A lamentable amount of infidelity has been engendered by the manner in
which the Scriptures have been distorted to make them seem to sanction
almost every social and civil wrong. They have been quoted as authority
for the absolute subjection of woman; and, with equal fairness, for
servile submission to despotic monarchs, for the use of intoxicating
drinks, for the burning of heretics, and for the justification of
slavery. Within a very few years past, these very Epistles have been
brought forward to prove the "sum of all villainies" a God-given boon to
man, the slave included--Colossians iii, 22, being deemed unanswerable.
Those who advocated the cause of human freedom, who desired the
privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their own
consciences, who strove to drive intemperance from the land, or who
pleaded for the liberty of the slave, were alike denounced as advocating
what was contrary to the revealed will of God; and in like manner, now,
are those denounced who advocate the perfect equality of woman with man.
With regard to political and religious freedom, the cause of temperance,
and the slavery question, time has proved that the Lord of Hosts, so far
from being against, was on the side of, those who advocated these great
reforms, and led them on to victory; and there is no reason to doubt
that this last reform will, by the same hand, be led to similar triumph.
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