence.\n\nIn this prolonged interview, the unprejudiced reader must be impressed\nwith the courage, the dignity, and the lofty ambition of the woman. The\ntempter evidently had a profound knowledge of human nature, and saw at\na glance the high character of the person he met by chance in his walks\nin the garden. He did not try to tempt her from the path of duty by\nbrilliant jewels, rich dresses, worldly luxuries or pleasures, but with\nthe promise of knowledge, with the wisdom of the Gods.\n\nLike Socrates or Plato, his powers of conversation and asking\npuzzling questions, were no doubt marvellous, and he roused in the\nwoman that intense thirst for knowledge, that the simple pleasures of\npicking flowers and talking with Adam did not satisfy. Compared with\nAdam she appears to great advantage through the entire drama.\n\nThe curse pronounced on woman is inserted in an unfriendly spirit to\njustify her degradation and subjection to man. With obedience to the\nlaws of health, diet, dress, and exercise, the period of maternity\nshould be one of added vigor in both body and mind, a perfectly natural\noperation should not be attended with suffering. By the observance of\nphysical and psychical laws the supposed curse can be easily\ntransformed into a blessing. Some churchmen speak of maternity as a\ndisability, and then chant the Magnificat in all their cathedrals round\nthe globe. Through all life's shifting scenes, the mother of the race\nhas been the greatest factor in civilization.\n\nWe hear the opinion often expressed, that woman always has, and always\nwill be in subjection. Neither assertion is true. She enjoyed unlimited\nindividual freedom for many centuries, and the events of the present\nday all point to her speedy emancipation. Scientists now give 85,000\nyears for the growth of the race. They assign 60,000 to savagism,\n20,000 to barbarism, and 5,000 to civilization. Recent historians tell\nus that for centuries woman reigned supreme. That period was called the\nMatriarchate. Then man seized the reins of government, and we are now\nunder the Patriarchate. But we see on all sides new forces gathering,\nand woman is already abreast with man in art, science, literature, and\ngovernment. The next dynasty, in which both will reign as equals, will\nbe the Amphiarchate, which is close at hand.\n\nPsychologists tell us of a sixth sense now in process of development,\nby which we can read each other's mind and communicate without speech.\nThe Tempter might have had that sense, as he evidently read the minds\nof both the creature and the Creator, if we are to take this account\nas literally true, as Adam Clarke advises.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nNote the significant fact that we always hear of the \"fall of man,\"\nnot the fall of woman, showing that the consensus of human thought has\nbeen more unerring than masculine interpretation. Reading this\nnarrative carefully, it is amazing that any set of men ever claimed\nthat the dogma of the inferiority of woman is here set forth. The\nconduct of Eve from the beginning to the end is so superior to that of\nAdam. The command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge was\ngiven to the man alone before woman was formed. Genesis ii, 17.\nTherefore the injunction was not brought to Eve with the impressive\nsolemnity of a Divine Voice, but whispered to her by her husband and\nequal. It was a serpent supernaturally endowed, a seraphim as Scott and\nother commentators have claimed, who talked with Eve, and whose words\nmight reasonably seem superior to the second-hand story of her\ncompanion nor does the woman yield at once. She quotes the command not\nto eat of the fruit to which the serpent replies \"Dying ye shall not\ndie,\" v. 4, literal translation. In other words telling her that if the\nmortal body does perish, the immortal part shall live forever, and\noffering as the reward of her act the attainment of Knowledge.\n\nThen the woman fearless of death if she can gain wisdom takes of the\nfruit; and all this time Adam standing beside her interposes no word of\nobjection. \"Her husband with her\" are the words of v. 6. Had he been\nthe representative of the divinely appointed head in married life, he\nassuredly would have taken upon himself the burden of the discussion\nwith the serpent, but no, he is silent in this crisis of their fate.\nHaving had the command from God himself he interposes no word of\nwarning or remonstrance, but takes the fruit from the hand of his wife\nwithout a protest. It takes six verses to describe the \"fall\" of\nwoman, the fall of man is contemptuously dismissed in a line and a half.\n\nThe subsequent conduct of Adam was to the last degree dastardly. When\nthe awful time of reckoning comes, and the Jehovah God appears to\ndemand why his command has been disobeyed, Adam endeavors to shield\nhimself behind the gentle being he has declared to be so dear. \"The\nwoman thou gavest to be with me, she gave me and I did eat,\" he whines--\ntrying to shield himself at his wife's expense! Again we are amazed\nthat upon such a story men have built up a theory of their superiority!\n\nThen follows what has been called the curse. Is it not rather a\nprediction? First is the future fate of the serpent described, the\nenmity of the whole human race--\"it shall lie in wait for thee as to\nthe head\" (v. 15, literal translation). Next the subjection of the\nwoman is foretold, thy husband \"shall rule over thee,\" v. 16. Lastly\nthe long struggle of man with the forces of nature is portrayed. \"In\nthe sweat of thy face thou shalt eat food until thy turning back to the\nearth\" (v. 19, literal translation). With the evolution of humanity an\never increasing number of men have ceased to toil for their bread with\ntheir hands, and with the introduction of improved machinery, and the\nuplifting of the race there will come a time when there shall be no\nseverities of labor, and when women shall be freed from all oppressions.\n\n\"And Adam called his wife's name Life for she was the mother of all\nliving\" (V. 20, literal translation).\n\nIt is a pity that all versions of the Bible do not give this word\ninstead of the Hebrew Eve. She was Life, the eternal mother, the first\nrepresentative of the more valuable and important half of the human\nrace.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\n\nGenesis iv: 1-12, 19, 21.\n\n\n\n1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and\nsaid, I have gotten a man from the Lord.\n\n2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,\nbut Cain was a tiller of the ground.\n\n3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the\nfruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.\n\n4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the\nfat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.\n\n5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was\nvery wroth, and his countenance fell.\n\n6 And the lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy\ncountenance fallen?\n\n7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted: and if thou doest\nnot well, sin lieth at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire, and\nthou shalt rule over him.\n\n8 And Cain talked with Abet his brother: and it came to pass, when\nthey were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and\nslew him.\n\n9. And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said\n\"Am I my brother's keeper?\"\n\n10. And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brothers blood\ncrieth unto me from the ground.\n\n11. And now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth\nto receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.\n\n12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto\nthee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.\n\n19. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was\nAdah, and the name of the other Zillah.\n\n23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, ye\nwives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech.\n\n\nOne would naturally suppose that Cain's offering of fruit indicated a\nmore refined and spiritual idea of the fitness of things than Abel's of\nanimal food. Why Cain's offering was rejected as unworthy does not\nappear.\n\nThere is something pathetic in Eve's joy and faith at the advent of\nher first-born: \"Lo I have a man child from the Lord.\" She evidently\nthought that Cain was to be to her a great blessing. Some expositors\nsay that Eve thought that Cain was the promised seed that was to bruise\nthe serpent's head; but Adam Clarke, in estimating woman's reasoning\npowers, says, \"it was too metaphysical an idea for that period.\" But as\nthat is just what the Lord said to Eve, she must have had the capacity\nto understand it. But all speculations as to what Eve thought in that\neventful hour are vain. Clarke asserts that Cain and Abel were twins.\nEve must have been too much occupied with her vacillating joys and\nsorrows to have indulged in any connected train of thought. Her grief\nin the fratricidal tragedy that followed can be more easily\nunderstood. The dreary environments of the mother, and the hopeless\nprophesies of her future struggling life, banished to a dreary,\ndesolate region, beyond the love and care of her Creator, is revenged\non her children. If Adam and Eve merited the severe punishment\ninflicted on them, they should have had some advice from the Heavenly\nMother and Father as to the sin of propagating such an unworthy stock.\nNo good avails in increasing and multiplying evil propensities and\ndeformities that produce only crime and misery from generation to\ngeneration. During the ante-natal period the mother should be held\nsacred, and surrounded with all the sweetest influences that Heaven and\nearth can give, loving companionship, beautiful scenery, music and\nflowers, and all the pleasures that art in its highest form can produce.\n\nAs the women at this period seem to be myths, no one takes the trouble\nto tell from whence they came. It is sufficient that their husbands\nknow, and it is not necessary that the casual reader should. The\nquestion is often asked, whom did Cain marry? Some expositors say that\nAdam and Eve had other sons and daughters living in different parts of\nthe planet, and that they married each other.\n\nThere seems to have been no scarcity of women, for Lamech, Cain's\ngreat grandson, took unto himself two wives. Thus early in the history\nof the race polygamic relations were recognized. The phraseology\nannouncing the marriage of Lamech is very significant.\n\nIn the case of Adam and Eve the ceremony was more imposing and\ndignified. It was declared an equal relation. But with the announcement\nof Lamech's, he simply took two wives, Adah and Zillah. Whether the\nwomen were willingly captured will ever remain an open question. The\nmanner in which he is accustomed to issue his orders does not indicate\na tender relation between the parties.\n\n\"Hear my voice: ye wives of Lamech, and hearken unto my speech!\"\n\nAs the wives made no reply, it shows that they had already learned\nthat discreet silence is the only security for domestic happiness.\n\nNaamah the sister of Tubal Cain was supposed to be the wife of Noah.\nHer name in Hebrew signifies the beautiful or the gracious. Jewish\ndoctors say her name is recorded here because she was an upright,\nchaste woman, but others affirm the contrary because \"the whole world\nwandered after her.\" But the fact that Naamah's beauty attracted the\nmultitude, does not prove that she either courted or accepted their\nattentions.\n\nThe manner in which the writer of these chapters presents the women so\nin conflict with Chapters i and v, which immediately precede and\nfollow, inclines the unprejudiced mind to relegate the ii, iii and iv\nchapters to the realm of fancy as no part of the real history of\ncreation's dawn.\n\nThe curse pronounced on Cain is similar to that inflicted on Adam,\nboth were to till the ground, which was to bring forth weeds\nabundantly. Hale's statistics of weeds show their rapid and widespread\npower of propagation. \"A progeny,\" he says, \"more than sufficient in a\nfew years to stock every planet of the solar system.\" In the face of\nsuch discouraging facts, Hale coolly remarks. \"Such provisions has the\njust God made to fulfil the curse which he promised on man.\"\n\nIt seems far more rational to believe that the curses on both woman\nand man were but figments of the human brain, and that by the\nobservance of natural laws, both labor and maternity may prove great\nblessings.\n\nWith all the modern appliances of steam and electricity, and the new\ninventions in machinery, the cultivation of the soil is fast coming to\nbe a recreation and amusement. The farmer now sits at ease on his\nplough, while his steed turns up the furrows at his will. With\nmachinery the sons of Adam now sow and reap their harvests, keep the\nwheels of their great manufactories in motion, and with daily\nincreasing speed carry on the commerce of the world. The time is at\nhand when the heavy burdens of the laborer will all be shifted on the\nshoulders of these\ntireless machines. And when the woman, too, learns and obeys the laws\nof life, these supposed curses will be but idle dreams of the past. The\ncurse falls lightly even now on women who live in natural conditions,\nand with anaesthetics is essentially mitigated in all cases.\n\nWhen these remedial agents were first discovered, some women refused\nto avail themselves of their blessings, and some orthodox physicians\nrefused to administer them, lest they should interfere with the wise\nprovisions of Providence in making maternity a curse.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS OF CREATION.\n\n\nNothing would be more interesting in connection with the \"Woman's\nBible\" than a comparative study of the accounts of the creation held by\npeople of different races and faiths. Our Norse ancestors, whose myths\nwere of a very exalted nature, recorded in their Bible, the Edda, that\none day the sons of Bor (a frost giant), Odin, Hoener, and Loder, found\ntwo trees on the sea beach, and from them created the first human pair,\nman and woman. Odin gave them life and spirit, Hoener endowed them with\nreason and motion, and Loder gave them the senses and physical\ncharacteristics. The man they called Ask, and the woman Embla. Prof.\nAnderson finds in the brothers the threefold Trinity of the Bible. It\nis easy to fancy that there is some philological connection between the\nnames of the first pair in the Bible and in the Edda. Perhaps the\nformation of the first pair out of trees had a deep connection with the\ntree of life, Ygdrasil, which extended, according to Norse mythology\nthroughout the universe, furnishing bodies for mankind from its\nbranches. It had three great roots, one extending to the nebulous\nworld, and this was constantly gnawed by the serpent Nidhug. There was\nnothing in the Norse mythology that taught the degradation of woman,\nand the lay of Sigdrifa, in the Edda, is one of the noblest conceptions\nof the character of woman in all literature.\n\nNorth American Indian mythology has the human race born of the earth,\nbut the writer cannot learn that women held an inferior place. Among\nthe Quiches the mothers and fathers of old slept in the waters, covered\nwith green, under a limpid twilight, from which the earth and they were\ncalled out by a mighty wind. The Algonkins believed the human family\nwere the children of Michabo, the spirit of the dawn, and their supreme\ndeity. In their language the words earth, mother and father were from\nthe same root. Many tribes claim descent from a raven, symbolizing the\nclouds; others from a dog, which is the symbol of the water goddess.\n\nDr. and Madame Le Plongeon relate that in their discoveries among the\nburied remains of the Mayas in Yucatan, everything marks a very high\nstate of civilization. In one of the exhumed temples they found\npictures on the walls, which seem to be a combination of the stories of\nthe Garden of Eden and Cain and Abel. The Serpent was always the royal\nemblem, because the shape of Yucatan is that of a serpent ready to\nspring. It was the custom among the Mayas for the oldest son of the\nking to be a priest, and the second son to marry the oldest daughter.\nThe pictures represent that the oldest son in this particular case was\ndissatisfied with this arrangement, and wanted to marry the sister\nhimself. To tempt her he sends a basket of apples by a messenger. He\nstands watching the way in which the present is received, and the\nserpent in the picture (indicating the royal family), makes it\ncuriously suggestive of the temptation of Eve. The sister, however,\nrejects the present, and this so enrages the elder brother that he\nkills the younger, who accordingly is deified by the Mayas. The image\nof Chacmohl was discovered by the Le Plongeons, and is now in the\npossession of the Mexican Government. Perhaps these brothers were\ntwins, as the commentator says Cain and Abel were, and that gave rise\nto the jealousy.\n\nNothing can surpass in grandeur the account in the first chapter of\nGenesis of the creation of the race, and it satisfies the highest\naspirations and the deepest longings of the human soul. No matter of\nwhat material formed, or through how many ages the\nformative period ran, or is to run, the image of God is the birthright\nof man, male and female. Whatever the second chapter may mean, it\ncannot set aside the first. It probably has a deep spiritual\nsignificance which mankind will appreciate when cavilling about the\nletter ceases. To the writer's mind its meaning is best expressed in\nthe words of Goethe:--- \"The eternal womanly leads us on.\"\n\n\nC. B. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\n\nGenesis v: 1, 2.\n\n\n\n1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God\ncreated man, in the likeness of God made he him.\n\n2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their\nname Adam, in the day when they were created.\n\n\nHere we have the first account of the dual creation verified. Man and\nwoman a simultaneous creation, alike in the image of God.\n\nThe dual relation, both in the Godhead and humanity, is here again\ndeclared, though contradicted in the intervening chapters. In this and\nthe following chapters we have a prolix statement of the births,\ndeaths, and ages in the male line. They all take wives, beget sons, but\nnothing is said of the origin or destiny of the wives and daughters;\nthey are incidentally mentioned merely as necessary factors in the\npropagation of the male line.\n\nThe men of this period seem to have lived to a ripe old age, but\nnothing is said of the age of the women; it is probable as child-\nbearing was their chief ambition, that men had a succession of wives,\nall gathered to their fathers in the prime of life. Although Eve and\nher daughters devoted their energies to this occupation, yet the entire\ncredit for the growth of the race is given to Adam and his male\ndescendants. In all this chapter the begetting of the oldest son is\nmade prominent, his name only is given, and the begetting of more \"sons\nand daughters\" is cursorily mentioned. Here is the first suggestion of\nthe law of primogeniture responsible for so many of the evils that\nperplexed our Saxon fathers.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nGenesis vi: 1-8, 14-22.\n\n\n\n1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the\nearth, and daughters were born unto them,\n\n2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair,\nand they took them wives of all which they chose.\n\n3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for\nthat he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.\n\n4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that,\nwhen the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare\nchildren to them, the same became mighty men which were as of old, men\nof renown.\n\n5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and\nthat every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil\ncontinually.\n\n6 And it repented the Lord that he had made them man on the earth, and\nit grieved him at his heart.\n\n7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the\nface of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the\nfowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.\n\n8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.\n\n13 And God said unto Noah,\n\n14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the\nark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.\n\n15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of; The length of\nthe ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits\nand the height of it thirty cubits.\n\n16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou\nfinish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side\nthereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.\n\n17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,\nto destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven,\nand everything that is in the earth shall die.\n\n18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come\ninto the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives\nwith thee.\n\n19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt\nthou bring in to the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be\nmale and female.\n\n20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every\ncreeping thing of the earth, after his kind; two of every sort shall\ncome unto thee, to keep them alive.\n\n21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt\ngather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.\n\n22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.\n\n\nThe Jews evidently believed the males the superior sex. Men are called\n\"the sons of God,\" women \"the daughters of men.\" From the text it would\nseem that the influence of the wives was not elevating and inspiring,\nand that the sin and misery resulting from their marriages, all\nattributed to the women. 'This condition of things so discouraged the\nCreator that he determined to blot out both man and beast, the fowls of\nthe air and the creeping things on the earth. How very human this\nsounds. It shows what a low ideal the Jews had of the great first\ncause, from which the moral and material world of thought and action\nwere evolved.\n\nIt was in mature life, when chastened by the experiences and trials of\nher early day, that Seth was born to Eve. It was among the descendants\nof Seth that purer morals and religion were cultivated. Intermarriage\nwith the descendants of Cain had corrupted the progeny, perplexed the\nCreator, and precipitated the flood.\n\nThe female of each species of animal was preserved; males and females\nall walked into the ark two by two, and out again in equal and loving\ncompanionship. It has been a question with critics whether the ark was\nlarge enough for all it was supposed to contain. Commentators seem to\nagree as to its capacity to accommodate men, women, children, animals,\nand the food necessary for their preservation. Adam Clarke tells us\nthat Noah and his family and the birds occupied the third, story, so\nthey had the benefit of the one window it contained.\n\nThe paucity of light and air in this ancient vessel shows that woman\nhad no part in its architecture, or a series of port holes would have\nbeen deemed indispensable. Commentators relegate all difficulties to\nthe direct intervention of Providence. The ark, made by unseen hands,\nlike a palace of india rubber, was capable of expanding indefinitely;\nthe spirit of all good, caused the lion and lamb to lie down peaceably\ntogether. To attribute all the myths, allegories, and parables to the\ninterposition of Providence, ever working outside of his own inexorable\nlaws, is to confuse and set at defiance human reason, and prevent all\nstimulus to investigation.\n\nIn several following chapters we have the history of Abram and Sarah,\ntheir wanderings from the land of their nativity to Canaan, their\nblunders on the journey, their grief at having no children, except one\nson by Hagar, his concubine, who was afterwards driven from their door,\ninto the wilderness. However, Sarah in her old age was blessed with a\nson of her own, which event gave them great joy and satisfaction. As\nSarah did not possess any of the heroic virtues, worthy our imitation,\nwe need not linger either to praise or blame her characteristics.\nNeither she nor Abraham deemed it important to speak the truth when any\nform of tergiversation might serve them. In fact the wives of the\npatriarchs, all untruthful, and one a kleptomaniac, but illustrate the\nlaw, that the cardinal virtues are seldom found in oppressed classes.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nA careful study of the Bible would alter the views of many as to what\nit teaches about the position of women. The trouble is too often\ninstead of searching the Bible to see what is right, we form our\nbelief, and then search for Bible texts to sustain us, and are\nsatisfied with isolated texts without regard to context, and ask no\nquestions as to the circumstances that may have existed then but do not\nnow. We forget that portions of the Bible are only histories of events\ngiven as a chain of evidence to sustain the fact that the real\nrevelations of the Godhead, be it in any form, are true. Second, that\nour translators were not inspired, and that we have strong presumptive\nproof that prejudice of education was in some instances stronger than\nthe grammatical context, in translating these contested points. For\ninstance, the word translated obey between husband and wife, is in but\none instance in the New Testament the word used between master and\nservant, parent and child, but is the word that in other places is\ntranslated defer. The one instance states Sarah obeyed Abram. Read that\nhistory and you will find that in both instances in which she obeyed,\nGod had to interfere with a miracle to save them from the result of\nthat obedience, and both Abram and Sarah were reproved. While twice,\nonce by direct command of God, Abram obeyed Sarah. You cannot find a\ndirect command of God or Christ for the wife to obey the husband.\n\nIt was Eve's curse that her desire should be to her husband, and he\nshould rule over her. Have you not seen her clinging to a drunken or\nbrutal husband, and read in letters of fire upon her forehead her\ncurse? But God did not say the curse was good, nor bid Adam enforce it.\nNor did he say, all men shall rule over thee. For Adam, not Eve, the\nearth was to bring forth the thorn and the thistle, and he was to eat\nhis bread by the sweat of his brow. Yet I never heard a sermon on the\nsin of uprooting weeds, or letting Eve, as she does, help him to bear\nhis burden. It is when she tries to lighten her load that the world is\nafraid of sacrilege and the overthrow of nature.\n\n\nC. B. C.\n\n\n\nIn the story \"of the sons of God, and the daughters of men\"--we find a\nmyth like those of Greek, Roman and Scandinavian fable, demi-gods love\nmortal maidens and their offspring are giants. Then follows the\ntraditional account of some great cataclysm of the last glacial epoch.\nAccording to the latest geological students, Wright, McGee and others;\nthe records of Niagara, the falls of St. Anthony and other glacial\nchasms, indicate that the great ice caps receded for the last time\nabout seven thousand years ago; the latest archeological discoveries\ncarry our historical knowledge of mankind back nearly four thousand\nyears B. C., so that some record of the mighty floods which must have\nfollowed the breaking of great glacial dams might well survive in the\nstories of the nations.\n\nAbram who came from Ur of the Chaldees brought with him the Chaldean\nstory of the flood. At that time Ur, now a town fifty miles inland, was\na great seaport of the Persian gulf. Their story of the flood is that\nof a maritime people; in it the ark is a well built ship, Hasisadra,\nthe Chaldean Noah takes on board not only his own family, but his\nneighbors and friends; a pilot is employed to guide the course, and\nproper provision is made for the voyage. A raven and a dove are sent\nout as in the biblical account, and a fortunate landing effected.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxi.\n\n\n\n1 And the lord visited Sarah as he had said.\n\n2. For Sarah bare Abraham a son in his old age.\n\n3 And Abraham called the name of his son whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.\n\n5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born\nunto him.\n\n6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear\nwill laugh with me.\n\n9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had home\nunto Abraham, mocking.\n\n10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her\nson; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even\nwith Isaac.\n\n11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight.\n\n12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight;\nin all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in\nIsaac shall thy seed be called.\n\n13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because\nhe is thy seed.\n\n14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a\nbottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder,\nand the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the\nwilderness of Beer-sheba.\n\n15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under\none of the shrubs.\n\n17 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off: for\nshe said, let me not see the death of the child. And she lifted up her\nvoice, and wept.\n\n17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to\nHagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear\nnot, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.\n\n18 Arise, lift up the lad, and bold him in thine hand: for I will make\nhim a great nation.\n\n19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water: and she went,\nand filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.\n\n20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness,\nand became an archer.\n\n21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a\nwife out of the land of Egypt.\n\n\nThe great event of Isaac's birth having taken place, Sarah is\nrepresented through several chapters as laughing, even in the presence\nof angels, not only in the anticipation of motherhood, but in its\nrealization. She evidently forgot that maternity was intended as a\ncurse on all Eve's daughters, for the sin of the first woman, and all\nmerry-making on such occasions was unpardonable. Some philosophers\nconsider the most exalted of all forms of love to be that of a mother\nfor her children. But this divine awakening of a new affection does not\nseem to have softened Sarah's heart towards her unfortunate slave\nHagar. And so far from Sarah's desire being to her husband, and Abraham\ndominating her, he seemed to be under her control, as the Lord told him\n\"to hearken to her voice, and to obey her command.\" In so doing he\ndrives Hagar out of his house.\n\nIn this scene Abraham does not appear in a very attractive light,\nrising early in the morning, and sending his child and its mother forth\ninto the wilderness, with a breakfast of bread and water, to care for\nthemselves. Why did he not provide them with a servant, an ass laden\nwith provisions, and a tent to shelter them from the elements, or\nbetter still, some abiding, resting place. Common humanity demanded\nthis much attention to his own son and the woman who bore him. But the\nworst feature in this drama is that it seems to have been done with\nJehovah's approval.\n\nDoes any one seriously believe that the great spirit of all good\ntalked with these Jews, and really said the extraordinary things they\nreport? It was, however, a very cunning way for the Patriarchs to\nenforce their own authority, to do whatever they desired, and say the\nLord commanded them to do and say thus and so. Many pulpits even in our\nday enforce their lessons of subjection for woman with the same\nauthority, \"Thus saith the Lord,\" \"Thou shalt,\" and \"Thou shall not.\"\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxiii.\n\n\n\n1 And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old.\n\n2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of\nCanaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.\n\n3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons\nof Heth, saying,\n\n4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a\nburying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.\n\n5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him.\n\n6 Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice\nof our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee\nhis sepulchre.\n\n7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land.\n\n8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should\nbury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat Ephron the son of\nZohar.\n\n9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is\nin the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth.\n\n14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him.\n\n15 My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of\nsilver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.\n\n16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron\nthe silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth,\nfour hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.\n\n19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the\nfield of Machpelah before Mamre.\n\n20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto\nAbraham for a burying place by the sons of Heth.\n\n\nIt is seldom that the age and death of any woman, are recorded by the\nsacred historian, but Sarah seems to have been specially honored, not\nonly in the mention of her demise and ripe years, but in the tender\nmanifestations of grief by Abraham, and\nhis painstaking selection of her burial place. That Abraham paid for\nall this in silver, \"current money with the merchant,\" might suggest to\nthe financiers of our day that our commercial relations might be\nadjusted with the same coin, especially as we have plenty of it.\n\nIf our bimetallists in the halls of legislation were conversant with\nsacred history, they might get fresh inspiration from the views of the\nPatriarchs on good money.\n\nSome critics tell us that there was no coined money at that time; the\nIsraelites had no written language, no commerce with neighboring\ntribes, and that they could neither read nor write.\n\nWhilst we drop a tear at the tomb of Sarah, we cannot recommend her as\nan example to the young women of our day, as she lacked several of the\ncardinal virtues. She was undignified, untruthful, and unkind to Hagar.\nBut our moral standard differs from that of the period in which she\nlived, as our ideas of right and wrong are not innate, but depend on\neducation. Sarah probably lived up to the light that was in her.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe cruelty and injustice of Abraham and Sarah, as commented on by\nMrs. Stanton, doubtless stand out much more prominently in this\ncondensed account than their proper proportions to the motives which\nactuated the figures in the drama. If we take any part of the story we\nmust take it all, and remember that it had been promised to Abraham\nthat of Ishmael a great nation should be born. Whether this was an\nactual revelation from God, or a prophetic vision that Abraham had, or\nis interpolated by the historian to correspond with the actual facts\nthat transpired, in either case the firm belief that no harm could come\nto Ishmael, must be taken into account when estimating the motives\nwhich led Abraham and Sarah, for doubtless Abraham told Sarah of his\nvision, to send Hagar and her son off into the wilderness; just as much\nas the firm belief that the promise of God with regard to his seed\nwould be fulfilled made Abraham, a little afterward, prepare to offer\nup his son Isaac.\n\nAbraham loved and honored his wife very greatly, probably admiring\nequally her beauty and strength of character. Abraham was ten years\nolder than Sarah and we read that he was seventy-five years old when he\nstarted from Haran for the land of Canaan. Some time after this driven,\nby famine, he went down into Egypt, and here when she must have been at\nleast seventy years of age the Egyptians saw that she was very fair,\nand the princes of Pharaoh so praised her beauty to their royal master\nthat he sent and took her for his wife. The same thing happened when\nshe was ninety years old, when she was seized by Abimelech, king of\nGerar. In both cases they told, not a lie, but a half truth, for Sarah\nwas Abraham's half sister, it being then the custom for children of the\nsame father by different mothers to marry. Abraham's deceit was brought\nabout by cowardice, while Sarah connived at the fraud for love of her\nhusband, being besought to do so to save his life. Perhaps, too, she\nmight have been amenable to the gracious tribute to her beauty that\nAbraham gave in making the request.\n\nSarah's strength of character is shown all through her history.\nWherever she is mentioned the reader is made to feet that she is an\nimportant part of the narrative, and not merely a connecting link\nbetween two generations. In this story she carries her point, and\nAbraham follows her instructions implicitly, nay, is even commanded by\nGod to do so.\n\nNotwithstanding that Abraham mourned Sarah so sincerely, within three\nyears after she died, and when at the ripe age of a hundred and forty\nyears, he married again and the six children he begat by Keturah he\ntook quite as a matter of course, although half a century before, when\ntold that a son should be born to him, he laughed incredulously.\nAbraham had his failings, some of which are shared by the moderns, yet\ndoubtless he was a moral giant compared with other men of the land from\nwhich he came and of the nations around him. As such he was chosen as\nthe founder of a race whose history should promulgate the idea of the\none true God. Certainly the descendants from this remarkable trio have\nretained their own peculiar characteristics and have ever been\nworshippers at the shrine\nof Jehovah.\n\nA singular fact may be mentioned here that Mrs. Souvielle in her book\n\"The Sequel to the Parliament of Religions,\" has shown that from\nMidian, one of the sons of Keturah, came Jethro or Zoroaster.\n\nWestern thinkers are so matter-of-fact in their speech and thought\nthat it might not have occurred to them that the true value of this\nstory of Sarah and Hagar, like that of all else, not only in our own\nBible but in the scriptures of other faiths, lies in the esoteric\nmeaning, had it not been for Paul, that prince of occult philosophers,\nwho distinctly says, according to the old version, that it is an\nallegory; according to the revised, that it contains an allegory: \"for\nthese women are two covenants,\" one bearing, children unto bondage, the\nother unto freedom. It is our privilege, Paul goes on to teach, to be\nchildren of the free woman, but although we are this by birthright, yet\nthere has to be a personal appreciation of that fact, and an effort to\nmaintain our liberty. The mystical significance of this allegory has\nnever been elucidated in reference to the position of woman, but it may\nwell be considered as establishing her claim, not only for personal\nfreedom, but for the integrity of the home. Acting according to the\ncustoms of the day, Sarah connived at her own degradation. Later, when\nher womanly dignity was developed by reason of her motherhood, she saw\nwhat should be her true position in her home, and she made her rightful\ndemand for unrivalled supremacy in that home and in her husband's\naffections. She was blessed of God in taking that attitude, and was\nheld up to the elect descendants of Abraham nearly 1660 years later by\nthe Apostle Peter as an example to be imitated. And these later women\nare to be Sarah's daughters, we are told, if like her, they \"are not\nafraid with any amazement,\" or as the new version hath it, if they \"are\nnot put in fear by any terror.\"\n\nEven as mere history the life and character of Sarah certainly do not\nintimate that it was the Divine plan that woman was to be a\nsubordinate, either in person or in her home. Taken esoterically, as\nall ancient Oriental writings must be to get their full significance,\nit is an inspiration to woman to-day to stand for her liberty. The\nbondwoman must be cast out. All that makes for industrial bondage, for\nsex slavery and humiliation, for the dwarfing of individuality, and for\nthe thralldom of the soul, must be cast out from our home, from\nsociety, and from our lives. The woman who does not claim her\nbirthright of freedom will remain in the wilderness with the children\nthat she has borne in degradation, heart starvation, and anguish of\nspirit, only to find that they are Ishmaels, with their hand against\nevery man. They will be the subjects of Divine care and protection\nuntil their destiny is worked out. But she who is to be the mother of\nkings must herself be free, and have surroundings conducive to\nmaintaining her own purity and dignity. After long ages of freedom\nshall have eradicated from woman's mind and heart the thought habits of\nthe slave, then will she be a true daughter of Sarah, the Princess.\n\n\nC. B. C.\n\n\n\nAbraham has been held up as one of the model men of sacred history.\nOne credit he doubtless deserves, he was a monotheist, in the midst of\nthe degraded and cruel forms of religion then prevalent in all the\noriental world; this man and his wife saw enough of the light to\nworship a God of Spirit. Yet we find his conduct to the last degree\nreprehensible. While in Egypt in order to gain wealth he voluntarily\nsurrenders his wife to Pharaoh. Sarah having been trained in subjection\nto her husband had no choice but to obey his will. When she left the\nking, Abraham complacently took her back without objection, which was\nno more than he should do seeing that her sacrifice had brought him\nwealth and honor. Like many a modern millionaire he was not a self-made\nbut a wife-made man. When Pharaoh sent him away with his dangerously\nbeautiful wife he is described as, \"being rich in cattle, in silver and\nin gold,\" but it is a little curious that the man who thus gained\nwealth as the price of his wife's dishonor should have been held up as\na model of all the patriarchal virtues.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxiv.\n\n\n\n37 And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shall not take a wife to\nmy son of the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell.\n\n38 But thou shalt go unto my fathers house, and to my kindred, and\ntake a wife unto my son.\n\n39 And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.\n\n40 And he said unto me, The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his\nangel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my\nson of my kindred, and of my father's house:\n\n42 And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Lord God of my\nmaster Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:\n\n43 Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass,\nthat when the virgin cometh to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I\npray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink:\n\n44 And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for the\ncamels: let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for\nmy master's son.\n\n45 And before I had done speaking in mine heart behold Rebekah came\nforth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the\nwell, and drew water: and I said unto her; Let me drink, I pray thee.\n\n46 And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and\nsaid, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she\nmade the camels drink also.\n\n47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said,\nThe daughter of Bethuel Nabor's son, whom Malcah bare unto him: and I\nput the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.\n\n49 And now, if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me:\nand if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.\n\n50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said. The thing proceedeth from\nthe Lord: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.\n\n51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee; take her, and go, and let her be\nthy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken.\n\n53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold,\nand raiment, and gave them to Rebekah; he gave also to her brother and\nto her mother precious things.\n\n56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath\nprospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.\n\n57 And they said, we will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth.\n\n58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this\nman? And she said, I will go.\n\n59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse and\nAbraham's servant, and his men.\n\n61 And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the\ncamels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah and went his\nway.\n\n63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he\nlifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold, the camels were coming.\n\n64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she lighted\noff the camel.\n\n65 For she had said unto the servant, What man is that walketh in the\nfield to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore\nshe took a vail, and covered herself.\n\n66 And the servant told Isaac all things that be had done.\n\n67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took\nRebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was\ncomforted after his mother's death.\n\n\nHere is the first account we have of a Jewish courtship. The Women\nseem quite as resigned to the custom of \"being taken\" as the men \"to\ntake.\" Outside parties could no doubt in most cases make more judicious\nselections of partners, than young folks themselves under the glamour\nof their ideals. Altogether the marriage of Isaac, though rather\nprosaic, has a touch of the romantic.\n\nIt has furnished the subject for some charming pictures, that decorate\nthe galleries in the old world and the new. \"Rebekah at the well,\" has\nbeen immortalized both on canvas and in marble. Women as milk-maids and\ndrawers of water, with pails and pitchers on their heads, are always\nartistic, and far more attractive to men than those with votes in their\nhands at the polling booths, or as queens, ruling over the destinies of\nnations.\n\nIn fact, as soon as man left Paradise, he began by degrees to roll off\nof his own shoulders all he could of his curse, and place it on woman.\nWhy did not Laban and Bethuel draw the water for the household and the\ncattle. Scott says that Eliezer had attendants with him who might have\nsaved Rebekah the labor of drawing water for ten camels, but he would\nnot interfere, as he wished to see whether she possessed the virtues of\nindustry, affability and cheerfulness in being serviceable and\nhospitable.\n\nIt was certainly a good test of her patience and humility to draw\nwater for an hour, with a dozen men looking on at their case, and none\noffering help. The Rebekahs of 1895 would have promptly summoned the\nspectators to share their labors, even at the risk of sacrificing a\ndesirable matrimonial alliance. The virtue of self-sacrifice has its\nwise limitations. Though it is most commendable to serve our fellow-\nbeings, yet woman's first duty is to herself, to develop all her own\npowers and possibilities, that she may better guide and serve the next\ngeneration.\n\nIt is refreshing to find in the fifty-eighth verse that Rebekah was\nreally supposed to have some personal interest and rights in the\nbetrothal.\n\nThe meeting of Isaac and Rebekah in the field at eventide is charming.\nThat sweet restful hour after the sun had gone down, at the end of a\nlong journey from a far-off country. Rebekah must have been in just the\nmood to appreciate a strong right arm on which to rest, a loving heart\nto trust, on the threshold of her conjugal life. To see her future\nlord for the first time, must have been very embarrassing to Rebekah.\nShe no doubt concealed her blushes behind her veil, which Isaac\nprobably raised at the first opportunity, to behold the charms of the\nbride whom the Lord had chosen for him. As Isaac was forty years old at\nthis time, he probably made a most judicious and affectionate husband.\n\nThe 67th verse would be more appropriate to the occasion if the words\n\"took Rebekah\" had been omitted, leaving the text to read thus: \"And\nIsaac brought her into his mother's tent, and she became his wife, and\nhe loved her.\" This verse is remarkable as the first announcement of\nlove on the part of a husband at first sight. We may indulge the hope\nthat he confessed his love to Rebekah, and thus placed their conjugal\nrelations on a more spiritual plane than was usual in those days. The\nRevising Committees by the infusion of a little sentiment into these\nancient manuscripts, might have improved the moral tone of our\nancestors' domestic relations, without falsifying the important facts\nof history. Many ancient writings in both sacred and profane history\nmight be translated into more choice language, to the advantage of the\nrising generation. What we glean in regard to Rebekah's character in\nthe following chapter shows, she, too, is lacking in a nice sense of\nhonor.\n\nWith our ideal of the great first cause, a God of justice, wisdom and\ntruth, the Jewish Lord, guiding and directing that people in all their\ndevious ways, and sanctioning their petty immoralities seems strangely\nout of place; a very contradictory character, unworthy our love and\nadmiration. The ancient Jewish ideal of Jehovah was not an exalted one.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThis romantic pastoral is most instructive as to the high position which\nwomen really held among the people whose religious history is the\nfoundation of our own, and still further substantiates our claim that\nthe Bible does not teach woman's subordination. The fact that Rebekah\nwas drawing water for family use does not indicate lack of dignity in\nher position, any more than the household tasks performed by Sarah. The\nwives and daughters of patriarchal families had their maid-servants just\nas the men of the family had their man-servants, and their position\nindicates only a division of responsibility. At this period, although\nqueens and princesses were cooks and waiters, kings and princes did not\nhesitate to reap their own fields and slay their own cattle. We are told\nthat Abraham rushed out to his herd and caught a calf to make a meal for\nthe strangers, and that while he asked Sarah to make the cakes, he\nturned over the calf to a man servant to prepare for the table. Thus the\nlabor of securing the food fell upon the male sex, while the labor of\npreparing it was divided between both.\n\nThe one supreme virtue among the patriarchs was hospitality, and no\nmatter how many servants a person had it must be the royal service of\nhis own hands that he performed for a guest. In harmony with this\nspirit Rebekah volunteered to water the thirsty camels of the tired and\nway-worn travellers. It is not at all likely that, as Mr. Scott\nsuggests, Eliezer waited simply to test Rebekah's amiability. The test\nwhich he had asked for was sufficiently answered by her offering the\nservice in the first place, and doubtless it would have been a churlish\nand ungracious; breach of courtesy to have refused the proffered\nkindness.\n\nThat the Jewish women were treated with greater politeness than the\ndaughters of neighboring peoples we may learn from the incident\nnarrated of the daughters of Jethro who, even though their father was\nhigh priest of the country were driven away by the shepherds from the\nwells where they came to water their flocks. Of all outdoor occupations\nthat of watering thirsty animals is, perhaps, the most fascinating, and\nif the work was harder for Rebekah than for our country maidens who\nwater their animals from the trough well filled by the windmill she had\nthe strength and the will for it, else she would have entrusted the\ntask to some of the damsels of whom we read as her especial\nservants and who, as such, accompanied her to the land of Canaan.\n\nThe whole narrative shows Rebekah's personal freedom and dignity. She\nwas alone at some distance from her family. She was not afraid of the\nstrangers, but greeted them with the self-possession of a queen. The\ndecision whether she should go or stay, was left wholly with herself,\nand her nurse and servants accompanied her. With grace and modesty she\nrelieved the embarrassment of the situation by getting down from the\naltitude of the camel when Isaac came to meet her, and by enshrouding\nherself in a veil she very tactfully gave him an opportunity to do his\ncourting in his own proper person, if he should be pleased to do so\nafter hearing the servant's report.\n\nIt has been the judgment of masculine commentators that the veil was a\nsign of woman's subject condition, but even this may be disputed now\nthat women are looking into history for themselves. The fashion of\nveiling a prospective bride was common to many nations, but to none\nwhere there were brutal ceremonies. The custom was sometimes carried to\nthe extent, as in some parts of Turkey, of keeping the woman wholly\ncovered for eight days previous to marriage, sometimes, as among the\nRussians, by not only veiling the bride, but putting a curtain between\nher and the groom at the bridal feast. In all cases the veil seems to\nhave been worn to protect a woman from premature or unwelcome\nintrusion, and not to indicate her humiliated position. The veil is\nrather a reflection upon the habits and thoughts of men than a badge of\ninferiority for women.\n\nHow serenely beautiful and chaste appear the marriage customs of the\nBible as compared with some that are wholly of man's invention. The\nKamchatkan had to find his future wife alone and then fight with her\nand her female friends until every particle of clothing had been\nstripped from her and then the ceremony was complete. This may be\ncalled the other extreme from the veil. Something akin to this appears\namong our own kith and kin, so to speak, in modern times. Many\ninstances of marriage en chemise are on record in England of quite\nrecent dates, the notion being that if a man married a woman in this\ngarment only he was not liable for any debts which she might previously\nhave contracted. At Whitehaven, England, 1766, a woman stripped herself\nto her chemise in the church and in that condition stood at the altar\nand was married.\n\nThere is nothing so degrading to the wife in all Oriental customs as\nour modern common law ruling that the husband owns the wife's clothing.\nThis has been so held times innumerable, and in Connecticut quite\nrecently a husband did not like the gowns his wife bought so he burned\nthem. He was arrested for destruction of property, but his claim was\nsustained that they were his own so he could not be punished.\n\nAs long as woman's condition, outside of the Bible, has been as\ndescribed by Macaulay when he said: \"If there be a word of truth in\nhistory, women have been always, and still are over the greater part of\nthe globe, humble companions, play things, captives, menials, and\nbeasts of burden,\" it is a comfort to reflect that among the Hebrews,\nwhose records are relied on by the enemies of woman's freedom to teach\nher subjection, we find women holding the dignified position in the\nfamily that was held by Sarah and Rebekah.\n\n\nC. B. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxv.\n\n\n\n1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.\n\n2 And she bare him Zimran and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and\nIshbak, and Shuah.\n\n5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.\n\n6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave\ngifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, unto\nthe east country.\n\n7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which be\nlived, a hundred and three score and fifteen years.\n\n8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost.\n\n9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the grave of Machpelah.\n\n10 The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth; there was\nAbraham buried, and Sarah his wife.\n\n21 And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, and Rebekah his wife\nconceived.\n\n24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled she bore twins. I\n\n27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the\nfield; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.\n\n28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison; but\nRebekah loved Jacob.\n\n29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was\nfaint.\n\n30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red\npottage, for I am faint; therefore was his name called Edom.\n\n31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.\n\n32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit\nshall this birthright do to me?\n\n33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him; and he\nsold his birthright unto Jacob.\n\n34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat\nand drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his\nbirthright.\n\n\nIn these verses we have the account of Abraham's second marriage, and\nthe birth of several sons. It does not seem clear from the text whether\nKeturah was a legal wife, or one of the Patriarch's numerous\nconcubines. Clarke inclines to the latter idea, on account of Abraham's\nage, and then he gave all that be had to Isaac, and left Keturah's sons\nto share with those of other concubines, to whom he gave gifts and sent\nthem away from his son Isaac to an eastern country. Abraham evidently\nthought that the descendants of Isaac might be superior in moral\nprobity to those of his other sons, hence he desired to keep Isaac as\nexclusive as possible. But Jacob and Esau did not fulfill the\nPatriarch's expectations. Esau in selling his birthright for a mess of\npottage, and Jacob taking advantage of his brother in a weak moment,\nand overreaching him in a bargain, alike illustrate the hereditary\nqualities of their ancestors.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxvi.\n\n\n\n6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.\n\n7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is\nmy sister; for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men\nof the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look\nupon.\n\n9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said Behold, or a surety she is thy\nwife; and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him,\nBecause I said, Lest I die for her.\n\n11 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this\nman or his wife shall surely be put to death.\n\n34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the\ndaughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the\nHittite;\n\n35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.\n\n\nThe account of the private family affairs of Isaac and Rebekah; their\npartiality to different sons; Jacob, aided and abetted by his mother,\nrobbing his elder brother of both his birthright and his father's\nblessing; the parents on one of their eventful journeys representing\nthemselves as brother and sister, instead of husband and wife, for fear\nthat some potentate might kill Isaac, in order to possess his beautiful\nwife; all these petty deceptions handed down from generation to\ngeneration, show that the law of heredity asserted itself even at that\nearly day.\n\nAbraham through fear denied that Sarah was his wife, and Isaac does\nthe same thing. The grief of Isaac and Rebekah over Esau, was not that\nhe took two wives, but that they were Hittites. Chapter xxvii gives the\ndetails of the manner that Jacob and his mother betrayed Isaac into\ngiving the blessing to Jacob intended for Esau. One must read the whole\nstory in order to appreciate the blind confidence Isaac placed in\nRebekah's integrity; the pathos of his situation; the bitter\ndisappointment of Esau; Jacob's temptation, and the supreme wickedness\nof Rebekah in deceiving Isaac, defrauding Esau, and undermining the\nmoral sense of the son she loved.\n\nHaving entirely undermined his moral sense, Rebekah fears the\ninfluence of Jacob's marriage with a daughter of the Hittites, and she\nsends him to her own people, to find a wife in the household of her\nuncle Laban. This is indeed a sad record of the cruel deception that\nJacob and his mother palmed off on Isaac and Esau. Both verbal and\npractical lying were necessary to defraud the elder son, and Rebekah\nwas equal to the occasion. Neither she nor Jacob faltered in the hour\nof peril. Altogether it is a pitiful tale of greed and deception.\nAlas! where can a child look for lessons in truth, honor, and\ngenerosity, when the mother they naturally trust, sets at defiance\nevery principle of justice and mercy to secure some worldly advantage.\nRebekah in her beautiful girlhood at the well drawing water for man and\nbeast, so full of compassion, does not exemplify the virtues we looked\nfor, in her mature womanhood. The conjugal and maternal relations so\nfar from expanding her most tender sentiments, making the heart from\nlove to, one grow bountiful to all, seem rather to have narrowed hers\ninto the extreme of individual selfishness. In obedience to his\nmother's commands, Jacob starts on his journey to find a fitting wife.\nIf Sarah and Rebekah are the types of womanhood the Patriarchs admired,\nJacob need not have gone far to find their equal.\n\nIn woman's struggle for freedom during the last half century, men have\nbeen continually pointing her to the women of the Bible for examples\nworthy imitation, but we fail to see the merits of their character,\ntheir position, the laws and sentiments concerning them. The only\nsignificance of dwelling on these women and this period of woman's\nhistory, is to show the absurd ity of pointing the women of the\nnineteenth century to these as examples of virtue.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nKeturah is spoken of as a concubine in I Chronicles i, 32. As such she\nheld a recognized legal position which implied no disgrace in those\ndays of polygamy, only the children of these secondary wives were not\nequal in inheritance. For this reason the sons of Keturah had to be\nsatisfied with gifts while Isaac received the patrimony. Notice the\ncharge of Abimelech to his people showing the high sense of honor in\nthis Philistine. He seems also in the 10th verse to have realized the\nterrible guilt that it would have been if one of them had taken\nRebekah, not knowing she was Isaac's wife. With all Rebekah's faults\nshe seems to have had things her own way and therefore she did not set\nany marked example of wifely submission for women of to-day to\nfollow. Her great error was deceiving her husband to carry her point\nand this is always the result where woman is deprived in any degree of\npersonal freedom unless she has attained high moral development.\n\n\nC. B. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxix.\n\n\n\n1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people\nof the east.\n\n3 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and lo, there were\nthree flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered\nthe flocks; and a great stone was upon the well's mouth.\n\n3 And thither were all the flocks gathered, and they rolled the stone\nfrom the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again\nupon the well's mouth in his place.\n\n4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said,\nOf Haran are we.\n\n5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they\nsaid, we know him.\n\n6 And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and\nbehold Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.\n\n9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's\nsheep: for she kept them.\n\n10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban\nhis mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, and\nJacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and\nwatered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.\n\n11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.\n\n12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he\nwas Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father:\n\n13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his\nsister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed\nhim, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.\n\n14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he\nabode with him the space of a month.\n\n15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldst\nthou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?\n\n18 And Jacob loved Rachel: and said, I will serve thee seven years for\nRachel thy younger daughter.\n\n19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I\nshould give her to another man, abide with me.\n\n20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him\nbut a few days, for the love he had to her.\n\n21 If And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are\nfulfilled.\n\n\nJacob's journey to the land of Canaan in search of a wife, and the\ndetails of his courtship, have a passing interest with the ordinary\nreader, interested in his happiness and success. The classic ground for\nthe cultivation of the tender emotions in these early days, seems to\nhave been near a well, where the daughters of those who were rich in\nflocks and herds found opportunities to exhibit their fine points in\ndrawing water for men and cattle. From the records of these interesting\nevents, the girls seemed ready to accept the slightest advances from\npassing strangers, and to give their hands and hearts as readily as\nthey gave a drink of water to the thirsty. Marriage was as simple a\ncontract as the purchase of a lamb, the lamb and the woman having about\nan equal voice in the purchase, though the lamb was not quite as ready\nto leave his accustomed grazing ground. Jacob loved Rachel at first\nsight, and agreed to serve Laban seven years, but when the time expired\nLaban did not keep his agreement, but insisted on Jacob taking the\nother sister, and serving seven years more for Rachel. Jacob submitted,\nbut by the knowledge of a physiological law of which Laban was\nignorant, he revenged himself, and obtained all the strongest and best\nof the flocks and herds. Thus in their business relations as well as in\nfamily matters, the Patriarchs seem to have played as sharp games in\noverreaching each other as the sons of our Pilgrim Fathers do to-day.\nIn getting all they could out of Laban, Jacob and Rachel seem to have\nbeen of one mind.\n\nA critical study of the Pentateuch is just now agitating the learned\nclasses in Germany. Bonn is an ancient stronghold of theological\nlearning, and two of the professors of its famous university have\nrecently exhibited a courage in Biblical criticism and interpretation\nwhich has further extended the celebrity of the school, if it has not\nadded to its repute for orthodoxy. In a course of lectures held during\nthe university holidays, addressed to and largely attended by pastors,\nthey declared the Old Testament history to \"be a series of legends, and\nAbraham, Isaac and Jacob mythical persons.\" Israel, they declared, was\nan idolatrous people, Jehovah being nothing more than a \"God of the\nJewish Nation.\" This radical outbreak of criticism and interpretation\nhas aroused considerable attention throughout Germany, and a\ndeclaration against it and other teachings of the kind has been signed\nby some hundreds of pastors and some thousands of laymen, but so far it\nhas produced no effect whatever on the professors of Bonn, and there is\nno prospect of its doing so. It is fortunate for the faith thus\nassailed that the critical and rhetorical style of the ordinary German\nprofessor is too heavy for export or general circulation. So that the\ntheories of Messrs. Graef and Meinhold are not likely to do the faith\nof the Fatherland any particular harm. That country has always been\ndivided into two classes, one of which believes nothing and the\nother everything, the latter numerically preponderant, but the former\nexceeding in erudition and dialectic--a condition of things quite\ncertain to continue and on which a few essays more or less in\ndestructive criticism can produce little effect.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nMrs. Stanton's statements concerning the undeveloped religious\nsentiment of the early Hebrews cannot be criticized from the orthodox\nstandpoint as in this account, where the God of Abraham is represented\nas taking an active personal interest in the affairs of the chosen\npeople, they did not trust wholly to Him, but kept images of the gods\nof the neighboring tribes in their houses, Laban feeling sorry enough\nover their loss to go seven days' journey to recover them while his\ndaughter felt she could not leave her father's house without taking the\nimages with her as a protection.\n\nThe faults of Laban, of Jacob and of most of his sons are brought out\nwithout any reserve by the historian who follows the custom of early\nwriters in stating things exactly as they were. There was no secrecy\nand little delicacy in connection with sexual matters. It may, however,\nbe noticed that while this people had the same crude notions about\nthese things that were common to other nations, yet every infraction of\nthe Divine law of monogamy, symbolized in the account of the creation\nof woman in the second chapter of Genesis, brings its own punishment\nwhether in or out of the marriage relation. When one or another people\nsinned against a Jewish woman the men of the family were the avengers,\nas when the sons of Jacob slew a whole city to avenge an outrage\ncommitted against their sister. Polygamy and concubinage wove a thread\nof disaster and complications throughout the whole lives of families\nand its dire effects are directly traceable in the feuds and\ndegeneration of their descendants. The chief lesson taught by history\nis danger of violating, physically, mentally, or spiritually the\npersonal integrity of woman. Customs of the country and the cupidity\nof Laban, forced polygamy on Jacob, and all the shadows in his life,\nand he had no end of trouble in after years, are due to this. Perhaps\nnothing but telling their stories in this brutally frank way would make\nthe lesson so plain.\n\nIf we search this narrative ever so closely it gives us no hint of\nDivinely intended subordination of woman. Jacob had to buy his wives\nwith service which indicates that a high value was placed upon them.\nNow-a-days in high life men demand instead of give. The degradation of\nwoman involved in being sold to a husband, to put it in the most\nhumiliating way, is not comparable to the degradation of having to buy\na husband. Euripides made Medea say: \"We women are the most unfortunate\nof all creatures since we have to buy our masters at so dear a price,\"\nand the degradation of Grecian women is repeated--all flower-garlanded\nand disguised by show--in the marriage sentiments of our own\ncivilization. Jacob was dominated by his wives as Abraham and Isaac had\nbeen and there is no hint of their subjection. Rachel's refusal to move\nwhen the gods were being searched for, showed that her will was\nsupreme, nobody tried to force her to rise against her own desire.\n\nThe love which Jacob bore for Rachel has been through all time the\nsymbol of constancy. Seven years he served for her, and so great was\nhis love, so pure his delight in her presence that the time seemed but\nas a day. Had this simple, absorbing affection not been interfered with\nby Laban, how different would have been the tranquil life of Jacob and\nRachel, developing undisturbed by the inevitable jealousies and\nvexations connected with the double marriage. Still this love was the\nsolace of Jacob's troubled life and remained unabated until Rachel died\nand then found expression in tenderness for Benjamin. \"the son of my\nright hand.\" It was no accident, but has a great significance, that\nthis most ardent and faithful of Jewish lovers should have deeper\nspiritual experiences than any of his predecessors.\n\n\nC. B. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxix, xxxi.\n\n\n\n18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said I will serve thee seven years for\nRachel thy younger daughter.\n\n19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I\nshould give her to another man; abide with me.\n\n20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him\nbut a few days, for the love he had to her.\n\n21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are\nfulfilled.\n\n22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a\nfeast.\n\n23 And it came to pass in the evening that be took Leah his daughter,\nand brought her to him.\n\n26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the\nyounger before the firstborn.\n\n27 We will give thee Rachel also thou shalt serve with me yet seven\nother years.\n\n28 And Jacob did so, and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.\n\n29 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob\nsaid unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto my mine own place,\nand to my country.\n\n26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and\nlet me go; for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.\n\n17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;\n\n18 And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had\ngotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padan-aram,\nfor to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.\n\n19 And Laban went to shear his sheep; and Rachel had stolen the images\nthat were her father's\n\n20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told\nhim not that he fled;\n\n22 And it was told Laban on the third day, that Jacob was fled.\n\n23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven\ndays' journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.\n\n\nWhile Laban played his petty deceptions on Jacob, the latter proved\nhimself in fraud and overreaching fully his match. In being compelled\nto labor fourteen years for Rachel instead of seven, as agreed upon, he\namply revenged himself in getting possession of all Laban's best\ncattle, availing himself of a physiological law in breeding of which\nLaban was profoundly ignorant.\n\nThe parting of Jacob and Laban was not amicable, although they did not\ncome to an open rupture. Rachel's character for theft and deception is\nstill further illustrated. Having stolen her father's images and hidden\nthem under the camel's saddles and furniture, and sat thereon, when her\nfather came to search for the images, which he valued highly, she said\nshe was too ill to rise, so she calmly kept her seat, while the tent\nwas searched and nothing found, thus by act as well as word, deceiving\nher father.\n\nJacob and his wives alike seemed to think Laban fair game for fraud\nand deception. As Laban knew his images were gone, he was left to\nsuspect that Jacob knew where they were, so little regard had Rachel\nfor the reputation of her husband. In making a God after their own\nimage, who approved of whatever they did, the Jews did not differ much\nfrom ourselves; the men of our day talk too as if they reflected the\nopinions of Jehovah on the vital questions of the hour. In our late\ncivil war both armies carried the Bible in their knapsacks, and both\nalike prayed to the same God for victory, as if he could be in favor of\nslavery and against it at the same time.\n\nLike the women, too, who are working and praying for woman suffrage,\nboth in the state legislature and in their closets, and others against\nit, to the same God and legislative assembly. One must accept the\nconclusion that their acquaintance with the Lord was quite as limited\nas our own in this century, and that they were governed by their own\ndesires and judgment, whether for good or evil, just as we are; their\nplans by day and their dreams by night having no deeper significance\nthan our own. Some writers say that the constant interposition of God\nin their behalf was because they needed his special care and attention.\nBut the irregularity and ignorance of their lives show clearly that\ntheir guiding hand was of human origin. If the Jewish account is true,\nthen the God of the Hebrews falls far short of the Christian ideal of a\ngood, true manhood, and the Christian ideal as set forth in the New\nTestament falls short of our ideal of the Heavenly Father to-day. We\nhave no fault to find with the Bible as a mere history of an ignorant,\nundeveloped people, but when special inspiration is claimed for the\nhistorian, we must judge of its merits by the moral standard of to-day,\nand the refinement of the writer by the questionable language in which\nhe clothes his descriptions.\n\nWe have often wondered that the revising committees that have gone\nover these documents so often, should have adhered so closely to such\ngross translations. Surely a fact related to us in coarse language, is\nnot less a fact when repeated in choice, words. We need an expurgated\nedition of most of the books called holy before they are fit to place\nin the hands of the rising generation.\n\nSome members of the Revising Committee write me that the tone of some\nof my comments should be more reverent in criticising the \"Word of\nGod.\" Does any one at this stage of civilization think the Bible was\nwritten by the finger of God, that the Old and New Testaments emanated\nfrom the highest divine thought in the universe? Do they think that all\nthe men who wrote the different books were specially inspired, and that\nall the various revising committees that have translated, interpolated,\nrejected some books and accepted others, who have dug round the roots\nof the Greek and Hebrew to find out the true meaning, have one and all\nbeen watched and guided in their literary labors by the great spirit of\nthe universe, who by immutable law holds the solar system in place,\nevery planet steadily moving in its own elliptic, worlds upon worlds\nrevolving in order and harmony?\n\nThese great object-lessons in nature and the efforts of the soul to\nfathom the incomprehensible, are more inspiring than any written page.\nTo this \"Word of God\" I bow with reverence, and I can find no language\ntoo exalted to express my love, my faith, my admiration.\n\nTo criticise the peccadilloes of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel does not\nshadow the virtues of Deborah, Huldah and Vashti; to condemn the laws\nand customs of the Jews as recorded in the book of Genesis, does not\ndestroy the force of the golden rule and the ten commandments. Parts of\nthe Bible are so true, so grand, so beautiful, that it is a pity it\nshould have been bound in the same volume with sentiments and\ndescriptions so gross and immoral.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxxv.\n\n\n\n8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el\nunder an oak; and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.\n\n9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram,\nand blessed him.\n\n10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: Thy name shall not be\ncalled any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his\nname Israel.\n\n16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was but a little way\nto come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.\n\n17 The midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou, shalt have this son also.\n\n18 And it came to pass as her soul was in departing (for she died),\nthat she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.\n\n19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is\nBeth-lehem.\n\n20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of\nRachel's grave unto this day.\n\n\nWhy Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, should be interjected here does not\nappear. However, if all Isaac's and Jacob's children had been intrusted\nto her care through the perils of infancy, it was fitting that the\nyounger generation with their father should pause in their journey and\ndrop a tear to her memory, and cultivate a tender sentiment for the old\noak tree at Bethel.\n\nThere is no manifestation of gratitude more beautiful in family life\nthan kindness and respect to servants for long years of faithful\nservice, especially for those who have watched the children night and\nday, tender in sickness, and patient with all their mischief in health.\nIn dealing with children one needs to exercise all the cardinal\nvirtues, more tact, diplomacy, more honor and honesty than even an\nambassador to the Court of St. James. Children readily see whom they\ncan trust, on whose word they can rely.\n\nIn Rachel's hour of peril the midwife whispers sweet words of\nconsolation. She tells her to fear not, that she will have a son, and\nhe will be born alive. Whether she died herself is of small importance\nso that the boy lived. Scott points a moral on the death of Rachel. He\nthinks she was unduly anxious to have sons, and so the Lord granted her\nprayers to her own destruction. If she had accepted with pious\nresignation whatever weal or woe naturally fell to her lot, she might\nhave lived to a good old age, and been buried by Jacob's side at last,\nand not left alone in Bethlehem. People who obstinately seek what they\ndeem their highest good, ofttimes perish in the attainment of their\nambition. (Thus Scott philosophizes.)\n\nJacob was evidently a man of but little sentiment. The dying wife\ngasps a name for her son, but the father pays no heed to her request,\nand chooses one to suit himself. Though we must admit that Benjamin is\nmore dignified than Ben-oni; the former more suited to a public\nofficer, the latter to a household pet. And now Rachel is gone, and her\nrace with Leah for children is ended. The latter with her maids is the\nvictor, for she can reckon eight sons, while Rachel with her; can\nmuster only four. One may smile at this ambition of the women for\nchildren, but a man's wealth was estimated at that time by the number\nof his children and cattle; women who had no children were objects of\npity and dislike among the Jewish tribes. The Jews of to-day have much\nof the same feeling. They believe in the home sphere for all women,\nthat wifehood and motherhood are the most exalted offices. If they are\nreally so considered, why does every Jew on each returning Holy Day say\nin reading the service, \"I thank thee, oh Lord! that I was not born a\nwoman!\"? And if Gentiles are of the same opinion, why do they consider\nthe education of boys more important than that of girls? Surely those\nwho are to fill the most responsible offices should have the most\nthorough and liberal education.\n\nThe home sphere has so many attractions that most women prefer it to\nall others. A strong right arm on which to lean, a safe harbor where\nadverse winds never blow, nor rough seas roll, makes a most inviting\npicture. But alas! even good husbands sometime die, and the family\ndrifts out on the great ocean of life, without chart or compass, or the\nleast knowledge of the science of navigation. In such emergencies the\nwoman trained to self-protection, self-independence, and self-support\nholds the vantage ground against all theories on the home sphere.\n\nThe first mention we have of an aristocratic class of Kings and Dukes,\nis in the line of Cain's descendants.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxxvi.\n\n\n\n18 And these are the sons of Aholibamah, Esau's wife: duke Jeush, duke\nJaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the\ndaughter of Anah Esau's wife.\n\n\nThe name Aholibamah has a suggestion of high descent, but the\nhistorian tells us nothing of the virtues or idiosyncrasies of\ncharacter, such a high-sounding name suggests, but simply that she was\nthe daughter of Anah, and the wife of Esau, and that she was blessed\nwith children, all interesting facts, which might have been intensified\nwith a knowledge of some of her characteristics, what she thought, said\nand did, her theories of life in general. One longs all through Genesis\nto know what the women thought of a strictly masculine dynasty.\n\nSome writers claim that these gross records of primitive races, have a\ndeep spiritual meaning, that they are symbolical of the struggles of an\nindividual soul from animalism to the highest, purest development of\nall the Godlike in man.\n\nSome on the Revising Committee take this view, and will give us from\ntime to time more exalted interpretations than the account in plain\nEnglish conveys to the ordinary mind.\n\nIn my exegesis thus far, not being versed in scriptural metaphors and\nsymbols, I have attempted no scientific interpretation of the simple\nnarration, merely commenting on the supposed facts as stated. As the\nBible is placed in the hands of children and uneducated men and women\nto point them the way of salvation, the letter should have no doubtful\nmeaning. What should we think of guide posts on our highways, if we\nneeded a symbolical interpreter at every point to tell us which way to\ngo? the significance of the letters? and the point of compass indicated\nby the digital finger? Learned men have revised the Scriptures times\nwithout number, and I do not propose to go back of the latest Revision.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n\n\nGenesis xxxix.\n\n\n\n1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar an officer of\nPharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the\nIshmaelites, which bad brought him down thither.\n\n2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he\nwas in the house of his master, the Egyptian.\n\n4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made\nhim overseer over his house and all that he had he put into his hand.\n\n7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife\ncast her eyes upon Joseph; and she solicited him.\n\n8 But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master\nwotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all\nthat he hath to my hand.\n\n9 How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?\n\n10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he\nhearkened not unto her, and she caught him by his garment, and he left\nhis garment in her hand and fled.\n\n13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in\nher hand and was fled forth,\n\n14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them,\nsaying, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in\nunto me, and I cried with a loud voice:\n\n15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and\ncried, that he left his garment with me, and fled.\n\n16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.\n\n17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew\nservant which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:\n\n18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he\nleft his garment with me, and fled out.\n\n19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife,\nthat his wrath was kindled.\n\n20 And Joseph's master took him; and put him into the prison, a place\nwhere the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.\n\n211 But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him\nfavour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.\n\n22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the\nprisoners that were in the prison; and whatever they did there, he was\nthe doer of it.\n\n\nPotiphar's wife surpasses all the women yet mentioned in perfidy and\ndishonor.\n\nJoseph's virtues, his dignity, his honor, go far to redeem the\nreputation of his ancestors, and the customs of his times. It would\nhave been generous, at least, if the editor of these pages could have\ngiven us one woman the counterpart of Joseph, a noble, high-minded,\nvirtuous type. Thus far those of all the different nationalities have\nbeen of an ordinary low type. Historians usually dwell on the virtues\nof the people, the heroism of their deeds, the wisdom of their words,\nbut the sacred fabulist dwells on the most questionable behavior of the\nJewish race, and much in character and language that we can neither\nprint nor answer.\n\nIndeed the Pentateuch is a long painful record of war, corruption,\nrapine, and lust. Why Christians who wished to convert the heathen to\nour religion should send them these books, passes all understanding. It\nis most demoralizing reading for children and the unthinking masses,\ngiving all alike the lowest possible idea of womanhood, having no hope\nnor ambition beyond conjugal unions with men they scarcely knew, for\nwhom they could not have had the slighest {sic} sentiment of\nfriendship, to say nothing of affection. There is no mention of women\nexcept when the advent of sons is announced. When the Children of\nIsrael go down into Egypt we are told that the wives of Jacob's sons\nwere taken too, but we hear nothing of Jacob's wives or concubines,\nuntil the death and burial of Leah is incidentally mentioned.\nThroughout the book of Genesis the leading men declare from time to\nthat the Lord comes to them and promises great fruitfulness. A strange\npromise in that it could only be fulfilled in questionable relations.\nTo begin with Abraham, and go through to Joseph, leaving out all\nconjugal irregularities, we find Abraham and Sarah had Isaac, Isaac and\nRebekah had Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Rachel (for she alone was his\ntrue wife), had Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph and Asenath had Manassah\nand Ephraim. Thus giving the Patriarchs just seven legitimate\ndescendants in the first generation. If it had not been for polygamy\nand concubinage, the great harvest so recklessly promised would have\nbeen meagre indeed.\n\n\n\nGenesis xli.\n\n\n\n45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him\nto wife Asenath the daughter of Potar-pherah priest of On. And Joseph\nwent out over all the land of Egypt.\n\n46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king\nof Egypt.\n\n50 And unto Joseph were born two sons, before the years of the famine\ncame: which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto\nhim.\n\n51 And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manassah: For God,\nsaid he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.\n\n52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused\nme to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.\n\n\nThis is all we ever hear of Asenath, that she was a good woman,\nprobably worthy of Joseph, it is fair to infer, for had she been\notherwise her evil deeds would have been recorded. A few passing\nremarks where ever we find the mention of woman is about all we can\nvouchsafe. The writer probably took the same view of the virtuous woman\nas the great Roman General who said \"the highest praise for Caesar's\nwife is that she should never be mentioned at all.\"\n\nThe texts on Lot's daughters and Tamar we omit altogether, as unworthy\na place in the \"Woman's Bible.\" In the remaining chapters of Genesis,\nthe brethren of Joseph take leave of each other; the fathers bless\ntheir sons and grandsons, and also take leave of each other, some to go\nto remote parts of the country, some to die at a ripe old age. As\nnothing is said of their wives and daughters, the historian probably\nknew nothing of their occupations nor environments. Joseph was a\nhundred and ten years old when he died. They embalmed him according to\nthe custom in Egypt, and put him in a coffin, and buried him in the\nland of his fathers, where his brethren had promised to take his bones\nafter death to rest with his kindred at last.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe literal translation of the first verse of chapter xxxix of Genesis\nis as follows:\n\n\"And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, Pharaoh's eunuch,\nchief of the cooks, an Egyptian bought him of the Ishmaelites who\nbrought him down.\"\n\nThese facts which are given in Julia Smith's translation of the Bible\nthrow a new light on the story of Joseph and the woman who was\nPotiphar's wife only in name.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF EXODUS.\n\n\nCHAPTER 1.\n\n\n\nExodus i.\n\n\n\n1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into\nEgypt: every man and his household came with Jacob.\n\n2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,\n\n3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,\n\n4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.\n\n5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy\nsouls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.\n\n15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the\nname of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah.\n\n16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew\nwomen, and they bare a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a\ndaughter, then she shall live.\n\n17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt\ncommanded them, but saved the men children alive.\n\n18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them,\nWhy have ye done this thing and have saved the men children alive?\n\n19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are\ndelivered ere the midwives come in unto them:\n\n20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people\nmultiplied, and waxed very mighty.\n\n21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made\nthem houses.