All this, however, is dependent, in no small degree, upon the powerful auxiliary aid of the Deaconship. The church would be fully as effi cient with a good Deaconship, and without a ministry, as she would be with a good ministry and without a Deaconship. The result, in either case, would be feebleness and disaster. Remove the deacons, or, what amounts to the same thing, let them be incompetent or inefficient, and the church is like an army without officers, unprovisioned and undisciplined, in the country of its enemy. No channel, regularly arranged, for supplies or direction exists, and all their efforts are paralyzed. Every divinely appointed department is necessary to every other. A competent and faithful Deaconship must have the co-operation of the church and of the ministry, in order to the advancement of the cause of Christ.

If, in their ordination, the deacons enter into vows before God, to do by his help the work assigned them, the churches, in their election and presentation, and the ministry, in their ordination, solemnly pledge themselves to stand by them in their office.

The church then, in the first place, who elects the deacons, and presents them for appointment,

in that act solemnly pledges to them her co-operation in the great work to which they are called. What this is I have already shown, in what has been said on the duties of the deacons. Is it possible that she can ever, voluntarily, fail to redeem that obligation? Can we forget or violate responsibilities so sacred, into which we have entered with all the sanctions of religion? Alas! I fear that it is but too common. How criminal in the sight of God is such an abandonment! How unjust!

How destructive to the church!

If every brother shall be ready when called upon, or even without being called upon, to do whatever his ability or the cause of Christ may demand, the labors of the deacons will be sufficiently arduous, and no christian will have gone beyond his own voluntary promise. But if any considerable number neglect or refuse, what can they do? They may toil on for a season, but sooner or later they must sink! The cause cannot be maintained unless every one will do his duty. When it is decided that the co-operation of the church cannot be obtained, what is the remedy? I can think of none but to abandon her, as we would an unmanageable ship at sea. Her members habitually disregard the authority of Christ, and violate their

own solemn vows. They have no right to be respected as a church of the Redeemer. To perpetuate such a body, under that sacred title, is to preserve and cherish a reproach-a leprosy upon the name and honor of religion. It does not frequently happen, however, that all the church neglect, or refuse, to co-operate with the deacons, but that individual members do so, and sometimes in numbers so large as almost to overwhelm all her energies. In such cases, what is the remedy? I answer that the delinquents, if they cannot be reclaimed, should be required to answer at her bar. Members of the body politic, who constantly violate, or perseveringly neglect to observe, the laws of their country, are sure to be called to account. If they are not, the government is pronounced utterly depraved and worthless. Shall the church be less just than civil government? No society can safely tolerate in its bosom those who will not conform to its laws. How much less should a church continue in its fellowship persons who habitually, openly, and perseveringly disregard the laws of the Redeemer? Can she do it and preserve her purity, or gain the end for which she was organized?

But more commonly, no refusal to co-operate

with the deacons takes place. Indeed, all pro fessedly desire to see the work done, and th cause prosper. No one, however, is ready, or prepared to do any thing himself. Slothfulness

rests upon them with the crushing weight of a mountain. They will act, as soon as they can; but they never can; they never do! Through this process the same result is reached. They do nothing, not for want of ability, but, really, because they will do nothing! Their reluctance to duty, like that of a sinner to religion, can never be overcome. Thus they sin against God, and destroy themselves.

How long will the church submit to such degradation, and soil her beautiful garments in the dust! Let her arise to a sense of her own dignity and glory. Let every one of her members be well and thoroughly instructed as to what is required at his hands, and what the deacons have a right to expect and demand. Then, if the love of God dwell richly in their hearts, their co-operation with them will not be difficult. They will rejoice that they are permitted to be associated, actively, with those who "are workers together with Christ," in the salvation of men.

But the ministry, also, in the second place, in

the ordination of the deacons, are solemnly pledged to co-operate with them, in all the legitimate services of their sacred calling.

This promise is, mainly, redeemed by teaching those who are under their charge their whole duty, upon every part of the subject in hand. They are the divinely appointed instructors, both of deacons and people. All must have light; and if the pastors, and other ministers, do not give it, faithfully and fully, they stand condemned, before both God and his church. If ignorance of duty on the part of the church, however well inclined she may be, necessarily produces a failure to cooperate with the deacons, because she knows not how to act, how much more injurious must be the absence of adequate knowledge on the part of the deacons themselves! If they know not their duty, how can they be expected to perform it? Are we not obliged to confess that great want of information has prevailed, and, in many places, yet prevails, among them? How often are those found who imagine, when they have prepared the sacred emblems, and waited upon the communicants, at the Lord's supper, that most of their work is done! Besides this, they presume, if any thing happens to be in their hands for that purpose,