>*■*■*? 
 
 v 
 
 ffre appropriate Julies of C|ristiair females, 
 
 |n f «btit and .fodat Worship. 
 
 iVlST ESSAY, 
 
 READ BEFORE THE 
 
 Hawaiian Evangelical Association. 
 
 BY REV. T. COAN. 
 
 HONOLULU: 
 
 VTJTBX^ISHKr* BY REQUEST.. 
 1862. 
 

 
% $propate Duties of Christian females, 
 
 ft* fhtMic attd Social ^ocjship. 
 
 .YN ESSAY, 
 
 HEAD BEFORE THE 
 
 Hawaiian Evangelical Association. 
 
 BY REV. T. COAN. 
 
 HONOLULU: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 1862. 
 
AN ESSAY. 
 
 Wha 1 Ai’e and Wliat Are jSTo t some of tlie 
 Appropriate IPotilio and Social 
 Duties of" Christian. 
 
 Females ? 
 
 The discussion of this subject calls for candor, a rever¬ 
 ence for truth, independence and Christian charity. Dog¬ 
 matism and censoriousness never promote the development 
 of truth or secure the purity, unity and power of the 
 church. 
 
 Fixed habits of thought, a stereotyped education, honest 
 prejudices, pious convictions, and a positive mode of dealing 
 with disputed subjects, are often but so many disturbers of 
 that humble docility, that patient investigation, and that 
 modest candor, which lead the soul into the regions of light. 
 
 The subject of this Essay is one on which the minds of 
 the purest and best men have been divided during nearly 
 the whole period of the Christian church. And this differ¬ 
 ence of sentiment will probably continue until the ransomed 
 cease to walk amidst the starlight and the moonbeams of 
 truth and come into the more perfect effulgence of the Sun 
 of .Righteousness. Or in other words, have a great increase 
 of knowledge and holiness. 
 
 With the writer’s want of leisure and facilities and ability 
 to give the subject a thorough investigation, he has not the 
 presumption to suppose that he will enlighten his learned 
 hearers, or, perhaps, change the opinions of any one. But 
 by Divine aid, he hopes to avoid discourtesy, cant, invective, 
 censoriousness, and all that is inconsistent with Christian 
 candor, respect and love for any who may differ with him 
 in opinion. 
 
 We now propose the following inquiries : 
 
 I. May females take upon them the office of ordained 
 ministers and pastors in the church ? 
 
 II. In what ways may they exercise spiritual gifts in the 
 interests of the church ? 
 
3 
 
 111. How are we to understand the language of Paul in 
 1 Cor., 14: 34, 35, and in 1 Tim., 2: 11, 12—“Let your 
 women keep silence,” etc., and “ Let the women learn in 
 silence,” etc. ? 
 
 1. May females become ordained ministers ami pastors in 
 the Christian church ? 
 
 To this we reply : 1. We find no commands, arrange¬ 
 
 ments or instructions to this effect, either in the Old Testa¬ 
 ment or the New. Men are set apart to this office—as 
 Melchizedeck, Aaron and his sons, and the Apostles, with 
 their fellow-laborers and successors. 
 
 2. Nor do we find it as a practice either under the 
 Hebrew or the Christian dispensation. Not a single case of 
 this kind stands recorded in the Old Testament or the New. 
 There were no female priests, or apostles, or bishops, or 
 elders. 
 
 3. We think also that early church history goes to the 
 same point. In all the more ancient annals of the church 
 of the Lord Jesus, we find no examples of the consecration 
 of females to the office of bishop or pastor. 
 
 4. Nature and Providence are against suck an arrange¬ 
 ment. 
 
 God has created the female with a delicate physical 
 organization, and this fact indicates a design of Providence. 
 Woman is not adapted to those exposures which often come 
 upon the pastor, the evangelist, and the missionary of the 
 Cross. 
 
