given time it is of sovereign importance to examine the state of the relation between man and woman. On this the whole development of man in society depends. But of what that relation was intended to be we possess an immutable record. As we have man portrayed for us as he came forth in perfect beauty, with the gifts of grace superadded to those of nature, from the divine hand, so we have the relation of woman to man at the same moment and under the same state set forth. The divine prophet, to intimate the fullness of knowledge concerning natural things which had been given by infusion to the first man, says that all the living creatures were brought before him, and that to each he gave the name proper to its habits, instincts, and purpose intended for it.* Here then was a wisdom and knowledge to which those of Solomon were as a drop to a fountain. But neither in these creatures made to be ruled by him, nor in the magnificent science which understood their several natures and relations, was there what would satisfy the natural needs and desires of the being so endowed. He was created for society, and it was not good for him to be alone. And as it were a second time a divine council was held. The first had been concerning his nature, and ran, Let us make man after our image and likeness: and as if the second occasion was equal in importance and dignity * Gen. ii. 19, 20. † S. Chrys. in Gen, Hom, xiv. p. 112. to the first, since it was to give him society and help, it also ran similarly, Let us make him a help like unto himself. Here then are two points in the original relation of woman to man; she was given that by means of her society might be formed, and she was given as a help to man, and that specially in the procreation of the race and all that is involved therein, companionship, sympathy, education of children. A third is, her subordination to man; for a state of innocence does not exclude inequality. There is a subjection of the house or state according to which the superior uses those subject to him for their own advantage and good, and this was the subjection according to which man was "the head of the woman" at the first: otherwise the good of order would have been wanting in human society, if the wiser did not govern. But to show the nature of this subordination yet more, the order which had been followed in the creation of the other animals was not followed here. The sexes in them had been created simultaneously; but it was not so in man. As the head of the race he was made alone, and from him so made his help was * S. Thomas, Summa, 1, q. 92, a, 1. "Duplex est subjectio, una servilis, secundum quam præsidens utitur subjecto ad sui ipsius utilitatem, et talis subjectio introducta est post peccatum. Est autem alia subjectio œconomica vel civilis, secundum quam præsidens utitur subjectis ad eorum utilitatem et bonum, et ista subjectio fuisset etiam ante peccatum. Defuisset enim bonum ordinis in humana multitudine si quidam per alios sapientiores gubernati non fuissent. Et sic ex tali subjectione naturaliter femina subjecta est viro, quia naturaliter in homine magis abundat discretio rationis. Nec inæqualitas hominum excluditur per innocentiæ statum." taken. This is the first reason given by St. Thomas in order that man after the likeness of God might be the beginning of all his species, as God is the beginning of the whole universe. A second reason was that his affection might be more perfect, and the union inseparable, when he saw that woman was formed from himself. A third, because beyond the ordinary tie which draws the sexes together, there is in man the society of the domestic life, wherein each has distinct works, but in which the headship belongs to the man. And fourthly, there was the reason of the great sacrament hidden under this formation.* But further than this, she was formed neither from the head of man, for in the social union between them her part is not rule, nor yet from his feet, because neither is her part servile subjection, but from his side nearest his heart.f "He built up," says the golden-tongued saint;‡ “it is no longer said, He moulded, but He took a portion of that already moulded, and built up a perfect creature, able by community of nature and of reason to support him for whose comfort she was made." In the richness of His wisdom the perfect Artist formed from the region of the heart this perfect creature in all things like to man, able to give him help at the points of crisis and trial in the events which hold his life together. Nor must we forget that in the special part from which she was † Ib. 1, q. 92, a. 3. *S. Thomas, Summa, 1, q. 92, a. 2. formed lay deeper yet, closely veiled indeed, but fully intended, the great sacrament which was to be unfolded only when the most astonishing and affecting of all events had taken place. And when the divine Artist brought the last and best of His gifts to the man whom He had formed, that man spoke words which, as the greatest Authority tells us, were the words of God Himself. They completed the union between man and woman by bestowing on it three qualities, indissolubility, unity, and inviolable sacredness: the union thus made could only be severed by death; it was between one and one; and it was to be held sacred and inviolate by both. The original relation of woman to man consisted in these seven points. It was the source of the race's propagation, and so the starting-point of human society; it was made for man's help and support therein; it consisted in subordination to him, but a subordination tempered and exalted by perfect affection; it was a union indissoluble; a union between two only; a union to be respected and maintained by both alike, because it was not founded in mutual compact, but originated and consecrated by the act of God Himself. It is in the most ancient of all existing books that we find this admirable and perfect picture of the primary human relation. Search through all which the wisest men of Greece and Rome, of Per *Matt. xix. 4-6. sia, India, Egypt, China, and if there be any other nations of the world which could compete with these, have said concerning the relation between man and woman, and you will find nothing worthy to be compared with the teaching which the great Hebrew prophet has here summed up in a dozen lines. And yet, which is much more, you will find in these very nations, and the more distinctly the farther you can trace them back, institutions maintained with more or less purity, but bearing witness, even in their debased and fragmentary state, that the nations to which they belonged possessed once the doctrine here set forth, inasmuch as their civil life in its very first origin was based upon it. It was not the elucubration of some greater wisdom, the reasoning of a Plato or an Aristotle, of a Zoroaster or a Confucius, but the original doμòs of the tribe, created with it, and stamped upon it. I I may cite as an instance the sacred marriage of the Romans per confarreationem, coming down from the cradle of the race as a patrician inheritance and a qualification for the higher priesthoods. Thus God Himself is the author of human society, and establishes it upon a perfect law of marriage. As the first Man is the Father and Head of the race, so the first Woman is its Mother and Nurse. This will be the key to her position among all the nations their descendants. Therein lay a rich gift indeed for the present, but a still richer prophecy of the future: for the relation so estab |