The primal requisite for the more accurate understanding of the Bible is its translation from the past to the present tense. It has been studied as history, as the record of a remote past whose truth it has been well-nigh impossible to verify. It should be studied as a record of the present, the present experience of the individual and the race which is to ultimate in the perfect actualization of generic possibilities.
Like the tables of stone the Bible is written on both sides; or it has a letter which is its exterior and an interior spirit or meaning. The history which constitutes its letter illustrates those principles which constitute its meaning. The formless must be put into form to be apprehended. Mistaking the form for that substance which has been brought to the level of human apprehension by its means, is the error which constitutes the basis of dogmatic theology. Error in a premise compels error in conclusions. It is no wonder that woman's true relation to man and just position in the social fabric has remained unknown. A Moses on Pisgah's height is needed to-day to see and declare this promised land; and he must be revelator, first, to women themselves, for they especially need enlightenment upon the true nature of the Bible.
So long as they mistake superstition for religious revelation, they will be content with the position and opportunities assigned them by scholastic theology. They will remember and "keep their place" as thus defined. Their religious nature is warped and twisted through generations of denominational conservatism; which fact, by the way, is the greatest stumbling block in the path of equal suffrage to-day, and one to which the leaders of that movement have seemed unaccountably blind.
Thus woman's strongest foes have been of her own sex; and because her sense of duty and religious sentiment have been operative according to a false ideal, unintentionally women have been and will continue to be bigoted until they allow a higher ideal to penetrate their minds; until they see with the eye of reason and logic, as well as with the sentiment which has so long kept them the dependent class. The Bible from beginning to end teaches the equality of man and woman, their relation as the two halves of the unit, but also their distinctiveness in office. One cannot take the place of the other because of the fundamental nature of each. The work of each half in its own place is necessary to the perfect whole.
The man has more prominence than the woman in the Bible because the masculine characters in their succession represent man as a whole-- generic man. The exterior or male half is outermost, the interior or female half is covered by the outer. One is seen, the other has to be discerned, and can be discerned by following the harmonious relativity between the two halves of the unit. There is a straight line of ascent from the Adam to the Christ, within which is the straight line of ascent from the Eve to the Mary. The book of Genesis is the substance of the whole Bible, its meaning is the key to the meaning of the whole; it is the skeleton around which the rest is builded. If the remainder of the Old Testament were destroyed its substance could be reconstructed from Genesis. As the bony structure of the physical body is the framework which is filled in and rounded to symmetrical proportions by the muscular tissue, so Genesis is the framework which is symmetrically rounded and filled by the other books, which supply the necessary detail involved in basic principles.
The first chapter of Genesis is not the record of the creation of the world. It is a symbolical description of the composite nature of man, that being which is male and female in one. The personal pronoun "He" belongs to his exterior nature; and the characters which illustrate this nature and the order of its development are men. The pronoun "She" belongs to the interior nature, and all characters--fewer in number-- which illustrate it, are women. "Male and female created he them." The second chapter describes the nature and origin of the visible world, the nature and origin of the soul, their relation to each other and to this dual being. With the third chapter begins the symbolical illustration of the soul's existence--of its continuity of existence which is unbroken till its highest possibilities are actualized, till all the inherent capabilities of the dual being are fully manifested.
The leading characters of Genesis--Adam, Enos, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph--seven in number, represent the seven chief stages of the soul's existence which follow each other like the notes in the musical scale. It is our own experience that is there portrayed, both present and prospective. What we as individuals, and nations are now going through in our efforts for betterment, is told in the story of Genesis. More than this, the clue to assured betterment is found there also. This experience is on two lines which are always distinct but never separate--the male and the female. These are indissolubly bound together "from the beginning," the same principles, necessitating the same moral standards and spiritual ideals, and governing both. The largest measure of our individual and national perplexities and sufferings has come from the ignorant straining apart of that which "God hath joined together" and which we can not successfully and permanently "put asunder."
The remaining four books of the Pentateuch, supply the detail beginning between the Adam and Noah of Genesis, rounding out that part of the skeleton. The Exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, represents the soul's growth out of purely sense-consciousness by the help of spiritual perception. Moses is the personification of this faculty inherent in and operative from the eternal ego, the dual being, which is "the Lord" of the Bible. The Old Testament presents the outer or masculine nature of this "Lord" as the Jehovah. The New Testament presents the inner or feminine nature as the Virgin.
The children of Israel according to their tribes, represent the ranging characteristics or parts which make up the soul of self- consciousness. They are the "chosen people" because when the soul sees with its spiritual insight as well as with its sensuous outsight, it can, if it will, choose between the two as guides. Their experiences in the wilderness are what we are passing through to-day; for there is now a people who have made this choice and are following the higher leader in their work for the human race, which is the only satisfactory way of working for themselves. But this leader--spiritual perception--cannot put the soul in possession of its promised land--a higher state of existence or quality of self-consciousness. It sees the higher and leads in its direction; but understanding of fundamental, therefore unvarying and always applicable, principles is necessary for that realization which Is the attainment of the higher, or its possession.
Moses' death before crossing Jordan illustrates this limitation, which is also the limitation of earnest reformers to-day. They can see for us and point out that which awaits them; but they can never take those others "into the land." They must travel on their own feet.
