Christ very plainly told the Twelve that he would rise again the third day. But they did not seem to understand it. But the women appeared to understand it.
Naturally, woman is, to say the least, equally qualified with men for the ministry of the Gospel.
Justice demands that all barriers placed by men in the way of the elevation of woman to any office in the gift of the church be removed.
It is unjust to invite a woman to become a worker in the Church, and then, whatever may be her qualifications, her abilities, and her success, forever exclude her by arbitrary enactments from its higher ministries.
Christianity is intended for all lands. It is adapted to all nations. The churches of America should adopt such regulations as will enable them to meet the wants of the people of Asia.
It is impossible to estimate the extent to which humanity has suffered by the unreasonable and unscriptural restrictions which have been put upon women in the churches of Jesus Christ.
Had they been given, since the days of the first Apostles, the same rights as men, this would be quite another world. Not only would the Gospel have been more generally diffused among mankind, but its influence, where its truth is acknowledged, would have been inconceivably greater.
In some of the churches a woman is forbidden to speak or pray in even a social meeting if men are present! In none of these, except among the Friends, is woman given the same position, or the same opportunity for advancement as the man. She is, of set purpose, kept back, while cunning contrivances are adopted to make her think that she is accorded all the liberty she wants. She suffers in consequence, but the cause of God suffers most.
It is said that about two thirds of all the members of all the Protestant churches of this country are women. Yet in these churches a woman, no matter what may be her qualification, and devotion, and zeal, is not permitted to occupy the same position as a man. The superior must, sometimes, give place to the inferior. The bungler must give directions, the adept must obey. The incompetent coward must command, if no competent man is found, while the competent woman is relegated to the rear. A Deborah may arise, but the churches, by their laws, prohibit her from coming to the front.
Why, then, we repeat, does not #Christianity root out all false religions? and why does it not have amore marked effect upon the lives of those who acknowledge its truth? There must be a cause.
The reason is that the vast majority of those who embrace the Gospel (ie, women) are not permitted to labor according to their ability, for the spread of the Gospel.
Where Christ is, there His power is exerted, silently it may be, but nevertheless powerfully for the good of all present. No other advocate has such assistance as he who, possessed of the Holy Spirit, advocates the Gospel.
