Chapter 7

Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, which was a proper type of Christ. His offering pleased God, Cain's niggardly gift displeased God. The selfish man wreaked his vengeance in the usual way. He slew his brother, who was better than himself. The heavens are black with gathering gloom. Murder is in the air. The shock is felt everywhere. God comes, and sternly asks, "_Where is thy brother?_" Cain impudently replies, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Then comes the curse. It is a self-invited curse, for the gift he gave to God is the harvest in future for himself. Ah, what a lesson. How early it is taught. If you hate God, if you regret what you give, if you make it small, if you see to it that you give the leavings rather than the firstlings, then beware. Cain said his punishment was greater than he could bear. He is getting back what he gave. The command is, Give, and it shall be given back. The converse is true--Keep, and it shall be kept back.

The hopes of Eve were centred in the victory to be achieved over the enemy of her life, by means of the triumph to be won by her children. Her trials really began when she saw that sin was not an accident. It was rebellion which bore fruit. Her treachery to God came back to her in this treachery of her first born to her second child, whom she loved with maternal tenderness. Thus the gates of evil were thrown open, and they filled the land with violence, and the flood became a necessity.

What was true of Eve was more or less true of woman until Christ came. She inherited sorrow, and was born to a life of humiliation and wretchedness. The history of woman in the olden time and at this hour, wherever Christ is not known, is full of sorrow. In Christ she finds an emancipator from sorrow.

There is another strange fact. In the Old Dispensation, the first born son is the child of promise. But wherever the influence of Christ's gospel rules, there the rule of the first born disappears, and all, both sons and daughters, share in the patrimony of the house and in the honors of the household. Despite this, it is natural for a father to love his first born son the best, and for the mother to find her heart clinging involuntarily to the younger and weaker. From the unfortunate the father may turn, but the mother never. She will bind her love tightest about the birdling that, from some misfortune, is unable to leave the maternal nest.

Turn we to the Old Testament, we find that whenever man was brought near to God, as was Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and others, woman was held in respect, and was permitted to exercise an elevating influence in the home; and yet it remains true, that in nearly every instance she failed to prove herself a helpmeet.

Sarah introduced Abraham to polygamy, Rebekah was a pattern of lying, and Rachel of deception. The three celebrated women of history are destitute of those characteristics which make of a wife a companion, counsellor, and friend.

Do we study the history of Miriam, of Deborah, and Esther? we behold women rising up in the name of God to help their people to save their kindred. They were the introduction to a noble succession. Woman then, as now, is loved for bringing _help_ to those on whom God devolves responsibility.

The picture best loved and most praised in the Old Testament is that of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, as she fits him for his post of duty in the service of the Lord. In Hannah the world finds their beau ideal of a mother, actuated by principle and ruled by love, recognizing her allegiance to God, and her obligations to her child and husband, and there is hardly a child in this Christian land who does not dwell with delight upon this fact, that each year the mother made for her boy a little coat. It was a motherly deed, and links her to the history of the race by the blessed tie which finds its origin in maternal care.

Ruth comes next, because of her fidelity to her mother, and her love of virtue. It is by her life we are introduced afresh to the golden vein of prophecy that runs through the Old Testament, and which ever pointed towards the coming of Christ as the hope of woman and the hope of the world. Esther's love of her race, and her noble daring of Eastern despotism for the good of her people, lifts her to a high place, though as a wife and mother we know nothing more than that she was hedged round by the iron regulations of a paganized court. The revelations made concerning the daughter of Jacob, or of Bathsheba, the loved wife of David, and in fact of nearly all of the women of the Bible, prove that the women of the olden time left as well as received an inheritance of shame. The names we have mentioned are among the brightest and the best. We will draw a veil over the characters of women such as the wife of Lot, or of Potiphar, the would-be seducer of Joseph, or of Job, the betrayer of her husband in misfortune, of Jezebel, the fury, or of Delilah, the traitress to her husband, and of a score of others, that make the age in which they lived seem like the night of humanity.

