Volume 2 — Essay on What Christianity Has Done for Women (continued 2)

"Inferior causes may justify the separation of husband and wife, although they will not authorize such a dissolution of the marriage contract as would leave either party at liberty to marry again; for it is that liberty, in which the danger and mischief of divorces principally consist. If the care of children does not require that they should live together, and it is become, in the serious judgment of both, necessary for their mutual happiness that they should separate, let them separate by consent. Nevertheless, this necessity can hardly exist, without guilt and misconduct on one side or on both. Moreover, cruelty, ill usage, extreme violence, or moroseness of temper, or other great and continual provocations, make it lawful for the party aggrieved to withdraw from the society of the offender, without his or her consent. The law which imposes the marriage vow, whereby the parties promise to 'keep to each other,' or in other words to live together, must be understood to impose it with a silent reservation of these cases; because the same law has constituted a judicial relief from the tyranny of her husband, by the divorce à mensa et toro, and by the provision which it makes for the separate maintenance of the injured wife. St. Paul, likewise, distinguishes between a wife merely separating herself from the family of her husband, and her marrying again: 'Let not the wife depart from her husband; but, and if she do depart, let her remain unmarried.'" [114]

Notwithstanding the survey we have taken of the general degradation of the female sex, where the benign influences of Christianity have been unfelt, the argument may be confronted by a formidable array of plausible objections. It may be said, that amidst the barbarity of the SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS, they treated their women with extraordinary respect. The Scythians exempted the daughter from the punishment in which the son was obliged to partake with the father, and the German women even inherited the throne. Some of the laws, among the Goths, respecting illicit intercourse, were highly reasonable and just, and our remote ancestors may be cited as examples of treating women with the utmost veneration. It may seem indicative also of the prevalence of similar sentiments, that the ancient mythologies abound in female divinities: the Phoenicians worshipped the goddess Astarte, the Scythians, Appia, the Scandinavians, Friggia, the wife of Odin. It may be further urged, with regard to the GREEKS and ROMANS, that though the melancholy picture we have already drawn of their conduct be true, yet their history presents some remarkable evidences of the elevated condition of their women, and the honourable regard which they obtained. Among the former, indeed, few instances can be adduced, in addition to that of Areta, the daughter of Aristippus, who fixed upon her son the surname of Μητροδιδακτος, or disciple of his mother, in consequence of her having been his instructer in the sciences and philosophy. The Romans, at some periods of their history, paid extraordinary respect to their women; the institution of the vestals is a memorial of the estimation in which female virtue was held, and the emperor Heliogabalus was desirous that his wife should have a voice in the senate. They allowed their women to celebrate an annual feast, to commemorate the reconciliation between them and the Sabines, by means of their wives; and they erected an equestrian statue to Cloelia, and a temple to Fortune, in honour of the sex; because the mother and wife of Coriolanus had caused that hero to retire weeping from his native country, when he was irresistible by arms. [115] But the most plausible objection to the general argument seems derivable from the history of CHIVALRY, under whose influence it is alleged that women were not only not degraded, but were actually advanced to the highest condition, and possessed the most commanding influence. The knights, at their installation, took solemn vows of self-devotement to the cause of female honour; and ladies were constantly engaged as umpires at tournaments, took off the armour of the conquerors, and irivested them with magnificent robes. The middle ages witnessed the extraordinary sight of knight-errants wandering over distant countries, with their sword and lance in hand, to contest the point of the beauty and virtue of their ladies, with all who ventured to intimate the slightest doubt or suspicion on the subject. Their expeditions were usually made in consequence of some requisition on the part of their mistresses, or to fulfil a vow voluntarily incurred in a moment of intoxication and excitement.

The reply to these general objections has been in part anticipated. Christianity assigns to women their proper place in society, neither admitting of their being tyrannized over by despotic authority, nor impiously honoured by a ridiculous adulation. They are to be viewed as help meets, not, as slaves; to be respected and loved, but not deified. While the religion of Jesus raises them to great consideration in the scale of society, it imposes a salutary restraint upon human passions, and checks every approach to the assumption of an unnatural superiority. It bestows a rank which secures them from contempt or disregard, while it equally prevents a senseless adoration: so that its principles disallow the barbaric treatment of uncivilized nations and the follies of the chivalrous ages.

In the different periods and places to which the objection refers, the conduct of mankind was marked with inconsistency. Greece and Rome exhibit ample specimens of this nature; and the time of chivalry afford illustrations equally remarkable. The knights of the order were not distinguished by fidelity to their wives, or by a concern for the education of their daughters: their devotion to the female sex was, in fact, without principle and without love; they fought, from vanity and fashion, for persons whom they had basely dishonoured and secretly despised; and while their flattery and folly were sufficiently discreditable to their own understandings and hearts, they tended in a deplorable degree to corrupt the principles of those whom they professed to value.

