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spirit_n	according_a	ghost_n	holy_a	5,624	5	4.7363	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56120	A sermon preached in the Parish-Church of Bridgewater, July 16, 1693, before the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard, Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, at a confirmation by Fran. Prode ...	Prowde, Francis, 1653 or 4-1723.	1694 (1694)	Wing P3879; ESTC R6025	16,780	34

Mr. Prowde's Confirmation-Sermon Preached at BRIDGEWATER July 16. 1693. IMPRIMATUR LAMBETH Nov. 17. 1693. Ra. Barker A SERMON Preached in the Parish-Church of Bridgewater July 16. 1693. Before the Right Reverend Father in God RICHARD Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells AT A CONFIRMATION By FRAN. PROWDE M. A. Vicar of Woollavington in Somersetshire LONDON Printed by J. H. for W. Rogers over against S. Dunstan's-Church in Fleetstreet 1694. TO THE Right Reverend Father in God RICHARD LORD BISHOP of Bath and Wells May it please your Lordship THE ensuing Discourse being solely the Product of your Lordship's Command seems naturally to fly to you for Patronage I am very sensible it must meet with a great deal of that Goodness of Soul and pious Inclination which belongs to your Lordship to render it acceptable But the Deference I owe your Injunction for having it made publick encourages me to hope it may occasion some good Thoughts and Endeavours in the World Which that it may I heartily beg of God and humbly subscribe my self Your LORDSHIP's Most Obedient Servant Fran. Prowde ACTS VIII 17. Then Laid they their Hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost THAT result of the wise Solomon's maturer thoughts He that encreaseth knowledge encreaseth sorrow is not more sadly experimented than while we contemplate the religious strifes which are so eagerly maintain'd in the Christian World And among all the perplexing Controversies of this unhappy nature that about the Doctrine which this Text of Scripture presents to our consideration is not the least 'T is strange even to prodigy to consider that after the Office of Confirmation is so plainly deliver'd and recommended in the Holy Scriptures so religiously observed in the best and purest times of Christianity so generally own'd in the main as to its nature and obligation even by the most considerable Parties now among us should after all seem neglected and despis'd What can be the occasion of this melancholy scene of things And whence must the contradiction between the evident grounds of this belief and practice derive Indeed what other reason can be given of it but that the truly Primitive Spirit of Piety and Unity with which the Holy Jesus by visiting these lower regions blessed the world is for want of entertainment here fled to Heaven The Great and Incomprehensible God has no dependence upon us all his favours are free and in strictness of sense unmerited by us The methods of our happiness though they are agreeable to our natures and highly worthy our rational choice yet they are assign'd us by God and if we will be happy we must make our selves so as God has appointed If through carelesness or obstinacy we take wrong methods and refuse or oppose those which God has ordain'd we then grieve and contradict his Holy Spirit and unnaturally bring on our present and eternal ruine Our compassionate Saviour at his departure hence promised us the comfortable assistance of the Holy Ghost to the end of the World And how the divine efflux shall be communicated he himself and the Pen-men of the New Testament both by their precepts and examples have so plainly taught us that in short nothing but our own perverseness can undoe us Particularly in the words of my Text according to the generality of the most learned and happy Interpreters of Sacred Writ we have presented to our thoughts one of the admirable ways or means whereby the divine wisdom has thought fit to convey both the outward to wit the extraordinary and miraculous and the inward to wit the saving and lasting gifts of the Holy Spirit In short if we consider the Context it makes it clear beyond denial that by Laying on of Hands joyn'd with Prayer and receiving the Holy Ghost we are to understand the doctrine and effect of Confirmation For those Prayers which we read were made by the Apostles Peter and John vers 15. did so soon attend the Conversion and Baptism of the Christians at Samaria that it must signifie Confirmation When the Apostles which were at Jerusalem says the Text heard that Samaria had received the word of God and were baptized by Philip they sent unto them Peter and John vers 14. which exactly agrees with this doctrine and usage being an act which we find Primitively reserv'd to the Rulers of the