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MAN AND WOMAN;
OR,
THE LAW OF HONOR APPLIED TO THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM,
WHY ME SO MAM MORE WOMEN THAN MEN
wmmi
BY TH
REV. PHILIP SLAUGHTER,
EECTOE OF CALVARY CHINCH, CrLPEPPEE COUSTY, YIBGIXIA.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY A. T. BLEDSOE, LL.D.
Of the University of Virginia.
Marcellus dedicated a temple to virtue, and near it placed another dedicated to honor : the temple of virtue was the passage to the tem- ple of honor. — Lrv. i. 2.
PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPIXCOTT & CO.
1860.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year I860, by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT k CO.
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The Library of Congkf.ss
WASHINGTON
TO THE
PROFESSORS, ALUMNI, AND STUDENTS
Initaitj of f irpia,
This humble contribution to the solution of an interesting problem is inscribed as a small token of respect for my Alma Mater. I look back upon the years of my boyhood spent 'within the walls of tho University with feelings of pleasure and regret,-rof pleasure in the memory of privileges enjoyed and friendships formed, of regret for privileges abused and friendships broken by death. That the present students and those who shall succeed them may so pass their time that they can look back upon it with pleasure and no regret, and that each of them may be an honor to the University, to his country, to his God, and to himself, is the sincere prayer of
THE AUTHOK. Mat 10, 1860.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
Pagb THE PROBLEM 5
CHAPTER II.
THE INFIDEL SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM 10
CHAPTER III.
ANOTHER THEORY 16
CHAPTER IV
THE TRUE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM 24
CHAPTER V.
THE DIFFERENT EDUCATION OF THE SEXES 26
CHAPTER VI.
THE RELATIONS OF THE SEXES TO THE FAMILY, TO THE STATE, TO SOCIETY, AND TO THE GENERAL PRACTICAL BUSINESS OF LIFE 33
CHAPTER VII.
POLITICS — MAN THE VOTER, THE PARTISAN, THE
REPRESENTATIVE 37
CHAPTER VIII.
MONEY 44
1* V
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
Pagx THE DIFFERENT STANDARDS OF MORALS WHICH MEN, THE MASTERS OF OPINIONS, HAVE MADE FOR
"WOMEN AND FOR THEMSELVES THE LAW OF
HONOR — BISHOP ATKINSON'S SERMON EX- TRACT 61
PART II
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 73
CHAPTER II.
EDUCATION — DIFFERENT METHODS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS — THE SOUL OF A BOY WORTH AS MUCH
AS THE SOUL OF A GIRL A PROTEST AGAINST
THE LAW OF "HONOR," AS APPLIED TO EDUCA- TION 77
CHAPTER III.
THE FAMILY A DIVINE INSTITUTION, OF WHICH THE FATHER IS THE HEAD — THE FATHER, NOT THE MOTHER, THE PROPHET AND PRIEST OF THE FAMILY 83
CHAPTER IV.
EDUCATION 93
CHAPTER V.
THE DIFFERENT RELATIONS OF THE SEXES TO THE
FAMILY 106
CHAPTER VI.
THE LAW OF HONOR 110
CHAPTER VII.
THE DUEL 145
INTRODUCTION.
I will not offend the modesty of the author, nor the taste of the Christian reader, by writing a panegyric on the merits of the following volume. It can and will speak for itself. All it needs is a fair hearing. But the interests of truth require me to say that, while discussing a subject of the highest im- portance, it exhibits one of the best attri- butes of good writing, in being at once both obvious and original. So obvious, indeed, are some of its trains of reflection when once stated, that the reader can scarcely resist the impression that he must have seen them before; and yet they are so original, that he may search whole libraries for them in vain. Nor is this the chief merit of the book. It partakes of the nature of divine truth itself,
Vlll INTEODUCTION.
in that it is alike adapted to interest the child and the sage, or, what is still better, to awaken serious thought and confer lasting benefit on the reader who, like the present writer, is neither a child nor a sage. Only let it be read, and it cannot fail to do good wher- ever the name of Christianity is respected or the best interests of society are under- stood and valued.
The problem discussed by the author is, Why db so many more women than men be- come Christians? This is the one point from which all his reflections depart, and to which they return. It is not my purpose to antici- pate him, by giving any thing like an ab- stract of his work, or by putting his very suggestive thoughts in any words but his own. I merely intend, by way of introduc- tion, to offer a few additional reflections, which have been suggested by "the infidel solution of the problem," as set forth in the second chapter of the volume. This solution is, in substance, that woman is the weaker
INTRODUCTION. IX
vessel, and is therefore more easily deceived by the shams and sophistries enlisted in the cause of Christianity. The spirit of this solution, even when not expressed in words, often lurks in the heart of man, and, with many other things of the same kind, serves to harden it against the influence of the truth. He feels as if religion is an affair for women and children, but not for the higher order of intellectual beings, like himself. He may admit, perhaps, that it is a good thing for "the vulgar herd," as he is pleased to call the uneducated multitude; but he very surely imagines that one who has reached the sublime heights of reason should lay aside "the prejudices of his infancy." This spirit, which lies concealed and unsus- pected in the hearts of so many, sometimes speaks out in right plain and intelligible words. Thus, Laplace, in his great work, "IJa Systeme du Monde" turns aside to deplore the fact that even some of the greatest minds, such as Leibnitz and Newton, have not been
X INTRODUCTION.
able to overcome "the prejudices of infancy/ as he expresses himself, and rise above the vulgar multitude into the region of pure reason, where neither a film of prejudice nor a shadow of superstition ever intercepts the view of men or of angels. He seems to stand on some one of the stars in the Meca- nique Celeste, and look down, with an eye of pride and pity, on the greatest minds of earth, such as Descartes and Pascal and Leibnitz and Newton, because in the fetters of an infantile faith they are still associated with the weaker vessels of humanity.
Now, it would not be proper in us, perhaps, to suggest the inquiry whether Laplace was raised to such a sublime height by the ele- vating force of pure reason, or by the expan- sive force of pure gas. But, for one, I will venture to say that "these stronger vessels'' never appear so ineffably weak as when they attempt to frame objections against the Christian religion. I have read their objec- tions; and if ever I feel more profoundly
INTRODUCTION. XI
ashamed of human reason at any one time than at all other times put together, it is when I witness such manifestations of it. A volume would scarcely suffice to illustrate the truth of this proposition, the justness of this sentiment; and yet our limits must con- fine us to only one or two examples. In se- lecting these instances, we shall not recon- sider the often exploded sophisms of a Hume, or a Gibbon, or a Yoltaire : we shall, on the contrary, examine the objection to Chris- tianity which lies the most deeply imbedded in the popular heart, and which is, therefore, the most likely to achieve a wide-spread mischief.
I once heard an illustrious prelate* de- clare, from the pulpit, that of all the ob- stacles to the spread of the gospel the im- perfect lives and short-comings of Christians appeared to him the most formidable. The
* Bishop Mcllvaine, whose work on the Evidences of Christianity has done, and is calculated to do, an immense
Xli INTRODUCTION.
embattled ranks of all the infidels in the world, said he, appeared to him as nothing when compared with such a weight and drag on the cause of Christianity; and he insisted, with overwhelming eloquence, that if the lives of Christians were such as they ought to be, then all the objections of infidelity might easily be scattered to the winds, and the victory be made complete. Now, all this is, no doubt, perfectly true, and should be most seriously laid to heart by every pro- fessing Christian. He should never forget that it is his high office and mission to re- flect, by a pure and spotless example, "the light of the world" on all the darkness around him. In point of fact, however, Christians are not perfect; and we are, there- fore, under the necessity of meeting infidels' in some other way. But for the faults and im- perfections of Christians, they could not keep thenselves in countenance for a moment. As it is, however, they maintain a bold front, and seldom fail to point the finger of scorn
INTRODUCTION. Xlll
and derision at the veiy imperfections and faults which constitute the strength of their own cause. The "weaker vessels/' espe- cially if they are weak enough to be not only almost but altogether Christians, are more likely to weep than to exult over such failings and disgraces of a fallen humanity.
But what is the value of this objection in a logical point of view? It is, as we have seen, in a practical point of view one of the great strongholds of the infidel. Let us con- sider, then, its precise nature and value in the eye of "pure reason." The most rational and the most impartial unbeliever I have ever known once said, in my hearing, that, as an immortal being, he had considered it his first and most important duty to examine and weigh the evidences of Christianity. He was, in many respects, admirably pre- pared for such an investigation. For, besides the possession of one of the clearest and strongest intellects with which I have ever come into contact, the powers of his mind
XIV INTRODUCTION.
had been trained by the discipline of severe studies in various departments of know- ledge, and he had with distinguished ability long filled the office of Chief-Justice of the State in which he resided. It had been, therefore, the business of his life, in a mea- sure, to study and apply the principles of evidence. "With such preparation, and after a careful examination, he did not hesitate to declare that the balance of evidence in favor of the truth of Christianity appeared to him " absolutely overwhelming." But then he added that when he turned from the evi- dences of Christianity, and considered the lives of Christians, his faith was again shaken, and the effect of all his investiga- tions neutralized. This case presents the ob- jection in question in all its simplicity and force. Let us, then, consider its real value.
In replying to this objection, I shall endea- vor to do so, as nearly as possible, in the words of a young man who was present at the remarks of the chief-justice, and fresh
INTRODUCTION. XV
from the study of Butler's Analogy. "I think your difficulty/' said he to the chief- justice, "admits of a satisfactory reply." "I should like to hear it," said the chief-justice. "You believe," continued the young man, "in the being of a God and in his moral go- vernment of the world." "I no more doubt such things," replied the chief-justice, firmly, "than I doubt my own existence or the exist- ence of the sun in the heavens." "Then, for the sake of argument," said the young man, "let us suppose that the imperfect lives of Christians, their faults and failings, are suffi- cient not only to neutralize, but also to refute, all the evidences in favor of Christianity, and prove it to be false. In other words, let us suppose that Christianity cannot be of divine origin, since it permits those who profess it to remain so imperfect and full of faults. Then, Christianity being false, we must fall back on natural religion, on 'our belief in God and in his moral government of the world.' But is our position improved? Are the
Xvi INTRODUCTION.
faults of Christians or of other men mended by the supposition that Christianity is false ? Is not the world just as full of evil now as it was before ? Then, if the argument against Christianity be good, it is also good against natural religion. That is to say, this religion must be pronounced false, because it has failed to remedy the evils which it is designed to remove. Nay, the argument against Christianity bears with increased force against natural religion; since, if Christianity be false, then the Author of natural religion not only permits all the other evils in the world, but also the invention of a false reli- gion and the perpetration of all the crimes and frauds and miseries committed in its name. Hence we must either abandon this objection against Christianity, or else give up our natural religion, — our belief in the being, in the glory, and in the government of God, — and take our position in the starless and bottomless pit of atheism. For one, my choice is made."
INTRODUCTION. XV11
The chief-justice made no reply. But some 3'ears afterward he told me that the argument of the young man had often re- curred to his mind, and that it appeared per- fectly satisfactory. We may, indeed, safely appeal to "the pure reason" of every man under the sun, if it is not as complete a re- ductio ad absurdum as any to be found in Euclid or in Archimedes. It is a complete answer, not only to the objection of the chief- justice, to whom it was addressed, but also to nearly all the sophisms and sneers which Gibbon has so plentifully scattered over the otherwise splendid pages of his "Decline and Fall." For nearly all of these are manufac- tured out of the faults, either real or sup- posed, of professing Christians. With the keen instinct of mischief, ho detects the weakest point in the mind of the Chris- tian world, and pours into that all the fires of his opposition. He does not see, and his readers do not always see, that he might
turn precisely the same battery, and with 2*
XV1U INTRODUCTION.
precisely the same effect, against the very being of a God and the reality of his moral government of the world. On the same ground, he might sneer at the reality of virtue, as so many have done, and conclude that every pretense to decency is a hollow profession and a sham.
The argument of Gibbon is, indeed, as re- markable for its intrinsic weakness as it is for its great practical effect. The men who are deceived and misled by such an argu- ment in relation to the most momentous question that ever engaged the attenticm of rational and immortal beings, have surely no very special reason to be proud that they are not "the weaker vessels." For one, I had infinitely rather trust the intuitional fa- culty of woman than the logical faculty of such "stronger vessels/' — especially in regard to the great truths of religion, which have more to do with the heart than with the head. There are two animals, says Bacon, which may reach the top of a pyramid, — the
INTRODUCTION. XIX
bird and the snake. The intuitional faculty of woman, like the bird, often reaches tho truth by a simple flight and from no other impulse than the natural affinity between truth and goodness; whereas the logical faculty of man, like the snake, may have to crawl from the base to the summit of truth, even when truth is the object of its pursuit. But this faculty, especially in such "stronger vessels" as a Voltaire, a Ilume, or a Gibbon, is far more apt to crawl downward and lose itself in the dark abyss and the frightful labyrinths of error than it is to seek the light which is round about the throne of God.
No true woman ever doubted the reality of virtue because some of those who pro- fessed it had fallen from grace. Nor will she doubt the reality of religion, or its power over the human heart, because some Chris- tians bring disgrace on their profession. She could as soon believe that tho sun is a sham, and the source of no real blessing to
XX INTRODUCTION.
the world, because in acting on the corrupt portions of the earth its benign influence sometimes elicits noxious vapors and lashes a guilty race with the scourge of pestilence. She must cease to be a true woman, and be- come a silly fly, ere she will be caught in the cobwebs of the sophistry which Gibbon has spun with such elaborate art and ornamented with such consummate skill. She must be "the weaker vessel" indeed if, without any aid from the logic of " the stronger vessel," she can believe that the Sun of Eighteousness does not shine because the passions of men are still bad and their practices evil. The remedy is not chargeable with the disease. Nor is the physician to blame if those whom he seeks to save and cure will either reject his remedies, or else only adopt them in part. Gibbon might just as well have argued against Christianity because he re- jected its remedies altogether, as because others did not follow or adopt them and
INTRODUCTION. Xxi
therefore remained unworthy of their high profession.
The ruling passion of the great historian was, as we learn from his own confession, "the desire of literary fame."* For this he lived, toiled, wrote; and he achieved, as every one knows, a most splendid literary reputation. It became all the greater be- cause in his time the infidels of France were the dictators of such fame for all Europe. If, instead of having served such an idol, he had chosen the Lord for his God and made the love of truth the ruling passion of his soul, he would most unquestionably have been a better man. He might, after all, have made a rather sorry Christian; but still he would have been a better man. He arraigns and condemns the Christian world because they do not live up to their principles. They would, no doubt, have found the task far easier if they had only attempted to live down to his principles. For, according to
* Gibbon'3 Memoirs, vol. L
XX11 INTEODUCTION.
his own confession, self was the object of his great toil, and "literary fame" the god of his idolatry. How can they "believe which re- ceive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only" ?
According to Laplace, all such skeptics as Gibbon are only partially emancipated from "the prejudices of infancy." They are still enthralled by one prejudice, which, in spite of all their genius and learning, enslaves them as well as most other men, women, and children, — namely, the belief in a God. He is entirely emancipated, and shows how all things came into being without the power of God. That is, he shows how the fabric of the universe, with all its infinity of suns and moons and stars, rose into being and rolled into one boundless system of systems without even "the hypothesis of a God." "Give me matter and motion," says Des- cartes, " and I will make a world." Even in this lofty boast Descartes betrays a sense of his dependence, and forcibly reminds one
INTRODUCTION. XX111
of the man who lacked only two things to make a grand oration, — namely, words and ideas. But we discover no sense of need on the part of Laplace. He does not cry, " Give me." The necessity of an Almighty Intelli- gence to give existence and impulsion to matter forms no part of his philosophy; since matter and motion, with all their won- derful properties and laws, have been kind enough to furnish themselves for the purpose of his sublime speculations. We shall not at present stop to question the soundness of his speculations, the correctness of his cosmogony, the truth of his "nebular hy- pothesis. " We shall permit every thing to happen just according to his own sovereign will and pleasure. But, after all is over, and the universe has built itself to his entire satisfaction, we have one or two simple questions to ask him.
Having turned the universe on the lathe of his logic, and fashioned it, and set it up in infinite space for our admiration, we would
Xxiv INTRODUCTION.
ask him, in the next place, to descend to earth, and explain to us the genesis of a single flower, or the formation of a single eye, by the wise operation of the law of gravity, or by , any other law he may please to select. Or, to take a still simpler case, we would beg him to show how a watch, or any other curious work of human art, could produce itself by the senseless whirl of blind atoms. Let us suppose that he sees a watch arise by such means. At first a screw is formed, with the head and helix rounded off, and each most exquisitely turned, and then a multitude of screws, just such in all respects as are needed for his watch. Other atoms form themselves into the springs, the wheels, the hard pivots, and the fastenings of the watch, — each and all of the right forms and sizes and ma- terials, so that each part may be exactly fitted to the rest and precisely suited to its own place and purpose. Then all these parts, thus curiously formed, arrange themselves,
INTRODUCTION. XXV
each seeking and finding its own place, in which it then fastens itself in the most approved way, — all coming together in the complicated manner of a watch. Around this wondrous self-made whole a multitude of atoms form themselves into a solid case, with hinges and fastenings, while other atoms form the face, with all its figures per- fectly defined and wrought in, others make the hands, and others still the clear, trans- parent crystal, — each part both in degree and kind such as it should be, and fixed precisely in its place. The busy blind atoms having made the watch, lo ! it begins to move, and marks the time. Other atoms dance into a key, which winds the watch up and sets it aright !
Now, if any philosopher, poet, or dreamer had seen a sight like this, would he have told the secret to the world? Or, if he had, would not the world have marked him for an idle jester or a fool ? What should we say, then, when we are gravely told that
XXvi INTRODUCTION.
the whole world, with its ten thousand times ten thousand wonderful adaptations, is the result of a fortuitous concourse of blind atoms ? Should we not be excused if we suspected that the philosophy of our informant is little or no better than a for- tuitous concourse of blind absurdities ? " I had rather believe," says Bacon, "all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind ; and therefore God never wrought miracles to convince atheism, be- cause his ordinary works convince it."
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
THE PKOBLEM.
Developments at the communion table — An astounding phenomenon — Sermons of Bishops Meade, Atkinson, and Cobbs.