 As the surgeon, the attorney, the statesman, the forest 
 pioneer, the scientific explorer, the civil engineer, the archi¬ 
 tect, the rail-road contractor, the shipmaster, and the naval 
 and military commander, are usually selected from the 
 rougher and hardier sex; so both Nature and Providence 
 teach that the leader of “ the Sacramental host” should be of 
 the male sex, who can, physically, “endure hardness as 
 a*gofld soldier of Jesus Christ.” 
 
 Again—the female is designed to be the wife, the mother, 
 the nurse. Her house is her palace; home is her asylum ; 
 household duties are her sphere. Here Nature calls her, 
 Here Providence binds her. She is to “ marry, bear chil¬ 
 dren, guide the house.” She is to be a keeper at home and 
 a keeper of home. She makes home ; she animates, cheers, 
 
4 
 
 brightens it; she gives it all its charms and all its glory. 
 Remove her to the stern conflicts of the outer world, and 'it 
 is like removing your parlor-lamp into the howling storm 
 without. 
 
 Home is the sanctuary and the paradise of woman. It is 
 the little heaven where angel-spirits preside; where she 
 receives the storm-beaten father; where her ready hands 
 minister to the wants of all; and where her radiant love, 
 her pure life, and her holy teachings train young immortals 
 for a brighter world. In no other sphere can she so help 
 the man—so promote civilization, refinement, intelligence 
 and Christianity—so adorn and ennoble her sex—so honor 
 her calling, and so educate the world for a higher life. 
 
 II. In what ways may females exercise spiritual gifts in 
 the interests of the church ? 
 
 They may become the wives of ministers and missiona¬ 
 ries. They may travel with Christian ministers, assist 
 them in their labors, and minister to their wants. This was 
 common in the days of our Savior and his Apostles, and it 
 has been practiced among all evangelical Christians to this 
 day. They may visit the sick, the poor, the stranger, the 
 widow, the fatherless and the friendless. They may enter 
 the alms-house, the hospital, the prison, the Magdalen asy¬ 
 lum, the house of correction, and other places of want and 
 sorrow and sin. Like Dorcas and like deaconesses in the 
 early ages of the church, they may minister comfort to all 
 in distress. Like angels of mercy, they may watch at the 
 couch of pain, and drop a tear on the shroud and the sod of 
 the departed. They may also counsel, teach and edify 
 those who need these Christian offices; and they may pray 
 with and for those who need or who desire their prayers. 
 They may confer with one another, and with Christians 
 and ministers on all subjects connected with the ameliora¬ 
 tion of human misery, the progress of knowledge, and the 
 triumphs of the Gospel in the world. They may teach 
 Sabbath Schools and Bible-classes, and in a thousand other * 
 ways indulge their Christian sympathies and exercise then- 
 talents for the honor of their Lord and the well-being of 
 man. In the great field of philanthropic and Christian 
 enterprise, there is ample scope for the development and 
 free exercise of all their genial and varied heaven-inspired 
 
5 
 
 powers, physical and spiritual. No one need be indolent 
 for want of work, and no one need murmur for want of a 
 sphere of labor adapted to her physical and moral condition. 
 But we proceed further to say, that, from a somewhat care¬ 
 ful examination of the Scriptures and of Christian history, 
 we are of the opinion that pious and intelligent females may 
 preach and pray and prophesy in the presence of the other 
 sex. 
 
 By preaching, we do not mean only that form which is 
 technically called preaching, and which is limited to a 
 logically framed discourse, delivered from a pulpit, and 
 usually called a sermon. This form of preaching may, per¬ 
 haps, be left to the regular minister. We use the term 
 preaching in a more comprehensive, and, as we think, in a 
 more Scriptural sense. In this wide sense to preach is, to 
 tell, to inform, to teach, to proclaim, to publish. While it 
 has, we trust, been shown that females should not take upon 
 them the office of pastors and ordained ministers of the 
 Gospel, still it may be true that they may exercise the same 
 functions and perform the same quiet duties which are per¬ 
 formed by laymen. They are often spoken of in the New 
 Testament as laboring with , assisting, helping the Apostles. 
 And the language used is just such as would be employed 
 in Recording the fact that Luke or Philemon, or other 
 Christian laymen, assisted the ministers of Christ in their 
 spiritual labors. In Rom., 16: 3, Paul requests the saints 
 to “greet Priscilla,” his “helper in Christ Jesus.” Also, 
 in verse 6, “Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us.’ 
 In verse 12, “ Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labored 
 in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, who labored much 
 in the Lord.” In Phil., 4: 3, Paul says, “I entreat thee 
 also, true yoke-fellow, help these women who labored with 
 me in the Gospel.” 
 
