Thus have we analyzed the teaching of Paul; and we find that his whole object in this passage, is the cure of disorder in meetings. And all he says is based on his view (so constantly urged elsewhere,) of the subordination of woman with man as "one flesh." He asserts no such unnatural and undesirable dogma as is sometimes claimed from him, that a woman must not under any circumstances utter her voice in meeting. But he only says, she is to be quiet, or "hold her peace," or pause when others wish to talk, and not to speak except in a way of respectful subordination,-doing all further needed discussion out of meeting,—because a bantering with women in church is shameful or shaming, as tending to disorder. The proper reading of the passage, as we have expounded it from the original, is this: V. 30. "If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace; for" (it is reasonable and feasible thus to avoid "confusion" and keep the "peace," v. 31-33). V. 34. "Let (your) women in the churches [thus] hold their peace (or restrain their speech). For it has not been permitted (or assigned) to them to speak, save (or so much as) to be in subjection; as also the law says.' V. 35. "And if they wish to find out something, let them ask their respective men at home; for shaming it is to (or with) women to talk (it thus) in church." Thus the whole matter is plain. Paul is made consistent with himself, in his not only permitting but regulating the speaking of women, in this very epistle before us, (1 Cor. xi, 3-16). In the Congregational Quarterly for April, 1874, (p. 280,) it is argued wildly, as if the earlier teaching of chapter xi were superseded by the later teaching of chapter xiv! when we know that the whole epistle was certainly sent to Corinth at the same moment. About as unsatisfactorily, in the Bibliotheca Sacra for Oct., 1870, (p. 750,) is given the frequent argument, that in the 14th chapter Paul condemns as "shameful" all praying in church by women, while very much exercised in the 11th chapter lest they should "pray to God uncovered." But why should he waste his strength through sixteen verses to correct the method of their praying, when by a single verse he is going to demolish all their praying entirely? Nothing short of the present exposition can satisfy the candid mind upon this point. Thus also the Bible is made consistent with itself, in its frequent recognition of woman's open testimony for God. Passing by all other testimony, look alone at the prophecy cited by Peter upon the day of Pentecost, (Acts ii, 17). It certainly is a very sad resort, when the argument on the other side, (both in the Bib. Sac., 1870, p. 747, and in the Cong. Quar., 1874, p. 282,) has to claim that "the last days" are over and gone, and that to us God is no more issuing that sweet promise by Joel, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . . in those days." Our longing faith, on the contrary, looks on this blessing as if only just begun! It was not particularly on Pentecost that the "handmaidens" prophesied; but long years afterwards the "virgins did prophesy," (Acts xxi, 9); and in this very paragraph before us (v. 31,) Paul says expressly, "ye may all prophesy, one by one," though women should do so only with covered head, (ch. xi, 5). Who has any right to say, that this gospel prophesying, foretold of "the last days" for "all," and for "all flesh," is never more to be seen in the church? In this view no extreme course is necessary. Apostolic teaching need not be forced or repudiated; and woman need not be shut up in her modest efforts to do good. Let her only keep to her divinely appointed position as the submissive helpmeet of man, and her loving lips, like her tender heart and her gentle hand, shall shed the dew of grace upon the church as well as the home. It is true, there is a limitation here put upon woman's speech, in the church as everywhere else. Paul's doctrine is, and all other Scripture harmonizes with it, that woman is to "be under obedience," and is to speak and act only in consistency with this view. It is not our business here and now to expound and enforce this doctrine. If any dispute it, their quarrel is not with us, but with God's word that teaches it. And why should obedience be deemed a hard or wicked thing? Do not all mankind have to obey? Must not man as well as woman yield to the demands of law and order? Does not God wisely assign to us all our fitting lot and place? Let Scripture admonitions, therefore, be cheerfully accepted. Let a difference be made, as the Bible enjoins, between the speaking of woman and that of man. If the head-covering, or the long hair, or the unprominent posture, or absence of gesticulation, or abstinence from discussion and formal preaching, or quickness to pause and "hold the peace" and yield the floor,if these or the like be the fitting tokens of womanly subordination according to Paul, then let them be conceded in child-like docility. But beyond this, there is a wide and blessed sphere for woman's voice in the church. The gospel view of this subject is thus seen to be a plastic one, adaptable to the changing times. Under the apostle's teaching, a full supply of men fully occupying the time, may keep the women out of sight; as has been the case in older, larger churches. But all unoccupied time ought to be improved