CHAPTER XII.
DEACONESSES IN SCOTLAND.
When Fliedner went on his second tour to England he extended his journey to Scotland, and ventured to Edinburgh at a time when the cholera was sweeping with fearful ravages through the city in order to become acquainted with Dr. Chalmers. The great Scotch divine and his good deeds, that were connected with all kinds of charitable endeavor, moved the German pastor to admiration and stirred him to holy emulation. On the other hand, that Chalmers was profoundly touched by the work that Fliedner had accomplished in Germany there can be no doubt; we have his own words to testify to the importance he attached to the diaconate of women. In his lectures on Romans, he says: “Here, too, we are presented with a most useful indication, the employment of female agency, under the eye and with the sanction of an apostle, in the business of the Church. It is well to have inspired authority for a practice too little known, and too little preached on in modern times. Phebe194/190 belonged to the order of deaconesses, in which capacity she had been the helper of many, including Paul himself. In what respect she served them is not particularly specified. Like the women in the gospels who waited on our Saviour, she may have ministered to them of her substance, though there can be little doubt that, as the holder of an official station in the Church, she ministered to them by her services also.” It is but recently, however, that deaconesses have become incorporated into the religious life of Scotland, and, so far, they do not exist in connection with the Free Church, of which Chalmers was the able and heroic leader, but only in connection with the national Church—the old historic Church of Scotland. Within this Church the question has assumed the form, not alone of the revival of the apostolic order of deaconesses, but also of the organization of all the manifold activities of women within the Church into one whole, which is put under the authority and direction of the officers of the Church.
Isolated attempts in this direction had previously been made, but in 1885 the first definite steps were taken when the Committee on Christian Life and Work, of which Dr. Charteris was the Convener, presented to the General Assembly a report on “The need of an organization of women’s work in the195/191 Church,” part of which is as follows: “The organization of women’s work in the Church has become a subject of pressing interest. The Assembly has already sanctioned and regulated the organization of women’s work in collecting for foreign missions, and in sending out and superintending missionaries. The great and growing strength of the movement thus recognized is one of the most gratifying things in our mission; ... but of still older date, and not less powerful, is the part taken by women in the home work of the parish church. Lady visitors are carrying messages of divine truth and of human sympathy into the dwellings of the poor both in town and country. Many have been trained as nurses that they may be skilled ministrants to the suffering and sick; and there can be little doubt that the greater part of the actual personal help which ministers receive in parishes is from the women of the congregations. But those who have done most of the good work are most instant in asking from the Church some means of doing still more. From ministers and from their female helpers have come many requests to the committee for some provision for training; some recognition and organization of those who are trained…. In the Church of England are many homes for nurses and deaconesses; training institutions for female196/192 mission work of every kind; and the rapidity with which they are multiplying proves of itself how much they are needed; also non-conformist institutions of the kind, and some separate from all Churches. Your committee believe that the time has fully come for our Church’s taking steps to supply her own wants in this important department of mission work.”[1]
The General Assembly then directed the committee to inquire into the subject of women’s work in the Church, and to bring up a definite report to the next assembly. The committee accepted the task, sent out requests to every parish for suggestions as to the forms of Christian work to be carried on by women, and the best means of making preparation for their special training, and prepared themselves by personal inspection of the leading institutions for training women workers in England to be able to answer intelligently the same questions. A scheme was reported in 1886 which should incorporate all existing parish organizations, such as Sabbath-school teachers’ and women’s societies of all kinds, and should aim at increasing their number and working power. In 1887 regulations were perfected for working this scheme, and the approval of197/193 this by the Assembly of 1887 made the new plan a part of the organized work of the Church.
The comprehensive character of the new departure in the Church of Scotland is plainly seen from a view of the organization as it now exists. The three grades into which the Christian women workers are divided embrace every kind of work done in connection with the Church. The first grade is general in its character, and forms an association called the Women’s Guild. In each parish the members of Bible-classes, of Young Women’s Congregational Associations, of mission working parties, of Dorcas societies, as well as tract distributers, Sabbath-school teachers, members of the Church choir, and any who are engaged in the service of Christ in the Church are all to be accepted as members of the guild. The next higher grade is the Women Workers’ Guild, for which a certain age is required, and an experience of at least three years, with the approval of the kirk session which enrolls them. In connection with this guild are associates, who have a similar relation to the members of the Women Workers’ Guild that the associates have to deaconesses in the English deaconess houses. They are not pledged to regular or constant service, but engage to do some work or contribute some money every year. They can go to198/194 the deaconess house, put on the garb of the deaconess while there, and as long as they remain can assume the responsibilities and enjoy the privileges belonging to deaconesses. The third higher grade is that of the deaconesses. Any one desiring to become a deaconess “must purpose to devote herself, so long as she shall occupy the position of a deaconess, especially to Christian work in connection with the Church, as the chief object of her life.”[2] Provision was also made for a training-school and home where deaconesses could be prepared for their duties.
