Note 27 — THE REV. JOHN CLAYTON, M.A., THE JACOBITE CHURCHMAN.

Dr. Deacon was one of the non-juring priests, or high churchmen, who refused to take the oaths to the government of King William III. They maintained:—1. The doctrine of passive obedience. 2. That the hereditary succession to the throne is of Divine institution, and, therefore, can never be interrupted, suspended, or annulled. 3. That the Church is subject to the jurisdiction, not of the civil magistrates, but of God alone, particularly in matters of a religious nature. 4. That, consequently, the bishops deposed by William III. remained, notwithstanding their deposition, true bishops to the day of their death; and that those who were substituted in their place were the unjust possessors of other men’s property. 5. That these unjust possessors of ecclesiastical dignities were rebels against the State, as well as schismatics in the Church; and that all, therefore, who held communion with them were also chargeable with rebellion and schism; and, 6. That this schism, which rends the Church in pieces, was a most heinous sin, whose punishment must fall heavy on all those who did not return sincerely to the true Church from which they had departed.

Dr. Deacon held such opinions and suffered for them. It was alleged by his opponents that, after the rebellion in 1715, he absolved Justice Hall and Parson Paul at the gallows, and publicly declared to them, at Tyburn, that the fact for which they were executed was meritorious. It was further said that, on account of this, a warrant was issued against Deacon by the State Secretary, and that his friends prevented his arrest by sending him off to Holland to study physic. The principal part of this allegation was denied by Deacon. He admits that he went to Holland; but says, he lived upon his own fortune there, and did not begin his medical studies until after his return to London, where he derived great assistance from the celebrated Dr. Mead. He then removed to Manchester, where he collected a small congregation of high churchmen like himself; and, a few years later, became painfully prominent in the disturbances arising out of the Manchester visit of the Young Pretender. But more of this anon.

Dr. Deacon’s publications embraced the following:—“The History of the Arians, and of the Council of Nice, written in French by Sebastian Lenain de Tillemont, and translated into English by Thomas Deacon. London, 1721.” 8vo, 356 pp. “The Doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning Purgatory, proved to be contrary to Catholic Tradition, and inconsistent with the Necessary Duty of Praying for the Dead, as practised by the Ancient Church. By Thomas Deacon, Priest. London, 1718.” 12mo, 143 pp. “Ecclesiastical Memoirs of the six first Centuries, made good by Citations from Original Authors, etc. Written in French by Sebastian Le Nain de Tillemont.” Translated by Deacon. “London. Printed for the benefit of the Translator, and sold by J. Wilford, at the three Flower de luces, behind St. Paul’s Chapter House; and W. Clayton, Bookseller in Manchester.” Folio, vol. I., 1733. 667 pp. Vol. II., 1735. 593 pp. These volumes come down to the year A.D. 177. The work seems not to have been completed. The list of subscribers includes “John Byrom. A.M. F.R.S.” and “Rev. John Clayton. A.M. Curate of Salford, in Lancashire.” Deacon also published another work, immediately after the rebellion in 1745, entitled, “A Full, True, and Comprehensive View of Christianity: Containing a Short Historical Account of Religion from the Creation of the World to the fourth Century after our Lord Jesus Christ.” 8vo, 483 pp.: a work far more Popish than Protestant. The following are some of the things which Deacon tries to elucidate and recommend:—“Public Confession and Penance;” “The Eucharist, a Sacrament and a Sacrifice;” “Unction before Baptism, and the Consecration of the Oil and Water;” “Trine Immersion, the White Garment, the Kiss of Peace, the Milk and Honey,” etc.; “Prayer for the Faithful Departed;” “Infant Communion;” etc. This book excited great attention, as well it might; and several severe replies to it were published in the years 1748 and 1749.

Such was the chosen counsellor of Clayton and of Wesley. He was as much a papist as a protestant. Wesley was mercifully introduced to other guides. Clayton, without, perhaps, adopting all the opinions of his non-juring adviser, was doubtlessly influenced by them to the end of life. Dr. Deacon died in 1753, and was buried in St Ann’s churchyard, Manchester. The following clumsy inscription was on his tomb:—

“Ἐι μη ἐν σταυρω.

“Here lie interred the remains (which, though mortality is at present corrupt, it shall one day most surely be raised again to immortality, and put on incorruption) of Thomas Deacon, the greatest of sinners, and the most unworthy of Primitive Bishops, who died 16th of February, 1753, in the fifty-sixth year of his age; and of Sarah, his wife, who died July 4th, 1745, in the forty-fifth year of her age. The Lord grant the faithful, here underlying, the mercy of the Lord in that day! (2 Tim. i 18)

“Ἐν τουτω νικα.”

(Gentleman’s Magazine, 1821.)