Joshua, as the leader after Moses, is the personification of this understanding. He is Moses' sepulchre, for Moses is buried in him. Spiritual insight develops understanding which is its continuity. Hence the continuation of experiences under Joshua the "Saviour" through whom the soul takes "possession" of its higher state. In the "wilderness" of transition from the old to the new, mistakes occur which mar their consequences. In this illustration of the Pentateuch, Miriam "speaks against" Moses, is stricken with leprosy and "set without the camp," and the people cannot journey till all is "brought in again."
Woman's intellectual development after ages of repression, has resulted with many of the sex, in an agnosticism which, at first liberal, has grown to be a dogmatic materialism. She "speaks against" spiritual insight and its revelations. In forsaking her dogmas and creeds she has forsaken religion. She is to be "brought in again"-- brought to see that religion is of the soul and is individual; while dogma and doctrine are from the sensuous out-side alone. The one tends to true freedom, the other generates bondage. Broadly, women of to-day are of two classes; those who are still held by the conservatism of creeds, and those who have gone to the other extreme through the exhilaration of intellectual activity. Both classes must meet upon a common ground, recognition of fundamental principles and effort to apply them--before the New Testament can become the practical ethical standard.
An outline of a subject so vast and profound as the nature and meaning of the Pentateuch, must necessarily be more or less unsatisfactory. It cannot be detached from the rest of the Bible which is a complete organic body. Its meaning is consecutive and harmonious with first premises, from beginning to end. The obvious inconsistencies and absurdities involve only its letter, which may or may not be true as history without affecting the truth of the book itself which lies in its meaning.
The projectors of "The Woman's Bible" must not avoid the whirlpool of a masculine Bible only, to split upon the rock of a feminine Bible alone. This would be an attempt to separate what is intensely joined together and defeat the end desired. The book is the soul's guide in the fulfilling of its destiny--that destiny which is involved in its origin; and the soul, in sleep, is sexless. Its faculties and powers are differentiated are masculine and feminine.
If the question is asked--"What is your authority for this view of the Bible?" the answer is "I have none but the internal evidence of the book itself. When joined it is self-evident truth, requiring no external authority to give it support."
U. N. G.
APPENDIX.
As the Revising Committee refer to a woman's translation of the Bible as their ultimate authority, for the Greek, Latin and Hebrew text, a brief notice of this distinguished scholar is important:
Julia Smith's translation of the Bible stands out unique among all translations. It is the only one ever made by a woman, and the only one, it appears, ever made by man or woman without help. Wyclif, "the morning star of the Reformation," made a translation from the Vulgate, assisted by Nicholas of Hereford. He was not sufficiently familiar with Hebrew and Greek to translate from those tongues. Coverdale's translation was not done alone. In his dedication to the king he says he has humbly followed his interpreters and that under correction. Tyndale, in his translation, had the assistance of Frye, of William Roye, and also of Miles Coverdale. Julia Smith translated the whole Bible absolutely alone, without consultation with any one. And this not once, but five times--twice from the Hebrew, twice from the Greek and once from the Latin. Literalness was one end she kept constantly in view, though this does not work so well with the Hebrew tenses. But she did not mind that. Frequently her wording is an improvement, or brings one closer to the original than the common translation. Thus in I. Corinthians viii, 1, of the King James translation, we have: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." Julia Smith version: "Knowledge puffs up and love builds the house." She uses "love" in place of "charity" every time. And her translation was made nearly forty years before the revised version of our day, which also does the same. Tyndale, in his translation nearly three hundred and seventy-five years ago, made the same translation of this word; but Julia Smith did not know that and never saw his translation. This word "charity" was one of the words that Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, charged Tyndale with mistranslating. The other two words were "priest" and "church," Tyndale calling priests "seniors," and church, "congregation." Both Julia Smith and the revised version call them priests and church. And he gives the word, "Life" for "Eve" "And Adam will call his wife's name Life, for she was the mother of all living."
One more illustration: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem." King James translation. "Now when Jesus was born, etc., behold there came wise men from the sunrisings to Jerusalem." Julia Smith version. She claims to have made a perfectly literal translation, and according to the verdict of competent authorities, Hebrew scholars who have examined her Bible, she has done so. Her work has had the endorsement of various learned men. A Hebrew professor of Harvard College (Prof. Young) called on her soon after her Bible was issued and examined it. He was much astonished that she had translated o correctly without consulting some learned man. He expressed surprise that she should have put the tenses as she did. She said to him: "You acknowledge that I have translated according to the Hebrew idiom?" He replied: "O yes, you have translated literally." That was just what she aimed at, to get an exact literal translation, without regard to smoothness. She received many letters from scholars, all speaking of the exact, or literal translation. Some people have criticised this feature, which is the great merit of the book.
