John Bunyan, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
I wrote a whole treatise on this, A Case of Conscience Resolved in 1683, and the question there is narrower than people suppose. I did not ask whether women may pray. I asked whether it is the duty of the women of a congregation, ordinarily and by appointment, to separate from their brethren and assemble to perform parts of divine worship without their men.1
To that I said no, and I say it still. But hear how I opened, for I wrote to the sisters with honour. The Lord puts no difference between male and female in the communication of his saving graces, and many of your sex have outgone the brethren in holiness of life.2 The love of women in spirituals, as in naturals, often outgoes that of men.2 When Christ was on earth, no man did for him as did the woman that was a sinner, and Joanna, and Susanna.2
I blamed the leaders who set them upon this course, not the women. Poor women, I said, are to be pitied, and their tempter bears the blame.3 My reason is the order God set. Worship was ordained before the woman was made, and the word came first to him who was first formed and made head in worship.4 That is why a woman who would learn must ask her husband at home, and is not to appoint meetings of her own sex to teach one another.4
If the sisters may set up and manage worship alone, what is the meaning of man's being head of the woman in worship, and why are elders called watchmen, overseers and guides?4 It would shut those very overseers out of doors from the worship they are charged to guide.5 I add this, which concerns the weak and not the sex. If praying in assemblies is so heavy that strong men, acting by lawful authority, can do it only with unutterable groans, we do not put the weak upon it, though they be men, nor in the presence of the strong.4
How then should the weakest be put upon it, and when together by themselves?4 And if those who are fond of such meetings had a petition for their lives to put to the king, they would not choose women for their advocates, least of all if the king had declared by law that he would not hear a woman in an open auditory.4 When they bring me Christ's promise, where two or three are gathered in my name, I answer that to gather in his name is to gather by his authority, by his law and commandment, and we have no commandment that the women of a church should keep up meetings apart for worship.3
When they say a sick woman may call her sisters to pray with her, I say Christ's law is that the sick call for the elders of the church, and the promise of healing and forgiveness is tied to that.3 And when they say modesty will not let a woman tell some griefs to men, I say she has a husband, who is one flesh with her, as Rachel went to Jacob and not to a nest of women.
Or she may betake herself to her closet with Rebekah, or pray in her heart in the assembly with Hannah.3 What is owed to the weaker vessel is therefore this. I never doubted the lawfulness of women's praying, in private or in public. In public they should join with the church and not separate from it, and should not be the mouth of the assembly, but go along with the men in heart, desires, groans and tears.3
In the closet they are at liberty to speak to a God who pities and pardons our weakness for Jesus' sake.3 And what is owed by them is that they take their seat in the ordinances God has appointed for building up the body of Christ, and learn as the angels do.4 This inferiority is for a little while. When the Lord descends with a shout, these distinctions of sex shall be laid aside, and every pot shall be filled to the brim.6
Men and women stand on one foundation and receive the same grace, and women have often gone before men in faith, love and courage. But God has set an order in his church in which the man leads the worship, and so the sisters may not, ordinarily and by appointment, separate themselves to perform public worship without their brethren.78 A husband is to bear with his wife's weaknesses and honour her as the weaker vessel; a wife is to be subject to her husband; and Christiana goes on pilgrimage, fights off her assailants and knocks at the gate for Mercy.91011
WHETHER, WHERE A CHURCH OF CHRIST IS SITUATE, IT IS THE DUTY OF THE WOMEN OF THAT CONGREGATION, ORDINARILY, AND BY APPOINTMENT, TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THEIR BRETHRENA Case of Conscience Resolved
the Lord doth put no difference betwixt male and female, as to the communications of his saving graces... The love of women in spirituals, as well as naturals, ofttimes outgoes that of men.A Case of Conscience Resolved
To gather together in Christ's name, is to gather together by his authority; That is, by his law and commandment... But we have no law of Christ, nor commandment, that the women of this or that church, should separate themselves from their brethrenA Case of Conscience Resolved
Why is man made the head of the woman in worship, in the worship now under debate, in that worship that is to be performed in assemblies? And why are the women commanded silence there, if they may congregate by themselvesA Case of Conscience Resolved
how shall the elders and overseers, the watchmen, rulers, and guides in worship, perform their duty to God, and to the church of God, in this, since from this kind of worship they are quite excluded, and utterly shut out of doorsA Case of Conscience Resolved
this inferiority of yours will last but a little while... these distinctions of sexes shall be laid aside, and every pot shall be filled to the brim.A Case of Conscience Resolved
A CASE OF CONSCIENCE RESOLVED; VIZ., WHETHER, WHERE A CHURCH OF CHRIST IS SITUATE, IT IS THE DUTY OF THE WOMEN OF THAT CONGREGATION, ORDINARILY, AND BY APPOINTMENT, TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THEIR BRETHREN, AND SO TO ASSEMBLE TOGETHER, TO PERFORM SOME PARTS OF DIVINE WORSHIP, AS PRAYER, ETC., WITHOUT THEIR MEN? AND THE ARGUMENTS MADE USE OF FOR THAT PRACTICE, EXAMINED. BY JOHN BUNYAN.A Case of Conscience Resolved
For the eldership, Moses and Aaron of old were they, with the priests, that were to call the church together to perform divine worship to God, and that both as to the whole, or as to the parts of it (Num 10:7,8; Deut 4:14, 31:11,12; Exo 4:29, 12:21, 17:5). Also, in after times, they were the elders and chief of the church, that did it (Josh 24:1; Ezra 10:5-9; Acts 14:27, 15:3).A Case of Conscience Resolved
Now this is called praying and praising, to the teaching and edifying of others, as by the scripture afore named is made appear (1 Cor 14:14-19). But by what word of God the sisters of the respective churches may set up this way of teaching of one another in their assemblies, I am ignorant of.A Case of Conscience Resolved
K. for the promoter thereof. Third, This done, in the third place, I come to shew you whose prayers, or by whose mouth prayer in such assemblies, as are above proved lawful, used to be made, or by Paul or others were desired. 1. Whose prayers were used, or who was the mouth?A Case of Conscience Resolved
This was our question, and this I will now give a negative answer unto. For I find not in Christ's testament any command so to do; no nor yet example: and where there is none of these, it cannot be a duty upon them; no, nor yet liberty, but presumption to attempt it. The command, says Mr. K., is general to all. But I answer, yet limited, and confined to order and manner of performance.A Case of Conscience Resolved
The pamphlet of 1683 and the language of the conduct books against the women of Part II and his own debt to the poor women of Bedford; the place where modern readers press him on gender.