These are questions which deserve to be answered.  It is patent to every one that this attempt to secure the ballot for woman is a revolt against the position and sphere assigned to woman by God himself.  It is a revolt against the holiest duties enjoined upon woman.  It is an attempt to reorganize society upon a new basis; to change the relations of men and women; to secure the millennium by a vote, and by majorities to do away with the rule of God.  The Bible declares that the headship of the house devolves on man.  Man is lawgiver.  Woman is not slave:  she is helpmeet; the sharer of man’s joys and sorrows; the light of his home, if there be any light in his home; the solace of his life, if his life have solace; the mother of his children, if children there be.  Now, as then, woman, in her natural state, before she makes the attempt to unsex herself, and render herself a monster, finds it in her nature to look to man as lawmaker, and expects to submit to his rule in the home.  We do not say that all women submit cheerfully to this rule, for there are some who do not.  But when this is the case, from the nature of things, happiness takes its flight, the marriage-bed is defiled, woman becomes an outlaw in her heart, and the two bound together by a chain rather than by the silken cord of love, are candidates for a peaceable divorce or a continuous battle.

The advocates of the ballot for woman hope through its aid to secure an overthrow of this rule, or escape from this so-called bondage.  They demand a change in public sentiment regarding the sphere woman is to fill, securing to her an equality before the law, in representation, in privileges, and in wages.

In other words, there are women who hope and expect to do away with the disabilities incident to the female portion of the community, and by education and culture, obtain for woman this same strength, this same ability to study, to think, to work, and to plan, that is enjoyed by man.  In short, some believe that a woman can be so changed that she can, for all practical purposes, get on without man’s help or protection.

Against this revolutionary scheme we protest, because, by a reference to the Word of God,[A] we find reasons for believing that it is in the constitution and nature of woman, with some slight modifications, to occupy the place assigned her in this land, where Christian influence unites with the better instincts of humanity in lightening her burdens, smoothing her pathway, and filling her lap with the tributes of manly regard.

[Footnote A:  I am aware that this sneer is often made:  “The same class oppose us who defended the divine right of slavery.”  This is untrue so far as I am concerned.  I was second to no man in condemnation of slavery, because the Bible condemned it.  That one utterance, “God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,” was the seedling out of which liberty, equality, and fraternity grew.  Liberty was won because of the faith, and prayers, and efforts of a God-believing and a Christ-loving church.  Their prayers and their faith girded the nation with strength, and their prowess, aided by those who followed their lead, secured victory.]