3. _Woman obtains her recognition in Christ._ From the moment God pronounced sentence upon Eve to the moment when the angel appeared to Mary, man was recognized as the head. Even Miriam wrought through Moses, and Deborah, the judge and prophetess, lays no claim to personal communication with God, but quotes his promises, and stimulates Barak to action, So also when the angel came from the court of heaven to foretell the joy that was to come to the world in the birth of John, the forerunner of Christ, he came to Zacharias instead of to Elisabeth. But when the message related to Christ, _then the angel passed by man, and approached woman direct_. God never forgets. A thousand years are but as a day to Him. Yesterday, in Eden, he foretold the coming of Christ to Eve. To-day, in Nazareth, the angel comes to Mary, and makes her heart glad with the fact, that she was chosen to become the mother of our Lord. Eve lost by sin God's companionship. Mary obtained, through Christ, favor with God and man. The valley is spanned with this arch of hope. The night of woman's humiliation is passing away. And the angel came in unto her, and said, "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women."

Strange words these, as we can readily perceive, from the position held by woman previously. No wonder that when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." No wonder that the air seemed full of music. Woman, made so beautiful, woman, so beloved of God, and so prized by Adam, before sin blighted the bud of hope and spoiled the flower of beauty, was now to come forth from the darkness and gloom of her life of shame to the light of an unclouded day, henceforth to be made glorious by her ministrations of love. The glory of motherhood "is the man gotten from the Lord," and raised to work for God in this sinful world. The glory of woman is to share this man's home as a helpmeet, and contribute by her love, and sympathy, and efforts to his happiness and usefulness here, that she may wear the crown of joy in heaven.

MARIOLATRY NOT OF CHRIST.

If ever woman had reason to sing, "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour," it was Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ. God recognized her as a helper in restoring man from the ruins of sin. To her the angel spake, saying, "Hail, thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." And in pondering in her heart the strange coincidences, she exclaimed, "God hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

From these words it is evident that Mary appreciated the honor conferred upon her by her Creator and rightful Ruler. It is a singular fact, that Eve, betrayed by Satan, betrayed the race. Mary held steadfast to God and to truth; and yet Satan has the second time taken woman and used her as an ally, and so has brought an influence to bear upon the minds of men which has led millions astray, and covers vast portions of the world with the gloom of a moral night. Mary, the "Mother of Jesus," is made to take the place of "Christ, the Son of God," and is declared to be the Mother of God. In this land we can form no conception of the extent to which this worship of Mary is carried in Roman Catholic countries. To the Italians Mary is God, and worship is simply the adoration of the Virgin. Viewing Romanism in the light of the Bible, this is its crowning sin; viewing it as a system combined to seduce and enslave, this is its masterpiece. To understand how it is so, let us think how deep in man's nature is placed the feeling of the need of a being like unto himself, to mediate between him and God. The Bible completely meets this want in the God-man. But Popery blots out the God-man as mediator, and in his stead presents us with Mary, who is to the devotee the "one living and true God;" for, though the Father and Son are known, they are accessible only through Mary, and they stand so far behind and beyond her, that to the Romanist they are vague, shadowy, and unknown. Mary is the first name to be lisped in childhood, the last to be uttered by the quivering lips before they are closed in death. Around the neck of the infant is suspended a small image of the Virgin; when the babe seeks the breast it must kiss the image, and thus literally does it draw in the adoration of Mary with its mother's milk. "Were the New Testament to be written at this hour, Rome would blot out the name of Christ and substitute that of Mary. Take a proof: The church close by the Vatican has upon its marble pediment, graven in large letters, 'Let us come to the throne of the Virgin Mary, that we may find grace to help us in our time of need.' The Roman sees Heb. iv. 16 quoted, but cannot verify it if he would, seeing the Bible is forbidden to him." Pius IX., at the foot of the column of the Immaculate Conception, erected to perpetuate the fact that he was permitted to decree the dogma, has Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah casting crowns before the Virgin, saying, "Thou art worthy; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." When it was announced that the French occupation of Rome should cease, the Pope published a decree calling on all Rome to go with him to the feet of Mary, if haply by cries and tears they might prevail with her to avert from the throne of God's vicar the dangers that threaten it; and in that act the Pope led the way.[A]

[Footnote A: Minister _versus_ Priest, page 7.]

