Woman was the finishing grace of the creation. Woman was
the completeness of man's bliss in Paradise. Woman was the cause of sin and
death to our world. The world was redeemed by the seed of the woman. Woman
is the mother of the human race; our companion, counselor, and comforter in
the pilgrimage of life; or our tempter, scourge, and destroyer. Our sweetest
cup of earthly happiness, or our bitterest draught of sorrow, is mixed and
administered by her hand. She not only renders smooth or rough our path to
the grave, but helps or hinders our progress to immortality. In heaven we
shall bless God for her aid in assisting us to reach that blissful state; or
amid the torments of unutterable woe in another region, we shall deplore the
fatality of her influence!
This work was delivered originally in a course of monthly
sermons, to which I was led by a conviction that woman, as regards her
specific duties, is too much neglected in the ministry of the church; an
omission which must be traced to a morbid delicacy unworthy of the pulpit.
Happily this reproach does not appertain to the press, to which perhaps, in
the opinion of some, this subject ought to be exclusively consigned. But
why? Can any good and valid reason be assigned for shutting out from the
house of God instructions to so important a class of the community? Many
people almost instinctively shrink from such addresses, from a fear lest
matters should be introduced at which modesty would blush, and by which the
finer sensibilities would be wounded. There is a prudishness in such
feelings which can be justified neither by reason nor revelation.
It may be as well to announce in the opening chapter that
the whole course will be of a decidedly religious nature. For all the
general directions and excellences of female character, I shall refer to the
various works which on these topics have issued from the press. My
subject is religion—my object is the soul—my aim is
salvation. I view you, my female friends, as destined to another world, and
it is my business to aid and stimulate you, "by patient continuance in
well-doing, to seek for glory, honor, and immortality," and to obtain
eternal life! I look beyond the painted and gaudy scene of earth's fading
vanities, to the everlasting ages through which you must exist in torment or
bliss; and, God helping me, it shall not be my fault if you do not live in
comfort, die in peace, and inherit salvation!