The Deaconship: Its Nature, Qualifications, Relations, and Duties

p. 13Definition. — Variety of opinions. — Our own doctrine and practice. — History of its origin. — Perpetuation of the office. — The injury of diverting it from its original design.

A Deacon — klaxovos — is a Minister, or Servant. The term, in its broadest sense, describes ministers, or servants, of all classes, whether their department be temporal or spiritual. It has in its sense, a similar indefiniteness with the word — . exx-krjoia — Church. In illustration of the truth of this remark, I will refer to several passages of the word of God. " Wilt thou not," says the author of the episde to the Romans,* speaking of civil rulers, " be afraid of the power? Do that which * Rom. xiii. 3, 4. p. 14is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same ; for he is [0£cv yog Sidxovos, the Deacon of God — in our version] the minister of God to thee for good." In this, and other texts, the civil magistrate is announced as "the Deacon of God." The apostles are frequently called Deacons. In the address of Peter to the assembled disciples, a few days after the ascension of Christ,* he said — " Brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled,' which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us [the apostles], and had obtained part of [rijs Staxwtas, this Deaconship] this ministry." And again, in the apostolic prayer at the choosing of Matthias, we have this sentence — " Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of [tfijs ScaxonV, this Deaconship'] this ministry, and apostle ship. "w Paul, speaking of himself and Apollos, says, they were A«*xow», Deacons, in our version ministers, by whom the Corinthians believed the gospel.^ Tychicus, an evangelist, is denominated a Deacon.

Writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul says:

* Acts i. 16, 17. t Acts i. 24, 25. X 1 Cor. ni. 5. p. 15" That ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and [70,0*0$ 8iaxovo$, faithful Beacon] faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known unto you all things ; whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose."* The angels of God are declared to be all Deacons. " Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister [5iajeoi/iai>] for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"! I will only add that our Lord Jesus Christ himself is also a Deacon. " Now I [Paul] say, that Jesus Christ was a [&caxovo$, a Deacon] minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises.";}: Thus we see that according to the icsus loquendi of the Scriptures, all ministers or servants, ordinary and extraordinary, political, ecclesiastical, angelic, and divine, are familiarly called Deacons.

p. 15There is, however, a strict application of the term to a specified class of officers in the church, who, in distinction from all others, bear this name. They are denominated Deacons, because they are the only class not already known by some other appellation, and not that the sense of their title is less applicable to others than to them. This fact is plainly set forth in the teachings of those por* Eph. vi. 21, 22. t Heb. i. 14. $ Rom. xv. 8. p. 16tions of the word of God in which their station is described, and their duties are enjoined.

Let us consider this proposition. The inspired writers speak, frequently, of the office of pastors, and the office of Deacons, as two distinct offices. In one of the epistles the qualifications of the former are described ; and after that, and separately, those of the latter. Sometimes, also, the churches are addressed, with " their bishops, and Deacons." The position of the Deacons, therefore, is, plainly, in the same church with the pastor, or bishop ; and their duties, though in the most perfect harmony with each other, belong to different departments in the kingdom of Christ. They are coadjutors in the great work of salvation ; fellow-laborers in the truth. To the Deacons, no less than to the pastors, or ministers, most important interests are committed, upon their prompt, enlightened, and faithful attention to which, depends, essentially, the prosperity of religion.

In the facts and considerations thus far submitted, all Christians, I believe, substantially concur. But, unhappily, much confusion and division of sentiment prevail regarding the nature of the office ; the relations which the Deacons sustain to the church and to the ministry ; and the duties p. 17they are properly called upon to perform. Nearly all the churches have made them ministers of the gospel. In the Roman Catholic church he is an inferior ecclesiastic, the second in the sacred order, who, with the permission of the bishop, has authority to preach and baptize. In the English church the Deacons are clergymen, but of the lowest grade ; who can, however, perform all the offices of priests, except the consecration of the sacred elements and the pronouncing of the absolution. In the German Protestant churches, when more ministers than one in the same congregation are necessary, the second, or assistant minister, is called the Deacon ; and if there are two assistants the first is called the Arch-Deacon. In the Presbyterian church, the office is commonly merged in that of ruling elder, and, therefore, mostly dis-used. Where it is still retained, it embraces, as among Congregationalists and others, merely the distribution of alms. The Methodist and Episcopal churches in this country adopt, substantially, on this subject, the practice of the English church, of which they are descendants and modifications. In the Baptist churches, the Deacons are not ministers who preach, on the one hand, nor mere distributors of alms on the other, but serve in a p. 18different capacity. They are a board of directors, and have charge of all the secular affairs in the kingdom of Christ.