Julia Smith was led to make the translation at the time of the Miller excitement in 1843, when the world was to come to a sudden termination; when the saints were preparing their robes for ascension into the empyrean, and wicked unbelievers (the vast majority) were to descend as far the other way. She and her family were much interested in Miller's predictions, and she was anxious to see for herself if, in the original Hebrew text of the Bible there was any warrant for Miller's predictions. So she set to work and studied Hebrew, having previously translated the New Testament, and also the Septuagint from the Greek. So absorbed did she become in her work that the dinner bell was unheeded, and she would undoubtedly have many times gone to bed both dinnerless and supperless had not the family called her off from her work. Once a. week she met with the family and a friend and neighbor, Miss Emily Moseley, to read over and discuss what she had translated during the week. This practice was kept up for several years. When she came to publish the work, (the manuscripts of which had lain in the garret some twenty-five or thirty years) the cashier of the Hartford bank, where the sisters had kept their money, told her she was very foolish to throw away her money printing this Bible; that she would never sell a copy. She told him it didn't matter whether she did or not; that she was not doing it to make money; that she found more satisfaction in spending her money in this way than in spending it all on dress. Thanks to our more enlightened age, this translation did not meet with the opposition the early translators had to contend with. The scholars of those days thought learning should be confined to a select few; it was, in their view, dangerous to put the Bible into a language the common people could understand, especially women. Here is what one Henry de Knyghton, a learned monk of that day, said: "This Master John Wiclif hath translated the gospel out of Latin into English, which Christ had intrusted with the clergy and doctors of the Church that they might minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to the state of the times and the wants of men. But now the gospel is made vulgar and more open to the laity, and even to women who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy and those of the best understanding." To say nothing of reading the Bible, what would this learned man have thought of a woman translating it, and five times at that! It would seem as if the bare suggestion must have stirred his dry bones with indignation.
King James appointed fifty-four men of learning to translate the Bible. Seven of them died and forty-seven carried the work on. Compare this corps of workers with one little woman performing the Herculean task with without one suggestion or word of advice from mortal man! This Bible is ten by seven inches, and is printed in large, clear type. There are two styles of binding, cloth and sheepskin. The cloth binding was $2.50 at the time it was issued and while Julia Smith lived, and the other was $3.00, but as they are getting scarcer the price may have gone up. They will be a rarity in the next century and will be much sought after by bibliomaniacs, to say nothing of scholars who will want it for its real value. Julia Smith had the plates of her Bible preserved, but where they are now is more than I know. It was published by the American Publishing Company, of Hartford, in 1876.
Julia Evelina Smith, of Glastonbury, Conn., was one of five sisters of a somewhat notable family, the father and mother both having strong traits of character and marked individuality. The mother, Hannah Hickok, was a fine linguist and mathematician. She once made an almanac for her own convenience, almanacs being rather scarce in those days. She could tell the time of night whenever she happened to awake by the position of the stars. She was an omnivorous reader and a great student, and in those days before the invention of stoves, her father, in order to allow her the requisite retirement to gratify her studious tastes, built her a small glass room. In the days of the Abby and Julia Smith excitement, when they refused to pay their taxes, some writer was so wicked as to say that Julia Smith's grandfather shut her mother up in a glass cage. Seated in this glass enclosure, placed in a south room, with the sun's rays beating down upon her, as upon a plant in a conservatory, she could pursue her studies to her heart's content. She was an only child and adored by her father; and so much did she think of him that in his last illness, when she was away at school, she rode four hundred miles on horseback in order to see him before he died.
Julia Smith's father, the Rev. Zephaniah H. Smith, a graduate of Yale, was settled in Newtown, Conn., near South Britain, where he married Hannah Hickok. He preached but four years, resigning his position on the ground that the gospel should be free; that it was wrong to preach for money--ideas promulgated by the Sandemanians of those days, the followers of Robert Sandeman, a Scotchman, who organized the sect in England and in this country, it having originated with his father-in- law, John Glas, the sect being called either Glassites or Sandemanians, the former being given the preference in Scotland and England. The ideas of these people were followed out by the Smith family, and at Abby and Julia Smith's funeral, as at the funerals of those who had gone before them, there was no officiating minister and no services. Simply a chapter of the Bible was read, and one or two who wished, made remarks. On a fly-leaf of the Bible Julia Smith read every day was written the request that she should be buried by her sisters in Glastonbury, and with no name on the tombstone but that of her own maiden name. This request was followed out. The names of the Smith sisters are so unique, and inasmuch as they have never been known to be printed correctly, it may not be out of place to give them here, preceding them by those of their parents, making a short family record for future reference:
Zephaniah H. Smith, born August 19, 1758. Died February 1, 1836.
Hannah Hickok, born August 7, 1767. Died December 27, 1850
They were married May 31, 1756.
DAUGHTERS OF THE ABOVE
Hancy Zephina, born March 16, 1787. Died June 30, 1871.
Cyrinthia Sacretia, born May 18, 1788. Died August 19, 1864.
Laurilla Aleroyla, born November 26, 1789. Died March 19, 1857.
Julia Evelina, born May 27, 1792. Died March 6, 1886.
Abby Hadassah, born June 1, 1797. Died July 23, 1878.
