of an endless consequence. If we refuse to do anything, our negation circulates itself. If we move, we quicken the pulses of the common being. If we stand still, we poison the air or enrich the soil. The obscurest of us by some little filament is connected with all the rest. Our existence is felt, and we leave our impress. Surely, then, I repeat, one of the most powerful motives binding us to duty and faithfulness is this consideration of our influ

ence.

What, then, is the peculiar influence which woman exerts? What are the sources of her influence? These questions have already been answered in the main. Her peculiar and most powerful influence is that of the affections; and in those relations which pertain to the affections. In saying this, I do not question her intellectual capacity, or her fitness to act in the sterner crises of life. But, as I have before said, here she finds a compeer in man, and holds a divided dominion. But no one can deny that there is an influence in woman's love;

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a control in her dependence, a power in her weakness, an attraction in her refinement, a glory in her mercy, faith and trust, that is all her own. Add to this the efficiency of culture, accomplishments, and the knowledge and spirit. of duty, and place it among the instrumentalities which Christianity is daily furnishing for it, and we must perceive that it touches the most essential welfare, and sways the largest destinies. Sceptres are not so mighty; the eloquent tongue, the cunning pen, the wisdom of the philosopher, are not so potent as the daughter's affection, the sister's solicitude, the wife's ministration, the mother's prayerful discipline; as the influence that opens the well-springs of the heart, and moulds the lineaments of character, and gently guides the wayward will, and drops like dew upon the fiery spirit; as the love that now ventures abroad in the earth, uttering the word of benediction and doing the deed of philanthropy, following, like the sunshine and the shower, the whirlwind of man's ambition and the storm

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of his wrath, the chariot-wheels of battle, the dust-cloud of traffic, and the long caravan of selfishness and sin.

In saying that woman's peculiar influence springs from the affections, I mean that these are the secret of her influence, its central and essential life, whether she speaks or writes, whether she teaches or advises, whether she acts or suffers. In this way her power, if not always acknowledged, has always been perceptible. Man has confessed it in sensual love, or domestic attachment; in chivalric admiration, or sentimental gallantry; in the degrading polygamy of heathenism, or the holy and beautiful offices, the equal respect, the pure and enlightened companionship, of Christian marriage. This power, so vital in the closest relations, modifies every circumstance, and controls the world. While she is reflected in the most silent expressions of home, while her presence makes its atmosphere, and she is the very life of all its order, the influence of her nature is seen in the amenities of civiliza

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tion, the refinements of speech, custom, and manner, and all the graces of society. It is felt as deeply as the domestic sanctities are felt -it is as prominent as the mouldings of maternal love.

We can best illustrate the true element of woman's influence by considering what would be the consequence if she should abandon her present attitude, and take a more forward position. If, for instance, she should become absorbed in political life, in speculation, or debate, we might wonder at her tact, admire her eloquence, and confess her genius. But all her peculiar sway over us would be lost. Homage would give way to rivalry. The mutual offices of dependence and ministration would be exchanged for a selfish antagonism. The fluent charities of home would become petrified to an intellectual frostwork. And everywhere would it be felt that there was a loss and a void, a dying out of nature, a dropping away of that mysterious, inexpressible love, that unseen magnetism, which refines the elements of

social life and binds them together, and which holds the individual heart true to the plane of its ecliptic, when conscience is perturbed and reason has wandered from its orbit. Yes! woman's true power is the power of the affections; by them does she hold more than queenly rule over a dominion as wide as that of thought, and for results as incalculable as human destiny.

We have thus slightly considered the peculiarity of female influence. Let us now look at the spheres in which it operates. And first, because most important of all, let us reflect upon her influence in the sphere of home. Here she acts in the relations of the mother, the wife, the sister, the daughter. The first of these, the maternal relation, I shall reserve to be discussed by itself, in the concluding discourse. Let us briefly consider the influence of woman, then, in the relation of wife. I have already called your attention to the duties and liabilities of marriage. We have considered it not merely as a provision for happiness,