Hoge, Peyton Harrison. 
 
 Officers of a Presbyterian Congregat 
 
 252. OS 
 
 vniso 
 
DUKE 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 DIVINITY SCHOOL 
 LIBRARY 
 
George Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 FAMILY OF 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
THE OFFICERS 
 
 OF A- 
 
 ESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION 
 
 Three Sermons Preached in the First Presbyterian 
 Church of Wilmington, N. C, 
 
 BY I^EY. PEYTON H. HOGE. 
 
THE OFFICERS 
 
 M 
 
 OF A 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION. 
 
 Three Sermons Preached in the First Presby- 
 terian Church of Wilmington, N. C, 
 
 BY FjEY. ©BYTON Y). I?OGE. 
 
 •'If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my "right hand forget 
 her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue 
 cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem 
 above my chief joy."--Ps. 137:55. 
 
 "For her my tears shall fall ; 
 For her my prayers ascend ; 
 
 To her my cares and toils be given, 
 Till toils and cares shall end."— Dvvight. 
 
 FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 
 
Digitized by 
 
 the Internet Archive 
 
 
 
 in 2014 
 
 
 
 https://archive.org/details/officersofpresbyOOhoge 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 PREACHED ON ENTERING UPON THE PASTORAL CARE OF 
 THE CHURCH, DECEMBER 6TH, 1885. 
 
 Col. 1: 28. — Whom we preach, warning every man, and 
 teaching every man in all wisdom ; that we may present 
 every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 
 
 In formally beginning my pastoral labors among 
 you, it seems proper that I should set forth the views 
 that T take of my responsibilities, and the principles 
 that will govern my actions ; in order that there may 
 be complete understanding between us when we take 
 upon us our mutual vows. To this end let us go to 
 the word of God, and learn from the lips of the in- 
 Aspired Lpostle what are the duties of that ministry 
 in which he gloried. 
 
 In setting forth the work of the preacher of the 
 gospel, the text naturally falls into three divisions. 
 It tells us what we are to preach, the aim and end of 
 preaching, and the method of preaching. 
 
 No one need ask to whom the introductory word 
 of the text refers. It can refer to but One. We are 
 
4 
 
 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 to preach Christ. The words that precede are, "Christ 
 in you, the hope of glory." 
 
 " Whom we preach." As I stand here upon the 
 threshold of my ministry among you, one thing I wish 
 distinctly understood — I will preach Christ. No one 
 who hears me, no matter how disposed to criticise, 
 no matter how inclined to differ from me in my views 
 of truth, shall be able to deny that I preach Christ. 
 He shall be the central sun, He the all-embracing 
 theme of all my preaching, in the future as in the 
 past To exalt Him, to magnify His work, to set 
 forth His glory shall be my supreme desire. 
 
 In, His person I will preach Him as the God-man, 
 perfect God and perfect man. As God, co equal and 
 co eternal with the Father; the Creator of all things, 
 Himself uncreated ; from whom are all things, unto 
 whom are all things, and who is over all, God blessed 
 forever. As a man, born like other men, capable of 
 growth and development like other men, and endowed 
 with human soul and human faculties ; with human 
 sympathies and human heart. T will not preach a 
 monster-man, a man merely endowed with a super- 
 human nature, and super human power, that put Him 
 above human wants and above human sympathies. 
 I will preach Him as the perfect human expression 
 of the Divine. I have formed my views of His person 
 from such texts as these; "God, who commanded 
 the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 5 
 
 hearts, to give the light ot the knowledge of the 
 glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;" or the 
 wonderful expression from the chapter from which 
 the text was taken, " The image of the invisible God ; " 
 or that other from the epistle to the Hebrews, "the 
 brightness of the Father's glory, and the express im- 
 age of His person." Thus, is He the perfect revela- 
 tion of God to man. For this he must be perfect 
 God, or how could He perfectly reveal God? For 
 this He must be a perfect man, or how could He per- 
 fectly reveal God to man? But as God in man, in 
 every act of His life, in every word that He spoke, in 
 every line and feature of His character, He sets forth 
 the wisdom, and power, and glorv, and love of God, 
 that we may know Him, not as a God afar off, dwelling 
 in light inaccessible which no man can approach unto, 
 but as God manifest in the flesh, as God with human 
 heart, our Brother and our Friend. 
 
 In His work, I will preach Him as God's sacrifice 
 im sin, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
 of the world, — the Lamb slain from the foundation 
 of the world : ordained of God from all eternity to 
 make expiation for the sins of the world, by doing 
 all that the law required of man, and bearing all that 
 the law laid upon guilty man, and so reconciling the 
 world unto Himself. I will preach Christ in the ful- 
 lness of time voluntarily coming to fulfil this work, 
 emptying Himself of the glory of His Godhood / taking 
 
6 
 
 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 the form of a servant — the author and source of law 
 coming as a servant under law; allying Himself with 
 a nature that had sinned, and so appearing before the 
 law as an offender against law; taking into His per- 
 son a nature that could suffer, that He might bear the 
 penalties of a broken law; and all that God might be 
 just and the justifier of all that come unto God by 
 Him. 
 
 And I will preach Him as risen from the dead, 
 having burst the bars of death, since it was not pos- 
 sible that He could not be holden of it. I will preach 
 Him as ascended to the right hand of the Father, 
 God thus declaring that the law is satisfied, that com- 
 plete expiation has been made. And there, far 
 above all principality, and power, and might, and 
 dominion, and every name that is named, all power is 
 given to Him in heaven and in earth, that He may 
 guide and control ail things for the good of His 
 church. I will preach Him as the source of all power, 
 the source of all light, the source of all love, the 
 source of all life; sending forth His Spirit unto the 
 world to subdue all things to Himself. 
 
 So I preach. But the truth of Jesus as I preach it 
 will come out more fully when we consider the end for 
 which I shall preach. 
 
 "That we may present every man perfect in Christ 
 Jesus." It is often thought that the chief work of a 
 minister is the conversion of souls; but the conver- 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 7 
 
 sion of a soul is only a work begun. It bears the 
 same relation to the perfected work that the founda- 
 tion of a building bears to the completed structure. 
 The great work set before us is to present every man 
 perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I shall labor. 
 And with this end in view I shall, first of all, preach 
 a salvation that consists in perfection in Christ Jesus. 
 The salvation that I shall preach is no mere immunity 
 from suffering; no mere enjoyment of physical de- 
 lights, or such delights as in a higher state of exist- 
 ence correspond to physical delights in this. I shall 
 preach a salvation of holiness, a salvation that consists 
 in the enjoyment of the Divine perfections, a partak- 
 ing of the Divine nature, a reflecting of the Divine 
 likeness; a salvation that begins in this life, with the 
 first aspirations after holiness, and that is only per- 
 fected with the perfection of holiness in the life to 
 come. To bring you into such a state of salvation 
 Christ died; to bring you into such a state of salva- 
 tion I shall preach. 
 
 But as the foundation must belaid before thestruc- 
 ture can be reared, as life must be imparted before 
 it can be developed and matured, I shall labor for 
 the conversion of souls. To this end I will preach 
 peace and pardon and reconciliation through the 
 blood of the cross; I will preach of a law fully satis- 
 fied, of a ransom fully paid; I will preach the suffi- 
 cient merit of an Almighty Saviour;! will preach re- 
 
8 
 
 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD 
 
 demption perfect and complete, so that there is no 
 condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, so that 
 all who accept Him and His work are justified, by faith 
 and have peace with God 
 
 And I will preach him as a Saviour gracious and 
 kind, the friend of sinners: standing and calling, 
 "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest; and confirming his invita- 
 tation with the assurance, "Him that cometh to me, 
 I will in no wise cast out." 
 
 I will set Him forth before you as sufficient for all 
 the needs of your soul, in whom are given unto us, 
 all things that pertain unto life and godliness I will 
 preach Him as in Himself beautiful, and glorious, 
 the one altogether lovely; worthy of the highest hom- 
 age and devotion and adoration of your souls; that 
 His beauty and glory may draw you unto Him. 
 
 I will preach Him above all thing's upon the cross — 
 set forth evidently before your eyes as crucified for 
 the sins of the world, that the spectacle of His bleed- 
 ing, dying love might melt your heart, and bow your 
 will at His feet. But at the same time I will preach 
 what He Himself preached, " Except a man be born 
 again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." 
 
 To those of you who know Him not I will preach 
 your inability to apprehend heavenly things, your 
 deadness to all spiritual affections, your blindness to 
 the glory of God as revealed in the life and charac- 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 9 
 
 ter and death of Christ, — not that there, is any physi- 
 cal inability on your part, not that you lack any of 
 the faculties necessary to receive the truth — but only 
 the inability of a will enslaved by sin, the deadness 
 of a heart fixed on this world, in whom the god of 
 this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe 
 not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 
 who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 
 
 But I will preach your helplessness, only that I may 
 point you to the help that is in Jesus. For He ever 
 stands waiting to give you His spirit, ready to give 
 Him to all who ask, more ready to give than you are 
 to ask, more ready to give than you are to receive, 
 yearning over you, and ever knocking- at the door of 
 your heart that He may come in and dwell with you, 
 quicken you, and unite you to Himself. 
 
 But as I have said, the minister's great work is with 
 the living, not the dead. It is not his to impart the 
 germ of Divine life within the soul; his task is to 
 nurture and foster the living germ until it come to 
 maturity. The ministry was given by Christ for the 
 perfection of the saints; for the edifying — the build- 
 ing up of the body of Christ, until we all come in the 
 unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son 
 of God unto a perfect man; and the measure of that 
 perfection is no less a standard than the measure of 
 the stature of the fulness of Christ. 
 
 To that end I shall preach the holiness of Christ, 
 
IO THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 as revealed in His Jife and character, as the pattern 
 and model for our imitation. But that life and char- 
 acter is not merely a model for our imitation, but a 
 pattern to which we are to be conformed; not merely 
 a memory, but a hope; and a hope not merely attain- 
 able, but to be attained. For we know that when He 
 shall appear we shall be tike Him; for we shall see 
 Him as He is. And stimulated by this inspiring hope, 
 every man that hath it in him, purifieth himself, even 
 as He is pure. Since this is the salvation for which 
 we wait, this the consummation of all our hopes, we 
 can never rest content with any attainments in holi- 
 ness short of His stature, can never be satisfied till 
 we awake with His likeness. 
 
 I will preach the word of Christ as the source of all 
 our wisdom, the light to guide us through all the 
 darkness and dangers of this present time into that 
 path of the just which shineth more and more unto 
 the perfect day. And while never man spake like this 
 man, I need not remind you that His word is not 
 merely that which He spoke on earth, but that all the 
 scriptures are His word, breathed into His Prophets 
 and Apostles by His Holy Spirit, and by Him to guide 
 them into all truth. I will preach this word, and will 
 endeavor to send you to it ever for help and guidance, 
 that with the word of Christ dwelling in you richlv, 
 you may be made wise unto salvation, and sanctified 
 through His truth. 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 I I 
 
 I will preach the will of Christ as the sole rule of 
 all our actions; that when we take Him as Redeemer 
 we must take Him as Sovereign and Lord: so that 
 when by His word or His providence, His will is as- 
 ascertained, he who has committed his way unto the 
 Lord, has no further choice, no question of human 
 wisdom or expediency to solve, but simply to obey 
 His will, at whatever cost, at whatever sacrifice, cast- 
 ing all his care upon Him who careth for him. 
 