by women, or "the very stones may cry out." Scripture left this subject in such shape, that harsher times might keep less cultivated woman in the shade, as they have done; while still the advanced culture of these "last days" should have free scope, to receive developed woman's aid in the church, just so fast and so far as developed man himself is ready to accept it as not exhibiting insubordination. The Scripture principle does indeed make women absolutely "keep silence," where the men insist upon this as the only sufficient token of their subjection. But whenever the men. give express invitation to utterance, this certainly relieves the women from all risk or hindrance in speaking properly in their presence. When the men of a church themselves come forward, as in many little mission churches, and ask, and even entreat the women to aid them in their worship, then surely they cannot accuse themselves of the insubordination here condemned, if they kindly and helpfully do their part. Nay, they are more in danger of incurring apostolic malediction, when, in such cirstances of requested aid, they fail to "come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." ARTICLE VII.-ANDERSON'S HISTORIES OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. History of the Missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. By RUFUS ANDERSON, D.D., lately Foreign Secretary of the Board. The India Mission, 1 vol. The Sandwich Islands' Mission, 1 vol. THIS series of volumes is the admirable record of some of the best fruits of the ripest modern Christianity. The Board of Missions which it represents, stands confessedly in the forefront of missionary organizations, as one of the oldest, wisest, most catholic, most enterprising, and most efficient of them all. It originally combined the efforts of three great Christian communions, and furnished the earliest missionaries of a fourth. Its counsels have been conducted, on the whole, with singular harmony among its managers at home, and with its agents abroad. Its plans have been laid, in the main, with a statesmanlike wisdom, and pushed with an apostolic faith. Its financial credit, though hanging upon the individual wills of myriads of men, has been kept unimpaired. The providence and grace of God have averted many and great dangers. Its founders and active patrons have comprised a vast number of the choicest spirits of this nation. The consecrated business talent of Boston has managed its funds. The short roll of its deceased secretaries contains such honored names as Worcester, Evarts, Cornelius, Wisner, Armstrong, and Green. The long list of preachers who have uttered its annual messages of hope and cheer, begins with Dwight and proceeds with such as Appleton, Spring, Day, Nott, Griffin, Lyman Beecher, Rice, Alexander, and the like. Among its missionaries are registered a body of men whose practical wisdom, zeal, and power, show them to be no mean successors of the early evangelists. Where, in the history of the Church, are there to be found groups of nobler men than Newell, Hall, Meigs, Poor, Scudder, and Ballantine, in India; Bingham, Thurston, Richards, in Hawaii; Grant, Perkins, Stocking, Stoddard, Rhea, in Persia; Parsons, Fisk, and Eli Smith, in Syria: Dwight, Goodell, and Azariah Smith, in Turkey,-to say nothing of the living? What finer female characters than Mrs. Newell, Mrs. Winslow, Mrs. Sarah Lanman Smith, Miss Fiske, and the great company of accomplished ladies that have diffused the Christian graces in benighted lands? What more remarkable scenes of awakening than those which have attended these missionary labors? What more marvelous exhibitions of the transforming power of the gospel of Christ? The history of this Board exhibits every form of Christian pioneering and activity, from the task of committing twenty languages to writing up to the founding of colleges and theological schools; from the first utterance of the Saviour's name to naked savages, up to the ingathering of those savages by tens of thousands, clothed and cleansed, into the Church of Christ; from the first union of two or three in the name of Christ, up to the marshalling of mission churches themselves for the missionary work. Nearly every conceivable form of Christian experience, almost every variety of gift and grace, and every kind of trial, heroism, and deliverance, stands here recorded. This record of God's doings is fortunate in its authorship. Few narratives of so broad a series of events have ever been written by one so amply fitted for the office. It would be difficult to specify a qualification in which the venerable author is lacking. He has from the beginning watched and accompanied the work he narrates, in all its aspects, from within and without. He was present when the first band of missionaries was ordained at Bradford by Woods, Griffin, Spring, Morse, and Worcester. A few years later he entered the service of the Board, was connected more than forty years. with its foreign correspondence, took every missionary by the hand as he went to his destination, sat in the deliberations of the Prudential Committee, attended all the annual meetings at home, and made four official visits of investigation to the missions in India, the Sandwich Islands, and the countries on the Mediterranean. And now he has had access to all the |