498
History of the Nonjurors.
seems, was as much dissatisfied with the Book, which had been arranged by Collier and Brett, as with the Office in the Book of Common Prayer; and therefore, he put forth a new Form, to be used by those congregations in which his authority was recognized.[1]
In "The Order of Confirmation" and "The Order for the Visitation of the Sick," Deacon differs from the Church of England, and also from the other Nonjurors. The Chrism is adopted, as in the Book of 1718, and the rite is ordered to be administered to infants.[2]
The remaining Public Offices in this collection
- ↑ A most laboured defence of the practice of infant communion may be seen in The Comprehensive View. He contends, that among the heathen, infants partook of the idolatrous feasts after the sacrifices. He proceeds: "The Eucharist is a feast upon a sacrifice, and it is designed to distinguish those who belonged to Christ, as the others were to distinguish those who belonged to the false gods of the heathen." He asks: "Had the Devil his meat and his cup to betoken those, who had communion with him, and has Christ his meat and his cup to betoken those, who are in communion with him? and is it reasonable to suppose, that he intended these should be as generally received by his family, as the others were by that of the Devil?" He further argues at considerable length in favour of the practice, from the fact, that the Old Testament Sacraments, as he terms them, were allowed to infants. He contends, that the Jewish children partook of the Feasts, and of the Passover: that the arguments for infant communion are as strong as those for infant baptism: and that it was practised in the early Church, pp. 366, 393.
- ↑ At the commencement of the Service is the following Rubric: "At the time appointed, all that are to be then confirmed, being placed, the adults and the sponsors with the children in their arms standing in order before the Bishop, he shall begin the office." In his Comprehensive View, Deacon contends, that infants are capable of receiving spiritual benefits, and that therefore Confirmation is to be administered to them, p. 238.
