INDIA'S WOMEN.

VOL. II.

JANUARY FEBRUARY 1882.

NO. VII.

A New-Dear Meditation.

I am the Light of the world.'

'The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising.'

Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.'

When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.'

VOL. II.

'THE LORD HATH NEED OF HIM.'-MARK XI. 3.

HE Lord hath need of thee another year,

ΤΗ

Worker beloved!

There are spots in His vineyard yet untilled;
There are hearts aching, longing, yet unfilled;
There are spirits wellnigh crushed, almost killed,
Waiting for thee.

Oh! hasten on and tell them He is Love,
The Saviour-God!

Tell that the precious Blood atonement's made,
Tell that their every debt is cancelled-paid,
Tell that on Jesus all their sin was laid,
Bid them believe.

The Lord hath need of thee another year,
Worker beloved!

He wants thy hand to dry the mourner's tear,
Thy willing voice to tell He's always near;
Thy loving heart to sympathise and cheer

The sorrowing soul.

Oh! let Him hear the glad and swift response
Rise from thy heart :

6

Willing, my Master! nay, Thou honourest me!
This worthless one to be of use to Thee!

Gladly will I be spent, in work, to be
Thy "vessel," Lord!'

The Lord hath need of thee another year,
Worker beloved!

It may be in some far-off distant field,

Where He can see the sheaves are white to yield
A harvest joy! when wounded souls are healed
By thine own hand.

Oh! think not that thy Master fails to see
Thine every need;

His eyes run to and fro' in ceaseless love;
Daily He'll send provision from above;
While watching o'er His weary, tirèd 'dove,'
Soon to take Home.

L. A.

The Women Workers of the Bible.

By the Rev. J. E. Sampson, Vicar of Barrow-on-Humber, Lincolnshire. VI.-PHOEBE.

E know nothing of Phoebe except what we gather from the first and second verses of that deeply interesting chapter, Romans xvi. She is called by St. Paul our sister.' The Church of God is a family. The members of the family, born of God, cry unto God, Abba, Father; and their new relation to each other is that of brothers and sisters. The relationship is real; it is of the Holy Ghost; it is in Christ.' He has made us His brethren, His sisters. Remember, are not His words, 'Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister,' yea also, and mother'?

Have we not then a loving responsibility for our Zenana-workers? They are not independent units, ladies who have given themselves to a good work, whom we have helped, and may occasionally help, in the future, but in whom we have no personal interest. They are our sisters. They are more: they are the sisters of our Saviour. We may not leave

them without thought, without sympathy, without prayer and praise. Let us rather esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.

Cen

Phoebe is also a servant of the church which is in Cenchrea.' chrea was a few miles from the city of Corinth, a port on the coast, of no great importance. Paul had already been there, and there, perhaps by his ministry, a church had been formed. And of this church Phoebe was 'a servant.' She was truly, then, one of the 'women-workers of the Bible.'

The word 'servant' may also be rendered 'deaconess,' and the question arises whether Phoebe held an official position, so styled, in the Cenchrean church. Our Revisers appear to think not, for though their fingers evidently itched to make changes where they could by reasonable possibility be made, they have retained the word servant, and have placed the word deaconess in the margin. The term is not necessarily official, and yet it must be said that it is the term which would be used if the position held by Phoebe had been official.

I notice too, that the Revisers have given us the word women in 1 Tim. iii. 11, instead of wives, implying that the instructions given in that verse were addressed to women-deacons, and not to wives of deacons. The learned Bishop Ellicott also so'renders the word, and points out the absence of all reference to domestic duties, which is not the case when the deacon is instructed (ver. 12), but he admits that it is somewhat difficult to decide.'

We will not here pursue the discussion. This at least is clear, that Phoebe was 'a servant of the church.' She had voluntarily devoted herself to the work of God, and that in meek subjection to the church of which she was a member. Not as a bond-servant, but that she might minister in things temporal or spiritual to others. Though she was an active and earnest Christian, she did not act apart from other Christians. She remembered that if she were a 'servant,' she was also a 'sister.'

I cannot say precisely in what works her service lay, but the apostle tells us she was 'a succourer of many.' I suppose she might be seen with her basket in the house of distress, smoothing the pillow of the sick, and especially carrying in her vessel (see the beautiful words of Jesus in Acts ix. 15) the Name which is above every name, pouring forth the precious ointment, and filling many a dull chamber with the sweet odour of the NAME.

In those days of the Church's infancy she would have many occasions for this. The widows and the aged would claim her care; the sick and troubled, the persecuted and forsaken. Among these she had earned a