Church and not allowed to inferiour Officers such as Philip the Deacon mention'd in this Chapter Annotations on Acts 8. vers 17. though he was endowed with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost According to this notion Dr. Hammond observes that Bishops are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctors as that signifies the farther instructing them to whom the Gospel hath been formerly preached and as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differs from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preaching from teaching And in Confirmation it certainly was that in these first times of the Gospel both the saving and miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit us'd to be conferr'd But besides this 't is farther probable that the Faith being planted at Samaria by Philip and the Apostles coming thither to Confirm and not staying there Acts 8. v. 25. Acts 14. v. 23. Tit. 1. v. 5. Epist 1. ad Corin. but returning to Jerusalem they did at their being there ordain Elders or Bishops in their several Cities as we find Paul and Barnabas did and as we read Titus did also in Crete This says Clemens Romanus the Apostles did in their journeyings when they went out preaching the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Preaching through Regions and Cities they constituted their First-fruits Bishops and Deacons of those that should afterwards believe And thus before this time they had constituted James the Brother of our Lord Bishop at Jerusalem in the first year after Christ's Ascension From whence it is not reasonable to believe that the Apostles Peter and John should come down to Samaria where the Gospel had been so universally receiv'd and not also ordain some Governors over them before they returned In short therefore by Laying on of Hands joyn'd with Prayer and receiving the Holy Ghost mention'd in my Text both according to the Context and general suffrage of Expositors we are to understand Confirmation and Ordination the Holy Ghost by the Apostle's ministry coming on all the sincere believers and endowing them with the internal saving and lasting gifts of the Holy Spirit and some of them with external and miraculous powers And the Apostles also by Laying on their Hands on some signalized persons Ordain'd them Bishops and Deacons in several Cities the Power of doing which belong'd only to the Apostles to exercise and was not Philip's business though he had power to preach and baptize nay though himself was endow'd with miraculous gifts Now these things premis'd in accounting for my Text and in reference to the present occasion I shall pursue this following method 1. I shall endeavour to give a true and distinct Account of the Doctrine of

Baptisms and Laying on of Hands and of Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgment Here we find the Doctrine of Confirmation placed among the clearest and most necessary Christian Truths such as are Essentials of our Religion Faith Repentance Baptism Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment And it must necessarily follow from this Text of Scripture That either the Doctrine of Confirmation is not here design'd by the Apostle which is contrary to the general Sence of Expositors Or else we must inferr That the Apostle rank'd these Christian Doctrines very unagreeably which is a too strangely severe Reflection upon the great Apostle Or else we must conclude That we are hence obliged to pay an extraordinary Deference to this Apostolical usage considering and esteeming it as one of the happy Advances toward Heaven which the Divine Wisdom has assign'd us Now according to these and other Texts of Scripture in the New Testament those that were baptiz'd in the Ancient Christian Church Adult Persons soon after Baptism Children when being taught and capable of understanding the Principles of Christian Religion were brought to the Bishop publickly to acknowledge and confirm their baptismal Vow and by Laying on of the Bishop's Hand join'd with devout Prayer for them were bless'd by him in order to their growing in Grace and the knowledge of Christ Epist 3. ad Jul. This in short is the usage which Cyprian declares was continued in the Church from the Apostles Time and Example who mentioning the Samaritans baptiz'd by Philip and afterwards Confirm'd by Peter and John as we read in my Text tells us that they who in the Church of Christ have receiv'd Baptism 't is still the Custom that they be offer'd And by our Prayers says he and the Laying on of our Hands receive the Holy Ghost Book I. against Marcion Contra Lucif The flesh says Tertullian by Imposition of Hands is shadowed that the Soul by the Spirit may be illuminated St. Jerom having declared that by the Imposition of Authorized Hands