\n\n22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born\nye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.\n\n\nThe Book of Exodus or the Departure, so called because of the escape\nof the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, and their wanderings\nin the wilderness for forty years, are herein recalled.\n\nThe unparalleled multiplication of the children of Israel renewed\nPharaoh's anxiety especially as the Israelites were very large and\nstrong as compared with the Egyptians, and their numbers were computed\nto double every fourteen years. Hence their multitude and power grew\nmore formidable day by day in the eyes of the Egyptians, though they\nfeared their presence, yet as their labors added greatly to the wealth\nof the nation, they were unwilling to let them go. Pharaoh hoped by\nmaking their daily tasks much harder and killing all the male children\nat birth, they, would be so crippled and dispirited that there would be\nno danger of rebellion against his government.\n\nFor a list of the seventy souls, turn to Genesis, chapter xlvi, where\nDinah, Jacob's daughter, and Sarah, Asher's daughter, are mentioned\namong the seventy souls. It is certainly curious that there should have\nbeen only two daughters to sixty-eight sons. But perhaps the seventy\nsouls refer only to sons, and the daughters are merely persons, not\nsouls. It is not an uncommon idea with many nations that women have no\nsouls. A missionary to China tells of a native who asked him why he\npreached the Gospel to women. \"To save their souls, to be sure.\" \"Why,\"\nsaid he, \"women have no souls.\" \"Yes they have,\" said the missionary.\nWhen the thought dawned on the Chinaman that it might be true, he was\ngreatly amused, and said, \"Well, I'll run home and tell my wife she has\na soul, and we will sit down and laugh together.\" We find at many\npoints that the Bible does not reckon women as souls. It may be that\nbecause there is no future for them is the reason why they punish them\nhere more severely than they do men for the same crimes. Here it is\nplainly asserted that all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob\nwere seventy in number. The meaning conveyed may be that the man\nsupplies the spirit and intellect of the race, and woman the body only.\nSome late writers take this ground. If so, the phraseology would have\nbeen more in harmony with the idea, if the seventy souls had emanated,\nMinerva-like, from the brain of father Jacob, rather than from his\nloins.\n\nThe children of Israel multiplied so rapidly that Pharaoh became\nalarmed, lest the nation should become mightier than the Egyptians, so\nhe ordered all the males at birth to be slain. To this end he had a\nprivate interview with the midwives, two women, Shiphrah and Puah, and\nlaid his commands upon them. But they did not obey his orders, and\nexcused themselves on the ground that the Jewish women seldom needed\ntheir services. Here we have another example of women who \"feared God,\"\nand yet used deception to accomplish what they deemed right.\n\nThe Hebrew God seemed to be well pleased with the deception, and gave\nthem each a house for their fidelity in saving the lives of\nhis chosen children. Such is the plain English of the story. Origen\nascribes a deep spiritual meaning to these passages, as more recent\nwriters and speakers do, making the whole Bible a collection of symbols\nand allegories, but none of them are complimentary to our unfortunate\nsex. Adam Clarke says if we begin by taking some parts of the\nScriptures figuratively we shall soon figure it all away. Though the\nmidwives in their comfortable homes enjoyed the approbation of God,\nPharaoh was not to be thwarted by their petty excuses, so he ordered\nhis own people to cast into the river every Jewish boy that was born.\nWe are so accustomed to the assumption that men alone form a nation,\nthat we forget to resent such texts as these. Surely daughters in\nfreedom could perpetuate family and national pride and honor, and if\nallowed to wed the men of their choice, their children would vindicate\ntheir ancestral dignity. The greatest block to advancing civilization\nall along the line has been the degradation of woman. Having no\nindependent existence, no name, holding no place of honor or trust,\nbeing mere subjects in the family, the birth of a son is naturally\nconsidered more important than a daughter, as the one inherits because\nof sex all the rights and privileges denied the other.\n\nShiphrah and Puah, Aben Ezra tells us, were probably at the head of\ntheir profession, and instructed others in the science of obstetrics.\nAt this time there were five hundred midwives among the Hebrews. This\nbranch of the profession was, among the Egyptians, also in the hands of\nthe women. Statistics show that the ratio of deaths among mothers and\nchildren at birth was far less than when under male supervision\nexclusively.\n\nMoses spent the first forty years of his life in Egypt, the next forty\nwith Jethro his father in law, and the next forty wandering in the\nwilderness. One writer said the Lord must have buried Moses, and no one\never knew where. There is no record of the burial place of Moses. As\nhis life had been surrounded with mysteries, perhaps to verify his\nprovidential guidance in that long journey in the wilderness, he chose\nto surround his death also with mystery, and arranged with members of\nthe priesthood to keep his last resting place a profound secret. He was\nwell versed in all the law and mythology of the Egyptians, and intended\nthe people should no doubt think that Jehovah had taken the great\nleader to himself. For the purpose of controlling his followers in that\nlong journey through the wilderness, he referred all his commands and\nactions to Jehovah. Moses declared that he met him face to face on\nMount Sinai, veiled in a cloud of fire, received minute instructions\nhow to feed and conduct the people, as well as to minister to their\nmoral and spiritual necessities. In order to enforce his teachings, he\nsaid the ten commandments were written on tablets of stone by Jehovah\nhimself, and given into his hands to convey to the people, with many\nordinances and religious observances, to be sacredly kept. In this way\nthe Jewish religion and the Mosaic code were established.\n\nAs these people had no written language at that time, and could\nneither read nor write, they were fitting subjects for all manner of\ndelusions and superstitions. The question naturally suggests itself to\nany rational mind, why should the customs and opinions of this ignorant\npeople, who lived centuries ago, have any influence in the religious\nthought of this generation?\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nExodus ii.\n\n\n\n1 And there went a man of the house of Levi and took to wife a\ndaughter of Levi.\n\n2 And the woman bare a son: and when she saw that he was a goodly\nchild, she hid him three months.\n\n3 And when she could not longer hide him she took for him an ark of\nbulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child\ntherein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.\n\n4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.\n\n5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the\nriver; and her maidens walked along by the river's side: and when she\nsaw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.\n\n6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe\nwept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the\nHebrews' children.\n\n7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to\nthee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?\n\n8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called\nthe child's mother.\n\n9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and\nnurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the\nchild, and nursed it.\n\n10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter,\nand he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said,\nBecause I drew him out of the water.\n\n15 But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of\nMidian: and he sat down by a well.\n\n16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and\ndrew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.\n\n17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and\nhelped them, and watered their flock.\n\n18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that\nye are come so soon to day?\n\n19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the\nshepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.\n\n20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye\nhave left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.\n\n21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses\nZipporah his daughter.\n\n22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershon: for he\nsaid, I have been a stranger in a strange land.\n\n\nThe account of the birth of Moses, his mother's anxiety in protecting\nhim from the wrath of Pharaoh, and the goodness of the king's daughter,\nmake altogether an interesting story, and is almost the first touch of\nsentiment with which the historian has refreshed us; a pleasant change\nfrom the continued accounts of corruption, violence, lust, war and\npetty falsehood, that have thus far marked the history of this people.\nThe only value of these records to us is to show the character of the\nJewish nation, and make it easy for us to reject their ideas as to the\ntrue status of woman, and their pretension of being guided by the hand\nof God, in all their devious wanderings. Surely such teachings as\nthese, should have no influence in regulating the lives of women in the\nnineteenth century. Moses' conduct towards the seven daughters of the\npriest at the well, shows that there were some sparks of chivalry here\nand there in a few representative souls, notwithstanding the contempt\nfor the sex in general. These Hebrew wooings and weddings were\ncuriously similar, alike marked for the beauty and simplicity of the\ndaughters of the land, the wells, the flocks, the handsome strangers,\nthe strong, active young men who will prove so helpful in cultivating\nthe lands. The father-in-law usually gets the young husband completely\nunder his thumb, and we hear nothing of the dreaded mother-in-law of\nthe nineteenth century. If we go through this chapter carefully we will\nfind mention of about a dozen women, but with the exception of one\ngiven to Moses, all are nameless. Then as now names for women and\nslaves are of no importance; they have no individual life, and why\nshould their personality require a life-long name? To-day the woman is\nMrs. Richard Roe, to-morrow Mrs. John Doe, and again Mrs. James Smith\naccording as she changes masters, and she has so little self-respect\nthat she does not see the insult of the custom. We have had in this\ngeneration one married woman in England, and one in America, who had\none name from birth to death, and though married they kept it. Think of\nthe inconvenience of vanishing as it were from your friends and,\ncorrespondents three times in one's natural life.\n\nIn helping the children of Israel to escape from the land of Egypt the\nLord said to Moses:\n\n\n\nExodus iii.\n\n\n\n19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not\nby a mighty hand.\n\n20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders\nwhich I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.\n\n21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians:\nand it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:\n\n22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighhour, and of her that\nsojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and\nraiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters;\nand ye shall spoil the Egyptians.\n\n\nThe role assigned the women, in helping the children of Israel to\nescape in safety from bondage, is by no means complimentary\nto their heroism or honesty. To help bear the expenses of the journey,\nthey were instructed to steal all the jewels of silver and gold, and\nall the rich raiment of the Egyptian ladies. The Lord and Moses no\ndoubt went on the principle that the Israelites had richly earned all\nin the years of their bondage. This is the position that some of our\ngood abolitionists took, when Africans were escaping from American\nbondage, that the slaves had the right to seize horses, boats, anything\nto help them to Canada, to find safety in the shadow of the British\nlion. Some of our pro-slavery clergymen, who no doubt often read the\nthird chapter of Exodus to their congregations, forgot the advice of\nMoses, in condemning the abolitionists; as the Americans had stolen the\nAfrican's body and soul, and kept them in hopeless bondage for\ngenerations--they had richly earned whatever they needed to help them\nto the land of freedom. Stretch the principle of natural rights a\nlittle further, and ask the question, why should women, denied all\ntheir political rights, obey laws to which they have never given their\nconsent, either by proxy or in person? Our fathers in an inspired\nmoment said, \"No just government can be formed without the consent of\nthe governed.\"\n\nWomen have had no voice in the canon law, the catechisms, the church\ncreeds and discipline, and why should they obey the behests of a\nstrictly masculine religion, that places the sex at a disadvantage in\nall life's emergencies?\n\nOur civil and criminal codes reflect at many points the spirit of the\nMosaic. In the criminal code we find no feminine pronouns, as \"He,\"\n\"His,\" \"Him,\" we are arrested, tried and hung, but singularly enough,\nwe are denied the highest privileges of citizens, because the pronouns\n\"She,\" \"Hers\" and \"Her,\" are not found in the constitutions. It is a\npertinent question, if women can pay the penalties of their crimes as\n\"He,\" why may they not enjoy the privileges of citizens as \"He\"?\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\nExodus iv.\n\n\n\n18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said\nunto him, let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are\nin Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses,\nGo in peace.\n\n19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for\nall the men are dead which sought thy life.\n\n20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and\nhe returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his\nhand.\n\n21 And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt,\nsee that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in\nthine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the\npeople go.\n\n22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my\nson, even my firstborn:\n\n23 And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me: and if\nthou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy\nfirstborn:\n\n24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him,\nand sought to kill him.\n\n25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and circumcised her son.\n\n26 So he let him go.\n\n\nWhen Moses married Zipporah he represented himself as a stranger who\ndesired nothing better than to adopt Jethro's mode of life, But now\nthat he desired to see his own people, his wife has no choice but to\naccompany him. So Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on an\nass, and he returned to the land of Egypt.\n\nThe reason the Lord met them and sought to kill the son, was readily\ndevined by Zipporah; her son had not been circumcised; so with woman's\nquick intuition and natural courage to save the life of her husband,\nshe skillfully performed the necessary operation, and the travellers\nwent on their way rejoicing. The word circumcision seems to have a very\nelastic meaning \"uncircumcised lips\" is used to describe that want of\npower to speak fluently, from which Moses suffered and which he so\noften deplored.\n\nAs in every chapter of Jewish history this rite is dwelt upon it is\nworthy of remark that its prominence as a religious observance means a\ndisparagement of all female life, unfit for offerings, and unfit to,\ntake part in religious services, incapable of consecration. The\ncircumcision of the heart even, which women might achieve, does not\nrender them fit to take an active part in any of the holy services of\nthe Lord. They were permitted to violate the moral code of laws to\nsecure liberty for their people, but they could not officiate in any\nof the sacraments, nor eat of the consecrated bread at meals. Although\nthe Mosaic code and customs so plainly degrade the female sex, and\ntheir position in the church to-day grows out of these ancient customs,\nyet many people insist that our religion dignifies women. But so long\nas the Pentateuch is read and accepted as the Word of God, an undefined\ninfluence is felt by each generation that, destroys a proper respect\nfor all womankind.\n\nIt is the contempt that the canon and civil law alike express for\nwomen that has multiplied their hardships and intensified man's, desire\nto hold them in subjection. The sentiment that statesmen and bishops\nproclaim in their high places are responsible for the actions of the\nlower classes on the highways. We scarce take up a paper that does not\nherald some outrage committed on a matron on her way to church, or the\nlittle girl gathering wild flowers on her way to school; yet you cannot\ngo so low down in the scale of being as to find men who will enter our\nchurches to desecrate the altars or toss about the emblems of the\nsacrament; because they have been educated with some respect for\nchurches, altars and sacraments. But where are any lessons of respect\ntaught for the mothers of the human family? And yet as the great factor\nin the building of the race are they not more sacred than churches,\naltars, sacraments or the priesthood?\n\nDo our sons in their law schools, who read the old common law of\nEngland and its commentators, rise from their studies with higher\nrespect for women? Do our sons in their theological seminaries rise\nfrom their studies of the Mosaic laws and Paul's epistles with higher\nrespect for their mothers? Alas! in both cases they may have learned\ntheir first lessons of disrespect and contempt. They who would protect\ntheir innocent daughters from the outrages so common to-day, must lay\nanew the foundation stones of law and gospel in justice and equality,\nin a profound respect of the sexes for each other.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\n\nExodus xii.\n\n\n\n12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will\nsmite all the firstborn in tile land of Egypt, both man and beast: and\nagainst all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.\n\n18 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye\nare: and when I see that blood, I will pass over you, and the plague\nnot be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.\n\n43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of\nthe passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:\n\n44 But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast\ncircumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.\n\n45 A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.\n\n46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of\nthe flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone\nthereof.\n\n47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.\n\n48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the\npassover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let\nhim come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the\nland: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.\n\n\nIn commemoration of this promise of the Lord's to pass over their\nhomes in executing vengeance on the Egyptians, and of the prolonged\nbattles between Jehovah and Moses on the one side, and Pharaoh and his\nCabinet on the other, the Jews held an annual feast to which all\ncircumcised males were summoned. The point of interest to us is whether\nwomen were disqualified, not being circumcised, or whether as members\nof the congregation they could slip in under the provision in the 47th\nverse, and enjoy the unleavened bread and nice roast lamb with the men\nof their household. It seems from the above texts that this blessed\nfeast of deliverance from bondage must have been confined to males,\nthat they only, could express, their joy and gratitude. But women were\npermitted to perform a subordinate part in the grand hegira, beside\ncarrying their respective infants they manifested their patriotism by\nstealing all the jewels of gold and silver, all the rich silks and\nvelvets from their Egyptian neighbors, all they could carry, according\nto the commands of Moses. And why should these women take any part in\nthe passover; their condition remained about the same under all\ndynasties in all lands. They were regarded merely as necessary factors\nin race building. As Jewish wives or Egyptian concubines, there was no\nessential difference in their social status.\n\nAs Satan, represented by a male snake, seemed to be women's counsellor\nfrom the beginning, making her skillful in cunning and tergiversation,\nit is fair to suppose that they were destined to commune with the\nspirit of evil for ever and ever, that is if women have souls and are\nimmortal, which is thought to be doubtful by many nations. There is no\ntrace thus far that the Jews believed in a future state, good or bad.\nNo promise of immortality is held out to men even. So far the promise\nto them is a purely material triumph, \"their seed shall not fill the\nearth.\"\n\nThe firstborn of males both man and beast are claimed by the Lord as\nhis own. From the general sentiment expressed in the various texts, it\nis evident that Satan claims the women as his own. The Hebrew God had\nvery little to say in regard to them. If the passover, the lamb and the\nunleavened bread, were necessary to make the males acceptable in\nreligious services, the females could find no favor in the eyes of\neither God or man.\n\nIn most of the sacrifices female animals are not accepted, nor a male,\nborn after a female by the same parent. Males are the race, females\nonly the creatures that carry it on. This arrangement must be\nprovidential, as it saves men from many disabilities. Men never fail to\ndwell on maternity as a disqualification for the possession of many\ncivil and political rights. Suggest the idea of women having a voice in\nmaking laws and administering the Government in the halls of\nlegislation, in Congress, or the British Parliament, and men will\ndeclaim at once on the disabilities of maternity in a sneering\ncontemptuous way, as if the office of motherhood was undignified and\ndid not comport with the highest public offices in church and state. It\nis vain that we point them to Queen Victoria, who has carefully reared\na large family, while considering and signing all state papers. She has\nbeen a pattern wife and mother, kept a clean court, and used her\ninfluence as far as her position would admit, to keep peace with all\nnations. Why should representative American women be incapable of\ndischarging similar public and private duties at the same time in an\nequally commendable manner?\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\n\nExodus xviii.\n\n\n\n1 When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of\nall that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that\nthe Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt;\n\n2 Then Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after\nhe had sent her back.\n\n3 And her two sons; of which the name of one was Gershom; for he said,\nI have been an alien in a strange land:\n\n4 And the name of the other was Eliezer: for the God of my father,\nsaid he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh;\n\n5 And Jethro, Moses father in law, came with his sons and his wife\nunto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:\n\n6 And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto\nthee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.\n\n7 And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance,\nand kissed him, and they asked each other of their welfare; and they\ncame into the tent.\n\n8 And Moses told his father in law all that the Lord had done unto the\nPharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail\nthat had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them.\n\n\nAfter a long separation the record of the meeting between Moses and\nhis wife Zipporah I,; very unsatisfactory to the casual reader. There\nis some sentiment in the meeting of Jethro and Moses, they embraced and\nkissed each other. How tender and beautiful the seeming relation to a\nfather in law, more fortunate than the mother in law in our time.\nZipporah like all the women of her time was hustled about, sent forward\nand back by husbands and fathers, generally transported with their sons\nand belongings on some long-suffering jackass. Nothing is said of the\ndaughters, but the sons, their names and their significance seem of\nvital importance. We must smile or heave a sigh at all this injustice,\nbut different phases of the same guiding principle blocks woman's way\nto-day to perfect liberty. See the struggle they have made to gain\nadmittance to the schools and colleges, the trades and professions,\ntheir civil and political rights. The darkest page in history is the\npersecutions of woman.\n\nWe take note of these discriminations of sex, and reiterate them again\nand again to call the attention of women to the real source of their\nmultiplied disabilities. As long as our religion teaches woman's\nsubjection and man's right of domination, we shall have chaos in the\nworld of morals. Women are never referred to as persons, merely as\nproperty, and to see why, you must read the Bible until you also see\nhow many other opportunities for the exercise of sex were given to\nmen, and why the single one of marriage to one husband was allowed to\nwomen.\n\nIn all the directions given Moses, for the regulation of the social\nand civil life of the children of Israel, and in the commandments on\nMount Sinai, it is rarely that females are mentioned. The regulations\nare chiefly for males, the offerings are male, the transgressions\nreferred to are male.\n\nWhen the Lord was about to give the ten commandments to the children\nof Israel he gave the most minute directions as to the preparatory\nduties of the people. It is evident from the text that males only were\nto witness Moses' ascent to Mount Sinai and the coming of the Lord in a\ncloud of fire.\n\n\n\nExodus xix.\n\n\n\n12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take\nheed to yourselves, that ye go not up in to the mount, or touch the\nborder of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to\ndeath..\n\n13 There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or\nshot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the\ntrumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.\n\n14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified\nthe people; and they washed their clothes.\n\n16 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come\nnot at your wives.\n\nThe children of Israel were to sanctify themselves for this great\nevent. Besides a thorough cleaning of their persons and clothes, they\nwere to have no affiliations or conversations with women for the space\nof three days. The Hebrew laws regulating the relations of men and\nwomen are never complimentary to the latter.\n\nThis feeling was in due time cultivated in the persecutions women\nendured under witchcraft and celibacy, when all women were supposed to\nbe in collusion with the spirit of evil, and every man was warned that\nthe less he had to do with the \"daughters of men\" the more perfect\nmight be his communion with the Creator. Lecky in his History of\nRationalism shows what women endured when these ideas were prevalent,\nand their sufferings were not mitigated until rationalism took the\nplace of religion, and reason trumphed {sic} over superstition.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\n\nExodus xv.\n\n\n\n20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in\nher hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with\ndances.\n\n21 And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath\ntriumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the\nsea.\n\n\nAfter many previous disappointments from Pharaoh, the children of\nIsrael were permitted to start from Egypt and cross the Red Sea, while\nPharaoh and his host in pursuit, were overwhelmed in the waters.\n\nThen Moses and the children of Israel expressed their gratitude to the\nLord in a song, comprising nineteen verses, while Miriam and the women\nexpressed theirs in the above two. Has this proportion any significance\nas to the comparative happiness of the men and the women, or is it a\npoor attempt by the male historian to make out that though the women\ntook part in the general rejoicing, they were mutinous or sulky. We\nknow that Miriam was not altogether satisfied with the management of\nMoses at many points of the expedition, and later on expressed her\ndissatisfaction. If their gratitude is to be measured by the length of\ntheir expression, the women were only one-tenth as grateful as the men.\nIt must always be a wonder to us, that in view of their degradation,\nthey ever felt like singing or dancing, for what desirable change was\nthere in their lives--the same hard work or bondage they suffered in\nEgypt. There, they were all slaves together, but now the men, in their\nrespective families were exalted above their heads. Clarke gives the\nsong in metre with a chorus, and says the women, led by Miriam,\nanswered in a chorus by themselves which greatly heightened the effect.\n\n\n\nExodus xvi.\n\n\n\n23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To\nmorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which\nye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which\nremaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.\n\n29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he\ngiveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man\nin his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.\n\n30 So the people rested on the seventh day.\n\n\nIn these texts we note that the work of men was done on the sixth day,\nbut the women must work as usual on the seventh. We see the same thing\nto-day, woman's work is never done. What irony to say to them rest on\nthe seventh day. The Puritan fathers would not let the children romp or\nplay, nor give their wives a drive on Sunday, but they enjoyed a better\ndinner on the Sabbath than any other day; yet the xxxi chapter and 15th\nverse contains the following warning:\n\n\n15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of\nrest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he\nshall surely be put to death.\n\n\nAs the women continued to work and yet seemed to live in the flesh, it\nmay refer to the death of their civil rights, their individuality, as\nnonentities without souls or personal responsibility.\n\nA critical reading of the ten commandments will show that they are\nchiefly for men. After purifying themselves by put ting aside their\nwives and soiled clothes, they assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai. We\nhave no hint of the presence of a woman. One commandment speaks of\nvisiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children. There is an\nelement of justice in this, for to talk of children getting iniquities\nfrom their mothers, in a history of males, of fathers and sons, would\nbe as ridiculous as getting them from the clothes they wore.\n\n\"Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.\" With the majority of\nwomen this is impossible. Men of all classes can make the Sabbath a day\nof rest, at least a change of employment, but for women the same\nmonotonous duties must be performed. In the homes of the rich and poor\nalike, most women cook, clean, and take care of children from morning\ntill night. Men must have good dinners Sundays above all other days, as\nthen they have plenty of time in which to eat. If the first born male\nchild lifts up his voice at the midnight hour, the female attendant\ntakes heed to his discontent; if in the early morning at the cock\ncrowing, or the eventide, she is there. They who watch and guard the\ninfancy of men are like faithful sentinels, always on duty.\n\nThe fifth commandment will take the reader by surprise. It is rather\nremarkable that the young Hebrews should have been told to honor their\nmothers, when the whole drift of the teaching thus far has been to\nthrow contempt on the whole sex. In what way could they show their\nmothers honor? All the laws and customs forbid it. Why should they make\nany such manifestations? Scientists claim that the father gives the\nlife, the spirit, the soul, all there is of most value in existence.\nWhy honor the mother, for giving the mere covering of flesh. It was not\nher idea, but the father's, to start their existence. He thought of\nthem, he conceived them. You might as well pay the price of a sack of\nwheat to the field, instead of the farmer who sowed it, as to honor the\nmother for giving life. According to the Jewish code, the father is the\ngreat factor in family life, the mother of minor consideration. In the\nmidst of such teachings and examples of the subjection and degradation\nof all womankind, a mere command to honor the mother has no\nsignificance.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\n\nExodus xxxii.\n\n\n\n1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the\nmount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said\nunto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this\nMoses, the man that brought us up out of land of Egypt, we wot not what\nis become of him.\n\n2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are\nin the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and\nbring them unto me.\n\nAnd all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their\nears, and brought them unto Aaron.\n\nAnd he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving\ntool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy\ngods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.\n\n5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made\nproclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord.\n\n6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings,\nand brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to\ndrink, and rose up to play.\n\n7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people,\nwhich thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted\nthemselves.\n\n\nSo tired were the children of Israel waiting at the foot of Mount\nSinai for the return of Moses, that Aaron to pacify them made a golden\ncalf which they worshipped. To procure the gold he took the jewelry of\nthe women young and old, men never understanding how precious it is to\nthem, and the great self-sacrifice required to part with it. But as the\nmen generally give it to them during courtship, and as wedding\npresents, they feel that they have a vested right therein for\nemergencies.\n\nIt was just so in the American Revolution, in 1776, the first delicacy\nthe men threw overboard in Boston harbor was the tea, woman's favorite\nbeverage. The tobacco and whiskey, though heavily taxed, they clung to\nwith the tenacity of the devil-fish. Rather than throw their luxuries\noverboard they would no doubt have succumbed to King George's\npretensions. Men think that self-sacrifice is the most charming of all\nthe cardinal virtues for women, and in order to keep it in healthy\nworking order, they make opportunities for its illustration as often as\npossible. I would fain teach women that self-development is a higher\nduty than self-sacrifice.\n\nThe pillar of cloud for day and light for night, that went before the\nchildren of Israel in the wilderness, was indeed a marvel. It was an\naqueous cloud that kept them well watered by day, and shadowed from the\nheat of the sun; by night it showed its light side to the Israelites,\nand its dark side to whatever enemy might pursue them. It is supposed\nthat about 3,200,000 started on this march with 165,000 children. They\ncarried all their provisions, cooking utensils, flocks, herds and all\nthe gold, silver, precious stones and rich raiment that they borrowed\n(stole) of the Egyptians, besides the bones of the twelve sons of\nJacob. It is said the Israelites spent forty years wandering in the\nwilderness, kept there because of their wickedness, though they might\nhave accomplished the journey in a few weeks. They disobeyed the\ncommandments given them by Moses, and worshipped a golden calf, so they\njourneyed through deep waters, woe and tribulation. Fire was always a\nsignificant emblem of Deity, not only among the Hebrews but many other\nancient nations, hence men have adopted it as a male emblem. They talk\nof Moses seeing God; but Moses says: \"ye saw no manner of similitude on\nthe day the Lord spoke unto me on Mount Horeb out of the cloud of fire.\"\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\n\nExodus xxxiv.\n\n\n\n12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the\ninhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in\nthe midst of thee;\n\n13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down\ntheir groves:\n\n14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, who is a jealous\nGod.\n\n15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and\nthey go after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one\ncall thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;\n\n16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters\ngo after their gods, and make thy sons go after their gods.\n\n23 Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the\nLord God, the God of Israel.\n\n24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy\nborders; neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up\nto appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.\n\n25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither\nshall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the\nmorning.\n\n26 The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the\nhouse of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's\nmilk.\n\n\nThe Jews did not seem to have an abiding faith in the attractions of\ntheir own religion. They evidently lived in constant fear lest their\nsons and daughters should worship the strange gods of other nations.\nThey seem also to have had most exaggerated fears as to the influence\nalien women might exert over their sons. Three times in the year all\nthe men were to appear before the Lord. Why the women were not\ncommanded to appear has been a point of much questioning. Probably the\nwomen, then as now, were more conscientious in their religious duties,\nand not so susceptible to the attractions of alien men and their\nstrange gods.\n\nIf the Lord had talked more freely with the Jewish women and impressed\nsome of his wise commands on their hearts, they would have had a more\nrefined and religious influence on the men of Israel. But all their\nknowledge of the divine commands was second hand and through an\nacknowledged corrupt medium.\n\n\"Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.\" After all the\nlearning critics have bestowed on this passage, the simple meaning, says\nAdam Clarke, seems to be this: Thou shalt do nothing that may have a\ntendency to blunt thy moral feelings, or teach thee hardness of heart.\nEven human nature shudders at the thought of taking the mother's milk to\nseethe the flesh of her own dead lamb. With all their cruelty towards\nalien tribes and all their sacrifices of lambs and kids, there is an\noccasional touch of tenderness for animal life among the Hebrews that is\nquite praiseworthy.\n\n\n\nExodus xxxvi.\n\n\n\n22 And they came, both men and women, as many, as were willing\nhearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets,\nall jewels of gold; and every man offered an offering of gold unto the\nLord.\n\n23 And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet,\nand fine linen, and goats hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers'\nskins, brought them.\n\n25 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands,\nand brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and\nof scarlet, and of fine linen.\n\n26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats'\nhair.\n\n\nWomen were always considered sufficiently clean to beg, work and give\ngenerously for the building and decoration of churches, and the support\nof the priesthood. They might always serve as inferiors, but never\nreceive as equals.\n\nGreat preparations were made for building the Tabernacle, and all the\nwilling hearted were invited to bring all their ornaments and all\nmanner of rich embroideries, and brilliant fancy work of scarlet, blue\nand purple. As usual in our own day the Jewish women were allowed to\ngive generously, work untiringly and beg eloquently to build altars and\nTabernacles to the Lord, to embroider slippers and make flowing robes\nfor the priesthood, but they could not enter the holy of holies or take\nany active part, in the services.\n\nSome women in our times think these unhappy Jewesses would have been\nmuch \"wiser hearted\" if they had kept their jewelry and beautiful\nembroideries to decorate themselves and their homes, where they were at\nleast satellites of the dinner pot and the cradle, and Godesses {sic} at\ntheir own altars. Seeing they had no right inside the sacred Temple, but\nstood looking-glass in hand at the door, it would have indicated more\nself-respect to have washed their hands of all that pertained to male\nceremonies, altars and temples. But the women were wild with enthusiasm,\njust as they are to-day with fairs and donation parties, to build\nchurches, and they brought such loads of bric-a-brac that at last Moses\ncompelled them to stop, as the supply exceeded all reasonable demand.\nBut for the building of the Tabernacle the women brought all they deemed\nmost precious, even the most necessary and convenient articles of their\ntoilets.\n\n\n\nExodus xxxviii.\n\n\n\n8 And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of\nthe looking glasses of the women assembling at the door of the\ntabernacle of the congregation.\n\n\nThe men readily accepted the sacrifice of all their jewelry, rich\nlaces, velvets and silks, their looking glasses of solid precious\nmetal. These being made of metal could be used for building purposes.\nThe women carried these with them wherever they went, and always stood\nwith them in hand at the door of the Tabernacle, as they were the\ndoorkeepers standing outside to watch and guard the door from those not\npermitted to enter.\n\nAn objective view of the manner these women were imposed upon,\nwheedled and deceived with male pretensions and the pat use of the\nphrase \"thus saith the Lord,\" must make every one who reads indignant\nat the masculine assumption, even at this late day.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nAt every stage of his existence Moses was indebted to some woman for\nsafety and success. Miriam, by her sagacity, saved his life. Pharaoh's\ndaughter reared and educated him and made the way possible for the high\noffices he was called to fill; and Zipporah, his wife, a woman of\nstrong character and decided opinions, often gave him good advice.\nEvidently from the text she criticised his conduct and management as a\nleader, and doubted his supernatural mission, for she refused to go out\nof Egypt with him, preferring to remain with her sons under her\nfather's roof--Jethro, a priest of Midian. After the destruction of\nPharaoh's host, when the expedition, led by Moses seemed to be an\nassured success, she followed with her father to join the leader of the\nwandering Israelites. (Chapter xviii, 2.)\n\nIn the ordinances which follow the ten commandments, exact judgment\nand cruel punishment are ordained alike for man and\nwoman; life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand and\nfoot for foot (Chapter xxi, 23).\n\nIn pronouncing punishments, woman's individuality and responsibility\nare always fully recognized, alike in the canon and civil laws, which\nreflect the spirit of the Mosaic code.\n\n\n\nExodus xxii.\n\n\n\n21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were\nstrangers in the land of Egypt.\n\n22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.\n\n23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I\nwill surely hear their cry;\n\n24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and\nyour wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless:\n\nThis special threat against those who oppress the widow and the\nfatherless, has a touch of tenderness and mercy, but if the vengeance\nis to make more widows and fatherless, the sum of human misery is\nincreased rather than diminished. As to the stranger, after his country\nhas been made desolate, his cities burned, his property, cattle, lands\nand merchandise all confiscated, kind words and alms would be but a\nsmall measure of justice under any circumstances.\n\nIn closing the book of Exodus, the reader must wonder that the faith\nand patience of the people, in that long sorrowful march through the\nwilderness, held out as long as it did. Whether fact or fiction, it is\none of the most melancholy records in human history. Whether as a mere\nwork of the imagination, or the real experience of an afflicted people,\nour finer sentiments of pity and sympathy find relief only in doubts of\nits truth.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF LEVITICUS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nLeviticus iv, vi.\n\n\n\n22 When a ruler hath sinned and somewhat through ignorance, against\nany of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which\nshould not be done, and is guilty.\n\n23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he\nshall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:\n\n27 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while\nhe doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord\nconcerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty:\n\n28 Then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female\nwithout blemish, for his sin.\n\n24 And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall\noffer it before the Lord, before the altar.\n\n15 And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat\noffering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is\nupon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet\nsavour, even the memorial of it, unto the Lord.\n\n18 All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall\nbe a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of\nthe Lord made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.\n\n\nThere seems to have been some distinction of sex even in the offerings\nof male and female animals. For rulers, priests and people of\ndistinction male animals were required, but for the common people a\nfemale lamb or goat would do. There is a difference of opinion among\nwriters as to the reason of this custom, some say because all female\nanimals were considered unclean, others that the females were too\nvaluable for wholesale slaughter. Farmers use the male fowls for the\ntable because the hens are too valuable producing eggs and chickens.\nThe fact has some significance, though Adam Clarke throws no light on\nit, he says--\"the whole sacrificial system in this book refers to the\ncoming sacrifice of Christ; without this spiritual reference, the\ngeneral reader can feel no spiritual interest in this book\" For burnt\nofferings males were required, but for peace offerings and minor sins\nthe female would answer.\n\nAs the idea of sacrifice to unknown gods, was the custom with all\nnations and religions, why should the Jewish have more significance\nthan that of any other people. For swearing, an offence to ears polite,\nrather than eternal justice, a female creature or turtle dove might be\noffered.\n\nThe meat so delicately cooked by the priests, with wood and coals in\nthe altar, in clean linen, no woman was permitted to taste, only the\nmales among the children of Aaron. Seeing that the holy men were the\ncooks, it seems like a work of supererogation to direct them to clean\nthemselves and their cooking utensils. Perhaps the daughters of Israel\nwere utilized for that work.\n\nIt is clearly shown that child-bearing among the Jews was not\nconsidered a sacred office and that offerings to the Lord were\nnecessary for their purification, and that double the time was\nnecessary after the birth of a daughter.\n\nIn several of the following chapters the sins of men and women are\ntreated on equal grounds, hence they need no special comments. In\nreading many of these chapters we wonder that an expurgated edition of\nthese books was not issued long ago. We trust the volume we propose to\nissue may suggest to the next Revising Committee of gentlemen the\npropriety of omitting many texts that are gross and obscene, especially\nif the Bible is to be read in our public schools.\n\n\n\nLeviticus x.\n\n\n\n12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar,\nhis sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the\nofferings of the Lord made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside\nthe altar: for it is most holy.\n\n13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and\nthy sons' due, of the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire: for so I am\ncommanded.\n\n14 And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean\nplace; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be thy\ndue, and thy sons' due, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace\nofferings of the children of Israel.\n\n\nWhy the daughters cannot eat with the sons in the thirteenth verse and\nmay in the fourteenth we cannot conjecture. We notice, however, that\nwhere the sons eat alone is called a \"holy place,\" where the daughters\neat with them it is called simply a \"clean place.\" We are thankful,\nhowever, that in the distribution of meats the women come in\noccasionally for a substantial meal in a\nclean place.\n\nAll the directions given in the eighteenth chapter are for men and\nwomen alike, for all nations and all periods of human development. The\nsocial habits and sanitary conditions prescribed are equally good for\nour times as when given by Moses to the children of Israel. The virtue\nof cleanliness so sedulously taught cannot be too highly commended.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nLeviticus xix.\n\n\n\n3 If ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my\nsabbaths: I am the Lord your God.\n\n20 If And whosoever cohabits with a bondmaid, betrothed to a husband,\nand not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged:\nthey shall not be put to death, because she was not free.\n\n21 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, unto the\ndoor of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass\noffering.\n\n22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the\ntrespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he hath done: and\nthe sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.\n\n\nBy what possible chance the mother is mentioned first here, it is\ndifficult to conjecture, but we do see the cruel injustice of the\ncomparative severity of the punishment for man and woman for the same\noffence. The woman is scourged, the man presents the priest with a ram\nand is forgiven.\n\n\n\nLeviticus xx.\n\n\n\n9 If For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be\nsurely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood\nshall be upon him.\n\n21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing:\nhe hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.\n\n27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a\nwizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with\nstones; their blood shall be upon them.\n\n\nClarke remarks that all language that tends to lessen respect for\nfather or mother, is included in this judgment. In this chapter we have\nstill further directions for race and family purity. I suppose in the\n21st verse we have that stumbling-block in the British Parliament\nwhenever the deceased wife's sister's bill comes up for passage. Here,\ntoo, those who in times past have persecuted witches, will find\njustification for their cruelties. The actors in one of the blackest\npages in human history, claim Scripture authority for their infernal\ndeeds. Far into the eighteenth century in England, the clergy dragged\ninnocent women into the courts as witches, and learned judges\npronounced on them the sentence of torture and death. The chapter on\nwitchcraft in Lecky's History of Rationalism, contains the most\nheartrending facts in human history. It is unsafe to put unquestioned\nconfidence in all the vagaries of mortal man. While women were\ntortured, drowned and burned by the thousands, scarce one wizard to a\nhundred was ever condemned. The marked distinction in the treatment of\nthe sexes, all through the Jewish dispensation, is curious and\ndepressing, especially as we see the trail of the serpent all through\nhistory, wherever their form of religion has made its impress. In the\nold common law of our Saxon fathers, the Jewish code is essentially\nreproduced. This same distinction of sex appears in our own day. One\ncode of morals for men, another for women. All the opportunities and\nadvantages of life for education, self-support and self-development\nfreely accorded boys, have, in a small measure, been reluctantly\nconceded to women after long and persevering struggles.\n\n\n\nLeviticus xxii.\n\n\n\n12 If the priest's daughter also be married unto a stranger, she may\nnot eat of an offering of the holy things.\n\n13 But if the priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no\nchild, and is returned unto her father's house, as in her youth, she\nshall eat of her father's meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof.\n\n\nThese restrictions on the priests' daughters would never be tolerated\nby the priests' sons should they marry strangers. The individuality of\na woman, the little she ever possessed, is obliterated by marriage.\n\n\n\nLeviticus xxiv.\n\n\n\n10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an\nEgyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the\nIsraelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;\n\n11 And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the LORD,\nand cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was\nShelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)\n\n\nThe interesting fact here is that a woman is dignified by a name, the\nonly one so mentioned in the book of Leviticus. This is probably due to\nthe fact that the son's character was so disreputable that he would\nreflect no lustre on his father's family, and so on his maternal\nancestors rested his disgrace. If there had been anything good to tell\nof him, reference would no doubt have been made to his male progenitors.\n\n\n\nLeviticus xxvi.\n\n\n\n26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall\nbake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread\nagain by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.\n\n29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your\ndaughters shall ye eat.\n\n\nThere could be no greater punishment in ordinary life than for ten\nwomen to bake in one oven. As every woman would necessarily look at her\npies and cakes two or three times, that would involve a frequent\nlooking in, which might make the contents heavy as lead. A current of\ncold air rushing in too often, would wreck the most perfect compound.\nBut perhaps heavy bread was intended as part of the punishment of the\npeople for their sins. Some commentators say that the labors of the ten\nwomen are symbolical of the poverty of the family. When people are in\nfortunate circumstances, the women are supposed, like the lilies of the\nvalley, to neither toil nor spin, but when the adverse winds blow they\nsuddenly find themselves compelled to use their own brains and hands or\nperish.\n\nThe 29th verse at last gives us one touch of absolute equality, the\nright to be eaten. This Josephus tells us really did occur in the\nsieges of Samaria by Benhadad, of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and also\nin the last siege of Jerusalem by the Romans.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nAmid the long list of directions for sacrifices and injunctions\nagainst forbidden actions, chapter xii gives the law of purification,\nnot only degrading motherhood by the observance of certain ceremonies\nand exclusion from the sanctuary, but by discriminating against sex,\nhonoring the birth of a son above that of a daughter.\n\nAccording to the Levitical law, the ewe lambs were not used for\nsacrifice as offerings to the Lord, because they were unclean. This was\nan idea put forth by the priests and Levites. But there was a better and\nmore rational reason. To sacrifice the ewes was to speedily deplete the\nflocks, but beyond a certain number needed as sires for the coming\ngeneration, the males could be put to no better use than to feed the\npriests, the refuse of the animal, the skin, feet, etc., constituted the\nsacrifice to the Lord.\n\nBishop Colenso, in his remarkable work on the Pentateuch, gives the\nenormous number of lambs annually sacrificed by the Hebrews. A certain\nportion of the flocks were assigned to the priests, who were\ncontinually provided with the best mutton.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF NUMBERS\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nNumbers i.\n\n\n\nAnd the Lord spake unto Moses in tire wilderness of Sinai, saying,\n\n2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,\nafter their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of\ntheir names, every male by their polls:\n\n3 These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by\nthe house of their fathers: all those that were numbered of the camps\nthroughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and\nfive hundred and fifty.\n\n\nIn this chapter Moses is commanded to number the people and the\nprinces of the tribe, males only, and by the houses of their fathers.\nAs the object was to see how many effective men there were able to go\nto war, the priests, the women, the feeble old men and children were\nnot counted. Women have frequently been classified with priests in some\nprivileges and disabilities. At one time in the United States the\nclergy were not allowed to vote nor hold office. Like women, they were\nconsidered too good to mingle in political circles. For them to have\nindividual opinions on the vital questions of the hour might introduce\ndissensions alike into the church and the home.\n\nThis census of able bodied men still runs on through chapter ii, and\nall these potential soldiers are called children of their fathers.\nAlthough at this period woman's chief duty and happiness was bearing\nchildren, no mention is made of the mothers of this mighty host, though\nsome woman had gone to the gates of death to give each soldier life;\nprovided him with rations long before he could forage for himself, and\nfirst taught his little feet to march to tune and time. But, perhaps,\nif we could refer to the old Jewish census tables we might find that\nthe able bodied males of these tribes, favorites of Heaven,\nhad all sprung, Minerva-like, from the brains of their fathers, and\nthat only the priests, the feeble old men and the children had mothers\nto care for them, in the absence of the princes and soldiers.\n\nHowever, in some valuable calculations of Schencher we learn that\nthere was some thought of the mothers of the tribes by German\ncommentators. We find in his census such references as the following:\nThe children of Jacob by Leah. The children of Jacob by Zilpah. The\nchildren of Jacob by Rachel. The children of Jacob by Bilhah. But even\nthis generous mention of the mothers of the tribe of Jacob does not\nsatisfy the exacting members of the Revising Committee. We feel that\nthe facts should have been stated thus: The children of Leah, Zilpah,\nRachel and Bilhah by Jacob, making Jacob the incident instead of the\nfour women. Men may consider this a small matter on which to make a\npoint, but in restoring woman's equality everywhere we must insist on\nher recognition in all these minor particulars, and especially in the\nBible, to which people go for their authority on the civil and social\nstatus of all womankind.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nNumbers v.\n\n\n\n1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,\n\n2 Command the children of Israel. that they put out of the camp every\nleper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by\nthe dead:\n\n3 Both male and female that they defile not their camps.\n\n4 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,\n\n12 If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him.\n\n14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and she be defiled: or if\nshe be not defiled:\n\n15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall\nbring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal;\nhe shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is\nan offering of jealousy.\n\n17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of\nthe dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take,\nand put it into the water:\n\n18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and uncover the\nwoman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is\nthe jealousy offering, and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter\nwater that causeth the curse:\n\n19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman,\nif thou hast not gone aside be thou free from this bitter water that\ncauseth the curse:\n\n20 But if thou hast gone aside, and if thou be defiled.\n\n21 Then, the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing,\nand the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and\nan oath among they people.\n\n24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth\nthe curse.\n\n25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's\nhand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon\nthe altar:\n\n26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the\nmemorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause\nthe woman to drink the water.\n\n27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to\npass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her\nhusband, that if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her\nhusband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her,\nand become bitter.\n\n28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be\nfree.\n\n\nAt the first blush it seems very cruel for the Jewish God to order the\ndiseased and unfortunate to be thrown out of the camp and left in the\nwilderness. But commentators suggest that they must have had a\nsanatorium near by where the helpless could be protected. Though\nimprobable, still the suggestion will be a relief to sensitive souls.\nThis ordinance of Moses probably suggested the first idea of a\nhospital. The above account of the unfortunate wife was called \"trial\nby ordeal,\" of which Clarke gives a minute description in his\ncommentaries. It was common at one time among many nations, the women\nin all cases being the chief sufferers as in the modern trials for\nwitchcraft. If the witch was guilty when thrown into the water she went\nto the bottom, if innocent she floated on the surface and was left to\nsink, so in either case her fate was the same. As men make and execute\nthe laws, prescribe and administer the punishment, \"trials by a jury or\nordeal\" for women though seemingly fair, are never based on principles\nof equity. The one remarkable fact in all these social transgressions\nin the early periods as well as in our modern civilization is that the\npenalties whether moral or material all fall on woman. Verily the\ndarkest page in human history is the slavery of women!\n\nThe offering by the priest to secure her freedom was of the cheapest\ncharacter. Oil and frankincense signifying grace and acceptableness\nwere not permitted to be used in her case. The woman's head is\nuncovered as a token of her shame, the dust from the floor signifies\ncontempt and condemnation, compelling the woman to drink water mixed\nwith dirt and gall is in the same malicious spirit. There is no\ninstance recorded of one of these trials by ordeal ever actually taking\nplace, as divorce was so easy that a man could put away his wife at\npleasure, so he need not go to the expense of even \"a tenth part of an\nephah of barley,\" on a wife of doubtful faithfulness. Moreover the\nwoman upon whom it was proposed to try all these pranks might be\ninnocent, and the jealous husband make himself ridiculous in the eyes\nof the people. But the publication of these ordinances no doubt had a\nrestraining influence on the young and heedless daughters of Israel,\nand they serve as landmarks in man's system of jurisprudence, to show\nus how far back he has been consistent in his unjust legislation for\nwoman.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\nNumbers xii.\n\n\n\nAnd Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian\nwoman whom he had married.\n\n2 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he\nnot spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.\n\n3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon\nthe face of the earth.)\n\n5 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the\ndoor of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came\nforth.\n\n6 And He Said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I,\nthe Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak\nunto him in a dream.\n\n8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in\ndark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold:\nwherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my Servant Moses?\n\n9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them: and he departed.\n\n10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam\nbecame leprous, white as snow; and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and\nbehold, she was leprous.\n\n11 And Aaron said unto Muses. Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not\nthe sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have\nsinned.\n\n13 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saving Heal her now, O God, I\nbeseech thee.\n\n15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people\njourneyed not till Miriam was brought in again.\n\n\nHere we have the first mention of Moses's second marriage, but the\nname of the woman is not given, though she is the assigned cause of the\nsedition. Both Aaron and Miriam had received a portion of the prophetic\ngenius that distinguished Moses, and they naturally thought that they\nshould have some share in the government, at least to make a few\nsuggestions, when they thought Moses made a blunder. Miriam was older\nthan Moses, and had at this time the experience of 120 years. When\nMoses was an infant on the River Nile, Miriam was intrusted by his\nparents to watch the fate of the infant in the bulrushes and the\ndaughter of Pharaoh in her daily walks by, the river side. It was her\ndiplomacy that secured the child's own mother for his nurse in the\nhousehold of the King of Egypt.\n\nIt is rather remarkable, if Moses was as meek as he is represented in\nthe third verse, that he should have penned that strong assertion of\nhis own innate modesty. There are evidences at this and several other\npoints that Moses was not the sole editor of the Pentateuch, if it can\nbe shown that he wrote any part of it. Speaking of the punishment of\nMiriam, Clarke. in his commentaries says it is probable that Miriam was\nchief in this mutiny; hence she was punished while Aaron was spared. A\nmere excuse for man's injustice; had he been a woman he would have\nshared the same fate. The real reason was that Aaron was a priest. Had\nhe been smitten with leprosy, his sacred office would have suffered and\nthe priesthood fallen into disrepute.\n\nAs women are supposed to have no character or sacred office, it is\nalways safe to punish them to the full extent of the law. So Miriam was\nnot only afflicted with leprosy, but also shut out of the camp for\nseven days. One would think that potential motherhood should make women\nas a class as sacred as the priesthood. In common parlance we have much\nfine-spun theorizing on the exalted office of the mother, her immense\ninfluence in moulding the character of her sons; \"the hand that rocks\nthe cradle moves the world,\" etc., but in creeds and codes, in\nconstitutions and Scriptures, in prose and verse, we do not see these\nlofty paeans recorded or verified in living facts. As a class, women\nwere treated among the Jews as an inferior order of beings, just as\nthey are to-day in all civilized nations. And now, as then, men claim\nto be guided by the will of God.\n\nIn this narrative we see thus early woman's desire to take some part\nin government, though denied all share in its honor and dignity.\nMiriam, no doubt, saw the humiliating distinctions of sex in the Mosaic\ncode and customs, and longed for the power to make the needed\namendments. In criticising the discrepancies in Moses's character and\ngovernment, Miriam showed a keen insight into the common principles of\nequity and individual conduct, and great self-respect and self-\nassertion in expressing her opinions--qualities most lacking in ordinary\nwomen.\n\nEvidently the same blood that made Moses and Aaron what they were, as\nleaders of men, flowed also in the veins, of Miriam. As daughters are\nsaid to be more like their fathers and sons like their mothers, Moses\nprobably inherited his meekness and distrust of himself from his\nmother, and Miriam her self-reliance and heroism from her father.\nKnowing these laws of heredity, Moses should have averted the\npunishment of Miriam instead of allowing the full force of God's wrath\nto fall upon her alone. If Miriam had helped to plan the journey to\nCanaan, it would no doubt have been accomplished in forty days instead\nof forty years. With her counsel in the cabinet, the people might have\nenjoyed peace and prosperity, cultivating the arts and sciences,\ninstead of making war on other tribes, and burning offerings to their\ngods. Miriam was called a prophetess, as the Lord had, on some\noccasions, it is said, spoken through her, giving messages to the\nwomen. After their triumphal escape from Egypt, Miriam led the women in\ntheir songs of victory. With timbrels and dances, they chanted, that\ngrand chorus that has been echoed and re-echoed for centuries in all\nour cathedrals round the globe. Catholic writers represent Miriam \"as a\ntype of the Virgin Mary, being legislatrix over the Israelitish women,\nespecially endowed with the spirit of prophecy.\"\n\n\n\nNumbers xx.\n\n\n\nThen came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into\nthe desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode In Kadesh;\nand Miriam died there, and was buried there.\n\nEusebius says her tomb was to be seen at Kadesh, near the city of\nPetra, in his time, and that she and her brothers all died in the same\nyear, it is hoped to reappear as equals in the resurrection.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\n\nNumbers vi.\n\n\n\n1 And the Lord said unto Moses,\n\n2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say, When either man or woman\nshall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, unto the Lord.\n\n5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come\nupon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth\nhimself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the\nhair of his head grow.\n\nThe Nazarites, both men and women, allowed their hair to grow long, as\nthe hair of the Nazarine was a token of subjection, the man to God, the\nwoman to man. St. Paul no doubt alluded to this custom when he said the\nwoman ought to have power upon her head, that is, wear her hair and\nveil and bonnet in church as a proof of her subjection to man, as he is\nto the Lord. The discipline of the church to-day requires a woman to\ncover her head before entering a cathedral for worship.\n\nThe fashion for men to sit with their heads bare in our churches,\nwhile women must wear bonnets, is based on this ancient custom of the\nNazarine. But as fashion is gradually reducing the bonnet to an\ninfinitesimal fraction it will probably in the near future be dispensed\nwith altogether. A lady in England made the experiment of going to the\nestablished church without her bonnet, but it created such an agitation\nin the congregation that the Bishop wrote her a letter on the\nimpropriety and requested her to come with her head covered. She\nrefused. He then called and labored with her as to the sinfulness of\nthe proceedings, and at parting commanded her either to cover her bead\nor stay away from church altogether. She choose the latter. I saw and\nbeard that letter read at a luncheon in London, where several ladies\nwere present. It was received with peals of laughter. The lady is the\nwife of a colonel in the British army.\n\n\n\nNumbers xxv.\n\n\n\n6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto\nhis brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses and all the\ncongregation of the children of Israel.\n\n7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,\nsaw it, he rose and took a javelin in his hand;\n\n8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both\nof them through, the man of Israel, and the woman.\n\n14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain\nwith the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a\nchief house among the Simeonites.\n\n15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the\ndaughter of Zur: he was head over a people, and of a chief house in\nMidian.\n\n\nSome commentators say the tie between Zimri and Cozbi was a\nmatrimonial alliance, understood in good faith by the Midianitish\nwoman. He was a prince and she was a princess.\n\nBut the Jewish law forbade a man going outside of his tribe for a\nwife. It was deemed idolatry. But why kill the woman. She had not\nviolated the laws of her tribe and was no doubt ignorant of Jewish law.\nOther commentators say that Zimri was notorious at the licentious\nfeasts of Baal-poer and that the Midianitish women tempted the sons of\nIsrael to idolatry. Hence the justice of killing both Zimri and Cozbi\nin one blow. It is remarkable that the influence of woman is so readily\nand universally recognized in leading the strongest men into sin, but\nso uniformly ignored as a stimulus to purity and perfection. Unless the\ngood predominates over the evil in the mothers of the race, there is no\nhope of our ultimate perfection.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe origin of the command that women should cover their heads is found\nin an old Jewish or Hebrew legend which appears in literature for the\nfirst time in Genesis vi. There we are told the Sons of God, that is,\nthe angels, took to wives the daughters of men, and begat the giants\nand heroes, who were instrumental in bringing about the flood. The\nRabbins held that the way in which the angels got possession of women\nwas by laying hold of their hair; they accordingly warned women to\ncover their heads in public, so that the angels might not get\npossession of them. It was believed that the strength of people lay in\ntheir hair, as the story of Samson illustrates. Paul merely repeats this\nwarning which he must often have heard at the feet of Gamaliel, who was\nat that time Prince or President of the Sanhedrim, telling women to\nhave a \"power (that is, protection) on their heads because of the\nangels:\" I Corinthians, chapter xi, verse 10. \"For this cause ought the\nwoman to have power on her head because of the angels.\" Thus the\ncommand has its origin in an absurd old myth. This legend will be found\nfully treated in a German pamphlet--Die paulinische Angelologie und\nDaemonologie. Otto Everling, Gottingen, 1888.\n\nIf the command to keep silence in the churches has no higher origin\nthan that to keep covered in public, should so much weight be given it,\nor should it be so often quoted as having Divine sanction?\n\nThe injunctions of St. Paul have had such a decided influence in\nfixing the legal status of women that it is worth our while to consider\ntheir source. In dealing with this question we must never forget that\nthe majority of the writings of the New Testament were not really\nwritten or published by those whose names they bear. Ancient writers\nconsidered it quite permissible for a man to put out letters under the\nname of another, and thus to bring his own ideas before the world under\nthe protection of an honored sponsor. It is not usually claimed that\nSt. Paul was the originator of the great religious movement called\nChristianity, but there is a strong belief that he was divinely\ninspired. His inward persuasions, and especially his visions appeared\nas a gift or endowment which had the force of inspiration; therefore,\nhis mandates concerning women have a strong hold upon the popular mind,\nand when opponents to the equality of the sexes are put to bay they\nglibly quote his injunctions.\n\nWe congratulate ourselves that we may shift some of these biblical\narguments that have such a sinister effect from their firm foundation.\nHe who claims to give a message must satisfy us that he has himself\nreceived such message.\n\n\nL. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\n\nNumbers xxvii.\n\n\n\n1 Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of\nGilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of\nManasseh, the son of Joseph; and these are the names of his daughters:\nMahiah, Noah, and Hogiah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.\n\n2 And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and\nbefore the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the\ntabernacle of the congregation, saying,\n\n3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of\nthem that gathered themselves together again at the Lord in the company\nof Korah.\n\n4 Why should the name of our father be done away from among his\nfamily, because he hath no son? Give us therefore a possession among\nthe brethren of our father.\n\n5 And Moses brought their cause before the Lord.\n\n6 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,\n\n7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right thou shalt surely give them\na possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou\nshalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.\n\n8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saving, If a man\ndie, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto\nhis daughter.\n\n9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto\nhis brethren.\n\n10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto\nhis father's brethren.\n\n11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his\ninheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he\nshall possess it; and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute\nof judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\n\nThe respect paid to the daughters of Zelophehad at that early day is\nworthy the imitation of the rulers in our own times. These daughters\nwere no doubt fine-looking, well-developed women, gifted with the power\nof eloquence, able to impress their personality and arguments on that\nimmense assemblage of the people. They were allowed to plead their own\ncase in person before the lawgivers, the priests, and the princes, the\nrulers in State and Church, and all the congregation, at the very door\nof the tabernacle. They presented their case with such force and\nclearness that all saw the justice of their claims. Moses was so deeply\nimpressed that he at once retired to his closet to listen to the still\nsmall voice of conscience and commune with his Maker. In response, the\nLord said to him: \"The daughters of Zelophehad speak right, if a man\ndie and leave no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto\nhis daughters.\" It would have been commendable if the members of the\nlate Constitutional Convention in New York had, like Moses, asked the\nguidance of the Lord in deciding the rights of the daughters of the Van\nRensselaers, the Stuyvesants, the Livingstons, and the Knickerbockers.\nTheir final action revealed the painful fact that they never thought to\ntake the case to the highest court in the moral universe. The daughters\nof Zelophehad were fortunate in being all of one mind; none there to\nplead the fatigue, the publicity, the responsibility of paying taxes\nand investing property, of keeping a bank account, and having some\nknowledge of mathematics. The daughters of Zelophehad were happy to\naccept all the necessary burdens, imposed by the laws of inheritance,\nwhile the daughters of the Knickerbockers trembled at the thought of\nassuming the duties involved in self-government.\n\nAs soon as Moses laid the case before the Lord, He not only allowed\nthe justice of the claim, but gave \"a statute of judgment,\" by which\nthe Jewish magistrates should determine all such cases in the division\nof property in the land of Canaan in all after ages.\n\nWhen the rights of property were secured to married women in the State\nof New York in 1848, a certain class were opposed to the measure, and\nwould cross the street to avoid speaking to the sisters who had prayed\nand petitioned for its success. They did not object, however, in due\ntime to use the property thus secured, and the same type of women will\nas readily avail them selves of all the advantages of political\nequality when the right of suffrage is secured.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe account given in this chapter of the directions as to the division\nor inheritance of property in the case of Zelophehad, and his daughters\nshows them to be just, because the daughters are to be treated as well\nas the sons would be; but the law thereafter given, apparently suggested\nby this querying of Zelophehad's daughters in reference to their\nfather's possessions is obviously unjust, in that it gives no freedom to\nthe owner of property as to the disposition of the same after his death,\ni. e. leaves him without power to will it to any one, and leaves\nunmentioned the female relatives as heirs at law. Only \"brethren\" and\n\"kinsman\" are the words used, and it is very plain that only males were\nheirs, except where a man had no son, but had one or more daughters.\n\"The exception proves the rule.\"\n\n\nP. A. H.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\n\nNumbers xviii.\n\n\n\n11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the\nwave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee,\nand to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever:\nevery one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.\n\n19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of\nIsrael offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy\ndaughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt\nfor ever before the LORD unto thee and to I thy seed with thee.\n\n\nThe house of Aaron was now thoroughly confirmed in the priesthood, and\nthe Lord gives minute directions as to the provisions to be made for\nthe priests. The people then, as now, were made to feel that whatever\nwas given to them was given to the Lord, and that \"the Lord loveth a\ncheerful giver.\" That their minds might be at peace and always in a\ndevout frame, in communion with God, they must not be perplexed with\nworldly cares and anxieties about bread and raiment for themselves and\nfamilies. Whatever privations they suffered themselves, they must see\nthat their priests were kept above all human wants and temptations. The\nMosaic code is responsible for the religious customs of our own day and\ngeneration. Church property all over this broad land is exempt from\ntaxation, while the smallest house and lot of every poor widow is taxed\nat its full value. Our Levites have their homes free, and good salaries\nfrom funds principally contributed by women, for preaching denunciatory\nsermons on women and their sphere. They travel for half fare, the\nlawyer pleads their cases for nothing, the physician medicates their\nfamilies for nothing, and generally in the world of work they are\nserved at half price. While the common people must be careful not to\ntraduce their neighbors lest they be sued for libel, the Levite in\nsurplice and gown from his pulpit (aptly called the coward's castle)\nmay smirch the fairest characters and defame the noblest lives with\nimpunity.\n\nThis whole chapter is interesting reading as the source of priestly\npower, that has done more to block woman's way to freedom than all\nother earthly influences combined. But the chief point in this chapter\ncenters in the above verses, as the daughters of the Levites are here\nto enjoy an equal privilege with the sons. Scott tells us \"that\ncovenants were generally ratified at an amiable feast, in which salt\nwas always freely used, hence it became an emblem of friendship.\"\nPerhaps it was the purifying, refining influence of this element that\nsecured these friendly relations between the sons and daughters of the\npriesthood on one occasion at least. From the present bitter, turbulent\ntone of our Levites, I fear the salt we both manufacture and import\nmust all have lost its savor.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\n\nNumbers xxii.\n\n\n\n21 And Balsam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went\nwith the princes of Moab.\n\n22 And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the\nLord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding\nupon his ass, and his two servants were with him.\n\n23 And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his\nsword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and\nwent into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.\n\n24 But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall\nbeing on this side, and a wall on that side.\n\n25 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto\nthe wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her\nagain.\n\n26 And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow\nplace, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.\n\n27 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under\nBalaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a\nstaff.\n\n28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam,\nWhat have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?\n\n29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me; I would\nthere were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.\n\n30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou\nhast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do\nso unto thee? And he said, Nay.\n\n31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of\nthe Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he\nbowed down his bead, and fell flat on his face.\n\n32 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou\nsmitten thine ass these three times? Behold, I went out to withstand\nthee, because thy way is perverse before me:\n\n33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless\nshe had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her\nalive.\n\n34 And Balaam, said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned; for I\nknew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it\ndisplease thee, I will get me back again.\n\n\nThe chief point of interest in this parable of Balaam and his ass, is\nthat the latter belonged to the female sex. This animal has been one of\nthe most remarkable characters in literature. Her virtues have been\nquoted in the stately cathedral, in the courts of justice, in the\neditorial sanctum, in both tragedy and comedy on the stage, to point a\nmoral and adorn a tale. Some of the fairest of Eve's daughters bear her\nbaptismal name, and she has been immortalized in poetry and prose.\nWordsworth sends her with his Peter Bell to enjoy the first flowers of\nearly spring. To express her love of the beautiful \"upon the pivot of\nher skull she turned round her long left ear\" while stolid Peter makes\nno sign--\n\n\"A primrose by a river's brim\nA yellow primrose was to him,\nAnd it was nothing more.\"\n\nThe courage and persistence of the ass has made her as famous in war\nas in literature. She is a marked feature everywhere in military\nstations, alike in the camp and the field, and her bray always in the\nminor key, gives a touch of pathos to the music of the band! The ass\naccompanied Deborah and Barak when they went to fight their great\nbattle, she has gone with pioneers in all their weary wanderings, and\nhas taken an active part in the commerce of the world, bearing the\nheaviest burdens though poorly fed and sheltered. At one time this\nanimal voted at three successive elections in the state of New York.\nThe property qualification being $250, just the price of a jackass, Ben\nFranklin facetiously asked \"if a man must own a jackass in order to\nvote, who does the voting, the man or the jackass?\" It so happened once\nthat the same animal passed into the hands of three different owners,\nconstituting all the earthly possessions of each at that time and thus\nby proxy she was represented at the polls. Yet with this world-wide\nfame, this is the first time the sacred historian has so richly endowed\nand highly complimented any living thing of the supposed inferior sex.\nFar wiser than the master who rode her, with a far keener spiritual\ninsight than he possessed, and so intensely earnest and impressible,\nthat to meet the necessities of the occasion, she suddenly exercised\nthe gift of speech. While Balaam was angry, violent, stubborn and\nunreasonable, the ass calmly manifested all the cardinal virtues.\nObedient to the light that was in her, she was patient under abuse, and\ntried in her mute way to save the life of her tormentor from the sword\nof the angel. But when all ordinary warnings of danger proved\nunavailable, she burst into speech and opened the eyes of her stolid\nmaster. Scott, who considers this parable a literal fact, says in his\ncommentaries, \"The faculty of speech in man is the gift of God and we\ncannot comprehend how we ourselves articulate. We need not therefore be\nsurprised that the Lord made use of the mouth of the ass to rebuke the\nmadness of His prophet, and to shame him by the reproof and example of\na brute. Satan spoke to Eve by a subtle male serpent, but the Lord\nchose to speak to Balaam by a she ass, for He does not use enticing\nwords of man's wisdom, but works by instruments and means that men\ndespise.\"\n\nSeeing that the Lord has endowed \"the daughters of men\" also with the\ngift of speech, and they may have messages from Him to deliver to \"the\nsons of God,\" it would be wise for the prophets of our day to admit\nthem into their Conferences, Synods and General Assemblies, and give\nthem opportunities for speech.\n\nThe appeal of the meek, long suffering ass, to her master, to remember\nher faithfulness and companionship from his youth up, is quite pathetic\nand reminds one of woman's appeals and petitions to her law-givers for\nthe last half century. In the same language she might say to her\noppressors, to fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, have we not served\nyou with faithfulness; companions from your youth up; watched you\nthrough all your infant years; and carried you triumphantly through\nevery danger? When at the midnight hour or the cock crowing, your first\nborn lifted up his voice and wept, lo! we were there, with water for\nhis parched lips; a cool place for his aching head; or patiently for\nhours to pace with him the chamber floor. In youth and manhood what\nhave we not done to add to your comfort and happiness; ever rejoicing\nin your triumphs and sympathizing in your defeats?\n\nThis waiting and watching for half a century to recover our civil and\npolitical rights and yet no redress, makes the struggle seem like a\npainful dream in which one strives to fly from some impending danger\nand yet stands still. Balaam, unlike our masters, confessed that he had\nsinned, but it is evident from his conduct that he felt no special\ncontrition for disobedience to the commands of his Creator, nor for his\ncruelty to the creature. So merely to save his life he sulkily retraced\nhis steps with a determination still to consider Barak's propositions.\nWhether he took the same ass on the next journey does not\nappear.\n\nIt must have been peculiarly humiliating to that proud man, who\nboasted of his eyes being open and seeing the vision of the Almighty,\nto be reproved and silenced by the mouth of a brute. As the Lord\nappeared first to the ass and spake by her, he had but little reason to\nboast that his eyes were opened by the Lord. The keen spiritual insight\nand the ready power of speech with which the female sex has been\nspecially endowed, are often referred to with ridicule and reproach by\nstolid, envious observers of the less impressible sex.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\n\nNumbers xx.\n\n\n\n1 And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children\nof Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded.\n\n2 If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul\nwith a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all\nthat proceedeth out of his mouth.