riends and
advocates; but, so hard is it to remove old-time prejudice, it is
probable that many years may yet elapse before women will be allowed to
enjoy equal rights and privileges with men.

All great reforms, whether European or American, are of slow growth,
and are usually denounced as running counter to Scripture and common
sense; as witness the discussions on the disestablishment of the Irish
Church in Britain, and on the abolition of slavery in the United States;
both of which reforms were fiercely assailed as contrary to the Word of
God and reason, and declared to be in fact the offspring of infidelity.
But, like these two great reforms, when movements of vital importance
are once inaugurated, their arriving at perfection is but a matter of
time. Right is almost always sure to prevail in the end.

The claiming for women equality with men, not only in mental capacity,
but in civil and ecclesiastical rights, may shock the preconceived
opinions of many persons, and will probably subject the individual
advancing such views to the charge of fanaticism and false teaching; yet
we conceive the claim to be consistent with reason, justice, and the
Word of God; and its full recognition to be of vital importance to the
entire race of mankind. In the discussion of this question, the object
will not be to flatter women, or to give offense to men; but simply to
present the requirements of impartial justice with regard to a portion
of the human race, who, because of their sex, have for centuries been
held in a position little, if any, better than that of slaves; and who,
up to the present time, are deprived of their natural rights and
privileges by the laws of our own and other countries, professedly
civilized, enlightened, and Christian. While, therefore, the injustice
suffered, both in the past and the present, by women, will be briefly
presented in the following pages, there is still no wish to deprive the
"lords of creation" of any really God-appointed privilege. But should we
happen to come in contact with the selfishness and the usurped
prerogatives of men, we will not hesitate to expose what we conceive to
be grievous wrongs, because of their antiquity.

There is no human tie so sacred as that of marriage; and yet there is
no covenant so generally violated in some way or other by many of the
contracting parties. The alliance, it is true, may be continued, and
even observed, so far as the letter is concerned. But what