 I will preach the glory of Christ as the supreme 
 end of the Christian in all that he does; that the 
 Christian is one who has denied himself as the end 
 and aim of his actions, that taking up his cross, he 
 may follow Christ. Christ's glory, Christ's honour, 
 Christ's exaltation must ever be his supreme end in 
 all that he does. The Christian life is a life of con- 
 secration, in which we present ourselves as living sac- 
 rifices, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our 
 reasonable service; even as Christ pleased not Him- 
 self, but though He was rich, yet for our sakes He be- 
 came poor, that we through His poverty might be 
 rich. 
 
 And I will preach the love of Christ as the con- 
 straining power, by which self and selfishness are 
 crucified within us, and we find necessity laid upon 
 us to imitate His example, to walk by His words, to 
 obey His will, to seek His glory, and sacrifice all 
 things to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. 
 
12 
 
 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 But in addition to these provisions for our sancti- 
 fication growing out of the very relations we bear to 
 Christ, I will preach Christ as personally superintend- 
 ing the work of sanctification in our souls. I will 
 preach Him as our intercessor, standing at the right 
 hand of God, and looking down into our hearts, and 
 seeing every need and want of our souls, whether 
 growing out of our natural dispositions or the cir- 
 cumstances that surround us; and, as He listens to our 
 feeble prayers, interpreting them into our real wants, 
 and authoritatively asking for us that which we need, 
 on the ground of His own sufferings and merit. 
 
 And that which He obtains for us He Himself ad- 
 ministers for our good. I will preach Him as Head 
 over all things for His church, as ordering everything 
 by His providence, that just those conditions shall be 
 thrown around us which are best for the development 
 and perfection of our spiritual life; sending just those 
 joys and sorrows, just those modes of life, just those 
 surroundings and associations, just those trials and 
 temptations, just those crises, just those mercies, that 
 will impress upon us those lessons of His holy word, 
 that we need to learn before we are made meet for 
 the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 But above all will I preach Him as sending into 
 ourhearts His Holy Spirit, and so sanctifying to us His 
 word and providence; so communicating unto us more 
 and more of His own life, that we may be renewed 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 13 
 
 in the whole man after the image of God, and enabled 
 more and more to die unto sin and to live unto right- 
 eousness; that we may daily cast off more and more 
 the image of the old Adam, and be conformed to the 
 image of Christ; that by His life, growing up and 
 developing within us, we may come unto a perfect 
 man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
 of Christ. 
 
 So will I preach Christ that I may present every 
 man perfect in Christ Jesus. 
 
 But we must further notice the method of preaching 
 that the text reveals; " warning every man, and teach- 
 ing every man with all wisdom " I will speak of the 
 last first. In that setting forth of the truths of Christ 
 which I have promised, teaching is to a certain extent 
 implied. But teaching implies more than the mere 
 proclamation of the truth; it implies line upon line, 
 precept upon precept; it implies such a method of 
 preaching the truth that it shall not merely entertain, 
 astonish, or excite admiration, but that it shall instruct. 
 To teach with all wisdom! He that would fulfil that 
 duty, must first obtain that wisdom. But this wis- 
 dom is not the wisdom of the earth, but wisdom 
 that cometh down from above. Accordingly I regard 
 it as one of the most important parts of the duty I 
 owe to you to seek to know what is the mind of the 
 Spirit in His written word. With what knowledge I 
 possess or may acquire of the original languages, 
 
14 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 with what help I can obtain from the researches of 
 the learned and the meditations of the devout. I will 
 endeavor to study God's word that I may teach it 
 unto you. But chiefly do I expect to study it in the 
 pages of our English Bible, comparing Scripture with 
 Scripture, that I may have God's light upon His own 
 word; ever seeking the help and guidance of His 
 Spirit, that mind and heart may be freed from all 
 prejudice, and prepared for the reception of the truth, 
 and that He Himself may guide me into all truth. And 
 after I have thus sought to ascertain the truth, I 
 will never put discredit upon God's word by preach- 
 ing from it in any other sense than what seems to me 
 to be its true meaning. 
 
 Since then it is my business to teach, I will not be 
 ashamed to preach often upon the great doctrines of 
 Christianity, believing that God has revealed nothing 
 in His word that is not profitable for us to know; be- 
 lievingthat if Christ prayed, "Sanctify them through 
 thy truth," the knowledge of the truth must be ne- 
 cessary to our sanctification; believing that these 
 doctrines themselves are the great facts concerning 
 God, concerning man, concerning sin, concerning re- 
 tribution, concerning redemption and eternal life, 
 upon which all our actions are based, and upon which 
 all our destinies depend. Consequently I will preach 
 often upon those cardinal texts that set forth the 
 great fundamental truths of our religion. 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 15 
 
 Believing, too, that all error is of Satan, as all truth 
 is of God, and that all error is injurious to the spir- 
 itual life of God's people, as all truth is profitable, I 
 will feel it my duty to defend the truth against all 
 error from within or from without the church, when- 
 ever I think that such error is likely to reach your 
 knowledge and so affect your spiritual life; remem- 
 bering the command laid upon me to contend earn- 
 estly for the faith once delivered to the saints. I will 
 further endeavor to clear the truth from those difficul- 
 ties which beset it in the minds of all; difficulties that 
 are often felt most keenly by the most conscientious 
 and devout seekers after truth. Wherever such diffi- 
 culties can be removed by a rational explanation, I 
 will endeavor to give it, as plainly and simply as I 
 can. But wherever they grow out of the limitations of 
 our own understanding, and the unfathomable nature 
 of the truths themselves, I will seek not to darken 
 counsel by words without knowledge, but simply to 
 impress that fact upon you, at the time reminding you 
 of the many truths, not of revelation, but of nature, 
 that we daily accept under the same limitations. 
 
 I will further seek with whatever abilities I possess, 
 to make the truth beautiful and glorious in your eyes, 
 or rather to let its own beauty shine forth, that it 
 may win its way by its own power, and draw your 
 hearts by its own attraction. I will endeavor to make 
 it precious in your sight, by preaching it to the heart, 
 
l6 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 as the one thing needful to comfort and bless our 
 lives, and cheer our hearts with the hopes of eternity. 
 
 And I will try to preach scripturally. I will preach 
 doctrine, but I will endeavor not to preach it theo- 
 logically. Theology is the scientific arrangement of 
 doctrine, and is necessary for the thorough equip- 
 ment of the teacher of truth. But to the people he 
 is to teach truth not scientifically, but practically, 
 which is scripturally; for the Scriptures give truth in 
 its natural and practical, rather than its scientific re- 
 lations. And he who would reach with the truth the 
 practical lives of those to whom he preaches, must 
 present it in those relations, and in those proportions 
 in which the Scriptures present it. 
 
 To accomplish this it is my custom to seek as wide 
 a range of texts as possible, and I recently had occa- 
 sion to notice that during my past ministry I had 
 preached from every book in the New Testament ex- 
 cept the third epistle of John, which contains but 
 fourteen verses. In the Old Testament I have not 
 preached from such a large proportion of the whole, 
 but I have preached from many of the books in all its 
 great divisions. I will preach on precepts and pro- 
 mises, on proverb and psalm, on history and biogra- 
 phy. Sometimes I may preach upon a single pregnant 
 clause; sometimes I may turn over the leaves of 
 God's word with you, that we may gain its whole 
 teaching upon some one point; and again, I will 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 17 
 
 open before you some extended passage of Scripture. 
 In this way, I hope to go over in course with you some 
 whole books of God's word, as in my past ministry, I 
 have gone over the whole of the epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians, and the greater part of the life of our Lord. 
 
 Jn addition to my public instruction, I will en- 
 deavor, according to the Apostle s example, to teach 
 also from house to house. The exigencies of city 
 life do not indeed permit ^that gathering together of 
 families for pastoral instruction that is possible in oth- 
 er fields, and the facilities for attendance upon public 
 worship seem to render it less necessary. But as I 
 shall have opportunity I will endeavor to turn every- 
 thing to account for your spiritual instruction, using 
 your trials, cares, temptations, and afflictions as op- 
 portunities for impressing upon you the appropriate 
 truth from God's word. And I will make it my 
 business as I see your children reaching the age 
 of discretion, or manifesting serious interest in 
 religious things, to seek them out and instruct them 
 thoroughly in the way of salvation, in the duties of 
 the Christian life, and the significance of the Lord's 
 Supper. And in my past experience it has gladdened 
 my heart to see how readily under such teachings the 
 children of God's people have in most cases yielded 
 their hearts to obedience of the truth. 
 
 And to this I add with deep humility that it shall 
 be my endeavor to illustrate the truths of the gospel 
 
i8 
 
 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 in my walk and conversation among you. No one 
 but my God knows so well as I the evils of my own 
 heart; no one else can realize so well as I how far my 
 practice falls short of the standard set before me. 
 But my strength is in the Lord, and trusting in his 
 promises, I can hope to make higher attainments in 
 holiness, to deal more faithfully with my own heart, 
 and to approximate more nearly His standard. By 
 His grace I trust that I shall at least be kept from any 
 open transgressions that would discredit the truth 
 that I proclaim, offend one of the least of God's chil- 
 dren, or cast a stumbling block in the way of any 
 sinner. In the fear of God I will endeavor to dis- 
 charge my duties to you and all men, to conform my 
 life to His commands, and to follow in my Master's 
 footsteps in going about doing good. 
 
 But the Apostle's method of preaching, we have 
 seen, involved not only teaching, but warning; and 
 for frail, fallible man, always liable to go astray, 
 warning must ever be an essential part of any method 
 for bringing him to perfection. Hence I regard it as 
 a necessary part of my duty to warn you of the dan- 
 gers by which you are surrounded — to warn not only 
 sinners, but Christians. It is true, that according to 
 the gospel as I understand it, no true child of God 
 can ever fall utterly away; and for this we have our 
 Lord's promise, " They shall never perish, neither 
 shall any man pluck them out of my hand." But, 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 19 
 
 nevertheless, warnings are necessary for the children 
 of God. I will warn you because, while true Chris- 
 tians cannot perish, false professors may; and it is 
 ever your duty to try yourselves by all the warnings 
 of God's word, to examine yourselves whether you 
 be in the faith, lest by anv means you should be run- 
 ning in- vain. I will warn you, because these warn- 
 ings are the very means that God uses to keep you 
 from falling; you are rational creatures, and so God 
 uses with you rational means first; if these fail He 
 will then try stronger measures. I will warn you be- 
 cause by giving heed to these warnings you will be 
 saved the painful discipline by which God must re- 
 store you. I will warn you because sin is always and 
 everywhere necessarily an evil, injurious to your own 
 spiritual life, and corrupting to the life of the Church; 
 because sin is the very thing from which Christ came 
 to save you, and until you are freed from sin you still 
 need to be warned of its dangers and its tendencies 
 that you may flee from it, as for your life. And I 
 will warn you, because all sin is grieving to the heart 
 of Christ, and sin in His members is a wounding of 
 Him in the house of His friends, an opening of His 
 wounds afresh, a putting Him to an open shame. 
 From the sin and shame of grieving your long suf- 
 fering Saviour and wounding His loving heart, I would 
 save you by impressing upon you all the warnings of 
 His word. Especially will I feel it my duty to warn 
 
20 
 
 THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 you against those forms of sin that in the present day 
 are coming in like a flood; the sins of worldliness, 
 Sabbath breaking and greed for wealth, that have 
 shaken the very foundations of society, and that 
 threaten to engulf a large portion of the Church 
 itself. Thus publicly will I warn you, and if it be- 
 comes my duty to use private admonition, I trust I 
 shall not be found wanting. 
 
