The Ministry of Women' Much the most stimulating section of
the important report of the Archbishops' Conmiission on the Ministry of Wonien is the note by the Dean of St. Paul's, in which br. Matthews states iii vigorous language his reasons for dissenting from the conclusion of the majority that the admisSion 'of women 'to the priesthood Would he contrary to the tradition of the Chureh and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The report as a whole marks a eon- Niderable step forward, in recommending that lay women should be admitted to any function in the Church open to lay men, and that ordained deaconesses should be placed on the same plane as ordained deacons, though the Order' of Deaconesses " should net be regarded as equivalent with the diaconate of men." To go so far and there stop decisively, laying it down, not as a Matter of temporary expediency but of permanerit Principle, that women shall never in any circumstances be adthitted to the priesthood is, as the Dean of St. Paul's observes, to limit and confine the guidance of God unwarrantably. br. Matthews puts the issue unequivocally when, in demanding the removal of all sex distinction in the Christian ministry, he declares that " there is no more justification for diseriMinating, against women than there would be for discriminating against Jews or men with red hair." Rh note will command wide agreement.
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