Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by Robert Pegg, Esq., Treasurer, Derby; and by the Rev. J. C. Pike, and the Rev. H. Wilkinson, Secretaries, Leicester; from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books, and Cards may be obtained. THE GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE. NOVEMBER, 1863. FEMALE AGENCY IN ITS RELATION TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. BY REV. J. SALISBURY, HUGGLESCOTE. MUCH has been written during the last half century on Female Agency. Woman's mission and ministry is a subject of increasing interest. It is, however, in her relation to the church, that her capabilities and her beneficent efforts have been especially made manifest, and the value of her agency acknowledged and appreciated. On taking a retrospect of the history of the Christian church we learn that much has been effected by the pious devotedness of woman. During the early struggles and triumphs of Christianity we find her ever ready to do and to suffer. To her piety, her zeal, her patience, her fortitude, the progress of the truth has been, by God's blessing, to a considerable extent attributable. The Apostolic church availed itself largely of her instrumentality. The value of her service was so fully appreciated by the post-apostolic churches that she was often officially recognized, being publicly appointed and set apart for the performance of VOL. IV.-NEW Series, No. 11. special work. We cannot now, however, enter into specific details respecting that which woman has already accomplished, or even direct attention to the numerous spheres of philanthropic and evangeliclabour which she has so faithfully and honourably filled. Nor do we intend to enter into the discussion of those controversial questions which have arisen from the establishment of certain female organizations in connection with the Anglican church. We would express our conviction, nevertheless, that great evils must necessarily follow the operation of agencies which, conducted on the conventual system, are placed under the dominant influence of a priesthood, and are unceasingly subjected to ecclesiastical supervision and control. However efficient the training for various kinds of benevolent work may be; however excellent the opportunities for receiving direction and instruction; whatever may be the advantages arising from the entire consecration of tim and energy to the performance of the duties of Christian charity, the conventual system involves in itself not only the rending of social ties, but so grave an interference also with personal freedom, that, even for these reasons, irrespective of any other, we cannot wish for its success. We may learn sufficient, from the manner in which woman has been employed in the Romish church, as the miserable tool of her ecclesiastical superiors, to lead us to look with jealousy upon all attempts to make her the unquestioning instrument of a priestly will. Further we shall not endeavour to answer the question whether or not woman ought to be set apart by the church to fill certain offices, or to discharge certain duties for the performance of which she appears peculiarly qualified. The discussion of this and other questions would lead us away from our object. We shall try to make our paper as practical as possible, and to adapt it to the present exigencies of the denomination to which we belong. Let us then inquire, firstly, what the Christian woman is capable of effecting in the spheres of family and social relationship in which God has placed her. As a Wife she may prove an important agent in the service of Christ and His church as may be indicated by referring to one or two particular instances in which she can make her influence felt. It often happens that the wife has been converted after her marriage, her husband still remaining godless, or that a great mistake has been made respecting his religious character. In this trying position the godly wife must take care lest, by the indifference of her husband, her mind be alienated from him and amicable intercourse interrupted. Her duty, as a Christian woman is plain-to endeavour to win him to God and truth by kindness. The Apostle has expressly directed that believers should abide with their partners, ever cherishing the hope of their salvation. The wife whose husband obeys not the word must endeavour to win him without the word, by a chaste conversation, coupled with fear. In such a case much faith, patience, and perseverance may be needed, and many difficulties may lie in the way of the accomplishment of this most de- . sirable of all objects. She may rely, nevertheless, upon divine sympathy and aid in the prosecution of her holy endeavours, and may derive much encouragement from the thought that the prayers and efforts of the loving woman have been followed in innumerable instances by the reclamation of the most abandoned and hopeless. Cases are also frequently occurring in which believing women, contrary to the teaching of the New Testament, have become united with ungodly husbands, flattering themselves, perhaps, with the hope of becoming at some future time, the means of their conversion. Even though the Christian law respecting marriage has thus been violated, and a deep secret conviction may have followed that the step was wrong, the hope of the salvation of the unbelieving husband ought by no means to be abandoned. Obduracy of mind, harshness of treatment, the absence of any indication that prayer or effort has been blessed must by no means check the manifestation of earnest desire for his recovery from sin, and his return to the love and service of the Redeemer. In short, the Christian wife is under the strongest obligation, arising from the relationship she has contracted, to take a lively interest in the spiritual welfare of her unconverted husband, and to seek its advancement, as by other means, so also by affectionate encouragement and exhortation. As a Mother a sphere is assigned her in which she may put forth her efforts with the assurance (if faithful and diligent) of reaping a full reward. Every mother is under obligation, arising from the bodily wants of her child. She is called The Christian Woman at Home. 403 ever to arrive when the gospel shall lay hold upon the youthful intellect and heart with a sweet, a holy, and a mighty influence, that day is to be brought about chiefly by the instrumentality of Christian parents. Let Christian mothers, then, be intreated to give themselves to their work with a devotion which accords with the immense, the eternal consequences depending upon their success. to educate it. Upon her, as well as | of her child, so that she may possess upon her husband, devolve the herself fully of his character and development and training of its mould and fashion his inner nature mental and moral powers. It is by her gentle and persuasive teachincumbent upon her to exercise aing and influence. If the day is wise and constant supervision, in order to the suppression of all wrong tendencies, whether physical, intellectual, or moral. But there is nothing deserving of the name of education apart from religion. The words of Dr. Harris will express, better than our own, the relation which the Christian woman sustains to her child as its religious educator. 