If we found, in any modern literature, a sketch of the ruling deacon in a church, like John's description of Diotrephus, we should say it was tinged with satire. "I wrote unto the Church, but Diotrephus, _who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them_, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words; and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, _and casteth them out of the Church_." Evidently there was a deacon in one of the apostolic churches, who always had to be consulted. Everything must go as he dictated. He did not even stand in awe of an accredited apostle. The minister must preach according to his views of theology, or signify his willingness to accept a call to a new field. Those members of the church who upheld a minister whom Diotrephus did not like, found their connection with the body severed without the formality of asking their consent. In the matter of having a Diotrephus within their borders, some churches to-day find themselves in the direct line of apostolic succession. In the book of Acts, there is an account of Paul's reception at Athens. "And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine is, whereof thou speakest? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears; we would know, therefore, what these things mean." In the comment which follows this account, the writer indulges in a touch of ridicule upon the Athenian gossips and curiosity mongers. We should say it was a touch of ridicule if we found it in Addison. "For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, _spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing_." Indeed there is a sketch in Addison of which this might easily have been the ground-work. "There is no humor of my countrymen which I am more inclined to wonder at than _their general thirst after news_. A victory or defeat is equally agreeable to them. The shutting of a cardinal's mouth pleaseth them one post, and the opening of it another. They are delighted to hear the French Court is removed to Marli, and are afterwards as much delighted with its return to Versailles. They read the advertisements with the same curiosity as the articles of public news; and are as pleased to hear of a pye-bald horse that is strayed out of a field near Islington, as of a whole troop that has been engaged in any foreign adventure. In short, _they have a relish for anything that is news_, let the matter of it be what it will. _They are men of a voracious appetite._" Is not the comment of the Scriptural writer upon the Athenians in the same vein with Addison's comment upon the English?