The Worthington advance., 1882-09-07

that great Inlidel, John Stuart Mill.
Nillb 'Sub}tcttoa Of Woman has q {.
tied the question. 90 Tar @ logic can
settle It, and no candid person can rad
It withoue farofing woman suffrage.
MN Was one OF tho sarlies! to d bat.
tie for the emancipation Of woman.
But before Mil there was . wonderful
woman who Is really the originator and
inspirer Of the movement. That wosn-
on IL known to the world ~ George
Sand. who put her protest against the
tyranny Of men, and custom, and Law.
aud clergy. and church, in series Of
some Of the greatest novels that ever
were written. These novels did moro
for Woman Suffrage, or rather Woman
Emancipation, than Mrs. Stoves us
Gle Tom " did fer tile emancipation OF
the blacks- For Mrs. Stowe only help.
ed to precipitate = freedom which =
host of infidels. Spiritualists, and non
church agitators, had put in sslation
in the puddle 0ind, while George Sand.
by putting 4 few ideas into her bcoks
and spreading them over Europe, osigt-
mated and inspired the Woman Eman-
cipation movement. This same George
Sand has been denounced time anda.
gain BY clergy aud church people ~ In
fdel,' Obscene and Free Lover
And now rs to original names and
agitators Of tl,e cause, in this country:
Neither Susan b. Anthony nor Eliza
beth Cs,dy Stanton, can be claimed by
the churches. They belong emphatical-
ly to that class which the Church Un-
ion refers to as imbibing the 'unwhole.
some fruits Of progressive free thought
We have spoken Of the ablest work
in favor Of woman suffrage having been
written by an inlidel, John Stuart Mill.
On the other hand. the ablest work a.
gainst woman suffrage was written by
a clergyman, DR.. Bushnell. The doc
tor spoke for his class, that is for the
vast majority Q! them. and he had
number Of imitators among the clergy.
DR.. Fulton. of Boston, struck out wild
ly and feebly Us compared with Bush.
nell, and Also p&lA1shed a work against
woman suffrage. We say most decided.
ly that, anless a great change has
been wrought within the past year Or
two, the great body Of the clergy and
their follow ers are opposed to woman
suffrage. During the past 20 years we
have advocated woman suffrage, and
during most of that time We were an
active CHURCH member, and we believe
that fully three-fourths il not nine
tentlls of the church people with whom
we have acted. have been either direct
ly opposed to the reform or sneeringly in.
different. On the other hand. We do not
know of prominent Inf lei or Spirit.
ua]ist who is not in favor Of Woman
suffrage. The Col. Ingersoll's are all
advocates of the cause.
The Spiritualists especially are advo.
Gates Of the equality OF the sexes and they
have nearly is many public speakers a.
lnong women as among men.
A word now concerning the Church
Unions question as to infidel colleges
and movements for bettering the con-
dition Of humanity. Girard College, in
Philadelphia, is so infidel that no cler-
gymsa is ever allowed to enter its
doors even to view tl,s building. This
provision in the beQuest was extreme,
but the founder had suffered domestic
ruin at the hands IT clergyman and
he wished to keep his magnificent COL
lege forever away 4roa the influence of
the clergy.
The University Of Virginia, the great
educational center of the South, was
founded by infidel Thomas Jefferson,
and lie forbid forever any sectarisn
preaching within its walls. Peter Coop
Or, the founder Of Cooper's Institute,
man famous for his bsnevolence and
his COED works, 10 IN infdea. We could
multiply instances, but mention only
Il few of the conspicuous ones. And
now will the Church Union point US
to any leading institution of learning
which, is church institution. There
are many sectarian colleges, we know,
but they were founded purposely in the
interest Of churches, that is, for sectar-
ian purposes. The Universities Of
Minnesota, Ohio. Michigan, Virginia,
etc., are State institutions founded to
furnish u liberal education and the
churches eau lay no claim to them
whatever.
Nothing A'for the relief of suffering
humanity" says the Church Union.
And yet history tells US, and the cler-
gy lave never h en- able to gainsay it,
that Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jeffer-
son, and Benjamin Franklin, the three
great lnfidels of the Revolutionary
period, were also the three great lights
and leaders of the politics Of that day,
and formulated the ideas on which the
Declaration Of Independence and the
Constitution of the United States were
founded.
All this we say in defense of inf
dtls, while differing from them radi-
cally in religious belief. So far as
our Religion is concerned, we ,.grae
with the Churcl, Union more than with
the Infitlels. Let us be just. We are
weary OF the lies and ISLANDERS which
the clergy and the charcl, people are
ever repeating against many Of the
wisest and nnllest men wlicl. the race
h:ss l'r"tl'.cetl. We deplore so much
sectarian effort and the expenditure
OF so mach energy and moEey in the
mere nfQrSt 0f ThoO1nuS, mud an H.