The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-06-26

feet and legs were bare except for a
piece of camel's hide which was tied
to the bottoms of their feet,
for protertion against the
sharp stones. The head was COW
cred with either a turban or a piece
of black clotn that hung below the
shoulders and was fastened about the
head, with a band of horse-ha'r, after
the style of the Beddouins. The coat
they were allowed to take was piece
of very coarse, wooden cloth some
five or six feet square and often with
out seam or stitch. This they used
to sleep in, and for a protection from
the rain. Then they were allowed to
carry a staff or cane with which to
feel their way over the rugged
mountains.
You must not suppose these men
were filthy because they had no
change of clothing, for whenever they
came to a creek they would jump in
and have an old-fashioned baptism,
washing clothes and bodies all at
once. Then before their clothes were
yet dry they would enter into a city
and preach the gospel in the syna-
gogue or on the streets. But this
will shock the fine sensibilities of
Mrs. Grundy, who thinks that a la
boring man would present a sorry
spectacle in a modern pulpit.
The last meeting that John records
of Jesus and his disciples after the
resurrection was when seven of them
had been fishing all night and had
caught nothing. When Peter saw
Jesus he girded his garments about
him and swan ashore In the meet.
ing held there, Peter gave one of
the brightest testimonies of his life.
Hard labor did not seem to impair
his religious or mental activities.
1t may be little hard to under
stand why Jesus should send out
such a poverty stricken and hard
working set of men to preach his
gospel to the world. And II is still
harder to see why He should forbid
them taking either money or bread
will not ATTEMPT to give a reason
except as to why they should not take
scrip.
Scrip is an obsolete saxon word
which means satchel. The word in
the original, which is translated
scrip or satchel, is derived from a
word which means to collect. The
priest and preachers used this satchel
for collection basket Jesus,
knowing the weakness of preachers
on that point, was afraid to let his
disciples take even a satchel, for fear
| they might fall into the habit of TAX
| ing a collection. But let us see what
Jesus meant when he said, "The La
borer is worthy of his hire" OF
course this is one of the strong points
in favor of the salaried ministry.
Jesus told his disciples when they
entered into a house to there remain,
eating and drinking such things as
they gave, for the "Laborer is worthy
of his hire" according to Luke and
according to Matthew, "The work
man is worthy of his meat" In
either case it simply meant that the
disciple was worthy of his food and
entertainment, while he continued to
preach In that place. This is what
Paul had in mind when he said,
Even so hath the Lord ordained.
that they who preach the gospel shall
live of the gospel" We ought to
have known this from another pas
sage in this same chapter where
Moses forbids us to muzzle the OK
when he tredeth out the corn; for the
OK could get nothing but his food
while he was actually at work. II
you will read a little farther from
the verse just quoted, you will find
that Paul was of too independent a
nature to even claim the portion of
the OK, for he says, "What then is
my reward? Verify, that when
preach the gospel, may make the gos
pei of Christ without charge, that
abuse not my power in the gospel"
| had thought l would say nothing
more about what, Paul says about
marriage, and women speaking in the
churches, which at first sight seems
very absurd. But knowing how quick
infidels are to cavil about anything
of that kind, | thought | had better
explain little.
In the early Christian church, there
were often only a few families, in a
large city, that would renounce
idolatry with all it's abominable rites,
and accept the religion of Jesus. So
parents had TO be careful about their
children associating, much less mar
| rying, with the outsiders. Just as it
| is now-so many of our girls grow up
into noble, pure and refined women,
while under the influence of the sal
oons, the cigarette and the tobacco
vendors, and the general profligacy of
the times, so few of our boys ever
amount to anything. There are not
enough boys worthy to marry to go
around; thus many of our best women
wisely choose to remain single rather
than to be tied to man for whom
| m iuin q
and of whom they would always be
ashamed. So Paul because the church
was so few in number and perhaps
so related by family ties as to pro-
hibit them from intermarrying, adj
vised them to remain single rather
| than to choose companions from
among the heather.
| 1t is now an undisputed fact that
woman is mans superior in morality
and his equal in learning and intel
! ligence, and ability to grapple with
every great question. No one would
suppose for moment that Paul, UNI
der such circumstances, would say 1t
was a shame for a woman to speak
in the churches. But in Paul's time
it was very different. Woman had
been the slave of man in every sense
of the word for 1000 years, and all
the learning, and chance for mental
improvement had been monopolized
by the men. The spirit of the gospel
even in that early day was to free
woman from this thraldom.
All enslaved and degraded people
when liberty comes are apt to use It
unwisely. 30 in the early church
the women would sometimes make
themselves too conspicuous by asking