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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61900	Of confirmation a sermon preach'd at St. Benedict Grace-Church, March 14th, 1693, the day on which the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry, Lord Bishop of London, confirmed there / by Philip Stubs ...	Stubs, Philip, 1665-1738.	1693 (1693)	Wing S6078; ESTC R14889	15,679	42

any Office of the Church by some outward Gift for the Conversion or Edification of others had only some outward shew passed upon them for the greater Evidence of the inward Gifts of the Spirit of Grace Gratiae gratum facientis This in short then I take to be the Sence of our Church in this Matter That the Holy Ghost is given us in this Ordinance not to make us able to prophesie to speak with Tongues or the like But to know the Word and to do the Will of God as well as we can To which Purpose that I may conclude this Head hear what St. Austin said long ago against the Donatists De Bapt. contra Donatist lib. 3. cap. 16. Neque enim temporalibus sensibilibus miraculis per Manus Impositionem c. The Spirit which is now given by Imposition of Hands is not attested by temporal and sensible Miracles as it was at first for the Commendation of our Faith while 't was young and to enlarge the Beginnings of the Church For who expects now That those on whom Hands are laid for receiving the Holy Ghost should presently begin to speak with Tongues But yet the Divine Love is understood to be secretly and invisibly inspired into their Hearts by the Bond of Peace which enables them to say The Love of God is spread abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given us The Consequence of which will be That we ought not any of us to despise Confirmation because 't is not attended with miraculous Gifts which have ceased above 1200 Years ago since though it imparts no Gifts to us now yet it may be the means of communicating such Graces as may enable us to perform our Duty and practise it to the obtaining of Eternal Life which is far better As for those therefore who would have Confirmation now wholly laid aside as not according to the Example of the Apostles because in the Infancy of the Church the Holy Ghost was in some Cases miraculously bestowed by such Imposition of Hands which ought not for good Reasons to be expected now See Falkner 's Libertas Ecclesiastica Book II. Chap. 4. §. 2. They may as well 't is thought assert that the Imposition of Hands for Ordination is not continued in the Church from the Example of the Apostles because then the Holy Ghost was sometimes extraordinarily given thereby or that our Praying and Preaching is not a doing that for which we have the Apostles for an Example because we cannot by them expect we do not any where find amongst those that pretend chiefly to the Spirit such wonderful Gifts as sometimes were conferred under the Apostles Doctrine and by their Prayer But 2dly If the Rite of Imposition of Hands in Confirmation is to be perpetual Our next Enquiry must be where or with whom the Power of thus Laying on the Hands is lodg'd The Presbyterians all say With the Priests We of the Church of England unanimously With the Bishops and that for this Reason amongst others Because the Dignity of their Office chiefly gives Authority to bless according to that Rule of the Apostle without all contradiction The Less is blessed of the Greater Heb. 7.7 Which Reason as it was back'd by that early notable Example of St. Peter's and St. John's Mission from Jerusalem to Samaria to confirm those whom St. Philip had baptiz'd but could not confirm made this Custom so prevail in the Church L'Estrange his Alliance of Divine Offices chap. 9. p. 258. That we are told there cannot be produc'd any authentick Testimony out of Ecclesiastical History where a mere Presbyter presumed to exercise the Office of confirming which was ever in the Primitive Church reserved to the Bishop alone This I might largely prove out of Antiquity particularly that known Place of St. Cyprian Cypr. Ep. ad Jubaianum de Bapt. haereticis Qui in Ecclesia Baptizantur Praepositis Ecclesiae offeruntur c. Those that are Baptized in the Church are presented to the Bishops to be confirmed Vt per nostram orationem ac manus Impositionem Spiritum sanctum consequantur That by our Prayers and Imposition of Hands they may receive the Holy Ghost But I must hasten to my Third Head remarking this by the Way That whether the Power of Confirmation be lodg'd with Bishop or Priest we of this Church are certainly in the right which our Dissenting Brethren may not be For if those only