WOMAN EXPOUNDS HER OWN SUBJECT—THE FALL—HER REDEMPTION FROM THE CURSE—RETURNING INTO THE PRESENCE OF HER FATHER—HER EXALTATION.
The high priestess thus expounds the subject of woman, from her Mormon standpoint:
In the Garden of Eden, before the act of disobedience, through which Adam and Eve were shut out from the presence of God, it is reasonable to suppose that Eve's position was not inferior to, but equal with, that of Adam, and that the same law was applicable to both. Moses says, "God created man male and female." President Brigham Young says, "Woman is man in the priesthood."
God not only foreknew, but he had a purpose to accomplish through, the "fall;" for he had provided a sacrifice; Jesus being spoken of as a "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
It seems that woman took the lead in the great drama. The curse followed, and she became subject to man; "and he shall rule over thee," which presupposes a previous equality. But was that curse to be perpetual? Were the daughters of Eve—who was a willing instrument in effecting a grand purpose, that shall ultimate in great good to the human family—to abide that curse forever? No. God had otherwise ordained. Through the atoning blood of Christ, and obedience to his gospel, a plan was devised to remove the curse and bring the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, not only to their primeval standing in the presence of God, but to a far higher state of glory.
In the meridian of time, the Saviour came and introduced the gospel, "which before was preached unto Abraham," and which, after a lapse of nearly eighteen centuries—when men had "changed its ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant"—when "the man of sin had been revealed, exalting himself above all that is called God"—after hireling priests had mutilated its form, discarded its powers, and rejected "the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophesy," the Lord restored it in fullness to the earth, with all its gifts, powers, blessings and ordinances.
For this purpose he raised up Joseph Smith, the great prophet of the last days, to whom the angel that John, when on the Isle of Patmos, saw "flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, saying, fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come," etc., appeared, and announced the glorious news of the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, and the restoration of the fullness of the gospel.
This gospel, and this only, will redeem woman from the curse primevally entailed. It is generally admitted that "Christianity" ameliorates the condition of woman; but the Christianity of the professing world, mutilated as it has been, can only ameliorate, it cannot redeem. Each religious denomination has fragments or portions of the true form, but no vestige of the vital power that was manifested by Jesus Christ, and restored through Joseph Smith. Nothing short of obedience to this gospel in its fullness will exalt woman to equality with man, and elevate mankind to a higher condition than we occupied in our pre-existent state.
Woman, in all enlightened countries, wields, directly or indirectly, the moving influence for good or for ill. It has been pertinently remarked: "Show me the women of a nation, and I will describe that nation." Let the pages of history decide if ever a nation became a wreck, so long as woman nobly honored her being by faithfully maintaining the principles of virtuous purity, and filled with grace and dignity her position as wife and mother.
Would God, the kind parent, the loving father, have permitted his children to sink into the fallen condition which characterizes humanity in its present degraded state, without instituting means by which great good would result? Would we, as intelligent beings in a former existence, have consented, as we did, to resign the remembrance and all recollection of that existence, and come down to earth and run our chances for good or evil, did we not know that, on reasonable conditions, and by means provided, we could work our way back to, at least, our original positions? Emphatically, no! It is only by that "spirit which searches all things, yea, even the deep things of God," that we can comprehend our own beings, and our missions on the earth, with the bearing of our pre-existence on our present lives, of which we only know what God reveals; and, as man, by his own wisdom cannot find out God, so man by reasoning cannot pry into the circumstances of his former life, nor extend his researches into the interminable eternities that lie beyond.
WOMAN'S VOICE IN THE PRESS OF UTAH—THE WOMAN'S EXPONENT—MRS. EMELINE WELLS—SHE SPEAKS FOR THE WOMEN OF UTAH—LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN OF THE CHURCH.
And the women of Zion have a press. More than up to their Gentile sisters are they in this respect. Few of the church organizations of Christendom can boast a woman's journal. There are but few of them in all the world, and they are mostly edited and supported by the heterodox rather than the orthodox element.
TheWoman's Exponentis one of those few. It is published by the women of the Mormon Church, having a company organization, of which Eliza R. Snow is president. Mrs. Emeline B. Wells is the practical editor. It was established June 1st, 1872.
TheWoman's Exponent, in a general sense, may be considered heterodox, seeing that it is an advocate of woman's rights on the marriage question and female suffrage, but it is also apostolic, and devoted to the Mormon mission. It represents the opinions and sentiments of the Mormon women. All of their organizations are fairly represented in its columns, and it is thus a means of intercommunication between branches, bringing the remotest into close connection with the more central ones, and keeping all advised of the various society movements. Its editorial department is fully up to the standard of American journalism.