 But it is obvious that those most in need of warn- 
 ing are those who stand in slippery places, whose feet 
 have never been set upon the rock Christ Jesus, who 
 have never glorified the God in whose hand their 
 breath is. When I think of the state of such, of the 
 jeopardy in which they stand every hour, when I 
 think of their peril, when I think of their sin, when 
 I think of the impending wrath of a neglected God, 
 and the final sentence of an injured Saviour, the won- 
 der is that I can cease to warn them night and day 
 with tears. I recognize the. solemn conditions of the 
 office of a watchman — conditions which demand soul 
 for soul, life for life, blood for blood — conditions 
 which no one could meet but for the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Who is sufficient for these things! In accepting an 
 office so exacting in its duties, so tremendous in its 
 responsibilities, so fraught with eternal destinies, so 
 pregnant with issues of glory or despair, I commend 
 myself to your patience and your prayers. To your 
 
THE MINISTER OF THE WORD. 
 
 2 1 
 
 patience, because no man can fulfil this office without 
 many failures, and in the pressure of many conflict- 
 ing demands upon his time and attention many things 
 will seem to be failures which are not. To your 
 prayers, because without them all my labors will be 
 in vain. Human efforts alone are but the machinery 
 without the motive power, are but the body without 
 the life. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, 
 but God alone can give the increase. If you would 
 not have this new relation end in disaster and failure, 
 pray for me; pray for me that I may be guided by 
 His wisdom, sustained by His grace, that His bless- 
 ing may attend all that I do, and that His spirit may 
 go with the preached word, that it may build you up 
 and give you an inheritance among all them that are 
 sanctified. T indeed preach Christ that I may present 
 every man perfect, in Christ Jesus, but the power is 
 all of God; He alone is able to keep you from falling 
 and present you faultless before the presence of His 
 glory with exceeding joy. 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION OF RULING ELDER 
 JOHN D. TAYLOR, MARCH JTH, 1886. 
 
 Acts 20, 28 : Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and 
 to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made 
 you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath 
 purchased with His own blood. 
 
 It is one of the fundamental principles of the Pres- 
 byterian Church in all its branches, that the Bible is 
 the charter of the Church, and that the Church has 
 no power to legislate, but only to define and carry 
 out those laws which are found in the Scriptures, or 
 which can be deduced therefrom by "good and neces- 
 sary inference." It differs in this important princi- 
 ple from all churches which maintain the laxer prin- 
 ciple that the Church has power to ordain rites, cere- 
 monies and forms of government, provided they are 
 not forbidden in Scripture. If Christ is the supreme 
 and only law-giver, if the Church exists only by His 
 authority and for the purpose of executing His will, 
 it is plain that the principle which we maintain is the 
 correct one; and the history of the Church shows that 
 
2 4 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 it is the only safe one. Had this principle been ob- 
 served from the beginning, there would have been no 
 need for the Reformation. It is, of course, freely ad- 
 mitted that there are circumstances that concern the 
 Church, in common with human acts and societies, of 
 which the Scriptures say nothing. These are simple 
 matters of detail, which the church must define in 
 order to carry out the laws which Christ has given 
 her. This principle may be illustrated by the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. The government of 
 the United States is the creation of the States which 
 compose it; it exists by virtue of the grant of powers 
 given it by the Constitution. The fundamantal prin- 
 ciples of the government would be immediately over- 
 thrown if it were maintained that it could do any- 
 thing not expressly forbidden by the Constitution. 
 The Constitution exists for the purpose of defining 
 what it may do, and all powers not granted are by 
 that very fact forbidden. 
 
 Such being the nature of God's word it might be 
 taken for granted that some form of government 
 would be revealed in the Scriptures; and since the 
 form of government under which any body exists 
 exercises such a vast influence upon the life and work- 
 ings and development of the body, it is of the last 
 importance to determine what is that form of gov- 
 ernment which the Scriptures reveal. 
 
 I shall not now stop to show that the government 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 25 
 
 of the Church is not a government directly by the 
 people, but of officers divinely appointed for the pur- 
 pose of exercising government. The text is addressed 
 to men of whom the Apostle declares that the Holy 
 Ghost had made them overseers. A congregational 
 government is thus too clearly excluded to need fur- 
 ther argument. 
 
 But the text brings us face to face with a deeper 
 question, — the nature of these officers thus divinely 
 appointed. Turning back to the 17th verse of this 
 chapter, we find that the words of the text are ad- 
 dressed to the Elders or Presbyters of the church at 
 Ephesus. We have every reason to believe that at 
 this time the Christians at Ephesus formed but a 
 single congregation, and accordingly the first point 
 that we determine is that there was a plurality of these 
 officers in one congregation — a point which we shall 
 further verify as we proceed. Turning to the origi- 
 nal of the text, we find that the word translated over- 
 seers, is the same word that is everywhere else rendered 
 Bishops. It is, in fact, the word of which Bishop is 
 a corruption, and of which episcopal is a derivation. 
 So plain is this fact, that in the revised version the 
 word is rendered Bishops, by Episcopal translators 
 
 The second point then, that we make from the 
 the text, is the identity of Bishops and Presbyters, and 
 the consequent fact that the New Testament Bishop, 
 instead of presiding over a number of churches ac- 
 
26 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 cording to the Episcopal theory, was one of a number 
 of officers presiding over a single church. But we 
 do not draw so important a conclusion as this, and one 
 so opposed to the government which has existed in 
 the Church from very early times, upon the authority 
 of a single text. 
 
 The Apostle Paul addresses his Epistle to the Philp- 
 pians to the "saints which are at Philippi, with the 
 Bishops and Deacons." If he had said " the Elders 
 and Deacons," the Episcopal interpretation that the 
 office of Bishop was at the time vacant in the church, 
 might be maintained. If he had said "the Bishop 
 and Deacons," it might be maintained that for same 
 reason the Elders were omitted. But as he says the 
 "Bishops and Deacons," there is no escape from the 
 conclusion that, as al Ephesus, so at Philippi, there 
 was a plurality of Bishops in a single congregation. 
 
 Again, we find that although theApostle went through 
 all the cities where he had organized churches ordain- 
 ing Elders in every church, (Acts 14:23,) he yet sums up 
 the officers of the chu rch, in his Epistle to Timothy, un- 
 der the two terms, Bishops and Deacons, giving qualifi- 
 cations for these offices, and saying nothing about Eld- 
 ers; and when we turn to the Epistle to Titus we find 
 the explanation of this; he had sent Titus to Crete 
 to ordain Elders in every city, and the qualifications 
 of these Elders he gives in a few terms, adding these 
 words: "For a Bishop must be grave," etc. There 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 2 7 
 
 could be no reason why the qualifications of a Bishop 
 should be assigned in explanation of the qualifica- 
 tions of those to be ordained Elders, unless the two 
 offices were identical. 
 
 So plain is this in Scripture that it is admit- 
 ted by all learned Episcopalians, and Dr. Cony- 
 beare, whose name, in connection with that of Dean 
 Howson, will ever be held in grateful remembrance 
 for their immortal life of St. Paul, is responsible 
 for the statement, that no respectable Episcopal 
 authority will be found to deny that in the New 
 Testament the terms Bishop and Presbyter, are used 
 interchangeably; while Bishop Lightfoot, with the 
 approbation of Dean Stanley, bases upon this fact 
 the conclusion that " Presbytery is not a later growth 
 but of Episcopacy, but that Episcopacy is a later 
 growth out of Presbytery." 
 
 With such admissions as these, it may be won- 
 dered upon what the Episcopalians base their form 
 of government, and especially upon what they base 
 their exclusive claim, which unchurches all who 
 do not conform to it The answer is found in the 
 difference of fundamental position announced at 
 the outset. If we admit the discretionary pow^r 
 of the Church, it is not necessary to go to the 
 Scriptures for our form of government, provided 
 we do not introduce anything expressly forbidden. 
 Accordingly we find that they seek their authority, 
 
28 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 not in the Scriptures, but in historical tradition, and 
 in the testimonies of the early Fathers. On this 
 ground we do not fear to meet them; they have ap- 
 pealed unto the Fathers, unto the Fathers let us go. 
 
 But E must here pause, and insist that, in admitting 
 this appeal, we distinctly repudiate the authority of 
 the Fathers in matters of faith and practice. We ap- 
 peal to them simply as historical witnesses, and if 
 their testimony w r ere against us, our position would 
 remain unshaken. Bishop Lighfoot is clear-sighted 
 enough to perceive this, and so seeks to prove that 
 the Episcopal form of government was established 
 before the end of the first century, and during the 
 lifetime of the Apostle John, in order to plead his 
 authority for it, and to establish the claim that, while 
 the Bishops were not successors to the Apostles, (for 
 he distinctly repudiates that doctrine), this form of 
 government became necessary after the Apostolic 
 office became extinct: so that while its foundations 
 were not sufficient to justify them in unchurching 
 others (and may God bless him for that noble declara- 
 tion against intolerance!) they were yet enough to 
 make them cling to it with loving veneration. Ac- 
 cordingly he pursues his historical investigations with 
 great zeal and diligence, tor the purpose of finding 
 Bishops before the end of the first century; and his 
 success is equal to his zeal, for he finds Bishops every- 
 where; wherever there was a Christian church, there 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 2 9 
 
 he finds a Bishop. He finds, in short, just that state 
 of things that a Presbyterian would expect to find; 
 he finds that state of things which Vice-Principal 
 Hatch, another learned Episcopal authority, finds at 
 the same period, when he declared that "the Bishop of 
 each congregation bore the same relation to his Pres- 
 byters that the chairman of a committee hears to the 
 members of the committee;" or, as Presbyterians 
 would say, " as the Moderator of a church Session 
 bears to the Session over which he presides." 
 
 But even this, you observe, is aslight departure from 
 New Testament usage, where the term Bishop did not 
 designate the leading or presiding Presbyter in each 
 congregation, but was applied to all alike; and we 
 still find this New Testament usage prevailing in the 
 earliest uninspired Christian writings. In the newly 
 discovered Teaching of the 'Twelve Apostles the local offi- 
 cers of the church are designated by the terms Bishops 
 and Deacons, and in the Epistle of Clement of Rome 
 to the Corinthians the same classification is observed; 
 and he further admonishes the church not to rise 
 up against its aiders. It is very noticeable that in 
 the two earliest uninspired writings of the Church, 
 exactly the same usage is observed as in the New 
 Testament, while shortly afterwards we find that 
 slight departure to which we have just alluded. 
 