Whenever the Holy Communion is admi- nistered in our churches, a scene is enacted which does not fill the heart of every serious Christian with profound grief and astonish- ment, only because it is so common. During the service and the sermon our congrega- tions are distributed in interesting family groups, as though each member of the family had a like interest in the great sub- ject which had gathered them together. But no sooner is the sermon ended than the scene changes. The greater part of the men rise from their seats, and turn their
6 THE PEOBLEM.
backs upon the most sacred solemnity of the Christian religion, declaring, by this conspicuous and decisive act, that they have no personal interest in the great salvation, of which the Holy Communion is so touch- ing a memorial. A mother or wife, daughter or sister, is often the sole and sorrowing representative of those interest- ing family groups which lately constituted such pleasing features in the picture upon which we had just been gazing with admi- ration and delight.
Now, here is a problem which demands a solution, and one which shall consist with the divine authority of Christianity, and its equal obligations upon men and women. This important subject, so far as I know, has never been systematically treated. It has been only incidentally touched by phi- losophers and divines, and deserves more attention than it has hitherto received. Bishop Meade indicated a high appreciation
THE PEOBLEM. 7
of its importance by sometimes requesting clergymen of his diocese to address sermons specially to men when assembled in great numbers at the Annual Conventions of the Episcopal Church in Virginia.
Several of these discourses were pub- lished, and are now in my possession. The first was preached by Bishop Meade, from the text, " These were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so; therefore many of them believed. Also of honorable women which were Greeks; and of men not a few."
The next was preached by the Kev. N". C. Cobbs, then of Bedford County, and now Bishop of Alabama. His text was the 22d verse of the 17th chapter of Acts : — " Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious."
3*
8 THE PROBLEM.
A third was preached by the Kev. Thomas Atkinson, of Lynchburg, now Bishop of North Carolina, upon the 7th and 8th verses of the 6th chapter of Galatians : — "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
The fourth of these published discourses was preached by the author, from the words, "The love of money is the root of all evil; which, while some coveted after, they erred from the faith, and pierced them- selves through with many sorrows."
None of these sermons considered but incidentally the particular problem which I have announced. Each treated such topics as seemed to him best fitted to arrest the attention of men, and make an impression upon them.
THE PROBLEM. 9
Having had my attention thus attracted to the subject, I was constrained to think about it; and having since occasionally revolved it in my mind, and witnessed the effects of special addresses to men, I have concluded to publish an humble contribu- tion towards the solution of a problem which challenges the profound and prayerful con- sideration of every one who considers a man's soul worth as much as a woman's.
I propose to notice briefly some of the hypotheses which have been suggested in explanation of this astounding phenomenon, and then address myself to the exposition of my own theory.
10 THE INFIDEL SOLUTION
CHAPTER II.
THE INFIDEL SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM.
Woman the weaker vessel — Curious opinions of the Jewish Rabbins — The early Christian Fathers — The Scholastics of the Middle Ages, and of modern physiologists.
It has been said that woman, being the weaker vessel in mind as well as body, is therefore more superstitious than man, and more easily becomes the victim of an artful and designing priesthood. I have no idea of considering the vexed questions arising out of the comparative anatomy, physiology, and intelligence of the sexes. The Jewish Eabbins, the early Christian Fathers, and the Scholastics of the Middle Ages have expressed opinions upon these subjects which deserve to be classed among the "Curiosities of Literature." In a
OF THE PROBLEM. 11
council at Macon, it was proposed, as a question of doubt, whether women were human beings ; and, after a long debate, the question was decided in favor of their humanity.*
Towards the close of the sixteenth century, an Italian author maintained that women have no souls, f According to Bayle, the author of a commentary ascribed falsely to St. Ambrose affirmed that women were not made after the image of God. He was re- futed by Voetius in his Politica Ecclesias- tica. This point was much disputed in Holland, where Beverwick wrote a learned work to prove that women were not inferior
* Polygamia Triumphalis, p. 123. Cum inter tot sanctos patres Episcopus quidam statueret non posse nee debere mulieres vocari homines, res tanti est habita ut in timore dei publico ventilaretur, et tandem post multos vexatae hujus questiones disceptationes, con- cluderetur quod mulieres sint homines.
•j- Que le Donne non habbino anima e non sino della specie degli huomini e vienne comprobato da multi luoghi della scrittura santa.
12 THE INFIDEL SOLUTION
to men in any qualifications of body or mind.
Geddicus, a Lutheran divine, also entered the lists in defense of women, and promised them an expectation of salvation upon good behavior.
The women also took up the pen in their own defense. An Italian lady, Lucretia Marinella, contributed to the discussion a treatise entitled "The Nobleness and Ex- cellency of Women, with the Defects and Failings of Men."*
In 1643 a book appeared at Paris, in French, called "The Generous Woman, who demonstrates that her sex is more noble, prudent, brave, wise, virtuous, and economical than that of man."f
* La Nobilta e 1'excellencia delle donne, con diffetti si mancamonti degli huoinini.
f La femme genereuse, qui montre que son sexe est plus noble, meilleur politique, plus vaillant, plus savant, plus vertueux, et plus e*conome, que celui des hommes. Other works in French and Italian appeared
OF THE PROBLEM. 13
Of late years, these subjects have been discussed almost exclusively by comparative anatomists, physiologists, and phrenologists. Elaborate comparisons have been instituted between the nervous and vital systems of the sexes. Their brains, their hearts, their lungs, and their stomachs, have been measured and compared, and some speculations have been indulged in, as to the influence of' physiological differences upon the mental and moral character.*
Leaving these curious subjects for those who have more taste and time for them, I
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, viz.: La Donna migliore que del uomo. Jacobus Del Pozzo, Upsal. 1650. Que la donna sia de gran lunga piu degna dell huomo. Russelli, 1552. Les dames illustres ou par bonnes et fortes raisons elle se preuve que le sexe fe"minin surpasse en toutes sorts le sexe masculin. Made- moiselle Guillaume, Paris, 1665. L' Alphabet de l'im- perfection et de malice des femmes. Olivier. Re"plique a l'antimalice. De la Bruyere, Berne, 1617.
* Walker on Woman, Michelet, Gall, Spurzheim, Combe, Dr. Alexander, Madame De Stael, Mrs. Woll- stonecraft.
14 THE INFIDEL SOLUTION
return to the hypothesis mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. It is the infidel theory, which assumes that Christianity is a superstition. A refutation of it would at first view seem to demand a complete exhibition of the evidences of Christianity. But this is rendered unnecessary by the fact that the suggestion is irrelevant. It would have some plausibility if it could be shown that Christianity is only believed by women and weak-minded men. But such is not the fact : on the contrary, Christianity comes accredited to us by men of the high- est sanctity of character and splendor of talent.
Natural, mental and moral philosophers, statesmen, jurists, and physicians, the most comprehensive and profound that have in- structed the world in every science and art, have brought all the laurels which they reaped in the fields of their fame, and laid them as humble offerings upon the altar
OF THE PEOBLEM. 15
of Christ. Surely Locke, Newton, Butler, Hale, Paley, and Pascal are as competent to detect error and discover truth as Hobbes and Hume and Gibbon and Voltaire. This theory does not account for the fact that Christianity enrolls among its disciples the most illustrious names in history; and therefore I dismiss it as an inadequate solu- tion of the problem.
16 ANOTHER THEORY.
CHAPTER III.
ANOTHER THEORY.
Man has more brain than -woman, woman more heart than man — The Scriptures recognize no original di- versity in the moral constitution of the sexes — This diversity the fruit of Jewish and Christian civiliza- tion— Letter of Rev. J. Addison Alexander, D.D.
It has been said that, while the intellect- ual faculties are more highly developed in man, the emotional nature is more largely- developed in woman ; man has more brain than woman, and woman has more heart than man; and that as Christianity ad- dresses itself to our emotional rather than to our intellectual nature, — to the heart, rather than to the head, — woman more read- ily responds to its appeals than man. This theory has been advocated by able and good men, who think that the final cause of this diversity is to be found in the fact
ANOTHER THEORY. 17
that to mothers is committed the early- training of boys as well as girls. Man is thus compensated, and the Deity vindicated, for what otherwise would seem a partial procedure. This theory supposes that the Creator has made an original difference in the moral constitution of man and woman, placing woman upon a platform from which she may more easily ascend to heaven than man. The Scriptures nowhere recognize this distinction. They address themselves to humanity as composed of both sexes, and as standing upon the same platform. There is not, so far as I can see, a word or a fact in the Bible, which warrants the conclusion that men are more excusable than women for not being Christians. On the contrary, there is a fact which confronts us as soon as we open our Bibles, from which it might be plausibly argued that the very suscep- tibility which is supposed to make woman more responsive to religious appeals, also
18 ANOTHER THEORY.
makes her a more easy captive to the wiles of the tempter. In Paradise, ere they had lost their innocence, it was the woman who sinned first. In the language of St. Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 19, Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was (first) in the transgression. Upon which Bloomfield re- marks, The woman was especially in fault. So far from being originally in a better position than man in regard to salvation, the sex which was the means of bringing ruin on the human race will not be excluded from salvation, nor will be admitted to it on worse terms, but it will be extended to them in consideration of their child-bearing, on the same conditions of faith and obedience. I am indebted to the late Rev. J. Addison Alexander, of Princeton, one of the most accomplished Biblical critics in America, for the following admirable summary of the results of the best criticism upon the 15th verse of the 2d chapter of First
ANOTHER THEORY. 19
Timothy. It was written but a few months before his lamented death, in answer to a private letter soliciting his opinion.
"Princeton, Sept. 28, 1859.
"Rev. and Dear Sir: — The verse to which you refer (1 Tim. ii. 15) is among the most difficult and doubtful in the Bible.
" Every word of the first clause has been variously understood ; and it is still a ques- tion whether the subject of the sentence is Eve, the Virgin Mary, the female sex, or every woman in particular ; whether ' saved' has a temporal or a spiritual meaning; whether the preposition (oca) should be rendered in, by, or notwithstanding, and whether the noun following means ordinary child-birth, or the birth of the Messiah, or the nurture of children, or children them- selves, &c.
" Looking at the clause by itself, I should
be strongly tempted to adopt the ancient
explanation, that Eve, though first in the 4*
20 ANOTHER THEORY.
transgression, will be ultimately saved by the very means employed to punish her, i.e. through Christ who was descended from her. But as this does not agree well with what goes before, nor at all with what fol- lows, I acquiesce in the conclusion of the most judicious writers, that, however the particular expression may be construed or interpreted, the meaning of the whole verse is, that woman, although under the specific curse incurred by Eve's transgression, is not thereby excluded from the great sal- vation secured by faith and evidenced by patient continuance in well-doing, but only from the office of a public teacher.
"It would thus seem that, so far from woman being regarded as occupying origin- ally a position more favorable to the salva- tion of the soul than man, St. Paul thought fit to combat the inference that she would be excluded from salvation, from the fact that she was first in transgression.
ANOTHER THEORY. 21
"Indeed, the current of early opinion seems to have set strongly towards the conclusion that the sin of Eve had been visited upon the sex, greatly diminishing the chances of their salvation, and, in the opinion of some, totally excluding them from it. The contrary opinion of woman's greater purity and susceptibility to religious impressions is modern, because the fact itself is modern. It is the effect of civili- zation, which is a fruit of Christianity. Christ found woman in the dust of degrada- tion; he took her by the hand and placed her by the side of man. In Christ Jesus there is neither ' male nor female,' rich nor poor, bond nor free. This passage does not mean that there are no distinctions be- tween classes and sexes, and that there are no privileges and duties arising out of these distinctions, but merely that they are all on a level in regard to salvation. Every- where and in all times, out of the sphere of
22 ANOTHER THEORY.
Christianity,* degradation is the condition of the female sex, and insult and suffering her reward. It was so among the ancient Greeks and Komans; it is so among the Hindoos and Chinese. Gutzlaff says of the women of China, 'They are the slaves and concubines of their masters; they live and die in ignorance; and every attempt to raise themselves is regarded as impious arrogance. Many of them fly to suicide as a refuge, and a large proportion of their female children are destroyed, 'f
" According to Bishop Heber, the condi- tion of Hindoo women is worse than that of the Chinese. 'Mohammedanism adds its authority to Hindooism and Buddhism in excluding woman from instruction, and pro- nouncing her soulless and irreclaimably wicked.' It is Christianity which has
* I include the Old and New Testaments, f In Pekin four thousand are annually murdered. — Abeel.
ANOTHER THEORY. 23
lifted woman out of the mire, and raised her to an equality of religious privilege with man. And the institutions and influ- ences with which civilization has sur- rounded her (and which will be hereafter enumerated) have elevated her into that higher and purer region where she now shines, the apparent favorite of Heaven, and the admiration of man, upon whom she reflects some rays of the Sun of Righteous- ness which has so illuminated her."*
* It appears, (says Meunier,) among all the savage nations, as if women were considered profane, even from the nature of their sex. They are not allowed to assist in religious ceremonies ; and in the churches of Laponia there are doors through which they are not allowed to pass.
24 THE TRUE SOLUTION
CHAPTER IV.
THE TRUE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM.
The phenomenon in question is not the effect of one, but of many concurring causes. Some of the most efficient of these causes I shall now enumerate and discuss. In the first place, it is owing to the different educa- tion of the sexes, using the term " education" in its largest sense, as comprehending all the influences which surround us from child- hood to maturity, and which contribute to the development of moral character.
In the second place, to the different rela- tions which the two sexes sustain to the family, to the state, to society, and to the general practical business of life.
In the third place, to the different stand- ards of morals which man, the master of
OF THE PEOBLEM. 25
opinions and the " maker of manners," has prescribed for himself and for woman.
These are the elements which, in combi- nation, solve the problem ; and I shall now proceed to discuss them in order.
26 THE DIFFERENT EDUCATION
CHAPTER V.
THE DIFFERENT EDUCATION OF THE SEXES.
"Every first thing continues forever with a child. The first color, the first music, the first flower, paint the foreground of life. Every new educator effects less than his predecessor, until at last, if we record all life as an educational institution, a circumnavigator of the globe is less influenced by all the nations he has seen, than by his nurse."* — Ejchter's Levana.
The sentiment of Richter; which stands at the head of this chapter, is as true in fact as it is beautiful in expression.
It owes its beauty to its truth, as some human faces owe their beauty to the soul shining through them.
It is the result of a profound observation of human nature, and is the same sentiment which has been so happily expressed by
* Educit obstetrix, educat nutrix, instituit peda- gogus, docet magister. Var. in Non. 443.
OF THE SEXES. 27
those keen observers, the old classic poets, * who but echo the wisdom of Solomon when he laid down the principle, " Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
It is pleasing to see how men of the deepest insight, looking at human nature from independent stand-points, in different ages and nations, render homage to the truth by such undesigned coincidences.
In the cradle there are no indications of a difference in the moral constitution of the sexes. But at the door of the nursery their paths begin to diverge, and never coincide again until they meet in the grave. The mother is the center around which the daughter revolves. The orbit in which she moves is ever under the mother's eye. Her father and brothers, like guardian angels,
* Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu. — Horace.
Udum, et molle lutum est, nunc, nunc properandus, et acri fingendus sine fine rota. — Persius, Sat. 3.
28 THE DIFFERENT EDUCATION
watch over her purity, and shield her from contact with vice in all its grosser forms. She sees no immodest spectacles; she hears no unchaste speeches or lascivious songs; she reads no licentious romance or poem; she utters no profane oaths; she inflames her blood with no intoxicating beverages; she plays at no games of chance. Every vicious tendency is checked, and every moral development encouraged. In such a comparatively pure atmosphere, she expands into the bloom of womanhood, and bears corresponding fruits.*
Now compare with this picture of the girl a portrait of the boy. In the nursery, while surrounded by the same associations and subject to the same influences with his sister, his moral developments are very much the same with hers. But his mother and his nurse have told him that he is a
* Bene pudice que educata usque ad adolescentiam. — Plautus.
OF THE SEXES. 29
little man. Accordingly, lie soon disdains the innocent amusements of his sister. He breaks the bounds of the nursery, and runs and leaps and wrestles. He affects the dog, the gun, and the horse, and expatiates in field and forest. He now begins to repudiate the authority of his mother, and to plead the example of his father and the opinion of his playmates. The boys have a code of honor, to which they conform their senti- ments, their conduct, and their costume. This code of honor is what " the boys say ;" and it is a higher authority than the pre- cepts of parents and the laws of God and man. It is absolutely certain that in a society composed of persons of immature reason and strong passions the standard of morals will not be very high. It will surely tolerate what pleases the taste and gratifies the appetite, and be an expression of nearly every thing which boys want to do. Accordingly, the members of this little
30 THE DIFFERENT EDUCATION
community may use tobacco, drink intoxi- cating liquors, swear, hear and tell obscene anecdotes, sing licentious songs, read licen- tious books, play at games of chance, wit- ness immodest spectacles, and indulge in other nameless lusts. And even the amuse- ments in which the youth of both sexes participate are attended with very different consequences. The young woman is at- tended by her father or mother, or other trusted friend, who watch with argus eyes over her purity, and, when the curtain falls or the dance is done, she is conducted to her home, "and lies down beneath the shadow of a mother's win sis."
Not so with our sons. These often go alone, and may withdraw without observa- tion and go where they list. Excited by the scenes through which they have passed or the potations which they have imbibed, "their blood is up," and their appetites and pas- sions clamor for gratification. Temptations
OF THE SEXES. 31
flit before them in the street. Pimps await them at every corner. Temples of Bacchus,* of Pluto, f and of Venus allure them with brilliant lights and voluptuous music. Such different modes of life must produce very different moral results. Take two plants: place one in a conservatory, where you can regulate the temperature, admitting the rays of the sun, and the gentle dews and rains of heaven, according to its needs ; eradicate every weed, and protect it from rude winds and biting frosts. Turn the other out to compete with the natural growth of the soil; let the summer's sun scorch, the frosts of winter bite, and the rude storm beat upon it.
Would any rational man look for the same
* The god of wine and king of drunkards, with red face and bloated body.
| "Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell, Revengeful cares and sullen sorrow dwell."
&neid, 6.
5*
32 DIFFERENT EDUCATION OF THE SEXES.
fragrant flowers and delicious fruits from these two systems of culture ?
From the general analogy between nature and Revelation, so perspicuously displayed by Bishop Butler, it is highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that God acts upon the same principles in the kingdoms of nature and of grace. The principle is this : — "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." "If a man sows wheat, he will reap wheat ; if he sows cockle, he will reap cockle."