Mrs. Wells, the editor, like many prominent Mormon women previously mentioned, is of Puritan descent, being a native of New England, and of pure English extraction. Her family name was Woodward, and she was born in Petersham, Mass., February 29, 1828. At an early age she began to manifest a penchant for literature, and while in her teens produced many literary fragments that, as if by manifest destiny, pointed in the direction of her present profession. In 1842 she was baptized into the Mormon Church. It is needless to say that this was a cause of mortification to her many associates and friends, and especially so to a select few, whose appreciative kindness had pictured a glowing future for the young litterateur. Her mother, who was also a convert to the Mormon faith, fearing that the persuasions of friends might lead her into error, sent her to Nauvoo, in the spring of 1844, that she might be away from their influence. The people to whom her mother confided her, apostatized shortly after her arrival, but Emeline remained steadfast. Some time thereafter she became a plural wife. In the exodus, her mother, who had joined her the year before, succumbed under the accumulation of hardships that the saints had then to undergo, and, dying, joined the immortal company of martyrs who fell in those days of trial.
At winter quarters she was engaged in teaching, until her journey to the valley in 1848. Here, since the organization of relief societies, and more especially since the women of Utah obtained the right of suffrage, she has employed a large portion of her time in public labors, for the benefit and elevation of woman. In addition to her present editorial duties, she fills the responsible position of president of the organization that, since November, 1876, has been engaged in storing up grain against a day of famine. Under the energetic management of this organization, vast quantities of grain have been stored in the various wards and settlements of Utah.
Sister Emeline is also a poetess of no little merit. As a set-off to the popular idea that the Mormon women in polygamy have no sentiment towards their husbands, the following exquisite production, from her pen, entitled "The Wife to her Husband," is offered:
It seems to me that should I die,And this poor body cold and lifeless lie,And thou shouldst touch my lips with thy warm breath,The life-blood quicken'd in each sep'rate vein,Would wildly, madly rushing back again,Bring the glad spirit from the isle of death.It seems to me that were I dead,And thou in sympathy shouldst o'er me shedSome tears of sorrow, or of sad regret,That every pearly drop that fell in grief,Would bud, or blossom, bursting into leaf,To prove immortal love could not forget.I do believe that round my grave,When the cool, fragrant, evening zephyrs wave,Shouldst thou in friendship linger near the spot,And breathe some tender words in memory,That this poor heart in grateful constancy,Would softly whisper back some loving thought.I do believe that should I passInto the unknown land of happiness,And thou shouldst wish to see my face once more,That in my earnest longing after thee,I would come forth in joyful ecstacy,And once again gaze on thee as before.I do believe my faith in thee,Stronger than life, an anchor firm to be,Planted in thy integrity and worth,A perfect trust, implicit and secure;That will all trials and all griefs endure,And bless and comfort me while here on earth.I do believe who love hath known,Or sublime friendship's purest, highest tone,Hath tasted of the cup of ripest bliss,And drank the choicest wine life hath to give,Hath known the truest joy it is to live;What blessings rich or great compared to this?I do believe true love to be,An element that in its tendency,Is elevating to the human mind;An intuition which we recognizeAs foretaste of immortal Paradise,Through which the soul will be refined.
It seems to me that should I die,And this poor body cold and lifeless lie,And thou shouldst touch my lips with thy warm breath,The life-blood quicken'd in each sep'rate vein,Would wildly, madly rushing back again,Bring the glad spirit from the isle of death.
It seems to me that were I dead,And thou in sympathy shouldst o'er me shedSome tears of sorrow, or of sad regret,That every pearly drop that fell in grief,Would bud, or blossom, bursting into leaf,To prove immortal love could not forget.
I do believe that round my grave,When the cool, fragrant, evening zephyrs wave,Shouldst thou in friendship linger near the spot,And breathe some tender words in memory,That this poor heart in grateful constancy,Would softly whisper back some loving thought.
I do believe that should I passInto the unknown land of happiness,And thou shouldst wish to see my face once more,That in my earnest longing after thee,I would come forth in joyful ecstacy,And once again gaze on thee as before.
I do believe my faith in thee,Stronger than life, an anchor firm to be,Planted in thy integrity and worth,A perfect trust, implicit and secure;That will all trials and all griefs endure,And bless and comfort me while here on earth.
I do believe who love hath known,Or sublime friendship's purest, highest tone,Hath tasted of the cup of ripest bliss,And drank the choicest wine life hath to give,Hath known the truest joy it is to live;What blessings rich or great compared to this?
I do believe true love to be,An element that in its tendency,Is elevating to the human mind;An intuition which we recognizeAs foretaste of immortal Paradise,Through which the soul will be refined.
Among the more prominent contributors to theExponentis Lu. Dalton, a lady in whose writings are manifested the true spirit and independence of the Mormon women. The vigor and vivacity of her poetic productions are suggestive of a future enviable fame.
Mrs. Hannah T. King, mentioned elsewhere, is a veteran poetess of well-sustained reputation. She ranked among the poetesses of England before joining the Mormon Church, being on intimate terms with the celebrated Eliza Cook.
Another of the sisters who has won distinction as a poetess of the church, is Emily Woodmansee. She is also a native of England, and began her poetic career when but a girl. Several of her poems have been reproduced in literary journals of the East, winning marked attention.
Miss Sarah Russell, who writes under thenom de plumeof "Hope," is also a poetess of promise; but she is younger to fame than the before-mentioned.
Emily B. Spencer may also be mentioned in this connection.
