ness to have a choice and a will of their own in this matter, they cry out, "And who is sufficient for these things?" And well may we do the same. Surrender of our own will, then, is that leading element in our life below which alone can make us to be like the incense of God's presence-a sweet savour to Him.

Another Old Testament allusion is to the lamps and pitchers used in Gideon's victory over the Midianites. This is found in chap. iv. 6-15. Paul here speaks of "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shining out by us because God "hath shined in our hearts". But he instantly adds that "this treasure is in earthen vessels," which must be more or less broken that the light may shine out, as was the case with Gideon's pitchers in his day of battle. "Earthen vessels" is the Apostle's term for the frail bodies of God's saints as "sweet savour" had been for their surrendered wills. In God's blessed service, whether in the Church or in the outside world, bodily strength is to be no more relied on than is any purpose or will of our own. The "excellency of the power" is to be "of God and not of us". Hence all outside afflictions are next named, such as, "troubled on every side," "perplexed," "persecuted," "cast down," summed up with "always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus" (see Grk.); but all this breaking to pieces of the earthen vessels is only "that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body," just as Jehovah's lamps shone out from the sherds of Gideon's pitchers, or through the chinks of their shattered state. But this dealing with our "mortal flesh "-(see verse 11)-is very unwelcome to these sensitive frames of ours, which do so shrink from rough treatment and from suffering. Indeed how little is there in our day of any such bodily suffering for Christ's sake; still less do we see a settling at the very outset of our gospel and church work that our bodies are--and are intended to be to us only as "earthen vessels;" weak at best, and the breaking of which shall but help us in the heavenly work assigned to us to do. In chap. xii. Paul did himself recognize this truth in the matter of the "thorn in the flesh," and joyfully submitted under that bodily weakness, whatever it was, and said, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me;" and there also he at once mentions "reproaches," "necessities," "persecutions," and "distresses for Christ's sake". The bodily facul

ties and vigour, therefore, of God's servants are not to be relied on or unduly prized; but are to be willingly exposed and risked for His sake, for it was when Gideon counted the pitchers so little worth that he willingly broke them that his victory for Jehovah was gained. But there is one member of our bodies which specially "boasteth great things"; it is the tongue. (See James iii.) It is that part of the "earthen vessel" which is least ready of any to suppose itself faltering or frail, and is most unwilling of any to bave its activity curbed and its energies subdued. The times in which we live are against our learning any distrusting of powers of speech. Oratory for or against any special objects is a leading feature of "man's day," whether in its politics, its science, its morals, or its religion. "With our tongues will we prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?"-(Ps. xii. 4)—is still the language of man's energy and will. For us, therefore, as God's servants to count our tongue as only an incompetent and "earthen" thing; a thing to be silenced rather than indulged would be indeed a precious help to God's speaking by us, and would greatly tend to our being "vessels unto honour sanctified and meet for the Master's use". Hence speech is the special faculty and work of our "earthen vessels to which Paul applies his teaching. Denying his body as he did, and every way curbing as well as exposing it for his Master's sake, he says (v. 12): "So then death worketh in us,' and he gladly allowed it because he could add, as a result of it-" But life (.e. spiritual life) in you;" and he at once gives believing utterance-as a thing-all of it drawn from God-as the characteristic of his service in the "earthen vessel," instead of the ease and volubility of the natural tongue. Here also, as in the previous allusion to the "sweet savour" of incense, Christ Himself becomes the blessed pattern both of Paul's service and of the service of all saints. Psalm cxvi. is quoted-"We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written-'I believed, therefore have I spoken"". But Ps. cxvi. is the language of Christ, and blessedly reminds us of Him Who could say,

"As

I hear, I judge" (John v. 30); and again, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of (or from) myself ". (John xiv. 10.) In our Master, therefore, it was neither wisdom nor ability of His own by which He spoke; all His words were as if He were dumb in Himself, and this made His tongue to be to God as choice a member of His body as any other. This spirit

THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN.

THE papers that recently appeared in the Northern Witness upon the Ministry of Women, by A. O. M., have evoked some correspondence which indicates the necessity for further alluding to the subject.

The arguments used to favour the public ministry in the Gospel or otherwise, of women are commonly based upon Scriptures which refer to the gift of prophecy. But first, there is no evidence, in almost any instance of prophesying by women, that it was uttered in a public way. Miriam prophesied before the women, and they, not the men, went out after her ;-this answering in some respect to Titus ii. 4, where the "aged women are enjoined to teach the "younger

women".

