Part 2

She was not taken from an inferior portion of his body, that he might think her inferior to himself, and to be trampled on by him, but out of his side,--from his rib,--that she might appear to be equal to him; and from a part near his heart, and under his arm, to show that she should be affectionately loved by him, and be always under his care and protection.

Wherever man has failed to recognize this truth society has gone back to barbarism, and the very conception of a home has been banished from the mind. In the East man rules woman as lord. She is his slave; and in the Arabic language there is no word meaning "home." Christian civilization lifts woman up, and thrones her in the heart of a _home_.

She was made from "bone and flesh,"--quickened dust,--and so in her make and constitution she is of superior quality and of finer mould.

The Hebrew word translated "made," means _built_. From the rib God built this woman. How instructive the fact! Woman added to man is the foundation of the home or family. She is built out of man. Man is necessary to her development. A man can continue the work begun by God. He can build up a woman; and as he builds her up he builds up himself. She is also a builder. She builds up a home, or degrades it. If woman is honored in a home, she makes it honorable.

At the outset she was man's equal: perhaps she may have thought herself to be superior to him--more refined, of better material. She forgot her place, and ignored her sphere, and lost all. She was not created as things were, out of nothing. She was meant to be something better than a _thing_; and she must be something better than a thing, or she is nothing. She was not formed as Adam was, out of the dust of the earth. Had she been, perhaps she would not have disliked dust so terribly. She is a part of man's life. This describes her mission. The life of a woman who does not care to be a man's toy or ornament, but desires rather to be his helpmeet,--supplying all he needs, as he supplies all she needs,--is but the continuance, the flowing out and flowing on of man's higher life, into the flowers of love, which decorate the home, and make that chosen retreat the very portals of heaven.

As man feels that in woman he finds the complement to himself, and almost his other self, woman finds in man the same complement to herself, and recognizes in him the ruler of her life, her friend, her lover; and happy is she if she finds in him her husband, who rightfully assumes his rights and his sovereignty.

3. "_God brought her unto man_." Woman is God's first gift to man. She must never occupy a second place. In the heart she holds a first place, or she holds none at all. The moment she holds a secondary place she is ruined. It is in her power to hold the first place. To do this, she must prize it; make sacrifices to keep it; almost, at times, deny herself, and bear a cross, to hold on to it. Yet it is hers, and God will see to it that she maintains her right.

"_God brought her_." Every husband in this world should feel that his wife is God's gift to him, and it is his duty to study its characteristics, and minister to them. Every man can make the partner of his life a good wife, and can feel that she was God-given, and must be used in such a manner that when the day of reckoning comes, he can give a good account of the manner in which he has used this blessing. To go to the judgment, and meet a broken-hearted woman, over whom man has exercised tyranny, and to whom he has been a monster, until hope died, and the grave became a refuge, will not be a pleasant meeting.

In this bestowal of woman upon man, we recognize two facts.

1. The father's right to give away his child--a right which exerts its influence at the present time, and which every young man who seeks properly the hand of woman is compelled to recognize. In that act of Eden lie the rule and example to be followed by parents and children: the one to dispose of their children, and the other to have the consent of their parents in reaching conclusions upon which hinges the destiny of the individual for time, and perhaps for eternity. Happy the child that trusts a wise parent, and refuses to walk a path over which the shadow of parental disapproval rests! Happy the parent who finds pleasure in the fresh young love of the child, and watches the opening flower and the ripening fruit with pride and pleasure.

This giving away of the child requires the enjoyment of perfect confidence between father and daughter and mother and son.

God knew Eve, for he built her. He knew her heart, her mind, her aspiration. A parent knows something of the child; and well it is for both parent and child when this knowledge is perfect, and when the relation subsisting between parents and children is such that home is a place of consultation. A home without secrets, without closed doors, and locked drawers and sugar-boxes,--a home where thought is free, and mind is untrammelled, is the very gate of heaven.

There are homes where the children are excluded from counsel, from love, from plan, from association. Those children live in a world apart from their parents, and it will not be strange if they are swept out by the waves of evil to ruin.

There are homes where the father shuts himself away from the wife and children. To the children he is harsh, unsympathetic, and morose. Ah! there is sorrow in that house. The mother--God bless her!--has a hard time. She has to keep in with the father, and she will keep in with the children. In that bundle of life the tendrils of her nature are bound up. She fights a prolonged battle in regard to expenditure and education. Happiness only comes when the household is one, and the relations between father and children are perfect, as God designed them to be.

