The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-06-26
An Open Letter to Mrs. Grundy.

Than Secret Lore. IL may De tnat
the world has moved on faster than
/ had supposed, and that my ideas
were only suited for primitive man
~'back in the time of Moses, Elijah
and Jesus Perhaps it is as you
say, "He who tolls all day at manual
labor, though commendable in itself,
would make a sorry spectacle did he
undertake to preach the gospel today"
1t may be that he who tolls at man.
uai labor will never again be able
to keep pace with the worlds adj
vanced thought in either religion,
morality, or science. 1t may even be
possible that the old prophet is
wrong when he says, -And it shall
come to pass in the last days, saith
God. l will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh; and your sons and your
daughters shall prophecy and your
young men shall see visions. and your
old men shall dream dreams; and
upon my servants and my hand
maidens l will pour out in those days
of my spirit; and they shall
prophecy"
If manual labor so blunts the peo-
pies minds, that they will never be
able to think or talk intelligently on
religious matters, and the Lord will
never be able to fulfil this prophesy
of Joel, then the probabilities are
that they are not capable of either
thinking or acting intelligently on
political or moral questions and should
be disfranchised at once and never
again be heard from in either church
or state.
And now, humbly acknowledge
that either labor or neglected oppor-
tunities has greatly reduced my men,
tai caliber; yet it is really cruel in
you to hint that l had no Bible and
to advise me to borrow one of my
neighbors to see what Paul says
about the support of the ministry.
Under such circumstances you will
not be surprised if | should misquote
a conjunction or a proposition. But
it looks a little ridiculous to see you,
who make such high pretentions to
being up-to-date with the goth Cen
fury misquote the principal wordof the
first sentence. The Bible says moth
ing about the sweat of thy brow.
But now since | have borrowed a
Bible of my neighbors, let us see what
Paul really says about the support
of the gospel. You refer to the 9th
chapter of 1st Corinthians. But hold
moment and let us read a little
from the 7th chapter. 1t is all about
marriage and Paul claims that peo-
pie ought not to marry. Now, Mrs.
Grundy, according to the prefix to
your name you have married, and
don't seem to take much stock in
what Paul says, after all.
And in the 14th Chap. "a and 35
verses LET your women keep silence
in the churches; for it is not permit
ted unto them to speak; but they are
commanded to be under obedience. as
sayeth the law. And il they will
learn anything, let them ask their
husbands at home; fer it is shame
for woman to speak in the
church"
Then there is reference to l Tim.
2:12, But | suffer not woman to
teach nor to usurp authority over
the man, but to be in silence"
Now, Mrs. Grundy, | am not go
ing to argue this subject bit far
Their with you; but you had better
take Paul's advice and Learn in sill
ence with all subsection" always
RENDERING that. adam was first
not deceived, but the woman being
deceived was in the trangression."
Now, l will try to give you little
wholesome advice. Why do you hurl
the words of Paul at me and then
disobey all of his commands? He
told you it was better to not marry
and you spurned his advice. He told
you that IL was a shame for a woman
to speak in the church, but you bob
up like a cork and speak right out.
He told you if you would learn any
thing to ask your husband at home.
But you have gone out on the street
and tried to teach men; and you have
even dared to call stranger, who did
not see just as you did, fool. You
have your theology pretty badly shat
tered and l shall not try to help you
out of the muddle.
But you may go to your Doctors of
Divinity for advice. Perhaps they can
explain to you why Paul advised peo-
pie not to marry and prohibited
woman from speaking in the church.
Now a word to my brothers who
have to toll all day, and according to
Mrs. Grundy are not able to rightly
divide the word of truth. | imagine
that my critic is not a real woman,
but like jeff Davis, when he was try
ing to escape in woman's clothing,
from Uncle Sans boys, she would
be found ready to die gloriously with
her boots on.
While we will not try to get Mrs.
Grundy and Paul out of the ridicu-
lous position in which they seem to
be, let us analyze few of the sim
pie statements of the Bible and see
if we cannot find just what Paul
meant in l Cor. OLA which reads,
Even so hath the Lord ordained
that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel" When
Paul said this, he had in mind the
command of Jesus when he first sent
his disciples out to preach. He told
them to Preach" saying. the king
dom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the
sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the
dead, cast out devils; freely ye have
received; freely give. Provide neither
gold nor silver nor brass in your
purses. No scrip for your journey,
neither two coats, nor shoes, nor yet
slaves; for the workman is worthy OF
his meat" This is Matthews report
of what Jesus ordained in the
matter.
Marks report is nearly the same,
only little more explicit in one or
two things. He says they were to
wear sandals, while Matthews says
they must not take shoes, Matthew
says they we're not to take slaves,
while Mark says they were to take
nothing but a staff only. He also
mentions bread as one of the things