It is certainly a marvelous tribute to Christian faith, although it is never heralded as such, that an establishment of the extent and magnitude of Mildmay has been maintained for years with no permanent endowment to fall back upon, and that annually the renewed self-denial of constant friends has to supply the large amount of money needed to meet the entire expenses. Besides those outward and visible services which it renders "for the love of Christ, and in his name" Mildmay furnishes a constant testimony to the fidelity of the Christian faith in the hearts of many believers. [65] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 279. [66] _Ibid._, p. 305. [67] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 435. [68] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 471. [69] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 471. [70] _Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work_, p. 7. [71] _Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work_, p. 6. [72] _A Retrospect of Mildmay Work During the Year 1887._ [73] _Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work_, p. 13. [74] _A Light in a Dark Place_, p. 21. CHAPTER XII. DEACONESSES IN SCOTLAND. When Fliedner went on his second tour to England he extended his journey to Scotland, and ventured to Edinburgh at a time when the cholera was sweeping with fearful ravages through the city in order to become acquainted with Dr. Chalmers. The great Scotch divine and his good deeds, that were connected with all kinds of charitable endeavor, moved the German pastor to admiration and stirred him to holy emulation. On the other hand, that Chalmers was profoundly touched by the work that Fliedner had accomplished in Germany there can be no doubt; we have his own words to testify to the importance he attached to the diaconate of women. In his lectures on Romans, he says: "Here, too, we are presented with a most useful indication, the employment of female agency, under the eye and with the sanction of an apostle, in the business of the Church. It is well to have inspired authority for a practice too little known, and too little preached on in modern times. Phebe belonged to the order of deaconesses, in which capacity she had been the helper of many, including Paul himself. In what respect she served them is not particularly specified. Like the women in the gospels who waited on our Saviour, she may have ministered to them of her substance, though there can be little doubt that, as the holder of an official station in the Church, she ministered to them by her services also." It is but recently, however, that deaconesses have become incorporated into the religious life of Scotland, and, so far, they do not exist in connection with the Free Church, of which Chalmers was the able and heroic leader, but only in connection with the national Church--the old historic Church of Scotland. Within this Church the question has assumed the form, not alone of the revival of the apostolic order of deaconesses, but also of