\n\n3 If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a bond,\nbeing in her father's house in her youth;\n\n4 And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound\nher soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her; then all her vows\nshall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall\nstand.\n\n5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth, not any\nof her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she had bound her soul, shall\nstand; and the Lord shall forgive her, because her father disallowed\nher.\n\n6 And if she had at all a husband, when she vowed, or uttered aught\nout of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;\n\n7 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that\nhe heard it; then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she\nbound her soul shall stand.\n\n8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it, then\nhe shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with\nher lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect; and the Lord\nshall forgive her.\n\n9 But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith\nthey have bound their souls, shall stand against her.\n\n13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband\nmay establish it, or her husband may make it void.\n\n14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to\nday; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are\nupon her he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the\nday that he heard them.\n\n15 But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard\nthem; then he shall bear her iniquity.\n\n16 These are the statutes, which the Lord commanded Moses, between a\nman and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her\nyouth in her father's house.\n\nA vow is a religious promise made to God, and yet in the face of such\na definition is placed the authority of husband and father between the\nwoman and her God. God seems thus far to have dealt directly with women\nwhen they sinned, but in making a religious vow, or dedication of\nthemselves to some high purpose, their fathers and husbands must be\nconsulted. A man's vow stands; a woman's is always conditional. Neither\nwisdom nor age can make her secure in any privileges, though always\npersonally responsible for crime. If she have sufficient intelligence\nto decide between good and evil, and pay the penalty for violated law,\nwhy not make her responsible for her words and deeds when obedient to\nmoral law. To hold woman in such an attitude is to rob her words and\nactions of all moral character. We see from this chapter that Jewish\nwomen, as well as those of other nations, were held in a condition of\nperpetual tutelage or minority under the authority of the father until\nmarried and then under the husband, hence vows if in their presence if\ndisallowed were as nothing. That Jewish men appreciate the degradation\nof woman's position is seen in a part of their service in which each\nman says on every Sabbath day, \"I thank Thee, oh Lord, that I was not\nborn a woman!\" and the woman meekly responds, \"I thank Thee, oh Lord,\nthat I am what I am, according to Thy holy, will.\"\n\nThe injunction in the above texts in regard to the interference of\nfathers is given only once, while the husband's authority is mentioned\nthree times. If the woman was betrothed, even the future husband had\nthe right to disallow her vows. It is supposed by, some expositors that\nby a parity of reason minor sons should have been under the same\nrestrictions as daughters, but if it were intended, it is extraordinary\nthat daughters alone should have been mentioned. Scott, in extenuating\nthe custom, says: \"Males were certainly allowed more liberty than\nfemales; the vows of the latter might be adjudged more prejudicial to\nfamilies; or the sons being more immediately under the father's tuition\nmight be thought less liable to be inveigled into rash engagements of\nany kind.\"\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nWoman is here taught that she is irresponsible. The father or the\nhusband is all. They are wisdom, power, responsibility. But woman is a\nnonentity, if still in her father's house, or if she has a husband. I\nobject to this teaching. It is unjust to man that he should have the\nadded responsibility of his daughter's or wife's word, and it is cruel\nto woman because the irresponsibility is enslaving in its influence. It\nis contrary to true Gospel teaching, for only, in freedom to do right\ncan a soul dwell in that love which is the fulfilling of the law.\n\nThe whole import of this chapter is that a woman's word is worthless,\nunless she is a widow or divorced. While an unmarried daughter, her\nfather is her surety; when married, the husband allows or disallows\nwhat she promises, and the promise is kept or broken according to his\nwill. The whole Mosaic law in this respect seems based upon the idea\nthat a woman is an irresponsible being; and that it is supposed each\ndaughter will marry at some time, and thus be continually under the\ncontrol of some male--the father or the husband. Unjust, arbitrary and\ndebasing are such ideas, and the laws based upon them. Could the\nInfinite Father and Mother have give them to Moses? I think not.\n\n\nP. A. H.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\n\nNumbers xxxi.\n\n\n\n9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives,\nand their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all\ntheir flocks, and all their goods.\n\n10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their\ngoodly castles with fire.\n\n12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto\nMoses and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children\nof Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan\nnear Jericho.\n\n14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the\ncaptains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from\nthe battle.\n\n15 And Moses said unto them, have ye saved all the women alive?\n\n16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel. through the counsel of\nBalaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor. and\nthere was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.\n\n17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every\nwoman that hath known man.\n\n18 But all the women children, that have not known a man keep alive\nfor yourselves.\n\n25 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying.\n\n26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast,\nthou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:\n\n32 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\n32 And the, booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had\ncaught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand\nsheep,\n\n33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves.\n\n34 And threescore and one thousand asses.\n\n35 And thirty and two thousand persons in of women that had not known\nman.\n\n\nIt appears from the enumeration here of the booty, that the Israelites\ntook in this war against the Midianites seventy-two thousand beeves,\nsix hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, sixty-one thousand asses\nand thirty-two thousand women virgins, beside the women and children\nkilled, (as they said) by God's order. The thirty-two thousand women\nand women children were given to the soldiers and the priests. Why\nshould the social purity societies in England and America who believe\nin the divine origin of all Scripture object to the use of women\nchildren by their statesmen and soldiers when the custom was permitted\nto the chosen people of Israel? True, the welfare of the priests,\nlawgivers and soldiers was carefully guarded in selecting for them the\npurest of the daughters of the Midianites.\n\nSurely such records are enough to make the most obstinate believer\ndoubt the divine origin of Jewish history and the claim of that people\nto have been under the special guidance of Jehovah. Their\nclaim to have had conversations with God daily and to have acted under\nHis commands in all their tergiversations of word and action is simply\nblasphemous. We must discredit their pretensions, or else the wisdom of\nJehovah himself. \"Talking with God,\" at that period was a mere form of\nspeech, as \"tempted of the devil\" was once in the records of our\ncourts. Criminals said \"tempted of the devil, I did commit the crime.\"\nThis chapter places Moses and Eleazar the priest, in a most unenviable\nlight according to the moral standard of any period of human history.\nVerily the revelations in the Pall Hall Gazette a few years ago, pale\nbefore this wholesale desecration of women and children. Bishop Colenso\nin his exhaustive work on the Pentateuch shows that most of the records\ntherein claiming to be historical facts are merely parables and\nfigments of the imagination of different writers, composed at different\nperiods, full of contradictions, interpolations and discrepancies.\n\nHe shows geologically and geographically that a flood over the whole\nface of the earth was a myth. He asks how was it possible to save two\nof every animal, bird and creeping thing on both continents and get\nthem safely into the ark and back again to their respective localities.\nHow could they make their way from South America up north through the\nfrigid zone and cross over the polar ices to the eastern continent and\ncarry with them the necessary food to which they had been accustomed,\nthey would all have perished with the cold before reaching the Arctic\ncircle. While the animals from the northern latitudes would all perish\nwith heat before reaching the equator. What a long weary journey the\nanimals, birds and fowls would have taken from Japan and China to Mount\nArarat. The parable as an historical fact is hedged with\nimpossibilities and so is the whole journey of forty years from Egypt\nto Canaan; but if we make up our minds to believe in miracles then it\nis plain sailing from Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, Both Ezra and\nJeremiah are said to have written the last book of the Pentateuch, and\nsome, question whether Moses was the author of either. Bishop Colenso\nalso questions the arithmetical calculations of the historians in\nregard to the conquest of the Midianites, as described in the book of\nNumbers.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nBut how thankful we must be that we are no longer obligated to\nbelieve, as a matter of fact, of vital consequence to our eternal hope,\neach separate statement contained in the Pentateuch, such for instance,\nas the story related in Numbers xxxi!--where we are told that a force\nof twelve thousand Israelites slew all the males of the Midianites,\ntook captive all the females and children, seized all their cattle and\nflocks, (seventy-two thousand oxen, sixty one thousand asses, six\nhundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,) and all their goods, and\nburnt all their cities, and all their goodly castles, without the loss\nof a single man,--and then, by command of Moses, butchered in cold\nblood all the women, except \"the women-children and virgins, to be\ngiven to the priests and soldiers.\"\n\nThey amounted to thirty-two thousand, mostly, we suppose, under the\nage of sixteen. We may fairly reckon that there were as many more under\nthe age of forty, and half as many more above forty, making altogether\neighty thousand females, of whom, according to the story, Moses ordered\nforty-eight thousand to be killed, besides (say) twenty thousand young\nboys. The tragedy of Cawnpore, where three hundred were butchered,\nwould sink into nothing, compared with such a massacre, if, indeed, we\nwere required to believe it.\n\nThe obvious intention of Moses, as shown in these directions, was to\nkeep the Jewish race from amalgamation. But the great lawgiver seems to\nhave ignored the fact, or been ignorant of it, that transmission of\nrace qualities is even greater through the female line than through the\nmale, and if they kept the women children for themselves they were\nmaking sure the fact that in days to come there would be Jewish\ndescendants who might be Jews in name, but, through the law of\nheredity, aliens in spirit. The freedom of the natural law will make\nitself evident, for so-called natural law is divine.\n\n\nP. A. H.\n\n\n\nZipporah the wife of Moses was a Midianite, Jethro her father was a\npriest of some sagacity and consideration. When he met Moses in the\ndesert he gave him valuable advice about the government of his people,\nwhich the great lawgiver obeyed.\n\nThe sons of Zipporah and Moses, Gershon and Eliezer, were therefore of\nMidianite blood, yet Moses sent an army of twelve thousand armed for\nwar; a thousand of each tribe, with orders to slay every man. If the\nvenerable Jethro was still alive he must have been murdered by his\ngrandsons and their comrades. This is a most extraordinary story. If\nafter the men, women and male children were all killed, thirty thousand\nmaidens and young girls still remained, the Midianites must have been\ntoo large a tribe to have been wholly destroyed by twelve thousand\nIsraelites, unless the Jewish God fought the battle.\n\n\nL. D. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\n\nNumbers xxxii.\n\n\n\n1 And the chief fathers of the families or the children of Gilead drew\nnear, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers\nof the children of Israel:\n\n2 And they said, The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for an\ninheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded\nby the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his\ndaughters.\n\n3 And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the\nchildren of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the\ninheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the\ntribe whereunto they are received; so shall it be taken from the lot of\nour inheritance.\n\n4 And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall\ntheir inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto\nthey are received:\n\n5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of\nthe Lord, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.\n\n6 ......the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad,\nsaying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of\nthe tribe of their father shall they marry.\n\n7 So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from\ntribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep\nhimself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.\n\n8 And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of\nthe children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the\ntribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man\nthe inheritance of his fathers.\n\n10 Even is the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:\n\n11 ...... and were turned unto their father's brothers' sons.\n\n\nIn a former chapter there was a sense of justice shown towards the\ndaughters of Zelophehad, but here a new complication arises. The uncles\nof these girls had their eyes on the property and perhaps feared that\ntheir sons had not found favor in the eyes of their cousins, as they\nmight have seen and admired some fine looking young men from other\ntribes. So the crafty old uncles moved in time to get a statute passed\nthat would compel daughters to marry in the tribe of their fathers and\ngot a direct command from the Lord to that effect, then the young\nwomen, compelled to limit their predilections, married their cousins,\nsetting the laws of heredity quite aside; property in all ages being\nconsidered of more importance than persons. Thus, after making some\nshow of justice in giving the daughters of Zelophehad the inheritance\nof their fathers, the Israelites began to consider the loss to their\ntribe, if peradventure the five sisters should marry into other tribes\nand all this property be transferred to their enemies.\n\nThey seemed to consider these noble women destitute of the virtue of\npatriotism, of family pride, of all the tender sentiments of\nfriendship, kindred and home, and so with their usual masculine\narrogance they passed laws to compel the daughters of Zelophehad to do\nwhat they probably would have done had there been no law to that\neffect. These daughters were known by the euphonious names of Mahlah,\nTirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, and they all married their father's\nbrothers' sons. Cousins on the mother's side would probably have been\nforbidden.\n\nIf Moses, as the mouthpiece of God, aimed to do exact justice, why did\nhe not pass an ordinance giving property in all cases equally to sons\nand daughters.\n\n\nE. C. S..\n\n\n\nMoses gave what appears to be, in the light of this Christian era, a\njust judgment when he decided that the daughters of Zelophehad should\ninherit their father's property, but he gave as the law of inheritance\nthe direction that \"if a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause\nhis inheritance to pass unto his daughter;\" thus, as I think, unjustly\ndiscriminating between women who have brothers and women who have none,\nand he goes on further to deal unjustly with women when he directs that\nthe daughters of Zelophehad marry so that the inheritance justly\nawarded them should not go out of the family of the tribe of their\nfathers.\n\n\"Let them marry to whom they think best,\" and those words seemingly\nrecognize their righteous freedom. But immediately he limits that\nphrase and informs the five women they must only marry in their\nfather's tribe, and were limited also to their father's family. The\nresult was that each married her own cousin. If this was contrary to\nphysiological law, as some distinguished physiologists affirm, then\nthey were compelled by the arbitrary law of Moses to break the law of\nGod.\n\n\nP. A. H.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy i.\n\n\n\n3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on\nthe first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of\nIsrael, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment\nunto them;\n\n6 The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long\nenough in this mount:\n\n7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the\nAmorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the\nhills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by sea side, to the land\nof the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river\nEuphrates.\n\n8 Behold, I have set the before you: go in and possess the land which\nthe Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give\nunto them and to their seed after them.\n\n10 The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day\nas the stars of heaven for multitude.\n\n\nThis book contains an account of what passed in the wilderness the\nlast month of the fortieth year, which is supposed to be written by\nEzra, as the history is continued several days after the death of\nMoses. Moses' farewell address to the children of Israel is full of\nwisdom, with a touch of pathos. This had been a melancholy year with\nthe Hebrews in the death of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The manner in\nwhich this people were kept wandering up and down on the very verge of\nthe land of Canaan because they were rebellious does seem like child's\nplay. No wonder they were discouraged and murmured. It is difficult\nfrom the record to see that these people were any better fitted to\nenter the promised land at the end of forty years than when they first\nleft Egypt. But the promise that they should be as numerous as the\nstars in the heavens, according to Adam Clarke, had been fulfilled. He\ntells us that only three thousand stars can be seen by the naked eye,\nwhich the children of Israel numbered at this time six hundred thousand\nfighting men, beside all the women and children. Astronomers, However,\nnow estimate that there are over seventy-five million stars within the\nrange of their telescopes. If census takers had prophetic telescopes,\nthey could no doubt see the promises to the Hebrews fully realized in\nthat one line of their ambition.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy ii.\n\n\n\n34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the\nmen, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to\nremain.\n\n\nThough the women were ignored in all the civil affairs and religious\nobservances of the Jews, yet in making war on other tribes they thought\nthem too dangerous to be allowed to live, and so they killed all the\nwomen and children. The women might much better have helped to do the\nfighting, as it is far easier to die in the excitement of the\nbattlefield than to be murdered in cold blood. In making war on\nneighboring tribes, the Jewish military code permitted them to take all\nthe pure, virgins and child women for booty to be given to the priests\nand soldiers, thus debauching the men of Israel and destroying all\nfeelings of honor and chivalry for women. This utter contempt for all\nthe decencies of life, and all the natural personal rights of women as\nset forth in these pages, should destroy in the minds of women at\nleast, all authority to superhuman origin and stamp the Pentateuch at\nleast as emanating from the most obscene minds of a barbarous age.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy v, vi.\n\n\n\n16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath\ncommanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well\nwith thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.\n\n17 Thou shalt not kill.\n\n18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.\n\n19 Neither shalt thou steal.\n\n20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.\n\n21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou\ncovet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his\nmaidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.\n\n2 That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes\nand his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy\nson's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.\n\n\nThe best commentary on these texts is that no Revising Committee of\nEcclesiastics has found it necessary to make any suggestions as to whom\nthe commandments are addressed. Suppose we reverse the language and see\nhow one-sided it would seem addressed only to women. Suppose this were\nthe statement. Here is a great lawgiver and he says: \"Thou art to keep\nall God's commandments, thou and thy daughters and thy daughter's\ndaughters, and these are the commandments: 'Thou shalt honor thy mother\nand thy father.' 'Thou shalt not steal nor lie.' 'Thou shalt not covet\nthy neighbor's husband, nor her field, nor her ox, nor anything that is\nthy neighbor's.'\"\n\nWould such commandments occasion no remark among Biblical scholars? In\nour criminal code to-day the pronouns she, her and hers are not found,\nyet we are tried in the courts, imprisoned and hung as \"he,\" \"him\" or\n\"his,\" though denied the privileges of citizenship, because the\nmasculine pronouns apply only to disabilities. What a hustling there\nwould be among prisoners and genders if laws and constitutions,\nScriptures and commandments, played this fast and loose game with the\nmen of any nation.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy iv.\n\n\n\n5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord\nmy God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to\npossess it.\n\n6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your\nunderstanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these\nstatutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding\npeople.\n\n7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them,\nas the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?\n\n8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments\nso righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?\n\n\nAdam Clarke in his comments on chapter iv, says, \"there was no form of\nworship at this time on the face of the earth that was not wicked and\nobscene, puerile and foolish and ridiculous, except that established by\nGod himself among the Israelites, and every part of this taken in its\nconnection and reference may be truly called a wise and reasonable\nservice. Almost all the nations of the earth manifested in time their\nrespect for the Jewish religion by copying different parts of the\nMosaic code as to civil and moral customs.\"\n\nAs thoughtful, intelligent women, we question all this: First.--We see\nno evidence that a just and wise being wrote either the canon or civil\nlaws that have been gradually compiled by ecclesiastics and lawgivers.\nSecond.--We cannot accept any code or creed that uniformly defrauds\nwoman of all her natural rights. For the last half century we have\npublicly and persistently appealed from these laws, which Clarke says\nall nations have copied, to the common sense of a more humane and\nprogressive age. To-day women are asking to be delivered from all the\ncurses and blessings alike of the Jewish God and the ordinances he\nestablished. In this book we have the ten commandments repeated.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy vii.\n\n\n\n1 When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou\ngoest to possess it and hath cast out many nations before thee.\n\n2 Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no\ncovenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:\n\n3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt\nnot give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.\n\n4 For they will turn away thy son from following me.\n\n5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and\nbreak down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their\ngraven images with fire.\n\n6 For thou art a holy people.\n\n7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, not choose you, because ye\nwere more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all\npeople:\n\n8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath\nwhich he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out\nwith a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from\nthe hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.\n\n\nWith the seven nations that God cast out, the children of Israel were\ncommanded to make no covenants, nor matrimonial alliances lest they\nshould fall into idolatry. As men are more given to wandering in\nstrange countries than women these injunctions are intended specially\nfor them. Adam Clarke says, the heart being naturally inclined to evil,\nthe idolatrous wife would more readily draw aside the believing\nhusband, than the believing husband the idolatrous wife. That being the\ncase, could not the believing wife with her subtle influence have\nbrought over the idolatrous husband? Why should she not have the power\nto convert to one religion as well as another, especially as there was\nno choice between them. There could not have been anything worse than\nthe Jewish religion illustrated in their daily walk and conversation,\nas described in their books, and if the human heart naturally inclined\nto evil, as many converts might have been made to the faith of Moses as\nto any other.\n\nWith this consideration it is plain that if the Jews had offered women\nany superior privileges, above any other tribe, they could have readily\nconverted the women to their way of thinking. The Jewish God\nseems as vacillating and tempest-tossed between loving and hating his\nsubjects as the most undisciplined son of Adam. The supreme ideal of\nthese people was pitiful to the last degree and the appeals to them\nwere all on the lowest plane of human ambition. The chief promise to\nthe well-doer was that his descendants should be as numerous as the\nsands of the sea.\n\nIn chapter ix when rebellion at Horeb is described, Aaron only is\nrefered to, and in chapter x when his death is mentioned, nothing is\nsaid of Miriam. In the whole recapitulation she is forgotten, though\naltogether the grandest character of the three, though cast out of the\ncamp and stricken with leprosy, in vengeance, she harbors no\nresentment, but comforts and cheers the women with songs and dances,\nall through their dreary march of forty years.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy x.\n\n\n\n18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and\nloveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.\n\n19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land\nof Egypt.\n\n\n\nThe sacred fabulist has failed to give us any choice examples in which\nthe Jews executed just judgments for widows or fatherless girls; on the\ncontrary in all their dealings with women of all ranks, classes and\nages they were merciless and unjust.\n\nAs to the stranger, their chief occupation was war and wholesale\nslaughter, not only of the men on the battlefield, but of innocent\nwomen and children, destroying their cities and making their lands\ndesolate. A humane person reading these books for the first time\nwithout any glamour of divine inspiration, would shudder at their\ncruelty and blush at their obscenity.\n\nThose who can make these foul facts illustrate beautiful symbols must\nhave genius of a high order.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xii.\n\n\n\n18 But thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which\nthe Lord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and\nthy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy\ngates: and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that them\nputtest thine hands unto.\n\n19 Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as\nthou livest upon the earth.\n\n\nIf women have been faithful to any class of the human family it has\nbeen to the Levite. The chief occupation of their lives next to\nbearing children has been to sustain the priesthood and the churches.\n\nWith continual begging, fairs and donation parties, they have helped\nto plant religious temples on every hill-top and valley, and in the\nstreets of all our cities, so that the doleful church bell is forever\nringing in our ears. The Levites have not been an unqualified blessing,\never fanning the flames of religious persecution they have been the\nchief actors in subjugating mankind.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xiii.\n\n\n\n6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy\ndaughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine\nown soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods,\nwhich thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;\n\n7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh\nunto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even\nunto the other end of the earth;\n\n8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall\nthine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou\nconceal him:\n\n9 But thou shalt surely kill him: thine hand shall be first upon him\nto put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.\n\n\nHere is the foundation of all the terrible persecutions for a change\nof faith so lamentable among the Jews and so intensified among the\nChristians. And this idea still holds, that faith in the crude\nspeculations of unbalanced minds as to the nature of the great first\ncause and his commands as to the conduct of life, should be the same in\nthe beginning, now and forever. All other institutions may change,\nopinions on all other subjects may be modified and improved, but the\nold theologies are a finality that have reached the ultimatum of\nspiritual thought. We imagine our religion with its dogmas and\nabsurdities must remain like the rock of ages, forever.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xv.\n\n\n\n6 And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son,\nand thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the\nLevite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless,\nand the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God\nhath chosen to place his name there.\n\n14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy\ndaughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the\nstranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.\n\n15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in\nthe place which the Lord shall choose.\n\n16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord\nthy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened\nbread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.\n\n\nIn the general festivities women of all ranks were invited to take part,\nbut three times a year Moses had something special to say to the men;\nthen women were not allowed to be present. We have no instance thus far\nin the Jewish economy of any direct communication from God to woman. The\ngeneral opinion seemed to be that man was an all-sufficient object of\nworship for them, an idea not confined to that period. Milton makes his\nEve with sweet humility say to Adam, \"God thy law, thou mine.\"\n\nThis is the fundamental principle on which the canon and civil laws\nare based, as well as the English classics. It is only in the galleries\nof art that we see the foreshadowing of the good time coming. There the\ndivine artist represents the virtues, the graces, the sciences, the\nseasons, day with its glorious dawn, and night with its holy mysteries,\nall radiant and beautiful in the form of woman. The poet, the artist,\nthe novelist of our own day, are more hopeful prophets for the mother\nof the race than those who have spoken in the Scriptures.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xvii.\n\n\n\n1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep,\nwherein is blemish, or any evil favouredness: for that is an\nabomination unto the Lord thy God.\n\n2 If there be found among you, man or woman that hath wrought\nwickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his\ncovenant:\n\n3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the\nsun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not\ncommanded;\n\n4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired\ndiligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such\nabomination is wrought in Israel:\n\n5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman unto thy gates\nand shalt stone them with stones, till they die.\n\n\nThis is certainly a very effective way of strengthening religious\nfaith. Most people would assent to any religious dogma, however absurd,\nrather than be stoned to death. As all their healthy tender lambs and\ncalves were eaten by the priests and rulers, no wonder they were so\nparticular to get the best. To delude the people it was necessary to\ngive a religious complexion to the sacrifices and to make God command\nthe people to bring their choicest fruits and grains and meats. It was\nvery easy for these accomplished prestidigitators to substitute the\noffal for sacrifices on their altars, and keep the dainty fruits and\nmeats for themselves, luxuries for their own tables.\n\nThe people have always been deluded with the idea that what they gave\nto the church and the priesthood was given unto the Lord, as if the\nMaker of the universe needed anything at our hands. How incongruous the\nidea of an Infinite being who made all the planets and the inhabitants\nthereof commanding his\ncreatures to kill and burn animals for offerings to him. It is truly\npitiful to see the deceptions that have been played upon the people in\nall ages and countries by the priests in the name of religion. They are\nomnipresent, ever playing on human credulity, at birth and death, in\naffliction and at the marriage feast, in the saddest and happiest\nmoments of our lives they are near to administer consolation in our\nsorrows, and to add blessings to our joys. No other class of teachers\nhave such prestige and power, especially over woman.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xviii.\n\n\n\n9 When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth\nthee, thou shalt not learn the abominations of those nations.\n\n10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or\nhis daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an\nobserver of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,\n\n11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or\na necromancer,\n\n12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.\n\n\nOne would think that Moses with his rod taking the children of Israel\nthrough the Red Sea, bringing water out of a rock and manna from\nheaven, going up into a mountain and there surrounding himself with a\ncloud of smoke, sending out all manner of pyrotechnics, thunder and\nlightning, and deluding the people into the idea that there he met and\ntalked with Jehovah, should have been more merciful in his judgments of\nall witches, necromancers and soothsayers. One would think witches,\ncharmers and necromancers possessing the same power and manifesting\nmany of the same wonders that he did, should not have been so severely\npunished for their delusions. Moses had taught them to believe in\nmiracles. When the human mind is led to believe things outside the\nrealm of known law, it is prepared to accept all manner of absurdities.\nAnd yet the same people that ridicule Spiritualism, Theosophy and\nPsychology, believe in the ten plagues of Egypt and the passage of the\nchildren of Israel through the Red Sea. If they did go through, it was\nwhen the tide was low at that point, which Moses understood and Pharaoh\ndid not. Perhaps the difficulty is to be gotten over in much the same\nway as that employed by the negro preacher who, when his statement,\nthat the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on the ice, was\nquestioned on the ground that geography showed that the climate there\nwas too warm for the formation of ice, replied: \"Why, this happened\nbefore there was any geography!\" The Jews, as well as the surrounding\nnations, were dominated by all manner of supernatural ideas. All these\nuncanny tricks and delusions being forbidden shows that they were\nextensively practised by the chosen people, as well as by other nations.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xx, xxi.\n\n\n\n14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is\nin the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself;\nand thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God\nhath given thee.\n\n15 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord\nthy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them\ncaptive,\n\n11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire\nunto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;\n\n12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave\nher head, and pare her nails;\n\n13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and\nshall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a\nfull month: and after that she shall be thy wife.\n\n14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt\nlet her go whither she will: but thou shalt not sell her at all for\nmoney, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast\nhumbled her.\n\n15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they\nhave borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the\nfirstborn son be hers that was hated:\n\n16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his son to inherit that which he\nhath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the\nson of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:\n\n17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by\ngiving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the\nbeginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.\n\n\nAll this is done if the woman will renounce her religion and accept\nthe new faith. The shaving of the head was a rite in accepting the new\nfaith, the paring of the nails a token of submission. In all these\ntransactions the woman had no fixed rights whatever. In that word\n\"humbled\" is included the whole of our false morality in regard to the\nequal relations of the sexes. Why in this responsible act of creation,\non which depends life and immortality, woman is said to be humbled,\nwhen she is the prime factor in the relation, is a question difficult\nto answer, except in her general degradation, carried off without her\nconsent as spoils of war, subject to the fancy of any man, to be taken\nor cast off at his pleasure, no matter what is done with her. Her sons\nmust be carefully guarded and the rights of the first-born fully\nrecognized. The man is of more value than the mother in the scale of\nbeing whatever her graces and virtues may be. If these Jewish ideas\nwere obsolete they might not be worth our attention, but our creeds and\ncodes are still tinged with the Mosaic laws and customs. The English\nlaw of primogeniture has its foundation in the above text. The position\nof the wife under the old common law has the same origin.\n\nWhen Bishop Colenso went as a missionary to Zululand, the horror with\nwhich the most devout and intelligent of the natives questioned the\ntruth of the Pentateuch confirmed his own doubts of the records.\nTranslating with the help of a Zulu scholar he was deeply impressed\nwith his revulsion of feeling at the following passage: \"If a man smite\nhis servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand, he\nshall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two,\nhe shall not be punished: for he is his money.\" Exodus xxi: 20, 2 1. \"I\nshall never forget,\" says the Bishop, \"the revulsion of feeling, with\nwhich a very intelligent Christian native, with whose help I was\ntranslating these last words into the Zulu tongue, first heard them as\nwords said to be uttered by the same great and gracious Being, whom I\nwas teaching him to trust in and adore. His whole soul revolted against\nthe notion, that the Great and Blessed God, the Merciful Father of all\nmankind, would speak of a servant or maid as mere 'money,' and allow a\nhorrible crime to go unpunished, because the victim of the brutal usage\nhad survived a few hours!\"\n\nThough they had no Pentateuch nor knowledge of our religion, their\nrespect for the mother of the race and their recognition of the\nfeminine element in the Godhead, as shown in the following beautiful\nprayer, might teach our Bishops, Priests and Levites a lesson they have\nall yet to learn.\n\n\n\nEVENING PRAYER.\n\n\n\n\"O God, Thou hast let me pass the day in peace: let me pass the night\nin peace, O Lord, who hast no Lord! There is no strength but in Thee:\nThou alone hast no obligation. Under Thy hand I pass the day! under Thy\nhand I pass the night! Thou art my Mother, Thou my Father!\"\n\nPlacing the mother first shows they were taught by Nature that she was\nthe prime factor in their existence. In the whole Bible and the\nChristian religion man is made the alpha and omega everywhere in the\nstate, the church and the home. And we see the result in the general\ncontempt for the sex expressed freely in our literature, in the halls\nof legislation, in church convocations and by leading Bishops wherever\nthey have opportunities for speech and whenever they are welcomed in\nthe popular magazines of the day.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xxiv.\n\n\n\n1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass\nthat she find no favour in his eyes, then let him write her a bill of\ndivorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.\n\n2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another\nman's wife.\n\n3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of\ndivorcement, and giveth it in her hand and sendeth her out of his\nhouse: or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;\n\n4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to\nbe his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before\nthe Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin which the Lord thy\nGod giveth thee for an inheritance.\n\n5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war,\nneither shalt he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at\nhome one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.\n\n\nAll the privileges accorded man alone, are based on the principle that\nwomen have no causes for divorce. If they had equal rights in law and\npublic sentiment, a large number of cruel, whiskey drinking and profane\nhusbands, would be sued for divorce before wives endured one year of\nsuch gross companionship.\n\nThere is a good suggestion in the text, that when a man takes a new\nwife he shall stay at home at least one year to cheer and comfort her.\nIf they propose to have children, the responsible duties of parents\nshould be equally shared as far as possible. In a busy commercial life,\nfathers have but little time to guard their children against the\ntemptations of life, or to prepare them for its struggles, and the\nmother educated to believe that she has no rights or duties in public\naffairs, can give no lessons on political morality from her standpoint.\nHence the home is in a condition of half orphanage for the want of\nfathers, and the State suffers for need of wise mothers.\n\nIt was customary among the Jews to dedicate a new house, a vineyard\njust planted, or a betrothed wife to the Lord with prayer and\nthanksgiving, before going forth to public duties. This idea is\nenforced in several different chapters, impressing on men with families\nthat there are periods in their lives when \"their sphere is home\"\ntheir primal duty to look after the wife, the\nhouse and the vineyard.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xxv.\n\n\n\n5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no\nchild, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger:\nher husband's brother shall take her to wire.\n\n6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed\nin the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out\nof Israel.\n\n7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his\nbrother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, my husband's\nbrother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will\nnot perform the duty of my husband's brother.\n\n8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and\nif she stand to it, and say, I like not to take her:\n\n9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the\nelders, and loose his shoe from off his foot.\n\n\nI would recommend these texts to the consideration of the Bishops in\nthe English House of Lords. If a man may marry a deceased brother's\nwife, why not a deceased wife's sister? English statesmanship has\nstruggled with this problem for generations, and the same old\nplatitudes against the deceased wife's sister's bill are made to do\nduty annually in Parliament.\n\n\n\nDeuteronomy xxviii.\n\n\n\n56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure\nto set the sole of her foot upon ground for delicateness and\ntenderness, her eye shall be evil toward her husband of her bosom, and\ntoward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her children which\nshe shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly\nin the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee\nin thy gates.\n\n64 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy\nground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the\nflocks of thy sheep.\n\n68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the\nway whereof I spake unto thee, thou shalt see it no more again: and\nthere ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and\nno man shall buy you.\n\n\nThis is addressed to men as most of the injunctions are, as to their\ntreatment of woman in general. In enumerating the good things that\nwould come to Israel if the commandments were obeyed, nothing is\npromised to women, but when the curses are distributed, woman comes in\nfor her share. Similar treatment is accorded the daughters of Eve in\nmodern days. She is given equal privileges with man, in being\nimprisoned and hung, but unlike him she has no voice in the laws, the\njudge, the jury, nor the manner of exit to the unknown land. She is\ndenied the right of trial by her own peers; the laws are made by men,\nthe courts are filled with men; the judge, the advocates, the jurors,\nall men!\n\nMoses follows the usual ancient idea that in the creation of human\nlife, man is the important factor. The child is his fruit, he is\nthe soul. The spirit the vital spark. The woman merely the earth that\nwarms and nourishes the seed, the earthly environment. This\nunscientific idea still holds among people ignorant of physiology and\npsychology. This notion chimes in with the popular view of woman's\nsecondary place in the world, and so is accepted as law and gospel. The\nword \"beget\" applied only to men in Scripture is additional enforcement\nof the idea that the creative act belongs to him alone. This is\nflattering to male egoism and is readily accepted.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nIn the early chapters of this book Moses' praises of Hebrew valor in\nmarching into a land already occupied and utterly destroying men, women\nand children, seems much like the rejoicing of those who believe in\nexterminating the aboriginees in America. Evidently Moses believed in\nthe survival of the fittest and that his own people were the fittest.\nHe teaches the necessity of exclusiveness, that the hereditary traits\nof the people may not be lost by intermarriage. Though the Israelites,\nlike the Puritans, had notable foremothers as well as forefathers, yet\nit was not the custom to mention them. Perhaps the word fathers meant\nboth, as the word man in Scripture often includes woman. In the preface\nby Lord Bishop Ely, to what is popularly known as the Speaker's Bible,\nthe remark is made that \"whilst the Word of God is one, and does not\nchange, it must touch at new points the changing phases of physical,\nphilological and historical knowledge, and so the comments that suit\none generation are felt by another to be obsolete.\" So, also, it is\nthat with the higher education of women, their wider opportunities and\nthe increasing sense of justice, many interpretations of the Bible are\nfelt to be obsolete, hence the same reason exists for the Woman's\nCommentary, which is already popularly known as the Woman's Bible.\n\nDeuteronomy is a name derived from the Greek and signifies that this\nis the second or duplicate law, because this, the last book of the\nPentateuch, consists partly in a restatement of the law,\nas already given in other books. Deuteronomy contains also, besides\nspecial commands and advice not previously written, an account of the\ndeath of Moses. Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia states that \"the\nauthority of this book has been traditionally assigned to Moses, but,\nof course, the part relating to his death is not supposed to be written\nby himself, and indeed the last four chapters may have been added by\nanother hand.\" DeWette declares that Moses could not have been the\nauthor. He not only points to the closing chapters as containing proof,\nbut he refers to the anachronisms in earlier chapters, and insists that\nthe general manner in which the Mosaic history is treated belongs to a\nperiod after the time of Moses. And Rev. John White Chadwick in his\n\"Bible of To-day\" declares that \"Prophetism created Deuteronomy.\" He\nspeaks of Malachi, the last of the Prophets, as the first to mention\nthe Mosaic law, and says that in the eighth century before Christ there\nwas no Mosaic law in any modern sense. The Pentateuch in anything like\nits present form was still far in the future. Deuteronomy more than a\nhundred years ahead. Leviticus and Numbers nearly three hundred. * * *\nThe book of Deuteronomy was much more of a manufacture than any\nprevious portion of the Pentateuch. * * * Not Sinai and Wilderness, but\nBabylon and Jerusalem, witnessed the promulgation of the Levitical law.\nIts priest was Ezra and not Aaron; but who was its Moses the most\npatient study is not likely ever to reveal. The roar of Babylon does\nnot give up its dead. It would seem as if the Rev. Dr. George Lansing\nTaylor shared some of these ideas when, in his poem at the centennial\nof Columbia College, he said:\n\n\n\"Great Ezra, Artaxerxes' courtly scholar--\nDoctor, ere old Bologna gave that collar,\nA ready scribe in all the laws of heaven,\nFrom Babylon ascends, to Zion given,\nArmed with imperial power and proclamation,\nTo rear God's house and educate a nation.\n\nAs editor for God, the first in story,\nHe crowns the editorial chair with glory.\nInspired to push Jehovah's mighty plan on\nHe lays its corner-stone, the Bible canon.\nHis Bible college, Bible publication,\nConvert the city, crown the Restoration,\nAnd fix the beacon date for History's pages\nThe chronologic milestone of the ages.\"\n\n\nThis chapter of Deuteronomy in the solemnity and explicitness of its\nblessing and cursings must produce a deep impression on those who are\ndesirous of pursuing a course which would promote personal and national\nprosperity. Reading chapter xix and remembering the history of the Jews\nfrom Moses to this day I reverently acknowledge the sure word of\nprophecy therein recorded. Chapter xxx also has high literary merit.\nIts euphony is in accordance with its solemn but encouraging warnings\nand promises. It touches the connection divinely ordained and eternally\nexisting between life and goodness, death and sin, emphasizing the\napostolic injunction, \"cease to do evil, learn to do well.\" This\nchapter, giving the last directions of Moses and intimations of his\ndeparture from earth, is one of deep interest. How the Lord\ncommunicated to him that his end approached does not appear, but deeply\nimpressed with the belief, he naturally called together Joshua and the\nLevites and gave his final charge. Whether fact or fiction this\nfarewell is deeply interesting. The closing chapters, containing the\n\"song of blessing,\" comes to all lovers of religious poetry as the swan\nsong of Moses. Though doubting its authorship, one may enjoy its beauty\nand grandeur. Chapter xxxiv narrates the death of Moses:\n\n\n\"By Nebo's lonely mountain,\nOn this side Jordan's wave.\"\n\n\nIt tells briefly the mourning of the children of Israel over their\ngreat leader's departure and affirms the appointment of Joshua, the\nson of Nun, as his successor, and fitly closes the\nvaluable collection of writings called the Pentateuch.\n\nSince I have proposeed the elimination of some of the coarser portions\nof Deuteronomy, I wish to add the testimony of Stevens in his\n\"Scripture Speculations,\" as to the general morality of this ancient\ncode. \"Barbarous as they were in many things, childish in more, their\nlaws are as much in advance of them as of their contemporaries,--were\neven singular for humanity in that age, and not always equaled in ours.\nWe forget that there were contemporary nations which justified\nstealing, authorised infanticide, legalized the murder of aged parents,\nassociated lust with worship. None of these blots can be traced on the\nJewish escutcheon. By preventing imprisonment for debt, Moses\nanticipated the latest discovery of modern philanthropy. * * * Even the\nmercy of Christianity was foreshadowed in his provision for the poor,\nwho were never to cease out of the land; the prospered were to lend\nwithout interest, and never to harden their heart against a brother.\nThe hovel of the poor was a sanctuary, and many a minute safeguard like\nthe return of the debtor's garment at nightfall, to save him from\nsuffering during the chilliness of the night, has waited to be brought\nto light by our more perfect knowledge of Jewish customs.\" But that the\nScriptures, rightly interpreted, do not teach the equality of the\nsexes, I must be permitted to doubt. We who love the Old and New\nTestaments take \"Truth for authority, and not authority for truth,\" as\ndid our sainted Lucretia Mott, whose earnest appeals for liberty were\noften jewelled, as were Daniel Webster's most eloquent speeches, with\nsome texts from the old Hebrew Bible.\n\n\nP. A. H.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\nTHE PENTATEUCH.\n\n\n\nThe primal requisite for the more accurate understanding of the Bible\nis its translation from the past to the present tense. It has been\nstudied as history, as the record of a remote past whose truth it has\nbeen well-nigh impossible to verify. It should be studied as a record\nof the present, the present experience of the individual and the race\nwhich is to ultimate in the perfect actualization of generic\npossibilities.\n\nLike the tables of stone the Bible is written on both sides; or it has\na letter which is its exterior and an interior spirit or meaning. The\nhistory which constitutes its letter illustrates those principles which\nconstitute its meaning. The formless must be put into form to be\napprehended. Mistaking the form for that substance which has been\nbrought to the level of human apprehension by its means, is the error\nwhich constitutes the basis of dogmatic theology. Error in a premise\ncompels error in conclusions. It is no wonder that woman's true\nrelation to man and just position in the social fabric has remained\nunknown. A Moses on Pisgah's height is needed to-day to see and declare\nthis promised land; and he must be revelator, first, to women\nthemselves, for they especially need enlightenment upon the true nature\nof the Bible.\n\nSo long as they mistake superstition for religious revelation, they\nwill be content with the position and opportunities assigned them by\nscholastic theology. They will remember and \"keep their place\" as thus\ndefined. Their religious nature is warped and twisted through\ngenerations of denominational conservatism; which fact, by the way, is\nthe greatest stumbling block in the path of equal suffrage to-day, and\none to which the leaders of that movement have seemed unaccountably\nblind.\n\nThus woman's strongest foes have been of her own sex; and because her\nsense of duty and religious sentiment have been operative\naccording to a false ideal, unintentionally women have been and will\ncontinue to be bigoted until they allow a higher ideal to penetrate\ntheir minds; until they see with the eye of reason and logic, as well\nas with the sentiment which has so long kept them the dependent class.\nThe Bible from beginning to end teaches the equality of man and woman,\ntheir relation as the two halves of the unit, but also their\ndistinctiveness in office. One cannot take the place of the other\nbecause of the fundamental nature of each. The work of each half in its\nown place is necessary to the perfect whole.\n\nThe man has more prominence than the woman in the Bible because the\nmasculine characters in their succession represent man as a whole--\ngeneric man. The exterior or male half is outermost, the interior or\nfemale half is covered by the outer. One is seen, the other has to be\ndiscerned, and can be discerned by following the harmonious relativity\nbetween the two halves of the unit. There is a straight line of ascent\nfrom the Adam to the Christ, within which is the straight line of\nascent from the Eve to the Mary. The book of Genesis is the substance\nof the whole Bible, its meaning is the key to the meaning of the whole;\nit is the skeleton around which the rest is builded. If the remainder\nof the Old Testament were destroyed its substance could be\nreconstructed from Genesis. As the bony structure of the physical body\nis the framework which is filled in and rounded to symmetrical\nproportions by the muscular tissue, so Genesis is the framework which\nis symmetrically rounded and filled by the other books, which supply\nthe necessary detail involved in basic principles.\n\nThe first chapter of Genesis is not the record of the creation of the\nworld. It is a symbolical description of the composite nature of man,\nthat being which is male and female in one. The personal pronoun \"He\"\nbelongs to his exterior nature; and the characters which illustrate\nthis nature and the order of its development are men. The pronoun \"She\"\nbelongs to the interior nature, and all characters--fewer in number--\nwhich illustrate it, are women. \"Male and female created he them.\" The\nsecond chapter describes the nature and origin of the visible world,\nthe nature and origin of the soul, their relation to each other and to\nthis dual being. With the third chapter begins the symbolical\nillustration of the soul's existence--of its continuity of existence\nwhich is unbroken till its highest possibilities are actualized, till\nall the inherent capabilities of the dual being are fully manifested.\n\nThe leading characters of Genesis--Adam, Enos, Noah, Abraham, Isaac,\nJacob and Joseph--seven in number, represent the seven chief stages of\nthe soul's existence which follow each other like the notes in the\nmusical scale. It is our own experience that is there portrayed, both\npresent and prospective. What we as individuals, and nations are now\ngoing through in our efforts for betterment, is told in the story of\nGenesis. More than this, the clue to assured betterment is found there\nalso. This experience is on two lines which are always distinct but\nnever separate--the male and the female. These are indissolubly bound\ntogether \"from the beginning,\" the same principles, necessitating the\nsame moral standards and spiritual ideals, and governing both. The\nlargest measure of our individual and national perplexities and\nsufferings has come from the ignorant straining apart of that which\n\"God hath joined together\" and which we can not successfully and\npermanently \"put asunder.\"\n\nThe remaining four books of the Pentateuch, supply the detail\nbeginning between the Adam and Noah of Genesis, rounding out that part\nof the skeleton. The Exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses,\nrepresents the soul's growth out of purely sense-consciousness by the\nhelp of spiritual perception. Moses is the personification of this\nfaculty inherent in and operative from the eternal ego, the dual being,\nwhich is \"the Lord\" of the Bible. The Old Testament presents the outer\nor masculine nature of this \"Lord\" as the Jehovah. The New Testament\npresents the inner or feminine nature as the Virgin.\n\nThe children of Israel according to their tribes, represent the\nranging characteristics or parts which make up the soul of self-\nconsciousness. They are the \"chosen people\" because when the\nsoul sees with its spiritual insight as well as with its sensuous\noutsight, it can, if it will, choose between the two as guides. Their\nexperiences in the wilderness are what we are passing through to-day;\nfor there is now a people who have made this choice and are following\nthe higher leader in their work for the human race, which is the only\nsatisfactory way of working for themselves. But this leader--spiritual\nperception--cannot put the soul in possession of its promised land--a\nhigher state of existence or quality of self-consciousness. It sees the\nhigher and leads in its direction; but understanding of fundamental,\ntherefore unvarying and always applicable, principles is necessary for\nthat realization which Is the attainment of the higher, or its\npossession.\n\nMoses' death before crossing Jordan illustrates this limitation, which\nis also the limitation of earnest reformers to-day. They can see for us\nand point out that which awaits them; but they can never take those\nothers \"into the land.\" They must travel on their own feet.\n\nJoshua, as the leader after Moses, is the personification of this\nunderstanding. He is Moses' sepulchre, for Moses is buried in him.\nSpiritual insight develops understanding which is its continuity. Hence\nthe continuation of experiences under Joshua the \"Saviour\" through whom\nthe soul takes \"possession\" of its higher state. In the \"wilderness\" of\ntransition from the old to the new, mistakes occur which mar their\nconsequences. In this illustration of the Pentateuch, Miriam \"speaks\nagainst\" Moses, is stricken with leprosy and \"set without the camp,\"\nand the people cannot journey till all is \"brought in again.\"\n\nWoman's intellectual development after ages of repression, has\nresulted with many of the sex, in an agnosticism which, at first\nliberal, has grown to be a dogmatic materialism. She \"speaks against\"\nspiritual insight and its revelations. In forsaking her dogmas and\ncreeds she has forsaken religion. She is to be \"brought in again\"--\nbrought to see that religion is of the soul and is individual; while\ndogma and doctrine are from the sensuous out-side alone. The one tends\nto true freedom, the other generates bondage. Broadly, women of to-day\nare of two classes; those who are still held by the conservatism of\ncreeds, and those who have gone to the other extreme through the\nexhilaration of intellectual activity. Both classes must meet upon a\ncommon ground, recognition of fundamental principles and effort to\napply them--before the New Testament can become the practical ethical\nstandard.\n\nAn outline of a subject so vast and profound as the nature and meaning\nof the Pentateuch, must necessarily be more or less unsatisfactory. It\ncannot be detached from the rest of the Bible which is a complete\norganic body. Its meaning is consecutive and harmonious with first\npremises, from beginning to end. The obvious inconsistencies and\nabsurdities involve only its letter, which may or may not be true as\nhistory without affecting the truth of the book itself which lies in\nits meaning.\n\nThe projectors of \"The Woman's Bible\" must not avoid the whirlpool of\na masculine Bible only, to split upon the rock of a feminine Bible\nalone. This would be an attempt to separate what is intensely joined\ntogether and defeat the end desired. The book is the soul's guide in\nthe fulfilling of its destiny--that destiny which is involved in its\norigin; and the soul, in sleep, is sexless. Its faculties and powers\nare differentiated are masculine and feminine.\n\nIf the question is asked--\"What is your authority for this view of the\nBible?\" the answer is \"I have none but the internal evidence of the\nbook itself. When joined it is self-evident truth, requiring no\nexternal authority to give it support.\"\n\n\nU. N. G.\n\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\n\nAs the Revising Committee refer to a woman's translation of the Bible\nas their ultimate authority, for the Greek, Latin and Hebrew text, a\nbrief notice of this distinguished scholar is important:\n\nJulia Smith's translation of the Bible stands out unique among all\ntranslations. It is the only one ever made by a woman, and the only\none, it appears, ever made by man or woman without help. Wyclif, \"the\nmorning star of the Reformation,\" made a translation from the Vulgate,\nassisted by Nicholas of Hereford. He was not sufficiently familiar with\nHebrew and Greek to translate from those tongues. Coverdale's\ntranslation was not done alone. In his dedication to the king he says\nhe has humbly followed his interpreters and that under correction.\nTyndale, in his translation, had the assistance of Frye, of William\nRoye, and also of Miles Coverdale. Julia Smith translated the whole\nBible absolutely alone, without consultation with any one. And this not\nonce, but five times--twice from the Hebrew, twice from the Greek and\nonce from the Latin. Literalness was one end she kept constantly in\nview, though this does not work so well with the Hebrew tenses. But she\ndid not mind that. Frequently her wording is an improvement, or brings\none closer to the original than the common translation. Thus in I.\nCorinthians viii, 1, of the King James translation, we have: \"Knowledge\npuffeth up, but charity edifieth.\" Julia Smith version: \"Knowledge\npuffs up and love builds the house.\" She uses \"love\" in place of\n\"charity\" every time. And her translation was made nearly forty years\nbefore the revised version of our day, which also does the same.\nTyndale, in his translation nearly three hundred and seventy-five years\nago, made the same translation of this word; but Julia Smith did not\nknow that and never saw his translation. This word \"charity\" was one of\nthe words that Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, charged\nTyndale with mistranslating. The other two words were \"priest\" and\n\"church,\" Tyndale calling priests \"seniors,\" and church,\n\"congregation.\" Both Julia Smith and the revised version call them\npriests and church. And he gives the word, \"Life\" for \"Eve\" \"And Adam\nwill call his wife's name Life, for she was the mother of all living.\"\n\nOne more illustration: \"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea\nin the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east\nto Jerusalem.\" King James translation. \"Now when Jesus was born, etc.,\nbehold there came wise men from the sunrisings to Jerusalem.\" Julia\nSmith version. She claims to have made a perfectly literal\ntranslation, and according to the verdict of competent authorities,\nHebrew scholars who have examined her Bible, she has done so. Her work\nhas had the endorsement of various learned men. A Hebrew professor of\nHarvard College (Prof. Young) called on her soon after her Bible was\nissued and examined it. He was much astonished that she had translated\no correctly without consulting some learned man. He expressed surprise\nthat she should have put the tenses as she did. She said to him: \"You\nacknowledge that I have translated according to the Hebrew idiom?\" He\nreplied: \"O yes, you have translated literally.\" That was just what she\naimed at, to get an exact literal translation, without regard to\nsmoothness. She received many letters from scholars, all speaking of\nthe exact, or literal translation. Some people have criticised this\nfeature, which is the great merit of the book.\n\nJulia Smith was led to make the translation at the time of the Miller\nexcitement in 1843, when the world was to come to a sudden termination;\nwhen the saints were preparing their robes for ascension into the\nempyrean, and wicked unbelievers (the vast majority) were to descend as\nfar the other way. She and her family were much interested in Miller's\npredictions, and she was anxious to see for herself if, in the original\nHebrew text of the Bible there was any warrant for Miller's\npredictions. So she set to work and studied Hebrew, having previously\ntranslated the New Testament, and also the Septuagint from the Greek.\nSo absorbed did she become in her work that the dinner bell was\nunheeded, and she would undoubtedly have many times gone to bed both\ndinnerless and supperless had not the family called her off from her\nwork. Once a. week she met with the family and a friend and neighbor,\nMiss Emily Moseley, to read over and discuss what she had translated\nduring the week. This practice was kept up for several years. When she\ncame to publish the work, (the manuscripts of which had lain in the\ngarret some twenty-five or thirty years) the cashier of the Hartford\nbank, where the sisters had kept their money, told her she was very\nfoolish to throw away her money printing this Bible; that she would\nnever sell a copy. She told him it didn't matter whether she did or\nnot; that she was not doing it to make money; that she found more\nsatisfaction in spending her money in this way than in spending it all\non dress. Thanks to our more enlightened age, this translation did not\nmeet with the opposition the early translators had to contend with. The\nscholars of those days thought learning should be confined to a select\nfew; it was, in their view, dangerous to put the Bible into a language\nthe common people could understand, especially women. Here is what one\nHenry de Knyghton, a learned monk of that day, said: \"This Master John\nWiclif hath translated the gospel out of Latin into English, which\nChrist had intrusted with the clergy and doctors of the Church that\nthey might minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to the\nstate of the times and the wants of men. But now the gospel is made\nvulgar and more open to the laity, and even to women who can read, than\nit used to be to the most learned of the clergy and those of the best\nunderstanding.\" To say nothing of reading the Bible, what would this\nlearned man have thought of a woman translating it, and five times at\nthat! It would seem as if the bare suggestion must have stirred his dry\nbones with indignation.\n\nKing James appointed fifty-four men of learning to translate the\nBible. Seven of them died and forty-seven carried the work on. Compare\nthis corps of workers with one little woman performing the Herculean\ntask with without one suggestion or word of advice from mortal man!\nThis Bible is ten by seven inches, and is printed in large, clear\ntype. There are two styles of binding, cloth and sheepskin. The\ncloth binding was $2.50 at the time it was issued and while Julia Smith\nlived, and the other was $3.00, but as they are getting scarcer the\nprice may have gone up. They will be a rarity in the next century and\nwill be much sought after by bibliomaniacs, to say nothing of scholars\nwho will want it for its real value. Julia Smith had the plates of her\nBible preserved, but where they are now is more than I know. It was\npublished by the American Publishing Company, of Hartford, in 1876.\n\nJulia Evelina Smith, of Glastonbury, Conn., was one of five sisters of\na somewhat notable family, the father and mother both having strong\ntraits of character and marked individuality. The mother, Hannah\nHickok, was a fine linguist and mathematician. She once made an almanac\nfor her own convenience, almanacs being rather scarce in those days.\nShe could tell the time of night whenever she happened to awake by the\nposition of the stars. She was an omnivorous reader and a great\nstudent, and in those days before the invention of stoves, her father,\nin order to allow her the requisite retirement to gratify her studious\ntastes, built her a small glass room. In the days of the Abby and Julia\nSmith excitement, when they refused to pay their taxes, some writer was\nso wicked as to say that Julia Smith's grandfather shut her mother up\nin a glass cage. Seated in this glass enclosure, placed in a south\nroom, with the sun's rays beating down upon her, as upon a plant in a\nconservatory, she could pursue her studies to her heart's content. She\nwas an only child and adored by her father; and so much did she think\nof him that in his last illness, when she was away at school, she rode\nfour hundred miles on horseback in order to see him before he died.\n\nJulia Smith's father, the Rev. Zephaniah H. Smith, a graduate of Yale,\nwas settled in Newtown, Conn., near South Britain, where he married\nHannah Hickok. He preached but four years, resigning his position on\nthe ground that the gospel should be free; that it was wrong to preach\nfor money--ideas promulgated by the Sandemanians of those days, the\nfollowers of Robert Sandeman, a Scotchman, who organized the sect in\nEngland and in this country, it having originated with his father-in-\nlaw, John Glas, the sect being called either Glassites or Sandemanians,\nthe former being given the preference in Scotland and England. The\nideas of these people were followed out by the Smith family, and at\nAbby and Julia Smith's funeral, as at the funerals of those who had\ngone before them, there was no officiating minister and no services.\nSimply a chapter of the Bible was read, and one or two who wished, made\nremarks. On a fly-leaf of the Bible Julia Smith read every day was\nwritten the request that she should be buried by her sisters in\nGlastonbury, and with no name on the tombstone but that of her own\nmaiden name. This request was followed out. The names of the Smith\nsisters are so unique, and inasmuch as they have never been known to be\nprinted correctly, it may not be out of place to give them here,\npreceding them by those of their parents, making a short family record\nfor future reference:\n\n\nZephaniah H. Smith, born August 19, 1758. Died February 1, 1836.\n\nHannah Hickok, born August 7, 1767. Died December 27, 1850\n\nThey were married May 31, 1756.\n\n\n\nDAUGHTERS OF THE ABOVE\n\n\nHancy Zephina, born March 16, 1787. Died June 30, 1871.\n\nCyrinthia Sacretia, born May 18, 1788. Died August 19, 1864.\n\nLaurilla Aleroyla, born November 26, 1789. Died March 19, 1857.\n\nJulia Evelina, born May 27, 1792. Died March 6, 1886.\n\nAbby Hadassah, born June 1, 1797. Died July 23, 1878.\n\n\nJulia was educated at Mrs. Emma Willard's far-famed seminary at Troy,\nNew York. Abby, the youngest of the family, was the one who added to\ntheir fame, when, in November, 1873, at a town meeting in Glastonbury,\nshe delivered a speech against taxation without representation. She had\njust attended the first Woman's Congress in New York, and on her way\nback said she was going to make a speech on taxation; that she should\napply to the authorites {sic} to speak in town hall on town meeting\nday. She and Julia owned considerable property in Glastonbury and their\ntaxes were being increased while those of their neighbors (men) were\nnot. She applied to the authorities, but they would not let her speak\nin the hall, so she spoke from a wagon outside to a crowd of people.\nThis speech was printed in a Hartford paper (the Courant) and was\ncopied all over the country, and the cry: \"Abby Smith and her cows\" was\ncaught up everywhere. Abby Smith's quaint, simple speeches attracted\nattention, and the sale of the cows at the sign-post aroused sympathy,\nand from that time on their fame grew apace. The hitherto light mail-\nbags of Glastonbury came loaded with mail matter from all quarters for\nthe Smith sisters. And this continued for some years, or till the death\nof Abby in 1878, which was followed by the marriage of Julia the\nfollowing spring, and the discontinuance of the sale of the cows at the\npublic sign-post. She married Mr. Amos A. Parker, both being eighty-\nseven years of age. Julia Smith sold the old family mansion in\nGlastonbury and bought a house at Parkville, Hartford. She died there\nin 1886 and her husband died in 1893, nearly one hundred and two years\nof age.\n\n\nF. E. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdvertisements from original, Vol. 1\n\n\n\nEIGHTY YEARS AND MORE\n\nBEING THE REMINISCENCES OF\n\nELIZABETH CADY STANTON.\n\n(1815-1897.)\n\n\nThis new work by our distinguished countrywoman is a 12mo of 475 pp.,\ncomplete in one volume, cloth bound, with eleven portraits. Price $2.00.\n\n\nI Dedicate This Volume To\n\nSusan B. Anthony,\n\nMy Steadfast Friend For Half A Century.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nChapter.\n\n\nI.\n\nChildhood.\n\n\nII.\n\nSchool Days.\n\n\nIII.\n\nGirlhood.\n\n\nIV.\n\nLife at Peterboro.\n\n\nV.\n\nOur Wedding journey.\n\n\nVI.\n\nHomeward Bound.\n\n\nVII.\n\nMotherhood.\n\n\nVIII.\n\nBoston and Chelsea.\n\n\nIX.\n\nThe First Woman's Rights Convention.\n\n\nX.\n\nSusan B. Anthony.\n\n\nXI.\n\nSusan B. Anthony (Continued).\n\nXII.\n\nMy First Speech Before a Legislature.\n\n\nXIII.\n\nReforms and Mobs.\n\n\nXIV.\n\nViews on Marriage and Divorce.\n\n\nXV.\n\nWomen as Patriots.\n\n\nXVI.\n\nPioneer Life in Kansas--Our Newspaper, \"The Revolution.\"\n\n\nXVII.\n\nLyceums and Lecturers.\n\n\nXVIII.\n\nWestward Ho!\n\n\nXIX.\n\nThe Spirit Of '76.\n\n\nXX.\n\nWriting \"The History of Woman Suffrage.\"\n\n\nXXI.\n\nIn the South of France.\n\n\nXXII.\n\nReforms and Reformers in Great Britain.\n\n\nXXIII.\n\nWoman and Theology.\n\n\nXXIV.\n\nEngland and France Revisited.\n\n\nXXV.\n\nThe International Council of Women.\n\n\nXXVI.\n\nMy Last Visit to England.\n\n\nXXVII.\n\nSixtieth Anniversary of the Class of 1832--The Woman's Bible.\n\n\nXXVIII.\n\nMy Eightieth Birthday.\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nThe interest my family and friends have always manifested in the\nnarration of my early and varied experiences, and their earnest desire\nto have them in permanent form for the amusement of another generation,\nmoved me to publish this volume. I am fully aware that its contents have\nno especial artistic merit, being composed partly of extracts from my\ndiary, a few hasty sketches of my travels and people I have met, and of\nmy opinions on many social questions.\n\nThe story of my private life as the wife of an earnest reformer, as an\nenthusiastic housekeeper, proud of my skill in every department of\ndomestic economy, and as the mother of seven children., may amuse and\nbenefit the reader.\n\nThe incidents of my public career as a leader in the most momentous\nreform yet launched upon the world--the emancipation of woman--will be\nfound in \"The History of Woman Suffrage.\"\n\nNew York City, September, 1897        Elizabeth Cady Stanton.\n\n\nMrs. Stanton in this book, in her inimitable way, relates anecdotes\nof, and experiences with, a number of the leading women, statesmen,\nauthors, and reformers of the last sixty years. The following are a few\nnames selected at random from the\n\nINDEX OF NAMES.\n\nBeecher, Rev. Henry Ward.\nBradlaugh, Hon. Charles, M. P.\nBright, Hon. Jacob M. P.\nBright, Hon. John, M. P.\nBrowning, Robert.\nBryant, William Cullen.\nCurtis, George William.\nCobbe, Frances Power.\nClarkson, Thomas.\nCharming, Rev. William Ellery.\nCarlisle, Lord and Lady.\nByron, Lady.\nCushman, Charlotte.\nDana, Charles A.\nDouglass, Frederick.\nEmerson, Ralph Waldo.\nFry, Elizabeth.\nFuller, Margaret.\nGarrison, William Lloyd.\nGeorge, Henry.\nGrant, General Ulysses S\nGreeley, Horace.\nGrevy, President Jules.\nHolmes, Oliver Wendell.\nHyacinthe, Pere.\nIngersoll, Robert G.\nKingsley, Canon Charles.\nKrapotkine, Prince.\nLowell, James Russell.\nMartineau, Harriet.\nMill, John Stuart.\nMott, Lucretia.\nO'Connell, Daniel.\nOwen, Robert Dale.\nParker, Rev. Theodore.\nParnell, Hon. Charles Stuart, M. P.\nPhillips, Wendell.\nSeward, Governor William H.\nShelley, Percy Bysshe.\nSmith, Hon. Gerrit.\nStanton, Hon. Henry B.\nStepniak.\nStone, Lucy.\nStowe, Harriet Beecher.\nSumner, Hon. Charles.\nWhittier, John G.\nWillard, Emma.\nWillard, Frances E.\n\n\n\nSee Press Comments on following pages.\n\nThis book will be sent, mail prepaid, on receipt of price, by\n\nEuropean Publishing Company,\n\nW Broad Street, New York City.\n\n\n\nPRESS COMMENTS.\n\nIt is a very readable book.--Albany Times-Union.\n\nThe Reminiscences are delightful.--The Louisville Dispatch.\n\nThe tale is as interesting as any romance or drama.--N. Y. Mail and\nExpress.\n\nA bright, entertaining tale, and one which contains much valuable\ninformation.--N. Y. Herald.\n\nWe know of no other autobiography which will command more profound\ninterest.--The Rocky Mountain News.\n\nIt is the life story of a genuine American woman and will excite wide\ninterest.--The Minneapolis Tribune.\n\nA breezy narrative of a long and active life, told with spirit and\nhumor.--The Woman's Journal.\n\nEvery sentence in this book would serve as a text for a chapter were\nmerited amplification practicable.--Ithaca Journal.\n\nThe book is illustrated with a number of excellent portraits of the\nauthor, and is full of interest.--New London Day.\n\nA well written account of a long and busy life. A highly interesting\nbiography and a delightful book, which is well worth reading.--N. Y.\nEvening World.\n\nA human document of no small interest and value. A straightforward and\npiquant story of a noteworthy personality.--The Chicago Tribune.\n\nA combination of several kinds of charm. It is frankly personal. It is\nimpossible not to wish there had been very much more of each chapter.\n--N. Y. Evening Sun.\n\nIt is unexpectedly amusing, as well as instructive, some of the\nauthor's experiences being narrated in a most realistic and delightful\nmanner.--Washington Post.\n\nTwo chapters of this interesting autobiography are devoted to Miss\nSusan B. Anthony, the friend and fellow-laborer in the field of Woman's\nRights with Mrs. Stanton.--Jeannette L. Gilder in N. Y. Sunday Journal.\n\nIt is a book well worth reading and shows what one woman may do with a\npurpose and a will back of it. The personal part of the Reminiscences\nare of much interest, and force admiration for the tactful, courageous\nand able woman.--Pittsburg Post.\n\nIt is one of the most important books of the year, Particularly to the\nwomen of this country. It is absorbingly interesting. The trouble that\nthe reader encounters is that he finds it hard work to lay the book\ndown.--Boston Daily Advertiser.\n\nThe story of the life of this great American woman will be read with\nmuch interest in many homes. It is a book of much artistic merit and\nher Reminiscences cannot be other than interesting. The book throughout\nis delightfully entertaining--Troy Times.\n\nA most charming and interesting picture of a wife, mother and a\nfriend. Every one who has seen or heard of this leader of the woman\nquestion of the century will rejoice that such a book has been given to\nthe world.--Boston Investigator.\n\nIt is not principally the record of her public career as a leader in\nthe movement for the emancipation of woman, but rather the story of her\nprivate life which is set forth in this volume. Especially interesting\nare those reminiscences that deal with the author's early days.--N. Y.\nSun.\n\nThis book abounds in interesting experiences. The style is simple and\namusing, showing the writer possessed of a keen sense of humor and the\nfitness of things, as well as justice. It is particularly interesting\nto women whether they sympathize with the views of the writer or\notherwise.--Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.\n\nThis is a thoroughly enjoyable book and never lacking in interest. It\nwill be an inspiration for American girls to read its chapters. She\ngives graphic pictures. The volume contains several fine portraits. The\nbook is racy and pleasing, whether the reader agrees with the author in\nall things or not.--Chicago Inter-Ocean.\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton's recollections, covering eighty years, easily\ncome first in the array of new noteworthy books, because of the\nsurprise they will afford the public, having been almost unheralded;\nbecause of the impressive and protracted public career of the author;\nbecause of her inflexible devotion to and sincerity in a cause long\nunpopular, and because, moreover, Mrs. Stanton is an American. This is\na most interesting volume.--N. Y. Times.\n\n\n\nEighty Years and More.\n\nBeing the Reminiscences of ELIZABETH CADY STANTON. Complete In one\nvolume. 12mo, 475 pp. Cloth, eleven portraits. Price $2.00.\n\nPRESS COMMENTS--(Continued).\n\nThe story of Mrs. Stanton's life is one which interests many thousands\nin this country, and which will also be read with interest in other\nlands, for her reputation as a reformer and writer is international;\nher strong personal characteristics give to this autobiographical work\na charm of its own. It contains some of the most entertaining\nreminiscences that have been given to the public. It is a book which is\nsure to be widely read.--Worcester Spy.\n\nThe personal element is the fascinating part of the book which holds\none's attention and keeps him reading to the end. It is a bright,\nbreezy, and radical turn-the-world-upside-down book. We do not like its\nreligious tone. We do not like the author's occult theosophy. We do not\nlike her sociology, with its good word for the windmill logic of the\nspeculative Bellamy. We do not like her views of marriage and divorce.\nBut when all is said, and with all these wide differences lying between\nus to qualify our enjoyment of this book, we have enjoyed it much. Mrs.\nStanton is a first-rate raconteuse and fills her pages with amusing\nrecitals and brilliant encounters--N. Y. Independent.\n\nTO WOMAN SUFFRAGE CLUBS: We will supply Clubs with single copies of\nthis book at $2 per copy, postage prepaid. We will forward five (5)\ncopies of this book to any address, express charges prepaid, on the\nreceipt of six dollars ($6.00).\n\nWe Wish An Agent In Every Woman Suffrage Club. Correspondence with\nthose who desire to become Agents solicited.\n\n\n\n\n\nSPEECHES, LETTERS AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS\n\nOF\n\nELIZABETH CADY STANTON.\n\n\n12mo, 500 pp., cloth, five portraits. Price $2.00.\n\nThis work will be similar in style and binding to Eighty Years and\nMore, will contain valuable editorial notes by Theodore Stanton, A. M.,\nand will be published in January, 1899.\n\nNew York\n\nEuropean Publishing Company\n\nAnd Paris\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOMAN'S BIBLE.\n\nCOMPLETE IN TWO PARTS.\n\n\n\nREVISING COMMITTEE.\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton.\nRev. Phebe A. Hanaford.\nClara Bewick Colby.\nRev. Augusta Chapin.\nMary Seymour Howell.\nJosephine K. Henry.\nMrs. Robert G. Ingersoll.\nSarah A. Underwood.\nCatharine F. Stebbins.\nEllen Battelle Dietrick.\nUrsula N. Gestefeld.\nLillie Devereux Blake.\nMatilda Joslyn Gage.\nRev. Olympia Brown.\nFrances Ellen Burr.\nClara B. Neyman.\nHelen H. Gardener.\nCharlotte Beebe Wilbour.\nLucinda B. Chandler.\nLouisa Southworth.\nBaroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland.\nUrsula M. Bright, England.\nIrma von Troll-Borostyani, Austria.\nPriscilla Bright McLaren, Scotland.\nIsabelle Bogelot, France.\n\n\n\nPART I.\n\nA 12mo, 160 pp. paper. Third American and Second English Edition.\nTwentieth Thousand. Price 50 Cents.\n\nIt contains Comments on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and\nDeuteronomy, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lillie Devereux Blake, Rev.\nPhebe A. Hanaford, Clara Bewick Colby, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Ursula\nN. Gestefeld, Louisa Southworth, Frances Ellen Burr.\n\n\nPART II.\n\nA 12mo, 217 pp. paper. First American Edition, Ten Thousand. Price 50\nCents.\n\nIt contains Comments on The Old and New Testaments from Joshua to\nRevelation, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Louisa Southworth, Lucinda B.\nChandler, Anonymous, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Clara\nB. Neyman, Frances Ellen Burr, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, and Letters and\nComments in an Appendix, by Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Mary A.\nLivermore, Frances E. Willard, Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll, Irma von Troll-\nBorostyani, Mrs. Jacob Bright, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Anonymous, Susan\nB. Anthony, Edna D. Cheney, Sarah A. Underwood, Dr. Elizabeth\nBlackwell, Josephine K. Henry, Ursula N. Gestefeld, Catharine F.\nStebbins, Alice Stone Blackwell, Matilda Joslyn Gage, E. T. M.,\nElizabeth Cady Stanton, and others, and the resolution passed by the\nNational-American Woman Suffrage Association, repudiating \"The Woman's\nBible,\" together with the discussion thereon.\n\nSee Press Comments on The Woman's Bible on next page.\n\n\n\nPRESS COMMENTS\n\nON THE\n\nWOMAN'S BIBLE\n\nThe comments are right up to date.--Cincinnati Tribune.\n\nThe most humorous book of the year.--The Hartford Seminary Record.\n\nOf all possible books this is perhaps the most extraordinary possible.\n--The Week, Toronto, Canada.\n\nA very clever analysis of passages relating to the sex.--Public\nOpinion, N. Y. City.\n\nThe new Woman's Bible is one of the remarkable productions of the\ncentury.--Denver News.\n\nA unique edition of the Scripture. An extraordinary presentment of\nHoly Writ!--Denver Times.\n\nThe work is unique. Its aim is to help the cause of woman in her\nbattle for equality.--Beacon, Akron, Ohio.\n\nRobert G. Ingersoll is the only person on earth capable of a work\nequal to Mrs. Stanton's sensation, \"The Woman's Bible.\"--Chicago Times-\nHerald.\n\nThe attack of the new woman on the King James Bible will be observed\nwith interest where it does not alarm. But let \"The Woman's Bible\" and\nthe truth prevail. It may be that Lot himself was turned into a pillar\nof salt.--Chicago Post.\n\nIt has come at last, as it was bound to come--the emancipated woman's\nBible. The wonder is it has been delayed so long. This is not a\nblasphemous book.--The Egyptian Gazette, Alexandria, Egypt.\n\nThe \"new woman\" has broken out in a fresh direction and published \"The\nWoman's Bible.\" In it the conduct of Adam, the father of the race, is\ndescribed as \"to the last degree dastardly.\"--Westminster Budget,\nLondon, Eng.\n\nOne of the most striking protests devised by woman for the purpose of\nshowing her rejection of the conditions under which our mothers lived.\nIt is evidently the mission of \"The Woman's Bible\" to exalt and dignify\nwoman.--The Morning, London, Eng.\n\nWe have read some of the passages of the commentary prepared for \"the\nWoman's Bible\" by that very accomplished American woman and Biblical\nstudent, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They are a great deal more\nsatisfactory than many of the comments upon the same texts that we have\nread in other and more pretentious Commentaries. Mrs. Stanton's\ninterpretative remarks are shrewd and sensible--Editorial N. Y. Sun.\n\nOf man-made commentaries on the Bible we have had sufficient to stock\na library and yet they have left room for this commentary by women.\nThese revisers have proved the need of an intelligent examination of\nthe Scriptures from the woman's point of view. The lady commentators\nare not wanting in a sense of humor--the quality in which biblical\ncritics of the male sex are usually unhappily deficient. There is much\nthat is very funny and very interesting in this new commentary upon the\nBible.--The Daily Chronicle, London, Eng.\n\nThe Standard says, \"The Sisterhood of Advanced Women has taken a bold\nstep towards emancipation. It has long groaned under certain\nimplications of servitude contained in a few passages of Scripture, and\nhas, therefore, determined to abolish these disabilities by publishing\n'The Woman's Bible.'