Julia was educated at Mrs. Emma Willard's far-famed seminary at Troy, New York. Abby, the youngest of the family, was the one who added to their fame, when, in November, 1873, at a town meeting in Glastonbury, she delivered a speech against taxation without representation. She had just attended the first Woman's Congress in New York, and on her way back said she was going to make a speech on taxation; that she should apply to the authorites {sic} to speak in town hall on town meeting day. She and Julia owned considerable property in Glastonbury and their taxes were being increased while those of their neighbors (men) were not. She applied to the authorities, but they would not let her speak in the hall, so she spoke from a wagon outside to a crowd of people. This speech was printed in a Hartford paper (the Courant) and was copied all over the country, and the cry: "Abby Smith and her cows" was caught up everywhere. Abby Smith's quaint, simple speeches attracted attention, and the sale of the cows at the sign-post aroused sympathy, and from that time on their fame grew apace. The hitherto light mail- bags of Glastonbury came loaded with mail matter from all quarters for the Smith sisters. And this continued for some years, or till the death of Abby in 1878, which was followed by the marriage of Julia the following spring, and the discontinuance of the sale of the cows at the public sign-post. She married Mr. Amos A. Parker, both being eighty- seven years of age. Julia Smith sold the old family mansion in Glastonbury and bought a house at Parkville, Hartford. She died there in 1886 and her husband died in 1893, nearly one hundred and two years of age.
F. E. B.
Advertisements from original, Vol. 1
EIGHTY YEARS AND MORE
BEING THE REMINISCENCES OF
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
(1815-1897.)
This new work by our distinguished countrywoman is a 12mo of 475 pp., complete in one volume, cloth bound, with eleven portraits. Price $2.00.
I Dedicate This Volume To
Susan B. Anthony,
My Steadfast Friend For Half A Century.
CONTENTS.
Chapter.
I.
Childhood.
II.
School Days.
III.
Girlhood.
IV.
Life at Peterboro.
V.
Our Wedding journey.
VI.
Homeward Bound.
VII.
Motherhood.
VIII.
Boston and Chelsea.
IX.
The First Woman's Rights Convention.
X.
Susan B. Anthony.
XI.
Susan B. Anthony (Continued).
XII.
My First Speech Before a Legislature.
XIII.
Reforms and Mobs.
XIV.
Views on Marriage and Divorce.
XV.
Women as Patriots.
XVI.
Pioneer Life in Kansas--Our Newspaper, "The Revolution."
XVII.
Lyceums and Lecturers.
XVIII.
Westward Ho!
XIX.
The Spirit Of '76.
XX.
Writing "The History of Woman Suffrage."
XXI.
In the South of France.
XXII.
Reforms and Reformers in Great Britain.
XXIII.
Woman and Theology.
XXIV.
England and France Revisited.
XXV.
The International Council of Women.
XXVI.
My Last Visit to England.
XXVII.
Sixtieth Anniversary of the Class of 1832--The Woman's Bible.
XXVIII.
My Eightieth Birthday.
PREFACE
The interest my family and friends have always manifested in the narration of my early and varied experiences, and their earnest desire to have them in permanent form for the amusement of another generation, moved me to publish this volume. I am fully aware that its contents have no especial artistic merit, being composed partly of extracts from my diary, a few hasty sketches of my travels and people I have met, and of my opinions on many social questions.
The story of my private life as the wife of an earnest reformer, as an enthusiastic housekeeper, proud of my skill in every department of domestic economy, and as the mother of seven children., may amuse and benefit the reader.
The incidents of my public career as a leader in the most momentous reform yet launched upon the world--the emancipation of woman--will be found in "The History of Woman Suffrage."
New York City, September, 1897 Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Mrs. Stanton in this book, in her inimitable way, relates anecdotes of, and experiences with, a number of the leading women, statesmen, authors, and reformers of the last sixty years. The following are a few names selected at random from the
INDEX OF NAMES.
Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward.
Bradlaugh, Hon. Charles, M. P.
Bright, Hon. Jacob M. P.
Bright, Hon. John, M. P.
Browning, Robert.
Bryant, William Cullen.
Curtis, George William.
Cobbe, Frances Power.
Clarkson, Thomas.
Charming, Rev. William Ellery.
Carlisle, Lord and Lady.
Byron, Lady.
Cushman, Charlotte.
Dana, Charles A.
Douglass, Frederick.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
Fry, Elizabeth.
Fuller, Margaret.
Garrison, William Lloyd.
George, Henry.
Grant, General Ulysses S
Greeley, Horace.
Grevy, President Jules.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell.
Hyacinthe, Pere.
Ingersoll, Robert G.
Kingsley, Canon Charles.
Krapotkine, Prince.
Lowell, James Russell.
Martineau, Harriet.
Mill, John Stuart.
Mott, Lucretia.
O'Connell, Daniel.
Owen, Robert Dale.
Parker, Rev. Theodore.
Parnell, Hon. Charles Stuart, M. P.
Phillips, Wendell.
Seward, Governor William H.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe.
Smith, Hon. Gerrit.
Stanton, Hon. Henry B.
Stepniak.
Stone, Lucy.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher.
Sumner, Hon. Charles.
Whittier, John G.
Willard, Emma.
Willard, Frances E.
See Press Comments on following pages.
This book will be sent, mail prepaid, on receipt of price, by
European Publishing Company,
W Broad Street, New York City.
PRESS COMMENTS.