 It were easy for an objector to say, that these women 
 # a*sisfed Paul in temporal things, and not in preaching. 
 Paul often mentions the temporal comforts bestowed on him 
 ♦ and others by the saints; but he never speaks in such a 
 manner as to confound these acts of kindness with Gospel 
 help, or with laboring in the Gospel. We all understand 
 the term Gospel to mean good news or glad tidings —and of 
 preaching the Gospel, or laboring in the Gospel, to be telling 
 
6 
 
 or proclaiming this good news to man. Thus the Angel 
 preached by night to the Shepherds in the fields of Bethle¬ 
 hem, when he announced the advent of the Messiah, “Be¬ 
 hold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to 
 all people.” And whenever a pious female speaks to one, 
 or ten, or to one hundred, whether Jew or Greek, whether 
 male or female, of man’s sin and woe, and of God’s mercy 
 in Christ Jesus, then she preaches. Now we all allow her 
 to do this to one or to ten—may she not do it to a hundred? 
 
 We allow her to speak to men on the great theme of salva¬ 
 tion, and in a great variety of places and circumstances. Is 
 it then wrong for her to open her lips in a mixed conference 
 or prayer-meeting ? Almost everywhere we listen to her 
 voice on subjects pertaining to this life, and must she be 
 dumb on the all-important, all-inspiring subject of salvation 
 through Christ ? If she may talk in mixed company on 
 any and every other theme, why not on the love of God to 
 dying man ? It must be confessed that this distinction, 
 without any obvious reason, appears arbitrary and inconsist¬ 
 ent; and its tenacious advocacy has troubled thousands, 
 and driven many who were not convinced by the reasoning, 
 to take refuge under authority of dogmatism. 
 
 All will see the distinction which we make between the 
 public ordained preacher or pastor, whose official position 
 and life-work constitute him a leader in the church, and 
 those quiet, unostentatious preachers, whether male or 
 female, who carry the Gospel, with all its healing balm, into 
 many a social circle and to many a bleeding heart. 
 
 We have said that female Christians may prophesy. 
 
 By this, we do not mean that kind of prophesying which 
 foretells future events, and which may be called supernatural, 
 but simply that which is synonymous with preaching or 
 exhortation. A true definition of which we find in 1 Cor., 
 
 14: 1-5, “ Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may 
 prophesy. He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to $&if<* 
 cation and exhortation and comfort. He that prophesieth * 
 edifieth the church. Greater is he that prophesieth than he 
 that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the 
 church may receive edifying.” Whoever, then, preaches the 
 Gospel in such a simple and plain way as to edify and com¬ 
 fort others, prophesieth. And, according to the Apostle, 
 
( 
 
 this is a gift which all may exercise. As in 1 Cor., 14: 24, 
 “ But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth 
 not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all.” 
 
 This is that diffusive and universal gift of the Spirit pre- 
 dieted by Joel, chap. 2 : 28, “ I will pour out my spirit upon 
 all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. 
 
 A lucid exposition of this prediction of Joel is given by 
 Peter on the day of Penetcost, as recorded in Acts 2 : 17, 
 18, “ And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, 
 that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons 
 and your daughters shall prophesy. And on my servants 
 and on my handmaidens will I pour out in those days of my 
 spirit, and they shall prophesy/’ 
 
 Now we observe that this outpouring of the Spirit in the 
 Gospel dispensation was not to be confined to rank, or age, 
 or nation, or sex. It was to come upon 11 all flesh,” that is, 
 upon all ranks and classes of men, and upon male and 
 female. 
 
