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
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
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 of the Holy Spirit like
a Dove was the visible or ritual part and the voice of God was the word to make it to be Sacramental accedit verbum ad elementum fit Sacramentum for so the ministration was not only perform'd on Christ but consign'd to the Church by similitude and exemplar institution I shall only add that the force of this argument is established to us by more of the Fathers S. Hilary upon this place hath these words The Fathers voice was heard that from those things which were consummated in Christ we might know that after the baptism of water the Holy Spirit from the gates of Heaven flies unto us and that we are to be anointed with the Vnction of a coelestial glory and be made the Sons of God by the adoption of the voice of God the Truth by the very effects of things prefigur'd unto us the similitude of a Sacrament So S. Chrysostom In the beginnings alwayes appears the sensible visions of spiritual things for their sakes who cannot receive the understanding of an incorporeal nature that if afterwards they be not so done that is after the same visible manner they may be believ'd by those things which were already done But more plain is that of Theophylact The Lord had not need of the descent of the Holy Spirit but he did all things for our sakes and himself is become the first fruits of all things which we afterwards were to receive that he might become the first fruits among many Brethren The consequent is this which I express in the words of S. Austin affirming Christi in baptismucolombam unctionem nostram praefigurâsse The Dove in Christ's Baptism did represent and prefigure our Unction from above that is the descent of the Holy Ghost upon us in the rite of Confirmation Christ was baptized and so must we But after Baptism he had a new ministration for the reception of the Holy Ghost and because this was done for our sakes we also must follow that example and this being done immediately before his entrance into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil it plainly describes to us the order of this ministry and the blessing design'd to us after we are baptiz'd we need to be strengthned and confirm'd propter pugnam spiritualem we are to fight against the flesh the World and the Devil and therefore must receive the ministration of the Holy spirit of God which is the design and proper work of Confirmation For they are the words of the Excellent Author of the imperfect work upon S. Matthew imputed to S. Chrysostom The Baptism of Water profits us because it washes away the sins we have formerly committed if we repent of them But it does not sanctifie the soul nor precedes the concupiscences of the heart and our evil thoughts nor drives them back nor represses our carnal desires But he therefore who is only so baptized that he does not also receive the Holy Spirit is baptized in his body and his sins are pardon'd but in his mind he is yet but a Catechumen for so it is written he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his and therefore afterward out of his flesh will germinate worse sins because he hath not receiv'd the Holy Spirit conserving him in his baptismal grace but the house of his body is empty wherefore that wicked spirit finding it swept with the Doctrines of Faith as with besomes enters in and in a seaven fold manner dwells there Which words besides that they will explicate this mystery do also declare the necessity of Confirmation or receiving the Holy Ghost after baptism in imitation of the Divine precedent of our Blessed Saviour 2. After the example of Christ my next Argument is from his words spoken to Nicodemus in explication of the prime mysteries Evangelical Vnless a man be born of Water and of the Holy Spirit he shall not enter into the Kingdom of God These words are the great Argument which the Church uses for the indispensable necessity of Baptism and having in them so great effort and not being rightly understood have suffered many Convulsions shall I call them or Interpretations Some serve their own Hypothesis by saying that Water is the Symbol and the Spirit is the Baptismal Grace Others that it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one is onely meant though here be two Signatures But others conclude that water is onely necessary but the Spirit is super-added as being afterwards to supervene and move upon these Waters And others yet affirm that by Water is onely meant a Spiritual ablution or the effect produced by the Spirit and still they have intangled the words so that they have been made useless to the Christian Church and the meaning too many things makes nothing to be understood But truth is easie intelligible and clear and without objection and is plainly this Unless a man be Baptized into Christ and confirmed by the Spirit of Christ he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Christ that is he is not perfectly adopted into the Christian Religion or fitted for the Christian Warfare and if this plain and natural sense be admitted the place is not onely easie and intelligible but consonant to the whole Design of Christ and Analogy of the New Testament For first Our blessed Saviour was Catechising of Nicodemus and teaching him the first Rudiments of the Gospel and like a wise Master-builder first layes the foundation The Doctrine of Baptism and laying on of Hands which afterwards St. Paul put into the Christian Catechism as I shall shew in the sequel Now these also are the first principles of the Christian