Again, God gives his sanction not only to the truth that man's wants can only be met by the gift of woman,--a fact which every man has felt, and which causes every man to feel that somewhere on earth his wife is living, who will recognize and welcome him to the bliss of love and to the joy of companionship,--but this additional truth is taught: Man has a right to marry. Love is no disgrace. It is the pretence of it, for base purposes, which is disgraceful. The nuptial vow was first whispered in the garden. God was sponsor, and all Eden witnesses. This bond of union was God's gift to the race. The curse did not touch it. The marriage vow and marriage rite, with the faith in woman as a helpmeet, have survived the fall, and are our joy and rejoicing at this time.

In conclusion, think of God's care for man, in providing woman as a blessing. There is no necessity for man's being alone. Some one waits to bless or has blessed him. Let us make more of our wives and sisters than ever before. Let us build them up in love and in those generous qualities which fit woman for her high destiny in this fallen world.

2. Think, woman, of your noble mission. You are to be a help to man. You are to help him morally and spiritually. For this God created you. For this he preserves you. "You are queens and bondmaids too, as royal when you serve as when you rule." Man must respect you, for when man loses his respect for woman he is lost. He goes down, down to irremediable ruin. With woman as God designed her, man gets much of Eden back, for in Christ she is reconciled to God. It is for man and woman to get back Eden. Christ came to be our common helper. He is woman's Saviour as well as man's, and offers to all that help which changes life's desert into a garden, and life's gloom into the brilliancy of an eternal day.

"Hail, woman! Hail, thou faithful wife and mother, The latest, choicest part of heaven's great plan. None fills thy peerless place at home, no other Helpmeet is found for laboring, suffering man. Hail, thou home circle, where, at day's decline, Her moulding power, her radiant virtues shine! Not in the church to rule or teach, her place; Not in the mart of trade, or senate halls; Not the wild, festive scene is hers to grace; Not Fashion's altar her its victim calls; Not here her field of triumph; but alone She moves the queen of her own quiet home."

REV. MARK TRAFTON.

WOMAN A HELPMEET.

The purpose of God in the creation of woman was to provide man with a helpmeet. The language is unmistakable. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make for him a helper suited to him." Woman was made to be man's helpmeet in Eden; that purpose survives the _fall_. For right or wrong, for good or ill, her influence is felt. She lifts man up or drags him down. Scoff at it, oppose it, cast opprobrium upon this ancient utterance, the fact remains, woman is made for man. Helpmeet she was, helpmeet she must be, or leave her work undone, and suffer the blight that results from the lack of love. God placed man in the garden to keep it, and he placed woman there to fill the bower with love, and his home with joy.

The coming of Eve to Adam is a beautiful story. He had been taught to realize his need of her. It was a part of his constitution. The same is true now wherever woman is appreciated. The felt want is the recognition of the fact. A wife chosen by one's parents, not by himself, is devoid of all of those special characteristics which distinguish her where processes of love begin, go on, deepen and tighten, until the bond is woven and the union formed.

"Nothing so delights man as those graceful nets, Those thousand delicacies that daily flow From all her words and actions, mixed with love And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned Union of mind, or in them both one soul."[A]

[Footnote A: Paradise Lost, Book VIII.]

The knowledge of congeniality of tastes can only be obtained by mutual acquaintance, and by a careful study. It is said nothing is so blind as love. Nothing is so foolish as a blind love. Man needs a helpmeet, and woman needs a man she can help. It is possible to know before marriage that the parties are able to fulfil this trust. If they cannot fulfil it, marriage is a sin, which brings forth continuous sorrow and discontent.

The purpose of God to provide a helpmeet was avowed, but Adam did not know the fact. Under the arch of God's promise we discover the working of God's providence. The Bible, if properly studied, is a more thrilling narrative than any novel, because in it we can behold the infinite God working with man and for man. "It is not good that man should be alone." This is the general proposition. As a counterpart we find man feeling that it was very sad to be alone. In his heart there is a want at work, making him ready for the blessing which God is preparing for him.