Miss Mary E. Cook is an apostle of education, in the church. She is a professional graduate, and has held prominent positions in first-class schools of St. Louis and Chicago. Coming to Utah several years ago, Miss Cook, being a passionate student of ancient history, was attracted by a cursory glance at the Book of Mormon. On a careful perusal of it she was struck with the account therein given of the ancient inhabitants of this continent; and especially was she impressed with the harmony existing between that account and the works of Bancroft and others concerning the ancient races of America. She unhesitatingly pronounced the book genuine. Miss Cook has been instrumental in establishing the system of graded schools in Utah. Her success has been marked, in this capacity, and she is also a rising leader among the women of the church. With her should also be mentioned her sister, Miss Ida Cook, who is now one of the most prominent teachers of the territory. Nor should we omit to mention Orpha Everett, who is another prominent teacher.
The ladies are also represented in the historian's office of the church, in the person of a daughter of Apostle Orson Pratt, and Miss Joan M. Campbell. Miss Campbell has been anattacheof the historian's office since a mere child. She is a clerk of the Territorial Legislature, and a Notary Public.
Mrs. Romania B. Pratt, wife of Parley P. Pratt, Jr., is a medical professor. She is a graduate of the Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, and is now connected, as a practitioner, with the celebrated water-cure establishment at Elmira, N. Y.
Sister Elise Shipp is another Mormon lady now under training for the medical profession in the Woman's Medical College, Pennsylvania.
Thus it will be seen that, in the educational and professional spheres, the Mormon women are making a creditable showing.
RETROSPECTION—APOSTOLIC MISSION OF THE MORMON WOMEN—HOW THEY HAVE USED THE SUFFRAGE—THEIR PETITION TO MRS. GRANT—TWENTY-SEVEN THOUSAND MORMON WOMEN MEMORIALIZE CONGRESS.
Ere this record be closed, let us review the later acts of these extraordinary women, who have fairly earned the position of apostles to the whole United States.
They have pioneered the nation westward, where Providence was directing its course of empire, and now they are turning back upon the elder States of the Union as pioneers of a new civilization.
The manifest prophesy of events is, that Utah, in the near future, is going down from the mountains of refuge to the very seat of government, with woman's mission to all America. Very consistently, yet very significantly also, are the women of Utah rising to power and importance in the nation, through woman suffrage and the exercise of the constitutional right of petition.
Since the grant of woman suffrage they have exercised the ballot repeatedly in their municipal and territorial elections. Moreover, within that time, they have voted upon the constitution for the "State of Deseret," which will doubtless be substantially the one under which the territory will be admitted into the Union. Female suffrage was one of the planks of that constitution. It will become a part of the organic act of the future State. No Congress will dare to expunge it, for such an attempt would bring a million of the women of America into an organized movement against the Congress that should dare to array itself against this grand charter of woman's freedom. Though Wyoming was the first to pass a woman suffrage bill, which met a veto from its governor, and has experienced a somewhat unhappy history since, the honor of having voted for the greatest measures known in social and political economy rests with the women of Utah. They have taken action upon the very foundation of society-building. Already, therefore, the women of Utah lead the age in this supreme woman's issue; and, if they carry their State into the Union first on the woman suffrage plank, they will practically make woman suffrage a dispensation in our national economy for all the States of the Federal Union. And it will be consistent to look for a female member of Congress from Utah. Let woman be once recognized as a power in the State, as well as in society and the church, and her political rights can be extended according to the public mind.
The Mormon women have also fallen back upon the original right of citizens to petition Congress. Their first example of the kind was when they held their grand mass-meetings throughout the territory and memorialized Congress against the Cullom bill. The second was the very remarkable petition to Mrs. Grant. It is here reproduced as a historical unique:
"MRS. PRESIDENT GRANT:"Honored Lady: Deeming it proper for woman to appeal to woman, we, Latter-day Saints, ladies of Utah, take the liberty of preferring our humble and earnest petition for your kindly and generous aid; not merely that you are the wife of the chief magistrate of this great nation, but we are also induced to appeal to you because of your high personal reputation for nobility and excellence of character."Believing that you, as all true women should do (for in our estimation every wife should fill the position of counselor to her husband), possess the confidence of and have much influence with his excellency, President Grant, we earnestly solicit the exercise of that influence with him in behalf of our husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, who are now being exposed to the murderous policy of a clique of federal officers, intent on the destruction of our honest, happy, industrious and prosperous people."We have broken no constitutional law; violated no obligation, either national or sectional; we revere the sacred constitution of our country, and have ever been an order-loving, law-abiding people."We believe the institution of marriage to have been ordained of God, and therefore subject to his all-wise direction. It is a divine rite, and not a civil contract, and hence no man, unauthorized of God, can legally administer in this holy ordinance."We also believe in the Holy Bible, and that God did anciently institute the order of plurality of wives, and sanctioned and honored it in the advent of the Saviour of the world, whose birth, on the mother's side, was in that polygamous lineage, as he testified to his servant John, on the Isle of Patmos, saying: 'I am the root and the offspring of David;' and we not only believe, but most assuredly know, that the Almighty has restored the fullness of the everlasting gospel, through the prophet Joseph Smith, and with it the plurality of wives. This we accept as a purely divine institution. With us it is a matter of conscience, knowing that God commanded its practice."Our territorial laws make adultery and licentiousness penal offences, the