The True Woman | Page 8

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