Such a vindication even they, with all their knowledge of the hidden evils of slavery, never dreamed could ever be required of them, but the manner in which they met the tremendous test was the crowning glory of their lives.  In all the biographies I have read, such a manifestation of the spirit of Jesus Christ does not appear.  This will be narrated in its proper place.

Happy as the sisters were in their home, it must not be supposed that they had settled down to a life of ease and contented privacy, abandoning altogether the great work of their lives.  Far from it.  The time economized from household duties was devoted chiefly to private labor for the cause, from the public advocacy of which they felt they had only stepped aside for a time.  Neither had any idea that this public work was over.  Angelina writes to her friend in England soon after her marriage:—­

“I cannot tell thee how I love this private life—­how I have thanked my heavenly Father for this respite from public labor, or how earnestly I have prayed that whilst I am thus dwelling at ease I may not forget the captives of my land, or be unwilling to go forth again on the high places of the field, to combat the giant sin of Slavery with the smooth stones of the river of Truth, if called to do so by Him who put me forth and went before me in days that are past.  My dear Theodore entertains the noblest views of the rights and responsibilities of woman, and will never lay a straw in the way of my lecturing.  He has many times strengthened my hands in the work, and often tenderly admonished me to keep my eye upon my great Leader, and my heart in a state of readiness to go forth whenever I am called out.  I humbly trust I may, but as earnestly desire to be preserved from going before I hear a voice saying unto me, ’This is the way, walk in it, and I will be thy shield and thy buckler.’  This was the promise which was given me before, and how faithfully it was fulfilled, my soul knoweth right well.”

Sarah too, writes to Sarah Douglass—­

“I have thought much of my present situation, laid aside from active service, but I see no pointing of the divine finger to go forth, and I believe the present dispensation of rest has been granted to us not only as a reward for past faithfulness, but as a means of personal advancement in holiness, a time of deep searching of heart, when the soul may contemplate itself, and seek nearer and fuller and higher communion with its God.”

And again she says:—­

“It is true my nature shrinks from public work, but whenever the mandate goes forth to declare on the housetops that which I have heard in the ear, I shall not dare to hold back.  I conclude that whenever my Father needs my services, He will prepare me to obey the call by exercise of mind.”

In the meanwhile Sarah finished and published a most important contribution to the arguments on the woman’s rights subject.  This was a small volume of letters on the “Equality of the Sexes,” commenced during her lecturing tour, and addressed to Mary S. Parker, president of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society.  Written in a gentle, reverent spirit, but clothed in Sarah’s usual forcible language, they not only greatly aided the cause which lay so near her heart, but relieved and strengthened many tender consciences by their strong arguments.