SACERDOTAL BREECHES.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 211, 12 September 1901, Page 3

SACERDOTAL BREECHES.

(To the Editor of tho Times.) Sir, —As “ Vox ” has drubbed J, Peckover pretty soundly for innocent ignorance, I wish to console tho poor man. J.P. says in ins letter that my positive ipso dixit ho is not willing to accept. I never asked him or anyone else to accept what I said on my own authority. Probably J.P.’s habit is such ; mine is not so. As to the glib phrase ipse dixit, it is Latin, a lan-

guagc I do not know —neither does J.P, if lie knows it, why should ho use tho words in a false sense '? For reasons of his own, mayhap. Ipso dixit, for the information of readers like myself, means a mere assertion —wholly unsupported: In my note I said but little that was not supported by authority. So much for that muddle of J.lYs. I am not an adept at baby-talk, and pity it is when folk speak on such a theme as I have broached in tho Times, they should have recourse to the style *• deblatherativo.” J.P. speaks of Philip's four daughters that preached. Now, I cannot do better than give from Fllicott's commentary, a late work on the Bible—and this for tho benefit of the Times’ readers who may not have access to that monument of noble and sound scholarship, piety, and value. Acts, chap, xxi.. verses 8 and 9 : “ Philip the Evangelist had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” I beg, Sir, of your readers that they will use both eyes whilst looking over this, and not read with a lopsided squint:—(l) Tho four daughters were “ virgins.” The word then, as afterwards, probably indicated, not merely the bare fact that they were as yet unmarried, but that they had devoted themselves, if not by irrevocable vows, yet by a steadfast purpose, to that form of servico. In tho organisation of women's work in the church they formed apparently a distinct class, tho complement of that of the widows of 1 Tim., v. c., v. 10. St. Paul had distinctly sanctioned such a life, as presenting a higher standard of excellence than tho duties of domestic life (1 Cor., vii., 8), and on grounds which, in their general character, went beyond tho “ present distress ” of a time of persecution. It was, indeed, a matter on which ho had no commandment from the Lord (1 Cor., vn., 25), and in which he was therefore open to tho teachings of experience, and these seem to have modified his judgment at a later date, and led him to the conclusion that it was better that tho younger “ widows ” should marry (1 Tim., v. 14), and that they should be received into tho list of those who were maintained by the Church in return for their former services as " widows,” at a moro advanced age (1 Tim., v., 9). The order of “ virgin,” however, continued to exist, and the term Virgo, sometimes with Ancilla Domini (the handmaid of the Lord, compare Rom. xvi., 1) added to it, is found in the inscriptions from the catacombs now in the museums of the Collegio Romano and tho Latoran. So Pliny, in his letter to Trajan, speaks of the women who were then called Jlinistrae among the Christians, the latter term being probably used as the equivalent for “ deaconesses.” (2) These virgins “ prophesied.” The word comprised much more than mere prediction of the future, and included all words that came into the mind of the speaker as an inspiration, and to the hearers as a message from God. In other words, they preached. We ask when, and where'? Did they prophesy in the assemblies of the Church '? It is true that | St. Paul had forbidden this at Corinth (I. Corinthians, xiv., 34), and forbade it afterwards at Ephesus (I. Tim., n., 12); but the very prohibition proves that the practice was common, and it does not follow that St. Paul's rules of discipline as yet obtained in all the Churches. It is perfectly possible, however, that they may have confined their ministrations to those of their own sex; and, accompanying their father in his missionary journeys, have gained access to women, both among Jews and Gentiles, and brought them to a knowledge of the Truth. It is obvious that the services of women, acting as deaconesses, would be needed as a matter of decorum in the baptism of female converts. It is to be observed—by lovers of the truth, those who desire to give all a fair field, as I have now given what were I vain enough I could have withheld, at least from some that the ministrations of women are hedged in by clearly cut lines, the spheres of their operations are pointed out, there is no hap-hazard work. At the same time —the regulating of woman's services in Gospel matters do still, as in St. Paul’s das’, demand watohful care from those who occupy positions of authority in any church. Reasons for this, need no particularising by me. When prophecies from tho j‘p~ 0I women of our own times come true, I think that our pulpits should -be gladly opened jor the reception of beautiful' women: : Some years ago. a lady named —t — visited the Wesleyan Church here, on mission— she was heavy, Heroulean-bodied, with a long, broad face, os-lipped. I shall not soon

forget her voice, the stamping and rampagious conduct of that dear girl. I pitied her husband —she had one, he had the misfortune to have her ; if he is living, I pity him still. —1 am, etc., G. H. Wilson.