by their hands we are abundantly strengthened against all spiritual Enemies in Confirmation from their hands we receive the holy Eucharist the benefits of our Saviours Death and the I ledge of his eternal Love from their hands if we fall under the censures of the Church we receive Absolution and from the laying on of their hands together with the holy Chrism a custom far different from what is now us'd in the Church of Rome the Primitive Christians were freed from their several bodily Distempers or at least from their hands they then received the symbol of Christs Body and Bloud as the last and eternal Viaticum of their Souls I should be infinite in recounting unto you all the Blessings which God by these his Servants was and is pleased to communicate unto men and that under this holy and significant Rite of Imposition of Hands Here then in this solemn Office of Confirmation great and unspeakable Blessings being to be convey'd and those by his superiour Servants the principal Stewards of his Houshold what fitter and more significant Rite could possibly be devis'd whereby to secure a Blessing to the one and Honour to the other than that which the Light of Nature hath affixt to Paternal Benedictions than what the holy Patriarchs before the Law did practise than what under the Law in several the like cases was enjoyn'd than what our Saviour did frequently use and to conclude than what humane Reason could not possibly invent any thing more plain and significant But will some say Was this all that the Apostles used and did the Blessings of God follow the Imposition of Hands onely No surely there was something else belong'd to this great Office and that of a higher and more valuable nature in it self than what is here mentioned We are told vers 15. that the Apostles when they were come to Samaria prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost Prayer is an essential part of the Divine Worship but Imposition of Hands is onely a decent and significant Ceremony proper and adapted to the present occasion Their servent and devout Prayers were the holy charms that invited the Spirit of God to descend from Heaven but Imposition of Hands must be acknowledged onely as a decent Rite made use of mainly to signifie that this Spirit would ordinarily come to none but by the mediation and ministry of those whom he had appointed 'T is very evident that Prayer was the main Duty and Imposition of Hands the principal Ceremony and this is All that we find here recorded concerning the nature of this holy Office Where then shall we find the holy Chrisin consecrated by the Bishop which the Church of Rome calls the Matter where stands recorded that jingling Sentence Signo te signo crucis confirmo te Chrismate solutis in nomine Patris c. which they say is the Form of their pretended Sacrament If you will find them you must search Pope Eugenius's Decretals to the Armenians with the approbation of the Council of Florence or if that will not satisfie you may consult the Council of Trent and the Roman Catechism which give a large and more plenary account of it but let me advize you not to search the Scriptures for it for there you shall not find the least tittle concerning it And yet 't is somewhat strange the Scriptures should be silent in a business of such importance to record nothing but Prayer and Imposition of Hands and to pass by the Matter and Form the two essential parts of a Sacrament seems to be an unpardonable omission in those holy Pen-men But you will find the mistake was not theirs this Sacriledge or holy Cheat must be imputed to the Church of Rome who ingenuously acknowledges that Loco illius manus impositionis datur in Ecclesiâ confirmatio i. e. if we may be so bold as to render it into its true English Prayer and Imposition of Hands is justled out and the holy Cross with sanctified Balsam and a kind of Charm at the end of it is got into the Chair and commenc'd a Sacrament Had the Romanists retain'd Prayer and Imposition of Hands not advancing it to the honour of a Sacrament but honouring it as a Sacramental completion which is as much as it will amount to and added the Cross and Oyl onely as decent and significant Ceremonies to attend upon it they had kept themselves within the bounds of modesty for the truth is Chrism was of very ancient use even in this holy Office together with the honourable badge of our Saviour's Cross as Tertullian who lived in the latter end of the second Century testifies in his Tractate De résurrectione carnis Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur Caro ungitur ut anima consecretur Caro signatur ut anima muniatur Caro manus impositione adumbratur ut anima spiritis illuminetur Caro corpore sanguine Christi vescitur ut anima de Deo saginetur Where you see betwixt the two Sacraments he gives us an account of Confirmation and the three Ceremonies that did then attend upon it viz. The signe of the Cross Vnction and Imposition of Hands And St. Cyprian about the middle of the third Century mentions the signe of the Cross in this holy Office in his Epistle to Jubaianus Vt per nostram orationem ac manus impositionem spiritum sanctum consequantur signaculo Dominico consummentur So that it must be confest that these Ceremonies were of ancient use in the Church and had they been retain'd onely as such the more sober sort of Christians 't is likely would not have been offenâ—â—â— But for the Church of Rome to lay aside the Apostolical institution and to advance these extrinsick Ceremonies to the same honour with the holy Eucharist is a far greater crime than she committed in the Council of Constance where she onely denies the Cup to the Laity as resolving to keep them sober