In Honor of International Women’s Day: A Suffragist’s Prayer

March 8, 2018

In honor of International Women’s Day, we share an excerpt from a powerful and moving prayer given by Dr. Elvira S Barney at the Utah Woman Suffrage Association in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7, 1889.  Barney practiced obstetrics and medicine in Utah and was deeply committed to the work of women’s rights and religious liberty.

We pray for the weak, we pray for the afflicted, and we pray for the strong, that they may be willing to help carry the burdens of the weak. We pray that thou wilt, in thine own way and time, mellow the hearts of the wicked and immoral, that thy grace may spread and form a canopy over the whole earth, that sin and wickedness may not be known, and righteousness triumph. Wilt thou be with the rulers of the nation, that thy voice shall reach their ears in their council chambers, that they may fear to make unjust laws, and that they may study to improve and make better those already formed, that the cries of the people may not reach thee because of oppression. Wilt thou soften the hearts of the rigid, that the means that man has at his disposal may be used for the whole of humanity; may they not forget their benefactor but ever bend the knee in humble reverence to thee.

The full text can be found here or in the Woman’s Exponent, Nov. 15, 1889.