Editors' Table-Drawer.
Reading edition
PICTURES FROM DANTE.
FAME.
"NOW must thou shake off sloth," my guide began, "For not beneath rich canopies of state, On beds of down, must fame be sought by man."
FIRMNESS.
FOLLOW thou me, nor heed what others say; Be like a tower that stoopeth not its head, Bellow the tempests fiercely as they may. He in whose breast springs thought to thought succeeding, Of his intent is ever frustrated— The force of one the other's force impeding.
WORLDLINESS.
OH, the insensate labor men bestow On worldly things! How weak those reasonings are Which make them stoop their wings to earth below! One was pursuing medicine; one a course Of law; the church employed another's care; One strove to rule by sophistry or force; One was on wicked gains by fraud intent; By merchandise another; this one given To sensual joys; on ease another bent— While I, from all these earthly cares relieved, With Beatrice ascending into heaven, Was in that sphere so gloriously received.
FEMINOLOGY.
ON account of the few lucrative employments that are left to the female sex, and by consequence of the little opportunity they have of adding to their income, daughters ought to be the particular objects of a parent's care and foresight; and as an option of marriage, from which they can reasonably expect happiness, is not presented to every one who deserves it, especially in times when a licentious celibacy is in fashion with the men, a father should endeavor to enable his daughters to lead a single life with independency and decorum, even though he subtract more for that purpose from the portions of his sons than is agreeable to modern usage, or than they expect.—W. PALEY, Moral Philosophy.
LADIES have sometimes distinguished themselves as prodigies of learning. Many of the most eminent geniuses of the French nation have been of the female sex. Several of our own countrywomen have also made a respectable figure in the republic of letters.—C. BUCK, Miscellanies.
EMERA was much displeased with her maid-servants. The occasion of her displeasure was great and just, but she had not the spirit of reproof. Criton happening to be in his closet, she went up and made her complaint there. He entreated her to excuse him from the economy of the kitchen and parlor: It was entirely under her dominion, and if her maids were so culpable, she must reprove them sharply. "Alas!" said she, "I cannot chide."—ISAAC WATTS, Miscellanies.
THE obvious designation of woman to a different sphere of action and influence from that which is occupied by the stronger sex, suggests the contemplation of excellencies which, though not peculiar to herself, are delightfully appropriate to her character and condition. There is a feeling of heart, a consciousness of dependency, a natural and amiable timidity, a tenderness and kindness, which unfit a woman for the rude and tumultuous occupations, and which, while they assign to her a more retired sphere, as clearly disclose those qualifications which constitute her true dignity and glory.—GARDINER SPRING, Sermon.
THERE is not one sentiment I join you more cordially in, than an utter detestation of all the heartless splendor and ceremony of fashionable life; and I trust that my wife will never suffer herself to be so seduced by the example of female acquaintances, and advisers, and managers, as to step down from the dignified simplicity of a minister's fireside, and mingle in all the extravagances of parties, and second courses, and splendid drawing-rooms, and the whole tribe of similar abominations.—THOMAS CHALMERS.
DEACONESSES.
THAT the peculiar gifts of the female sex might be made available for the outward service of the Church, in rendering the assistance of various kinds for which women are peculiarly fitted; the office of Deaconess was established, in addition to that of Deacon, at first in the churches of the Gentile Christians.—NEANDER, History of the Church.
IT is well known that in the primitive Church there were women particularly appointed for this work. Indeed, there was one or more such in every Christian congregation under heaven. They were then termed Deaconesses, that is, servants—servants of the Church and of its Great Master. Such was Phœbe, mentioned by St. Paul, Rom. xvi. 1, "A Deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea." It is true most of these were women in years, and well experienced in the work of God. But were the young wholly excluded from that service? No! neither need they be, provided they know in whom they have believed, and show that they are holy of heart, by being holy in all manner of conversation.—JOHN WESLEY, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 335, N. Y. ed.
IGNATIUS, in writing to the Church at Antioch—of which he himself was pastor—says: "Salute the Deaconesses in Christ Jesus." Tertullian speaks particularly of a Deaconess who was of a very tender age.[2] Their office was so respected, that a bishop was deposed for having received into it a woman who had been excommunicated;[3] and it often fell to their lot to share the glories of martyrdom with the most holy confessors of the faith.[4]
How long this order continued in the Christian Church is not absolutely certain. Up to the commencement of the fourth century it, however, preserved itself free from abuses, but became corrupted in the fifth and sixth, and ended by disappearing in the Latin Church in the eighth, when the Papacy became finally constituted. In the Greek Church this office continued several hundred years, and Deaconesses pursued their self-denying service in the Christian Churches of Constantinople to the close of the twelfth century.[5]—WM. A. PASSAVANT, Institution of Deaconesses.