6 INFANT COJUiVIUNION
munion, saying that the practice arose in the circum- stances of the early ages, and that the fathers had suffi- cient grounds for introducing it in their days, without its being made a necessity of salvation ; wherefore the usage coiUd lawfully be altered and dropped (Sess. xxi).
In the Greek Church we find passages of some theo- logians, which in their exposition of the doctrine of bap- tism would seem to imply that they rejected this neces- sity of infant communion based on John vi, 53 ; for they designate the former sacrament as a purification through the blood of Christ, a partaking of the Lamb of God, etc. Yet infant communion was one of the early prac- tices in that church, as is evident from the fact that in the Apostolic Constitutions (viii, 12) mothers are recom- mended to bring their children with them to commun- ion, and children are counted among those who partake of the Lord's Supper (viii, 13). (Comp. Stanley, Hist, of the Eastern Church, p. 118, 1 19.) This custom is also de- fended by Pseudo-Dionysius {Hier. Eccl. vii, 11) against the profane, who considered it ridiculous. The Greek Church still upholds infant communion. According to IVIetophanes Kritopulos (Conf. Eccl. Gr. c. 9), children Qipiipi^), after they are baptized, should commune when- ever their parents do.
The Roman Chiurch and all Protestant churches now agree in rejecting infant communion. Nevertheless, there have been a few advocates of the practice even among Protestants m modern times. Among the most prominent of them is Pierce {Essa?/ on the Eucharist, London, 1804), who argues for the practice (1) on the ground of primitive usage; (2) from Scrijiture. The latter argument is "that Christians succeeding to the Jews as God's people, and being grafted upon that stock, their infants have a right to all the privileges of which they are capable, till forfeited by some immoral- ities; and, consequently, have a right to partake of this ordinance, as the Jewish children had to eat of the pass- over and other sacrifices ; besides this, he pleads those texts which speak of the Lord's Supper as received by all Christians. The most obvious answer to all this is that which is taken from the incapacity of infants to examine themselves, and discern the Lord's body ; but he answers that this precept is only given to persons capable of understanding and complying with it, as those which require faith in order to baptism are inter- preted by the Psedobaptists. As for his argument from the Jewish children eatuig the sacrifice, it is to be con- sidered that this was not required as circumcision was ; the males were not necessarily brought to the Temple till they were twelve years old (Luke ii, 42) ; and the sacrifices they ate of were chiefly peace-oj/'erinf/n, which became the common food to all that were clean m the famih% and were not looked upon as acts of devotion to such a degree as our Eucharist is ; though, indeed, they were a token of their acknowledging the divinity of that God to whom they had been offered (1 Cor. x, 18) ; and even the Passover was a commemoratif)n of a tt m- jioral deliverance; nor is there any reason to believe that its reference to the IMessiah ;vas generally under- stood by the Jews. On the whole, it is certain there would be more danger of a contempt arising to the Lord's Supper from the admission of infants, and of con- fusion and trouble to other communicants ; so that, not being i-equirvd in Scripture, it is much the best to omit it. When children are grown up to a capacity of be- having decently, they may soon be instructed in the nature and design of the ordinance; and if they appear to understand it, and give proof of love to Christ, it would be advisable to admit them to communion, tiiough very young ; which, Ijy the way. might be a good secu- rity against many of the snares to which youth are ex- posed." See Augusti, J/andbuch d. christi. A irhaol. ii, 039 sq. ; JMihrner, Die chrisilich-kirchliche Alttrthums- v:issenschaft, ii, 365 sq. ; Herzog, Reid-Encyklop.\'i\. 549 sq. ; Zorn, Uistoria Euc/.aristiw Iiifantiiim (Berlin, 17S6, 8vo) ; Knapp, Theolot/y, § 144; Doddridge, Lfcivns en Divinity, lect. ccvii ; Neander, Church JJistory, i, 311,
INFANTICIDE
577
INFANTICIDE
315; ii,310; iii,49G; Smith, A ccciinf of the Or. C/iiirc/i, p. IGl ; Bingham, Orif/. Eccles. bk. xv, cli. iii, § 7 ; Cole- man, Ancient Christianitj/, cli. xxi, § 8; Nt-ander, Hist, o/ncf/mas, p. 242; Gieseler, l)o(jmen/jesrhichte, p. 54->.