but retains the use of both kinds to her proper Representatives their Priests standing on tiptoe rather than leave the least drop behind them Here then you may plainly see the ignorance of some and the impudence of others who are Adversaries to our Church The ignorance I will not say the malice of our late Dissenters who alledg'd that this Office of Confirmation as it is us'd in our Church is a superstitious practice and no better than a Transcript of the Popes Decretals whereas if they are compar'd together they are as opposite as light and darkness their old Master Cartwright who first broacht this Scandal openly retracting it upon better information Here you may likewise behold the forehead of those who pretend to pay a great reverence to Antiquity who yet curtail one of the Sacraments with a Non obstante and to make amends for it adde five more as of equal dignity 'T would be matter of wonder that these things should gain so great a repute even amongst the
vulgar were it not that we see intelligent Kings and Princes to be every day impos'd upon with the supposed holiness of Toys and Trifles for surely this new-coin'd Sacrament must be presum'd to do as much good to the partakers of it if there be no real Obstacle to hinder its efficacy as the Consecrated Clouts and Rattles lately sent from Rome to the Infant-Duke of Burgundy But to wave the levity of their Pretences more fit for a Stage than a Pulpit We of the Church of England retaining the Primitive Institution and practice may comfortably expect a Blessing upon this holy Office here being no traditions of men imposed upon us as the Commandments of Christ no Prayers offered up upon this occasion but what the Church upon mature deliberation hath compos'd no Ceremonies as essential to the Office being here used but what the Apostles practised and all this as heretofore administred by the Apostles so now by the Bishops their lawful Successors And this brings me to the third viz. III. The peculiar Order of persons to whom the ministration of this holy Office is restrained We find by the Context that although St. Philip converted them to Christianity and discipled them by the Sacrament of Baptism yet this holy Office was perform'd by St. Peter and St. John v. 14. Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God they sent Peter and John How what is this that we hear Was Peter sent were the Subjects so sawcy and presumptuous as to send their Prince on their Errand Is not this He from whom his present Holiness derives his Supremacy over all Dominions spiritual and temporal Did not St. Peter understand his power or was he so weak as sneakingly to betray the Prerogative of his Chair Or if he did for that time suffer himself like the titular Duke of Venice to be concluded in the general Vote yet could not his Infallibility guide him in executing the Commission Must he have a Collegue appointed him to seture his Superiouts that all things shall be rightly perform'd Behold then the sandy Foundation upon which the Romanists erect a supreme and infallible Chair to his Holiness O the miserable shifts that they make to avoid the force of this unhappy instance And yet amongst them all that which is the most plausible brings him to an equality with the rest of the Christian Bishops for A Lapide tells us that as the Father sent the Son In Loc. and the Father and Son together sent the Holy Ghost and yet all three equal in Glory and Authority so St. Peter may be said to be sent by the rest of the Apostles non imperio as he quotes Cajetan for it sed fraterua charitate impulsione Well be it so nay we may go far higher and grant him to be what they say the sixth general Council own'd him Conc. Constantin 3. viz. Primus Episcoporum upon condition they will grant on the other side what the same Council plainly determines viz. Vt thronus Constantinopolitanus aequalia privilegia cum antiquae Romae throno obtineat Let him have the honor of precedency let him upon all occasions be the Mouth of his Collegues let him open and conclude general Councils let him be what they pretend St. Cyprian owns viz. the Origo the Principium the Exordium unitatis provided they will grant him to be what the same holy Father says St. Peter was in his golden Tractate De Vnitato Ecclesiae where after he has told us that Christ hath given Apostolis omnibus parem potestatem he presently tells us Hoe erant utique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti bonoris potestatis which Rigaltias miserably endeavours to evade by granting an equality of Apostleship as to their persons but denying it to their Successors an Hypothesis altogether as absurd and groundless as their pretended Donation from Constantine the Great But though we may be so civil as to grant him to be major singulis yet his being sent by the rest of the Apostles clearly evinces him to be Minor Vniversis which though it be a great Soloecism in the Civil yet is not so in the Ecclesiastical Politicks St. Peter you see was concluded by the general suffrage and so his Successours ought to be as the Councils of Constance and Basil have strenuously asserted Sent it seems these Apostles were but what was the purport of their Commission It was this that by their Prayer and Imposition of Hands the Holy Ghost might descend upon the baptized Samaritans But what was the reason that St. Philip a Minister of Gods Word did not perform this Duty He was their Father in Christ and had begotten them to a lively Faith he had renew'd their Spirits in the Laver of Baptism and instructed them in the necessary Rudiments of Christianity 't is much that he did not solemnize this Office amongst them Besides Regeneration is of a higher