CHAPTER V. The First Woman. FROM nothing did the first man learn so mu of God, as from the creation of a "second human being with faculties and senses like his own." Although we have not a detailed narrative of the creation of woman, until after the seventh day, there is reason to believe that she was created on Both sexes of all organ the same day with man. ized bodies, of plants and animals, were created together. In his account of the creation of man on the sixth day, the sacred historian remarks, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." In the next paragraph he proceeds to say, "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." From these premises, it is the more natural conclusion, that the woman was included in the creation that was accomplished on the sixth day. She was not an appendage to the perfected creation; it was not perfect without her. Of the manner of her creation we have a more full account in a subsequent paragraph. It is in the following words: "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman." Man himself was not created out of nothing, as was the original chaos; he was formed out of the dust of the earth; it was a secondary creation from a prior existing substance. The creation of the woman was also a secondary creation; she was formed from a substance previously existing; not out of the dust of the earth, but from a portion of the newly-created man himself. "She was called woman, because she was taken out of man." The intimacy was perfect; there was oneness between them. She was identified with the man; she formed a part of the man; she was his second self. She was not to be either his master or his, slave; but his associate, his equal, imbued with the same spirit, possessing interests in common with him, aiming at common objects, and pursuing the same joyous course of obedience and immortality. The man originally had no priority except in the single fact, that "Adam was first formed, then Eve;" nor was this equality disturbed, until she became the first transgressor, and the sentence uttered, "thy husband shall rule over thee." Woman comprises one half the human race; the birth of males and females is about equal. It has been supposed that, taking the aggregate population of the globe, males are more numerous than females; and that this surplusage is called for by the waste of human life by war, and by those calamities to which the retired habits of females are less exposed than the ordinary habits of the male population. Yet is it to be observed, that the average of human life is not so long among females as among males; and that in Asiatic and Mohammedan countries, and in all countries where polygamy prevails, there are more females than males. There is no good reason to believe that the original arrangement of a wise providence in the equality of numbers in the different sexes, has been seriously disturbed. What are the peculiarities of woman? What is the sphere which she is destined to occupy? And what are the qualifications which best fit her to occupy that sphere? Let us devote a few moments to each of these topics. In speaking of the peculiarities of woman, we are not so blind as to suppose that she is faultless. She belongs to a fallen race-herself the first transgressor. By nature, she differs not from those "every imagination of the thoughts of whose heart is only evil continually." Her sinfulness, like man's, until she is renewed by grace, is strong and constant. Her "heart is fully set in her to do evil," and in her unrenewed state she does nothing to please God. She is "dead in trespasses and sins," a "child of wrath even as others." Her "neck is as an iron sinew, and her brow brass." There is "no fear of God before her eyes;" she "hates him without a cause." She "casts his law behind her back;" she "sets at naught all his counsel, and would none of his reproof." "Of the Rock that begat her she is unmindful, and has forgotten the God that formed her." Yet we have strong impressions that she presents the fairer side of fallen humanity. She has excellencies which do not belong to the other sex; they are peculiarities that are obvious, and that excite our admiration of the divine wisdom and goodness. Man has the advantage over her in physical power, and in some intellectual endowments; while there are intellectual endowments in which the superiority belongs to her. Her powers of patient research and reasoning, and her powers of invention, are not equal to those of men; while her perceptions are quicker than the perceptions of men; her judgment and common sense are more worthy of confidence; her memory is more retentive, her imagination more vivid, her taste more delicate and refined, and her curiosity more wakeful. Her great and distinctive peculiarity will be found in the fact, that she lives in her affections, To this fact, if we mistake not, may be attributed her peculiar excellencies and faults. Man lives in the world; he lives amid the contentions of selfinterest and the strife of passion; his life is bound up in wealth, pleasure, and fame; nor is he ever happier than when employed in such pursuits most intensely and most successfully. Woman has more heart than man; she was made to love and be beloved. "Her crown is in her heart, not on her head; A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.” رة She may love wealth; but it is not so much for wealth's sake, as for the sake of those she loves. She may love pleasure; but it is more to gratify the objects of her affection than for her own enjoyment. She may be ambitious, and love fame, but it is not for herself. She is gifted far above man in native sweetness and gentleness, and in the winning graces and charities of the heart. "I have observed," says the celebrated traveller Ledyard, "That women, in all countries, are civil, obliging, tender and humane. I never addressed myself to them in the language of decency and |