Religion taught by Christ himself and things which at least to the Doctors might have been so well known that our blessed Saviour upbraids the not knowing them as a shame to Nicodemus St. Chrysostom and Theophylact Euthymius and Rupertus affirm that this Generation by Water and the Holy Spirit might have been understood by the Old Testament in which Nicodemus was so well skilled Certain it is the Doctrine of Baptismes was well enough known to the Jews and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the illumination and irradiations of the Spirit of God was not new to them who believed the Visions and Dreams the Daughter of a Voice and the influences from Heaven upon the Sons of the Prophets and therefore although Christ intended to teach him more than what he had distinct notice of yet the things themselves had foundation in the Law and the Prophets but although they were high mysteries and scarce discerned by them who either were ignorant or incurious of such things yet to the Christians they were the very Rudiments of their Religion and are best expounded by observation of what St. Paul placed in the very foundation But 2. Baptism is the first mystery that is certain but that this of being born of the Spirit is also the next is plain in the very
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
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
of God viz. He then is to be confirmed S. Dionys commonly called the Areopagite in his excellent book of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy speaks most fully of the Holy rite of Confirmation or Chrism Having describ'd at large the office and manner of baptizing the Catechumens the trine immersion the vesting them in white Garments adds Then they bring them again to the Bishop and he consignes him who had been so baptiz'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the most Divinely operating Unction and then gives him the most Holy Eucharist And afterwards he sayes But even to him who is consecrated in the most holy mystery of regeneration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfective Unction of Chrism gives to him the advent of the Holy Spirit And this rite of Confirmation then called Chrism from the spiritual Unction then effected and consign'd also and signified by the Ceremony of anointing externally which was then the ceremony of the Church he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy consummation of our baptismal regeneration meaning that without this there is something wanting to the baptized persons And this appears fully in that famous censure of Novatus by Cornelius Bishop of Rome reported by Eusebius Novatus had been baptized in his bed being very sick and like to dye but when he recover'd he did not receive those other things which by the rule of the Church he ought to have receiv'd neque Domini sigillo ab Episcopo consignatus est he was not consign'd with the Lords signature by the hands of the Bishop he was not confirmed Quo non impetrato quomodo spiritum sanctum obtinuisse putandus est Which having not obtain'd how can he be suppos'd to have receiv'd the Holy Spirit The same also is something more fully related by Nicephorus but wholly to the same purpose Melchiades in his Epistle to the Bishops of Spain argues excellently about the necessity and usefulness of the Holy Rite of Confirmation What does the mystery of Confirmation profit me after the mystery of Baptism Certainly we did not receive all in our Baptism if after that lavatory we want something of another kind Let your charity attend As the Military order requires that when the General enters a Souldier into his list he does not only mark him but furnishes him with armes for the Battle So in him that is baptiz'd this blessing is his Ammunition You have given Christ a Souldier give him also Weapons And what will it profit him if a Father gives a great Estate to his Son if he does not take care to provide a Tutor for him Therefore the Holy Spirit is the Guardian of our regeneration in Christ he is the Comforter and he is the Defender I have already alleaged the plain Testimonies of Optatus and S. Cyril in the first Section I adde to them the words of S. Gregory Nazianzen speaking of Confirmation or the Christian signature Hoc viventi tibi maximum est tutamentum Ovis enim quae sigillo insignita est non facilè patet insidiis quae verò signata non est facilè à furibus capitur This signature is your greatest guard while you live For a sheep when it is mark'd with the Masters sign is not so soon stollen by Thieves but easily if she be not The same manner of speaking is also us'd by S. Basil who was himself together with Eubulus confirm'd by Bishop Maximinus Quomodo curam geret tanquam ad se pertinentis Angelus Quomodo eripiat ex hostibus si non agnoverit signaculum How shall the Angel know what sheep belong unto his charge How shall he snatch them from the Enemy if he does not see their mark and signature Theodoret also and Theophylact speak the like words and so far as I can perceive these and the like sayings are most made use of by the Schoolmen to be their warranty for an indelible Character imprinted in Confirmation I do not interest my self in the question but only recite the Doctrine of these Fathers in behalf of the practice and usefulness of Confirmation I shall not need to transcribe hither those clear testimonies which are cited from the Epistles of S. Clement Vrban the first Fabianus and Cornelius the summe of them is in those plainest words of Vrban the First Omnes fideles per manus impositionem Episcopórum Spiritum Sanctum post baptismum accipere debent All faithfull