There are a great many ladies who for a long time have been engaged in doing the practical work of a deaconess without being clothed in the garb, or invested with the office. The Church of Scotland recognized these workers by providing two classes of deaconesses, who should be equal in position, but have different spheres of activity. Those who for seven years had been known as active workers, and who have given their lives largely to Christian service, are accepted as deaconesses of the first class, and are free to work wherever they find themselves most useful within the limits of the Church. The second class embraces those who shall have received training in the deaconess199/195 institution, or have been in connection with it for at least two years.
When the measure was finally passed by the General Assembly there was no delay in carrying into execution the details indicated by the plan of work. The Deaconess Institution and Training Home was at once started. It was located at Edinburgh, as the most central and convenient place for the institution, and as furnishing the most available advantages for the instruction and training of the deaconesses. From here as a center the work is expected to penetrate into every part of Scotland by means of the trained workers whose services will be available for all parts of the country when desired by the ministers and kirk sessions. With true Scotch prudence and wisdom it was arranged that the lady who was chosen to be the superintendent should fit herself thoroughly for the duties of her responsible place by becoming familiar with the workings of similar institutions in England. She was accordingly given six months’ leave of absence, which she spent among the great London Homes, and only assumed the duties of her position May 1, 1888. Meanwhile the Home had opened under the temporary care of a lady who had been a worker in Mrs. Meredith’s Prison Mission, and for six years a Mildmay deaconess. It had from the200/196 beginning the warm co-operation of sympathizing, influential friends. Regular courses of lectures were arranged on subjects connected with Christian work, and as similar courses will be demanded of like institutions in America it may be interesting to give the syllabus in full:
SYLLABUS OF LECTURES.
(On Tuesdays at 12.)
1. B.—Professor Charteris. Four Lectures.
“How to Begin a Mission.”
Nov. 29.—1. Whom to visit, and why. The ills we know of, bodily, spiritual, social; and seek to lessen.
Dec. 06.—2. How to induce the people who belong to no church—perhaps care for none—to come in.
Dec. 13.—3. What to do with the children; (a) to attract, (b) to influence them.
Dec. 20.—4. What agencies besides Sunday services prove best.
2. C.—Dr. P. A. Young. Six Lectures.
“Medical Hygiene for the Use of Visitors.”
Jan. 03.—1. Object and scope of the course of lectures; short sketch of the structure and functions of the human body, including a brief description of the functions of digestion, absorption, circulation, respiration, excretion, secretion, and enervation.
Jan. 10.—2. Fractures, how to recognize and treat them temporarily; bleeding, and how to treat it; the use of the triangular bandage.
Jan. 17.—3. Treatment of fainting, choking, burns and scalds, bites from animals, bruises and tears from machinery, convulsions, sunstroke, persons found insensible, suspected poisoning and frostbite; how to lift and carry an injured person.
Jan. 24.—4. Sick-room, its selection, preparation, cleaning, warming,201/197 ventilation, and furnishing, bed and bedding, infection and disinfection.
Jan. 31.—5. Washing and dressing patients, bed-making, changing sheets, lifting helpless patients, food administration, medicines and stimulants, what to observe regarding a sick person.
Feb. 7.—6. Taking temperature, baths, bedsores, nursing sick children, application of local remedies, poultices, fomentations, blisters, etc.; management of convalescents.
3. D.—Rev. George Wilson. Four Lectures.
“Difficulties Encountered by District Visitors.”
Feb. 14.—1. Difficulties proceeding from indifference.
Feb. 21.—2. Difficulties proceeding from ignorance.
Feb. 28.—3. Difficulties proceeding from adversity.
Mar. 6.—4. Difficulties proceeding from anxiety.
Mar. 6.—4. Note.—Questions invited from the ladies.
4. E.—Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod. Four Lectures.
“Some Qualifications of a Church Worker, especially among the Poor.”
March 13.—1. Motives and aims.
March 20.—2. Difficulties and hindrances, how to overcome them.
March 27.—3. Conditions of success.
Aprilh 03.—4. Helps, agencies, etc.
5. F.—Rev. John McMurtrie. Two Lectures.
“History and Methods of Missions to the Heathen.”
April 10.—1. History of missions.
April 17.—2. Methods of missions.
Another wise provision in this Scotch home is the arrangement by which those who do not wish to become deaconesses, but who want to become competent Christian workers in their own homes, can202/198 come here and spend some months in receiving training and instruction in various methods of Christian work. There is no department in life in which many blunders and much loss of time and usefulness cannot be prevented by making use of the experience of others who have previously overcome the difficulties to be encountered. In other words, we need to obtain all the preparation and discipline we can possibly have in order to do our work well; and especially is this true of Christian work, which demands the highest service that the heart and soul of humanity can give. Many individuals will come to the home to be trained and fitted to work in their own homes, and will start new lines of Christian activity that will win the sympathies and efforts of many who are eager to be employed in good works, if only they can have competent direction.
A pamphlet entitled The Deaconess Institution and Training Home says: “Are there not many parts all over Scotland—mines, quarries, etc.—where the population is poor and hard-working? Would it not in such places be an advantage both to minister and people to have a Christian lady, trained, experienced, and devoted, to live and work among them? Or, which would be possible in every parish, would it not be a great advantage that203/199 in case of need—in a mining accident, an outbreak of sickness—a trained Christian nurse should be available during the emergency?”
