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Di \ Waterland observes , " It seems to be a mistake to imagine that infant communion ( if we understand it of mere infants ) was the ancient practice of the church . There is no appearance of any thing of the kind before the middle of the third century , the
time of Cyprian , and that in the African churches only ** This is a proof , by the bye , that the baptism of children also originated in Africa , infant communion being a consequence of Infant Baptism , and an accommodation to it . For none , were admitted to the
holy communion , but the initiati , € ccsrTi ^ 6 [^ voi 9 such as had been baptized * They received this communion immediately after baptism in the church . * Dr . Waterland properly observes , however , of these children , they were not mere infants , but boys
and girls . f He elsewhere remarks , that the practice of giving the communion to children at five or seven years of age , or somewhat sooner , was ancient , though the practice of communicating mere infants came not in before the eighth or ninth century .
Dr . Priestley , in a pamphlet on Baptism , which I have not at hand , ranks them , I recollect , thus : infans , parvulus t &c . This is by no means , I apprehend , universally true ; for infans may descend bevond parvulus ,
even up to puberty and further , and parvulus may ascend above infans , and be f ^ ecens natiis , new born , as it occurs in Cyprian ; and Virgil uses even parvits for one cut out of its mother ' s womb .
I tide Lychan ferit , exsectum jam watre paremptjt , Kt tibi , Phoebe , sacrum : casus evade re feni Quod licuit parvo . JEneidj Lib . x » 315 .
* This is stated clearly and fully by Justin Martyr . 13 e gives an account of I he whole proceedings with respect to the \ ni [)\\ zvd person , beginning- with liis baptism , and proceeding immediately to the nu'liarist , at the time when the brethren were assembled together in the church for public prayer , noivocg £ v % aq ^ uro ^ qao ^ evoL ilpel . pro Cliristianis , I . 81 . f- u An Enquiry concerning" the
Antiquity of the Practice of Infant Communion . " Dr . Waterland first published A Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist . ' * The Enquiry was the result of his further
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But Dr . P ' s distinction is , * I submit , in particular cases , or rather generally true , viz . that infans claims priority to parvultts . In short , this word ¦ parvulus , with others of a like ambiguous
nature , resembles one of those escutcheons in heraldry which is divided into a great number of parts , in order to have placed in it distinctly the peculiar arms of divers families , or
the differences ( to borrow another word from heraldry ) of children-of the same family : and , if we would know distinctly the peculiar ages of human life , as laid dawn bv the respective writers , we must attend , in
like manner , to the circumstances of the description , the actions assigned to tlie period , the adjuncts dependent on the substantives , and the like . Circumstances , then , and particular relations must settle the meaning of such a vague word : sometimes it is used figuratively : thus Christ , in- reference to his own character as the teacher , and to his followers as his disciples , frequently calls them children— " Suffer little children to come unto me , for of such is the kingdom of
heaven ; " such are my disciples ; children , there is no bread , &c . They are so called from the humility , teachableness , and other like qualities , supposed to belong to children . This
form of speech is frequently introduced in the epistles : as " Little children , keep yourselves from idols ;* ' and numerous other passages , wherein , besides the teachableness attached to
the character , the writer speaks sometimes according to his stated relation to them , whom he had begotten again to a lively hope . * This form ' of speech ,
investigation into the subject , a posthumous work , subjoined to iiis volume of Sermons on Several Important Subjects . * It is with some such words , and in some such sense , that the GEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles opens :
O T € KVOCf Kc&O j WOf T 8 WokoCl V £ OC TQQ <\) y \ -, O sous , tli ' c new-born race of ancient Cadmus 5 where tlie scholiast adds ( to tekvcc ) *[/> < % f my : ( Kdinus "bore the relation to them , of
kini » - , and would have removed the public calamities if he could •—he therefore calls them indiscriminately , with sympathy a » d tenderness , Uoci ^ eg qiktqqi 9 wretched children , though the « row-d of suppliant * con -
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612 On Mr * Robinson ' s " History of Baptism"
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1819, page 612, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1777/page/24/
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