The Womans Bible | Page 5

of all Good," that set the universe of matter and mind in motion, and by immutable law
holds the land, the sea, the planets, revolving round the great centre of light and heat,
each in its own elliptic, with millions of stars in harmony all singing together, the glory of
creation forever and ever.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

THE BOOK OF GENESIS.
CHAPTER I.

Genesis i: 26, 27, 28.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and

over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth 27 So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female
image, created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Here is the sacred historian's first account of the advent of woman; a simultaneous
creation of both sexes, in the image of God. It is evident from the language that there was
consultation in the Godhead, and that the masculine and feminine elements were equally
represented. Scott in his commentaries says, "this consultation of the Gods is the origin of
the doctrine of the trinity." But instead of three male personages, as generally represented,
a Heavenly Father, Mother, and Son would seem more rational.
The first step in the elevation of woman to her true position, as an equal factor in human
progress, is the cultivation of the religious sentiment in regard to her dignity and equality,
the recognition by the rising generation of an ideal Heavenly Mother, to whom their
prayers should be addressed, as well as to a Father.
If language has any meaning, we have in these texts a plain declaration of the existence
of the feminine element in the Godhead, equal in power and glory with the masculine.
The Heavenly Mother and Father! "God created man in his own image, male and
female." Thus Scripture, as well as science and philosophy, declares the eternity and
equality of sex--the philosophical fact, without which there could have been no
perpetuation of creation, no growth or development in the animal, vegetable, or mineral
kingdoms, no awakening nor progressing in the world of thought. The masculine and
feminine elements, exactly equal and balancing each other, are as essential to the
maintenance of the equilibrium of the universe as positive and negative electricity, the
centripetal and centrifugal forces, the laws of attraction which bind together all we know
of this planet whereon we dwell and of the system in which we revolve.
In the great work of creation the crowning glory was realized, when man and woman
were evolved on the sixth day, the masculine and feminine forces in the image of God,
that must have existed eternally, in all forms of matter and mind. All the persons in the
Godhead are represented in the Elohim the divine plurality taking counsel in regard to
this last and highest form of life. Who were the members of this high council, and were
they a duality or a trinity? Verse 27 declares the image of God male and female. How
then is it possible to make woman an afterthought? We find in verses 5-16 the pronoun
"he" used. Should it not in harmony with verse 26 be "they," a dual pronoun? We may
attribute this to the same cause as the use of "his" in verse 11 instead of "it." The fruit tree
yielding fruit after "his" kind instead of after "its" kind. The paucity of a language may
give rise to many misunderstandings.
The above texts plainly show the simultaneous creation of man and woman, and their
equal importance in the development of the race. All those theories based on the
assumption that man was prior in the creation, have no foundation in Scripture.

As to woman's subjection, on which both the canon and the civil law delight to dwell, it is
important to note that equal dominion is given to woman over every living thing, but not
one word is said giving man dominion over woman.
Here is the first title deed to this green earth giving alike to the sons and daughters of God.
No lesson of woman's subjection can be fairly drawn from the first chapter of the Old
Testament.
E. C. S.

The most important thing for a woman to note, in reading Genesis, is that that portion
which is now divided into "the first