redeemed thee out of the land of servants, and I sent before thee Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam." Thus did God, in the very beginning of the Jewish
Church and nation, associate a woman with men, giving her an equally
responsible position with her brothers. Moses was the lawgiver, Aaron
the priest, and Miriam the seer. This threefold office was fulfilled in
Christ; and therefore Miriam, as well as Moses and Aaron, was a type of
the Messiah.

If the Almighty had not designed women to occupy prominent positions,
both civilly and ecclesiastically, he certainly would not have qualified
them to fill such places with honor; and history proves that he did both
qualify and employ them. Deborah was both a prophetess and a judge, and
at one time was the chief ruler in Israel, even leading on the hosts of
the living God; for timorous Barak would not go without her. Huldah,
wife of Shallum, a prophetess who flourished in the reign of Josiah, was
consulted by him on matters of vital importance to his kingdom, although
both Jeremiah and Zephaniah were then alive. Josiah evidently considered
her fully equal to either of them, or he would not have consulted her,
or at her dictation set about reforming the abuses which were prevalent
at the time. He could not have set to work more earnestly in this good
cause if Jeremiah had spoken to him. There have been learned men--and
there are those still--who think it exceedingly strange that Josiah
should have condescended to send the messengers to Huldah to inquire of
the Lord, when he might have consulted either Jeremiah or one of the
brother prophets. Is it not equally strange that the Lord should have
answered him by her mouth? or rather should not his having done so,
forever silence such questioning?

Other women have been emphatically the "called," according to "God's
purpose," to combat evil in countries even where women were treated with