ial 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.

It is continually objected, that infidels, immoral men, and women of
ill-repute, array themselves upon the side of equal rights to women: so
do infidels, libertines, and women lost to shame, array themselves
against it; therefore, the one counterbalances the other.

But suppose this were not so, to what would the objection amount? The
cause of human freedom has more than once been advocated by rank
infidels; but did God therefore curse a cause good in itself, because
wicked men and women for once saw clearly, and said they thought that
cause right and reasonable? History answers, No. The children of this
generation were simply wiser than many of the children of light. The
same may be said of each of the other reforms. The abolition of slavery
had its infidel advocates; so had the temperance movement, etc.; and
these advocates have to a certain extent damaged their respective causes
by their advocacy of them; yet the tide of human progress has been
onward. A claim which is based upon justice may be injured by an
extravagant, irreverent, or profane advocacy; but it is still a just
claim, and as such, without respect to its advocates, entitled to
recognition.

Polygamy, slavery, drunkenness,