 But before long itcannot still be said that the Bishop 
 bore the same relation to his Presbyters as the chair- 
 
3° 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 man of a committee bears to the members of the com- 
 mittee ; but that as they had assumed the exclusive 
 title of Bishop, so they begin to assume the exclusive 
 powers of the office. Yet even now is the Bishop still 
 but the pastor of a single congregation We find in 
 this period bishoprics so small that Gregory Thau- 
 maturgus expresses satisfaction at leaving in his 
 bishopric ot Neo Cesarea no more unbelievers than 
 he had found believers, and gives this number as sev- 
 enteen. We find bishoprics so close together tnat 
 three or four Bishops could take tea together and 
 walk home by bed-time. We find bishoprics so nu- 
 merous that in the small territory between the Tiber 
 and the Tuscan sea there were no less than thirty-five 
 Bishops, or seven more than in the Church of Eng- 
 land to-day. We find in the third century that Cypri- 
 an could assemble at Carthage, from the narrow strip 
 of civilized territory along the northern shore of 
 Africa as many as eighty-seven Bishops; and that in 
 the following century over five hundred Bishops came 
 together, representing the two parties in the Church, 
 for the purpose of healing the Donatist schism. 
 
 It is evident that through all this period the term 
 Bishop was applied to a great many who were merely 
 pastors of single congregations, and at the early part 
 of this period the term had no other meaning. For 
 Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, whose Epistles are re- 
 garded as the sheet-anchor of Episcopacy, speaks of 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 31 
 
 each church which he visited on his journey to Rome, 
 where he suffered martyrdom, as organized with a 
 Bishop and a plurality of Presbyters and of Deacons. 
 But before the end of this period there were Bishops 
 in large towns like Rome and Carthage, where many 
 churches had grown up under the rule of a single 
 church, and where the Bishop of the parent church 
 retained authority over the colonies which it sent 
 forth, and where the churches in the surrounding 
 country looked to the leading Bishop to arbitrate 
 matters of dispute, and call them together in ecclesi- 
 astical councils — there were Bishops, I say, in cir- 
 cumstances like these, who furnish the type of the 
 modern diocesan Bishop. And here we may bring in 
 the testimony of Jerome who, in the fourth century, 
 declared that originally Bishops and Presbyters were 
 the same, and that the churches were governed by a 
 common council of Presbyters; but that "little by little, 
 that the roots of dissention might be torn up, the 
 whole trouble was devolved on one;'' and supports 
 his position by referring to the same Scriptures that T 
 have already quoted. 
 
 This gradual growth of Episcopacy to which Jerome 
 alludes was a process that could not be checked; 
 there were those indeed who sought to check it, but 
 the effort was in vain. Thus Cyprian earnestly con- 
 tends for the equality of all Bishops, as the true 
 successors of the Apostles, and representing in their 
 
32 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 united whole the unity of the church; and so when 
 one points to Cyprian as holding the doctrine of 
 Apostolical succession, he must remember, that while 
 Cyprian, as the Bishop of a large city, might 
 resemble a diocesan Bishop, he puts on an equal- 
 ity with himself the Bishop of the smallest town 
 or village. According to Cyprian it is the Chris- 
 tian ministry who are the successors to the Apostles. 
 But the protest of Cyprian was in vain; the process 
 of evolution could not be checked; as the Moderator 
 of the Elders of a congregation became the absolute 
 Bishop of the congregation; as the convener of the 
 Bishops in a small section of territory became the 
 absolute Bishop of the diocese; so the Bishop of a 
 great metropolis, as convener of all the Bishops in the 
 surrounding country, gradually attained to the power 
 and supremacy of the Metropolitan or Archbishop. 
 And then, from one cause and another, distinctions 
 arose between the different Metropolitans, until at 
 last the whole Church was organized into two great 
 systems of Bishops, revolving around the two great 
 centres of power, Rome and Constantinople. But no 
 society organized upon the principle of a hierarchy 
 can exist with a double head. Hence arose the long 
 warfare for supremacy between the Bishops of Rome 
 and Constantinople, ending at last in the great schism 
 between the East and the West ; the Eastern or 
 Greek churches recognizing the authority of the Patri- 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 33 
 
 arch of Constantinople, and the Western or Latin 
 Churches recognizing the supremacy of the Bishop of 
 Rome. In the Eastern Churches this supremacy never 
 became so absolute, but in the West we see the work- 
 ings of Episcopacy carried out to their logical and 
 extreme results; with an iron-handed despot wielding 
 absolute ecclesiastical power over all who own his 
 sway, and handing down that power through a graded 
 system of inferior despots, from the Archbishop to 
 the parish priest. 
 
 But amid all this strife and rivalry of the Bishops, 
 it may be inquired what had become of those Elders 
 of the congregation who so early lost the title of 
 Bishop. The answerof history is plain: In the smaller 
 churches, after the duties of their office were absorbed 
 by the Bishop, as individual Elders passed away their 
 places would cease to be filled and their office would 
 become extinct. In the larger churches, as the Bishop 
 attained to something of the state of a Diocesan, his 
 Elders or Presbyters would, some of them, be re- 
 tained to perform pastoral and ministerial duties in 
 the parent church, (just as now we find in the cathe- 
 dral churches in Roman Catholic and Anglican coun- 
 tries, a plurality of Presbyters performing these du- 
 ties); some would be sent forth to perform the same 
 duties in the smaller congregations that sprung up 
 under its care; while others were sent forth to minis- 
 ter in the country and village churches, after the right 
 
34 
 
 THE RULING ELDER 
 
 of electing their own Bishop was taken away from 
 them. This last stretch of Episcopal power did not 
 take place for many centuries, and its consummation 
 not only shows the use that was made of the Presby- 
 ters, but also explains the disappearance of those 
 country and village Bishops whom we found so abun- 
 dant as late as the fourth century. In absorbing into 
 themselves the powers and duties of their Presbyters 
 they had laid the foundation for their own degrada- 
 tion. 
 
 But it must not be supposed that these changes 
 took place everywhere at once, or that the Elders of 
 small churches gave up the powers of their office with- 
 out a struggle. In Northern Africa we find distinct 
 recognition, for several centuries, of an order of 
 officers called aiders of the People. In the isle of Ioria 
 where, far from the centre of Roman power, the 
 Roman influence was longest resisted, we find a dis- 
 tinctly Presbyterian form of government; while in 
 Ireland, where the gospel was received, not from 
 Rome, but from Iona, Archbishop Usher finds that in 
 the sixth century there were 365 churches, 365 Bishops 
 and 3,000 Presbyters — that is to say, a Bishop and a 
 plurality of Presbyters to each congregation. The 
 Waldenses in their mountain fastnesses and secluded 
 valleys preserved through centuries of persecution 
 their primitive Presbyterian government and Apos- 
 tolic purity of doctrine; and maintained their inde- 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 35 
 
 pendence of Rome until they joined hands with t lie 
 Protestant churches of the Reformation. They are 
 now enrolled as members of the Pan-Presbyterian 
 Alliance. 
 
 We find, then, that neither the word of God nor the 
 history of the church gives any countenance to any 
 form of government but the Presbyterian Presby- 
 terian government begins when first the church emer- 
 ges from the family. As soon as the church became 
 too large for the father of all to govern the whole, 
 we find the government in the hands of heads of 
 families; and when the church became 4 too large for 
 this, leading heads of families were chosen to exer- 
 cise this rule — those Elders of the congregation we 
 find throughout all the history of the people of God. 
 They existed before the laws of Moses, for to them 
 Moses submits his credentials from God. We find 
 them in the wilderness and in the Promised Land; we 
 find them in the days of the Judges and in the days 
 of the Kings; in the captivity and in the restoration; 
 their authority was recognized by our Lord when he 
 was on the earth ; and in John's Apocalyptic vision of 
 the consummation of things he sees four and twenty 
 Elders sitting^ before the Throne of God. 
 
 The Apostolic office was temporary, and designed 
 for a particular emergency in the church. They were 
 to bear witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; to 
 endow others with miraculous powers for repeating 
 
3(> 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 and confirming their testimony: and to give to the 
 church an authoritative and infallible exposition of 
 the truth of Jesus Christ. The office of the Presby- 
 ter was permanent, and designed to last through all 
 changes of time and place and circumstance. So far 
 as the Apostles were Presbyters, all Presbyters are 
 their successors; so far as they were Ministers of the 
 Word, all Ministers of the Word are their successors; 
 but so far as they were Apostles they have no succes- 
 sors; and for a set of men to claim that succession is 
 an unlawful usurpation of authority to which they 
 have no righi, and an unwarrantable claim to powers 
 which they palpably do not possess. 
 
 To give permanence to the Presbyterian form of 
 government it was arranged in the providence of 
 God that the founders of the Christian Church should 
 find established all over the world Jewish Synagogues, 
 which were governed by a bench of Ruling Elders; 
 of this fact the researches of the learned of all shades 
 and opinions assure us beyond dispute. To the Jewish 
 Synagogues the message of the gospel was first deliv- 
 ered. When the whole or a majority of the congre- 
 gation received the Gospel their former organization 
 continued without change, only that what had been 
 a Jewish Synagogue was now called a Christian 
 Church; where only a minority received the Gospel 
 they formed a new Synagogue or church, on the 
 model of their former organization, and when a 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 37 
 
 church was organized entirely of heathen elements 
 the same plan of organization was, of course, adopted 
 as in Jewish churches. Thus it was that, without any 
 formal institution of such form of government, we 
 find Presbyterian government everywhere established 
 by the Apostles. There is no record of the institu- 
 tion of the office of Presbyter in the New Testament, 
 simply because this office was as old as the church 
 of God; and the Christian Church was not a new 
 church, but simply a new dispensation of the same 
 church, whose charter we find in the covenant made 
 with Abraham — a church which had been governed by 
 Presbyters from his time to the time of the Apostles, — 
 and a church which was to be governed by Presbyters 
 until time should be no more. 
 
