Woman, Church & State / The Original Expose of Male Collaboration Against the Female Sex

Contents

Preface

Chapter One—The Matriarchate

Tendency of Christianity from the first to restrict woman’s liberty. Woman had great freedom under the old civilizations. The Matriarchate; its traces among many nations; it preceded the Patriarchate. The Iroquois or Six Nations under reminiscences of the Matriarchate. Government of the United States borrowed from the Six Nations. To the Matriarchate or Mother-rule, is the world indebted for its first conception of “inherent rights,” and a government established on this basis. Malabar under the Matriarchate when discovered by the Portuguese. The most ancient Aryans under the Matriarchate. Ancient Egypt a reminiscence of the Matriarchal period. Authority of the wife among the most polished nations of antiquity. As Vestal Virgin in Rome, woman’s authority great both in civil and religious affairs. Monogamy the rule of the Matriarchate. Polygamy, infanticide and prostitution the rule of the Patriarchate.

Chapter Two—Celibacy

Original sin. Woman not regarded as a human being by the church. Marriage looked upon as vile. Celibacy of the clergy; their degrading sensuality. A double Code of Morals. Celibacy confirmed as a dogma of the church. Many notable consequences followed. Wives sold as slaves. Women driven to suicide. Influence of the church unfavorable to virtue. Women of wealth drawn into monastic life. The church in Mexico. President Diaz. Protestant Orders.

Chapter Three—Canon Law

The church makes the legitimacy of marriage depend upon its control of the ceremony. Change from ancient civilization to renewed barbarism at an early age of the Christian era, noted by historians, but its cause unperceived. The clergy a distinct body from the laity; their rights not the same. A holy sex and an unholy one. Rapid growth of Canon law in England. Alteration in the laws through the separation of Ecclesiastical courts from the Civil, recognized by Blackstone as among the remarkable legal events of Great Britain. Learning prohibited to women. The oath of seven persons required to convict a priest. Husbands prohibited by Canon law from leaving more than one-third of their property to wives; might leave them less. Daughters could be disinherited; sons could not be. The Reformation effected no change. Governments catering to Pope Leo XIII, at time of his Jubilee; the President of the United States sends a gift.

Chapter Four—Marquette

Feudalism; its degradation of woman. Jus primae noctis. Rights of the Lords Spiritual. Peasants decide not to marry. Immorality of the heads of the Greek and the Protestant churches. Breton Ballad of the Fourteenth Century. St. Margaret of Scotland. Pall Mall Gazette’s disclosures. Foreign traffic in young English girls. West End. Eton. Prostitution chiefly supported by “Heads of Families.” Northwestern Pineries. Governmental crime-makers. Rapid increase of child criminals. The White Cross society. Baptism of nude women in the early Christian Church.

Chapter Five—Witchcraft

The possession of a pet of any kind dangerous to woman. Black cats and witches. The fact of a woman’s possessing knowledge, brought her under suspicion of the church. The three most distinguishing features of witchcraft. Opposition of the church to the growth of human will. Persecution for witchcraft a continuance of church policy for obtaining universal dominion over mankind. The Sabbat. The Black Mass. Women physicians and surgeons of the middle ages; they discover anaesthetics. Their learning; their persecution by the church. The most eminent legal minds incapable of forming correct judgment. Three notable points in regard to witchcraft. Persecution introduced into America by the “Pilgrim Fathers.” First Synod in America convened to try a woman for heresy. Whipping half nude women for their religious opinions. Famine caused by persecution of women.

Chapter Six—Wives

“Usus.” Disruption of the Roman Empire unfavorable to the personal and proprietary rights of woman. Sale of daughters practiced in England seven hundred years after the introduction of Christianity. The Mundium. The practice of buying wives with cattle or money regulated by law. Evil fame of Christendom. “The Worthier of Blood.” Murder of a husband termed petit treason; punished by burning alive. Mrs. Sanio decapitated in Finland, 1892, for crime of petit treason. Husbands control wives’ religion. The “Lucy Walker case;” Judge Dodge decides a husband has a property interest in a wife. Davenport’s Rules for his wife. Assaulting wives protected by law. The Ducking Stool; its use in England; brought to America by the “Pilgrim Fathers.” Salic law. Gavelkind. Women not permitted to read the Bible. “Masterless women.” Women not admitted as a surety or witness. The Code Napoleon. Morganatic marriage. Ibsen’s “Ghosts.” Strindberg’s “Giftas.” Ancient Slavs. Russia under Greek Christianity. The Domstroii Marriage forms. Burying wives alive. “Darkest England.” Advertising wives. An English clergyman offers £100 reward for the capture and return of his wife. Civil marriage is opposed by the church. Action of the Chilian Republic.

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Chapter Seven—Polygamy

Polygamy sustained by the Christian Church and the Christian State. The first Synod of the Reformation convened to sanction polygamy. Favoring views of Luther and the other “principal reformers.” Favoring action of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Favoring action of a Missionary Conference in India. Mormons compared to the Puritans. Mormon theocracy similar to that of other Christian sects.

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Chapter Eight—Woman and Work

God’s “curse” upon Adam. Opposition of the church to amelioration of woman’s suffering as an interference with her “curse.” Man’s escape from his own “curse.” The sufferings of helpless infants and children because of woman’s labor. Innutrition and the hard labor of expectant mothers the two great factors in physical degeneration and infantile mortality. Woman’s work in Europe and the United States. Woman degraded under Christian civilization to labors unfit for slaves.

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Chapter Nine—The Church of Today

Sin killed by sin. Woman’s inferiority taught from the pulpit today. A Pastoral letter. The See trial. Modern sermons on women. Lenten lectures of

Matilda Joslyn Gage, 1880.

WOMAN, CHURCH & STATE	The Original ExposÉ of Male Against the Female Sex
by Matilda Joslyn Gage

This Book is Inscribed to the Memory of my Mother, who was at once mother, sister, friend:

Dedicated to all Christian women and men, of whatever creed or name who, bound by Church or State, have not dared to Think for Themselves:

Addressed to all Persons, who, breaking away from custom and the usage of ages, dare seek Truth for the sake of Truth. To all such it will be welcome; to all others aggressive and educational.

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