 And furthermore, the exercise or use of this gift of the 
 Spirit was not to be restricted to rank or sex or nation. 
 All should prophesy; or, in other words, all should speak 
 of the love of God. All should testify of the great salva¬ 
 tion. All should exhort, edify and comfort others. Male 
 and female, bond and free, young men and maidens, sons 
 arfcl daughters, all should unite and harmonize in spreading 
 tke glad tidings of salvation. And this was, doubtless, the 
 blbssed work of the four daughters of Philip of Cesarea, as 
 recorded in Acts 21:9, “And the same man had four 
 daughters, virgins, who did prophesy.” 
 
 So also we find the aged Prophetess Anna engaged in a 
 like exercise when, coming into the Temple in Jerusalem 
 on the occasion of the circumcision of the child Jesus, and 
 in the presence of priests and of a multitude of people, “she 
 | gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all them that 
 ' for redemption in Jerusalem.” Luke 2 : 36-38. 
 
 ^ The same fact is distinctly recognized by Paul in his first 
 I letter to the Corinthians, chap. 11 : 5, 13, “Every woman 
 that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dis¬ 
 honored her head. Is it comely that a woman pray to God 
 uncovered?” The fact that females prayed and exhorted 
 ; in public is distinctly implied in these verses. It is also 
 
8 
 
 clear that women are not here censured for the act of thus 
 praying and prophesying, but only for the manner. In Acts 
 1 : 14, it is recorded, “ These all continued with one accord 
 in prayer and supplication with the women, and Mary the 
 mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” It is probable 
 that the women here mentioned took an active, audible part 
 in praying and conversing on this interesting occasion; but 
 as this is not certain, we rest no argument on it. 
 
 More examples might be adduced bearing on the same 
 point, but the foregoing are sufficient. 
 
 Before dismissing this point, we will briefly state that 
 Eusebius testifies that in the first, second and third centu¬ 
 ries, women were in the habit of speaking and praying in 
 public meetings. Lightfoot, Locke, Dr. Clarke, and many 
 other learned men, are of the same opinion. And it may 
 be doubted whether the contrary can be proved from Scrip¬ 
 ture or History or reason. 
 
 III. We come now to the third and last point in the dis¬ 
 cussion, viz : What are tee to understand by the passages in 
 1 Cor., 14: 34, 35, and 1 Tim., 2: 11, 12? “Let your 
 women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted 
 unto them to speak. Let the women learn in silence, with 
 all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to 
 usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” v 
 ^ It has always been found to be a fact, that two texts of 
 Scripture, rightly understood, do not conflict with each othe*v 
 And it has ever been a rule of exegesis with wise and 
 honest interpreters of the Bible, that where one or a few 
 texts seem to contradict other and plain passages, or any 
 great doctrine of the Word of God, or its general scope, we 
 should seek for an interpretation which will not conflict 
 with those passages, which are clear and unmistakable in 
 their meaning. It must be confessed, that to expound the 
 texts in 1 Cor. and in 1 Tim., so as to bring them into har¬ 
 mony with other texts and facts which we have quoted**^, 
 a task which has perplexed many an honest reader of the * 
 Bible. Many of our most learned and reliable Commen¬ 
 tators hold, that in all religious meetings the prohibition on 
 the tongues of women is absolute and universal. Others of 
 equal learning and piety suppose the prohibition to extend 
 only to the assumption of the office of pastor, or leader, or 
 
9 
 
 i 
 
 < 
 
 \ 
 
 ( 
 
 ✓ 
 
 expounder, in religious assemblies. Others again argue 
 that it forbade females to speak and pray, except when 
 under the immediate inspiration of the Spirit, founding their 
 argument on the assumption that women are recognized as 
 praying and prophesying under such influence. And others 
 still believe that the prohibition was local and temporary, 
 and applicable only to certain abuses of speech among the 
 females of the Corinthian and Ephesian churches. Now 
 with all these conflicting opinions, how r can we settle the 
 question? “ Who shall decide when doctors disagree ?” 
 
