There is one feature of the deaconess cause as it has been developed in the Church of Scotland that is of especial interest to the Methodists of America. Most of the great deaconess houses of England have sprung from the personal faith and works of earnest-souled individuals. Mildmay, for example, is a living testimony to the faithfulness and energy of the Rev. Mr. Pennefather and those associated with him. Within the Church of England the recognition accorded deaconesses is a partial one, resting on the principles and rules signed by the archbishops and eighteen bishops, and suggested for adoption in 1871. But as yet the English Church has not formally accepted this utterance, and made it authoritative. The German deaconess houses, while receiving the practical indorsement of the State Church of Germany, are not in any way officially connected with it. Even Kaiserswerth itself is solely responsible to those who contribute to its support for a right use of the means placed at its command. The same fact applies to the Paris deaconess houses. They are all detached efforts, not parts of a general system. But the Scotch deaconesses are responsible to a church, and a church is responsible for their work. The Church of Scotland is, therefore, justified in its claim when it says that the adoption of the scheme of the organization of women's work by the assembly of 1888, "is the first attempt since the Reformation to make the organization of women's work a branch of the general organization of the Church, under the control of her several judicatories."[77] The second attempt was made, which was the first also for any Church in America, when, May 18, 1888, the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States instituted the office of deaconess, and made it an inherent part of the Church economy, under the direction and control of the Annual Conferences. [75] _Organization of Women's Work in the Church of Scotland._ Notes by A. H. Charteris, D.D.; p. 4. [76] _Report of Committee on Christian Life and Work_, 1888, p. 36. [77] Nearly all of the facts, both printed and personal, concerning the deaconess cause in Scotland have been furnished the writer through the kindness of Lady Grisell Baillie, Dryburgh Abbey, Scotland. CHAPTER XIII. THE DEACONESS CAUSE IN AMERICA. It was no part of the plan of this book, when first projected, to treat of the deaconess cause as it is developing within the United States of America, but gradually, through the kindness of many friends belonging to different denominations, a number of facts have been obtained which bear directly upon the question of how the example of European deaconess houses has influenced and is influencing the Protestant Churches of America; and it seems unwise to omit them from the consideration of the subject.