It is a very readable book.--Albany Times-Union.
The Reminiscences are delightful.--The Louisville Dispatch.
The tale is as interesting as any romance or drama.--N. Y. Mail and Express.
A bright, entertaining tale, and one which contains much valuable information.--N. Y. Herald.
We know of no other autobiography which will command more profound interest.--The Rocky Mountain News.
It is the life story of a genuine American woman and will excite wide interest.--The Minneapolis Tribune.
A breezy narrative of a long and active life, told with spirit and humor.--The Woman's Journal.
Every sentence in this book would serve as a text for a chapter were merited amplification practicable.--Ithaca Journal.
The book is illustrated with a number of excellent portraits of the author, and is full of interest.--New London Day.
A well written account of a long and busy life. A highly interesting biography and a delightful book, which is well worth reading.--N. Y. Evening World.
A human document of no small interest and value. A straightforward and piquant story of a noteworthy personality.--The Chicago Tribune.
A combination of several kinds of charm. It is frankly personal. It is impossible not to wish there had been very much more of each chapter. --N. Y. Evening Sun.
It is unexpectedly amusing, as well as instructive, some of the author's experiences being narrated in a most realistic and delightful manner.--Washington Post.
Two chapters of this interesting autobiography are devoted to Miss Susan B. Anthony, the friend and fellow-laborer in the field of Woman's Rights with Mrs. Stanton.--Jeannette L. Gilder in N. Y. Sunday Journal.
It is a book well worth reading and shows what one woman may do with a purpose and a will back of it. The personal part of the Reminiscences are of much interest, and force admiration for the tactful, courageous and able woman.--Pittsburg Post.
It is one of the most important books of the year, Particularly to the women of this country. It is absorbingly interesting. The trouble that the reader encounters is that he finds it hard work to lay the book down.--Boston Daily Advertiser.
The story of the life of this great American woman will be read with much interest in many homes. It is a book of much artistic merit and her Reminiscences cannot be other than interesting. The book throughout is delightfully entertaining--Troy Times.
A most charming and interesting picture of a wife, mother and a friend. Every one who has seen or heard of this leader of the woman question of the century will rejoice that such a book has been given to the world.--Boston Investigator.
It is not principally the record of her public career as a leader in the movement for the emancipation of woman, but rather the story of her private life which is set forth in this volume. Especially interesting are those reminiscences that deal with the author's early days.--N. Y. Sun.
This book abounds in interesting experiences. The style is simple and amusing, showing the writer possessed of a keen sense of humor and the fitness of things, as well as justice. It is particularly interesting to women whether they sympathize with the views of the writer or otherwise.--Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book and never lacking in interest. It will be an inspiration for American girls to read its chapters. She gives graphic pictures. The volume contains several fine portraits. The book is racy and pleasing, whether the reader agrees with the author in all things or not.--Chicago Inter-Ocean.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton's recollections, covering eighty years, easily come first in the array of new noteworthy books, because of the surprise they will afford the public, having been almost unheralded; because of the impressive and protracted public career of the author; because of her inflexible devotion to and sincerity in a cause long unpopular, and because, moreover, Mrs. Stanton is an American. This is a most interesting volume.--N. Y. Times.
Eighty Years and More.
Being the Reminiscences of ELIZABETH CADY STANTON. Complete In one volume. 12mo, 475 pp. Cloth, eleven portraits. Price $2.00.
PRESS COMMENTS--(Continued).
The story of Mrs. Stanton's life is one which interests many thousands in this country, and which will also be read with interest in other lands, for her reputation as a reformer and writer is international; her strong personal characteristics give to this autobiographical work a charm of its own. It contains some of the most entertaining reminiscences that have been given to the public. It is a book which is sure to be widely read.--Worcester Spy.
The personal element is the fascinating part of the book which holds one's attention and keeps him reading to the end. It is a bright, breezy, and radical turn-the-world-upside-down book. We do not like its religious tone. We do not like the author's occult theosophy. We do not like her sociology, with its good word for the windmill logic of the speculative Bellamy. We do not like her views of marriage and divorce. But when all is said, and with all these wide differences lying between us to qualify our enjoyment of this book, we have enjoyed it much. Mrs. Stanton is a first-rate raconteuse and fills her pages with amusing recitals and brilliant encounters--N. Y. Independent.
TO WOMAN SUFFRAGE CLUBS: We will supply Clubs with single copies of this book at $2 per copy, postage prepaid. We will forward five (5) copies of this book to any address, express charges prepaid, on the receipt of six dollars ($6.00).
We Wish An Agent In Every Woman Suffrage Club. Correspondence with those who desire to become Agents solicited.
SPEECHES, LETTERS AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
OF
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
12mo, 500 pp., cloth, five portraits. Price $2.00.
This work will be similar in style and binding to Eighty Years and More, will contain valuable editorial notes by Theodore Stanton, A. M., and will be published in January, 1899.
New York
European Publishing Company
And Paris
THE WOMAN'S BIBLE.
COMPLETE IN TWO PARTS.
REVISING COMMITTEE.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford.
Clara Bewick Colby.
Rev. Augusta Chapin.
Mary Seymour Howell.
Josephine K. Henry.
Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll.
Sarah A. Underwood.
Catharine F. Stebbins.
Ellen Battelle Dietrick.
Ursula N. Gestefeld.
Lillie Devereux Blake.
Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Rev. Olympia Brown.
Frances Ellen Burr.
Clara B. Neyman.
Helen H. Gardener.
Charlotte Beebe Wilbour.
Lucinda B. Chandler.
Louisa Southworth.
Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland.
Ursula M. Bright, England.
Irma von Troll-Borostyani, Austria.
Priscilla Bright McLaren, Scotland.
Isabelle Bogelot, France.
PART I.
A 12mo, 160 pp. paper. Third American and Second English Edition. Twentieth Thousand. Price 50 Cents.
It contains Comments on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lillie Devereux Blake, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Clara Bewick Colby, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Ursula N. Gestefeld, Louisa Southworth, Frances Ellen Burr.
PART II.
A 12mo, 217 pp. paper. First American Edition, Ten Thousand. Price 50 Cents.
It contains Comments on The Old and New Testaments from Joshua to Revelation, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Louisa Southworth, Lucinda B. Chandler, Anonymous, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Clara B. Neyman, Frances Ellen Burr, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, and Letters and Comments in an Appendix, by Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Mary A. Livermore, Frances E. Willard, Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll, Irma von Troll- Borostyani, Mrs. Jacob Bright, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Anonymous, Susan B. Anthony, Edna D. Cheney, Sarah A. Underwood, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Josephine K. Henry, Ursula N. Gestefeld, Catharine F. Stebbins, Alice Stone Blackwell, Matilda Joslyn Gage, E. T. M., Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others, and the resolution passed by the National-American Woman Suffrage Association, repudiating "The Woman's Bible," together with the discussion thereon.
See Press Comments on The Woman's Bible on next page.
PRESS COMMENTS
ON THE
WOMAN'S BIBLE
The comments are right up to date.--Cincinnati Tribune.
The most humorous book of the year.--The Hartford Seminary Record.
Of all possible books this is perhaps the most extraordinary possible. --The Week, Toronto, Canada.
A very clever analysis of passages relating to the sex.--Public Opinion, N. Y. City.
The new Woman's Bible is one of the remarkable productions of the century.--Denver News.
A unique edition of the Scripture. An extraordinary presentment of Holy Writ!--Denver Times.
The work is unique. Its aim is to help the cause of woman in her battle for equality.--Beacon, Akron, Ohio.
Robert G. Ingersoll is the only person on earth capable of a work equal to Mrs. Stanton's sensation, "The Woman's Bible."--Chicago Times- Herald.
The attack of the new woman on the King James Bible will be observed with interest where it does not alarm. But let "The Woman's Bible" and the truth prevail. It may be that Lot himself was turned into a pillar of salt.--Chicago Post.
It has come at last, as it was bound to come--the emancipated woman's Bible. The wonder is it has been delayed so long. This is not a blasphemous book.--The Egyptian Gazette, Alexandria, Egypt.
The "new woman" has broken out in a fresh direction and published "The Woman's Bible." In it the conduct of Adam, the father of the race, is described as "to the last degree dastardly."--Westminster Budget, London, Eng.
One of the most striking protests devised by woman for the purpose of showing her rejection of the conditions under which our mothers lived. It is evidently the mission of "The Woman's Bible" to exalt and dignify woman.--The Morning, London, Eng.
We have read some of the passages of the commentary prepared for "the Woman's Bible" by that very accomplished American woman and Biblical student, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They are a great deal more satisfactory than many of the comments upon the same texts that we have read in other and more pretentious Commentaries. Mrs. Stanton's interpretative remarks are shrewd and sensible--Editorial N. Y. Sun.
Of man-made commentaries on the Bible we have had sufficient to stock a library and yet they have left room for this commentary by women. These revisers have proved the need of an intelligent examination of the Scriptures from the woman's point of view. The lady commentators are not wanting in a sense of humor--the quality in which biblical critics of the male sex are usually unhappily deficient. There is much that is very funny and very interesting in this new commentary upon the Bible.--The Daily Chronicle, London, Eng.
The Standard says, "The Sisterhood of Advanced Women has taken a bold step towards emancipation. It has long groaned under certain implications of servitude contained in a few passages of Scripture, and has, therefore, determined to abolish these disabilities by publishing 'The Woman's Bible.'" It is not only the type that is new. New readings of old passages are given, and the volume contains suggestions to show that the verses about women's inferiority really mean the opposite of the ordinary acceptation. In it Eve is rather praised than otherwise for having eaten the apple. It is pointed out that Satan did not tempt her with an array of silks and satins, and gold watches, or even a cycling costume--the things which some people think most seductive to her descendants--but with the offer of knowledge; a man being of such a lethargic and groveling nature that a similar lofty ambition never entered his mind. Besides, if the fruit was not to be eaten, Eve should have been informed of the fact at first hand, and not through an agent.--Pall Mall Gazette, London, Eng.
The above books will be sent, mail prepaid, on receipt of price, by
European Publishing Company,
68 Broad Street, New York City.
THE WOMAN'S BIBLE
PART II
COMMENTS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
FROM
JOSHUA TO REVELATION
"OH! Rather give me commentators plain,
Who with no deep researches vex the brain;
Who from the dark and doubtful love to run.
