  As we have seen, Quaker preaching is not preaching in the traditional sense of exhortation on scripture: “For it was not Christ nor the Apostles Practice to take others Records &amp; Writings that had been spoken from others,” Fell says, “but they spoke as the spirit gave them utterance” (Fell 1660f, 4). In Fell’s view, women can justifiably preach because true preaching does not require the traditional book-learning of men, it requires only the light of Christ within. In their arguments, Fell and other Quaker authors repeatedly invoke biblical quotations in support of the spiritual authority of women, such as the claims that “there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28), and that “it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17, quoting Joel 2:28). For many Quakers, the rise of the female preacher, like the conversion of the Jews, would be a realization of millennial expectations about Christ’s second coming. In arguing thus, they were challenging widespread opposition to women’s preaching at the time.