Woman under the Ethnic Religions. BY MRS. MOSES SMITH. CHICAGO, ILL. Woman’s Board of Missions of the Interior. 1898. Woman Under the Ethnic Religions. BY MRS. MOSES SMITH. (_A paper read before the World’s Congress of Missions, in Art Institute, Chicago, October 4, 1893._) For two weeks we have been listening to the presentation of religions. We have heard philosophies of religion profound and subtile, to some minds fascinating in their grace and mysticism. It may be wholesome, if not so agreeable to have our attention now called to the practical workings of some of these religions and their effect on the life and destiny of man. Moreover, as missionary workers, it is wise for us to know not only the present needs of the people, but the religious forces which long centuries have wrought into every tissue of their thought, feeling and action. Without question religion is the supreme force in history. Religion creates the ideals and aspirations, and so chisels the character of mankind. In the order of nature the worshiper becomes like the being worshiped. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The world has known many religions, some of them eminent for the tremendous power with which they have held millions in their sway over centuries of time; eminent also for profound philosophy, lofty ideals, and sometimes a high morality. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the test for Himself and His teaching: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The conditions of society, temporal and spiritual, are the fruits by which any religious system may be known. In the nature of things the factor that most universally moulds society is woman. The boy is father of the man, but the woman is mother of the boy, hence the study of the teaching of any religion concerning woman, and of her character and place in society as the result of that religion, is vital both to the correct understanding of the system and of what it has wrought for the world.