  Another, closely related, problem is that in some Quaker texts natural women themselves are not permitted to preach the word of the Lord. Smith (1982) points out that “Women functioned as the vessels for Christ’s teaching, not as speakers for themselves” (70). Women are permitted to speak only insofar as they are instruments or bearers of the light. According to Gill, the Quaker women “seem to be attempting to divorce spirituality from physicality, claiming the message should be attended to rather than the person delivering it” (Gill 2005, 42). But this separation between the spiritual and the physical is problematic. Spiritually speaking, the body of the female preacher is simply irrelevant to the delivery of the message; while physically speaking, the female preacher still represents all that which is despicable and unworthy of God. In sum, it would appear that the early Quaker defenders of women’s preaching either ignore or denigrate a woman’s sexed body.