2. _As the conduct of Christ naturally induced his disciples to imitate the example of their illustrious Master, the subsequent admission of women to all the privileges of the Christian Church, tended exceedingly to confirm their elevation, and evince their importance in society_. When the primitive converts to the Christian faith wished publicly to avow their dereliction of heathen idolatry, and their emancipation from the bondage of Judaism, by being baptized in water, _both sexes_ were admitted without distinction to this solemn rite. At a very early period of the primitive church, when the city of Samaria received the word of God by the preaching of Philip, which with its accompanying miracles, diffused an universal joy, "they were baptized, both MEN and WOMEN;" and the apostle Paul, in writing to the Galatians, expresses himself in this triumphant strain: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither MALE nor FEMALE, for ye are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus." Sentiments like these, combined with the practice of an institution so expressive and so remarkable, tended to circulate among the primitive Christians those feelings of respect and affection for women, which, by elevating them to their proper rank in society, must necessarily purify the public morals, meliorate individual character, and ennoble the intercourse of life. Admitted to an equal participation of the privileges of God's house, where every minor distinction is annihilated by the predominance of a diffusive charity, and feeling that their present joys and future destinies were blended with those of the "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling;" the female part of the community rose into importance as rational, but especially as immortal beings. After the ascension of Christ, the historian of the Acts of the Apostles informs us, that "the WOMEN, and Mary, the mother of Jesus," assembled with the apostles to worship in the upper room at Jerusalem; being equally interested in the great events which had recently occurred, and in the devotional services in which they now engaged. Paul directs Timothy to treat "the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity." He also desires him to "honour widows that are widows indeed," and to afford them all proper relief by charitable contributions, a practice for which the first Christians were highly distinguished. Women are represented by an apostle himself as _fellow-labourers_ in the Gospel, assisting them, not only by their example, to which he willingly pointed the attention of the churches, but by their prayers, their visits of mercy, and other similar methods of co-operatiug in the propagation of the truth, and the promotion of individual happiness.