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1 [Dorothy Ripley\ Going from city to city, from one nation to another, [I have] discovered the iniquity that lurks under the various masks of professing godliness.1 Dorothy Ripley (1767–1831) devoted her adult life to spreading the Christian gospel. Her efforts included a constellation of practices from the more familiar publication and itinerant preaching to social and—more remarkable—political action. As a result of what she described as a divine commission (Ripley did not hold membership in a particular denomination), she understood that God called her to leave her homeland of England to preach the gospel, particularly among enslaved Africans and slave owners.2 Ripley’s vocation ultimately directed her evangelistic efforts toward political action against slavery and racial oppression. Ripley’s evangelistic ministry in the United States during the early decades of the nineteenth century, 1 D. Ripley, The Extraordinary Conversion, and Religious Experience of Dorothy Ripley, with Her First Voyage and Travels in America (New York: G&R Waite, 1810), 23. The passage continues, “. . . each different denomination thinking themselves the most sincere: but Alas! When I seek for pious souls redeemed from the maxims and fashions of the present day, I almost seek in vain, and ask if there are any who live now as Jesus Christ taught his followers in the days of his flesh, both by his example and precept?” 2 Ripley’s ministry and travels were incredibly bold. While many Quaker women made similar journeys, her persistence in crossing the Atlantic numerous times, coupled with her vocation and commitment to preach—specifically addressing the sinful nature of slavery—set her apart. 13 prior to the 1833 organization of the American Anti-Slavery Society, was remarkable if not outstanding.3 Ripley crossed the Atlantic at least eight times to pursue her itinerant ministry in the United States. Her call to preach is consistent with traditional notions of evangelism. She broke ground in 1806 as the first woman to preach in the U.S. Hall of Representatives, one of only two women ever given that honor.4 Despite such recognition, Ripley was reluctant to call her activity preaching, perhaps because her ministry faced consistent opposition.5 In addition to the resistance in the United States, Ripley had difficulty answering her call in England. After her early itinerant ministry in the United States, she preached an evangelistic tour in 1818 in England, accompanying Lorenzo Dow, a well-known American itinerant and open-air preacher, an endeavor during which they were both imprisoned.6 14 Saving Women 3 Ripley’s ministry among slaves and slave owners substantially predates the American Anti-Slavery Society, which convened in December 1833, and the AntiSlavery Convention of American Women, which held three annual sessions from 1837 to 1839. See I. Brown, “ ‘Am I not a Woman and a Sister?’ The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, 1837–1839,” in Abolitionism and Issues of Race and Gender, ed. J. McKivigan (New York: Garland, 1999), 185. 4 Brekus, Strangers and Pilgrims, 18. Harriet Livermore preached to Congress four times: the first time was in January 1827. 5 “On first day an appointment was made for me by J. E. who acquainted the public , that D. Ripley, from England, a Gospel minister, would preach; at three in the afternoon, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I did not approve of the word preach, because I never prepared any thing for the purpose, as I have seen Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and some other ministers, which I have been much astonished at: for I pray, and give my heart tongue for God to inspire and speak by” (D. Ripley, The Bank of Faith and Works United [Philadelphia: J. H. Cunningham, 1819], 197). This resonates with Wesley’s advice to women in the early British Methodist movement, suggesting, for example, some caution in not preparing remarks, taking a text, and strategic use of prayer. See P. W. Chilcote, She Offered Them Christ: The Legacy of Women Preachers in Early Methodism (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993). 6 William Clowes, The Journals of William Clowes (London: Hallam & Holliday, 1844), 191. Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834), an American pioneer preacher and evangelist, was converted in 1791 and began to preach in 1794, receiving a license to preach from Bishop Francis Asbury in 1798. He preached widely and visited prisons, itinerating not only in the United States but also in Ireland and England. He met Dorothy Ripley and Hugh Bourne, one of the founders of Primitive Methodism in Great Britain, at an open...

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