any public meeting if a woman were included amongst the speakers? "It is all very well for a lady to teach in the Sunday-school, or to tell a few anecdotes to a mothers' meeting, but she is not fit to take any more important work," was a remark made a short time since by an important dignitary of the Church of England, and it expresses the opinion of many of his colleagues and even of his Nonconformist brethren. All arguments in favour of an equal position for the sexes are summarily put to silence by what is considered the Divinely-sanctioned prohibition of Paul. (If there is any real difficulty on this point in the mind of the reader, it will be satisfactorily. solved by a careful reading of Mrs. General Booth's pamphlet entitled "Female Ministry; or, Woman's Right to Preach the Gospel."

This state of affairs is so much a matter of custom and prejudice, that it has largely become a second nature. It is difficult for many, who would willingly sacrifice cherished opinions when convinced of their error, to realise how widely in our treatment of women we differ from the early Christians, and how grievously we have diverged from the directions and intentions of the Churches' Head.

occasion for the wealth of her heart's deepest affections, and the largest scope for her highest ambitions. To me, and to my comrades trained in like liberty, it seems as natural for woman to take a prominent place in the Church family as in the home.

To the English matron accustomed to rule her own household, and if circumstances make it necessary, to take the husband's place as the head of the family, the unnatural restrictions of her sisters in India are deplorable. She hears with sorrow of the horrible living deaths of the wives and children of the highclass opiumsmoker, prevented by the national customs from earning their own living, not allowed to go out to market, or to take part in any outside work, and compelled therefore to wait in the retirement of the harem the pleasure of their lord and master. If he sacrifices their interests and the money which should support them on his lust

It is a cause of continual thankfulness to me that my circumstances have been such that I was but very slightly brought under the power of religious customs. Prejudice here seems able to take deeper root than elsewhere, and indeed seems sometimes ineradicable. All my practical religious experience has been gained in the ranks of the Salvation Army, by the voice of whose sainted mother the Holy Spirit first brought to my heart the glad tidings of the Saviour of the world. I have found in our Army family the fullest opportunity for the exercise of all a woman's powers, a sphere of work to employ all her energy, a boundless

for the deadly narcotic, his wives and little ones must slowly starve, helpless to help themselves. The parallel which exists in the restrictions on woman's liberty prevailing in the Christian Church at the present time seems to me none the less disastrous, and, practically, delegates women to spiritual seclusion and starvation in a like manner. Many of the shortcomings and failings quoted to prove the incapability and unsuitability of the sex to be trusted with further responsibility, and therefore to justify the restrictions placed on them, are brought about by these very trammels. Give women more work and authority, and they will cease to be idlers and gossips. Qualities and capacities undreamed of at present will surprise those who have hitherto regarded the female members of the Church as little more than a species of pious peacock or religious magpie! It is the old story of the decay and

final disappearance of powers which are not exercised. Uselessness is the inevitable Nemesis of idleness.

What are the arguments that can be urged against women occupying a far more important position in the Church than she holds at present-indeed, are there any sufficient reasons against her taking a position of equality with the other sex? I do not know of any, nor have I ever met anybody that did. It seems to me that, no matter how weighty they may be, there is much that is weightier still on the other side. The essential qualifications necessary to become a true member of the Church, are they not open alike to women as to men? They are not such as are more easily obtained by man than woman, and are as frequently, if not more often, brought to their highest degree of perfection in the latter. Will anyone dare to declare that woman has not an equal right with man to the salvation obtained by obtained by Jesus Christ, an equal responsibility to shine as a light in the world, to endure hardness as a good soldier, and to prove if needs be (as hundreds of women have) by facing death in its most horrible forms, the power of witnessing grace?

