in a holy prayer which in the Greek Euchologion they have very anciently and constantly used Thou O Lord the most compassionate and Great King of all graciously impart to this Person the seal of the gift of thy Holy Almighty and adorable spirit For as an Ancient Greek said truly and wisely The Father is reconcil'd and the Son is the Reconciler but to them who are by Baptism and Repentance made friends of God the Holy Spirit is collated as a gift They well knew what they received in this ministration and therefore wisely laid hold of it and would not let it go This was anciently ministred by Apostles and ever after by the Bishops and Religiously receiv'd by Kings and greatest Princes and I have read that St. Sylvester confirm'd Constantine the Emperour and when they made their children servants of the Holy Jesus and Souldiers under his banner and bonds-men of his Institution then they sent them to the Bishop to be confirm'd who did it sometimes by such Ceremonies that the solemnity of the ministry might with greatest Religion addict them to the service of their Great Lord. We read in Adrovaldus that Charles Martel entring into a League with Bishop Luitprandus sent his Son Pipin to him ut more Christianorum fidelium capillum ejus primus attonderet ac Pater illi Spiritualis existeret that he might after the manner of Christians first cut his hair in token of service to Christ and in confirming him he should be his spiritual Father And something like this we find concerning William Earl of Warren and Surrey who when he had Dedicated the Church of St. Pancratius and the Priorie of Lewes receiv'd Confirmation and gave seizure per capillos capitis mei sayes he in the Charter fratris mei Radulphi de Warrena quas abscidit cum cultello de capitibus nostris Henricus Episcopus Wintoniensis by the hairs of my head and of my Brothers which Henry Bishop of Winchester cut off before the Altar meaning according to the Ancient custome in confirmation when they by that solemnity addicted themselves to the free servitude of the Lord Jesus The ceremony is obsolete and chang'd but the mystery can never and indeed that is one of the advantages in which we can rejoyce concerning the ministration of this Rite in the Church of England and Ireland that whereas it was sometimes clouded sometimes hindred and sometimes hurt by the appendage of needless and useless ceremonies it is now reduc'd to the Primitive and first simplicity amongst us and the excrescencies us'd in the Church of Rome are wholly par'd away and by holy Prayers and the Apostolical Ceremonie of imposition of the Bishops hands it is worthily and zealously administred The Latins us'd to send Chrism to the Greeks when they had usurped some jurisdiction over them and the Popes Chaplains went with a quantity of it to C. P. where the Russians usually met them for it for that was then the ceremony of this ministration But when the Latins demanded fourscore pounds of Gold besides other gifts they went away and chang'd their custom rather than pay an unlawful and ungodly Tribute Non quaerimus vestra sed vos we require nothing but leave to impart Gods blessings with pure Intentions and a spiritual ministery And as the Bishops of our Churches receive nothing from the People for the Ministration of this Rite so they desire nothing but Love and just Obedience in spiritual and Ecclesiastical duties and we offer our Flocks spiritual things without mixture of Temporal advantages from them we minister the rituals of the Gospel without the inventions of Men Riligion without superstition and only desire to be believ'd in such things which we prove from Scripture expounded by the Catholick practice of the Church of God Concerning the Subject of this Discourse the Rite of Confirmation It were easie to recount many great and glorious expressions which we find in the Sermons of the Holy Fathers of the Primitive Ages so certain it is that in this thing we ought to be zealous as being desirous to perswade our People to give us leave to do them great good But the following Pages will do it I hope competently only we shall remark that when they had gotten a custom anciently that in cases of necessity they did permit Deacons and Lay-men sometimes to baptize yet they never did confide in it much but with much caution and curiosity commanded that such Persons should when that necessity was over be carried to the Bishop to be confirm'd so to supply all precedent defects relating to the past imperfect ministry and future necessity and danger as appears in the Council of Eliberis And the Ancients had so great estimate and veneration to this Holy rite that as in Heraldry they distinguish the same thing by several names when they relate to Persons of greater Eminency and they blazon the Armes of the Gentry by Metals of the Nobtlity by pretious stones but of Kings and Princes by Planets so when they would signifie the Vnction which was us'd in confirmation they gave it a special word and of more distinction remark and therefore the oyl us'd in baptism they call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that of confirmation was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they who spake properly kept this difference of words untill by incaution and ignorant carelessness the names fell into confusion and the thing into disuse and dis-respect But it is no small addition to the Honour of this ministration that some wise and good men have piously believed that when baptiz'd Christians are confirm'd and solemnly bless'd by the Bishop that then it is that a special Angel Guardian is appointed to keep their souls from the assaults of the spirits of darkness Concerning which though I shall not interpose mine own opinion yet this I say that the Prety of that supposition is not disagreeable to the intention of this Rite for since by this the Holy Spirit of God the Father of Spirits is given it is not unreasonably thought by them that the other good Spirits of God the Angels who are ministring spirits sent forth to minister to the good of them that shall be Heirs of Salvation should pay their kind offices in subordination to their Prince and fountain that the first in every kind might be the measure of all the rest But there are greater and stranger things than this that God does for the souls of his Servants and for the honour of the ministeries which himself hath appointed We shall only add that this was ancient and long before Popery entred into the World and that this rite hath been more abus'd by Popery than by any thing and to this Day the Bigots of the Roman Church are the greatest Enemies to it and from them the Presbyterians but besides that the Church of England and Ireland does religiously retain it and hath appointed a solemn officer for the Ministery the Lutheran and
Baptisma est nativitas unguentum vero est nobis actionis instar motus said Cabasilas In Baptism we are intitled to the inheritance but because we are in our infancy and minority the Father gives unto his Sons a Tutor a Guardian and a Teacher in Confirmation said Rupertus that as we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ So in Confirmation we may be renewed in the inner man and strengthned in all our Holy vows and purposes by the Holy Ghost ministred according to Gods ordinance The Holy Rite of Confirmation is a Divine ordinance and it produces Divine effects and is ministred by Divine persons that is by those whom God hath sanctified and separated to this ministration At first all that were baptiz'd were also confirm'd and ever since all good people that have understood it have been very zealous for it and time was in England even since the first beginnings of the reformation when Confirmation had been less carefully ministred for about six years when the people had their first opportunities of it restor'd they ran to it in so great numbers that Churches and Church-yards would not hold them insomuch that I have read that the Bishop of Chester was forc'd to impose hands on the people in the Fields and was so oppressed with multitudes that he had almost been trod to death by the people and had dyed with the throng if he had not been rescued by the Civil power But Men have too much neglected all the ministeries of grace and this most especially and have not given themselves to a right understanding of it and so neglected it yet more But because the prejudice which these parts of the Christian Church have suffered for want of it is very great as will appear by enumeration of the many and great blessings consequent to it I am not without hope that it may be a service acceptable to God and an useful ministery to the souls of my charges if by instructing them that know not and exhorting them that know I set forward the practise of this Holy rite and give reasons why the people ought to love it and to desire it and how they are to understand and practise it and consequently with what duteous affections they are to relate to those persons whom God hath in so special and signal manner made to be for their good and eternal benefit the Ministers of the Spirit and salvation S. Bernard in the life S. Malachias my Predecessor in the See of Downe and Connor reports that it was the care of that good Prelate to renew the rite of Confirmation in his Diocess where it had been long neglected and gone into desuetude It being too much our case in Ireland I find the same necessity and am oblig'd to the same procedure for the same reason and in pursuance of so excellent an example Hoc enim est Evangelizare Christum said S. Austin non tantùm docere quae suut dicenda de Christo sed etiam quae observanda ei qui accedit ad compagem corporis Christi For this is to preach the Gospel not only to teach those things which are to be said of Christ but those also which are to be observed by every one who desires to be confederated into the Society of the body of Christ which is his Church that is not only the doctrines of good life but the mysteries of godliness and the Rituals of Religion which issue from a Divine fountain are to be declar'd by him who would fully preach the Gospel In order to which performance I shall declare 1. The Divine Original Warranty and Institution of the Holy Rite of Confirmation 2. That this Rite was to be perpetual and never ceasing ministration 3. That it was actually continued and practis'd by all the succeeding Ages of the purest and Primitive Churches 4. That this Rite was appropriate to the Ministry of Bishops 5. That prayer and imposition of the Bishops hands did make the whole Ritual and though other things were added yet they were not necessary or any thing of the institution 6. That many great Graces and blessings were consequent to the worthy reception and due ministration of it 7. I shall add something of the manner of praeparation to it and reception of it SECT I. Of the Divine Original warranty and institution of the Holy Rite of Confirmation IN the Church of Rome they have determin'd Confirmation to be a Sacrament proprii nominis properly and really and yet their Doctors have some of them at least been paulò iniquiores a little unequal and unjust to their proposition in so much that from themselves we have had the greatest opposition in this article Bonacina and Henriquez allow the proposition but make the Sacrament to be so unnecessary that a little excuse may justifie the omission and almost neglect of it And Loemelius and Daniel à Jesu and generally the English Jesuits have to serve some ends of their own family and order disputed it almost into contempt that by representing it as unnecessary they might do all the ministeries Ecclesiastical in England without the assistance of Bishops their Superiours whom they therefore love not because they are so But the Theological faculty of Paris have condemn'd their doctrine as temerarious and savouring of Heresie and in the later Schools have approov'd rather the Doctrine of Gamachaeus Estius Kellison and Bellarmine who indeed doe follow the Doctrine of the most eminent persons in the Ancient School Richard of Armagh Scotus Hugo Cavalli and Gerson the Learned Chancellor of Paris who following the Old Roman order Amalarius and Albinus doe all teach Confirmation to be of great and pious use of Divine original and to many purposes necessary according to the Doctrine of the Scriptures and the primitive Church Whether Confirmation be a Sacrament or no is of no use to dispute and if it be disputed it can never be proov'd to be so as Baptism and the Lords Supper that is as generally necessary to Salvation but though it be no Sacrament it cannot follow that it is not of very great use and holiness and as a Man is never the less tyed to Repentance though it be no Sacrament so neither is he ever the less oblig'd to receive Confirmation though it be as it ought acknowledg'd to be of an use and Nature inferiour to the two Sacraments of Divine direct and immediate institution It is certain that the Fathers in a large Symbolical and general sense call it a Sacrament but mean not the same thing by that word when they apply it to Confirmation as they doe when they apply it to Baptism and the Lords Supper That it is an Excellent and Divine ordinance to purposes spiritual that it comes from God and ministers in our way to God that is all we are concern'd to inquire after and this I shall endeavour to prove not only against the Jesuits but against all opponents