 Macknight argues that the prohibition is absolute ; and, 
 to avoid conflict with 1 Cor., 11 : 4, 5, 13, where specific 
 instructions are given to women in relation to head-dresses 
 when praying or speaking in public, he holds that in this 
 case the Apostle only condemned the manner of speaking, 
 which was not inconsistent with his afterwards condemning 
 the act altogether. But such a distinction appears unworthy 
 of the dignity, the honesty and the inspiration of Paul. 
 
 But as it is incompatible with the design of a brief essay 
 to examine the many and conflicting opinions which have 
 been offered on this subject, we will simply suggest a few 
 thoughts, and leave the matter to the examination and elu¬ 
 cidation of those who have more time and ability to expound 
 it. It is a well-known fact, that in ancient times, and 
 afffong the Oriental nations, women suffered under great 
 ' (inabilities. Everywhere they were regarded as inferior to 
 in4n. They were the objects of his capricious passions. 
 Their mental and moral education was neglected. Custom 
 kept them close, and prejudice forbade them to appear in 
 public as legislators or orators or teachers. Of course they 
 were ignorant and degraded. 
 
 Did Paul, in view of the character of the females in 
 Corinth and Ephesus , and in view of the strong Grecian 
 prejudices against their public demonstrations ; in view also 
 scandalous irregularities which female speaking 
 had introduced into their public worship, feel constrained to 
 forbid the practice in these churches l Or did he forbid it 
 in all churches and for all time ? We have seen how the 
 latter supposition conflicts with other passages of Scripture, 
 and with recorded facts. When the Apostle says, “ I suffer 
 not a woman to teach," &c., we all know that this interdiction 
 
10 
 
 cannot be absolute and universal. There have not been 
 wanting examples in all ages where women have taught 
 men—and kings, even, have sometimes received council and 
 instruction from females. And this has been true under the 
 eye of Apostles and in all ages of the Christian church. 
 Priscilla taught the eloquent and popular Apollos; and a 
 thousand other ministers and Christian men are under deep 
 obligations to females for counsels and instructions in all 
 that is good. We do allow females to teach men individ¬ 
 ually and collectively, publicly and privately, in art, in 
 science, in literature, in manners, in social and domestic 
 economy, and in all the virtues which refine and adorn the 
 man, the citizen and the Christian. 
 
 We allow her to speak to our sons directly and emphat¬ 
 ically, on the great theme of salvation by Christ. Thous¬ 
 ands of females are now teaching and preaching with great 
 power in the Sabbath and common school, in the seminary, 
 the Bible class; in the halls of science and in the most 
 sacred places of concourse. They teach and read and 
 speak in the presence of large and mixed assemblies, no 
 man forbidding them. Can we then, consistently, forbid 
 them to open their lips in the little prayer-meeting and the 
 place of religious worship ? Is it a sin for which a Christian 
 sister must be reproved, or despised, or crushed—to ask a 
 question, to offer a suggestion, to venture a reflection or ai; 
 exhortation, or to pour out the desires of her heart in pray*;” 
 in that dearest and most intimate of all family circles, 
 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither bond or free, 
 neither male or female ? 
 
 In the old Jewish Synagogues, it was a custom for the 
 men to question their priests, or leaders, or rabbis, on the 
 doctrines presented. The hearers were allowed to present 
 objections to what they did not comprehend ; and it is said 
 that they sometimes entered into disputes and altercations in 
 their religious assemblies. This practice was tolerated^’" 
 the men , but strictly forbidden in the women. Now some 
 suppose, and not without appearance of reason, that this 
 practice having been introduced into the churches of Ephe¬ 
 sus and Corinth, the women also, under the impression that 
 Christianity removed all restrictions in these matters from 
 their sex, entered freely into disputes and altercations with 
 