can Confirm who are called to the Office of a Bishop as the Primitive Writers generally affirm conformable to the Practice of the Catholick Church we have such Bishops amongst us whilst they confessedly have not If Priests may do it our Bishops are by the Confession of them all Lawful Priests in the Church of God So that the Case stands thus betwixt us If Priests may confirm we have such as well as they by their own Concession If Bishops only as most but themselves hold we have them whilst they have not But now in pleading for Confirmation by Bishops only I would not be thought as some slanderously insinuate we of the Church do endeavour to make it a Sacrament nay set it above either of the Sacraments instituted by our Blessed Saviour because we allow a Deacon to officiate in the Lord's Supper and a Priest to Baptize but only a Bishop forsooth can confirm No in this we only follow the Institution and Practice of the Catholick Church which reserv'd Solemn Benedictions as Acts of Paternal Authority to the Bishops alone but are so far from holding Confirmation a Sacrament That we expressly say Art 25th of the Church of England Those Five commonly called Sacraments in the Church of Rome viz. Confirmation Penance Orders Extream Unction and Matrimony are not such for that they have not any outward visible sign or Ceremony ordained of God as Tokens of inward and spiritual Grace thereby conferred And the Papists must suffer us to beg their Pardon if we reject the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or anointing Oyl made use of by them in Confirmation as an outward visible Sign c. which yet we confess was anciently used in Baptism and in Confirmation too as a Ceremony only together with the Box on the Ear which the Bishop gives the confirmed Party the Binding of the Forehead for Seven Days after and Abundance other Legerdemain Tricks foolishly and superstitiously brought into this Religious Performance by them till we have as express Warrant from Scripture or Reason for them as we have for Imposition of Hands which they have irreverently I may say Sacrilegiously thrown out of this Office but we have restor'd since the Reformation to its Primitive Vsage Nor do we allow this Imposition of Hands to be a sacramental Sign of pardoning and satisfying Grace as Water Bread and Wine are in the Sacraments properly so called and which are Means of conveying that Grace unto us But we look upon that Ceremony here used only V.

Falkneri Libert Ecclesiast lib. cap. uti supra §. 14. as an immediate Representation of a Benediction and of being thereby received into a higher Degree of Christians by the Ministerial Power of the Church and though further Grace from God is needful in this higher Degree and humble and devout Persons may receive Grace from God suitable to whatsoever State he calleth them yet Grace is in these Cases to be expected in the Use of Prayer and from the Promises of God's Assistance to and Presence with his Ministers and People not immediately by the use of Imposition of Hands The Benefits consequent upon which as it is joined with the Prayers of the Bishop and other Holy Christians I come next to consider as my Third Head 3. Now the Benefits received by Imposition of Hands in Confirmation with the Bishops and the Church's Prayers are very great and many But I shall crowd them for the present into the three following The First with Respect to the Confirmed Persons as herein immediately concern'd the other Two with Relation to the Established National Church of Christ as it at present stands circumstantiated in England First As to the Persons immediately concern'd The Benefit they receive by Confirmation if duly qualified is the Infusion of that Heavenly Grace into their Hearts mention'd in the Bishop's Benediction and specified in the First Prayer See Dr. Comber pag. 223. as we are assured out of the Office of Confirmation as long ago as St. Ambrose's Time To be the Spirit of Wisdom and of Vnderstanding Of Wisdom i. e. in spiritual Matters and of Vnderstanding i. e. of apprehending what we are taught The Spirit of Counsel and of Ghostly Strength of Counsel i. e. of prudent managing all our Actions and of Ghostly Strength i. e. of executing all our Religious Purposes The Spirit of Knowledge and of True Godliness of Knowledge i. e. of discerning between Good and Evil and of True Godliness i. e. of Devotion in God's Service Lastly The Spirit of Fear i. e. of Reverence towards God in all our Actions And what an inestimable Advantage is this if we reap this great Blessing from Confirmation as I question not but every pious Christian doth who is sincere in his Intentions and Endeavours Id. ibid. If we are from henceforward wise and apprehensive prudent and courageous discreet in our choice devout in our Duties and pious in our Lives what Graces will there be wanting Which of them will not spring from this Root We shall then be endued with Charity and the Love of God Humility and Watchfulness Faith and Holiness Meekness and Patience Temperance and Chastity every thing that may make us good Christians good Communicants Whence a Second Benefit of Confirmation arises to the National Church of Christ here established amongst us 2. 