Christian herald., November 30, 1883, Page 7, Image 7

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CHRISTIAN HERALD. .
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send in their pledges so we will see
what can be done V Do the
churches ‘‘Want ~iiTtssiohafy^’work
done ? How much do you want
done at yout^xpense my brother ?
The Haster is come and is calling
for you. How much do you love
him and humanity for his sake ?
Brethren the time has come when
this-question must be met in Ore­
gon. We shall sleep but not for­
ever. There must be*a quickening.
Christ Jesus, called to be saints,
Grace to you. and peace from God.
I thank my.tiod always1 concerning
you, for the grace of God, which
was given you in Christ Jesus;
That in every thing ye were en­
riched in him, in all utterance and
all knowledge; even as the testi­
mony of Christ was confirmed in
you; so that you came behind in
no gift.”
From this we learn that, ijxnoriniz
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" Sleep on now and take your rest. » the saints in Christ Jesus, was
" Awake thou that sleepest; arise addressed^-a body, individually
the dead and Christ will give you and collectively, endowed richly in
light.”
the spiritual gifts, for the confirma­
J. W. S priggs Cor. Sec.
tion of the testimony of Christ in
BMHia; o i ., wv i . il imj .
TK^T^TKen; necessarily nattonatiH
ty and sex are ignored in directing
Original Contributions.
the exercise of the gifts. It fol­
lows then that in saying “ I would
>
—W ORK«IN
have you all speak with tongues ”
TEMPLE.
he meant every individual church
Bl M. B. LEMEKT.
member; and in saying ye can all
(No. 6 Concluded.)
prophesy he meant the same as far
As has been seen, the object, in as ability to do so would permit;
constituting saints priests, was that and he desired those who had not
they might offer spiritual sacrifice, the gift of prophesy to seek to
acceptable to God. In this they obtain it, as gifts might be obtained
were engaged, while exercising by prayer..
s their gifts in the assembly. Paul
In the prosecution of my work,
tells us that, as priest, Melchisedec
J was without father and mother. showing that Paul’s prohibitory
g^rThir autlrcTtzes -thu~ assertion that iangtragu'is restricted to the cor­
j as priests, women, offering spiritual rection abuses, without including
| sacrifices un the spiritual temple, of the improvement of talent bestowed
• which she is as livihg stone, has no —the exercise of spiritual gifts
u husband, of whom to ask giiA«tir>na divinely conferred. I quote, “ But
at home. This fact, so well under­ let her be in subjection, as also
stood by Paul, utterly forbids the with the law." Governmentally,
application of his prohibitory the law subjected woman. God
’ language, to the exercise of spiritu­ said to Eve, because of her trans­
al gifts. The context does the gression, “ Thy husband shall rule
same. Just preceding this langu­ over thee.” This^law is still in
age he says, “ For you can all pro­ full force. Paul disclaimed in­
phesy one by one, that all may creasing the penalty attached to
be comforted ;” and just after it he the original transgression, and en­
says, “ Wherefore, my brethren, de­ tailed upon Eve's daughters—dis­
sire earnestly to prophesy, and claimed, in what he was saying,
forbid not to speak with tongues." laying any additional restrictions
This is not the kind of speaking upon woman, not placed upon her
he prohibited. Hear him, “I would by the law.
This sends us to the law, to
have you all speak with tongues,
but- rather that ye should pro­ learn what restraint she was under ;
phesy.” Is it claimed that the also what privileges were granted
word “ all ” in these quotations her. In the law we find no re­
mean all the men, exclusive of strictions upon her tongue in
women ? Such a claim is unwar- prayer, praise adoring, and magni­
anted—a perversion of the Scrip­ fying God, and prophesying. God
ture, necessitated by a misappre­ sent three prophets . before his
hension, and a misinterpretation of people Israel—Moses, Aaron and
the 34 and 35 verses. To whom Miriam. (Mic. 6: 4). After cross
was this epistle addressed ? to ing the Red Sea, Moses and the
menT ' Nd. To WOrcrent "No.i-Letr- 4P children of Israel sang a triumph-
.
ant
song
of
praise
to
God.
