importance
of the sex-principles. From the days of Zoroaster to the final
establishment of Christianity by Paul, the tendency--although
slight--had been toward the elevation of woman, and consequently
toward a greater acknowledgment of the female element in the god-idea.
Considerable impetus was given to the cause of woman's advancement
through the doctrines of the various schools of philosophy in Greece,
and subsequently by the efforts put forth by the Roman lawyers to
establish their equality with men before the law; hence, during the
first hundred years of the Christian era the "new religion" seems to
have contained much of the spirit of the ancient philosophy.

By several of the early Christian sects, the second person in the
trinity was female, as was also the Holy Ghost.

In a "fragment of a gospel preserved by St. Jerome, and believed to have
been from the original Aramaean Gospel of St. Matthew, with additions,
the Holy Ghost (ruach), which in Hebrew is feminine, is called by the
infant Savior, 'My Mother, the Holy Ghost.' "(142)

142) Barlow, Essays on Symbolism, p. 135.

The mission of Christ was that of a Regenerator of mankind, an office
which had been symbolized by the powers of the sun. He was to restore
that which was lost. He attempted to teach to the masses of the people
the long neglected principles of purity and peace. He did not condemn
woman. He was baptized by John (Ion or Yon) in water, the original
symbol for the female element, and while in the water; the Holy Ghost
in form of a dove (female) descended upon him. To those who have given
attention to the symbolism of the pagan worship these facts are not
without signification.

Because of the peculiar tendency of Christ's teachings women soon became
active factors in their promulgation. If there were no other evidence to
show that they publicly taught the new doctrines, the injunction of St.
Paul, "I suffer not a woman to teach," would seem to imply that they
were not silent.

The doctrines of the Gnostics were particularly favorable to women.
Marcellina, who belonged to this order, was the founder of a sect called
Marcelliens. Of her works Waite observes: "It would scarcely be expected
that the heretical writings of a woman would be preserved amid such
wholesale slaughter of the obnoxious works of the opposite sex. The
writings of Marcellina have perished."(143) Not only did women teach
publicly, and write, but according to Bunse