\" It is not only the type that is new. New readings\nof old passages are given, and the volume contains suggestions to show\nthat the verses about women's inferiority really mean the opposite of\nthe ordinary acceptation. In it Eve is rather praised than otherwise\nfor having eaten the apple. It is pointed out that Satan did not tempt\nher with an array of silks and satins, and gold watches, or even a\ncycling costume--the things which some people think most seductive to\nher descendants--but with the offer of knowledge; a man being of such a\nlethargic and groveling nature that a similar lofty ambition never\nentered his mind. Besides, if the fruit was not to be eaten, Eve should\nhave been informed of the fact at first hand, and not through an\nagent.--Pall Mall Gazette, London, Eng.\n\n\nThe above books will be sent, mail prepaid, on receipt of price, by\n\nEuropean Publishing Company,\n\n68 Broad Street, New York City.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOMAN'S BIBLE\n\nPART II\n\n\nCOMMENTS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS\n\nFROM\n\nJOSHUA TO REVELATION\n\n\n\"OH! Rather give me commentators plain,\nWho with no deep researches vex the brain;\nWho from the dark and doubtful love to run.\nAnd hold their glimmering tapers to the sun.\"\n\n--The Parish Register.\n\n\n\n1898.\n\n\n\nThe Bible in its teachings degrades Woman from Genesis to Revelations.\n\n\n\nREVISING COMMITTEE.\n\n\"We took sweet counsel together.\"-Ps. Iv., 14.\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton,\nRev. Phebe A. Hanaford,\nClara Bewick Colby,\nRev. Augusta Chapin,\nUrsula N. Gestefeld,\nMary Seymour Howell,\nJosephine K. Henry,\nMrs. Robert G. Ingersoll,\nSarah A. Underwood,\nEllen Battelle Dietrick,[FN#4]\n\nLillie Devereux Blake,\nMatilda Joslyn Gage,\nRev. Olympia Brown,\nFrances Ellen Burr,\nClara B. Neyman,\nHelen H. Gardener,\nCharlotte Beebe Wilbour,\nLucinda B. Chandler,\nCatharine F. Stebbins,\nLouisa Southworth.\n\n\n\n[FN#4]  Deceased.\n\n\n\nFOREIGN MEMBERS.\n\nBaroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland,\n\nUrsula M. Bright, England,\n\nIrma Von Troll-Borostyani, Austria,\n\nPriscilla Bright Mclaren, Scotland,\n\nIsabelle Bogelot, France.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCOMMENTS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS\n\nFROM\n\nJOSHUA TO REVELATION, BY\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton,\n\nEllen Battelle Dietrick,\nLouisa Southworth,\nLucinda B. Chandler,\nAnonymous,\n\nMatilda Joslyn Gage,\nFrances Ellen Burr,\nRev. Phebe A. Hanaford,\nClara B. Neyman.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nLETTERS AND COMMENTS BY\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton, Josephine K. Henry, Frances E. Willard, Eva A.\nIngersoll, Mary A. Livermore, Irma von Troll-Borostyani, Mrs. Jacob\nBright, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Anonymous, Rev. Phebe A.\nHanaford, Ednah D. Cheney, Sarah A. Underwood, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell,\nAlice Stone Blackwell, Ursula N. Gestefeld, E. M., Matilda Joslyn Gage,\nSarah M. Perkins, and Catharine F. Stebbins.\n\n\n\nResolution\n\nOf\n\nNational-American Woman Suffrage Association repudiating \"The Woman's\nBible,\" and Speech of Susan B. Anthony.\n\n\n\nDedicated To The Memory Of\n\nEllen Battelle Dietrick,\n\nIn Whose Death We Lost The Ablest Member Of Our Revising Committee.\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO PART II.\n\nThe criticisms on \"The Woman's Bible\" are as varied as they are\nunreasonable. Both friend and foe object to the title. When John Stuart\nMill wrote his \"Subjection of Woman\" there was a great outcry against\nthat title. He said that proved it to be a good one. The critics said:\n\"It will suggest to women that they are in subjection and make them\nrebellious.\" \"That,\" said he, \"is just the effect I wish to produce.\"\nRider Haggard's \"She\" was denounced so universally that every one read\nit to see who \"She\" was. Thus the title in both cases called attention\nto the book.\n\nThe critics say that our title should have been \"Commentaries on the\nBible.\" That would have been misleading, as the book simply contains\nshort comments on the passages referring to woman. Some say that it\nshould have been \"The Women of the Bible;\" but several books with that\ntitle have already been published. The Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage says:\n\"You might as well have a 'Shoemakers' Bible'; the Scriptures apply to\nwomen as we'll as to men.\" As the Bible treats women as of a different\nclass, inferior to man or in subjection to him, which is not the case\nwith shoemakers, Mr. Talmage's criticism has no significance.\n\n\n\"There's nothing so becomes a man,\nAs modest stillness and humility.\"\n\n\nAnother clergyman says: \"It is the work of women, and the devil.\" This\nis a grave mistake. His Satanic Majesty was not invited to join the\nRevising Committee, which consists of women alone. Moreover, he has\nbeen so busy of late years attending Synods, General Assemblies and\nConferences, to prevent the recognition of women delegates, that he\nhas had no time to study the languages and \"higher criticism.\"\n\nOther critics say that our comments do not display a profound\nknowledge of Biblical history or of the Greek and Hebrew languages. As\nthe position of woman in all religions is the same, it does not need a\nknowledge of either Greek, Hebrew or the works of scholars to show that\nthe Bible degrades the Mothers of the Race. Furthermore, \"The Woman's\nBible\" is intended for readers who do not care for, and would not be\nconvinced by, a learned, technical work of so-called \"higher criticism.\"\n\nThe Old Testament makes woman a mere after-thought in creation; the\nauthor of evil; cursed in her maternity; a subject in marriage; and all\nfemale life, animal and human, unclean. The Church in all ages has\ntaught these doctrines and acted on them, claiming divine authority\ntherefor. \"As Christ is the head of the Church, so is man the head of\nwoman.\" This idea of woman's subordination is reiterated times without\nnumber, from Genesis to Revelations; and this is the basis of all\nchurch action.\n\nParts I. and II. of \"The Woman's Bible\" state these dogmas in plain\nEnglish, as agreeing fully with Bible teaching and church action. And\nyet women meet in convention and denounce \"The Woman's Bible,\" while\nclinging to the Church and their Scriptures. The only difference\nbetween us is, we say that these degrading ideas of woman emanated from\nthe brain of man, while the Church says that they came from God.\n\nNow, to my mind, the Revising Committee of \"The Woman's Bible,\" in\ndenying divine inspiration for such demoralizing ideas, shows a more\nworshipful reverence for the great Spirit of All Good than does the\nChurch. We have made a fetich of the Bible long enough. The time has\ncome to read it as we do all other books, accepting the good and\nrejecting the evil it teaches.\n\n\n\"There lives more faith in honest doubt,\nBelieve me, than in half the creeds.\"\n\n\nHon. Andrew D. White, formerly President of Cornell University, shows\nus in his great work, \"A History of the Warfare of Science with\nTheology,\" that the Bible, with its fables, allegories and endless\ncontradictions, has been the great block in the way of civilization.\nAll through the centuries scholars and scientists have been imprisoned,\ntortured and burned alive for some discovery which seemed to conflict\nwith a petty text of Scripture. Surely the immutable laws of the\nuniverse can teach more impressive and exalted lessons than the holy\nbooks of all the religions on earth.\n\n\nELIZABETH CADY STANTON.\n\nJanuary, 1898.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JOSHUA.\n\n\n\nJoshua ii.\n\n\n\n1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy\nsecretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and\ncame into a harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.\n\n2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men\nin hither to-night of the children of Israel to search out the country.\n\n3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men\nthat are come to thee which are entered into thine house: for they be\ncome to search out all the country.\n\n4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them and said thus, There\ncame men unto me, but I wist not whence they were.\n\n5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate when it\nwas dark, that the men went out; whither the men went I wot not; pursue\nafter them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.\n\n\nThis book gives an account of the final entrance of the children of\nIsrael into the Promised Land. Joshua was the successor of Moses, and\nperformed the same miracle in parting the waters of the Jordan that\nMoses did to enable his people to pass through the Red Sea. He was\nseven years fighting his way into the land of Canaan, where he spent\nthe closing years of his life in peace.\n\nThere is mention of two women only in this book, though a casual\nreference is again made to the daughters of Zelophehad, as described in\na former chapter.\n\nIn saving the spies from their pursuers, Rahab made them promise that\nwhen Jericho fell into the hands of Joshua, they would save her and her\nkinsmen. From the text, it seems that Rahab fully understood the spirit\nof her time, and with keen insight and religious fervor, marked\ncharacteristics of women, she readily entered into the plans of the\ngreat general of Israel.\n\nRahab was supposed to have been a great sinner, her life in many\nrespects questionable; but seeing that victory was with the Israelites,\nshe cast her lot with them. From the text and what we know of humanity\nin general, it is difficult to decide Rahab's real motive, whether to\nserve the Lord by helping Joshua to take the land of Canaan, or to\nsave her own life and that of her kinsmen. It is interesting to see\nmat in all national emergencies, leading men are quite willing to avail\nthemselves of the craft and cunning of women, qualities uniformly\ncondemned when used for their own advantage.\n\nThere is no more significance, as one of our critics says, in\ncommentating on the myths of the Bible than on Aesop's fables. The\ndifference, however, is this: that in the latter case we admit that\nthey were written by a man; while in the former, they are claimed to\nhave been inspired by God. Though at variance with all natural laws, it\nis claimed that our eternal salvation depends on believing in the\nplenary inspiration of the myths of the Scriptures; as the \"higher\ncriticisms,\" written by learned scholars and scientists, are not\nfamiliar to women, our comments in plain English may rid them of some\nof their superstitions.\n\nThough the injustice to woman is the blackest page in sacred history,\nthe distinguished Biblical writers take no note of it whatever. Even\nHon. Andrew D. White, though he devotes several pages of his work to\nthe statue of Lot's wife in salt, vouchsafes no criticism on the\nposition of Lot's wife in the flesh, nor of Lot's outrageous treatment\nof his daughters. The wonder is that women themselves should either\nbelieve that such unholy proceedings were inspired by God, or make a\nfetich of the very book which is responsible for their civil and social\ndegradation.\n\n\n\nJoshua x.\n\n\n\n11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in\nthe going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from\nheaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died\nwith hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the\nsword.\n\n12 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up\nthe Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of\nIsrael, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the\nvalley of Ajalon.\n\n13 And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stayed, until the people had\navenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book\nof Jasher? So the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted\nnot to go down about a whole day.\n\n14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord\nhearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.\n\n\nAccording to the sacred fabulist, Joshua surpassed Moses in the\nwonders which he performed. In taking the city of Jericho, as\nrecorded in Chapter viii., he did not use the ordinary enginery of war,\nbut told his soldiers to blow a simultaneous blast upon their trumpets,\nwhile all the people with united shouts should produce such a violent\nconcussion of the air as to bring down the walls of the city. He not\nonly subsidized the atmosphere to overpower his enemies, but he\ncommanded the sun and the moon to stand still to lengthen the day and\nto lighten the night until this victory was complete.\n\nIt seems that the Lord was so well pleased with Joshua's refined\nmilitary tactics that he suspended the laws of the vast solar system to\nvindicate the superior prowess of one small tribe on the small planet\ncalled the earth. The Lord also resorted to more material and forcible\nmeans, sending down tremendous hailstones from heaven, and thus with\none fell blow destroyed more of his enemies than the children of Israel\ndid with the sword.\n\nThere are no events recorded in secular history that strain the faith\nof the reader to such a degree as the feats of Joshua. Moses, with his\nmanna and pillar of light in the wilderness and his dazzling\npyrotechnics on Mount Sinai, fades into insignificance before these\nmarvellous manifestations by Joshua, with the Canaanites, Jericho, and\nthe sun and moon under his feet. Though teaching the people that all\nthese fables are facts, still the Church condemns prestidigitators,\nsoothsayers, fortune tellers, Spiritualists, witches, and the\nassumptions of Christian Scientists.\n\n\n\nJoshua xv.\n\n\n\n16 And Catch said, He that smiteth Kirjathesepher and taketh it, to\nhim will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.\n\n17 And Othniel, the son of Kenez, the brother of Caleb, took it; and\nhe gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.\n\n18 And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to\nask of her father a field: and she lighted off her ass; and Caleb said\nunto her, What wouldest thou?\n\n19 Who answered, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south\nland; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs,\nand the nether springs.\n\n\nIn giving Achsah her inheritance it is evident that the judges of\nIsrael had not forgotten the judgment of the Lord in the case of\nZelophehad's daughters. He said to Moses, \"When a father dies leaving\nno sons, the inheritance shall go to the daughters. Let this henceforth\nbe an ordinance in Israel.\" Very good as far as it goes; but in case\nthere were sons, justice demanded that daughters should have an equal\nshare in the inheritance.\n\nAs the Lord has put it into the hearts of the women of this Republic\nto demand equal rights in everything and everywhere, and as He is said\nto be immutable and unchangeable, it is fair to infer that Moses did\nnot fully comprehend the message, and in proclaiming it to the great\nassembly he gave his own interpretation, just as our judges do in this\nyear of the Lord 1898.\n\nAchsah's example is worthy the imitation of the women of this\nRepublic. She did not humbly accept what was given her, but bravely\nasked for more. We should give to our rulers, our sires and sons no\nrest until all our rights--social, civil and political--are fully\naccorded. How are men to know what we want unless we tell them? They\nhave no idea that our wants, material and spiritual, are the same as\ntheirs; that we love justice, liberty and equality as well as they do;\nthat we believe in the principles of self-government, in individual\nrights, individual conscience and judgment, the fundamental ideas of\nthe Protestant religion and republican government.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JUDGES.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nJudges i.\n\n\n\n19 And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of\nthe mountain: but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley,\nbecause they had chariots of iron.\n\n\n\nJudges ii.\n\n\n\n6 And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went\nevery man unto his inheritance to possess the land.\n\n7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the\ndays of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great\nworks of the Lord, that he did for Israel.\n\n8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a\nhundred and ten years old.\n\n\nThis book, supposed to have been written by Samuel the Prophet, covers\na period of 300 years. During all of this time the children of Israel\nare in constant friction with the Lord and neighboring tribes, never\nloyal to either. When at peace with the Lord, they are fighting with\ntheir neighbors; when at peace with them, worshiping their gods and\ngiving them their daughters in marriage, then the Lord is angry, and\nvents His wrath on them. Thus, they are continually between two fires;\nnow repenting in sackcloth and ashes, and now, with the help of the\nLord, blessed with victories.\n\nLife with them was a brief period of success and defeat. It seems that\nthe Lord, according to their ideas, had His limitations, and could not\nfight tribes who had iron chariots.\n\nWhat could iron chariots be in the way of that Great Force which\ncreates cyclones, hurricanes and earthquakes, or the pyrotechnics of a\nthunderstorm. How little these people knew of the Great Intelligence\nbehind the laws of the universe, with whom they pretended to talk in\nthe Hebrew language, and from whom they claimed to have received\ndirections as to their treatment of women?\n\nIn the opening of this book Joshua still governs Israel. After his\ndeath, the Lord raised up a succession of judges, remarkable for\ntheir uprightness and wisdom; but they found it impossible to keep the\nchosen people in the straight and narrow path. The children of Israel\ndid not learn wisdom by experience. They tired of a rigid code of\nmorals, of a mystical system of theology, and of the women of their own\ntribe. There was a fascination in the manners and the appearance of a\nnew type of womanhood which they could not resist. There should have\nbeen some allowance for these human proclivities. If the Jews of our\nday had followed this tendency of their ancestors and intermarried with\nother nations, there would have been by this time no peculiar people to\npersecute.\n\nThe most important feature of this book is the number of remarkable\nwomen herein described; six in number, Achsah, Deborah, Jael,\nJephthah's daughter, Delilah, and two whose names are not mentioned--\nshe who slew Abimelech, and the concubine of a Levite, whose fate was\nterrible and repulsive. There are many instances in the Old Testament\nwhere women have been thrown to the mob, like a bone to dogs, to pacify\ntheir passions; and women suffer to-day from these lessons of contempt,\ntaught in a book so revered by the people.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe writer of the Book of judges is unknown. Professor Moore, of\nAndover Theological Seminary, supposes that the author used as a basis\nfor his work an older collection of tales wherein the heroes of Israel\nand the varying fortunes of the people were related, and which, like\nall good tales, pointed a moral. In all Jewish literature is to be\nfound the same moral--namely, that the prime cause of all of the evils\nwhich befell the Jewish people was unfaithfulness to Jehovah.\n\"Adherence to the written law brings God's favor, while disobedience is\nfollowed by God's wrath and punishment.\"\n\nIt is not obedience to the inner truth of the individual soul that is\nmade the spring of action, but obedience to an external authority, to a\nbook, to a prophet, to a judge or to a king. In judges, to woman in\nvarious ways is given an exalted position; she is not the abject slave\nor unclean vessel, the drudge, the servile sinner, the\nnonentity, as depicted in other parts of the Bible.\n\nWoman has at no time of the world's history maintained the high\nposition which she commands to-day in the hearts of the best and most\nenlightened; but there were stages when her independence was an assured\nfact. With Christianity came the notion of man's dual nature; the\nphysical was looked upon as sinful; this earth was merely preparatory\nfor a life beyond. Woman, as the mother of the race, was not honored\nand revered as such, the monastic idea being considered more God-like,\nshe was made the instrument of sin. To be born into this life was not a\nblessing so long as ascetism ruled supreme.\n\nThe Bible has been of service in some respects; but the time has come\nfor us to point out the evil of many of its teachings. It now behooves\nus to throw the light of a new civilization upon the women who figure\nin the Book of judges. We begin with Achsah, a woman of good sense.\nMarried to a hero, she must needs look out for material subsistence.\nHer husband being a warrior, had probably no property of his own, so\nthat upon her devolved the necessity of providing the means of\nlivelihood. Great men, heroic warriors, generally lack the practical\nvirtues, so that it seems befitting in her to ask of her father the\nblessing of a fruitful piece of land; her husband would have been\nsatisfied with the south land. She knew that she required the upper and\nthe nether springs to fertilize it, so that it might yield a successful\nharvest.\n\n\nC. B. N.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nJudges iv.\n\n\n\n4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at\nthat time.\n\n5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Beth-\nel in Mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for\njudgment.\n\n6 And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-\nnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded,\nsaying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand\nmen of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?\n\n7 And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera the captain\nof Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will\ndeliver him into thine hand.\n\n8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go;\nbut if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.\n\n9 And she said, I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the\njourney that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord\nshall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went\nwith Barak to Kedesh.\n\n10 And Barak called Zebulon and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up\nwith ten thousand men at his feet; and Deborah went up with him.\n\n\nSome commentators say that Deborah was not married to a man by the\nname of Lapidoth, that such a terminology is not customary to the name\nof a person, but of a place. They think that the text should read,\nDeborah of Lapidoth. Indeed, Deborah seems to have had too much\nindependence of character, wisdom and self-reliance to have ever filled\nthe role of the Jewish idea of a wife.\n\n\"Deborah\" signifies \"bee;\" and by her industry, sagacity, usefulness\nand kindness to her friends and dependents she fully answers to her\nname. \"Lapidoth\" signifies \"lamps.\" The Rabbis say that Deborah was\nemployed to make wicks for the lamps in the Tabernacle; and having\nstooped to that humble office for God's service, she was afterward\nexalted as a prophetess, to special illumination and communion with God\n--the first woman thus honored in Scripture.\n\nDeborah was a woman of great ability. She was consulted by the\nchildren of Israel in all matters of government, of religion and of\nwar. Her judgment seat was under a palm tree, known ever after as\n\"Deborah's Palm.\" Though she was one of the great judges of Israel for\nforty years, her name is not in the list, as it should have been, with\nGideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah. Men have always been\nslow to confer on women the honors; which they deserve.\n\nDeborah did not judge as a princess by any civil authority conferred\nupon her, but as a prophetess, as the mouthpiece of God, redressing\ngrievances and correcting abuses. The children of Israel appealed to\nher, not so much to settle controversies between man and man as to\nlearn what was amiss in their service to God; yet she did take an\nactive part in the councils of war and spurred the generals to their\nduty.\n\nThe text shows Barak hesitating and lukewarm in the last eventful\nbattle with Sisera and his host. He flatly refused to go unless Deborah\nwould go with him. She was the divinely chosen leader; to her came the\ncommand, \"Go to Mount Tabor and meet Sisera and his host.\" Not\nconsidering herself fit too lead an army, she chose Barak, who had\nalready distinguished himself. He, feeling the need of her wisdom and\ninspiration, insisted that she accompany him; so, mounted on pure white\njackasses, they started for the field of battle. The color of the\njackass indicated the class to which the rider belonged. Distinguished\npersonages were always mounted on pure white and ordinary mortals on\ngray or mottled animals.\n\nAs they journeyed along side by side, with wonderful insight Deborah\nsaw what was passing in Barak's mind; he was already pluming himself on\nhis victory over Sisera. So she told him that the victory would not be\nhis, that the Lord would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. It\nadded an extra pang to a man's death to be slain by the hand of a\nwoman. Fortunately, poor Sisera was spared the knowledge of his\nhumiliation. What a picture of painful contrasts his death presents--a\nloving mother watching and praying at her window for the return of her\nonly son, while at the same time Jael performs her deadly deed and\nblasts that mother's hopes forever! What a melancholy dirge to her must\nhave been that song of triumph, chanted by the army of Deborah and\nBarak, and for years after, by generation after generation.\n\nWe never hear sermons pointing women to the heroic virtues of Deborah\nas worthy of their imitation. Nothing is said in the pulpit to rouse\ntheir from the apathy of ages, to inspire them to do and dare great\nthings, to intellectual and spiritual achievements, in real\ncommunion with the Great Spirit of the Universe. Oh, no! The lessons\ndoled out to women, from the canon law, the Bible, the prayer-books and\nthe catechisms, are meekness and self-abnegation; ever with covered\nheads (a badge of servitude) to do some humble service for man; that\nthey are unfit to sit as a delegate in a Methodist conference, to be\nordained to preach the Gospel, or to fill the office of elder, of\ndeacon or of trustee, or to enter the Holy of Holies in cathedrals.\n\nDeborah was a poetess as well as a prophetess, a judge as well as a\ngeneral. She composed the famous historical poem of that period on the\neventful final battle with Sisera and his hosts; and she ordered the\nsoldiers to sing the triumphant song as they marched through the the\n{sic} land, that all the people might catch the strains and that\ngenerations might proclaim the victory.\n\n\n\nJudges iv.\n\n\n\n18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my\nLord, turn in to me: fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into\nthe tent, she covered him with a mantle.\n\n19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to\ndrink: for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him\nto drink, and covered him.\n\n20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall\nbe, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any\nman here? that thou shalt say, No.\n\n21 Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer\nin her hand and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his\ntemples, and fastened it into the ground; for he was fast asleep and\nweary. So he died.\n\n22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and\nsaid unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest.\nAnd when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail\nwas in his temples.\n\n\nThe deception and the cruelty practised on Sisera by Jael under the\nguise of hospitality is revolting under our code of morality. To decoy\nthe luckless general fleeing before his enemy into her tent, pledging\nhim safety, and with seeming tenderness ministering to his wants, with\nsuch words of sympathy and consolation lulling him to sleep, and then\nin cold blood driving a nail through his temples, seems more like the\nwork of a fiend than of a woman.\n\nThe song of Deborah and Barak, in their triumph over Sisera, has been\nsung in cathedrals and oratorios and celebrated in all time for its\nbeauty and pathos. The great generals did not forget in the hour of\nvictory to place the crown of honor on the brow of Jael for\nwhat they considered a great deed of heroism. Jael imagined herself in\nthe line of her duty and specially called by the Lord to do this\nservice for his people.\n\nNations make their ideal gods like unto themselves. At this period He\nwas the God of battles. Though He had made all the tribes, we hope, to\nthe best of His ability; yet He hated all, the sacred fabulist tells\nus, but the tribe of Israel, and even they were objects of His\nvengeance half the time. Instead of Midianites and Philistines, in our\nday we have saints and sinners, orthodox and heterodox, persecuting\neach other, although you cannot distinguish them in the ordinary walks\nof life. They are governed by the same principles in the exchanges and\nthe marts of trade.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nJudges v.\n\n\n\nThen sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying,\n\n2 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people\nwillingly offered themselves.\n\n3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I will sing unto\nthe Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.\n\n4 Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the\nfield of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds\nalso dropped water.\n\n5 The mountains melted from before the Lord even that Sinai from\nbefore the Lord God of Israel.\n\n6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the\nhighways were unoccupied and the travellers walked through byways.\n\n7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until\nthat I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.\n\n\nThe woman who most attracts our attention in the Book of judges is\nDeborah, priestess, prophetess, poetess and judge. What woman is there\nin modern or in ancient history who equals in loftiness of position, in\npublic esteem and honorable distinction this gifted and heroic Jewish\ncreation? The writer who compiled the story of her gifts and deeds must\nhave had women before him who inspired him with such a wonderful\npersonality. How could Christianity teach and preach that women should\nbe silent in the church when already among the Jews equal honor was\nshown to women? The truth is that Christianity has in many instances\ncircumscribed woman's sphere of action, and has been guilty of great\ninjustice toward the whole sex.\n\nDeborah was, perhaps, only one of many women who held such high and\nhonorable positions. Unlike any modern ruler, Deborah dispensed justice\ndirectly, proclaimed war, led her men to victory, and glorified the\ndeeds of her army in immortal song. This is the most glorious tribute\nto woman's genius and power. If Deborah, way back in ancient Judaism,\nwas considered wise enough to advise her people in time of need and\ndistress, why is it that at the end of the nineteenth century, woman\nhas to contend for equal rights and fight to regain every inch of\nground she has lost since then? It is now an assured fact that not only\namong the Hebrews, but also among the Greeks and the Germans, women\nformerly maintained greater freedom and power.\n\nThe struggle of to-day among the advanced of our sex is to regain and\nto reaffirm what has been lost since the establishment of Christianity.\nEvery religion, says a modern thinker, has curtailed the rights of\nwoman, has subjected her to man's ruling; in emphasizing the life\nbeyond, the earthly existence became a secondary consideration. We are\nlearning the great harm which comes from this one-sided view of life;\nand by arousing woman to the dignity of her position we shall again\nhave women like Deborah, honored openly and publicly for political\nwisdom, to whom men will come in time of need.\n\nGenius knows no sex; and woman must again usurp her Divine prerogative\nas a leader in thought, song and action. The religion of the future\nwill honor and revere motherhood, wifehood and maidenhood. Asceticism,\nan erroneous philosophy, church doctrines based not upon reason or the\nfacts of life, issued out of crude imaginings; phantasms obstructed the\ntruth, held in check the wheel of progress. Let our church women turn\ntheir gaze to such characters as Deborah, and claim the same\nrecognition in their different congregations.\n\nThe antagonism which the Christian church has built up between the\nmale and the female must entirely vanish. Together they will slay the\nenemies--ignorance, superstition and cruelty. United in every\nenterprise, they will win; like Deborah and Barak, they will clear the\nhighways and restore peace and prosperity to their people. Like\nDeborah, woman will forever be the inspired leader, if she will have\nthe courage to assert and maintain her power. Her aspirations\nmust keep pace with the demands of our civilization. \"New times teach\nnew duties.\"\n\nGod never discriminates; it is man who has made the laws and compelled\nwoman to obey him. The Old Testament and the New are books written by\nmen; the coming Bible will be the result of the efforts of both, and\ncontain the wisdom of both sexes, their combined spiritual experience.\nTogether they will unfold the mysteries of life, and heaven will be\nhere on earth when love and justice reign supreme.\n\n\nC. B. N.\n\n\n\nJudges viii.\n\n\n\n30 And Gideon had three score and ten sons: for he had many wives.\n\n31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son,\nwhose name he called Abimelech.\n\n\n\nJudges ix.\n\n\n\n52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went\nhard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.\n\n53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's\nhead, and all to break his skull.\n\n54 Then he called hastily unto the young man, his armour-bearer, and\nsaid unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A\nwoman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.\n\n\nAbimelech destroyed the city of Thebez, drove all the people into a\ntower and then tried to set it on fire, as he had done in many places\nbefore in his war on other tribes; but here he lost his life, and at\nthe hand of a woman, which was considered the greatest disgrace which\ncould befall a man. Commentators say that as Sisera and Abimelech were\nexceptionally proud and lofty, they were thus degraded in their death.\nSisera was spared the knowledge of his fate by being taken off when\nasleep; but Abimelech saw the stone coming and knew that it was from\nthe hand of a woman, an added pang to his death agony. He had no\nthoughts of his wicked life nor his eternal welfare, but with his dying\nbreath implored his armor-bearer to thrust him through with his sword,\nthat it might not be said that he was slain by the hand of a woman.\n\nAbimelech had three score and ten brethren. It is said that his mother\nroused his ambition to be one of the judges of Israel. To attain this\nhe killed all his brethren but one, who escaped. He enjoyed his\nill-gotten honors but a short space of time. We find many such stories\nin the Hebrew mythology which have no foundation in fact.\n\n\n\nJudges xi.\n\n\n\n30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt\nwithout fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,\n\n31 Then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my\nhouse to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,\nshall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.\n\n33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even\ntwenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great\nslaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children\nof Israel.\n\n34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his\ndaughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances; and she\nwas his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.\n\n35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and\nsaid, Alas, my daughter! thou has brought me very low, and thou art one\nof them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and\nI cannot go back.\n\n36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth\nunto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of\nthy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine\nenemies, even of the children of Ammon.\n\n37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me\nalone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and\nbewail my virginity, I and my fellows.\n\n\nA woman's vow, as we have already seen, could be disallowed at the\npleasure of any male relative; but a man's was considered sacred even\nthough it involved the violation of the sixth commandment, the\nviolation of the individual rights of another human being. These loving\nfathers in the Old Testament, like Jephthah and Abraham, thought to\nmake themselves specially pleasing to the Lord by sacrificing their\nchildren to Him as burnt offerings. If the ethics of their moral code\nhad permitted suicide, they might with some show of justice have\noffered themselves, if they thought that the first-born kid would not\ndo; but what right had they to offer up their sons and daughters in\nreturn for supposed favors from the Lord?\n\nThe submission of Isaac and Jephthah's daughter to this violation of\ntheir most sacred rights is truly pathetic. But, like all oppressed\nclasses, they were ignorant of the fact that they had any natural,\ninalienable rights. We have such a type of womanhood even in our day. If\nany man had asked Jephthah's daughter if she would not like to have the\nJewish law on vows so amended that she might disallow her father's vow,\nand thus secure to herself the right of life, she would no doubt have\nsaid, \"No; I have all the rights I want,\" just as a class of New York\nwomen said in 1895, when it was proposed to amend the constitution of\nthe State in their favor.\n\nThe only favor which Jephthah's daughter asks, is that she may have\ntwo months of solitude on the mountain tops to bewail the fact that she\nwill die childless. Motherhood among the Jewish women was considered\nthe highest honor and glory ever vouchsafed to mortals. So she was\npermitted for a brief period to enjoy her freedom, accompanied by young\nJewish maidens who had hoped to dance at her wedding.\n\nCommentators differ as to the probable fate of Jephthah's daughter.\nSome think that she was merely sequestered in some religious retreat,\nothers that the Lord spoke to Jephthah as He did to Abraham forbidding\nthe sacrifice. We might attribute this helpless condition of woman to\nthe benighted state of those times if we did not see the trail of the\nserpent through our civil laws and church discipline.\n\nThis Jewish maiden is known in history only as Jephthah's daughter--\nshe belongs to the no-name series. The father owns her absolutely,\nhaving her life even at his disposal. We often hear people laud the\nbeautiful submission and the self-sacrifice of this nameless maiden. To\nme it is pitiful and painful. I would that this page of history were\ngilded with a dignified whole-souled rebellion. I would have had\ndaughter receive the father's confession with a stern rebuke, saying:\n\"I will not consent to such a sacrifice. Your vow must be disallowed.\nYou may sacrifice your own life as you please, but you have no right\nover mine. I am on the threshold of life, the joys of youth and of\nmiddle age are all before me. You are in the sunset; you have had your\nblessings and your triumphs; but mine are yet to come. Life is to me\nfull of hope and of happiness. Better that you die than I, if the God\nwhom you worship is pleased with the sacrifice of human life. I\nconsider that God has made me the arbiter of my own fate and all my\npossibilities. My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me\nand to make the most of myself and my own life. Self-development is a\nhigher duty than self-sacrifice. I demand the immediate abolition of\nthe Jewish law on vows. Not with my consent can you fulfill yours.\"\nThis would have been a position worthy of a brave woman.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe ideal womanhood portrayed by ancient writers has had by far too\nmuch sway. The prevailing type which permeates all literature is that\nof inferiority and subjection. In early times Oriental poets often\nlikened woman to some clear, flawless jewel, and made them serve simply\nas ornaments, while, on the other hand, they were made subordinate by\nthe legislation of barbarous minds; and men, because of their selfish\npassion, have inflicted woe after woe upon them. Ancient literature is\nwholly against the equality of the sexes or the rights of women, and\nsubordinates them in every relation of life.\n\nThe writings of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, are no\nexception to this rule. The reference, \"The sons of God and daughters\nof men,\" while it admits of many interpolations, legendary or mythical\nas it may be, portrays the real animus of the Scriptures. To what\nextent the sentiment of the Hebrews favored sons rather than daughters,\nand the injustice of this distinction is fully exemplified by the\nstories of Abraham and Isaac, and of Jephthah and his daughter. Abraham\nwas commanded by his God to sacrifice his son Isaac, after the manner\nof the Canaanites, who often slew their children and burnt them upon\ntheir altars in honor of their deities. But when all was made ready for\nthe sacrifice an angel of Jehovah appeared, the hand of Abraham was\nstayed, and a ram was made a substitute for the son of promise.\n\nThe conditions were quite different in the case of Jephthah and his\ndaughter. The Israelites had been brought very low in their contest\nwith the Ammonites, and they chose the famous warrior, Jephthah, to\nlead them against their foe, who with warlike zeal summoned the hosts\nto battle. The risk was enormous, the enemy powerful, and the general,\nburning for victory, intent on securing the assistance of the Deity,\nmade a solemn and fatal vow.\n\nIn the first case it was a direct command of God, but means were found\nto revoke this explicit command with regard to a son; in the second\ncase it was only a hasty and unwise promise of a general going to war,\nand the prevailing sentiment of the age felt it unnecessary to evade\nits fulfillment--the victim was only a girl. The unhappy father must\nsacrifice his daughter!\n\nWhat a masculine coloring is given to the rest of the narrative: \"A\nmaiden who did not mourn her death, but wandered up and down the\nmountain mourning her virginity.\" So much glamor has been thrown by\npoetry and by song, over the sacrifice of this Jewish maiden, that the\npopular mind has become too benumbed to perceive its great injustice.\nThe Iphigenias have been many and are still too numerous to awaken\ncompassion. We must destroy the root of this false and pernicious\nteaching, and plant in its place a just and righteous doctrine.\n\nWhat women have to win for the race is a theory of conduct which shall\nbe more equitable. The unalterable subserviency of woman in her natural\ncondition can never be overcome and social development progress so long\nas there is a lack of distributive justice to every living soul without\ndiscrimination of sex.\n\n\nL. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\nJudges xiii.\n\n\n\nAnd there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,\nwhose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren.\n\n3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto\nher, Behold now, thou art barren; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a\nson.\n\n4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong\ndrink, and eat not any unclean thing:\n\n5 For, lo, thou shalt bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head:\nfor the child shall be a Nazarite unto God; and he shall begin to\ndeliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.\n\n6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came\nunto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of\nGod, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he\nme his name:\n\n7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt bear a son; and now drink no\nwine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child\nshall be a Nazarite to God to the day of his death.\n\n8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O try Lord, let the man of\nGod which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we\nshall do unto the child that shall be born.\n\n9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah: and the angel of God came\nagain unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband\nwas not with her.\n\n10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said\nunto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the\nother day.\n\n11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and\nsaid unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he\nsaid, I am.\n\n12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order\nthe child, and how shall we do unto him?\n\n13 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto\nthe woman let her beware.\n\n\nWe come now to a very interesting incident, giving proof of the\nremarkable knowledge which the writers had of some intrinsic laws and\nthe power of transmission which, even to-day, are known and adhered to\nonly by a very small minority of wise, thoughtful mothers. However, the\nwife of Manoah, the future mother of Samson, is visited by an angel,\ngiving her instructions as to her way of living during pregnancy. It\nappears that the writer was acquainted with some pre-natal influences\nand their effect upon the unborn.\n\nWe are just now beginning to investigate the important problem of\nchild culture. Many good thoughts have been given on this subject by\nearnest thinkers. A knowledge of these important laws of life will\ndo away with the most harassing evils and sins which human flesh is\nheir to. Intelligent, free mothers will be enabled to forecast not only\nthe physical, but also the psychical, traits of their offspring. How\nand why this once recognized knowledge was lost we know not. We may,\nhowever, rightly infer that so long as woman was not the arbiter of her\nown destiny she had no power to make use of this knowledge. Only the\nthoughful, {sic} independent wife can administer the laws and the rules\nnecessary for her own wellbeing and that of her offspring. Freedom is\nthe first prerequisite to a noble life.\n\nObserve how simple and trustful the relation is between this husband\nand wife. Manoah is thoughtful and ready to unite with his wife in all\nthat the angel had commanded. There is no trace of disunion or of\ndisobedience to the higher law which his wife had been instructed to\nfollow. To her the law was revealed, and he sustained her in its\nobservance. Mark, however, one difference from our interpretation of\nto-day, and how the omission of it worked out the destruction of the\nchild. All the injunctions received were of a physical nature; strength\nof body and faith in God were to be the attributes through which Samson\nwas to serve his people. The absence of moral traits is very evident in\nSamson; and this is the reason why he fell an easy prey to the wiles of\ndesigning women. It was not moral, but physical heroism which\ndistinguished Samson from his combatants. Vengeance, cruelty, deceit,\ncunning devices were practised not only by the Philistines, but\nlikewise by the Nazarite.\n\nThe angel who appeared to Manoah's wife was probably her own inner\nsense, and the appearance is to be understood rather as a figure of\nspeech than as an actual occurrence, although there may have been, as\nthere are to-day, people who were so credulous as to believe that such\nthings actually occurred. The angel who whispers into our ears is\nknowledge, foresight, high motive, ideality, unselfish love. A\nconscious attitude towards the ideal still unattained, a lofty standard\nof virtue for the coming offspring, an intelligent, pure fatherhood,\nand a wise, loving motherhood must take the place of a mysterious,\ninstinctive trust--the blind faith of the past. C. B. N.\n\nOne would suppose that this woman, so honored of God, worthy to\nconverse with angels on the most delicate of her domestic relations,\nmight have had a name to designate her personality instead of being\nmentioned merely--as the wife of Manoah or the mother of Samson. I\nsuppose that it is from these Biblical examples that the wives of this\nRepublic are known as Mrs. John Doe or Mrs. Richard Roe, to whatever\nRoe or Doe she may belong. If she chance to marry two or three times,\nthe woman's identity is wholly lost. To make this custom more\nludicrous, women sometimes keep the names of two husbands, clinging\nonly to the maiden name, as Dolly Doe Roe, ignoring her family name,\nthe father from whom she may have derived all of her talent. Samson's\nwife had no name, nor had the second woman on whom he bestowed his\nattentions; to the third one is vouchsafed the name of Delilah, but no\nfamily name is mentioned. All three represented one type of character\nand betrayed the \"consecrated Nazarite,\" \"the canonized judge of\nIsrael.\"\n\nIt would be a great blessing to the race, if parents would take heed\nto the important lesson taught in the above texts. The nine months of\nante-natal life is the period when the mother can make the deepest\nimpression in forming future character, when she has absolute power for\nweal or for woe over the immortal being. Locke, the philosopher, said,\n\"Every child is born into the world with a mind like a piece of blank\npaper, and we may write thereon whatever we will;\" but Descartes said,\n\"Nay, nay; the child is born with all its possibilities. You can\ndevelop all you find there, but you cannot add genius or power.\"\n\"Nascitur, non fit,\" although our learned blacksmith, Elihu Burritt,\nalways reversed this motto. E. C. S.\n\nNo body of ecclesiastics has taught the message of the angel of the\nLord to Manoah's wife as a message of direction from the Lord to save\nthe race from the disastrous results of strong drink and impure food.\nAnd although the degree of enlightenment attained shows that science\nand the instructions of the angel to Manoah's wife agree, this\nknowledge does not protect the unborn child from the effects of the\nuse by the mothers of to-day of wine, strong drink and\nunclean food.\n\nCould the light which reveals to the mother what would be a saving\npower to her child, be followed carefully by both herself and the\nfather during ante-natal life, the race would more rapidly be brought\nto the full stature of its destined perfection. Not only is physical\nendowment available to the child through the wholesome sustenance of\nthe mother, but the qualities of the higher nature may also be\ntransmitted, and moral grandeur be an inheritance equally with grand\nphysical powers.\n\nThe theological teaching that has made human nature depraved and cut\noff from the divine source of all perfection, has hindered the\ndevelopment of the higher faculties of understanding. It has led to a\nmisapprehension of the creative power of parenthood. From the idea that\nthe creation of humanity was finished \"in the beginning,\" and that man\nfell from his high estate as the image of God, has resulted a\ndemoralized race. The instruction of the angel to Samson's mother, was\nin accord with the dominant spirit that wrought the victories of Israel\nover enemies, and the reign of physical force that characterized the\npeople of that age.\n\nThe woman, having had no experience of motherhood, had not been\nsubject to the deep soul-stirring that belongs to the mystery of life\nin a developed womanhood. Nor did that experience evidently transmit to\nSamson a high degree of moral strength. He was but a well developed\nphysical organism, which the spirit of life could act through without\nlimitation. He consorted with the harlot, but it was the woman whom he\nloved who succeeded in wringing from him the secret of his strength,\nand thus the possibility of delivering him to his enemies.\n\nIn the relation of women to this man of might there is illustrated the\ndominant characteristics of the purely animal man. The father of\nSamson's first wife gave her to another man after Samson had gone in\nanger to his father's house, and when he returned and proposed to\nresume his conjugal relations, this father proposed that he should take\nthe younger sister, who \"was fairer than she.\"\n\nIt is a significant suggestion of the quality of the relation that\nSamson's first wife (who had also no name of her own) and Delilah,\nwhom he loved, were both more loyal to their own people, and had more\nregard for them, than for the man to whom they had been \"given.\"\n\n\nL. B. C.\n\n\n\nJudges xiv.\n\n\n\n1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the\ndaughters of the Philistines.\n\n2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have\nseen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now\ntherefore get her for me to wife.\n\n3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman\namong the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou\ngoest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said\nunto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.\n\n\nSo the father and the mother, much against their wishes, went down to\nTimnath and secured for Samson the desired wife. He conformed to the\ncustom of the Philistines; and on the occasion of the nuptial\nsolemnities he made a great feast, and invited thirty young men to join\nin the festivities, which lasted seven days. These feasts were\nenlivened with interesting discussions, stories and riddles. Samson\npropounded one, with promises of valuable gifts to those who guessed\nthe riddle: \"Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong came\nforth sweetness.\"\n\nIt seems that on one occasion, being attacked by a lion, Samson,\nwithout any weapon of defense, tore the lion to pieces. Passing the\nvineyard some time after, he went in to see if the lion still rested\nthere; and lo! the skeleton was a hive of bees. He partook freely of\nthe honey and carried some to his parents. Being proof against the\nlion's paws, he had no fear of the bees. Day after day passed, and the\nyoung men could not guess the riddle. So they persuaded the wife to\ncoax him for the answer, with promises of silver if she succeeded, and\nthreatenings of wrath if she failed. So, with constant weeping and\ndoubts of his love, she at last worried the answer out of him, with\npromises of secrecy.\n\nAs soon as Samson saw that he was betrayed he sent his wife back to\nher father's house, who gave her at once to one of the leaders at the\nfestivities. As Samson loved the woman, he forgave her, and sought to\nbring her back to his own home. The father informed him that he had\nalready given her to another, and that he might have the younger\ndaughter, if he chose, who had far more grace and beauty.\n\nThe commentators say that it was very generous in Samson to make this\nconcession, as he was the party offended. But Samson was himself a\nriddle and a paradox of a man. \"He saw something in her face which\npleased him well.\" \"He that in the choice of a wife is guided by his\neye, and governed by his fancy, must afterwards blame himself if he\nfind a Philistine in his arms.\" It is a great calamity that even able\nmen are so easily influenced by weak and wicked women to do what they\nknow is dangerous; and yet they feel it a disparagement to follow the\nadvice of a good wife in what is virtuous and praiseworthy.\n\nSamson was most unfortunate in all his associations with women. It is\na pity that the angel who impressed on his parents the importance of\nconsidering everything that pertained to the physical development of\nthe child, had not made some suggestions to them as to the formation of\nhis moral character. Even his physical prowess was not used by him for\nany great purpose. To kill a lion, to walk off with the gates of the\ncity, to catch three hundred foxes and to tie them together by their\ntails two by two, with firebrands to burn the cornfields and the\nvineyards--all this seems more like the frolics of a boy, than the\nmilitary tactics of a great general or the statesmanship of a judge in\nIsrael.\n\nSamson does not seem to have learned wisdom from experience in his\ndealings with women. He foolishly trusted another woman, \"whose face\npleased him,\" with the secret of his great strength, which she, too,\nworried out of him with tears and doubts of his affection. For the\nbetrayal of his secret the Philistines paid her eleven hundred pieces\nof silver.\n\nIn the last act of this complicated tragedy, it is said that Samson at\nhis death killed more people than in all his life before. After Delilah\nbetrayed him into the hands of the Philistines, they put out his eyes,\nand left him to grind in the prison house. As was their custom, they\nbrought him out to make sport for the people assembled in a spacious\nbuilding. As his hair had begun to grow, he braced himself against the\ndoor posts, overturned the building, and killed all of its occupants,\nand himself, gladly ending his own sad life.\n\nThe name Delilah is fitly used to describe those who with flattery\nbring destruction on those whom they pretend to love. Many a strong man\nhas been slain by this type of designing woman. Commentators do not\nagree as to whether Delilah was an Israelite or a Philistine, probably\nthe latter, as Samson seemed to be more pleased with the women of that\ntribe than with those of his own. One hesitates to decide which is most\nsurprising--Samson's weakness or Delilah's wickedness.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe writer of the Book of Judges would fail in his endeavor to present\na complete picture of his time, did he omit the important\ncharacteristic of a woman and her influence upon man therein portrayed.\n\nIn Delilah, the treacherous, the sinister, the sensuous side of woman\nis depicted. Like Vivian, in the Idyls of King Arthur, Delilah uses--\nnay, abuses--the power which she had gained over Samson by virtue of\nher beauty and her personal attractions. She uses these personal gifts\nfor a sinister purpose. They serve her as a snare to beguile the man\nwhose lust she had aroused.\n\nWhat a lesson this story teaches to men as well as to women! Let man\novercome the lust of his eyes and prostitution will die a natural\ndeath. Let woman beware that her influence is of the purest and\nhighest; let her spiritual nature be so attractive that man will be\ndrawn toward it. Forever \"the eternal womanly draweth man\" onward and\nupward. Soul unity will become the rule when the same chastity and\npurity are demanded of the sexes alike. Woman's chastity is never\nsecure as long as there are two standards of morality.\n\n\nC. B. N.\n\n\n\n\"Colonial days\" is the felicitous term given by Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott to\nthe period of nearly three centuries following the campaign against the\ninhabitants of Canaan, when the Israelites took possession of their\nland. The Book of, Judges is a record of those \"colonial days;\" and they\nare described also in the first part of the book which bears the name of\nthe prophet Samuel. During those Hebrew \"colonial days,\" as Dr. Abbott\nstates, \"there was no true Capital--indeed, no true Nation. There were a\nvariety of separate provinces, having almost as little common life as\nhad the American colonies before the formation of the Constitution of\nthe United States. In war these colonies united; in peace they separated\nfrom each other again.\"\n\nBut in one thing they were united. They clung to the teachings of\ntheir great law-giver, Moses, and emphasized a belief in one righteous\nGod. Whether expressed by priestly ritual or in prophetic declaration,\nthe truth was clearly revealed that the Jews were a people who\nworshiped one God, and that they accorded to Him the attribute of\nrighteousness. He was a sovereign, but a just one. And to this belief\nthey clung tenaciously, believing themselves justified in conquering\nthe nations about them, because their God was the only ruler.\n\nThe Book of Judges contains the record of many harrowing events; but\nwhat besides savagery can be expected of a warring people whose Deity\nis invoked as the \"God of battles,\" and who believed themselves\nDivinely commissioned to drive other tribes from off the face of the\nearth! The book is as sensational as are our newspapers; and if each\nchapter and verse were illustrated as are the papers of what is termed\nthe \"New journalism,\" they would present an appearance of striking and\npainful similarity.\n\nThe fate of Adoni-besek, an example of retributive justice; the\ntreacherous act of the left-handed Ehud, causing the death of the fat\nKing Eglon of Moab; the inhospitable cruelty--or cruel inhospitality--\nof Jael, the wife of Heber, whose hammer and nail are welded fast in\nhistorical narration with the brow of the sleeping guest, Sisera, the\ncaptain of Jabin's army; the famous exploits of Gideon who, if he was a\nsuperior strategist and warrior, gave little evidence, by his seventy\nsons, of his morality according to Christian standards; the death of\nAbimelech, which was half suicidal lest it should be said that a\nwoman's hand had slain him; these, and more also of the same sort,\nleave the impression on the mind that those \"colonial days\" of the\nHebrew nation were far from days of peace or of high morality; and the\nrecord of them is certainly as unfit for the minds of children\nand of youth as are the illustrated and graphic accounts of many unholy\nacts which are to found in our daily newspapers.\n\nGeneral Weyler, in his Cuban warfare, has, in many respects, a\nprototype in General Gideon, and also in General Jephthah, \"a mighty\nman of valor\" and \"the son of a harlot,\" as the author of the Book of\nJudges declares him to have been. We deprecate the savage butchery of\nthe one--what ought we to say of the renown of the others? War is\neverywhere terrible, and \"deeds of violence and of blood\" are sad\nreminders of the imperfections of mankind. The men of those \"colonial\ndays\" were far from being patterns of excellence; and the women\n\"matched the men,\" in most instances. Deborah, as a \"mother in Israel,\"\nwon deserved renown, so that her song of victory is even now rehearsed,\nbut it is a query that can have but one answer, whether her anthem of\ntriumph is not a musical rehearsal of treacherous and warlike deeds,\nunworthy of a woman's praise?\n\nIn the Book of judges Delilah appears, and if the mother of her strong\nlover, Samson, was not a perfect woman, in the modern sense, she has\nhelped to make some readers feel that the law of heredity is a revealer\nof secrets, and that the story of the angel of the Lord may be received\nwith due caution. The name \"Delilah\" has become a synonym for a woman\ntempting to sin, and the moral weakness and physical strength of Samson\nshow the power of heredity. But whether the stories should be in the\nhands of our youth, without sufficient explanation and wise\ncommentaries, is a question which coming days will solve to the extent\nof a wise elimination. Solemn lessons, and those of moral import, are\ngiven in the Book of Judges; yet, as a whole, the book does not leave\none with an exalted opinion of either the men or the women of those\ndays. But it certainly gives no evidence that in shrewdness, in a wise\nadaptation of means to ends, in a persistent effort after desired\nobjects, in a successful accomplishment of plans and purposes, the\nwomen were the inferiors of the men in that age. They appear to have\nbeen their equals, and occasionally their superiors.\n\n\nP. A. H.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF RUTH.\n\n\n\nRuth i.\n\n\n\n1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there\nwas a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem--Judah went to\nsojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.\n\n2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife\nNaomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion. And they came\ninto the country of Moab, and continued there.\n\n3 And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two\nsons.\n\n4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one\nwas Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about\nten years.\n\n5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was\nleft of her two sons and her husband.\n\n6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from\nthe country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how that\nthe Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.\n\n7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two\ndaughters in law with her.\n\n8 And Naomi said unto her daughters in law, Go, return each to her\nmother's house;\n\nThe Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and\nwith me.\n\n10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy\npeople.\n\n14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept: and Orpah kissed her\nmother in law; but Ruth clave to her.\n\n15 And he said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her\npeople, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.\n\n16 And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee: for whither thou\ngoest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people\nshall be my people, and thy God my God:\n\n19 So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to\npass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved\nabout them, and they said, Is this Naomi?\n\n20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the\nAlmighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.\n\n21 I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why\nthen call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and\nthe Almighty hath afflicted me.\n\n22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law,\nwith her.\n\n\nCommentators differ as to the exact period when this book was written\nand as to the judge who ruled Israel at that time.\n\nIt must have been, however, in the beginning of the days when the\njudges ruled, as Boaz, who married Ruth, was the son of Rahab, who\nprotected the spies in Joshua's reign. Some say that it was in the\nreign of Deborah. Tradition says that the \"Messiah was descended from\ntwo Gentile maidens, Rahab and Ruth, and that Ruth was the daughter of\nEglon, King of Moab; but this is denied, as Boaz, whom Ruth married,\njudged Israel two hundred years after Eglon's death. However widely the\nauthorities differ as to Ruth's genealogical tree, they all agree that\nshe was a remarkably sincere, refined, discreet maiden, a loving\ndaughter and an honored wife.\"\n\nElimelech, the husband of Naomi, is severely criticised by Biblical\nwriters for leaving his people and his country when in distress and\nseeking his fortune among the heathen Moabites, thus leading his sons\ninto the temptation of taking strange wives. They say that the speedy\ndeaths of the father and the sons were a proof of God's disapprobation.\nNaomi manifested such remarkable goodness and wisdom as a widow, that\none wonders that she did not use her influence to keep her husband in\nhis native land to share the trials of his neighbors.\n\nThe tender friendship between Ruth and Naomi, so unusual with a mother-\nin-law, has been celebrated in poetry, in prose and in art the world\nround. The scene between Naomi and her daughters in parting was most\naffectionate. As soon as Naomi decided to return to her own country,\nher daughters assisted her in making the necessary preparations. Ruth\nsecretly made her own, having decided to go with Naomi to the land of\nJudea.\n\nWhen the appointed day arrived, mounted on three gray jackasses, they\ndeparted. A few miles out Naomi proposed to rest by the roadside and to\nsay farewell, and, after thanking them for all the love and kindness\nthey had shown her, advised them to go no farther, but return to their\nhome in that land of plenty. She told them frankly that she had no home\nluxuries to offer, life with her would for them be poverty and\nprivation in a strange land, and she was not willing that they should\nsacrifice all the pleasures of their young lives for her. Sad and\nlonely with the loss of their husbands, parting with Naomi seemed to\nintensify their grief. United in a common sorrow, the three women stood\ngazing in silence into each other's faces, until Naomi, with her usual\nself-control and common sense, again pointed out to them all the\nhardships involved in the change which they proposed.\n\nHer words made a deep impression on Orpah. She hesitated, and at last\ndecided to abide by Naomi's advice; but not so with Ruth. Naomi had a\npeculiar magnetic attraction for her, a charm stronger than kindred,\ncountry or ease. Her expressions of steadfast friendship in making her\ndecision were so tender and sincere that they have become household\nwords. She said: \"Entreat me not to leave thee; for whither thou goest\nI will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my\npeople, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will\nI be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death\npart thee and me.\" (These words are on a bronze tablet on the stone\nover the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson at Samoa.)\n\nHaving bade farewell to Orpah, they journeyed together and made a home\nfor themselves in Bethlehem. Naomi owned a small house, lot and spring\nof water on the outskirts of the town. After a few days of rest, Ruth\nsaid to Naomi, I must not sit here with folded hands, nor spend my time\nin visiting neighbors, nor in search of amusement, but I must go forth\nto work, to provide food and clothes, and leave thee to rest. As it was\nthe season for the wheat and barley harvests, Ruth heard that laborers\nwere needed in the fields. It was evident that Ruth believed in the\ndignity of labor and of self-support. She thought, no doubt, that every\none with a sound mind in a sound body and two hands should earn her own\nlivelihood. She threw her whole soul into her work and proved a\nblessing to her mother. So Naomi consented that she might go and glean\nin the fields with other maidens engaged in that work.\n\nWhen Naomi was settled in Bethlehem she remembered that she had a rich\nkinsman, Boaz, whose name means strength, a man of great wealth as well\nas wisdom. Ruth was employed in the field of Boaz; and in due time he\ntook note of the fair maiden from Moab. In harvest time he needed many\nextra hands, and he came often among the reapers to see how the work\nwent forward. He heard such good accounts of Ruth's industry, dignity\nand discretion that he ordered his men to make her work as easy as\npossible, to leave plenty for her to glean and to carry home in the\nevening. This she often sold on the way, and bought something which\nNaomi needed.\n\nNaomi and Ruth enjoyed their evenings together. Naomi did not spend\nthe day in idleness either. She had her spinning-wheel and loom to\nmake their garments; she worked also in her garden, raising vegetables,\nherbs and chickens; and they talked over their day's labor as they\nenjoyed their simple supper of herb tea, bread and watercresses. Their\nmenu was oft times more tempting, thanks to Ruth's generous purchases\non her way home. Being busy, practical women, their talk during the\nevening was chiefly on \"ways and means;\" they seldom rose to the higher\nthemes of pedagogics and psychology, subjects so familiar in the clubs\nof American women.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nRuth ii.\n\n\n\n1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of\nthe family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.\n\n2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field,\nand glean cars of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And\nshe said unto her, Go, my daughter.\n\n4 And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem . . .\n\n7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers\namong the sheaves: so she came.\n\n8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to\nglean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by\nmy maidens: . . . . It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast\ndone unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband; and how\nthou hast left thy father and thy mother.\n\n19 And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned\nto-day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge\nof thee . . . . And Ruth said, the man's name is Boaz . . . . And Naomi\nsaid unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.\n\n\nIt was a custom among the Israelites, in order to preserve their own\nline, that the nearest kinsman should marry the young widow on whom\ntheir hopes depended. So when Naomi remembered that Boaz was her\nkinsman, and that as age made marriage with her undesirable, Ruth would\nbe the proper person to fill her place. With great tact on their part\nNaomi's wishes were accomplished.\n\nBoaz was the son of Salmon and Rahab, and according to the Chaldee was\nnot only a mighty man in wealth but also in wisdom, a most rare and\nexcellent conjunction. Boaz was of the family of Elimelech, of which\nRuth, by marriage, was a part also. Moreover, as she had adopted the\ncountry of Naomi and was a proselyte to her faith, her marriage with\nBoaz was in accordance with Jewish custom. Naomi was told by the spirit\nof prophecy, says the Chaldee, that from her line should descend six\nof the most righteous men of the age, namely, David, Daniel, his three\ncompeers and the King Messiah.\n\nCommentators say that Boaz was probably himself one of the elders, or\nthe aldermen, of the city, and that he went up to the gates as one\nhaving authority, and not as a common person. They say that Ruth was\nneither rich nor beautiful, but a poor stranger, \"whose hard work in\nthe fields\" had withered her \"lilies and roses.\" But Boaz had heard her\nvirtue and dignity extolled by all who knew her. The Chaldee says,\n\"house and riches are the inheritance from fathers; but a prudent wife\nis more valuable than rubies and is a special gift from heaven.\" Boaz\nprized Ruth for her virtues, for her great moral qualities of head and\nheart. He did not say like Samson, when his parents objected to his\nchoice, \"her face pleaseth me.\"\n\nIn narrating the story of Ruth and Naomi to children they invariably\nask questions of interest, to which the sacred fabulist gives no\nanswer. They always ask if Ruth and Naomi had no pets when living\nalone, before Obed made his appearance. If the modern historian may be\nallowed to wander occasionally outside of the received text, it may be\nsaid undoubtedly that they had pets, as there is nothing said of cats\nand dogs and parrots, but frequent mention of doves, kids and lambs, we\nmay infer that in these gentle innocents they found their pets. No\ndoubt Providence softened their solitude by providing them with\nsomething on which to expend their mother love.\n\n\n\nRuth iv.\n\n\n\n1 Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there; and, behold,\nthe kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; unto whom he said, He, such a\none! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.\n\n2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down\nhere.\n\n3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the\ncountry of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother\nElimelech's:\n\n4 And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the\ninhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem\nit, redeem it; but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may\nknow; for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee.\nAnd he said, I will redeem it.\n\n5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi,\nthou must buy it also of Ruth the wife of the dead, to raise up the\nname of the dead upon his inheritance.\n\n6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine\nown inheritance; redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot.\n\n\nBoaz was one of the district judges, and he held his court in the town\nhall over the gates of Bethlehem. The kinsman who was summoned to\nappear there and to settle the case readily agreed to the proposal of\nBoaz to fill his place, as he was already married. He was willing to\ntake the land; but as the widow and the land went together, according\nto the Jewish law of inheritance, Boaz was in a position to fill the\nlegal requirements; and as he loved Ruth, he was happy to do so. Ruth\nwas summoned to appear before the grave and reverend seigniors; the\ncivil pledges were made and the legal documents duly signed. The\nreporter is silent as to the religious observances and the marriage\nfestivities. They were not as vigilant and as satisfying as are the\nskilled reporters of our day, who have the imagination to weave a\nconnected story and to give to us all the hidden facts which we desire\nto know. Our reporters would have told us how, when and where Ruth was\nmarried, what kind of a house Boaz had, how Ruth was dressed, etc.,\netc., whereas we are left in doubt on all of these points.\n\nThe historian does vouchsafe to give to us further information on the\ngeneral feeling of the people. They all joined in the prayer of the\nelders that the Lord would \"make the woman that is come into thine\nhouse like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of\nIsrael;\" they prayed for Boaz that he might be more famous and\npowerful; they prayed for the wife that she might be a blessing in the\nhouse, and the husband in the public business of the town; that all of\ntheir children might be faithful in the church, and their descendants\nbe as numerous as the sands of the sea.\n\nIn due time one prayer was answered, and Ruth bore a son. Naomi loved\nthe child and shared in its care. But Ruth said: \"The, love of Naomi is\nmore to me than that of seven sons could be.\" Naomi was a part of\nRuth's household to the day of her death and shared all of her luxuries\nand her happiness.\n\nThe child's name was Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David.\nThe name Obed signifies one who serves. The motto of the Prince of\nWales is (ich dien) \"I serve.\" It is to be hoped that Obed was more\nprofoundly interested in the problems of industrial economics than the\nPrince seems to be, and that he spent a more useful and practical life.\nIf the Bethlehem newspapers had been as enterprising as our journals\nthey would have given us some pictorial\nrepresentations of Obed on Naomi's lap, or at the baptismal font, or in\nthe arms of Boaz, who, like Napoleon, stood contemplating in silence\nhis firstborn.\n\nSome fastidious readers object to the general tenor of Ruth's\ncourtship. But as her manners conformed to the customs of the times,\nand as she followed Naomi's instructions implicitly, it is fair to\nassume that Ruth's conduct was irreproachable.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS OF SAMUEL.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\n1 Samuel i.\n\n\n\n1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim,\nand his name was Elkanah.\n\n2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name\nof the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no\nchildren.\n\n3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to\nsacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh.\n\n4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his\nwife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:\n\n5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah; but\nPeninnah mocked her.\n\n7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the\nLord; so she provoked her, therefore she wept, and did not eat.\n\n8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and\nwhy eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to\nthee than ten sons? Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the\ntemple of the Lord.\n\n10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and\nwept sore.\n\n11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed\nlook on the affliction of thine handmaid, and wilt give unto me a man\nchild, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.\n\n17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace; and the God of Israel\ngrant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she bare a\nson, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of\nthe Lord.\n\n26 And she said, O my lord, as thy soul liveth, I am the woman that\nstood by thee here, praying unto the Lord.\n\n27 For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition\nwhich I asked of him.\n\n28 Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord, as long as he liveth.\n\n\nThese books contain the history of the last two of the judges of\nIsrael. Eli and Samuel were not as the rest, men of war, but priests.\nIt is uncertain who wrote these books. Some say that Samuel wrote the\nhistory of his times, and that Nathan the Prophet continued it.\nElkanah, though a godly man, had sore family trials, the result of\nhaving married two wives, just as Abraham and Jacob did before him. It\nis probable that Elkanah married Hannah from pure love; but she had no\nchildren, and as at that time every man had great pride in building up\na family, he married Peninnah, who bare him children, but in other\nrespects was a constant vexation.\n\nPeninnah was haughty and insolent because she had children, while\nHannah was melancholy and discontented because she had none, hence\nElkanah had no pleasure in his daily life with either. He had a\ndifficult part to act. Hoping much from the consolations of religion,\nhe took his wives and children annually up to the temple of the Lord in\nShiloh to worship. Being of a devout spiritual nature, he thought that\nworshiping at the same altar must produce greater harmony between his\nwives. But Penninah {sic} became more peevish and provoking, and Hannah\nmore silent and sorrowful, weeping most of the time. Elkanah's love and\npatience with Hannah was beautiful to behold. He paid her every\npossible attention and gave her valuable gifts.\n\nAppreciating his own feelings, he said to her one day in an exuberant\nburst of devotion, \"Am I not more to thee than ten sons?\" He made peace\nofferings to the Lord, gave Hannah the choice bits at the table, but\nall his delicate attentions made Hannah more melancholy and Peninnah\nmore rebellious. He and Hannah continued to, pray earnestly to the Lord\nto remove her reproach, and their prayers were at last answered.\n\nEli was presiding at the temple one day when he noticed Hannah in a\nremote corner wrestling in prayer with the Lord. Though her manner was\nintense, and her lips moved, he heard no sound, and inferred that she\nwas intoxicated. Hannah, hearing of his suspicion, said, that naught\nbut the debauchery of his own sons could have made such a suspicion\npossible. But Eli made atonement for his rash, unfriendly censure by a\nkind of fatherly benediction. With all these adverse winds in this\nvisit to Shiloh, Elkanah must have felt as if his family had been\npossessed by the spirit of evil. When the sons of God come \"to present\nthemselves before the Lord, Satan will be seen to come also.\" Peninnah\nbehaved worse during these religious festivities because she saw more\nof Elkanah's devotion to Hannah. Hannah became more sad because she was\nlosing faith in prayer. \"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.\"\n\nAn endless discord in the harmony of the family joys was a puzzling\nproblem for the sweet tempered Elkanah. But the ever-turning wheel of\nfortune brought peace and prosperity to his domestic altar at last.\nHannah bore a son and named him Samuel, which signifies\n\"heard of the Lord,\" or given by the Lord. Hannah was very modest in\nher petition; she said, \"O Lord, give me a son,\" while Rachel said,\n\"give me children.\"\n\nThe one sorrow which overtopped all others with these Bible women was\nin regard to children. If they had none, they made everybody miserable.\nIf they had children, they fanned the jealousies of one for the other.\nSee how Rebekah deceived Isaac and defrauded Esau of his birthright.\nThe men, instead of appealing to the common sense of the women, join in\nconstant prayer for the Lord to do what was sometimes impossible.\n\nHannah in due time took Samuel up to the temple at Shiloh. In\npresenting Samuel to Eli the priest she reminded him that she was the\nwoman on whom he passed the severe comment; but now she came to present\nthe child the Lord had given to her. She offered three bullocks, one\nfor each year of his life, one for a burnt offering, one for a sin\noffering and one for a peace offering. So Hannah dedicated him wholly\nto the Lord and left him in Shiloh to be educated with the sons of the\npriests. Although Samuel was Hannah's only child and dearly loved, she\ndid not hesitate to keep her vow unto the Lord.\n\n\n\nI. Samuel ii.\n\n\n\n11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister\nunto the Lord before Eli the priest.\n\n18 But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a\nlinen ephod.\n\n19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him\nfrom year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the\nyearly sacrifice.\n\n20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife. And they went unto their own\nhome.\n\n21 And Hannah bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel\ngrew before the Lord.\n\n\nThe historians and commentators dwell on the fact that Hannah made her\nson \"a little coat,\" and brought one annually. It is more probable that\nshe brought to him a complete suit of clothes once in three months,\nespecially trousers, if those destined to service in the temple were\nallowed to join in any sports. Even devotional genuflections are severe\non that garment, which must have often needed Hannah's care. Her virtue\nand wisdom as a mother were in due time rewarded by five other\nchildren, three sons and two daughters.\n\nAnd Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. Saul was made king\nat the request of the people. The ark of the Lord fell into the hands\nof the Philistines. This event, with the death of Eli and his sons, had\nmost tragic results, viz., in the killing of thirty thousand people and\nthe death of the wife of Phinehas, who was said to have been a woman of\ngracious spirit, though the wife of a wicked husband. Her grief for the\ndeath of her husband and father-in-law proved her strong natural\naffection, but her much greater concern for the loss of the ark of the\nLord was an evidence of her devout affection to God. Her dying words,\n\"the glory has departed from Israel,\" show that her last thought was of\nher religion. She named her son Ichabod, whose premature birth was the\nresult of many calamities, both public and private, crowning all with\nthe great battle with the Philistines. Samuel was the last judge of\nIsrael. As the people clamored for a king, Saul was chosen to rule over\nthem. The women joined in the festivities of the occasion with music\nand dancing.\n\n\n\n1 Samuel xviii.\n\n\n\n6 And it came to pass when David was returned from the slaughter of\nthe Philistines that the women came out of all the cities of Israel,\nsinging and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tabrets and instruments of\nmusic.\n\n7 And the women answered one another a--, they played, and said, Saul\nhath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.\n\n8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said,\nThey have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have\nascribed but thousands; and what can he have more than the kingdom?\n\n\nIt was the custom among women to celebrate the triumphs of their\nwarriors after a great battle in spectacular performances. Decked with\nwreaths, they danced down the public streets, singing the songs of\nvictory in praise of their great leaders. They were specially\nenthusiastic over David, the chorus, \"Saul hath killed his thousands,\nbut David his ten thousands,\" chanted with pride by beautiful maidens\nand wise matrons, stirred the very soul of Saul to deadly jealousy, and\nhe determined to suppress David in some way or to kill him outright. It\nis not probable that any of these battle hymns, so much admired,\nemanated from the brain of woman; the blood and thunder style shows\nclearly that they were all written by the pen of a warrior, long after\nthe women of their respective tribes\nwere at rest in Abraham's bosom.\n\nDavid was a general favorite; even the Philistines admired his courage\nand modesty. The killing of Goliath impressed the people generally that\nDavid was the chosen of the Lord to succeed Saul as King of Israel.\n\nBut on the heels of his triumphs David's troubles soon began. Saul was\nabsorbed in plotting and in planning how to circumvent David, and\nlooked with jealousy on the warm friendship maturing between him and\nhis son Jonathan.\n\n\n17 And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab; her will I\ngive thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's\nbattles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand\nof the Philistines be upon him.\n\n18 And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my\nfather's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?\n\n19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should\nhave been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel, the\nMeholathite, to wife.\n\n20 And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David: and they told Saul, and\nthe thing pleased him.\n\n21 And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him,\nand that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul\nsaid to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the\ntwain.\n\n22 And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David\nsecretly, and say, Behold the king hath delight in thee, and all his\nservants love thee: now therefore be the king's son-in-law.\n\n24 And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And\nDavid said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son-in-law,\nseeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?\n\n28 And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that\nMichal, Saul's daughter, loved him.\n\n\nSaul thought if he could get David to marry his daughter he would make\nher a snare to entrap him. He promised David his daughter, and then\nmarried her to another to provoke him to some act of violence, that he\nmight have an excuse for whatever he chose to do. But when Saul offered\nto give him Michal, David modestly replied that he belonged to a humble\nshepherd family and was not worthy to be the son-in-law of a king.\n\nIn due time David did marry Michal, who loved him and proved a\nblessing rather than a snare. On one occasion when Saul had made secret\nplans to capture David, Michal with her diplomacy saved him. Saul\nsurrounded his house with guards and ordered them to kill David the\nmoment he appeared in the morning. Michal, seeing their preparations,\nknew their significance, and at night, when all was still, she let\nDavid down through a window and told him to flee. In the morning, as\nDavid did not appear, they searched the house. Michal told them that\nDavid was ill and in bed. She had covered the head of a wooden image\nwith goat's hair and tucked the supposed David up snug and warm. The\nguards would not wake a sick man in order to kill him, and they\nreported what they saw to Saul, but he ordered them to return and to\nbring David, sick or well.\n\nWhen Saul found that he had escaped, he was very wroth and upbraided\nMichal for her disrespect to him. Though she had saved the man she\nloved, yet she marred her noble deed by saying that David would have\nkilled her if he suspected she had connived with her father to kill\nhim. But alas! the poor woman was between two fires--the husband whom\nshe loved on one side, and the father whom she feared on the other.\nMost of the women in the Bible seem to have been in a quandary the\nchief part of the time.\n\nSaul made a special war on the soothsayers and the fortunetellers,\nbecause they were divining evil things of him. But losing faith in\nhimself and embittered by many troubles, be went to the witch of Endor\nto take counsel with Samuel, hoping to find more comfort with the dead\nthan with the living. The witch recognized him and asked him why he\ncame to her, having so cruelly persecuted her craft. However, she\nsummoned Samuel at his request, who told him that on the morrow, in the\ncoming battle with the Philistines, he and his sons would be slain by\nthe enemy. When the witch saw Saul's grief and consternation she begged\nhim to eat, placing some tempting viands before him, which he did, and\nthen hastened to depart while it was yet dark, that he might not be\nseen coming from such a house. Commentators say it was not Samuel who\nappeared, but Satan in the guise of the prophet, as he especially\nenjoys all psychical mysteries. Josephus extols the witch for her\ncourtesy, and Saul for his courage in going forth to the battle on the\nnext day to meet his doom.\n\nThe poet says that the heart from love to one grows bountiful to all.\nThis seems to have been the case with David as he adds wife to wife,\nMichal, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess. His\nmeeting with Abigail in the hills of Carmel was quite romantic.