Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
What answer I made I know not, but there came rushing over my
soul the words of Christ: "I came not to send peace, but a
sword." It seems almost to be spoken with an audible voice, and
it sways the spirit more than all things else. I remember that
Christ's doctrine was, "first pure, then peaceable;" that He,
too, was persecuted. So are my doctrines good; they ask only for
the simple rights of a delegate, only that which must be
recognized as just, by the impartial Father of the human race,
and by His holy Son. Then come these mock pleading tones again
upon my ear, and instinctively I think of the Judas kiss, and I
arise, turning away from them all, and feeling a power which may,
perhaps, never come to me again. There were angry men confronting
me, and I caught the flashing of defiant eyes; but above me, and
within me, and all around me, there was a spirit stronger than
they all. At that moment not the combined powers of earth and
hell could have tempted me to do otherwise than to stand firm.
Moral and physical cowardice were subdued, thanks to that
Washington delegate for the sublime strength roused by his
question: "Would Christ have done so?"
That stormy scene is passed; that memorable time when chivalrous
men forgot the deference, which according to their creed is due
to woman, and forgot it as they publicly said, because a woman
claimed a right upon the platform; and so they neither recognized
her equality of rights, nor her conceded courtesy as a lady. This
was neither just nor gallant, but to me it was vastly preferable
to those appeals made to me as a lady--appeals which never would
have been made to a man under the same circumstances; and which
only served to show me the estimation in which they held
womanhood. It reminded me of a remark which was made concerning
the Brick Chapel meeting: "If you had spoken words of flattery,
they would have done what you wanted."
Let the past be the past. "Let the dead bury their dead,"
contains truths we well may heed. Is God the impartial Father of
humanity? Is He no respecter of persons? Is it true that there is
known neither male nor female in Christ Jesus? In my heart of
hearts, I believe it is all true. I believe it is the foundation
of the Golden Rule. And now let me tell you in conclusion: if it
be true, this truth shall steal into your souls like the accents
of childhood; it shall come like a bright vision of hope to the
desponding; it shall flash upon the incredulous; it shall twine
like a chain of golden arguments about the reason of the skeptic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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