At the next convention, we hope to hear something of the effect of the regular resolutions which have been
passed the last fifty years, and to hear if the old branch will at last recognize the new branch planted by Henry VIII. and his daughter Elizabeth, and watered by Luther and Calvin and their friends. A small casket containing the ashes of Cyril Lucar might be carried in procession on this grand occasion, still in the future, with a tablet bearing in bold relief the canons of the Synod of Bethlehem.
We pass to another of the doings of the convention, which has our unqualified approbation, accompanied only with the fear that the project may not be successful.
We refer to “the revival of the Scriptural diaconate of women,” as the bishops call it in their pastoral.
The Scripture here alluded to is probably the ninth to thirteenth verses of the fifth chapter of the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy:
“Let a widow be chosen, not under threescore years of age, who hath been the wife of one husband; having a testimony of her good works, if she have educated children, if she have exercised hospitality, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have ministered to them that suffer tribulation, if she have diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows shun, for when they have grown wanton in Christ, they will marry, having damnation because they have made void their first faith. And withal being idle, they learn to go about from house to house, not only idle, but tattlers also, and inquisitive, speaking things which they ought not.”
The bishops do not say whether they propose to carry out these rules of St. Paul literally, but they seem to “feel an earnest desire that prudence and good sense may preside over every effort.” The committee, whose report was substantially accepted, do not fix any rules as to the age of the postulants, nor do they
utter one word about widows. They use the term “sisterhoods” in connection with remarks upon “the Phœbes and Priscillas of apostolic times,” while without explanation they condemn “the false and pernicious system of the Church of Rome.” (A rose under any other name will not smell so sweet.) These sisterhoods are to be established everywhere in hospitals and benevolent homes, and a central house or training school is recommended to fit the candidate for the various works of mercy. These sisters are to be without vows, and so free to come and go, leave their various convents, and marry whenever they please.
The rule of obedience depends upon their own consent, and so they are their own masters, even when they live in community. We confess a great anxiety to see this system thoroughly tried, and to know, in the course of a few years, how many will remain and die in their conventual habit. Even if it fail, it is a step in the right direction, and we are glad the committee did not rigidly adopt the rules of St. Paul. For if they were restricted to widows over sixty years of age, they might not find many subjects, and in this climate the deaconesses might be incapable of much work.
The action of the convention in regard to ritualism is so remarkable that we hardly know how to describe it.