\n\nShe made an indelible impression on his heart, and as soon as her\nhusband was gathered to his fathers David at once proposed and was\naccepted. Though the women who attracted David were \"beautiful to look\nupon,\" yet they had great qualities of head and heart, and he seemed\nequally devoted to all of them. When carried off captives in war he\nmade haste to recapture them. Michal's steadfastness seems questionable\nat one or two points of her career, but the historian does not let us\ninto the secret recesses of her feelings.\n\nDavid's time and thoughts seem to have been equally divided between\nthe study of government and social ethics, and he does not appear very\nwise in either. His honor shines brighter in his psalms than in his\nordinary, everyday life.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\n1 Samuel xxv.\n\n\n\n2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and\nthe man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand\ngoats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.\n\n3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail;\nand she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful\ncountenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings.\n\n4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.\n\n5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men,\nGet you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:\n\n6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be\nboth to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that\nthou hast.\n\n8 . . . Give, I pray thee, whatsover cometh to thine hand unto thy\nservants.\n\n10 And Nabal said, Who is David? and--who is the son of Jesse?\n\n11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have\nkilled for my shearers, and give unto men, whom I know not whence they\nbe?\n\n12 So David's young men came and told him all these sayings.\n\n13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword; and\nDavid also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about\nfour hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.\n\n14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying,\nBehold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our\nmaster; and he railed on them.\n\n18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two\nbottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of\nparched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cases\nof figs, and laid them on asses.\n\n23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass,\nand fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.\n\n25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even\nNabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is\nwith him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom\nthou didst send.\n\n32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which\nsent thee this day to meet me:\n\n35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and\nsaid unto her, Go up in peace to thine house;\n\n38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote\nNabal, that he died.\n\n39 . . . And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him\nto wife.\n\n41 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five\ndamsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers\nof David, and became his wife.\n\n\nThe chief business of the women in the reigns of Kings Saul and David\nseems to have been to rescue men from the craft and the greed of each\nother. The whole interest in this story of Nabal centres in the tact of\nAbigail in saving their lives and possessions from threatened\ndestruction, owing to the folly and the ignorance of her husband. His\nname, Nabal, signifying folly, describes his character.\n\nIt is a wonder that his parents should have given to him such a name,\nand a greater wonder that Abigail should have married him. He inherited\nCaleb's estate; but he was far from inheriting his virtues. His wealth\nwas great; but he was a selfish, snarling cynic. Abigail's name\nsignifies \"the joy of her father;\" but he could not have promised\nhimself much joy in her, caring more for the wealth than for the wisdom\nof her husband. Many a child is thus thrown away--married to worldly\nwealth and to nothing else which is desirable. Wisdom is good with an\ninheritance; but an inheritance without wisdom is good for nothing.\nMany an Abigail is tied to a Nabal; but even if they have her\nunderstanding they will find it hard enough to fill such a relation.\n\nDavid and his men were returning from Samuel's funeral through the\nwilderness of Paran and were in sore need of provisions, and knowing\nthat Nabal had immense wealth, and, moreover, that it was the season\nfor sheep shearing, David thought that he would be happy to place the\nking under obligations to him, and was surprised to find him so\ndisloyal. Abigail, however, appreciated the situation, and by her\ncourtesy and her generosity made amends for the rudeness of her\nhusband. She did not stop to parley with him, but hastened to meet the\nking with the needed provisions. She wasted no words of excuse for\nNabal, but spoke of him with marked contempt. Her conduct would have\nshocked the Apostle who laid such stress on the motto, \"Wives, obey\nyour husbands.\" \"What little reason we have to value the wealth of this\nworld,\" says the historian, \"when such a churl as Nabal abounds in\nplenty, while such a saint as David suffers want.\"\n\nDavid sent to him most gracious messages; but he replied in his usual\ngruff manner, \"Who is David, that I should share with him my riches?\nWhat care I for the son of Jesse?\" The servant did not return to Nabal\nwith David's outburst of wrath nor his resolution of vengeance; but he\ntold all to Abigail, who made haste to avert the threatened danger. She\ndid what she saw was to be done, quickly. Wisdom in such a case was\nbetter than weapons of war.\n\nNabal begrudged the king and his retinue water; but Abigail gave them\ntwo casks of wine and all sorts of provisions in abundance. She\nmet David on the march big with resentment, meditating the destruction\nof Nabal. But Abigail by her humility completely disarmed the king.\nWith great respect and complaisance she urges him to lay all of the\nblame on her; and to attribute Nabal's faults to his want of wit, born\nsimple, not spiteful. Abigail puts herself in the attitude of a humble\npetitioner.\n\nDavid received all that Abigail brought him with many thanks. It is\nevident from the text that she gave to him many of the delicacies from\nher larder. Ten days after this Nabal died. David immediately sent\nmessengers to Abigail asking her to be his wife. She readily accepted,\nas David had made a deep impression on her heart. So, with her five\ndamsels, all mounted on white jackasses, she accompanied the messengers\nto the king and became his wife.\n\nThe Hebrew mythology does not gild the season of courtship and\nmarriage with much sentiment or romance. The transfer of a camel or a\ndonkey from one owner to another, no doubt, was often marked with more\nconsideration than that of a daughter. One loves a faithful animal long\nin our possession and manifests more grief in parting than did these\nHebrew fathers in giving away their daughters, or than the daughters\ndid in leaving their family, their home or their country.\n\nWe have no beautiful pictures of lovers sitting in shady groves,\nexchanging their tributes of love and of friendship, their hopes and\nfears of the future; no temples of knowledge where philosophers and\nlearned matrons discussed great questions of human destiny, such as\nGreek mythology gives to us; Socrates and Plato, learning wisdom at the\nfeet of the Diametias of their times, give to us a glimpse of a more\nexalted type of womanhood than any which the sacred fabulists have\nvouchsafed thus far.\n\n\n\n2 Samuel iii.\n\n\n\n2 And unto David were sons born 'n Hebron: and his firstborn was\nAmnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess:\n\n3 And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite;\nand the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of\nGeshur:\n\n4 And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth,\nShephatiah the son of Abital;\n\n5 And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David's wife. These were born to\nDavid in Hebron.\n\n\nThe last is called David's wife, his only rightful wife, Michal. It\nwas a fault in David, say the commentators, thus to multiply wives\ncontrary to Jewish law. It was a bad example to his successors. Men who\nmake the laws should not be the first to disobey them. None of his sons\nwas famous, but three were infamous, due in part to their father's\nnature and example.\n\n\n14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was\ngirded with a linen ephod.\n\n15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord\nwith shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.\n\n16 And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal\nSaul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and\ndancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.\n\n20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter\nof Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of\nIsrael to-day, who uncovered himself in the eyes of his servants, as\none of the vain fellows.\n\n21 And David said unto Michal, It was before the Lord, which chose me\nbefore thy father.\n\n\nMichal, like Abigail, does not seem to have been overburdened with\nconjugal respect. She was so impatient to let the king know how he\nappeared in her sight that she could not wait at home, but went out to\nmeet him. She even questions the wisdom of such a parade over the ark,\nand tells the king that it would have been better to leave it where it\nhad been hidden for years.\n\nNeither Michal nor Abigail seem to have made idols of their husbands;\nthey did not even consult them as to what they should think, say or do.\nThey furnish a good example to wives to use their own judgment and to\nkeep their own secrets, not make the family altar a constant\nconfessional.\n\n\n\n2 Samuel xi.\n\n\n\n2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his\nbed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and saw a woman\nwashing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.\n\n3 And David sent and inquired after her. And one said, Is not this\nBath-she-ba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?\n\n4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him.\n\n6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab\nsent Uriah to David.\n\n7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab\ndid, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.\n\n9 And Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the\nservants of his lord, and went not down to his house.\n\n14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to\nJoab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.\n\n15 And he wrote in the letter saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of\nthe hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and\ndie.\n\n16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned\nUriah unto a place where he knew that\nvaliant men were.\n\n26 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there\nfell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite\ndied also.\n\n16 And when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she\nmourned for her husband.\n\n27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his\nhouse, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that\nDavid had done displeased the Lord.\n\n\nThis book contains but little in regard to women. What is worthy of\nmention in the story of Bath-sheba is finished in the following book.\nDavid's first vision of her is such a reflection on his honor that,\nfrom respect to the \"man after the Lord's own heart,\" we pass it in\nsilence.\n\nDavid's social ethics were not quite up to the standard even of his\nown times. It is said that he was a master of his pen as well as of his\nsword. His poem on the death of Saul and Jonathan has been much praised\nby literary critics. But, alas! David was not able to hold the Divine\nheights which he occasionally attained. As in the case of Bath-sheba,\nhe remained where he could see her; instead of going with his army to\nJerusalem to attend to his duties as King of Israel and general of the\narmy, he delegated them to others. Had he been at his post he would\nhave been out of the way of temptation. He used to pray three times a\nday, not only at morning and evening, but at noon also. It is to be\nfeared than on this day he forgot his devotions and thought only of\nBath-sheba.\n\nUriah, the husband of Bath-sheba, was one of David's soldiers, a man\nof strict honor and virtue. To get rid of him for a season, David sent\nhim with a message to one of the officers at Jerusalem, telling him\nthat in the next battle to place Uriah in the front rank that he might\ndistinguish himself. Uriah was a poor man and tenderly loved his wife.\nHe little knew the fatal contents of the letter which he carried. When\nJoab received the letter, he took it for granted that he was guilty of\nsome crime and that the king wished him to be punished. So Joab obeyed\nthe king and Uriah was killed. In due time all this was known, and\nfilled the people with astonishment and greatly displeased the Lord.\n\nIt is to be hoped that he did not commune with God during this period of\nhumiliation or pen any psalms of praise for His goodness and mercy. He\nmarried Bath-sheba, and she bore him a son and called his name Solomon.\nBut this did not atone for his sin. \"His heart was sad, his soul,\" says\na commentator, \"was like a tree in winter which has life in the root\nonly.\"\n\n\n\n2 Samuel xii.\n\n\n\nAnd the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said\nunto him: There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other\npoor.\n\n\n2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds;\n\n3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had\nbought and nourished: and it grew up together with him, and with his\nchildren: it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay\nin his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.\n\n4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take\nof his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man,\nbut took the poor man's lamb and dressed it.\n\n5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said\nto Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall\nsurely die:\n\n6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing.\n\n7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God\nof Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out\nof the hand of Saul;\n\n9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil\nin his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and\nhast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword\nof the children of Ammon.\n\n10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house;\nbecause thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the\nHittite to be thy wife.\n\n\nAnd the Lord said unto Nathan the Prophet, David's faithful friend,\n\"Go thou and instruct and counsel him.\" Nathan judiciously gives his\nadvice in the form of a parable, on which David gives his judgment as\nto the sin of the chief actor and denounces him in unmeasured terms,\nand says that he should be punished with death--\"he shall surely die.\"\nDavid did not suspect the bearing of the fable until Nathan applied it,\nand, to David's surprise and consternation, said, \"Thou art the man.\"\n\nUriah the Hittite had but \"one little ewe lamb,\" one wife whom he\nloved as his own soul, while King David had many; yet he robbed Uriah\nof all that he had and made him carry his own message of death to Joab,\nthe general of the army, who gave to him the most dangerous place in\nthe battle, and, as the king desired, he was killed.\n\nWhen the king first recalled Uriah from the field, Uriah went not to his\nown house, as he suspected foul play, having heard that Bath-sheba often\nappeared at court. Both the king and Bath-sheba urged him to go to his\nown house; but he went not. Bath-sheba had been to him all that was pure\nand beautiful in woman, and he could not endure even the suspicion of\nguilt in her. He understood the king's plans, and probably welcomed\ndeath, as without Bath-sheba's love, life had no joy for him. But to be\ntransferred from the cottage of a poor soldier to the palace of a king\nwas a sufficient compensation for the loss of the love of a true and\nfaithful man.\n\nThis was one of the most cruel deeds of David's life, marked with so\nmany acts of weakness and of crime. He was ruled entirely by his\npassions. Reason had no sway over him. Fortunately, the development of\nself-respect and independence in woman, and a higher idea of individual\nconscience and judgment in religion and in government, have supplied\nthe needed restraint for man. Men will be wise and virtuous just in\nproportion as women are self-reliant and able to meet them on the\nhighest planes of thought and of action.\n\nNo magnet is so powerful as that which draws men and women to each\nother. Hence they rise or fall together. This is one lesson which the\nBible illustrates over and over--the degradation of woman degrades man\nalso. \"Her face pleaseth me,\" said Samson, who, although he could\nconquer lions, was like putty in the hands of women.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS OF KINGS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\n1 Kings i.\n\n\n\n11 Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon,\nsaying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth\nreign. Go . . . unto King David, and say unto him, Didst thou not swear\nunto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign\nafter me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then doth Adonijah reign?\n\n15 And Bath-sheba went in unto the king. . . . And the king said, What\nwouldst thou?\n\n17 And she said unto him, Thou swarest unto thine handmaid, saying,\nAssuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon\nmy throne.\n\n18 And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth.\n\n22 And lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also\ncame in.\n\n21 And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall\nreign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?\n\n28 Then King David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came\nand stood before the king.\n\n29 And the king sware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that bath\nredeemed my soul out of all distress,\n\n30 Even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying,\nAssuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon\nmy throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.\n\n31 Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence\nto the king, and said, Let my lord, King David, live for ever.\n\n32 And King David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the\nprophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came.\n\n33 The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your\nlord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring\nhim down to Gihon:\n\n34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there\nking over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save King\nSolomon.\n\n\nThese books give an account of David's death, of his successor\nSolomon, of the division of his kingdom between the kings of Judah and\nof Israel, with an abstract of the history down to the captivity.\n\nNeither the king nor Bath-sheba knew that Adonijah was making\npreparations to be crowned king the moment when he heard of David's\ndeath. He made a great feast, inviting all the king's sons except\nSolomon. He began his feast by a show of devotion, sacrificing sheep and\noxen. But Nathan the Prophet warns the king and Bath-sheba. In his\nanxiety he appeals to Bath-sheba as the one who has the greatest concern\nabout Solomon, and can most easily get an audience with the king. He\nsuggests that Solomon is not only in danger of losing his crown, but\nboth he and she of losing their lives.\n\nAccordingly, Bath-sheba, without being announced, enters the presence\nof the king. She takes no notice of the presence of Abishag, but makes\nknown the object of her visit at once. She reminds the king of his vow\nto her that Solomon, her son, should be his successor to his throne.\nNathan the Prophet is announced in the audience chamber and tells the\nking of the preparations that Adonijah is making to usurp the crown and\nthrone, and appeals to him to keep his vow to Bath-sheba. He reminds\nhim that the eyes of all Israel are upon him, and that David's word\nshould be an oracle of honor unto them. He urged the king to immediate\naction and to put an end to all Adonijah's pretensions at once, which\nthe king did; and Solomon was anointed by the chief priests and\nproclaimed king.\n\nAdonijah had organized a party, recognizing him as king, as if David\nwere already dead; but when a messenger brought the news that Solomon\nhad been anointed king, in the midst of the feast their jollities were\nturned to mourning.\n\nNathan's visits to the king were always welcome, especially when he\nwas sick and when something lay heavy on his heart. He came to the\nking, not as a petitioner, but as an ambassador from God, not merely to\nright the wrongs of individuals, but to maintain the honor of the\nnation.\n\nAs David grew older he suffered great depression of spirits, hence his\nphysicians advised that he be surrounded with young company, who might\ncheer and comfort him with their own happiness and pleasure in life. He\nwas specially cheered by the society of Abishag, the Shunammite, a\nmaiden of great beauty and of many attractions in manner and\nconversation, and who created a most genial atmosphere in the palace of\nthe king. Bath-sheba's ambition for her son was so all absorbing that\nshe cared but little for the attentions of the king. David reigned forty\nyears, seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n1 Kings ii.\n\n\n\nNow the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged\nSolomon his son, saying,\n\n\n2 I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show\nthyself a man.\n\nIt is a great pity that David's advice could not have been fortified\nby the honor and the uprightness of his own life. \"Example is stronger\nthan precept.\"\n\n\n\n1 Kings iii.\n\n\n\n16 Then came there two women unto the king, and stood before him.\n\n17 And the one woman said, O my lord. I and this woman dwell in one\nhouse: and I was delivered of a child.\n\n19 And it came to pass the third day after, this woman was delivered\nalso:\n\n19 And her child died in the night; because she overlaid it.\n\n20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while\nthine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child\nin my bosom.\n\n21 And when I rose in the morning it was dead; but when I had\nconsidered it, behold, it was not my son.\n\n22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the\ndead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the\nliving is my son. Thus they spake before the king.\n\n24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword\nbefore the king.\n\n25 And he said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the\none, and half to the other.\n\n26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, and\nshe said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.\nBut the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.\n\n27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in\nno wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.\n\n28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and\nthey feared the king for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to\ndo judgment.\n\n\nThis case was opened in court, not by lawyers, but by the parties\nthemselves, though both plaintiff and defendant were women.\nCommentators thing that it had already been tried in the lower courts,\nand the judges not being able to arrive at a satisfactory decision,\npreferred to submit the case to Solomon the King. It was an occasion of\ngreat interest; the halls of justice were crowded, all waiting with\ngreat expectation to hear what the king would say. When he said, \"bring\nme my sword,\" the sages wondered if he intended to kill the parties, as\nthe shortest way to end the case; but his proposition to kill only the\nliving child and give half to each, showed such an intuitive knowledge\nof human nature that all were impressed with his wisdom, recognizing at\nonce what the natural feelings of the mother would be. Solomon won\ngreat reputation by this judgment. The people feared his piercing eye\never after, knowing that he would see the real truth through all\ndisguises and complications.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nIn Bath-sheba's interview with David one feature impresses me\nunfavorably, that she stood before the king instead of being seated\nduring the conference. In the older apostolic churches the elder women\nand widows were provided with seats--only the young women stood; but in\nthe instance which we are considering the faithful wife of many years,\nthe mother of wise Solomon, stood before her husband. Then David, with\nthe fear of death before his eyes and the warning words of the prophet\nringing in his ears, remembered his oath to Bath-sheba. Bath-sheba, the\nwife of whom no moral wrong is spoken, except her obedience to David in\nthe affairs of her first husband, bowed with her face to the earth and\ndid reverence to the king.\n\nThis was entirely wrong: David should have arisen from his bed and\ndone reverence to this woman, his wife, bowing his face to the earth.\nYet we find this Bible teaching the subservience of woman to man, of\nthe wife to the husband, of the queen to the king, ruling the world\nto-day. During the recent magnificent coronation ceremonies of the Czar,\nhis wife, granddaughter of Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of\nIndia, who changed her religion in order to become Czarina, knelt\nbefore her husband while he momentarily placed the crown upon her brow.\nA kneeling wife at this era of civilization is proof that the\ndegradation of woman continues from the time of Bath-sheba to that of\nAlexandria.\n\nIn 1 Kings ii. 13-25, we have a record of Solomon's treatment of that\nmother to whom he was indebted not only for his throne, but also for\nlife itself. Adonijah, who had lost the kingdom, requested Bath-sheba's\ninfluence with Solomon that the fair young Abishag should be given to\nhim for a wife. Having lost his father's kingdom, he thought to console\nhimself with the maiden.\n\n19 So Bath-sheba therefore went unto King Solomon to speak unto him\nfor Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto\nher, and sat down on his throne and caused a seat to be set for the\nking's mother; and she sat on his right hand.\n\nAll very well thus far; and the king, in his reception of his mother,\nshowed to her the reverence and the respect which was due to her. Thus\nemboldened, Bath-sheba said:\n\n\n20 I desire one small petition of thee; say me not nay. And the king\nsaid unto her, Ask on, my mother; for I will not say thee nay.\n\n21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah, thy\nbrother, to wife.\n\nBut did King Solomon, who owed both throne and life to his mother,\nkeep his word that he had just pledged to her, \"Ask on, my mother; for\nI will not say thee nay?\"\n\nNo indeed, for was she not a woman, a being to whom it was customary\nto make promises for the apparent purpose of breaking them; for the\nking, immediately forgetting his promise of one moment previously,\ncried out:\n\n22 And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for\nhim the kingdom also: for he is mine elder brother.\n\n23 Then King Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and\nmore also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.\n\n24 Now therefore, as the Lord liveth, who hath established me, and set\nme on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as\nhe promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.\n\n\nSolomon was anxious to give credit to the Lord instead of his mother\nfor having set him on the throne, and also to credit him with having\nkept his promise, while at the very same moment he was breaking his own\npromise to his mother. And this promise-breaking to women, taught in\nthe Bible, has been incorporated into the laws of both England and the\nUnited States--a true union of Church and State where woman is\nconcerned.\n\nIt is only a few years since that a suit was brought in England by a\nwife against a husband in order to compel the keeping of his ante-\nnuptial promise that the children of the marriage should be brought up\nin the mother's religious faith. Having married the woman, this husband\nand father found it convenient to break his word, ordering her to\ninstruct the children in his own faith, and the highest court in\nEngland, that of Appeals, through the vice-chancellor, decided against\nher upon the ground that a wife has no rights in law against a husband.\nWhile a man's word broken at the gaming table renders him infamous,\nsubjecting him to dishonor through life, a husband's pledged word to\nhis wife in this nineteenth century of the Christian era is of no more\nworth than was the pledged word of King Solomon to Bath-sheba in the\ntenth century before the Christian\nera.\n\nThe Albany Law journal, commenting upon the Agar-Ellis case, declared\nthe English decision to be in harmony with the general law in regard to\nreligious education--the child is to be educated in the religion of its\nfather. But in the case of Bath-sheba, Solomon's surprising acrobatic\nfeat is the more remarkable from the reception which he at first gave\nto his mother. Not only did Solomon \"say her nay,\" but poor Adonijah\nlost not only wife, but life also, because of her intercession.\n\nThis chapter closes with an account of Solomon's judgment between two\nmothers, each of whom claimed a living child as her own and the dead\nchild as that of her rival. This judgment has often been referred to as\nshowing the wisdom of Solomon. He understood a mother's boundless love,\nthat the true mother would infinitely prefer that her rival should\nretain her infant than that the child should be divided between them.\n\nHowever, this tale, like many another Biblical story, is found\nimbedded in the folk-lore-myths of other peoples and religions. Prof.\nWhite's \"Warfare of Science and Theology\" quotes Fansboll as finding it\nin \"Buddhist Birth Stories.\" The able Biblical critic, Henry Macdonald,\nregards the Israelitish kings as wholly legendary, and Solomon as\nunreal as Mug Nuadat or Partholan; but let its history be real or\nunreal, the Bible accurately represents the condition of women under\nthe Jewish patriarchal and the Christian monogamous religions.\n\n\nM. J. G.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\n1 Kings x.\n\n\n\n1 And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning\nthe name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.\n\n2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that\nbare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was\ncome to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.\n\n3 And Solomon told her all her questions.\n\n4 And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the\nhouse that he had built,\n\n5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the\nattendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup-bearers,\nand his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there\nwas no more spirit in her.\n\n6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine\nown land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.\n\n7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had\nseen it; and, behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and\nprosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.\n\n9 Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighteth in thee, to set thee\non the throne of Israel.\n\n10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of\nspices very great store, and precious stones: . . .\n\n13 And King Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her desire,\nwhatsoever she asked. So she turned and went to her own country.\n\n\nIn the height of Solomon's piety and prosperity the Queen of Sheba\ncame to visit him. She had heard of his great wealth and wisdom and\ndesired to see if all was true. She was called the Queen of the South,\nsupposed to be in Africa. The Christians in Ethiopia say to this day\nthat she came from their country, and that Candace, spoken of in Acts\nviii., 27, was her successor. She was queen regent, sovereign of her\ncountry. Many a kingdom would have been deprived of its greatest\nblessing if the Salic law had been admitted into its constitution.\n\nIt was a great journey for the queen, with her retinue, to undertake.\nThe reports of the magnificence of Solomon's surroundings, the temple\nof the Lord and the palace for the daughter of Pharaoh, roused her\ncuriosity to see his wealth. The reports of his wisdom inspired her\nwith the hope that she might obtain new ideas on the science of\ngovernment and help her to establish a more perfect system\nin her kingdom. She had heard of his piety, too, his religion and the\nGod whom he worshiped, and his maxims of policy in morals and public\nlife. She is mentioned again in the New Testament ill Matthew xii., 42.\nShe brought many valuable presents of gold, jewels, spices and precious\nstones to defray all the expenses of her retinue at Solomon's court, to\nshow him that her country was worthy of honor and of respect.\n\nThe queen was greatly surprised with all that she saw, the reality\nsurpassed her wildest imagination. Solomon's reception was most cordial\nand respectful, and he conversed with her as he would with a friendly\nking coming to visit from afar. This is the first account which we have\nin the Bible of a prolonged rational conversation with a woman on\nquestions of public policy. He answered all her questions, though the\ncommentators volunteer the opinion that some may have been frivolous\nand captious. As the text suggests no such idea, we have a right to\nassume that her conduct and conversation were pre-eminently judicious.\nSolomon did not suggest to the queen that she was out of her sphere,\nthat home duties, children and the philosophy of domestic life were the\nproper subjects for her consideration; but he talked with her as one\nsovereign should with another.\n\nShe was deeply impressed by the elegance of his surroundings, the\nartistic effect of his table, and the gold, silver and glass, the skill\nof his servants, the perfect order which reigned throughout the palace,\nbut more than all with his piety and wisdom, and his reverence when he\nwent up to the temple to worship God or to make the customary offering.\nShe wondered at such greatness and goodness combined in one man. Her\nvisit was one succession of surprises; and she rejoiced to find that\nthe truth of all that she had heard exceeded her expectations. She is\nspo\nken of in Psalms lxxii., 15, as a pattern for Solomon.\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n1 Kings xi.\n\n\n\n1 But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the\ndaughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites,\nZidonians and Hittites:\n\n2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of\nIsrael, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto\nyou: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods:\nSolomon clave unto these in love.\n\n3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred\nconcubines:\n\n4 It came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away\nhis heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord\nhis God.\n\n\nThis is a sad story of Solomon's defection and degeneracy. As the\nQueen of Sheba did not have seven hundred husbands, she had time for\ntravel and the observation of the great world outside of her domain. It\nis impossible to estimate the ennui a thousand women must have suffered\ncrowded together, with only one old gentleman to contemplate; but he\nprobably solaced their many hours with some of his choice songs, so\nappreciative of the charms of beautiful women. It is probable that his\nlittle volume of poems was in the hand of every woman, and that Solomon\ngave them occasional recitations on the imaginative and emotional\nnature of women. We have reason to believe that with his wisdom he gave\nas much variety to their lives as possible, and with fine oratory,\ngraceful manners and gorgeous apparel made himself as attractive as the\nsituation permitted.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThere have been a great number of different views held in regard to\nthe Queen of Sheba, both in reference to the signification of the name\n\"Sheba,\" and also in relation to the country from which this famous\npersonage made a visit to Solomon. Abyssinia, Ethiopia, Persia and\nArabia have each laid claim to this wise woman. Menelik, the present\nking of the former country, who so effectually defeated Italy in his\nrecent war with that country, possesses the same name as, and claims\ndescent from, the fabled son of this wise woman and of the wise king\nSolomon, one of whose numerous wives, it is traditionally said, she\nbecame. Ethiopia, the seat of a very ancient and great civilization,\nand whose capital was called Saba; Persia, where the worship of the sun\nand of fire originated; and Arabia, the country of gold, of\nfrankincense and of myrrh, also claim her. It is to the latter country\nthat this queen belonged.\n\nWhether we look upon the Bible as a historical work, a mythological\nwork, or, as many now do regard it, as \"A Book of the Adepts, written\nby Initiates, for Initiates,\" a record of ancient mysteries hidden to\nall but initiates, the Queen of Sheba is a most interesting character.\n\nThe words Sab, Saba, Sheba, all have an astronomical or astrological\nmeaning, signifying the \"Host of Heaven,\" \"The Planetary System.\" Saba,\nor Sheba, was especially the home of astronomical wisdom; and all words\nof this character mean wise in regard to the stars. The wisdom of Saba\nand of the Sabeans was planetary wisdom, the \"Sabean language\" meaning\nastronomy, or astrology, the latter being the esoteric portion of the\nscience. At the time of the mysteries, astrology was a sacred or secret\nscience, the words \"sacred\" and \"secret\" meaning the same thing. Among\nthe oldest mysteries, when all learning was confined to initiates, were\nthose of Sabasia, whose periodic festivals of a sacred character were\nso extremely ancient that their origin is now lost.\n\nSolomon, also, whether looked upon as a historical or a mythical\ncharacter, is philologically shown to have been connected with the\nplanetary system, Sol-Om-On signifying \"the sun.\" It is singular to\nnote how closely the sun, the moon and the stars are connected with\nancient religions, even that of the Jewish. In the Old Testament the\nnew moon and the Sab-bath are almost invariably mentioned together. The\nfull moon also possessed a religious signification to the Jews, the\nagricultural feasts taking place at the full moon, which were called\nSab-baths. Even in the Old Testament we find that Sab has an\nastronomical or astrological meaning, connected with the planetary\nsystem.\n\nThe Sabeans were an occult body, especially devoted to a study of the\nheavens; at their head, the wisest among them, the chief astronomer and\nastrologer of the nation, the wisest person in a nation of wisdom, was\nthat Queen of Sheba, who visited that other planetary dignitary,\nSolomon, to prove him with hard astronomical and astrological questions.\n\nThere is historic proof that the city of Saba was the royal seat of\nthe kings of Arabia, which country, Diodorus says, was never conquered.\nAmong ancient peoples it bore the names of \"Araby the Happy,\"\n\"Araby the Blest.\" It was a country of gold and spices whose perfume\nwas wafted far over the sea. All cups and utensils were of the precious\nmetals; all beds, chairs and stools having feet of silver; the temples\nwere magnificently adorned; and the porticoes of even the private\nhouses were of gold inlaid with ivory and precious stones.\n\nAmong the presents carried by the Queen of Sheba to Sol-Om-On were the\nfamous balsam trees of her country. The first attempt at plant\nacclimatizing of which the world has record was made with this tree by\nthe magnificent Pharaoh, Queen Hatasu, of the brilliant eighteenth\nEgyptian dynasty. A thousand years before she of Sheba, Queen Hatasu,\nupon her return from a naval expedition to the Red Sea, carried home\nwith her twelve of these trees in baskets of earth, which lived and\nbecame one of the three species of sacred trees of Egypt.\n\nArabia was the seat of Eastern wisdom, from which it also radiated to\nthe British Isles of Europe at the time of the Celtic Druids, with whom\nSabs was the day when these lords of Sabaoth rested from study and gave\ninstructions to the people. As previously among the Jews, this day of\ninstruction became known as one of rest from physical labor, Sab-bath\nand rest becoming synonymous. Seven being a sacred number among\ninitiates, every seventh day was devoted to instruction. When a\nknowledge of the mysteries became lost, the words \"Sab-bath,\" \"rest\"\nand \"seven\" began to have a very wrong meaning in the minds of people;\nand much injury has been done to the world through this perversion.\n\nBut later than Druidical times, Arabian wisdom made the southwestern\nportion of the European continent brilliant with learning, during the\nlong period of the Christian dark ages, a time when, like the Bourbons\nof later date, Christians learned nothing, a time when no heresy arose\nbecause no thought was allowed, when there was no progress because\nthere was no doubt.\n\nFrom these countrymen of the Queen of Sheba, the Spanish Arabs,\nColumbus first learned of a world beyond the Pillars of Hercules.\nArchitecture rose to its height in the beautiful Alhambra, with its\nexquisite interlaced tracery in geometric design; medicine\nhad its profound schools at various points; poetry numbered women among\nits most famous composers; the ballad originated there; and the modern\nliterature of Europe was born from a woman's pen upon the hearth of the\ndespised Ishmaelite, whose ancestral mother was known as Hagar, and\nwhose most brilliant descendant was the Queen of Sheba.\n\nNowhere upon the earth has there existed a race of improvisatores\nequal to the daughters of that despised bondwoman, the countrywoman of\nthe Queen of Sheba. As storytellers the world has not their equal.\nScherezade is a name upon the lips of Jews, of Gentiles, of Mohammedans\nand of Christians. A woman's \"Thousand and One Nights\" is famous as a\ncombination of wit, wisdom and occultism wherever the language of\ncivilization is spoken. With increasing knowledge we learn somewhat of\nthe mysteries of the inner, higher life contained in those tales of\ngenii, of rings and of lamps of wondrous and curious power. The race\ndescended from Hagar, of which the Queen of Sheba is the most brilliant\nreminder, has given to the world the most of its profound literature,\nelegant poetry, art, science and occultism. Arabia is the mother of\nmathematics; from this country was borrowed our one (1) and our cipher\n(0), from which all other notation is evolved.\n\nAstronomy and astrology being among the oldest sciences, the moon\nearly became known as \"the Measurer,\" her varied motions, her influence\nupon the tides, her connection with the generative functions, all\ngiving her a high place in the secret sciences. While in a planetary\nsense the Queen of Sheba has in a manner been identified with the moon,\nas Sabs, she was also connected with the sun, the same as Solomon and\nthe serpent. When Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness\nit was specifically a part of sun worship. The golden calf of Aaron was\nmore closely connected with moon worship, although the serpentine path\nof both these bodies in the heavens identified each with the serpent.\n\nThe occult knowledge which the Jews possessed in regard to those\nplanets was borrowed by them from Egypt, where for many ages the sun\nand the moon had been studied in connection with their movements in\nthe zodiac. In that country these serpentine movements were\nsymbolized by the uroeus, or asp, worn upon the crown above the head of\nevery Pharaoh. So closely was the Jewish religion connected with\nworship of the planetary bodies that Moses is said to have disappeared\nupon Mount Nebo, a word which shows the mountain to have been sacred to\nthe moon; while Elijah ascending in a chariot of fire is a record of\nsun worship. When the famous woman astronomer and astrologer, Queen of\nSheba, visited the symbolic King Solomon, it was for the purpose of\nproving him with hard planetary questions and thus learning the depth\nof his astronomical and his astrological knowledge, which, thanks to\nthe planetary worship of the Jews, she found equal to her own.\n\nWe are further told that Solomon, not content with a princess from the\nroyal house of Pharaoh as wife, married seven hundred wives, all\nprincesses, besides taking to himself three hundred concubines. It is\nupon teachings of the Old Testament, and especially from this statement\nin regard to Solomon, that the Mormons of Utah largely base their\npolygamous doctrines, the revelations of Joseph Smith being upon the\nSolomon line. Yet the Mormons have advanced in their treatment of women\nfrom the time of Solomon. While the revelations of Joseph Smith\ncommended plural marriages, the system and the name of concubinage was\nentirely omitted, each woman thus taken being endowed with the name of\n\"wife.\"\n\nThe polygamy of New York, of Chicago, of London, of Paris, of Vienna\nand of other parts of the Christian world, like that of Solomon's three\nhundred, is a system of concubinage in which the woman possesses no\nlegal rights, the mistress neither being recognized as wife, nor her\nchildren as legitimate; whereas Mormon polygamy grants Mormon respect\nto the second, the third, and to all subsequent wives.\n\nThe senility of old men is well illustrated in the case of Solomon,\ndespite Biblical reference to his great wisdom, as we learn that when\nhe became \"old\" he was led away by \"strange\" women, worshiping strange\ngods to whom he erected temples and offered sacrifices. To those who\nbelieve in the doctrine of re-incarnation, and who look upon the Bible\nas an occult work written in symbolic language, Solomon's reputed\n\"wives\" and \"concubines\" are regarded as symbolic of\nhis incarnations, the wives representing good incarnations and the\nconcubines evil ones.\n\n\nM. J. G.\n\n\n\n1 Kings xvii.\n\n\n\n8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,\n\n9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, and dwell there: behold, I have\ncommanded a widow there to sustain thee.\n\n10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of\nthe city, behold, the widow was there gathering sticks: and he called\nto her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a morsel of\nbread.\n\n12 And she said, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel,\nand a little oil in a cruse; and I am gathering sticks, that I may\ndress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.\n\n13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said:\nbut make me thereof a little cake first, and after make for thee and\nfor thy son.\n\n14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not\nwaste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord\nsendeth rain upon the earth.\n\n15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she,\nand he, and her house, did eat many days.\n\n16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail.\n\n17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman\nfell sick; and there was no breath left in him.\n\n18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man\nof God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to\nslay my son?\n\n19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he carried him up and\nlaid him upon his own bed.\n\n20 And he cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also\nbrought evil upon the widow by slaying her son?\n\n21 And be stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto\nthe Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul\ncome into him again.\n\n22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child\ncame into him again, and he revived.\n\n23 And Elijah took the child and delivered him unto his mother, and\nsaid, See, thy son liveth.\n\n24 And the woman said, Now I know that thou art a man of God.\n\n\nThe history of Elijah the prophet begins somewhat abruptly, without\nany mention of father, of family or of country. He seems, as it were,\nsuddenly to drop from the clouds. He does not come with glad tidings of\njoy to the people; but with prophecies of a prolonged famine, in which\nthere shall be neither rain nor dew to moisten the earth, until King\nAhab and his people repent of their sins. Elijah himself was fed by\nravens in a miraculous manner, and later by a poor widow who had only\njust enough in her larder to furnish one meal for herself and her son.\nHere are a series of complications enough to stagger the faith of the\nstrongest believer in the supernatural. But the poor widow meets him at\nthe gates of the city as directed by the Lord, improvises bread and\nwater, takes him to her home and for two years treats him with all the\nkindness and the attention which she would naturally give to one of\nher own kinsmen. \"Oh! woman, great is thy faith,\" exclaimed the\nprophet. Women are so easily deluded that most of the miracles of the\nBible are performed for their benefit; and, as in the case of the witch\nof Endor, she occasionally performs some herself.\n\nThe widow believed that Elijah was \"a man of God,\" and that she could\ndo whatever he ordered; that she could get water, though there had been\na drought for a long time; that although she had only a handful of meal\nand a little cruse of oil, yet they would increase day by day. \"Never\ndid corn or olives in the growing,\" says Bishop Hall, \"increase as did\nthat of the widow in the using.\" During the two years in which she\nentertained the prophet, she enjoyed peace and prosperity; but when she\nsupposed that her son was dead, her faith wavered; and she deplored her\nkindness to the prophet, and reproved him for bringing sorrow upon her\nhousehold. However, as the prophet was able to restore him to life, her\nfaith was restored also.\n\nThis is the first record which we have of the restoration of the dead\nto life in the Bible; and it is the first also of any one ascending\ninto heaven \"in a chariot of fire with horses of fire.\" Probably Elijah\nknew how to construct a balloon. Much of the ascending and the\ndescending of seers, of angels and of prophets which astonished the\nignorant was accomplished in balloons--a lost art for many centuries.\nNo doubt that the poor widow, when she saw Elijah ascend, thought that\nhe went straight to heaven, though in all probability he landed at\ntwilight in some retired corn field or olive grove, at some distance\nfrom the point where his ascent took place.\n\nThe question is often asked where the ravens got the cooked meat and\nbread for the prophet. Knowing their impelling instinct to steal, the\nCreator felt safe in trusting his prophet to their care, and they\nproved themselves worthy his confidence. Their rookeries were near the\ncave where Elijah was sequestered. Having keen olfactories, they smelt\nthe cooking of dainty viands from afar. Guided by this sense, they\nperched on a fence near by where they could watch the movements of the\ncook, and when her back was turned they flew in and seized the little\nbirds and soft shell crabs and carried them to Elijah, halting by the\nway only long enough to satisfy their own imperative hunger.\n\nJezebel was Elijah's greatest enemy; yet the Lord bade him hide in her\ncountry by the brook Cherith, that he might have plenty of water. The\nLord hid him so that the people should not besiege him to shorten the\ndrought. So he was entirely alone with the ravens, and had all his time\nfor prayer and contemplation. When removed from the care of the ravens,\nthe Lord did not send him to the rich and the prosperous, but to a poor\nwidow, who, believing him a man of God, ministered to his necessities.\nShe did not suggest that he was a stranger to her and that water cost\nmoney, but hastened to do whatever he ordered. She had her recompense\nin the restoration of her son to life. In the prophet's struggle with\nGod for this blessing to the widow, the man appears to greater\nadvantage than does the Master.\n\nIt appears from the reports in our metropolitan journals that a\nrailroad is now about to be built from Tor to the summit of Mount\nSinai. The mountain is only accessible on one side. A depot, it is\nsaid, will be erected near the spot where a stone cross was placed by\nthe Russian Empress Helena, and where, according to tradition, Moses\nstood when receiving the commandments. The railroad will also pass the\ncave in which the prophet Elijah remained in hiding while fleeing from\nthe priest of Baal.\n\n\n\n1 Kings xxi.\n\n\n\nAnd it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had\na vineyard, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.\n\n\n2 And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, because it\nis near unto my house: and I will give thee the worth of it.\n\n3 And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid that I should give the\ninheritance of my fathers unto thee.\n\n4 And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the\nword which Naboth had spoken to him. And he laid him down upon his bed,\nand turned away his face, and would eat no bread.\n\n5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy\nspirit so sad?\n\n6 And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth, and said unto\nhim, Give me thy vineyard for money; and he answered, I will not.\n\n7 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom\nof Israel? arise, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the\nvineyard of Naboth.\n\n8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal,\nand sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his\ncity.\n\n9 And she wrote in the letters, saying,\n\nProclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:\n\n10 And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness\nagainst him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then\ncarry him out, and stone him, that he may die.\n\n11 And the men of his city did as Jezebel had sent unto them.\n\n12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.\n\n13 And there came in two men and sat before him: and the men witnessed\nagainst him, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they\ncarried him forth and stoned him with stones, that he died.\n\n14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is dead.\n\n15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel beard that Naboth was dead, she\nsaid to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard.\n\n\nJezebel, the daughter of the king of the Zidonians and the wife of\nAhab, is generally referred to as the most wicked and cruel woman on\nrecord; and her name is the synonym of all that is evil. She came\nhonestly by these characteristics, if it is true \"that evil\ncommunications corrupt good manners,\" as her husband Ahab was the most\nwicked of all the kings of Israel. And yet he does not seem to have\nbeen a man of much fortitude; for in a slight disappointment in the\npurchase of land he comes home in a hopeless mood, throws himself on\nhis bed and turns his face to the wall. According to the text, Jezebel\nwas equal to the occasion. She not only infused new life into Ahab, but\ngot possession of the desired land, though in a most infamous manner.\nThe false prophetess spoken of in Rev. ii., 20, is called Jezebel. She\nwas a devout adherent and worshiper of Baal and influenced Ahab to\nfollow strange gods. He reigned twenty-two years without one worthy\naction to gild his memory. Jezebel's death, like her life, was a\ntragedy of evil.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nAll we know about Jezebel is told us by a rival religionist, who hated\nher as the Pope of Rome hated Martin Luther, or as an American A. P. A.\nnow hates a Roman Catholic. Nevertheless, even the Jewish historian,\nevidently biassed against Jezebel by his theological prejudices as he\nis, does not give any facts whatever which warrant the assertion that\nJezebel was any more satanic than the ancient Israelitish gentleman, to\nwhom her theological views were opposed. Of course we, at this stage of\nscientific thought, know that Jezebel's religion was not an admirable\none. Strangely enough, for a religion, it actually made her intolerant!\nBut to Jezebel it was a truth, for which she battled as bravely as\nElijah did for what he imagined to be eternal verity. The facts,\nadmitted even by the historian who hated her, prove that,\nnotwithstanding her unfortunate and childish conception of theology,\nJezebel was a brave, fearless, generous woman, so wholly devoted to her\nown husband that even wrong seemed justifiable to her, if she could\nthereby make him happy. (In that respect she seems to have entirely\nfulfilled the Southern Methodist's ideal of the pattern wife absorbed\nin her husband.) Four hundred of the preachers of her own faith were\nfed at her table (what a pity we have not their opinion of their\nbenefactor!). Elijah was the preacher of a new and rival religion,\nwhich Jezebel, naturally, regarded with that same abhorrence which the\nestablished always feel for the innovating. To her, Elijahism doubtless\nappeared as did Christianity to the Jews, Lutheranism to the Pope, or\nJohn Wesleyism to the Church of England; but in the days of the\nIsraelites the world had not developed that sweet patience with heresy\nwhich animates the Andover theologians of our time, and Jezebel had as\nlittle forbearance with Elijah as had Torquemada with the Jews or\nElizabeth with the Puritans.\n\nYet, to do Jezebel justice, we must ask ourselves, how did the\nassumedly good Elijah proceed in order to persuade her of the\nsuperiority of his truth? It is painful to have to relate that that\nmuch overestimated \"man of God\" invited four hundred and fifty of\nJezebel's preachers to an open air exhibition of miracles, but, not\nsatisfied with gaining a victory over them in this display, he pursued\nhis defeated rivals in religion, shouting, \"Let not one of them\nescape!\" and thus roused the thoughtless mob of lookers-on to slaughter\nthe whole four hundred and fifty in cold blood! Jezebel had signalized\nher advent as queen by slaying Israelitish preachers in order to put\nher own preachers in office. Elijah promptly retaliated at his earliest\nopportunity.\n\nIt seems to me that it would puzzle a disinterested person to decide\nwhich of those savage deeds was more \"satanic\" than the other, and to\nimagine why Jezebel is now dragged forth to \"shake her gory locks\" as a\nfrightful example to the American women who ask for recognized right to\nself-government. I submit, that if Jezebel is a disgrace to womankind,\nour dear brethren at any rate have not much cause to be proud of\nElijah, so, possibly, we might strike a truce over the character of\nthese two long-buried worthies. It may be well, though, to note here\nthat the now most offensive epithet which the English translators\nattached to Jezebel's name, originally signified nothing more than that\nshe was consecrated to the worship of a religion, rival to that which\nancient Israel assumed to be \"the only true one.\"\n\n\nE. B. D.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\n2 Kings iv.\n\n\n\n1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the\nprophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou\nknowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to\ntake unto him my two sons to be bondmen.\n\n2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what\nhast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything\nsave a pot of oil.\n\n3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors,\n\n4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door and shalt pour\nout into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.\n\n5 So she shut the door and poured out.\n\n6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto\nher son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a\nvessel more. And the oil stayed.\n\n7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the\noil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.\n\n\nThe first Book of Kings had an illustrious beginning in the glories of\nthe kingdom of Israel when it was entirely under King David and in the\nbeginning of the reign of Solomon; but the second book has a melancholy\noutlook in the desolation and division of the kingdom of Israel and of\nJudea. Then Elijah and Elisha, their prophets, instructed the princes\nand the people in all that would come to pass, the captivity of the ten\ntribes, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the good reigns of Josiah and\nof Hezekiah.\n\nThis book contains the mention of four women, but only in a\nperfunctory manner, more to exhibit the accomplishments of the prophet\nElisha than his beneficiaries. He raises the dead, surpasses our\nStandard Oil Company in the production of that valuable article of\ncommerce, cures one man of leprosy and cruelly fastens the disease on\nhis servant for being guilty of a pardonable prevarication. Only one of\nthe women mentioned has a name. One is the widow of a prophet, whom\nElisha helps to pay off all her debts; for another he intercedes with\nthe Lord to give her a son; another, is the little captive maid of the\ntribe of Israel; and the last a wicked queen, Athaliah, who sought to\nkill the heir apparent. She rivalled Jezebel in her evil propensities\nand suffered the same tragic death.\n\nAs the historian proceeds from book to book less is said of the\nmothers of the various tribes, unless some deed of darkness is called\nfor, that the men would fain avoid, then some Jezebel is resurrected\nfor that purpose. They are seldom required to rise to a higher moral\naltitude than the men of the tribe, and are sometimes permitted to fall\nbelow it.\n\n\n\n2 Kings iv.\n\n\n\n8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a\ngreat woman; and she constrained him to eat bread.\n\n9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a\nholy man of God.\n\n10 Let us make a little chamber on the wall.\n\n11 And it fell on a day that, he came thither; and he turned into the\nchamber, and lay there.\n\n12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And she\ncame and stood before him. And he said, Thou shalt embrace a son. And\nshe said, Nay, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.\n\n17 And the woman bare a son.\n\n18 And when the child was grown, he went out to his father to the\nreapers.\n\n19 And said, My head, my head! And he said to a lad, Carry him to his\nmother.\n\n20 And when he had brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till\nnoon, and then died.\n\n21 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and\nshut the door upon him, and went out.\n\n24 And she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive; slack not\nthy riding, except I bid thee.\n\n25 So she went unto the man of God to Mount Carmel.\n\n32 And when Elisha was come into the house, behold the child was dead.\n\n33 He went in and shut the door and prayed unto the Lord.\n\n34 And lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his\neyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his bands; and he stretched\nhimself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.\n\n35 Then he walked to and fro; and went up, and stretched upon him; and\nthe child sneezed seven times, and opened his eyes,\n\n36 And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called\nher. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.\n\n37 Then she fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and\ntook up her son.\n\n\nElisha seems to have had the same power of working miracles which\nElijah possessed. In his travels about the country he often passed the\ncity of Shunem, where he heard of a great woman who was very hospitable\nand had a rich husband. She had often noticed the prophet passing by;\nand knowing that he was a godly man, and that he could be better\nentertained at her house than elsewhere, she proposed to her husband to\ninvite him there. So they arranged an apartment for him in a quiet part\nof the house that he might have opportunities for worship and\ncontemplation.\n\nAfter spending much time under her roof, he naturally desired to make\nsome recompense. So he asked her if there was anything that he could do\nfor her at court, any favor which she desired of the king. But\nshe said \"no,\" as she had all the blessings which she desired, except,\nas they had great wealth and no children to inherit it, she would like\na son. She had probably heard of all that the Lord had done in that\nline for Sarah and Rebecca and the wives of Manoah and Elkanah; so she\nwas not much surprised when the prophet suggested such a contingency;\nand she bare a son.\n\nIn due time, when the son was grown, he was taken suddenly ill and\ndied. The mother supposed that, as by a miracle he was brought into\nlife, the prophet might raise him from the dead. Accordingly, she\nharnessed her mule and hastened to the prophet, who promptly returned\nwith her and restored him to life. She was a very discreet and\njudicious woman and her husband had always entrusted everything to her\nmanagement. She was devout and conscientious and greatly enjoyed the\ngodly conversation of the prophet. She was known in the city as a great\nand good woman. Though we find here and there among the women of the\nBible some exceptionally evil minded, yet the wise and virtuous\npredominate, and, fortunately for the race, this is the case in the\nAmerican Republic to-day.\n\n\n\n2 Kings v.\n\n\n\n1 Now Naaman, captain of the hosts of the king of Syria, was a great\nman with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given\ndeliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a\nleper.\n\n2 And the Syrians had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a\nlittle maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife.\n\n3 And she said unto her mistress, Would my lord were with the prophet\nthat is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.\n\n4 And one went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the\nmaid that is of the land of Israel.\n\n\nNaaman, a Syrian general and prime minister, was a great man in a\ngreat place. He was happy, too, in that he had been serviceable to his\ncountry and honored by his prince. But alas! he was a leper. It was\ngenerally supposed that this was an affliction for evil doing, but\nNaaman was an exceptionally perfect man.\n\nA little maid from Israel had been carried captive into Syria and\nfortunately was taken into the family of the great general, as an\nattendant on his wife. While making the wife's toilet they no doubt\nchatted quite freely of what was going on in the outside world. So the\nlittle maid, sympathizing with her master in his affliction, told the\nwife there was a prophet in Israel who could cure him of his leprosy.\nHer earnestness roused him and his wife to make the experiment. But\nafter loading his white mules with many valuable gifts, and taking a\ngreat retinue of soldiers to dazzle the prophet with Syrian\nmagnificence, the prophet did not deign to meet him, but sent word to\nhim to bathe in the river Jordan. Even a letter from the king did not\nensure a personal interview. So the general, with all his pomp, went\noff in great wrath. \"Are not,\" said he, \"the rivers of Damascus, Abana\nand Pharpar, greater than the Jordan? Cannot all the skill in Syria\naccomplish as much as the prophet in Israel?\" However, the little maid\nurged him to try the river Jordan, as he was near that point, so he did\nand was healed.\n\n\n\n2 Kings viii.\n\n\n\nThen spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life,\nsaying, sojourn wheresoever thou canst for a famine shall come upon the\nland seven years.\n\n\n2 And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God:\n\n3 And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned\nout of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the\nking for her house and land.\n\n4 And the king talked with Gehazi saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all\nthe great things that Elisha bath done.\n\n5 And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored\na dead body to life, that, behold, the woman cried to the king for her\nhouse and land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman,\nand this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.\n\n6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king\nappointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was\nhers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the\nland, even until now.\n\n\nIn due time her husband died; and there was a famine; and she went for\na season to the land of the Philistines; and when she returned she\ncould not recover her possessions. Then Elisha befriended her and\nappealed to the king; and she was reinstated in her own home.\n\nElisha was very democratic. He had his servant sleep in his own\nchamber and consulted him in regard to many important matters. Gehazi\nnever forgot his place but once, when he ran after the great Syrian\ngeneral to ask for the valuable presents which the prophet had\ndeclined. Both Elijah and Elisha preferred to do their missionary work\namong the common people, finding them more teachable and superstitious.\nEspecially is this true of woman at all periods. In great revival\nseasons in our own day, one will always see a dozen women on the\nanxious seat to one man, and the same at the\ncommunion table.\n\n\n\n2 Kings xi.\n\n\n\nAnd when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she\narose and destroyed all the seed royal.\n\n\n2 But Jehosheba, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and\nstole him from among the king's sons which were slain; and they hid him\nand his nurse.\n\n3 And he was with her hid in the house of the Lord six years. And\nAthaliah did reign over the land.\n\n12 And Jehoiada, the priest brought forth the king's son, and put the\ncrown upon him; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they\nclapped their hands, and said, God save the king.\n\n13 And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people,\nshe came into the temple of the Lord.\n\n14 And hen she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar; and she\nrent her clothes and cried, Treason, treason.\n\n20 And they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king's house.\n\n21 Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign.\n\n\nNever was royal blood more profusely shed, and never a meaner ambition\nthan to destroy a reigning family in order to be the last occupant on\nthe throne. The daughter of a king, the wife of a king, and the mother\nof a king, should have had some mercy on her family descendants.\nPersonal ambition can never compensate for the loss of the love and\ncompanionship of kindred. Such characters as Athaliah are abnormal,\ntheir lives not worth recording.\n\n\n\n2 Kings xxii.\n\n\n\n11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book\nof the law, that he rent his clothes.\n\n12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest,\n\n13 Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all\nJudah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is\nthe wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers\nhave not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto\nall that which is written concerning us.\n\n14 So Hilkiah the priest, and the wise men went unto Huldah the\nprophetess, the wife of Shallum keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt\nin Jerusalem in the college); and they communed with her.\n\n15 And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the\nman that sent you to me.\n\n16 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and\nupon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the\nking of Judah hath read:\n\n17 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other\ngods.\n\n18 But to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the Lord,\nthus shall ye say to him,\n\n19 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself\nbefore the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place,\n\n20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou\nshalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see\nall the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the\nking word again.\n\n\nThe greatest character among the women thus far mentioned is Huldah\nthe prophetess, residing in the college in Jerusalem. She was a\nstatesman as well as a prophetess, understanding the true policy\nof government and the Jewish system of jurisprudence, able not only to\nadvise the common people of their duties to Jehovah and their country,\nbut to teach kings the sound basis for a kingdom. Her wisdom and\ninsight were well known to Josiah the king; and when the wise men came\nto him with the \"Book of the Law,\" to learn what was written therein,\nJosiah ordered them to take it to Huldah, as neither the wise men nor\nJosiah himself could interpret its contents. It is fair to suppose that\nthere was not a man at court who could read the book; hence the honor\ndevolved upon Huldah. Even Shallum her husband was not consulted, as he\noccupied the humble office of keeper of the robes.\n\nWhile Huldah was pondering great questions of State and Ecclesiastical\nLaw, her husband was probably arranging the royal buttons and buckles\nof the household. This is the first mention of a woman in a college.\nShe was doubtless a professor of jurisprudence, or of the languages.\nShe evidently had other gifts besides that of prophecy.\n\nWe should not have had such a struggle in our day to open the college\ndoors had the clergy read of the dignity accorded to Huldah. People who\ntalk the most of what the Bible teaches often know the least about its\ncontents. Some years ago, when we were trying to establish a woman's\ncollege, we asked a rich widow, worth millions, to contribute. She said\nthat she would ask her pastor what she ought to do about it. He\nreferred her to the Bible, saying that this book makes no mention of\ncolleges for women. To her great surprise, I referred her to 2 Kings\nxxii. Both she and her pastor felt rather ashamed that they did not\nknow what their Bible did teach. The widow gave $30,000 soon after to a\nTheological Seminary, being more interested in the education of boys\nand in the promulgation of church dogmas, creeds and superstitions,\nthan in the education of the Mothers of the Race in the natural\nsciences.\n\nNow, women had performed great deeds in Bible times. Miriam had helped\nto lead Israel out of Egypt. Deborah judged them, and led the army\nagainst the enemy, and Huldah instructed them in their duties to the\nnation. Although Jeremiah and Zephaniah were prophets at this time, yet\nthe king chose Huldah as the oracle. She was one of the ladies of the\ncourt, and resided in the second rank of buildings from the royal\npalace. Marriage, in her case, does not appear to have been any obstacle\nin the way of individual freedom and dignity. She had evidently outgrown\nthe curse of subjection pronounced in the Garden of Eden, as had many\nother of the Jewish women.\n\nThere is a great discrepancy between the character and the conduct of\nmany of the women, and the designs of God as set forth in the\nScriptures and enforced by the discipline of the Church to-day. Imagine\nthe moral hardihood of the reverend gentlemen who should dare to reject\nsuch women as Deborah, Huldah and Vashti as delegates to a Methodist\nconference, and claim the approval of God for such an indignity.\n\nIn the four following books, from Kings to Esther, there is no mention\nof women. During that long, eventful period the men must have sprung,\nMinerva-like, from the brains of their fathers, fully armed and\nequipped for the battle of life. Having no infancy, there was no need\nof mothers. As two remarkable women flourished at the close of one\nperiod and at the dawn of the other, we shall make no record of the\nmasculine dynasty which intervened, satisfied that Huldah and Vashti\nadded new glory to their day and generation--one by her learning and\nthe other by her disobedience; for \"Resistance to tyrants is obedience\nto God.\"\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF ESTHER.\n\n\n\nEsther i.\n\n\n\n2 In those days when King Ahasuerus sat upon the throne in the palace\nat Shushan,\n\n3 In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes\nand his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes\nof the provinces being before him:\n\n4 When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of\nhis excellent majesty many days.\n\n5 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the\npeople that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and\nsmall, seven days, in the court of the garden;\n\n6 Where were white, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of\nfine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds\nwere of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white,\nand black marble.\n\n7 And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, and royal wine in\nabundance.\n\n9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house.\n\n10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine,\nhe commanded:\n\n11 To bring Vashti the queen with the crown royal, to shew the people\nand the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.\n\n12 But the queen Vashti refused to come: therefore was the king very\nwroth.\n\n13 Then the king said to the wise men,\n\n15 What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to the law?\n\n16 And Memucan answered, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the\nking only, but also to all the people that are in the provinces of the\nking.\n\n17 For this deed shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall\ndespise their husbands. The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen\nto be brought in before him, but she came not.\n\n18 Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all\nthe king's princes, which have beard of the deed of the queen.\n\n19 If it please the king, let there go a royal command from him, and\nlet it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, That\nVashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her\nroyal estate unto another that is better than she.\n\n20 And when the king's decree shall be published throughout his\nempire, all the wives shall give to their husband's honor, both to\ngreat and small.\n\n21 And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did\naccordingly to the word of Memucan:\n\n22 For he sent letters into all the provinces, that every man should\nbear rule in his own house.\n\n\nThe kingdom of Ahasuerus extended from India to Ethiopia, consisting\nof one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, an overgrown kingdom which\nin time sunk by its own weight. The king was fond of display and\ninvited subjects from all his provinces to come by turns to behold his\nmagnificent palaces and sumptuous\nentertainments.\n\nHe gave two great feasts in the beginning of his reign, one to the\nnobles and the princes, and one to the people, which lasted over a\nhundred days. The king had the feast for the men spread in the court\nunder the trees. Vashti entertained her guests in the great hall of the\npalace. It was not the custom among the Persians for the sexes to eat\npromiscuously together, especially when the king and the princes were\npartaking freely of wine.\n\nThis feast ended in heaviness, not as Balshazzar's with a handwriting\non the wall, nor like that of Job's children with a wind from the\nwilderness, but by the folly of the king, with an unhappy falling out\nbetween the queen and himself, which ended the feast abruptly and sent\nthe guests away silent and ashamed. He sent seven different messages to\nVashti to put on her royal crown, which greatly enhanced her beauty,\nand come to show his guests the majesty of his queen. But to all the\nchamberlains alike she said, \"Go tell the king I will not come; dignity\nand modesty alike forbid.\"\n\nThis vanity of a drunken man illustrates the truth of an old proverb,\n\"When the wine is in, the wit is out.\" Josephus says that all the court\nheard his command; hence, while he was showing the glory of his court,\nhe also showed that he had a wife who would do as she pleased.\n\nBesides seven chamberlains he had seven learned counsellors whom he\nconsulted on all the affairs of State. The day after the feast, when\nall were sober once more, they held a cabinet council to discuss a\nproper punishment for the rebellious queen. Memucan, Secretary of\nState, advised that she be divorced for her disobedience and ordered\n\"to come no more before the king,\" for unless she was severely\npunished, he said, all the women of Medea and of Persia would despise\nthe commands of their husbands.\n\nWe have some grand types of women presented for our admiration in the\nBible. Deborah for her courage and military prowess; Huldah for her\nlearning, prophetic insight and statesmanship, seated in the college in\nJerusalem, where Josiah the king sent his cabinet ministers to consult\nher as to the policy of his government; Esther, who ruled as well as\nreigned, and Vashti, who scorned the Apostle's\ncommand, \"Wives, obey your husbands.\" She refused the king's orders to\ngrace with her presence his revelling court. Tennyson pays this tribute\nto her virtue and dignity:\n\n\n\"Oh, Vashti! noble Vashti!\nSummoned forth, she kept her state,\nAnd left the drunken king to brawl\nIn Shushan underneath his palms.\"\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe feast, with the preliminary exhibition of the king's magnificent\npalace and treasures, was not a social occasion in which the king and\nthe queen participated under the same roof. The equal dignity of woman\nand of queen as companion of the king was not recognized. The men\nfeasted together purely as a physical enjoyment. If there was any\nintellectual feature of the occasion it is not recorded. On the seventh\nday, when appetite was satiated and the heart of the king was merry\nwith wine, as a further means of gratifying sensual tastes and\nexhibiting his power, the king bethought him of the beauty of the queen.\n\nThe command to the chamberlains was to bring Vashti. It was such an\norder as he might have sent to the jester, or to any other person whose\nsole duty was to do the king's bidding, and whose presence might add to\nthe entertainment of his assemblage of men. It was not an invitation\nwhich anywise recognized the queen's condescension in honoring the\ncompany by her presence.\n\nBut Vashti refused to come at the king's command! An unprecedented act\nof both wife and queen. Probably Vashti had had previous knowledge of\nthe condition of the king when his heart was merry with wine and when\nthe physical man was under the effects of seven day's conviviality. She\nhad a higher idea of womanly dignity than placing herself on exhibition\nas one of the king's possessions, which it pleased him to present to\nhis assembled princes. Vashti is conspicuous as the first woman\nrecorded whose self-respect and courage enabled her to act contrary to\nthe will of her husband. She was the first \"woman who dared.\"\n\nThis was the more marked because her husband was also king. So far as\nthe record proves, woman had been obedient to the commands of the\nhusband and the father, or, if seeking to avoid them, had sought\nindirect methods and diplomacy. It was the first exhibition of the\nindividual sovereignty of woman on record. Excepting Deborah as judge,\nno example had been given of a woman who formed her own judgment and\nacted upon it. There had been no exhibition of a self-respecting\nwomanhood which might stand for a higher type of social life than was\ncustomary among men.\n\nVashti was the prototype of the higher unfoldment of woman beyond her\ntime. She stands for the point in human development when womanliness\nasserts itself and begins to revolt and to throw off the yoke of\nsensualism and of tyranny. Her revolt was not an overt act, or a\ncriticism of the proceedings of the king. It was merely exercising her\nown judgment as to her own proceeding. She did not choose to be brought\nbefore the assembly of men as an exhibit. The growth of self-respect\nand of individual sovereignty in woman has been slow. The sequence of\nVashti's refusal to obey the king suggests at least one of the reasons\nwhy the law has been made, as it has down to the present day, by men\nalone. Woman has not been consulted, as she is not consulted to-day\nabout any law, even such as bears especially upon herself, but was and\nis expected to obey it.\n\nThe idea of maintaining the respect of women and of wives by\nworthiness and by nobility of character and of manner, had not been\nborn in the man of that day. The husband was to be held an authority.\nHis superiority was his power to command obedience.\n\n\"And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published\nthroughout all his empire, all the wives shall give to their husbands\nhonour, both great and small.\"\n\nKing Ahasuerus was but a forerunner of the more modern lawmaker, who\nseeks the same end of male rulership, by making the wife and all\nproperty the possession of the husband. That every living soul has an\ninherent right to control its life and activities, and that woman\nequally with man should enjoy this opportunity, had not dawned\nupon the consciousness of the men of the times of Ahasuerus.\n\nVashti stands out a sublime representative of self-centred womanhood.\nRising to the heights of self-consciousness and of self-respect, she\ntakes her soul into her own keeping, and though her position both as\nwife and as queen are jeopardized, she is true to the Divine\naspirations of her nature.\n\n\nL. B. C.\n\n\n\nEsther ii.\n\n\n\nAfter these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he\nremembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against\nher.\n\n\n2 Then said his servants, Let there be fair young virgins sought for\nthe king:\n\n3 And let him appoint officers in all the provinces that they may\ngather together the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace,\n\n4 And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of\nVashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.\n\n5 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was\nMordecai.\n\n7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter;\nfor she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and\nbeautiful; whom Moredcai {sic}, when her father and mother were dead,\ntook for his own daughter.\n\n8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment was heard, and when\nmany maidens were gathered together, that Esther was brought also unto\nthe king's house.\n\n11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's\nhouse, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.\n\n17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained\ngrace and favour in his sight; so that be set the royal crown upon her\nhead, and made her queen instead of Vashti.\n\n18 Then the king made a great feast, even Esther's feast; and he made\na release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of\nthe king.\n\n\nEsther was a Jewess, one of the children of the captivity, an orphan\nwhom Mordecai adopted as his own child. She was beautiful, symmetrical\nin form, fair in face, and of rare intelligence. Her wisdom and virtue\nwere her greatest gifts. \"It is an advantage to a diamond even to be\nwell set.\" Mordecai was her cousin-german and her guardian. It was said\nthat he intended to marry her; but when he saw what her prospects in\nlife were, and what she might do as a favorite of the king for his own\npromotion and the safety of his people, he held his individual\naffection in abeyance for the benefit of his race and the safety of the\nking; for he soon saw the dishonest, intriguing character of Haman,\nwhom he despised in his heart and to whom he would not bow in passing,\nnor make any show of respect. As he was a keeper of the door\nand sat at the king's gate, he had many opportunities to show his\ndisrespect.\n\nHe discovered a plot against the king's life which he revealed to\nEsther, that, in due time, secured him promotion to the head of the\nking's cabinet. But in the meantime Haman had the ear of the king; and\nto revenge the indignities of Mordecai, he decided to slay all the Jews\nthroughout all the provinces of the kingdom, and procured an edict to\nthat effect from the king, and stamped with the king's signet ring the\nletters that he sent by post into all the provinces. The day was set\nfor this terrible slaughter; and the Jews were fasting in sack-cloth\nand ashes.\n\nThe king loved Esther above all the women and had made her his queen.\nShe was not known at court as a Jewess, but was supposed to be of\nPersian extraction. Mordecai had told her to say nothing on that\nsubject. Ahasuerus placed the royal crown upon her head, and solemnized\nher coronation with a great feast, which Esther graced with her\npresence, at the request of the king. She profited by the example of\nVashti, and saw the good policy of at least making a show of obedience\nin all things. Mordecai walked up and down past her door many times a\nday; and through a faithful messenger kept her informed of all that\ntranspired, so she was aware of the plot Haman had laid against her\npeople. So she made a banquet for the king and Haman, and told the king\nthe effect of his royal edict and letters sent by post in all the\nprovinces stamped with his ring. She told him of Mordecai's\nfaithfulness in saving his life; that she and Mordecai were Jews, and\nthat it was their people who were to be slain, young and old, women and\nchildren, without mercy; that their possessions were to be confiscated\nto raise the money which Haman promised to put into the royal treasury,\nand that Haman had already built a gallows thirty feet high on which\nMordecai was to be hanged.\n\nHaman trembled in the presence of the king, who ordered him to be\nhanged on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai; and the\nlatter was installed as the favorite of the king. The family and the\nfollowers of Haman were slain by the thousands, and the Jews were\nfilled with gladness. The day appointed for their destruction was one\nof thanksgiving. They appointed a certain day in the last\nmonth of the year, just before the Passover, to be kept ever after as\nthe feast of Purim, one of thanksgiving for their deliverance from the\nvengeance of Haman. Purim is a Persian word. It is not a holy day\nfeast, but of human appointment. It is celebrated at the present time,\nand in the service the whole story is told. It is to be regretted that\nthis feast often ends in gluttony.\n\nOne commentator says that the Talmud states that in the feast of Purim\na man may drink until he knows not the difference between \"cursed be\nHaman\" and \"blessed be Mordecai.\" If the Talmud means that he may drink\nthe wine of good fellowship until all feelings of vengeance, hatred and\nmalice are banished from the human soul, the sentiment is not so\nobjectionable as at the first blush it appears. There is one thing in\nthe Jewish service worse than this, and that is for each man to stand\nup in the synagogue every Sabbath morning and say: \"I thank thee, O\nLord, that I was not born a woman,\" as if that were the depth of human\ndegradation. It is to be feared that the thanksgiving feast of the\nPurim has degenerated in many localities into the same kind of a\ngathering as the Irish wake.\n\nIn the history of Esther, those who believe in special Providence will\nsee that in her coming to the throne multitudes of her people were\nsaved from a cruel death, hence the disobedience of Vashti was\nprovidential. A faith \"that all things are working together for good,\"\n\"that good only is positive, evil negative,\" is most cheerful and\nsustaining to the believer. I have always regretted that the historian\nallowed Vashti to drop out of sight so suddenly. Perhaps she was doomed\nto some menial service, or to entire sequestration in her own\napartments.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe record fails to state whether or not the king's judgment was\nmodified in regard to Vashti's refusal to appear on exhibition when his\nwrath abated. But the decree had gone forth, and could not be altered;\nand Vashti banished, no further record of her fate appears. The\nking's ministers at once set about providing a successor to Vashti.\n\nThe king in those days had the advantage of the search for fair young\nvirgins, in that he could command the entire collection within his\ndominions. The only consideration was whether or not the maiden\n\"pleased\" him. There is no hint that the maiden was expected to signify\nher acceptance or rejection of the king's choice. She was no more to be\nconsulted than if she had been an animal. Her position as queen was but\nan added distinction of her lord and master.