So, as to spiritual things, "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corrup- tion, and he that soweth to the spirit shall reap life everlasting.' '
RELATIONS OF THE SEXE3. 33
CHAPTER VI.
THE RELATIONS OF THE SEXES TO THE FAMILY, TO THE STATE, TO SOCIETY, AND TO THE GENERAL PRACTICAL BUSINESS OF LIFE.
"Man may range The Court, Camp, Church, the vessel and the Mart, Sword, Gown, Gain, Glory, — offer in exchange Pride, Fame, Ambition, to fill up his heart — And few there are whom these cannot estraDge. Men have all these resources, woman, but one, To love." Byron.
When the sexes reach maturity and as- sume the responsibilities of men and women, they stand in different relations to the family, to the state, to society, and to the general business of life. These relations are much more favorable in the case of women than of men to the development and growth of the religious character. Man is the head of the family. Upon him
34 KELATIONS OF THE SEXES.
devolves the solution of the problems. What shall we eat, what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we (and especially woman) be clothed ? The solution of these problems is often very perplexing, and so occupies the time and absorbs the thoughts of many men as to leave them (as they allege) no time and no heart for " seeking the kingdom of God." Upon man also devolves the care of the state. He is voter, representative, judge, juror, and magistrate in all its grades. He chooses the lawmakers, and makes and administers the laws. He is also the lawyer, the physician, the farmer, the mer- chant, the mechanic. He monopolizes all the professions and trades.
The defenses of the country also fall upon men. They fill the ranks of the army and of the navy. These duties involve all the demoralizing effects of war, as they are represented upon the "pictured pages of the historian," and they also involve the
TO THE FAMILY, ETC. 35
demoralizing effects of peace upon the sol- dier and the sailor.
If we would appreciate the effect of these causes, we should take a panoramic view of Christendom. We must make the men pass in grand procession before the imagi- nation, observe the daily habits of each in his sphere, in all the varied walks of agri- culture, of manufactures, of commerce, of civil and of military life, upon the land and upon the sea, at home and abroad. Then contrast this picture with the quiet life of women, in their narrow spheres of wife, mother, and daughter, and you will be in a position to form something like an adequate conception of the bearing upon the question we are considering, of the re- lations of the sexes to the family, to the state, to society, and to the general practical business of life. It would be easy to show, by an induction of particulars, the special influence of the several professions and
36 RELATIONS OF THE SEXES.
trades in repressing the religious element in man ;* but a few illustrations will suffice to show the nature and force of the argu- ment.
These will be found in the two following chapters.
* "If we deny women the talents which would enable them to excel as lawyers, they are preserved from the peril of having their principles warped by that too indiscriminate defense of right and wrong to which the profession of the law is exposed. If they are not mathematicians, they are happily exempt from the danger to which the votaries of that science are said to be liable: namely, that of looking for demon- stration upon subjects which from their nature are incapable of affording it. If they are less conversant with the structure of the human body and the motions of the heavenly bodies than physicians and astrono- mers, they escape the error into which these sometimes fall, — namely, of resting on second causes, instead of referring all to the first." — H. More.
"The bondage of business debases man, and often renders him coarse and avaricious. Woman's work, which does not absorb her mind, is like the woof to the web of her thoughts. She weaves upon it the house- hold matters which man, engaged in business, has not thought of, and she dreams about the future." — Michelet.
POLITICS. 37
CHAPTER VII.
POLITICS — MAN THE VOTER, THE PARTISAN, THE CANDIDATE, THE REPRESENTATIVE.
"Vox populi, vox Dei."
In our country the right of suffrage is wellnigh universal. Every man is, or may be if he wills, a voter. The exercise of this right, for which so many women are so vociferously clamoring, is attended by con- sequences by no means favorable to the sal- vation of the soul. It involves, among other things, the attending of elections, — in itself an innocent thing, but not always so in its fruits. Our general elections recur at stated periods, by no means distant, to say nothing of the special elections in the intervals. The names of the officers necessary to carry on the complicated machinery of a free gov- ernment is legion. One is astounded in
38 POLITICS.
running one's eye over the columns 'of a party newspaper on the eve of these general elections. The voter must not only attend the election, but there are also mass-meet- ings, conventions, committees, and many other popular gatherings incident to the campaign, as it is graphically called. These duties of patriotism demand the sacrifice of much time, much thought, and much money. They break up regular habits of industry. They take men away from the conservative influence of home. They lead them into many temptations. They tend to beget habits of idleness and of dissipation. They bring them into demoralizing associations with some of the worst specimens of hu- manity. They furnish opportunities of gambling and provocation to drunkenness. They stir up all the bad passions of our 1 nature, such as envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness. They engender strifes and contentions, and often lead to battle,
POLITICS. 39
murder, and sudden death. Our periodic political excitements are among the most extraordinary phenomena of the times in which we live. It is surprising to see how wide-spread ; profound, and irresistible they are. They sweep men before them like hurricanes. AVith the stump for his ful- crum, the popular orator realizes the idea of Archimedes : he literally moves the world. His breath can lash the "masses" into tumult, as the breath of heaven lashes the ocean into foam. Steam-power print- ing-presses, in the hands of skillful en- gineers, have made the ship of state quiver from stem to stern, and, without a special Providence at the helm, will yet wreck her, with all her precious freight. By the hot breath of politicians the minds of many men are inflamed into a red heat, like metals under a blow-pipe. The people are made to believe that the fate of the nation, and even the destinies of our race, hang upon
40 POLITICS.
the issue of an election. Nearly every man in such times is a partisan, and forthwith every man of his party becomes, in his eyes, a patriot, and every man of the op- posing party an enemy to his country. Each party rallies around its leaders, who form them into companies. Eecruiting offi- cers, drill-sergeants, and brigade-inspectors are appointed. Two hostile armies find themselves face to face, each under its own banner. The trumpet calls to arms. The campaign is begun. We hear the roar of the big guns and the shouts of victory, with frightful accounts of the killed, wounded, and missing, and heart-rending pictures of the tortures of the helpless captives. This may seem to some an exaggeration; but hundreds will recognize it as a faithful picture.
Looking at such scenes from a merely worldly point of view, we may laugh at them as we might at the acting of a tragedy
POLITICS. 41
when the play is over and the actors, doffing their masks, relapse into their proper characters. But from the Christian stand- point the whole thing appears in a different light. It is a real tragedy ; and the victims are truth, faith, integrity, good conscience, and all the charities. But men are not only electors. They are also eligible to any of the many places of trust, from the constable of a precinct to the Chief Magistrate of the United States. There is no lack of patriots who are willing to serve their country. The number of those whose sense of fitness prompts them to volunteer their services would, if mustered together, make a large army. But the number of candidates is no adequate exponent of the number of aspi- rants. If you multiply the number of officers by the number of aspirants, the result would involve a large proportion of the men of the country. Hence arise a new class of temptations. Every aspirant has his com-
42 POLITICS.
petitors for the nomination. Every nominee has his opponent. These competitions beget envy, jealousy, heart-burnings, criminations, and recriminations. The candidates often depreciate their rivals, misrepresent their opinions, and impeach their motives. They sometimes sacrifice their convictions of duty and of public policy upon the altar of party, and become mere weathercocks, showing which way the wind blows. The voice of the people is to them the voice of God. They flatter the people, and the people flatter them. They make an oration, and, like the partisans of Herod, the people shout, and say, It is the voice of a God, and not of a man.
The man may have been humble in the beginning of the canvass, but vanity and self-conceit soon usurp the place of humility; and nothing can seem more preposterous to such a man than to be told that he is a
POLITICS. 43
miserable sinner, that can only be saved by- grace.
The care of the family and the care of the state are common to all men in this country to a certain extent. Every man is elector and eligible to office. Every man, therefore, is a politician, more or less, and watches over the state. The deluded women who are claiming equal political rights with men should rather rejoice in their exclusion from such demoralizing scenes and associa- tions.* Like the disciples of old, they should be keepers at home, praising God and having favor with all the people, f
* "Supposing the licentiousness of the press to continue the same, and females were candidates for office : how much reputation would they have left after coming out of a warmly-contested election?" — Walker.
f The same reasoning may be applied to the church as to the state. It is an organized body, with its officers and honors. It is also unhappily divided into parties. The odium theologicum has become a by- word and a reproach.
6*
44 MONEY.
CHAPTER VIII.
MONEY.
"Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames?"
— Virgil. "Virtus, fama, decus, divitiis parent." — Hor. Sat. 2. "Gold, 0 thou touchstone of hearts!" — Shakspeare.
To the results which have been enume- rated as flowing from the relations which men sustain to the family, to the state, and to the general business of life, may be added the fact that they have so much to do with money. They are the financiers of the world. It is their peculiar office to make money, — to collect, manage, and disburse the revenues. I am not going to bring a " rail- ing accusation" against money. St. Paul is sometimes quoted as saying that money is the root of all evil. But there is no such text. Money in itself is not the root of any evil. It is a potent instrument of
MONEY. 45
good and evil. "We would not say of fire, because it burns and wraps our houses in flames, or of air; because it brings pestilence on its wings, that they are intrinsically evil. Like many of the grandest agencies of nature, their very freedom is the essence of their being. Among the governing prin- ciples of our nature which are the great springs of human action, and which in themselves are neither virtues nor vices, are the appetites of our bodies and the desires of our minds. Among these are the desires of esteem, of power, of pleasure, and of property. According to the present constitution of the world, money is the representative of property, and as such is one of the main-springs in the intricate mechanism of society, giving motion to all the wheels in the complicated machinery of the family, the church, and the state. Being thus an indispensable agent in human affairs, it cannot be in itself an evil. Nor can the
46 IfOHBY.
d and proper use of it be wrong. To desire it as a means of living is as inno- cent as it is to live ; and to seek it as a means of doing good is not a vice, but a virtue. But money is not only a necessary of life, and a means of doing good, it also " holds the key to all the avenues of worldly enjoy- ment." It is a means of gratifying all our appetites and desires. It is so much "con- densed world, — a concentrated e - Inch can be diluted at pleasure and adapted to the taste of every one who pos-
In the expressive words of the wise man, of which the foregoing quotation is but a paraphrase, "money answereth all this It is for the luxuries it buys, the praise, the fashion, the glitter and renown, it confers, that it is :) intensely loved and sought. It is the "love of mc Paul - ys is the root of all evil. It is, then, covetousness which St. Paul much
idolatry as if its votaries made a golden
MONEY. 47
calf and fell down and worshiped it. Ho does not Bay, as Borne have hastily inferred,
that it is the only cause of all the evil in the world, — but that it is the fruitful cause of every kind of evil; not that every act, but that every species of evil, spring from this prolific root. Its evil fruits are vari- ances, wrath, strife, envyings, theft, gam- bling, robbery, murder, and war. It is almost superfluous to add that men are the chief actors in these dreadful traf which women are the victims. Consider the number of lawsuits and private quar- rels which are daily occurring in almost every neighborhood, by which friendships are broken and family ties sundered, in which father is ai gainst son, brother
against brother, and a man's foes are those of his own household, and you will gene- rally find that they are the fruits of this root of all evil. Add to these the em- bezzling of the public moneys, the defalca-
48 MONEY.
tions in the collection of the revenues, the frauds in army and navy contracts, in the management of the public lands and Indian affairs, and you may form an idea of the demoralizing and frightful effects of the universal scrambling after money. Go to the courts of justice, look at the dock- ets, and listen to the trial of civil and criminal causes. Head the police-reports of the cities, peruse the daily newspapers, and make an estimate of the number of crimes committed and reported, — to say nothing of those which come only under the cognizance of the all-seeing eye ; inves- tigate the motives to these crimes, and in a great majority of cases you will find that the love of money was at the bottom of them. Other pernicious fruits of this root of all evil are lotteries and every species of gambling. Think what vast multitudes have been ruined in body and soul for time and eternity by gambling. How many men
MONEY. 49
have been made drunkards, liars, profane, murderers, suicides ! How many heart-broken
3, that might have graced and blessed society and adorned the Church of Christ, have been left to wither and die in solitary wretchedness ! How many promising chil- dren, that might have been an honor to their country and ornaments to the church, have been deprived of the means of moral and religious culture, and left to grow up in ignorance and vice, a burden to themselves, a dishonor to their friends, and a curse to the country, and some of them terminating: their career in the penitentiary or upon the gallc
ain: consider the number of distilleries, and such like apparatus, for the concoction and sale of ardent spirits, which men have erected in the world, from which streams of liquid fire are daily flowing in every neighborhood, producing a moral desolation like those physical ones which are seen in
50 MONEY.
the vicinity of volcanic mountains after their eruptions of burning lava. What but this intoxicating love of money could induce men to convert so many of the pre- cious fruits of the earth, which God in his kind providence designed for the nourish- ment of our bodies, into a fell poison, fatal to the bodies and souls of men, whom he commanded them to love as they love them- selves ? But not only has the love of money thus demoralized individuals and infected all the social relations, but it has produced war between nations and deluged the earth with blood. If we look back upon the past by the lights of history, we see scarcely any thing but the pomp and circumstance of "glorious war." Almost every land has been covered with armies, and every sea with navies, prowling in quest of plunder. The time would fail me even to call the names of the ferocious leaders
MONEY. 51
who, instigated by the demons of avarice and ambition, have swept like tornadoes over the world, murdering millions of their fellow-creatures and leaving famine and pestilence and tears and blood in their track. It is no exaggeration to say that more than twenty thousand millions of men have been the victims of war, — i.e. more than twenty-five times the present population of the globe. Now, whence come wars and fight- ings among you ? Come they not hence even of your lusts which war in your members ? Yes, says the voice of history. "The lusts of ambition and avarice are the great causes of war." If any doubt existed as to the most general cause of war, we have only to refer to the history of the colonization of this continent, and particularly of the Spanish colonies, and not only will we be convinced of the truth of my position, but our hearts will be sickened at the degradation of man 7
52 MONEY.
when he becomes the subject of the debasing sin of covetousness.*
But not only has the love of money pro- duced wars between nations and poisoned all the fountains of human happiness, but, like the serpent in Eden, it has invaded the sanctuary of the church. The cases of Lot, Laban, Balaam, and Achan, in the Old, and of Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, Simon and Demas, in the New Testament, are but types, whose antitypes are to be found in every succeeding generation. In the lan- guage of Harris, having sold the Saviour to the cross, it proceeded to set up all the blessings of the cross for sale. "Nations were laid under tribute. Every shrine had its gifts, every prayer its charge, every blessing its price; dispensation from duty, and indulgence in sin, were both to be had at a fixed sum ; liberation from hell, and ad- mission to heaven, were both made subject
* See Harris and Dick on covetousness.
53
to mom v. Ami, not content with follow ato the i -M, it cr
a third v. ■ the sake of assisting its
tortured inhabitants. Thus the
intended I hout
money and without j ime the tax
and • • the world, and men rose
up and cast it from ;' 1 cor-
rupt: But it I that these were the
s of otl. , other countries, and
:i. While T joyfully I am far from thinking that from the spot of
In order to be convinced of th but to compare the self-
irit of th<i apostolic Church, — I all their possessions and I a at the apostles1 feel to bo
>rks of charity, — with many churches now, where Ghristi grudgingly to the best objects that can bo
54 MONEY.
presented, — where, if we want to take up a collection for the most charitable purpose, we have to get up a scene, to call on the arts, and the coloring of profane eloquence, "to search and probe the great body of human misery to the bone, to hold it up naked and expiring, quivering and dis- jointed," in order to wring that from mere human sympathies which we are entitled to demand from the calmest judgment of the mind. Again : are not many Christians as eager to be rich as others ? Are not some of them as close and keen at a bargain, and more diligent in laying up treasures upon earth, in defiance of the moth and rust and thieves, than in laying up treasures in heaven ? Are not others as fond of living in fine houses, and feasting at luxurious banquets, and clothing themselves in purple and fine linen, and shining in the circles of fashion, as though Christ had never said, "If any man will be my disciple, let him
MONEY. 55
deny himself, and take up his cross, and fol- low me" ?
But not only does this sin thus paralyze the church, making the majority of "be- lievers useless to the church and the church itself comparatively useless to the world, but it is a fruitful cause of apostasy. This is broadly asserted by St. Paul, who says, " Which while some coveted after they erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." In confirma- tion of this point, I will adduce the opinion of several learned divines of exemplary character and large observation. Dr. Griffin says, " Those professors of religion whose principal object it is from month to month to get gain, seldom attain a heavenly mind ; and, if there be any truth in the Bible, they will never attain heaven itself." Andrew Fuller expressed the opinion that "the love of money will prove the eternal overthrow
of more professing Christians than any other 7*
56 MONEY.
sin; because it is almost the only sin that can be indulged in and yet a profession of religion be decently kept up." But I will not rely upon the testimony of others, how- ever high their authority. I appeal to the consciousness of my readers for proof when I affirm that if they are rich, and have any adequate conception of their responsibilities, they feel in their inmost souls the truth of the Saviour's declaration, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven !" And if they are not rich, and are over-anxious to be so, they have a personal experience of the truth of St. Paul's declaration, "They that will he rich fall into temptations, and snares, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."
The American church has felt most keenly the effect of these facts. Not many years have elapsed since the prospect of a rapid accumulation of wealth tempted crowds of
MONEY. 57
emigrants from the Eastern and Middle States to the prairies of the West and the cotton and sugar fields of the South. And ere this tide had ceased to flow, California arose and waved her golden wand, and with a shout it rolled on, with increasing volume, to the shores of the Pacific. And hardly does a month pass that we are not shocked with the intelligence that some of these (often for want of the means of grace) have "erred from the faith, and pierced them- selves through with many sorrows." But, independently of these facts, the love of money is one of the most efficient causes of the perdition of many persons who were never guilty of any of these outbreaking sins. The case of the young man in the Gospel is an example in point. He came to Jesus and said, "Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life ?" Jesus replied, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, viz. : Thou
58 MONEY.
Shalt clo no murder; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness ; honor thy father and thy mother; and love thy neigh- bor as thyself." The young man said, "All these things have I kept from my youth up. "What lack I yet?" Jesus, with a super- human sagacity, applied the test, " One thing thou lackest. Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come follow me, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." And the young man was sad at that saying, and he went away grieved ; for he had great pos- sessions. "Well did the prince of all English poets say, "Gold, 0 thou touchstone of hearts !" Now, here was the case of a moral man going to Jesus, calling him e< good mas- ter," falling upon his knees and inquiring what he should do to inherit eternal life, and yet, when the issue was made, deliberately sacrificing his soul upon the altar of Mam- mon. And does not this case illustrate that of some of my readers ? Have they not been
MONEY. 59
convinced of the divinity of Jesus, and upon their knees asked what they should do to be saved, and yet have gone away grieved because the spell of Mammon was upon them? Oh, there was meaning, there was feeling, in the exclamation, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven !" And there is some- thing fearful in those words, " Woe unto you, ye rich men; weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you."
