The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1875-09-01
From the Southern Presbyterian Review.
THE DEACON'S OFFICE IN THE CHURCH
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.


hands of men ordained under solemn sanctions for
the purpose our spiritual courts would soon to
be what they are to an alarming extent at present,
mere corporations for secular [fnancial?] "busi-
ness. Boards combiae what God has sepa-
rated, the purse and the keys. ,-ThOrnweHS Works,
Vol. w., page 155.
1t richly deserves to be reckoned among
the blessings which merciful providence
designs bringing out of the tribulations of
the past fifteen years, that the thoughts of
our Church have been more and more turn
ed to what has been happily styled "The
Financial System of Jesus Christ. Our
difficulties have scarcely been less than those
of the Free Church party at the memorable
crisis of the disruption in 1943. Like our
Scottish brethren, we were cut off as in a
moment from the benefits of momentary en-
dowments and organized schemes of Church
work. And it remains to this hour griev-
ance suffered at the hands of our former as
sociates, that they have held fast to every
dollar of the common property which, for
reasons of convenience, had'been chiefly in
vested in the large commercial centres at the
North. We retained, for the most part, our
Church edifces, and the few manses attach
ed to them. But as the South became occu-
pied by Federal garriSons, the strong arm of
the military was invoked to place represen-
tatives of the Northern Church in many of
our pulpits. And as the struggle went for
ward, not a few of cur Church buildings
shared the fate of the towns, homesteadS,
and barns that were being daily consumed
by the invaders torch, or else, after being
used as barracks, hospitals, and stables, were
left to us in such condition as to be unfit
for religious worship, without costly repairs.
Perhaps, on the whole, our advantages over
our brethren of the Free Church, in the
shape Of organized congregations, were fair
ly counterbalanced by our being compelled
to devise ways and means for general pur-
poses, amid the terrific throes of civil war,
every available dollar and every able bodied
man being imperatively demanded for the
public necessities. Elders, deacons, and
people, had gone in large numbers to the
Confederate camps, and our pastors had, in
many instances, followed their focks with
the counsels and consultations of the gospel
to the scene of danger and suffering.
Such were some of our embarrassment:
during the long years of the war nor have
they been much lesSened since. For it is {
melancholy fact, that after the immense de
struction of our resources by the war and it
immediate consequences, the process of de
pletion has been going on more silently, bu
not less surely, during the nine or ten year
of nominal peace. 1t is confidently believed
by the most competent observers, that no
less than fifty per centum of the capital, il
various shapes, left at the cessation of hos
tilities in the hands of Southern farmer
and planters, has been sunk in agriculture
operations since 1t is not relevant to ou
present purpose to inquire at length into tn
fatal cause of this frightful waste, thoug
they may not be hard to fnd-want of enel
gy, thrift, and economy at home; persist
ent clinging to old habits of living; "keer
ing up appearances when the wealth whic
! warrants them is gone. But, dominatiD
: over these private follies, every impartis
eye must see the costly experiments Of Stat
; Governments forced upon us by the recon
struction measures Of Congress--greedy strar
gers placed in power by the sufrages of il
/ norant and venal negroes; legislatures, larg
ly composed of the non-taxpaying elemen
r squandering millions upon senseless pretext
or private schemes of plunder. Besides thi
our whole system of labor. was Instant
crushed by the rude hand of fanaticism; an
it becomes only too painfully apparent th'
= for the -burdened South, it will be diff
b cult lesson to learn how to prosper by tt
2 labor of the freedmen. However, let tt
: causes be what they may, whether the fau
e or the misfortune Of our bewildered peopl
: the stubborn fact remains, that a large ella
: of them are hourly sinking into what seen
: to be bottomless quagmire Of bankruptc
h And the question ever returns, like the gho
- of murdered Banquo, How IN the face of {
n THIS public fraud and private loss, shall q
!, provide for carrying on our wOrk as
'e Chmch9
d The question has sent piOus and al
q, thinkers among us, to inquire at the oracl