It is further obvious, that in the very best periods of Greek and Roman history there existed no security against a change in the treatment of women, arising from the general recognition of any of those great principles of moral conduct which constitute the basis of good government and of well-regulated society. Passion predominated above reason, and received its impulse solely from casual circumstances. It was, in fact, accidental, whether it should operate amiably or malignantly; and the felicity of one half of the human species depended upon the precarious and ever vacillating humour of the other. Virtue was scarcely seen upon the earth, except at occasional and often distant visitations, or as she shed a fitful and flickering light into the retreats of systematic philosophy. Woman was at the mercy of every wind--to-day honoured--to-morrow despised--now a goddess--and anon a slave! Viewing heathen countries in the most favourable aspect in which history presents them, and admitting to the fullest extent the correctness of those details of virtue and valour which she has transmitted to us, the conduct of the Celtic and Scandinavian nations, and instances deduced from cultivated and classic regions, or from modern times, can only be considered as exceptions which do not impugn the general alignment, corroborated as it has been by a historical and geographical delineation of society in every age of the world, and every quarter of the globe.

Behold Christianity, then, walking forth in her purity and greatness to bless the earth, diffusing her light in every direction, distributing her charities on either hand, quenching the flames of lust and the fires of ambition, silencing discord, spreading peace, and creating all things new! Angels watch her progress, celebrate her influence, and anticipate her final triumphs! The moral creation brightens beneath her smiles, and owns her renovating power; at her approach man loses his fierceness and woman her chains; each becomes blessed in the other, and God glorified in both!

Appendix.

(SEE p. 320.)

The concurrent evidence of a variety of passages of Scripture respecting the existence of Satan, ind his interference in human concerns, have been rejected with singular and pertinacious audacity, solely upon the ground that the whole of these representations must be figurative, because they are not consonant to human reason--which seems to be a very dignified sort of personage, assuming to herself the right of calling revelation to her bar, and disposing at pleasure of the doctrines of Heaven. As, however, truth will always bear investigation, it may not be improper to devote a few additional pages to this subject, with a view of satisfying; the humble inquirer, that sound sense and divine testimony are really and entirely coincident.

Whatever is revealed it becomes us to believe, and simply on this account, that it is revealed; if the subject of the revelation be mysterious or incomprehensible, this does not annul our obligation implicitly to believe it, because sufficient reasons may exist in the Eternal Mind for the concealment of its nature, or it may surpass the comprehension of our limited capacities; but if it be naturally capable of investigation--if it be not only a fact, but a fact in proof of which evidences may be adduced, and explanations furnished, our minds cannot be better employed, than in thus superinducing substantial evidence or vivid probability upon the testimony of divine inspiration.

I. It is highly reasonable to suppose, that there are beings of a distinct and superior order to ourselves in the universe. Nothing can be more improbable than to imagine that this earth is the only inhabited region of universal empire, the only peopled province in the creation of God; especially when we observe that it forms but one, and that a small globe of matter belonging to a system in which others, and some very superior bodies, are found moving round the came centre, and legulated by similar laws; and that this whole system itself is but one out of ten thousand others that constitute the heavenly constellations, and "pave the shining way to the divine abode."

The productions of Infinite Wisdom are wonderfully diversified. In the present world we have an opportunity of observing them only in the descending scale, from man, the summit of creation, down through all the gradations of animal existence, to the scarcely discernible insects that flit in the summer sunbeams, and to the minuter world of microscopic discovery. But analogy would lead us to infer, that there may be beings in the vast dominion of universal space as much superior to man as man himself is superior to insects or animalculæ. It is not probable that creative power should cease to operate precisely at the point where human existence commences; and especially as mind admits of incalculable diversity in the extent of its energies and capacities, and as it is found in all cases to possess a power of improvement and expansion, it is likely, under other circumstances and in other worlds, it may he inconceivably superior to the highest elevation it his ever attained in this lower region. Hence we infer the great probabilily of angelic existence.

II. It is reasonable to suppose, that superior intelligences were constituted free agents, and capable therefore of retaining or forfeiting their primeval character and happiness, for this is the evident lay of the rational creation, so far it comes within the limits of our observation. If this be the case, some of these beings may probably have misused their liberty, and become depraved and corrupt. It is essential to the notion of free agency, to suppose this possible, and though from the infinite benignity of the Divine Being, we should infer that he would create them holy and happy, we cannot conclude they must necessarily be preserved in such a state. There is nothing in the nature of the blessed God, as a just and holy Being, to require this, no obligation to do so resulting from the mere circumstance of their being thus created, and nothing, in a perfect system of holy government, to demand it. Indeed, quite the reverse, because it is natural to infer, that the subjects of divine government, however elevated in character and condition, should be responsible to their Ruler, and liberty of thought and action, the power of choice, and refusal of obedience and disobedience, is essential to responsibility. There may, therefore, probably exist unholy or evil spirits, such as have not kept their first estate, and consequently amenable to righteous laws, and proper objects of punishment.

