comforter. In barbarous countries, she has been a public slave; in civilized ones, very generally a kind of private mistress. Her mind has been left untaught, as if incapable or unworthy of instruction. She has been not only imprisoned by jealousy in séclusion, but degraded and rendered vicious and miserable by polygamy-sometimes worshiped as a goddess, then fondled as a toy, then punished as a victim. She could never attain to dignity, and even with all her brightest charms, could rarely appear but with the beauty of a doll.

Exceptions to this, of some extent, may be made in favor of the polished Greeks and proud Romans; but only to some extent; for did time permit, and necessity require, it could be shown that even Athenian refinement and Roman virtue rarely gave to woman her just rank by the side of her husband, or her proper place in his affection, esteem, and confidence. The laws of Rome, it is true, gave to woman greater liberty and consideration than she had before received; still, she was so treated even there as to sink into degradation disgraceful to her purity, and destructive of her happiness. "No happy influence did she exert on the public or private welfare of the State. Politicians intrigued with her; ambition combined with passion to cor. rupt her; and her liberty degenerated into licentiousness. Through her influence, the streets of the capital were sometimes deluged with its best blood; and to such an extent was her profligacy carried, that among the decrees which passed the Senate

during the reign of Tiberius, against the licentious ness of female manners, it was ordained, 'that no woman whose grandfather, father, or husband, was a Roman knight, should be allowed to make her person venal.' The laws of a nation are an instructive and faithful history of its manners. If such was the condition of a Roman baroness, what must have been that of the subordinate classes?"? Neither Paganism nor Mohammedanism ever yet understood the female character, or conceded woman's just claims. In many nations, the degradation has been excessive. You remember, probably, the reply of a pagan mother, who, having been expostulated with for the murder of her female child, contended that she had performed an act of mercy in sparing the babe the miseries of a woman's life. All travelers and all missionaries attest the fact of woman's humiliation, beyond the boundaries of revelation.*

If we go to the Bible, we shall learn that it is to Christianity, as distinct even from Judaism, that

*The reader is referred for detailed statements of the condition of woman in Pagan and Mohammedan countries, to a very able and interesting work by my friend, Dr. Cox, of Hackney, entitled, "Female Scripture Biography, with an Essay on what Christianity has done for Woman." At my instigation, I believe, the esteemed Author is about to publish a new edition of this very valuable work. It is to me surprising it should have been allowed so long to remain out of print. I am indebted to it for some of the ideas contained in this chapter, and am happy thus to announce its expected reappearance.

woman owes her true elevation. Polygamy is, and ever must be, fatal to female dignity and happiness: this, or at any rate concubinage, was prac ticed, no doubt, from mistaken views, by the patriarchs, not that it was ever positively sanctioned by God, for, from the beginning, he made one woman for one man, and by the providential and extraordinary general equality of the sexes as to numbers, he still proclaims, in unmistakable language, the law of monogamy-but to use an expression of the apostle, "he winked at"* these things: he did not regard it as innocent or convenient, yet he did not say much about it, or punish it, but left it to punish itself, which it most certainly did. If we examine the Levitical code we shall find that even this, though a Divine dispensation, contained some regulations which evinced that the time of woman's full emancipation from a state of inferiority had not yet arrived and that it was reserved for that glorious and gracious economy under which we are placed to raise the female sex into their just position and influence in society. Christianity, as in other things, so in this, is an enlargement of privilege; and among other blessings which it confers, is its elevation of woman to her proper place and influence in the family and in society.

SECONDLY. I now go on to consider what there is in Christianity that tends to elevate and improve the condition of woman.

To the oppressive and cruel customs of Moham

*Acts xvii. 30.

medanism and Paganism, in their treatment of the female sex, Christianity presents a beautiful and lovely contrast; while to the partial restoration of female rights in Judaism, it adds a complete admission of their claims. It is the glory of our holy religion, and shows it to be an emanation from the Divine beneficence, and the friend of humanity at large, that it is the enemy of oppression in every form and every condition, and gives to every one his due. It tramples on no rights-it resents and resists all wrong; but not one of all the children of men is more indebted to its merciful and equitable reign than woman. From Christianity woman has derived her moral and social influence: yea, almost her very existence as a social being. The mind of womah, which many of the philosophers, legislators, and sages of antiquity had doomed to inferiority and imbecility, Christianity has developed. The gospel of Christ, in the person of its Divine founder, has descended into this neglected mine, which even wise men had regarded as not worth the working, and brought up a priceless gem, flashing with the light of intelligence, and glowing with the lovely hues of Christian graces. Christianity has been the restorer of woman's plundered rights, and has furnished the brightest jewels in her present crown of honor. Her previous degradation accounts, in part at least, for the instability of early civilization. It is impossible for society to be permanently elevated where woman is debased and servile. Wherever females are regarded as inferior

beings, society contains within itself, not, indeed, the elements of dissolution, yet the obstructions of all solid improvement. It is impossible that institutions and usages which trample upon all the very instincts of our nature, and violate the revealed law of God, should be crowned with ultimate success. Society may change in its external aspect, may exhibit the glitter of wealth—the refinements of taste the embellishments of art, or the more valuable attainments of science and literature-but if the mind of woman remain undeveloped, her taste uncultivated, and her person enslaved, the social foundations are insecure, and the cement of society is feeble. Wherever Christianity is understood and felt, woman is free. The gospel, like a kind angel, opens her prison doors, and bids her walk abroad and enjoy the sunlight of reason, and breathe the invigorating air of intellectual freedom. And in proportion as a pure Christianity prevails, this will be ever found to be the case.

But all this is vague and general assertion. We now descend to the proof:

1. Christianity elevates the condition of woman by its very genius as a system of universal equity and benevolence. When it descended from heaven to earth, it was heralded into our world by the angel's song, "Glory to God in the highest; and on earth, peace and good will to man." The offspring of Infinite Love, it partakes entirely of the spirit, and reflects the character of its Divine Parent. It is essentially and unalterably the enemy of all injus