And hold their glimmering tapers to the sun."
--The Parish Register.
1898.
The Bible in its teachings degrades Woman from Genesis to Revelations.
REVISING COMMITTEE.
"We took sweet counsel together."-Ps. Iv., 14.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford,
Clara Bewick Colby,
Rev. Augusta Chapin,
Ursula N. Gestefeld,
Mary Seymour Howell,
Josephine K. Henry,
Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll,
Sarah A. Underwood,
Ellen Battelle Dietrick,[FN#4]
Lillie Devereux Blake,
Matilda Joslyn Gage,
Rev. Olympia Brown,
Frances Ellen Burr,
Clara B. Neyman,
Helen H. Gardener,
Charlotte Beebe Wilbour,
Lucinda B. Chandler,
Catharine F. Stebbins,
Louisa Southworth.
[FN#4] Deceased.
FOREIGN MEMBERS.
Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland,
Ursula M. Bright, England,
Irma Von Troll-Borostyani, Austria,
Priscilla Bright Mclaren, Scotland,
Isabelle Bogelot, France.
COMMENTS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
FROM
JOSHUA TO REVELATION, BY
Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Ellen Battelle Dietrick,
Louisa Southworth,
Lucinda B. Chandler,
Anonymous,
Matilda Joslyn Gage,
Frances Ellen Burr,
Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford,
Clara B. Neyman.
APPENDIX.
LETTERS AND COMMENTS BY
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Josephine K. Henry, Frances E. Willard, Eva A. Ingersoll, Mary A. Livermore, Irma von Troll-Borostyani, Mrs. Jacob Bright, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Anonymous, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Ednah D. Cheney, Sarah A. Underwood, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Alice Stone Blackwell, Ursula N. Gestefeld, E. M., Matilda Joslyn Gage, Sarah M. Perkins, and Catharine F. Stebbins.
Resolution
Of
National-American Woman Suffrage Association repudiating "The Woman's Bible," and Speech of Susan B. Anthony.
Dedicated To The Memory Of
Ellen Battelle Dietrick,
In Whose Death We Lost The Ablest Member Of Our Revising Committee.
PREFACE TO PART II.
The criticisms on "The Woman's Bible" are as varied as they are unreasonable. Both friend and foe object to the title. When John Stuart Mill wrote his "Subjection of Woman" there was a great outcry against that title. He said that proved it to be a good one. The critics said: "It will suggest to women that they are in subjection and make them rebellious." "That," said he, "is just the effect I wish to produce." Rider Haggard's "She" was denounced so universally that every one read it to see who "She" was. Thus the title in both cases called attention to the book.
The critics say that our title should have been "Commentaries on the Bible." That would have been misleading, as the book simply contains short comments on the passages referring to woman. Some say that it should have been "The Women of the Bible;" but several books with that title have already been published. The Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage says: "You might as well have a 'Shoemakers' Bible'; the Scriptures apply to women as we'll as to men." As the Bible treats women as of a different class, inferior to man or in subjection to him, which is not the case with shoemakers, Mr. Talmage's criticism has no significance.
"There's nothing so becomes a man,
As modest stillness and humility."
Another clergyman says: "It is the work of women, and the devil." This is a grave mistake. His Satanic Majesty was not invited to join the Revising Committee, which consists of women alone. Moreover, he has been so busy of late years attending Synods, General Assemblies and Conferences, to prevent the recognition of women delegates, that he has had no time to study the languages and "higher criticism."
Other critics say that our comments do not display a profound knowledge of Biblical history or of the Greek and Hebrew languages. As the position of woman in all religions is the same, it does not need a knowledge of either Greek, Hebrew or the works of scholars to show that the Bible degrades the Mothers of the Race. Furthermore, "The Woman's Bible" is intended for readers who do not care for, and would not be convinced by, a learned, technical work of so-called "higher criticism."
The Old Testament makes woman a mere after-thought in creation; the author of evil; cursed in her maternity; a subject in marriage; and all female life, animal and human, unclean. The Church in all ages has taught these doctrines and acted on them, claiming divine authority therefor. "As Christ is the head of the Church, so is man the head of woman." This idea of woman's subordination is reiterated times without number, from Genesis to Revelations; and this is the basis of all church action.
Parts I. and II. of "The Woman's Bible" state these dogmas in plain English, as agreeing fully with Bible teaching and church action. And yet women meet in convention and denounce "The Woman's Bible," while clinging to the Church and their Scriptures. The only difference between us is, we say that these degrading ideas of woman emanated from the brain of man, while the Church says that they came from God.
Now, to my mind, the Revising Committee of "The Woman's Bible," in denying divine inspiration for such demoralizing ideas, shows a more worshipful reverence for the great Spirit of All Good than does the Church. We have made a fetich of the Bible long enough. The time has come to read it as we do all other books, accepting the good and rejecting the evil it teaches.
"There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds."