For this worship of the Virgin Mary there is a reason. Satan could not successfully lead astray so many millions of people, despite a preached gospel and a printed Bible, unless there was some truth lying at the root of this ineradicable Virgin worship. This root we shall discover when we recall woman's position prior to the advent of Christ, the place she was called upon to fill in the scheme of redemption, and the influences set in motion by the life of Christ upon the earth.

1. _Let us notice woman's position previous to the advent_. Before Christ came, woman was regarded as inferior to man. She had lost her equality. She was excluded from general intercourse, and her confinement to her own home and apartments, without education, without social recognition, left her without strength of character, self-reliance, or resources with herself. "Woman's safety in society lies in two elements: her own virtue and intelligence, and the consequent respect for her which such a character inspires. Where these two things are found, she may participate in general society, mingling freely with men as their equals, and regarded, it may be, even as their superiors. Here, it may be worthy of note, that no such estimate or honor is ever put upon woman except when Christianity has given her this elevation."

Before Christ appeared, the qualities honored as divine were peculiarly the virtues of the man--courage, wisdom, truth, strength. Womanly virtues were regarded as puerile and contemptible, and woman herself was little better than a slave.

2. _Notice the place woman filled in the scheme of redemption_. It is admitted by those who recognize the Word of God as authority, that the Atonement required the sacrifice of one whose nature represents equally the dignity of the Law-maker and the humanity of the transgressor. In him Deity and humanity must be united: Deity, that he may give value to the offering; humanity, that he may obey the positive precepts and endure the penal sanction of the law human nature has violated. It was therefore essential that the prophecy of Isaiah, uttered six hundred years before the advent, should be fulfilled, viz., "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel--God with us." This work had been accomplished, and Mary was honored with the privilege of taking the words of Eve, "I have gotten a man with Jehovah," and making it no longer a prophecy, but a fact. So we sing,--

"Thou wast born of woman; them didst come, O, Holiest! to this world of sin and gloom, Not in thy dread omnipotent array; And not by thunder strewed Was thy tempestuous road,-- Nor indignation burned before thee on thy way; But thou, a soft and naked child, Thy mother undefiled, In the rude manger laid to rest, From off her virgin breast."

Then, for the first time, the mother resumed her place. When the wise men came into the house they saw the young child, with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures they presented unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. The old Eastern custom, which placed the child before the mother, was now understood. God guarded against making Mary first, and at the same time provided for her a place. When God appeared to Joseph in a dream, he did not say, Take the mother and child, but the "young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt." This brings us naturally to consider--

3. _The influences set in motion by the life of Christ upon the earth_. First, let us review the history of Christ's personal relations to Mary. Up to twelve years of age, his home was in Nazareth; and Luke declares (second chapter, fortieth verse), "The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him. And when he was twelve years old, his parents went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. For three days he was away from them. When they found him he was in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."

It is noticeable that Luke mentions Joseph before he mentions the mother; and when Mary speaks, she ignores the miraculous conception, and calls him the son of Joseph. But Jesus _does not forget_ his origin, nor does he recognize Joseph as father, but says, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them; but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."--Luke ii. 42.

Again, at Cana of Galilee, there was a marriage, and the mother of Jesus was there. Eighteen years have passed since we last saw him in the temple, when Mary ignored his miraculous conception, and when Jesus rebuked her, by asserting his Sonship and by claiming God as Father. At Cana both Jesus and his disciples are invited to the wedding. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." Plainly, and in the most emphatic manner, Christ refuses to recognize Mary as intercessor or director. A third instance is still more marked. Jesus is talking to an immense multitude, and is making a hand-to-hand fight with Pharisees and Scribes. "While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him." Evidently Mary had no idea of the character or the mission of the Man Christ Jesus, but feeling that he was popular, she was glad to exhibit her relationship in a public manner, and so through the throng sent in word, saying, "Tell Jesus his mother and his brethren stand without, desiring to speak with him." But he answered, and said unto him that told him, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" It is not difficult to picture the God-man shaking off the trammels of the flesh and rising to the height of his great work. What a contrast is presented between the second and the first Adam! The first Adam yielded without remonstrance to Eve, who had worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, and thus paved the way for the introduction of idolatry; while the second Adam--the Lord of Glory--withstood the influences of Mary, rebuked her intermeddling and dictation, and stood forth to his work in the declaration as he Stretched out his hand towards his disciples, and said, "Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is MY BROTHER, AND SISTER, AND MOTHER."