nature than Confirmation and he that gave the greater why did he not give the less The reason is plain and evident Because St. Philip was a person modest and faithful and would not presume to act beyond his Commission he knew that the Apostles had reserv'd this holy Office to their own ministration and for him to attempt it would have been a sin equal to that of the Sons of Korah who invaded the Priesthood of Aaron But the Church of Rome says that his Holiness by the plenitude of his Apostolical Authority may make an inferiour Priest the Minister of this Sacrament If so 't is much that St. Peter would give himself such an unnecessary trouble that he would not take his ease at Jerusalem and appoint St. Philip his lawful Substitute giving him a Legantine power as they say Deacons are capable of Why it seems St. Philip was more modest than to ask it or if he had St. Peter was more prudent than to grant it Some things the Apostles did absolutely reserve to themselves and their Successors which we the inferiour Officers of the Church may not must not pretend to and amongst them this of Confirmation was one and this St. Cyprian fully testifies in his forecited Epistle to Jubaianus speaking of these Samaritans Quod deerat says he id à Petro Johanne factum est ut oratione pro eis habitâ manu impositâ invoedretur infunderetur spiritus sanctus And that this was reserv'd to the Bishops the Sons of the Apostles in his age himself being a Metrapolitan Bishop can best inform us Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur ut qui in Ecclesiá baptizantur Praepositis Ecclesiae offerantur ut per nostram orationem ac manus impositionem spiritum sanctum consequantur c. And this the incomparable Hooker out of St. Jerom. adversus Luciser proves to have been the practice of the fourth Century who though no great friend to the Episcopal Order yet tells us
Jerom Dial. Orthod Lucifer and from the exposition Irenaeus gives of the 1 Cor. 3.2 where he interprets the Milk with which he had fed some of the Baptized Corinthians to be the first principles of Christianity Iren. lib. 5. cap. 75. and the holy spirit obtained by prayer and imposition of hands to be the Esca vitae the stronger food or meat of life of which as yet they were uncapable Quoniam infirmum adhuc inexercitabilem sensum erga Deum conversationis habebant 3. It must be presumed that they do not onely competently understand the Fundamentals of Faith the rule of their Manners and the nature of their Baptismal vow with all other things of absolute necessity but that they here make an open profession of them publickly owning their Faith to be Catholick and their renunciation of all Spiritual Enemies sincere their Vows and Resolutions fixt and permanent solemnly renewing that promise that was made in their name at their Baptism Rubrick of Confirmation ratifying and confirming the same in their own persons discharging their Sponsors their Godfathers and Godmothers from their former obligations and acknowledging themselves bound to believe and to do all those things which they undertook for them And all this is supposed to be done in the presence of God and his holy Angels the Bishop being here as our Saviours Representative Ep. ad Saym 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Teall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so Ignatius often stiles him and taking from each of them their several fealties and acknowledgments So that if they shall prove Rebels or Apostates after such solemn Dedications of themselves unto God after so deliberate a choice of their Religion and renewing their Baptismal Covenant the Font in which they were once regenerated will call them perjur'd the very Rayles at which they are to kneel will bring in evidence against them and their own Consciences without the necessity of another Judge will at last condemn them But if to all the presupposed qualifications they shall adde a good assurance and humbly address themselves to the chief Pastors of the Church that by their Prayers and impositions of hands they may be confirm'd in their Faith directed in their Manners and enabled to perform such worthy resolutions they need not question but according to their faith so it shall be unto them And this brings me to the second General of the Text viz. The wonderful Effects or Consequents of this duty 2 Gen. And they received the holy Ghost But before I treat of this I think it not altogether unseasonable to obviate an Objection viz. What need is there of all this adoe Does not the Church of England teach that we receive the holy Ghost at our Baptism that we are then made members of Christ Children of God and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is true we were at that time partakers of the holy Ghost and entituled to all those priviledges but the gifts of the Spirit at that time imparted were suitable to the state and capacity wherein we then stood remission of sins and the promise of the further graces of Gods Spirit an actual incorporation into Christs Church and a title to the Kingdom of Heaven was as much as at that time was necessary especially to Baptized Infants The Samaritans here in the Text had undoubtedly the holy Ghost communicated unto them and yet though they were adult persons it was thought necessary for them to receive from the Apostles Imposition of hands and by that a more abundant measure of the holy Ghost Their former sins whether original or actual were then remitted and an assurance given them if they dy'd in that state that eternal happiness should be their portion but here strength is given them against future temptations and their former title upon perseverance fully ratifyed and