Some twenty-two years after Alexander Campbell wrote his essay on "The Deacon's Office" in the Christian Baptist, his son-in-law William Kimbrough Pendleton revisited the topic in the seventh of a twenty-one-part series on "Discipline" (Millennial Harbinger 3rd series, 5 [1848], 289-295). In the opening paragraph he reviewed his conclusions on the office of Elder, or Bishop, which he had covered in the previous installment. The following excerpt begins on page 290, with the last sentence of the first paragraph:

. . . We proceed to inquire, What do the scriptures teach us concerning the office of Deacon!

We have already adverted to the term and seen that, in its common acceptation, it means simply minister; as "minister of God," "minister of the gospel," "minister of circumcision," "minister of the law," &c.; so that in its official sense, if it have one, we must look for its meaning out of its simple and primary definition. An induction, then, of the cases in which it is thus employed in the scriptures will best open to us the light of divine truth. The first occurrence of the term in this sense, reckoning chronologically, is in 1 Tim. iii., 8-12. "The deacons in like manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not persons who earn money by base methods; holding fast the secret of the faith in a pure conscience. But let these also be first proved; then let them exercise the office of the deacon, being without blame. Let the deacons be the husband of one wife, ruling well their children and their families. for they who have performed the office o [sic] a deacon well procure to themselves an excellent degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." Here it is expressly taught that this is an office, since the performance of his work is called the performance of the office of a deacon; but whilst we are informed as to his religious and moral qualifications, nothing is said //291// specifically of his duties. Before they should be called upon to enter on them, it is, indeed, required that they should have been first proved. They are to be men of gravity, candor, sobriety, and above the grovelling pursuits of avarice; at the same time noted for their sincere and conscientious adherence to the secret of the faith. They are also to rule well their children and their families; but what they are to do as officers is not affirmed. The practical effects of a faithful discharge of their duties seem to have been the procurement of a higher degree, or greater influence and regard, or it may be, promotion to the rank of elder, and the acquisition of great boldness in the faith; but this does not settle the question what those duties were.

We have the term employed, in its official sense, in but one other place in the scriptures, (Phil. i. 1,) where it is merely introduced to indicate that these officers, in the church at Philippi, were included in the address; but while the officer is not elsewhere spoken of, the office is: and in Acts vi. we have the most satisfactory teaching on this subject to be found in the New Testament. It reads thus-"Now, in those days, the number of the disciples being multiplied, there arose a murmurring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration (diakonia). And the twelve, having called the multitude of the disciples together, said, It is by no means agreeable, that we should leave the word of God to attend tables; therefore, brethren, look out from among yourselves, seven men of attested character, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we may set over this business. We will constantly attend to prayer and the ministry of the word." Accordingly, they selected seven, and the Apostles having prayed, laid hands on them, and thus appointed them over this business.-This is an important passage upon this subject; for although the seven are not called deacons, yet the office they were to perform was diakonia, (deaconship,) and as they acted, in its discharge, by a solemn official appointment, there can be no doubt of the propriety of denominating them official deacons. Still, the specific object for which these seven were appointed is all that we are taught, as to the duties of this order. This was the daily ministration, which the Apostles afterwards explained to mean the waiting or attending at tables; a service peculiar to the days of a community of goods, and, therefore, no longer needed in the church, in this sense.

Yet, as the church still has its fund raised, by the weekly contribution, for the assistance and support of the poor, who are always with us, she still has need of this officer, specifically for the same duty. We discover nothing here, however, nor yet in the other allusions to //292// this officer, found in the New Testament, furnishing us with any other light upon the responsibility of the deacons. If we impose any thing farther upon them, we must derive our authority for doing so, not from any thing ordained or affirmed concerning them specifically in the scriptures, but from the general nature of the office, or meaning of the term, or else from the collateral lights that have reached us concerning the primitive usages.

If any one has found, or can discover from the scriptures alone, that deacons, in the primitive order, were ever appointed for any other duty than this one, of taking care of the destitute, by collecting and appropriating the bounty of the church for their comfort and support, we would like to see the evidence of it. We, of course, include in this duty every thing necessary to its being well performed, and, therefore, regard the deacons of a congregation as occupying a rank of high trust; and filling a station calculated to give them great honor and influence among the brethren, which, as members of the kingdom, they must not neglect to employ, by any means in their power, for the advancement of the truth, and the honor of the Lord.

In the discharge of this duty there would, necessarily, arise cases in which men could not, with propriety, act; especially in a country, like the East, where the social intercourse between the sexes was restricted by so many forms; and, therefore, we find that into this order females were introduced, evidently by apostolic sanction. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, xvi. 1., speaks of Phoebe, as a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, who had been a helper of many, especially of himself; and in the 1 Epistle to Timothy, iii. 11-12, we interpret him as describing their qualifications for office.