But let not any of my readers lay the flattering unction to their souls that be- cause they are not rich they are in no danger. It is possible for the poorest man to love money more than the rich. It is the love of money — the over-anxiety to be rich — that is the prolific root of all the evil fruits which I have enumerated. " They that will be rich fall into temptations, and snares, and
60 MONEY.
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."
Such is the testimony upon which I call upon the grand inquest of my readers to indict the colossal criminal, who tempts men to strife, law- suits, fraud, lying, theft, rob- bery, murder, and war, — who covers the land with distilleries, grog-shops, gambling- houses, and dens of prostitution, — who fills our jails and penitentiaries with his victims, — who is depopulating the earth and peo- pling hell, — and whose triumphs are cele- brated by the tears of widows and the cries of orphans.
THE DIFFERENT STANDARDS. 61
CHAPTER IX.
the different standards of morals which men, the masters of opinions, have made for women and for them- selves— the law of honor — bishop Atkinson's sermon — extract.
"You are the makers of manners." — Shakspeare.
When we speak of a straight line, we mean a line which describes the shortest distance between two points. Such a line is a rule or standard.
"When we say of any thing that it is crooked, we mean that it does not agree with such a rule.
There are also standards of weights and measures established by the supreme power in states, to which the citizens or subjects of such state are bound to conform. If we say of an article which we buy that it is
62 THE DIFFERENT STANDARDS
too light or too heavy, we mean that it does not agree with such established standard.
There are also standards of morals, by which men measure their conduct; and when we say of an action that it is right or wrong, we mean that it agrees or disagrees with such rules or standards.
Of these moral rules or laws Locke says there are three sorts, with three different enforcements or rewards and punishments. These are the law of God, the law of the land, and the law of opinion or reputation. Paley agrees with this classification in terms, except that what Locke calls the law of opinion or reputation he calls the law of honor. In theory men generally acknow- ledge the paramount authority of the law of God, although most of them repudiate it in practice, because sentence against their evil works is not executed speedily. They generally recognize, both theoretically and practically, their obligation to keep the law
OF MOEALS. 63
of the land, because the breach of it is followed by immediate punishment.
But, whatever may be the speculative theories of men, facts warrant the conclu- sion that "the general measure of virtue and vice in society is the praise or blame which by general and tacit consent esta- blishes itself in the several societies, tribes, and classes of men in the world; whereby actions find credit or disgrace among them according to the judgments, maxims, and fashions of that place. For although men have given up to the civil government the power of inflicting punishment, yet they have reserved to themselves the power of thinking and speaking well or ill of the conduct of those with whom they live. In comparison of this higher law, they little regard the divine or civil law. The penal- ties that attend the breach of God's laws most men seldom seriously reflect on. As to civil punishment, they flatter themselves
64 THE DIFFERENT STANDARDS
with hopes of impunity. But no man escapes the punishment who offends against the fashions and opinions of the company- he keeps. Nor is there one in ten thousand who has firmness enough to bear up against the constant dislike and condemnation of his own club."*
Paley, it seems to me, makes a great mistake in limiting the law of honor to "people of fashion." It has a much wider jurisdiction. All men recognize its au- thority and yield to its sway, more or less. Public opinion is the supreme dictator in modern society. It is the common law of Christendom.
But I need not now enter into a full exposition of this law. Such an exposition will be more appropriate in another chapter. "We have already seen the influence of this law in the education of boys and girls. I shall now notice the application of the prin-
* Locke.
OF MORALS. 65
ciple to men and women in society. Men are the makers of manners. They not only make and expound the laws of the land, but they also make and expound the law of honor. Accordingly, we find that the pro- visions of the code of honor allow men to do many things with impunity which are forbidden to women as unpardonable sins.
Men may swear, gamble, profane the Sabbath, be obscene in speech and licen- tious in conduct, — they may absent them- selves from home and spend whole nights in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revel- ings, banquetings, and abominable idola- tries,— and yet not lose their place in society, but be recognized as honorable men.* But let a woman follow their example, and she is driven, like Eve, from the social paradise. If even the breath of suspicion blow upon her vestal robe, it is soiled. If she lapse
* "L'hommc dtant le plus fort a fait decider par l'opinion, que cette action do sa part ne meritoient pas de blame." — De Stael.
66 THE DIFFERENT STANDARDS
but once from the path of virtue, she " falls like Lucifer." No penitence, however pro- tracted, can replace her on the pedestal from which she fell. No tears can wash away the stain upon her fair fame. You might as well attempt to reconstruct a broken vase, or to restore the tints and fragrance of a faded flower.
" The white snow lay
On the narrow pathway When the lord of the valley cross'd over the moor,
And many a deep print
In the white snow's tint Showed the track of his footsteps to Eveleen's door.
"The next sun's ray Soon melted away
Every trace on the path where the false lord came ; But none shall see the day When the stain shall pass away —
The stain upon the snow of fair Eveleen's fame."
And yet that proud lord will lift his head in society as if he were a3 pious as an angel, while the victim of his hellish arts is, like Cain, a vagabond upon the earth. And even the virtuous woman, who would shrink from
OF MORALS. 67
her presence as from a pestilence, will often smile upon her betrayer, and give him her hand and her heart, as if he had never sinned.*
"Hero liee the Bafetyof the female sex. Fublic opinion builds a wall of fire around woman. "f It does for woman what God did for Job : it " puts a hedge about her person and her house;" while as to man it says to him as God said to Satan, " All that he hath is in thy power."
It is a remarkable fact that the rule of life which man has made for woman is the same, as far as it goes, with that which God laid down in the Bible for all mankind. Let us compare the two codes, — the one in the Bible which God made for men and women, and the code of honor which man has made for woman, — and we shall find a remarkable
* That woman has little claim to respect on the score of modesty, though her reputation be white as snow, who smiles on the libertine, while she spurns the -victim of his lawless lusts.
+ See Rev. Dr. Eddie's Lectures to Young Men. 8»
68 THE DIFFERENT STABDAKDG
coincidence between them. The Bible a "Thou shalt not take the name of the I thy God in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Our Saviour reiterates and re-enacts this law in the words, " Thou shalt not s~ neither by heaven, nor by earth; but let your communications be, Tea, yea, !Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."
Again, God says. "Eemember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
"Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet."
>:. Paul says, "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idol- atry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emula- tions, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
OF MORA 69
that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
w, men take all these divine laws and incorporate them into a code for the ernment of women. TI. to their
j, and daughters, Keep these commandments. To the frightful penalties which God has annexed to the breaking of these laws, men say, we will add the mountain of our curse. If you swear, get drunk, commit adultery or fornication, or kill, even on the field of honor, you shall be exiles from our hearts and homes. You shall not pollute with your presence the Eden in which we dwell. Flaming swords turning ever -liall keep the g
Your crimson sins may be made white in the blood of the Lamb, but we will never • ^ you, as Christ said to the weeping ialene, 'Go and sin no more.' We claim the monopoly of these sins. True, God has forbidden them; but we have made
70 THE DIFFERENT STANDARDS
a higher law. The code of honor denies this license to women; but it allows it to men. And we stand or fall, not by the judgment of God, but by the verdict of our peers.
In the language of Bishop Atkinson, " men look upon themselves as privileged to be wicked. It is their prerogative to do with- out shame and without punishment that which in woman is base and infamous. They have made these distinctions for themselves. Grod has established the same rule of duty for both sexes. The purity which he demands of the one he demands with equal rigor of the other. But men make the difference. And for this reason do they make it. They have the light of Christianity, and see by it the beauty of holiness; they have, too, power in their hands, as women are necessarily dependent upon them. They exact, then, of woman that purity which is lovely even
OF MORALS. 71
in the eyes of the wicked. But they will not exact it of themselves. Their wives, sisters, and daughters must be governed by the strictest rules of propriety, but they themselves will submit to no such restraint. And what is the result? The wife, the sister, and the daughter can believe the gospel when it is presented to her, because her conscience is not to the same extent seared nor her mind stupefied by sin."
Vicious indulgences have an evil and a danger in them that men are not aware of. By their own operation they impair the soul and render it incapable of knowing and enjoying God. "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." There is no greater obstacle to believing the gospel than invete- rate habits of sin. The habits of profane swearing, of gambling, of drunkenness, of
72 THR DIFFERENT STANDARDS.
lewdness, and such like, when they are of long standing and deeply rooted, are nearly ineradicable. There is a fearful significance in the text, " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye who are accustomed to do evil learn to do well." The instances of permanent reformation are so rare that men of large observation can hardly cite a single example. Not so with woman. Although her heart is naturally averse to God and holiness, yet she is so trained and guarded, has compara- tively so few bad habits to change and temptations to resist, that her transition into the fold of Christ is far easier than that of man. In her case the law of God and the law of honor coincide.
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
Having now assigned what seem to me the most efficient causes why so many more women than men are Christians, it remains to suggest what seem to me the most appro- priate remedies for this deplorable state of things.
An important point will have been gained if what has been said shall serve to dispel from the public mind what appears to be a fixed, though somewhat undefined, idea, — that this disparity is a necessary result of an original difference in the moral constitution
73
74 THE REMEDY.
of the sexes, and therefore to be patiently acquiesced in by the church. Such a feeling, even if it does not amount to a positive conviction, will paralyze all efforts to remedy the evil, and we shall see at the judgment- seat of Christ the same disproportion that we see at the communion-table. No sound Christian mind can anticipate such a catas- trophe without horror and without feeling under the strongest obligations to ponder this problem anxiously and prayerfully, with a view of discovering and applying a remedy, if one can be found, for so frightful an evil.
If the causes which I have enumerated do contribute to this result, it is important that men should know it. It cannot be denied that many irreligious men have an impression, which is sometimes openly avowed, that Christianity was intended specially for women, — that they have an original predisposition to it, — and conse-
THE REMEDY. 75
quently men are more excusable than women in the eye of God for not being Christians.
Every person who has mixed much with men, conversed with them freely, and ob- served them closely, must have discovered that they lay this nattering unction to their souls. This creed is sometimes openly avowed, sometimes only insinuated, and more frequently, perhaps, is but dimly, if at all, seen by the consciousness, and yet determines the practical conduct. If this illusion can be dissipated from the minds of men, if they can be made to see the real obstacles in the way of themselves and of their sons to heaven, — the rocks which have wrecked and the whirlpools which have engulfed so many of them, — they might, perhaps, be induced to surmount the obsta- cles and avoid the sins that most easily beset them. The only way to awaken them from their indifference is to confront them with the facts of their case and hold them before
9
76 THE REMEDY.
their eyes until they feel that they are without excuse, and that it is madness in them to lull their own conscience to sleep and to seek to silence their Christian friends with pleas which they dare not urge at the bar of God. With these introductory remarks, I proceed to suggest what seems to me the best method of counteracting the causes of the enormous disproportion be- tween the sexes at the communion-table.
EDUCATION. 77
CHAPTER II.
EDUCATION — DIFFERENT METHODS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS — THE SOUL OF A BOY WORTH AS MUCH AS THE SOUL OF A GIRL — A PRO- TEST AGAINST THE LAW OF "HONOR," AS APPLIED TO EDUCATION.
* On the blue mountains of our. dim childhood, to- wards which we ever turn and look, stand the parents who marked out to us from thence our life. The most blessed age must be forgotten ere we can forget the warmest hearts." — Richter.
I have designated, as one cause of the phenomenon we are studying, the different education of the sexes, using the term "education" in a large sense, as comprehending all the influences which surround us from infancy to maturity, and which contribute to the development of moral character. I have also indicated the principles which characterize the two
78 EDUCATION.
methods of culture, and shown their logical results.
I do not propose the same discipline for boys and girls. A mannish woman would be as great an anomaly as a womanish man. Both are monsters. There are anatomical and physiological differences between the sexes, fitting them for the spheres which nature and revelation have marked out for them, which must not be ignored. "While I recognize these distinctions, I maintain that there is no original diversity in their moral constitution which predisposes the one sex to be religious more than the other. Both share alike in the effects of the fall, and Christianity is as appropriate and ne- cessary and efficacious a remedy in one case as in the other.
I have admitted that there is a difference in the moral character of men and women as we find them in society, and I contend that this difference leads to the results
7*
EDUCATION. 7\)
which we witness and deplore. But I in-
that it is not congenital, but the effect of a "higher law," whose influence is felt throughout their whole career. This higher law is public opinion, of which theoretically human laws are the expression; but prac- tically these two powers are often in con- flict, and, when this is the case, public opi- nion nullifies the law of the land and tram- ples it in the dust. It is also often in conflict with the law of God, and scoffs at its penalties. It is the supreme dictator in modern society. It dictates the style of our houses, of our furniture, of our dress, of our manners, and pr< nearly all the
laws which regulate our social intercourse.
But we have only to do with it at present as it bears upon the education of the sexes, and in those particulars which contribute to the formation of moral and religious character. When it prescribes to boys and girls a different mode of dress and a differ-
80 EDUCATION.
ent style of manners, I do not dissent. This is all very becoming, and clearly within its province. It has nature and reason on its side. I only contest its authority when it presumes to erect a different standard of morals for boys. I have already shown the particulars in which it does so. In these respects it transcends its legitimate au- thority, and parents and teachers, and all who have the care of chirlden, should say, with Peter and the apostle, "W7e ought to obey God rather than man." This is the principle upon which all Christians should act. They must lay their reputation, and even themselves, out of view, and bring every thing to the test, whether it consists with the will of God. If it will not, it is wrong. The root of the evil we are de- ploring is here. Until it is eradicated, it will bear its natural fruits. Those who are intrusted with the training of children must recognize practically the truth which they
EDUCATION. 81
admit in theory, — namely, that the soul of a boy is as precious as the soul of a girl ; that a boy has no more right to swear, to get drunk, to profane the Sabbath, to be obscene in speech and licentious in conduct, than a girl ; that these vices are as hateful in the sight of God in the one as in the other. Every Christian parent recognizes these truths in theory; but how few reduce them to practice! Society insists upon freedom from these vices in the per- sons of our daughters, as the price of ad- mission within her charmed circle ; but it makes no such conditions with our sons ; and many who call themselves Christians respect more the verdict of society than the voice of God. I plead for a revolution of public opinion upon this subject. In the name of God, and for the sake of my sex, whose souls have so long been sacrificed in hecatombs upon the altar of this remorse-
82 EDUCATION.
less tyrant, I protest against his authority to change the laws of God.
I appeal from the verdict of society to the judgment of God; and I call upon Chris- tian parents and teachers to second and sustain the appeal.
THE FATHER HEAD OF THE FAMILY. 83
CHAPTER III.
THE FAMILY A DIVINE INSTITUTION, OF WHICH THE FATHER IS THE HEAD — THE FATHER, NOT THE MOTHER, THE PROPHET AND PRIEST OF THE FAMILY.
"Singly and solely on the supposition that the spiritual life of the parents is transplanted into the children, does the communication of corporeal life become a blessing. The family -was God's first church." — TnoLUCK.
St. Paul says, "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Mark the peculiar phraseology of this pre- cept. It is the fathers, and not the mothers, to whom it is addressed. The father is the head of the family. The wife is directed to " submit herself to her own husband, as to the Lord." For the husband is the head of "the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
84 THE FATHER THE HEAD
church. Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. For I suffer not a woman to teach or to usurp authority over the man. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the trans- gression. If they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home."*
From these texts it is evident that the de- sign of the Almighty is that the father should be the prophet, priest, and king of the family. In temporal matters most men assert these prerogatives. They resent every intrusion of women into their spheres, and remand them to the subordinate place assigned them by the laws of God and man. But in religion this scriptural order is generally reversed. Most men renounce their spiritual prerogatives and retire si- lently into the ranks, advancing their wives to the prophetic and priestly offices. All
* See 1 Corinthians xiv. 35.
OF THE FAMILY. 85
honor is due to the noble women who occupy the posts deserted by their recreant lords. God has honored their ministry, and " thou- sands shall rise up and call them blessed." But what shall be said of the fathers who desert their posts and leave their wives to wrestle alone against the world, the flesh, and the devil, by which their sons are sur- rounded and beset?