confirm'd And this is agreeable to what Melciades an excellent Bishop though of Rome in the beginning of the fourth Century hath taught us Ep. decret ad Ep. Hisp who in his Decretal Epistle to the Bishops of Spain the former part whereof does indeed savour of arrogance and being no way suitable to the modesty of that Age may be supposed spurious but the latter part of it being agreeable to Primitive Doctrine may be owned as genuine and that tells us Spiritus sanctus qui super aquas baptismi salutifero descendit illapsu in fonte plenitudinem tribuit ad innocentiam in confirmatione augmentum praestat ad gratiam quia in hoc mundo tota atate victuris inter invisibiles hostes pericula gradiendum est in baptisinate regeneramur ad vitam post baptismum confirmamur ad pugnam For says he As he that is by his General admitted a Souldier is not onely sign'd with a Military mark or badge but is furnisht with all necessary armour so this benediction is an arming of the Baptized Dedisti militem says he da ei adjumenta militiae To what purpose says that good Bishop does a Father bequeath a great estate to his Son nisi providere studeat Tutorem unless he likewise provides a Tutor or Guardian for him I will not say with some that at this time a Guardian-Angel is allotted to each person here confirmed I heartily wish it were so but I have no convincing reason to conclude it for should we positively assert what ever we think expedient we should soon erect an infallible Person or Society to secure our selves from all material errours However this I may safely assert with that holy Bishop and Martyr afore-cited Paracletus regeneratis in Christo Custos Consolator Tutor est The Holy Spirit is appointed to such persons a Keeper a Comforter and a Guardian Let us then in pursuance of the second General inquire into the great and stupendious effects of this holy Office I. And what they were upon the first ministration of it particularly here in the Text. Some are of opinion that the holy Ghost upon the Apostles Prayers and laying on of hands did visibly descend upon the confirmed Christians as he did on our Saviour after his Baptism and upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost others think it sufficient that upon the Apostles ministration of this Office the gifts of the holy Spirit were convey'd unto them Thus St. Stephen was said to be full of the holy Ghost The gifts that were convey'd were of two sorts ordinary and extraordinary The extraordinary were such as the infancy of the Church did then necessarily require such were working of Miracles speaking strange Languages prophesying of future events and the like which gifts as many of the present Samaritans were endowed with as the Apostles thought good to set apart and consecrate to the holy Ministry These were the gratiae gratis datae which at that time qualified them for the better discharge of their duty very proper to create Faith in the hearts of men and to gain the
Gospel a ready entertainment Some that would vilifie this holy Office as it is now administred pretend that none but such extraordinary gifts were at this time conferr'd and that for the constituting of a Church and enabling them to propagate the Faith But how weak and frivolous this assertion is appears from the number of these confirmed Samaritans who in all probability were all that believed and were baptized and those v. 6. were the people with one accord from the least to the greatest v. 10. both men and women v. 12. Now is it likely that a whole City which according to its name was not onely for stateliness of Palaces but multitude of inhabitants august and venerable should be destined and set apart by the Apostles to the holy Ministry What kind of Church were they likely to found at Samaria where like a Dover-court all should be speakers and no hearers especially where so many women were permitted to tattle what a uniform body was this likely to be which should be made up of Eyes and Tongues and Hands and no other Members to secure it from being monstrous whereas St. Paul tells us The body is not one member but many and the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal The holy oyntment that was poured on Aarons head ran down his beard even to the skirts of his cloathing and these great effusions of the Spirit were extended though not in the same yet in a sufficient measure to the meanest of Christs members In Acts 2.41 we read of three thousand souls converted in one day and in Chap. 4.31 we find that the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the holy Ghost Here was an extraordinary confirmation and yet no extraordinary gists as we read of bestowed all that is recorded of the effects of this holy Spirits descent is this that they spake the word of God with boldness that they were endowed with a true Christian courage and magnanimity to profess the Gospel nowithstanding the greatest discouragements they met with 'T is not unlikely but that in answer to their Prayers v. 30. God stretched forth his hand to heal and signs and wonders were done by the Name of his holy child Jesus but that any such new gifts were then bestowed we have no ground from Scripture to affirm and that so many thousands should be miraculously impowr'd to preach the Gospel in our modern sense we have no reason to believe Besides those extraordinary Gifts bestowed upon particular persons for special ends and purposes there were the ordinary and internal Gifts of the Holy Spirit the Gratiae gratos facientes that were common unto them all and did render them acceptable unto God Such were the inlightning of their minds the inflaming of their affections the endowing them with meekness and patience