, and the precept, are
both on the side of the stronger sex. The whole past history of the
race coincides so clearly with these facts that we should suppose that
even those who are little under the influence of Christian faith might
pause era they attacked that citadel. Common-sense might teach them
something of caution, something of humility, when running counter to
the whole past experience of the race. As for those who have a living
belief in the doctrines of Christianity, when they find that revealed
religion, from the first of the Prophets to the last of the Apostles,
allots a subordinate position to the wife, they are compelled to
believe Moses and St. Paul in the right, and the philosophers of the
present day, whether male or female, in the wrong. To speak frankly,
the excessive boldness of these new theories, the incalculable and
inconceivable benefits promised us from this revolution from the
natural condition of things in Christendom--and throughout the world
indeed--would lead us to suspicion. Guides who appeal to the
imagination when discussing practical questions are not generally
considered the safest. And the champions of female suffrage are
necessarily compelled to take this course. They have no positive
foundation to rest on. Mr. Stuart Mill has said in Parliament, in
connection with this subject, that "the tyranny of established custom
has entirely passed away." Nothing can be more true than this
assertion. As a rule, the past is now looked upon with doubt, with
suspicion, often with a certain sort of contempt, very far from being
always consistent with sound reason. The tyranny of the present
day--and it may be just as much a tyranny as the other--is radically
opposite in character. It is the tyranny of novelty to which we are
most exposed at present. The dangers lie chiefly in that direction.
There will be little to fear from the old until the hour of reaction
arrives, as it inevitably must, if the human mind be strained too far
in a new direction. At present the more startling an assertion, the
farther it wanders from all past experience, the greater are its
chances of attracting attention, of gaining adherents, of achieving at
least a partial and temporary success. In the age and in the country
which has seen the development of Mormonism as a successful religious,
social, and political system, nothing should surprise us. Such is the
restlessness of human nature that it will often, from mere weak
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