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ist without just cause. I have seen, however, more than one era in the history of my country, (during a long and somewhat eventful life,) when it became my duty, as well as that of others, to sound the alarm. I now see clearly another such crisis approaching, if it has not already arrived: But it is a crisis, in which the Rights of Women are liable, in a temporal sense, to be more seriously affected, more deeply endangered, than those of men, because whatever tends to destroy or impair the sacred obligations of Christianity and morality, which are inseparably connected, bears necessarily harder upon women than it does upon men. Men, to a certain extent, live apart from, and independent of each other. Each man has his own domicil, over which he exercises more or less control, agreeably to the laws of his country, or the force of moral and religious restraint, where the law does not apply: Not so with women; for although the mild spirit of modern laws, influenced by, or growing out of, the milder spirit of Christianity, has greatly meliorated their condition; still they not only live under the same roof with the men, but are, generally speaking, dependent upon them for support 1and protection: And this fact alone shows clearly, that the more powerful the influence of moral and religious feeling and principle in men, the more security is there for the temporal rights, welfare and happiness of women. To di un«£ ̈à

If these remarks be just, and certain I am that every rational mind will perceive that they are so,

can I offer a purer homage to the Female Sex, or better express the respect and veneration which ought ever to be cherished for them, than to dedicate this work To The Ladies of THE UNITED STATES; and especially to the virtuous matrons of my country, to whose fostering care we are to look for the Saints and Sages, who shall hereafter, under Divine Providence, wield her destinies, and perpetuate her freedom, her happiness, and her glory: I say Saints and Sages, because, if I do not live to see it; yet I hope and pray to God, that the day may not be far distant, when the name of Hero or Soldier will become obsolete: when the pure and holy faith of our Redeemer shall be practised as well as professed by all nations; when, in short, the beautiful and sublime vision or prophecy of Isaiah shall be fulfilled, and consequently the principle of war, the traf-· fic in human blood and carnage, the offspring of the wiles of the Arch Apostate, operating on rude and barbarous times, shall be banished from the earth, and find no refuge but in its native hell!

To you, my fair country women, rely upon it, the Christian Religion is indeed the choicest, the best, the brightest gift of Heaven: And in propor-tion as it has showered down blessings upon your heads, in like proportion will curses be heaped upon. them, should it be eclipsed, in our happy land, by the dark cloud of INFIDELITY, which has lately made its appearance in our political horison. If that black cloud, emerging from the vile regions of eternal darkness, shall spread over our hemisphere,

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you will be the sufferers; the pitiless pelting of the storm it will produce, will fall first upon your heads. MAN may and will be contaminated by its baneful and destructive influence; but WOMAN will not only be contaminated-she will be enslaved and de-graded. She will fall from the dignified and ex-alted station, which she now enjoys, to the same ignominious level at which she rested, when the blessed Redeemer came to dissolve the chains which the mean and selfish tyranny of MAN had forged for her body; and to break also the chains of death and of hell, by which the soul of MAN, as well as that of WOMAN, was encompassed and enthralled.

What I have here said, is not mere speculation:. To illustrate this, I will barely exhibit two examples one on each side-of the practical effects of Christianity and Infidelity and to bring home the illustration the more forcibly to yourselves, I will select, from many that present themselves, two fe-male examples.

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Among the distinguished females of Great-Britain, whoever has indulged much in literary pursuits, must recollect the names and destinies of Lady RACHEL RUSSELL and MARY WOLSTONECRAFT. The former was a Christian, and the wife of Lord William Russell, who was beheaded in the reign of Charles the Second; the latter belonged to the Infidel School, and though of humble origin, distin guished herself in the literary world, and became

the wife of the celebrated William Godwin, who is

still living.

Now let us briefly contrast the conduct of these two women, especially in the hour of adversity, and we shall see clearly the benign superiority of the influence of Christianity over that of Infidelity.

Lady RUSSELL was destined to see her husband, whom she ardently loved, and who reciprocated her affections, die on the scaffold, the victim of a bloody and relentless tyranny; but under the pres: sure of this awful calamity she did not sink: On the contrary, in proportion to the keenness of her sufferings, did her moral courage display itself with increased energy and effect. All England beheld her, under circumstances calculated to appal the stoutest hearts, sustaining herself with unparalleled firmness and fortitude. She attended her husband. on his trial, and "when," says Hume, "the Attorney General told him, he might employ the hand. - of one of his servants in waiting to take notes of the evidence for his use," Lord Russell answered, that "he asked none but that of the Lady who sat by him." The spectators, at these words, turned their eyes, and beheld the daughter of the virtuous SOUTHAMPTON rising up to assist her Lord in this. his utmost distress: a thrill of anguish ran through the assembly."

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From the day of her husband's conviction and sentence, to that of his ignominious death, she atotended him constantly, and consoled him with that unremitting tenderness, assiduity and heroic forti

tude, which the gospel of Jesus Christ can alone inspire. Lord RUSSELL was so much encouraged by this heroic conduct of his wife, and so deeply sensible of her virtue and firmness in so trying a moment, that he exclaimed at their last parting, "the bitterness of death is now past!"

Many are the evidences, which this truly pious and godly woman exhibited, of her Christian virtues, and unshaken faith in her Redeemer; but to these, our limits will admit only of a partial refer

ence.

To Lady Essex she wrote as follows:-"I beseech God one day to bespeak peace to our afflicted minds, and not to suffer us to be disappointed of our great hope. But we must wait for our day of consolation till this world passes away. An unkind and trustless world has it been to us. Why it has been such, God knows best. All his dispensations serve the end of his Providences; and they are ever beautiful, and must be good, and good to every one of us : And even these dismal ones are so to us, if we can bear evidence to our own souls, that we are better for our afflictions, which is often the case with those who suffer wrongfully. We may reasonably believe our friends have found that rest we yet but hope for; and what better comfort can you or I desire, in this valley of the shadow of death we are walking through? The rougher our path is, the more delightful and ravishing will be the great change."

This truly illustrious woman survived her hus

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