breach of which subjects offenders to fine and imprisonment. These laws are being basely subverted by our federal officers, who after unscrupulously wresting the territorial offices from their legitimate incumbents, in order to carry out suicidal schemes, are substituting licentiousness for the sacred order of marriage, and seeking by these measures to incarcerate the most moral and upright men of this territory, and thus destroy the peace and prosperity of this entire community. They evidently design to sever the conjugal, parental and paternal ties, which are dearer to us than our lives."We appreciate our husbands as highly as it is possible for you, honored madam, to appreciate yours. They have no interests but such as we share in common with them. If they are persecuted, we are persecuted also. If they are imprisoned, we and our children are left unprotected."As a community we love peace and promote it. Our leaders are peacemakers, and invariably stimulate the people to pacific measures, even when subjected to the grossest injustice. President Brigham Young and several of his associates, all noble and philanthropic gentlemen, are already under indictment to be arraigned, before a packed jury, mostly non-residents, for the crime of licentiousness, than which a more outrageous absurdity could not exist."Under these cruel and forbidding circumstances, dear madam, our most fervent petition to you is, that through the sympathy of your womanly heart you will persuade the President to remove these malicious disturbers of the peace, or at least that he will stop the disgraceful court proceedings, and send from Washington a committee of candid, intelligent, reliable men, who shall investigate matters which involve the rights of property, perhaps life, and more than all, the constitutional liberties of more than one hundred thousand citizens."By doing this you will be the honored instrument, in the hands of God, of preventing a foul disgrace to the present administration, and an eternal blot on our national escutcheon."And your petitioners will ever pray," etc.
"MRS. PRESIDENT GRANT:
"Honored Lady: Deeming it proper for woman to appeal to woman, we, Latter-day Saints, ladies of Utah, take the liberty of preferring our humble and earnest petition for your kindly and generous aid; not merely that you are the wife of the chief magistrate of this great nation, but we are also induced to appeal to you because of your high personal reputation for nobility and excellence of character.
"Believing that you, as all true women should do (for in our estimation every wife should fill the position of counselor to her husband), possess the confidence of and have much influence with his excellency, President Grant, we earnestly solicit the exercise of that influence with him in behalf of our husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, who are now being exposed to the murderous policy of a clique of federal officers, intent on the destruction of our honest, happy, industrious and prosperous people.
"We have broken no constitutional law; violated no obligation, either national or sectional; we revere the sacred constitution of our country, and have ever been an order-loving, law-abiding people.
"We believe the institution of marriage to have been ordained of God, and therefore subject to his all-wise direction. It is a divine rite, and not a civil contract, and hence no man, unauthorized of God, can legally administer in this holy ordinance.
"We also believe in the Holy Bible, and that God did anciently institute the order of plurality of wives, and sanctioned and honored it in the advent of the Saviour of the world, whose birth, on the mother's side, was in that polygamous lineage, as he testified to his servant John, on the Isle of Patmos, saying: 'I am the root and the offspring of David;' and we not only believe, but most assuredly know, that the Almighty has restored the fullness of the everlasting gospel, through the prophet Joseph Smith, and with it the plurality of wives. This we accept as a purely divine institution. With us it is a matter of conscience, knowing that God commanded its practice.
"Our territorial laws make adultery and licentiousness penal offences, the breach of which subjects offenders to fine and imprisonment. These laws are being basely subverted by our federal officers, who after unscrupulously wresting the territorial offices from their legitimate incumbents, in order to carry out suicidal schemes, are substituting licentiousness for the sacred order of marriage, and seeking by these measures to incarcerate the most moral and upright men of this territory, and thus destroy the peace and prosperity of this entire community. They evidently design to sever the conjugal, parental and paternal ties, which are dearer to us than our lives.
"We appreciate our husbands as highly as it is possible for you, honored madam, to appreciate yours. They have no interests but such as we share in common with them. If they are persecuted, we are persecuted also. If they are imprisoned, we and our children are left unprotected.
"As a community we love peace and promote it. Our leaders are peacemakers, and invariably stimulate the people to pacific measures, even when subjected to the grossest injustice. President Brigham Young and several of his associates, all noble and philanthropic gentlemen, are already under indictment to be arraigned, before a packed jury, mostly non-residents, for the crime of licentiousness, than which a more outrageous absurdity could not exist.
"Under these cruel and forbidding circumstances, dear madam, our most fervent petition to you is, that through the sympathy of your womanly heart you will persuade the President to remove these malicious disturbers of the peace, or at least that he will stop the disgraceful court proceedings, and send from Washington a committee of candid, intelligent, reliable men, who shall investigate matters which involve the rights of property, perhaps life, and more than all, the constitutional liberties of more than one hundred thousand citizens.
"By doing this you will be the honored instrument, in the hands of God, of preventing a foul disgrace to the present administration, and an eternal blot on our national escutcheon.
"And your petitioners will ever pray," etc.
It is believed that this petition had due weight in accomplishing the dismissal of Judge McKean, which afterward occurred.
The third example was still greater. It was a memorial to Congress, by the women of Utah, upon their marriage question, the grant of a homestead right to woman, and for the admission of Utah as a State. It was signed by twenty-six thousand six hundred and twenty-six women of Utah, and was duly presented to both houses of Congress.
