Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-04-25
pounded by Paul does not dignity woman
~ Jo,e tb,t xh;cb German, sound-,ess of

tory tcr the belief that Christianity favored
the intellectual or moral elevation Of
woman. Whatever advance she has made
has been unde, the opposition 81 the
Church. which has scdulously tried 10
keep al learning within Itself She cites
the fact that among the Greeks there vas .
class of women possessing absolute freedom {;
surrounded by the wisest men Of their day,
devoted TO study and thought and famed
for their seniu. and wisdom. In their so
ciety the highest types Of poetry, art and
ph;losophic lore developed. Aud She
holds it nothing against her argument
that this class Of women occupied q ques-
tionaMe ocjal position, since the same
class in Christian civilization does not
enjoy as high culture or equal Govern
mental protection But that this is beg
ging the question and really weakens her
argument Is apparent. It cannot be said to
testify to the lack Of li5erality on the part
OF Christianity that it refuses to elevate
the class referred to intellectually, or to
advance it in the paths of learning; while
it is q fact the Christian civilization has
tended to mitigate the miseries OF all de
| graded classes. Continuing, this essayist,
whose flashing blade has been foremost IL
the battle fof woman's rights for twenty
fveyears past, points out that for several
centuries after Christ, in pagan worship
az ideal womanhood was exalted in the
persons Ct SYPHILIS, oraclcs ana pricstessea,
and u.ey were foremost until the restric-
tons Of the canon law we're aimed at them.
The Council Of Lacdieea, 265 years after
Chri-t, forbade the ordination Of women to
the ministry and excluded them from the
altar. One hundred and sixty years
still later the Council Of Orleans,
by canon, excluded women
from the deaconshir, and 500 years after
the Council OF Paris complained against
women ministering in the chief sacra-
ment. In the fifth century the Church
developed the doctrine Of Original sin, d"
and fixed upon woman as its guilty author.
This, she claims, was the basis Of ali the
subsequent prosecutions q women, run
ming through centuries Of misdirection and
wrong, from polygaEny to ceiibacy, and
from the virtues Of chivalry 70 the in
humanities Of witshcraft. Gu: Of these
prosecutions came the change from tender
ness and love and gentlenes5 to the stern,
dark and terrible in religion, until Jesus
Himself was depicted as the unrelenting
Judge instead Of the gentle shepherd.
This canon law doctrine worked its way
into the civil law, and threw q darker
shadow still upon woman, that held her %
be an af.erthought CT creation, the 2u-
thor Of sin, in collision with the devil, sex
2 crilse, marriage q condition Of slavery
for woman and deflement for man, ana
maternity a curse to be attended with sor-
row and suffering As . Just puni,hnent for
having effected the downfall Of mar"
This IS bitter arraignment, and while
peryaded by a vein Of truth, lays Itself
open to destruction by the warrant Of fact
and the logic Of history, as Spalding il
his reply, with severity that cuts to the
ouicl;, numerically shows. But hrs,
Stanton does not pause here; she charges
that when the civil law began to recognize
the human night of woman, the Church
arose and denied her equality in the
family, and denounced her influence alto
gether. Thus, by dishonoring WOMAN
! hood on the ground Ct original sin; BY
dishonoring all relations with her al carnai
and unclean, the whole sex touched q
depth of moral degradation that it had
never before known Out Of these, and
the plunge into the unnatural condition Of
eelibacy, grew the prosecutions for witch
craft under which women were hunted
down, tried burned and drowned for
crimes born only Of religious preiudices.
Even the great head Of the Reformation
is quoted Is saying that " No gown worse
| becomes q woman than that she should be
wise,' and Oh this keynote the Protestant
pulpit played for three centuries, the Eo-
man Catholic Church alone preserving
some honorable recognition Of woman il
It's worship OF the Virgin Mary. in short,
she shows, At least to her own satisfaction,
that the Jewish and also the Chris
tian religions held God 10 be exclusively
masculine, nan supreme, and woman sub
ordinate as in Mohammedism. In this day
cries Mrs. Stanton, the strongest opposition
to womsn's advancement comes from the
| Church fortified by Bible expositions. 1t
is the influence which closes agains; her
the doors Of the colleges OF law, medicine
and theology, and denies her an equal
voice in government and religion, Somc
recent examples of this spirit Of intolcr-
auce she cites as, Rev, Morgan Dix's
I.cnten lectures, aud Bishop Li;;lciohn's
t7ieunial sermon, ard concludes with that
biting criticism Of Lord Brousham, who
declared tia. the disabilities Of the Ole
common law we're, IN relation 90 woman,
the opprobr;um Of the age, and Ghyistiani-
! ty. E.porsins the main doctrines Of the
cause for which Mrs. Stanton hes been 50
| long an earnest advocate and contending
for many years for the equal recognition Of
woman with man before the Law, the
/ KDcoao-UNIoS IS III o i,sition TO express
! It's di+af prevail Of this latest assault Of this
champion Of womans ri hts. If even all
to adEa.tted as true that she claims its re-
eta. VIII net ali in battoring down the
walls Of prejudice or uurea5on. Whatever
new rights and recognition women gain in
the nineteenth century will be better at
tanned on the solid basis of the merit OF
reason. and without 4rrqvinr snpz, qc-gipst