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A32800
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Of Episcopal confirmation in two discourses / by B. Camfield.
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Camfield, Benjamin, 1638-1693.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing C381; ESTC R14520
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52,623
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130
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the right method certainly to a good and durable Choice first to lay God's Judgments as distinctly as may be before our View as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 panis propositionis or Shew-bread placed on the Table under the Law with the Consequences attending the Observance of them that we may say whatever ensues or falls out Omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi All this I was well enough aware of when I first undertook my Religion Those that hear the Gospel preached and understand it not are resembled by our Blessed Saviour to the High-way ground where the Seed is wholly lost and those who do not consider and deliberate upon it within themselves to the Stony Ground where the Seed takes not any deep and kindly Rooting or hath not much Earth or Mould to cover it and therefore howsoever for the present it may be received with Joy yet it dureth for a while only For when Tribulation and Persecution ariseth because of the Word by and by saith he these are offended S. Matth. 13. 4. This Consideration and Deliberation I have been speaking of must not rest there but conclude in a free firm and zealous Resolution where we have four points more to meditate a while upon 1. It must come up to a Resolution that is the actual Determination of the Mind and Choice according to that of the Psalmist I have applyed or inclined my Heart to fulfil thy Statutes always even to the End Psal 119.112 And again elsewhere My Heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Psal 57.8 Who is this that engaged his Heart to approach unto me saith the Lord Jer. 30.21 We must not always be considering and deliberating but bring the Matter to some Period and Issue within our selves and that not only as to some faint Wishes and Velleities but Purposes and Resolutions of cleaving unto God Such as David often expresseth I said I will take heed to my ways I will keep my Mouth as with a Bridle Psal 39.1 I have said that I will keep thy Words Ps 119.57 I have purposed that my Mouth shall not transgress Ps 17.3 c. How long halt ye between two Opinions saith the Prophet If God be God follow him 1 Kings 17. that is resolve and conclude upon it as you have all reason to do to serve him only 2. This Resolution must be free and voluntary not as upon Constraint or of Necessity or a forced Put not as a Burthen imposed but as hath been said a matter of Choice and that upon maturest Thoughts about it the cheerful Offering of a willing mind Such is that Service which is most acceptable unto God He loves a chearful Gier and a chearful Servant 2 Cor. 7.11 12. 9 6 7. He delights in none but Volunteers a willing People Ps 110.3 Such as esteem not his Commands grievous 1 St. John 5.3 Such as do not only take Sanctuary in Religion to avoid the Hand of the Avenger or embrace Piety and Vertue meerly to escape Wrath and Misery Hell and Damnation but from an Inward Satisfaction and Complacence in the Truth and Goodness and Excellency of them Thus we found it in the Psalmist I have chosen the way of Truth c. And thus Joshua deals with the Israelites ch 24.14 15. Fear the Lord saith he and serve him in Sincerity and Truth cleave unto him and that out of Love as he had said before and put away the Gods which your Fathers served that is all manner of Idols and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord upon these Terms chuse you this day whom you will serve But whatever you chuse I for my part have chosen and resolved already As for me and my House we will serve the Lord. Whereupon the People provoked unto Emulation answer also for themselves ver 16. c. God forbid that we should forsake the Lord our God he it is that bought us and our Fathers out of the Land of Egypt from the House of Bondage and which did those Great Signs in our Sight and preserved us in all the way wherein we went and went among all the People through whom we passed and the Lord drove out before us all the People even the Amorites which dwell in the Land Therefore will we also serve the Lord for he is our God q. d. He is the God of our Lives and of all our Mercies who hath wrought all the Miracles we have beheld rescued us out of cruel Servitude and kept us in all the way of our Travails delivered us from most formidable Enemies Thus hath he many ways from time to time obliged us to himself and therefore as in all Gratitude we are bound we are resolv'd also to serve him Well but Joshua is yet concern'd lest they should not be so advised and thoughtful in this Resolution as it became them in such a Business of Importance to be and therefore wills them again to deliberate with themselves about it what they must engage on if they would in good earnest serve him how they must renounce all other Masters and abandon all their Sins and Lusts or otherwise he would accept of no Service from them So it follows verse 19. c. ' And Joshua said unto the People ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an Holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your Transgressions nor your Sins If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange Gods then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you after he hath done you good That is you cannot serve the Lord to any purpose unless you amend your Lives and Manners c. Now upon this the People again declare their Intentions Nay but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua once and again admonishes them still to the same effect and they as often consent to his proposal Ye are witnesses against your selves saith he at last that ye have chosen you the Lord to serve him And they said Amen to it We are Witnesses Now therefore saith he put away the strange Gods which are among you and incline your Heart unto the Lord God of Israel that is make good your own Choice in cleaving unto him And the People said unto Joshua The Lord our God will we serve and his Voice will we obey 3. This purpose of Heart must be sixed firm and stable for that indeed is properly Resolution obstinatio quaedam animi a Religious Obstinacy of Mind if I may so speak so as no longer to be wavering and uncertain carried to and fro with every Wind not apt to receive contrary Impressions or be diverted and turned aside either by Promises or Menaces from what is resolved on The Psalmist utters it in these words I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy Righteous Judgments Psal 119. And elsewhere in a particular Case Lord remember David how he sware unto the Lord and vowed unto the Mighty God of Jacob Psal 132. that is bound his