And these are the acts and examples of enfranchised Mormon women; not the acts and promptings of President Young and the apostles, but of the leaders of the sisterhood. It may be stated, however, that President Young and the apostles approved and blessed their doings; but this confesses much to their honor.
How suggestive the question, What if the leading men of every State in the Union should do as much for woman in her mission, instead of setting up barriers in her way? Were such the case, in less than a decade we should see female suffrage established in every State of the federation.
SARAH THE MOTHER OF THE COVENANT—IN HER THE EXPOUNDING OF THE POLYGAMIC RELATIONS OF THE MORMON WOMEN—FULFILMENT OF GOD'S PROMISE TO HER—THE MORMON PARALLEL—SARAH AND HAGAR DIVIDE THE RELIGIOUS DOMINATION OF THE WORLD.
Meet we now Sarah the mother of the covenant. In her is incarnated the very soul of patriarchal marriage. In her is the expounding of the patriarchal relations of her Mormon daughters. Sarah, who gave to her husband another wife, that the covenant which the Lord made with him might be fulfilled.
O woman, who shall measure thy love? And thus to give thyself a sacrifice for thy love! Thus on the altar ever!
It is thy soul-type in nature that makes nature beneficent. Had not nature the soul of woman she had been infinitely selfish; an infinite love had not been born; there had been no Christ; no sacrifice of self, that blessing and joy might come into the world.
The story of Sarah is the more touchingly beautiful when we remember that it has its cross. It would be a grievous wrong to Sarah's memory should we forget the sacrifice that her act necessitated, or underestimate that sacrifice. And let us not forget that it was not Abraham who bore that cross, great and good though he was.
The sacrifice in the initial of the covenant is a psalm to woman.
Keeping in mind the episode of Sarah and Hagar, let us continue the Abrahamic story:
"And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be."And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.* * * * * *"And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken."For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him."
"And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
"And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
* * * * * *
"And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
"For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him."
The divine story was once familiar; it is now almost forgotten. But it is the living word of God to the Mormon people.
Reincarnate in modern times the soul of this vast Abrahamic iliad. Breathe the breath of its genius into a young civilization. A civilization born not in the East, where once was the cradle of empires—where now are their crumbling tombs. A young civilization, born in the revirgined West—the West, where new empires are springing up on the very dust of empires which had expired when Egypt was but a maiden—ere Babylon was a mother—ere Rome was born.
Re-utter the word and will of that God who spake to the Hebrew sire on the plains of Mamre; utter it now in the birth and growth of a young Israel in the land of America. Comprehend him in his birth and in his growth. Consider his genius and his covenant.
In Abraham of old is the expounding and understanding of the renewed covenant with the latter-day Israel; and in Sarah of old is the expounding and understanding of patriarchal marriage among her Mormon daughters.
The Mormon woman is Sarah in the covenant, as she is Eve in the creation and fall. She has appropriated the text of the covenant. She claims her mother Sarah's rights. She invokes her mother Sarah's destiny: "She shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."
Thus in the mind of the Mormon woman is patriarchal marriage established by her God. Be it confessed that woman was a listener to the Abrahamic promise in the days of Sarah; was she not also a listener in the days of Joseph the prophet? Could the heavens thus speak and woman fail to hear? Could such promises be made and motherhood fail to leap for joy?
If she dared to bear the patriarchal cross, was it not because she saw brightly looming in her destiny the patriarchal crown? In this life only the cross—in all the lives to come a crown of glory!
The Mormon woman knows nothing of "polygamy" as conceived by the Gentiles. She is constantly declaring this. There is no "many-wife system" in Mormondom. It is patriarchal marriage. There is the destiny of a race in the Mormon woman's vision. For this came she into the world. In her is motherhood supremely exalted, and woman is redeemed from bondage to her husband.
Glance at the story of Sarah again. Mark its stupendous import to motherhood. Witness the introduction of polygamy into the Abrahamic family. And, if the wondrous sequel has any meaning, Isaac was the Lord's answering gift to Sarah's act, to fulfil the covenant.
And while remembering the sacrifice of Sarah and Hagar let us also remember the compensation. Those two mothers are without parallel in all history. Races and empires came of them. Sarah and Hagar, in their sons Isaac and Ishmael, have divided the world.
From Isaac's line was given to the world the Christ; from Ishmael came Mohammed, the prophet of hundreds of millions.
Weigh those two mothers, with their sons, their races, and their civilizations. What a weight of empire! What were Egypt and Babylon, compared with Sarah and Hagar?
The Abrahamic subject is the most stupendous of all history. That subject has been reincarnated in Mormonism. Its genius and covenants are with the Mormon people; the age is witnessing the results.
Patriarchal marriage is one of those results. Sarah is a live character of our times. She will fulfil her destiny.
From the courts above the Mormon woman shall look down upon an endless posterity. In the heavens and in the earth shall her generations be multiplied.
This is the faith of each Mormon Sarah—each mother of the covenant. This only is her polygamy.