and the accident without the subject This is impossible and therefore it remains that still there abides in the Church this power that by Imposition of the Hands of sit persons the Holy Ghost is ministred But this will be further cleared in the next Section SECT III. The Holy Rite of Imposition of Hands for the giving the Holy Spirit or Confirmation was actually continued and practised by all the succeeding Ages of the purest and Primitive Church NExt to the plain words of Scripture the traditive interpretation and practise of the Church of God is the best Argument in the World for Rituals and Mystical ministrations for the tradition is universal and all the way acknowledged to be derived from Scripture And although in Rituals the tradition it self if it be universal and primitive as this is were alone sufficient and is so esteemed in the Baptism of Infants in the Priests consecrating the Holy Eucharist in publick Liturgies in Absolution of Penitents the Lords Day Communicating of Women and the like yet this Rite of Confirmation being all that and evidently derived from the practise Apostolical and so often recorded in the New Testament both in the Ritual and Mysterious part both in the Ceremony and Spiritual effect is a point of as great certainty as it is of usefulness and holy designation Theophilus Antiochenus lived not long after the death of S. John and he derives the name of Christian which was first given to the Disciples in his City from this Chrisme or spiritual Unction this Confirmation of baptized persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are therefore called Christians because we are anointed with the Vnction of God These words will be best understood by the subsequent testimonies by which it will appear that confirmation for reasons hereafter mention'd was for many Ages called Chrisme or Unction But he adds the usefulness of it For who is there that enters into the World or that enters into contention or Athletick combats but is anointed with oyl By which words he intimates both the Unction anciently us'd in Baptisme and in confirmation both for in the first we have our new birth in the second we are prepar'd for spiritual combate Tertullian having spoken of the Rites of Baptism proceeds Dehinc saith he manus imponitur per Benedictionem advocans invitans Spiritum Sanctum Tunc ille sanctissimus Spiritus super emundata benedicta corpora libens à patre descendit After baptism the hand is impos'd by blessing calling and inviting the Holy Spirit Then that most holy spirit willingly descends from the Father upon the Bodies that are cleans'd and blessed that is first baptis'd then confirm'd and again Caro signatur ut anima muniatur Caro manus impositione adumbratur ut anima spiritu illuminetur The flesh is consign'd or seal'd that also is one of the known primitive words for Confirmation that the soul may be guarded or defended and the body is overshadowed by the imposition of hands that the soul may be enlightned by the Holy Ghost Nay further yet If any Man objects that Baptisme is sufficient he answers It is true it is sufficient to them that are to dye presently but it is not enough for them that are still to live and to fight against their spiritual Enemies For in baptism we do not receive the Holy Ghost for although the Apostles had been baptiz'd yet the Holy Ghost was come upon none of them untill Jesus was glorified sed in aquâ emundati sub Angelo Spiritui Sancto praeparamur but being cleans'd by Baptismal water we are dispos'd for the Holy Spirit under the hand of the Angel of the Church under the Bishops hand And a little after he expostulates the article Non licebit Deo in suo Organo per manus sanctas sublimitatem modulari spiritalem Is it not lawful for God by an instrument of his own under Holy hands to accord the heights and sublimity of the spirit For indeed this is the Divine Order and therefore Tertullian reckoning the happiness and excellency of the Church of Rome at that time sayes she believes in God she signes with water she cloths with the spirit viz. in Confirmation she feeds with the Eucharist she exhorts to Martyrdom and against this order or institution she receives no Man S. Cyprian in his Epistle to Jubajanus having urg'd that of the Apostles going to Samaria to impose hands on those whom S. Philip had baptized adds Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur ut qui in Ecclesiâ baptizantur per praepositos Ecclesiae offerantur per nostram orationem ac manus impositionem spiritum sanctum consequantur signaculo dominico consummentur Which custom is also descended to us that they who are baptiz'd might be brought by the Rulers of the Church and by our prayer and the imposition of hands said the Martyr Bishop may obtain the Holy Ghost and be consummated with the Lords signature And again Vngi necesse est eum qui baptizatus est c. Et super eos qui in Ecclesiâ baptizati erant Ecclesiasticum legitimum baptismum consecuti fuerant oratione pro iis habitâ manu impositâ invocaretur infunderetur Spiritus Sanctus It is necessary that every one who is baptiz'd should receive the Unction that he may be Christ's anointed one and may have in him the grace of Christ. They who have receiv'd lawful and Ecclesiastical Baptism it is not necessary they should be baptiz'd again but that which is wanting must be supplyed viz. that prayer being made for them and hands impos'd the Holy Ghost be invocated and pour'd upon them S. Clement of Alexandria a Man of Venerable Antiquity and admirable Learning tells that a certain young Man was by S. John delivered to the care of a Bishop who having baptiz'd him posteà verò sigillo Domini tanquam perfectâ tutâque ejus custodiâ eum obsignavit Afterwards he sealed him with the Lords signature the Church word for Confirmation as with a safe and perfect guard Origen in his seventh Homily upon Ezekiel expounding certain mystical words of the Prophet saith Oleum est quo vir sanctus Vngitur oleum Christi oleum Sanctae Doctrinae Cum ergo aliquis accepit hoc oleum quo Vngitur Sanctus id est Scripturam sanctam instituentem quomodo oporteat baptizari in nomine Patris filii Spiritus sancti pauca commutans unxerit quempiam quodammodo dixerit jam non es Catechumenus consecutus es lavacrum secundae generationis talis homo accipit oleum Dei c. The Unction of Christ of holy Doctrine is the Oyl by which the Holy Man is anointed having been instructed in the Scriptures and taught how to be baptized then changing a few things he sayes to him now you are no longer a Catechumen now you are regenerated in baptism such a Man receives the Vnction
licet sed quod ab Episcopo fuerit consecratum Non tamen frontem ex eodem oleo signare quod solis debetur Episcopis cum tradunt Spiritum Paracletum Now this the Bishops did not only to satisfie the desire of the baptized but by this ceremony to excite the votum confirmationis that they who could not actually be confirmed might at least have it in voto in desire and in Ecclesiastical representation This as some think was first introduc'd by Pope Sylvester and this is the consignation which the Priests of Egypt us'd in the absence of the Bishop and this became afterward the practice in other Churches But this was no part of the Holy Rite of Confirmation but a ceremony annexed to it ordinarily from thence transmitted to baptism first by imitation afterwards by way of supply and in defect of the opportunities of Confirmation Episcopal And therefore we find in the first Arausican Council in the time of Leo the first and Theodosius junior it was decreed That in baptism every one should receive Chrism de eo autem qui in baptismate quâ cunque necessitate faciente Chrismatus non fuerit in confirmatione sacerdos commonebitur If the baptized by any intervening accident or necessity was not anointed the Bishop should be advertiz'd of it in Confirmation meaning that then it must be done For the Chrisme was but a ceremony annexed no part of either rite essential to it but yet thy thought it necessary by reason of some opinions then prevailing in the Church But here the rites themselves are clearly distinguish'd and this of Confirmation was never permitted to mere Presbyters Innocentius III a great Canonist and of great authority gives a full evidence in this particular Per frontis Chrismationem manus impositio designatur quia per eam Spiritus Sanctus per augmentum datur robur Vnde cum caeteras unctiones simplex sacerdos vel Presbyter valeat exhibere hanc non nisi summus Sacerdos vel Presbyter valeat exhibere id est Episcopus conferre By anointing of the forehead the imposition of hands is design'd because by that the Holy Ghost is given for increase and strength therefore when a single Priest may give the other Unctions yet this cannot be done but by the chief Priest that is the Bishop And therefore to the Question what shall be done if a Bishop may not be had The same Innocentius answers It is safer and without danger wholly to omit it than to have it rashly and without authority ministred by any other cum umbra quaedam ostendatur in opere veritas autem non subeat in effectu for it is a meer shadow without truth or real effect when any one else does it but the person whom God hath appointed to this ministration and no approved man of the Church did ever say the contrary till Richard Primate of Ardmagh commenced a new Opinion from whence Thomas of Walden sayes that Wiclâ—f borrowed his Doctrine to trouble the Church in this particular What the Doctrine of the ancient Church was in the purest times I have already I hope sufficiently declared what it was afterwards when the Ceremony of Chrisme was as much remarked as the Rite to which it ministred we finde fully declared by Rabanus Maurus Signatur Baptizatus cum Chrismate per sacerdotem in capitis summitate per Pontificem verò in fronte ut priori Vnctione significetur spiritus sancti super ipsum descensio ad habitationem Deo consecrandam in secundâ quoque ut ejus spiritus sancti septiformis gratia cum omni plenitudine sanctitatis scientiae virtutis venire in hominem declaretur Tunc enim ipse spiritus sanctus post mundata benedicta corpora atque animas liberè à patre descendit ut unà cum suâ visitatione sanctificaret illustraret nunc in hominem ad hoc venit ut signaculum fidei quod in fronte suscepit faciat cum donis coelestibus repletum suâ gratiâ confortatum intrepidè audacter coram Regibus Potestatibus hujus saeculi portare ac nomen Christi liberâ voce praedicare In Baptism the baptized was anointed on the top of the head in Confirmation on the fore-head by that was signified that the Holy Ghost was preparing a habitation for himself by this was declared the descent of the Holy Spirit with his seven-fold gifts with all fulness of knowledge and spiritual understanding These things were signified by the appendant Ceremony but the Rites were ever distinguished and did not onely signifie and declare but effect these Graces by the ministry of Prayer and Imposition of Hands The ceremony the Church instituted and us'd as she pleas'd and gave in what circumstances they would choose and new propositions entred and customes chang'd and deputations were made and the Bishops in whom by Christ was plac'd the fulness of Ecclesiastical power concredited to the Priests and Deacons so much as their occasions and necessities permitted and because in those ages and places where the external ceremony was regarded it may be more than the inward mystery or the Rite of Divine appointment they were apt to believe that the Chrism or exteriour Unction delegated to the Priests Ministery after the Episcopal consecration of it might supply the want of Episcopal confirmation it came to pass that new opinions were entertain'd and the Regulars the Fryers and the Jesuits who were alwayes too little friends to the Episcopal power from which they would fain have been wholly exempted publickly taught in England especially that chrisme ministred by them with leave from the Pope did doe all that which ordinarily was to be done in Episcopal confirmation For as Tertullian complain'd in his time Quibus fuit propositum aliter docendi eos necessitas coëgit aliter disponendi instrumenta Doctrinae They who had purposes of teaching new Doctrines were constrain'd otherwise to dispose of the Instruments and Rituals appertaining to their Doctrines These men to serve ends destroyed the article and overthrew the Ancient Discipline and Unity of the Primitive Church But they were justly censur'd by the Theological faculty at Paris and the censure well defended by Hallier one of the Doctors of the Sorbon whether I refer the Reader that is curious in little things But for the main It was ever call'd Confirmatio Episcopalis impositio manuum Episcoporum which our English word well expresses and perfectly retains the use we know it by the common name of Bishopping of Children I shall no farther insist upon it onely I shall observe that there is a vain distinction brought into the Schools and Glosses of the Canon Law of a Minister ordinary and extraordinary all allowing that the Bishop is appointed the ordinary Minister of Confirmation but they would fain innovate and pretend that in some cases others may be Ministers extraordinary This device is of infinite danger to the destruction of the whole Sacred order of
