" Those who contend, from
their rendering of these texts, that women are prohibited by them from
taking part in the public worship of God, to be consistent, should also
insist that they must not enter the house of God at all; because they
are as strictly charged by Paul to remain at home and learn in silence
from their husbands, as to refrain from speaking.
Now, if women are to be silent in the Church; that is, if they are
neither to pray, speak, nor sing in public--for singing is certainly one
method of conveying instruction to those who hear, and is therefore
teaching them how to ascribe praise to God--if they are, upon Scriptural
authority, to know nothing but what they may learn from their husbands
at home,--then our whole system of civilized education with regard to
women is out of place; we had better borrow a leaf from the Turks or
Chinese. Girls here are sent to school, and encouraged to exert their
mental energies to the utmost in acquiring knowledge. Both mothers and
daughters are taken to church, and if they have tuneful voices they are
expected to sing; all of which is manifestly improper and unchristian,
if women are to receive all religious instruction from their "husbands
at home" only, and in silence. The taking of women to church, or indeed
out of the house, therefore, is exposing them to the temptation of
hearing and receiving instruction from unauthorized lips; for--fearfully
depraved though it may be in the sight of some--women are quite as prone
as men to listen to what is told them and to remember what they hear,
and--worse still--to reason out difficult problems for themselves.
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