Day-spring (^rnb, AadCor, Job xxxri,!! elsewhere usually ** morning;** oforoXq, Laic i elsewhere -^^ east"), signifies the first strab d^ light, the dawn, or day-break ; and in die ^xmi the above-cited passages it is used in its Izfeenl m This portion of time was at a later period, in iasoa of the Persians, divided into two parts, the fe<< which began when the eastern, the seeond whia western division of the horizon wss illuouBSted. ^ Aijkl.eth-Shah AR. In the latter paasa^ tk ii of John the Baptist is beautifully compared to tkts^ twilight preceding the rising of the great boo! a the Messiah (comp. MaL ir, 2; Isa. Ix, 1-S; SCot;^ 6). See Day.
Day-fltar (<&ft><n^6poc, li^A^tttBimg, wh«a«;» phorus), iMdferj the morning-star, put (2 Pet I ff * the emblepi of the dawn of spiritoid li^ and a^ to the benighted and troubled mind. See Lcanx.
Deacon, Anglicized fh)m the Gr. StaaniM diacomu (usually derived from Sid and coMcq- i ^« dusty from running ;" but better from an otaatoef* cw,or di^tfa»,"to run," or hasten ; kindred wiA^ to pursue: hence, strictly, a noimr, L e. aHwrnf Buttmann, Lexil. i, 218-221), a servant (i8 dl« i* dered), 1. properly,, of those who attend on gnecff at a table, a waUer (John ii, 6, 9; so PblyKxiiii 5 ; Xenoph. Mem. i, 5, 2). Among the Gwb ^ dioKovoi were a higher class than the ^5X«,«"i^ (Athen. x, p. 192 b). 2. Generally, and witiitfjew^ ofthemaster or person served, amMUte''(a8itii^ aUy rendered in the N. T.) (Matt xx, «6; na« Markix,85; x,43; so Xenoph. (^'.▼2i,8*«> ^ an attendant of Christ, a discgtle (John xfi, S). ^ ' king (Matt xxii, 13), and hence of God (Bfla.»^ 3. Specially, in reUtion to the Goepel and ti» (^^ a minister or teacher, (a.) of tlie person ftrvbo^ ministers (1 Cor. iii, 5; 2 Cor. iii, 6; vi,4;l!Ws. iii, 2; 2 Cor. xi, 23; CoL i, 7; Eph. vi,21;CdJ. 7; i, 25; and, by antithesis, of Satan, 2 Cor.ii,!^) (6.) Technically, an ofllcer of the primitive CtarA» deacon (PhiL i, 1; 1 Tim. iii, 8, 12 ; it, 6; w id»
vi, 1-6).
1. 2>ca(»« t»i tts JV: r.~l. " 11m office dwoiW^
this title appears in tbe N. T. as the oanMn^^^^
OKovogy bishop or presbyter (q. v.). The tw "f
mentioned together in PhQ. i, 1 ; 1 Thn. iii, i, 8. i^
union of the two in the Sept. of laa, lx,17,iMTi»"
suggested both as fit titles for tbe officers of tbe O^
tian Church, or have led to the adoptieo o^ ^^
the other had been chosen on independent gi^
The coincidence, at all events, soon attiMted v^
and was appealed to by Clement of Borne (1 Cor- ^
as prophetic. Like moet words of simikr inpAt^
appears to have been first used in its generic kA
DEACON
705
DEACON
ylTkg snbordinate activity (1 Cor. iii, 6 ; 2 Cor. vi, .nd aAerwardfl to have gained a more defined con- tion as applied to a distinct body of men in the ^stutn society" (Smith, s. v.).
Tlie origin of the office of deacon in the Cbnrch sually supposed to be described in Acts vi, 1-6.
Hellenistic Jews complained that " their widows 3 neglected in the daily ministrations.** This neg-
majr be ascribed either to ** the UdC that their >ws "were not known, being as foreigners of a some- it V>ackward spirit, or possibly also to some jealousy itixkg between the proper Hebrews and their kin- 1 from other lands. At first the apostles them- ^&Sy 'wlio had the charge also of the common fund ts i V, 85, 87 ; v, 2), superintended this service, em- 7*111^ intermediate agents, young men of the oon- gation probably (Acts v, 6, 10), who had given cause the complaint now mentioned. In proportion, how- r, as the Church extended, the more hnpracticable
it become for them to give themselves to such out- rd concerns without wrong to their proper spiritual rk. ' It is not reason,' said the twelye, *that we >ald leave the Word of Qod and serve tables'— that superintend the daUy love-feasts and the distribu- a of alms. In order, therefore, that they might re themselves wholly to prayer and the preaching the Gospel, and to provide against wrong and dis- isfketion by a fixed regulation, they proposed the ^Uon of seven men of good report, foil of the Holy lost and of prudence, for this particular service, and ; them apart to it solemnly, after they had been oeen by the people, with prayer and the imposition handB. In the Acts, indeed, these officers are styled nply ol ijrrd, the seven (xxi, 8), and not deacons — at is, servants or helpers ; but that this was their laracter wk know, partly from the terms dioKovia, uKovtiv rpaTri^aic, used of their office (Acts vi, 1, 2), id partly firom almost universal exegetical tradition, rho ancient Church even held the sacred number sev- 1 in this case of obligatory force ; and at Rome, for cample, there were still as late as the third century ily seven deacons, although the number of presby- Ts amounted to forty)" (Schaff, Apoitolic Chun^ §
Some writers (e. g. Mosheim, Comm. cent, i, $ 87) laintain that the " seven" were appointed, not to care »r all the poor at Jerusalem, but only for the widows od poor of the Greelu or foreigners. This view sup- oses that similar officers had previously existed to iBcharge these frmctions for the general Church (so lony beare and Howson, lAfe of St, Paul^ i, 467 ; Whate- r, Kmffdom of Christ; Hinds, Earljf Ckriaticaaty). (tanley (ApodoHe Age^ p. 62 sq.) supposes that ** tiie even" were not deacons such as we find in the later «riod of the apostolic age, " though they may possibly ave- borne the name, and though there was in some espects a likeness between their respective duties." Compare, on the other hand, Schaff, ApoatoUc Church,