People ought to receive the Holy spirit by imposition of the Bishops hands after Baptism Much more to the same purpose is to be read collected by Gratian de consecrat dist 4. Presbyt de consecrat dist 5. Omnes fideles ibid. Spiritus Sanctus S. Hierom brings in a Luciferian asking why he that is baptiz'd in the Church does not receive the Holy Ghost but by imposition of the Bishops hands The answer is hanc observationem ex Scripturae authoritate ad Sacordotii honorem descendere This observation for the honour of the Priesthood did descend from the authority of the Scriptures adding withal it was for the prevention of Schismes and that the safety of the Church did depend upon it Exigis ubi scriptum est If you ask where it is written it is answered in Actibus Apostolorum It is written in the Acts of the Apostles But if there were no authority of Scripture for it totius orbis in hanc partem consensus instar praecepti obtineret the consent of the whole Christian World in this article ought to prevail as a commandment But here is a twofold Chord Scripture and Universal Tradition or rather Scripture expounded by an Universal traditive interpretation The same observation is made from Scripture by S. Chrysostom The words are very like those now recited from S. Hierom's Dialogue and therefore need not be repeated S. Ambrose calls Confirmation Spiritale signaculum quod post fontem superest ut perfectio fiat A spiritual seal remaining after Baptism that perfection be had Oecumenius calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfection Lavacro peccata purgantur Chrismate Spiritus sanctus superfunditur Vtraque verò ista manu ore Antistitis impetramus said Pacianus Bishop of Barcinona In Baptism our sins are cleans'd in Confirmation the holy Spirit is pour'd upon us and both these we obtain by the hands and mouth of the Bishop and again vestrae plebi unde spiritus quam non consignat unctus Sacerdos The same with that of Cornelius in the case of Novatus before cited I shall add no more least I overset the article and make it suspicious by too laborious a defence only after these numerous testimonies of the Fathers I think it may be useful to represent that this Holy rite of Confirmation hath been decreed by many Councils The Council of Eliberis celebrated in the time of P. Sylvester the first decreed that whosoever is baptiz'd in his sickness if he recover ad Episcopum eum
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
〈◊〉 sayes the Text The Holy Ghost was not yet So almost all the Greek Copies Printed and Manuscript and so St. Chrysostom Athanasius Cyril Ammonius in the Catena of the Greeks Leontius Theophylact Euthymius and all the Greek Fathers read it So St. Hierom and St. Austin among the Latines and some Latine Translations read it Our Translations read it The Holy Ghost was not yet given was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in them as some few Greek copies read it but the meaning is alike Confirmation was not yet actual the Holy spirit viz. of Confirmation was not yet come upon the Church but it follows not but he was long before promised designed and appointed spoken of and declared * The first of these collations had the Ceremony of Chrisme or Anointing joyned with it which the Church in process of time transferred into her use and ministry yet it is the last onely that Christ passed into an Ordinance for ever It is this onely which is the Sacramental consummation of our Regeneration in Christ for in this the Holy spirit is not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present by his power but present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Gregory Nazianzen expresses it to dwell with us to converse with us and to abide for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So St. Paul describes this Spirit of Confirmation the Spirit which he hath poured forth upon us richly or plentifully that is in great measures and to the full consummation of the first mysteries of our Regeneration Now because Christ is the great Fountain of this blessing to us and he it was who sent his Fathers spirit upon the Church himself best knew his own intentions and the great blessings he intended to communicate to his Church and therefore it was most agreeable that from his Sermons we should learn his purposes and his blessing and our duty Here Christ declared re◠Sacramenti the spiritual Grace which he would afterwards impart to his Church by exterior ministry in this as in all other Graces Mysteries and Rituals Evangelical Nisi quis Vnless a Man be born both of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God But the next objection is yet more material 2. For if this be the meaning of our Blessed Saviour then Confirmation is as necessary as Baptism and without it ordinarily no man can be saved The solution of this will answer a case of conscience concerning the necessity of confirmation and in what degree of duty and diligence we are bound to take care that we receive this Holy rite I answer therefore that entring into the Kingdom of God is being admitted into the Christian Church and warefare to become Sons of God and Souldiers of Jesus Christ and though this be the outward door and the first entrance into life and consequently the Kings high way and the ordinary means of Salvation yet we are to distinguish the external ceremony from the internal mystery The Nisi quis is for this not for that and yet that also is the ordinary way Vnless a Man be baptized that is unless he be indeed regenerate he cannot be sav'd and yet baptism or the outward washing is the solemnity and Ceremony of its ordinary ministration