WOMANHOOD THE REGENERATING INFLUENCE IN THE WORLD—FROM EVE, THE FIRST, TO MARY, THE SECOND EVE—GOD AND WOMAN THE HOPE OF MAN—WOMAN'S APOSTLESHIP—JOSEPH VS. PAUL—THE WOMAN NATURE A PREDICATE OF THE WORLD'S FUTURE.
In the beginning religion and nature dwelt together. The book of creation was gospel then. Creation was the only revelation.
Motherhood is the first grace of God, manifested through woman. The very name of all things is in the mother: "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living."
See in what divine ordinance woman's mission on earth began. The theme of the initial psalm that ascended to the heavens, which listened to catch from earth the first notes of the everlasting harmonies: "I have gotten a man from the Lord!"
But the nature of the mother abounded not in Cain. Woman's soul was not manifested in her first-born. It was the strength, and the fierceness, and the selfishness of man that was first brought forth.
And Cain was very wroth because of his brother, born with woman's nature, with his mother's gentleness manifested in him. And he "rose up against his brother and slew him."
Here is pre-epitomized the coming history of the race. In the savage strength of nature the world began. In the gentleness of woman, which at length prevailed in her sons, civilization dawned.
Woman's apostleship as the minister of the "word of God" commenced at the death of Abel.
—
Turn we now to Mary, the mother of Christ, to see what kind of man she "hath gotten from the Lord." From the first Eve to the second Eve, to find the grace of woman's nature spreading abroad in her Jesus, for the salvation of the world. Motherhood now in the regeneration.
"Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus."
"Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
"And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus."
As also note the episode of her meeting with her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.
These mothers were conscious of the salvation to be born of woman. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, and blessed the greater mother; and Mary magnified the Lord in psalm, and said: "Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."
We shall yet have to give to the gospel word "regeneration" a very literal meaning. The world must be regenerated, in fact, before much salvation can come unto it; regenerated through the divine nature of woman endowing her sons; and regenerated in her apostolic ministry to the race; which in this age is being so universally acknowledged.
The world must be born again. "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." Except mankind be regenerated, no Christ can reign with his saints on earth. There is something more than mere figure of speech in this gospel.
The generation of mankind began in Cain; the regeneration of mankind began in Christ. The one born with the club; the other endowed with all-conquering love. The scepters of the two creations typed in Cain and Jesus.
Jesus was not only the first fruits of the resurrection, but of the regeneration also. And motherhood was (before fatherhood) first with God in this regeneration. Has egotistic man sufficiently cogitated over this fact? And does he fully comprehend the equally significant fact that woman was the first witness and testament of the resurrection?
And who began the regeneration of the race? Whose human nature was manifested in the work? The woman's!
God's nature in Christ needed no regeneration. Nor did the woman's nature need regeneration, when thus found pure, as in Mary. This is the great fact embodied in the Christ example. As soon may Christianity be wiped out as this fact!
What an astounding truth have we in this example—that God and woman have brought forth a perfect creation and an infinite love, in Jesus their Christ.
God was the father of Jesus. From him the Holy Ghost. From him the wisdom of the eternities. From him the power to call a legion of angels down to his help, had he so willed it. From him the power to lay down his life and take it up again. From him the power to conquer death and burst the gates of hell.
The mother of Jesus—a virgin of the house of David, and not a flaming goddess from the skies.
From woman, the love of Jesus for humanity. From her his sympathies for the race. 'Twas she, in her son, who forgave sin; she who bade the sinner go and sin no more; she who wept over Jerusalem as a mother weepeth over her young. And it was woman, in her son, who died upon the cross for the sins of the world!
It was not God the father who in Jesus died; not he who passed the dark hour of nature's struggle in the garden; not God who prayed, "Take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt." 'Twas woman who was left alone on the cross; she, in her son, who cried, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"
Love is of the woman. That is the great lesson which the human nature of Jesus teaches; and it is that element of her nature which shall save the world.
Would we see what will be her teaching when her apostleship comes to prevail in the earth, let us read the sermon of her son on the Mount. Is not that woman's own gospel? Is it not also her philosophy—"If thy brother smite thee on the one cheek turn unto him the other also?"
And in this regeneration of the race, in nature and spirit, God and woman are thus seen first alone. Man came not to their help, but they came to the help of man. Here is groundwork indeed for the reconstruction of society, and the remoulding of philosophy!
In the past the apostleship of woman has not been fairly granted to her, even among the most civilized nations. But it shall be; and there is the hope of the world.
Paul, in the egotism of man's apostleship, commanded, "Let the woman be silent in the church." Yet the church is the type of woman. If she be silent, then will there be but little of saving gospel in the world. If woman's spiritual nature prevail not in the church, then is the church dead. If her faith expires, then is there left but a wretched form of godliness.
The prophet Joseph corrected Paul, and made woman a voice in the church, and endowed her with an apostolic ministry.
And in the regeneration is the entire significance of Mormon patriarchal marriage. First, woman in her ever blessed office of motherhood; next, in her divine ministry. Is not this according to the example?
The chief faith of the Mormon women concerning themselves is that they are called with a holy calling to raise up a righteous seed unto the Lord—a holy nation—a people zealous of good works.
