Perhaps in no other field of human activity has the disinclination of
Christian men to make any concessions to women been so strong as in all
matters regarding the church. While women were permitted to sit on
thrones and rule vast empires, theological prejudice would not allow
them to officiate at the altar or to occupy the pulpit. This vehement
opposition was due to mediæval traditions and customs. The saying of the
Apostle Paul: “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority
over the man, but to be in silence,” had been an inviolable law to all
Catholic and Protestant dignitaries of the church. And so during the
whole Middle Ages the idea was prevalent that a masculine priesthood
alone was acceptable to God.
The first attempt to overthrow these views was made in 1634 by =Anne
Hutchinson=, who came from Lincolnshire to Boston. Joining a church
there she found that the male members used to meet every week to discuss
the sermon they had heard the preceding Sunday. Believing that the power
of the Holy Ghost dwells in every believer, and that the inward
revelations of the spirit, the conscious judgment of the mind, are a
paramount authority. Mrs. Hutchinson established similar meetings for
the women. Soon she had large audiences, in which she set forth
sentiments of her own. But disputes arose among her followers and their
opponents, which grew so hot, that the continued existence of the two
opposing parties was considered inconsistent with public peace. A
convention of ministers, the first synod in America, was called in 1637,
which condemned the opinions of Mrs. Hutchinson, and caused her to be
summoned before the General Court. After a trial of two days, she was
convicted of censuring the ministers and advancing errors, and sentenced
to banishment from Massachusetts. She found refuge in Rhode Island, but
moved later on to the Dutch settlements, where she as well as her
children were killed by Indians.
In 1774 another English woman, =Anne Lee=, immigrated to New York.
Professing to have received a special persuasion, she organized at
Watervliet, N. Y., the first community of Shakers, to which she
promulgated a doctrine of celibacy. Their previous training had led
members of this sect to expect that the second coming of Christ would be
in the form of a woman; as Eve was the mother of all living, so in their
new leader the Shakers recognized “the first mother or spiritual parent
in the line of the female.” These Shakers gave their women an equal
share with men in the service and government of their society.
With the history of the “Salvation Army” likewise the names of several
women are closely connected. This religious body was organized in 1865
on military lines by Rev. William Booth. In his revival and mission work
among the lower classes of England he found in his wife Catherine a
perfect helpmate. Together they conquered with their revivals first
London, then the province, then the United Kingdom, and afterwards
country after country in every part of the world.
[Illustration:
CATHERINE BOOTH, THE “MOTHER OF THE SALVATION ARMY.”
]
In England =Mrs. Booth= was the first woman preacher, and if she had
done nothing else but vindicate the right of woman to speak in public
and preach the Gospel, she would have done great work. But she did far
more than this. By making her whole life, and every thought and action
subservient to the cause of the Salvation Army, she brought comfort and
happiness to many thousands of poor souls.
The work of this “Mother of the Army” was continued by her daughter,
=Evangeline Booth=, known in the history of the organization as “The
Commander”; by =Emma Booth-Tucker=, known as “The Consul”; by =Mrs. W.
Branwell Booth=, “The General,” and by =Elizabeth Swift Brengle=, known
as “The Colonel.”
The first woman in the Christian world to be ecclesiastically ordained
was =Antoinette Brown Blackwell=, an American woman who had graduated
from Oberlin, Ohio. She was ordained in 1852 in South Butler, N. Y., by
a council called by the First Congregational Church. =Rev. Olympia
Brown= was the next woman ordained ten years later. In December, 1863,
the =Rev. Augusta J. Chapin= was the first woman to receive the title of
Doctor of Divinity.
Since the ordination of these women the number of female “clergymen” in
the various denominations has increased rapidly. According to the Census
of 1910 their number within the United States was 7395 in that year. The
success of woman in the pulpit is no longer a question but an
affirmation. This is what Rev. Phebe A. Hanford said on the subject:
“Other things being equal, why may not a woman preach and pray and
perform pastoral duty as well as a man? Why should she not preside at
the Lord’s table, consecrate in baptism the child whose parents would
dedicate their choicest possessions to God, or the adult who would thus
express his faith in Christ and his determination that “whatever others
may do he will serve the Lord”? When two loving hearts desire to join
hands and walk the earthly pathway side by side, why should not a woman
minister pronounce the sacred formula and convey the sanction of the Law
and the Gospel to their matrimonial purpose? And when the voice of
consolation is sorely needed, and the solemn words are to be spoken
which consign the silent dust to its last resting-place, why should not
a womanly woman officiate as well as any tender-hearted and eloquent
man? Surely woman is proverbially compassionate; and that she is often
eloquent with voice and pen, and with poetic expression and the fervor
of truth which can reach the heart, who can deny?”
[Illustration]