Deborah having the mind of the Lord, pronounced His judgment in all matters that were brought to her; but it does not 'appear that she left the shade of the palm tree where she dwelt, only she received those who came to her for judgment (Judges iv. 5.) Constrained by Barak she accompanied him to the battle, but it is not recorded that she took any prominent place; on the contrary, she told him it would not be for his honour. Nevertheless, the secret of the Lord being still with her, she instructs Barak, saying, "Up for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand ".

The utmost discretion seems to have been used by Deborah to avoid, in the most responsible position that perhaps God ever called a woman to occupy among His people, even the appearance of going beyond what was strictly a woman's place.

Hannah's prophecy (1 Sam. ii.) bears no evidence of having been uttered publicly.

Huldah prophesied to those who were sent to her, bu did not leave the place where she dwelt; retaining thut the strictly private character of her ministry. Chron. xxxiv., 22.)

(2

Anna, a widow of 84 years, is referred to as a conclusive instance of public ministry by women; but there is not a shadow of evidence that she acted in any such capacity. The Temple seems to have been her continual resort, and there she had abundant opportunity to speak of the Saviour whom her eyes had seen, to those that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Such could at most have been but "a little flock," and she would in all probability have opportunities of speaking to them, or conversing with them (for the word used does not necessarily imply publicity) as they came from time to time to worship; but it is an unwarrantable straining of the narrative to say that all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem came together as a congregation to be prophesied to by this aged widow. How strongly in contrast is the record

of Peter's action in Acts ii. 14.

Philip's four daughters likewise prophesied, and it is asserted that the way in which this is recorded indicates that they exercised this gift in the presence of Paul. It may be so, and why should they not? But where is the evidence that they appeared in a public capacity when they so prophesied ?

When A. O. M. asserts the temporary character of the gift of prophecy, he gives certain cogent reasons for so regarding it; but he by no means exhausts the Scriptural proof on the point.

In 1 Cor. xiv. 3, while it is asserted that one who prophesies speaks unto men "to edification, to exhortation, and to comfort," it by no means follows that all who speak to edification and comfort are prophesying. A teacher ought at all times so to speak, and yet teachers are carefully distinguished from prophets in Scripture: see Rom. xii. 6-8., 1 Cor. xii. 28, Eph. iv. 11.

The gift of the Evangelist is also distinct, and so also is that of Exhortation.

In 1 Cor. xiii. 8, the transitory character of this gift is referred to in contrast to the abiding character of love. This verse cannot mean that anything which God has foretold would fail to be fulfilled, but rather that the gift of prophecy would cease, and this we believe did take place so soon as the written revelation of God concerning the dispensation of the church was by the pen of the Apostles completed. Consequently in 2 Tim. ii. 2, the Apostle instructs that the trach as taught by him to Timothy should be committed to

faithful men who should be able to teach others also. Thus he anticipates the cessation of fresh prophetic revelations from God, and casts the church in time to come upon the truth already revealed through the Apostles.

Again in 2 Peter ii. 1, there is a remarkable confirmation of this, the more conclusive because quite incidental, "There WERE false prophets," that is to say, where there were true prophets Satan raised up false ones, his counterfeit of the true. Even so "there SHALL BE" not "false prophets," but among you." Why this change of the word from "prophets" to "teachers"? Is it not for the very reason we have been endeavouring to show, that in the future of which Peter is speaking there would be teachers for Satan to counterfcit, but not prophets.

FALSE TEACHERS

Again, it has been taught and received by most of those who have spiritual discernment and intelligence, that all the Second Epistles have a character which specially bears upon the latter times of the Church.

Is it then without design that there is not a single allusion in any of the Second Epistles to either New Testament prophets or to the New Testament gift of prophecy Neither is there in the Epistle of Jude, which also bears upon the latter times.

We would note in passing that only one is ever said to have called herself a prophetess. (Rev. ii. 20.)

More might be added, but surely this is enough to convince any who are willing to hear the Scriptures, that it is an utter perversion to apply Scriptures concerning the gift of prophecy to modern preaching or teaching.

The prophet was one who spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. He was an instrument for the time being taken up and spoken through by God apart from his own understanding, and even in certain instances contrary to his own will. God could choose whom He pleased, and use them as and where He pleased; yet, even this mysterious gift could be abused in its exercise, and hence the limitations imposed upon those so gifted in 1 Cor. xiv. "Let the prophets speak two

or three."

A dozen might be ready to utter what was in them by the Spirit; but the Spirit's impulse is subject to the Lord's command. And strange to say, it is just then and there that the command is given: "Let your women keep silence in the churches." We admit, according to 1 Cor. xi., that women did pray and prophesy

in the disorderly assembly at Corinth, and taking them on the ground of their own practice, the Apostle enjoins that in the assembly the women be covered, but when he comes to chap. xiv., which is one of order and regulation concerning the exercise of the gifts he forbids the woman to speak in the assembly.