The want of the soul means a purpose on the part of God to supply it. This is true in regard to all that vitally interests man in this world. My want is the basis of my hope. God, who is above and around me, would not send forward the desire unless he had purposed to grant it.

Prayer stirring in the soul, is to man spiritually what a bill of goods preceding the payment is to a merchant. Do we long for salvation, for a revival, for any spiritual outpouring? have faith in God. There is a motive in it. Expect the blessing, and you will receive it.

"The Spirit itself," said Paul, "beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." This is enjoyed despite the curse. "Jesus sent us the Comforter, who helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are thus called according to his purpose." This fatherhood of God comes to us under all circumstances and in all conditions. In the home, in the heart with all its wails, in the battle, in the victory, on earth and in heaven. Notice how Adam was made ready for his helpmeet.

"And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helpmeet for him."

Imagine Adam feeling this want of companionship as the beasts of earth in their pristine beauty pass before him. There are those who mate with a horse or a dog. Who make a pet of a brute, and, ignoring their higher relations, live for their lower nature. We know that animals can be brought to do almost anything but talk, and some birds have the gift of speech. It was doubtless true of Eden. The serpent's talking did not surprise Eve.

Perhaps Adam may have found animals that could have kept him company. Yet he could find none who could meet his want as a helpmeet. Milton has fancifully described Adam expressing his want to the Infinite. It grew upon him. Then he has pictured him asleep, and seeing, as in a trance, the rib, with cordial spirits warm, formed and fashioned with his hands, until

"Under his forming hands a creature grew, Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair That what seemed fair in all the world seemed now Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained, And in her looks, which from that time infused Sweetness into my heart unfelt before, And into all things from her air inspired The spirit of love and amorous delight."

Then she disappeared. The dream haunted him in his waking hours. In the gallery of the Louvre there is a picture of Henry IV becoming entranced by the picture of his future wife, and next to it is the picture of the proud man being married to the woman whose face in the picture had once captivated his fancy. Those pictures were the realization of the one described in Milton's verse. Adam saw in Eve the realization of his dream, and was happy when he welcomed to his embrace this first gift of God, which met his want and answered his prayer. God created man not only a social being but an intellectual being. A beast can mate with beasts. They do so. A distinguished writer says, "the family relation is almost universal among the higher classes of animals." Adam's immortal nature longed for a kindred spirit. One to commune with, one to love, one to guide, one to look at life from another standpoint, one whose opinions should be diverse, and yet alike in difference, one to help in all the affairs of life, not only for the propagation of the species, but to provide things useful and comfortable for him, and like himself in temper, in disposition, and destiny. One to whom God shall be a loving Father, and heaven a common home. One with whom soul can join with soul in worship and love. A kindred spirit. A spirit having a common love, a common purpose, a common aspiration, and a common interest.

This longing for companionship was the earliest recorded emotion of the soul. It comes earliest to us and stays longest. In childhood, very often, instinct and desire rule wisely, and matches formed in heaven are recognized in life's morning on earth far oftener than we are accustomed to think. This longing never ceases. The child wants companionship, and old age, shattered and broken, feels the need of this loving support which God provides in the opposite sex quite as much as does the youthful heart. Our perfect humanity is made up of the two, and is not complete without this union.

The most magnificent scenery is tame, unless you can point out its beauties to the one you love. The picture gallery is worthless, unless some other lip can press the goblet of your pleasure, and sip nectar from the flower of beauty which blossoms in your thought or imagination. It is not good for man to be alone, even in Eden. Eden is not Eden without its Eve. Before Eve came, Eden was the pastureland of beasts; after it, the place took on home-like properties, bowers of love were formed, and the place became the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

The characteristics of woman as a helpmeet deserve our notice.

1. _Consider this word "Woman._" Woman was the name given to our mother because she was taken out of man. The word itself means _pliant_. In this definition we discover the first characteristic of a womanly nature. She is pliant. She adjusts herself to circumstances. She is adapted to meet man's wants, because she finds it in her nature to adapt herself to meet them.

It is gentlemanly to avow an opinion. We feel that it is womanly to waive one. We never think less of a woman for not forcing her opinions upon a company. We do not desire her to be without opinions, nor is it expected that she will desist from expressing an opinion, but if one must yield, it is womanly in woman to do so.