\n\nEsther, the orphaned and adopted daughter of Mordecai the Jew, was the\nfavored maiden. She was \"fair and beautiful.\" The truth of the historic\nrecord of the men of those days is indisputable. Down to the present\nthe average man sums up his estimate of woman by her \"looks.\" Is she\nfair to look upon is the criterion. Esther was destined to play an\nimportant part in the salvation of her people from the destructive\npurposes of Haman, who had been \"set above all the princes who were\nwith him.\" This young woman, who had been crowned by her royal master\nbecause she \"pleased\" him, was called upon by the peril of her people,\nwhom Haman was seeking to destroy, to place her own life in jeopardy,\nby venturing to obtain audience with the king, without having been\nsummoned into his presence.\n\nWhen Esther received from Mordecai the assurance, \"Think not with\nthyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the\nJews,\" he asked, \"Who knoweth, whether thou art come to the kingdom for\nsuch a time as this?\" then this young woman rose to the extremity of\nthe situation. She exercised a high degree of wisdom and courage, and\nbade them return Mordecai this answer:\n\nGo gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast\nye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also\nand my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king,\nwhich is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.--Vs. 15,\n16.\n\nShe prepared herself thus by fasting to receive and to exercise the\npower of spirit. Her high purpose was only equalled by her unfaltering\ncourage and entire self-abnegation. Vashti had exercised\nheroic courage in asserting womanly dignity and the inherent human\nright never recognized by kingship, to choose whether to please and to\nobey the king. Esther, so as to save her people from destruction,\nrisked her life.\n\nThis King Ahasuerus, who, according to the record, was only a man of\nselfish purposes, delighting in power and given to the enjoyment of his\npassions, was the legal lord and master of two women, each\ndistinguished by a nobility of character well worthy of the distinction\nof queen. Their royalty was of a higher order than that of sceptres and\nof crowns. While we rejoice in the higher manhood which the centuries\nhave evolved, we are in this hour reminded of the dominating\ndisposition of King Ahasuerus and the habits of those times. A\ndistinguished man and a scholar in this closing nineteenth century\nclaims that \"the family is necessarily a despotism,\" and that man is\nthe \"ruler of the household.\"\n\nWomen as queenly, as noble and as self-sacrificing as was Esther, as\nself-respecting and as brave as was Vashti, are hampered in their\ncreative office by the unjust statutes of men; but God is marching on;\nand it is the seed of woman which is to bruise the head of the serpent.\nIt is not man's boasted superiority of intellect through which the\neternally working Divine power will perfect the race, but the\nreceptiveness and the love of woman.\n\n\nL. B. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JOB.\n\n\n\nJob i.\n\n\n\nThere was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man\nwas perfect and upright, and one that feared God.\n\n\n2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.\n\n3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand\ncamels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and\na very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the\nmen of the east.\n\n4 And his sons feasted in their houses; and sent and called for their\nthree sisters to eat with them.\n\n6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves\nbefore the Lord, and Satan came also.\n\n7 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Satan answered,\nFrom going to and fro in the earth.\n\n8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job,\nthat there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man.\n\n9 Then Satan answered, Doth Job fear God for nought?\n\n10 Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and\nabout all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his\nhands.\n\n11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he\nwill curse thee to thy face.\n\n12 And the Lord said unto Satan, all that he hath is in thy power:\nonly upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from\nthe presence of the Lord.\n\n14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were\nploughing, and the asses feeding beside them:\n\n15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have\nstain the servants.\n\n16 There came another, and said, fire is fallen from heaven, and hath\nburned up the sheep.\n\n17 There came also another, and said, The Chaldeans fell upon the\ncamels, and have carried them away.\n\n18 There came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were\neating and drinking.\n\n19 And, behold there came a great wind and smote the four corners of\nthe house, and it fell upon, the young men, and they are dead.\n\n20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell\ndown upon the ground, and worshiped.\n\n\n\nJob ii.\n\n\n\n9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity?\ncurse God and die.\n\n10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women\nspeaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we\nnot receive evil?\n\n\n\nJob xlii.\n\n\n\n11 Then came there unto him his brethren, and his sisters, and they\nthat had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in\nhis house: and they comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had\nbrought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every\none an earring of gold.\n\n12 So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning;\nfor he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a\nthousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.\n\n13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.\n\n15 And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of\nJob; and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.\n\n16 After this lived Job a hundred and forty years.\n\n17 So Job died, being old and full of days.\n\n\nThe Book of Job opens with an imaginary discussion between the Lord\nand Satan as to the true character of Job. Satan hates him because he\nis good, and envies him because he is a favorite of the Lord, who\nexpresses unbounded faith in his steadfastness to\nreligious principles. Satan replies that Job is all right in\nprosperity, when surrounded with every comfort; but stripped of his\nblessings, his faith in a superintending Providence would vanish like\ndew before the rising sun. The Lord said, \"You may test Job. I give you\npermission to do your worst and to see if he will not remain as true in\nadversity as he is in prosperity.\"\n\nThe Book of Job is an epic poem, an allegory, to show the grand\nelements in human nature, enabling mortals to rise superior to all\ntrials and temptations, to the humiliations of the spirit, and to\nprolonged suffering in the flesh. Though illustrated in the personality\nof a man, yet the principle applies equally to the wisdom and the\nvirtue of woman. The elements of Job's goodness and greatness must have\nexisted in his mother. But little is said of women in this book; and\nthat little is by no means complimentary. Job's wife's name was Dinah;\nsome commentators say that she was the daughter of Jacob. Satan uses\nher as the last and most subtle influence for the downfall of his\nvictim. Between the two forces of good and of evil, the triumph of the\nspiritual nature over the temptations of the flesh, the god-like in the\nhuman, was thoroughly proven. Job is represented as a great man. He has\nwealth, inflexible integrity and a charming family life, seven sons and\nthree daughters, immense herds of oxen, sheep, asses, camels, and\nservants without number.\n\nThe spirit of evil, to test his faithfulness, strips him of all his\npossessions. In one day Job's houses were destroyed, his lands made\ndesolate, his cattle stolen and his children carried off in a\nwhirlwind. Job was stunned by these calamities. He put on sackcloth,\nshaved his head, as was the custom, and calmly accepted the situation;\nand his faith in the goodness of God remained. Then the spirit of evil,\nto test him still further, afflicted him with a terrible disease,\nloathsome to endure and pitiful to behold. His three friends, Eliphaz,\nBildad and Zophar, mocked him in his misery.\n\nHis last affliction was the disgust of his wife. She ridiculed his\nfaith in God, and scoffed at his piety, as Michal did at David. She was\nspared to be his last tempter when all his comforts were taken away.\nShe bantered him for his constancy, \"Dost thou still maintain thy\nconfidence in the God who has punished thee? Why dost thou be so\nobstinate in thy religion, which serves no good to thee? Why truckle to\na God who, so far from rewarding thy services with marks of his favor,\nseems to take pleasure in making thee miserable and scourges thee\nwithout any provocation? Is this a God to be still loved and served?\n'Curse God and die.'\" She urges him to commit suicide. Better to die at\nonce than to endure his life of lingering misery.\n\nDeserted by wife, by friends, and, seemingly by God, too, Job's faith\nwavered not. The spirit of evil had done its worst. Man had proven his\nDivine origin, himself the incarnation of the great Spirit of Good; and\nnow that Job had proved himself superior to all human calamities, he is\nrestored to health; and all his earthly possessions are returned\nfourfold.\n\nNothing more is said of his first wife, but his ten children are\nrestored. The names of his three daughters are significant, though not\neuphonious: Jemima, the day, because of Job's prosperity; Kezia, a\nspice, because he was healed, and Karen-Happuch, plenty restored. God\nadorned them with great beauty, no women being so fair as were the\ndaughters of Job. In the Old Testament we often find women praised for\ntheir beauty; but in the New Testament we find no notice of physical\ncharms, not even in the Virgin Mary herself. Job gave to his daughters\nan equal inheritance with his sons. It is pleasant to see that the\nbrothers paid them marked attention, and always invited them to their\ndinners, and that his ten children were reproduced just as his flocks\nand his herds had been.\n\nMuch more sympathy has been expressed by women for the wife, than for\nJob. Poor woman, she had scraped lint, nursed him and waited on him to\nthe point of nervous exhaustion--no wonder that she was resigned to see\nhim pass to Abraham's bosom. Job lived one hundred and forty years.\nSome conjecture that he was seventy years old when his calamities came\nupon him, so that his age was doubled with his other blessings. Whether\nDinah lived to cheer Job's declining years, or whether she was lured by\nSatan to his kingdom, does not appear; but he is supposed to have had a\nsecond wife, by the name of Sitis--the probable mother of the second\nbrood.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS OF PSALMS, PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES\n\nAND\n\nTHE SONG OF SOLOMON.\n\n\n\nPSALMS.\n\n\n\nPsalms xlv.\n\n\n\n9 Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right\nhand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.\n\n10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget\nalso thine own people, and thy father's house;\n\n11 So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord;\nand worship thou him.\n\n12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift: even the rich\namong the people shall entreat thy favour.\n\n13 The King's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of\nwrought gold.\n\n14 She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework: the\nvirgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.\n\n15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter\ninto the King's palace.\n\n\nThis book is supposed to have been written by David, the son of Jesse,\ncalled the sweet psalmist of Israel. He had a taste for the arts, a\nreal genius for poetry and song. Many of the poems are beautiful in\nsentiment and celebrated as specimens of literature, as are some\npassages in Job; but the general tone is pessimistic. David's old age\nwas full of repinings over the follies of his youth and of his middle\nage. The declining years of a well-spent life should be the most\npeaceful and happy. Then the lessons of experience are understood, and\none knows how to bear its joys and sorrows with equal philosophy. Yet\nDavid in the twilight of his days seemed to dwell in the shadows of\ndespair, in sackcloth and ashes, repenting for his own sins and\nbemoaning the evil tendency of men in general. There is a passing\nmention of the existence of women as imaginary beings in the Psalms,\nthe Proverbs, and The Song of Solomon, but not illustrated by any\ngrand personalities or individual characters.\n\n\n\nPsalms ii.\n\n\n\nTo the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came\nunto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.\n\n\n1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness:\naccording unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my\ntransgressions.\n\n2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.\n\n3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.\n\n\nDavid's treatment of Uriah was the darkest passage in his life; and to\nthose who love justice it is a satisfaction to know that his conscience\ntroubled him for this act to the end of his days. We are not told\nwhether Bath-sheba ever dropped a tear over the sad fate of Uriah, or\nsuffered any upbraidings of conscience.\n\n\n\nPROVERBS\n\n\n\nix., 13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth\nnothing.\n\nxi., 16 A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches.\n\nxiv. Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it\ndown with her hands.\n\nxvii., 25 A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her\nthat bare him.\n\nxix., 14 House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a\nprudent wife is from the Lord.\n\nxxi., 9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a\nbrawling woman in a wide house.\n\nxxi., 19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a\ncontentious and an angry woman.\n\nxxvii., 15 A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious\nwoman are alike.\n\nxxx., 21 For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which\nit cannot bear:\n\n22 For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with\nmeat;\n\n23 For an odious woman when she is married; and a handmaid that is\nheir to her mistress.\n\nxxxi., 10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above\nrubies.\n\n11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.\n\n12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.\n\n13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.\n\n16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands\nshe planteth a vineyard.\n\n20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor.\n\n21 She is not afraid of the snow; for all her household are clothed\nwith scarlet.\n\n22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and\npurple.\n\n23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders\nof the land.\n\n24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it.\n\n26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of\nkindness.\n\n28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and\nhe praiseth her.\n\n29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.\n\n30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth\nthe Lord, shall be praised.\n\n\nWith these pen pictures of the foolish, contentious wife contrasted\nwith the more gracious woman, surely every reader of common sense will\ntry to follow the example of the latter. A complaining woman is worse\nthan a leaky house, because with paint and putty you can stop the\ndropping; but how can one find the source of constant complaints?\n\nHeretofore Biblical writers have given to us battles, laws, histories,\nsongs; now we have in Solomon's writings a new style in short,\nepigrammatic sentences. The proverb was the most ancient way of\nteaching among the Greeks. The seven wise men of Greece each had his\nown motto on which he made himself famous. These were engraved on stone\nin public places. Thus the gist of an argument or a long discussion may\nbe thrown into a proverb, in which the whole point will be easily seen\nand remembered.\n\nSolomon's idea of a wise woman, a good mother, a prudent wife, a\nsaving housekeeper and a successful merchant, will be found in the\nforegoing texts, which every woman who reads should have printed,\nframed and hung up at her family altar. As Solomon had a thousand women\nin his household, he had great opportunity for the study of the\ncharacteristics of the sex, though one would naturally suppose that\nwise women, even in his day, preferred a larger sphere of action than\nwithin his palace walls. Solomon's opinion of the sex in general is\nplainly expressed in the foregoing texts.\n\nSolomon is supposed to have written his Song when he was young,\nProverbs in middle life, and Ecclesiastes when he was old. He gave\nadmirable rules for wisdom and virtue to all classes, to men, to women\nand to children, but failed to practise the lessons which he taught.\n\n\n\nECCLESIASTES.\n\n\n\nThis book, written in Solomon's old age, is by no means comforting or\ninspiring. Everything in life seems to have been disappointing to him.\nWealth, position, learning, all earthly possessions and acquirements\nhe declares alike to be \"vanity of vanities and\nvexation of spirit.\" To one whose life has been useful to others and\nsweet to himself, it is quite impossible to accept these pessimistic\npictures of human destiny.\n\n\n\nEccles. ii.\n\n\n\nI said in mine heart, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy\npleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.\n\n\n4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:\n\n5 I made me gardens and orchards.\n\n7 I had great possessions above all that were in Jerusalem before me:\n\n8 I gathered me also silver and gold and particular treasures: I gat\nme men singers and women singers, and musical instruments.\n\n10 And whatsover mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld\nnot my heart from any joy.\n\n13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth\ndarkness.\n\n14 The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in\ndarkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them\nall.\n\n\nThis constant depreciation of human dignity and power is very\ndemoralizing in its influence on character. When we consider the\nstruggles of the race from savagism to civilization, all the wonderful\nachievements, discoveries and inventions of man, we must feel more like\nbowing down to him as an incarnation of his Creator than deploring his\nfollies like \"a poor worm of the dust.\" The Episcopal service is most\ndemoralizing in this view. Whole congregations of educated men and\nwomen, day after day, year after year, confessing themselves \"miserable\nsinners,\" with no evident improvement from generation to generation.\nAnd this confession is made in a perfunctory manner, as if no disgrace\nattended that mental condition, and without hope or promise of a change\nfrom that unworthy attitude.\n\n\n\nEccles. vii.\n\n\n\n26 And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares\nand nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from\nher; but the sinner shall be taken by her.\n\n28 One wise man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all\nthose have I not found.\n\n29 Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but\nthey have sought out many inventions.\n\n\nSolomon must have had a sad experience in his relations with women. Such\nan opinion is a grave reflection on his own mother, who was so devoted\nto his success in the world. But for her ambition he would never have\nbeen crowned King of Israel. The commentators vouchsafe the opinion that\nthere are more good women than men. It is very kind in some of the\ncommentators to give us a word of praise now and then; but from the\ngeneral tone of the learned fabulists, one would think that the Jezebels\nand the Jaels predominated. In fact, Solomon says that he has not found\none wise woman in a thousand.\n\n\n\nTHE SONG OF SOLOMON.\n\n\n\nThe name of God does not appear in this Song, neither is the latter\never mentioned in the New Testament. This book has no special religious\nsignificance, being merely a love poem, an epithalamium, sung on\nnuptial occasions in praise of the bride and the groom. The proper\nplace for this book is before either Proverbs or Ecclesiastes, as it\nwas written in Solomon's youth, and is a more pardonable outburst for\nhis early days than for his declining years. The Jewish doctors advised\ntheir young people not to read this book until they were thirty years\nold, when they were supposed to be more susceptible to spiritual\nbeauties and virtues than to the mere attractions of face and of form.\n\nThe Church, as an excuse for retaining this book as a part of \"Holy\nScriptures,\" interprets the Song as expressive of Christ's love for the\nChurch; but that is rather far-fetched, and unworthy the character of\nthe ideal Jesus. The most rational view to take of the Song is, it was\nthat of a luxurious king to the women of his seraglio.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS OF ISAIAH AND DANIEL, MICAH AND MALACHI.\n\n\nISAIAH.\n\n\n\nThe closing books, of the Old Testament make but little mention of\nwomen as illustrating individual characteristics. The ideal woman is\nused more as a standard of comparison for good and for evil, the good\nwoman representing the elements of success in building up the family,\nthe tribe, the nation, as a devout worshiper of the God of Israel; the\nwicked woman, the elements of destruction in the downfall of great\ncities and nations. As woman is chosen to represent the extremes of\nhuman conditions she has no special reason to complain.\n\nThe Prophets sum up the graces of the \"daughters of men\" in the\nfollowing texts:\n\n\n\nIsaiah iii.\n\n\n\n16 Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,\nand walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and\nmincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:\n\n19 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling\nornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like\nthe moon,\n\n19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,\n\n20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and\nthe tablets, and the earrings,\n\n21 The rings, and nose jewels,\n\n22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples,\nand the crisping pins,\n\n23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.\n\n\nBefore the sacred canon of the Old Testament was written there were\nProphets who took the place of Bibles to the Church. It is said that\nGod himself spake to the children of Israel from the top of Mount\nSinai, but that it was so terrible they entreated the Lord ever after\nto speak to them through men. So ever after he did communicate with\nthem through Prophets and Angels. Isaiah was of the royal family;\nhe was nephew to King Uzziah. The Prophet in the above texts reproves\nand warns the daughters of Zion and tells them of their faults. He does\nnot like their style of walking, which from the description must have\nbeen much like the mincing gait of some women to-day.\n\nThe Prophet expressly vouches God's authority for what he said\nconcerning their manners and elaborate ornamentation, lest they should\nbe offended with his criticisms. If the Prophets could visit our stores\nand see all the fashions there are to tempt the daughters of to-day,\nthey would declaim against our frivolities on the very doorsteps, and\nin view of the Easter bonnets, at the entrance to our churches. The\nbadges which our young women wear as members of societies, pinned in\nrows on broad ribbons, the earrings, the bangles, the big sleeves, the\nbonnets trimmed with osprey feathers, answer to the crisping pins, the\nwimples, the nose jewels, the tablets, the chains, the bracelets, the\nmufflers, the veils, the glasses and the girdles of the daughters of\nZion. If the Prophets, instead of the French milliners and dressmakers,\ncould supervise the toilets of our women, they would dress in far\nbetter taste.\n\n\n\nDANIEL.\n\n\n\nThe name of this Prophet in Hebrew was \"Da##il,\"[FN#5] which\nsignifies \"the judgment of God.\" His Chaldean name was Bethshazzai. He\nwas of the tribe of Judah of the royal family. Josephus calls him one\nof the greatest of the Prophets.\n\n\n\n[FN#5]  Redactor's note. Text was illegible.\n\n\n\nDaniel v.\n\n\n\nBelshazzar the king made a great feast and commanded to bring the\ngolden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out\nof the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his princes,\nhis wives and his concubines, might drink therein.\n\n\n3 Then they brought the golden vessels, . . . and praised the gods of\ngold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.\n\n5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over\nagainst the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall: and the king saw\nthe part of the hand that wrote.\n\n6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled\nhim, so that his knees smote one against another.\n\n7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and\nthe soothsayers. And the king spoke, and said to the wise men of\nBabylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew\nme the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have\na chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the\nkingdom.\n\n8 Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the\nwriting, nor make known the interpretation thereof.\n\n10 Now the queen came into the banquet house, and said, O king, live\nforever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee.\n\n11 There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy\ngods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom,\nlike the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom Nebuchadnezzar thy\nfather made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and\nsoothsayers; . . . now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the\ninterpretation.\n\n13 Then was Daniel brought in; and he said, I will read the writing\nunto the king.\n\n25 And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel,\nUpharsin.\n\n26 This Is The Interpretation Of The Thing: Mene; God Hath Numbered\nThy Kingdom, And Finished It.\n\n27 Tekel; Thou Are Weighed In The Balance, And Art Found Wanting.\n\n28 Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.\n\n29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet,\nand put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation\nconcerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.\n\n20 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.\n\n\nHistorians say that Cyrus was at this time besieging the city and knew\nof this feast, and took this opportunity to make his attack and to slay\nthe king.\n\nIn the midst of the consternation at the feast the queen entered to\nadvise Belshazzar. It is supposed that this queen was the widow of the\nevil Merodach, and was that famous Nitocris whom Herodotus mentions as\na woman of extraordinary prudence and wisdom. She was not present at\nthe feast, as were the king's wives and concubines. It was not\nagreeable to her age and gravity to dissipate at night; but tidings of\nthe consternation in the banquet hall were brought to her, so that she\ncame and entreated him not to be discouraged by the incapacity of the\nwise men to solve the riddle; for there was a man in his kingdom who\nhad more than once helped his father in emergencies and would no doubt\nadvise him. She could not read the writing herself; but she said, let\nthe Prophet Daniel be called. The account she gives of the respect\nNebuchadnezzar had for him, for his insight into the deepest mysteries,\nand of his goodness and wisdom, moved the king to summon Daniel into\nhis presence.\n\nDaniel was now near ninety years of age, and for a long time had not\nbeen in court circles; but the queen dowager remembered him in the\ncourt of the king's father. She reminded her son of the high esteem in\nwhich he was held by his father. The interpretation which\nDaniel gave of these mystic characters was far from easing the king of\nhis fears. Daniel being in years, and Belshazzar still young, he took\ngreater liberty in dealing plainly with him than he had with his\nfather. He read the warning as written on the wall:\n\n\"Thou hast been weighed in the balance and found wanting, and thy\nkingdom is divided and rent from thee.\"\n\nAlthough the exposition of the handwriting was most discouraging, yet\nthe king kept his promise, and put on Daniel the scarlet gown and the\ngold chain.\n\n\n\nMICAH.\n\n\n\nMicah ii.\n\n\n\n9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses;\nfrom their children have ye taken away my glory forever.\n\n\n\nMicah vii.\n\n\n\n6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against\nher mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law.\n\nHere the Israelites are rebuked for their cruel treatment of their own\npeople, robbing widows and selling children into slavery. Family life\nas well as public affairs seems to have become unsettled. The contempt\nand the violation of the laws of domestic duties are a sad symptom of\nuniversal corruption.\n\n\n\nMALACHI.\n\n\n\nMalachi ii.\n\n\n\n11 Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and\nhath married the daughter of a strange god.\n\n14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between\nthee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt\ntreacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.\n\n15 That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your\nspirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.\n\n\nThese Israelites were always violating the national law which forbade\nthem to marry strange women. The corruption of the nation began, say\nthe historians, with the intermarriage of the \"sons of God\"\nwith the \"daughters of men,\" meaning, I suppose, those of the tribes\nwho had a different religion, \"He that marries a heathen woman is as if\nhe made himself son-in-law to an idol.\" They put away the wives of\ntheir own nation, and, as was the fashion at one time, married those of\nother nations. This spoiled the lives of the daughters of Israel. They\nwere uncertain as to their social relations, family, right to their\nchildren, and support in their old age, as a paper of divorce could be\ngiven to them at any time. The denunciations of the Prophets had no\ngreat weight in matters where strong feeling and sound judgment\nconflicted.\n\nCharming women, of the Hittites and of the Midianites, with their\nnovel dress, manners and conversation, attracted the men of Israel.\nThey could not resist the temptation. When the strongest man and the\nwisest one are alike led captive, there is no significance in calling\nwoman--\"the weaker sex.\"\n\nThough few women appear in the closing tragedies of the Old Testament,\nyet the idiosyncrasies of the sex are constantly used to point a moral\nor to condemn a sin.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE KABBALAH.\n\n\n\nThe Bible is an occult book, and a remarkable one. About all creeds\nand faiths this side of Pagandom go to it for their authority. Read in\nthe light of occult teachings, it becomes something more than the old\nbattle ground of controversy for warring religions. Occultism alone\nfurnishes the key to this ancient treasury of wisdom. But to turn now\nto another point, it may be well to call the attention of the readers\nof The Woman's Bible to a few quotations from MacGregor Mathers'\n\"Kabbalah Unveiled,\" which has been pronounced by competent authorities\nthe work of a master hand. This work is a translation of Knorr Von\nRosenroth's \"Kabbalah Denudata.\"\n\nThe Kabbalah--the Hebrew esoteric doctrines--is a system of teachings\nwith which only the very learned attempt to wrestle. It is claimed to\nhave been handed down by oral tradition from angelic sources, through\nAdam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Seventy Elders, to David and to\nSolomon. No attempt was made to commit this sacred knowledge to\nwriting, till, in the early centuries of the Christian era (authorities\ndiffer widely as to the date) the pupils of Rabbi Simeon ben Joachi put\nhis teachings into writing; and this in later ages became known as the\n\"Zohar,\" or \"Book of Splendor.\" Around the name of this Rabbi Simeon\nben Joachi, as one scholarly writer puts it, \"cluster the mystery and\nthe poetry of the religion of the Kabbalah as a gift of the Deity to\nmankind.\" The Zohar, which is only a part of the Kabbalah, is the great\nstore-house of the esoteric teaching of the ancient Hebrews.\n\nReturning to the quotations referred to above, MacGregor Mathers in\nhis preface says: \"I wish particularly to direct the reader's attention\nto the stress laid by the Kabbalah on the feminine aspects of the\nDeity, and to the shameful way in which any allusion to these has been\nsuppressed in the ordinary translations of the Bible, also to the\nKabbalistical equality of male and female.\"\n\nReferring to the Sephiroth (the ten Kabbalistical attributes of God),\nMr. Mathers says:\n\n\"Among these Sephiroth, jointly and severally, we find the development\nof the persons and the attributes of God. Of these, some are male and\nsome are female. Now, for some reason or other, best known to\nthemselves, the translators of the Bible have carefully crowded out of\nexistence and smothered up every reference to the fact that the Deity\nis both masculine and feminine. They have translated a feminine plural\nby a masculine singular in the case of the word Elohim. They have,\nhowever, left an inadvertent admission of their knowledge that it was\nplural in Genesis iv., 26: 'And Elohim said: Let US make man.'\n\n\"Again (v., 27), how could Adam be made in the image of the Elohim,\nmale and female, unless the Elohim were male and female also? The word\nElohim is a plural formed from the feminine singular ALH, Eloh, by\nadding IM to the word. But inasmuch as IM is usually the termination of\nthe masculine plural, and is here added to a feminine noun, it gives to\nthe word Elohim the sense of a female potency united to a masculine\nidea, and thereby capable of producing an offspring. Now we hear much\nof the Father and the Son, but we hear nothing of the Mother in the\nordinary religions of the day. But in the Kabbalah we find that the\nAncient of Days conforms himself simultaneously into the Father and the\nMother, and thus begets the Son. Now this Mother is Elohim.\"\n\nThe writer then goes on to show that the Holy Spirit, usually\nrepresented as masculine, is in fact feminine. The first Sephira\ncontained the other nine, and produced them in succession. The second\nis Chokmah (Wisdom), and is the active and evident Father to whom the\nMother is united. The third is a feminine passive potency called Binah\n(Understanding), and is co-equal with Chokmah. Chokmah is powerless\ntill the number three forms the triangle.\n\n\"Thus this Sephira completes and makes evident the supernal Trinity.\nIt is also called AMA, Mother, the great productive Mother, who is\neternally conjoined with the Father for the maintenance of the\nuniverse in order. Therefore is she the most evident form in whom we\ncan know the Father, and therefore is she worthy of all honor. She is\nthe supernal Mother, co-equal with Chokmah, and the great feminine form\nof God, the Elohim, in whose image man and woman were created,\naccording to the teaching of the Kabbalah, equal before God. Woman is\nequal with man, not inferior to him, as it has been the persistent\nendeavor of so-called Christians to make her. Aima is the woman\ndescribed in the Apocalypse (ch. 12).\"\n\n\"This third Sephira is also sometimes called the Great Sea. To her are\nattributed the Divine names, Alaim, Elohim, and Iahveh Alhim; and the\nangelic order, Arhlim, the Thrones. She is the supernal Mother as\ndistinguished from Malkuth, the inferior Mother, Bride and Queen. . . .\nIn each of the three trinities or triads of the Sephiroth is a dual of\nopposite sexes, and a uniting intelligence which is the result. In\nthis, the masculine and feminine potencies are regarded as the two\nscales of the balance, and the uniting Sephira as the beam which joins\nthem.\"\n\nIn chapter viii. we read: \"Chokmah is the Father, and Binah is the\nMother, and therein are Chokmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding),\ncounterbalanced together in most perfect equality of Male and Female.\nAnd therefore are all things established in the equality of Male and\nFemale; if it were not so, how could they subsist? . . . In their\nconformations are They found to be the perfections of all things--\nFather and Mother, Son and Daughter. These things have not been\nrevealed save unto the Holy Superiors who have entered therein and\ndeparted therefrom, and have known the paths of the Most Holy God, so\nthat they have not erred in them, either on the right hand or on the\nleft.\"\n\nIn a note in regard to Chokmah and Binah the author says: \"Chokmah is\nthe second and Binah is the third of the Sephiroth. This section is a\nsufficient condemnation of all those who wish to make out that woman is\ninferior to man.\"\n\nThe Kabbalah also speaks of the separation of the sexes as the cause\nof evil, or as the author puts it in a note: \"Where there is unbalanced\nforce, there is the origin of evil.\" Further on it is written: \"And\ntherefore is Aima (the Mother) known to be the consummation of\nall things; and She is signified to be the beginning and the end. . . .\nAnd hence that which is not both Male and Female together is called\nhalf a body. Now, no blessing can rest upon a mutilated and defective\nbeing, but only upon a perfect place and upon a perfect being, and not\nat all in an incomplete being. And a semi-complete being cannot live\nforever, neither can it receive blessing forever.\"\n\nThe following is the author's comment upon the above: \"This section is\nanother all-sufficient proof of the teachings maintained throughout the\nKabbalah, namely, that man and woman are from the creation co-equal and\nco-existent, perfectly equal, one with the other. This fact the\ntranslators of the Bible have been at great pains to conceal by\ncarefully suppressing every reference to the feminine portion of the\nDeity, and by constantly translating feminine nouns by masculine. And\nthis is the work of so-called religious men!\"\n\nA learned Jewish Rabbi, with whom the writer is acquainted, says:\n\"Those who write on the Bible must be very careful when they come to\nspeak of the position of woman to make a clear distinction between the\nOld and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament, except in the second\nchapter of Genesis, woman occupies a true and a dignified position in\nsociety and in the family. For example, take the position of Sarah, of\nthe Prophetess Miriam, the sister of Moses, and Deborah the Prophetess.\nThey all exemplify the true position of woman in the Old Testament.\nWhile Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, and the chief writer in the\nNew Testament, condemned woman to silence in the Church and to strict\nobedience to her husband, making her thereby inferior to the man, the\nOld Testament gave free scope to the development of the Holy Spirit in\nwoman. To intensify this teaching upon the position of woman, we find\neven the voice of the Deity telling Abraham: 'Whatever Sarah tells\nthee, thou shalt hearken unto her voice,' showing that woman in her own\nhome was the guiding power.\" In regard to another point this Rabbi\nsays: \"The learned Jewish Rabbis of modern times do not take the rib\nstory literally. And this may be said of many of the olden times.\"\n\nThe Kabbalah and its learned expositors may be said to be \"the\nthrobbing heart\" of the Jewish religion, as was graphically said of the\nmystic teachings of another occult fraternity. And in view of the\nKabbalah's antiquity, and the fact that it is the fountain head of the\nbody of the Old Testament teachings, these quotations as to the real\nKabbalistic teachings in regard to woman, or to the feminine aspects of\nthe Deity, are of first-class importance in such a book as \"The Woman's\nBible.\" In Kabbalistic teachings \"there is one Trinity which comprises\nall the Sephiroth, and it consists of the crown, the king and the\nqueen. . . . It is the Trinity which created the world, or, in\nKabbalistic language, the universe was born from the union of the\ncrowned king and queen.\"\n\nThe rib story is veiled in the mystic language of symbolism. According\nto occult teachings, there was a time before man was differentiated\ninto sexes--that is, when he was androgynous. Then the time came,\nmillions of years ago, when the differentiation into sexes took place.\nAnd to this the rib story refers. There has been much ignorance and\nconfusion in regard to the real nature of woman, indicating that she is\npossessed of a mystic nature and a power which will gradually be\ndeveloped and better understood as the world becomes more enlightened.\nWoman has been branded as the author of evil in the world; and at the\nsame time she has been exalted to the position of mother of the Saviour\nof the world. These two positions are as conflicting as the general\nideas which have prevailed in regard to woman--the great enigma of the\nworld.\n\nTheological odium has laid its hand heavily upon her. \"This odium,\" as\na Rev. D. D. once said to the writer, \"is a thing with more horns, more\nthorns, more quills and more snarls than almost any other sort of thing\nyou have ever heard of. It has kindled as many fires of martyrdom; it\nhas slipnoosed as many ropes for the necks of well-meaning men; it has\nbuilt as many racks for the dislocation of human bones; it has forged\nas many thumbscrews; it has built as many dungeons; it has ostracised\nas many scholars and philosophers; it has set itself against light and\npushed as hard to make the earth revolve the other way on its axis, as\nany other force of mischief of whatever name or kind.\"\n\nAnd that is the fearful thing with which woman has had to contend.\nWhen she is free from it we may be assured that the dawn of a new day\nis not far off. And among the indications pointing that way is the fact\nthat the Bible itself has been \"under treatment\" for some time. What is\nknown as the \"Higher Criticism\" has done much to clear away the clouds\nof superstition which have enveloped it.\n\nOne of the latest works on this line is \"The Polychrome Bible\"--the\nword meaning the different colors in which the texts, the notes, the\ndates, the translations, etc., are printed for the sake of simplifying\nmatters. Prof. Paul Haupt, of Johns Hopkins University, is at the head\nof this great work, ably assisted by a large corps of the best Biblical\nscholars in the world. It is not to be a revision of the accepted\nversion, but a new translation in modern English. The translation is\nnot to be literal except in the highest sense of the word, viz., \"to\nrender the sense of the original as faithfully as possible.\" There are\nto be explanatory notes, historical and archaelogical illustrations of\nthe text, paraphrases of difficult passages, etc. In short, everything\npossible is to be done to simplify and to make plain this ancient book.\nThe contributors have instructions not to hesitate to state what they\nconsider to be the truth, but with as little offence to the general\nreader as possible. This work has been pronounced the greatest literary\nundertaking of the century--a work which will prepare the way for the\ncoming generation to give an entirely new consideration to the\nreligious problem. It was begun in 1890, and will probably not be\ncompleted before 1900.\n\nAnother important work, small in actual size but big with\nsignificance, has just been issued in England under the title of \"The\nBible and the Child.\" It is not, as its name might imply, a book for\nchildren, but it is for the purpose of \"showing the right way of\npresenting the Bible to the young in the light of the Higher\nCriticism.\" Its eight contributors are headed by Canon F. W. Farrar, of\nEngland, and includes a number of noted English divines. An English\nwriter outside of the orthodox pale says: \"It is one of the most\nextraordinary books published in the English language. It is small; but\nit is just the turning-scale to the side of common sense in matters\nreligious. The Church has at last taken a step in the right direction.\nWe cannot expect it to set off at a gallop; but it is fairly ambling\nalong on its comfortable palfrey.\"\n\nThe advance is all along the line; and we need not fear any retrograde\nmovement to the past. Canon Farrar says that the manner in which the\nHigher Criticism has progressed \"is exactly analogous to the way in\nwhich the truths of astronomy and of geology have triumphed over\nuniversal opposition. They were once anathematized as 'Infidel;' they\nare now accepted as axiomatic.\" When an official of the Church of\nEngland of the high standing of Canon Farrar comes out so boldly in the\ninterest of free thought and free criticism on lines hitherto held to\nbe too sacred for human reason to cross, it is one of the \"signs of the\ntimes,\" and a most hopeful one of the future.\n\nAnd now that we are coming to understand the Bible better than to\nworship it as an idol, it will gradually be lifted from the shadows and\nthe superstitions of an age when, as a fetich, it was exalted above\nreason, and placed where a spiritually enlightened people can see it in\nits true light-a book in which many a bright jewel has been buried\nunder some rubbish, perhaps, as well as under many symbolisms and\nmystic language--a book which is not above the application of reason\nand of common sense. And with these new lights on the Bible, it is\ngratifying to know at the same time that the stately Hebrew Kabbalah,\nhoary with antiquity, and the fountain source of the Old Testament,\nplaces woman on a perfect equality in the Godhead. For better authority\nthan that one can hardly ask.\n\nWe are nearing the close of a remarkable century, the last half of\nwhich, and especially the last quarter, has been crowded with\ndiscoveries, some of them startling in their approximation to the\ninner, or occult world--a world in which woman has potent sway. The\nclose of this century has long been pointed to by scholars, by writers\nand by Prophets, within the Church and out of it, as the close of the\nold dispensation and the opening of the new one. And in view of the\nrapid steps which we are taking in these latter years, we can almost\nfeel the breath of the new cycle fan our cheeks as we watch the\ndeepening hues of the breaking dawn.\n\n\nF. E. B.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE NEW TESTAMENT.\n\n\n\n\"Great is Truth, and mighty above all things.\"--1 Esdras, iv., 41.\n\n\n\nDoes the New Testament bring promises of new dignity and of larger\nliberties for woman? When thinking women make any criticisms on their\ndegraded position in the Bible, Christians point to her exaltation in\nthe New Testament, as if, under their religion, woman really does\noccupy a higher position than under the Jewish dispensation. While\nthere are grand types of women presented under both religions, there is\nno difference in the general estimate of the sex. In fact, her inferior\nposition is more clearly and emphatically set forth by the Apostles\nthan by the Prophets and the Patriarchs. There are no such specific\ndirections for woman's subordination in the Pentateuch as in the\nEpistles.\n\nWe are told that the whole sex was highly honored in Mary being the\nmother of Jesus. Surely a wise and virtuous son is more indebted to his\nmother than she is to him, and is honored only by reflecting her\nsuperior characteristics. Why the founders of the Christian religion\ndid not improvise an earthly Father as well as an earthly Mother does\nnot clearly appear. The questionable position of Joseph is\nunsatisfactory. As Mary belonged to the Jewish aristocracy, she should\nhave had a husband of the same rank. If a Heavenly Father was\nnecessary, why not a Heavenly Mother? If an earthly Mother was\nadmirable, why not not {sic} an earthly Father? The Jewish idea that\nJesus was born according to natural law is more rational than is the\nChristian record of the immaculate conception by the Holy Ghost, the\nthird person of the Trinity. These Biblical mysteries and\ninconsistencies are a great strain on the credulity of the ordinary\nmind.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nJesus was the great leading Radical of his age. Everything that he was\nand said and did alienated and angered the Conservatives, those that\nrepresented and stood for the established order of what they believed\nto be the fixed and final revelation of God. Is it any wonder that they\nprocured his death? They had no power to put him to death themselves,\nand so they stirred the suspicions of the Roman authorities.\n\nWe owe the conquest of Christianity to two things. First, to Paul.\nChristianity never would have been anything but a little Jewish sect if\nit had not been for Paul. And the other thing is--what? The conquest\nover death. It was the abounding belief of the disciples that Jesus was\nalive, their leader still, though in the invisible, which made them\nlaugh in the face of death, which made them fearless in the presence of\nthe lions in the arena, which made them seek for the honor and glory of\nmartyrdom, and which gave them such conquest over all fear, all sorrow,\nall toil, as can come only to those who believe that this life is\nmerely a training school, that death is nothing but a doorway and that\nit leads out into the eternal glories and grandeurs beyond.\n\nI think that the doctrine of the Virgin birth as something higher,\nsweeter, nobler than ordinary motherhood, is a slue on all the natural\nmotherhood of the world. I believe that millions of children have been\nas immaculately conceived, as purely born, as was the Nazarene. Why\nnot? Out of this doctrine, and that which is akin to it, have sprung\nall the monasteries and the nunneries of the world, which have\ndisgraced and distorted and demoralized manhood and womanhood for a\nthousand years. I place beside the false, monkish, unnatural claim of\nthe Immaculate Conception my mother, who was as holy in her motherhood\nas was Mary herself.\n\nAnother suggestion. This thought of Jesus as the second person of an\ninconceivable trinity, a being neither of heaven nor earth, but between\nthe two; a being having two natures and one will; a being who was\nignorant as a man, and who suffered as a man, while he knew everything\nas God and could not suffer as God--this conception is part of a scheme\nof the universe which represents humanity as ruined and lost and\nhopeless, God as unjust, and man as looking only to a fearful judgment\nin the ages that are to be. I believe that thousands of people have\nlived since the time of Jesus as good, as tender, as loving, as true, as\nfaithful, as he. There is no more mystery in the one case than in the\nother, for it is all mystery. Old Father Taylor, the famous Methodist\nBethel preacher in Boston, was a Perfectionist, and when he was asked if\nhe thought anybody had since lived who was as good as Jesus, he said:\n\"Yes; millions of them.\" This is Methodist authority.\n\nWhat made Jesus the power he was of his time? In the first place,\nthere was an inexplicable charm about his personality which drew all\nthe common people to him, as iron filings are drawn by a magnet. He\nloved the people, who instinctively felt it, and loved him. Then there\nwas his intellectual power of speech. Most of the sayings of Jesus are\nnot original in the sense that nobody else ever uttered any similar\ntruths before. Confucius, six thousand years before Jesus, gave\nutterance to the Golden Rule. And then there was the pity, the\nsympathy, the tenderness of the man. And then he had trust in God--\ntrust in the simple Fatherhood of God, that never could be shaken.\nJesus taught us, as no one else has ever done it, the humanness of God\nand the divineness of man, so that, standing there eighteen hundred\nyears ago, he has naturally and infallibly attracted the eyes, the\nthought, the love, the reverence of the world.\n\nWhen it is dark in the morning, and before the sun rises, there are\nhigh peaks that catch the far-off rays and begin to glow, while the\nrest of the world still lies in shadow. So there are mountainous men,\nnot supernatural, but as natural as the mountains and the sun--\nmountainous men who catch the light before our common eyes on the\nplains and in the valleys can see it, who see and proclaim from their\nlofty heights far-off visions of truth and beauty that we as yet cannot\ndiscern.\n\n\nANON.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF MATTHEW.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nMatthew i.\n\n\n\n16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,\nwho is called Christ.\n\n17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen\ngenerations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are\nfourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto\nChrist are fourteen generations.\n\n\nSaint Matthew is supposed to be distinguished from the other Apostles\nby the frequency of his references to the Old Testament. He records\nmore particulars of Jesus than the others do, far more of his birth,\nhis sayings and his miracles.\n\nThere has been much difference of opinion among writers of both sacred\nand profane history as to the paternity of Jesus, and whether he was a\nreal or an ideal character. If, as the Scriptures claim, he descended\nfrom heaven, begotten by the Holy Ghost, the incarnation of God\nhimself, then there was nothing remarkable in his career, nor\nmiraculous in the seeming wonders which he performed, being the soul\nand the centre of all the forces of the universe of matter and of mind.\nIf he was an ideal character, like the gifted hero of some novel or\ntragedy, his great deeds and his wise sayings the result of the\nimagination of some skilful artist, then we may admire the sketch as a\nbeautiful picture. But if Jesus was a man who was born, lived and died\nas do other men, a worthy example for imitation, he is deserving of our\nlove and reverence, and by showing us the possibilities of human nature\nhe is a constant inspiration, our hope and salvation; for the path,\nhowever rough, in which one man has walked, others may follow. As a God\nwith infinite power he could have been no example to us; but with human\nlimitations we may emulate his virtues and walk in his footsteps.\n\nSome writers think that his mother was a wise, great and beautiful\nJewish maiden, and his father a learned rabbi, who devoted much time\nand thought to his son's education. At a period when learning was\nconfined to the few, it was a matter of surprise that as a mere boy he\ncould read and write, and discuss the vital questions of the hour with\ndoctors in the sacred temples. His great physical beauty, the wisdom of\nhis replies to the puzzling questions of the Pharisees and the\nSadducces, his sympathy with the poor and the needy, his ambition for\nall that is best in human development, and his indifference to worldly\naggrandizement, altogether made him a marked man in his day and\ngeneration. For these reasons he was hated, reviled, persecuted, like\nthe long line of martyrs who followed his teachings. He commands far\nmore love and reverence as a true man with only human possibilities,\nthan as a God, superior to all human frailties and temptations.\n\nWhat were years of persecution, the solitude on the mountain, the\nagonies on the cross, with the power of a God to sustain him? But\nunaided and alone to triumph over all human weakness, trials and\ntemptation, was victory not only for Jesus but for every human being\nmade in his image.\n\n\n\nMatthew ii.\n\n\n\n1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod\nthe king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,\n\n2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen\nhis star in the cast, and are come to worship him.\n\n3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all\nJerusalem with him.\n\n4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests together, he demanded\nof them where Christ should be born.\n\n5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea:\n\n8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently\nfor the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word.\n\n9 And they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east,\nwent before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.\n\n11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child\nwith Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they\nhad opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and\nfrankincense, and myrrh.\n\n12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to\nHerod, they departed into their own country another way.\n\n13 And the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying,\nArise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt;\nfor Herod will seek to destroy him.\n\n14 And he arose, and departed into Egypt;\n\n19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in\na dream to Joseph\n\n20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into\nthe land of Israel.\n\n\nThese sages were supposed to be men of great learning belonging to a\nsect called Magians, who came from Arabia. There was a general\nfeeling that the king of the Jews was yet to be born, and that they\nwere soon to see the long expected and promised Messiah. Herod was\ngreatly troubled by the tidings that a child had been born under\nremarkable circumstances. The star spoken of was supposed to be a\nluminous meteor the wise men had seen in their own country before they\nset out on their journey for Bethlehem, and which now guided them to\nthe house where the young child was. Notwithstanding the common\nsurroundings, the wise men recognizing something more than human in the\nchild, fell down and worshiped him and presented unto him the most\nprecious gifts which their country yielded. Some have supposed that the\nfrankincense and the myrrh were intended as an acknowledgment of his\ndeity, as the gold was of his royalty.\n\nTo defeat the subtle malice of Herod, who was determined to take the\nchild's life, Joseph was warned in a dream to flee into Egypt with the\nchild and his mother. The wise men did not return to Herod as\ncommanded, but went at once to their own country.\n\n\n\nMatthew ix.\n\n\n\n18 Behold, there came a certain ruler, saying, My daughter is even now\ndead; but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.\n\n19 And Jesus arose and followed him.\n\n2 And behold, a woman, which was diseased twelve years, came behind\nhim, and touched the hem of his garment:\n\n21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I\nshall be whole.\n\n22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter,\nbe of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was\nmade whole from that hour.\n\n23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, * * *\n\n24 He said, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And\nthey laughed him to scorn,\n\n25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the\nhand, and the maid arose.\n\n\n\nMatthew xiv.\n\n\n\n3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and put him in prison for Herodias'\nsake, his brother Philip's wife.\n\n4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.\n\n5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude,\nbecause they counted him as a prophet.\n\n6 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced\nbefore them, and pleased Herod.\n\n7 Whereupon he promised to give her whatsoever she would ask.\n\n8 And she being before instructed of her met, Give me here John\nBaptist's head in a charger.\n\n9 And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake he\ncommanded it to be given her,\n\n10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.\n\n11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and\nshe brought it to her mother.\n\n12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and\nwent and told Jesus.\n\n\nJosephus says that Herodias was niece both to her former husband,\nPhilip, and to Herod, with whom she at this time lived. Herod had\ndivorced his own wife in order to take her; and her husband Philip was\nstill living, as well as the daughter Salome, whom he had by her. No\nconnection could be more contrary to the law of God than this. John,\ntherefore, being a prophet and no courtier, plainly reproved Herod, and\ndeclared that it was not lawful for him to retain Herodias. This\ngreatly offended Herod and Herodias, and they cast John into prison,\nHerodias waited her opportunity to wreak her malice on him, counting\nJohn's reproof an insult to her character as well as an interference\nwith her ambition.\n\nAt length when Herod celebrated his birthday, entertaining his nobles\nwith great magnificence, the daughter of Herodias danced before them\nall, with such exquisite grace as to delight the company, whereupon\nHerod promised her whatever she desired, though equal in value to half\nhis kingdom. Salome consulted her mother, who urged her to demand the\nhead of John the Baptist. By the influence of Herodias, Herod, contrary\nto his own conscience, was induced to put John to death, for he feared\nhim as a righteous man.\n\nIt must have been a great trial to the daughter, who might have asked\nso many beautiful gifts and rare indulgences, to yield all to her\nwicked mother's revenge. But these deeds were speedily avenged. It is\nsaid that Salome had her head cut off by the ice breaking as she passed\nover it. Herod was shortly after engaged in a disastrous war on account\nof Herodias, and was expelled from his territories; and both died in\nexile, hated by everybody and hating one another.\n\n\nL. C. S.\n\n\n\nIn regard to the charge against Herodias, which is current among\ntheological scandal-mongers, there is not a moderately intelligent jury\nof Christendom (if composed half of men and half of women) which, after\nexamining all the available evidence, would not render a verdict in her\nfavor of \"Not Guilty.\" The statement that She \"paid the price of her\nown daughter's debasement and disgrace for the head of John the\nBaptist,\" is an assertion born wholly of the ecclesiastical, distorted\nimagination. Not even a hint, much less an iota of proof, to\nwarrant such an assertion, is found anywhere in history--sacred or\nprofane. While some anonymous writer of the early Christian centuries\ndid put in circulation the charge that John the Baptist was put to\ndeath at the instigation of Herodias (without implicating her\ndaughter's character, however), Josephus, on the contrary, explicitly\ndeclares that his death was wholly a political matter, with which the\nnames of Herodias and her daughter are not even connected by rumor.\nSays Josephus: \"When others came in crowds about him (John the\nBaptist), for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, Herod, who\nfeared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it\ninto his power and inclination to raise a rebellion (for they seemed\nready to do anything he should advise), thought it best, by putting him\nto death, to prevent any mischief he might cause. . . . Accordingly he\nwas sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the\ncastle I before mentioned, and was there put to death.\"\n\nNow, the jury must remember that Josephus was born in Jerusalem about\n38 A. D., that he was an educated man and in a position to know the\nfacts in this case, owing both to his prominent position among the Jews\nand to his study of contemporaneous history. But that, on the other\nhand, the anonymous writers who bring Herodias' name into the\ntransaction, are not traceable further back than the fourth century of\nour era, and that even they do not bring any charge against her\ncharacter as a mother.\n\n\nE. B. D.\n\n\n\nMatthew xv.\n\n\n\n21 Then Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.\n\n22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan cried unto him, saying, Have mercy\non me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with\na devil.\n\n23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples besought him to\nsend her away.\n\n24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of\nthe house of .Israel.\n\n25 Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me.\n\n26 But he said, It is not meet to take the children's food, and to\ncast it to dogs.\n\n27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which\nfall from their master's table.\n\n23 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith:\nbe it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from\nthat very hour.\n\n\nPeter had a house in Capernaum; and his wife's mother lived with them;\nand Jesus lodged with them when in that city. It is hoped\nthat his presence brought out the best traits of the mother-in-law, so\nas to make her agreeable to Peter. As soon as Jesus rebuked the fever,\nshe was able without delay to rise and to wait on Jesus and his\ndisciples. These displays of the power of Christ in performing\nmiracles, according to the text, are varied, in almost every\nconceivable way of beneficence; but he wrought no miracles of\nvengeance, even the destruction of the swine was doubtless intended in\nmercy and conducive to much good--so say the commentators. He not only\nhealed the sick and cast out devils, but he made the blind to see and\nthe dumb to speak.\n\nThe woman of Canaan proved herself quite equal in argument with Jesus;\nand though by her persistency she tired the patience of the disciples,\nshe made her points with Jesus with remarkable clearness. His patience\nwith women was a sore trial to the disciples, who were always disposed\nto nip their appeals in the bud. It was very ungracious in Jesus to\nspeak of the Jews as dogs, saying, \"It is not meet to take the\nchildren's food, and to cast it to dogs.\" Her reply, \"Yet the dogs eat\nof the crumbs which fall from the master's table,\" was bright and\nappropriate. Jesus appreciated her tact and her perseverance, and\ngranted her request; and her daughter, the text says, was healed.\n\nWe might doubt the truth of all these miracles did We not see so many\nwonderful things in our own day which we would have pronounced\nimpossible years ago. The fact of human power developing in so many\nremarkable ways proves that Jesus's gift of performing miracles is\nattainable by those who, like him, live pure lives, and whose blood\nflows in the higher arches of the brain. If one man, at any period of\nthe world's history, performed miracles, others equally gifted may do\nthe same.\n\n\n\nMatthew xx.\n\n\n\n20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons,\nworshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.\n\n21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant\nthat these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the\nother on the left, in thy kingdom.\n\n\nZebedee, the father of James and of John, was dead; and he was not so\nconstant a follower of Christ as his wife; so she is mentioned\nas the mother of Zebedee's children, which saying has passed into a\nconundrum, \"Who was the mother of Zebedee's children?\" Scott in his\ncommentaries gives her name as Salome. Whatever her name, she had great\nambition for her sons, and asked that they might have the chief places\nof honor and authority in his kingdom. Her son James was the first of\nthe Apostles who suffered martyrdom. John survived all the rest and is\nnot supposed to have died a violent death.\n\nA mother's ambition to lift her sons over her own head in education\nand position, planning extraordinary responsibilities for ordinary men,\nhas proved a misfortune in many cases. Many a young man who would be a\nsuccess as a carpenter would be a failure as the governor of a State.\nMothers are quite apt to overestimate the genius of their children and\npush them into niches which they cannot fill.\n\n\n\nMatthew xxii.\n\n\n\n23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no\nresurrection and asked him,\n\n24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his\nbrother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.\n\n25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had\nmarried a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his\nbrother:\n\n26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.\n\n27 And last of all the woman died also.\n\n28 Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the\nseven? for they all had her.\n\n29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the\nScriptures, nor the power of God.\n\n30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in\nmarriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.\n\n\nJesus reminded the Sadducees that marriage was intended only for the\npresent world, to replenish the earth and to repair the ravages which\ndeath continually makes among its inhabitants; but as in the future\nstate there was to be no death, so no marriage. There the body even\nwould be made spiritual; and all the employments and the pleasures pure\nand angelic. The marriage relation seems to have been a tangled problem\nin all ages. Scientists tell us that both the masculine and feminine\nelements were united in one person in the beginning, and will probably\nbe reunited again for eternity.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nMatthew xxv.\n\n\n\n1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which\ntook their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.\n\n2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.\n\n3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:\n\n4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.\n\n5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.\n\n6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh;\ngo ye out to meet him.\n\n7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.\n\n8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our\nlamps are gone out.\n\n9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for\nus and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.\n\n10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were\nready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.\n\n11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to\nus.\n\n12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.\n\n\nIn this chapter we have the duty of self-development impressively and\nrepeatedly urged in the form of parables, addressed alike to man and to\nwoman. The sin of neglecting and of burying one's talents, capacities\nand powers, and the penalties which such a course involve, are here\nstrikingly portrayed.\n\nThis parable is found among the Jewish records substantially the same\nas in our own Scriptures. Their weddings were generally celebrated at\nnight; yet they usually began at the rising of the evening star; but in\nthis case there was a more than ordinary delay. Adam Clarke in his\ncommentaries explains this parable as referring chiefly to spiritual\ngifts and the religious life. He makes the Lord of Hosts the\nbridegroom, the judgment day the wedding feast, the foolish virgins the\nsinners whose hearts were cold and dead, devoid of all spiritual\ngraces, and unfit to enter the kingdom of heaven, The wise virgins were\nthe saints who were ready for translation, or for the bridal\nprocession. They followed to the wedding feast; and when the chosen had\nentered \"the door was shut.\"\n\nThis strikes us as a strained interpretation of a very simple parable,\nwhich, considered in connection with the other parables, seems to apply\nmuch more closely to this life than to that which is to come, to the\nintellectual and the moral nature, and to the whole round of human\nduties. It fairly describes the two classes which help to make up\nsociety in general. The one who, like the foolish virgins, have never\nlearned the first important duty of cultivating their own individual\npowers, using the talents given to them, and keeping their own lamps\ntrimmed and burning. The idea of being a helpmeet to somebody else has\nbeen so sedulously drilled into most women that an individual life,\naim, purpose and ambition are never taken into consideration. They\noftimes do so much in other directions that they neglect the most vital\nduties to themselves.\n\nWe may find in this simple parable a lesson for the cultivation of\ncourage and of self-reliance. These virgins are summoned to the\ndischarge of an important duty at midnight, alone, in darkness, and in\nsolitude. No chivalrous gentleman is there to run for oil and to trim\ntheir lamps. They must depend on themselves, unsupported, and pay the\npenalty of their own improvidence and unwisdom. Perhaps in that bridal\nprocession might have been seen fathers, brothers, friends, for whose\nservice and amusement the foolish virgins had wasted many precious\nhours, when they should have been trimming their own lamps and keeping\noil in their vessels.\n\nAnd now, with music, banners, lanterns, torches, guns and rockets fired\nat intervals, come the bride and the groom, with their attendants and\nfriends numbering thousands, brilliant in jewels, gold and silver,\nmagnificently mounted on richly caparisoned horses--for nothing can be\nmore brilliant than were those nuptial solemnities of Eastern nations.\nAs this spectacle, grand beyond description, sweeps by, imagine the\nfoolish virgins pushed aside, in the shadow of some tall edifice, with\ndark, empty lamps in their hands, unnoticed and unknown. And while the\ncastle walls resound with music and merriment, and the lights from every\nwindow stream out far into the darkness, no kind friends gather round\nthem to sympathize in their humiliation, nor to cheer their loneliness.\nIt matters little that women may be ignorant, dependent, unprepared for\ntrial and for temptation. Alone they must meet the terrible emergencies\nof life, to be sustained and protected amid danger and death by their\nown courage, skill and self-reliance, or perish.\n\nWoman's devotion to the comfort, the education, the success of men in\ngeneral, and to their plans and projects, is in a great measure due to\nher self-abnegation and self-sacrifice having been so long and so\nsweetly lauded by poets, philosophers and priests as the acme of human\ngoodness and glory.\n\nNow, to my mind, there is nothing commendable in the action of young\nwomen who go about begging funds to educate young men for the ministry,\nwhile they and the majority of their sex are too poor to educate\nthemselves, and if able, are still denied admittance into some of the\nleading institutions of learning throughout our land. It is not\ncommendable for women to get up fairs and donation parties for churches\nin which the gifted of their sex may neither pray, preach, share in the\noffices and honors, nor have a voice in the business affairs, creeds\nand discipline, and from whose altars come forth Biblical\ninterpretations in favor of woman's subjection.\n\nIt is not commendable for the women of this Republic to expend much\nenthusiasm on political parties as now organized, nor in national\ncelebrations, for they have as yet no lot or part in the great\nexperiment of self-government.\n\nIn their ignorance, women sacrifice themselves to educate the men of\ntheir households, and to make of themselves ladders by which their\nhusbands, brothers and sons climb up into the kingdom of knowledge,\nwhile they themselves are shut out from all intellectual companionship,\neven with those they love best; such are indeed like the foolish\nvirgins. They have not kept their own lamps trimmed and burning; they\nhave no oil in their vessels, no resources in themselves; they bring no\nlight to their households nor to the circle in which they move; and\nwhen the bridegroom cometh, when the philosopher, the scientist, the\nsaint, the scholar, the great and the learned, all come together to\ncelebrate the marriage feast of science and religion, the foolish\nvirgins, though present, are practically shut out; for what know they\nof the grand themes which inspire each tongue and kindle every\nthought? Even the brothers and the sons whom they have educated, now\nrise to heights which they cannot reach, span distances which they\ncannot comprehend.\n\nThe solitude of ignorance, oh, who can measure its misery!\n\nThe wise virgins are they who keep their lamps trimmed, who burn oil\nin their vessels for their own use, who have improved every advantage\nfor their education, secured a healthy, happy, complete development,\nand entered all the profitable avenues of labor, for self-support, so\nthat when the opportunities and the responsibilities of life come, they\nmay be fitted fully to enjoy the one and ably to discharge the other.\n\nThese are the women who to-day are close upon the heels of man in the\nwhole realm of thought, in art, in science, in literature and in\ngovernment. With telescopic vision they explore the starry firmament,\nand bring back the history of the planetary world. With chart and\ncompass they pilot ships across the mighty deep, and with skilful\nfingers send electric messages around the world. In galleries of art,\nthe grandeur of nature and the greatness of humanity are immortalized\nby them on canvas, and by their inspired touch, dull blocks of marble\nare transformed into angels of light. In music they speak again the\nlanguage of Mendelssohn, of Beethoven, of Chopin, of Schumann, and are\nworthy interpreters of their great souls. The poetry and the novels of\nthe century are theirs; they, too, have touched the keynote of reform\nin religion, in politics and in social life. They fill the editors' and\nthe professors' chairs, plead at the bar of justice, walk the wards of\nthe hospital, and speak from the pulpit and the platform.\n\nSuch is the widespread preparation for the marriage feast of science\nand religion; such is the type of womanhood which the bridegroom of an\nenlightened public sentiment welcomes to-day; and such is the triumph\nof the wise virgins over the folly, the ignorance and the degradation\nof the past as in grand procession they enter the temple of knowledge,\nand the door is no longer shut.\n\n\n\nMatthew xxvi.\n\n\n\n6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,\n\n7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious\nointment, and poured it on his head.\n\n8 But. when his disciples saw it, they said, To what purpose is this\nwaste?\n\n9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the\npoor.\n\n10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the\nwoman?\n\n11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.\n\n12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it\nfor my burial.\n\n13 Verily, I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached,\nthere shall also this be told for a memorial of her.\n\n\n\nMatthew xxvii.\n\n\n\n19 When Pilate was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto\nhim, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have\nsuffered many things this day in a dream, because of him.\n\n24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a\ntumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the\nmultitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see\nye to it.\n\n25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on\nour children.\n\n55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus\nfrom Galilee, ministering unto him;\n\n56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and\nJoses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.\n\n61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over\nagainst the sepulchre.\n\n\nIt is a common opinion among Christians that the persecutions of the\nJews in all periods and latitudes is a punishment on them for their\ncrucifixion of Jesus, and that this defiant acceptance of the\nresponsibility is being justly fulfilled.\n\n\n\nMatthew xxviii.\n\n\n\n1 In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn came Mary Magdalene\nand the other Mary to see the sepulchre.\n\n2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord\ndescended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the\ndoor, and sat upon it.\n\n3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:\n\n4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.\n\n5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for I\nknow that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.\n\n7 Go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead;\nand behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him.\n\n8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with great joy.\n\n9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them,\nsaying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshiped\nhim.\n\n10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: tell my brethren that\nthey go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.\n\n\nAmong the witnesses of the crucifixion, this melancholy and untimely\nscene, there were some women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and\nhad waited on him, supplying his wants from their substance. Affection\nand anxious concern induced them to be present, and probably they stand\nafar off, fearing the outrages of the multitude. Words cannot\nexpress the mixed emotions of true gratitude, reverence, sorrow and\ncompassion which must have agitated their souls on this occasion. We\nfind from John, who was also present, that Mary the mother of Jesus was\na spectator of this distressing scene.\n\nWhen Jesus was brought before Pilate, he was greatly troubled as to\nwhat judgment he should give, and his hesitation was increased by a\nwarning from his wife, to have no part in the death of that righteous\nman; for she had terrifying dreams respecting him, which made her\nconclude that his death would be avenged by some unseen power.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF MARK.\n\n\n\nMark iii.\n\n\n\n31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without,\nsent unto him,\n\n32 And the multitude sat about him, and said unto him, Behold, thy\nmother and thy brethren seek for thee.\n\n33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?\n\n34 And he looked round about and said. Behold my mother and my brethren!\n\n35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and\nmy sister and mother.\n\n\nMany of the same texts found in the Book of Matthew are repeated by\nthe other Evangelists. It appears from the text that the earnestness of\nJesus in teaching the people, made some of his friends, who did not\nbelieve in his mission, anxious. Even his mother feared to have him\nteach doctrines in opposition to the public sentiment of his day. His\nwords of seeming disrespect to her, simply meant to imply that he had\nan important work to do, that his duties to humanity were more to him\nthan the ties of natural affection.\n\nMany of the ancient writers criticise Mary severely, for trying to\nexercise control over Jesus, assuming rightful authority over him.\nTheophylact taxes her with vainglory; Tertullian accuses her of\nambition; St. Chrysostom of impiety and of disbelief; Whitby says, it\nis plain that this is a protest against the idolatrous worship of Mary.\nShe was generally admitted to be a woman of good character and worthy\nof all praise; but whatever she was, it ill becomes those who believe\nthat she was the mother of God to criticise her as they would an\nordinary mortal.\n\n\n\nMark x.\n\n\n\n2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man\nto put away his wife? tempting him.\n\n3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?\n\n4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to\nput her away.\n\n5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your\nheart he wrote you this precept.\n\n6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.\n\n7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave\nto his wife;\n\n8 And they twain shall be one flesh:\n\n9 what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.\n\n\nThe question of marriage was a constant theme for discussion in the\ndays of Moses and of Jesus, as in our own times. The Pharisees are\nstill asking questions, not that they care for an answer on the highest\nplane of morality, but to entrap some one as opposed to the authorities\nof their times. Life with Jesus was too short and his mission too stern\nto parley with pettifoggers; so he gives to them a clear cut,\nunmistakable definition as to what marriage is: \"Whoever puts away his\nwife, save for the cause of unchastity, which violates the marriage\ncovenant, commits adultery.\" Hence, under the Christian dispensation we\nmust judge husband and wife by the same code of morals.\n\nIf this rule of the perfect equality of the sexes were observed in all\nsocial relations the marriage problem might be easily solved. But with\none code of morals for man and another for woman, we are involved in\nall manner of complications. In England, for example, a woman may marry\nher husband's brother; but a man may not marry his wife's sister. They\nhave had \"a deceased wife's sister's bill\" before Parliament for\ngenerations. Ever and anon they take it up, look at it with their opera\nglasses, air their grandfather's old platitudes over it, give a sickly\nsmile at some well-worn witticism, or drop a tear at a pathetic whine\nfrom some bishop, then lay the bill reverently back in its sacred\npigeon-hole for a period of rest.\n\nThe discussion in the United States is now in the form of a\nhomogeneous divorce law in all the States of the Union, but this is not\nin woman's interest. What Canada was to the Southern slaves under the\nold regime, a State with liberal divorce laws is to fugitive wives. If\na dozen learned judges should get together, as is proposed, to revise\nthe divorce laws, they would make them more stringent in liberal States\ninstead of more lax in conservative States. When such a commission is\ndecided upon, one-half of the members should be women, as they have an\nequal interest in the marriage and divorce laws; and common justice\ndemands that they should have an equal voice in their reconstruction. I\ndo not think a homogeneous law desirable; though I should like to see\nNew York and South Carolina liberalized, I should not like to see South\nDakota and Indiana more conservative.\n\n\n\nMark xii.\n\n\n\n41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people\ncast money into the treasury; and many that were rich cast in much.\n\n42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she thew in two mites,\nwhich make a farthing.\n\n43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I\nsay unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in than all they\nwhich have cast into the treasury:\n\n44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want\ndid cast in all that she had, even all her living.\n\n\nThe widow's gift no doubt might have represented more generosity than\nall beside, for the large donations of the rich were only a part of\ntheir superfluities, and bore a small proportion to the abundance which\nthey still had, but she gave in reality of her necessities. The small\ncontribution was of no special use in the treasury of the Church, but\nas an act of self-sacrifice it was of more real value in estimating\ncharacter. Jesus with his intuition saw the motives of the giver, as\nwell as the act.\n\nThis woman, belonging to an impoverished class, was trained to self-\nabnegation; but when women learn the higher duty of self-development,\nthey will not so readily expend all their forces in serving others.\nPaul says that a husband who does not provide for his own household is\nworse than an infidel. So a woman, who spends all her time in churches,\nwith priests, in charities, neglects to cultivate her own natural\ngifts, to make the most of herself as an individual in the scale of\nbeing, a responsible soul whose place no other can fill, is worse than\nan infidel. \"Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice,\"\nshould be woman's motto henceforward.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF LUKE.\n\n\n\nLuke i.\n\n\n\n5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest\nnamed Zacharias, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her\nname was Elizabeth.\n\n6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the\ncommandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.\n\n7 And they had no child; and they both were now well stricken in years.\n\n8 And it came to pass, that, while he executed the priest's office\nbefore God--his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of\nthe Lord.\n\n11 And there appeared unto him an angel standing on the right side of\nthe altar of incense.\n\n12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.\n\n13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is\nheard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt\ncall his name John.\n\n14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his\nbirth.\n\n15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink\nneither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy\nGhost.\n\n\nLuke was the companion of the Apostle Paul in all of his labors during\nmany years. He also wrote the Acts of the Apostles.\n\nHe was a Syrian, and became acquainted with the Christians at Antioch.\nHe is called by Paul \"the beloved physician.\"\n\nLuke opens his book with the parentage and the birth of John. His\nfather, Zacharias, was a priest, and his mother, Elizabeth, was also\ndescended from Aaron. They were exemplary persons. They habitually\nwalked in all upright course of obedience to all the commandments. They\nhad no children, but in answer to their prayers a son was at last given\nto them, whose name was John, which signifies \"grace, or favor of the\nLord.\"\n\nWhile Zacharias ministered at the altar, an angel appeared to him to\ntell him of the advent of his son. The vision was so startling that\nZacharias was struck dumb for a season. The same angel appeared soon\nafter to Mary, the mother of Jesus, with glad tidings of her\nmotherhood. She and Elizabeth met often during that joyful period, and\ntalked over the promised blessings. John was born about six months\nbefore Jesus, and is sometimes called his forerunner.\nElizabeth and Mary were cousins on the mother's side.\n\nSoon after the angel appeared to Mary she went in haste to the home of\nZacharias, and saluted Elizabeth, who said, \"Blessed art thou among\nwomen; and how comes this honor to me, that the mother of my Lord\nshould cross my threshold?\" Mary replied, \"My soul doth magnify the\nLord that he hath thus honored his handmaiden. Henceforth all\ngenerations shall call me blessed.\"\n\nWhen Elizabeth's son was born, the neighbors, cousins and aunts all\nassembled and at once volunteered their opinions as to the boy's name,\nand all insisted that he should be named \"Zacharias,\" after his father.\nBut Elizabeth said, \"No; his name is John, as the angel said.\" As none\nof the family had ever been called by that name, they appealed by signs\nto the father (who was still dumb); but he promptly wrote on the table,\n\"His name is John.\"\n\n\n\nLuke ii.\n\n\n\n36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess.\n\n37 And she was a widow of about four-score and four years, which\ndeparted not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers\nnight and day.\n\n\nAnna having lost her husband in the prime of her life, remained a\nwidow to her death. She resided near the temple that she might attend\nall its sacred ordinances. Having no other engagements to occupy her\nattention, she spent her whole time in the service of God, and joined\nfrequent fastings with her constant prayers for herself and her people.\nShe was employed day and night in those religious exercises, so says\nthe text; but Scott allows the poor widow, now over eighty years of\nage, some hours for rest at night (more merciful than the Evangelist).\nShe came into the temple just as Simon held the child in his arms, and\nshe also returned thanks to God for the coming of the promised Saviour,\nand that her eyes had beheld him.\n\n\n41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the\nPassover.\n\n42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after\nthe custom of the feast.\n\n43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child\nJesus tarried behind in Jerusalem: and Joseph and his mother knew not\nof it.\n\n44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's\njourney: and they sought him among their\nkinsfolk and acquaintance.\n\n45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem,\nseeking him.\n\n46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the\ntemple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and\nasking them questions.\n\n47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and\nanswers.\n\n49 And when they saw him, his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou\nthus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.\n\n49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not\nthat I must be about my Father's business?\n\n50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.\n\n51 And he went with them to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but\nhis mother kept all these sayings in her heart.