the Ministry and disparks the inclosures and layes all in common and makes men supream controulers of the Orders of God and relies upon a false principle for in true Divinity and by the Oeconomy of the spirit of God there can be no Minister of any Divine Ordinance but he that is of Divine appointment there can be none but the ordinary Minister I do not say that God is tied to this way he cannot be tied but by himself and therefore Christ gave a special Commission to Ananias to baptize and to confirm St. Paul and he gave the Spirit to Cornelius even before he was baptized and he ordained St. Paul to be an Apostle without the ministry of man But this I say That though God can make Ministers extraordinary yet Man cannot and they that goe about to do so usurp the power of Christ and snatch from his hand what he never intended to part with The Apostles admitted others into a part of their care and of their power but when they intended to imploy them in any ministry they gave them so much of their Order as would enable them but a person of a lower order could never be deputed Minister of actions appropriate to the higher which is the case of Confirmation by the practise and tradition of the Apostles and by the Universal practise and Doctrine of the Primitive Catholick Church by which Bishops onely the successors of the Apostles were alone the Ministers of Confirmation and therefore if any man else usurp it let them answer it they do hurt indeed to themselves but no benefit to others to whom they minister shadows instead of substances SECT V. The whole procedure or Ritual of Confirmation is by Prayer and Imposition of Hands THE Heart and the Eye are lift up to God to bring Blessings from him and so is the Hand too but this also falls upon the People and rests there to apply the descending blessing to the proper and prepared suscipient God governed the People of Israel by the hand of Moses and Aaron Et calidae fecére silentia turbae Majestate manus and both under Moses and under Christ when ever the President of Religion did bless the People he lifted up his hand over the Congregation and when he blessed a single person he laid his hand upon him This was the Rite used by Jacob and the Patriarchs by Kings and Prophets by all the eminently Religious in the Synagogue and by Christ himself when he blessed the Children which were brought to him and by the Apostles when they blessed and confirmed the baptized Converts and whom else can the Church follow The Apostles did so to the Christians of Samaria to them of Ephesus and St. Paul describes this whole mystery by the Ritual part of it calling it the foundation of imposition of hands It is the solemnity of blessing and the solemnity and application of Paternal prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Clement of Alexandria Upon whom shall he lay his hands Whom shall he bless Quid enim aliud est impositio manuum nisi Oratio super hominem said St. Austine The Bishop's laying his hands on the People what is it but the solemnity of Prayer for them that is a prayer made by those sacred persons who by Christ are appointed to pray for them and to bless in his Name and so indeed are all the ministeries of the Church Baptism Consecration of the B. Eucharist Absolution Ordination Visitation of the Sick they are all in genere orationis they are nothing but solemn and appointed Prayer by an intrusted and a gracious Person specificated by a proper order to the end of the blessing then designed and therefore when Saint James commanded that the sick Persons should send for the Elders of the Church he adds and let them pray over them that is lay their hands on the sick and pray for them that is praying over them It is adumbratio dextrae as Tertullian calls it the right hand of him that ministers over-shadows the person for whom the solemn Prayer is to be made This is the Office of the Rulers of the Church for they in the Divine Eutaxy are made your Superiours they are indeed your servants for Jesus sake but they are over you in the Lord and therefore are from the Lord appointed to bless the People for without contradiction saith the Apostle the less is blessed of the greater that is God hath appointed the Superiours in Religion to be the great Ministers of Prayer he hath made them the gratious Persons them he will hear those he hath commanded to convey your needs to God and Gods blessings to you and to ask a blessing is to desire them to pray for you them I say whom God most respecteth for their piety and zeal that way or else regardeth for that their place and calling bindeth them above others to do this duty such as are Natural and Spiritual Fathers It is easie for prophane persons to deride these things as they do all Religion which is not conveyed to them by sense or natural demonstrations but the Oeconomy of the spirit and the things of God are spiritually discerned the spirit bloweth where it listeth and no Man knows whence it comes and whether it goes and the Operations are discerned by Faith and received by Love and by Obedience Date mihi Christianum intelligit quod dico None but true Christians understand and feel these things but of this we are sure that in all the times of Moses Law while the Synagogue was standing and in all the dayes of Christianity so long as men loved Religion and walked in the Spirit and minded the affairs of their Souls to have the prayers and the blessing of the Fathers of the Synagogue and the Fathers of the Church was esteemed no small part of their Religion and so they went to Heaven But that which I intend to say is this That Prayer and Imposition of Hands was the whole procedure in the Christian Rites and because this ministery was most signally performed by this ceremony and was also by St. Paul called and noted by the name of the Ceremony imposition of hands this name was retained in the Christian Church and this manner of ministring Confirmation was all that was in the commandment or institution But because in Confirmation we receive the Unction from above that is then we are most signally made Kings and Priests unto God to offer up spiritual sacrifices and to enable us to seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness of it and that the giving the holy spirit is in Scripture called the Unction from above the Church of God in early Ages made use of this Allegory and passed it into an External ceremony and representation of the mystery to signifie the inward Grace Post inscripta oleo frontis signacula perque Vnguentum Regale datum est Chrisma perenne We are consigned on the fore-head with Oyl
and a Royal Unction and an Eternal Chrisme is given to us so Prudentius gives testimony of the ministry of Confirmation in his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Cyril Preserve this Unction pure and spotless for it teaches you all things as you have heard the blessed S. John speaking and philosophying many things of this holy Chrism Upon this account the H. Fathers used to bless and consecrate Oyl and Balsome that by an external signature they might signifie the inward Unction effected in Confirmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Chrism is not simple or common when it is blessed but the gift of Christ and the presence of his H. Spirit as it were effecting the Divinity it self the body is indeed anointed with visible Oyntment but is also sanctified by the holy and quickning Spirit so St. Cyril I finde in him and in some late Synods other pretty significations and allusions made by this Ceremony of Chrisms Nos autem pro igne visibili qui die Pentecostes super Apostolos apparuit oleum sanctum materiam nempe ignis ex Apostolorum traditione ad confirmandum adhibemus This using of Oyl was instead of the Baptism with Fire which Christ baptized his Apostles with in Pentecost and Oyl being the most proper matter of Fire is therefore used in Confirmation That this was the ancient Ceremony is without doubt and that the Church had power to do so hath no question and I add it was not unreasonable for if ever the Scripture expresses the mysteriousness of a Grace conferred by an exteriour ministry as this is by imposition of hands and represents it besides in the Expression and Analogy of any sensible thing that expression drawn into a ceremony will not improperly signifie the Grace since the Holy Ghost did chuse that for his own expression and representment In baptism we are said to be buried with Christ. The Church does according to the Analogy of that expression when she immerges the Catechumen in the Font for then she represents the same thing which the Holy Ghost would have to be represented in that Sacrament the Church did but the same thing when she used Chrism in this ministration This I speak in justification of that ancient practise but because there was no command for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said St. Basil concerning Chrisme there is no written word that is of the Ceremony there is not he said it not of the whole Rite of Confirmation therefore though to this we are all bound yet as to the anointing the Church is at liberty and hath with sufficient authority omitted it in our ministrations In the Liturgy of King Edward the VI. the Bishops used the sign of the Cross upon the fore-heads of them that were to be confirmed I do not find it since forbidden or revoked by any expression or intimation saving onely that it is omitted in our later Offices and therefore it may seem to be permitted to the discretion of the Bishops but yet not to be used unless where it may be for Edification and where it may be by the consent of the Church at least by interpretation concerning which I have nothing else to interpose but that neither this nor any thing else which is not of the nature and institution of the Rite ought to be done by private Authority nor ever at all but according to the Apostles Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is decent and whatsoever is according to Order that is to be done and nothing else for prayer and imposition of hands for the invocating and giving the holy spirit is all that is in the foundation and institution SECT VI. Many great Graces and Blessings are consequent to the Worthy reception and due ministery of Confirmation IT is of it self enough when it is fully understood what is said in the Acts of the Apostles at the first ministration of this Rite They received the Holy Ghost that is according to the expression of our Blessed Saviour himself to the Apostles when he commanded them in Jerusalem to expect the verification of his glorious promise they were endued with virtue from on high