John Angell James

QueenEsther · #1 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 03:57 PM

From his book Female Piety

"Christianity has provided a place for woman for which she shines; but take her out of that place, and her lustre pales and sheds a feeble and sickly ray. Or to change the metaphor, woman is a plant, which in its own greenhouse seclusion will put forth all its brilliant colours and all the sweet perfume; but remove it from the protection of its own floral home into the common garden and open field, where hardier flowers will grow and thrive, its beauty fades and its colour diminished."

"Neither reason nor Christianity invites woman to the professors chair, or conducts her to the bar, or makes her welcome to the pulpit, or admits her to the place of ordinary magistracy."

"Who, but a few wild visionaries, and rash speculatists, and mistaken advocates of women's rights, would take her from the home of her husband, of her children, and of her own heart, to wear out her strength, consume her time, and destroy her feminine excellence in committee-rooms, on platforms and in mechanics or philosophical institutions?"

QueenEsther · #2 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 04:31 PM

"This then is woman's true position, and if anything more need be said to prove it from the records of Christianity, we may refer to apostolic language in other places, where wives are enjoined to be subject to their husbands in all things, even as the Church is subject to Christ. Nor is the apostle Paul alone in this, for Peter writes in the same strain. Let woman then bow to this authority, nor feel herself degraded by such submission. It has been said, that in domestic life, man shines as the sun, but woman as the moon. May it not be said with greater truth and propriety, and less invidiously, that man shines as the primary planet, reflecting the glory of God, who is the centre of the moral universe; and woman while she equally derives her splendour from the central luminary and is governed by his attraction, is yet the satellite of man, revolves around him, follows him in his course, and ministers to him."

Laura · #3 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QueenEsther

From his book Female Piety

"Christianity has provided a place for woman for which she shines; but take her out of that place, and her lustre pales and sheds a feeble and sickly ray. Or to change the metaphor, woman is a plant, which in its own greenhouse seclusion will put forth all its brilliant colours and all the sweet perfume; but remove it from the protection of its own floral home into the common garden and open field, where hardier flowers will grow and thrive, its beauty fades and its colour diminished."

"Neither reason nor Christianity invites woman to the professors chair, or conducts her to the bar, or makes her welcome to the pulpit, or admits her to the place of ordinary magistracy."

"Who, but a few wild visionaries, and rash speculatists, and mistaken advocates of women's rights, would take her from the home of her husband, of her children, and of her own heart, to wear out her strength, consume her time, and destroy her feminine excellence in committee-rooms, on platforms and in mechanics or philosophical institutions?"

Rose, when I read that book, I'm pretty sure those exact excerpts were among the three passages I cut and pasted into my Stickies (desktop notes on a Mac) to be reviewed and meditated on and delighted in for weeks.

(If that sounds extreme, just step onto a college campus and see how many such wilted flowers are walking around, perhaps directly because of how much deadly fertilizer is sown in the classroom that attacks both nature and grace...) Thanks for posting these.

QueenEsther · #4 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 04:58 PM

"Moreover, the love of woman is more disinterested. Man loves woman more for his own sake than for hers; woman, on the contrary, loves man less for her own sake than for his. Man because he is not sufficient in himself, loves that which has been given him of God; woman, because she feels that she is needed, loves him to whom God has given her. If solitude weighs heavily upon a man, it is because life has no charms for him when he is separated from his help meet; if woman dreads living alone, it is because life has lost it's aim, while she has none to whom she can be 'a help meet.' Of her it may be said, if we may be permitted to make the comparison, in the emphatic language of Scripture, 'we love her because she first loved us.'"

QueenEsther · #5 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 12:40 PM

"I may mention in reference to many of you, your sheltered condition
at home, and the protection you there enjoy. Your brothers must go out
into the world, encounter its temptations, and be exposed to its moral
dangers. While they are in peril of making shipwreck of faith and a
good conscience on the ocean of human life; you are in the quiet haven
of a pleasant domicile. Or, to change the metephor, you are nesting
under cover of a mothers wing; while they are left in all their
inexperience and moral feebleness to the attacks of birds of prey."

QueenEsther · #6 (**permalink**) 11-03-2006, 07:42 PM

"The zeal of young women must ever be exercised with the strictest regard to the modesty of youth, and especially of youthful females. It must never be forgotten that bashfulness is the beauty of female character: like the violet, which seems to court seclusion, and indicates its retreat only by its fragrance, retiringness in her adds to her attractions. Anything that would destroy this; that would strip off this delicate veil of modesty, and make her bold and obtrusive; that would thrust her by the impulsive ambition of her own mind upon the public notice, instead of being sought out for usefulness; that would make her clamorous in her complaints of neglect and imperious in her demands for employment; would inflict an irreparable injury on society by depriving her of that passive power of gentleness by which her influence can be most effectually exerted in society."

QueenEsther · #7 (**permalink**) 11-03-2006, 07:49 PM

"Be assured, my young friend, that the order, comfort and happiness of a family, very greatly depend upon the temper and conduct of the younger members of it, when they cease to be children. I have seen the declining years of some kind parents completely embittered by the pride, self-will, and inconsiderate conduct of their young people."

QueenEsther · #8 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 10:40 PM

Genesis 24:12-24 12And he said O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. 13Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: 14And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.

"It is noticeable that he did not fix upon the one who should first offer her services, but upon the one who should first willingly grant the service asked of her. In this he proceeded wisely, conceiving, it would seem, that a maid who tendered unasked, to a stranger, even so slight a service as a draught of water at a public well, shewed no maidenly spirit; and deeming perhaps that such attention might be an excuse for curiosity, and an evidence of rather officious forwardness, than of an obliging disposition."