 When we come to examine from the New Testa- 
 ment the nature of this Presbyterian rule, we find 
 that while there was no distinction of rank among 
 Presbyters as Rulers, there was yet a certain pre-emi- 
 nence attached to one class of Presbyters, not be- 
 cause of any greater authority as Rulers, but because 
 in addition to the office of ruling they possessed the 
 superadded office of Ministers of the Word. This is 
 placed beyond dispute by the following passage: (ist 
 Timothy, 5:17,) "Let the Elders that rule well be 
 counted worthy of double honor, especially they 
 who labor in the word and doctrine " Here it is 
 plainly taught that there are two classes of Eiders, 
 
38 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 one of which consists of those who merely rule, while 
 the other consists of those who labor in the word and 
 doctrine, as well as rule; or to put it differently, that 
 the nature of the office of a Presbyter is to rule, and 
 that all Presbyters'are rulers, but that to them (and to 
 them only) may also be given the office of Ministers of 
 the Word; making a class of Presbyters distinct from 
 the others, not in their authority as rulers, but simply 
 in the honor and duties attaching to them as Minis- 
 ters of the Word * 
 
 Whether there were any Ministers of the Word 
 among the Elders of Ephesus, to whom Paul ad- 
 dresses the text, we are not informed. It is probable 
 that there was at least one, perhaps more; but it is not 
 as Ministers of the Word that they are addressed, but 
 as Presbyters; the duties described in the text, then, 
 are the duties of all Presbyters, the duties of Ruling 
 Elders. If the Minister of the Word is to heed the 
 
 *In this division of Presbyters into two classes, the Christian Church 
 again follows the pattern of the Jewish Synagogue. In every Jewish 
 congregation one of the Elders had the especial duty of presiding at 
 public worship and instructing the people in the word of God. He 
 was called the "Angel of the Synagogue." The word simply means 
 messenger, and implies that he was the messenger or ambassador from 
 God to the people. The same language is used of the Christian 
 Church, where our Lord sends letters by John to the Angels of the 
 Seven Churches of Asia; that is, the Minister of the Word, or teach- 
 ing Elder, in each of those congregations. Some have thought that 
 both in the Synagogue and Christian Church it was a matter of private 
 arrangement between the Elders themselves who should perform the 
 duty of public instruction. The New Testament lays too much stress 
 upon an especial call to the work of preaching the gospel, to permit 
 us to accept this view. It was a special office with a special call and 
 a special ordination. It is, perhaps, needless to add that it was this 
 teaching Elder who, from being naturally the iModerator of the church 
 session, gradually assumed the exclusive use of the title and powers 
 of a Bishop. 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 39 
 
 same charge, it is because he too is an Elder. We 
 find now the practical value of what we have argued 
 at so much length, namely, that the Ruling Elder is 
 a Bishop; for as Jerome tells us, the term Presbyter 
 was the title of age and dignity; the term Bishop, 
 the title of office; the term Presbyter proclaims him 
 a Ruler, the term Bishop shows the nature of that 
 Rule. 
 
 The literal meaning of the word Bishop is an over- 
 seer; the exhortation of the text properly rendered is, 
 Take heed unto the flock in which the Holy Ghost 
 hath made you Bishops, or overseers. The oversight 
 of the flock is, then, the duty of the Ruling Elder, — 
 a duty that he is to perform both in his individual 
 capacity and as a member of the body of Ruling 
 Elders in concert with his colleagues. It is needless 
 to say that this oversight is not inquisitorial, but 
 fatherly; the whole spirit of the Gospel demonstrates 
 this; and the fact that this office is not only called by 
 the name overseer, but by the venerable name of 
 Elder — a term derived from the Patriarchal govern- 
 ment, is an added proof of the same. This oversight 
 involves, of course, a thorough knowledge of the flock, 
 both as acongregation and as individuals. The Elders 
 must not only have personal acquaintance with all the 
 members of the congregation, but by visits to their 
 homes must acquaint themselves sufficiently with 
 their affairs, to know their needs and their trials, their 
 
40 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 walk and conversation, and the manner in which 
 they fulfil their Christian duties, in order that they 
 may guard them against temptation, gently admonish 
 them of their duties, encourage them in despondency 
 and support them in trials. 
 
 But all this is more clearly defined, and more fully 
 brought forth in the description of their office that fol- 
 lows: it is said that they are to feed the Church of 
 God; now when we examine, the original here, we find 
 that it is not brought out by this expression; the true 
 meaning is that they are to act as Shepherds or Pastors 
 of the Church. In confining the word Pastor to the 
 Minister of the Word, we are guilty of the same error 
 in which the early church fell, of applying to him alone 
 the title of Bishop. All Elders are pastors, and the 
 oversight which they take is a pastoral oversight, and 
 the duties which they perform are well presented to 
 us under the figure of a shepherd and his flock, As 
 shepherds, then, they are the guardians of the flock. 
 " I know this," says the Apostle, " that after my depart- 
 ing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not 
 sparing the flock; also of your ownselves shall men 
 arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disci- 
 ples after them." 
 
 It is because of this danger that the Apostle gives 
 them the charge of the text, and accordingly it must 
 be their especial duty as shepherds to preserve the 
 flock from false doctrine, whether it comes from within 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 4* 
 
 or from without; and if they are to preserve them 
 from the dangerous attacks of false doctrine, they 
 must equally preserve them from the influence of 
 false example, by exercising proper discipline over 
 those who, by their example, lead others astray, and 
 destroy the peace and purity of the flock, and by ex- 
 ercising judicious care in admitting members into the 
 church, that no wolves in sheep's clothing - shall enter 
 into the flock. As shepherds of the flock it is their fur- 
 ther duty to reclaim the wandering They have stu- 
 died ill the example of the Chief Shepherd who have 
 not learned this; for the Son of man came to seek and 
 to save that which was lost; and there is no picture of 
 His office to which our hearts cling more fondly than 
 that of the Good Shepherd seeking the wandering 
 sheep, and bringing it home with rejoicing. From 
 His example, too, we learn what is a shepherd's care of 
 the sick, the helpless and the aged; how gently he leads 
 them, how tenderly He watches over them and sym- 
 pathizes with them; how patiently He bears their 
 griefs, and carries their sorrows. And further, he 
 would be a poor shepherd w T ho did not care for the 
 lambs of the flock. In our Lord's parting charge to 
 Peter, He twice tells him, "shepherd my sheep," and 
 once "shepherd my lambs;" and centuries before, 
 when Isaiah prophesied of our Lord that He should 
 feed his flock like a shepherd, he adds that he 
 should gather the lambs with His arms and carry 
 
42 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 them in His bosom. The shepherd that neglects the 
 lambs will soon have no flock to watch over. The 
 pastors of the church must be diligent in seeing that 
 children are presented by their parents for baptism; 
 that they are carefully taught in the word of God, 
 both at home and in church and Sabbath-schools, that 
 they have all the restraints of pious influence and 
 example thrown around them, to preserve them from 
 the temptations of the world, and the perils of youth, 
 and to guide them into a full recognition of their 
 Christian duties, and profession of their faith in 
 Christ. 
 
 There is still another truth in the Oriental idea of 
 a shepherd, that is more clearly brought out in other 
 places in the New Testament. In the East the shep- 
 herd did not drive his sheep, but led them, as our 
 Lord says of His sheep, " I know them and they fol- 
 low me." Hence it is that the Elders of the Church 
 are called leaders or guides j this is the case in the 
 original of Hebrews, 13:17, where the idea is lost in 
 our translation, and it is further brought out in the 
 charge of the Apostle Peter to the Elders, where he 
 exhorts them to be ensamples to the flock. That the 
 Elders may preserve the flock in the right ways of 
 the Lord, they must themselves be pre-eminent in 
 every Christrian virtue. If they would have the 
 flock abounding in the w T ork and labors of the Lord 
 they must themselves be foremost in every Christian 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 43 
 
 enterprise. The flock will lollow where the shep- 
 herds lead. Wherever you find the body of Ruling 
 Elders eminent in piety, abundant in good works, 
 irreproachable in their private and official character, 
 zealous in the prosecution of their duties, and lead- 
 ers in every effort for the advancement of the King- 
 dom of Christ, there you will find a flock earnest, 
 united and consecrated, provoking one another only 
 to love and good works. Happy is that minister 
 whose hands are so sustained; happy is that people 
 that has such men for its rulers. 
 
 But there is one thing more which I must not for- 
 bear to add, for while it is involved in what has gone 
 before, it is.so important as to need explicit state- 
 ment: "They watch for your souls," says the Apostle, 
 "as they that must give account." No more solemn 
 view of the duties of a Ruling Elder can be given 
 than is contained in these words. They are not 
 spoken to ministers alone, but to all the rulers of the 
 church ; to seek diligently the fruit of the preached 
 word is expressly enumerated on the authority of this 
 text among the duties of a Ruling Elder laid down 
 in our form of government. How many a passing 
 impression might be deepened into a saving convic- 
 tion, how many a dormant faith might be brought out 
 into conscious activity; how many an inactive pro- 
 fessor might be made of use in the church of God; 
 how many a fleeting resolution of stricter conformity 
 
44 
 
 THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 might become an abiding aspiration for a higher de- 
 gree of holiness, if not only the Minister of the Word, 
 but all the Elders were diligent in watching the effect 
 of the truth, in fostering and conserving its tempo- 
 rary results, and in setting in motion measures for 
 putting into practice its commands. 
 
 Oh, brethren of the Eldership, if this is our office, 
 what a responsibility is ours! The care of souls, im- 
 mortal souls, whose eternal destinies so largely depend 
 upon the way in which we discharge the duties of 
 our office! With this view of our pastoral duties 
 before us do we need to have repeated the exhorta- 
 tion of the Apostle, " Take heed unto yourselves?" 
 What conscientiousness in self-examination, what cir- 
 cumspection in action, what perseverance in prayer, 
 is demanded of those that would exhibit in their own 
 lives that sobriety, that fidelity, that spiritual-mind 
 edness, that is necessary to fit them to be ensamples 
 unto the flock, and shepherds unto the church of God! 
 Apd with what diligence ought we to give heed to 
 his farther admonition to take heed unto the flock in 
 which the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops! 
 What attention ought we to give to their needs, how 
 constantly ought we to keep their interest in mind, 
 how continually ought we to bear them in our hearts 
 before God, that we may fulfil those solemn duties 
 which the Holy Ghost hath laid upon us, that we 
 may give our account with joy and not with grief! 
 
THE RULING ELDER. 
 
 45 
 
 And if we need a motive for this we have it in the 
 last words of the text: It is the church of God which 
 he purchased with his own blood to which we give 
 our labors. If he gave his life for the church, ought 
 we not to give our lives to it? What though it in- 
 volve toil, and labor, and self sacrifice, shall not we 
 fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ 
 for his body's sake, which is the church? Even 
 though the duties of our office sometimes require of 
 us thankless tasks, even though ingratitude some- 
 times rewards the most self-denying labors, we can 
 keep on unswervingly in the path of duty, when 
 we remember that it is His church for which welabor, 
 that it is the souls for which He died, for which we 
 watch; and that when the Chief Shepherd shall ap- 
 pear we shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth 
 not away. It is from His hands that we receive our 
 high commission, and from his hands will we receive 
 our enduring reward; and the sweetness and the full- 
 ness of that reward will be to commit forever into 
 His hands the glorified objects of our pastoral care, 
 that the Lamb himself may feed them, and may lead 
 them unto fountains of living waters, and that God 
 may wipe away all tears from their eyes. 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION OF DEACONS HENRY C. 
 MCQUEEN AND JOHN H. CURRIE, MARCH 14, 1886. 
 
 i Ti?n. 3. -13. — For they that have used the office of a deacon 
 well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great 
 boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus : 
 
 We found last Sunday that the Apostle Paul twice 
 sums up the officers of a congregation under the two 
 terms, Bishops and Deacons, and that in the earliest 
 writings after the Apostolic Age, such as the newly 
 discovered Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and the 
 Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, the 
 same classification was observed. Having discussed 
 the former of these offices upon last Sunday we would 
 devote our attention to-day to the latter. The fact that 
 it is found in such a classification shows that it is one 
 of thepermanentand not one of the temporary or extra- 
 ordinary offices of the church;while the text is sufficient 
 to convince us of the importance of the office. For, 
 
4 8 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 says the Apostle, " they that have used the office 
 of a Deacon well purchase to themselves a good 
 degree and great boldness in the faith." The text 
 naturally presents us with a threefold division of the 
 subject; what is the office of a Deacon, what it is 
 to use it well, and what is that good degree which they 
 purchase to themselves. 
 