that is with strength to perform their duty which although it is not to be understood exclusively to the other Rites and Ministeries of the Church of Divine appointment yet it is properly and most signally true and as it were in some sense appropriate to this For as Aquinas well discourses the grace of Christ is not tyed to the Sacraments but even this Spiritual strength and vertue from on high can be had without Confirmation as without Baptism remission of sins may be had and yet we believe one Baptism for the remission of sins and one Confirmation for the obtaining this vertue from on high this strength of the spirit But it is so appropriate to it by promise and peculiarity of ministration that as without the desire of baptism our sins are not pardon'd so without at least the desire of Confirmation we cannot receive this vertue from on high which is appointed to descend in the ministery of the spirit It is true the ministery of the Holy Eucharist is greatly effective to this purpose and therefore in the ages of Martyrs the Bishops were careful to give the people the Holy Communion frequently ut quos tutos esse contra adversarium volebant munimento Dominicae Saturitatis armarent as S. Cyprian with his Collegues wrote to Cornelius that those whom they would have to be safe against the contentions of their adversaries they should arme them with the guards and defences of the Lords fulness But it is to be remembred that the Lords Supper is for the more perfect Christians and it is for the increase of the graces receiv'd formerly and therefore it is for remission of sins and yet is no prejudice to the necessity of baptism whose proper work is remission of sins and therefore neither does it make Confirmation unnecessary for it renews the work of both the precedent Rites and repairs the breaches and adds new Energy and proceeds in the same dispensations and is renewed often whereas the others are but once Excellent therefore are the words of John Gerson the Famous Chancellor of Paris to this purpose It may be said that in one way of speaking Confirmation is necessary and in another it is not Confirmation is not necessary as Baptism and Repentance for without these Salvation cannot be had This necessity is absolute but there is a conditional necessity Thus if a Man would not become weak it is necessary that he eat his meat well And so Confirmation is necessary that the spiritual life and the health gotten in Baptism may be preserv'd in strength against our spiritual enemies For this is given for strength Hence is that saying of Hugo de S. Victore What does it profit that thou art raised up by Baptism if thou art not able to stand by Confirmation Not that Baptism
need of much power from on high to give the holy spirit for it is not all one to obtain remission of sins and to have received this virtue or power from above Quamvis enim continuò transituris sufficiant regenerationis beneficia victuris tamen necessaria sunt confirmationis auxilia said Melchiades Although to them that die presently the benefits of regeneration baptismal are sufficient yet to them that live the Auxiliaries of confirmation are necessary for according to the saying of St. Leo in his Epistle to Nicetas the Bishop of Aquileja commanding that Hereticks returning to the Church should be confirmed with invocation of the holy spirit and imposition of hands they have onely received the form of baptism sine sanctificationis virtute without the virtue of sanctification meaning that this is the proper effect of Confirmation For in short Although the newly listed Souldiers in humane warfare are enrolled in the number of them that are to sight yet they are not brought to battle till they be more trained and exercised So although by baptism every one is ascribed into the catalogue of believers yet he receives more strength and grace for the sustaining and overcoming the temptations of the Flesh the World and the Devil onely by imposition of the Bishops hands They are words which I borrowed from a late Synod at Rhemes that 's the first remark of blessing in confirmation we receive strength to do all that which was for us undertaken in baptism For the Apostles themselves as the H. Fathers observe were timorous in the Faith until they were confirmed in Pentecost but after the reception of the Holy Ghost they waxed valiant in the Faith and in all their spiritual combats 2. In Confirmation we receive the Holy Ghost as the earnest of our inheritance as the seal of our salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Gregory Nazianzen we therefore call it a seal or signature as being a guard and custody to us and a signe of the Lords dominion over us The confirmed person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sheep that is mark'd which Thieves do not so easily steal and carry away To the same purpose are those words of Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember that holy mystogogy in which they who were initiated after the renouncing that Tyrant the Devil and all his works and the confession of the true King Jesus Christ have received the Chrism of spiritual Vnction like a Royal signature by that Vnction as in shadow perceiving the invisible grace of the most holy Spirit That is in Confirmation we are sealed for the service of God and unto the day of Redemption then it is that the seal of God is had by us The Lord knoweth who are his Quomodo verò dices Dei sum si notas non produxeris said S. Basil. How can any man say I am Gods sheep unless he produce the marks Signati estis Spiritu promissionis per Sanctissimum Divinum Spiritum Domini grex effecti sumus said Theophylact. When we are thus seal'd by the most Holy and Divine spirit of promise then we are truly of the Lords Flock and mark'd with his seal that is when we are ritely confirm'd then he descends into our souls and though he does not operate it may be presently but as the reasonable soul works in its due time and by the order of Nature by opportunities and new fermentations and actualities so does the spirit of God when he is brought into use when he is prayed for with love and assiduity when he is caressed tenderly when he is us'd lovingly when we obey his motions readily when we delight in his words greatly then we find it true that the soul had a new life put into her a principle of perpetual actions but the tree planted by the waters side does not presently bear fruit but in its due season By this spirit we are then seal'd that whereas God hath laid up an inheritance for us in the Kingdom of Heaven and in the faith of that we must live and labour to confirm this faith God hath given us this pledge the spirit of God is a witness to us and tells us by his holy comforts by the peace of God and the quietness and refreshments of a good Conscience that God is our Father that we are his Sons and Daughters and shall be co-heirs with Jesus in his eternal Kingdom In baptism we are made the Sons of God but we receive the witness and testimony of it in Confirmation This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost the Comforter this is he whom Christ promis'd and did send in Pentecost and was afterwards ministred and conveyed by prayer and imposition of hands and by this Spirit he makes the Confessors bold and the Martyrs valiant and the tempted strong and the Virgins to perfevere and Widows to sing his praises and his glories And this is that excellency which the Church of God called the Lords seal and teaches to be imprinted in Confirmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perfect Phylactery or Guard even the Lords seal so Eusebius calls it I will not be so curious as to enter into a discourse of the Philosophy of this But I shall say that they who are Curious in the secrets of Nature and observe external signatures in Stones Plants Fruits and Shells of which Naturalists make many observations and observe strange effects and the more internal signatures in minerals and living bodies of which Chymists discourse strange secrets may easily if they please consider that is infinitely credible that in higher essences even in Spirits there may be signatures proportionable wrought more immediately and to greater purposes by a Divine hand I only point at this and so pass it over as it may be not fit for every mans consideration And now if any Man shall say we see no such things as you talk of and find the confirm'd people the same after as before no better and no wiser not richer in gifts not more adorned with graces nothing more zealous for Christs Kingdom not more comforted with hope or established by faith or built up with charity they neither speak better nor live better And what then Does it therefore follow that the Holy Ghost is not given in Confirmation Nothing less For is not Christ given us in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Do not we receive his body and his blood Are we not made all one with Christ and he with us And and yet it is too true that when we arise from that holy feast thousands there are that find no change But there are in this two things to be considered One is that the changes which are wrought upon our souls are not after the manner of Nature visible and sensible and with observation The Kingdom of God cometh not with Observation for it is within you and is only discerned spiritually and produces its effects by the method of Heaven and is
of what side soever My first argument from Scripture is what I learn from Optatus and S. Cyril Optatus writing against the Donatists hath these words Christ descended into the water not that in him who is God was any thing that could be made cleaner but that the water was to precede the future Vnction for the initiating and ordaining and fulfilling the mysteries of Baptism He was wash'd when he was in the hands of John then followed the order of the mystery and the Father finish'd what the Son did ask and what the Holy Ghost declar'd The Heavens were open'd God the Father anointed him the spiritual Vnction presently descended in the likeness of a Dove and sate upon his head and was spread all over him and he was called the Christ when he was the anointed of the Father To whom also least imposition of hands should seem to be wanting the voice of God was heard from the could saying This is my Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him That which Optatus sayes is this that upon and in Christs person Baptism Confirmation and Ordination were consecrated and first appointed He was baptized by S. John he was confirm'd by the Holy Spirit and anointed with spiritual Unction in order to that great work of obedience to his Fathers will and he was Consecrated by the voice of God from Heaven In all things Christ is the head and the first fruits and in these things was the Fountain of the Sacraments and spiritual grace and the great exemplar of the Oeconomy of the Church For Christ was nullius poenitentiae debitor Baptism of Repentance was not necessary to him who never sinn'd but so it became him to fulfil all righteousness and to be a pattern to us all But we have need of these things though he had not and in the same way in which Salvation was wrought by him for himself and for us all in the same way he intended we should walk He was baptized because his Father appointed it so we must be baptized because Christ hath appointed it and we have need of it too He was Consecrated to be the great Prophet and the great Priest because no man takes on him this honour but he that was called of God as was Aaron and all they who are to minister in his prophetical office under him must be consecrated and solemnly set apart for that ministration and after his glorious example He was anointed with a spiritual Unction from above after his baptisme for after Jesus was baptized he ascended up from the waters and then the Holy Ghost descended upon him it is true he receiv'd the fulness of the spirit but we receive him by measure but of his fulness we all receive grace for grace that is all that he receiv'd in order to his great work all that in kind one for another grace for grace we are to receive according to our measures and our necessities And as all these he receiv'd by external ministrations so must we God the Father appointed his way and he by his example first hath appointed the same to us that we also may follow him in the regeneration and work out our salvation by the same graces in the like solemnities For if he