RELIGION. General Treatise
on the Unhealthly Preoccupation of Women with Religion;
Abuses of the
Clergy.
The way in which religion is made an
occupation
by women,
testifies not only to the vacuity which must exist when such a
mistake is fallen into, but to the vigour with which the religious
sentiment would probably be carried into the great objects and
occupations of life, if such were
permitted.
I was perpetually struck with this
when I saw women braving hurricane, frost, and snow, to
flit from
preaching to preaching; and laying out the whole day among visits for
prayer and religious
excitement, among the poor and the
sick. I was struck with this when I saw them labouring at their New
Testament, reading superstitiously a daily portion of that which was
already too familiar to the ear to leave any genuine and lasting impression,
thus read.
Note: Researchers note that
after a song has been sung about 5 times the congregation just sings
it and does not understand what they are singing. The same is true of
so-called "preaching." How often we hear one say that "I have a
sermon on that." Well developed and preached over and over. Even when
newly composed many offer the same subject which most of the
congregation might recite more accurately.
Extraordinary instances met my knowledge of
both clergymen and ladies making the grossest
mistakes about conspicuous facts of the
gospel history, while reading it in daily portions for ever.
It is not surprising that such a
method of perusal should obviate all
real knowledge of the book: but it is
astonishing that those who feel it to be so should not change their
methods,
and begin at length to learn that
which they have all their lives been vainly trusting that they knew.
The wife of a member of Congress, a
conscientious and religious woman, judges of persons by one rule,
whether they are "pious." I could never
learn how she applied this; nor what she comprehended under her
phrase. She told me that she wished her husband to leave Congress. He
was no longer a young man, and it was time he was thinking of
saving his soul.
She could not, after long conversation on this
subject,
realise the idea that
religion is not an affair of
occupation and circumstance,
but of principle and temper;
and that, as there is no more important duty
than that of a member of Congress, there is no situation in which a
man can attain a higher religious elevation, if the spirit be in him.
A great mischief from the isolation of the clergy is
that, while it deprives them of the highest kind of influence which
is the prerogative of
manhood,
it gives them a lower kind:
Can influence as strong as it is pernicious to others, and
dangerous
to themselves;
Can influence confined to the
weak members of society;
women and
superstitious men.
By such they are called "faithful guardians."
Guardians of what? A healthy person may guard a sick one: a sane man
may guard a lunatic: a grown person may guard a child: and, for
social purposes, an appointed watch may guard a criminal.
But how can any man guard his equal in
spiritual matters, the most absolutely
individual of all?
How can any man come
between another's soul and the infinite to which it
tends?
If it is said that they are guardians of truth, and
not of conscience,
they may be asked for their
warrant.
God has given his truth for all. Each is to
lay hold of what he can receive of it;
and he sins if he devolves upon
another the
guardianship of what is given him for himself.
As to the fitness of the clergy to
be guardians, it is enough to mention what I know: that
there is infidelity within the
walls of their churches of which they do not dream;
and profligacy among their flocks of which they will be the last to hear.
Even in matters which are esteemed
their peculiar business, the state of faith and morals,
they are more in the
dark than any other persons in society.
Some of the most religious and moral persons in the community are
among those who never enter their churches;
while among the company who
sit at the feet of the pastor while he refines upon abstractions,
and builds a moral structure upon imperfect principles, or
upon metaphysical impossibilities, there are some in whom the very
capacity
of steadfast belief has been cruelly
destroyed; some who hide loose morals under a
strict profession of religion; and some if possible more lost still,
who have arrived at making their religion co-exist with their
profligacy. Is there not here something like the blind leading the
blind ?
Over those who consider the clergy " faithful guardians," their
influence, as far as it is professional, is bad; as far as it is that
of friendship or acquaintanceship, it is according to the characters
of the men.
I am disposed to think ill of the
effects of the practice of parochial
visiting, except in cases of
poor and
afflicted
persons, who have little other resource of human sympathy.
I cannot enlarge upon the
disagreeable subject of the devotion of
the ladies to the clergy.
I believe there is no liberal minded minister
who does not see, and too sensibly feel, the evil of women
being driven back upon
religion as a resource against
vacuity;
and of there being a
professional class to administer
it.
Some of the most sensible and religious elderly
women I know in America
speak, with a strength which evinces strong conviction,
of the mischief to their sex of
ministers entering the profession young
and poor, and with a great enthusiasm for parochial visiting.
There is no very wide difference between the
auricular confession of the catholic church, and the spiritual confidence reposed in ministers the most devoted to visiting their flocks.
Enough may be seen in the religious periodicals of America about the
help women give to young ministers by the needle, by raising
subscriptions, and by more toilsome labours than they should be
allowed to undergo in such a cause.
