than from the spiritual life and power which they find within themselves, may be said to forsake Christ, who is the "living fountain, and to hew out broken cisterns, which hold no water," either for themselves or for others. This qualification for the ministry being allowed to be the true one, it will follow, the Quakers believe, and it was Luther's belief also, that women may be equally qualified to become ministers of the Gospel as the men. For they believe that God has given his Holy Spirit, without exception, to all. They dare not therefore limit its operations in the office of the ministry, more than in any other of the sacred offices which it may hold. They dare not, again, say, that women cannot mortify the deeds of the flesh, or that they cannot be regenerated, and walk in newness of life. If women therefore believe they have a call to the ministry, and undergo the purification necessarily connected with it, and preach in consequence, and preach effectively,—they dare not, under these circumstances, refuse to accept their preaching, as the fruits of the Spirit, Spirit, merely because it comes through the medium of the female sex. Against this doctrine of the Quakers, that a female-ministry is allowable under the Gospel-dispensation, an objection has been started from the following words of the apostle Paul: "Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak *.”. "And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home." But the Quakers conceive, that this charge of the apostle has no allusion to preaching. In these early times, when the Gospel-doctrines were new, and people were eager to understand them, some of the women, in the warmth of their feelings, interrupted the service of the church, by asking such questions as occurred to them on the subject of this new religion. These are they whom the apostle desires to be silent, and to reserve their questions till they should return home. And that this was the case is evident, they conceive, from the meaning of the words which the apostle uses upon this occasion. For the word in the VOL. II. 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35. S Greek Greek tongue, which is translated "speak," does not mean to preach or to pray, but to speak as in common discourse. And the words which immediately follow this do not relate to any evangelical instruction, which these women were desirous of communicating publicly, but which they were desirous of receiving themselves from others. That the words quoted do not relate to praying or preaching is also equally obvious in the opinion of the Quakers; for, if they had related to these offices of the church, the word "prophesy" had been used instead of the word "speak." Add to which, that the apostle, in the same Epistle in which the preaching of women is considered to be forbidden, gives them a rule to which he expects them to conform, when they either prophesy or pray. But to give women a rule to be observed during their preaching, and to forbid them to preach at the same time, is an absurdity too great to be fixed upon the most ordinary person, and much more upon an inspired apostle. That the objection has no foundation, the Quakers believe, again, from the consideration, that the ministry of women, in the the days of the Apostles, is recognised in the New Testament, and is recognised also, in some instances, as an acceptable service. Of the hundred-and-twenty persons who were assembled on the Day of Pentecost, it is said by St. Luke, that some were women. That these received the Holy Spirit as well as the men; and that they received it also for the purpose of prophesying or preaching, is obvious from the same evangelist for, first, he says that "all were filled with the Holy Ghost." And, secondly, he says that Peter stood up, and observed, concerning the circumstance of inspiration having been given to the women on this occasion, that Joel's prophecy was then fulfilled, in which were to be found these words: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy-and on my servants and handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." That women preached afterwards, or in times subsequent to the Day of Pentecost, they collect from the same evangelist. For *Acts, chap. i. he mentions* Philip, who had four daughters, all of whom prophesied at Cæsarea. Now by prophesying, if we accept St. Paul's interpretation of it †, is meant a speaking to edification, and exhortation, and comfort, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It was also a speaking to the church. It was also the speaking of one person to the church, while the others remained silent. That women also preached or prophesied in the church of Corinth, the Quakers show from the testimony of St. Paul; for he states the manner in which they did it, or that they prayed and prophesied with their heads uncovered . That women also were ministers of the Gospel in other places, and that they were highly serviceable to the church, St. Paul confesses, with great satisfaction, in his Epistle to the Romans, in which he sends his salutation to different persons, for whom he professed an affection or an esteem. Thus: "I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea §." Upon this passage the Qua * Acts xxi. 9. 1 Cor. xi. 5. Romans xvi. 1. kers |