WOMEN AND THE CHURCH.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 14728, 5 August 1921, Page 7

WOMEN AND THE CHURCH.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES. The decision of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of England—"which is closely allied to the United Free Church of Scotland—to open the eldership to women, and to consider the question of the admission of women to the ministry is a great break with traditidn, but a distinct sign of the times. The innovation would have produced the severest censure from .John Knox, who regarded as one of "the “horrible” things about the “Papistical kirk” the circumstances jthat “they suffer women, whom the Holy Ghost will not suffer to teach .in the congregation, to baptize.” But many things—good and bad — in modern church life would also meet with severe criticism 'from any Sixteenth century interpretation of Holy Scripture receives equally . severe treatment from the modern. GROWING ENLIGHTENMENT. It is pointed out that the text upon which Knox relied in the passage we have quoted; refers not to teaching in the congregation, but to speaking in the public assemblies, and that in the then existing social .conditions at Corinth, of which St. Paul was writing,' there were good reasons why a woman should not speak in a public meeting, open to unbelievers as well as to the Christian community of the city. It is further argued that not only did St. Paul teach that,' for those baptised into Christ, there can be “neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no mhle and female, for ye are all one,” but that he gave instructions that a woman should have her head covered when prophesying, thus recognising the right of a woman to speak in a Christian congregation. These arguments are reinforced by a consideration of the implications of other passages in the New Testament, and the opponents of the traditional views or customs may be regarded as having gone far to prove their contention that the ministry of women in some form' is not debarred by the teaching of the Scripture. HUMAN PROGRESS.

The question can best be decided by the needs and the wishes of each individual church and by reference to the general progress of the" community. It is a point on which any appeal to tradition and custom, as representing the uniform experience of successive generations, is weakened, if not vitiated, by the reflection that conditions, and circumstances have entirely altered in recent years. There can be no doubt about the profound change which has been brought about in social conditions by the education of women. It would not be easy to picture the women of Miss Austen’s novels taking a part in the religious teaching of the Church, but readers of more modern fiction would have no difficulty in selecting from the pages of some of them wbmen capable of achieving distinction both in preaching and in teaching, and this is one of the matters in which it is true that “fiction never lies.” The change in the type of women pourtrayed by the novelists corresponds to the change that has occurred in real life. IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. The effect of the new conditions has been admitted by the Amglican Communion; which, as a rule, lays great stress upon custom and tradition. Last year’s Lambeth conference resolved, by a majority, that Deaconesses should be ordained by the laying on of hands of a Bishop, and should be eligible to receive licenses to read the Church service of morning and evening prayer and the Litany to the same extent .to which deacons are authorised to read them, and that they should also be allowed to instruct and exhort the congregation assembled in church for public worship. This is an advance on anything we have in Scotland as yet, for, v/hile Deaconesses have for some years been a familiar feature in the Church of Scotland, their function has been limited to practically that of the even 'more familiar Parish Sister. While the Church of England resolution does pot contemplate that women should be empowered to administer the sacraments, it proproses a very, serious innovation upon existing custom. Under the Anglican-Assembly (Powers) Act of 1919 representatives of the laity, alike in the National Church Assembly and in the local assemblies, may be of either sex. SCOTLAND’S POSITION.

No enabling Act would seem to be necegeary to authorise the Church of Scotland to recognise women as eldders, for neither in the "Golden Act" .of 1592, which legalised the Presbyterian system and was re-en-acted in 1690, nor in the Confession of Faith is there any reference to eex. It was, of course, regarded as ' Inconceivable that women should ever occupy such a position, and it was unnecessary to legislate about a thing inconceivable. The revolution in the constitution of Parliament and other civil councils by. which women are now admitted to these assemblies on equal terms with men cannot fail to produce a movement in Scotland like that which has led to the decision of the English Presbyterian Synod and the resolutions of the Lambeth Conference.

In many ways we are a conservative people in Scotland, and in religious and ecclesiastical controversies this conservation has been very marked and has been apt to find forceful expression in divisions and secessions. It is, therefore, desirable that the advocates of change, If they find any large body of public opinion adverse to the adoption by the Church of Scotland or the United’ Free Church of the precedent set by the English Presbyterians, should proceed with caution and consideration. Any opposition Is, indeed, more likely to centre round the proposal which has not yet been accepted by the English .Synod—the admission of women to the ministry—than round mere admission to the eldership. Sooner or later the change is sure to be • made, for the progress of public opinion which long ago opened the medical profession and has recently opened the legal profession to women is not likely to halt permanently at the doors of the Churches, and those who know best the services which women now render to the Christian Church in various capacities are the most cordial In welcoming an extension of their responsibilities and of their usefulness, . ■