viour all she has of joy in time, as well as all she has of
hope in eternity. Though she does not obtain the headship, though her
sorrow and her pain are not removed, though her desire continues to be
to her husband, and though the rule of the husband continues in every
well-regulated home, yet woman is elevated to become a shareholder of
the pleasures of the home, of the honors and emoluments of life,
of the riches obtained by toil, and of the enjoyments derived from
culture. Woman in the Christian home is the soul, the pride, the
ornament, and the helper. Through Christ she obtains a recognition, so
that when we speak of man we mean the race, men and women, for these
become the two halves of one thought, so that no especial stress is
laid on the welfare of either, but the development of one is
secured by the development of the other. To such an extent have the
disabilities been removed from the sex, that a leading writer has
been compelled to admit, that "in our own country, women are, in many
respects, better situated than the men. Good books are allowed, with
more time to read them. They are not so early forced into the bustle
of life, nor so weighed down by demands for outward success. They
have time to think, and no traditions chain them, and few
conventionalities, compared with what must be met in other nations.
Doors swing open to them, and they are invited to walk the fields of
literary and artistic success, and whatever tends to the development
of their higher nature is freely placed within their reach."

2. _The trials of motherhood deserve notice_. We have seen the hopes
that came to Eve, and beheld their realization in and through Christ.
The trials were born of sin. Eve's eldest child, Cain, possessed a
narrow, selfish nature. He was a tiller of the ground. Abel was a
keeper of the sheep. The first born met this curse in the soil. The
second born looked forward to the restoration. In process of time Cain
brought of the fruit of the ground. Tradition has it that he brought
what was left of his food, of light and tempting things, flax or hemp
seed.

Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, which was a proper type
of Christ. His offering pleased God, Cain's niggardly gift displeased
God. The selfish man wreaked his vengeance in the usual way. He slew
his brother, who was better than himself. The heavens are black with
gathering gloom. Murder is in the air. The shock is felt everywhere.
God comes, and st