Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
Again, I would ask in all seriousness, by what right does
Orthodoxy give the invidious name of Infidel, affix the stigma of
infidelity, to those who dissent from its cherished opinions?
What right have the advocates of moral reform, woman's rights,
abolition, temperance, etc., to call in question any man's
religious opinions? It is the assumption of bigots. I do not want
now to speak invidiously, and say sectarian bigots, but I mean
the same kind of bigotry which Jesus rebuked so sharply, when He
called certain men "blind leaders of the blind."
Now, we hold Jesus up as an example, when we perceive the
assumption of clergymen, that all who venture to dissent from a
given interpretation, must necessarily be infidels; and thus
denounce them as infidels; for it was only by inference, that one
clergyman this afternoon made Joseph Barker deny the Son of God.
By inference in the same way, he might be made to deny everything
that is good, and praiseworthy, and true.
I want we should consider these things upon this platform. I am
not troubled with difficulties about the Bible. My education has
been such that I look to that Source whence all the inspiration
of the Bible comes. I love the truths of the Bible. I love the
Bible because it contains so many truths; but I never was
educated to love the errors of the Bible; therefore it does not
startle me to hear Joseph Barker point to some of those errors.
And I can listen to the ingenious interpretation of the Bible,
given by Antoinette Brown, and am glad to hear those who are so
skilled in the outward, when I perceive that they are beginning
to turn the Bible to so good an account. It gives evidence that
the cause is making very good progress. Why, my friend Nevin has
had to hear the temperance cause denounced as infidel, and proved
so by Solomon; and he has, no doubt, seen the minister in the
pulpit, turning over the pages of the Bible to find examples for
the wrong. But the Bible will never sustain him in making this
use of its pages, instead of using it rationally, and selecting
such portions of it as would tend to corroborate the right; and
these are plentiful; for notwithstanding the teaching of
theology, and men's arts in the religious world, men have ever
responded to righteousness and truth, when it has been advocated
by the servants of God, so that we need not fear to bring truth
to an intelligent examination of the Bible. It is a far less
dangerous assertion to say that God is unchangeable, than that
man is infallible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account