The Hickman courier., 1872-02-24

xEoaaAN As A PREAcmER.
IET Eeecher on the woman
Brother CUyier ald
Sister smiley Endorsed.
rFrom the New York Herald.1

est sermons last night upon the woman
question, taking for his text the contest
ed words Of Paul that have lately been
made the excuse for a very remarkable
action against certain presbytery- Let
your women keep silence in the church
es, &c
The recent events, said he, in this city,
have arrested the attention Of the whole
community. \ woman regular preach
er in a Christian sect-was asked 10
preach in a certain church She had
long spoken in churches, and edihcatiou
had followed, and that was the sign that
Peter said was to authenticate preaching.
For permitting this, an esteemed and
honest pastor was brought before apres-
bytery, and his conduct passed by with
out Tebuke only on account of tender
ness TO him. But the church was enc
Joined not to follow his example. Ihe
simple 4aestsot,, \ slcn5 iossfofc- U.s. - tss53s
7 Whether the New 4estameBt does forbid
women to speak in the churches. Are
these words of Paul Of universal appli
cation, Of all time, everywhere, finally ?
There are those who regard this utter
ance as final, and forbid women to speak
no matter how gifted. They accept this
as meant to cover the whole future. There
are next those who regard this as explic-
it, but do not believe in the authority Of
! Paul to settle this question. There are
others who regard this command as local,
national and transient.
They hold 20 the authority of the sa
cred Scriptures, but do not believe this to
be the final word spoken on this subject,
and l am one who holds this view. First,
it is not the function Of Christianity TO
determine the external 1t aims at the
spiritual development Of man by bring
ing him into direct ompanionship with
God. To this corrected and inspired
manhood was left the utmost freedom
There can be no greater imposition upon
men than to affirm that there is in the
New Testament any attempt to decide
details. Whatever relates to universal
morality, to interior purity, that was de-
termined all else was left to itself. The
life was left to organize what belongs to
life The civil state, the family have
been changed since the time of Paul
There Is not one element of organization
that resembles those Of 1000 years ago
Now, the presumption is that Christiani
ty did not step IN and paralyze woman :
tongue and shut her mouth. Did it put
its finger on this exception and make that
an absolute fnality? This would have
been doing violence to the Jewish idea
Woman among the Hebrews was more as
among US than any other nation. She
was public instructor among the Jews
First We have Miriam, whose song has
been sounding on for 900 years. De
borah was not only q prophecies but a
ruler Here was a woman Of great pow
er, and she rose to the surface aud ruled
her people. l have read already in your
hearing the song Of Hannah, recorded
In Samuel When the king desired to
consult some one on matters Of impor-
t1nce he passed by Jeremiah and went
to Huldah. So, too, at the very time Of
Christ, Anna, the prophecies, broke forth
into a song Of praise. So, when a jew
looked back upon his history, he beheld
along the line the glowing repetition of
women who had stood up to hold the
scepter, to teach and to pour forth in
spired prophecies. Therefore, when at
the Pentecost Peter made the programme
Of the future, did he say that women
should keep silence? He quoted from
the Prophet Joel, who says that the
young men and maidens, servants and
haudmaidens, sons and daughters shall
prophesy, and upon them shall the spirit
Of the Lord be poured out. IF you un-
dertake TO set up the letter of Paul,
set up the letter Of the Holy Ghost. 1t
was forbidden to women to speak in the
synagogues, but this was because the ex-
ercise of the synagogues was liturgical
and not extemporaneous, aud the techni
cal knowledge OF this liturgy was not
open then to women. There is nothing
in all the letters to Jewish Christians that
contravenes this Hebrew spirit and Gus
tom. This direction of Paul was writ
ten to the Greek Christians. Now we
can ask why he made a difference ia this
respect between Jews and Greeks The
condition OF women among the Greeks
was degraded to level that We can hard
ly conceive Of The Greek idea of vir
tue in a woman was that she should not
90 out unless veiled; that she should
not 90 even to the front door lest she
should be seen. If a woman learned 1
poetry, music, art. philosophy, the knowl
edge stamped her as courtesan. No
woman in Greece was permitted to know
these things except at the price of vir-
tue. A yirtuous woman ip Greece was
merely domestic drudge Now, that
being the status of woman in Greece, 1t
would not do for women to speak uucov-
cred in the churches. For woman to
rise in the churches in those circumstan
ces would be to indorse courtesanship.
st. Paul said 81 forbid women to
speak in public" Gin Greece; would that
be had put it in. If he had known how
stupid people would be in this day he
would have said it, At this day, when
woman is a poet, thinker, shall you 90
back and get that mauacle and put it on
an enfranchised womanhOod-the chain
made for the besotted Greek? L hoDor
Brother Cuyler for inviting Miss Smiley
into his pulpit, and when he was called
to account for it | wish he had stood up
IS boldly as Peter did, and asked which
he should obey, God or man? But all
men cant do all things. What command
IS palmer than that to honor the king? +,
Did we honor the king? We threw the
king overheard Mr.. .Beecher convulsed
ais audience by his reading of Timothy's ,
com mand to women not to wear certain
kinds Of ornaments. Where are your
iteralists now? said he. Where are
your women who braid their hair and
wear pearls? "Oh, say you, Paul did
,ot preach that On no be meant
,nly what you want him to mean. The !
) uostle bore witness against vanity, but /,
lot against taste The same is true in
-espect to slavery. The whole tenor of
he New Testament is to teach men to !
,bey the laws under which they find
themselves. In the time of the open !
Testament the. great bulk Of the slaves
we're white yet, though the Bible has
,een used to uphold slavery, it was not
White slavery. Men interpret the Bible
. follow their wishes. The whole proyi- {
leuce of God is in conflict with this {