The Press., 1895-12-26
w. C. T. U.
Gods Women.
REV. ANNA H. SHAW, M. D.

geSGeQ 10 me Dy reaQlnS an artlcIo In Chicago newspaper, in which gentleman defined Gods Women. It has always seemed to me very remarkable how clear the definitions of men are in regard to women; their duties, their privileges, their responsibilities, their relations to each other, to men, to government, and now to God; and while they have been elucidating them for years, we have been patiently listening.
 The woman of the nineteenth century has taken to definition, and she has come to the conclusion that it may be quite possible for woman as we'll as man to comprehend the relations: of women to each other, to their home, to the church, to the state, and listen for the voice of God themselves, to know what the rela- tion of women to the Divine is; and, be- 1 lieving this, no divine, whether he bear the name of elder, deacon, priest, bishop, or. pope, shall define for the woman of the twentieth century her right to be and to become all God makes it possible for her to be.
 Every reform must pass through three stages of struggle. Ours has passed through the first, and we have gotten clear beyond it. We are just at the end of the second stage, and in the dawn of the next century will come the third stage upon us. The first stage, through which every reform must pass, is that of the assertion that it is impossible, it is impracticable, it is ridiculous, it is unthinkable; and they who begin in the beginning of reform, and bring the question before the people, must stand and bear all the scorn. all the loneliness, all the "aloneness" of great reformers in great questions, and like the Lord Jesus Christ, they must learn to tread the wfne-press alone. Womanhood has had its leaders, who have taken the stand and borne the scorn of 1t and now you and to-day are able to walk in 8 smooth path, to be welcomed by thous- ands, to be cheered for the sentiments for which they were scorned, and to be paid for doing that which they paid for the privilege of doing.
 We have passed that stage. The sec- ond stage of every reform is the religious phase of 1t, the stage in which 1t must meet all obstacles used by religionists, by theologians, and by class of people who are always afraid that religion born of God, emanating from God, the soul and life of the world, will be overthrown by a few of Gods simple human children :; and these people fearing that God-l speak reverently tly-shaH not be able to hold Ills own againat faw, think flaev
 sfqnd IT cr co and great principle and soul-life of Ills BelKg, and of our being. We have been passing through this stage for some time. We have proved>by the Bible that when God created man, male and female man, whom he called Adam, He gave all things, and bade this man Adam, male and female, to subdue all things, even the world, to themselves.
 The race has believed all this time that Adam was MT. Adam, and not Mrs. Adam at all. Eve was not Mrs. Adam because she was the wife of MT. Adam. She was no more Mrs. Adam because she was the wife of MT. Adam than Adam was MT. Adam because he was the husband o1 Mrs. Adam and neither of them alone was Adam. They were Adam together. You must have male and female Adam, and you have manhood and womanhood- humanity.
 The great divine who originated this subject for me was featuring before an Institute of Sacred Theology, in the city of Chicago. Before him was a class o1 students, male and female, and he was defining to the male students what they the males, might permit the females to do. "There are some things which women may be permitted to do." Now, we like that, don't we? Something that we may be permitted to do! "They may be per. mitted to dispense certain charities; they may be permitted to speak in prayer and class meetings; they may be permitted to do certain lines of church work. There are other things which women may moi be permitted to do. Among the things which they may not be permitted to do is to hold high official relation to the church to become its ministers and to dispense it's sacraments. These thingsmay women not be permitted to do."
 In referring to the relation of women tc the church, he spoke of the argument raised by many women, that it was the design of God that woman should be eli. gible to any position she could occupy The women go to the Bible to prove theil position, and the one woman upon whom 1 we have all laid our claim and our boast Is that grand old woman who was able tc cry out, in looking over Israel in it's hours I of peace, "There was trouble, there was N