Woman As She Should Be

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF WOMAN. 1 That our daughters may he as comer-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace. The elevated and shining character of the female sex as here contemplated is recognised among the blessings of a prosperous state of religion. It is at once a means ancl a result of the most perfect and happy condition of society. Utility and ornament in the female character are here united. Our daughters are to be, not as in pagan and savage nations, the abject subjects of menial toil, drudgery, and sensuality; nor yet, as in luxurious and corrupt civilized communities, creatures of idleness, vanity, and pleasure; they are to sustain at once the relation of substantial utility and of the most beautiful ornament. They are to be corner-stones, and cornerstones polis/ie/l, and polished after the similitude of a palace. The figure is highly expressive. Considering the kingdom of God, as manifested in a truly religious and elevated state of society, under the similitude of a palace, and Christ as the chief corner-stone, the daughters are to hold their placeamong the lively corner-stones built upon him. They have a place with those on whom the support and strength of the building depend. But they are also to be polished, or, as it may be rendered, hewed, 'wrought, and finished with great care and beauty, as becomes the corner-stones of a palace. That our daughters may sustain as important a part as our sons in perfecting human society and promoting or blessing the kingdom of God, the examples in the Scriptures fully prove. That they may embalm themselves in the happy recollections of thousands after them, .send the sweet odor of their name and the excellence of their influence down through all succeeding ages, you have only to contemplate ...