bishop of souls, (in the Greek) is called the Deacon of the circumcision, Rom. xv. 8. As the word implies to minister or serve, it was variously applied, and pointed out all those who were employed in helping the bodies or souls of men, whether Apostles, Bishops, or those whom we call Deacons. Some remark that there were two orders of Deacons 1. Deacons of the TABLE, whose business it was to take care of the alms collected in the church, and distribute them among the poor, widows, &c. 2. Deacons of the WORD, whose business it was to preach, and variously instruct the people. It seems that after the persecution raised against the apostolic church, in consequence of which they became dispersed, the deaconship of tables ceased, as did also the community of good;; and Philip, who was one of these Deacons, who at first served tables, betook himself entirely to preaching the word: see Acts viii. 4, &c. In the primitive church it is sufficiently evident that the Deacons gave the bread and wine in the Eucharist to the believers in the church, and carried it to those who were absent. They also preached, and in some cases administered baptism. But it appears they did the two last by the special authority of the Bishop. Deacons were ordained by the Bishops by imposition of hands.

"In the Church of England (the purest and nearest to the apostolical model in doctrine and discipline of all national churches) a Deacon receives ordination by the imposition of the hands of the Bishop, in consequence of which he can preach (if licensed by the Bishop,) assist in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and in general perform any sacred office, except consecrating the elements, and pronouncing the absolution." From the Commentary on Acts vi. 4.

The Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, in his "Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures," thus writes of Dr. Adam Clarke's Commentary: "The literary world in general, and Biblical students in particular, are greatly indebted to Dr. Clarke for the light he has thrown on many very difficult passages.'

AN ORDINATION SERMON BY THE LORD BISHOP OF BARBADOES.

DEACONS AND PRIESTS: THE CHURCH'S NEED OF BOTH.

"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."-1 Tıм. iii. 13.

"ON several occasions similar to the present, I have thought it right, instead of delivering a formal address in private to the candida.es for holy crders,

which, from the smallness of their numbers, would often be incongruous, to charge myself with the duty of the public sermon or exhortation, prescribed by the Church as preliminary to ordination.

"I. The next subject that presents itself for consideration, is the office of a deacon, as auriliory and preparatory to the priesthood; and as on the present ccasion we contemplate an ordination to each of the two offices, it cannot be otherwise than appropriate to consider them in their relation to each other. I trust, too, that the subject will prove interesting both to us of the ministry, and to our brethren of the people; but more especially I would bespeak the serious attention of the candidates about to be ordained; and, by the grace of Gud, may what I say be rendered profitable to them, and to us all!

The offices of priest and deacon, though distinct, are parts of the same divinely-ordained ministry, of which so much is said in the New Testament. Their object is one, even the edifying of the body of Christ; and the functions by which they prosecute this object are, in a manner, common to both, though not in the same order and degree; the one office being directive, the other subordinate; the one having the pastoral care of souls, the other bearing an auxiliary part in this solemn work. The priest is commissioned to preach the word of God, and to minister the holy sacraments, together with the discipline of Christ, in the congregation to which he is lawfully appointed; whilst to the office of a deacon it appertaineth to cssist the priest in Divine service, and especially when he ministereta the holy communion, and to help them in the distribution thereof; and in the absence of the priest, to baptize infants.'

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As regards public instruction in the word of God, the deacon is not to preach, unless he be' expressly admitted thereto by the bishop; but, by Virtue of his ordination, he may read holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church, and instruct the youth in the Catechism. Another part of his duty is, to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish; to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell, unto the curate,' hat is, to the priest charged with the cure of souls,) that by his exhortations they may be relieved with the alms of the parishioners and others.'

Thus, in every part of his office, we find the deacon commissioned to bear, not a separate and independent part, yet to bear a part, one subordinate and auxiliary, in all the duties of the parish-priest cr pastor; assisting him in Divine service and the administration of the holy sacraments, in the religious instruction of the Lock, as well as in the care of the sick, poor, and impoten: ; the presbyter having, in each of these ministrations, the chief charge and direction.

