which were formulated by the early "church fathers" and by our Puritan forefathers; until the lost balance of religion. is restored by the restoration of the woman element to the mutilated human and the mutilated divine; until the motherhood as well as the fatherhood of God is recognized by this world of self-made half-orphans; until these things be, the supreme call to the ministry that vibrates through the world to-day is to womanhood to give herself to the service of unifying and uplifting humanity, and bringing it up to the true knowledge and glad service of our Father and Mother God.

DISCUSSION OF SAME SUBJECT BY REV. EUGENIA ST. JOHN OF KANSAS (METHODIST).

We believe that woman's native intuition is as necessary in the pulpit as man's logical, reasoning powers. Reason has stood still and argued from cause to effect, and has asked these questions: "How shall it be done?" Why shall it be done?" "Can it be done, and shall we do it?" Meanwhile intuition has made rapid transit across the pathway of reason; has probed the mystery, solved the question, brought the remedy, and when reason has come to its conclusion intuition is already at work at the business.

Woman is just as powerful with her intuition in the pastorate as in the pulpit. She can tell whether she can offer a morning prayer, or read a passage of Scripture, or sing a song, or say a kind word, or pat a little child on its head and gladden the heart of the poor mother as she goes in and out among her people. She sees the field as soon as she enters it, and meets the need by applying the remedy. If it is a business meeting of her church her intuition sees the crusty man that has come to break the harmony, and she uses a woman's tact to the overcoming of the stubborn nature, and anticipates him at every step. Therefore we find to-day that man is puzzled, in an executive body, how to handle the women preachers, while the woman preacher is delighted

at the way she is able to handle the body of executive brethren.

We turn, then, and say in conclusion that by woman's power of intuition she has been able to reach out in the line of winning souls to Christ continuously. It is said the underwork has been given us, but it has been given to us in discipline to prepare us to take the pulpit. Now we are at the foot of the cross, being taught by the great teacher, inspired with hope that we may be able to fill the place that God has opened, even broader than we had asked for.

It seems to me that intuition and reason have come to woman in the new era, and that she is not only able to exert her intuition, but she is able to reason, and the two faculties combined will make the perfect whole.

We find in the occasion of the hour only the sequel to what has been done in the past by the brave women whose voices we hear to-day, who have stood in the ministry for thirty-seven years, some of them without church orders; but, praise God, the orders are coming faster than we knew of.

DISCUSSION OF SAME SUBJECT BY REV. MARY L. MORELAND OF ILLINOIS (CONGREGATIONALIST).

I am doubly interested in this point of woman's entering the pulpit. I can not imagine what could have been in the hearts of the brethren all these years to have closed the doors of the pulpit and said to woman: "You can come just so far and no farther." They want women in the services; they want them in the prayer-room, and in every department of the church, but not in the pulpit. I am more than interested when I realize what this congress is going to do for the churches of the different denominations. It may be possible to-night that some young woman is sitting under me that is thinking seriously of entering the pulpit. Many hindrances, no doubt, are placed before you; but let me assure you there is no chasm so hard to cross but that, if you have faith and courage, you can cross it. I

do not speak especially from an experience of hardship in entering the ministry myself. Years ago, in a little town in Massachusetts, I got my call from God, and I said to the old minister of my church: "I will not be a minister; I will not enter the ministry when men are opposed to it. I do not propose to choose a life of hardship." And so I put off the earnest call and went out into other departments of work. But one day, unexpectedly, it seemed to me that God again had led me out in spite of my wish or desire; and so the deacons of the church to which I had been called, said "Miss Moreland, it is your duty to be ordained." And I said: "It is not; don't mention this matter; you will break up the church and spoil our meetings." I said I had never heard of a lady's being ordained in a Congregational church, but I found I was mistaken, for there was one before myself. That ordination was urged upon me, and the work of the pulpit became possible.

Objections are often presented to the ministry of women; but you know that women from the earliest centuries have served in every capacity and every department of life. How very strange to say that women shall not enter the ministry. The word minister means more than a mere leader. It implies that we must bear together all the service that may be placed on the shoulder of each individual. I realize that many a woman will be called into hard places, called to places where perhaps many temptations will be met, and she will say: "I must fail." But when those moments have come she should say: "I will not fail, because I am a woman."

It is becoming customary to ordain women in the Congregational church. Ten ladies have been ordained into our church, and I hope to see many more enter. Let us hail all the opportunities that may come; let us welcome the privileges God brings; let us no longer stand on customs of the past in questions of ministry, any more than in other calls of life.

WOMAN AS A MINISTER OF RELIGION EXTRACTS FROM THE ADDRESS BY REV. MARY A. SAFFORD OF IOWA (UNITARIAN).

As that monarch of the forest, the oak, is the result of the evolution of physical life, so woman's place in the church as a minister of religion is the result of that evolution of spiritual life which will yet transform the world.

For centuries the power of church and state rested on human souls with crushing weight. Little hope there seemed that the sons and daughters of God could ever rise into the noble stature of a free manhood and womanhood. But the demand for civil and religious liberty grew stronger and stronger, and slowly but surely the divine right of kings has given way to the diviner rights of human souls; the authority of the priest has yielded to the authority of reason and conscience, until at last the world is awaking to the truth that every human being has a right to grow. Thus it has come to pass that to-day woman stands in the pulpit as an ordained minister of religion. The growth of civil and religious liberty explains her advancement in the state and in the church. As a part of humanity she has shared in its unfolding life. With the growing recognition of the worth of the individual, woman is coming to her own.

Vainly does the church attempt to stay her progress. At one time, armed with the power of the state, it could forbid her standing in the pulpit as a minister of the eternal gospel of truth, and love, and righteousness. Now it can only fling at her the missiles of ridicule and invective. No longer a child, woman claims the privilege of deciding for herself what is right. When told that woman is not fitted to preach, that it is enough for her to attend the weekly sewing society and embroider altar-cloths, she quietly answers: "You can not decide these matters for me. The right of private judgment is mine as well as yours, and I shall exercise it."