The Mormon women have a great truth here. Woman must regenerate the race by endowing it with more of her own nature. She must bring forth a better type of man, to work out with her a better civilization.
It is blasphemy against the divine truth of the world's coming redemption, and of woman's mission in it, to scoff at the Mormon women for holding such a faith.
Woman shall leaven the earth with her own nature. She shall leaven it in her great office of maternity, and in her apostolic mission.
It shall be the lofty prophesy of the coming woman, "Behold from henceforth all nations call me blessed!"
ZION, A TYPE OF "THE WOMAN'S AGE"—THE CULMINATING THEME OF THE POETS OF ISRAEL—THE IDEAL PERSONIFICATION OF THE CHURCH—THE BRIDE—THE COMING EVE.
Zion the joy of the whole earth! She who cometh down from heaven, with the anointing of salvation upon her head.
The woman of the future, whom the Lord hath chosen! Her type is the church, with the divine nature of the race restored.
Zion is coming down to be the spiritual mother of the earth. She shall bruise the serpent's head, in her seed and in her ministry. Now shall woman be not only the mother of the individual Christ, but she shall also be the mother of the universal Christ.
"Saviours shall come upon Mount Zion!"
The daughters of Zion shall multiply the seed of Christ.
There was a beautiful consistency and a deep mystical meaning in the words of the old Jewish prophets when personifying Zion as the woman—the woman of the Lord's choosing, for the earth's joy.
They sang of Zion as the woman of the future: "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad."
True, Zion is sometimes spoken of as a city, but always with a mixture of personification. As the Hebrew poets rose to the height of their great subject they symbolized her as a veritable woman, with a ministry in the earth; and chiefly symbolized her as the woman of the future.
David, the great psalmist, led the theme, for Zion was his daughter; then glorious Isaiah swelled the volume of earth's epic hymn. What a culmination and personification is this: "For thy Maker is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called."
This is the very subject of Mary the mother of Jesus. But here enlarged. This is Zion, who shall be mother of many Messiahs, for she shall bring forth many sons, with the anointing of their Lord's spirit upon them, to exalt his reign.
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; for thou shalt bring forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited."
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; for thou shalt bring forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited."
'Tis the divine mission of woman to the race; oracled by lofty souls; her holy apostleship on earth pronounced. She is to be incarnated in a civilization on whose tables shall be written, "Thy Maker is thine husband."
The mission of woman could not prevail in the barbaric periods of the race; 'twas man's work to chisel the rocks of the temple. Not even had her time come in the days of Christ, though no one has so distinctly foreshadowed it as he.
Paul is not to be unqualifiedly reproached for bidding woman be silent in the church. The time had not then come. Not as potent then as now the thought: "Show me the women of a nation and I will tell thee its civilization." And there is still a deeper meaning in this than the popular thought. How beautifully has Jesus himself kept up the symbols of the coming woman. With him the woman—Zion—becomes the "Lamb's bride:"
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom."
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom."
And this was to be in the age "when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him."
At his first coming the kingdom of heaven was likened to twelve fishermen—not ten virgins—and he said unto them, "Take up your nets and follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
But when the cry shall go forth, "Behold the bridegroom cometh," commotion is to be among the virgins of the earth—the virgins of Zion and the virgins of Babylon. Each will trim their lamps. Each will have their "five wise" and "five foolish." Every one will have her familiar spirit. But the God of Israel will send his spirit to inspire Zion, for her Maker is her husband. And the daughters of Zion shall trim their lamps to go forth to meet the bridegroom, who is the Lamb of God.
The age of Messiah's coming is the woman's age! or there is no sense in the utterances of prophesy, nor meaning in the most beautiful parables of Christ.
And this is the woman's age! All humanity is proclaiming it!
The women of the age are obeying the impulses of the age. Do they know what those impulses mean? They have heard the cry, and have come forth. Do they comprehend what that cry has signified?—"Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!"
Unwittingly they are testing the Scriptures, and proving that the coming of Messiah is the crowning truth of the world. However, the five wise virgins of Zion are coming forth in faith. They are not unwittingly fulfilling their Lord's word. They have interpreted the cry, and are trimming their lamps.
Man may as well attempt to throw back the ocean with the hollow of his hand, or put out the sun with the breath of his command, as to attempt to defeat the oncoming of "woman's hour."
Let the God of humanity be praised for this; for did not the virgins come out at this eleventh hour, the fishermen might go again to their nets, and let the midnight pass, and earth take the consequence.
But how wondrously are the divine themes of earth's grace from God revealed. Down through the ages they came as echoes mellowed into more celestial tones.
Creation begins again! Zion—the New Jerusalem—is the Lamb's bride. She is the coming Eve.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. * * *"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."And there came unto me one of the seven angels * * * saying, come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife."And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage supper of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready."And he saith unto me, write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb."
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. * * *
"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels * * * saying, come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage supper of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
"And he saith unto me, write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb."
Surely there is a glorious prophesy and a sublime truth, hallelujahed from the ages down, in this proclamation of the woman's mission at the hour of the Lord's coming.
The lives of the Mormon women are as a testament to the age. The very character which their church has taken, as the literal Zion of the latter days, shall soon be recognized as the symbol of the hour.