If the officer who deserts his post in the face of the enemy is branded as a traitor and even forfeits his life, what shall be the doom of the unnatural father who betrays the high trust confided to him by the great "Captain of our salvation"? So many handsome things have been said and written about the influence of mothers in forming the characters of their children for time and eternity, that the world has come to think that this is peculiarly the office of the mother. But there is no warrant for this opinion in the word of God. It is a mere
86 THE FATHER THE HEAD
prescription, owing its authority to long use, and is but another example of the influence of the "higher law" in changing the laws of God. It is to fathers, specially and emi- nently, that God has given this great commission. And it is the neglect of this duty by so many fathers which is another and prolific cause why so few of our sons, in comparison of our daughters, are Chris- tians. Our daughters follow the example of their mothers, and our sons follow the example of their fathers. It is only in infancy that the son is subject to the mother, who often succeeds in depositing in the virgin soil of his young heart seeds which germinate and bear fruit in after-years. But so soon as the son is old enough to realize that he is a man in miniature, his highest ambition is to be a full-grown man, and in the mean time to be treated as such. He resents as an insult every insinuation that there is any thing girlish or feminine
OF THE FAMILY. 87
about him. His father, or some other man, becomes the beau ideal to which he aspires to conform his dress, his language, his sen- timents, and his habits. The father is the chief educator of the son, whether he will or not. It has been well said that, during the minority of the reason, imitation is the regent of the soul, and they who are least swayed by argument are most governed by example. The father's example will educate his sons; his conversation, his business, his opinions, his home, his associates, will edu- cate them. " The education of circumstances, insensible education, like insensible perspi- ration, is of more constant and powerful effect than that which is direct and apparent. It goes on at every instant of time. It goes on like time. You can neither stop it nor turn its course."*
The example which the father sets his son, and the circumstances with which he
* Anderson. 10
88 THE FATHER THE HEAD
surrounds him, will, in all probability, deter- mine his fate. This is the general rule. The exceptions which can be pointed out do not nullify the rule. In some cases other influences prevail over the father's example, and occasionally the grace of God snatches a " brand from the burning." A venerable minister of God mentions the following case, which I cite in illustration of the principle for which I am contending. "I remember," he says, " once conversing with a man emi- nent for station, talents, and piety, who said to me, ' I owe every thing, under God, to the consistent piety of my father. When I was a young man, though I was not vicious, I was worldly; and, in order to get rid of all interference with my pursuits from religion, I wished to think it all mere profession and hypocrisy. For this purpose, I narrowly watched the conduct of my father ; for such was the height on which he stood as a professor of religion, I very naturally con-
OF THE FAMILY. 89
eluded that, if I could convict him of such inconsistency as amounted to a proof of hypocrisy, (and a very little thing would at that time have sufficed for the purpose,) I should have gained my end and have con- cluded that all piety was but a name and a delusion. But so thoroughly consistent was he that I found nothing at variance with his character as a Christian. This kept its hold upon me. I said to myself, There must be a reality here, and I must try to understand and feel it. For I have seen such meekness in a temper naturally irri- table, such comfort in the greatest agonies, and all this supported by such uniform devotion, that I must try and catch his spirit.' "
Now, although this young man would have reasoned very illogically if he had concluded that Christianity was false because his father was a hypocrite, yet the case is a striking instance of the power of a father's
90 THE FATHEE THE HEAD
example. It is a very serious thought, that we who profess and call ourselves Christians are mirrors from which Christianity is reflected upon our worldly associates. And it is fearful to think that our children may be studying the evidences of Christianity in our examples. Oh, there was meaning, there was feeling, in the precept, " Fathers, bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The words trans- lated nurture (jzcudud) and admonition (voyde&a), says Bloomfield, should be ren- dered education and discipline, the former term seeming to regard the instructory part of education, and the latter the correc- tive part, by forming their morals ; xuptou (in the Lord) being added to suggest that the whole of this education should be suitable to their Christian profession.
"What we commonly call education is a one-sided thing. "The whole aim of it seems to be the development of mind, aban-
OF THE FAMILY. 91
doning the body to weakness and disease, and leaving the moral element to the dwarfed and shriveled condition of a para- lyzed limb. To develop the entire man, without unduly eliciting or depressing any one part of his constitution, is the great problem in education."* It not only seems to be forgotten that a sound body is the indispensable condition of healthy manifes- tations of mind, but the moral element in the human constitution is sometimes com- pletely ignored ; or, if recognized at all, it is educated by that false standard of morals, the law of honor, which is an expression of the opinions of men, and not of the will of God. Men educated by this standard may be useful and ornamental members of society ; they may be honest, truthful, brave, and high-toned gentlemen. For such qualities men are deservedly admired, applauded, and honored by their fellow-men. Such
* Patriarchy. 10*
92 THE FATHER HEAD OF THE FAMILY.
honors satisfy their ambition and are the motives of their conduct. They receive their reward. But, as water cannot rise higher than its source, their honors will be on a level with their motives. These have no regard to God, and he cannot reward them. He has declared that he will honor those only who honor him. Such an educa- tion is worldly and sensual, and the parents who thus "sow to the flesh shall reap corruption."*
* See extract from Bishop Meade's Sermon in Appendix.
EDUCATION. 93
CHAPTER IV.
EDUCATION.
The end determines the means — No neutrals in the kingdom of Christ — Two conditions of success, precept and practice — Deeds only beget deeds, and life only kindles life — Example a perpetual ordi- nance— The first steps to drinking and gambling.
The first point which should be settled by parents and guardians of children is, "What is the chief end of man? The end aimed at will determine the means to be used. If we may infer the end from the means generally used, we should conclude without hesitation that it was the riches, honors, and pleasures of this life. The habitual conversation of most persons would impress children with the belief that these are the great prizes of life. No man who calls himself a Christian would avow such a theory of life. Not many are conscious that
94 EDUCATION.
they are acting upon it. They "would be shocked at the imputation. And yet every impartial observer would be warranted in deducing the inference from their daily lives and from all their arrangements for their children. Many parents are evidently more solicitous that their children should dance and play and sing well — that they should take the first honors at school or college, and then make a brilliant match and a shining figure in the world — than that their souls should be saved. Not that they have ever deliberately counted the cost and made the choice. That would be a deliberate act of apostasy; and from that they recoil. They are not extremists. They think that the question between God and Mammon may be compromised. Accordingly, such persons live in a sort of neutral territory, — on the dividing-line between the kingdom of Christ and the domain of the god of this world. From this convenient position they
EDUCATION. 95
can make incursions into either kingdom, according to the frame of mind they happen to be in or the attractions that solicit them. Such persons, having no fixed principles, have no systematic method of managing their children, and, if they are saved, they will be miracles of grace. In the war between Christianity and the world there can be no neutrals. Christianity abhors neutrals as nature abhors a vacuum. This principle is laid down explicitly in the following texts : — " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon;" "The friendship of the world is enmity against God."
Every father who regards the salvation of the soul as the chief end of education may cherish a hope of success upon two conditions : — First, that he teach his son the true theory of morals, and, second, that he illustrate his theory by his own example. The will of God as revealed in the Bible is the true standard of morals. Every
96 EDUCATION.
thing which conflicts with this rule is wrong. Consequently, the "law of honor," which permits a boy to commit sins which would disgrace his sister, is false and mischievous. It is a usurpation of the divine prerogative, and an act of open rebellion. He can teach his son that he has no more right to swear, to be drunken, to gamble, to be licentious, or to violate any other commandment of God than his sister has.
The recognition of this truth would be a most important step in the right direc- tion, and it would do much toward raising young men to the moral level of young women, and facilitating the salvation of their souls. But the theory of morals, if it is contradicted by the example of the teacher, instead of doing good, may be hurt- ful. Bishop Butler, than whom there is no higher authority, says, "Going over the theory of virtue in one's thoughts, talking well and drawing fine pictures of it, is so
EDUCATION. 97
far from certainly contributing to form a habit of it, that it may harden the mind in a contrary course, and render it gradually more insensible, — that is, form a habit of in- sensibility to all moral distinctions." This is eminently true when the theory of virtue is contradicted by the practice of the teacher. In developing the moral character, example is every thing. Words beget only words. " Example filling up all the intervals of formal instruction acts with the silent con- stancy and power of a law of nature." Hence we are not surprised at the unfruitfulness of mere religious instruction. It is a mere mockery in a father to teach his son that it is wrong to swear, to proiane the Sabbath, to get drunk, or to gamble, if he contradicts his precepts by his practice. And how often we see the precepts and the prayers of a pious mother counteracted by the example of the father ! In vain does she teach her son that no drunkard shall inherit
98 EDUCATION.
the kingdom of God, if he sees his father drunk. It is to little purpose that she warns him that moderate drinking is the direct road to drunkenness, and that absti- nence from the use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage is the only absolute security that he will never be a drunkard, if he sees his father indulge in habitual moderate drinking and tempt others with solicitations to join him.
As moderate drinking is the fountain from which all the bitter waters of drunken- ness flow, so the source of the evils of gam- bling is the witnessing the example and learning the use of the tools of the gambler.
I know there are many who will take issue with me, and say that there is no harm in playing cards merely for amusement. Some parents hold this opinion, and act upon it in the training of their children, maintaining that it is perfectly innocent so long as they do not play for money. This opinion originates in a misunderstanding of
EDUCATION. 99
the philosophy of the whole subject. It is not the love of gain that is the first in- centive to gambling, but the love of excite- ment and the love of triumph and distinc- tion. It has been well remarked by a late eminent American author, that there are philosophical reasons why gaming is so fas- cinating an amusement. A game of min- gled chance and skill bears a strong resem- blance to human life. Providence has made our success in this life depend upon a com- bination of what seems to us chance and skill. Our conduct is guided not altogether by chance, for there would be no scope left for endeavor, enterprise, and hope; nor is it all left to struggle, for then there would be no peace from the strifes of rest- lessness and ambition. Therefore it is that life is made to be a combination of chance and skill, that all the passions of hope and fear, ambition and emulation, may be
called into exercise, as well as the active 11
100 EDUCATION.
and executive powers. Thus it is that a game of hazard is a miniature of human life, and exerts the same kind of interest; its changes and uncertainties call up the same alternations of hope and fear, of ele- vation and depression.
The original incentive to gaming is not, as many seem to suppose, mere covetousness. As in human life, so in gambling, avarice comes in at a later stage. I was much struck with a remark ascribed in a late newspaper to a money-making man, who said, "You ministers are mistaken when you assume that it is avarice which makes us so eager in the scramble for money. It is not so ; for some- times we care very little for the money itself : but we prize success ; we are unwilling to be beaten in the contest for wealth." The love of excitement and the ambition of beating an antagonist are the primary inducements to gambling ; but when the habit is once formed, covetousness enters as an element into the
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combination, and the passion often becomes so inveterate that all innocent joys, the companionship of books, the love of wife and children, and all the bliss of home, be- come flat and insipid.
When children are encouraged or allowed to gratify the love of excitement and the passion for triumph in games of cards, they are on the direct road to gambling. As the appetite of the toper gradually demands stronger and deeper potations, so play for mere amusement gradually ceases to in- terest, and demands a new eloment to give zest to the game. From the same news- paper I take another extract, which forcibly illustrates the evils which arise from the knowledge of the use of the tools of the gambler : — "Our sons are not always to re- main at home. We are a traveling people. We have journeyed more than our fathers; and our children will journey more than we. We know not into what company they
102 EDUCATION.
will fall. But, in all probability, they will be met by the gambler in the guise of the gentleman. They will be asked to play at cards. If they can reply, ' "We do not know one card from another/ they will be armed as with a coat of mail against the tempter. The man who after that confession would press them to play would at once unmask himself as a professional gambler.
" On the other hand, look at the young man who has learned to play for amusement. He is traveling in a steamboat, or staying at a hotel. Time hangs heavy on his hands. He is invited, by a well-dressed, smooth- spoken person, to take a hand,— just to pass the time. He may be disposed to decline ; but how shall he excuse himself? He tries to get up some sort of inoffensive apology ; but when met with the question, ' You do play sometimes, do you not?' he cannot say no. And when the next question fol- lows,— 'What are your objections to playing
EDUCATION. 103
with me?' — the refusal begins to take the shape of a personal affront to a ' gentleman of honor,' it may be. He then begins to see visions of pistols flitting not far off; and so he consents. The party is made up. The game begins, only for amusement. But now it is suggested that they want some refresh- ments, and they may just as well add a little to the life of the game by playing who shall pay for them. . If the young man hesitates, he is laughed out of his scruples. Ashamed to stand alone and affect to be better than his companions, he yields ; and for the first time in his life he gambles. That seemed a little step for him to take, but it was a step on a fearful path. And if he also drinks the mocking glass, before that evening is closed (and very likely it will not end before daybreak) he may go on from the value of the refreshments to
double or treble that amount. These steps 11*
101 EDr;^::
are all easy after the first one.* They involve no other principles than the first, and may generally all be expected, if not immediately, yet in dne time. Which was the first step ? "Was it not the learning how to use the tools of the gambler? And who is responsible for that first step? It be his father, his brother, or even his \ oi other young lady, who tempted and taught him to play for amusement. I have myself s^: 7~-^g men induced to learn to play at cards for the sake of play- ing with young ladies for amusement, and who from that beginning have gone by step along the way just delineated, and are now inveterate gamblers. I warned those young ladies of the probable results of those first lessons at the time. They laughed at my apprehensions ; and in after- years I have heard those young ladies
* u C'est le premier pas qui coute."
EDUCATION. 105
speak with disgust and horror of the habits of those very men, without seeming to see the slightest connection between effects and causes separated by so long a chain of events.
106 THE CARES OF THIS LIFE.
CHAPTER V.
THE DIFFERENT RELATIONS OF THE SEXES TO THE FAMILY.
"Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? what shall we drink ? and wherewithal shall we be clothed? But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." — Matt. vii. 13.
"We have seen in a previous chapter that upon men devolves the solution of the problems, What shall we eat ? what shall we drink ? and wherewithal shall we be clothed ? That these are often very perplexing prob- lems, is a matter of general experience. That they keep many men out of the king- dom of God, I do not doubt. Our Saviour expressly includes the "cares of this world" among the thorns which choke the good seed and render it unfruitful ; and the apostle with great emphasis warns us of the per-
THE CARES OF THIS LIFE. 107
nicious effects of "cares" upon the religious life. Nothing is more common than to hear men plead these facts in justification of their inattention to their religious duties. Every one must have heard them say, "I have not time to go to church, to read the Bible, or even to say my prayers. I have so many things to think about and to do that I cannot spare the time to attend to these things now ; I hope to have more leisure at some future time. At present it is impossible. I am behindhand in every thing. To stop a plow or take a hand or a horse from the field at this busy season would ruin me." Such men often quote, with an air of mingled reverence and tri- umph, that part of the fourth command- ment which says, Six days shalt thou labor. And when you propose to them to go to church on Sunday, they quote the other member of the sentence, viz., "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy
108 THE CARES OF THIS LIFE.
God : in it thou shalt do no manner of work, thou, nor thy servant, nor thy cattle."
They are suddenly smitten with the tenderest compassion for servants and cattle, — a compassion which they never seemed to feel when these were wanted on a matter of worldly business or a party of pleasure.* Women, on the other hand, being less dis- tracted by the cares which engross men, are generally glad when it is said, "Let us go to the house of the Lord;" are almost the only worshipers on weekdays, and have been known to be constrained to elect the vestry, which could but seldom be got together except on Sundays after service. But it may be said, on the other hand, that women have their cares as well as men. I freely concede the fact. But they generally are not so engrossing as those of men. They are comparatively petty cares, often very
* Such as sending their wagons to market on Saturday, knowing that they could not return before Sunday.
TIIE CARES OF THIS LIFE. 109
vexatious, but not so absorbent of time and thought as those of men. The cares of women are generally of such a nature as drive them to religion for consolation instead of repelling them from it. Not having tho same outward resources as men, religion supplies the place of those pleasurable excitements which men find in games, in narcotics, in the field, in the forum, in the pursuits of wealth, and in the paths of glory. I speak generally; and there are exceptions to all general rules. Our Saviour reproved Martha for being "careful and troubled about many things" and neglecting the one thing needful; and Martha has doubtless had her followers in every age, who have been " cumbered about much serving." Martha's case was a peculiar one. She was a housekeeper, and Jesus her guest. If ever there was a time to disincumber one's self of much serving, that was such a time. It might have been the
110 THE CARES OF THIS LIFE.
only time they ever would see Jesus and learn how to gain the "one thing needful." And yet she was so absorbed with house- keeping that she reproved Mary for sitting at the feet of Jesus instead of helping her in her household cares.
This case only proves that when women are careful and troubled about many things they will just as certainly neglect the one thing needful as men in like circum- stances. But, concluding that the different relations of the sexes to the world is one cause of the evil we are deploring, it remains to inquire if there be a remedy for this evil, and if so, what it is.
I do not propose to change the relations of the sexes to the world, — to dethrone man from his dominion and enthrone woman in his place. For it has been well said that so long as woman retains her distinctive con- stitution and " is by that fact unfitted for certain extra-domestic spheres, no human
THE CARES OF THIS LIFE. Ill
power could place her in them without immediately beginning to develop a train of social, and therefore of personal, evils. That she has a reserved power in heT nature beyond that which the domestic function requires, and which has never been deve- loped and applied, may be. But let that power take a direction which would ignore or disparage home, and nature would reassert its neglected claims till things returned to their natural channel."* If this exchange of relations were possible, it would only transfer woman's privileges to man and place her under the disabilities from which he was relieved. It will suffice to show that the barriers in man's way to heaven are not insurmountable. This is proved by the fact that they have been surmounted by thousands of men, many of whom are now manfully fighting under Christ's banner on earth, while many more
* Harris's Patriarchy. 12
112 THE CARES OF THIS LIFE.
are resting from their labors in heaven. These are not peculiar to any age or class of men. They represent every class and every age of the Christian era. Among them were statesmen like Washington, lawyers like Hale; soldiers like Havelock and Vickars, physicians like Boerhaave; philosophers like Butler and Newton, merchants like Brans- ford, Reeve, and Crane,* tradesmen like Normand Smith, and farmers like Kobert Haldane and the late John Gray of "Tra- veler's Rest." These men were charged with as many cares, beset by as many temptations as others, and their duties made as large " * " ~
* Three citizens of Richmond, Virginia, — an Episco- palian, a Presbyterian, and a Baptist, — men who re- garded themselves as stewards of the Lord and were rich in good works. The author owes them this tribute for co-operation in labors of love. Frederic Bransford, with whom of the three the author was most intimate, was a warden of St. James's Church, and one of the finest models of a Christian man. His heart was as large as the world, and his hand "open as day to melting charity." The Rev. Dr. Burrows has paid a beautiful tribute to the memory of James C. Crane.
THE CARES OF THIS LIFE. 113
a demand upon their time and thoughts as those of other men of like callings. If the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches did not choke the good seed in their hearts, — if they resisted the temptations which assailed them, and could spare time and thought for their duties to Grod, — then other men in like circumstances cannot plead these things in justification of their ungodliness.
Indeed, if there be any occupation whose duties are incompatible with our duties to our souls and to God, it is unlawful, and should be immediately aban- doned. We had better suffer the loss of any earthly interest than the loss of our souls. It were better that the state should suffer, that our families should suffer, that ourselves should starve, — if such issues could be made, — than that we should lose our souls. No rational man should hesitate a moment between such alternatives. But
114 THE CAEES OF THIS LIFE.
the truth, is, there is no incompatibility between our temporal and eternal interests. Diligence in business is a Christian duty, as well as fervency in spirit. There is perfect harmony between our duties to God, to ourselves, to our families, to the state, and to society. Christianity recognizes these relations and prescribes the duties which arise from them. The truth is, self-interest well understood coincides exactly with our Christian duties. Godliness hath the pro- mise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.
Indeed, the only possible way of insuring an adequate supply of the necessaries and comforts of life is by seeking first the king- dom of God and his righteousness. "Take no thought," says our Saviour, "for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on." The word "thought" when the Bible was translated meant anxiety.