and he that neglects this when it may be had is not indeed regenerate he is not renewed in the spirit of his mind because he neglects Gods way and therefore can as little be sav'd as he who having receiv'd the external Sacrament puts a bar to the intromission of the inward grace Both cannot alwayes be had but when they can although they are not equally valuable in the Nature of the thing yet they are made equally necessary by the Divine Commandment And in this there is a great but general mistake in the doctrine of the Schools disputing concerning what Sacraments are necessary necessitate medii that is as necessary means and what are necessary by the necessity of praecept or Divine Commandment For although a less reason will excuse from the actual susception of some than of others and a less diligence for the obtaining of one will serve than in obtaining of another and a supply in one is easier obtain'd than in another yet no Sacrament hath in it any other necessity than what is made meerly by the Divine Commandment But the grace of every sacrament or rite or mystery which is of Divine ordinance is necessary indispensably so as without it no man can be sav'd And this difference is highly remarkable in the words of Christ recorded by S. Mark He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Baptism it self as to the external part is not necessary necessitate medii or indispensably but baptismal Faith for the remission of sins in person capable that indeed is necessary for Christ does not say that the want of baptism damns as the want of Faith does and yet both Baptisme and Faith are the ordinary way of Salvation and both necessary baptism because it is so by the Divine Commandment and faith as a necessary means of salvation in the very Oeconomy and dispensation of the Gospel Thus it is also in the other Sacrament Vnless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood we have no life in us and yet God forbid that every Man that is not communicated should dye eternally But it means plainly that without receiving Christ as he is by Gods intention intended we should receive him in the Communion we have no life in us Plainly thus without the internal grace we cannot live and the external ministery is the usual and appointed means of conveying to us the internal and therefore although without the external it is possible to be sav'd when it is impossible to be had yet with the wilful neglect of it we cannot Thus therefore we are to understand the words of Christ declaring the necessity of both these Ceremonies they are both necessary because they are the means of spiritual advantages and graces and both minister to the proper ends of their appointment and both derive from a Divine Original But the ritual or ceremonial part in rare emergencies is dispensable but the Grace is indispensable Without the grace of Baptism we shall dye in our sins and without the grace or internal part of Confirmation we shall never be able to resist the Divel but shall be taken captive by him at his will Now the external or ritual part is the means the season and opportunity of this grace and therefore is at no hand to be neglected least we be accounted despisers of the grace and tempters of God to wayes and provisions extraordinary For although when without our fault we receive not the sacramental part God can and will supply it to us out of his own stores because no man can perish without his own fault and God can permit to himself what he please as being Lord of
was not to all in like manner but there was also then and since then a diffusion of the Spirit tanquam in pleno St. Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost he was full of faith and power The Holy Ghost was given to him to fulfil his Faith principally the working miracles was but collateral and incident But there is also an infusion of the Holy Ghost and that is to all and that is for ever The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall saith the Apostle and therefore if the Grace be given to all there is no reason that the Ritual ministration of that Grace should cease upon pretence that the Spirit is not given extraordinarily 4. These extraordinary gifts were indeed at first necessary In the beginnings alwayes appears the sensible visions of spiritual things for their sakes who cannot receive the understanding of an incorporeal Nature that if afterward they be not so done they may be believed by those things which were already done said St. Chysostom in the place before quoted That is these visible appearances were given at first by reason of the imperfection of the state of the Church but the greater gifts were to abide for ever and therefore it is observable that St. Paul sayes That the gift of Tongues is one of the least and most useless things a meer sign and not so much as a sign to Believers but to Infidels and Unbelievers and before this he greatly prefers the gift of Prophecying or Preaching which yet all Christians know does abide with the Church for ever 5. To every ordinary and perpetual ministery at first there were extraordinary effects and miraculous consignations We find great parts of Nations converted at one Sermon Three thousand converts came in at once Preaching of S. Peter and five thousand at another Sermon and Persons were miraculously cured by the prayer of the Bishop in his visitation of a sick Christian and Divels cast out in the conversion of a sinner and blindness cur'd at the Baptism of S. Paul and Aeneas was healed of a Palsie at the same time he was cur'd of his infidelity and Eutychus was restor'd to life at the Preaching of S. Paul and yet that now