The same applies to the women praying in the assembly. To pray is the part of all, but to lead an assembly in prayer is the part of the man, being a public act, and therefore it is enjoined upon the man in 1 Tim. ii. 8.

This passage has been adduced in support of women praying in public; the words "in like manner," in verse 9 being strongly built on as confirming the same instruction to the women as to the men. But even so reliable a critic as Dean Alford denies to it this force, and quotes the parallel passage in Titus ii. 3, to show that the "in like manner" is simply a copulative. It is perfectly astounding to an unbiassed mind, to be confronted with such argnments upon so serious a subject.

But why confound "prophesying," which may be private or public according to circumstances, with "preaching "-which is necessarily public. The Greek word expressing the public act (npvoow, Keerusso), occurs about sixty times in the New Testament, but never once of a woman. It is used of John, of Christ, of the seventy, of the twelve Apostles, and of other public ministrations in the synagogues, &c., but never once in reference to the ministry of a woman.

Priscilla is brought forward as an instance of a woman teaching, and a correspondent asks: "Do you think any orthodox brother would speak of a man and his wife instructing some eminent teacher like Apollos, in these days without a sort of sneer?" Why should we have the slightest hesitation in referring to the blessed instruction often received from gifted sisters in Christ, at whose feet in private, the servants of Christ less experienced, but called to public ministry, have often sat? Far be it from us to disown or be ashamed of such help, but if the same gifted sister forsake her God-appointed sphere to harangue from a platform a promiscuous public assembly, we certainly would feel ashamed to allude to a freak so unwomanly and so contrary to all scriptural precedent.

It is pleaded that God is pleased oftentimes to step out of His way, and to take up the weak things to use them for His glory, and that in this way God has in

One corre

these days used the ministry of women. spondent alludes to an instance in which a sister who was accustomed publicly to preach the Gospel, was excluded from fellowship for so doing, whilst seven of those converted through her ministry were received. We should like to know upon what scriptural authority such an one was excluded. We do not dispute the fact that God has blessed his Word through the public ministrations of women. But that can no more be pleaded as a divine sanction of their action, than the fact that the water flowed from the smitten rock can be pleaded as divine sanction to the smiting of it by Moses. God's grace would not stint the blessing, though the instrument used must needs come under the chastening hand of God.

We forbear to allude to circumstances well known which too truly bear witness to the reality of the analogy here.

is

A sister writes to us her experience step by step, first visiting in cottages in a dark country district, then neighbours being gathered in to hear, &c., &c. With this we have the deepest sympathy, and believe that visitation in the homes of the poor a sphere where women's ministry is specially calculated to be fruitful. But the moment she steps from beneath the roof of a home to the platform of a public place of assembly, she leaves the private sphere and enters upon the public; in our humble judgment gathered from scripture as a whole, she leaves the woman's sphere and enters upon the office of the man.

A correspondent writes: "No doubt it is painful to see a woman striving to minister in any way for which she is unfitted; on the other hand, it is painful to see man striving to reduce her to the condition of an oriental female slave."

We fail to see in any part of A. O. M.'s paper even an approximation to such a depreciation of female character. We maintain that her sphere is "at home," and in private life, and in so doing are bestowing the highest honour upon the weaker vessel, assigning to her the place the Scripture gives her.

We do not dispute that an occasional overleaping of what is normal may be recorded in Scripture, or might even be justifiable yet. Witness the ejaculation of the woman in Luke xi. 27, or the declaration of another in Luke viii. 47, but to adduce these in support of the theory that woman may minister publicly with as much propriety as man is only to show how little there is in scripture to support such a doctrine.

Another remark in the correspondence received we would not pass without notice; "If the Lord gives talents to women which He will not require at their hands, then it is a very easy thing for us to sit down quietly and bury them up."

God forbid that any God-given talent should be buried, but surely it is one thing to bury a talent and another thing to use it diligently within the sphere which God himself has appointed. To overstep the Divine limit may secure larger apparent results, but the day will declare whether it had the Master's approval.

"Help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel" (Phil. iv. 3), is quoted as favouring the public preaching of women.

But whilst it is said they laboured with Paul in the gospel-an expression that may cover many kinds of help the Apostle carefully avoids stating that any of his female helpers ever "preached" the Gospel; and in his summing up of women's ministry in 1 Tim. v. 10, how comes it that he omits all notice of public ministry, and only alludes to home and private service, if it be true that God would have women as well as men publicly to preach the gospel?

Again, we ask, has it no weight with the advocates of female preaching that the Lord chose only men to be His witnesses ?

Some have replied: "He chose women to tell his disciples of His resurrection." Truly He did; but is it honest inquiry after truth that allows no distinction. between a message sent by the Lord in person to a few of his disciples all personally known and loved by the messengers, and the public preaching of the Gospel or ministry of the Word to a promiscuous and unknown audience?