and Prayer the Holy Ghost was still convey'd to the Baptiz'd expostulates thus Dost thou ask me where it is written I answer in the Acts of the Holy Apostles But if there were not so plain Authority of Scripture for it the Practice of the whole Christian World in this particular might challenge the force of a Command St. Austin discoursing on this Subject expresses himself thus Rhemist 's Testa Acts 8. Is there any Man of so perverse an heart as to deny those Children on whom we Impose Hands in Confirmation to have receiv'd the Holy Ghost because they speak not with Tongues as was frequent and agreeable to the Times when the Gospel was first planted To these I might add the Suffrages of many more but this Account of the Doctrine of Confirmation from Antiquity is so apparent and has been so often and so learnedly perform'd that I own my self obliged to Apologize for pretending to it I shall therefore onely add these two Remarks 1. That 't is observable Cornel. Epist ad Fabium apud Euseb Opt. l. 2. cont Par. that the first opposers of this Doctrine were the Novatians and the Donatists 2. 'T is likewise observable that no one in the Primitive Church was admitted to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper without Confirmation And so great a Veneration had the then Christian World for that Sacrament that there was no publick Assembly for the Worship of God without a Communion And as this particular Christian Zeal began to decline Impiety and Wickedness gradually prevail'd But while I insist on this particular I shall briefly observe that this Christian usage has been recommended to our Practice by Protestants of the greatest Character even among all Parties Apol. part 4. de Baptis puer The Waldenses in their Apology to the Marquiss of Brandenburgh 1532. speaking of Children which have been baptiz'd thus express themselves When they are come to years of understanding Confess Waldens de Confir and can give a competent Account of their Faith and begin truly to love Christ we bring them to profess these things whatever their Parents or Godfathers or the Church have taught them that on their own accord they may make a free profession of all these things before the whole Church to their own Salvation in the Celebration of the Office of Imposition of Hands Which being performed they are Confirm'd by the Bishop Confess Waldens de Confir Chem Ex. Concil Triden de Confir And this they tell us was observ'd in the Times of the Apostles Thus likewise Chemnitius that extraordinary Person accounts for this Doctrine as 't was held by the Protestant Churches in general Nostri saepè ostenderunt c. Our Divines have often prov'd that the Rite of Confirmation being separated from Popish Superstitions might be very happily us'd even according to the Holy Scriptures that those who have been baptiz'd in their Infancy when they come to years of discretion should be carefully taught the Doctrine of the Church in some short and easie Catechism and when they are found in some competent measure to understand it that then they be brought to the Bishop and the Church and that the Child who in his Infancy was baptiz'd should 1. In short be put in mind of his Baptism what was then bestow'd upon him and what he likewise then promis'd to doe that he would renounce the Devil profess the Christian Faith and endeavour after all Holy Obedience 2. That the Child publickly before the Congregation own this Faith 3. That there be added a serious Exhortation out of God's Word That he will continue in that Covenant which he made in Baptism and that Faith and Doctrine which he then professed 4. That publick Prayer be made for those Children That God would govern preserve and confirm them in that Profession by his Holy Spirit At which Prayer without all Superstition may be used the Putting on of Hands Neither would such a Prayer says he be to no purpose for 't is warranted upon the Consideration of the Gift of perseverance and the Confirming Grace Such a Confirmation says he would afford great Advantage both to the younger Sort and the whole Church And then he goes on to prove how agreeable this would be to Scripture proving several particulars out of the Acts of the Apostles Chap. 8 14 19. and from several Canons made in several Councils much to the same purpose Melanct. Confess Ecclesiarum Sax. cap. de Confirm Hemin Syntag. cap. 22. Calv. Inst l. 4. c 19. Melancthon declares for this usage in the Churches of Saxony and Hemingius for those of Denmark thus likewise Mr. Calvin Hic mos olim fuit c. It hath been an Ancient Custom that Children being instructed in an easie and short Catechism should be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him And in his Commentary on Hebrews 6. he has these words Transactâ Infantiâ c.

