An inferior minister, who anciently attended at the altar, prepared the sacred vessels, delivered them to the deacons in time of divine service, attended the doors of the church during communion service, went on the bishop's embassies with his letters, or messages, to foreign churches, and was invested with the first of the holy orders. They were so subordinate to the superior rules of the church, that, by a canon of the council of Laodicea, they were forbidden to sit in the presence of a deacon without his leave.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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