Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1890-05-17
Standard McMINNVILLE. TENNEssEEs SATURDAY. MAY ~ 1890

effort Of the Church to better orgaRi-
cation, or to increase her influence by
any departure from the pure Word of
God, no matter how plausible her
reasoning, is setting up of himself
as Sovereign against Christ, her right
full Lord and King.
You will see at once that if this be
true, then the question of the equality
Of the sexes, or the inferiority of the
one to the other in all mental,
spiritual, or physical gifts has nothing
under the sun to do with the question.
l believe that there is much closer
equality between the two than is
usually supposed. Some women do
far excel some men in all natural
gifts, and in all spiritual graces, and
upon the mere plain of reason would
make far better preachers. On the
other hand some men far excel some
women In all gifts of nature and
grace. Which sex has the larger
number Of these that excel is a guess
ton that can never be settled, be-
cause the statistics can never be gath
cred. The question before us does
not require the settlement of any such
problem, but is simply question of
official inferiority as settled by the
law of the King.
There is wide difference between
natural and official superiority and
inferiority. 1 suppose that there has
never been q time when in these
United States there have not been
many private citizens who were in
tellectually and morally superior to
the man who occupied the Presiden-
tial chair, yet they were all officially
his interiors. l may say without
much self praise in the saying of it,
that | know myself to be in every
way superior to some who sit in our
Legislature and make laws for my
government, yet am officially their
interiors. Subject to their will,
expressed in laws. So the question
here is not whether woman be by
nature mans inferior, but has the
King, in the law given to his Church,
assigned her place that puts her in
an officially inferior place and makes
her subject, or has He by His law
excluded her from official positions
in His Church?
.. ! have patiently searched the
Scripture in my study of this subject,
and l have not been able to find a
single case in Scripture of a woman's
ever having preached, that is, of her
having been sent by God to deliver
amessage from Him to promiscuous
assembly of people. do not affirm
that there is no such case recorded,
but that after patient search l have
failed to find one.
Certainly there were prophetesses
in the Old Testament times, but !
could find no recorded instance OF
their having been sent to deliver a
public messageto a public assembly.
. Any one who received a divinely
revealed message from God, was a
prophet, whether the message was to
one man or to many. Miriam was a
: prophecies inspired to sing in trium,
plant song Gods wonderful deliver.
, ance of His people, but even there she
! and the maidens went out from the
camp, away from the men tossing and
: to dance. See Exodus u: 20-2l, com.
pared with Judges q: 2O-22. Debo.
rah was prophecies, yet her mes
, sage was to one man, Borak, nor is
there any recorded evidence of hel
having received any other, or of hel
. ever having delivered any Of any
kind to public assembly.
| But granting for arguments sake
o that these prophetesses of the Ole
E Testament were preachers, yet if il
the New Testament there be a posi-
: tive law excluding women from th(
q office of preacher then these cases
q cease to be any precedent to be plead
. ed under the New Testament. The
, last constitutional enactment ofneces
, sity annuls that which proceeds it anC
: is contrary to it.
D 1t is provision of the Constitution
| of Tennessee that Ministers of thu
\ Gospel shall not be eligible to certain
h offices in the State. Suppose the PEG
\ pie should be reused to a sense of thu
n injustice done to this class of Law
s abiding citizens thus partially dis
n franchised and put upon the sam,
4 plain as criminals, and should pas
v an amendment to the Constitution
- 6onlo rinO thof oil minister's Of Al