The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1875-09-01

anxious questonings, we have the excellen
treatises of DR.. Arnold w. Miller and Rev
A. L. Hogshead Concerning DIR. Miller
monograph, "The Law of the Tithe and the
Free will Offering" we can devise nothing
more suitable than to repeat the substance
of remark made to us by Dr. B M. Palmer,
to the effect that he considered it the most
learned and thorough discussion of the sub
ject which has yet appeared. This, We feel
sure, is the opinion of every competent read
er; though like the speaker just quoted, he
may not be able to accept the Doctors sug-
gestion as to the enforcement of tithes by
the Church. DR.. Dabney has expressed, in
his own forcible way, through the columns
of the Central Presbyterian, his approval of
MIR. Hogshead's tractate, {" The Gospel Self
supporting" These excellent treatises, diff
fering on some points, are thoroughly agreed
in setting forth the main features of the bib
lical doctrine of worShipping God by frequent
thank offerings of our substance. They ex-
hibit the fallaGy (aaYoring in some cases of
little less than insult to God our Almighty
Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer,) of the
prevalent habit of terming our gifts to reli
gious purposes charity, and succeed in
putting the thank-ofering on the same foot
ing as our praises and our prayers, among
the holy duties of the sanctuary. And more
than this, unless we are in error, Christian
readers of DR.. Miller and Mr.. Hogshead will
be apt to rise from the perusal of their dis
cussions convinced that Scripture furnishes
ample evidence that it is a service, both rea-
sonabIe in itself and well pleasing to God,
that we dedicate to him in this way not less
than the tenth part of our incomes. Let
these scriptural principles once get full pos
session of the mind and heart of our people,
or even a respectable minority of them, and
we shall see perpetual end to some of the
evils which now humiliate US. The Cburch's
treasury will no longer be empty. We shall
not need the importunate pleadings of com
mittees, reiterated again and again by AS
semblies, Synods, and Presbyteries Breth-
rem of whom the Holy Ghost has said,
through the solemn decisions of the Presby-
teries, as he did of Barnabas and Saul,
"Separate me these for the work whereunto
l have called them" will not then be detain.
ed for months or years in their purpose to 60
far hence unto the Gentiles, by the failure
of the churches to furnish the necessary
means. We shall have no cause to blush at
the meagre aims doled out to aged and in
firm ministers, and to the widows and or
phans of such as have spent their lives in
the service of the Church. Nor shall we be
mortified by the generation of " Church.beg-
gars" who tease and vex worldly men by
their constant applications, until they make
religion itself hateful And we shall be for
ever quit OF fairs, "h hot suppers," tableaux,
charades, Chops" rafles, ct id Omne genus,
human devices all of them, though not neces
sarily all equally wicked, to accomplish what
the Lord Jesus has already provided for, if
only he be heard in his own house.
1t is with some hope of helping forward
the same good cause that we venture to pre-
sent these reflections relative to the Deacon 8
office in the New Testament Church, and a
plea for its more complete restoration among
US. For it may be that all efforts to bring
up the modern Church to the apostolic stan
dard, have hitherto fallen far short of our
aim, in part, from failure to employ in its
full extent that very office to which Christ,
through his inspired apostles, has intrusted
the revenues of his kingdom. To the law
and to the testimony; if they speak not ac'
cording to this word, it is because there is
no light in them"
The deacon's functions have been, with
great proprety, termed by Professor Wilson
ga part of the order of the Church of Goo
which has, in modern times, been remarkably
overlooked. * And this learned writer sug
gests one of the possible occasions for this
neglect, in the prominence naturally giveI
in the discussion of our system to the office
of the presbyter. But he judiciously adds
&C The office of the deacon is not, it is true
so important as that of the pastor or of tn
ruling elder yet it is not without its impor
tance as distinct part of the building of God
The care of the Church's poor, and the wis
and faithful administration of the contribu
tions of the saints for the promotion o
Christ's cause, are matters that cannot, with
out injury to the Church, be forgotten o
neglected; and it is worth our serious in
quiry, whether the manifest deficiency in tn
first of these, and the almost insuperable dii
ficultes that often beset the Church in rt
gard to the second, may not be in part OWN
to the want of the deaconship as an active
ly executed function in the churches. FC
two other reasons, however, this subjet
should engage the most careful and solem
attention of the members of the Christia
Church. 1st. If the deacon's office be, a
it is generally admitted to be, divinely il
-, stituted office, can the churches be guiltlef
! in the neglect of it And IDLY. Most {
: the churches explicitly recognise this ofic
in their standards as of divine right; bu
how few have such an officer as the deacon
That we may know Christ'S wi
= as King in Zion, and pay our own VOWS, "
y nneht to examine this subject honestly an