And the virgins in every land shall hear the cry, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!"
TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY WITH BANNERS—FIFTY THOUSAND WOMEN WITH THE BALLOT—THEIR GRAND MISSION TO THE NATION—A FORESHADOWING OF THE FUTURE OF THE WOMEN OF MORMONDOM.
"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"
The Daughter of Zion!
Fifty thousand daughters of Zion! Each with her banner!
Her banner, female suffrage!
It is the great battle of woman for woman's rights. The Lord of Hosts is with her.
The rights of the women of Zion, and the rights of the women of all nations.
Her battle-field: America first; the great world next. And the God of Israel is in the controversy.
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The chiefest right of woman is in the shaping and settlement of the marriage question. The voice of civilization well enunciates this supreme doctrine. To commit this all-sacred matter to a congress of politicians, or to leave it to the narrow exactitude of the law-making department, is as barbaric as any monstrous thing the imagination can conceive. Not ruder was it in the warlike founders of Rome to seize the virgins as spoil, and make them wives to accomplish their empire-founding ambitions, than for a congress of American legislators to seize and prostitute the marriage question to their own political ends and popularity.
Can there be any doubt that the men of Washington have seized polygamy for their own ends? And are these men of the parliamentary Sodom of modern times the proper persons to decide the marriage question?
Will woman allow her sanctuary to be thus invaded and her supremest subject thus defiled?
If there is anything divine in human affairs it is marriage, or the relations between man and woman. Here love, not congressional law, must be the arbitrator. Here woman, not man, must give consent. It is the divine law of nature, illustrated in all civilized examples. What is not thus is barbaric.
Woman is chief in the consents of marriage. It is her right, under God her father and God her mother, to say to society what shall be the relations between man and woman—hers, in plain fact, to decide the marriage question.
The women of Mormondom have thus far decided on the marriage order of the patriarchs of Israel; for they have the Israelitish genius and conception of the object of man's creation. In the everlasting covenant of marriage they have considered and honored their God-father and God-mother.
In turn, the Gentile woman must decide the marriage question for herself. The law of God and nature is the same to her. The question still is the woman's. She can decide with or without God, as seemeth her best; but the Mormon woman has decided upon the experience and righteousness of her Heavenly Father and her Heavenly Mother.
A certain manifest destiny has made the marriage problem the supreme of Mormonism. How suggestive, in this view, is the fact that Congress, by special legislation, has made polygamy the very alpha and omega of the Mormon problem. The Mormon women, therefore, must perforce of circumstances, by their faith and action greatly influence the future destiny of Mormonism.
The enfranchisement of the Mormon women was suggested by the country, to give them the power to rule their own fate and to choose according to their own free will. Nothing but their free will can now prevail.
Their Legislature enfranchised them—gave them the power absolute, not only to determine their own lives, but to hold the very destiny of Utah.
If it was Brigham Young who gave to them that unparalleled power, no matter what should be declared by the enemy as his motive, then has he done more for woman than any man living. But Mormon apostles and representatives executed this grand charter of woman's rights; and George Q. Cannon's noble declaration at the time—that the charter of female suffrage ought to be extended to the entire republic—is deserving the acclamations of the women of America.
New civilizations are the chiefest boons of humanity. Never was a new civilization more needed than now, for in the last century the world has rushed over the track-way of a thousand years. A train dashing forward at the rate of one hundred miles an hour would not be in more danger than will soon be society, unless a safety-valve—a new civilization—is opened.
This is the woman's age. The universal voice of society proclaims the fact. Woman must, therefore, lay the corner-stone of the new civilization. Her arm will be most potent in rearing the glorious structure of the future. Man cannot prevent it, for in it is a divine intending.
There is a providence in the very attitude of the Mormon women. The prophesy is distinctly pronounced in the whole history of their lives, that they shall be apostolic to the age.
A new apostleship is ever innovative. The Mormon women have established an astounding innovation in polygamy. It has been infinitely offensive. So much the better! For it has made a great noise in the world, and has shaken the old and rotten institutions of Christendom. That shaking was not only inevitable, but necessary, before a new civilization.
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We have seen the daughters of Zion, with her sons, establish their institutions upon the foundation of new revelation. We have seen them rearing temples to the august name of the God of Israel. We have seen their matchless faith, their devotion, their heroism.
We have seen them, because of their fidelity to their religion, driven from city to city and from State to State.
We have seen them in the awful hour of martyrdom.
We have seen them in the exodus of modern Israel from Gentile civilization, following their Moses.
The daughters of Zion were going up to the chambers of the mountains, to hide from the oppressor till the day of their strength.
Their banners were then their pioneer whips. Their banner now is female suffrage—on it inscribed, "Woman's Rights! in the name of the God of Israel!"
Fifty thousand of the daughters of Zion! Each with her banner!
We have seen them on the cross, with their crown of thorns. Weshallsee them on their throne, with their crown of glory. In this is divine and everlasting justice.
They have sown in tears they shall reap in gladness.
With their pioneer whips in their hands they came up to the chambers of refuge, as exiles.
With the scepter of woman's rights, they will go down as apostles to evangelize the nation.
"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"
The Daughter of Zion!