THE CARES OF THIS LIFE. 115
Thought (in the modern use) about the future is right; anxiety is wrong.* There is a degree of thinking about the things of this life which is a duty; but it should not lead to anxiety and distrust nor take time from religious duties. Our Saviour warns us against over-anxiety about our temporal concerns. " This he enforces by four arguments of great power and beauty." The first is that God has given us life, a far greater blessing than meat. He has given us bodies fearfully and wonderfully made. Shall not He who has given us these greater blessings confer the less ? " Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" He then points us to the birds that are flying in the air, and to the flowers that are blooming at our feet, and makes these the ministers of a beautiful and instructive lesson. " Behold," he says, " the fowls of the .air;
* See Barnes, in loco. See also Trench and Bacon
on the original meaning of the word thought. 12*
116 THE CARES OF THIS LIFE.
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns : yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Where- fore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?" If God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, can we doubt that he will feed and clothe us? Therefore he repeats the warning, "Take no thought, (be not over-anxious) saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek." The heathen, the men of the world, who have no faith in God's providence, perplex themselves with these problems. But you
THE CAKES OF THIS LIFE. 117
know God. You have his promise to rely upon. You know that he knows that you need these things, and that he has promised to provide them. Therefore let not these ap- prehensions predominate in your thoughts. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." In these words we have God's bond, written and sealed with the blood of his Son, guaranteeing the supply of our wants. The condition of this bond is that we seek first his kingdom and righteousness. Thus we perceive that the men of the world who plead the pressure of business as a reason for postponing their duties to God, mistake the method of insuring what they aim at. All their thoughts and schemes and toils may fail. They are dependent upon God for every pulse that beats, every blessing they enjoy. All their blessings are so many good gifts coming down from their Father in heaven, —
118 THE CAEES OF THIS LIFE.
as much, so as if they received them directly from his hands. No wisdom, nor thought, nor power can achieve their independence of him. We see, therefore, the folly of seeking our happiness out of Gocl, and the wisdom and blessedness of seeking first his kingdom and righteousness, and thus se- curing the pledge of his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness to supply all our wants. "First in our affections, first in the objects of pursuit, first in the feelings and associa- tions of each morning, be the desire and the aim for heaven. And in life and in death all will be well."*
* Barnes.
THE LAW OF HONOR. 119
CHAPTER VI.
THE LAW OF HONOR.
"How can ye believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only ?" — John v. 44.
" The laws that men generally refer their actions to, to judge of their rectitude or obliquity, seem to me to be these three: — 1. The divine law ; 2. The civil law; 3. The law of opinion or reputation, if I may so call it." — Locke.
" The rules of life by which men are ordinarily governed are the law of honor, the law of the land, and the Scriptures." — Paley.
11 Men sometimes act, not from moral virtue, but from respect for the judgments which other men will pass upon their actions. This is to act from honor." — Montesquieu.
Our Saviour, in the text quoted from the Gospel of John, recognizes the two great motives of human action and the two great laws by which men regulate their conduct. These motives are, the honor that cometh from God and the honor that cometh from man. The laws are, the law of God and the law
120 THE LAW OF HONOR.
of honor. The three eminent philosophers, Locke, Paley, and Montesquieu, without re- ference to the authority of the Saviour, but each from his own stand-point as an inde- pendent observer, have also recognized the general prevalence and great sway of the law of honor, as hinted at by Him who made the human heart and therefore knew what was in man. And I think that every one who ob- serves attentively his fellow-men with a view of discovering the motives of their conduct, will be convinced that the law of honor is the general principle by which most men judge of truth and error, of right and wrong. The law of honor, in its common accepta- tion, is restricted to a set of rules agreed upon by men who recognize the duel as the arbiter of their differences and the touch- stone of honor. This seems to have been Paley 's idea when he defined the law of honor to be a " system of rules constructed by people of fashion to facilitate their
THE LAW OF HONOE. 121
intercourse with each other, and for no other purpose." Accordingly, the law of honor has been the subject of a vast deal of ridicule and denunciation, from Falstaff's catechism and Hume's essays down to the latest judicial charge, legislative enact- ment, and anathema of press and pulpit.*
It is generally conceded that these anathemas have had very little effect in correcting the evils at which they are aimed. The truth is, these evils are the morbid outgrowth of a principle implanted
* "Honor pricks me on. Yea, but how if honor prick me off when I come on ? How then ? Can honor set a leg ? No. Or an arm ? No. Or take away the grief of a wound ? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then ? No. What is honor ? A word. What is in that word ? Honor. What is that honor ? Air. A trim reckoning ! — Who hath it ? He that died o' Wed- nesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible, then ? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it: — therefore I'll none of it. Honor is a mere scutcheon; and so ends my catechism." — Shakspeare, Henry IV.
122 THE LAW OF HONOR.
in the human constitution by the Creator. This principle is ineradicable, and therefore the blows aimed at it fail of effect. When you lay the axe to the root of the tree, you not only destroy the fruit, but you kill the tree. And so if you were to root out from the human mind the principle from which the law of honor springs, you would unhinge the moral constitution given us by our Creator, and introduce more evils than your remedy cured. "We must distinguish between the root and the morbid excrescences which have been grafted upon it. It is not extirpation, but pruning and training, which is the more rational treatment. All mental philosophers recognize among the innate principles of our nature the desire of esteem, the desire of property, and of society, which are the chief springs of human activity. The desire of esteem is not only innocent, but even useful and beneficial, in its effects. Montesquieu says, " Men often act, not from
THE LAW OF HONOR. 123
moral virtue, but from respect for the judgments which other men will pass upon their actions. This," he adds, "is to act from honor." This is true, to a certain extent, of men everywhere, but it is specially characteristic of civilized, and pre-eminently of modern, society. It is undoubtedly in our country the strongest motive of human conduct. One of our old divines has drawn such a lifelike picture of its workings that I cannot do so well as by reproducing it : — " We may see it budding forth in man's first infancy, (before the use of reason or speech ;) even little children being ambitious to be made much of, maintaining among them- selves petty competitions about little punc- tilios of honor.* We may observe it growing with age, and waxing stronger with increase of knowledge; that the maturest years do most relish it; that men of the
* "Vide ego et expertus sum relantem parvulum." — Augustine.
13
124 THE LAW 0? HONOR.
best parts do most zealously affect and stand upon it; that they who most struggle with it do most feel its weight, — how difficult it is to restrain, how impossible to extin- guish it. The philosopher, with all his reasons, cannot persuade it away; the anchoret, with all his austerities, cannot starve it. No affliction can suppress, no retirement shun it. 'Tis a spirit that not only haunts courts and palaces, but frequents schools and cloisters, yea, creeps into cot- tages and prisons, and dogs men into deserts, so close it sticks to our nature. For honor the soldier undergoes toil and hazard, the scholar beats his brains, the merchant adventures so far, the artisan spends his sweat and stretches his sinews. For it great armies march and great battles are fought. The chief reason of all this scuffling for power — this searching for knowledge — this scraping and scrambling for wealth — would seem to be that men
THE LAW OF HONOR. 125
would live in some credit, would raise themselves above contempt."
There have been in all ages individuals who affected to be superior to this weakness, and professed to be influenced solely by a sense of duty.* Cicero, long ago, said of such persons, " Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat arrogantis est et dissoluti." But as his authority, being merely a pagan moralist, may be of little weight with Christian people, it will be more pertinent to quote Tertullian, who, according to Bar- row, called such philosophers " negotiatores famoe," (merchants for fame,) whose cunning in their trade led them to beat down the price of this commodity in the market, that they might more easily engross it to them- selves.
If we were to abstract from human history all the deeds to which the love of
* " Nihil opinionis causa, omnia conscientia faciam." — Seneca.
126 THE LAW OF HONOR.
glory prompted, many of its brightest pages would be left blank, or turn black and bloody, — many of the greatest lights of the world would vanish from the moral firma- ment, and civilization would go back many degrees, like the sun upon the dial of Ahaz. It is a prerogative of the Almighty Disposer of events to bring good out of evil, and to make the vices, as well as the virtues, of man praise him. Our appetites and desires, even when indulged to excess, are made to promote the progress of society; and great crimes, as in the case of the foreign slave-trade, turn out to be " links in a chain of causes upon which hang glorious results." The perpetrators of these crimes are none the less guilty because the "Di- vinity that shapes our ends" has, by a wondrous alchemy, educed good out of their evil. Joseph's brethren, moved with envy, sold him into slavery ; and yet, when they witnessed and felt the splendid issue of their
THE LAW OF HONOR. 127
crime, they did not extenuate, but acknow- ledged and bewailed it. It was the Lord's doing, and was marvellous in their eyes. And so, if we concede that vanity, ambition, and even duelling, one of the fruits of the "law of honor," of a morbid sensitiveness to public opinion, do check other evils, it will not follow that they are right. Humility and charity would have accomplished the same ends in a much higher degree; but in the absence of Christian principles, evils are made to counteract each other, as wicked men are employed to punish other men more wicked than they. The world is making a constant approximation toward the millen- nial state. Modern society, bad as it is, is nevertheless greatly in advance of the most classic antiquity. Vice has a much greater dread of being seen. It hides itself from the light. The mysterious power of a semi-Christianized public opinion is abroad, penetrating where the civil laws cannot
13*
128 THE LAW OF HONOR.
follow it, and "exercising over society an influence more delicate and minute than that which belongs to the legislature." It compels vice to fly from the public eye, or "put on disguises which, though hypocritical, yet add to the decorum of manners."*
"We are acting our part on the stage of the world in the presence of two great wit- nesses,— "the eye of God, looking upon the heart, and the eye of man, looking upon the outward appearance." Both of these wit- nesses are forming their opinion of us. It is a matter of vital importance that we define clearly the nature and the amount of allegiance due from us to these powers claiming jurisdiction over our conduct. We are not at liberty to ignore either of them. Some men have taught that we are under no obligations to the law of honor; but practi- cally no such man can be found, except in some Utopian commonwealth. In theory
* Balmes.
THE LAW OF HONOR. 129
nearly all men acknowledge the paramount authority of the law of God ; but in fact the world is full of proofs that man, and not the Lord, is its god.
The attempt to drive men to the utter repudiation of the law of honor is so contrary to the word of God and to the moral consti- tution he has given us, that it does more harm than good.* The truth is, there is no conflict between the law of God and the law of honor upon many points.
"We are not forbidden to desire the good opinion of our fellows in regard to things lawful, laudable, or indifferent.
On the contrary, we are commanded to
* " There is a blameless love of fame springing from desire of justice, When a man has featly won and fairly claimed hia
honors ; And then fame cometh as encouragement to the
inward consciousness of merit, Gladdening by the kindliness and thanks where- withal his labors are rewarded."
Proverbial Philosophy.
130 THE LAW OF HONOR.
respect and to desire it. It is an instrument of good, an aid to virtue, and one of its legitimate rewards. The chief texts bearing upon this point have been so truly and beautifully expounded by Barrow that I cannot resist the temptation to report his criticism in his own words. He says, "Wfc are commanded to walk decently, which implies a regard to men's opinions; to provide things honest in the sight of all men, — not only things good in substance, but goodly in appearance. St. Paul exhorts us to mind, not only such things as are true, just, and pure, but also whatsoever things are venerable, apt to beget respect, — what- soever things are lovely, gracious in men's eyes and esteem, — whatsoever things are of good report (well reputed of). He requires not only, if there be any virtue, but if there be any praise, (any thing much approved in common esteem,) that we should mind such things. Thus we perceive that Holy Scrip-
THE LAW OF HONOR. 131
turc does not teach us to slight honor, but in its just measure to esteem and prize it." In regard to things indifferent in the eye of God and to points in which the law of God and the law of honor coincide, no difficulty can arise. It is only when these two laws cross each other that there is a conflict of jurisdiction. I have in a former chapter marked several of these points, the most prominent of which is the different standards of morals which men have established for boys and girls and for men and women. When the law of honor gives to men a dispensation to commit sins which disgrace women and drive them from society, it usurps the prerogatives of God. There are, doubtless, social reasons for the distinction which men make. All things have a reason for being, and have their uses. Even duelling and the passions which lead to it have their uses. Men who do not feel the force of moral obligations are held in check
132 THE LAW OF HONOR.
by such means, and "evils are made to counteract each other, as in another depart- ment of God's works one kind of wild beast destroys another."*
But the question is not whether these social arrangements have their uses, but whether God recognizes such distinctions. I maintain that he does not. When, amid the thunders and lightnings of Mount Sinai, God said, "Thou shalt have none other gods but me. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Kemember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet," he spoke to man as well as to woman. Indeed, the phraseology of the tenth commandment, " Thou shalt not
* "We ignorantly despise and contrive means to destroy many birds who devour our vegetables, without considering that they rid us of a much greater evil, in destroying millions of mice and noxious insects. So beautiful is the doctrine of compensation in all the objects of nature!" — Professor Jaeger.
THE LAW OF HONOR. 133
covet thy neighbor's wife," shows that man was first in his thought, although the reason of the rule embraces woman also. It is as certain that the man who breaks these commandments will be damned in the next world as that the guilty woman is damned by public opinion in this.
These things ought not so to be. I move an amendment to the law of honor. God, and not man, is the lord paramount. In the language of the lawyers, man is only tenant paravail, or, at most, but a mesne lord.* According to the theory of earthly monarchies, the king is the fountain of honor; and, in the words of Lord Bacon, "to be banished from his presence is the greatest eclipse of honor that can be; and no man," he says, "who hath any good blood in him
* "The king was styled lord paramount. A. was both tenant and lord, or was but a mesne lord. And B. was called tenant paravail, or the lowest tenant, seeing he was supposed to make avail or profit of the land." — Blackstone.
134 THE LAW OF HONOR.
will commit an act that shall cast him into that darkness that he may not behold his sovereign's face."
According to the theory of Christianity, there is a " King of kings." Heaven is his throne, and this earth is but his footstool. He is clothed with honor and majesty, and decked with light as with a garment. There is a rainbow about his throne like an emerald; out of it proceed lightnings and thunderings and voices ; before it is a sea of glass ; around it are four-and-twenty elders clothed in white raiment, with crowns of gold upon their heads, and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thou- sands of angels, with harps, singing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and blessing."
Such is the picture of the court of heaven drawn by him " who saw the Apocalypse." Here is a Monarch indeed, — the only one
THE LAW OF HONOR. 135
of whom it can be said, "Thy throne, 0 King, is for ever and ever. A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy king- dom." Access to His presence is an honor infinitely higher than access to the courts of all the kings on earth ; and banishment from His presence would be a total eclipse of the sun. May we not, with a deeper significance, apply the words of Bacon? — "I should think that no man who has any good blood in him will commit an act that shall cast him into that darkness that he may not behold his sovereign's face." But we cannot fully sympathize with this illustration. "We do not live under a monarchy. Ours is "the kingdom of the people." The theory of our government is, that the people is sovereign. They are the fountain of honor. Everywhere in Christendom, but especially in its free states, the " great antagonist of heaven's Almighty King" is the majesty of man's opinion. We are under special
14
136 THE LAW OF HONOR.
temptations to regard the voice of the people as the voice of God.* But it is not the mass of the people that is the fountain of honor to most men. There are not many who aspire to the prizes which are the gifts of all the people. There are many- little rills flowing from the great fountain of honor through our political, ecclesiastical, and social organizations, and forming lesser fountains. Each political division, social circle, society, club, school, college, pro- fession, and trade is an example. And then every individual has an orbit in which he moves. The lawyer, the physi- cian, the clergyman, and the scholar has each his sphere, which does not coincide with any of these divisions or circles, but inter- sects them all. Now, each of these divisions,
* There is a sense in which the proverb " Vox populi, vox Dei" is true; for instance, in the sense of the famous rule, Semper ubique, ab omnibus. " The people's voice is odd : It is and it is not the voice of God."
Pope's Imitations of Horace, B. 2, Ep. 1.
THE LAW OF HONOR. 137
circles, and spheres is a little commonwealth, having its common law, which is an expres- sion of the public opinion of these little imperia in imperio.
It has been said by a great philosopher, that there is scarcely any man so floating and superficial in his understanding but that he hath some reverenced propositions, which are to him the principles upon which he bottoms his reasonings, and by which he judges of truth and error, of right and wrong. Now, I am convinced from observa- tion that the principle by which most men unconsciously judge of truth and error — of right and wrong — is the opinion of those whose company they keep and who are the sources of their honors and their profits.
The great question with them is not what is right, but what will "they say" What "they say" is the "law of honor." Many men had rather run the risk of being shot than to be laughed at; and there are some
138 THE LAW OF HONOR.
who would march to the mouth of a cannon with firm nerves and unblanched cheek who will quail before the sneer of derision or the finger of scorn pointed by some worthless fellow whose animal courage, stimulated by alcohol, keeps him within the pale of honor falsely so called. The conclusion of the whole matter is that it is not the voice of the whole people, nor even of a state, nor district, nor county, but often of a club, and sometimes of the frequenters of a grog- shop, that is preferred to the voice of God. I can command no words to describe — no image to illustrate — such astounding infatu- ation. "Why, if all mankind were to call us by acclamation to the sovereignty of the material universe, and with one voice chant our praises, — if the trees had tongues, and were to clap their hands, — if the very stones were to cry out, — if all "nature should become animated and vocal" and join the swelling chorus, — it would be an act of
THE LAW OF HONOR. 139
unspeakable "madness of the will" to prefer such honors to the honor that cometh from God.
And yet men who would resent, as an insult to their understandings, the impu- tation of infidelity, habitually prefer the approbation of their associates to the appro- bation of God. The explanation of this conduct is the fact that the men of the world do not realize the presence of God. This is proved by the fact that they are often restrained from the commission of sin by the presence of a person whom they respect. Every clergyman who has mixed freely with men has had them beg his pardon for inadvertently swearing in his presence, without a thought that they were also in the presence of God, who had com- manded them with so much solemnity not to "take his name in vain." And so they often sin behind the veil of night, because it conceals them from the eye of man, without
14*
140 THE LAW OF HOSOR.
any apparent consciousness that "the dark- ness and the light to (rod are both alike."
