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The True History of Paedocommunion

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The True History of Paedocommunion The Confessional Presbyterian A Journal for Discussion of Presbyterian Doctrine & Practice All Material Copyright © 2007 by Confessional Presbyterian Press. Subscribe and purchase back issues: www.cpjournal.com The Confessional Presbyterian A Journal for Discussion of Presbyterian Doct rine & Pract ice Table of Contents . Editorial Articles . John Calvin, the Nascent Sabbatarian: A Reconsideration of Calvin’s View of Two Key Sabbath-Issues By Stewart E. Lauer . Th e West minst er Standards and Confessional Lutheranism on Just ifi cation By J. V. Fesko, Ph.D. Th e True Hist ory of Paedo-Communion By Matthew Winzer . A Critical Text of the West minst er Larger Catechism: Q. – By Chris Coldwell . Edwards’ Freedom of the Will: A Review and Analysis By W. Gary Crampton, Ph.D. In Defense of the Descendit: A Confessional Resp onse to Contemporary Critics of Christ ’s Descent into Hell By Daniel R. Hyde . John Brown of Wamphray, Richard Baxter and the Just ifi cation Controversy By Bruce R. Backenst o . Th e Denial of the Imputation of the Act ive Obedience of Christ : Piscator on Just ifi cation By J. Wesley White . Th e Regulative Principle of Worship: Sixty Years in Reformed Literature. Part Two (–) By Frank J. Smith, Ph.D., D. D. with Chris Coldwell . Presbyterians in the South and the Slave: A Study in Benevolence By C. N. Willborn, Ph.D. Seminary Education By Dr. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. Th e Rev. Dr. Alexander M’Leod, An Annotated Bibliography With Extract s from his Diaries By Wayne Sparkman, M.A.R., M.Div. Reviews & Responses (Contents continued on page ) Contributing Editors: Th e Revs. Richard E. Bacon, Th .D., W. Gary Crampton, Th e Confessional Presbyterian, Volume (). Ph.D., J. Ligon Duncan, Ph.D., John T. Dyck, David W. Hall, Ph.D., Sherman ISSN – Isbell, Ray B. Lanning, Th omas G. Reid, Frank J. Smith, Ph.D., D. D., Alan ISBN –––– Strange, C. N. Willborn, Ph.D. Mr. John R. Muether; Mr. Wayne Sparkman. All Material Copyright © by Confessional Presbyterian Press. Editor: Mr. Chris Coldwell. Editorial Address: Th e Confessional Presbyteri an, P. O. Box , Dallas, Texas . Email: edi [email protected]. Subscriptions: Individual USA Front Cover: Alexander M’Cleod, D.D. (–), Reformed Presbyterian ; Library/Foreign . Retail Price: . Minist er. Graphite and charcoal on brist ol, Copyright © by Mike Article and Review Submissions: Please mail the Editor regarding submissions Mahon. Back Cover: “North-west View of West minst er Abbey,” John Pass, (fl . for publication, or visit http://www.cpjournal.com for more details. –) artist and engraver (circa ). Th e Confessional Presbyterian Th e True History of Paedo-Communion By Matthew Winzer Upon reading the hist oriography of paedo-communion, of which infants partook, were more than likely not a as presented by adherents of the pract ice, one might part of the ordinary communion service. receive the mist aken impression that paedo-commu- Such being the true hist ory of paedo-communion, nion was an uncontest ed observance from the days of the claim which has been made by the advocates of this the apost les until the height of the Popish supremacy pract ice—that “infants and small children participated in the dark ages, when the superst ition of those times in the Lord’s Supper in the West ern Church until the put an end to it. James Jordan’s fi rst thesis on the sub- twelft h and thirteenth centuries”—must be reject ed as ject is, “Infants and small children participated in the a false assertion. Lord’s Supper in the West ern Church until the twelft h and thirteenth centuries.” Ray Sutton, likewise, asserts . The First Reference to Infant “that paedocommunion was pract iced the fi rst twelve Communion is a.d. centuries in the West ern and East ern churches.” Such a view of the subject , however, is only possible by em- James Jordan, in order to validate his claim that infant bellishing certain fact s, and omitting others. communion was the pract ice of the West ern Church until the twelft h and thirteenth centuries, quotes his- In the following paper, a sincere endeavour has been torical authorities such as Willist on Walker and Joseph made to bring the “true” hist ory of paedo-communion Bingham (Jordan, Th eses, ). Th e reference to Willis- to light. Th e hist orical writings of church fathers are ton Walker, however, only reveals the assertion that examined in their theological and liturgical context, in considerations such as the real presence “led to the order to demonst rate that paedo-communion was not general abandonment of the pract ice of