Star.
London, England, 1808-08-11 00:00:00

717 FILE EDITUR OF TICE 57412.
ON THE PROPHECIES.
No. XV.

• • 46
.o'o

- ,
Ting THIRD TROMPILT.....-PA9T 1.
§ V. Of Deacons, mak and femok e* their tkitemf ad
their duties. , •
In speakingof Bishops, or Presbyters, we have had
occasion repeatedly to obeesinee.eliat the Apostolic
Congregations had also DetieisitiAlsexollei]. The
word means eerveue, or )niniaer, eit is often So -
dared in our common version*. Not only ma* 4
fessales; were appointed to this office. 11111041!.
ttses,,is plain, from the directions slyest respeet*
l?eir ippoinement. "Let the deacons be the TIVISAND or
pile wira, mien: their thildreif and thtir eunkJelipes well."
IN Deacons must riiewise be rave, not double tongued, not
jioarto muck wins, 040 snag§ of /*Ay lucre, karat the
Vater— yof the faith in a fntre eenselesee. And let. there
deacons] alsoirst be tried;. then let Aim use the offsee of
Ai deacon, if found blasnekis." (1 Tim. iii.g.:Lig.)
That women were also deacons (or 4eacmiesses, if
the reader prefers that term], is evident from what
Paul says-to the believers at Rome :" I eomMenkarett
you Phebe, our sister, Who it a SEATA:it tillet4vOr] If tees
Chanel at Cesehrea." f (Rom.'ilii. I 4 These are the
women rnentioned in the First Epistle to TIMOTHY
(iii. 11$) ; and-none could be appointed to this office
but such as were ' " gtavt, not slanderer:, :ober, faithful
in' all things"—and farther, in the same Epistle (ch.
v), we learn that they were to be widows, and that
none could be "taken into du number under three :core
year' old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of
for good work:," &e. They were to be supported by
the Church, unless they had believing children, or.
other near relations, in which case they were to be
provided for by the latter. As none but widows of
a-certain age could be- appointed to this office, those
.who were appointed are emphatically, called " the
Widows," to be distinguished from the younger
walows, who, by marrying again, might be obliged
to'relinquish the duties of such an office, to attend to
their own fimily concerns. That they are called
Ogg widows," not because being aged, they had a
right to be " &wowed," that is supported,' is plain
from this consideration, that all poor believers, whe-
ther male or female, young or old, married or single,
who cannot, by their industry, supply those things of
which they stand in need, have the same right in all
the churchesof Cuassr. That the- widow: by atten-
ding to the duties of this office would have little br
no time left to provide for their own wants, even if in
other respects qualified was obvious, and therefore the
apostle enjoins the churches first tohave a particular eye
upon these willing servants, that they might want no-
thing necessary to their comfort—and 2dly, to pay at.
tendon to the relatives of such widows to see that they
perform their duty towards them, for the injunction
is " //any mast or woman that belieeeth have widows, let
ti ea them, and let not the !segregation be charged,
that it may relieve them that are widow: indeed"—not only
90 by their office, but by their desolate circumstances
and mutt of relatives to supply them with the neces-
saries and comforts of life. ( I Tim. v.)
Front the, first appointment of male deacons, of
whichien have an account in the 6th chapter of the
eat of the _Apostles, we learn in what their duty was to
consist. The believing Greek Jews, or Hellenists
complained that their widows were neglected in the
daily ministration. [alaxoria] ; nor is it denied that
perhaps there was ground for the complaint. On the
contrary, that there might have been some unintentio-
nal neglect, seems to be admitted, in the very reason
which the Apostles assign for appointing men to at-
tend to this particular business. They had themselves
,to much to do in attending to prayer and the minis-
tration of the word, that it was unreasonable to expect
them to serve tables, " Wherefore" say they, " holy
tut assay you seven men of good reputation full of the HOLY
OMIT and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this du.
:twit." From this passage we learn, not only that
the duty of these. men was to tate care of the church's
bounty, and see it properly applied, that those whose
duty it was to attend to spiritual concerns, might not

•- As in Mgt, Tali. 3—" Then said the King of the servants
[aiaaaro:;] Bind him hand and foot and take him away."—
and in Mat. r.c. 26. " Whosoever will be great among you, let
bins be your wha.fter [baxcroc]......L•ven as the SON OF MAN
same not to be ministered Wide [hazonenag) but to minister [diaa•ra•
vas], and to give his life a ranoom fur matey."
t In the Greek t6O appointment of both saves to this office is so
plain as not to require any kind of argument to prove it; for that
language marks the gender of the servant as precisely as the words
of.the male or female head of the fa.