11 
 
 the leaders of their religious worship; and these irregulari¬ 
 ties and indecorums, like the feasting and drunkenness at 
 the Lord’s Supper, brought scandal and contempt upon the 
 Christian name, and led the Apostle to prohibit that kind of 
 dictation and usurpation. And this may explain the re¬ 
 markable language of Paul—“1 suffer not a woman to teach 
 or to usurp authority over the men i. e., she is not to 
 become disputative and dictatorial—but to be modest, retir¬ 
 ing, quiet and docile, “as also saith the lavy:” Gen., 3: 16, 
 “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over 
 thee.” In case a female saw objections to a doctrine 
 advanced in a public meeting, it would be more decorous, 
 and in better keeping with her sex and condition, to wait 
 until she returned to her home, and there she was at liberty 
 to raise questions and argue witn her husband to her satis¬ 
 faction. This course would avoid offending the taste, 
 arousing the prejudices, or disturbing the order of religious 
 
 / ssemblies. 
 
 If these suggestions are founded in fact, our whole diffi¬ 
 culty is removed, and consistency and harmony arise where 
 there was apparent inconsistency and conflict. If this pro¬ 
 hibition of Paul was local and temporary, and if it referred 
 only to certain disputatious and scandalous practices in 
 
 * in churches, well understood by those to whom these 
 les were addressed, but misunderstood or dimiy per- 
 ;d by us, then our great difficulty is removed, and we 
 see that there is no inconsistency in the great Apostle, when 
 he forbids and when he recognizes the speaking of females 
 in religious assemblies. Nor is there any conflict with the 
 many recorded facts both in Scripture, and in the early 
 fathers and historians of the church, in relation to the 
 prayers and the labors of pious females in building up the 
 |. kingdom of Christ in the world. 
 
 Under this view, very many excellent and spiritual 
 Tes would be relieved from that painful antagonism, 
 which, on the one hand, presses the heart and conscience 
 ,into a certain course of labor for the souls of men, and on 
 the other, holds them back under the fear of man, the dread 
 of scorn, and the apprehension of creating disputes and con¬ 
 tentions in the church of Christ. Such a view would also 
 /relieve a multitude of pious and conscientious ministers and 
 
12 
 
 Christians who see that the discreet labors of females have 
 always been blessed in the edification and comfort of many 
 saints and in the conversion of sinners; and who can per¬ 
 ceive no consistent reason why a woman may speak in pro¬ 
 miscuous assemblies on any other subject, while she must be 
 silent on the all important one; and whose only difficulty 
 is, the apparently decisive prohibition of Paul in his letters 
 to Timothy and the Corinthian church. 
 
 It is certainly a very practical question, and one which 
 affects the hearts of millions; and it should be examined 
 with candor, docility, forbearance, and Christian meekness, 
 by all who may differ in opinion on the subject. 
 
 May the Lord guide us into all truth, and so assist us by 
 His good Spirit, that, while each one shall be fully per¬ 
 suaded as to his own personal duty, all may keep “ the 
 unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace.” 
 
 We close with two practical remarks : 
 
 1. Where females, who believe it right to speak and pray 
 in promiscuous meetings, are surrounded by brethren and 
 sisters who think otherwise, and who would be grieved or 
 offended with the practice, it may be wise to abstain from 
 this right. Paul says, “ All things are lawful for me, but 
 all things are not expedient .” And he would abstain even 
 from harmless meat rather than grieve a brother. 
 
 2. Where one is present at a meeting in which Chrisf 1 - n 
 
 sisters speak and pray, it were better to be quiet and IfFjyi 
 than to indulge in censorious feelings or language, or to 
 leave the assembly because of opposite opinions. Such 
 demonstrations are of a doubtful character, and they appear 
 inconsistent with that charity which suffers long, and which 
 thinketh no evil. “Let all your things be done with 
 charity.” Seek “ the unity of the Spirit .” Agree to differ. 
 Think more of unity and less of unijormity. “ Be kindly 
 affectioned, forbearing one another in love,” and “The God 
 of peace shall be with you.” -v 
 
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