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Modern Persecution, or Married Woman's Liabilities
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775 | Yes, I insist upon it, that it is my own individual right to superintend my own thoughts; and I say farther, it is not my right to superintend the thoughts or conscience of any other developed being. | |
776 | It is none of my business what Mr. Packard, my father or any other developed man or woman believe or think, for I do not hold myself responsible for their views. I believe they are as honest and sincere as myself in the views they cherish although so antagonistic to my own; and I have no wish or desire to harass or disturb them, by urging my views upon their notice. | |
777 | Yea, further, I prefer to have them left entirely free and unshackled to believe just as their own developed reason dictates. And all I ask of them is, that they allow me the same privilege. My own dear father did kindly allow me this right of a developed moral agent, although we differed as essentially and materially in our views as Mr. Packard and I did. We, like two accountable moral agents, simply agree to differ, and all is peace and harmony. | |
778 | My individuality has been naturally developed by a life of practical godliness, so that I now know what I do believe, as is not the case with that class in society who dare not individualize themselves. This class are mere echoes or parasites, instead of individuals. They just flow on with the tide of public sentiment, whether right or wrong; whereas the individualized ones can and do stem or resist this tide, when they think it is wrong, and in this way they meet with persecution. It is my misfortune to belong to this unfortunate class. | |
779 | Therefore I am not afraid or ashamed to avow my honest opinions even in the face of a frowning world. Therefore, when duty to myself or others, or the cause of truth requires it, I willingly avow my own honest convictions. On this ground, I feel not only justified, but authorized, to give the question under consideration, a plain and candid answer, knowing that this narrative of the case would be incomplete without it. | |
780 | Another thing is necessary as an introduction, and that is, I do not present my views for others to adopt or endorse as their own. They are simply my individual opinions, and it is a matter of indifference to me, whether they find an echo in any other individual's heart or not. | |
781 | I do not arrogate to myself any popish right or power to enforce my opinions upon the notice of any human being but myself. While at the same time, I claim that I have just as good a right to my opinions as Scott, Clark, Edwards, Barnes, or Beecher, or any other human being has to his. And furthermore, these theologians have no more right to dictate to me what I must think and believe, than I have to dictate to them what they must think and believe. All have an equal right to their own thoughts. | |
782 | And I know of no more compact form in which to give utterance to my opinions, than by inserting the following letter I wrote from my prison, to a lady friend in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and sent out on my "under ground railroad." | |
783 | The only tidings I ever had from this letter, was a sight of it in one of the Chicago papers, following a long and minute report of my jury trial at Kankakee. I never knew how it found its way there; I only knew it was my own identical letter, since I still retain a true copy of the original among my Asylum papers. | |
784 | The following is a copy of the original letter, as it now stands in my own hand-writing. The friend to whom it was written has requested me to omit those portions of the letter which refer directly to herself. In compliance with her wishes, I leave a blank for such omissions. In other respects it is a true copy. | |
785 | The candid reader can judge for himself, whether the cherishing of such radical opinions is a crime of sufficient magnitude to justify all my wrongs and imprisonment! Is my Persecutor guiltless in this matter? | |
786 | Jacksonville, Ill., Oct. 23, 1861. | |
787 | MRS. FISHER. MY DEAR OLD FRIEND: | |
788 | My love and sympathy for you is undiminished. Changes do not sever our hearts. I cannot but respect your self-reliant, independent, and therefore progressive efforts to become more and more assimilated to Christ's glorious image. I rejoice whenever I find one who dares to rely upon their own organization, in the investigation of truth. In other words, one who dares to be an independent thinker. * * * | |
789 | Yes, you, Mrs. Fisher, in your individuality, are just what God made you to be. And I respect every one who respects himself enough not to try to pervert his organization, by striving to remodel it, and thus defile God's image in him. | |
790 | To be natural, is our highest praise. To let God's image shine through our individuality, should be our highest aim. Alas, Mrs. Fisher, how few there are, who dare to be true to their God given nature! | |
791 | That terrible dogma that our natures are depraved, has ruined its advocates, and led astray many a guileless, confiding soul. Why can we not accept of God's well done work as perfect, and instead of defiling, perverting it, let it stand in all its holy proportions, filling the place God designed it to occupy, and adorn the temple it was fitted for? I for one, Mrs. Fisher, am determined to be a woman, true to my nature. I regard my nature as holy, and every deviation from its instinctive tendency I regard as a perversion -- a sin. To live a natural, holy life, as Christ did, I regard as my highest honor, my chief glory. |