If young men cannot earn with their own hands the means of finishing their education, and providing
themselves with food and clothing, without the help of women,
they may safely conclude that their
vocation is to get their bread
first; whether or not it may be to
preach afterwards. But this kind of dependence is wholly unnecessary.
There is more provision made for the clergy than there are clergy to
use it
A young clergyman came home, one day, and
complained to me that some of his parochial visiting afflicted him much. He had
been visiting and exhorting a mother who had lost her infant;
a sorrow which he always found he
could not reach. The mourner had sat still, and heard all he had to
say: but his impression was that he had not met any of her feelings;
that he had done nothing but harm.
How should it be otherwise? What should he know of the grief of a mother for her
infant?
He was sent for, as a kind of charmer, to charm
away the heart's pain. Such pain is not sent to be charmed away. It
could be made more endurable only by sympathy, of all outward aids:
and sympathy, of necessity, he had none; but only a timid pain with which to
aggravate
her's. It was natural that he should do nothing but harm.
My final impression is, that religion is best
administered in America by the personal character of the most
virtuous members of society,
out of the theological profession:
and next, by the acts and preachings of the
members of that profession who are the most secular in their
habits of mind and life.
The exclusively
clerical are the worst enemies of Christianity, except the
vicious.
APPENDIX F: Further Notes on the Relation of
Women and the Clergy.
Independently of the disinterestedness,
simplicity, and humility of woman's character, in all matters
relating to religion, they naturally reverence and cling to
those who show them respect and
deference.
The clergy, from understanding this point in their nature, possess
great and deserved influence over them; and they have only to
interest their feelings, to insure
success to any clerical or charitable
purpose.
Look at a woman's
zeal in foreign or domestic missions,
not only devoting her time at home, but leaving her friends and her
comforts, to assist in establishing them in a distant land. And is it
ever pretended that a woman was not more than equalled a man in these
duties?
And will she not toil for days, scarcely
raising her eyes from the work, to assist in purchasing an organ, a new
altarcloth, or in cleaning and painting a church?
So great is the tax, now, on a woman's
time, for these and for other religious purposes, such as the
"educating young men for the ministry, that the amount is
frightful
and scandalous.
If the funds of a religious
congregation be low, which can only happen where the men are poor in
spirit, and wanting in religious fervour, a woman is allowed to exert
herself beyond her means; for well we know that she cannot endure a
want of neatness and order, in a house where God is to be worshipped.
To be sure, it may be said, that no one compels
her to this unequal share of labour;
but we know how the
thing operates.
She ought, and she does, and nobly does her
share, in educating poor children, both during the week and on
Sunday. She searches out the widow and the fatherless, the orphan,
the sick and the poor, the aged and the unhappy. All this, although
it amount to a great deal, and certainly much more than men can ever do, it is her duty to do, and she performs the duty
cheerfully. As she considers it incumbent on her thus to exert
herself, and as it gives her pleasure, there can be no objection on
our part, to let her do al] the good in this way that she can; but do
not let us exact too much of a willing mind and tender conscience.
Confiding in her spiritual directors, she may be brought to do more
than is proper for her to do.
This "educating of young men, this
preparing them for a theological seminary," is not part of a woman's
duty, and it is not only contemptible, but base, to allow such a
discipline of their minds, as to make them imagine it to be their
duty.
Look at the young
men who are to be educated- - What
right have they, with so many sources open to them, what right have
they to allow women to tax
themselves for their maintenance? Poor
credulous woman! she can be made to think anything a duty. How have
we seen her neglecting her health, her comfort, her family, the poor,
and, above all, neglecting the improvement of her own mind, that she
might earn a few dollars towards educating a young man, who is far
more able to do it himself,
and who, nine times in ten,
laughs in
his sleeve at her.
What right, we again ask, have
these young men to the labours of a
woman?
Are they not as capable of working as she is?
What should hinder them from pursuing some handicraft, some
employment, during their term of study ?
If a woman were to be educated
gratis, in this way, would any set of young men associate and
work for her maintenance? No, that they would not; she would not only
have to labour for herself, but her labour would be unaided even by
sympathy.
Now, very few women are aware, that
they are, in a manner, maneuvred into thus
spending their precious time; we mean for the education of young men
that have a desire to enter the theological
seminary.
Many of them are not conscious of being swayed
by other motives indeed, some have no other motive, than that of pure
Christian love, when they thus assist in raising funds for educating
young men. They feel a disposition to follow on, in any scheme
proposed to them;
and when the thing is rightly
managed, the project has the appearance
of originating with themselves. Men
understand the mode of doing this.
