aggerated
development, arrogant pretensions--these too often crowd simple moral
truths out of sight, out of mind. And yet, without that class of duties
in healthful action, corruption more or less general is inevitable.

Truth of word, honesty of action, integrity of character, temperance,
chastity, moderation, sincerity, subordination to just authority,
conjugal fidelity, filial love and honor--these duties, and others
closely connected with them, bear old and homely names. But, Christian
women, you can not ask for a task more noble, more truly elevating, for
yourselves and your country, than to uphold these plain moral
principles, first by your own personal example, and then by all pure
influences in your homes and in the society to which you belong. In no
other mode can you so well forward the great work of Christian
civilization as by devoting yourselves to the daily personal practice,
and to the social cultivation, by example and influence, of these plain
moral duties. Your present domestic position is especially favorable to
this task. You have more time for thought on these subjects; you have
more frequent opportunities for influence over the young nearest to
you; you have more leisure for prayer, for invoking a blessing on your
efforts, however humble they may he. It is not enough to set a decent
example yourselves. You must go to the very root of the matter. You
must carry about with you hearts and minds very deeply impressed with
the incalculable importance of a sound morality; you must be clearly
convinced of the misery, the shame, the perils of all immorality.

In this nineteenth century the civilization of a country must
necessarily prove either heathen or Christian in its spirit. There is
no neutral ground lying between these boundaries. Faith or infidelity,
such is the choice we must all make, whether as individuals or as
nations. Thanks be to God we are not only in name, but also partially
in character, a Christian nation. Faith is not entirely wanting. We all
in a measure feel its good effects. Even the avowed infidel living in
our midst is far more under its influences, though indirectly so, than
he is aware of. And where there is life, there we have hope of growth,
of higher development. To cherish that growth, to further that higher
development by all gracious and loving and generous influences, is a
work for which women are especially adapted. They work from within
outwardly. Men work chiefly by me