The truth is, the natural man has no perception of spiritual things. He sees only by the light of his natural faculties. These must be supernaturally illuminated before he can discern the supernatural world. Until the eyes of his understanding are enlightened, the things of the eternal world are to him "like sounds to the deaf or colors to the blind." He is like a man groping in the dark and feeling his way by what touches his senses. Such a man will pass through the most beautiful scenery that ever gladdened the eye, without the least emotion. He may believe that it surrounds him ; but he does not see it, and cannot sympathize with those who do. But when the sun rises and scatters the vapors that veiled the face of nature, and all its beautiful features are revealed to his eye, he feels as if he were in a new world. And
THE LAW OF HONOR. 141
so, when the Sun of righteousness rises above our sensible horizon and reveals the landscape of truth which had been hitherto hidden from our eyes by the cloud upon the heart, we exclaim, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee." "They are not new truths; but they are seen by a new light, and, as if by enchantment, are transfigured into new existence." Faith is "the evidence of things not seen." It passes the bounds of sense, penetrates the sky, and "gives eternal things their due weight in our practical estimation, and imparts to them the life and power of waking certainties and actual existences."
This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. It was by this principle that "Moses, when he had come to years, when all that could fire ambition or make temptation irresistible glittered around him, refused to be called the son
142 THE LAW OF HONOR.
of Pharaoh's daughter, — to be introduced into that splendid court as the center of its attraction and fashion; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And why ? Because a glorious immortality and a present God were opened to his faith. He endured as seeing Him who is invisi- ble."*
If we could realize that these bodies of ours are not all of us, — that within them lies hidden a principle of life which will at the coming of Christ burst into bloom as trees unfold their flowers at the advent of spring, — instead of fearing man, who can only kill the body, we should rather fear Him who has power to destroy both body and soul in hell. This world which we see, and which so absorbs us, is not the only world. There is within us and around us
* Woodward's Sermons.
THE LAW OF HONOE. 143
an invisible and spiritual world, of which temporal and visible things are but the types and shadows. The very air around us is, perhaps, populous with spirits upon their ministries of mercy. Certainly be- hind the gauze veil which bounds our vision there is a glorious world of saints and angels, and, "high over all, God blessed for evermore." If these truths were recog- nized in men's practical estimation, there would be no conflict between the law of honor and the law of God. God, and not' the kings or the people of this world, would be recognized as the "fountain of honor," and the law of God and the law of honor would coincide. To realize in this world this beautiful and infinitely desirable ideal is the work of the Church of Christ.
It cannot be done by legislation. " Ex- ternal ameliorations which outrun the internal are mischievous." It can only be
144 THE LAW OF H02TOK
done by planting principles in individual hearts, and leaving these to work themselves out gradually to the surface and mold the manners and external institutions of men.
THE DUEL. 145
CHAPTER VII.
THE DUEL.
11 Honorable Without the stamp of merit."
SlIAKSPEARE.
•• More honored In the breach than the observance."
Shakspeare.
A discussion of tlio law of honor which omitted the duel would be like the drama of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet left out. The duel is one of the peculiar fruits of the law of honor. The duellist is the only one of the votaries of honor who has digested its laws into a written code. Of these codes there are several, peculiar to certain times and peoples. The fact that there are several codes furnishes another illustration of the po- sition taken in a previous chapter, — namely, that the law of honor is nothing more than
146 THE DUEL.
"the praise or blame which, by consent establishes itself in the several societies, tribes, and clubs of men in the world, whereby several actions come to find credit or disgrace, according to the judgment, maxims, and fashions of that place." The codes of honor enacted by those who appeal to the duel as the arbiter of their wrongs are a digest of the judgments, maxims, and fashions of the " societies and clubs" which make them. Indeed, the whole history of duelling is a series of illustrations of the same truth ; for its spirit has been transmi- grating into new forms from age to age. The precedents adduced from Holy Scrip- ture, (as the case of David and Goliath,) and the modern instances in church-history, (as when Pope Martin allowed the duel between Charles of Anjou and Peter of Aragon, to determine a contested claim to a kingdom,) were very unlike the modern duel. They were " compendiums of war," as they were
THE DUEL. 147
called, authorized by civil and religious authority, and designed to prevent a greater effusion of blood by the collisions of large armies. They were only just, as Jeremy Taylor says, when the war was just and only on that side on which justice was. The next form in which " single combat" appears in history was the "judicial trial," a sort of "divine lot of battle," introduced by the Goths. This, too, had the authority of law. It was first established, by express statute, Anno Domini 501, by a king of Burgundy.* It was the offspring of igno- rance, begotten by superstition in an age of barbarism. As the Almighty had never authorized such appeals, it was impious to make them, as it was absurd to suppose that He would arrest the regular operation of the laws of nature by interposing a miracle for the adjustment of every wicked
* Moore on Suicide. 15
148 THE DUEL.
quarrel that might occur in such a rude state of society. It was, nevertheless, an improvement upon the right of private war, which it superseded.
The advent of the Crusades and the rise of chivalry wrought another revolution in the principles of duelling. The knight, with his golden spurs, (eques auratus,) and his motto, "God and my lady," appeared upon the stage. " To obtain a victory over the infidels and to lay the trophies of his triumphs at the feet of his lady" was the great object of his thoughts, — the end of his life. To secure this end, he would make any sacrifice without a murmur, and brave every danger. Chivalry was a strange mix- ture of gallantry and religion, — of lamb-like gentleness and lion-like courage. The strong individuality which sprung out of the bosom of feudalism, combined with the gentle spirit of Christianity and chivalry, was the fruit of the union. Discordant as
THE DUEL. 149
such a union seems to us, chivalry waa a greater improvement upon the judicial combat than it was upon private war. Each step was progress in the right direc- tion. The ideal of Christianity was strug- gling with the opposing forces of the world, alternately subduing and being overborne by them, but rising with energy from every fall, and gradually pervading society with an influence more delicate and divine than belongs to human legislation.*
If we compare the modern codes of honor with the ceremony of the reception of a knight in the twelfth century, we shall see how little of the spirit of ancient chivalry survives in the modern duel. I abridge from Guizot a graphic picture of the scene.
The aspirant for knighthood was first bathed, as a symbol of purification, and
* "Religion and imagination — the church and poetry — took possession of chivalry, and made it a powerful means of fulfilling the moral needs which it was their mission to satisfy." — Guizot.
150 THE DUEL.
then clothed in "a white tunic, as a symbol of purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood he was bound to shed in defense of the faith, and in a black coat, the symbol of death. After fasting for twenty-four hours, he passed the night in prayer in a church, — sometimes alone, sometimes with his godfather and a priest, who prayed with him. The next day, after confession, he received the communion, attended the mass of the Holy Ghost, and heard a sermon upon the duties of knights. The sermon ended, he advanced to the altar, with the sword of the knight suspended from his neck, to be blessed by the priest. He then kneeled before the lord who was to knight him. 'If,' says the lord, 'you enter the order to become rich, to repose yourself, and be honored without doing honor to chivalry, you would be as unworthy of chivalry as a simoniacal priest of the prelacy.' Upon his promise of faithful-
THE DUEL. 151
ness, his prayer was granted. Then the knights, sometimes assisted by ladies, put on him the spurs, the hauberk, the cuirass, and gauntlets, and girded on his sword. Then the lord, giving him three blows with the flat of his sword on his shoulder or neck, said, 'In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George, I dub thee knight. Be brave and loyal.' He then sprung upon his horse without the help of stirrups, brandishing his lance and making his sword glitter." The following are some of the articles of faith to which he solemnly swore: — "To fear, revere, and serve God religiously; to fight for the faith with all their strength, and to die a thousand deaths rather than renounce Christianity; to main- tain the just rights of the weak, such as widows, orphans, and maidens in a good quarrel ; that they would never offend any one maliciously, nor usurp the possession of another, but would fight against those who
15*
152 THE DUEL.
did so ; that, above all things, they would be faithful, courteous, humble, and would never fail in their word for any loss that might happen to them."
It is said that the Chevalier Bayard, the knight sans peur et sans reproche, always knelt down to pray on the field of battle.
The true era of chivalry was between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. In 1352, King John of France said, "The flower of chivalry for some time has lan- guished and lost its splendor. The knights have become addicted to idleness and vanity, and, neglecting their honor and renown, have allowed themselves to be occupied with their private interests only." In dying, it gave birth to the religious mili- tary orders, the Teutonic Knights, the Templars, and the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.
The duel, which survived the decay of chivalry, was but the ghost of departed
THE DUEL. 153
principles. Depreciated from the religious element, it gradually degenerated into a self-avenging power.
A great impulse was given to duelling by the famous challenge of Francis I. of France to Charles V. of Germany. The remark of Francis, that he was no honest man who could bear the lie, Bacon says, "was the fountain of this new learning." This example, flowing from the " fountains of honor," propagated itself through all ranks of society, until, in the words of Eobertson, "much of the best blood of Christendom was shed, and at some periods war itself has hardly been more destructive than these private contests of honor." Such excesses produced a powerful reaction,* in which France took the lead and punished duellists with extreme rigor, insomuch that many gentlemen who had been wounded in
* The Council of Trent passed a canon against duelling.
154 THE DUEL.
duels "were hanged with their wounds bleeding, lest death should prevent the example of justice." Charles IX. declared that he took upon himself the honor of all those who felt themselves grieved at not accepting a challenge.
Cardinal Mazarin, during the reign of Louis XIV., took very effectual measures for its suppression. Courts of honor were established throughout the kingdom, to adjust all differences between gentlemen. A declaration against duels was published and articles drawn up "touching reparation of honor. By these articles, calling a man a fool or a coward was punished by a month's imprisonment, and after his release the offender was required to declare to the party offended, that he had wrongfully and impertinently injured him by outrageous words, which he owned to be false and for which he begged his pardon. For blows with the hand, the penalty was imprison-
THE DUEL. 155
merit for six months and the submission of the offender to the same blows, with con- fession and begging of pardon. For blows with a cane, the offender was to beg pardon upon his knees."* Vigorous measures were also taken in England in the same direction. The charge of Sir Francis Bacon, in the Star-Chamber, against Priest and Wright, with the decree of the court in the cause, is a historical document upon this subject. In this charge Bacon calls it "a sorcery that enchanteth the spirits of young men, that bear great minds with false show, and a kind of satanical illusion and appari- tion of honor against religion, against law, against moral virtue, and against the pre- cedents and examples of the valiantest nations. "f The court imposed a fine of five hundred pounds upon one party, and five
* Mandeville's Dialogues.
f He meant Greece and Rome, as appears in the progress of the charge.
156 THE DUEL.
hundred marks upon the other, and required them to confess in open court their "high contempt and offense against God; his majesty, and his laws."
Thus have church and state, concen- trating their forces, brought all their batteries to bear and fired all their hot shot upon this institution; and yet it survives. They have only succeeded in driving it into a corner, where it stands like a lion at bay, defying the combined powers of heaven and earth.
11 In midst of all his foes, He, like a lion, keeps them all at bay,
And when they seem him stoutly to inclose, Yet through the thickest hews him out a way."
This is a phenomenon that should not be lightly treated. It demands the profound study of every statesman and divine. It will not do to say, with Falstaff, "Honor's a word, — air, — a mere scutcheon. I'll none
THE DUEL. 157
of it." It is not a mere scutcheon: it is rather, in the words of Addison, —
" A sacred type, The noble mind's distinguishing perfection, That aids and strengthens virtue when it meets her, And imitates her actions where she is not: It ought not to be sported with."
It is error akin to this to treat all irre- ligious men as standing upon the same level. There is only one sense in which they are on a dead level. Ungodliness is their common quality; and unless they repent they will all perish. In other respects there is a vast difference in the moral quali- ties of the men of the world. Some are truthful, honest, patriotic, brave, gentle, and generous. Such men are the "fair marble pillars"* in the social edifice, without whose support it would often tumble in ruins. To class these with the low, narrow, selfish, sensual, and craven people who sometimes
* Spencer.
158 THE DUEL.
infest society, is a gross injustice and a great error. Such treatment tends to " thrust men either into desperation or wretch- edness of most unclean living." "We must not ignore facts because they stand in the way of our theories. Our Saviour com- mended the moral young man who had kept the commandments, although he shrank from the searching test which was applied to him.
Duelling cannot be cured by anathemas. No individual was ever converted, no moral reform ever effected, by curses. It is the prerogative of God to curse, — the office of man to bless those who curse him, and do good to those who despitefully use and persecute him.
Legislation cannot, in the present state of public sentiment, extirpate it. In abso- lute monarchies, where the king is regarded as the fountain of honor, it may be sup- pressed for a time; but it uniformly reappears when the pressure is removed or relaxed.
THE DUEL. 159
But in all free countries, unless legislation is a reflection of popular sentiment, it La a dead letter. Tublic opinion does not e to be definitely made up upon this question. This, I think, is a fair inference from the hesitating and fluctuating policy of our legislatures, — in one breath condemning the duel, and in the next absolving the duellist. Politicians are accustomed to feel the pulse of the body politic, and their legislation is generally an echo of its throbbings. As vanes upon steeples show which way the wind blows, so does legislation indicate the direction and rate of the currents of opinion. I fear that this evil can never be eradicated until public sentiment is more conformed to the law of God, — when "swords shall be beaten into plowshares, and spears into pruning-hooks, and they shall learn war no more."
Even if it should be true, as alleged by some, that the voice of the majority of the
16
160 THE DUEL.
people is already against this custom, it must be borne in mind that if our theory is true the majority of the whole does not rule in this case. The church, for example, is unanimous against it; but the duellist does not defer to the opinion of the church. He denies its jurisdiction upon some ques- tions. The opinion of one nation has no weight with the people of another. Even in the same country — as in the United States — the opinions of one section are frequently directly antagonistic to those of another. There is often a like difference in social circles.
It is the praise or blame attaching to certain acts in the particular circles in which we move that is the great deter- mining motive of men's conduct. You may chase such evils from continent to continent, and from state to state, and from circle to circle; but so long as there is a tribe, society, club, or company of men which the
tiik duel.
eh, you oannot • m from the world, we, then, to shut our months foM '1 witness this
[ huniai.
surviving widows and orphans, without an
etV-.n • wh:lt»
tllrn_ can hold ap tho
iaim it in lib try an. I realise it in our own persons, and thus Lei onr Li ' ],'n tli:lt
th.-v, Beeing our good works-, may gi our Father who is in heaven. We can pray and Labor with untiring seal for the coming 0f th< »ed time when every knee BhaU
tongue i
the glory of God the Father. I tar Labor will not be lost Truth in the end will triumph; far "the | troth are the f God condemning the
usurpation of his creatures." This will
162 THE DUEL.
prevent the prescription of vice, and keep " misguided men from deifying their pas- sions after having adored them in their hearts." And as for those who still prefer the praise of men to the praise of God, let us not visit them with execrations: this will only harden their hearts and drive them beyond the reach of our influence. Let us rather pursue them with kind words upon our lips and kind looks in our eyes. Some of them have noble traits, which, if recognized and encouraged, might, by God's blessing, enable them to break the bonds which enslave them to an erroneous prin- ciple. Their bosoms are often the battle- ground of contending thoughts and emotions, which would make us weep if we could see them and hear the sighs which they -wring from them in their moments of solitude and reflection. The following letter, written by such a man on the eve of a duel, illustrates what I mean: — "I am now called upon and
THE DUEL. 163
by the rules of honor forced to fight with
. God only can know the event ; and
into his hands I commend my spirit, con- scious of having done my duty. I commit my soul to God, in hope of his pardon for the irreligious step I take in compliance with the unwarrantable customs of this wicked world." To some minds, such a letter would seem to indicate madness in its author. He who would thus interpret it has not studied man in all his moods and tenses.
Adam Smith, in his ''Theory of the Moral Sentiments," and McCosh, in his "Divine Government," have expounded the power of custom and fashion in perverting our moral judgments and biasing our con- sciences; and Macaulay, in his essay on Machiavelli, has explained by this principle the different standards of character* among
* "Among the Northern nations valor was needful for
self-defense, and hence courage came to be ranked
16*
164 THE DUEL.
the different nations of the earth, and re- marks, "Such are the opposite errors which men commit when their morality is not a science, but a taste, — when they abandon eternal principles for accidental associations."
Of course I do not justify those moral perversions by which sins such as duelling have a sort of halo thrown around them from being associated in the mind with the brilliant qualities of gallantry and courage. I only maintain that these are real pheno- mena, and should be taken into account in our estimate and treatment of men. They prove that some great catastrophe has
among the highest of the virtues, and was supposed to excuse ambition, rapacity, and cruelty, while cowardice and all its kindred vices, as fraud and hypocrisy, hollow friendship and violated faith, were objects of abhorrence. Among the Italians, on the other hand, every thing was done by superiority of intelligence, and they came to regard with lenity those crimes which require address, fertile invention, and profound knowledge of human nature." — McCosh.
THE DUEL. 165
befallen our nature, leaving the human mind "a sublimer ruin than those which illustrate Athens and Eome. When Paul walked the streets of Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, not when he gazed at the Acropolis, but when he "saw the city wholly given up to idolatry/' And any right-minded man will feel a profound com- passion for men who are the victims of an enchanting illusion which so blinds the eyes of their understandings that their fellow-sinners whose company they keep seem as God in their sight, by whom the "Lord of glory" himself is eclipsed.* This is proved by the fact that upon the subject of the duel and other subjects, the rule by which they judge is not the law of God, but the law of honor, which has been shown to be practically nothing more nor less than
* There is profound wisdom in the adage, "Tell me what company you keep, and I will tell you what you are."
166 THE DUEL.
the prevalent opinions in certain social circles and associations. Perhaps no man has ever formally adopted such principles. It may be that there are many who are not even conscious of acting upon them. They have never been with them subjects of reflection. Springing originally from that love of honor which is part of our moral constitution, and which within certain limits is not only innocent, but useful, they have gradually grown, until the man finds himself, before he is aware of it, like Laocoon, in the complicated folds of a serpent, without power to break his bonds.
That the law of honor should be so amended as to comprehend moral and religious as well as social obligation, cannot be seriously questioned by any one who acknowledges the paramount authority of God. Some of the consequences which flow from the present system are so pernicious that they need only to be stated to insure their condemnation.
THE DUEL. 167
By distinguishing between a man of honor and a man of virtue, and making courage, or rather a willingness to fight with certain weapons and according to certain rules, the differentia essentialis* of a " man of honor," you, by one dash of the pen, draw black lines around and expunge from the rolls of honor all conscientious Christians, and even Christ himself, and you include many men who are habitually guilty of the most shame- less vices, as debauchery, drunkenness, and such like. These are consequences which I know the better class of those who ac- knowledge their obligations to the law of honor feel and deplore. They are often mortified and disgusted to find themselves upon the same level with those whom they know to be wanting in many of the attributes of a gentleman. There was truth
* Woodward suggests that, according to this rule, the difference between a gentleman and other men is that between a game-cock and a dunghill fowl.