The spirit of piety and charity is very strong
in the bosom of a woman; she feels the deepest reverence and devotion
towards her spiritual
pastor, and is naturally, therefore,
disposed to do good, in the way he thinks best.
If it were not for this reverence
and submission, if they were left
unbiased by hint, persuasion, or by
some unaccountable spell which they cannot break through, their charities would
find another and a more
suitable channel.
Their good sense would show them the
impropriety of giving up so much of their time, for a, purpose that
belongs exclusively to the care of men: they would soon see the
truth, as it appears to others, that the scheme must be a
bad one,
which enables young men to live in
idleness, during the time that they are
getting through with their classical studies: such a " getting
through,"
too, as it generally is.
We do not set forth the following plan, as the
very best that can be offered, but it is practicable, and would be
creditable. It is that every theological seminary should have
sufficient ground attached to it, that each student might have
employment in raising vegetables and fruit. There should likewise be
a workshop connected with it, wherein he might pursue some trade so
that if he did not find it his vocation to preach, when his religious
education was finished, he might not be utterly destitute, as too
many are. In fact, it ought to be so much the part of a clergyman's
education, to be acquainted with certain branches of horticulture,
that he should not receive a call to a country or village church, if
he were ignorant of it.
So far from degrading, it would be doing these
young men a kindness. In the first place, they would hold fast that
spirit of
independence which is so necessary to a man's prosperity, and to his
usefullness as a clergyman. He would be of the greatest consequence
to his parishioners, for horticulture is an art but little known to
them; and even if they go to a great distance as missionaries, of
what great service would his horticultural knowledge be to the poor
people, whose souls he hopes to save! We all know how immediately
civilisation follows the cultivation of the soil; and we may rest
assured, that the sacred object which the young missionary has in
view, will meet with fewer obstacles, if his lessons are connected
with attention to the bodily wants of his charge.
It is really disgusting to those who live in
the neighbourhood of religious institutions, to see the frivolous
manner in which young men pass their time, when not in actual study.
We do not say that they are dissipated, or vicious, in the common
sense of the word, but that they lounge about, trifle, and gossip,
retailing idle chit-chat and fooleries.
At the very time when they are thus
happily amusing themselves, the women who assist in giving them a
classical education allow themselves scarcely any respite from their
labours. We have known some of them to sew, it is all they can do,
from sunrise till nine o'clock at night; and all for this very
purpose.
It is quite time
to put a stop to this, and let
indigent young men educate
themselves. Why do they not form
societies to create funds for the purpose,
not as is usually done whenever
they have attempted a thing of this kind, by carrying about a paper
to collect money,
but by extra
labour of their own, as women do?
Let those who live in cities write for lawyers or
clerks in chancery, or make out accounts for poor shopkeeping women,
who will never cheat them out of a cent, nor refuse them a just
compensation.
If it be said that they cannot write well
enough for any of these purposes, then they must go to the
free-school again. There are a hundred modes by which they could earn
at least twenty-five cents a day, which is the average of what a
woman makes when she is employed in sewing for this purpose. Those
who live in the country, where, in fact, all students, rich or poor,
ought to be, on account of health, should raise fruit, vegetables, we
mean assist in this, work at some trade, write for newspapers, teach
the children of the families at extra hours:
in short, a lad of independent
spirit could devise ways and means enough to pay for his board and
clothing while he is learning Latin and Greek. This plan of
proceeding would raise a young man twice as much in the
opinion of
the public, and a thousand times as much in his own.
But this is not the time to dwell on such a
subject; it was too important, however, to remain untouched. We
intend to discuss it amply at some future period. Our object, at
present, is to assist women. They who are always so willing to assist
others, to their own detriment, should now, in turn, for their wants
loudly call for it, be assisted and encouraged to strike out a new
path, by which they could assist themselves.
The first step for us to take in order to
effect our intentions, is to prove to them that they should attend to their own wants
exclusively; work for their own sons,
if those sons can bear to see it; but to let young men, unconnected
with them,
and who are destined for the
ministry, educate themselves,
as the poor young men of other
professions do.
When do we ever hear that a lawyer or a doctor
owed their education to the industry or the alms of women ?
We have said all this before, and we shall say
it again and again. There must be a change for the better in the
affairs of poor women; they are degraded by their poverty; and their
degradation is the cause of nearly all the crime that is
committed." Aladdin's Lamp. New York,
1833<
Harriet Martineau:
Society in America. Observations made during a Stay in 1837
This was the meaning of Cane Ridge, Kentucky
when one goal was to demonstrate superiority over other preachers by
creating the greatest mental breakdown, primarily among women and
weak men. The result was that division resulted when the "sheep" were
divided up among the ministers. This was not the meaning of the
American Restoration Movement in its better demonstrations.
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