In his interesting historical work on the Baptist diaconate (The Emerging Role of Deacons, 1979), Charles DeWeese suggests that the earliest Baptist reference to deacons serving “three tables”—a model the dominated Baptist understanding of deacon service for a very long time—comes from Thomas Collier’s 1654 work, The Right Constitution and True Subjects of the Visible Church of Christ.
I finally found a copy of this work online and am happy to provide screenshots of the actual reference here.
I’ll transcribe below. On pages 30–31, Collier writes:
Secondly, of the Deacons, that such are to be in the Church of Christ is evident, 1 Tim. 3:8. What their work is, is exprest Act. 6.2. it is to serve tables, viz. the tables of all that may be in want: unto whom those who are able are to communicate, Rom. 12:8. 1 Peter 4.11. or as some explain it, to serve first the Lord’s Table, Secondly the Ministers table, if need call for it, Thirdly the table of any that are in necessity: yet not to be bound up in and to this work, so as not to edify the Church upon the spiritual account, if he hath a gift.
Collier’s employment of the three tables imagery in 1654 situates it very early in Baptist history and the widely-held Baptist origin date of 1609. But what strikes me as most interesting is Collier’s phrase “or as some explain it,” a phrase that suggests not only that Collier himself is aware of earlier usages but that his audience was as well. That is, there is good reason to believe that the idea of deacons serving three tables—The Table of the Lord, The Table of the Poor, The Table of the Pastor—goes back to the earliest strata of Baptist history and may precede the Baptist movement.
I am no scholar of the history of deacons and I do not claim to be, though I am invested in the reclamation of this model in Baptist life today. Perhaps others are aware of explicit references to deacons serving three tables before 1654. I would be happy to see them! Regardless, this language clearly does precede this date.
