Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of womanGrimké, Sarah
Religion
Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman
Grimké, Sarah
Women -- History; Women -- United States; Women's rights -- United States
‘The appropriate duties and influence of women are clearly stated
in the New Testament. Those duties are unobtrusive and private, but
the sources of _mighty power_. When the mild, _dependent_, softening
influence of woman upon the sternness of man’s opinions is fully
exercised, society feels the effects of it in a thousand ways.’ No one
can desire more earnestly than I do, that woman may move exactly in the
sphere which her Creator has assigned her; and I believe her having
been displaced from that sphere has introduced confusion into the
world. It is, therefore, of vast importance to herself and to all the
rational creation, that she should ascertain what are her duties and
her privileges as a responsible and immortal being. The New Testament
has been referred to, and I am willing to abide by its decisions, but
must enter my protest against the false translation of some passages by
the MEN who did that work, and against the perverted interpretation by
the MEN who undertook to write commentaries thereon. I am inclined to
think, when we are admitted to the honor of studying Greek and Hebrew,
we shall produce some various readings of the Bible a little different
from those we now have.
The Lord Jesus defines the duties of his followers in his Sermon on the
Mount. He lays down grand principles by which they should be governed,
without any reference to sex or condition:--‘Ye are the light of the
world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light
a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which
is in Heaven.’ I follow him through all his precepts, and find him
giving the same directions to women as to men, never even referring to
the distinction now so strenuously insisted upon between masculine and
feminine virtues: this is one of the anti-christian ‘traditions of men’
which are taught instead of the ‘commandments of God.’ Men and women
were CREATED EQUAL; they are both moral and accountable beings, and
whatever is _right_ for man to do, is _right_ for woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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