\n\n\nThese texts contain all that is said of the childhood and the youth of\nJesus, though we should have expected fuller information on so\nextraordinary a subject. Joseph and Mary went up to the feast of the\npassover every year, and it was the custom to take children of that age\nwith them. They journeyed in a great company for mutual security, and\nthus in starting they overlooked the boy, supposing that he was with\nthe other children. But when the families separated for the night they\ncould not find him, so they journeyed back to Jerusalem and found him\nin a court of the temple, listening to, and asking questions of the\ndoctors, who were surprised at his intelligence.\n\nIt is often said that he was disputing with the doctors, which the\ncommentators say gives a wrong impression; he was modestly asking\nquestions. Neither Mary nor Joseph remembered nor fully understood what\nthe angel had told them concerning the mission of their child; neither\ndid they comprehend the answer of Jesus. However, he went back with\nthem to Nazareth, and was subject to them in all things, working at the\ncarpenter's trade until he entered on his mission. It was a great\nmistake that some angel had not made clear to Mary the important\ncharacter and mission of her son, that she might not have been a\nseeming hindrance on so many occasions, and made it necessary for Jesus\nto rebuke her so often, and thus subject herself to criticism for his\nseeming disrespect.\n\n\n\nLuke xiii.\n\n\n\n11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity\neighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up\nherself.\n\n12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her,\nWoman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.\n\n13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made\nstraight, and glorified God.\n\n14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because\nthat Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people,\nThere are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come\nand be healed, but not on the Sabbath day,\n\n15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each\none of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and\nlead him away to watering?\n\n16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan\nhath bound, lo, these eighteen years, he loosed from this bond on the\nSabbath day?\n\n17 And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were\nashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that\nwere done by him.\n\n\nJesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day, and\nsaw the distress of this woman who attended worship; he called her to\nhim, and, by the laying on of his hands and by prayer, immediately\nrestored her; and being made straight, she glorified God before all for\nthis unexpected deliverance. The ruler of the synagogue, who hated the\ndoctrines of Jesus and envied the honor, tried to veil his enmity with\npretence of singular piety, telling the people that they should come\nfor healing other days and not on the holy rest of the Sabbath, as if\nthe woman had come there on purpose for a cure, or as if a word and a\ntouch attended with so beneficent an effect could break the Sabbath.\nJesus' rebuke of the malice and hypocrisy of the man was fully\njustified.\n\nThe Sabbath-day-Pharisees are not all dead yet. While more rational\npeople are striving to open libraries, art galleries and concert halls\non Sundays, a class of religious bigots are endeavoring to close up on\nthat day, all places of entertainment for the people. The large class\nof citizens shut up in factories, in mercantile establishments, in\noffices, and in shops all the week, should have the liberty to enjoy\nthemselves in all rational amusements on Sunday. All healthy sports in\nthe open air, music in parks, popular lectures in all the school\nbuildings, should be encouraged and protected by law for their benefit.\n\n\n\nLuke xviii.\n\n\n\n2 There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded\nman:\n\n3 And there was a widow in that City; and she came unto him, saying,\nAvenge me of mine adversary.\n\n4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself,\nThough I fear not God, neither regard man;\n\n5 Yet because this widow troubleth me. I will avenge her, lest by her\ncontinual coming she weary me.\n\n6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.\n\n7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto\nhim, though he bear long with them?\n\n\nThe lesson taught in this parable is perseverance. Everything can be\naccomplished by continued effort. Saints hope to acquire all spiritual\ngraces through prayers; philanthropists to carry out their reform\nmeasures through constant discussion; politicians their public measures\nby continued party combat and repeated acts of legislation. Through\nforty years of conflict we abolished slavery. Through fifty years of\nconflict we have partially emancipated woman from the bondage of the\nold common law of England, and crowned her with the rights of full\ncitizenship in four States in the American Republic.\n\nThe condition of the woman in this parable, bowed to the earth with\nall her disabilities, well represents the degraded condition of the sex\nunder every form of government and of religion the world over; but,\nunlike her, women still, in many latitudes, make their appeals in vain\nat cathedral altars and in the halls of legislation.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe sentiment concerning the equality of male and female, which Paul\navowed to the Galatians, is perfectly in accord with what \"Luke\"\nreports of Jesus' own custom. It will be remembered that the chief\nadherents of Paul accepted only this report (and this only partly) as\nworthy of credit; and therein we find the statement that many female\nministers had accompanied Jesus and the male ministers, as they\nwandered (in Salvation Army fashion) \"throughout every city and village\npreaching.\" It is true that we now find a qualifying passage in\nreference to the female ministers, namely \"which ministered unto him of\ntheir substance\" (Luke, ch. 8, v. 3). But this is, plainly, one of\nthose numerous marginal comments, made at late date (when all the\noriginal manuscripts had disappeared), by men who had, doubtless, lost\nknowledge of women's original equality in the ministry; for Ignatius of\nAntioch, one of the earliest Christian writers, expressly affirms that\nthe deacons were \"not ministers of meats and drinks, but ministers of\nthe Church of God.\"\n\nAlthough this is well known, our modern theologians seem to have been\nunable to avoid jumping to the conclusion that, whenever women are\nmentioned in the ministry, it must be only as ministers of\ntheir substance, either as a kind of commissaries, or, at most, as\nkindergarten officials. It is manifestly true that the early Church was\nimmensely indebted to the benefactions of rich widows and virgin\nheiresses for the means of sustaining life in its fellowship. Thecla,\nPaula, Eustochium, Marcella, Melanie, Susanna, are but a few of the\nwomen of wealth who gave both themselves and their large fortunes to\nthe establishment of the ethics of Jesus. Yet Paula's greatest work\n(from men's standpoint of great works) is rarely mentioned in\nChristendom, and it is significant of the degradation which women\nsuffered at the hands of the Church that the time came when Churchmen\ncould not believe that she had performed it, even with Jerome's\nacknowledgment confronting them, and consequently erased the word\n\"sister\" accompanying the name Paula, substituting therefor the word\n\"brother!\"\n\nPaula founded and endowed monasteries, won to the Christian cause\nallegiance from one of the noblest families of Greece and Rome, and\noriginated within the monasteries the occupation of copying\nmanuscripts, to which civilization is indebted for the preservation of\nmuch precious literature; but her most important service to the Church\nwas her co-labor with Jerome in the great task of translating the\nJewish scriptures from the original Hebrew into Latin. It was Paula who\nsuggested and inspired the undertaking, furnishing the expensive works\nof reference, without which it would have been impossible, and being\nherself a woman of fine intellect, highly trained, and an excellent\nHebrew scholar, revised and corrected Jerome's work; then, finally,\nassisted by her brilliant daughter, Eustochium, performed the enormous\ntask of copying it accurately for circulation. It was the least that\nJerome could do to dedicate the completed work to those able\ncoadjutors, and it is an amazing thing to find Churchmen still\neulogizing Jerome as \"author of the Vulgate,\" without the slightest\nreference to the fact that, but for Paula's help, the Vulgate would not\nhave come into existence. But until men and women return to more\nnatural relations, until women cast off their false subserviency,\nthereby helping men to get rid of their unnatural arrogance, nothing\ndifferent from the injustice Christendom has shown Paula can be looked\nfor.\n\n\nE. B. D.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JOHN.\n\n\n\nJohn ii.\n\n\n\nAnd the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the\nmother of Jesus was there:\n\n\n2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.\n\n3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They\nhave no wine.\n\n4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour\nis not yet come.\n\n5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do\nit.\n\n7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they\nfilled them up to the brim.\n\n8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now and bear unto the governor of\nthe feast. And they bare it.\n\n9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine,\nhe called the bridegroom.\n\n10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good\nwine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou\nhast kept the good wine until now.\n\n\nJohn was distinguished among the Apostles for his many virtues, and\nwas specially honored as the bosom friend of Jesus.\n\nHe is supposed to have lived in the neighborhood of Judea until the\ntime approached for the predicted destruction of Jerusalem; then he\nwent to Asia and resided some years in Ephesus, was banished to the\nIsland of Patmos by the Emperor Domitian, and returned to Asia after\nthe death of that Emperor. He lived to be a hundred years of age, and\ndied a natural death, being the only Apostle who escaped martyrdom.\nJohn alone records the resurrection of Lazarus, and many things not\nmentioned in the other Gospels.\n\nProbably Mary was related to one of the parties to the marriage, for\nshe appears to have given directions as one of the family. As Joseph is\nnot mentioned either on this occasion or afterwards, we may suppose\nthat he died before Jesus entered into his public ministry. There was\nno disrespect intended in the word \"woman\" with which Jesus addressed\nhis mother, as the greatest princesses were accosted even by their\nservants in the same manner among the ancients. Jesus merely intended\nto suggest that no one could command when he should perform miracles,\nas they would in any ordinary event\nsubject to human discretion.\n\nThe Jews always kept a great number of water-pots filled with water in\ntheir houses for the ceremonial washing prescribed by law. Commentators\ndiffer as to how much these pots contained, but it is estimated that\nthe six contained a hogshead. The ruler of the feast was generally a\nLevite or a priest; and he expressed his surprise that they should have\nkept the best wine until the last.\n\n\n\nJohn iv.\n\n\n\n5. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar.\n\n6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his\njourney, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.\n\n7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her,\nGive me to drink.\n\n9 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)\n\n9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being\na Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews\nhave no dealings with the Samaritans.\n\n10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God,\nand who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have\nasked of him, and he would have given thee living water.\n\n27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with\nthe woman, yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou\nwith her?\n\n\nAs the Samaritans were not generally disposed to receive the Jews into\ntheir houses, Jesus did not try to enter, but sat down by Jacob's well,\nand sent his disciples into the town to buy some necessary provisions.\nThe prejudices against each other were so inveterate that they never\nasked for a favor, hence the woman was surprised when Jesus spoke to\nher. They might buy of each other, but never borrow nor receive a favor\nor gift, nor manifest friendship in any way.\n\nBut Christ, despising all such prejudices that had no foundation\neither in equity or in the law of God, asked drink of the Samaritan\nwoman. He did not notice the woman's narrow prejudices, but directed\nher attention to matters of greater importance. He told her though she\nshould refuse him the small favor for which he asked because he was a\nJew, yet he was ready to confer far greater benefits on her, though a\nSamaritan. The living water to which Jesus referred, the woman did not\nunderstand.\n\n\n16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.\n\n17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto\nher, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:\n\n18 For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast is not\nthy husband: in that saidst thou truly.\n\n19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.\n\n28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city,\nand saith to the men.\n\n29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not\nthis the Christ?\n\n39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the\nsaying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.\n\n40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that\nhe would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.\n\n41 And many more believed because of his own word.\n\n\nThe woman could not understand Jesus' words because she had no\nconviction of sin nor desire for a purer, better life; and as soon as\npossible she changed the subject of the conversation from her private\nlife to the subjects of controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans.\n\n\n\nJohn viii.\n\n\n\n2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the\npeople came unto him: and he sat down, and taught them.\n\n3 And the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in\nadultery; and when they had set her in the midst,\n\n4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery,\n\n5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but\nwhat sayest thou?\n\n6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.\nBut Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as\nthough he heard them not.\n\n7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said\nunto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone\nat her.\n\n8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.\n\n9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience,\nwent out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and\nJesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.\n\n10 He said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no\nman condemned thee?\n\n11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I\ncondemn thee: go, and sin no more.\n\n\nThe Scribes and the Pharisees concocted a plan to draw Jesus into a\nsnare. They concluded from many of his doctrines that he deemed himself\nauthorized to alter or to abrogate the commands of Moses; therefore\nthey desired his opinion as to the fitting punishment for an\nadulteress. If he had ordered them to execute her, they would doubtless\nhave accused him to the Romans of assuming a judicial authority,\nindependent of their government; had he directed them to set her at\nliberty, they would have represented him to the people as an enemy to\nthe law, and a patron of the most infamous characters; and had he\nreferred them to the Roman authority, they would have accused him to\nthe multitude as a betrayer of their\nliberties.\n\n\n\nJohn ix.\n\n\n\nAnd as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.\n\n\n2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man,\nor his parents, that he was born blind?\n\n3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but\nthat the works of God should be made manifest in him.\n\n\nA prevalent idea of the Jews was that, in accord with the ten\ncommandments, the sins of the parents were visited upon the children.\nThis is recognized as absolute law to-day; but it by no means follows\nthat all afflictions are the result of sin. The blindness may have\nresulted from a combination of circumstances beyond the control of the\nparents. The statement does not disprove the law of transmission, but\nsimply shows that defects are not always the result of sin.\n\n\n\nJohn xi.\n\n\n\nNow a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of\nMary and her sister Martha.\n\n\n3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom\nthou lovest is sick.\n\n5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.\n\n6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days\nstill in the same place where he was.\n\n17 When Jesus came, he found that he bad lain in the grave four days\nalready.\n\n20 Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met\nhim: but Mary sat still in the house.\n\n21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if then hadst been here, my\nbrother had not died.\n\n22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God\nwill give it thee.\n\n23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.\n\n24 Martha saith unto him, 1 know that he shall rise again in the\nresurrection at the last day.\n\n25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life:\n\n28 And she went her way, and called Mary her sister, saying, The\nMaster is come, and calleth for thee.\n\n29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.\n\n32 When Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at\nhis feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother\nhad not died.\n\n35 Jesus wept.\n\n36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!\n\n41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.\n\n43 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.\n\n44 And he that was dead came forth.\n\n\nIt appears that Jesus was a frequent visitor at the home of Mary,\nMartha and Lazarus, and felt a strong friendship for them. They lived\nin Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem. Many Jews came out from the city\nto express their sympathy. Martha did not fully understand Jesus; she\nconsidered him as a prophet who wrought miracles by faith\nand prayer in the same manner as the ancient prophets.\n\nThe grief of Mary, the tears of the Jews, and his own warm friendship\nfor the sisters, affected Jesus himself to tears and groans. In\nappealing to Divine power, Jesus wished to show the unbelieving Jews\nthat his miracles were performed by influence from above and not by the\nspirit of evil, to which source they attributed his wonderful works.\nMany who were said to witness this miracle did not believe.\n\nAfter this Jesus again rested at the home of Mary, where she washed\nhis feet and wiped them with the hair of her head, and then anointed\nhim with costly spices from an alabaster box. He then went up to\nJerusalem to attend the passover.\n\n\n\nJohn xx.\n\n\n\nThe first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet\ndark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the\nsepulchre.\n\n\n2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other\ndisciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away\nthe Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.\n\n3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the\nsepulchre.\n\n4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter,\nand came first to the sepulchre.\n\n5 And he stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying;\nyet went he not in.\n\n6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre,\nand seeth the linen clothes lie.\n\n7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen\nclothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.\n\n8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the\nsepulchre, and he saw, and believed.\n\n9 For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from\nthe dead.\n\n10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.\n\n11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept,\nshe stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre.\n\n12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the\nother at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.\n\n13 And they say unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou? She saith unto\nthem, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they\nhave laid him.\n\n14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus\nstanding, and knew not that it was Jesus.\n\n15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?\nShe, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou\nhast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take\nhim away.\n\n16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him,\nRabboni, which is to say, Master.\n\n17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my\nFather: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my\nFather, and your Father, and to my God, and your God.\n\n18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the\nLord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.\n\n\nMary appears to have arrived at the sepulchre before any of the other\nwomen, and conversed with Jesus. Though the disciples, in visiting the\ntomb, saw nothing but cast-off clothes, yet Mary sees and talks with\nangels and with Jesus. As usual, the woman is always most ready to\nbelieve miracles and fables, however extravagant and though beyond all\nhuman comprehension. Several women purposed to be at the tomb at sunrise\nto embalm the body.\n\nThe men who visited the tomb saw no visions; but all the women saw\nJesus and the angels, though the men, who went to the tomb twice, saw\nnothing. Mary arrived at the tomb before light, and waited for the\nother women; but seeing some one approaching, she supposed he was the\nperson employed by Joseph to take care of the garden, so asked him what\nhad been done to him. Though speaking to a supposed stranger, she did\nnot mention any name. Jesus then called her by name; and his voice and\nhis address made him known to her. Filled with joy and with amazement,\nshe called him \"Rabboni,\" which signifies, \"teacher.\" Jesus said unto\nher, \"Touch me not.\"\n\nThis finishes the consideration of the four Gospels--the direct\nrecorded words of Jesus upon the question of purity; and all further\nreferences should harmonize, in spirit, with his teachings, and should\nbe so interpreted, without regard to contrary assertions by learned but\nunwise commentators.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nIs it not astonishing that so little is in the New Testament concerning\nthe mother of Christ? My own opinion is that she was an excellent woman,\nand the wife of Joseph, and that Joseph was the actual father of Christ.\nI think there can be no reasonable doubt that such was the opinion of\nthe authors of the original Gospels. Upon any other hypothesis it is\nimpossible to account for their having given the genealogy of Joseph to\nprove that Christ was of the blood of David. The idea that he was the\nSon of God, or in any way miraculously produced, was an afterthought,\nand is hardly entitled now to serious consideration. The Gospels were\nwritten so long after the death of Christ that very little was known of\nhim, and substantially nothing of his parents. How is it that not one\nword is said about the death of Mary, not one word about the death of\nJoseph? How did it happen that Christ did not visit his mother after his\nresurrection? The first time he speaks to his mother is when he was\ntwelve years old. His mother having told him that she and his father had\nbeen seeking him, he replied: \"How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not\nthat I must be about my father's business?\" The second time was at the\nmarriage feast in Cana, when he said to her: \"Woman, what have I to do\nwith thee?\" And the third time was at the cross, when \"Jesus, seeing his\nmother standing by the disciple whom he loved, said to her: 'Woman,\nbehold thy son;' and to the disciple: 'Behold thy mother.'\" And this is\nall.\n\nThe best thing about the Catholic Church is the deification of Mary;\nand yet this is denounced by Protestantism as idolatry. There is\nsomething in the human heart that prompts man to tell his faults more\nfreely to the mother than to the father. The cruelty of Jehovah is\nsoftened by the mercy of Mary.\n\nIs it not strange that none of the disciples of Christ said any thing\nabout their parents--that we know absolutely nothing of them? Is there\nany evidence that they showed any particular respect even for the\nmother of Christ? Mary Magdalene is, in many respects, the tenderest\nand most loving character in the New Testament {sic}. According to the\naccount, her love for Christ knew no abatement, no change--true even in\nthe hopeless shadow of the cross. Neither did it die with his death.\nShe waited at the sepulchre; she hastened in the early morning to his\ntomb; and yet the only comfort Christ gave to this true and loving soul\nlies in these strangely cold and heartless words: \"Touch me not.\"\n\n\nANON.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF ACTS.\n\n\n\nActs v.\n\n\n\nBut a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a\npossession.\n\n\n2 And kept back a part of the price, and brought a certain part, and\nlaid it at the apostles' feet.\n\n3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to\nthe Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?\n\n4 While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was\nit not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine\nheart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.\n\n5 And Ananias bearing the words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and\ngreat fear came on all them that heard these things.\n\n6 And the young men arose and carried him out, and buried him.\n\n7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife not\nknowing what was done, came in,\n\n8 And Peter answered her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so\nmuch? And she said, Yea, for so much.\n\n9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to\ntempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have\nburied thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.\n\n10 Then she fell down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost.\n\n\nThis book is supposed to have been written by Luke about thirty years\nafter the death of Jesus, as all appendix to the Evangelists. It\ncontains brief mention of a few women of varied characters and\nfortunes. We have the usual number afflicted with religious mysteries,\nwith the gift of prophecy, and some possessed of the devil, who\npromptly comes forth at the commands of Jesus and of his Apostles.\n\nThe case of Ananias and Sapphira was very peculiar. This example was\nmade, not of avowed enemies, but avowed friends. Many expositors say\nthat Ananias had made a vow to give his estate for the support of the\nChristian cause, and that sacrilege was the crime for which he was\npunished. He had, from corrupt motives, attempted to impose upon the\nApostles in pretending to give all that he had to the church, while\nwithholding a good share for himself. He had evidently instructed his\nwife to substantiate his assertions. Obedience of one responsible being\nto another may ofttimes prove dangerous, even if the command comes from\na husband.\n\n\n\nActs ix.\n\n\n\n36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by\ninterpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and\nalms-deeds.\n\n37 And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick and died.\n\n38 And as Lydda was night to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that\nPeter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him to come to\nthem.\n\n39 Then Peter arose and went with them, and they brought him into the\nupper chamber, and all the widows stood weeping, and shewing the\ngarments which Dorcas made.\n\n40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and\nturning him to the body said, Tabitha, rise. And she opened her eyes:\nand when she saw Peter, she sat up.\n\n41 And when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive.\n\n\nTabitha was called by this name among the Jews; but she was known to\nthe Greeks as Dorcas. She was considered an ornament to her Christian\nprofession; for she so abounded in good works and alms-deeds that her\nwhole life was devoted to the wants and the needs of the poor. She not\nonly gave away her substance, but she employed her time and her skill\nin laboring constantly for the poor and the unfortunate. Her death was\nlooked upon as a public calamity. This is the first instance of any\nApostle performing a miracle of this kind. There was no witness to this\nmiracle. What men teach in their high places, such women as Dorcas\nillustrate in their lives.\n\n\n\nActs xii.\n\n\n\n12 And he came into the house of Mary the mother of John, whose\nsurname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.\n\n13 And as Peter knocked at the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named\nRhoda.\n\n14 And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for\ngladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.\n\n15 And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed\nthat it was even so. Then they said, It is an angel.\n\n16 But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door,\nand saw him, they were astonished.\n\n17 But he declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the\nprison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the\nbrethren.\n\n\nHerod the king, at this time, killed James, the brother of John, and\ncast Peter into prison, and intended to destroy the other Apostles as\nsoon as he could entrap them. Peter, it is said, escaped from prison by\nthe miraculous interposition of an angel, who led him to the gate of\none Mary, the sister of Barnabas, where Christians often assembled for\nreligious worship. Although they often prayed for Peter's deliverance;\nthey could not believe Rhoda when she said that\nPeter stood knocking at the gate.\n\n\n\nActs xvi.\n\n\n\n14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of\nThyatira, which worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened\nunto the things which were spoken of Paul.\n\n15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us,\nsaying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my\nhouse, and abide there.\n\n16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel\npossessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters\nmuch gain by soothsaying:\n\n17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the\nservants of the most high God.\n\n18 And this did she many days. But Paul said to the spirit, I command\nthee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out\nthe same hour.\n\n19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone,\nthey caught Paul and Silas,\n\n20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, these men, being Jews,\ndo exceedingly trouble our city.\n\n22 And the multitude rose up against them; and the magistrates rent\noff their clothes, and commanded to beat them.\n\n23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into\nprison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.\n\n\nLydia, a native Thyatiran, who at this time resided at Philippi, was a\nmerchant who trafficked in purple clothes, which were held in great\nestimation. She was a Gentile, but was proselyted to the Jewish\nreligion, believed in the teachings of Paul and was baptized with her\nhousehold. She was a person in affluent circumstances; and being of a\ngenerous disposition, was very hospitable. As the Apostles were poorly\naccommodated elsewhere, she entertained them in her own house.\n\nThe Apostles and their friends on their way to the oratory, where they\nwent to worship, were met by a female slave who was possessed with a\nspirit of divination and uttered ambiguous predictions. She had\nacquired great reputation as an oracle or fortune-teller and for making\nwonderful discoveries. By this practice she brought her masters\nconsiderable gain and was very valuable to them. When Paul cast out the\nevil spirit and restored the maiden to her normal condition of body and\nmind, her master was full of wrath, as she was no longer of any value\nto him; and he accused Paul before the magistrates. The people were all\nstirred with indignation; so they stripped Paul and Silas, scourged\nthem severely; and, without trial, the magistrates threw them into\nprison.\n\n\n\nActs xviii.\n\n\n\nAfter these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;\n\n\n2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come\nfrom Italy, with his wife Priscilla, (because that Claudius had\ncommanded all Jews to depart from Rome,)\n\n3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and\nwrought: (for by their occupation they were tentmakers).\n\n18 And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took\nhis leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him\nPriscilla and Aquila;\n\n24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent\nman, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.\n\n25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent\nin the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord,\nknowing only the baptism of John.\n\n26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and\nPriscilla had heard, they took him and expounded the way of God more\nperfectly.\n\n\nIt was an excellent custom of those days for educated people to be\nalso instructed in some mechanical trade. This served them as an\namusement in prosperity, and was a certain resource in case other\nprospects failed. Thus Paul was now prepared to support himself in an\nemergency. He was frequently compelled to work with his hands to\nprovide for his own necessities.\n\nApollos was a native of Alexandria, in Egypt, a ready and graceful\nspeaker, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. Coming to\nEphesus, he boldly preached in the synagogue in the presence of Aquila\nand of Priscilla; and they seeing his ability, zeal and piety, said\nnothing to his disadvantage, though they perceived that his views of\nthe Christian doctrines were very imperfect. So they sought his\nacquaintance and instructed him more fully in the gospel of Jesus. He,\nwith great humility, received their instructions, for he had never been\nmuch among Christians; and no one knew when or by whom he was baptized.\n\n\n\nActs xxi.\n\n\n\n8 And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came\nunto Cesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist,\nwhich was one of the seven; and abode with him.\n\n9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.\n\n\nPhilip, one of the seven deacons in Cesarea, was also an Evangelist, and\nhad the peculiar honor of having four daughters, all endowed with the\ngift of prophecy; and perhaps they gave intimations to Paul of his\napproaching trials. With Philip's four daughters, all endowed with the\nspirit of prophecy, and Priscilla as a teacher of great principles to\nthe orators of her time, and one of Paul's chosen travelling companions,\nwomen are quite highly honored in the Book of Acts, if we except the\ntragedy of the unfortunate wife who obeyed her husband.\n\n\n\nActs xxiv.\n\n\n\n24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla,\nwhich was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the\nfaith in Christ.\n\n25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to\ncome, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I\nhave a convenient season, I will call for thee.\n\n\nDrusilla was a daughter of that Herod who beheaded James, the brother\nof John, and sister to King Agrippa. She was married to the king of the\nEmerines, Azizas; but she left her husband and went to live with Felix.\nHe and Drusilla were curious to hear more authentic accounts of Jesus\nand his doctrines. They do not seem to have been much impressed with\nthe purity of his teachings. Their curiosity did not arise from a love\nof the truth, nor from a desire for a higher, better life, but was a\nmere curiosity, for which it is probable that Felix was responsible, as\nDrusilla doubtless asked her husband at home all she desired to know.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe Rev. Dr. Edwin Hatch expresses the latest decision of historical\ntheology concerning Paul, in frankly confessing: \"His life at Rome and\nall the rest of his history are enveloped in mists from which no single\ngleam of certain light emerges. . . . The place and occasion of his\ndeath are not less uncertain than are the facts of his later life. . .\nThe chronology of the rest of his life is as uncertain as the date of\nhis death. We have no means of knowing when he was born, or how long he\nlived, or at what date the several events of his life took place.\"\nExactly the same may be said of Peter. The strongest probability is\nthat Paul and Peter were two obscure men who lived in the latter part\nof the first, or beginning of the second century, neither of whom could\nhave seen the first century Jesus. It can easily be shown that the\nChristian Church admitted women into her regularly ordained ministry\nduring the first two hundred years of Christianity. Whether Bishop\nDoane is ignorant of this fact, or whether he is merely presuming upon\nwomen's ignorance thereof, it is impossible to say. But one thing is\nclear, and that is, that the time has arrived when all women should be\ninformed of the true status of their sex in the ministry of the\nprimitive Church.\n\nThe first important truth for them to learn concerning the question is\nthat there is a missing link of some five hundred years between the\nclose of that body of literature known to us as the \"Old Testament\" and\nthe compilation of that collection of letters, narratives, etc., now\npresented to us as the \"New Testament.\" Girls of Christian families are\ncommonly inoculated in their ignorant, and therefore helplessly\ncredulous youth, with unquestioning belief that the New Testament was\nwritten in the first century of our era, by disciples who were\ncontemporary with Jesus, and that Peter and Paul were first century\nChristians, the former of whom had personally known and followed Jesus,\nwhile the latter was a convert from Judaism after Jesus' death, never\nhaving seen the teacher himself.\n\nYet he is, indeed, a very ignorant ecclesiastic, who to-day is not\nperfectly well aware that the above belief is pure theory, resting on\nnothing more stable than vague conjecture, irresponsible tradition, and\nslowly evolving fable. Among scholarly Christian theologians no\nquestions are now more unsettled than are the queries: Who wrote the\nGospels? In which of the first three centuries did they assume their\npresent shape? And at what time did Peter and Paul live and quarrel\nwith each other concerning Christian polity?\n\nAs for the passages now found in the New Testament epistles of Paul,\nconcerning women's non-equality with men and duty of subjection, there\nis no room to doubt that they are bare-faced forgeries, interpolated by\nunscrupulous bishops, during the early period in which a combined and\ndetermined effort was made to reduce women to silent submission, not\nonly in the Church, but also in the home and in the State. A most\nlaudably intended attempt to excuse Paul for the inexcusable passages\nattributed to his authorship has been made by a clergyman, who,\naccepting them as genuine Pauline utterances, endeavors to show that\nthey were meant to apply, only to Greek female converts, natives of\nCorinth, and that the command to cover the head and to keep silent in\npublic was warranted, both because veiling the head and face was a\nGrecian custom, and because the women of Corinth were of notoriously\nbad character. In support of this theory our modern apologist quotes\nthe testimony of numerous writers of antiquity who denounced Corinthian\nprofligacy. But, setting aside the fact that the men of Corinth must\nalways have been, at least, as bad as the women, and that a sorry case\nwould be made out for Paul, if it were on the score of morals that he\nordered Greek women to subject themselves to such men, there are yet\ntwo serious impediments in the way of this theory. In the first place,\nthat wealthy and luxurious Corinth to which the writers quoted refer,\nwas no longer in existence in Paul's time; 146 B. C. it was conquered\nby the Romans, who killed the men, carried the women and children into\nslavery, and levelled the dwellings to the ground. For a whole century\nthe site of the once famous city remained a desolate waste, but about\n46 B. C. it was colonized by some Roman immigrants, and a Romanized\ncity, with Roman customs, it was when Paul knew it. Now, not only did\nthe Roman women go unveiled, mingling freely in all public places with\nmen (a fact which Paul, as citizen of a Roman province must have\nknown), but Paul specially commends the Greek woman, Phebe, whom he\nendorses as minister of the Church in the Greek city, Cenchrea (a\nseaport within a few miles of Corinth), and in Acts, chapter 17, we are\nexplicitly told that the Greek converts made by Paul, in Greece, were\n\"chief women,\" \"honorable women.\"\n\nThis is sufficient refutation of the argument of the clergyman who\nstrives to clear the character of Paul at the expense of the character\nof the women of Corinth.\n\n\nE. B. D.\n\n\n\n\n\nEPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.\n\n\n\nRomans xvi.\n\n\n\nI commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church\nwhich is at Cenchrea:\n\n\n2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye\nassist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you; for she hath\nbeen a succourer of many, and of myself also.\n\n3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus:\n\n4 Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I\ngive thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.\n\n6 Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us.\n\n12 Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the\nbeloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord.\n\n13 Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, and mine.\n\n15 Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas,\nand all the saints which are with them.\n\n\nCenchrea was the seaport of Corinth, where a separate church was\nfounded. Phebe was a deaconess, and was probably employed in visiting\nthe sick and in teaching the women in the doctrines of the Church. She\nappears to have been a woman in good circumstances, and probably had\nmore than ordinary intelligence and education. Even Paul acknowledged\nhimself under great obligations to her. Aquila and Priscilla had risked\ntheir lives in protecting the Apostles at Corinth and Ephesus. So Paul\nsent his affectionate salutations and good wishes to all the women who\nhad helped to build up the churches and spread the Gospel of\nChristianity.\n\nIn good works men have always found a reserved force in the women of\ntheir generation. Paul seems to have been specially mindful of all who\nhad received and hospitably entertained him. The men of our times have\nbeen equally thankful to women for serving them, for hospitable\nentertainment, generous donations to the priest hood, lifting church\ndebts, etc., and are equally ready to remand them to their \"divinely\nappointed sphere,\" whenever women claim an equal voice in church creeds\nand discipline. Then the Marys, the Phebes, and the Priscillas are\nordered to keep silence and to discuss all questions with their\nhusbands at home, taking it for granted that all men are logical and\nwise.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nMartin Luther had good cause to declare: \"There is something in the\noffice of a bishop which is dreadfully demoralizing. Even good men\nchange their natures at consecration; Satan enters into them, as he\nentered into Judas, as soon as they have taken the sop.\" But to return\nto the primitive Church, a famous Apostle of that simple era was\nPriscilla, a Jewess, who was one of the theological instructors of\nApollos (the fellow-minister, or fellow-servant, to whom Paul refers in\nhis first letter to the Corinthians). There is strong reason to believe\nthat the Apostle Priscilla, in co-operation with her husband, the\nApostle Aquila, performed the important task of founding the Church of\nRome: for Paul, writing to the Christians, admits that he himself has\nnot yet visited that city; there is no proof whatever that Peter ever\nwent to Rome at all (but, on the contrary, much proof that he wished to\nconfine Christianity to Jewish converts); and yet Paul, hailing\nPriscilla by the current term which specially active Apostles and\nbishops used in addressing other specially active workers in the\nApostolate, \"Helper in Christ Jesus,\" eulogizes her as one known,\ngratefully, by \"all the churches of the Gentiles,\" and recognizes a\nChurch of Rome as established in Priscilla's own house (see Paul's\nletter to the Romans, chapter 16). It is highly probable that that was\nthe tiny acorn from which has grown the present great oak--the Roman\nCatholic Church,--which would profit much by more remembrance and\nimitation of the modest and undogmatic women who helped to give it\nbeing and who nursed it through its infancy.\n\nThe inability of modern men to comprehend the position of women in the\nprimitive Church, is strikingly shown in Chalmers' commentary on the\nfact that Paul used exactly the same title in addressing Priscilla that\nhe uses in greeting Urbane, Although conceding that Priscilla had\nshared the work of an Apostle in teaching Apollos \"the way of God more\nperfectly,\" and, although he knows nothing whatever of Urbane's work,\nyet Chalmers unhesitatingly concludes that Urbane's help to Paul must\nhave been in things spiritual, but that Priscilla's must have been in\nregard to things temporal only: and, as Aquila and Priscilla were an\ninseparable couple, poor Aquila, too, is relegated to Priscilla's\nassumedly inferior position! There is not, however, the slightest\nreason for such a conclusion by Chalmers. It is manifestly due to the\nmodern prejudice which renders the Paul-worshipping male Protestants\nincapable of comprehending that \"Our Great Apostle,\" Paul, was as not a\ngreat Apostle at all, in those days, but a simple, self-sent tent-maker\nwith a vigorous spirit, who gladly shared the \"Apostolic dignity\" with\nall the good women he could rally to his assistance. Chalmers\nconjectures that if Priscilla really did help Paul, it must have been\nas \"a teacher of women and children,\" even while the fact stares him in\nthe face that she was a recognized teacher of the man whom Paul\nspecially and emphatically pronounces his own equal. (Compare Acts,\nchap. 18, V. 26, with 1st Cor., chap. 3.)\n\nTo one who uses unbiassed common sense in regard to the New Testament\nrecords, there can be no question of women's activity and prominence in\nthe early ministry. Paul not only virtually pronounces Priscilla a\nfellow-Apostle and fellow-bishop (Romans, chap. 16, verses 3-5), but\nspecially commends Phebe, a Greek woman, as a minister (diakonos),\nwhich, as we have seen, may be legitimately interpreted either\npresbyter, bishop, or Apostle. That it was well understood, throughout\nthe whole Church, that women had shared the labors of the Apostles, is\nevidenced by Chrysostom's specific eulogy thereupon. Phebe was the\nbishop of the Church in Cenchrea, and that she was both a powerful and\nuseful overseer in the episcopate, Paul testifies in affirming that she\nhad not only been a helper to him, but to many others also. (Romans,\nchap. 16, verses 1-2.) Addressing that first Church of Rome (which was\nin the house of Priscilla and Aquila before Paul, or Peter, or the\nbarely-mentioned Linus, are heard of in Rome), Paul indicates the\nequality of male and female Apostles by mentioning in one and the same\ncategory Priscilla and Aquila, Andronicus and Junia, Mary, \"who\nbestowed much labor among you,\" Amphis, Urbane, Tryphena and Tryphosa,\nPersis, Julia, Rufus and Hermas.\n\n\nE. B. D.\n\n\n\n\n\nEPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS.\n\n\n\n1 Corinthians vii.\n\n\n\n2 Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own\nhusband.\n\n3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise\nalso the wife unto the husband.\n\n10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not\nthe wife depart from her husband:\n\n11 But if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to\nher husband, and let not the husband put away his wife.\n\n12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife\nthat believeth not: and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not\nput her away.\n\n13 And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be\npleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.\n\n14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the\nunbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children\nunclean: but now are they holy.\n\n16 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?\nor how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?\n\n\nThe people appear to have been specially anxious to know what The\nChristian idea was in regard to the question of marriage. The\nPythagoreans taught that marriage is unfavorable to high intellectual\ndevelopment. On the other hand, the Pharisees taught that it is sinful\nfor a man to live unmarried beyond his twentieth year. 'The Apostles\nallowed that in many cases it might be wise for a man to live\nunmarried, as he could be more useful to others, provided that he were\nable to live with that entire chastity which the single life required.\n\nThe Apostle says that Christians should not marry unbelievers, but if\neither should change his or her opinions after, he would not advise\nseparation, as they might sanctify each other. Scott thinks that the\nchildren are no more holy with one unbelieving parent, than when both\nare unbelieving; and he has not much faith in their sanctifying each\nother, except in a real change of faith. A union with an unbeliever\nwould occasion grief and trouble, yet that ought patiently to be\nendured, for God might make use of the unbelieving wife or husband as\nan instrument in converting the other by affectionate and\nconscientious behavior; as this might not be the case, there is no\nreason to oppose the dissolution of the marriage.\n\nThere are no restrictions in the Scriptures on divorced persons\nmarrying again, though many improvised by human laws are spoken of as\nin the Bible.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nIn this chapter Paul laments that all men are not bachelors like\nhimself; and in the second verse of that chapter he gives the only\nreason for which he was willing that men and women should marry. He\nadvised all the unmarried and all widows to remain as he was. Paul sums\nup the whole matter, however, by telling those who have wives or\nhusbands to stay with them--as necessary evils only to be tolerated;\nbut sincerely regrets that anybody was ever married, and finally says\nthat, \"they that have wives should be as though they had none;\"\nbecause, in his opinion, \"he that is unmarried careth for the things\nthat belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but he that is\nmarried careth for the things that are of the world, how he please his\nwife.\"\n\n\"There is this difference, also,\" he tells us, \"between a wife and a\nvirgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she\nmay be holy both in body and spirit; but she that is married careth for\nthe things of the world, how she may please her husband.\" Of course, it\nis contended that these things have tended to the elevation of woman.\nThe idea that it is better to love the Lord than to love your wife or\nhusband is infinitely absurd. Nobody ever did love the Lord--nobody\ncan--until he becomes acquainted with him.\n\nSaint Paul also tells us that \"man is the image and glory of God; but\nwoman is the glory of man.\" And, for the purpose of sustaining this\nposition, he says: \"For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of\nthe man; neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for\nthe man.\" Of course we can all see that man could have gotten along\nwell enough without woman. And yet this is called \"inspired!\" and this\nApostle Paul is supposed to have known more than all the people now\nupon the earth. No wonder Paul at last\nwas constrained to say: \"We are fools for Christ's sake.\"\n\n\nANON.\n\n\n\n1 Corinthians xi.\n\n\n\n3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and\nthe head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.\n\n4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered,\ndishonoureth his head.\n\n5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered\ndishonoureth her head.\n\n7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the\nimage and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.\n\n8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.\n\n9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.\n\n10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of\nthe angels.\n\n11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the\nwoman without the man, in the Lord.\n\n13 judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God\nuncovered?\n\n14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long\nhair, it is a shame unto him?\n\n15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair\nis given her for a covering.\n\n\nAccording to the custom of those days a veil on the head was a token\nof respect to superiors; hence for a woman to lay aside her veil was to\naffect authority over the man. The shaving of the head was a\ndisgraceful punishment inflicted on women of bad repute; it not only\ndeprived them of a great beauty, but also of the badge of virtue and\nhonor.\n\nThough these directions appear to be very frivolous, even for those\ntimes, they are much more so for our stage of civilization. Yet the\nsame customs prevail in our day and are enforced by the Church, as of\nvital consequence; their non-observance so irreligious that it would\nexclude a woman from the church. It is not a mere social fashion that\nallows men to sit in church with their heads uncovered and women with\ntheirs covered, but a requirement of canon law of vital significance,\nshowing the superiority, the authority, the headship of man, and the\nhumility and the subservience of woman. The aristocracy in social life\nrequires the same badge of respect of all female servants. In Europe\nthey uniformly wear caps, and in many families in America, though under\nprotest after learning its significance.\n\nIt is certainly high time that educated women in a Republic should\nrebel against a custom based on the supposition of their heaven-\nordained subjection. Jesus is always represented as having long,\ncurling hair, and so is the Trinity. Imagine a painting of these Gods\nall with clipped hair. Flowing robes and beautiful hair add greatly to\nthe beauty and dignity of their pictures.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe injunctions of St. Paul have had such a decided influence in\nfixing the legal status of women, that it is worth our while to\nconsider their source. In dealing with this question we must never\nforget that the majority of the writings of the New Testament were not\nreally written or published by those whose names they bear. Ancient\nwriters considered it quite permissible for a man to put out letters\nunder the name of another, and thus to bring his own ideas before the\nworld under the protection of an honored sponsor. It is not usually\nclaimed that St. Paul was the originator of the great religious\nmovement called Christianity; but there is a strong belief that he was\nDivinely inspired. His inward persuasions, and especially his visions,\nappeared as a gift or endowment which had the force of inspiration;\ntherefore, his mandates concerning women have a strong hold upon the\npopular mind; and when opponents to the equality of the sexes are put\nto bay, they glibly quote his injunctions.\n\nWe congratulate ourselves that we may shift some of these Biblical,\narguments that have such a sinister effect from their firm foundation.\nHe who claims to give a message must satisfy us that he has himself\nreceived such a message. The origin of the command that women should\ncover their heads is found in an old Jewish or Hebrew legend which\nappears in literature for the first time in Genesis vi. There we are\ntold that the sons of God, that is, the angels, took to wives the\ndaughters of men, and begat the giants and the heroes who were\ninstrumental in bringing about the flood. The Rabbins held that the way\nin which the angels got possession of women was by laying hold of their\nhair; they accordingly warned women to cover their heads in public so\nthat the angels might not get possession of\nthem.\n\nPaul merely repeats this warning, which he must often have heard at\nthe feet of Gamaliel, who was at that time prince or president of the\nSanhedrim, telling women to have a power (that is, protection) on their\nheads because of the angels: \"For this cause ought the woman to have\npower on her head because of the angels.\" Thus the command had its\norigin in an absurd old myth. This legend will be found fully treated\nin a German pamphlet, \"Die Paulinische Angelologie und Daemonologie.\"\nOtto Everling, Gottingen, 1883.\n\nIf the command to keep silence in the churches has no higher origin\nthan that to keep covered in public, should so much weight be given it,\nor should it be so often quoted as having Divine sanction?\n\n\nL. S.\n\n\n\n1 Corinthians xiv.\n\n\n\n34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not\npermitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under\nobedience, as also saith the law.\n\n35 And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at\nhome: for it is a shame for woman to speak in the church.\n\nThe church at Corinth was peculiarly given to diversion and to\ndisputation; and women were apt to join in and to ask many troublesome\nquestions; hence they were advised to consult their husbands at home.\nThe Apostle took it for granted that all men were wise enough to give\nto women the necessary information on all subjects. Others, again,\nadvise wives never to discuss knotty points with their husbands; for if\nthey should chance to differ from each other, that fact might give rise\nto much domestic infelicity. There is such a wide difference of opinion\non this point among wise men, that perhaps it would be as safe to leave\nwomen to be guided by their own unassisted common sense.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nEPISTLES TO THE EPHESIANS AND PHILLIPPIANS.\n\n\n\nEphesians v.\n\n\n\n22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.\n\n23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head\nof the church.\n\n24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be\nto their own husbands in every thing.\n\n25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,\nand gave himself for it;\n\n28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that\nloveth his wife loveth himself.\n\n31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall\nbe joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.\n\n33 Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife\neven as himself: and the wife see that she reverence her husband.\n\n\nIf every man were as pure and as self-sacrificing as Jesus is said to\nhave been in his relations to the Church, respect, honor and obedience\nfrom the wife might be more easily rendered. Let every man love his\nwife (not wives) points to monogamic marriage. It is quite natural for\nwomen to love and to honor good men, and to return a full measure of\nlove on husbands who bestow much kindness and attention on them; but it\nis not easy to love those who treat us spitefully in any relation,\nexcept as mothers; their love triumphs over all shortcomings and\ndisappointments. Occasionally conjugal love combines that of the\nmother. Then the kindness and the forbearance of a wife may surpass all\nunderstanding.\n\n\n\nPhillippians iv.\n\n\n\n2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same\nmind in the Lord.\n\n3 And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which\nlaboured with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other my\nfellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life.\n\nThere were women of note at Phillippi who disagreed and caused\ndivisions in the Church. The Apostle therefore entreated them to make\nmutual concessions for the welfare of the Church. The yokefellow\nreferred to was supposed by some to have been the husband of one of the\nwomen, while others think that he was some eminent minister. But such\nmention by the Apostle must have been highly appreciated by any man or\nwoman for whom it was intended.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nEPISTLES TO TIMOTHY.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\n1 Timothy ii.\n\n\n\n9 In like manner, also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel,\nwith shamefacedness and sobriety: not with braided hair, or gold, or\npearls, or costly array:\n\n10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.\n\n11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.\n\n12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the\nman, but to be in silence.\n\n13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.\n\n14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the\ntransgression.\n\n\nThe Apostle Paul, though older than Timothy, had travelled much with\nhim, and was at one time imprisoned with him in Rome. Paul had\nconverted Timothy to the faith and watched over him as a father. He\noften speaks of him as my son, and was peculiarly beloved by him. When\nPaul was driven from Ephesus he wrote this epistle to Timothy for his\ndirection.\n\nIt is perhaps not fair to judge Paul by the strict letter of the word.\nWe are not well informed of the habits of women in his time in regard\nto personal adornment. What Paul means by \"modest apparel\" (supposing\nthe translation to be correct), we may not precisely understand. Paul\nspeaks especially of \"braided hair.\" In his time Paul evidently\nconsidered as of account the extreme susceptibility of his sex to the\neffect of the garb and adornment of women.\n\nThe Apostles all appeared to be much exercised by the ornaments and\nthe braided hair of the women. While they insisted that women should\nwear long hair, they objected to having it braided lest the beautiful\ncoils should be too attractive to men. But women had other reasons for\nbraiding their hair beside attracting men. A compact braid was much\nmore comfortable than individual hairs free to be blown about with\nevery breeze.\n\nIt appears very trifling for men, commissioned to do so great a work\non earth, to give so much thought to the toilets of women. Ordering the\nmen to have their heads shaved and hair cropped, while the women were\nto have their locks hanging around their shoulders, looks as if they\nfeared that the sexes were not distinguishable and that they must\nfinish Nature's work. Woman's braids and ornaments had a deeper\nsignificance than the Apostles seem to have understood. Her necessities\ncompelled her to look to man for sup port and protection, hence her\nefforts to make herself attractive are not prompted by feminine vanity,\nbut the economic conditions of civilization.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\nThe injunction that women should adorn themselves through good works\nwas sensible. The Apostle did not imply that this adornment was not\nalready possessed by women. Neither did he testify that the generations\nof men, of Prophets and of Apostles had been objects of the good works\nand all the ministrations of self-abnegation, which are required only\nof the mothers of men. Comparatively few women, who have fulfilled the\nspecial function which man assigns to them as their chief duty in life,\nlack the adornment of good works. In addition to these good works of\nmotherhood in the family, woman has ministered to the necessities and\nthe comfort of the sick, the feeble and the poor, through the centuries.\n\nCould Paul have looked down to the nineteenth century with clairvoyant\nvision and beheld the good works of a Lucretia Mott, a Florence\nNightingale, a Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton, not to mention a host of\nfaithful mothers, he might, perhaps, have been less anxious about the\napparel and the manners of his converts. Could he have foreseen a\nMargaret Fuller, a Maria Mitchell, or an Emma Willard, possibly he\nmight have suspected that sex does not determine the capacity of the\nindividual. Or, could he have had a vision of the public school system\nof this Republic, and witnessed the fact that a large proportion of the\nteachers are women, it is possible that he might have hesitated to\nutter so tyrannical an edict: \"But I permit not a woman to teach.\"\n\nHad the Apostle enjoined upon women to do good works without envy or\njealousy, it would have had the weight and the wisdom of a Divine\ncommand. But that, from the earliest record of human events, woman\nshould have been condemned and punished for trying to get knowledge,\nand forbidden to impart what she has learned, is the most unaccountable\npeculiarity of masculine wisdom. After cherishing and nursing helpless.\ninfancy, the most necessary qualification of motherhood is that of\nteaching. If it is contrary to the perfect operation of human\ndevelopment that woman should teach, the infinite and all wise\ndirecting power of the universe has blundered. It cannot be admitted\nthat Paul was inspired by infinite wisdom in this utterance. This was\nevidently the unilluminated utterance of Paul, the man, biassed by\nprejudice. But, it may be claimed that this edict referred especially\nto teaching in religious assemblies. It is strikingly inconsistent that\nPaul, who had proclaimed the broadest definition of human souls, \"There\nis neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male or female, but ye are one\nin Christ Jesus,\" as the Christian idea, should have commanded the\nsubjection of woman, and silence as essential to her proper sphere in\nthe Church.\n\nIt is not a decade since a manifesto was issued by a religious\nconvention bewailing the fact that woman is not only seeking to control\nher property, but claiming the right of the wife to control her person!\nThis seems to be as great an offence to ecclesiasticism in this hour\nand this land of boasted freedom, as it was to Paul in Judea nineteen\ncenturies ago. But the \"new man,\" as well as the \"new woman,\" is here.\nHe is inspired by the Divine truth that woman is to contribute to the\nredemption of the race by free and enlightened motherhood. He is\nproving his fitness to be her companion by achieving the greatest of\nall victories--victory over himself. The new humanity is to be born of\nthis higher manhood and emancipated womanhood. Then it will be possible\nfor motherhood to \"continue in sanctification.\"\n\nThe doctrine of woman the origin of sin, and her subjection in\nconsequence, planted in the early Christian Church by Paul, has been a\npoisonous stream in Church and in State. It has debased marriage and\nmade both canon and civil law a monstrous oppression to woman. M.\nRenan sums up concisely a mighty truth in the following words: \"The\nwritings of Paul have been a danger and a hidden rock--the causes of\nthe principal defects of Christian theology.\" His teachings about woman\nare no longer a hidden rock, however, for, in the light of science, it\nis disclosed to all truth seeking Minds. How much satisfaction it would\nhave been to the mothers adown the centuries, had there been a\ntestimony by Mary and Elizabeth recording their experiences of\nmotherhood. Not a statement by them, nor one about them, except what\nman wrote.\n\nUnder church law, woman's property, time and services were all at the\nhusband's disposal. Woman was not rescued from slavery by the\nReformation. Luther's ninety-five theses, nailed upon the church door\nin Wittenberg, did not assert woman's natural or religious equality\nwith man. It was a maxim of his that \"no gown worse becomes a woman,\nthan that she should be wise.\" A curious old black letter volume,\npublished in London in 1632, declares that \"the reason why women have\nno control in parliament, why they make no laws, consent to none,\nabrogate none, is their original sin.\" The trial of Mrs. Anne\nHutchinson, in the seventeenth century, was chiefly for the sin of\nhaving taught men.\n\nTo-day, in free America, a wife cannot collect damages for injury to\nher person by a municipality. Legally her husband owns her person; and\nhe alone can collect damages if the wife is injured by any defect or\nmishap for which the administration of the municipality is responsible.\nThis was tested in the Court of Appeals in New York in 1890. The judges\ndecided that \"the time and the services of the wife belong to the\nhusband, and if she has received wages from him it was a gift.\" Thus\nthe spirit and the intent of the church law to make the wife a servant\nof the husband, subject to and controlled by him, and engrafted in\ncommon law, is a part of statute law operative in these United States\nto-day. Blackstone admits the outgrowth of common law from canon law,\nin saying: \"Whoever wishes to gain insight into that great institution,\ncommon law, can do so most efficiently by studying canon law in regard\nto married women.\"\n\nJesus is not recorded as having uttered any similar claim that woman\nshould be subject to man, or that in teaching she would be a\nusurper. The dominion of woman over man or of man over woman makes no\npart of the sayings of the Nazarene. He spoke to the individual soul,\nnot recognizing sex as a quality of spiritual life, or as determining\nthe sphere of action of either man or woman.\n\nStevens, in his \"Pauline Theology,\" says: \"Paul has been read as if he\nhad written in the nineteenth century, or, more commonly, as if he had\nwritten in the fifth or seventeenth, as if his writings had no\npeculiarities arising from his own time, education and mental\nconstitution.\" Down these nineteen centuries in a portion of the\nChristian Church the contempt for woman which Paul projected into\nChristianity has been perpetuated. The Protestant Evangelical Church\nstill refuses to place her on an equality with man.\n\nAlthough Paul said: \"Neither is the man without the woman nor the\nwoman without the man in the Lord,\" he taught also that the male alone\nis in the image of God. \"For a man ought not to have his head veiled\nforasmuch as he is the image of God; but the woman is the glory of\nman.\" Thus he carried the spirit of the Talmud, \"aggravated and\nre-enforced,\" into Christianity, represented by the following appointed\ndaily prayer for pious Jews: \"Blessed art thou, O Lord, that thou hast\nnot made me a Gentile, an idiot nor a woman.\" Paul exhibits fairness in\ngiving reasons for his peremptory mandate. \"For Adam was first formed,\nthen Eve,\" he says. This appears to be a weak statement for the higher\nposition of man. If male man is first in station and authority, is\nsuperior because of priority of formation, what is his relation to\n\"whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters bring\nforth, and every winged fowl after his kind,\" which were formed before\nhim?\n\nAnd again, \"Adam was not beguiled, but, the woman being beguiled, hath\nfallen into transgression.\" There was then already existing the\nbeguiling agency. The transgression of Eve was in listening to this\nexisting source of error, which, in the allegory, is styled \"the most\nsubtle beast of the field which the Lord God hath made.\" Woman did not\nbring this subtle agency into activity. She was not therefore the\nauthor of sin, as has been charged. She was tempted by her desire for\nthe knowledge which would enable her to distinguish between good and\nevil. According to this story, woman led the race out of the ignorance\nof innocence into the truth. Calvin, the commentator, says: \"Adam did\nnot fall into error, but was overcome by the allurements of his wife.\"\nIt is singular that the man, who was \"first formed,\" and therefore\nsuperior, and to whom only God has committed the office of teaching,\nnot only was not susceptible to the temptation to acquire knowledge,\nbut should have been the weak creature who was \"overcome by the\nallurements of his wife.\"\n\nBut the story of the fall and all cognate myths and parables are far\nolder and more universal than the ordinary reader of the Bible supposes\nthem to be. The Bible itself in its Hebrew form is a comparatively\nrecent compilation and adaptation of mysteries, the chief scenes of\nwhich were sculptured on temple walls and written or painted on papyri,\nages before the time of Moses. History tells us, moreover, that the\nBook of Genesis, as it now stands, is the work not even of Moses, but\nof Ezra or Esdras, who lived at the time of the captivity, between five\nhundred and six hundred years before our era, and that he recovered it\nand other writings by the process of intuitional memory. \"My heart,\" he\nsays, \"uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast; for the\nspirit strengthened my memory.\"\n\nWith regard to the particular myth of the fall, the walls of ancient\nThebes, Elphantine, Edfou and Karnak bear evidence that long before\nMoses taught, and certainly ages before Esdras wrote, its acts and\nsymbols were embodied in the religious ceremonials of the people, of\nwhom, according to Manetho, Moses was himself a priest. And the whole\nhistory of the fall of man is, says Sharpe, in a work on Egypt, \"of\nEgyptian origin. The temptation of the woman by the serpent, the man by\nthe woman, the sacred tree of knowledge, the cherubs guarding with\nflaming swords the door of the garden, the warfare declared between the\nwoman and the serpent, may all be seen upon the Egyptian sculptured\nmonuments.\"\n\nThis symbology signifies a deeper meaning than a material garden, a\nmaterial apple, a tree and a snake. It is the relation of the soul or\nfeminine part of man, \"his living mother,\" to the physical and external\nman of sense. The temptation of woman brought the soul into the\nlimitations of matter, of the physical. The soul derives its life from\nspirit, the eternal substance, God. Knowledge, through intellect alone,\nis of the limitation of flesh and sense. Intuition, the feminine part\nof reason, is the higher light. If the soul, the feminine part of man,\nis turned toward God, humanity is saved from the dissipations and the\nperversions of sensuality. Humanity is not alone dual in the two forms,\nmale and female, but every soul is dual. The more perfect the balance\nin the individual of masculine and feminine, the more perfect the man\nor the woman. The masculine represents force, the feminine love. \"Force\nwithout love can but work evil until it is spent.\"\n\nPaul evidently was not learned in Egyptian lore. He did not recognize\nthe esoteric meaning of the parable of the fall. To him it was a\nliteral fact, apparently, and Eve was to be to all womankind the\ntransmitter of a \"curse\" in maternity. We know that down to the very\nrecent date of the introduction of anesthetics the idea prevailed that\ntravail pains are the result of, and punishment for, the transgression\nof Mother Eve. It was claimed that it was wrong to attempt to remove\n\"the curse\" from woman, by mitigating her suffering in that hour of\nperil and of agony.\n\nWhatever Paul may mean, it is a fact that the women of our aboriginal\ntribes, whose living was natural and healthful, who were not enervated\nby civilized customs, were not subject to the sufferings of civilized\nwomen. And it has been proven by the civilized woman that a strict\nobservance of hygienic conditions of dress, of diet, and the mode of\nlife, reduces the pangs of parturition. Painless child-bearing is a\nphysiological problem; and \"the curse\" has never borne upon the woman\nwhose life had been in strict accord with the laws of life. Science has\ncome to the rescue of humanity, in the recognition of the truth, that\nthe advancement as well as the conservation of the race is through the\nfemale. The great Apostle left no evidence that he apprehended this\nfact. His audacity was sublime; but it was the audacity of ignorance.\n\nNo more stupendous demonstration of the power of thought can be\nimagined, than is illustrated in the customs of the Church for\ncenturies, when in the general canons were found that \"No woman may\napproach the altar,\" \"A woman may not baptize without extreme\nnecessity,\" \"Woman may not receive the eucharist under a black veil.\"\nUnder canon 81 she was forbidden to write in her own name to lay\nChristians, but only in the name of her husband; and women were not to\nreceive letters of friendship from any one addressed to themselves.\nCanon law, framed by the priesthood, compiled as early as the ninth\ncentury, has come down in effect to the nineteenth, making woman\nsubordinate in civil law. Under canon law, wives were deprived of the\ncontrol of both person and property. Canon law created marriage a\nsacrament \"to be performed at the church door,\" in order to make it a\nsource of revenue to the Church. Marriage, however, was reckoned too\nsinful \"to be allowed for many years to take place within the sacred\nbuilding consecrated to God, and deemed too holy to permit the entrance\nof a woman within its sacred walls at certain periods of her life.\"\n\n\nL. B. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\n1 Timothy iii.\n\n\n\n2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant,\nsober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;\n\n3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but\npatient, not a brawler, not covetous;\n\n4 One that ruleth well in his own house, having his children in\nsubjection with all gravity:\n\n5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take\ncare of the church of God?)\n\n8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to\nmuch wine, not greedy of filthy lucre.\n\n11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful\nin all things.\n\n12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children\nand their own houses well.\n\n\nIn this chapter the advice of the Apostle in regard to the overseer or\nbishop is unexceptionable. The first injunction that relates to woman\nis, that the bishop must be the husband of one wife. Under the present\nideas of Christendom, the inference naturally is that the bishop was\nenjoined to be the husband of but one wife. If, as appears probable,\nthis was an injunction in favor of monogamy, it was a true and\nprogressive idea established with the foundation of the Christian\nChurch.\n\nDeacons also are instructed to be the husbands of one wife. \"Women in\nlike manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all\nthings.\" It is not clear whether this is spoken for the direction of\nwomen in general in the Church, or for the wives of deacons. The\nadvice, however, is equally good for either class. The word \"sober\" in\nthe old version is rendered \"temperate\" in the new one. Whether women\nin those days were liable to take too much wine does not appear. But\nnowhere in the Old or the New Testaments is there an account of\ndrunkenness by women.\n\nThe directions for the conduct of the bishop are explicit. He is to be\n\"gentle, not contentious,\" which sets aside much that distinguishes the\nmasculine nature. In fact, with the exception of the qualification\n\"apt to teach,\" before forbidden, the entire list of the necessary\nqualities of a bishop is that of womanly characteristics. Temperate,\nsober-minded (i. e., not given to trifling speech), orderly, given to\nhospitality, no brawler, no striker (this supposedly refers to\npugilistic tendencies), but gentle, not contentious. Every\nqualification is essentially womanly.\n\n\n1 Timothy v.\n\n3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.\n\n4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to\nshew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and\nacceptable before God.\n\n5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God,\n\n6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.\n\n8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his\nown house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an Infidel.\n\n9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years,\nhaving been the wife of one man.\n\n10 Well reported of for her good works; if she have brought up\nchildren, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints'\nfeet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently\nfollowed every good work.\n\n11 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax\nwanton against Christ, they will marry;\n\n12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.\n\n13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to\nhouse; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking\nthings which they ought not.\n\n14 I will therefore that the Younger women marry, bear children, guide\nthe house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.\n\n15 For some are already turned aside after Satan,\n\n16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve\nthem, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that\nare widows indeed.\n\n\nNo one can be desolate who has a purpose and a sphere of action, with\nability to work. Paul's widow, who was a widow indeed, \"continueth in\nsupplication and prayers night and day.\" What an existence! Desolate\nindeed. Exercising but one faculty of the soul--that of supplication!\nWomen of this period cannot be too thankful, that the numerous\nopportunities for educational and philanthropic work are open to them\nin addition to the opportunities to win subsistence in the various\navocations of life.\n\nThe widow who was to be enrolled, to be provided for by the Church, must\nbe three score years old, having been the wife of one man. Whether this\nis a repudiation of second marriages, or refers to polyandry, is not\napparent. This obligation of the early Church to provide for women who\nhad fulfilled the duties of motherhood, ministered to the afflicted,\nwashed the saints' feet, and diligently followed every good work, is a\nrecognition of a right principle, and which should be made a part of\nsocial organization.\n\nBut he directs that younger women be refused. Paul thought that women\ncould not be loyal followers of Christ and \"desire to marry.\" Therefore\nhe desires them all to marry, to bear children and to rule the family.\nAnother inconsistency of Paul. Having stated as expressly the teaching\nof the spirit that the doctrine forbidding to marry was of devils, he\nhere again claims that when the younger widows desire to, marry they\nhave waxed wanton against Christ. There is even by Paul one place in\nwhich woman is to be the head. If she may not teach, she may provide\nfor the physical comfort of her husband and family.\n\nThe Apostle accuses women of learning to be idle, going about from\nhouse to house, of being tattlers and busybodies--these young widows,\nor unmarried women. What a spectacle the thousands of bread-winning\nyoung and unmarried women of to-day, would be to Paul if he could come\nhere! And these young women have no time to go from house to house, or\neven to fulfill social obligations. And the students in our colleges\nand universities, Paul would not find them tattlers or busybodies. What\ncould the unmarried women of Paul's time do? They had no absorbing\nmental pursuit or physical occupation. Perhaps they could not read; and\nthere was little for them to study. Lacking mental furnishing to noble\nends, they must of necessity deal with trivial matters. What could a\nwoman do who had no home to care for, no business to attend to, perhaps\nnothing to read (if she could read), no social organizations in which\nshe had a place and part except the religious assemblies in which she\nwas to be \"in quietness,\" \"in silence\"?\n\nThey were not worthy of condemnation if they were going from house to\nhouse and tattling. The unmarried woman will not lack opportunity for\nthe dignity of self-support and the ministrations of philanthropy in\nthe new dispensation. Womanhood and its high possibilities of mind and\nof heart are worthy attainments, even though not crowned with self-\nelected motherhood. Whether married or unmarried, the highest duty of\nevery living soul, woman or man, is to seek truth and righteousness;\nand the liberty which is of the spirit of truth does not admit of the\nbondage of husband and wife,\nthe one to the other. Freedom to seek soul development is paramount to\nall other demands.\n\n\n\n1 Timothy i.\n\n\n\n2 Too Timothy, my dearly beloved son: grace, mercy, and peace, from\nGod the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.\n\n5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,\nwhich dwelt first in thy grand-mother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and\nI am persuaded that in thee also.\n\n\nTimothy, whom Paul calls his true child in faith, and whom he placed\nas overseer, or bishop of the first church at Ephesus, as all\ncommentators agree, was the child of mixed parentage, his father being\na Greek and his mother a Jewess. It is supposed that his father died in\nTimothy's childhood, as no mention is made of him. Timothy, then, was\neducated religiously by the teaching and the example of his mother and\nhis grandmother. Paul expresses with fervent emotion his remembrance of\nhis \"beloved child,\" and of the unfeigned faith which is in him, and,\n\"which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice.\"\n\nAfter having instructed Timothy to exercise all the gentle virtues\nwhich are feminine and womanly, the Apostle in this acknowledgment that\nhe was the child of a devout mother and grandmother, discloses a fact\nwhich places in no favorable light his strenuous opposition to woman's\nequality in the Church. This mother and grandmother under whose\nteaching Timothy had become qualified to receive the important office\nof bishop, and whose faithfulness so endeared him to the Apostle, were\nrequired to keep silence in the Church equally with all other women\nwhose evidence of faith were not so conclusive. There was no\ndistinction. The ban was placed upon woman solely on the ground of sex.\n\nThe Church has only in this nineteenth century partially amended this\nrecord, by establishing the order of deaconesses for women who devote\nthemselves to good works and to religious teaching. While in the liberal\ndenominations the pulpit is accessible to woman, it is only in very\nrecent years that in any evangelistic denomination it has been\npermissible for woman to \"teach.\" The priesthood are as unwilling to-day\nas was Paul in the first century, that women shall be placed on an\nequality in offices of distinction. Perhaps this disposition comes of a\ndim, not fully evolved consciousness that, \"when the present evolution\nof woman is complete, a new world will result; for woman is destined to\nrule the world. She is the centre and the fountain of its life,\" which\nthe new man has recently announced from his pulpit.\n\nThere is no prerogative more tenaciously held by the common man than\nthat of rulership. There is no greater opposition to woman's equality\nin the State than there is in the Church, and this notwithstanding the\nfact that the Church and the pulpit are largely sustained by women. The\nChurch is spiritually and actually a womanly institution, and this is\nrecognized by the unvarying expression, \"Mother Church.\" Yet man\nmonopolizes all offices of distinction and of leadership, and receives\nthe salaries for material support. As the inevitable result, spiritual\nlife has become so languid as to be ineffectual, and an effort is being\npersistently pushed by a portion of the Evangelical Church, a portion,\ntoo, which most strenuously keeps its women silent, to fortify the\nChurch by the power of civil government.\n\nThere is no suggestion in the teaching of Jesus, as recorded, of\ncompelling individuals, authorities, or powers, to acknowledge God. The\nreligion of Jesus is a voluntary acceptance of truth. \"God is a spirit,\nand they who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.\" There\ncan be no compulsory life of the spirit, quickened by the source of\nlife, light and love. The masculine idea of compelling a formal\nacknowledgment of God by the State is entirely unchristian.\n\nUntil the feminine is recognized in the Divine Being, and justice is\nestablished in the Church by the complete equality of woman with man,\nthe Church cannot be thoroughly Christian. \"Honor thy father and thy\nmother\" is the commandment. The human race cannot be brought to its\nhighest state until motherhood is equally honored with fatherhood in\nhuman institutions.\n\n\nL. B. C.\n\n\n\n\n\nEPISTLES OF PETER AND JOHN.\n\n\n\n1 Peter iii.\n\n\n\n1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if\nany obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the\nconversation of the wives;\n\n3 Whose adorning, let it not be that out, ward adorning of plaiting\nthe hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;\n\n7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge,\ngiving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel.\n\nWoman's influence is most clearly set forth by all the Apostles in\nmeek submission to their husbands and to all the Church ordinances and\ndiscipline. A reverent silence, a respectful observance of rules and\nauthorities was their power. They could not aid in spreading the gospel\nand in converting their husbands to the true faith by teaching, by\npersonal attraction, by braided hair or ornaments. The normal beauty of\na sanctified heart would be manifested by a meek and quiet spirit,\nvaluable in the sight of God as well as their husbands, and do far more\nto fix their affections and to secure their esteem than the studied\ndecoration of fashionable apparel. Woman's love of satins, of velvets,\nof laces, and of jewels, has its corresponding expression in man's love\nof wealth, of position, and his ambition for personal and family\naggrandizement.\n\nThere is much talk of the poor and the needy, especially during\npolitical campaigns. In the autumn of 1896, when the workingman's\ninterests formed the warp and woof of every speech, three thousand\nchildren stood in the streets of New York City, for whom there was no\nroom in the schoolhouses and no play-grounds; and yet thousands of\ndollars were spent in buying votes. Large, well-ventilated homes for\nthose who do the work of the world, plenty of schoolhouses and play-\ngrounds for the children of the poor, would be much more beneficial to\nthe race than expensive monuments to dead men, and large appropriations\nfrom the public treasury for holidays and convivial occasions to honor\nmen in high places.\n\nThe Apostles having given such specific directions as to the toilets\nof women, their hair, ornaments, manners and position, in the Church,\nthe State and the home, one is curious to know what kind of honor is\nintended for this complete subordination. Man is her head, her teacher,\nher guardian and her Saviour. What Christ is to him, that is he to the\nweaker vessel. It is fair to infer that what he has done in the past he\nwill continue to do in the future. Unless she rebels outright, he will\nmake her a slave, a subject, the mere reflection of another human will.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n2 John i.\n\n\n\n1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children,\n\n5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new\ncommandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that\nwe love one another.\n\n6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.\n\n12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper\nand ink; but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our\njoy may be full.\n\n\nSome critics conjecture that the Church at Jerusalem is meant by the\n\"elect lady,\" and the one at Ephesus by her elect sister. Others\nsuppose that an eminent and honorable Christian woman was intended by\nthe \"elect lady,\" and that some other Christian woman, well known in\nthe Church, was intended by her elect sister. The aged Apostle wrote\nthis short letter to this lady, who was a person of rank, hence he did\nnot scruple to give to her the title of honor. He assured her children\nof his deep interest in their welfare. The word lady was always used in\naddressing, or speaking of one who was an acknowledged superior. In\ntheir travels about the country the Apostles especially enjoyed the\nhospitality of families of rank. Though democratic in their principles,\nthey were susceptible to the attractions of wealth and of culture.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nREVELATION.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nRevelation i.