needed them for himself then we need them much more If he did not need them for himself he needed them for us and for our example that we might follow his steps who by receiving these exteriour solemnities and inward graces became the Author and finisher of our Salvation and the great example of his Church I shall not need to make use of the fancy of the Murcosians and Colabarsians who turning all mysteries into numbers reckoned the numeral letters of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and made them co-incident to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but they intended to say that Christ receiving the Holy Dove after his Baptism became all in all to us the beginning and the perfection of our Salvation here he was confirm'd and receiv'd the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the consummation to his initiation the completion of his baptism and of his headship in the Gospel But that which I shall rather and is what S. Cyril from hence argues When he truly was baptized in the River of Jordan he ascended out of the waters and the Holy Ghost substantially descended upon him like resting upon like And to you also in like manner after ye have ascended from the waters of baptisme the Vnction is given which bears the image or similitude of him by whom Christ was anointed that as Christ after baptism and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon him went forth to battle in the Wilderness and overcame the adversary so ye also after holy baptism and the mystical Vnction or confirmation being vested with the Armour of the holy Spirit are enabled to stand against the opposite powers Here then is the first great ground of our solemne receiving the Holy spirit or the Unction from above after Baptism which we understand and represent by the word Confirmation denoting the principle effect of this Unction spiritual strength Christ who is the head of the Church entred this way upon his duty and work and he who was the first of all the Church the head and great example is the measure of all the rest for we can go to Heaven no way but in that way in which he went before us There are some who from this story would infer the descent of the Holy Ghost after Christs Baptism not to signifie that Confirmation was to be a distinct rite from baptism but a part of it yet such a part as gives fulness and consummation to it S. Hierom Chrysostom Euthymius and Theophylact go not so far but would have us by this to understand that the Holy Ghost is given to them that are baptized But reason and the context are both against it 1. Because the Holy Ghost was not given by Johns baptism that was reserv'd to be one of Christ's glories who also when by his Disciples he baptiz'd many did not give them the Holy Ghost and when he commanded his Apostles to baptize all Nations did not at that time so much as promise the Holy Ghost he was promis'd distinctly and given by another ministration 2. The descent of the Holy Spirit was a distinct ministery from the baptism it was not only after Jesus ascended from the waters of baptism but there was something intervening and by a new office or ministration For there was prayer joyn'd in the ministery So S. Iuke observes while Jesus was praying the Heavens were open'd and the Holy spirit descended for so Jesus was pleas'd to consign the whole office and ritual of Confirmation prayer for invocating the Holy Spirit and giving him by personal application which as the Father did immediately so the Bishops doe by imposition of hands 3. S. Austin observes that the apparition
the Grace and of the Sacrament yet to us he hath given a law and a rule and that is the way of his Church in which all Christians ought to walk In short The use of it is greatly profitable the neglect is inexcusable but the contempt is damnable Tenentur non negligere si pateat opportunitas said the Bishops in a Synod at Paris If there be an opportunity it must not be neglected Obligantur suscipere aut saltem non contemnere said the Synod at Sens. They are bound to receive it or at least not to despise it Now he despises it that refuses it when he is invited to it or when it is offered or that neglects it without cause For causelesly and contemptuously are all one But these answers were made by gentle Casuists he onely values the Grace that desires it that longs for it that makes use of all the means of Grace that seeks out for the means that refuses no labour that goes after them as the Merchant goes after Gain and therefore the Old Ordo Romanus admonishes more strictly Omnino praecavendum esse ut hoc Sacramentum confirmationis non negligatur quia tunc omne Baptisma legitimum Christianitatis nomine confirmatur We must by all means take heed that the Rite of Confirmation be not neglected because in that every true Baptism is ratified and confirmed which words are also to the same purpose made use of by Albinus Flaccus No man can tell to what degrees of diligence and labour to what sufferings or journeyings he is oblig'd for the procuring of this ministry there must be debita sollicitudo a real providential zealou scare to be where it is to be had is the duty of every Christian according to his own circumstances but they who will not receive it unless it be brought to their doors may live in such places and in such times where they shall be sure to miss it and pay the price of their neglect of so great a ministry of salvation Turpissima est jactura quae per negligentiam sit He is a Fool that loses his good by carelesness But no man is zealous for his Soul but he who not onely omits no opportunity of doing it advantage when it is ready for him but makes and seeks and contrives opportunities Si non necessitate sed incuriâ voluntate remanserit as St. Clements expression is If a man wants it by necessity it may by the overflowings of the Divine Grace be supplied but not so if negligence or choice causes the omission 3. Our way being made plain we may proceed to other places of Scripture to prove the Divine Original of Confirmation It was a Plant of our Heavenly Fathers planting it was a Branch of the Vine and how it springs from the Root Christ Jesus we have seen it is yet more visible as it was dressed and cultivated by the Apostles Now as soon as the Apostles had received the Holy spirit they preached and baptized and the inferiour Ministers did the same and St. Philip particularly did so at Samaria the Converts of which place received all the Fruits of Baptism but Christians though they were they wanted a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something to make them perfect The other part of the Narrative I shall set down in the words of St. Luke Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God they sent unto them Peter and John who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them onely they were Baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost If it had not been necessary to have added a new solemnity and ministration it is not to be supposed the Apostles Peter and John would have gone from Jerusalem to impose hands on the Baptized at Samaria Id quod deerat à Petro Johanne factum est ut Oratione pro eis habitâ manu impositâ invocaretur infunderetur super eos spiritus sanctus said St. Cyprian It was not necessary that they should be Baptized again onely that which was wanting was performed by Peter and John that by prayer and imposition of hands the Holy Ghost should be invocated and poured upon them The same also is from this place affirmed by P. Innocentius the First St. Hierom and many others and in the Acts of the Apostles we find another instance of the celebration of this Ritual and Mystery for it is signally expressed of the Baptized Christians at Ephesus that St. Paul first Baptized them and then laid his hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost and these Testimonies are the great warranty for this Holy Rite Quod nunc in confirmandis Neophytis manus impositio tribuit singulis hoc tunc Spiritus sancti descensio in credentium populo donavit universis said Eucherius Lugdunensis in his Homily of Pentecost The same thing that is done now in imposition of hands or single persons is no other than that which was done upon all Believers in the descent of the Holy Ghost it is the same Ministry and all deriving from the same Authority Confirmation or imposition of hands for the collation of the Holy spirit we see was actually practised by the Apostles and that even before and after they preached the Gospel to the Gentiles and therefore Amalarius who entred not much into the secret of it reckons this Ritual as derived from the Apostles per consuetudinem by Catholick custom which although it is not perfectly spoken as to the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Authority of it yet he places it in the Apostles and is a witness of the Catholick succeeding custom and practise of the Church of God which thing also Zanchius observing though he followed the sentiment of Amalarius and seemed to understand no more of it yet sayes well Interim sayes he exempla Apostolorum veteris Ecclesiae vellem pluris aestimari I wish that the example of the Apostles and the primitive Church were of more value amongst Christians it were very well indeed they were so but there is more in it than mere example These examples of such solemnities productive of such spiritual effects are as St. Cyprian calls them Apostolica Magisteria the Apostles are our Masters in them and have given Rules and Precedents for the Church to follow This is a Christian Law and written as all Scriptures are for our instruction But this I shall expresly prove in the next Paragraph 4. We have seen the Original from Christ the practise and exercise of it in the Apostles and the first Converts in Christianity that which I shall now remark is that this is established and passed into a Christian Doctrine The warranty for what I say is the words of St. Paul where the Holy Rite of
is not of value unto Salvation without confirmation but because he who is not confirmed will easily fall and too readily perish The spirit of God comes which way he please but we are tied to use his own Oeconomy and expect the blessings appointed by his own ministeries And because to prayer is promised we shall receive whatever we ask we may as well omit the receiving the holy Eucharist pretending that prayer alone will procure the blessings expected in the other as well I say as omit confirmation because we hope to be strengthned and receive virtue from on high by the use of the Supper of the Lord Let us use all the ministeries of Grace in their season for we know not which shall prosper this or that or whether they shall be both alike good this onely we know that the Ministeries which God appoints are the proper seasons and opportunities of Grace This power from on high which is the proper blessing of Confirmation was expressed not onely in speaking with Tongues and doing Miracles for much of this they had before they received the Holy Ghost but it was effected in spiritual and internal strengths they were not onely enabled for the service of the Church but were indued with courage and wisdom and Christian fortitude and boldness to confess the Faith of Christ crucified and unity of heart and minde singleness of heart and joy in God when it was for the edification of the Church miracles were done in confirmations and St. Bernard in the life of St. Malachias tells that St. Malchus Bishop of Lismore in Ireland confirmed a Lunatick child and at the same time cured him but such things as these are extraregular contingent This which we speak of is a regular ministery and must have a regular effect St. Austin said That the holy spirit in confirmation was given ad dilatanda Ecclesiae primordia for the propogating Christianity in the beginnings of the Church St. Hierom sayes it was propter honorem sacerdotii for the honour of the Priesthood St. Ambrose sayes it was ad confirmationem Vnitatis in Ecclesiâ Christi for the confirmation of Unity in the Church of Christ and they all say true But the first was by the miraculous consignations which did accompany this ministery and the other two were by reason that the mysteries were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were appropriated to the ministery of the Bishop who is caput unitatis the head the last resort the Firmament of Unity in the Church These effects were regular indeed but they