The Womans Bible | Page 2

blank book, and the commentaries then
written underneath.
Those not having time to read all the books can confine their labors to the particular ones
they propose to review.
It is thought best to publish the different parts as soon as prepared so that the Committee
may have all in print in a compact form before the final revision.

E. C. S.
August 1st, 1895.

INTRODUCTION.
From the inauguration of the movement for woman's emancipation the Bible has been
used to hold her in the "divinely ordained sphere," prescribed in the Old and New
Testaments.
The canon and civil law; church and state; priests and legislators; all political parties and
religious denominations have alike taught that woman was made after man, of man, and
for man, an inferior being, subject to man. Creeds, codes, Scriptures and statutes, are all
based on this idea. The fashions, forms, ceremonies and customs of society, church
ordinances and discipline all grow out of this idea.
Of the old English common law, responsible for woman's civil and political status, Lord
Brougham said, "it is a disgrace to the civilization and Christianity of the Nineteenth
Century." Of the canon law, which is responsible for woman's status in the church,
Charles Kingsley said, "this will never be a good world for women until the last remnant
of the canon law is swept from the face of the earth."
The Bible teaches that woman brought sin and death into the world, that she precipitated
the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the judgment seat of Heaven, tried,
condemned and sentenced. Marriage for her was to be a condition of bondage, maternity
a period of suffering and anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to play the role
of a dependent on man's bounty for all her material wants, and for all the information she
might desire on the vital questions of the hour, she was commanded to ask her husband at
home. Here is the Bible position of woman briefly summed up.

Those who have the divine insight to translate, transpose and transfigure this mournful
object of pity into an exalted, dignified personage, worthy our worship as the mother of
the race, are to be congratulated as having a share of the occult mystic power of the
eastern Mahatmas.
The plain English to the ordinary mind admits of no such liberal interpretation. The
unvarnished texts speak for themselves. The canon law, church ordinances and Scriptures,
are homogeneous, and all reflect the same spirit and sentiments.
These familiar texts are quoted by clergymen in their pulpits, by statesmen in the halls of
legislation, by lawyers in the courts, and are echoed by the press of all civilized nations,
and accepted by woman herself as "The Word of God." So perverted is the religious
element in her nature, that with faith and works she is the chief support of the church and
clergy; the very powers that make her emancipation impossible. When, in the early part
of the Nineteenth Century, women began to protest against their civil and political
degradation, they were referred to the Bible for an answer. When they protested against
their unequal position in the church, they were referred to the Bible for an answer.
This led to a general and critical study of the Scriptures. Some, having made a fetish of
these books and believing them to be the veritable "Word of God," with liberal
translations, interpretations, allegories and symbols, glossed over the most objectionable
features of the various books and clung to them as divinely inspired. Others, seeing the
family resemblance between the Mosaic code, the canon law, and the old English
common law, came to the conclusion that all alike emanated from the same source;
wholly human in their origin and inspired by the natural love of domination in the
historians. Others, bewildered with their doubts and fears, came to no conclusion. While
their clergymen told them on the one hand, that they owed all the blessings and freedom
they enjoyed to the Bible, on the other, they said it clearly marked out their circumscribed
sphere of action: that the demands for political and civil rights were irreligious,
dangerous to the stability of the home, the state and the church. Clerical appeals were
circulated from time to time, conjuring members of their churches to take no part in the
anti-slavery or woman suffrage movements, as they were infidel in their tendencies,
undermining the very foundations of society. No wonder the majority of women stood
still, and with bowed heads, accepted the situation.
Listening to the varied opinions of women, I have long thought it would be interesting
and profitable to get them clearly stated in book form. To this end six years ago I
proposed to a committee of