would be difficult in any other way to impress so widely the conviction, that to be a churchman is a real privilege; that it is not merely to attend a certain place of worship, but to belong to a definite and organized society; a society invested with the highest gifts in virtue of a charter from the King of kings. It was this feeling which induced men of old to prefer the blessing of Church-communion to all that this world can bestow; and it is a craving for something of this kind which our Church, as at present administered, does not offer, which drives multitudes into different dissenting establishments, and many into the communion of Rome.
The sacred order of deacons, finally, might be employed for many important functions, if the principle of the Church, which assigns to them an office wholly subordinate to that of the priest, were carried into effect. It is a strange anomaly in our practice, that a minister, unauthorized to perform some essential functions, and expressly charged with a secondary duty[1],
- ↑ "The Bishop.—It appertaineth to the office of a deacon, in the church where he shall be appointed to serve, to assist the priest in divine service, and specially when he ministereth the holy Communion, and to help him on the distribution thereof, and to read holy Scriptures and Homilies in the church, and to instruct the youth in the catechism; in the absence of the priest to baptize infants, and to preach, if he be admitted thereto by the bishop. And furthermore, it is his office, where provision is so made, to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish, and to intimate their estates, names,