were incident and accidental There are effects yet more proper and of greater excellency Now if we will understand in general what excellent fruits are consequent to this Dispensation we may best receive the notice of them from the Fountain it self our blessed Saviour He that believes out of his Belly as the Scripture saith shall flow Rivers of Living waters But this he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive This is evidently spoken of the spirit which came down in Pentecost which was promised to all that should believe in Christ and which the Apostles ministred by imposition of hands the Holy Ghost himself being the expositor and it can signifie no less but that a spring of life should be put into the heart of the confirmed to water the Plants of God that they should become Trees not onely planted by the water side for so it was in David's time and in all the ministery of the Old Testament but having a River of living water within them to make them fruitful of good works and bringing their fruit in due season fruits worthy of amendment of life 1. But the principal thing is this Confirmation is the consummation and perfection the corroboration and strength of baptism and baptismal Grace for in baptism we undertake to do our duty but in confirmation we receive strength to do it In baptism others promise for us in confirmation we undertake for our selves we ease our God-fathers and God-mothers of their burden and take it upon our own shoulders together with the advantage of the Prayers of the Bishop and all the Church made then on our behalf In baptism we give up our names to Christ but in confirmation we put our seal to the profession and God puts his seal to the promise It is very remarkable what St. Paul sayes of the beginnings of our being Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of the beginning of Christ Christ begins with us he gives us his word and admits us and we by others hands are brought in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the form of Doctrine unto which ye were delivered Cajetan observes right That this is a new and Emphatical way of speaking we are wholly immerged in our fundamentals other things are delivered to us but we are delivered up unto these This is done in Baptism and Catechism and what was the event of it Being then made free from sin ye became the Servants of Righteousness Your baptism was for the remission of sins there and then ye were made free from that bondage and what then Why then in the next place when ye came to consummate this procedure when the baptized was confirmed then he became a servant of righteousness that is then the Holy Ghost descended upon you and enabled you to walk in the spirit then the seed of God was first thrown into your hearts by a coelestial influence Spiritus sanctus in Baptisterio plenitudinem tribuit ad innocentiam sed in confirmatione augmentum praestat ad gratiam said Eusebius Emissenus In baptism we are made innocent in confirmation we receive the increase of the spirit of grace in that we are regenerated unto life in this we are strengthned unto battle Dono sapientiae illuminamur aedisicamur erudimur insiruimur confirmamur ut illam sancti spiritus vocem audire possimus intellectum tibi dabo instruam te in hâ—c vitâ quâ gradieris said P. Melchiades We are inlightned by the gift of wisdom we are built up taught instructed and confirmed so that we may hear that voice of the holy spirit I will give unto thee an understanding heart and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt walk For so Signari populos effuso pignore sancto Mirandae virtutis opus It is a work of great and wonderful powers when the holy pledge of God is poured forth upon the people This is that power from on high which first descended in Pentecost and afterward was ministred by prayer and imposition of the Apostolical and Episcopal hands and comes after the other gift of remission of sins Vides quod non simplicitèr hoc fit sed multâ opus est virtute ut detur spiritus sanctus Non enim idem est assequi remissionem peccatorum accipere virtutem illam said St. Chrysostom You see that this is not easily done but there is
first apprehended by faith and is endear'd by charity and at last is understood by holy and kind experiences And in this there is no more objection against Confirmation than against Baptism or the Lords Supper or any other ministery Evangelical The other thing is this If we do not find the effects of the spirit in Confirmation it is our faults For he is receiv'd by moral instruments and is intended only as a help to our endeavours to our labours and our prayers to our contentions and our mortifications to our faith and to our hope to our patience and to our charity Non adjuvari dicitur qui nihil facit He that does nothing cannot be said to be help'd Unless we in these instances do our part of the work it will be no wonder if we loose his part of the co-operation and supervening blessing He that comes under the Bishops hands to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost will come with holy desires and a longing soul with an open hand and a prepared heart he will purifie the house of the spirit for the entertainment of so Divine a guest he will receive him with humility and follow him with obedience and delight him with purities and he that does thus let him make the objection if he can and tell me Does he say that Jesus is the Lord He cannot say this but by the Holy Ghost Does he love his Brother If he does then the Spirit of God abides in him Is Jesus Christ formed in him Does he live by the lawes of the spirit Does he obey his commands Does he attend his motions Hath he no earnest desires to serve God If he have not then in vain hath he receiv'd either Baptisme or Confirmation But if he have it is certain that of himself he cannot do these things he cannot of himself think a good thought Does he therefore think well That is from the Holy Spirit of God To conclude this inquiry The Holy Ghost is promised to all Men to profit withall That 's plain in Scripture Confirmation or prayer and Imposition of the Bishops hand is the Solemnity and Rite us'd in Scripture for the conveying of that promise and the effect is felt in all the Sanctifications and changes of the Soul and he that denies these things hath not faith nor the true notices of Religion or the spirit of Christianity Heaâ— what the Scriptures yet further say in this mystery Now he which confirmeth or stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Here is a description of the whole mysterious part of this rite God is the Author of the grace The Apostles and all Christians are the suscipients and receive this grace by this grace we are adopted and incorporated into Christ God hath anointed us that is he hath given us this Unction from above he hath sealed us by his Spirit made us his own bored our ears thorough made us free by his perpetual service and hath done all these things in token of a greater he hath given us his Spirit to testifie to us that he will give us of his glory These words of S. Paul besides that they evidently contain in them the spiritual part of this Ritual are also expounded of the Rite and Sacramental it self by S. Chrysostom Theodoret and Theophylact that I may name no more For in this mystery Christos nos efficit misericordiam Dei nobis annunciat per Spiritum Sanctum said S. John Damascen he makes us his anointed ones and by the Holy Spirit he declares his eternal mercy towards us Nolite tangere Christos meos Touch not mine anointed ones For when we have this signature of the Lord upon us the Devils cannot come near to hurt us unless we consent to their temptations and drive the Holy Spirit of the Lord from us SECT VII Of preparation to Confirmation and the circumstances of receiving it IF Confirmation have such gracious effects why doe we confirm little children whom in all reason we cannot suppose to be capable and receptive of such Graces It will be no answer to this if we say that this very question is asked concerning the baptism of Infants to which as great effects are consequent even pardon of all our sins and the new birth and regeneration of the soul unto Christ For in these things the soul is wholly passive and nothing is required of the suscipient but that he put in no bar against the grace which because Infants cannot doe they are capable of baptism but it follows not that therefore they are capable of confirmation because this does suppose them such as to need new assistances and is a new profession and a personal undertaking and therefore requires personal abilities and cannot be done by others as in the case of baptism The aids given in Confirmation are in order to our contention and our danger our temptation and spiritual warfare and therefore it will not seem equally reasonable to confirm children as to baptize them To this I answer That in the Primitive Church Confirmation was usually administred at the same time with baptism for we find many Records that when the Office of baptism was finished and the baptized person devested of the white Robe the person was carried again to the Bishop to be confirmed as I have already shewn out of Dionysius and divers others The reasons why anciently they were ministred immediately after one another is not onely because the most of them that were baptized were of years to choose their Religion and did so and therefore were capable of all that could be consequent to baptism or annexed to it or ministred with it and therefore were also at the same time communicated as well as confirmed but also because the solemn baptismes were at solemn times of the year at Easter onely and Whitsontide and onely in the Cathedral or Bishops Church in the chief City whither when the Catechumens came and had the opportunity of the Bishops presence they took the advantage ut sacramento utroque renascantur as St. Cyprian's expression is that they might be regenerated by both the mysteries and they also had the third added viz. the Holy Eucharist This simultaneous ministration hath occasioned some few of late to mistake confirmation for a part of baptism but no distinct Rite or of distinct effect save onely that it gave ornament and complement or perfection to the other But this is infinitely confuted by the very first ministry of Confirmation in the World for there was a great interval between St. Philip's baptizing and the Apostles confirming the Samaritans where also the difference is made wider by the distinction of the Minister a Deacon did one none but an Apostle and his successor a Bishop could do the other and this being of so universal a Practise and Doctrine in the Primitive Church it is a great
