The doctrine indicated in the saying, "God made man upright, and he sought out many inventions," is confirmed, and the opposing doctrine of moral evolution contradicted, by the history of the condition of women in heathen lands. While in all heathen lands at the present time women are slaves and drudges, it was not so in the earliest time to which history now reaches back. M. Maspero, in his "Life in Ancient Egypt," has taken pains to put together, in a lively sketch, the information on this subject gathered from the inscriptions in tombs and on monuments. I quote some extracts in which, to [138] give vividness to his style, he uses the present tense for the time of the Pharaohs mentioned in Exodus:

      The Egyptian woman of the lower and middle classes is more respected and more independent than any other woman in the world. As a daughter, she inherits an equal share with her brothers; as a wife, she is the real mistress of the house, nibit pi, her husband being, as it were, merely her privileged guest. She goes and comes as she likes, talks to whom she pleases without any one being able to question her actions, goes among men with an uncovered face, a rule quite opposite to the habits of Syrian women, who are always more or less strictly veiled. . . . In truth, the woman is the mainspring that keeps the whole household in movement. She rises at daybreak, lights the fire, distributes the bread for the day, sends the men to the workshop, the cattle to the pasture under the care of the smallest boys and girls, then, once rid of her family, she goes in turn to the water supply. . . . Usually married very young, a mother before she is fifteen, frequently a grandmother before she is thirty, children are always multiplying and swarming around her. A large family is a blessing from the gods, which is welcomed with gratitude, partly because its keep is inexpensive. . . . The children display their affinity by her name rather than by that of the father. They are Khonshotpou, Ahmosou, Nouri, born of Mrs. Banisit or Mrs. Mimout, and not Khonshotpou, Ahmosou, Nouri, sons of Mr. Nibtooui or of Mr. Khamoisit.

      This last circumstance reminds one of the relation that existed between the kings of Judah and their mothers; the mother, and not the wife, being queen, and being uniformly named in connection with the king's accession to the throne.

      Love for one's mother is often mentioned among the virtues of men whose names appear in the inscriptions, and Maspero quotes from one of the inscriptions the following admonition given by one Khonshotpou to his son Ani:

      It is God himself who gave her to thee. From the beginning she hath borne a heavy burden with thee, in which I have been unable to help her. When thou wast born she really made [139] herself thy slave. During three years she nursed thee at her breast, and as thy size increased she never allowed herself to say, Why should I do this? She went with thee to school, and when thou wast learning thy letters, she placed herself near to thy master every day with bread and beer from her house. And now that thou art grown up, and hast a wife and a house in thy turn, remember always thy helpless infancy, and the care which thy mother lavished on thee, so that she may never have occasion to reproach thee, nor to raise her hands to heaven against thee, for God would fulfill her curse.

      This advice reminds us of the words of Solomon on the same subject, and they clearly show that the light of a primitive civilization had not yet faded out in heathen Egypt.

[SEBC 138-140]