"Il. It cannot, however, be denied that, so far as relates to the distinction between the deacon and the priest, we seem practically to have swerved in degree from the Apostolic rule; not so much from intention or choice, as from necessity, or at the worst, through occasional neglect. In our ordinations, indeed, the distinction is still maintained in all its fulness; and it is observed also in the administration of the Lord's Supper; but in other respects, there is scarcely any difference ever made, especially by the laity, be ween the one office and the other. A deacon, particularly if he be of a forward temper, and what is commonly called eloquent, is quite as much held in Reverence as a priest, even though the latter should be as much his superior in wisdom and piety, as in ecclesiastical order; whilst by the clergy themselves too much countenance is, sometimes, given to this error, partly by the deacons, in assuming to themselves more than belongs to their office, and speaking in the language of pastors' rather than of pastoral 'helps;' partly by the priest,

in throwing upon the deacon too much of the pastoral responsibility, and giving to inexperienced young men too great a prominence in the work, to the endangering of their own humility, as well as of the salutary order of the Church.

"It also happens that necessity often compels even the rulers of the Church either to leave an important charge altogether unprovided with the ministrations of a clergyman, or else to commit it to the sole care of one only in deacon's orders; the defect, in such a case, being not so much a fault as a misfortune. At the very best, however, whether arising from necessity or not, this confounding of two of the ministerial orders is an evil, which it is im portant that we should endeavour to avoid, in order that we inay the better conform to our Lord's institution for the edification of his Church, and secure for our own branch of that Church a still fuller and riper ministry than it is even now our privilege to possess. Many and great are the advantages and blessings which, as a Church, we enjoy. May we never, for our sins, or our negligence, or our melancholy divisions, be deprived of them! Rather, if in any respect we fail, in our actual condition, to realize the institutions of our Lord, may we endeavour to correct this defect in our own practice; and, with God's help, to become more and more, in reality, what we boast to be-an example at once of evangelical truth and of apostolical order.

"III. As regards the work of the ministry, it is certainly to be desired that our number of clergy were so far increased, that no congregation should ever be placed solely, or principally, under the care of a deacon; and that every parish church, at least, particularly in populous or extensive parishes like our own, should have its deacon as well as its priest. Such an arrangement would be good for all concerned; good for the deacon, good for the priest, and good for the congregation.

"Though preaching is a very important part of a clergyman's duty, yet is not that, even with the administration of the holy sacraments, and the visitation of the sick, the whole of his pastoral work. The Church, under the sanction of God's holy word, expressly commits to the clergy two other peculiar responsibilities, which deserve our earnest attention. These are the elementary instruction of the young and ignorant, and the care of the poor; points ever of great importance, and peculiarly so in these countries at the present time, when after the transition from a state of slavery, society is at length settling down on its new basis, and that anxiety which was felt on the subject in the mother country having nearly subsided, we are left more and more to our own

resources.

"The care of the poor is indeed the common duty of all Christians; but it is laid in an especial manner upon the consciences of the clergy. To them it is a professional, as well as a Christian duty! a part not only of their religion, but of the ministry which they have received in the Lord. The work is one in which they are to take the lead, the people indeed not looking listlessly on, but bountifully assisting them in this labour of love. We know that it was so in the early Christian Church, and that the very occasion of the ordination of St. Stephen and the rest of the seven deacons by the Apostles at Jerusalem was, that they might relieve the Apostles, amidst their increasing spiritual cares, of the charge of attending to the daily ministration of the bounty of the Church to the poor widows and others that had need. And St Paul alludes to the same practice in the Church at Ephesus, when, in his first Epistle to Timothy as bishop of that Church, he directs that if any man or woman had widows' dependent upon them, they should relieve them, and not let the Church be charged; that it might relieve them that are widows indeed ;' the bishop having the oversight of this, as of all other Church proceedings. But

the more direct part of the duty, that which required time and labour, was devolved, not as his only duty, but amongst others, upon the deacon; and so it is still, in theory at least, in our own Church. For observe the solemn charge given to the deacon at his ordination, and his solemn yet willing promise, to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish, to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell, unto the curate, that by his exhortation they may be relieved with the alms of the parishioners or others.' What a wise and beneficent arrangement! The parish is considered as the household of faith, (alas, that in point of fact it should ever be otherwise !) as the family of God, of which the sick, and poor, and impotent are members, in whose wants and sufferings the other members ought of necessity to sympathize; provision for their relief being made from the alms of the congre gation. Nor is this to be done in a careless, indiscriminating manner; but the ministers of the Church are to search them out, to acquaint themselves personally and particularly with their state, their names, and their abode;' so that on the one hand the Church may not be unnecessarily burthened with those who are not destitute of private help, nor, on the other hand, neglect those who are. Is there not, in such an aspect of the Church, in this tender concern for the sick and poor, this searching for misery and want that they may be relieved, something peculiarly benign, something more than human, something that re-echoes the language of Him who said, "I was sick, and ye visited me?'

