The True Woman | Page 7

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."