The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-12-11
WOMAN IN THE PULPIT.
HER EMINENT FITNESS TO PREACH THE
TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL AS SET FORTH
BY A BOSTON WOMAN.

HER EMINENT FITNESS TO PREACH THE
TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL AS SET FORTH
BY A BOSTON WOMAN
Rev. Miss Lorenzo Haynes in the Boston
Herald
"Well," remarked she, 'as you have
come to interview me, suppose, l
would enjoy having talk with you on
this and other subjects connected with
the Christian ministry, and in which, as
you know, | am one of the laborers.
The question is not unfrequently asked
me, Ought women to preach ? For
her to do this Is looked upon by some as
an innovation which is opposed to every
thing in the past and in direct violation
of Scriptural teaching; aud every now
and then We hear of some minister who
has been called to account by the presby-
tiers or bishops on account of his allow
ing a woman to speak in his pulpit, said
objection not being because she is not good
enough, pure enough, and in every way
Christian enough to proclaim the Gospel,
but simple because she is woman, it be-
ing alleged that she Is expressly forbid
den by Paul to speak in the churches,
and by her act in doing so she placed her
self in defiance of the principles of Christ.
In opposition to such objections, [ hold
that for a woman to-day to preach is not
so much an innovation as is generally
supposed, as in all ages of which we have
record she has been considered worthy to
hold, what has been termed, sacred of
fees. | think that if woman chooses to
enter the pulpit to-day, and by her in
fuence sees fit to accept and spread the
Christian religion, and also by her labors
in teaching the truths of the Gospel, she
proves not only her fitness, but her right,
to continue this work If we of this age
are to follow PauIs advice TO the letter in
all things, we shall have to revolutionize
the world, and considerably lessen the
privileges of men. A study of history
shows us that among heather nations
women held important places in their
worship, both as deties and also by filling
priests offices. Even those darkened minds
believed that in her was embodied the true
and the good. The mythology of all an
tiquity has its female deities. The old
Greeks, and the Romans after them,
worshipped their goddesses, and invested
them with qualities which the wisest of
the heather men must have thought were
more fully developed in woman than in
man, woman was not only worshIpped,
but she was intrusted with the hottest
offices, officiating as priestess in the sacred
groves and at the affairs. If woman is
capable of as much spirituality of mind
and heart as man, then why should she
not be allowed to exercise her God given
nature to aid in the work of saving her
Gil
teachings be in a Bible class at North
End mission in Boston or from the pull
pit {? Iregard the fame of the Empress
Helena, acquired by her agency in the
introduction of Christianity into the
Roman Empire, as more enduring than
the gems in her coronet. Women have
entered the Universalist and Uni
tartan ministry, and they are
doing good as earnest workers in
the Masters vineyard. The Methodist
church calls upon its women to pray and
exhort in its meetings, and among their
most successful preachers may be men
toned the name Of Mrs. Van Colt, who
by her motherly and persuasive elo
quence, has won many hearts to holiness.
[ regard these as some of the evidences
from the time of the Apostles to the
present day, showing that woman has la
bored faithfully, to the extent of her OPP
portunities, to disseminate the principles
of Christ, and we realize her eminent
fitness for this work, not alone by what
she has done, but by her doing so much
against opposing forces from that time
to this. But shall probably be met
with the argument, Paul says: 1T is a
shame for women to speak in church.
If they will learn anything, let them ask
their husbands at home. If these
words of the apostle require literal
obedience, what shall become of wo-
men who have no husbands? Il ia lis
hard on Massachusetts,, where there are
10, 900 more women than men, and yet
there are individuals and societies who
declare it is a shame for woman to speak
in church if she receives pay for it.
One has we'll said: "Woman, as well as
man, can take part in the battle for God
and His church" The American Prot
estant churches, when entering on mis-
sionary labors among the heather, EN-
pIoyed women as well as men, and hun
dreds have followed the example of Har
riet Newell and the Judsons, in their en-
deavors to raise their benighted sisters to
true womanhood If woman may go
afar off into the darkness of the kingdom
of evil to work in Gods cause, why may
she not try her influence upon the heath
en- nearer home? / think
MEN AND WOMEN ARE ALIKE CALLED
to the spread of the truths of the Gospel,
to the illustration of its spirit, and to the
onfnroannanf nf Ito rrinoinlor