Address, delivered in Craigie Hall, Edinburgh, February 24th, 1871

Transcriber’s Note:
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JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER.
PRINTED, BY REQUEST, FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION AMONG FRIENDS IN SCOTLAND.
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MANCHESTER:
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1871.
Once when I was in Paris, I saw in a gallery a picture, which taught me a lesson. It was a picture of Saint Marguerite, as the representative of purity. She was very frail and youthful-looking, but, nevertheless, was seen advancing in the attitude of a conqueror, trampling upon a hideous dragon. The contrast between the gentle lady, in her pure white dress, and the disgusting creature beneath her feet, was striking. The dragon, the embodiment of some foul impurity, wickedness, and cruelty, was enraged at its conqueror, but terrified too, wallowing on the ground, breathing forth fire and venom, as hideous a monster as you can conceive. St. Marguerite had no look of fear, nay, not even of disgust, on her calm face, which was turned straight heavenward; and her fair feet, stepping with a conqueror’s tread on the rough scales of the prostrate monster, were not the least soiled by his vileness, but remained as white as her heart was pure. This picture carried my thoughts away to many a struggle which the world has witnessed between good and evil, and it taught me to remember that when God sends forth his messengers to combat impurity in its most hideous forms, these messengers, weak though they be, need never doubt his power to keep them unharmed. There is no evil in the world so great that God cannot raise up to meet it a corresponding beauty and glory, which will blaze it out of countenance. But mark me, friends, in order to escape unhurt, we must oppose and tread upon the evil. If we merely look on at this unclean monster, wondering at him, amazed, we shall be the worse for it. It is the very pain and vigour, and humble trust in God, induced by opposition, which enable us to rise above hurtful influences. It is possible to rise above all such hurtful influences, above the horror and disgust, and to attain to a region in which pure and elevating thoughts alone prevail. This is of God’s goodness, who gives us armour fitted for the battle.