Woman's Mission

In his closing Lenten sermón n Trinity chapel, New York, Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix spoke of wonian's work, what she can do, and what the asre demanda. The speaker prefaced his lecture by depreeating all bitterness and ungentle purposes concerniug those who had written or spoken upon the subject, and theu continued: Looking tor a niission ; for work to do - this is the attitude of niany women to-day; of many pure, sweet souls. Notably, it may be said to forni the subject of oue of the most poweriul, the most fascinating, and the most unsatisfactory books ever written. What is Ueorge "Ellit's "Middlemarch" but such a book? - fascinating, brilliant, powerful, cruel and cold as the devil and death! The moral of "Middlemarch" might be accepted if the choice for Dorothea lay ever between men of the Casaubon and the Ladislaw types - bet-veen faith without love and 'brains without faith. Bnt to refute tho conclusión and lo scatter those mists of wretchedness, one has but to recall certain precious and helpful visions, which, indeed, are not visión but reality; visions which the nialevolent romancer hides from us, but which yon can see any dav, and of which I would say a word or tvo before proceeding. Look, then, at the Christian homes throughout tho Christian lands, where holy virtues and graces flourish in the a;mosphere of faith, little if at all disturbed by the storms which vex the outside world; there is the wherewithal to make other homes as sweet and fresh as these, and in such work the woman who fears God and keeps His commandments may lind her vocatiou amply fulfilled. Look again at tho opposite pole to this, the hfe of the uumarried woman who has given herself np to her Lord in community. In the convenís and religious houses of our American and Knglish sisterhoods many women have found a truc and worthy mission; and in those houses there burns this hour as brlght, as warm a iire of devotion to Gou and His suftering humanity as ever rose heavenward in what are called the ages of faith. Dark is the sight, closeshut are the eyes which do not or will not see the glory of woman in that consecrated life. But go to one of these houses, learn their works, fathom their intentions, and read the catalogue and acts of their martyr souls, and you will say that ours is also an age of faith, and that beneath the habit of the Sister of Mercy there beats as truc a heart as ever throbbed in sympathy with human pain and need, and that the woman of highest culture and the rarest gifts iinds in ïitt life, made of never-ending activity nd never-eeasing prayer, a mission vorthy oi her sex, and needing nothing o its perfection after its kind. And yct again, look at these who neither in the quiet home nor yet in the seclusion of a sisterhood do noble things; women with whom in their fortunes here on earth God has dealt strangely, dcnying them their heart's desires, yet not leaving their hearts empty nor their hands idle. Think of the single women whose lives in God's siglit are glorfoüs, who liave found out ways of helping others, who have learned that lovo and sacrifico are the great est worda in our language. Some b; tlieir writings, helpful and wholcsomc others by devotion to philanthropic pur suits - as teachers, nurses of the sick visitors of the poor and prisoners mothers to the orplians, helpers to the clergy, beautifiers of the age by their artistic skill, ministering angels in half broken-up-houseliolds- all these come forward and show ns that thero ia stil a mission for aii}' devout and earnes wom&n wlio seeks it in iaith and pa tience. Such visious as these do wonderfully clear up the thoughts, and he who ha. beheld them kuows well what valué U put on speculative, unwholesome writ ings which leave the impression thattht wonian of to-day has no career before her, and that her life is that of ono walking in a nightmare of doubt am pcrplexity- burued up with tho fever o hopeless aspirations, and iinding neithei liealth in the atmosphere nor help fron man or God. This glorious work for God and hu manity can be earried out by any wom an in any grade of our social systen and in any position, by the wedded and by tho single, by the matron or by the maid, by the móther or tho child, by the rich or the poor, by the lady who stands at the head of soeiety and by her wh toils witli her hands in the lot of har service and for the gaining of her daily bread. .To be asimple, faithful Chris tian woman, a pure and sincere daugh ter of the church; to do, as such, and ir that character, whatever her hands fine to do, and not to do aught inconsistent with that profession, is a mission loudl) called for by an age which begin.s t feel and rue the consequencesof its owi senseless acts, and may be moro better cd and helped by the sight of one life led in God and to God's glory, and riel in iaith, than by all tho talk that drib bles on us from popular platforms, am all the dreams wherein they walk in t vain sliadow who sot up for liglits am oracles in this our troubled day. Christiau women. believeme, we men want your help. You can best give us what wc need by being more uuiikeour selves; by showing to us, when we meet what is to us like a wondrous and love ly mystery, correspondent to wliat may be in our own nature, so framed as to harmonizo with it in excellent accord but something which has been woven together, beatón out; wrought to it.' strange and winning excellence, anc under couditions entirely different fron those which have made us what we are And above, below, beneath, we shal feel the inthience of your virtue ani strength, and shall be refreshed in youi ennobling eompany with the mnltitu dinous blessings of peace.