On the Day of Pentecost, the women, who had shared His shame even when the brethren all forsook Him and fled, had watched by His gloomy sepulchre when the brethren were away debating what they should do next, and whose eyes were first blessed with a sight of their Risen Lord-THE WOMEN were with one accord waiting for and expecting the promise to be fulfilled for themselves, as for the men. They were not disappointed. They had heard their Lord's voice equally with their brethren, and they also now heard the sound from Heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and were not afraid, but lifting their heads, in expectation of answered prayer, the outward sign of the supernatural gift they had received was seen to sit on each of them. Then was the promise fulfilled which was to be accomplished a hundred and a thousand times in all the centuries since: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;" and that there be no mistake, "Also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit." Not only to the distinguished and respected women, but to the most insignificant of their race, to the female slaves, was this, the one great essential, nay the one only qualification of Christian fellowship and Christian service, promised and bestowed.

The fruits of this blessing, are they not such as may be cultivated by the Spirit in the fullest measure in the heart of a woman as of a man? Whose heart is more quickly moved by love, or who more readily returns love again for love bestowed; whose spirit can more deeply, truly delight in the joy of the Lord and give Him more truly the simple faith of a child, than a woman's? Longsuffering and gentleness, are these not almost naturally her qualifications? and nowhere do they reign more powerfully than upon the throne of a woman's sanctified heart.

To grant that she is weak, that she comes behind in intellectual power, is but to establish her claim; for "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

What a glorious roll-call might we not give, and what thousands will only be known as they answer to their names at the last great roll-call of the nationsnot of exceptional Deborahs merely, but of ordinary so-called weak women, who have obtained a good report by faith, and walked worthy of their high vocation!

The position of women in the Jewish Dispensation and the Christian economy was a brilliant contrast. In the present day the contrast seems to me to be actually reversed! While in every other sphere-in the family as wife and mother, or as daughter and heiress, in politics, in science, in art, and in labourwoman is day by day improving her position, and claiming and securing equal rights with the man for whose completeness she was made, the last, and I would almost say the highest, work of her Creator, in the Church she is still silent, subordinate, and largely unoccupied. To be a woman means for the most part to have little or no responsibility there, to have no place in the testimony of praise or the voice of prayer.

In a powerful country, upon the throne of which, during a period of nearly sixty years, reverenced and loved by all her people, a woman has worn the Imperial crown, what can there be of incongruity in affording some share in the definite responsibility for the direction and control of their Churches to women-and I am sure they abound-who are, by their piety, their gifts, and their aspirations, as well fitted for the service of God and man as their husbands and brethren?

Are not the principles upon which God has chosen to govern the world of perpetual application? When He said: "It is not good that the man should be alone," was He not giving expression to a law which has never changed, and which never will change? It cannot apply merely to the temporal and physical conditions of a man's life, but in the intellectual, the moral, and the spiritual realm must also be of supreme importance. importance. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an help-meet for him." An help-meet! The world has in practice put every possible interpretation on the term, from a paramour to a lap-dog. Surely God's meaning was, when He sent her into the Garden of Eden-that first Church of His own planting—that she should be a sharer in the privileges, the responsibilities, and the authority of the man she was to help.

When will the women of Israel arise and fulfil the high prophecies of the Bible, and realise the boundless promises of their God?

Florence. r. Booth.

259, Mare Street, London, E.

THE

THE Reunion Party to Norway became, under circumstances which have already been described, the Reunion Party to Grindelwald. The wreck first of the Fridtjof and then of the Norge seemed de finitely to cut us off from Norway. Doubtless we could have reached Vossevangen by other routes than that originally chosen ; but with the tidings of two wrecks fresh in their ears, how many would have had the hardihood to face the voyage? Happily they were not asked to give proof of their courage. Just in the nick of time someone brought news of the charms recently discovered in a winter stay at Grindelwald. There in a lovely Alpine valley, 3 400 feet above the sea, and under the shadow of the Wetterhorn and the Eiger, English visitors were reported to be enjoying clear, bracing weather and brilliant sunshine, whilst the wretched Londoner groped his way about in black and dolorous fogs. Why not make Grindelwald, and not Vossevangen, the home of the party? The resolution was soon taken, and none of the travellers ever regretted the change. Indeed, with one accord they cited the case as another illustration of the proverb that second thoughts are often the best.