We desire to write in no censorious spirit, nor would we willingly cause a needless wound, but we do desire that this subject may be looked at honestly and in the light of the Word of God alone.

One of the world's ungodly themes in these last days is "Women's Rights." Under the pretext of honouring the woman, and placing her upon an equality with the man, "rights" are claimed for her which the order of nature has not allotted to her. Let us take heed lest the leaven which is working in the world around be permitted to do its deadly work within the assemblies of the saints,

J. R. C.

NOTES ON THE SONG OF SOLOMON. BY W. LINCOLN.

PART II. DIALOGUE III., FROM CHAP. V. 2. TO VI. 12.

A

CCORDINGLY, she proceeds to declare His preciousness in detail in twelve particulars. And, first, He is the Lamb once slain; (2) He is God; (3) He is man; (4) He is full of tender compassion; (5) divine excellency and glory beam from His face; (6) words of grace flow from His lips; (7) His body, like Jehovah's temple of old, is of dazzling whiteness; (8) His hands grasp firmly all His saints; (9) omnipotence; (10) majesty; (11) grace; and (12) loveliness dwell in all their plenitude in Him. Let us ponder for a while this her enraptured, yet accurately measured, language concerning HIM!

He is white or spotless; yet is He ruddy, for He was slain for us. All the types of old, as, indeed, all Scriptures, testify that it was essential that He, on whom our sins were laid, should Himself be without blemish. Yet His purity would simply have terrified us, had not His precious blood-shedding fully met our deepest need! But now, what is it that in Him first attracts our hearts? Surely His blood so precious, which can, does, and, when we believe in Him, has put away all our sins, and made even us too "clean every whit". Most aptly, therefore, is this view of Him as the Lamb of God placed in the forefront of the Bride's account. For thus, at leisure from sin and from self, we can gaze on Him uninterruptedly, and our meditation of Him must then be sweet. Besides which, the Lamb is His bridal name. (See Rev. xix. 7.) And it is as the Lamb He figures throughout the book of the Revelation, wherein He is seen putting everything right in heaven and in earth, and establishing all therein on a redemption basis. Nay more, once He has taken the book or title-deeds of earth's inheritance, the throne divine is continually spoken of as "the throne of God and of the Lamb"! Thus is 'He the chief!!! Not only is He the one sole Archangel seen in Scripture; but He is the Head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning of the Firstborn from the dead; yea, in all things the pre-eminent One.

Secondly: "His head is as the most fine gold ". In the Tabernacle and Temple of old, gold abounded in the holy and in the most holy place, even albeit copper was seen in the outer court. The latter metal denoted the dealings of God as to sin; but the former, the gold,

the perfections of God, and the blood seen as in the light thereof, when the question of sin had been settled. "The Head of Christ is God." "In Him there dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily." Everything depends on this as the foundation truth. If the Church is being built on Him, it is secure against the gates of Hades. For He is the Son of the living God! Does "His blood cleanse us from all sin"? Oh, mark the wherefore of this! It is the blood of Jesus, His Son, which effects the cleansing. Again, is our High Priest such a great one? Who is He? "Jesus, the Son of God." (Heb. iv. 14.) What constitutes the extreme greatness of the guilt of the rejectors of God's salvation? "They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh"; "they tread under foot the Son of God". (Hebrews vi. and x.) In fine, herein was the love of God quite manifested: "He gave His only begotten Son"; "He spared not His own Son"; "He sent His Son the propitiation for our sins". Our life of faith should be, the Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me. And yet, easily as we can utter this word about Him, how little do we know of His infinite greatness. Well may we be asked, "What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if thou canst tell?” (Proverbs xxx.)

Yet thirdly: "His locks are bushy and black as a raven". Remarkably in the book of the Revelation this particular in the description of Him is quite varied. For there we read of the same wondrous One that "His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow". There the inspired seer's object is to identify Him as well with the Ancient of days of Daniel vii., to whom the Son of man came, as with the Son of man Himself, to whom all judgment being committed, He is beheld walking with measured stops in the midst of the Churches, and judging thereby each one's several departure from Himself, their one and only Centre. There, as Daniel almost explains by the term 'Ancient of days,' is a glance at His eternal existence; here, on the other hand, we have an allusion to His youth or vigorous manhood. In Micah v. 2 these two lines of truth are combined. For there we are taught that He who was born in Bethlehem, at a given period in time, had been coming forth from God from of old, from everlasting. And thus is He the Son,-not only or chiefly because He was born into the world; but conversely, because He is the Son, therefore was He

* See my Lectures_on the Revelation, Vol. I., p. 39.