perpetual diſcord, and their union could not ſubſiſt. But in the preſent harmony which naturally ſubſiſts between them, their different faculties tend to one common end; it is difficult to ſay which of them conduces the moſt to it: each follows the impulſe of the other; each is obedient, and both are maſters.'
'As the conduct of a woman is ſubſervient to the public opinion, her faith in matters of religion ſhould, for that very reaſon, be ſubject to authority. Every daughter ought to be of the ſame religion as her mother, and every wife to be of the ſame religion as her huſband: for, though ſuch religion ſhould be falſe, that docility which induces the mother and daughter to ſubmit to the order of nature, take away, in the ſight of God, the criminality of their error[1].' As 'they are not in a capacity to judge for themſelves, they ought to abide by the deciſion of their fathers and huſbands as confidently as by that of the church.'
'As authority ought to regulate the religion of the women, it is not ſo needful to explain to them the reaſons for their belief, as to lay down preciſely the tenets they are to believe: for the creed, which preſents only obſcure ideas to the mind, is the ſource of fanaticiſm; and that which preſents abſurdities, leads to infidelity.'
Abſolute, uncontroverted authority, it ſeems, muſt ſubſiſt ſomewhere: but is not this a direct
- ↑ What is to be the conſequence, if the mother's and huſband's opinion ſhould chance not to agree? An ignorant perſon cannot be reaſoned out of an error—and when perſuaded to give up one prejudice for another the mind is unſettled. Indeed, the huſband may not have any religion to teach her, though in ſuch a ſituation ſhe will be in great want of a ſupport to her virtue, independent of worldly conſiderations.
