[Letter to] My Dear Friend
Contributors: Chapman, Maria Weston, 1806-1885, recipient
Series: Maria Weston Chapman Correspondence (1835-1885)
Published: 1839
Place of publication: Nantucket, [Mass.]
Language: eng
Format: [manuscript]
Subjects: Correspondence; Abolitionists; Women's rights; Antislavery movements; New England Non-Resistance Society; History
Notes: Holograph, signed.

Nathaniel Barney writes to Maria Weston Chapman: "I have not taken the pen to address thee on the subject of non-resistance, but rather offer a few remarks touching the position which is assigned to woman by some of the Brethren." The Non-Resistance Society "recognizes the equal responsibility of man & woman, & that high and holy duties attach to each, irrespective of sex." Nathaniel Barney agrees with this view and will not attend any meeting involving moral and religious duty which exclude women from participation. He quotes a declaration made by Jesus: "The Sabbath was made for man, & not man for the Sabbath." Nathaniel Barney gives his interpretation of St. Paul's remarks about women in I Corinthians. He praises Elizabeth Heyrick. He refers to the wife of Pontius Pilate. He notes that ministers generally oppose the equality of women. He talks about the difficulty of harmonizing different passages of the Bible.

On the verso, the delivery address is: Maria W. Chapman, Boston.