own and profess all these things before the whole Church to their own Salvation in the celebration of the Rite of Imposition of Hands which being done they are confirmed And there is forthwith given them full Power and Right to communicate of the Body and Blood of Christ with the Faithful Thus they who are called Waldenses or Picardi And to what you have heard from them give me leave to add the Form of receiving the Baptized and Catechized Youth among the Bohemian Brethren who sometimes go under the same Name a Remnant of the Slavonique Church and the Eminent Disciples of Wickleff Huss and Jerome of Prague as it is described to us by their last Bishop the Excellent Comenius The Young ones Ratio Discip ordinisque Ecclestin unitate Fratâ—um Bohem p. 46. saith he having been taught the Heads of Religion at Home by their Parents and Sureties or at School by their Masters are publickly delivered to the care of their Pastors in the Church before the Receiving of the Lord's Supper most usually at the time of Pastoral Visitation after this manner 1. The words of Christ Matt. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labor c. are read with a short Explication of them 2. The Youth of both Sexes appointed thereunto and preexamined by the Pastor are placed in order in the middle of the Church 3. Then they are asked whether they will renew the Covenant they entered into with God at Baptism 4. This being consented to by them the heads of that Covenant are explained according to the form prescribed by the Apostle to Titus chap. 2.11 12 13. Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts to live righteously soberly and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope c. And they are commanded openly before the Church to renounce the World the Devil and the Flesh c. 5. Next a profession of the Faith is required of them so that they all repete aloud the Apostles Creed 6. Then on their bended Knees saying after the Minister they pray unto God to forgive the Sins of their Youth and strengthen them by his Holy Spirit unto all the good purpose of his Will which also the whole Assembly doth praying for them After which Prayers 7. There is declared to these young Disciples and the whole Church Absolulution and the Right of the Sons of God in participating the Supper of the Lord. And lastly there is added the Apostolical Rite of Imposition of Hands with the Invocation of the Name of God upon them to strengthen or confirm the hope of his Heavenly Grace Thus the Bohemian Brother-hood the most exemplary for good Order among all the Reform'd Churches abroad Unto these now I could easily superadd many other Testimonies but I will close them all with three or four of our Nation and those such as cannot be suspected of casting any favourable Eye upon a Brat of Popery or Prelacy as some have pleased unequally to yoak them Mr. Hanmer and Mr. Baxter above twenty years since have written each of them a Particular Treatise upon this Argument of Confirmation Finding no such way it seems to extricate themselves and others out of the Confusions into which the Times were then fallen as by returning back in part to what had been too rashly discarded together with the Church of England And the later of them understands that Text of St. Mr. Baxter of Confirm p. 102. 119. Paul 2 Tim. 1.6 I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the Gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my Hands of the Apostolical Imposition of Hands after Baptism for the giving of the Holy Ghost rather than the Ministerial Ordination and Gift Dr. William Gouge in his Commentary on the Text tells us that Ordinary Cases wherein Imposition of Hands was used were 1. Blessing Children by our Saviour Mark 10.16 2. Setting men apart to the publick Function of Ministers of the Word 1 Tim. 5.22 and Deacons Act. 6.6 3. Deputing Men to some special Work Acts 13.2 And 4. Confirming such as had been instructed in the Principles of Religion This last particular saith he meaning Confirmation is not expresly set down in Scripture but gathered out of it by the Ancient Orthodox Fathers and with a Joint-consent afterwards by most Divines not Papists only but Protestants also And of the same Judgment those of the late Assembly so called who put forth the English Annotations Assembl Annot. in Loc. declare themselves to be Laying on of Hands which say they is usually call'd Confirmation which stood 1. In examining those who had been Baptized what Progress they had made in the Doctrine of Christianity And 2. In praying for them that God would continue them in the Faith and give them more Grace strengthening them by the Holy Ghost Now when the chief Pastor or Pastors of the Church say they prayed for them they laid their Hands upon them whence the Apostolical Constitution was called laying on of Hands So St. Augustine and so most of the Fathers with one Consent And here now were a fair occasion to wonder that so Reverend and Divine an Assembly as that was reputed should utterly cast off a thing so well established and never so much as consider of it in their Directory Vindic. of Liturgie p. 38. That the defaming and casting out of this so blameless and gainful an Order should be necessary or useful to any Policy save only to defend the Devil from so great a Blow and to sustain and uphold his Kingdom I never yet had any Temptation or Motive to suspect or imagine Mr. Ham. L' Estrange Alliance of Divine Offices p. 262. saith our Pious and Learned Dr. Hammond And There is not any thing wherein the late pretended Reformers amuse me more than in this particular saith another worthy person Nor do I know what Account to make for them unless this may pass for one That they practiced against known and avowed Principles T. C. p. 174. §. 2. as T. C. formerly stuck not to aver of Mr. Calvin himself That as well as he allowed of Confirmation he put it out of the Church of Geneva where he was Pastor But this may suffice abundantly to have spoken concerning the Scripture Patterns and Grounds which we have for this Sacred Appointment as they are expounded and handed down to us by most unquestionable Authorities I pass on Thirdly to the Ceremony used in it the Imposition of the Bishop's Hands And here I shall offer a few words 1. Of the Ceremony it self And 2. Of the Special Minister concerned about it First Of the Ceremony it self Imposition of Hands according to the Scripture Warrant without either Crossing or Annointing with Chrism made of Oyl and Balsom or boxing on the Ear or Cheek as is used among the Papists This laying on of Hands is a most natural unaffected and Ancient Ceremony of Prayer and Benediction as we find it used first in the Old