after his resurrection? It was to a _woman!_ Mary Magdalene; Mark xvi,
9. Who gathered with the apostles to wait at Jerusalem, in prayer and
supplication, for "the promise of the Father;" the spiritual blessing
of the Great High Priest of his Church, who had entered, _not_ into
the splendid temple of Solomon, there to offer the blood of bulls,
and of goats, and the smoking censer upon the golden altar, but into
Heaven itself, there to present his intercessions, after having
"given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savor?" _Women_ were among that holy company; Acts i, 14.
And did _women_ wait in vain? Did those who had ministered to his
necessities, followed in his train, and wept at his crucifixion, wait
in vain? No! No! Did the cloven tongues of fire descend upon the heads
of _women_ as well as men? Yes, my friends, "it sat upon _each one of
them;_" Acts ii, 3. _Women_ as well as men were to be living stones in
the temple of grace, and therefore _their_ heads were consecrated by
the descent of the Holy Ghost as well as those of men. Were _women_
recognized as fellow laborers in the gospel field? They were! Paul
says in his epistle to the Philippians, "help those _women_ who
labored with me, in the gospel;" Phil. iv, 3.

But this is not all. Roman _women_ were burnt at the stake, _their_
delicate limbs were torn joint from joint by the ferocious beasts of
the Amphitheatre, and tossed by the wild bull in his fury, for the
diversion of that idolatrous, warlike, and slaveholding people. Yes,
_women_ suffered under the ten persecutions of heathen Rome, with the
most unshrinking constancy and fortitude; not all the entreaties of
friends, nor the claims of new born infancy, nor the cruel threats
of enemies could make _them_ sprinkle one grain of incense upon the
altars of Roman idols. Come now with me to the beautiful valleys of
Piedmont. Whose blood stains the green sward, and decks the wild