Again, while Christ was conversing with his disciples, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, "Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." Thus suddenly flamed up this passion for Mariolatry. It was instantly rebuked by the words, "Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it." Thus he tore the crown from the brow of Mary woven by the irreligious, and intimated that, as Mary was greater than Eve, because of her identification with Himself, so whosoever should believe in Christ, and serve him, should be the equal of Mary. The purpose of God in forming Eve, should be realized in the womanly character resulting from a reception of the truth as it is in Jesus, and by doing the will of God on the earth.

Thus he severed the tie binding him to family, and proclaimed himself the Son of Man, and the Son of God, the Brother of the Faithful. From this declaration came the brotherhood and sisterhood of the church of Christ, so that no matter what be the rank or position of the worldling redeemed by the blood of Christ, he becomes an equal shareholder in love, and is recognized as a partaker in the fellowship of the church.

At the cross we find Mary standing with others. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, "Woman, behold thy son." Then saith he to the disciple, "Behold thy mother." And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own house. Once more she appeal's as worshipper, and not as the worshipped. Her name is mentioned, with others, in Acts i. 14, as being with the disciples in the Pentecostal chamber waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit.

From this scriptural testimony, it is apparent that the Saviour, by his conduct towards his mother, shielded the church from the curse of Mariolatry. Had he yielded in one instance, reasons for supporting the claims of Romanism had been furnished. Mary was only a woman. She was honored of God just as far as she served God, and when she turned aside she was no more than any other person. Her perceptions of Christ's work were not as distinct or comprehensive as were those of Mary the sister of Lazarus, or of Mary Magdalene. In this Mary was not peculiar. Very frequently women associated with great workers fail to appreciate the character of the work committed to them to do. To the world a worker may seem to be a wonder. To the one most intimately associated with him he is a very ordinary individual. It is said a man is never a hero to his servant. Is it not almost as true of his wife? A living great man is ordinary in so many things in his daily life, that the wife forgets his greatness. The wife of John Milton saw but a blind man in the bard, dwelling upon his immortal thought and evolving his world-renowned poem. As the eagle stirs up her nest, compelling her broodlings to exert themselves, so God sometimes suffers a good man to link his fortunes with a woman who is ill-mated with him in every way. In the light of the fact that Jesus found little or no appreciation in the society of Mary, and sought the home-joys elsewhere, woman ought to learn a lesson. Is it not possible that you mistake your mission, and strike the rock of stumbling in your home, rather than avoid it by ignoring that which is grand and admirable in the life of him with whom you are associated? Doubtless in a busy man, now full of joy, and now morose; now engrossed by a thought or scheme to such an extent that he forgets himself and his family, and now idle and listless as a boy,--it may be hard, yet it is none the less a duty for woman to love him for what he is, and to see to it that he be ministered unto in his efforts. O, how dear to the heart of a working man--no matter whether he toil with brain or hand--who feels that his wife understands him, defends and protects him, and keeps the home bright with love, though tempests may sweep across the path that leads him into the world! There is a lesson here which belongs to men. Mary's lack of appreciation did not turn Jesus from his work. It permitted his true character to appear to better advantage. It tore down the scaffolding of Mariolatry, and permitted the God-man to stand forth in his grand proportions. "Wist ye not I must be about my Father's business?" said Jesus. Many men make trouble at home an excuse for going to the bad. It is not an excuse. The design of home trouble may be to send a man to Jesus; to make the tendrils of love twine about the heavenly rather than the earthly. It surely is not to induce a man to twine his affections about the devilish and earthly. It is not manly thus to do.