introduce an habit of thoughts in some degree resembling the blessed Spirits above would lay the Foundation of our present and eternal Bliss would oblige us to comply with all the means of Salvation which are assign'd us by our God But while we are not in earnest with God Almighty nor sincerely resolved in our choice of Happiness 't is no wonder we neglect or despise the methods which should advance us to Heaven 't is indeed no wonder we loath our Duties here and undo our selves for ever But having briefly reflected on those Objections I proceed to the Fourth and Last particular To propound some Considerations evincing the Reasonableness divine Excellency and necessity of this usage And here 1. Let us look back into the Primitive times of Christianity and view this Practice then prevailing when the true Christian Spirit and Temper was warm and vigorous when the holy Jesus had newly blessed the world with his Presence and his Miracles when in the Infant state of our Religion men did not quarrel with their Duty but being influenced by heavenly Demonstration conversed here as it becomes Christians and longed to be where their Lord was gone Now either we must condemn these happy times or we must own our selves obliged to pay an extraordinary deference to this Primitive Doctrine If this Consideration don't awaken our thoughts what can rouze us from our sinful slumber 'T is undeniable that these First professours of Christianity were really what they pretended professing a most holy Religion and living according to their Profession contemning this world and having their thoughts fired with a Desire and Expectation of a better Life so perfectly holy was their Faith that it demonstrated it self to come from Heaven and so agreeable was their Conversation to their belief that it proved their Example to be divine Should we not therefore be highly concerned to tread in their steps and to use the same heavenly methods which they have used and taught us if we don't how can we please our selves in their hopes and be partakers of their Happiness But 2. We may sadly consider That our forsaking or neglecting this holy Usage and Doctrine does not onely contradict Antiquity reflect upon the Apostles and the first and best Christians but lays the Foundation for the Degeneracy of our Age and the Ruine of Religion among us did we only consider the Doctrine of Confirmation as recommended by the First and best Ages of the Christian Church this must needs represent it as a Duty not to be neglected by us but of such fatal Tendency is the disuse of it that it demonstrates that disuse not only contrary to Apostolical and Primitive example but a contradiction lodged in the Nature of things against the heavenly design of Christianity For how evident is it that while Confirmation is neglected the Catechising of Children is neglected too When such a solemn and publick tryal of Youth as Confirmation is seems by disuse to be laid aside how unconcerned are Parents apt to be for their Children and Children for themselves How generally is that sacred Vow forgotten which Sureties made for Children at their Baptism and how little impression does the infant Vow make upon the Child while this holy Obligation is not solemnly professed and reassumed at Confirmation how apt are we to rank our baptismal Vow among the Dreams of our Infancy among the to-be-forgotten things of our unthinking Age and what must naturally follow this neglect but Ignorance Divisions and prophane Atheism for while in order to Confirmation Children are not instructed in the Principles of Religion they are exposed to all these dreadful misfortunes Either to fall into a sinful Lethargy for want of divine Instruction or instead of a rational substantial Piety to be hurried away with a religious Frenzy or lastly to lose the Happiness both of this and a far better world by the wild Inconsistencies of Atheism and Prophaneness Thus does the neglect of Confirmation and an agreeable preparation for it evidently occasion either a stupid Ignorance or a misapprehension or an open affronting of the great Creator and Governour of the world In short whoever seriously reflects on these dismal Consequences and has not lost all concern for Religion must needs deeply resent the strange indifferency which this Apostolical Institution has met with among us that it looks very ominous even like one of those presages of divine Displeasure before the Migremus hinc was heard in the last Temple of the Jews for indeed according to this melancholy parallel between the Jews and us 't is Presumption and not Faith to expect God to be with us if we despise or neglect his Ordinances But 3. And lastly We may very pertinently consider the many and extraordinary advantages of the genuine use of this Doctrine which because they have been so often and admirably expressed by great Men of our own Communion I shall therefore among the rest chuse to represent it you in the few tho' compleat words of the judicious Hooker By the means of Confirmation says he it comes to pass that Children in the expectation of it are season'd with Principles of true Religion before evil and corrupt examples deprave their Minds a good Foundation is laid betimes for direction of the Course of their Lives the seed of the Church of God is preserved sincere and found the Prelates and Fathers of God's Family to whom the care of their Souls belongs so by Tryal and Examination of them apart of their own heavy burden discharged reap comfort by beholding the first beginnings of true Godliness in tender years and neglect not so fit an opportunity of giving every one Fatherly encouragement and exhortation whereunto Imposition of Hands and Prayer being added our Warrant for the great good effect thereof is the same which Patriarchs Prophets Priests Apostles Fathers and Men of God in all ages have had for such their Benedictions Thus Mr. Hooker expresses himself in this case and that I may represent it more particularly 1. By the due use of Confirmation the diligent Catechising of Children would be happily promoted than which nothing would more truely advance the admirable design of our most holy Religion For 2. By this means Parents and Sureties would be awakned into a sense of their Duty even those Parents and Sureties whom the Principles of Piety don't influence would be obliged into a concern for their Duty lest their remissness should prove their shame lest those Children they were concerned to have instructed should by their Ignorance be unfit for Confirmation and consequently the imputation of that Ignorance belong to them Thus would the sense of present shame awaken those thoughts which are unconcerned at the prospect of eternal confusion for how little soever of this pious Concern we meet with in the world these Obligations and Vows will be strictly enquired after at the Day of Judgment the Parent and Surety must give a sad account of that Child which by