we see no such extraordinaries it followes not that the visitation of the sick and Preaching Sermons and absolving penitents are not ordinary and perpetual ministrations and therefore to fancy that invocation of the Holy Spirit and imposition of hands is to cease when the extraordinary and temporary contingencies of it are gone is too trifling a fancy to be put in ballance against so sacred an institution relying upon so many Scriptures 6. With this Objection some vain persons would have troubled the Church in S. Austins time but he considered it with much indignation writing against the Donatists His words are these At the first times the Holy Spirit fell upon the Believers and they spake with tongues which they had not learned according as the Spirit gave them utterance They were signs fitted for the season for so the Holy Ghost ought to have signified in all tongues because the Gospel of God was to run thorough all the Nations and Languages of the World so it was signified and so it pass'd thorough But is it therefore expected that they upon whom there is imposition of hands that they might receive the Holy Ghost that they should speak with tongues Or when we lay hands on Infants does every one of you attend to hear them speak with Tongues And when he sees that they do not speak with Tongues is any of you of so perverse a heart as to say They have not received the Holy Ghost for if they had received him they would speak with Tongues as it was done at first But if by these Miracles there is not now given any testimony of the presence of the holy Spirit how doth any one know that he hath received the Holy Ghost Interroget cor suum si diligit fratrem manet spiritus Dei in illo It is true the gift of Tongues doth not remain but all the greater gifts of the holy Spirit remain with the Church for ever Sanctification and Power Fortitude and Hope Faith and Love Let every man search his Heart and see if he belongs to God whether the love of God be not spread in his heart by the spirit of God Let him see if he be not patient in Troubles comforted in his Afflictions bold to Confess the Faith of Christ crucified zealous of good works These are the miracles of Grace and the mighty powers of the Spirit according to that saying of Christ These signs shall follow them that believe In my Name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new Tongues they shall tread on Serpents they shall drink poyson and it shall not hurt them and they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover That which we call the miraculous part is the less power but to cast out the Devil of Lust to throw down the pride of Lucifer to tread on the great Dragon and to triumph over our spiritual enemies to cure a diseased Soul to be unharmed by the poyson of Temptation of evil Examples and evil Company These are the true signs that shall follow them that truly and rightly believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus this is to live in the spirit and to walk in the spirit this is more than to receive the spirit to a power of miracles and super-natural products in a natural matter For this is from a super-natural principle to receive super-natural aids to a super-natural end in the Diviner spirit of a man and this being more miraclous than the other it ought not to be pretended that the discontinuance of extraordinary miracles should cause the discontinuance of an ordinary ministration and this is that which I was to proove 6. To which it is not amiss to add this Observation That Simon Magus offered to buy this power of the Apostles that he also by laying on of hands might thus minister the spirit Now he began this sin in the Christian Church and it is too frequent at this day but if all this power be gone then nothing of that sin can remain if the subject matter be removed then the appendant crime cannot abide and there can be no Simony so much as by participation and whatever is or can be done in this kind is no more of this Crime than Drunkenness is of Adultery it relates to it or may be introductive of it or be something like it But certainly since the Church is not so happy as to be intirely free from the Crime of Simony it will be hard to say that the power the buying of which was the principle of this sin and therefore the Rule of all the rest should be removed and the house stand without a foundation the relative without the correspondent the accessary without the principal
our warranty we see it done thus and by these men and by no others and no otherwise and we have no other authority and we have no reason to goe another way The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Luke the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Chrysostome the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Philo and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief Governour in Ecclesiasticals his Office is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to teach such things as are not set down in Books their practise is a Sermon their example in these things must be our rule or else we must walk irregularly and have no rule but chance and humour Empire and Usurpation and therefore much rather when it is recorded in Holy writ must this Observation be esteemed sacred and inviolable But how if a Bishop be not to be had or not ready St. Ambrose is pretended to have answered Apud Egyptum Presbyteri consignant si praesens non sit Episcopus A Presbyter may consign if the Bishop be not present and Amalarius affirms Sylvestrum Papam praevidentem quantum periculosum iter arriperet qui sine confirmatione maneret quantum potuit subvenisse propter