The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-07-07
For THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
THE DIACONATE.

Mr.. Editor,-In your issue of May 18th,
there is an interesting article on the Dsa-
cOnate, by Cameron" Without intending
to take up his questions, just as he very
significantly puts them, We beg permission to
express our opinion on the subject, in some
of its bearings.
But, first, we must declare with deep Sor-
row, that our Presbyterianism, as to its
Church Government, seems to be in very
confused and unsatisfactory state; all the
more since the rejection of the New Book,
and the discussions which have followed.
How many days, the old "underg'rded"
ship, will continue to be driven up and down
in "Adria, without sun or stars, we are not
prepared to predict. Yet, we may be al
lowed to examine one of the planks, held
together by this ''atnaergtrdsng, u. e.
The Diaconate. And, Mr.. Editor, what au-.
hority is there in the Scriptures-we mean,
what enjoinment, what commandments
for the DiacOnate, IN our Presbyterian sense?
We admit there is sanction for such body
there is sufficient hint Of permission for
such an organization, in the fact, that the
Apostles, for temporary purpose, required
the ''brethren to look out among them, sew
en- men, whom they might aps
point to the business of serving tables, '-in-
ssmuch as it was not reason that they should
leave the Word of God to attend to that
work. Acts vi: 1, 2, 8, 4, 5, 6, IS.
That passage is, every jOt and title, in all
the New Testament which even looks like
the Presbyterian notion of the Diaconate.
1t is, indeed, as we have said, hint, which
may be expanded into such body If 1t be
of any use in the working of church or
ganization. But, it is simply such per-
missive hint, and nothing more; for, that it
was a temporary expedient, to relieve the
Apostles-the preachers Of the WOrd-from
''sermng tables" (which they had been doing
before,) seems evident on the face of the
fact Observe, too, there is not the least in
timatioD that these "serUerS of tables were
appointed to relieve Ruling Elders from
ministering daily to the neglected widows of
these murmuring GrecianS What hindered
the Ruling Elders, if they then existed,
from doing what the Apostles had not been
too proud to do? They would not have been
leaving the Word Of God! And they would
have had ample time for the work, then, as
they surely have had ever since.
That, that appointment in Acts 6, was
temporary work, under the unsettled con-
dition of things, in the infant Christian
movement, seems plain, from the fact, that,
the "servtng Of tables is never mentioned
afterwards. And, from the yet more pointed
evidence that, these men, thus appointed to
"serue tables" seem, somehow to have be-
come preachers, or, at the very least, spiritual
office bearers, so far above the work given in
Acts 6, that, that work is never alluded to
again as any part Of their duties. Nay, ver-
lily, for there is not word about the "serU'
ing Of tables" in 1 Timothy, 8 chapter, or
in Philippians i: l. We must press the
point further by asking, if any reader Of
these Epistles, would ever imagine, that, the
Deacons, there spoken of, were the Pres6y-
terian DiacOnate ?-i. e., officers of the
Church, set apart, merely to stake care Of
the poor, and to distribute among them the
collections which may be raised for their use;
and to whom may be properly committed the
management of temporal affairs of the
Church. Presbyterian Church Government
chapter 6.
We ask another queStion-How came it,
that the Scriptural Deacons, if they were
Presbyterian Deacons, i. e., the receivers
and dispensers of the collections of thu
churches-how came it, that they were no
the persons who raised and carried the col
lections taken up in COrinth, Galatia, ant
elsewhere, for the poor at Jerusalem?