Hon. Andrew D. White, formerly President of Cornell University, shows us in his great work, "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology," that the Bible, with its fables, allegories and endless contradictions, has been the great block in the way of civilization. All through the centuries scholars and scientists have been imprisoned, tortured and burned alive for some discovery which seemed to conflict with a petty text of Scripture. Surely the immutable laws of the universe can teach more impressive and exalted lessons than the holy books of all the religions on earth.
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
January, 1898.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
Joshua ii.
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into a harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel to search out the country.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were.
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate when it was dark, that the men went out; whither the men went I wot not; pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
This book gives an account of the final entrance of the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua was the successor of Moses, and performed the same miracle in parting the waters of the Jordan that Moses did to enable his people to pass through the Red Sea. He was seven years fighting his way into the land of Canaan, where he spent the closing years of his life in peace.
There is mention of two women only in this book, though a casual reference is again made to the daughters of Zelophehad, as described in a former chapter.
In saving the spies from their pursuers, Rahab made them promise that when Jericho fell into the hands of Joshua, they would save her and her kinsmen. From the text, it seems that Rahab fully understood the spirit of her time, and with keen insight and religious fervor, marked characteristics of women, she readily entered into the plans of the great general of Israel.
Rahab was supposed to have been a great sinner, her life in many respects questionable; but seeing that victory was with the Israelites, she cast her lot with them. From the text and what we know of humanity in general, it is difficult to decide Rahab's real motive, whether to serve the Lord by helping Joshua to take the land of Canaan, or to save her own life and that of her kinsmen. It is interesting to see mat in all national emergencies, leading men are quite willing to avail themselves of the craft and cunning of women, qualities uniformly condemned when used for their own advantage.
There is no more significance, as one of our critics says, in commentating on the myths of the Bible than on Aesop's fables. The difference, however, is this: that in the latter case we admit that they were written by a man; while in the former, they are claimed to have been inspired by God. Though at variance with all natural laws, it is claimed that our eternal salvation depends on believing in the plenary inspiration of the myths of the Scriptures; as the "higher criticisms," written by learned scholars and scientists, are not familiar to women, our comments in plain English may rid them of some of their superstitions.
Though the injustice to woman is the blackest page in sacred history, the distinguished Biblical writers take no note of it whatever. Even Hon. Andrew D. White, though he devotes several pages of his work to the statue of Lot's wife in salt, vouchsafes no criticism on the position of Lot's wife in the flesh, nor of Lot's outrageous treatment of his daughters. The wonder is that women themselves should either believe that such unholy proceedings were inspired by God, or make a fetich of the very book which is responsible for their civil and social degradation.
Joshua x.
11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
12 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
13 And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.
According to the sacred fabulist, Joshua surpassed Moses in the wonders which he performed. In taking the city of Jericho, as recorded in Chapter viii., he did not use the ordinary enginery of war, but told his soldiers to blow a simultaneous blast upon their trumpets, while all the people with united shouts should produce such a violent concussion of the air as to bring down the walls of the city. He not only subsidized the atmosphere to overpower his enemies, but he commanded the sun and the moon to stand still to lengthen the day and to lighten the night until this victory was complete.
It seems that the Lord was so well pleased with Joshua's refined military tactics that he suspended the laws of the vast solar system to vindicate the superior prowess of one small tribe on the small planet called the earth. The Lord also resorted to more material and forcible means, sending down tremendous hailstones from heaven, and thus with one fell blow destroyed more of his enemies than the children of Israel did with the sword.
There are no events recorded in secular history that strain the faith of the reader to such a degree as the feats of Joshua. Moses, with his manna and pillar of light in the wilderness and his dazzling pyrotechnics on Mount Sinai, fades into insignificance before these marvellous manifestations by Joshua, with the Canaanites, Jericho, and the sun and moon under his feet. Though teaching the people that all these fables are facts, still the Church condemns prestidigitators, soothsayers, fortune tellers, Spiritualists, witches, and the assumptions of Christian Scientists.
Joshua xv.
16 And Catch said, He that smiteth Kirjathesepher and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
17 And Othniel, the son of Kenez, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.
18 And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou?
19 Who answered, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs.
In giving Achsah her inheritance it is evident that the judges of Israel had not forgotten the judgment of the Lord in the case of Zelophehad's daughters. He said to Moses, "When a father dies leaving no sons, the inheritance shall go to the daughters. Let this henceforth be an ordinance in Israel." Very good as far as it goes; but in case there were sons, justice demanded that daughters should have an equal share in the inheritance.
As the Lord has put it into the hearts of the women of this Republic to demand equal rights in everything and everywhere, and as He is said to be immutable and unchangeable, it is fair to infer that Moses did not fully comprehend the message, and in proclaiming it to the great assembly he gave his own interpretation, just as our judges do in this year of the Lord 1898.
Achsah's example is worthy the imitation of the women of this Republic. She did not humbly accept what was given her, but bravely asked for more. We should give to our rulers, our sires and sons no rest until all our rights--social, civil and political--are fully accorded. How are men to know what we want unless we tell them? They have no idea that our wants, material and spiritual, are the same as theirs; that we love justice, liberty and equality as well as they do; that we believe in the principles of self-government, in individual rights, individual conscience and judgment, the fundamental ideas of the Protestant religion and republican government.