“ And
us see. “ Paul, called to be an
apostle of Jesus Christ, unto the Miriam, the prophetess, the sister,
church of God which is at Corinth, of Aaron, took a timbrel in her
even them that are sanctified in hand; and all the women went out
after her with timbrels and with
dances. And Miriam answered
them, Sing ye to the Lord/' ExT
15 : 20. Miriam did not get up a
private meeting with the sisters,
and have service outside of the
camp, where they could not be ob­
served by their brothers; but
right in their midst, and in response
to their song, exhorted them, say­
ing, “ Sing ye to the Lord, for he
hath triumphed gloriously.” Pri-
. ™ J " V 1
xj
UW■,
worship of-God, is untaught in the
Book our Father has given us.
Miriam was the first prophetess
under the law, and Anna the last
we have record of. Anna the pro-
STtS
r-
. was very devout; but where did
she resort for devotional exercises
—in some private cot or garret?
Jerusalem. “ She - departed not
from the temple, worshiping with
fasting and supplication night and
day ; and coming in at that hour
she gave thanks unto God and spake
of him to all them that were look
ing for the redemption of Jerusa­
lem.” (Luke 2: 36-39, Rev. Ver)
“Gave thanks to the Lord and
spoke concerning Jesus to all those
in Jerusalem who- expected
demption.” Anna spoke in the
temple, type of the church, thanked
and praised God, and publicly pro­
claimed Jesus to all devout listen­
ers, either men or 'Tvomen,' in the
temple, and continued this, I doubt
not, till death stilled her tongue.
This is the only lock the law put
on woman’s tongue religiously ; and
Paul disclaims anything more re­
strictive.
Having spoken briefly of the
first prophetess under the law, and
of the last, we wijl glance at some
of the intervening. After the
death of Joshua for some four
hundred and fifty years God raised
up judges over Israel. Among
these was Deborah, a prophetes.
She both judged Israel and com­
municated to them the word of the
Lord ; raised an army of ten thou­
sand men, cut off the Canaanite to­
gether with their king, who had
enslaved Israel, and thus obtained
a grand release for her people, after
which she dictated and sang a tri­
umphant song of praise, glory and
gratitude to God, falling little short
of the song sang by Moses. 11 is
recorded (Jud. 5.) in the book writ­
ten for our learning, for the benefit
of all readers of all succeeding ages.
In the first and second chapters of
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1 Kings are the prayers and praise of
Hannah, the mother of the prophet
Samuel^ a woman
flklth lit
God, fidelity and sacnfice, places
her by the side of Abraham; and
but a little lower than him ;he, by
the express command of God, offer­
ed up his only son; she, without
any such command, gave forever
to the Lord, her then only son,
soon after he was weaned, prompt­
ed by gratitude and love. In the
..
Jerusalem, Huldah, the wife of
Shallum, was prophetess and dwelt
in the college in Jerusalem. The
king Josiah sent a priest, accom­
panied by lour men, to Huldah, for
thtj wuid uMlie Luribaii^obbainulj » '
through her, an important message
from the Lord. This, too, was
under the law; it did not prohibit
more than hien,
prophesying. Others are spoken
of in the Old Testament, but we
will come to the New, while yet
under the law. Here we learn that
Elizabeth, wife of Zacharias, was
full of the Holy Spirit, and proph­
esied ; so did Mary, the mother of
Jesus, in the days of Anna the
^¿roplmtoss^udxeaJ
Paul,..
did us a favor in sending us to the -
law to learn what restrictions were
placed upon woman. While here,
__
learning from these authoritative
lessons, let us examine a little more
minutely, two cases, already called
up. We quote “ The Lord raised
'up JuzZpes”“ whi^h deli vered them
out of the hand of those that
spoiled them ”—the
Israelites.
Jud. 2: 16. This is quoted simply
to show that the judges of Israel
were not usurpers—self-constituted
—but God appointed. Nor could
one assume to be a prophet, but
was necessarily so constituted by
God himself. Deborah was both
prophetess and judge in Israel.
“ She dwelt under the palmtree of
Deborah, between Ramah and
Bethel, in mount Ephraim ; and the
children of Israel came up to her
for judgment.” Though she had
a husband, to whom she was loyal,
and honored, she dwelt under a
palm tree, bearing her own name ;
and God had his people go to her
for judgment; something as they
crowded around Moses in the
wilderness, for the same purpose;
and God spoke to his people through
her, and delivered them from the
hands of oppressors, through her,
and through her wise counsels, and
prudent judgment, he gave his
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people peace and prosperity, for a
long series of years—possibly forty.