also to remonstrate the perpetual practise of catechising children in the eldest and best times of the Church Thus the Greek Scholiast upon Harmenopulus renders the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Primitive Exorcist was the Catechist And Balsamon upon the 26th Canon of the Council of Laodicea sayes That to Exorcise is nothing but to catechize the unbelievers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some undertook to Exorcise that is sayes he to Catechise the unbelievers And St. Cyril in his Preface to his Catechisms speaking to the Illuminati Festinent sayes he pedes tui ad Catecheses audiendas Exorcismos studiosè suscipe c Let your feet run hastily to hear the Catechismes studiously receive the Exorcisms although thou beest already inspired and exorcised that is although you have been already instructed in the mysteries yet still proceed For without Exorcismes or Catechisms the soul cannot goe forward since they are Divine and gathered out of the Scriptures And the reason why these were called Exorcismes he addes Because when the Exorcists or Catechists by the spirit of God produce fear in your hearts and do inkindle the spirit as in a furnace the Devil flies away and salvation and hope of life Eternal does succeed according to that of the Evangelist concerning Christ They were astonished at his Doctrine for his word was with power And that of St. Luke concerning Paul and Barnabas The Deputy when he saw what was done was astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. It is the Lords Doctrine that hath the power to cast out Devils and work miracles Catechismes are the best Exorcismes Let us therefore Brethren abide in hope and persevere in catechisings saith St. Cyril although they be long and produced with many words or discourses The same also we finde in St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Austin The use that I make of this notion is principally to be an exhortation to all of the Clergy that they take great care to catechise all their people to bring up Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to prepare a holy seed for the service of God to cultivate the young plants and to dress the old ones to take care that those who are men in the World be not meer Babes and uninstructed in Christ and that they who are children in age may be wise unto salvation for by this means we shall rescue them from early temptations when being so prepared they are so assisted by a Divine ministery we shall weaken the Devils power by which he too often and too much prevails upon uninstructed and unconfirmed youth For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confirmation is the firmament of our profession but we profess nothing till we be catechised catechisings are our best preachings and by them we shall give the best accounts of our charges while in the behalf of Christ we make Disciples and take prepossession of Infant-understandings and by this holy Rite by prayer and imposition of hands we minister the holy spirit to them and so prevent and disable the artifices of the Devil for we are not ignorant of his devices how he enters as soon as he can and taking advantage of their ignorance and their passion seats himself so strongly in their hearts and heads Turpiùs ejicitur quà m non admittur hostis It is harder to cast the Devil out than to keep him out Hence it is that the youth are so corrupted in their manners so Devilish in their Natures so cursed in their conversation so disobedient to Parents so wholly given to vanity and idleness they learn to swear before they can pray and to lie as soon as they can speak It is not my sense alone but was long since observed by Gerson and Gulielmus Parisiensis Propter cessationem confirmationis tepiditas grandior est in fidelibus fidei defensione There is a coldness and deadness in Religion and it proceeds from the neglect of confirmation ritely ministred and after due preparations and dispositions A little thing will fill a childs head Teach them to say their prayers tell them the stories of the Life and Death of Christ cause them to love the holy Jesus with their first love make them afraid of a sin let the principles which God hath planted in their very Creation the natural principles of Justice and Truth of honesty and thankfulness of simplicity and obedience be brought into act and habit and confirmation by the holy Sermons of the Gospel If the Guides of Souls would have their people holy let them teach holiness to their children and then they will at least have a new generation unto God better than this wherein we now live They who are most zealous in this particular will with most comfort reap the fruit of their labours and the blessings of their ministery and by the numbers which every Curate presents to his Bishop fitted for confirmation he will in proportion render an account of his Stewardship with some visible felicity and let it be remembred that in the last Rubrick of the Office of Confirmation in our Liturgy it is made into a Law that none should be admitted to the holy Communion until such time as he could say the Catechism and be confirmed which was also a Law and Custom in the Primitive Church as appears in St. Dionysius his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and the matter of fact is notorious Among the Helvetians they are forbidden to contract marriages before they are well instructed in the Catechism And in a late Synod at Bourges the Curates are commanded to threaten all that are not confirmed that they shall never receive the Lords Supper nor be married and in effect the same is of force in our Church for the married persons being to receive the Sacrament at their marriage and none are to receive but those that are confirmed the same Law obtains with us as with the Helvetians or the Synodus Bituricensis There is another little inquiry which I am not willing to omit but the answer will not be long because there is not much to be said on either side Some inquire whether the holy Rite of Confirmation can be ministred any more than once St. Austin seems to be of opinion that it may be repeated Quid enim aliud est impositio manuum nisi oratio super hominem Confirmation is a solemn prayer over a man and if so why it may not be reiterated can have nothing in the nature of the thing and the Greeks do it frequently but they have no warranty from the Scripture nor from any of their own ancient Doctors Indeed when any one did return from Heresie they confirmed them as I have proved out of the first and second Council of Arles the Council of Laodicea and the second Council of Sevil But upon a closer intuition of the thing I find they did so onely to such who did not allow of Confirmation in their Sects such as the
Novatians and the Donatists Novatiani poenitentiam à suo conventu arcent penitùs iis qui ab ipsis tinguntur sacrum Chrisma non praebent Quocircà qui ex hâc Haeresi corpori Ecclesiae conjunguntur benedicti Patres ungi jusserunt So Thedoret For that reason onely the Novatians were to be confirmed upon their conversion because they had it not before I finde also they did confirm the converted Arrians but the reason is given in the first Council of Arles quia propriâ lege utuntur They had a way of their own that is as the Gloss saith upon the Canon de Arrianis consecrat dist 4. their baptism was not in the name of the holy Trinity and so their baptism being null or at least suspected to make all as sure as they could they confirmed them The same also is the case of the Bonasiaci in the second council of Arles though they were as some of the Arrians also were baptized in the name of the most holy Trinity but it was a suspected matter and therefore they confirmed them But to such persons who had been rightly baptized and confirmed they never did repeat it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gift of the Spirit is an indelible seal saith St. Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Basil calls it it is inviolable They who did re-baptize did also reconfirm But as it was an error in St. Cyprian and the Africans to do the first so was the second also in case they had done it for I find no mention expresly that they did the latter but upon the fore-mentioned accounts and either upon supposition of the invalidity of their first pretended baptism or their not using at all of confirmation in their Heretical conventicles But the repetition of confirmation is expresly forbidden by the council of Tarracon cap. 6. and by P. Gregory the second and sanctum Chrisma collatum altaris honor propter consecrationem quae per Episcopos tantùm exercenda conferenda sunt evelli non queunt said the Fathers in a council at Toledo Confirmation and holy Orders which are to be given by Bishops alone can never be anulled and therefore they can never be repeated and this relies 〈◊〉 those severe words of St. Paul having spoken of 〈◊〉 â—oundation of the Doctrine of Baptisms and laying on of hands he sayes if they fall away they can never be renewed that is the ministery of baptism and confirmation can never be repeated To Christians that sin after these ministrations there is onely left a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expergiscimini that they arise from slumber and stir up the Graces of the Holy Ghost Every man ought to be careful that he do not grieve the holy Spirit but if he does yet let him not quench him for that is a desperate case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The holy Spirit is the great conservative of the new Life onely keep the Keeper take care that the spirit of God do not depart from you for the great ministery of the spirit is but once for as baptism is so is confirmation I end this discourse with a plain exhortation out of S. Ambrose upon those words of S. Paul He that confirmeth us with you in Christ is God Repete quia accepisti signaculum spirituale spiritum sapientiae intellectus spiritum consilii atque virtutis spiritum cognitionis atque pietatis Spiritum Sancti timoris serva quod accepisti Signavit te Deus Pater confirmavit te Christus Dominus Remember that thou who hast been confirmed hast receiv'd the spiritual signature the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of council and strength the spirit of knowledge and godliness the spirit of holy fear keep what thou hast receiv'd The Father hath seal'd thee and Christ thy Lord hath confirmed thee by his Divine Spirit and he will never depart from thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless by evil works we estrange him from us The same advice is given by Prudentius Cultor Dei memento Te fontis lavacri Rorem subiisse Sanctum Et Chrismate innotatum Remember how great things ye have received and what God hath done for you ye are of his flock and his Militia ye are now to fight his battles and therefore to put on his armour and to implore his auxiliaries and to make use of his strengths and alwayes to be on his side against all his and all our Enemies But he that desires grace must not despise to make use of all the instruments of grace For though God communicates his invisible spirit to you yet that he is pleas'd to do it by visible instruments is more than he needs but not more than we do need And therefore since God descends to our infirmities let us carefully and lovingly address our selves to his ordinances that as we receive remission of sins by the washing of water and the body and blood of Christ by the ministery of consecrated Symbols so we may receive the Holy Ghost sub Ducibus Christianae militiae by the prayer and imposition of the Bishops hands whom our Lord Jesus hath separated to this ministery For if you corroborate your self by baptism they are the words of S. Gregory Nazianzen and then take heed for the future by the most excellent and firmest aids consigning your mind and body with the Vnction from above viz. in the Holy Rite of Confirmation with the Holy Ghost as the Children of Israel did with the aspersion on the door-posts in the night of the death of the first-born of Egypt what evil shall happen to you Meaning that no evil can invade you and what aid shall you get If you sit down you shall be without fear and if you rest your sleep shall be sweet unto you But if when ye have received the Holy spirit you live not according to his Divine principles you will lose him again that is you will lose all the blessing though the impression does still remain till ye turn quite Apostates in pessimis hominibus manebit licèt ad judicium saith S. Austin the Holy Ghost will remain either as a testimony of your Vnthankfulness unto condemnation or else as a seal of grace and an earnest of your inheritance of Eternal glory FINIS Books Printed at the Kings Printing-house and are to be sold by Samuel Dancer Bookseller in Castle-street Dublin DR Jeremy Taylors Lord Bishop of Down and Connor three Sermons Preached at Christ-Church Dublin viz. The Righteousness Evangelical described The Christians Conquest over the body of Sin and Faith working by Love Octav. His Funeral Sermon at the Funeral of the Lord Primate 40. This present Treatise of Confirmation 40. There will shortly be published his Treatise against Popery of the necessity of which no man can be ignorant Dr. Lightburne's Sermon at Christ-Church on 23. of October 40. A perfect Collection of Acts of the late Parliament to be sold