'T is a known inveterate Prejudice sown in the Minds of most Presbyterians Independants and others among us That we admit to the Holy Sacrament all sorts of Comers good or bad godly or profane without any Care or the least Distinction To which though I might answer That their own Communions however they may pretend them to be made up of the only Saints here on Earth are but mixt ones as is too evident from the scandalous Lives of many of their most zealous Professors as well as ours and that whatever is amiss amongst us of that Nature might have been cured long since by that Discipline wish'd for every Year in the Ash-Wednesday service Preface to the Commination did not they industriously hinder its Restauration by bug-bearing People into strange Notions of its Popishness Prelateness and I know not what Mischievousness besides I say though I might reply thus to them yet we may hence all of us afford them a more convincing Argument to the contrary and at the same time demonstrate the great Advantages of Confirmation which we have but they have not yet received amongst them though confessedly of so very great Use See above pag. 9 10. That is let us every one of us who shall be or are already confirm'd but approach to the Holy Sacrament And there shall none be admitted to the Holy Communion until such time as he be confirmed c. Rubr. 3d. in the Office of Confirmation and no Body ought to come near it before Confirmation as ours with the Primitive Church expresses its Unwillingness in the last Rubrick of the Office for it with devouter Affections and live to better Purpose after Confirmation than before we did and we cannot fail of doing a great deal of Honour to God Almighty by thus vindicating our Church's Constitutions and doubly stopping the Mouths of these Gain-sayers as effectually we do 3. Those of the Anabaptists V. Humfredi Ep. Sarisburiensis Diat Praelimin ad Hammondi Com de Confirmat §. 12. The chiefest of whose Objections against our Infant-Baptism is That it doth not lay so strict an Obligation upon Men as that of Adult Persons doth But see how the Force of that is taken away by the right Use of Confirmation amongst us For do they call for a Personal covenanting with Christ in Believers See the Bishop's Interrogation in the Confirmation Office Here we have it every confirm'd Person taking upon him or her self those Vows which were made for them in Baptism by Proxy Do they require Publick Solemnity in this Matter for a firmer Engagement of Men to their Duty Our Confirmation answers this their Expectation to a Tittle For we ever renew our Baptismal Vow in the Church the most Publick Place set apart for God's Publick Worship before the Bishop and others God's publick Ministers and a full Congregation frequently Is there any thing else that can engage Persons more rigidly to the Performance of this Covenant which the Anabaptists don't require Can a particular Witness that may frequently stir us up to the Remembrance of our Solemn Promise made to God before his People be desired for this end That nothing may be wanting to render People as much Christians as can be Our Church enjoins Rubr. 4th in the Church-Catechism That every one shall have a God-father or God-mother as a Witness of their Confirmation Which Order were it not neglected as I fear it is too much would make our Provision more effectual for the promoting of Christianity and less exceptionable than the Rebaptization of these our Adversaries But now Fourthly and Lastly That these Three Benefits of Confirmation may truly redound to ours and the Church's Good The Person immediately concern'd must be of a competent Age Rub. 3d. in the Catechism Which is the first Qualification ought to be required of Persons that do desire to be confirmed 'T was the Practice of the Church of Rome at first to confirm Children presently after Baptism not many Years ago here in England they did it not till they were Five Years of Age and in a late Council younger than that of Trent since the