WOMAN MAN'S EQUAL. BY Rev. THOS. WEBSTER, D.D. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BISHOP SIMPSON. CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK AND WALDEN. NEW YORK: NELSON AND PHILLIPS. 1873 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. TO READERS. The publishers of "WOMAN MAN'S EQUAL" conscientiously feel that they are placing before the public the discussion of one of the most important topics of the day; and they indulge the strong conviction that the author of this little volume presents this important topic in a manner at once attractive and convincing. The teachings of nature, history, and the Word of God are freely drafted, and skillfully arranged to show what nature designed, what God has taught, and what woman has proved herself capable of being and doing in the world. The abuses to which the sex has been subject from the physically stronger "lords of creation," in heathen nations and in brute ages, are ably and fully set forth. The lessons of the past are the teachings of the future. Christianity has enlarged woman's area, and multiplied her duties and responsibilities. America is ahead of all other nations in opportunities offered to woman. Public sentiment is in favor of enlarging her sphere, and woman is venturing into hitherto untried avenues of employment and usefulness. This is an age of experiment. An ounce of experiment is worth a pound of theory. Woman's capacity will first be tested; and, if found equal to the opportunity, no door will be closed against her. She may preach, orate, lecture, teach, practice medicine or law or politics; may vote, marshal armies, navigate ships, and go sailoring or soldiering to her heart's content, and at her own good-will and pleasure, if she only proves to the age that she has ability to do and dare in all these directions. This is an age of discovery, as well as of experiment; and man is daily waking up, applying, and marshaling new forces for the benefit of the race. Steam, light, electricity, magnetism, mechanics, have all contributed of their boundless capacities to human welfare. Man is gradually coming to be aware that, in the latent powers of woman, only just now on the eve of development, half the capacities of the human race, like the powers of steam and lightning, have slumbered, until now, from the beginning of the creation. A new era is dawning upon the world. This little volume is one of the rays that herald the coming sun. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. NATURAL RIGHTS. Equals in the Beginning--Apparent Mental Inferiority result to be expected when Means of Mental Culture are denied--Natural Rights--Flattery not an Equivalent for Justice--Dawning CHAPTER II. WOMAN IN ANTIQUITY. Women of Antiquity--Their Condition in Heathen and Mohammedan Countries--Marriage, Divorce, etc. CHAPTER III. LATER ESTIMATE OF WOMAN.