A dull, grey cloud hung over London on the morning of January 11th, when the Reunion Party met at Holborn Viaduct Station. Some were accompanied by sympathising friends, who represented, with the cheerfulness peculiar to spectators, the possible pleasures of crossing to Ostend on a winter's day. Others-ladies amongst them-had come long distances alone, with a confidence in the power of the REVIEW OF THE CHURCHES to act in loco parentis which must have been most gratifying to its General Editor. Some were early, and looked with a pitying eye upon suburban residents just arriving in town for a day's work in the gloom of London. Others arrived late, adding themselves to the party at the last possible moment. In several cases the decision to come was only reached at the eleventh hour, and until the train moved off it was uncertain what our numbers would be.

Comfortably packed as we were into second-class carriages, the journey to Dover went almost unobserved. People were busy in making new acquaintances; in comparing notes as to their qualities as sailors; and in wondering whether the scoffers who jeered at the thought of a winter holiday in high Alpine quarters would or would not be put to shame. Arrived at Dover, we were transferred at once to the Princess Josephine, an excellent boat, carrying on this cccasion very few passengers save ourselves. She belongs to the Belgian State Railway and Steam

Packet Service, a line which follows the shortest route, by nearly seventy miles, to Switzerland. Certain discreet ladies at once went below and prepared for contingencies. The others, looking at the smooth contingencies. expanses of grey water around them, resolved to remain on deck. They were cruelly misled. Outside the sea began to get "choppy," and the boat rolled in a way that tried the oldest sailors of the party. Some of the ladies who at first walked the deck with confidence, presently retired in a distressful condition to the cabin or to deck chairs. Other members of the party affected a cheerfulness they, were far from feeling, and buoyed themselves up by recollections of past experiences. But upon the whole the passage was a good one, and when at last we crept between the long black arms protecting the entrance to Ostend harbour, there were few who could not discover some ground for congratulation. Cups of hot coffee here refreshed those who, half-anhour ago, could not even admit the thought of refreshment. An hour's rest on dry land was welcome enough, and then we entered the carriages which were to carry us through to Basle. At Brussels we took up Mr. Stone, of St. James's, Hatcham, who had elected to come by way of Calais. Then everybody prepared for the night. Some of the party were in first-class carriages, and were enabled to lie at length upon the couches and sleep in comfort. For the rest there were but snatches of slumber, relieved by intervals of wakefulness, wherein we congratulated each other on the fact that a midnight journey in an unwarmed English train would have been far more trying.

Arrived at Basle, rather cold and very hungry, soon after six in the morning, we looked for breakfast. But the Customs authorities had to be settled with, and when their very superficial examination was over, there was a kind of sauve qui peut rush for the other train. A few sagacious persons had secured the outline of a breakfast, but others started unfortified upon the next stage of their journey. At Berne, however, it was atoned for, an excellent meal inspiring every one with a wish to see the town. A ramble through the quaint streets-all the more quaint because it was market-day; an inspection of the Cathedral; a view from the terrace, were supplemented in the case of some by a sleigh-drive and the taking of some excellent photographs. A short railway journey brought us to Lake Thun, which, despite the cold, was crossed pleasantly. The toilsome ascent from Interlaken to Grindelwald was the least agreeable part of the journey. For the train, which labours up with the aid of several rack-and-pinion sections, went but slowly, and at Zweilütschinen there was a tire

to infect every member of their establishment, and never once flagged. The attentions of genial Herr Fritz to the novices on the skating-rink were but typical of the kindly zeal with which from first to last the wants of the party were met. A gathering of millionaires could not have commanded better treatment.

It would not be fair to say that one day at Grindelwald was like another. The weather was twice a little unkind, for we had snow; but even this fell so thinly that the rink was covered with skaters, and the road

and skated and rested, clad in the same garments in which they sat down to breakfast or lunch. The seats on the rink held the overcoats of those who, inspired by a reasonable dread of chill, came out prepared to resist it. It was odd to see icicles depending from the moustache of a skater who at the time found himself too warm for comfort. Still more curious was it to see a lady knitting in the open air, whilst the thermometer in the shade stood at 18°. Letters from home brought news of fogs, of raw cold, and of general discomfort; but we were in a land where the dryness of the atmos