The General Assembly provided that deaconesses should be solemnly inducted into their office at a religious service in church. It also provided “that along with the application for the admission of any person to the office of a deaconess there shall be submitted a certificate from a committee of the General Assembly intrusted with that duty stating that the candidate is qualified in respect of education, and that she has had seven years’ experience in Christian work, or two years’ training in the Deaconess Institution and Training Home.” Also, “Before granting the application, the kirk session shall intimate to the presbytery their intention of doing so, unless objection be offered by the presbytery at its first meeting thereafter.” On Sunday, December 9, 1888, the first deaconess was set apart to her duties. The kirk session was already in possession of the necessary certificates testifying to her “character, education, experience, devotedness, and power to serve and co-operate with others.” Due intimation had been made to the presbytery. The questions were put that were appointed by the General Assembly:
“Do you desire to be set apart as a deaconess,204/200 and as such to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in the Church, which is his body?
“Do you promise, as a deaconess of the Church of Scotland, to work in connection with that Church, subject to its courts, and in particular to the kirk session of the parish in which you work?
“Do you humbly engage, in the strength and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, faithfully and prayerfully to discharge the duties of this office?”
The lady who, by answering the above questions, received the sanction of the Church as one of its appointed officers was Lady Grisell Baillie, of Dryburgh Abbey. She writes to the author of this book: “I count it a great honor to be permitted to serve in the Church of my fathers, and I pray that I may be enabled faithfully and prayerfully to fulfill the duties to which I am called, and that it maybe for the glory of our God and Saviour that I am permitted to work in his vineyard.”
Miss Davidson, who was temporary superintendent of the home, but who is now engaged in organizing branches of the Women’s Guild throughout Scotland, and Miss Alice Maud Maxwell, the present superintendent of the home, have also been set apart to the same office. As has been said, “Each represents an old Scottish family, whose members205/201 have been distinguished for Christian and philanthropic labors;” and “each represents a different type of deaconess work.” Lady Grisell Baillie is engaged in gentle ministrations among the people of her own home. Miss Davidson is at the service of every minister who desires aid in organizing women’s work in his parish. And Miss Maxwell is at the training-home, leading a busy life in directing the class labors and missionary activities that center around it and in impressing her life and spirit upon a band of workers who are to further Christ’s cause both at home and in the mission field.
The mention of any facts that can bring before us the varied character that the deaconess work can assume is valuable. For to be truly useful, this cause needs to provide a place for women of very unlike qualities, and also to allow a certain degree of freedom which will insure the individuality of each worker.
The action of the Church of Scotland has had its influence upon the Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the presbyterial system. At the session of the London Council of the Alliance of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches during the summer of 1888, Dr. Charteris presented a report embracing many of the features of the elaborate scheme206/202 which he had previously devised for the Church of Scotland. And the Council, in receiving the report, not only approved it, but “commended the details of the scheme stated in the report to the consideration of the churches represented in the Alliance.” We may regard the Presbyterian churches of Great Britain, therefore, as committed, not only to the indorsement of deaconesses as officers in the service of the Church, but to the organization of the whole work of women in the churches, under ecclesiastical authority and direction.
There is one feature of the deaconess cause as it has been developed in the Church of Scotland that is of especial interest to the Methodists of America. Most of the great deaconess houses of England have sprung from the personal faith and works of earnest-souled individuals. Mildmay, for example, is a living testimony to the faithfulness and energy of the Rev. Mr. Pennefather and those associated with him. Within the Church of England the recognition accorded deaconesses is a partial one, resting on the principles and rules signed by the archbishops and eighteen bishops, and suggested for adoption in 1871. But as yet the English Church has not formally accepted this utterance, and made it authoritative. The German deaconess houses, while receiving the practical indorsement of the207/203 State Church of Germany, are not in any way officially connected with it. Even Kaiserswerth itself is solely responsible to those who contribute to its support for a right use of the means placed at its command. The same fact applies to the Paris deaconess houses. They are all detached efforts, not parts of a general system. But the Scotch deaconesses are responsible to a church, and a church is responsible for their work. The Church of Scotland is, therefore, justified in its claim when it says that the adoption of the scheme of the organization of women’s work by the assembly of 1888, “is the first attempt since the Reformation to make the organization of women’s work a branch of the general organization of the Church, under the control of her several judicatories.”[3] The second attempt was made, which was the first also for any Church in America, when, May 18, 1888, the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States instituted the office of deaconess, and made it an inherent part of the Church economy, under the direction and control of the Annual Conferences.
[1] Organization of Women’s Work in the Church of Scotland. Notes by A. H. Charteris, D.D.; p. 4.
[2] Report of Committee on Christian Life and Work, 1888, p. 36.
[3] Nearly all of the facts, both printed and personal, concerning the deaconess cause in Scotland have been furnished the writer through the kindness of Lady Grisell Baillie, Dryburgh Abbey, Scotland.