Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-07-18
SCRlPTURAL SANCTION.

Suhrage-Man ana woman are Equal Ac-
cording to Holy Writ.
The Scrlptural argument in regard
to woman suffrage was ably presented
by Rev. j. w. Bashford in an address
before the Massachusetts, Woman Suf-
frage Association, recently: He said:
"Our opponents generally go back as
far as Genesis for arguments, but even
then they do not go back far enough.
They stop with a true account of the
false relation into which man and wo-
man were thrown by sin, and quote this
account as the original charter for
mankind: Thy desire shall be to thy
husband and he shall rule over thee. ,
If they will only go back to the creation
of Adam and Eve and to their natural
and divine relation before the fall, they
will fail to find sentence which hints
at the subordination of woman. Woman
was not made in mans image, neither
was the dominion of the world COM
mitted to him alone. On the contrary
the record plainly says: In the image
of God created He them; male and fe-
male created He them. and God said:
Let them have dominion over all the
earth.
''Now when Adam and Eve descend
ed from the sphere of spirituality to the
animal sphere, when they turned from
life OF faith to follow appetite, God
said to man that even nature should
rebel against his animal life: The
earth shall also bring forth thorns and
thistles. The history Of every drunk
ard and man OF lust proves that nature
fights against him and confirms the
prophecy. And God said to woman
that in this lower animal life with
man she would be constantly worsted:
Thy desire shall be to thy husband
and he shall rule over thee. Six thou
sand years of history have proved the
terrible truth of this prophecy.
"And yet this declaration Of wom-
ans subordination which does not be-
long at all to the account Of her origi-
nal creation, and which is directly due
to sin, and which we see sprang from
the very nature OF the two and from
the sinful contest on which they then
entered-is quoted repeatedly as the
divine declaration OF the ideal state Of
the sexes, and we are constantly told
that any attempt to change it is vio-
lation of the divine constitution. AS
well might one declare that the thorns
and briars which God said the earth
should bring forth on account OF mans
sin are an expression OF the ideal atti-
we violate the divine constitution In
filling the soil and improving its pro.
! ducts.
Again, the whole effort of Christ
was to restore to mankind what was
lost in Adam. For as in Adam all die
so in Christ shall all be made alive i
Christianity is completely to restore
that which was lost in Adam, how car
1t stop short of completely abolishing
the subordination OF woman, which the
Bible declares to DO the direct result O
sin, and leading us back to that Edenit
proclamation: Let then, have domin
ion over oil the earth?'
Paul wrote the letter to the Corin
thians, and all his other letters, no
from the platform OF the rights, bu
from the higher platform OF love. HI
declares that ne has. from the stand
point of justice, clear right to pay
ment for his labor, but refuses 1t; say
he has plain right to eat any kind o
meat, but declares that II meat caus,
his brother to offend he will eat nj
meat while the world stands. He ask
the Jews and Romans who may be In Co
rinth, not to confess Christ in Hebrew
or Latin unless an interpreter is pres
ent, tells the women 10 keep silence Il
the meetings and obey their husbands
forbids the slaves to contend for thei
freedom. but to choose service rather
He even says: Let no man seek hi
own but every man his neighbor'
good. and the argument fifty culmi
mates in the marvellous exaltation Q
love in the thirteenth chapter
"After reading Paurs letter as
whole, who would dream Of afflrmin
that Paul is writing. not an apothesi
of love, but a magma charta OF persona
rights? As we'll might we say that tn
fact of his taking no compensation
proof that he had no right to con
pensation for his labor; that his CON
mand to Jews and Romans not to cor
fess Christ at Corinth is proof that the
had no right to confess Christ in HI
brew or Latin. and that his prohibitio
of any man to seek his own is proof this
a man has no right to his property. 9
to say that Paul's command to wome
to keep silence in the church. and
obey their husbands, is proof that the
had no right to speech or liberty. B,
still more, as II Paul foresaw that h
words on the subsection OF wome
might be tortured into falsehood,
this very letter TO the Corinthiau
after mentioning the historical fact thl
the man is the head of the woman. I
adds: Nevertheless, neither is Il
man without the woman nor the wom1
without the man in the Lord, and
Galatians he declares unqualified
There is neither jew nor Greek, the
is neither bond or free. there is neith'
male nor female. for We are all one
| Christ Jasuai Onr chfldran will h.