 Concerning the nature of the office of Deacon, we 
 naturally inquire, first, what the word itself can teach 
 us. The word means servant, more especially an 
 attendant, hence from the idea of an attendant at the 
 table, comes the idea of dispensing. It is this idea 
 which probably gave rise to its use with reference to 
 the Ministry of the Word. A Minister of the Word 
 (for the original of the word minister is just the same 
 word Deacon) is one who dispenses the word of God, 
 the bread of life. But while the word Deacon is used 
 with qualifying words of other officers, we find that 
 without qualification, or limitation of other words, it 
 is used to denote a particular officer. And we must 
 inquire from other sources the nature of that attend- 
 ance or ministry that the word when thus used de- 
 notes. We nowhere in the New Testament find the 
 record of the institution of an office called by this 
 name; but in the 6th chapter of the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, we do find the institution* of an office distinct 
 
 *In using this word institution, it is not intended to decide the dis- 
 puted question, whether there were Deacons in the church previous to 
 this time. If, as some hold, (and I am rather inclined to agree with 
 them) the counterpart of the office of Deacon was found in the Jewish 
 Synagogue, we may naturally suppose that in the church at Jerusa- 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 49 
 
 in its nature from the offices of governing and teach- 
 ing exercised by the Apostles and Elders, and while 
 the word Deacon is not used in this form concerning 
 this office, we do find the use of two words that bear 
 the same relation to the word Deacon that the words 
 serve and service bear to the word servant. The exigen- 
 cy which gave rise to the institution of this office — 
 was that certain widows were neglected in the daily 
 ministration, — literally the daily deaconing, and when 
 the Apostles heard of it they said : "It is not reason 
 that we should leave the word of God and serve 
 tables" — literally deacon tables. Hence the institution 
 of this office for the discharge of that duty which 
 was not consistent with the duty of the Apostles : 
 "Seek ye out seven men of good report whom we 
 may set over this business, but we will give ourselves 
 wholly to prayer and the ministry of the word." 
 Here we have a plain contrast between the duties of 
 the Apostles and the duties of these seven; the one 
 were to attend to the ministry of the word, the other 
 to the ministry of tables. We need not inquire 
 
 lera, and wherever the Christian church had been planted, there 
 would already be Deacons in each congregation. A reference to such 
 Deacons may perhaps be found in the " young men" who carried out 
 the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira. The reader will observe that I 
 have treated the office of the Seven as an extraordinary office, fur- 
 nishing to us on a large scale the pattern for the same office on a 
 smaller scale. Whether ordinary Deacons were already found in 
 particular congregations, and the Seven were only needed to take 
 general oversight of the work in this particular emergency, or whether 
 the office of the Seven was an office altogether new;— whether, in 
 short, the ordinary office gave rise to the extraordinary, or the extra- 
 dinary gave rise to the ordinary: in either case our argument remains 
 the same, and our information concerning the nature of this office 
 is derived from the institution of the Seven. 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 particularly whether money tables or eating tables 
 are here meant, for we do not suppose that the seven 
 waited literally upon either; they were neither money 
 changers nor dining-room servants. What is clearly 
 meant by the expression is the oversight of the tem- 
 poral affairs of the church, — provision for the tempo- 
 ral wants of the church, as the Apostles provided for 
 its spiritual wants; they were to do what the Apos- 
 tles had tried to do, before their appointment; but 
 which they had been unable to do efficiently on ac- 
 count of their other duties. Before this time we 
 know from one or two cases mentioned, that when 
 one of the wealthy members of the church devoted 
 his property to the good of the whole church he sold 
 his possessions and laid the money at the Apostles' 
 feet. They doubtless handed it over to others whom 
 they thought fit, to be expended for the good of 
 the whole. But this expenditure having no organ- 
 ized oversight became unsatisfactory, and the distri- 
 bution of its benefits unequal, as we have seen. The 
 duties of these Seven were to take this oversight, 
 correct these inequalities, and to remove all grounds of 
 complaint. They would care not only for the poor 
 in the church, but would naturally see to the support 
 of the Apostles and Elders and Evangelists who, by 
 devoting themselves to the spiritual welfare of the 
 church, cut themselves off from other means of sup- 
 port; and whatever other temporal interest the church 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 51 
 
 might have, the Seven would care for, for the same 
 reason that led to their appointment. 
 
 That the appointment of these Seven was an ap- 
 pointment to the office of Deacon, is not only evident 
 from the use of the kindred words in connection 
 with this appointment, but is a matter of general 
 agreement among all parties; and it being so evident 
 that this appointment was made for the purpose of 
 taking oversight of the temporal interests of the 
 church, there would appear no room for any difference 
 of opinion with regard to the nature of the office of 
 Deacon; to receive the contributions of the church, to 
 dispense them for the use of the poor, for the main- 
 tenance of the ministry, for the support of all the 
 missionary, evangelistic and charitable enterprises of 
 the church, and to care for such property as it might 
 be necessary for the church to acquire, would appear 
 beyond dispute to be the duties of a Deacon. But as 
 it has been maintained in the Church that Bishops 
 were a higher order of the ministry than Presbyters, 
 so it has been maintained by the same parties that 
 Deacons constitute another order of the ministry 
 lower than Presbyters; their duties being to preach 
 and baptise, but not to administer the Lord's Sup- 
 per. It becomes us, then, in ordaining men to this 
 office to inquire with all charity for the views of 
 others, but with all fidelity to the truth, which is right, 
 and which is wrong. 
 
52 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 It is said by those who maintain that thediaconate 
 is an order of the ministry, that the qualifications 
 demanded of the Seven were out of all proportion to 
 the duties of their office, if those duties were what we 
 have declared them to be. They were to be men not 
 only of good report, but full of the Holy Ghost and 
 of wisdom; and if these are not qualifications for 
 preaching, where could you find men qualified to 
 preach? In replying to this, it is freely admitted that 
 if we now had men like Stephen and Philip, we could 
 not spare them for Deacons, because we would need 
 them all for the ministry of the word. But it must 
 be remembered that this appointment was made in 
 the days of the plentiful outpouring of the Spirit's 
 gifts ; there were probably few members of the 
 church of Jerusalem who were not more full of the 
 Holy Ghost, more completely consecrated to the 
 Master, than most ministers in our own day. And 
 appointments to office at that time must necessarily 
 be of men pre-eminent in gifts among their brethren 
 and contemporaries. The gifts of Deacons, then, 
 must be proportionate to the gifts of the private 
 members at that time, and not to the gifts of the 
 Church in our own day. But more than this, not only 
 was the state of the church extraordinary, but the 
 nature of their office was extraordinary; while their 
 duties were of the same nature as the duties of ordi- 
 nary deacons, they were to be executed upon an ex- 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 53 
 
 traordinary scale. The Christian community of Jeru- 
 salem now numbered from five to ten thousand adult 
 members, and the care of all these, with regard to 
 their temporal maintenance, was committed to these 
 Seven; accordingly they occupied a position in the 
 church, as compared with other Deacons, similar to 
 that which the Apostles occupied, compared with 
 other Presbyters; or to put it differently, they bore 
 the same relation to the Apostles that other Deacons 
 bear to other Presbyters; hence we need not be sur- 
 prised that the gifts of these Deacons transcend the 
 gifts of other Deacons, as the gifts of the Apostles 
 transcend the gifts of other Presbyters. 
 
 But it may be said that the gifts of ordinary Deacons 
 as described in the 3rd chapter of Timothy, would also 
 include qualifications for preaching, inasmuch as they 
 are to hold the mystery of the faith in a pure con- 
 science, and by using their office well, they purchase 
 to themselves great boldness in the faith. This, it is 
 claimed, indicates that they are to exercise the duties 
 of a preacher. But a candid examination fails to war- 
 rant any such inference; to hold the mystery of the 
 faith in a pure conscience is the duty of every private 
 member of the church, and while the brother who is 
 weak in the faith is to be treated with all tenderness 
 as a brother, yet none such are to be elevated into 
 office; we are to receive members into the church, 
 who may hold many errors, provided they hold to 
 
54 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 Christ as the ground of their salvation; but to elevate 
 to office any one holding serious error would be to 
 put the seal of the Church's endorsement upon that 
 error. Hence the Presbyterian church in admitting 
 to membership only demands satisfactory proof of 
 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in admitting to 
 office it demands the same subscription to its doctri- 
 nal standards of Ministers, Ruling Elders and Dea- 
 cons. And when we examine the other qualifications 
 required of the Deacon in the passage before us, we 
 find that they are just such as will fit him for the dis- 
 charge of the duties of this office, — gravity of deport- 
 ment, blamelessness of Christan character, and free- 
 dom from such infirmities as are often found in Chris- 
 tians but which would be peculiarly hurtful in the 
 discharge of the Deacon's duties, together with that 
 doctrinal soundness that we have found to be neces- 
 sary for all the officers of the church. But among 
 these qualifications we do not find mentioned that 
 " aptness to teach " which is required of the Presby- 
 ter, and which would be essential to the Deacon, if 
 preaching the word was a part of his official duties. 
 Even of the ruling Elder aptness to teach is required, 
 for although he does not publicly labor in word and 
 doctrine, private instruction is a necessary part of his 
 pastoral work. If the Deacon were a preacher this 
 omission would be incomprehensible. 
 
 It is further maintained that whatever our opinion 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 55 
 
 with regard to the qualifications of Deacons, the fact 
 remains that at least two of the Seven did preach and 
 that at least one of them baptised; that Stephen 
 preached, and that Philip both preached and bap- 
 tised. With regard to this it may be answered, that 
 we have no evidence that Stephen preached at all; he 
 did indeed boldly defend the truth in argument with 
 his former friends and associates, but that is just the 
 duty of every private Christian who possesses the 
 proper gifts; and we have recorded at some length a 
 speech that Stephen made that might be called a ser- 
 mon, but that was when put on trial for his life, and 
 compelled to make answer of the faith that was in 
 him. These facts are no grounds on which to set 
 aside the plain teachings of the passage, which puts 
 the official duties of Stephen in clear opposition to 
 the ministry of the word. With regard to Philip the 
 case is different. That he exercised the full duties of 
 a preacher we do not deny; yea, we affirm, while those 
 who differ from us deny. When Philip preached it 
 was after the church at Jerusalem had been scattered 
 by the persecution that followed the martyrdom of 
 Stephen. Only the Apostles remained at Jerusalem, 
 while those who were scattered abroad, went every- 
 where preaching the word The duties of Philip as 
 a Deacon were then necessarily suspended, and 
 having well discharged those duties while there was 
 necessity and opportunity for them, he is now set 
 
56 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 apart to a different work — that of an Evangelist. We 
 might gather this merely from the fact that he did 
 preach, when the duties of his former office were so 
 expressly distinguished from preaching, but we have 
 the further warrant for this view from the fact that 
 he is expressly called an Evangelist in one of the 
 later chapters of the Acts of the Apostles; and if Pre- 
 latists insist that Philip performed these duties of 
 preaching and baptising as a Deacon, they will find 
 it impossible to prove that he did not, as Deacon, 
 peform all the duties of a minister. 
 
