It seemed to me that the time had come when women should know for
themselves what the Bible teaches for them and what the pulpit has
upheld; so I have looked it up a little, and although I cannot soil my
lips nor your ears with much of it, there is enough, I think, that I may
use to make any self-respecting, pure woman blush that she has sustained
it by word or act.
The Bible teaches that a father may sell his daughter for a slave,* that
he may sacrifice her purity to a mob,** and that he may murder her, and
still be a good father and a holy man. It teaches that a man may have
any number of wives; that he may sell them, give them away, or change
them around, and still be a perfect gentleman, a good husband, a
righteous man, and one of God's most intimate friends; and that is a
pretty good position for a beginning. It teaches almost every infamy
under the heavens for woman, and it does not recognize her as a
self-directing, free human being. It classes her as property, just as it
does a sheep: and it forbids her to think, talk, act, or exist, except
under conditions and limits defined by some priest.
* Ex. xxi. 7.
** Judges xix. 24; Gen. xix. 8
If the Bible were strictly followed, women and negroes would still be
publicly bought and sold in America. If it were believed in as it once
was, if the Church had the power she once had, I should never see the
light of another day, and your lives would be made a hell for sitting
here to-night. The iron grasp of superstition would hold you and your
children forever over the bottomless pit of religious persecution, and
cover your fair fame with infamous slander, because you dared to sit
here and hear me strike a blow at infinite injustice.
Every injustice that has ever been fastened upon women in a Christian
country has been "authorized by the Bible" and riveted and perpetuated
by the pulpit. That seems strong language, no doubt; but I shall give
you an opportunity to decide as to its truth. I will now bring my
witnesses. They are from the "inspired word" itself, and therefore
must be all that could be desired. I will read you a short passage from
Exodus xx. 22; xxi. 7-8:
22 And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto
the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I talked with you
from heaven. ********
7 _And if a man sell his daughter_ to be a maid-servant,
she shall not go out as the men-servants do.
8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to
himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her
unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath
dealt deceitfully with her.
The Lord doesn't object to a man selling his daughter, but if any one
thing makes him angrier than another it is to have her go about as the
men-servants do after she is sold. On a little point like that he is
absolutely fastidious. You may here notice that God took the trouble
to come down from heaven to tell the girl what not to do after she was
sold. He forgot to suggest to her father that it might be as well not
to sell her at all. He forgot that. But in an important conversation one
often overlooks little details. The next is Joshua xv. 16-17:
16 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and
taketh it to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
17 And Othniel the brother of Caleb [and consequently the
girl's uncle] took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter
to wife.
Please to remember that the said Caleb was one of God's intimates--a
favorite with the Almighty. The girl was not consulted; the father paid
off his warriors in female scrip. The next is Gen. xix. 5-8:
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where _are_
the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out
unto us that we may know them,
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door
after him,