reproov'd SECT II. The Rite of Confirmation is a perpetual and never ceasing Ministery YEa but what is this to us It belong'd to the dayes of wonder and extraordinary The holy Ghost breath'd upon the Apostles and Apostolical men but then he breath'd his last recedente gratiâ recessit disciplina when the Grace departed we had no further use of the Ceremony In answer to this I shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by divers particulars evince plainly that this ministery of confirmation was not temporary and relative only to the Acts of the Apostles but was to descend to the Church for ever This indeed is done already in the preceding Sect. In which it is clearly manifested that Christ himself made the Baptism of the Spirit to be necessary to the Church he declar'd the fruits of this Baptism and did particularly relate it to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church at and after that glorious Pentecost He sanctifyed it and commended it by his example just as in order to baptism he sanctified the Flood Jordan and all other waters to the mystical washing away of sin viz. by his great example and fulfilling this righteousness also This Doctrine the Apostles first found in their own persons and experience and practised to all their Converts after Baptism by a solemn and external Rite and all this passed into an Evangelical Doctrine the whole mystery being signified by the external Rite in the words of the Apostle as before it was by Christ expressing onely the internal so that there needs no more strength to this Argument But that there may be wanting no moments to this truth which the Holy Scripture affords I shall add more weight to it And 1. The perpetuity of this Holy Rite appears because this great gift of the Holy Ghost was promised to abide with the Church for ever And when the Jews heard the Apostles speak with Tongues at the first and miraculous descent of the Spirit in Pentecost to take off the strangeness of the wonder and the envy of the power St. Peter at that very time tells them plainly Repent and be Baptized every one of you and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not the meanest person amongst you all but shall receive this great thing which ye observe us to have received and not onely you but your Children too not your Children of this Generation onely sed Nati natorum qui nascentur ab illis but your Children for ever For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are afar off even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Now then let it be considered 1. This gift is by promise by a promise not made to the Apostles alone but to all to all for ever 2. Consider here at the very first as there is a verbum a word of promise so there is sacramentum too I use the word as I have already premonished in a large sense onely and according to the stile of the Primitive Church it is a Rite partly Moral partly Ceremonial the first is Prayer and the other is laying on of the hands and to an effect that is but transient and extraordinary and of a little aboad it is not easie to be supposed that such a solemnity should be appointed I say such a solemnity that is it is not imaginable that a solemn Rite annexed to a perpetual Promise should be transient and temporary for by the nature of Relatives they must be of equal abode The promise is of a thing for ever the Ceremony or Rite was annexed to the Promise and therefore this also must be for ever 3. This is attested by St. Paul who reduces this Argument to this Mystery saying In whom after that ye believed signati estis spiritu sancto promissionis ye were sealed by that holy spirit of promise He spake it to the Ephesians who well understood his meaning by remembring what was done to themselves by the Apostles but a while before who after they had Baptized them did lay their hands upon them and so they were sealed and so they received the Holy spirit of promise for here the very matter of Fact is the clearest Commentary on St. Pauls words The spirit which was promised to all Christians they then received when they were consigned or had the Ritual seal of Confirmation by Imposition of hands One thing I shall remark here and that is that this and some other words of Scripture relating to the Sacraments or other Rituals of Religion do principally mean the Internal Grace and our consignation is by a secret power and the work is within but it does not therefore follow that the External Rite is not also intended for the Rite is so wholly for the Mystery and the outward for the inward and yet by the outward God so usually and regularly gives the inward that as no man is to rely upon the External Ministery as if the opus operatum would do the whole Duty so no man is to neglect the External because the Internal is the more principal The mistake in this particular hath caused great contempt of the Sacraments and Rituals of the Church and is the ground of the Socinian errors in these Questions But 4. what hinders any man from a quick consent at the first representation of these plain reasonings and authorities Is it because there were extraordinary effects accompanying this ministration and because now there are not that we will suppose the whole Oeconomy must cease if this be it and indeed this is all that can be supposed in opposition to it it is infinitely vain 1. Because these extraordinary effects did continue even after the death of all the Apostles St. Irenaeus sayes they did continue even to his time even the greatest instance of miraculous power in fraternitate saepissimè propter aliquid necessarium ea quae est in quoquo loco Vniversa Ecclesia postulante per jejunium supplicationem multam reversus est spiritus c. When God saw it necessary and the Church prayed and fasted much they did miraculous things even of reducing the Spirit to a dead man 2. In the dayes of the Apostles the holy spirit did produce miraculous effects but neither alwayes nor at all in all men Are all workers of Miracles Do all speak with Tongues Do all interpret Can all heal No the Spirit bloweth where he listeth and as he listeth he gives gifts to all but to some after this manner and to some after that 3. These gifts were not necessary at all times any more than to all persons but the promise did belong to all and was made to all and was performed to all In the dayes of the Apostles there was an effusion of the Spirit of God it run over it was for themselves and others it wet the very ground they trode upon and made it fruitful but it
ΧΡΙΣΙΣ ΤΕΛΕΙâ—ΤΙΚΗ A DISCOURSE OF Confirmation For the use of the Clergy and Instruction of the People of Ireland By Jeremy Lord Bishop of Down Publish'd by Order of Convocation AND Dedicated to His Grace James Duke Marquess and Earl of Ormonde c. Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland DUBLIN Printed by John Crooke Printer to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty and are to be sold by Samuel Dancer next door to the Beare and Ragged-staffe in Castle-street 1663. To His Grace James Duke Marquess and Earl of Ormonde Earl of Ossory and Brecknock Viscount Thurles Lord Baron of Arclo and Lanthony Lord of the Regalities and Liberties of the County of Tipperary Chancellor of the University of Dublin Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of the County of Sommerset one of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy-Councils of His Majesties Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland Lord Steward of His Majesties Houshold Gentleman of His Majesties Bed-Chamber and Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter May it please Your Grace IT is not any Confidence that I have Dexterously performed this charge that gives me the boldness to present it to Your Grace I have done it as well as 〈◊〉 For I took not this task upon my self but was entreated to it by them who have power to Command me But yet it is very necessary that it should be addressed to Your Grace who are as Sozomen said of Theodosius Certaminum Magister orationum Judex constitutus You are appointed the great Master of our arguings and are most fit to be the Judge of our Discourses especially when they do relate and pretend to publick Influence and Advantages to the Church We all are Witnesses of Your Zeal to promote true Religion and every day find You to be a Great Patron to this very poor Church which groans under the Calamities and permanent effects of a War acted by Intervals for above 400. years such which the Intermedial Sun-shines of Peace could but very weakly repair our Churches are still demolished much of the Revenues irrecoverably swallowed by Sacriledge and digested by an unavoidable impunity Religion infinitely divided and parted into formidable Sects the People extreamly ignorant and wilful by inheritance superstitiously irreligious and uncapable of reproof and amidst these and very many more inconveniences it was greatly necessary that God should send us such a KING and he send us such a Viceroy who wedds the Interests of Religion and joynes them to his heart For we do not look upon your Grace only as a favourer of the Churches Temporal interest though even for that the Souls of the relieved Clergy do daily bless you neither are You our Patron only as the Cretans were to Homer or the Alenadae to Simonides Philip to Theopompus or Severus to Oppianus but as Constantine and Theodosius were to Christians that is desirous that true Religion should be promoted that the interest of Souls should be advanced that Truth should flourish and wise Principles 〈…〉 In order to which excellent purposes it is hoped that the reduction of the Holy Rite of Confirmation into use and Holy practice may contribute some very great moments For besides that the great usefulness of this Ministry will greatly endear the Episcopal order to which that I may use S. Hierom's words if there be not attributed a more than common Power and Authority there will be as many Schisms as Priests it will also be a means of endearing the Persons of the Prelates to their Flocks when the People shall be convinced that there is or may be if they please a perpetual entercourse of Blessings and Love between them when God by their Holy hands refuses not to give to the People the earnest of an eternal inheritance when by them he blesses and that the grace of our Lord Jesus and the Love of God and the Communication of his Spirit is conveyed to all Persons capable of the grace by the Conduct and on the hands and prayers of their Bishops And indeed not only very many single Persons but even the whole Church of Ireland hath need of Confirmation We have most of us contended for false Religions and un-Christian propositions and now that by Gods mercy and the prosperity and piety of his Sacred Majesty the Church is broken from her cloud and many are reduc'd to the true Religion and righteous worship of God we cannot but call to mind how the Holy Fathers of the Primitive Church often have declar'd themselves in Councils and by a perpetual Discipline that such Persons who are return'd from Sects and Heresies into the Bosom of the Church should not be rebaptiz'd but that the Bishops should impose hands on them in Confirmation It is true that this was design'd to supply the defect of those Schismatical Conventicles who did not use this Holy rite For this Rite of Confirmation hath had the fate to be oppos'd only by the Schismatical and Puritan Parties of old the Novatians or Cathari and the Donatists and of late by the Jesuits and new Cathari the Puritans and Presbyterians the same evil spirit of contradictions keeping its course in the same channel and descending regularly amongst Men of the same principles But therefore in the restitution of a Man or company of Men or a Church the Holy Primitives in the Council of C. P. Laodicea and Orange thought that to confirm such persons was the most agreeable Discipline not only because such persons did not in their little and dark assemblies use this rite but because they alwayes greatly wanted it For it is a sure Rule in our Religion and is of an eternal truth that they who keep not the Unity of the Church have not the Spirit of God and therefore it is most fit should receive the ministery of the spirit when they return to the bosom of the Church that so indeed they may keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace And therefore Asterius Bishop of Amasia compares Confirmation to the ring with which the Father of the Prodigal adorn'd his returning Son Datur nempe prodigo post stolam annulus nempe Symbolum intelligibilis signaculi spiritus And as the Spirit of God the Holy Dove extended his mighty wings over the Creation and hatch'd the new-born World from its seminal powers to Light and Operation and Life and Motion so in the Regeneration of the souls of Men he gives a new being and heat and life Procedure and Perfection Wisdom and Strength and because that this was ministred by the Bishops hands in Confirmation was so firmly believ'd by all the Primitive Church therefore it became a Law and an Vniversal practice in all those ages in which Men desir'd to be sav'd by all means The Latin Church and the Greek alwayes did use it and the Blessings of it which they believ'd consequent to it they expressed