And there is the other Deborah, a prophetess and judge in Israel—the woman divinely illuminated. I turn to the fifth chapter of Judges, and read a song she wrote long before the gods of Greece held sacred counsel upon snowy Olympus—centuries before the lyric muse took up her abode beneath the shadow of the Parthenon. To what glorious victory she led the hosts of the Lord when the enemies of Israel perished among the "oaks of the wanderers."
"After the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, After the Helper's days, The highways were deserted, The traveler went in winding ways. Deserted were Israel's hamlets, deserted, Till I Deborah rose up—rose up a mother in Israel."
What a lovely poem is that of Ruth, and who does not linger with delight over the story of Esther, so royal and so simple, so queenly and so modest?
Turn to the New Testament and see how honored is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Hear the angelic salutation:
Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke i:28, 30-33, Revised Version.)
Is it surprising that the name "Mary" is the most popular in all the world, and that nearly a third of the women of France bear it in one form or another? What noble service was rendered to the early churches by the four daughters of Philip the Evangelist, Priscilla who instructed Apollos, Phœbe, Persis, Tryphosa and Tryphena.
The opinion prevails that Providence intended woman to occupy a place of humble dependence; that she is inferior in the composition of her mind and fragile in physical constitution; that she is called of God to lead a life of entire self-abnegation; that she was created as an everlasting sacrifice to man's pleasure and ambition; and that it is her peculiar mission to be wife and mother to an extent to which it is not man's mission to be husband and father. Lord Lytton's dictum is widely received—"A woman's noblest station is retreat." It prevails in the State, robbing her of civil rights, debarring her from the exercise of popular suffrage, and closing against her the door of public office. It permeates society, circumscribing her influence, dispossessing her of individuality, and preventing her from the full and free exercise of whatever taste, talent or genius God has given her. It is in the church, forbidding her to enter the pulpit, restraining her from the important offices of deacon and trustee, and, in some churches, denying her even a voice in the ordinary government of the society.