1 Timothy 5:9

More definite direction is now given as to the honour and the qualification, Let not a widow be taken into the number. The position of the word -widow" at the beginning of the sentence makes it probably part of the predicate, as R.V., Let none be enrolled as a widow. A roll or catalogue of widows for whom the alms of the Church were bespoken existed from the very first, Acts 6 and has been the care of each Church and each parish to a greater or less extent to the present day under varying forms and conditions: the least satisfactory arrangement on a large scale being the provision made by Christian England of -The House"; the most satisfactory being the pleasant almshouses dotted over the country, and the pension moneys from our Church alms taken month by month as from Christ with delicate attention by our deacon curates themselves to the cottage homes. Those who have had to select from such a list in a parish will have found the hints for selection given here very useful and necessary; (1) ascertained impossibility of support from relatives; (2) good moral character as wife and widow; (3) a defined period for -old age"; (4) reputation as a good mother, a kind neighbour, a zealous Church worker.

under threescore years old Lit. -who is found to be less than 60 years old," the participle belonging to the previous clause, according to the general usage: cf. Luke 2:42, -when he was twelve years old."

having been the wife of one man -Having been," if retained should be put as by R.V. in italics, marking it as an English insertion; the phrase -wife of one man" is precisely the same as in 1 Timothy 3:2, where see note. The clear and indisputable meaning here of the words is that of having been faithful to one husband all his lifetime instead of leaving him for another or adding another, -no bigamist or adulteress." She is to be -enrolled" as such. Manyof the N.T. exhortations on this point are startling to us as implying even in the circle of Christians very lax principles and habits still. And yet English ministerial knowledge could tell of many startling views and habits that prevail among us now in respect of the sanctity and purity of the married state. It is no -counsel of perfection" but the plain elementary pledge -to live together till death's parting after God's ordinancein the holy estate of matrimony," that St Paul here commends. And it still needs much commending.