 The scriptures nowhere endorse the idea that the 
 administration of the Lord's Supper involves any 
 higher authority than the administration of baptism, 
 and the authoritative exposition of the word of God. 
 If Philip administered baptism we have no authority 
 for denying that he administered the Lord's Supper; 
 if any one denies it, it is as easy for us to affirm. And 
 in that time of the Church's first love, when Chris- 
 tians scarcely ever met without breaking bread in 
 remembrance of their Lord, is it likely that those 
 whom Philip admitted unto the church by baptism, 
 were not immediately admitted to meet at the Lord's 
 Table, to obey His dying command in remembrance 
 of Him? But it is urged that their admission to the 
 Church was not yet complete until the Apostles came 
 down from Jerusalem and laid their hands upon them. 
 This laying on of the Apostles' hands, the Prelatists 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 57 
 
 maintain, was the administration of the rite of con- 
 firmation; but an examination of the scripture author- 
 ities shows that this view is without foundation, and 
 results from a misapprehension of the state of the 
 Church, and the nature of the Apostolic office. When 
 a church was organized in Apostolic times it was not 
 completely endowed until at least some of its members 
 received some of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. 
 The sheet-anchor of the Church's faith was the resu- 
 rection of Jesus Christ; the special office to which the 
 Apostles were ordained, was to bear personal wit- 
 ness to that resurrection; but as twelve men could not 
 bear that testimony personally to all the world, Christ 
 gave them the power of conferring miraculous gifts 
 upon others who should repeat their testimony : so that 
 whenever a Christian church was founded they en- 
 dowed men with these gifts, that they might be able 
 to say, "The man who conferred this gift upon me 
 bore witness that he had seen the Lord after His 
 resurrection." Thus did the power of God confirm 
 the truth of their testimony, and only thus could so 
 wonderful a fact have received such widespread ac- 
 ceptance in so short a time. Of these miraculous spir- 
 itual gifts, the Apostle Paul makes repeated mention, 
 and wrote the church at Rome, which had never re- 
 ceived a visit from an Apostle, that he desired to 
 come to them that he might impart unto them some 
 spiritual gift. The rite of confirmation may be a 
 
5S 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 beautiful form of introduction into the church when 
 placed upon right grounds, and when separated from 
 the errors associated with it and liable to grow out of 
 the word itself; for a minister of the gospel to place 
 his hands upon the head of each member admitted 
 into the church, and ask for them God's defence and 
 blessing, is in itself an * appropriate and beautiful 
 custom; but when it is claimed that they who admin- 
 ister this rite are acting as the successors of the 
 Apostles, and are doing what the Apostles did when 
 they came down to Samaria, our proper answer is to 
 ask: " Where are the miraculous gifts that should 
 follow the laying on of your hands?" But even if we 
 grant, for the sake of argument, that the Apostles 
 came down to Samaria to do what a Prelatical Bishop 
 does in an Episcopal visitation, the Prelatist is still 
 without any ground for distinguishing between the 
 office of Philip and the office of a full minister of the 
 gospel. For even if Phillip did only baptise those 
 who believed, and delay the administration of the 
 Lord's Supper, that is only what a Presbyter of the 
 Episcopal church would have done, while awaiting 
 the coming of the Bishop, unless that coming were 
 long delayed. Had Philip been a minister of full 
 rank, according to the Prelatist, he would or would 
 not have administered the Lord's Supper, just accord- 
 ing to circumstances, and so, whether he did or 
 whether he did not, the Prelatist has no ground for 
 
THE DEACON 
 
 59 
 
 affirming that he was not a full minister of the gospel, 
 unless it can be shown that the Apostles came down 
 to Samaria to administer the Lord's Supper, which no 
 Prelatist has ever attempted. He should be careful, 
 therefore, lest in claiming ":hat Philip was acting as a 
 Deacon at this time, he should be compelled to give 
 to the Deacon the full rank of the ministry. There 
 is no scriptural ground why, if any spiritual duties 
 are given to the Deacon, he should not have all. 
 
 As a matter of fact in the history of the church 
 when Deacons began to usurp the duties of the min- 
 istry, the administration of the Lord's Supper was 
 denied to them only because of the necessity of 
 making some distinction between the different orders; 
 and as the claim for their right to preach must rest in 
 Philip's preaching, or have no foundation whatever, 
 it was necessary also to give them the right to baptise, 
 because Philip baptised : the administration of the 
 Lord's Supper was then the only thing left to deny 
 them. And it was in accord with the growing ten- 
 dencies of the church that this should be the point of 
 difference; for as the Lord's Supper came to be re- 
 garded as a sacrifice, and the administration of it as 
 the duty of a Priest, only those who had reached the 
 full rank of the Priesthood, as the office of a Presbyter 
 was now called, were regarded as entitled to admin- 
 ister it. But this brings us to the historical considera- 
 tion of the nature of this office. 
 
6o 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 It may be asked: How did it arise that at quite 
 an early period of the church we find Deacons 
 preaching and baptising? The discussion pursued 
 last Sunday will make it easier to answer this, for 
 the same motives of human ambition that would 
 lead one Presbyter to seek supremacy over others 
 would, under the same conditions, lead Deacons to 
 assume the duties of a higher office that did not 
 belong to .them. We may at the close see very prac- 
 tical reasons for the discontinuance of those duties 
 that rightfully belong to the Deacons ; this in the 
 smaller churches, would lead to the discontinuance of 
 the office of Deacon altogether, just as the Ruling 
 Elders disappeared in the smaller churches when the 
 duties of their office were absorbed by the Pastor. 
 But in the larger churches, just as -the Bishop sent 
 his Presbyters out to minister to the smaller churches 
 that grew up under his charge, so he seems to have 
 attached the Deacons more particularly to his own 
 person, to lighten his labors and to relieve him of the 
 more onerous duties of preaching and baptising, 
 while he reserved himself for his more strictly "Apos- 
 tolical" duties. So it was that the ambition of the 
 Bishops worked together with the ambition of the 
 Deacons to promote their advancement to the duties 
 of a higher office. 
 
 But we have sufficient historical testimony to show 
 that this change did not come about all at once, and 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 6l 
 
 was not for sometime universally acquiesced in; and 
 this fact is sufficient to show that it was a change, and 
 that in the beginning it was not so. The famous 
 Origen, in the third century, declared that the 
 Deacons presided over the tables of the church; and 
 in speaking of the corruptions that had crept in 
 among them, charges them with neglecting the poor, 
 and appropriating to their own use the charitable 
 funds of the church. Ambrose, in the fourth century, 
 declares that in his day Deacons were ordinarily not 
 permitted to preach; while Chrysostom in the same 
 century, but in another part of the church, declares 
 that in his day no such Deacons existed as those of 
 Apostolic times, and expresses it as his opinion that 
 it ought to have been then as in the days of the 
 Apostles. Jerome, the author of the Latin transla- 
 tion of the Bible still used in the Roman Catholic 
 church, and the most learned Father of his day, 
 speaks of the Deacon as a "minister of tables and 
 widows" — a clear reference to the passage already 
 cited in the Acts of the Apostles. The Sixth Council 
 of Constantinople, held in the year 680, declares that 
 the scriptural Deacons were no other than overseers 
 of the poor, and that such was the opinion of the 
 mostancient Fathers. (For references to these author- 
 ities see Miller on Presbyterianism.) 
 
 During this transition period there was a heresy 
 growing up in the church that fostered this change. 
 
62 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 As the idea became prevalent that the officers of the 
 church were a Priestly caste, the tendency was to 
 remove them farther and farther from the secular life 
 of the people, and to confine them more strictly to 
 such duties as seemed proper to a Priesthood. This 
 heresy became crystalized in two terms that should 
 be forever banished from Protestant lips; theseare the 
 terms, Clergy and Laity. To the word Laity there is no 
 objection in itself; it simply denotes the people, as dis- 
 tinguished from their officers, and is derived from a 
 word that is commonly used in the scriptures to desig- 
 nate the chosen people of God. The objection to the 
 word Laity is that it always suggests the contrasting 
 term Clergy; but this word Clergy, besides being based 
 upon a blunder with regard to a scriptural fact,con tains 
 within itself the worst seeds of Popery. The idea that 
 the word contains is, that the ministry of the church is 
 a Priestly class, like the tribe of Levi in the Old Tes- 
 tament dispensation, separated by an external sanctity . 
 from the rest of the people of God; and that as such 
 they were God's peculiar inheritance, for inheritance is 
 the meaning of the word Clergy. Now the whole of 
 God's ancient people are very often spoken of as 
 God's inheritance, but never is the tribe of Levi alone 
 so spoken of. God is said to be their inheritance, to 
 compensate them for their lack of special territory 
 in the land of Israel, but never are they said to be 
 God's inheritance in any sense peculiar to themselves. 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 63 
 
 And divine inspiration so ordered it that this idea 
 should receive its scriptural condemnation trom that 
 Apostle, who is claimed by Romanists as the apex of 
 their Episcopal hierarchy. "The Eiders which are 
 among you," says the Apostle Peter, " I who am also 
 an Elder, exhort that ye be ensamples to the flock, 
 not lordi?ig it over God' 's heritage .'' Here it is plain that 
 it is the flock who are God's heritage (Clergy), so 
 that the Clergy are the people and the people are the 
 Clergy. But in direct opposition to the word of God 
 the ministry of the Church claimed as their own pre- 
 rogative that which was the privilege of all the people, 
 and then in virtue of that prerogative proceeded to 
 disobey the Apostle's express command, and to lord 
 it over the people. Terms like these, which grow out 
 of an idea, cannot be used without carrying with them 
 some of the force of that idea; and it is painful to 
 see how these two terms hang before the eyes of all 
 who. use them as a distorting medium to pervert their 
 views of all passages that bear upon this question of 
 Church government. Thus, as clear a minded man, 
 and as unprejudiced and candid a man, as Bishop 
 Lightfoot cannot rid himself of the hallucination of 
 these terms in interpreting as plain a passage as that 
 to which we referred last Sunday. "Let the Elders 
 who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, 
 especially they who labor in the word and doctrine." 
 Here it is as plain as language can make it that two 
 
6 4 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 classes of Elders are spoken of, — one consisting of 
 Elders who only rule, and the other consisting of 
 Elders who, in addition to ruling, labor in the word 
 and doctrine. Yet Bishop Lightfoot says, '' It is need- 
 less to remark that this passage affords no counte- 
 nance to the Presbyterian idea of lay Elders." Lay 
 Elders! Of course not; it is too plain that no such 
 chasm exists between the two classes of Elders spoken 
 of in this passage as is implied in the historical usage 
 of the terms Clergy and Laity; and it is equally clear 
 that the Presbyterian Ruling Elder could never be 
 described by the term Clergy, conveying as that term 
 does, the idea of a priestly caste, separated from the 
 affairs of common life. The true solution of the 
 learned Bishop's perplexity, (for he is able to give no 
 other interpretation of the passage) is to discard 
 these terms altogether. They are the language of 
 Ashdod, and not the language of Israel. The same 
 remarks apply to the office of Deacon. The idea of 
 a priestly caste could never include a set of men with 
 the duties of scriptural Deacons, and so those whose 
 views are influenced by the use of a term that conveys 
 that idea can find no place for such an officer in the or- 
 ganization of the Church. Placed too high in scripture 
 to be considered a layman, and not priestly enough in 
 his character to be a clergyman, he is left out alto- 
 gether, and his name given to another officer, differing 
 only from the minister of the word in an unscriptural 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 65 
 
 distinction between the sacrament?. But we, who are 
 not embarrassed in our interpretation of Scripture by 
 the tyranny of history and tradition, affirm the office 
 of the Deacon to be what our original interpretation 
 of the passage in Acts determined it to be, and assign 
 to the Deacon those duties with reference to a partic- 
 ular congregation that the Seven discharged for the 
 whole Cnurch at Jerusalem. 
 