168 THE DUEL.
and pathos in the exclamation of one who said, "Honor, 0 thou unfortunate word! how art thou tortured from thy true import! True honor scorns a mean action, seeks fame in paths of useful glory, is the guard- ian of innocence, patron of virtue, and friend of humanity, justice, and religion." Those who feel thus should throw off their allegiance to this usurpation, and give honor to whom honor is due. Let them come out from those associations "whose sneers so try the muscles of courage," and ally themselves with that company of which Christ, "the first true gentleman that ever breathed," is head, and they will find the approbation of their own consciences, the smiles of their God, and the sympathies and fellowship of their new companions will make sweeter music to their ears than the applause of the whole world besides, — music whose melody will not be marred by the sneers of their old comrades, and which will
THE DUEL. 169
be all the sweeter from the fact that it is an earnest and a foretaste of the last plaudit which will greet their ears: — "Well done, good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." In heaven the law of God and the law of honor coincide.
APPENDIX.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
I.— Page 11.
Council of Macon, a.d. 585. Since this book was committed to the press, I found in Guizot's ''History of Civilization," vol. iii. page 274, the following note, viz. : " It was in this council that took place the celebrated discussion of which it has been so often said that the question was, whether woman had a soul. The fact is, that a bishop insisted that a woman ought not to be called homo, but he submitted to these two reasons: That God created man male and female, and that Jesus Christ, the son of a woman, is called the son of man."
II.— Page 119.
Extract from a sermon preached to the men assembled at Episcopal Convention at Fredericksburg, in May, 18oG, by Kev. X. II. Cobbs, now Bishop of Alabama.
11 And now, my friends, suffer us, in the way of application, to address a word of exhortation to you, respectfully, affectionately, but plainly. 17 171
172 APPENDIX.
"In looking over the state of society in our Southern country, it has often been a subject of melancholy inquiry, why, in comparison with the other sex, there should be so few men who are pro- fessedly followers of the Saviour. We have long thought that in many cases this has been owing, not to any deliberate rejection of the claims of the gospel, but to a feeling of false shame ; to associating with religion the idea of weakness, superstition, pusillanimity ; to a latent and dis- guised feeling in the proud and carnal heart, whereby men are induced to think that in be- coming Christians they must lower and degrade themselves ; that they must come down from that high mental elevation and give up that self-sus- tained and independent bearing which are so much admired and praised in the world. Men of reading and education are particularly exposed to the danger of being puffed up with a kind of mental conceit, — intellectual self-sufficiency,— with a pharisaical pride of intellect, and are thereby prompted to look down with pity, if not contempt, on the claims of the gospel. Such men, being dazzled by the glare of science and philosophy, and overrating the capabilities of reason and learn- ing, are in great danger of thinking it manly and independent, a mark of literary attainment, an evidence of philosophical emancipation, to discard and to ridicule the gospel of Christ. This is pecu- liarly one of the besetting sins of literary young
APPENDIX. 173
men. A lurid and malignant poison is thus un- guardedly imbibed, which, diffusing and .strength- ening itself, affects and pollutes the whole charac- ter, debases the mind, corrupts the principles, depraves the affections, cankers the heart, and ruins and kills the soul. But, my friends, in ad- dition to the pride and vanity of mind to which all men are exposed, we think there are some peculiar causes why in these Southern States men are powerfully and dangerously under the influence of the feeling of false shame. It is well known that during the time of the Revolution, and for a considerable period afterward, our Southern country was in a most deplorable state as regarded its religious advantages. The Estab- lishment was broken down ; its ministers had either fled or had generally ceased to preach ; the different sects which have since arisen and bene- fited the country were just beginning to gain ground and exert an influence ; and the whole aspect of things was most gloomy and wretched. Now, we are sure we intend no disrespect to any denomination whatever, and we trust no offense will be taken by any one, (for who should be more sparing in his censures of others than the minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church?) when we say that for a long period after the Revolution the character of the preaching that too generally pre- vailed, so far from commanding the respect, only
served to excite the disgust, of the sober, the 15*
174 APPENDIX.
reflecting, and the intelligent part of the people. There was so much cant and whine, — such unna- tural and affected manner, and voice, and sound, and song, and look, and action ; there was so much ridiculous pretension to spiritual illuminations and to superhuman perfections and enjoyments ; there was so much of the transports and rhapsodies of enthusiasm and fanaticism, that religion was actually caricature. Instead of appearing as something calm, sober, rational, and practical, calculated to make men good and wise and happy, religion seemed something unnatural, mystical, superstitious, ludicrous, contemptible. In order to be a Christian, as religion was then too often exhibited, a man had to relinquish his reason and judgment, to lower and degrade him- self in the eyes of his own understanding, to give himself up to the impulses of feeling and fancy and imagination, and in moments of high excite- ment to do and say many things which in his calmer hours he could not but be ashamed of and despise. In this way there has been in the minds of the people a gradual and general association of idea between religion and something that is weak, superstitious, ludicrous. This association of ideas has come down to us in the present day ; and we believe the force of it is felt by every man in Vir- ginia.
"And this unfortunate state of things was greatly aggravated by the introduction of the French
ArPENDIX. 175
principles of philosophy and infidelity. There was a strong political current which gave the people a bearing towards every thing French. Our educated and reading men became impregnated with what wete called liberal principles, or, in other words, with skepticism ; and there was but little ability in the ministry to counteract that tendency to infidelity in the public mind. So far from commanding respect, the ministers were often the object of contempt and ridicule : their tones and their phrases, their raptures and their transports, were the subjects of jest, of merriment, and of mimicry. Even the sober and more moral part of the community could not sanction such a religion as was then too often exhibited, not so much in the fruits of a pious and Christian life as in impulses and emotions and feelings and ecstasies. They could not but see that those who made such pretensions to spiritual illumina- tions and to extraordinary religious attainments were, after all, very little improved in their moral principles and conduct,— that they were frequently no more just and upright and honest and chari- table and truth-telling than other people. In consequence of all these things, there exists in this country an unnatural association between religion and something that is weak, childish, superstitious, and ridiculous. It is this unjust, unnatural, monstrous connection— this false shame — which hinders many men from becoming Chris- 17*
176 APPENDIX.
tians. It is this wretched feeling which causes so many men in our country to stifle their religious impressions, to go contrary to their own con- sciences and judgments, to act oftentimes disin- genuously and hypocritically, and finally to grieve away the Spirit of God and to bring down ever- lasting ruin upon their souls. We do believe there are thousands of men who are prevented from being Christians by this miserable and cow- ardly feeling of false shame. We look upon this as one of the great besetting sins and difficulties of men in this country. Against this unnatural association between religion and superstitious weakness — against this feeling of false shame — we would warn you, my friends, with all the energy and earnestness of our souls. We would say to every Southern man, as he values his soul's salva- tion to beware of that thing. We would appeal to his proper spirit of manliness and independ- ence, and bid him, in the fear of God, to throw off those chains of false shame which have enslaved and ruined so many thousands. Yes : we would say to every one who calls himself a son of Vir- ginia, who claims the birthright of the ' Old Dominion,' that it is a shame and a scandal for him to be afraid to carry out the convictions of his own judgment and conscience, — for him to be deterred by dread of the world from declaring himself on the side of the gospel, when he knows and feels it to be his duty. My friends, it is
APPENDIX. 177
ridiculous in any man now to think of treating the religion of the gospel with contempt, when she has on her side such an imposing array of numerical force, of moral power, and of intellectual artillery. It is too late now to associate the gospel with weakness and superstition, when such a splendid and mighty host of the great and noble, the learned and the wise, have enlisted themselves under her banners and have gallantly gone forth to vindicate her cause, to fight her battles, to multiply her victories, and to extend and to widen, the borders of her empire. No, no : there is nothing weak, superstitious, nor pusillanimous about the gospel. Every thing is sober, rational, dignified, elevated, and glorious. Would you wish to find weakness and littleness of soul, go not to the gospel, but to the records of infidelity. Go and consider what was said to be the dying prayer of one who was distinguished for his bitter hos- tility against the gospel: — '0 God — if there be a God — have mercy on my soul — if I have a soul !' Go and view the darkness, the wretchedness, the desolation, of that man's prospects ; consider the low, grovelling views, the mean, contracted, pusil- lanimous spirit to which that man had brought himself, with all his wit and all his learning. Go then and contrast with this the spirit and conduct of St. Paul in the view of death ; mark his com- posure, his elevation, his dignity ; hear him ex- claim, as he fixes his eye upon heaven, ' I am now
178 APPENDIX.
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Hence- forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day/ Go and consider these two men, and tell us which of them was pusillani- mous, which wTas philosophical. Is not the con- trast between them as great as that which exists between the light of day and the darkness of mid- night,— between a man, with his intellectual, noble and elevated bearing, and a worm of the dust writhing and contracting himself in his own little- ness and meanness of spirit? Go, and, whilst considering these things, say, with the holy enthu- siasm of one of old, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Amen."
Chap. II.— Part II. The Peculiarities of the Female Character not so much owing
to Organization as to the Modes of Education and Habits
of Life.
In highly-civilized countries the women, in gene- ral, are weak and delicate. But these qualities are only the results of art : otherwise they would uni- formly mark the sex, however circumstanced ; but, as this is not the case, we may attribute them to a sedentary life, a low, abstemious diet, and exclu- sion from fresh air. Nor do these causes stop here. Their influence reaches further, and is productive
APPENDIX. 179
of that laxity of the female fibers and sensibility of nerves which, while it gives birth to half their foibles, is the source also of many of the finer and more delicate feelings for which we value and ad- mire them, and of which bodies of a firmer texture and stronger nerves are entirely destitute. How- ever paradoxical this may appear to those who have not attended to the subject, we scruple not to affirm that want of exercise, confined air, and low diet will soon reduce not only the most robust body, but the most resolute mind, to a set of weak- nesses and feelings similar to those of the most delicate and timorous female. This being the case, we lay it down as a general rule that the difference of education and the mode of living are the prin- cipal causes of the corporeal and mental differ- ences which distinguish the sexes from each other, and we persuade ourselves that nature, in forming the bodies and minds of both sexes, has been nearly alike liberal to each, and that any apparent difference in the exertions of the strength of the one or in the reasoning of the other is much more the work of art than of nature. We know it is a generally-established opinion that in strength of mind as well as of body men are greatly superior to women, — an opinion into which we have been led by not considering the proper propensities and paths chalked out to each by the Author of their nature. Men are endowed with courage and bold- ness ; women are not. The reason is plain. These
180 APPENDIX.
are beauties in our character ; in theirs they would be blemishes. Our genius often leads us to the great and to the arduous, theirs to the soft and the pleasing. We bend our thoughts to make life convenient, they turn theirs to make it easy and agreeable. Would it be difficult for women to acquire the endowments allotted to us by nature? It would be as much for us to acquire those pecu- liarly allotted to them. Are we superior to them in what belongs to the male character ? They are no less so in what belongs to the female. But whether are male or female endowments most useful in life? This we shall not pretend to deter- mine; and, until it be determined, we cannot de- cide the claims which men or women have to superior excellence.
But, to pursue this idea a little further, would it not be highly ridiculous to find fault with the snail because she is not so swift as the hare, or with the lamb because he is not so bold as the lion? Would it not be requiring from each an exertion of powers that nature has not given, and deciding on their excellence by comparing them to a wrong standard? Would it not appear rather ludicrous to say that a man was endowed only with inferior abilities because he was not expert in the nursing of children and practicing the various effeminacies which we reckon lovely in a woman ? Would it be reasonable to condemn him on these accounts ? Just as reasonable as it is to
APPENDIX. 18 L
reckon women inferior to men because their talents are, in general, not adapted to tread the horrid path of Avar nor to trace the mazes and intricacies of science. Horace, who is by all al- lowed to have been an adept in the knowledge of mankind, says, " In vain do we endeavor to expel what nature has implanted;" and, we may add, in vain do we endeavor to instill what she has not planted. Equally absurd is it to compare women to men, and to pronounce them inferior because they have not the same qualities in the same per- fection. We shall finish this subject by observing that, if women are really inferior to men, they are the most so in nations the most highly refined and polished. There, in point of bodily strength, for the reasons already assigned, they are certainly in- ferior ; and such is the influence of body upon mind that to their laxity of body we may fairly trace many, if not all, the weaknesses of mind which we are apt to reckon blemishes in the fe- male character. Those who have been constantly blessed with a robust constitution and a mind not delicately susceptible may laugh at this as ridicu- lous; while those in whom accidental weaknesses of body have given birth to nervous feelings with which they were never before acquainted will view it in another light. But there is further reason for the greater difference between the sexes in civil than in savage life, — which is, the difference of education. While the intellectual powers of
182 APPENDIX.
males are gradually opened and expanded by cul- ture in a variety of forms, those of females are either commonly left to nature, or, which is worse, warped and biased by fantastical instruction dig- nified by the name of education. To this reason we may add another : men, everywhere the legis- lators, have everywhere prescribed to women rules which, instead of weaker natures and less govern- able passions, require natures more perfect and passions more under subjection ; and, because women have not always observed these rules, the men have reckoned them weak, wicked, and irre- strainable in their pursuit of sensual gratifications. The opinion that women are a sort of mechanical beings, created only for the pleasures of men, whatever votaries it may have had in the East, has had but few in Europe. A few, however, have even here maintained it, and assigned various and sometimes laughable reasons for doing so. Among these, a story we have heard of a Scotch clergy- man is not the least particular. This peaceable son of Levi, whose wife was a descendant of the famous Xantippe, on going through a course of lectures on the Eevelation of St. John, from that abstruse writer imbibed an opinion that the sex had no souls, and were incapable of future rewards and punishments. It was no sooner known in the country that he maintained such a doctrine, than he was summoned before a presbytery of his brethren, to be dealt with according to his delin-
APPENDIX. 183
quency. When he appeared at this bar, they asked him if he really held so heretical an opinion. He told them plainly that he did. On desiring to be informed of his reason for so doing, "In the Revelation of St. John the Divine," said he, "you will find this passage : — 'And there was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour.' Now, I ap- peal to all of you, whether that could possibly have happened had there been any women there. And since there are none there, charity forbids us to imagine that they are all in a worse place: therefore it follows that they have no immortal part. And happy is it for them, as they are thereby exempted from being accountable for all the noise and disturbance they have raised in this world/'
Chap. III.— Page 92.
The following lifelike picture is from an unpublished
sermon of Bishop Meade, addressed to men.
" I know that for a short time the tender mother exerts a mighty moral influence over her little sons. She teaches them to believe, to pray, to bend their little knees and clasp their little hand^ each morning and evening, and they humbly fall down by her side in the temple. But how long does this last, unless the father kneels down beside the mother and his child ? Ah ! how the boy imitates the man ! Scarcely does he with his head overtop the pew, than we find him standing or sitting and looking all around him. And 18
184 APPENDIX.
wherefore this ? His father is sitting or standing ; and shall he rebuke his father ? Is he not taught to honor hini and follow his example ? Can my father do wrong ? How natural such a thought in the heart of the child ! Would that this were all ! On too many a Sabbath, where is the father? In the temple ? No. And where the mother's dar- ling son ? By her side ? No : he is at home, in the streets, on a party of pleasure. And why not, as the father set him the example ? The poor mother entreated, warned, all in vain: perhaps she was laughed at by her own son, as she had often been by his father. And perhaps, soon after, she hears those dear lips which she had taught to say, ' Our Father which art in heaven,' uttering horrid oaths which he learned from his father on earth ; and ere long he becomes the free-thinker, the scoffer, and the libertine. As is the father, so is the son ; and who shall say to how many generations this may descend, according to the just judgment of that God who visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation ? " Again : what a different world would this be if the men, to whom are committed so much wealth, talent, strength, and power, were disciples of Christ ! How would our Sabbaths be hallowed, our temples crowded, our pulpits filled with zeal and talent, and millions be poured into the treasury of the Lord ! How many young men would be preserved from vice and sin, and how many females en-
APPENDIX. 185
couraged to more zeal, instead of being hindered and forbidden ! Oh, what a change would soon be in the world if men only did as much more as now they do less than the weaker sex !
"There are those who say, the very fact you state that but few of the men, and especially of the honorable and wealthy, are religious, is an argu- ment against it. If religion were certainly true and so excellent, the men —the lords of creation — would be foremost to embrace it. To this I reply that women are not so inferior in learning to the general mass of men as some suppose. They read more on the subject of religion, and are far better acquainted with the Scriptures, than men. Indeed, it is lamentable to think of the neglect of the religious element in the education of young men in our schools and colleges.
" If many young men who graduate at college were examined in the details of the Scriptures, — upon the doctrines of Christ and the history of the Church, — how would they fall short of a well- instructed class in a Sunday-school !
"And if a number of the most irreligious and skeptical men in town were to be subjected to an examination (before us all, in this church) in the Holy Bible, would they show that they had been carefully studying the same ? No, my friends : nothing but violence could make them submit to such an exposure of their criminal ignorance of that venerable volume. And it is on such testi-
186 APPENDIX.
mony that our religion is to be rejected as un- worthy of men and only fit for weak women and ignorant persons !
"Oh, the tremendous responsibility that rests on man, and the account he will have to render at the last day ! If the glorious gospel is not speedily preached throughout, it is because the men do not choose to put forth the exertions necessary to that end.
"And is there no hope of a reformation ? Is this dreadful habit of irreligion fastened upon the men, and especially upon the rich and edu- cated, forever? And must it descend hereafter, as in times past, from father to son as an inherit- ance forever? Are we to lie down in despair, or calmly look on and expect nothing else, as if it was fixed as fate, firm as the decrees of Heaven ?
"Oh, if the dreadful habit could once be broken, — if we could see only one generation of pious fathers, — then we might expect the promise of mercy to the thousands of generations which should descend from those pious fathers.
"0 fathers, lead the way, I beseech you. Your sons will follow. Have pity upon your dear sons, and do not lead them into perdition. Do not teach them to curse you in a dying hour, and perhaps load you with bitter execrations in the regions of despair."
THE END.
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