infant com- a cust omary pract ice in the earliest ages of the church. munion, which had been universal, and which contin- More particularly, it shall be shown, that, ues in the Greek Church to the present.” Th e fact that the pract ice had been universal before the twelft h cen- (.) Th ere is no reference to paedo-communion un- tury, hardly just ifi es Mr. Jordan’s assertion that, in the til A.D. West ern Church, infants participated in communion (.) Prior to that time, the fathers test ify to the prac- until the twelft h century. tice of discriminate communion. Moreover, Mr. Walker earlier commented that the (.) Even when paedo-communion is mentioned in pract ice was fi rst introduced to the West ern Church , it is not described as a cust om, nor is it claimed to The Author: Th e Rev. Matthew Winzer is a minist er of the Aust ralian be apost olic. It is referred to rather incidentally in the Free Church, currently serving in Rockhampton, Queensland, Aus- process of relating a series of events which fell under tralia. An earlier version of this article appeared in the online journal, the judgement of God. Credo Quarterly in April , which is no longer published. (.) It is not until years later, in the fi ft h cen- . James B. Jordan, “Th eses on Paedocommunion,” in Th e Geneva Papers (Tyler, Tex.: Geneva Divinity School, ) . tury in the west , that paedo-communion is sp ecifi - . Ray R. Sutton, “Presuppositions of paedocommunion,” Th e cally referred to as a pract ice—but that by this time, Geneva Papers (Tyler, Tex.: Geneva Divinity School, ) . the communion-service was complex, including vari- . Willist on Walker, A Hist ory of the Christ ian Church (New York: ous categories of participation; and that the elements, Charles Scribner’s Sons, ) . Volume () Th e Confessional Presbyterian Articles in the third century. Aft er noting that Cyprian devel- acknowledge “that the rationale usually given in the oped the doct rine “of the Lord’s Supper as a sacrifi ce early church for infant inclusion in the Supper was that off ered to God by a priest ,” he writes that “the sense eternal life was thereby secured on the basis of John : of the life-giving quality of the Supper led, also, to the ” (Keidel, ). cust om of infant-communion, of which Cyprian is a Th us, the most that can be ascertained is that, “Th ere witness” (Walker, ). Mr. Jordan’s fi rst authority, there- is no reference to paedo-communion until A.D. .” fore, fails to validate his claim that paedo-communion was a pract ice of the west ern church until the twelft h century. Mr. Walker explicitly st ates that the pract ice, . The Practice of Discriminate Communion which was abolished in the twelft h century, had a be- Prior to a.d. ginning in the third century. Th is dual fact had earlier led Samuel Miller to conclude, that “as miserable super- Since Mr. Keidel acknowledges that the fi rst witness to st ition brought it into the church, so a st ill more miser- paedo-communion was Cyprian in , and that the able superst ition dest royed it.” pract ice was due in no small part to a wrong view of Mr. Jordan’s second source of hist orical authority the sacrament, one might be surprised to learn that the is the antiquary, Joseph Bingham. He says, that as the paedo-communion apologist does not conclude that the church baptised infants, “so she immediately admitted pract ice owed its exist ence to a corruption in doct rine. them to a participation of the eucharist , as soon as they He simply counter-argues that were baptized, and ever aft er without exception.” But there is no claim made that the pract ice was observed in the same quest ion may be asked of infant baptism. Was the west ern church until the twelft h century; let alone, the doct rine of baptismal regeneration the rationale for as Ray Sutton would have his readers to believe, that infant baptism in the early church, or was it a dist orted Mr. Bingham “est ablishes that paedocommunion was view later placed upon what was an apost olic pract ice? pract iced the fi rst twelve centuries in the West ern and Church hist ory has not been able to settle these ques- East ern churches” (Sutton, Presuppositions, ). Th is is tions (Keidel, ). surely a burden grievous to be borne, esp ecially when the antiquary was only concerned to point out that the Th e anti-paedobaptist apologist , Paul Jewett, ex- pract ice is “mentioned” by “writers from the third to pressed fairly much the same position with regards to the fi ft h century.” the verdict of church hist ory; although he obviously Christ ian Keidel is undoubtedly a little more cir- passed a very diff erent sentence in the light of that ver- cumsp ect than Messrs Jordan and Sutton, in present- dict .
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