'At first the mother stands to the child for a religion. His earliest piety is mother's love. He sees every thing in her light. His dependence and her support symbolize and prepare him for all that may follow. Gradually his love radiates round and above. Extending his regard for her and her injunctions, he cannot become aware that they bind his parents also, without feeling duly conscious that there is something greater even than they. And as one dreamy presentiment after another wakens up in the depths of his soul he is prepared to look up, as the material finger points to heaven, and to find in God that which he had previously found in her.' In order to the careful education of her child, the Christian mother must make it one of the greatest and most direct objects of her own personal efforts. She must avail herself of the earliest opportunities of inculcating right principles, that appropriate fruits may follow in the future. Instead of relying too much on stated occasions of moral and religious instruction (though these are not to be undervalued) her own loving and genial guidance and influence must be unceasing and universal. She must spare no pains to keep right views continually before him, and to give right feelings the perpetual predominance in his mind. She must remember, too, that she cannot bring her mind into intercourse too intimate and familiar with the mind As a Daughter or Sister the Christian female ought to prove herself an agent sanctified and meet for her Master's use, an instrument for effecting much good in the family with which she is united. It sometimes happens that she is the only person in the household who is brought under the sway of Christian truth. Her parents, if not openly hostile to religion, are indifferent; if they attend to its external duties, they are not imbued with its spirit, and her brothers or sisters are frivolous and worldly in their general spirit and temper. In such a case the position of the Christian daughter or sister may prove exceedingly trying. She is called to discharge her devotional and other religious duties without sympathy or encouragement from other members of the family, and instead of being cheered in her Christian course by the loving approval of those so closely related to her, her life must be a continual protest against their worldliness, and a continual resistance to the tide of evil influences which threatens to hinder her religious progress. In a position so isolated, and also when other members of the family sympathize with her in her religious convictions, the path of duty is plain. If she is a daughter, let her act in all things as a Christian daughter, that her parents may feel the power of her example, and profit by her Christian consistency. If she is a sister, her unconverted brothers and sisters ought to be able clearly to perceive that true religion is her ornament and guard, that she is daily living under its influence, and that it is the means of ennobling her character, regulating her temper, and impelling her to the cheerful discharge of all duty. There is, in her case, great need of caution, when, the bounds of moral propriety are overstepped by other members of the family, lest a sanctimonious and bitter spirit be manifested. By the exhibition of such a spirit she must not forget that she will repel rather than attract. Mindful, then, of these cautions, it behoves her thoughtfully, prayerfully, and habitually to consider what she can do, by personal and direct effort to secure the conversion and otherwise to promote the spiritual good of the beloved ones among whom God has thus appointed her daily to live and minister. She has here, a mission to fulfil, the duties of which are ever pressing. An important field of Christian effort is allotted to her in which she may daily serve her Lord by her humble endeavours to lead parents, brothers, or sisters, to obedience to the faith. It must be admitted that the Christian daughter is often chargeable with grave neglect. Whilst the Sabbath-school and other Christian institutions secure her sympathy and help, the claims of those who dwell with her in the same home and are united to her by the dearest ties, are overlooked. Though some or all of them are without God, deep and anxious concern for their spiritual welfare is allowed to abate, if it was ever predominant, and free and confidential spiritual intercourse with her nearest relatives on the things belonging to their everlasting peace is restrained. We are not alone in our conviction as to the prevalence of this evil. By an inexplicable peculiarity of temperament,' says Dr. Chalmers in his Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans, do the nearest relatives often maintain on that topic which most nearly 6 concerns them, a dead immoveable silence, and which for the world they cannot break. And though posting on to eternity together, yet on all the prospects and all the preparations for eternity their lips are sealed, and whilst, on every other partnership, whether of interest or feeling, there is the frankest and easiest communication, yet on this mightiest interest of all, each wraps himself in his own impregnable disguise and positively dares not lay it open. It is so singular that it almost looks like a satanic influence a sorcery by which the prince of darkness obstructs this sort of reciprocal interchange in families, lest his kingdom should suffer by it-a device by which he guards the very approaches of conversation, and so scares the devout and desirous Christian away from it, that he stands speechless andawe-stricken even in the presence of his brother.' Courage must be exercised by the Christian daughter or sister, or by other Christian members of families, in order to get at the most vital and personal concerns of the souls of their relatives. Let stiffness, austerity, and gloom be carefully shunned in making all such attempts. Love ought to be the moving spring and principle of action. The Christian female in the family, ought, however, never to rest satisfied till she can assure herself that her chief desires and anxieties for those most dear to her are really and unquestionably engaged about their spiritual and everlasting welfare. Looking now over the borders of the family, there may be many to whom the Christian female is ardently attached and with whom she is intimately acquainted, on the ground of kinship. Here a wide sphere is afforded for the manifestation and genial expression of Christian affection, and good opportunities are given, during repeated interviews and mutual visits, for sowing the seed of heavenly truth. What Christian woman can rejoice that all her kindred, according to the |