"The proposal to revive the third Order, which is often described as a 'permanent diaconate,' cannot be postponed indefinitely; its advantages are so [282] glaringly obvious. It would enable the Church to consecrate and utilise in the service of the Body the specialised gifts of her most capable members--pastoral, administrative, prophetic; and it would bridge the gulf between clergy and people.

      "The scheme would have to begin on a small scale. But later on the bulk of the Church's ministerial work should be in the hands of such a diaconate--tried and proved in other spheres of service--and the presbyterate should be far smaller and far more difficult to enter. The deacons would be unpaid for their services (save for their actual out-of-pocket expenses) supporting themselves by their own labour, and maintaining the standard of life appropriate to their respective professions.

      "In each parish or district there would be a large body of deacons, and supervising them and administering sacraments a few very highly-trained and effective priests--most of them 'whole-timers'--whose position would be analogous to that of the secretaries of Trades Unions, set free from other work to give their whole time to the service of their union. The priesthood would then be--what in theory it is--a sort of delegated Episcopate.

      "It is said that some bishops shrink from ordinary 'deacons'--because they would not go about in clerical dress. As well refuse to ordain any more priests because some of us do not always wear 'dog collars.' There are possibly deeper issues than this at stake, but the revived diaconate is supported both by commonsense of present needs and by the tradition of the Primitive Church.

      "Of course, in the end you cannot stop at [283] deacons. If priests are forbidden to earn their own living, it must be on grounds of expediency, not principle. The idea that there is anything 'unworthy' in a self-supporting priesthood seems to me fundamentally un-Christian. It is more in line with the sacramental principle that hands which are rough and soiled with the daily toil of ordinary men and women should dispense the sacrament in which God comes through the commonplace things of daily life. I feel sure an 'industrial priesthood' has got to come, though not all priests would be spared to belong to it. But this is taking us too far afield; and what I wish to emphasise here is the urgent need for a restored diaconate.

      "What I have written in no way derogates from the highest possible view of the Grace of Orders. It is simply a matter of using the Spirit's gifts. The Acts of the Apostles impresses me a good deal more than the Lower House of Convocation."

      This demand has arisen out of an alarming shortage of students in training for ordination. The Guardian took up the same cry and finally the editorial columns of the Church Times.

      We are indeed finding the demand made from unexpected quarters, and everything points to a move in the direction of a self-supporting Diaconate in the Church of England. It is true the Church Times was not quite so whole-hearted--and advocated the reform only as a temporary expedient to meet the present shortage of candidates for the ministry; but it was, nevertheless, quite definite, and we may take all the more notice of it because voiced in the editorial columns. [284]

      The Church Times said; "The second line of policy suggested by Archbishop Temple is a far bolder one; it gives more to the devoted layman who feels the call to work for God; it also asks more of him. It asks him to commit himself more completely to the service of Christ, and to offer a far more costly sacrifice. If a permanent Diaconate were to be revived, it must mean asking for men who by reason of having a profession or possessing private means are able to support themselves; to encourage them to take the irrevocable step of accepting Holy Order in a subordinate ministry, and to give their services without remuneration or for a very small stipend. It is a policy not without obvious disadvantages; it is only to be defended as a temporary measure to meet the present distress; but desperate conditions call for desperate remedies, and we have the apostolic precedent of St. Paul's self-supporting labours at his trade to go upon. There must of necessity be many young men who in happier times would have offered themselves for ordination and who feel the call to serve God in the sacred ministry, but are prevented by circumstances beyond their control. They may not feel called to the celibate life, yet they cannot face the prospects of giving themselves to a profession in which they cannot support a family nor make provision for their children's education; or they may have laid upon them the necessity of supporting their relations.

      "If such men could be admitted to the Diaconate after a training sufficient for their office, but less long and costly than that demanded for a priest, they could, while following their own professions as [285] schoolmasters, lawyers, bank clerks, or business men, give invaluable help to the priesthood in tending the flock of Christ and setting others free for aggressive missionary work. . . . The fact that they were definitely members of the ordo clericalis, made Deacons by the laying on of hands in the sacrament of holy order, would be to them a source of encouragement and strength, both in their ministry and daily life."²

      If the proposals embodied in these words were to be put into force, it would certainly mean that the Diaconate as a profession would disappear. Under present conditions the Diaconate is a profession, and, moreover, it is--never permanent in any sense. A man ordained a Deacon in the Church of England will in the course of one year, under normal conditions receive ordination as a Presbyter. In fact, very few lay people distinguish between the two orders. Now it is intended that men, whilst following their ordinary work and earning their own living, should be ordained Deacons, and that there should be a distinct office of Deacons in each Church.

      The suggestion as quoted seems, perhaps unconsciously, to fall into the error of a limited view. The men who are expected to enter this permanent Diaconate are to be drawn from the so-called professional classes, or from those who have retired or have sufficient means to support themselves--schoolmasters, lawyers, bank clerks and business men are mentioned. I scarcely think that the editor of the Church Times wished to exclude miners, farmers, engineers, fishermen, and others who [286] earn their living in different ways, and that he intentionally limited his view to the classes he mentions; for he is usually so free from manifesting any spirit of snobbishness. It would be distinctly to the disadvantage of any such permanent Diaconate in the Church of England if it were to shut its doors to consecrated men who have the gifts and qualifications for such office, whatever their manner of earning their living, and we trust that when reform comes no limiting policy will be adopted. We must get rid of the Victorian distinction between trade and profession. It is already obsolete in the minds of right-thinking people, and it would be disastrous for the Church of England to introduce a class distinction into its ministry--a thing which, with all its faults, the Roman Catholic Church has never done.

      The Church Times does not go so far as to suggest that this reform should also be carried out in the case of the Presbyterate, but as the writer of the article quoted from the Challenge said: "Of course, in the end you cannot stop at Deacons." A self-supporting Diaconate will eventually mean a self-supporting Presbyterate in the Church of England, though there will always be some who will need to be wholly supported. All this when it comes--and there are signs of its coming--will be a distinct gain, for the idea of professionalism in connection with ordered forms of ministry will disappear. We may welcome the first signs of its coming as a movement in the right direction, because a movement towards those fundamental principles which underlie all forms of ministry in the New Testament Church. [287]