Indeed, oftentimes a woman of strong mental calibre, whose opinions are derived from thought and study, has built her husband up by permitting his expression to stand even though her own judgment might differ from him. If she be a true wife or sister, she will seek, in retirement, to correct an opinion which could not be avowed in public without weakening a husband's or a brother's influence. A woman that builds up another is herself a power and a praise.

The word _pliant_ does not demand an absence of quality. The Damascus blade is pliant; it can be bent but it is not easily broken, while its edge is the keenest and its strength is a marvel. So woman is not necessarily weak because she is pliant. She may be the very reverse, and yet be pliant. Oftentimes her power of control is the more potent because it is unseen and unostentatious. An opinion held, to be uttered in the moment of cool and calm reflection, may be more telling than if spoken while the storm of debate was raging. The still, small voice came after the lightning and the thunder and the earthquake, and God spake in it with power and effect. It is the quiet utterance in the home which is of marvellous power in the world. It is womanly to adorn rather than to plan.

She fits herself for companionship rather than for leadership. By her tact and by her very nature she is enabled to harmonize antagonistic elements, and promote concord, if she cannot secure union. Like the lily living in the water, she feeds on her native element, love. The lily, though it floats on the wave, opens wider its leaves to the rain and dew. So woman, though living on love, finds pleasure and rapture in fresh manifestations of love day by day. It is her nature to love. It is her life to be beloved.

2. Think of this other title, _feminine_. This word, in its meaning, furnishes the second characteristic. It pertains to woman, and denotes a soft, tender, and delicate nature. Effeminate means destitute of manly qualities.

A woman truly feminine is thus described: "No coarseness was mingled with her plainness of speech; no boisterousness with her zeal. Her feelings, her sensibilities, her tastes were all characterized by a gentleness and delicacy seldom surpassed. While her heroic daring and unconquerable energy excited admiration, her love of birds and flowers, and indeed of all that is beautiful in nature, made her seem almost childlike." This characteristic, so loved and admired, is woman's glory, and yet it is effeminate. Woman's mind is quicker, more flexible, more elastic than man's, though the brain, in weight, is much lighter. Man's brain weighs, on an average, three pounds and eight ounces. Woman's brain weighs, on an average, two pounds and four ounces. The female intellect is impregnated with the qualities of her sensitive nature. It acts rather through a channel of electricity than of reasoning. Its perceptions of truth come, as it were, by intuition. It is under the influence of the heart, that has deep and unfathomable wells of feeling; and truth is felt in every pulse, rather than reasoned out and demonstrated. You cannot offend a woman so quick, in any way, as to ask her why she wishes to do thus, or why she reaches such a conclusion. Her reply is, invariably, "'_Cause!_" And that is about all she knows about it; and yet woe be to the man who ignores her intuitions, or treats with disdain her advice. Woman reads character quicker and better than man. Her policy lies in her heart. She feels rather than reasons. Man reasons rather than feels. Hence she is a helpmeet. She fills a lack, and supplies a want.

In her the imagination and fancy have such a lively play, that the homeliest principles assume forms of beauty. In intellectual pursuits she is destined to excel by her fine sensibilities, her nice observations, and exquisite tastes, while man is appointed to investigate the laws of abstruse sciences, and perform in literature and art the bolder flights of genius. She may surpass him in representing life and manners, and in the composition of letters, memoirs, and moral tales, in descriptive poetry, and in certain styles of music and painting, and even in sculpture. But she will never write an Iliad or a Paradise Lost, or tragedies like those of Aeschylus. She will never rival Demosthenes in producing a political oration, nor a massive philosophic history like Thucydides. She will not paint a Madonna like Raphael, nor chisel an Apollo Belvedere. The logic of Aristotle, the polemics of Augustine, the prodigious onsets of a Luther, the Institutes of a Calvin, the Novum Organum of Bacon, the Principia of Newton, the Cosmos of Humboldt--the like of these she will never achieve, nor is it desirable that she should.

Women seldom invent. There are all manner of inventions, often hundreds of applications in a single day, for patents at the Patent Office, yet among them there are no female applicants. Woman cannot compete with man in a long course of mental labor. The female mind is rather quiet and timid than fiery and driving. It admires rather than covets the great exploits of the other sex. Woman never excelled in architecture. To her belong the gentler arts of quiet life and retirement, where she has power to soften and refine the heart of him who is accustomed to battle with the elements and the forces of external nature.