\n\n\n\nThe Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto\nhis servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and\nsignified it by his angel unto his servant John:\n\n\n2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus\nChrist, and of all things that he saw.\n\n3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this\nprophecy and keep those things which are written therein: for the time\nis at hand.\n\n4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and\npeace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from\nthe seven Spirits which are before his throne.\n\n\nJohn Morley once said to the priests--\"We shall not attack you, we\nshall explain you.\" The Book of Revelation, properly Re-Veilings,\ncannot even be approximately explained without some knowledge of\nastrology. It is a purely esoteric work, largely referring to woman,\nher intuition, her spiritual powers, and all she represents. Even the\nname of its putative author, John, is identical in meaning with \"dove,\"\nthe emblem of the Holy Ghost, the female principle of the Divinity.\n\nThis book came down from old Egyptian \"mystery\" times, and was one of\nthe profoundly \"sacred\" and profoundly \"secret\" books of the great\ntemple of Luxor, the words \"sacred\" and \"secret\" possessing the same\nmeaning during the mysteries. All knowledge was anciently concealed in\nthe mysteries; letters, numbers, astrology (until the sixteenth century\nidentical with astronomy), alchemy, the parent of chemistry, these, and\nall other sciences were hidden from the common people. Even to all\ninitiates the most important part of the mysteries was not revealed.\n\nIt is not then strange that such a profoundly mystic book as\nRe-Veilings should be so little understood by the Christian Church\nas to have been many times rejected from the sacred canon. It did not\nappear in the Syriac Testament as late as 1562. Neither did Luther, the\ngreat reformer of the sixteenth century, nor his coworker, Erasmus,\nrespect it, Luther declaring that for his part he would as soon it had\nnot been written; Calvin, also, had small regard for it. The first\ncollection of the New Testament canon, decided upon by the Council of\nLaodicea (A. D. 364), omitted the entire book from its list of sacred\nworks; Jerome said that some Greek churches would not receive it. The\ncelebrated Vatican codex in the papal library, the oldest uncial or\nBiblical manuscript in existence, does not contain Revelation. The\ncanon of the New Testament was fixed as it now is by Pope Innocent I.,\nA. D. 405, with the Book of Revelation still in dispute.\n\nIts mystic character has been vaguely surmised by the later Church,\nwhich, while claiming to be the exponent of spiritual things, has yet\ntaught the grossest materialism, and from no part of the Bible more\nfully than from Revelation. It asserts a literal coming of Christ in\nthe literal clouds of heaven, riding a literal horse, while Gabriel\n(angel of the moon), with a literal trumpet sounds the blast of earth's\ndestruction. A literal devil is to be bound for a thousand years,\nduring which time the saints are to dwell on earth, \"every man to have\na farm,\" as I once heard a devout Methodist declare. \"But there will\nnot be land enough for that,\" objected a brother. \"O, well, the earth\nis now two-thirds water, and that will be dried up,\" was the reply. To\nsuch straits have Christians been driven in their efforts to comprehend\nthis book.\n\nBut during the centuries a few students have not failed to apprehend\nits character; the Abbe Constant (Eliphas Levi), declaring it to be one\nof the masterpieces of occult science. While for even a partial\ncomprehension of Re-Veilings, some knowledge of astrology is required,\nit is no less true that the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation\ndemands a knowledge of astrology, of letters, and of numbers, with\ntheir interchangeable values as they were understood by those who wrote\nit, \"a book written by initiates for initiates.\" Sir William Drummond\nproved that all names of places in the holy land of the Hebrews were\nastronomical.\n\nNot only were Hebrew feasts and seasons based upon that science, but\nmany Christian ones, as Easter and Christmas are due to the same cause.\nThe festival of St. John the Baptist takes place at the time of the\nsun's lowest southern declination, December 22. In like manner the\nfestival of St. John the Evangelist occurs at midsummer day, when the\nsun reaches its highest northern declination. All those church periods\nare purely astronomical or astrological in character. The \"Alpha\" and\n\"Omega\" of Revelation contain profound evolutionary truths,\nsignificative of spirit and of matter, or God unmanifested and\nmanifested.\n\nThe famous seven churches of Asia, to whom this book was largely\naddressed, were all astrological and based upon the seven planets of\nthe ancients. Of these seven churches that of Ephesus stood first. On\nthe shores of Aegean Sea, it was famous for its magnificent temple to\nthe moon-goddess Artemis, or Diana. This temple was one of the seven\nwonders of the ancient world, nations vieing with each other in their\ngifts to add to its splendor. The moon being the emblem or \"angel\" of\nEphesus, the cry of the multitude when Paul spake there, \"Great is\nDiana of the Ephesians!\" was an astrological recognition of the power\nof the moon over human affairs. It is to be noted that none of the\nseven churches of Asia received the writings of Paul. In the astrology\nof Chaldea, as in that of Asia Minor, the moon was first among the\nplanets. It must be remembered that the numbers seven and twelve, so\nfrequently mentioned in Re-Veilings, are of great occult significance\nin relation to the earth.\n\nThe angel of the church of Smyrna, to whom the second letter was\naddressed, was the sun, \"the only sun\" dying and rising each day; that\nof Pergamos, the beneficent Jupiter, who became the supreme god of the\nGreek world. The angel of Thyatira, the lovely and loving Venus, by\nsome deemed the most occult of the planets, sustained her old-time\ncharacter for lasciviousness in her connection with that church. The\nfiery, warlike Mars, angel of the church of Sardis, called \"the Great\nKing,\" and Saturn, the angel of the church of Philadelphia, are\nastrologically known as malefic planets. Saturn identified with Satan,\nmatter and time, is for occult reasons looked upon as the great\nmalefic. The angel of the church of Laodicea,\nMercury or Hermes, the ambiguous planet, is, next to Venus, the most\noccult of all the planets; it is, masculine or feminine, the patron of\nlearning or of thieves, as it is aspected. Most profound secrets\nconnected with the spiritual interests of the race during the middle\nportion of the fifth round are hidden in the letter to the angel of the\nchurch of Laodicea.\n\n\nM. J. G.\n\n\n\nThis book is styled the Apocalypse or Revelation, and is supposed to\nhave been written by John, called the Divine, on the Island of Patmos,\nin the Aegean Sea, whither he was banished. Professor Goldwin Smith, in\na recent work entitled \"Guesses at the Riddle of Existence,\" thinks\nthat we have but little reliable information as to the writers of\neither the Old or the New Testaments. In this case the style is so\ndifferent from that of John, that the same Apostle could not have\nwritten both books. Whoever wrote The Revelation was evidently the\nvictim of a terrible and extravagant imagination and of visions which\nmake the blood curdle.\n\n\n\nRevelation ii.\n\n\n\n18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write:\n\n19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy\npatience.\n\n20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou\nsufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophet, to teach\nand to seduce my servants.\n\n21 And I gave her space to repent; and she repented not.\n\n22 Behold, I will cast her into great tribulation.\n\n23 And I will kill her children and all the churches shall know that I\nam he which searcheth the hearts; and I will give unto every one of you\naccording to your works.\n\n\nThe town of Thyatira lay to the southeast of Pergamos. The epistle to\nthe church was sent by John, with some commendations; but it was said\nthat there was a worm at the root of its prosperity, which would\ndestroy the whole unless it were removed. It is not agreed whether the\nexpression Jezebel, is to be understood literally or figuratively. From\nthe reading of some manuscripts it has been thought, that the wife of\nthe presiding minister was intended, that she had obtained great\ninfluence in the affairs of the church and made a bad use of it; that\nshe pretended to have prophetic gifts, and\nunder that sanction propagated abominable principles.\n\nThe figurative meaning, however, seems more suited to the style and\nthe manner of this book; and in this sense it denotes a company of\npersons, of the spirit and character of Jezebel, within the church\nunder one principal deceiver. Jezebel, a Zidonian and a zealous\nidolater, being married to the King of Israel (Ahab) contrary to the\nDivine law, used all her influence to draw the Israelites from the\nworship of Jehovah into idolatry. Satan and woman are the chief\ncharacters in all the frightful visions; and the sacred period of\nmaternity is made to illustrate some of the most terrible upheavals in\nnational life, as between the old dragon and the mother of the race.\nWhatever this book was intended to illustrate, its pictures are\npainfully vivid.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nRevelation xii.\n\n\n\nAnd there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the\nsun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve\nstars:\n\n\n2 And she being with child travailed in birth.\n\n3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red\ndragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his\nheads.\n\n4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and the\ndragon stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was\nborn.\n\n5 And she brought forth a man child, that was caught up unto God.\n\n6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place\nprepared of God.\n\n13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he was\nwroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed.\n\n\nThe constellation Draco, the Great Serpent, was at one time ruler of\nthe night, being formerly at the very centre of the heavens and so\nlarge that it was called the Great Dragon. Its body spread over seven\nsigns of the Zodiac, which were called its seven heads. So great a\nspace did it occupy, that, in mystic language, it \"drew a third part of\nthe stars from heaven and cast them to the earth.\" Thuban, in its tail,\nwas formerly the pole-star, or \"judge of the earth!\" It approached much\nnearer the true pole than Cynosura, the present pole-star, which is one\nand a half degrees distant and will never approach nearer than twelve\nminutes, while Thuban was only ten minutes distant.\n\nAt an early day serpents were much respected; they were thought to\nhave more \"pneuma\" or spirit than any other living thing and were\ntermed \"fiery.\" For this cause high initiates were called \"naga,\" or\nserpents of wisdom; and a living serpent was always carried in the\ncelebration of the mysteries. During the brilliant eighteenth and\nnineteenth Egyptian dynasties, Draco was a great god; but when this\nconstellation lost its place in the heavens, and Thuban ceased to be\nthe guiding sidereal Divinity, it shared the fate of all the fallen\ngods. \"The gods of our fathers are our devils,\" says an Arabic proverb.\nWhen Re-Veilings was written, Draco had become a fallen angel\nrepresenting evil spirituality. By precessional motion the foot of\nHercules rests upon its head, and we find it depicted as of the most\nmaterial color, red.\n\nColors and jewels are parts of astrology; and ancient cities, as\nEctabana, were built and colored after the planets. The New Jerusalem\nof Re-Veilings is purely an astrological city, not to be understood\nwithout a knowledge of mystic numbers, letters, jewels and colors. So,\nalso, the four and twenty elders of Re-Veilings are twenty-four stars\nof the Chaldean Zodiac, \"counsellors\" or \"judges,\" which rose and set\nwith it. Astrology was brought into great prominence by the visit of\nthe magi, the zodiacal constellation Virgo, the \"woman with a child,\"\nruling Palestine, in which country Bethlehem is situated. The great\nastronomer and astrologer, Ptolemy, judged the character of countries\nfrom the signs ruling them, as to this day is done by astrologers.\n\nThe woman attacked by the great red dragon, Cassiopea, was known as\nNim-Makh, the Mighty Lady. For many centuries, at intervals of about\nthree hundred years, a brilliant star suddenly appeared in this\nconstellation, remaining visible a few months, then as suddenly\ndisappearing. In mystic phraseology this star was a child. It was seen\nA. D. 945, A. D. 1264, and was noted by Tycho Brahe and other\nastronomers in 1562, when it suddenly became so brilliant that it could\nbe seen at midday, gradually assuming the appearance of a great\nconflagration, then as gradually fading away. Since thus caught up to\nthe throne of God, this star-child has not again appeared, although\nwatched for by astronomers during the past few years. The Greeks, who\nborrowed so much from the Egyptians, created from this book the story\nof Andromeda and the monster sent by Neptune to destroy her, while\nMadame Blavatsky says that St. John's dragon is Neptune, a symbol of\nAtlantaen magi.\n\nThe crown of twelve stars upon the head of the apocalyptic woman are the\ntwelve constellations of the Zodiac. Clothed with the sun, woman here\nrepresents the Divinity of the feminine, its spirituality as opposed to\nthe materiality of the masculine; for in Egypt the sun, as giver of\nlife, was regarded as feminine, while the moon, shining by reflected\nlight, was looked upon as masculine. With her feet upon the moon, woman,\ncorresponding to and representing the soul, portrays the ultimate\ntriumph of spiritual things over material things--over the body, which\nman, or the male principle, corresponds to and represents.\n\n\"There was war in heaven.\" The wonderful progress and freedom of\nwoman, as woman, within the last half century, despite the false\ninterpretation of the Bible by the Church and by masculine power, is\nthe result of this great battle; and all attempts to destroy her will\nbe futile. Her day and hour have arrived; the dragon of physical power\nover her, the supremacy of material things in the world, as depicted by\nthe male principle, are yielding to the spiritual, represented by\nwoman. The eagle, true bird of the sun and emblem of our own great\ncountry, gives his wings to her aid; and the whole earth comes to help\nher against her destroyer.\n\nAnd thus must Re-Veilings be left with much truth untouched, yet with\nthe hope that what has been written will somewhat help to a\ncomprehension of this greatly misunderstood yet profoundly \"sacred\" and\n\"secret\" book, whose true reading is of such vast importance to the\nhuman race.\n\n\nM. J. G.\n\n\n\nHere is a little well intended respect for woman as representing the\nChurch. In this vision she appears clothed with the sun, and the moon\nunder her feet, which denotes her superiority, says the commentator, to\nher reflected feebler light of the Mosaic dispensation. The crown of\ntwelve stars on her head represents her honorable maintenance of the\ndoctrines of the Church. just as the woman was watched by the dragon,\nand her children devoured, so was the Church watched and persecuted by\nthe emissaries of the Papal hierachy {sic}. The seven heads of the\ndragon represent the seven hills on which Rome is built; the ten horns,\nten kingdoms into which the Western empire was divided. The tail of the\ndragon drawing a third part of the stars represent the power of the\nRomans, who had conquered one-third part of the earth.\n\n\n\nRevelation xvii.\n\n\n\n3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a\nwoman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,\nhaving saves heads and ten horns.\n\n4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked\nwith gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in bar\nhand.\n\n5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great.\n\n18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth\nover the kings of the earth.\n\n\nThe woman draped in scarlet, seated on a beast, was the emblem of the\nChurch of Rome. The beast represents the temporal power by which it has\nbeen supported. These colors have always distinguished the popes and\nthe cardinals, as well as the Roman emperors and senators. The horses\nand the mules were covered with scarlet cloth to answer the\ndescription, and the woman was decked in the brightest colors, in gold\nand jewels. No one can describe the pomp, splendor and magnificence of\nthe Church of Rome. The cup in the woman's hand contained potions to\nintoxicate her victims. It was the custom at that time for public women\nto have their names on their foreheads, and as they represented the\nabominations of social life, they were often named after cities. The\nwriters of the Bible are prone to make woman the standard for all kinds\nof abominations; and even motherhood, which should be held most sacred,\nis used to illustrate the most revolting crimes. What picture can be\nmore horrible than the mother, in her hour of mortal agony, watched by\nthe dragon with his seven heads and ten horns!\n\nWhy so many different revising committees of bishops and clergymen\nshould have retained this book as holy and inspiring to the ordinary\nreader, is a mystery. It does not seem possible that the Divine John\ncould have painted these dark pictures of the struggles of humanity\nwith the Spirit of Evil. Verily, we need an expurgated edition of the\nOld and the New Testaments before they are fit to be placed in the\nhands of our youth to be read in the public schools and in theological\nseminaries, especially if we wish to inspire our children with proper\nlove and respect for the Mothers of the Race.\n\n\nE. C. S.\n\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\n\n\"Ignorance is the mother of devotion.\"--Jeremy Taylor.\n\n\n\nThe following letters and comments are in answer to the questions:\n\n1. Have the teachings of the Bible advanced or retarded the\nemancipation of women?\n\n2. Have they dignified or degraded the Mothers of the Race?\n\n\nDear Mrs. Stanton:--I believe, as you said in your birthday address,\nthat \"women ought to demand that the Canon law, the Mosaic code, the\nScriptures, prayer-books and liturgies be purged of all invidious\ndistinctions of sex, of all false teaching as to woman's origin,\ncharacter and destiny.\" I believe that the Bible needs explanation and\ncomment on many statements therein which tend to degrade woman. Christ\ntaught the equality of the sexes, and Paul said: \"There is neither male\nnor female; ye are all one in Christ Jesus.\" Hence I welcome \"The\nWoman's Bible\" as a needed commentary in regard to woman's position.\n\nPhebe A. Hanaford.\n\n\n\nIf the suggestions and teachings of the various books of our Bible,\nconcerning women, are compared with the times in which severally they\nprobably were written, in general they are certainly in advance of most\ncontemporary opinion. The hurtful blunder of later eras has been the\nsetting up of early, cruder standards touching the relations of men and\nof women, as moulding influences and guides to broader civilizations.\nThey cannot be authoritative.\n\nI believe that the Bible's Golden Rule has been the real substratum of\nall religions, when fairly applied from their own point of view. But\nthe broader and more discriminating applications of the rule\ntheoretically both to men and to women in every relation of life have\nmade, and necessarily must have made, most of the earlier practical\nregulations and teachings, beneficent perhaps in their day, pernicious\nin ours when regarded as still authoritative. Interpreted by its\nfundamental principles, in the light of its time--not in the fast\nincreasing light of ours, which, as I understand it, is your\nsearchlight and that of your collaborators--I have very little quarrel\nwith the Bible. But neither have I much quarrel with Buddhism, with\nPaganism in general, or with any serious religious cult, tested in the\nsame way.\n\nTurn on the light and so change the point of view. But criticism of\nancient creeds, literatures or morals, to be entirely fair and just.\nmust be comparative criticism. To be broadly comparative it must\nvirtually include contemporary and intermediate as well as existing\ncreeds, literatures or morals. Very sincerely yours,\n\nAntoinette Brown Blackwell.\n\n\n\nLike the shield which was gold on one side and silver on the other,\nthe Bible has two sides or aspects. As travellers approaching the\nshield from opposite directions quarrelled over its nature because each\nsaw only that side which he had approached, people have differed in\ntheir view of the Bible and its influence upon mankind because only one\naspect has been visible to them.\n\nAcceptance of the Bible literally tends to retard the development of\nboth man and woman, and consequently the establishment of their\nhighest and best relation to each other, a relation upon\nwhich depends their usefulness to the community. Both the law of Moses\nand the teachings of Paul, thus considered, belittle woman more than\nthey exalt her. While words of praise and promises of future place and\npower are not altogether lacking, this is the impression left upon the\nmind of the reader who is not able to pass around to the other side and\ngain another view.\n\nExoterically considered, the Bible offers less of the ethical and the\nspiritual than of the physical possibilities of woman as the complement\nto man; but esoterically considered, it is found to exact the spiritual\npossibilities above the rest--above even the like possibilities of the\nman. The Bible has been, and will continue to be, a stumbling-block in\nthe way of development of inherent resources, consequently of the\ntruest civilization, in proportion to the strength of its exoteric\naspect with the people. It will cease to be a stumbling block and\nbecome a powerful impetus in the desired direction instead, when its\ninner meaning becomes revelator, companion and friend.\n\nIn the literal rendering of the Bible, woman appears first and above\nall as man's subordinate; but this inner meaning shows her first and\nabove all as the individual equal with him, and afterward his\ncomplement, or what she is able to be for him. Portrayed as the mother\nof the Saviour of the world, one woman is exalted above all women when\nonly physical motherhood is seen; and the consequence has been that one\nwoman has been worshiped and the sex has been crucified. This one woman\nhas been lifted above her place; and all women have fallen\ncorrespondingly below it.\n\nNot till \"the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the\nworld\" shall pierce with its rays the darkness of the sensuous nature,\nwill woman's spiritual motherhood for the race, be discerned as the way\nof its redemption from that darkness and its consequences. As that\nlight is uncovered in individual souls the inner meaning of the Bible\nwill appear, woman's nature as the individual and her true relativity\nto man be seen. Then the mistakes which have been ignorantly made will\nbe rectified, because both sides of the shield will be seen. Men and\nwomen will clasp hands as comrades with a common destiny; religion and\nscience will each reveal their destiny and prove that truth which the\nBible even exoterically declares that \"the woman is the glory of the\nman.\"\n\nUrsula N. Gestefeld.\n\n\n\n\nIt is requested that I shall answer two questions:\n\n1. Has the Bible advanced or retarded woman's emancipation?\n\n2. Has it elevated or degraded the Mothers of the Race?\n\nIf by \"emancipation\" is meant the social, legal and political position\nof women, and if by the \"Bible\" the authorized version of the Old\nTestament, it would be difficult to prove that the opponents of that\nemancipation have not derived their narrow views from many passages in\nthe Bible. This, however, applies only to the exoteric interpretation,\nthe weak points of which have been so mercilessly exposed in Part I. of\n\"The Woman's Bible.\"\n\nThe Divine wisdom whose occult truths form the basis of Judaism, of\nChristianity and of all other religions, has nothing to do with the\nsubjection of sex: and to be fair we must confess that there are many\ntexts in the exoteric version which proclaim the equality of woman,\nnotably the first chapter of Genesis. I believe that H. P. Blavatsky\nwas right when she said of the Bible: \"It is a grand volume, a\nmasterpiece composed of clever, ingenious fables, containing great\nverities; but it reveals the latter only to those who, like the\nInitiates, have a key to its inner meaning; a tale sublime in its\nmorality and didactics truly--still a tale and an allegory; a repertory\nof invented personages in its older Jewish portions, and of dark\nsayings and parables in its later additions, and thus quite misleading\nto any one ignorant of its esotericism.\"\n\nThis being the case, the discussion which \"The Woman's Bible\" raises\nis to my judgment somewhat futile. It is said that from Genesis to\nRevelation the Bible degrades woman. Does it not, as it stands, equally\nin many passages degrade the conception of the Supreme Being? Many\nnoble and Divine truths have been utterly degraded by the coarse\nfallacies of men. All this is so sure to be made clear in the near\nfuture that I am doubtful of the wisdom of laying too much stress on\npassages whose meaning is entirely misunderstood by the vast majority\nof Christians.\n\nSlowly we see a light breaking. When the dawn comes we shall have a\nrevision of the Bible on very different lines from any yet attempted.\nIn the meantime may we not ask, Is there any curse or crime which has\nnot appealed to the Bible for support? Polygamy, capital punishment,\nslavery and war have all done so. Why not the subjection of women? Let\nus hold fast that which is good in the Bible and the rest will modify\nitself in the future, as it has done in the past, to the needs of\nhumanity and the advance of knowledge.\n\nLondon, England.\n\nUrsula Bright.\n\n\n\nMrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton:--Dear Madam: I have received your letter\nand the specimen of \"The Woman's Bible\" which you have sent me. I have\nnot had time to examine it minutely; but I have been aware of your\npurpose from the beginning. I am afraid that I cannot say anything\nwhich you will wish to print; for I look upon the Bible very\ndifferently from what you do.\n\nI have no superstitious reverence for it, but hold it in high regard\nas a valuable collection of very old literature well representing the\nthought and the life of a great, earnest people at different periods of\ntheir career. As such, it is full of precious lessons of wisdom and of\nsweet and beautiful poetry. I certainly could not endorse Mr. White's\nstatement; for I have very recently in public lectures spoken of the\ngreat value of this collection as one of the best educators of the\ncommon people in Christendom generally, and especially in Scotland and\nthe United States. I should say the same, so far as my knowledge\nextends, of the Koran and other so-called sacred books.\n\nThat the superstitious worship of the Bible as a direct revelation\nfrom God, and the practice of using what is merely the history of human\nlife as authority for human action now, or as prophecy, has produced or\nstrengthened great evils in the world I readily admit, and I welcome\nall the thorough and searching criticism which can be applied to the\nBible, but nothing is gained by exaggeration. There are noble examples\nof woman in the Old Testament of the heroic type, as in the New\nTestament of the tender and loving one.\n\nThe whole subject of the relations of the sexes is a deep and\ndifficult one; and the ages have been struggling with it. That woman is\nhandicapped by peculiarities of physical structure seems evident; and\naccording to the character of the age these are more or less\nunfavorable. Civilization in many instances has emphasized and\nincreased them to her great disadvantage; but it is only by making her\nlimitations her powers that the balance can be restored, and in an age\nof more intellectual and spiritual superiority this will come to pass.\nI read this in the development of woman's life in education, in\nindustry and in self-support.\n\nI have tried to express my views frankly, although I cannot fully\nillustrate them in a brief letter, which is all I have time for at\npresent. Your own active mind will follow out whatever there is of\nvalue in my thought. Yours very respectfully,\n\nJamaica Plain, Mass.\n\nEdnah D. Cheney.\n\n\n\nThe Bible--both the books of the Old Testament and of the New, express\nthe views in regard to woman which prevailed when those books were\nwritten. The conception in regard to woman was that she was naturally\nman's inferior, that her position should be one of subordination, that\nshe should have no will of her own, except as it was in accord with\nthat of her father, husband, or master.\n\nThe enlightened portions of the world have gradually been outgrowing\nthese ideas. This progress has constantly been opposed by the influence\nof Bible teachings on the subject. The influence of the Bible against\nthe elevation of woman, like its influence in favor of slavery, has\nbeen great because of the infallibility and the Divine authority with\nwhich the teachings of the Bible have been invested. If the Bible had,\nlike other books, been judged by its actual merits, in the light of\nreason and common sense, its teachings\nabout woman would have had no authoritative weight; but when millions\nhave for centuries been brought up to believe that the Bible is an\ninspired and infallible revelation from God, its influence has been\nmischievous in a thousand ways.\n\nA collection of books which teaches, as from God, that man was made\nfirst for the glory of God, and woman for man simply; that woman was\nfirst to sin, and therefore should be in submission to man; that\nmotherhood implies moral impurity and requires a sin offering (twice as\nmuch in the case of a female as a male child), must have continued to\nkeep woman in a degraded condition just in proportion as such ideas\nhave been believed to be true and inspired by God.\n\nThe advancement of woman throughout Christendom has been going on only\nwhere these doctrines have been outgrown or modified through the\ninfluence of science, of skepticism, and of liberal thought generally.\nThat the Bible does teach that woman's position should be one of\nsubordination and submission to man, and that through her first came\nsin into the world, is indisputable; and I do not see how such\nteachings, believed to be direct from God, can be accepted without\nretarding woman's progress. Mr. Lecky and others have shown\nhistorically that these Oriental conceptions have distinctly degraded\nwoman wherever they have prevailed.\n\nWhat we should naturally expect to have resulted from these\nconceptions is shown by experience actually to have been the result of\nsuch teachings, enforced by the authority of Moses and of St. Paul.\n\nThe idea of woman's equality with man in all natural rights and\nopportunities finds no support in the Bible. The doctrine that there is\nneither male nor female, neither bond nor free, in Christ Jesus, had no\npractical application to social conditions. It left the slave in\nchains, and the woman in fetters. Where the old theological dogmas\nrespecting woman are the least impaired, woman's condition is the least\nhopeful. Where the authority of reason is in the ascendant, or where it\nis superseding the authority of book revelations, of creeds and of\nchurches, woman's position is the most advanced, her rights are the\nmost completely recognized, her opportunities for\nprogress the most fully allowed, and her character the most fully\ndeveloped.\n\nSarah A. Underwood.\n\n\n\nA solution, in accordance with the fundamental laws of ethics, of the\nwoman question, which is a part of the great social question, can be\narrived at only by a transformation of the social order of things, made\nin conformity with the principle of equal liberty and equal justice to\neach and every one.\n\nAs a necessary proposition to let this principle be universally\nrecognized, we must designate the philosophical view of the world,\nbased upon scientific Materialism, which former, penetrated by the\nconviction that the natural doctrine of evolution also retains its\nvalidity with regard to the mental, vital principles of humanity,\nbelieves in the social, political and ethical evolution of human\nsociety, from which progressive evolution the equal claim to all social\nrelations of the female and the male halves of humanity are inseparable.\n\nAs the firmest enemy of modern ethics based upon scientific knowledge\nof natural laws, there stands the Christian religion, the outspring of\nthe Jewish one, which former, resting upon the principle of the\nnecessary subordination of woman to man, in consequence thereof\nenergetically combats the attempts for equal rights to both sexes, and,\nas far as lies in its power, ever will and must combat the same.\n\nTo the influence of the Christian Church upon social conditions we must\nin the first instance ascribe that, notwithstanding all advances of\nculture, the mental development of the female sex has been\nsystematically kept back through all these tens of centuries. And not\nonly for the reason that the Christian religion considers woman as a\ncreature inferior to man, owing to the legendary eating of the apple by\nEve (\"Satan,\" says St. Augustine, \"considered the man to be less\ncredulous and approachable\"), but also--and possibly foremost of all--\nfor the reason that the Christian Church knows very well that in woman,\nintellectually undeveloped, and therefore easy to be led, and ready to\nlend a willing ear to priestly promptings, it possesses its most\npowerful ally, and knows that it would lose that powerful support as\nsoon as women, by a thorough mental training, by an elevating education\nadapted to their condition of mind and of fortune, would be taken away\nfrom clerical influences.\n\nAs a contrast to the lying statement, which falsifies the historical\nfacts, that the Christian religion has raised the condition of woman,\nthe Christian Church offers to woman nothing but serfdom. And it is the\nfirst duty of those women who combat for right and liberty to unite in\nthe fight against religious obscurity, against the powers of darkness\nand the suppression resting on the Church, that revolution of the mind\nfor which the most elevated thinkers of all time have suffered and\nfought, and to whose deeds alone we owe all advances in the mental\nfreeing of humanity and all accomplishments of the awakening\nconsciousness of justice.\n\nVienna, Austria.\n\nIrma Von Troll-Borostyani.\n\n\n\nMy Dear Mrs. Stanton:--I thank you very much for the book which I have\nreceived and shall consider with interest. I respond at once and\nheartily to the inquiry with which you have honored me. I consider the\nBible the most wonderful record of the evolution of spiritual life\nwhich our race possesses. The sympathetic justice displayed by the\nChrist when he said, \"Let him that is without sin cast the first\nstone,\" will be the inspiration of the future for man and for woman\nalike.\n\nWith cordial remembrance of the past and hope for the future,\n\nI am\n\nSincerely yours,\n\nHastings, London, England.\n\nElizabeth Blackwell.\n\n\n\nSince it is accepted that the status of woman is the gauge of\ncivilization, this is the burning question which now presents itself to\nChristendom. If the Bible had elevated woman to her present status, it\nwould seem that the fact could be demonstrated beyond question; yet\nto-day the whole Christian world is on the defensive, trying to prove the\nvalidity of this claim. Despite the opposition of Bible teaching, woman\nhas secured the right to education, to speak and to print her thoughts;\ntherefore her answer to these questions will decide the fate of\nChristian civilization.\n\nIn Genesis the Bible strikes the key-note of woman's inferiority and\nsubjection; and the note rings true through every accepted and rejected\nbook which has ever constituted the Bible. In the face of this fact,\nthe supreme effort of the Christian Church has been to inculcate the\nidea that Christianity alone has elevated woman, and that all other\nreligions have degraded and enslaved her. It has feared nothing so much\nas to face the truth.\n\nWomen have but to read the Bible and the history of Christianity in\nconjunction with the sacred books and the histories of other religions\nto discover the falsity of this claim, and that the Bible cannot stand\nthe light of truth. The Bible estimate of woman is summed up in the\nwords of the president of a leading theological seminary when he\nexclaimed to his students, \"My Bible commands the subjection of women\nforever.\"\n\nIn an address to the graduating class of a woman's college in England,\nMr. Gladstone, in awarding the diplomas, said: \"Young women, you who\nbelong to the favored half of the human race, enormous changes have\ntaken place in your positions as members of society. It is almost\nterrible to look back upon the state of women sixty years ago, upon the\nmanner in which they were viewed by the law, and the scanty provision\nmade for their welfare, and the gross injustice, the flagrant\ninjustice, the shameful injustice, to which in certain particulars they\nwere subjected. Great changes are taking place, and greater are\nimpending.\" For centuries England has been the light of the Christian\nworld; yet what an indictment is this against Christian England by the\ngreatest living defender of the Bible and the Christian religion.\n\nThis one statement of Mr. Gladstone at once refutes the claim that the\nBible has elevated woman, and confirms the idea of the president of the\ntheological seminary. Add to these declarations the true condition of\nwomen to-day, and the testimony that the Bible bears against itself,\nand the falsity of the claim that it has elevated woman is at once\nestablished. If Mr. Gladstone acknowledges the \"gross, flagrant and\nshameful injustice\" to woman sixty years ago in Christian England, what\ncan be said of woman's condition six hundred, or sixteen hundred years\nago, when the Bible held the greatest sway over the human mind and\nChristianity was at the zenith of its power, when it was denied that\nwoman has a soul, when she was bought and sold as the cattle of the\nfield, robbed of her name, her children, her property, and \"elevated\"\n(?) on the gibbet of infamy, and on the high altar of lust by the\ndecree of the Christian priesthood?\n\nIf it can be proven that during the last thousand years the Christian\nclergy, with the Bible in their hands, have pointed out or attempted to\nremove one single cruelty or wrong which women have suffered, now is\nthe opportune time to furnish such proof. Now, to-day, when woman\nherself is rising in her mental majesty, and when her wrongs are being\nrighted, Christianity is dead in the strongest brains and the most\nheroic hearts of Europe and of America; and now, when the myth and the\nmiracle of Bible teaching have lost their hold on the minds of people,\nthis is the very age when the position of woman is more exalted than it\nhas ever been since Chrisianity {sic} began.\n\nIf even the claim that the Bible has elevated woman to her present\nstatus were true, when the light is turned on to the social, domestic\nand religious life of the Christian world, this achievement reflects no\ncredit on Bible teaching. After nineteen hundred years no woman's\nthought has ever been incorporated into the ecclesiastical or civil\ncode of any Christian land.\n\nMonogamic marriage is the strongest institution of the Christian\nsystem; yet all the men of the Old Testament were polygamists; and\nChrist and Paul, the central figures of the New Testament, were\ncelibates and condemned marriage by both precept and example. In\nChristian lands monogamy is strictly demanded of women; but bigamy,\ntrigamy, and polygamy are in reality practised by men as one of the\nmethods of elevating women, Largely, the majority of men have one\nlegal wife; but assisted by a small per cent. of youths and of\nbachelors, Christendom maintains an army of several millions of\ncourtesans. Thousands of wretched women are yearly driven to graves in\nthe potter's field, while manhood is degraded by deception, by\ndrunkenness and by disease; and the blood of the innocents cries out\nagainst a system which thus \"elevates\" woman.\n\nThe Bible says that \"a tree is known by its fruit;\" yet this tree is\ncarefully pruned, watered, and tended as the \"Tree of life\" whose\nfruit, in the words of Archdeacon Farrar, \"alone elevates woman, and\nshrouds as with a halo of sacred innocence the tender years of the\nchild.\" The Bible records that God created woman by a method different\nfrom that employed in bringing into life any other creature, then\ncursed her for seeking knowledge; yet God declares in the Bible: \"My\npeople are destroyed for lack of knowledge.\" \"Because thou hast\nrejected knowledge I will reject thee.\" \"Add to your faith virtue, and\nto virtue knowledge,\" and knowledge is the savior of the human race.\n\nEver since Eve was cursed for seeking knowledge, the priest with the\nBible in his hands has pronounced her the most unnatural, untrustworthy\nand dangerous creation of God. She has been given away as a sheep at\nthe marriage altar, classed with the ox and the ass, cursed in\nmaternity, required to receive purification at the hands of the priest\nfor the crime of child-bearing, her body enslaved, and robbed of her\nname and of her property.\n\nThe ownership of the wife established and perpetuated through Bible\nteaching is responsible for the domestic pandemonium and the carnival\nof wife murder which reigns throughout Christendom. In the United\nStates alone, in the eighteen hundred and ninety-seventh year of the\nChristian era, 3,482 wives, many with unborn children in their bodies,\nhave been murdered in cold blood by their husbands; yet the Christian\nclergy from their pulpits reprove women for not bearing more children\nin the face of the fact that millions of the children who have been\nborn by Christian women are homeless tramps, degraded drunkards,\nvictims of disease, inmates of insane asylums or prisons, condemned to\nthe scaffold, or bond slaves to priests or to plutocrats who revel in\nwealth at the expense of women whom it is claimed that the Bible has\n\"emancipated and\nelevated.\"\n\n\"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive\nme.\" This declaration of the Bible puts the brand of infamy upon every\nwoman who ever bore a child; and this, it is claimed, elevates the\nMothers of the Race. The wife who places her destiny in the keeping of\nthe father of her children bestows upon him the wealth of her\naffection, who is to bear the blood and the name of her husband to\nconquests yet undreamed of, and to generations yet unborn, is by Divine\ndecree made a fountain of iniquity. Would not men and women rather\npluck their tongues out by the roots than brand with infamy the mothers\nwho went down into the valley and the shadow of death to give birth to\nthem?\n\nPlace the Bible Trinity of \"Father, Son and Holy Ghost\" beside the\nHomeric trinity, \"Father, Mother and Child,\" and prove that the Bible\nhas elevated woman. The Homeric conception of woman towers like the\nNorway pine above the noxious growth of the Mosaic ideal. Compare the\nmen and the women of the Bible with the stately figures culled from the\ntemple of Pagan antiquity. Zipporah denouncing Moses as a \"bloody\nhusband,\" Abraham sending Hagar and his child into the desert and\npocketing twice over the gains from his wife's prostitution; Lot and\nhis daughters; Judah and his daughter-in-law, Onan; Yamar, the Levite,\nand his concubine; David and Bath-sheba; Solomon in the sewer of\nsensualism; Rahab, Aholibah, Mary of Bethlehem, and Mary Magdala.\n\nPlace these by the side of the man and the woman, Hector and\nAndromache, of the \"Iliad,\" who called upon the immortal gods to bless\ntheir child of love; the virgin Isis with her son Horus; the Vedic\nvirgin Indrance, the mother of the savior-god, Indra; Devaki and her\nDivine child, Chrishna; Hipparchia, Pandora, Protogenia, Cornelia,\nPlotina, and a host of the noble and virtuous of Pagan history. Prove\nby comparing these with the position of woman in Christendom that woman\nowes all that she is to the Bible.\n\nCompare Ruth of the Bible with the magnificent Pagan, Penelope, who\nrefused the hands of kings, was as true to her love as the star is to\nthe pole, who, after years of waiting, clasped the old wanderer in\nrags to her heart, her husband, her long-lost Ulysses; yet this\nPagan woman lived ten centuries before the laws of Moses and of Christ\nwere promulgated. While there are millions of Penelopes in Christendom,\nthere are other millions of women, after centuries of Bible teaching,\nwho lie outside the pale of motherhood, and even outside of the pale of\nswine-hood. Under Bible teaching the scarlet woman is \"anathema,\nmarantha,\" while the scarlet man holds high place in the Sanctuary and\nthe State.\n\nThe by-paths of ecclesiastical history are fetid with the records of\ncrimes against women; and \"the half has never been told.\" And what of\nthe history which Christianity is making to-day? Answer, ye victims of\ndomestic warfare who crowd the divorce courts of Bible lands. Answer,\nye wretched offspring of involuntary motherhood. Answer, ye five\nhundred thousand outcast women of Christian America, who should have\nbeen five hundred thousand blessings, bearing humanity in your\nunvitiated blood down the streams of time. Answer, ye mental dwarfs and\nmoral monstrosities, and tell what the Holy Bible has done for you.\n\nWhile these answers echo through the stately cathedrals of Bible\nlands, if the priest, with the Holy Bible in his hands, can show just\ncause why woman should not look to reason and to science rather than to\nScripture for deliverance, \"let him speak now, or forever after hold\nhis peace.\"\n\nWhen Reason reigns and Science lights the way, a countless host of\nwomen will move in majesty down the coming centuries. A voice will cry,\n\"Who are these?\" and the answer will ring out: \"These are the mothers\nof the coming race, who have locked the door of the Temple of Faith and\nthrown the key away; 'these are they which came out of great\ntribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the'\nfountain of knowledge.\"\n\nJosephine K. Henry.\n\n\n\nMy Dear Mrs. Stanton:--To say that \"the Bible for two thousand years\nhas been the greatest block in the way of civilization\" is,\nmisleading. Until the Protestant reformation, the Bible was hidden\nfrom the common people by the hierarchs of the Roman Catholic Church;\nand it is only about three centuries that it has been read in the\nvernacular.\n\nI cannot agree with you that \"the Bible degrades women from Genesis to\nRevelation.\" The Bible, which is a collection of ancient literature,\nhistoric, prophetic, poetic and epistolary, is valuable as showing the\nstatus of woman at the time when the books were written. And the\nadvice, or the commands, to women given by Paul in the Epistles,\nagainst which there has been so much railing, when studied in the light\nof the higher criticism, with the aid of cotemporary {sic} history and\nGreek scholarship, show Paul to have been in advance of the religious\nteachers of his time.\n\nAll these commands that have offended us in the past appear in his\nEpistles to the churches in cities of Greece, where marriage was bitter\nslavery to women. Paul was aiming to uplift marriage to the level of\nthe great Christian idea, as he uttered it, in Gal. iii., 28: \"There is\nneither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither\nmale nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.\" Christianity is\nsimply the universal fatherhood of God, and the universal brotherhood\nof man. And Paul was declaring this in the utterance which I have\nquoted. All the unjust distinctions of race and of caste, all the\noppressions of slavery and the degradations of woman were effaced by\nthe two cardinal doctrines of pristine Christianity; and Paul seems to\nhave lived up to his teaching.\n\nI cannot say that \"Christianity has been the foe of woman.\" The study\nof the evolution of woman does not show this. My later studies have\nchanged many of my earlier crude notions concerning the development of\nwoman. She has developed slowly, and so has man; and the history of the\npast shows that every activity of man which has advanced him has been\nshared by her.\n\nThere is so wide a belief among orthodox people, nowadays, in what\nProfessor Briggs calls \"the errancy of the Bible,\" that I doubt if you\nwill be attacked, no matter how startling may be your heresies in Part\nII. Nobody cares much about heresy in these days; and my desire to\nwithhold my name from your work, as an endorser, comes from my utter\nignorance of it, and from my belief that I should\ndisagree with you, judging from your letter before me.\n\nYours very truly,\n\nM. A. Livermore.\n\n\n\nMy Dear Mrs. Stanton:--You have sent to me the following questions:\n\"Have the teachings of the Bible advanced or retarded the emancipation\nof women? Have they dignified or degraded the Mothers of the Race?\"\n\nIn reply I would say, that as a matter of fact, the nations which\ntreat women with the most consideration are all Christian nations; the\ncountries in which women have open to them all the opportunities for\neducation which men possess are Christian countries; coeducation\noriginated in Christian colleges; the professions and the trades are\nclosed to us in all except Christian lands; and woman's ballot is\nunknown except where the Gospel of Christ has mellowed the hearts of\nmen until they became willing to do women justice. Wherever we find an\ninstitution for the care and the comfort of the defective or the\ndependent classes, that institution was founded by men and women who\nwere Christians by heredity and by training.\n\nNo such woman as Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with her heart aflame\nagainst all forms of injustice and of cruelty, with her intellect\nillumed and her tongue quickened into eloquence, has ever been produced\nin a country where the Bible was not incorporated into the thoughts and\nthe affections of the people and had not been so during many\ngenerations.\n\nI think that men have read their own selfish theories into the Book,\nthat theologians have not in the past sufficiently recognized the\nprogressive quality of its revelation, nor adequately discriminated\nbetween its records as history and its principles of ethics and of\nreligion, nor have they until recently perceived that it is not in any\nsense a scientific treatise; but I believe that the Bible comes to us\nfrom God, and that it is a sufficient rule of faith and of practice. I\nbelieve that it is no accident which has placed this Book at the\nparting of the ways between a good life and a bad one, and enshrined\nit at the centre of the holiest scenes which the heart can know,\nplacing it in the pastor's hand at the wedding and at the grave, on the\nfather's knee at family prayer, in the trembling fingers of the sick,\nand at the pillow of the dying, making it the hope of the penitent and\nthe power of God unto salvation of those who sin.\n\nTo me the Bible is the dear and sacred home book which makes a\nhallowed motherhood possible because it raises woman up, and with her\nlifts toward heaven the world. This is the faith taught to me by those\nwhom I have most revered and cherished; it has produced the finest\ncharacters which I have ever known; by it I propose to live; and\nholding to the truth which it brings to us, I expect to pass from this\nworld to one even more full of beauty and of hope.\n\nBelieve me, honored co-worker for the enfranchisement of women,\n\nYours with sisterly regard,\n\nFrances E. Willard.\n\n\n\nAmong the letters in reply to the interrogatories propounded are two,\nnoticeable because they are in such a striking contrast to that of Mrs.\nJosephine K. Henry, which immediately precedes them. Their first marked\ncharacteristic is their total lack of facts which are sufficient to\nsustain the conclusions therein stated. Conceding for the purpose of\nthis discussion the truth of Mrs. Livermore's assertions contained in\nthe first paragraph of her letter, she fails absolutely to show that\nthe Holy Scriptures have been of any benefit, or have rendered any aid,\nto woman in her efforts to obtain her rights in either the social, the\nbusiness, or the political world; and unless she is able to present\nstronger or more cogent reasons to justify that conclusion than any\nwhich are therein specified, I shall be compelled to adhere to my\npresent conviction, which is, that this book always has been, and is at\npresent, one of the greatest obstacles in the way of the emancipation\nand the advancement of the sex.\n\nIn regard to the letter of the distinguished President of the Woman's\nChristian Temperance Union, her position is entirely indefensible and\ncompletely lacking in logical conclusions. Her leading proposition is\nin substance that to the extent that the Christian religion has\nprevailed there has been a corresponding improvement in the condition\nof women; and the conclusion which she draws from that premise is that\nthis religion has been the cause of this advancement. Before I admit\nthe truth of this conclusion I must first inquire whether or not the\npremise upon which it is based is true; and judging from the fact that\nthe condition of women is most degraded in those countries where Church\nand State are in closest affiliation, as in Spain, in Italy, in Russia\nand in Ireland, and most advanced in nations where the power of\necclesiasticism is markedly on the wane, the inference is obvious that\nthe Bible and the religion based upon it have retarded rather than\npromoted the progress of woman.\n\nBut, granting that her premise is true, her conclusion by no means\nfollows from it. She desires her reader to infer that the existence of\nChristianity in certain countries is responsible for the high degree of\ncivilization which there obtains, and that the improved condition of\nwomen in those countries is owing entirely to the influence of that\nreligion therein. This is what the logicians would call a non sequitur,\nwhich means a conclusion which does not follow from the premises stated.\n\nIt is now a well-settled principle recognized by all writers upon the\nscience of logic, that the co-existence of two facts does not\nnecessarily imply that one is the cause of the other; and, as is often\nthe case, they may have no relation to each other, and each may exist\nindependently of the other. Many illustrations of this fallacy might be\npresented were it necessary to do so; but I will refer to only one of\nthem. I have heard it asserted that more murders and other crimes are\ncommitted in Christian countries than in any others. Whether this be\ntrue or false, I am not prepared to state; but if it were proven to be\na fact, could one justly contend that the influence of the Bible is in\nfavor of the commission of crime? Indeed, there would be more reason\nfor so thinking than there is for the opinion which she holds, as\nnumerous passages may be found in that volume which clearly justify\nboth crime and vice.\n\nThe truth of the matter is, as Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Henry, and other\ncontributors to \"The Woman's Bible\" have clearly proven, that whatever\nprogress woman has made in any department of effort she has\naccomplished independently of, and in opposition to, the so-called\ninspired and infallible \"Word of God,\" and that this book has been of\nmore injury to her than has any other which has ever been written in\nthe history of the world.\n\nE. M.\n\n\n\n\"Have the teachings of the Bible advanced or retarded the emancipation\nof women?\"\n\n\n\"Have they dignified or degraded the Mothers of the Race?\"\n\n\nThere are always two sides to every question. It sometimes happens\nthat the Christian, the historian, the clergyman, and the devotee, in\ntheir enthusiasm, are long on assertion and short on proof. Turning the\nlight on the past and present, the writer of this comment asserts \"as a\nmatter of fact that the nations which treat women with the most\nconsideration are all\" civilized nations. If the condition of woman is\nhighest in Christian civilization, the question arises, Is it\nChristianity or civilization which has accorded to women the \"most\nconsideration\"? Christianity means belief in the tenets laid down in a\nbook called the Bible, claimed to be the Word of God. Civilization\nmeans the state of being refined in manners from the grossness of\nsavage life, and improved in arts and in learning. If civilization is\ndue entirely to the teachings of the Bible, then, as claimed, woman\nowes to Christianity all the \"consideration\" which she receives.\n\nWe claim that woman's advancement is due to civilization, and that the\nBible has been a bar to her progress. It is true that \"woman receives\nmost consideration in Christian nations;\" but this is due to the mental\nevolution of humanity, stimulated by climate and by soil, and the\nintercommunication of ideas through modern invention. All the Christian\nnations are in the north temperate zone, whose climate, and soil are\nbetter adapted to the development of the race than any other portions\nof the earth. Christianity took its rise in thirty degrees north\nlatitude. Mohammedanism took its rise in the torrid zone; and as\nit made its way north it advanced in education, in art, in science, and\nin invention, until the civilization of Moslem Spain far surpassed that\nof Christian Europe, and as it retreated before the Christian sword\nfrom the fertile valleys of Spain into the and plains of Arabia it\nretrograded, after giving to the world some of the greatest scientific\ntruths and inventions.\n\nThe women of the United States receive \"more consideration\" and are\nbeing emancipated more rapidly than are the women of Europe; yet, in\nEurope, Christianity holds iron sway, while in America the people are\nfree to accept or to reject its teachings; and in the United States,\nout of a population of seventy millions, but twenty-two millions have\naccepted it; and a large percentage of these are children, who have not\narrived at the years of discretion, and foreigners from Christian\nEurope. The consideration extended to woman does not depend upon the\nteachings of the Bible, but upon the mental and material advancement of\nthe men of a nation. Now if it can be proven that Bible teaching has\ninspired men to explore and to subdue new lands, to give to the world\ninventions, to build ships, railroads and telegraphs, to open mines, to\nconstruct foundries and factories, and to amass knowledge and wealth,\nthen the Bible has been woman's best friend; for she receives most\nconsideration where men have liberty of thought and of action, have\nprospered materially, builded homes, and have bank accounts.\n\nThe women in the slums of Christian London and New York receive no\nmore consideration than the women in the slums of Hong Kong or Bombay.\nIf the nations which give the most consideration to women do so because\nof their Christianity, then it logically follows that the more\nintensely Christian a class or an individual may be, the greater\nconsideration will be shown to their women. The most intensely\nChristian people in Christendom are negroes; yet it is an\nincontrovertible fact that negro women receive less consideration, and\nare more wronged and abused, than any class on the earth. The women of\nthe middle and upper classes in Bible lands receive consideration just\nin proportion to the amount of intelligence and worldly goods possessed\nby their male relatives, while the pauper classes are abused,\nsubjected, and degraded in proportion to the ignorance and the poverty\nof the men of their class.\n\nThe Church is the channel through which Bible influence flows. Has the\nChurch ever issued an edict that woman must be equal with man before\nthe canon or the civil law, that her thoughts should be incorporated in\ncreed or code, that she should own her own body and property in\nmarriage, or have a legal claim to her children born in wedlock, which\nChristianity claims is a \"sacrament\" and one of the \"holy mysteries\"?\nHas the Church ever demanded that woman be educated beyond the Bible\n(and that interpreted for her) and the cook book, or given a chance in\nall the callings of life to earn an honest living? Is not the Church\nto-day a masculine hierarchy, with a female constituency, which holds\nwoman in Bible lands in silence and in subjection?\n\nNo institution in modern civilization is so tyrannical and so unjust\nto woman as is the Christian Church. It demands everything from her and\ngives her nothing in return. The history of the Church does not contain\na single suggestion for the equality of woman with man. Yet it is\nclaimed that women owe their advancement to the Bible. It would be\nquite as true to say that they owe their improved condition to the\nalmanac or to the vernal equinox. Under Bible influence woman has been\nburned as a witch, sold in the shambles, reduced to a drudge and a\npauper, and silenced and subjected before her ecclesiastical and\nmarital law-givers. \"She was first in the transgression, therefore keep\nher in subjection.\" These words of Paul have filled our whole\ncivilization with a deadly virus, yet how strange is it that the\naverage Christian woman holds the name of Paul above all others, and is\noblivious to the fact that he has brought deeper shame, subjection,\nservitude and sorrow to woman than has any other human being in history.\n\nThe nations under Bible influence are the only drunken nations on the\nearth. The W. C. T. U. will certainly not claim that drunkenness\nelevates woman; indeed, its great work for our sex is a splendid\nprotest against this idea. Throughout Christendom millions of wretched\nwomen wait in suspense and in terror for the return of drunken\nhusbands, while in heathendom a drunkard's wife cannot be found unless\na heathen husband is being Christianized by Christian whiskey. The\nChinese women have their feet compressed, but, unlike Christian women,\nthey do not need their feet to give broom drills or skirt dances for\nthe \"benefit of their church.\" The child-wives of India need to be\nrescued and protected, but no more than many adult wives in Bible lands\nneed protection from drunken and brutal husbands. The heathen wife\nseeks death on her husband's funeral pyre, but the Christian wife is\noften sent to death by a bullet in her brain, or a knife in her heart.\n\nIt is said that \"woman's ballot is unknown except where the Gospel of\nChrist has mellowed the hearts of men until they became willing to do\nwomen justice.\" justice through the ballot has been accorded only to\nthe women of Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and far away New Zealand.\nIn these States the people are honest, industrious and law-abiding; but\nthe \"influence of the Gospel of Christ,\" according to religious\nstatistics, is so small it would take a search-warrant to find it,\nwhile Utah is full of Mormons and New Zealand is a convict dumping\nground for Christian nations. Is this the extent of justice to women\nafter the \"influence of the Gospel of Christ has mellowed the hearts of\nmen\" for nineteen hundred years?\n\nThe fact is that woman has been elevated in spite of Bible influence.\nEvery effort that woman has made to secure education has been\nchallenged by popes, bishops, priests, moderators, conferences and\ncollege presidents, yet against all these protests she has battered\ndown the doors of Christian colleges and is now studying the Bible of\nScience in conjunction with the Bible of the Christian religion. With\nincreasing knowledge woman is founding her faith on reason and\ndemonstrated truth, instead of taking it second-hand from priest,\nparson or presbyter.\n\nRemove from Bible lands the busy brains and hands which have guided\nthe plow and the locomotive, driven the machinery of the mine, the\nfoundry, the factory, the home, the mental and the physical labor which\nhave brought material prosperity, broadened the mind, subdued the\nbrutal instincts, and humanized the race--remove all these and leave\nbut the Bible and its influence, and where, let me, ask, would woman be\nto-day? Where, indeed, would man be? A crouching and cowering slave to\nthe Bible doctrine of the Divine right of kings, living as the brutes\nof the field, as he did when Bible Christianity was at the zenith of\nits power. Wherever in Christian lands man has been a slave, woman has\nbeen the slave of a slave.\n\nImagine the condition of woman if to-day should be removed from\nChristian civilization the school, the steam engine, the smokestack and\nthe printing press, and leave but the Scriptures, the steeple and the\nparson. Would Elizabeth Cady Stantons, Mary A. Livermores and Frances\nE. Willards be the products of this strictly Christian civilization?\n\nChristianity has instilled into woman the canting falsehood that the\nwomen of all other religions are degraded and immoral. Through tyranny\nand falsehood alone is Christianity able to hold woman in subjection.\nTo tell her the truth would rend the temple of faith in twain and\nstrike terror to the heart of the priest at the altar. Nothing but the\ntruth will set woman free. She should know that Christian England\ncaptures the Hindoo girl to act as a harlot to the British soldier, and\nthat a Christian chaplain is commanded to see that she performs her\nduty. She should know that in Christian Austria the maiden must partake\nof the Holy Eucharist before she will be granted a license as a\nprostitute. She should know that Christian Europe and America trade\nupon the bodies, the hearts and the hopes of millions of wretched\nwomen, victims of ignorance and of poverty, and that the centres, of\nChristian civilization are seething cauldrons of immorality,\ndissipation and disease, which spread ruin and despair in the shadow of\nthe loftiest cathedrals and palatial Christian temples.\n\nThese things are too shocking for pure Christian women to know, so\nthey expend their prayers and pelf on the \"poor heathen\" who have never\nheard that Adam ate an apple, or that the whale swallowed Jonah.\nChristianity feeds and fattens on the sentiment and the credulity of\nwomen. It slanders the women of India, of China and of Japan that it\nmay rob the woman of Europe and of America. Dr. Simmons, of the\nNational Hospital at Yokohama, who has lived in the Orient for thirty-\nfive years, says:\n\n\"The family in Japan is the cornerstone of the nation. The father and\nthe mother are regarded with reverence. Politeness and self-restraint\nare instilled into children, and an uncivil word is rarely heard. The\nJapanese are truthful and honest. The wife has equal influence with the\nhusband; while divorce is rarely heard of in Oriental lands; and laws\nare more stringent protecting the chastity of women.\"\n\nO that women could learn the truth! The laws of the Orient are against\ntrafficking in young girls, but Christian England, which has an iron\nhand on the throat of India and a sword thrust into her heart, carries\non a lively trade in native and foreign women, to be the prey of the\nChristian soldier, who makes way for the Christian missionary. Here, in\nChristian America, marriageable young women are trotted off to church,\nthe theatre or the ball, and practically set up for sale in the market\nof holy matrimony; and the Christian minister, for a consideration,\nseals the \"Divine mystery.\" The Church would indignantly deny that it\nis a marriage mart, but denial does not throttle the truth.\n\nTruth makes her way slowly but surely, because the eternities are\nhers. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the greatest liberator of our time,\nhas, with magnificent courage, pressed into humanity's Thermopylae, and\nturned the light on the superstitions which have visited cruelties and\nwrongs on woman, and this, too, under a system which claims to extend\n\"great consideration\" to the Mothers of the Race. O women of\nChristendom! will ye not seek the truth? Leave the priestly mendicants\nwho demand your devotion and your dollars, leave to their religion the\nheathen women on the banks of the Yangtse-Kiang and the Ganges, and\nturn your eyes to millions of your enslaved, toiling, struggling\nsisters in Christendom whom it is claimed the Bible has elevated; and\nremember that these are the victims upon whom the \"glad feet\" of the\nGospel have been trampling for two thousand years.\n\nVersailles, Ky.\n\nJosephine K. Henry.\n\n\n\nThe Christian theory of the sacredness of the Bible has been at the\ncost of the world's civilization. Whether we regard the work as\ncustodian of the profoundest secrets of the \"ancient mysteries,\" a\nspiritual book trebly veiled, or as the physical and religious history\nof the world in its most material forms, its interpretation by the\nChurch, by the State, and by society has ever been prejudicial to the\nbest interests of humanity. Science, art, inventions, reforms of\nexisting wrongs, all, all have been opposed upon its authority. That\neven the most enlightened nations are not yet out of barbarism is due\nto the teachings of the Bible.\n\nFrom \"Thou shalt not make any graven image, or any likeness of\nanything in heaven above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the\nearth,\" down to \"A woman shall not speak in church, but shall ask her\nhusband at home,\" the tendency of the Bible has been to crush out\naspiration, to deaden human faculties, and to humiliate mankind. From\nAdam's plaint, \"The woman gave me and I did eat,\" down to Christ's\n\"Woman, what have I to do with thee?\" the tendency of the Bible has\nbeen degradation of the divinest half of humanity--woman. Even the\nChristian Church itself is not based upon Christ as a savior, but upon\nits own teachings that woman brought sin into the world, a theory in\ndirect contradiction, not alone to the mysteries, but to spiritual\ntruth. But our present quest is not what the mystic or the spiritual\ncharacter of the Bible may be; we are investigating its influence upon\nwoman under Judaism and Christianity, and pronounce it evil.\n\nMatilda Joslyn Gage.\n\n\n\nThere is nothing tending to show that the women spoken of in the Bible\nwere superior to the ones we know. There are to-day millions of women\nmaking coats for their sons; hundreds of thousands of women, true, not\nsimply to innocent people falsely accused, but to criminals. Many a\nloving heart is as true to the gallows as Mary was to the cross. There\nare hundreds of thousands of women accepting poverty and want and\ndishonor for the love they bear unworthy men; hundreds and thousands--\nhundreds and thousands--working day and night, with strained eyes and\ntired hands, for husbands and children--clothed in rags, housed in huts\nand hovels, hoping day after day for the Angel of Death. There are\nthousands of women in Christian England working in iron, laboring in\nthe fields and toiling in the mines. There are hundreds and thousands\nin Europe, everywhere, doing the work of men--deformed by toil, and who\nwould become simply wild and ferocious beasts, except for the love they\nbear for home and child.\n\nWe need not go back four thousand years for heroines. The world is\nfilled with them to-day. They do not belong to any nation, nor any\nreligion, nor exclusively to any race. Wherever woman is found, they\nare found. There are no women portrayed in the Bible who equal\nthousands and thousands of known to-day. The women of the Bible fall\nalmost infinitely below, not simply those in real life, but the\ncreations of the imagination found in the world of fiction. They will\nnot compare with the women born of Shakespeare's brain. You will find\nnone like Isabella, in whose spotless life, love and reason blended\ninto perfect truth; nor Juliet, within whose heart, passion and purity\nmet like white and red within the bosom of a rose; nor Cordelia, who\nchose to suffer loss rather than show her wealth of love with those who\ngilded dross with golden words in hope of gain; nor Miranda, who told\nher love as freely as a flower gives its blossom to the kisses of the\nsun; nor Imogene, who asked, \"What is it to be false?\" nor Hermione,\nwho bore with perfect faith and hope the cross of shame, and who at\nlast forgave with all her heart; nor Desdemona, her innocence so\nperfect and her love so pure that she was incapable of suspecting that\nanother could suspect, and sought with dying words to hide her lover's\ncrime.\n\nIf we wish to find what the Bible thinks of woman, all that is\nnecessary to do is to read it. We shall find that everywhere she is\nspoken of simply as property--as belonging absolutely to the man. We\nshall find that, whenever a man got tired of his wife, all he had to do\nwas to give her a writing of divorcement, and that then the mother of\nhis children became a houseless and homeless wanderer. We shall find\nthat men were allowed to have as many wives as they could get, either\nby courtship, purchase, or conquest. The Jewish\npeople in the olden time were, in many respects, like their barbarian\nneighbors.\n\nAnon.\n\n\n\nThe Bible, viewed by men as the infallible \"Word of God,\" and\ntranslated and explained for ages by men only, tends to the subjection\nand degradation of woman. Historical facts to prove this are abundant.\nIn the dark days of \"witchcraft\"--through centuries--alleged witches\nwere arrested, tried in ecclesiastical courts, tortured and hung or\nburned at the stake by men under priestly direction, and the great\nmajority of the victims were women. Eve's alleged transgression, and\nthe Bible edict in the days of the reputed Witch of Endor, \"Thou shalt\nnot suffer a witch to live,\" being the warrant and Divine authority for\nthis awful slaughter of women.\n\nIn the days of chattel-slavery in our country, the slave-laws, framed\nby men only, degraded woman by making her the defenseless victim of her\nslave-master's passions, and then inflicting a cruel stab, reaching the\nheart of motherhood, by laws which made her children follow the\ncondition of the mother, as slaves; never that of the father, as free\nwomen or men. The clergy became slaveholders and defenders of slavery\nwithout loss of priestly position or influence, and quoted \"Cursed be\nCanaan\" as their justification.\n\nThe Lord gave the Word, great was the company of those that published\nit.--Old version of the Bible, 68th Psalm.\n\nThe Lord giveth the Word, and great is the multitude of women who\npublish it.--Revised version of the Bible, 68th Psalm.\n\nHere is \"a reform\" not \"against Nature,\" nor the facts of history, but\nis true to the Mother of the Race, to her knowledge of \"the Word,\" to\nher desire to promulgate it, to her actual participation in declaring\nand proclaiming it. And true to a present and continuous inspiration\nand influx of the Spirit, it is giveth, and not \"gave,\" in the past.\nAnd this one recognition of woman as preacher and Apostle forbids the\nassertion that woman is degraded from Genesis to Revelation.\n\nThe light of a more generous religious thought, a growth out of the\nold beliefs, impelled the learned \"Committee on Revision\" to speak the\ntruth in regard to the religious character and work of women, and they\nhave exalted her where before she was \"degraded.\"\n\nThis revision is also prophetic of this era, for never were women\ndoing so excellently the world's work, or, like Tryphena and Tryphosa,\nprophesying the light still to come.\n\nCatharine A. F. Stebbins.\n\n\n\nThe general principles of righteousness and justice laid down in the\nBible have elevated the race in general, the mothers included, and have\naided in securing reforms for women, as well as for other classes. But\nthe specific texts of Saint Paul enjoining subjection upon women have\nundoubtedly been a hindrance.\n\nAlice Stone Blackwell.\n\n\n\n1. In my opinion the teachings of the Bible have advanced woman's\nemancipation.\n\nLook at the freedom of the Jewish women of the Old Testament--of\nMiriam, Deborah, Abigail, Ruth and Esther. In comparison, where were\nthe Gentile women who knew not God?\n\n2. The teachings of the Bible, particularly the New Testament, have\ndignified the Mothers of the Race. Christ was very severe to the men\nwho were sinners, he called them Scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites,\nand pronounced, \"Woe be unto you.\" He even whipped the money changers\nout of the temple. But no rebuke to woman ever fell from his lips save\nthe gentle one to Martha, that she cared too much for her home and her\nnice housekeeping. Christ's mission meant the elevation of womanhood.\nCompare Christian countries with the heathen countries, and see how\nChristianity elevates and heathenism degrades womanhood.\n\nI have studied the questions in the Indian Territory in our own United\nStates. Under the influence of the Christian missionaries the\nIndian woman is an important factor in Church and State. Where the\nGospel of Christ is not preached the women are slaves to the men. In\ntheir long tramps they do not even walk beside their husbands, but\nfollow behind like dogs. I am aware that small ministers still preach\nfoolishness, defining \"woman's sphere,\" but the real Biblical\nChristianity elevates womanhood.\n\nSarah M. Perkins.\n\n\n\nMy Dear Mrs. Stanton:--I regard the Bible as I do the other so-called\nsacred books of the world. They were all produced in savage times, and,\nof course, contain many things that shock our sense of justice. In the\ndays of darkness women were regarded and treated as slaves. They were\nallowed no voice in public affairs. Neither man nor woman were\ncivilized, and the gods were like their worshipers. It gives me\npleasure to know that women are beginning to think and are becoming\ndissatisfied with the religion of barbarians.\n\nI congratulate you on what you have already accomplished and for the\nwork you are now doing. Sincerely yours,\n\nEva A. Ingersoll.\n\n\n\nIn reading some of these letters and comments I have been deeply\nimpressed with the difficulty of substituting reason for superstition\nin minds once perverted by a false faith. Women have been taught by\ntheir religious guardians that the Bible, unlike all other books, was\nwritten under the special inspiration of the Great Ruling Intelligence\nof the Universe. Not conversant with works on science and higher\ncriticism, which point out its fabulous pretensions, they cling to it\nwith an unreasoning tenacity, like a savage to his fetich. Though it is\nfull of contradictions, absurdities and impossibilities, and bears the\nstrongest evidence in every line of its human origin, and in moral\nsentiment is below many of the best books of our own day,\nthey blindly worship it as the Word of God.\n\nWhen you point out what in plain English it tells us God did say to\nhis people in regard to woman, and there is no escape from its\ndegrading teaching as to her position, then they shelter themselves\nunder false translations, interpretations and symbolic meanings. It\ndoes not occur to them that men learned in the languages have revised\nthe book many times, but made no change in woman's position. Though\nfamiliar with \"the designs of God,\" trained in Biblical research and\nhigher criticism, interpreters of signs and symbols and Egyptian\nhieroglyphics, learned astronomers and astrologers, yet they cannot\ntwist out of the Old or New Testaments a message of justice, liberty or\nequality from God to the women of the nineteenth century!\n\nThe real difficulty in woman's case is that the whole foundation of\nthe Christian religion rests on her temptation and man's fall, hence\nthe necessity of a Redeemer and a plan of salvation. As the chief cause\nof this dire calamity, woman's degradation and subordination were made\na necessity. If, however, we accept the Darwinian theory, that the race\nhas been a gradual growth from the lower to a higher form of life, and\nthat the story of the fall is a myth, we can exonerate the snake,\nemancipate the woman, and reconstruct a more rational religion for the\nnineteenth century, and thus escape all the perplexities of the Jewish\nmythology as of no more importance than those of the Greek, Persian and\nEgyptian.\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"THE WOMAN'S BIBLE\" REPUDIATED.\n\nAt the twenty-eighth annual convention of the National-American Woman\nSuffrage Association, held in Washington, D. C., in January, 1896, the\nfollowing, was reported by the Committee on Resolutions:\n\n\"That this Association is non-sectarian, being composed of persons of\nall shades of religious opinion, and that it has no official connection\nwith the so-called 'Woman's Bible,' or any theological publication.\"\n\nCharlotte Perkins Stetson moved to amend by striking out everything\nafter the word \"opinion.\"\n\nAnna R. Simmons moved, as an amendment to the amendment, to omit the\nwords \"the so-called Woman's Bible, or.\"\n\nThis was followed by a long and animated discussion, in which the\nfollowing persons participated:\n\nFrances A. Williamson, Helen Morris Lewis, Annie L. Diggs, Carrie\nChapman Catt, Rachel Foster Avery, Henry B. Blackwell, Laura M. Johns,\nElizabeth U. Yates, Katie R. Addison, Alice Stone Blackwell and Rev.\nAnna Howard Shaw, speaking for the resolution; and Charlotte Perkins\nStetson, Mary Bentley Thomas, J. B. Merwin, Clara B. Colby, Harriette\nA. Keyser, Lavina A. Hatch, Lillie Devereux Blake, Caroline Hallowell\nMiller, Victoria Conkling Whitney, Althea B. Stryker, and Cornelia H.\nCary speaking against it.\n\nThe President, Susan B. Anthony, left the chair and spoke with much\nearnestness against the adoption of the resolution as follows:\n\n\"The one distinct feature of our Association has been the right of\nindividual opinion for every member. We have been beset at every step\nwith the cry that somebody was injuring the cause by the\nexpression of some sentiments that differed with those held by the\nmajority of mankind. The religious persecution of the ages has been\ndone under what was claimed to be the command of God. I distrust those\npeople who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows,\nbecause it always coincides with their own desires. All the way along\nthe history of our movement there has been this same contest on account\nof religious theories. Forty years ago one of our noblest men said to\nme: 'You would better never hold another convention than let Ernestine\nL. Rose stand on your platform,' because that talented and eloquent\nPolish woman, who ever stood for justice and freedom, did not believe\nin the plenary inspiration of the Bible. Did we banish Mrs. Rose? No,\nindeed! Every new generation of converts threshes over the same old\nstraw. Twenty-five years ago a prominent woman, who stood on our\nplatform for the first time, wanted us to pass a resolution that we\nwere not free lovers; and I was not more shocked than I am to-day at\nthis attempt. The question is whether you will sit in judgment on one\nwho has questioned the Divine inspiration of certain passages in the\nBible derogatory to women. If she had written approvingly of these\npassages, you would not have brought in this resolution because you\nthought the cause might be injured among the liberals in religion. In\nother words, if she had written your views, you would not have\nconsidered a resolution necessary. To pass this one is to set back the\nhands on the dial of reform. It is the reviving of the old time\ncensorship, which I hoped we had outgrown.\n\n\"What you should do is to say to outsiders that a Christian has\nneither more nor less rights in our Association than an atheist. When\nour platform becomes too narrow for people of all creeds and of no\ncreeds, I myself shall not stand upon it. Many things have been said\nand done by our orthodox friends that I have felt to be extremely\nharmful to our cause; but I should no more consent to a resolution\ndenouncing them than I shall consent to this. Who is to draw the line?\nWho can tell now whether Mrs. Stanton's commentaries may not prove a\ngreat help to woman's emancipation from old superstitions that have\nbarred her way? Lucretia Mott at first thought Mrs. Stanton had\ninjured the cause of all woman's other rights by insisting upon the\ndemand for suffrage, but she had sense enough not to bring in a\nresolution against it. In 1860, when Mrs. Stanton made a speech before\nthe New York Legislature in favor of a bill making drunkenness a cause\nfor divorce, there was a general cry among the friends that she had\nkilled the woman's cause. I shall be pained beyond expression if the\ndelegates here are so narrow and illiberal as to adopt this resolution.\nYou would better not begin resolving against individual action or you\nwill find no limit. This year it is Mrs. Stanton; next year it may be\nme or one of yourselves who will be the victim.\n\n\"Are you going to cater to the whims and prejudices of people who have\nno intelligent knowledge of what they condemn? If we do not inspire in\nwoman a broad and catholic spirit, they will fail, when enfranchised,\nto constitute that power for better government which we have always\nclaimed for them. You would better educate ten women into the practice\nof liberal principles than to organize ten thousand on a platform of\nintolerance and bigotry. I pray you, vote for religious liberty,\nwithout censorship or inquisition. This resolution, adopted, will be a\nvote of censure upon a woman who is without a peer in intellectual and\nstatesmanlike ability; one who has stood for half a century the\nacknowledged leader of progressive thought and demand in regard to all\nmatters pertaining to the absolute freedom of women.\"\n\nThe Resolution was then adopted by a vote of 53 to 41.\n\n\"The Truth shall make you free.\"--John viii., 32-\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdvertisements from original, Vol. 2\n\n\n\n\n\"Of all Magazines the most American in interest.\"\n\nThe National Magazine.\n\nA MONTHLY ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE OF THE BEST READING FOR THE HOME.\nBRIGHT, TIMELY AND ORIGINAL.\n\nFOR SALE BY ALL NEWSDEALERS AND IN THE TRAINS. PRICE 10 CENTS.\n\n\"It is only $1.00 per annum, and is equal to some that charge thrice\nthat price.\"--NEW ERA, Pa.\n\nIt is the aim of THE NATIONAL to differentiate itself from other\nmonthlies by devoting its pages FIRST, to subjects that are of\ndistinctly American nature and of current American interest, and\nsecond, to whatever foreign topics are deserving of occasional\nattention. Each number contains five or six profusely illustrated\narticles, several of the most readable short stories published, and the\nregular club women and literary departments.\n\nTHE NATIONAL began in November, 1896, the publication of what is\nproving itself to be \"THE MOST REMARKABLE MAGAZINE SERIAL OF THE YEAR,\"\nentitled:\n\nCHRIST AND HIS TIME.\n\nBY DALLAS LORE SHARP. AN INTENSELY INTERESTING HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S\n\nGREATEST PERSONALITY.\n\nWritten for the Average Magazine Reader. TO BE ILLUSTRATED FROM THE\n\nFAMOUS PAINTINGS OF THE WORLD.\n\nTHIS serial, which began In November, of 1896, will be completed In\nthe March, 1896, Issue. Persons wishing the entire serial can secure It\nby sending $1.00 to publishers.\n\nEach number as it appears keeps notably abreast of the best that is in\nAmerican life, making the magazine one of the most readable of the ten\ncent publications.\n\nCLUB WOMEN AND THEIR WORK.\n\nTHE NATIONAL publishes monthly an intensely interesting department\nunder the above title. Short articles appear on live subjects by\nprominent club women throughout the country. Mrs. Ellen M. Henrotin has\narticles in the October and January issues. In November, Alice Ives\nBreed is a contributor. The work of the different clubs receives full\nattention.\n\nNATIONAL QUESTION CLASS.\n\nThis is a new department just established. Fifteen questions in art,\nliterature and current topics are given each month, and FOUR PRIZES\nare awarded for the four best sets of answers. Every subscriber to THE\nNATIONAL becomes a member of this class by merely writing for a\ncertificate of entry.\n\nThe search for the answers to these fifteen questions monthly is not\nonly a pleasure but an education. Mothers should have their children\ntry these contests.\n\nYour newsdealer will sell you THE NATIONAL or take your subscription.\n\nThe W. W. Potter Co.,\n\nArthur W. Tarbell, Editor.\n\n91 Bedford Street, Boston, Mass.\n\nJOE. M. 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C.\n\n(Founded in 1883 at Beatrice, Neb.)\n\nThe Woman's Tribune is one of the two National Woman Suffrage papers\nin the United States, and being published at the National Capital, has\nmany points of advantage.\n\nIt reports all important features of National and State work of Woman\nSuffrage Associations; gives a summary of whatever relates to the\nadvancement of women and general progress; has choice poetry, book\nreviews, a corner for Zintka Lanuni and her friends, and much that is\nof interest to all members of the family.\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton writes for the Tribune. Valuable books offered\nas premiums. Send ten cents for five sample copies. Clara Bewick Colby,\nEditor and Publisher.\n\nMrs. Clara Bewick Colby is prepared to lecture for Woman's Clubs and\nLiterary Societies on Reform, Literary and Historical Topics. Send for\ncirculars to 1325 Tenth St., N. W., Washington, D. C.\n\n------------------------\n\nWOMAN, CHURCH AND STATE.\n\nBy Matilda Joslyn Gage.\n\nThis is Mrs. Gage's latest and crowning work. It is the book to show\nhow the Church has enslaved women, and kept and keeps her in an\ninferior position. Every woman ought to read it. Every liberal man and\nwoman will want it.\n\nCloth, $2.00; Half Leather, $3.00.\n\n(Complete in One Vol.)\n\nAddress\n\nMatilda Joslyn Gage,\n\n120 Fleurnoy St., Chicago, Ill.\n\n\n\n\nFREE THOUGHT MAGAZINE H. L. Green . . . Editor and Publisher.\n\nPrice:--$ 1.00 a Year; 15 Cents a Single Copy.\n\nEditorial Contributors:\n\nJudge C. B. Waite, Thaddeus B. Wakeman,\n\nB. F. Underwood, Helen H. Gardener,\n\nGeorge Jacob Holyoake\n\n\nTestimonials:\n\nCol. Robert G. Ingersoll:\n\n\"Every Liberal in this country ought to take the Free Thought\nMagazine, and I hope they will.\"\n\nElizabeth Cady Stanton:\n\n\"I like the Free Thought Magazine because it breathes the spirit of\nliberty. It deserves the support of all Liberal thinkers.\"\n\nHon. Geo. W. Julian:\n\n\"It fills a place and meets a want which is not supplied by any other\npublication, and it deserves the support and encouragement of all true\nLiberals.\"\n\nHelen H. Gardener:\n\n\"I have always liked and admired the Free Thought Magazine. I am glad\nto hear it is to be enlarged though I am sure that all of us were\nsatisfied with it before.\"\n\nHon. D. K. Tenney:\n\n\"It stands decidedly in the front rank of publications designed to\nclear the religious atmosphere of the delusions, superstitions and\ndogmas which for so many centuries have misled and cursed the world. It\ndeserves the sympathy and support of all who favor the highest thought\non gravest subjects.\"\n\nB. F. Underwood:\n\n\"The Free Thought Magazine, which has steadily improved from the\nfirst, is now a publication that reflects great credit upon its editor\nand corps of contributors. It contains many strong and fine articles.\nFree Thinkers everywhere ought to sustain it handsomely by taking it,\nand by making an effort to induce others to subscribe.\"\n\nT. B. Wakeman, Esq.:\n\n\"I do hereby solemnly certify that, in my humble but honest belief,\nthe improved Free Thought Magazine is the greatest and best Free\nThought and Liberal Organ of all real or would-be emancipated souls in\nthe United States, and that its regular perusal is the most healthy and\neffective means of grace possible for such souls to enjoy, and to\nimpart to others to secure their salvation in this world.\"\n\nAddress Free Thought Magazine, 218 E. Indiana St., Chicago, Ill.\n\n------------------------\n\nWilliam Us Hewitt\n\nBook, Magazine And Newspaper Printer\n\n24-26 Vandewater Street,\n\nNear Frankfort Street. 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For more than\nsixty years this paper has maintained the battle for Liberty against a\nworld of opposition. It has borne the brunt of the battle. Thus it may\nwell be called \"the tried and true friend of human rights.\" It has had\nfor its grand aim the elevation of man through the truth and moral\neducation. In short, the Investigator is the people's paper.\n\nCol. R. G. Ingersoll says of it: \"It is the best of all the Liberal\npapers.\"\n\nPublished every Saturday, at $3.00 per year, by the Boston\nInvestigator Publishing Co., at the Paine Memorial Building, 9 Appleton\nStreet, Boston, Mass.\n\nSpecimen Copies Free.\n\nAddress\n\nThe Boston Investigator Co.\n\nPaine Memorial Building, Appleton St.,\n\nBoston, Mass.\n\n------------------------\n\nSUBSCRIBE\n\nFOR\n\nTHE WISCONSIN CITIZEN\n\nA monthly paper published by the Wisconsin Equal Suffrage Association\nat Brodhead, Wisconsin\n\nHelen H. Charlton\n\nEditor\n\nPrice Twenty-five Cents per Year","title":"The Woman's Bible","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":140018}