III. As it is reasonable to suppose that the government of God may admit of the existence of fallen and evil spirits, as well as those of a more honourable class, it is equally so to conclude, that a similar or analogous variety of talent, capacity, and guilt may obtain to that which we observe in the constitution of other intelligent creatures both good and evil, in this world. Wicked men are not satisfied to be sought by criminals, they have no wish to be alone in sin but are uniformly anxious to seduce others into the perpetration of those iniquities which they themselves have dared to commit. The first action of Eve after her transgression, was to hand the forbidden fruit to her husband, and persuade him to eat, and it is the earliest wish of a rebellious heart to involve others in the guilt and misery of their own deeds, partly for the sake of concealing their enormity, by diverting the eye from observing the awful proportions of then individual offences, and partly to acquire encouragement and support in the commission of yet unpractised crimes. Hence "one sinner destroyeth much good." According to his capacity or opportunity he becomes the centre of a large circle of impious association, he sways inferior minds, and forms them into so many satellites round his person, who individually acquire a lustre from his pre-eminence, and feel the attraction of his base superiority. Hence the world of wickedness is ruled by an incalculable number of petty princes, who each assume independent empire, but all combine to carry on eternal war against the order of providence, the good of society, and the glory of God,

It is not absurd, then, to conclude, that a similar diversity prevails amongst evil beings of a superior class, that some may be far more atrocious in their characters than others, and more capacitated to do extensive mischief. It is equally likely, that their influence over other evil spirits may be proportioned to these circumstances, and that their example or advice may excite to deeds of infernal daring. These considerations would eventually conduct us to the probability of the existence of one, pre-eminent above the rest in crime and in capacity, who may influence the several chiefs of the infernal empire, as they exercise a power over inferior demons; or that Satan, or the devil, is "the prince of the power of the air."

IV. The invisible nature of diabolical agency can be no sufficient objection to its existence. Admitting that there are other proofs, this circumstance could not diminish their force, much less destroy their evidence. It must be granted, that without other proofs it would be a radical objection, because in such a case the whole statement would he gratuitous and conjectural. If it were allowable to suppose such an agency, it might be equally so to refuse admitting it; every one may be amused or not with a pure fiction, an imaginary creation. But do not plead, that the invisibility of diabolical agency is any proof or any presumption of its reality; but simply that it is no objection, that it has no power to neutralize the evidence produced, and that unbelievers have no authority, on this account, to treat the subject with that profane and impertinent ridicule, which is a mere commonplace artifice to evade unwelcome convictions.

God is invisible--but is this any argument against his being? The human soul is invisible--is this a proof that it does not exist? The magnetic influence cannot be seen--is this a reason that it does not operate? Are the opinions or philosophers deduced from the analogies of nature, that suns and stars and systems occupy the distant regions of space, which have never yet been penetrated by the best constructed telescopes, rendered improbable by the allegation, that no eye and no instrument can discern them? The existence and operations of the devil are admitted to be invisible to sense, and in many cases, perhaps, difficult of investigation by reason--what then? Nothing.

V. The supposition that the operation of invisible spirits is secret and imperceptible to ourselves, cannot be adduced as demonstrative against its reality. What is more difficult to ascertain than the operation of our own minds, and the motives by which we are impelled? Nor is it difficult only to trace the process of reasoning that has led us to any particular conclusion, and to recall the fleeting thoughts flinch have passed through the mind in rapid succession, so as to tell how we came to be influenced to a certain conclusion; but we often cannot discover what external objects or what incidental circumstances, first directed us into the inquiry, or led to the result.

Still more inconceivable is the manner in which spirit operates upon spirit, where there is no external agency; and it is inconceivable, because of our little experience on the subject, and because the usual modes of impression are through the medium of sense. The ear, the eye, the touch, convey impressions to the spirit; but when neither are sensibly affected, we cannot trace the influence exercised upon us, although it is highly irrational to deny its possibility. Besides, we know that "God, who is a Spirit, operates upon our souls at times and under circumstances, when we are unconscious of this influence; and, if we had no evidence from Scripture, reason must admit that such an operation is not improbable."

The only objection which can arise here, is that of supposing the evil spirit in any respects independent of God; a supposition, however, which is not to be charged upon the advocates of diabolical agency. "It is evident," says Dr. Leland, "to the common sense of mankind, that there is a vast difference between the supposition of an almighty and independent evil being, a supposition full of absurdity and horror; and that of an inferior dependent being, who was made originally pure and upright, but fell by his own voluntary defection into vice and wickedness; and who, though permitted in many instances to do mischief, and to act according to his evil inclinations, as wicked men are often permitted to do in this present state, yet are still under the sovereign control of the most holy, wise, and powerful Governor of the world. For, in this case, we may be sure, from the divine wisdom, justice, and goodness, that God will, in the fittest season, inflict a punishment upon that evil being and his associates, proportionable to their crimes; and that in the mean time, he setteth bounds to their malice and rage, and provideth sufficient assistance for those whom they endeavour to seduce to evil, whereby they may be enabled to repel their temptations, if it be not their own faults; and that he will in his superior wisdom bring good out of their evil, and overrule even their malice and wickedness, for promoting the great ends of his government, This is the representation made to us of this matter in the Holy Scripture, nor is there any thing in this that can be proved to be contrary to sound reason. And we may justly conclude, that in the final issue of things, the wisdom as well as righteousness of this part of the divine administration will most illustriously appear."

END.