absentiam Episcoporum necessitate addidisse ut à Presbytero Vngerentur That Pope Sylvester fore-seeing how dangerous a Journey he takes who abides without Confirmation brought remedy as far as he could and commanded that in the absence of Bishops they should be anointed by the Priest and therefore it is by some supposed that factum valet fieri non debuit The thing ought not to be done but in the proper and appointed way but when it is done it is valid just as in the case of Baptism by a Lay-man or Woman Nay though some Canons say it is actio irrita the act is null yet for this there is a salvo pretended for sometimes an action is said to be irrita in Law which yet nevertheless is of secret and permanent value and ought not to be done again Thus if a Priest be promoted by Simony it is said sacerdos non est sed inaniter tantùm dicitur he is but vainly called a Priest for he is no Priest So Sixtus II. said That if a Bishop Ordain in anothers Diocess the Ordination is void and in the Law it is said that if a Bishop be consecrated without his Clergy and the Congregation the Consecration is null and yet these later and fiercer constitutions do not determine concerning the natural event of things but of the legal and Canonical approbation To these things I answer That St. Ambrose his saying that in Egypt the Presbyters consign in the Bishops absence does not prove that they ever did confirm or impose hands on the Baptized for the ministry of the holy spirit because that very passage being related by St. Austin the more general word of consign is rendred by the plainer and more particular consecrant they consecrate meaning the blessed Eucharist which was not permitted primitively to a simple Priest to doe in the Bishops absence without leave onely in Egypt it seems they had a general leave and the Bishops absence was an interpretative consent But besides this consignant is best interpreted by the practise of the Church of which I shall presently give an account they might in the absence of the Bishop consign with Oyl upon the top of the head but not in the fore-head much less impose hands or confirm or minister the holy Spirit for the case was this It was very early in the Church that to represent the grace which was ministred in Confirmation the Unction from above they us'd Oyl and Balsom and so constantly us'd this in their Confirmations that from the ceremony it had the appellation Sacramentum Chrismatis S. Austin calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Dionysius Now because at the Baptism of the adult Christians and by imitation of that of Infants Confirmation and Baptism were usually ministred at the same time the Unction was not only us'd to persons newly baptiz'd but another Unction was added as a ceremony in Baptism it self and was us'd immediately before Baptism and the oyle was put on the top of the head and three times was the party sign'd so it was then as we find in the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy But besides this Unction with oyl in baptismal preparations and pouring oyl into the baptismal water we find another Unction after the baptism was finished For they bring the baptized person again to the Bishop saith S. Dionys who signing the man with hallowed Chrisme gives him the Holy Eucharist This they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfective or consummating Unction this was that which was us'd when the Bishop confirmed the baptized person For to him who is initiated by the most holy initiation of the Divine generation that is to him who hath been baptiz'd saith Pachimeres the Paraphrast of Dionysius the perfective Vnction of Chrisme gives the gift of the Holy Ghost This is that which the Laodicean Council calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be anointed after baptism Both these Unctions were intimated by Theophilus Antiochenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every man that is borne into the World and every man that is a Champion is anointed with oyl That to baptism this alluding to Confirmation Now this Chrisme was frequently ministred immediately after Baptism in the Cities where the Bishop was present But in Villages and little Towns where the Bishop was not present it could not be But Bishops were forc'd at their opportunities to go abroad and perfect what was wanting as it was in the example of Peter and John to the Samaritans Non quidem abnuo hanc esse Ecclesiarum consuetudinem ut ad eos qui longè in minoribus Vrbibus per Presbyteros Diaconos baptizati sunt Episcopus ad invocationem Sancti Spiritus manum impositurus excurrat It is the custom of the Church that when persons are in lesser Cities baptiz'd by Priests and Deacons the Bishops uses to travel far that he may lay hands on them for the invocation of the Holy Spirit But because this could not alwayes be done and because many baptized persons dyed before such an opportunity could be had the Church took up a custome that the Bishop should consecrate the Chrisme and send it to the Villages and little Cities distant from the Metropolis and that the Priests should anoint the baptized with it But still they kept this part of it sacred and peculiar to the Bishop 1. That no Chrisme should be us'd but what the Bishop consecrated 2. That the Priests should anoint the head of the baptized but at no hand the forehead for that was still reserved for the Bishop to do when he confirmed them And this is evident in the Epistle of P. Innocent the first above quoted Nam Presbyteris seu extra Episcopum seu praesente Episcopo baptizant Chrismate baptizatos Vngere
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