 Having devoted so much time to the nature of the 
 office of a Deacon, we may be more brief as to the 
 other two points Let us pass on now to our second 
 inquiry, " what it is to use the office of a Deacon 
 well." Of course we might conceive that one elected 
 to this office might neglect its duties altogether, or 
 might even be guilty of those corruptions that Origen 
 speaks of as existing among the Deacons of his day; 
 but it is needless to dwell upon this possibility, nor 
 to remark that such a use of the office would not be 
 using it well. Again, we might suppose that one 
 might perform the duties of the office in a perfunctory 
 manner, receiving what the Church gives, and dis- 
 bursing it as directed, at the same time keeping 
 an accurate account of the receipts and expenditures; 
 this would be to use the office well only so far as it 
 was a business matter, but the office would rise to no 
 higher plane than that of a mere business trust. In 
 such a discharge of the office a Deacon might see 
 that no case of actual distress remained without relief, 
 
66 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 so far as the fund at his disposal enabled him to re- 
 lieve it. But in this his office would differ in no 
 degree from that of a director of an almshouse. The 
 Church's care of its poor extends farther than the 
 relief of actual suffering; whatever can be done to 
 mitigate the hard lines of their lot that tend lo 
 cramp them in their spiritual development; whatever 
 can be done to teach them to help themselves and to 
 enable them to take larger views of life and duty; 
 whatever can be done to introduce into their lives 
 any of those softening influences that refine and 
 ennoble character; this it is the duty of the Church 
 to do for its poor. And while much of this may be 
 done by the voluntary or organized efforts of private 
 Christians, the oversight of this matter devolves upon 
 Deacons as part of their official duties That Deacon 
 uses his office well who by personal acquaintance 
 with the poor learns their needs; and, by personal 
 effort in their behalf, seeks to supply them in such a 
 manner as shall not diminish their self-dependence, 
 but shall encourage them to further efforts in their 
 own behalf, by a sense of the appreciative interest of 
 the Church in their welfare. Many a bright boy or 
 girl might be made useful members of the Church 
 and society, did the Church see that the necessities 
 of poverty should not cut short their education just 
 as their minds were beginning to develop. Many a 
 youth could be made more useful to himself and 
 
THE DEACON. 
 
 6 7 
 
 others, if the Church manifested a parental interest 
 in his development, and sought for him those posi- 
 tions which would promote and not dwarf his growth 
 and progress. Many a family might be educated into 
 higher view^ of Christian duty if the Church sup- 
 plied them with those religious periodicals that we 
 regard as so beneficial to our own homes. Such 
 things as these should be objects of consideration to 
 those who would use the office of a Deacon well. But 
 I can express this idea best by saying that he uses the 
 office of a Deacon well who regards it, not as a mere 
 secular office, but bears in mind the spiritual nature 
 of its duties. It is true that the business of the office 
 involves dealing in secular affairs; yet its duties are 
 more than financial, and more than charitable. " The 
 administration of this service (literally the deaconing 
 of this service), not only supplieth the want of the 
 saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings 
 unto God." Giving is not a mere human expedient, 
 but a spiritual act of praise and thanksgiving unto 
 God, and so not only accomplishes that object to 
 which it is immediately directed, but overflows in 
 many spiritual blessings to God's people, and as- 
 cends upward in many acts of thanksgiving and 
 praise to the bountiful giver of all; and that Deacon 
 uses his office best who bears in mind its spiritual 
 import, who administers it as a spiritual trust, who 
 discharges it with spiritual motives, who ever keeps 
 
68 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 before him its spiritual ends and seeks to promote 
 the spiritual grace of giving in the congregation 
 which he serves. 
 
 And this brings us to our last consideration : What 
 is that good degree which they purchase to them- 
 selves? We will not say with some that it is promo- 
 tion to higher office in the Church. This, of course, 
 may follow incidentally, but not necessarily; for one 
 may be so eminently suited to this office, that it would 
 be an injury to the Church to place him in any other; 
 and we do not find that motives of human ambition 
 are ever appealed to in the scriptures as a stimulus 
 to duty, but as our Lord says: " Let him that is chief 
 be as he that doth serve." No, that good degree that 
 they purchase to themselves who use the office of a 
 Deacon well is that attainment in grace, that advance- 
 ment in spiritual life, that the discharge of their 
 duties in the spirit I have described naturally tends 
 to produce, together with that good record for faith- 
 ful service to which such a discharge of their duties 
 entitles them. One cannot devote himself to the 
 good of others without himself deriving good. One 
 cannot seek to promote the interest of the congrega- 
 tion that he serves in the missionary and evangelistic 
 enterprises of the Church without having his own 
 views of the Kingdom of Christ enlarged, and with- 
 out consecrating himself more completely to its ser- 
 vice. If the outgoing of the Church's energies is 
 
THE DEACON, 
 
 69 
 
 necessary to the Church's growth; if the law of love 
 is the essential law of the Church's life, surely those 
 who are the willing channels of that energy and love 
 must be partakers of that growth, and be strength- 
 ened in their own spiritual activities. If the admin- 
 istration of this service abounds in many thanksgiv- 
 ings to God, gives rise to many prayers to God, and is 
 productive of many spiritual blessings to the people 
 of God, surely those blessings, prayers and thanks- 
 givings ought to be shared in large measure by those 
 who administer this service. And he whose spiritual 
 life is thus enriched, as he increases in love, will in- 
 crease in faith. And so the Apostle himself defines 
 this good degree as consisting in great boldness in the 
 faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 I doubt not that in uttering these words the Apostle 
 had in his mind that one of the seven Deacons of 
 Jerusalem whose stoners laid their garments at his own 
 feet. He thought of his boldness and intrepidity in 
 argument — the irresistible power and wisdom with 
 which he had spoken; he thought of his noble defence 
 before the Council; he saw again that face which 
 he could never forget as it had been the face of an 
 angel; he thought of that position which he had 
 gained among the noble army of martyrs, as the first 
 to seal with his blood his faith in Jesus of Nazareth; 
 he thought of that death so like his Lord's, as he 
 died praying, " Lord lay not this sin to their charge;" 
 
7 o 
 
 THE DEACON. 
 
 and with all the life and death of the martyr Stephen 
 before his mind he exclaims, '* They that have used the 
 office of a Deacon well purchase to themselves a 
 good degree, and great boldness in the faith which 
 is in Christ Jesus." The Apostle Paul seems never 
 for a moment to have forgotten his part in the death 
 of Stephen; Stephen's life and influence seems to sur- 
 vive in the life of his persecutor; and the Apostle 
 seems always to have felt that he owed to Christ, not 
 only all the service of his own life, but that also of 
 the noble young life which he had helped to quench. 
 And thus it was that though he felt himself to be the 
 least of all the Apostles, and not meet to be called 
 an Apostle because he pesecuted the Church of God, 
 he was more abundant in labors than they all. The 
 spiritual possibilities of the Diaconate stretch out to 
 the farthest horizon of Christian experience, when 
 we contemplate the influence of the Deacon Stephen 
 upon the Apostle Paul 
 
 And now, in conclusion, let me say one word to the 
 congregation concerning their part in this matter. 
 We saw in the beginning that the appointment of the 
 Seven grew out of the abundant spiritual activities 
 of the Church in the time of its first love, when no 
 man called aught that he had his own. And it is 
 probable that the discontinuance of this office in its 
 true scriptural uses grew out of the fact that the love 
 of the Church had grown cold. Within the memory 
 
THE DEACON', 
 
 71 
 
 of some of us it has been the case in Presbyte- 
 rian churches, not that this office was perverted to 
 other uses, but discontinued altogether, simply 
 because there was no use for it. The benevolent 
 energies of the Church were so dead that they needed 
 no such channel to flow in And if the office of 
 Deacon be not discontinued, but secularized; if Dea- 
 cons become mere Trustees of the Church's funds, 
 the fault is not necessarily with the Deacons them- 
 selves, but with the congregation which they serve. 
 If the true use of the Deacon's office is to serve as 
 a channel for the benevolent energies of the Church, 
 this use is necessarily discontinued when these energies 
 are inactive. It has been remarked that the existence 
 of such an office in the Church as that of Deacon is 
 an indication of higher spiritual life in the Church 
 than the existence of Ministers and Ruling Elders. 
 Ministers and Rulers are necessary to the very exis- 
 tence of the Church, but Deacons are only necessary 
 on account of the love of the Church, and its tender 
 care to the poor and spiritually destitute. And a 
 church will miss its true mission and become dwarfed 
 in its spiritual life, that does not fulfil these duties. 
 A church may rear large and elegant structures, may 
 give large sums to be spent for its own comfort, may 
 pay large salaries that it may enjoy beautiful music 
 and eloquent preaching, but if it seek not to bring 
 in the poor, to help the afflicted, to send the Gospel 
 
72 
 
 THE DEACON, 
 
 to those in spiritual want, it is not fulfilling its mis- 
 sion ; it possesses not the spirit of its Master, and 
 worldliness and sin will corrupt its spiritual life. 
 " The poor ye have ever with you " is not a mere 
 prophecy, it is a promise; for ministry to the poor is 
 essential to the development of the image of Christ 
 within us. The church that neglects this ministry 
 neglects its own life. It may seem rich and powerful 
 and increased in goods, but it is really wretched, and 
 miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. It has no 
 appreciation of the spirit of one of the early martyrs 
 who, when his persecutors demanded the treasures of 
 the church, brought forth the aged, the sick and 
 helpless, and said, "These are our treasures " Such 
 a church needs to pray that the Lord would anoint 
 its eyes with eye-salve that it may see; that He would 
 baptise it with His Holy Spirit that it may appre- 
 hend its true mission; and with its eye fixed upon that 
 mitsion, and its energies going forth to fulfil it, its 
 Deacons will necessarily be restored to their true posi- 
 tion, and be stimulated to more spiritual views of the 
 duties of their office. The Church whose spiritual 
 energies are ever flowing in active work for the good 
 of others, for the advancement of Christ's Kingdom, 
 and the glory of His name, will always have Deacons 
 who use their office well, and so purchase to them- 
 selves a good degree and great boldness in the faith, 
 which is in Christ Jesus. 
 
Date Due 
 
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X8 1-99917300 
 
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