blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth."[F]

This dominion of the human race over the inferior creation seems to have
been the only dominion instituted at the time of the creation; nor is
there any indication that it was to be confined to the male portion of
the race. As between the human pair, there is not here the slightest
intimation given of the subjection of the one to the other. The Great
Infinite in wisdom, who created "them," and who could not be mistaken in
their capacities, appears to have placed "_them_" on a perfect equality,
committing to them conjointly the dominion over the earth and all that
it contained.

In the second chapter of Genesis we find a brief recapitulation of the
events narrated in the first, the sacred historian entering more fully
into the creation of the woman. God, in his wisdom, saw that Adam was
not sufficient alone to sway the mighty scepter over the vast domain
about to be intrusted to him; therefore he created for him "an
helpmeet," and gave "_them_" a joint authority over the rest of
creation. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be
alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him.... And the Lord God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs,
and closed up the flesh thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had
taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her to the man."[G]

"This implies," says a distinguished commentator upon Holy Writ, "that
the woman was a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither
inferiority nor superiority, but being in all things like and equal to
himself."

Thus it was in the beginning. But, in process of time, men, glorying in
the physical strength in which they excelled women, refused to recognize
as its equivalent the peculiar qualities and faculties possessed by
women which were lacking in themselves. And overlooking the importance
of the duties which the mothers of mankind were discharging, they plumed
themselves upon their own prowess, and concluded that women and all else
were made only to minister to their pleasures. Reason and justice were
obliged to succumb to the strong arm, and women were forced into a
subordinate position.

If the Creator, in the arrangements of his plans, designed t