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Note here, 1. That there are but two sorts of fixed church-officers mentioned by St. Paul, bishops and deacons; as the church had its own bishop, so likewise its own deacons: these were at first instituted for the service of the poor; the alms of the church were brought to the altar, the deacons received them, and distributed them among the aged and impotent from house to house; now because they were thus employed, the apostle advised them to beware of those faults that are frequently committed in common conversation, as light and vain discourse, saying one thing to one person, and the contrary to another. Let the deacons be grave, not guilty of levity, but serious and composed, men of a modest and becoming carriage; not double-tongued, nor over-talkative persons, nor saying one thing to one person and the contrary to another, according to the place or company they fell into; not given to much wine, not the thing, but the excess, is forbidden; not greedy of filthy lucre, seeking to get wealth by sordid ways and means.