WOMEN AS ELDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 14

WOMEN AS ELDERS.

Sir, —Your report of the discussion of this question by the Auckland Presbytery did not impress me by any suggestion of the dignified tone and high level of argument used by those who oppose this movement. It seemed to me that there was room not only for that "clear thinking" to which the Rev. L. H. Hunt calls us, but also for a little "refined speaking." No doubt those .who differ from Mr. Hunt are just as of appreciating humour as he is, but language about "old women" and "the silliest remit" seem out of place in a discussion of what is really a serious and vital question. Bv the way, it so happens, I understand, that the matter of this "silliest remit" was brought before the Presbyterian General Assembly by one who is acknowledged to be one of the siinest and most practical and also most spiritual of the Church's ministers, and one of her real leaders. I refer to the highly-esteemed Rev. W. J. Comrie, of Wellington. Any proposal that is supported by Mr. Comrie is quite certain to have as much "clear thinking" behind it as the most exacting of "clear thinkers" could wish. It is difficult to appreciate the logic that sees an interference with "the Divine order as seen in Creation and in the home and in the Church" in suggesting that women should be eliuible to act as elders, but is quite blind to any such interference in allowing them to work—sometimes almost like the proverbial galley slave—in connection with sales of work, etc., in order to raise money "for the managers;" in allowing them to do a very large proportion of the work of Sunday Schools, and quite their share of Bible Class work; in allowing them to do the work of the Women's Missionary Union so marked by administrative ability and spiritual quajr itv. Are women in the Church to be regarded as simply its useful "hewers of wood and drawers of water?" Is it not true that women are in reality more spiritual than men ? And yet the supremely spiritual office in the Church is to he denied them! Does the spirit of Christianity set any bar to any form of Christian life and service on the ground of sex ? T have a recollection of having read in the New Testament words to this effect: "There is neither Jew nor Greek .... there is neither male nor female; for ye, are all one in Christ Jesus. " Much that has appeared in your columns on this question leaves me with the feeling that a good deal of the opposition to women as elders is not so much an evidence or a result of "clear thinking" as a relic of mediaevalisra. •P-RES-BYTEBXiX.