How benevolent and wise this arrangement, and how diligent and faithful ought those to be who are entrusted with the delightful charge of ministering, to the sick and needy, those comforts which the church may provide; for inasmuch as you have done it unto even the least of these my little ones, you have done it unto me! Why it is that this apostolic plan, of constituting the deaconship, has been so universally neglected, by the various denominations, does not appear, we think from the scriptures. Upon reformation principles, a precedent so plainly set forth in the New Testament, cannot, consistently, be disregarded; and, we know, that whilst some congregations may not have acted so scripturally upon this subject, as the truth requires, it is generally regarded, among our brethren, as an essential element in the restoration of primitive order, to ordain, in every church, both deacons and deaconesses. //293// Thus have we, by a careful induction, gathered from the scriptures all that they teach us concerning the two official ranks, in the Christian church, to-wit, Elders and Deacons; but in doing so we have gone upon the assumption that elders and bishops are in office the same. But inasmuch as this is a point upon which there is a practical diversity of opinion, among the religionists of the day, we deem it not unworthy of a fair and scriptural examination.

The remainder of the essay bore upon the question of whether "elder" and "bishop" are synonymous terms for the same office.

Like his father-in-law, Pendleton drew most heavily on the Pastoral Epistles, giving attention also to Acts and to other Pauline letters. Also like his mentor, he thought of the diaconate as a financial and administrative office. But where Campbell spoke of three tables (the Lord's table, tables of bishops and tables of the poor), Pendleton here emphasized responsibility for the poor; expanding the area of concern from providing food (table service) to caring for all physical needs.

Pendleton adopted Campbell's view on the existence and function of women deacons in the New Testament churches. To Campbell's scriptural proofs, he added that 1 Tim 3:11-12 refers to the qualifications of women deacons. He also added the very interesting historical observation that "it is generally regarded, among our brethren, as an essential element in the restoration of primitive order, to ordain, in every church, both deacons and deaconesses."

This suggests that by the middle of the 19th century, the practice of ordaining women as deacons was widespread in Restorationist churches.

In 1870, Pendleton wrote a second essay entitled "DEACONS-SHOULD THE CHURCH HAVE THEM?" (Millennial Harbinger 41 [1870], 50-54) in response to a question from T. H. S. as to whether the original language authorizes the office of Deacon in the church. His answer substantially reproduced the material on deacons from his 1848 essay, along with some additional material on ancient Jewish practices of alms giving. Several paragraphs are reproduced verbatim from the 1848 essay, including the paragraph on women deacons given above. In conclusion, Pendleton added the following summary of his ideas on the office of deacon, beginning on page 53:

We may sum up what we understand to be the teaching of the Scriptures with respect to this office, in three paragraphs:

1st. Every church must have its Deacons-a plurality in all cases-and, after the analogy of the Jewish Synagogue, we think, never less than three-and as many more as expediency may require.

2nd. The duties of the deacons are, to collect the bounty of the church, appropriate it to the necessities of the destitute brethren, and execute whatever function may be proper and necessary to the discharge of these.

This will involve a general care for the sick, and a discreet provision for the wants of all such as are needy. In the faithful and benevolent performance of these duties, the deacons procure for themselves a good degree and great //54// boldness in the faith. But besides this,-the most important and honorable part of the deacon's duties,-they are to serve the church in its puplic [sic] worship, ministering upon the Lord's table, attending to the current expenses, and other secular interests essential to the good order and comfort of the body. These duties,-the nature of the office, the example of the Synagogue, and the history of apostolic usage designate as incumbent upon the deacons.

3rd. Besides Deacons, every church should have Deaconesses, whose duty it is to perform such offices as cannot be so well performed by deacons, and especially such to females, as could not with delicacy and propriety be laid upon the deacons. This both Scripture and decency require. W. K. P.

Here Pendleton reasserted Campbell's teaching that deacons are to furnish the Lord's table for public worship. What he meant by "attending to the current expenses, and other secular interests essential to the good order and comfort of the body" was not spelled out, but may have included Campbell's idea of attention to the "table of the bishop."

Once again, Pendleton specified that "both Scripture and decency require" that every church have female as well as male deacons. This seems to be a hardening of Campbell's original position on women deacons. It is interesting to notice that, although Pendleton said nothing about women deacons furnishing the Lord's table or "attending to the current expenses . . .," he did describe care for the poor and sick as "the most important and honorable part of the deacon's duties."

As noted above, the occasion for Pendleton to revisit this material was a question from one T. H. S. as to whether there was in fact an office called "Deacon" in the earliest churches. T. H. S. referred to Bro. John C. Miller as holding such a view, and Pendleton's response precipitated a detailed debate between himself and Miller in subsequent issues (MH 41 [1870], 137-146, 250-258). Miller, from Nineveh, Indiana, and one of Pendleton's former students at Bethany College, argued that the word diakonos in the New Testament is always a generic term for "minister." Pendleton acknowledged that Miller was not alone in his view, but pointed out that "few hold it at all, and among that few, it will be hard to point out any names that rank high among scholars, on questions of this kind" (141). As for women deacons, Miller expressly excluded that question from his discussion, saying, "It will stand or fall by the arguments which support or overthrow that of deacon" (141). It is noteworthy that no readers wrote to say otherwise or to challenge Pendleton's assertions that churches should have female deacons according to the requirements of Scripture.

Given the influence of the Millennial Harbinger, and given Pendleton's remark that women deacons were "generally regarded among our brethren" as an "essential element in the restoration of the primitive order," it is curious that so few records of women deacons have survived and that the memory of this practice has been all but forgotten. The subsequent items in this series will demonstrate that women deacons were not uncommon in the Stone-Campbell movement.

XPIC