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"Were it only to assist the curate or pastor in this godlike work, would it not be worth while, perhaps in a worldly sense, but certainly worth while in a Christian view, that every parish should have its deacon? How much misery might such parental vigilance on the part of the Church prevent, and, with the misery, the expense and manifold injury which the misery of the poor entails upon society at large ! It has been said, and said wisely, that honesty is the best policy to this might be added a similar maxim, of a still more decidedly Christian character, that piety is the best economy;' and that nothing is gained, but, on the contrary, much is lost, even in a temporal view, by omitting to maintain the Church in the fulness of its operations, and to give to each parish a supply of Christian ministers equal to its various wants, as a Christian community, a household of God. It may be true (and I thankfully admit it) that in this country* our number of clergy is comparatively large; but I speak of our Church generally, and would compare our numbers not so much with those of other lands, as with what our duties require; and if in this view our strength is inadequate to the many obligations imposed upon us, then, whilst we still endeavour to discharge them to the utmost of our power, yet must our brethren of the laity have consideration for us, it we fail of doing the work of several, and unite with us in praying to the Lord of the harvest to send forth additional labourers into his harvest, as well as endeavouring, under his grace and blessing, to supply what our Church clearly contemplated, for the furtherance amongst us of a sound and living piety, pervading all classes, and abounding in works of mutual love.

"The necessity for some such exertions will be still more evident, when we consider that other duty of the Church, which she proposes to discharge mainly through the labours of her deacons, namely, the instruction of the young, and, I may add, of those who are but babes in knowledge, the ignorant part of the parishioners."

The excellent Sermon from which the above extracts have been selected, is one of five Sermons, entitled "Ordination Vows Practically Considered in a Series of Sermons." By THOMAS PARRY, D. D., Lord Bishop of Barbadoes. Published by F. & J. RIVINGTON, 1846.

• Barbadoes.

ON THE DUTY OF DEACONS.

"CHURCH DISCIPLINE ACCORDING TO ITS ANCIENT STANDARD, AS IT WAS PRACTISED IN PRIMITIVE TIMES."

BY ROBERT BRAGGE, MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL.

Published by his Son, Robert Bragge, M.D. a.d. 1739.

"To the Merchants, and the rest of the Gentlemen who support the Lecture at Pinner's Hall,

"GENTLEMEN,

"Your labour of love in encouraging so ancient a Lecture as that at Pinner's Hall, is, among other things, your Praise in the Gate. It is in compliance with the repeated desires of the gentlemen who are your committee, as well as those of the church to which I have the honour to stand related as pastor, that the following discourses are published. The plainness of their dress will, I hope, be no prejudice to the beautiful form of God's house. As they were preached, so they are published without cen. soriousness, or the least reflection. All the followers of the Lamb are not of one mind as to Church Discipline: however, whereunto we have attained, we should all walk by the same rule of love and forbearance. And that the communication of our faith may become effectua!, we should acknowledge every good thing, that is in any person or church, in Christ Jesus, as the Apostle directs, Philemon, verse 6. He who is to set judg ment in the earth, will, under latter day glory, (and it will be no small part of the glory of that day) bring all his true followers to be of one mind in doctrine, worship, and discipline: till then we ought to bear with, and forbear one another, so far as we can without sin; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; praying for the Spirit as floods, to amend whatever is amiss either in spirit or in walk among us. May the following truths be owned of God, and I have my reward, who am your hearty well-wisher, and servant for Christ's sake, ROBERT BRAGGE.

"I shall now say something concerning the Office or Duty of Deacons, who are helps in more respects than one, even in many instances. As,

"First. They help the church in temporals, beyond what the pastor can, or ought to do. To go to the pastor for advice in temporals, is to put him upon acting, without or beyond his line; but to go to an able, faithful Deacon, for advice in such cases, is to act as Christ would have you. Such as run to the pastor for advice in temporals, may expect a rebuke; but such as go to the Deacons may expect to be both guided and succeeded.

Secondly. They are to take care of the Church's Stock, that it be carefully preserved, and faithfully employed to the ends for which it is given.