The True Woman: A Series of Discourses, to Which Is Added Woman vs. BallotFulton, Justin D. (Justin Dewey)
Religion
The True Woman: A Series of Discourses, to Which Is Added Woman vs. Ballot
Fulton, Justin D. (Justin Dewey)
Husband and wife; Women -- Religious aspects -- Christianity; Women -- Suffrage
Another truth incidentally appears, and furnishes the root of
Mariolatry. We come to appear to the world what we really are. Mary
was tempted to place herself above Christ, and so we are not surprised
that those who have turned against Christ should join the tempter in
placing Mary above her Son. The refutation is the life of Christ,
who died for man, and the life of Mary, who never forgot herself in
thinking of others. The triumph of Mary was won by submission. Had she
revolted against Christ, she had lost all. In the First Epistle of
Paul to the Corinthians, the apostle speaks of the glory of the women
as of a thing distinct from the glory of the men. They are the two
opposite poles of the sphere of humanity. "Their provinces are not
the same, but different. The qualities which are beautiful when
predominant in one are not beautiful when predominant in the other.
That which is the glory of the one is not the glory of the other." The
glory of true womanhood is a combination of various qualities, many
of which were illustrated by the life of Mary. She was considerate of
others. She was submissive. As has been said, "In the very outset of
the Bible, submission is revealed as her peculiar lot and destiny.
If you were merely to look at the words as they stand declaring the
results of the fall, you would be inclined to call that vocation of
obedience a curse but in the spirit of Christ it is transformed, like
labor, into a blessing." The origin or root of Mariolatry has been
accounted for in the following manner: "In all Christian ages the
especial glory ascribed to the Virgin Mother is purity of heart
and life. Gradually in the history of the Christian church, the
recognition of this became idolatry. The works of early Christian
art commonly exhibit the progress of this perversion. They show how
Mariolatry grew up. The first pictures of the early Christians simply
represent the woman. By and by we find outlines of the mother and the
child. In an after age, the Son is seen sitting on a throne, with the
mother crowned, but sitting, as yet, below him. In an age still later,
the crowned mother is on a level with the Son. Later still, the mother
is on a throne above the Son. And, lastly, a Romish artist represents
the Eternal Son, in wrath, about to destroy the earth, and the Virgin
Intercessor interposing, pleading by significant attitudes her
maternal rights, and redeeming the world from his vengeance. Such was,
in fact, the progress of virgin worship."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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