with courage and comfort the inward assistances of this Spirit by which their Faith was strengthned their Hope confirm'd their Charity enlarg'd and all their good desires became vertuous habits and all their holy resolutions arm'd with strength for their performance The former sort of Gifts were of a temporary nature to continue no longer than the infancy of the Church then requir'd they were signa tempori opportuna adapted to its present necessities but the second sort of Gifts are proper to all Ages and therefore to continue till the dissolution of the World according to that of St. Chrys in his 13th Hom. on St. Mat. thus englished by a Reverend and Learned Prelate of our Church Bish Sparrow's Ration p. 311 In the beginning of spiritual and marvellous Dispensations outward signes appeared to confirm the new-preached Faith but now that the Faith is sufficiently confirm'd although such Miracles be not wrought yet we receive those inward Graces and Vertues which were signified and demonstrated by those signes Now those Signes were the Gifts by which Simon Magus was at first detected at Samaria and at last baffled at Rome by these the Wise men and the Scribes were silenc'd the Athenian Philosophers confounded and the honest-hearted both Jews and Heathens converted This was the demonstration of Spirit and of Power which the Apostles and their immediate Successours did exercise and yet they did not make the comers thereunto perfect They were Gifts highly admirable and stupendious in themselves and as desirable for their effects and yet as desirable as they were I can shew you out of St. Paul a more excellent way and that is the second thing propos'd viz. II. That the consequents of it now upon its present administration by Episcopal are altogether as valuable as those were that heretofore proceeded from Apostolical hands The speaking strange Languages was a gift highly advantageous to the Church in general but did not sanctifie the heart or create any inward Grace in him that had it Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity I am become as sounding Brass or as a tinkling Cymbal The working of Miracles was proper to produce Reverence in the Beholders and to command their assent to what should be delivered but though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have no charity 1 Con. 13.1 2. says St. Paul I am nothing Charity is the Bond of Perfectness the height and eminency of all Christian Vertues 't is that which actuates and invigorates all other Graces without which Faith would be dead and Hope would be presumptuous This intirely unites us unto God and makes us love our Neighbour as our selves This fixes our resolutions and arms us against all manner of Temptations This keeps us low and Infantlike under the most prosperous successes and buoys up our souls from under the hardest pressures This makes us humble and condescending to our Inferiours courteous and affable to our Equals lowly and submissive notwithstanding the greatest disappointments we meet with to our Superiours Finally to conclude this is the Holy Ghost in the Text I mean the complement and perfection of all his Graces that the persons now to be confirmed are to be filled with The promise of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.39 as St. Peter told the Jews was unto them and to their children and to all that are afar off afar off not onely in distance of place but in distance of time and relation and this promise though not of miraculous Gifts yet of what infinitely outweighs them the internal sanctifying Graces of his Spirit the fruits whereof are Love Joy Gal. 5.22 Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance that very Promise will on this day be perform'd and these Graces will now be communicated if they themselves do not put a bar and hinder the efficacy of this holy Office And that you may be confirm'd in the belief of this great truth let me request you to consider well the third thing propos'd viz. III. That the seeming disproportion betwixt the outward means and
and prayed And for this cause how I my knees unto the God and Father c. And he requires the Christians to lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 So ceremonious were Christ and his Apostles that they would not sit when they could kneel they would not irreverently lean upon their elbows when they could lift up holy hands Sitting or leaning if that can be proved to have been the posture was well enough becoming the Apostles at the first institution of the Lords Supper Christ being then in the flesh in his state of humiliation and not requiring from them then those outward tokens of Divine Worship or Adoration But now being glorified as God and challenging obeysance from Men and Angels Holy Church for good reason hath changed that posture of Leaning for this of Kneeling For although we have known Christ after the flesh and leaning in his bosom might be the effect of his great condescention yet seeing we know him so no more seeing he hath declared himself to be Alpha and Omega the first and the last Rev. 1.8 11. God blessed for ever 't is fit we should change that familiar way of communicating with him and lest we should be accounted Socinians who use a Table-gesture as not owning the Divinity of our Saviour with all humility upon our knees revere and adore not the Consecrated Elements but the glorified Person of the Blessed Jesus But that we may speak particularly to the instance that is here before us the Apostles were not scrupulous to use this ceremony in the Text although joyned with Prayer a substantial part of Divine Worship nay although it was amongst the Samaritans who from a Doctrine that our Saviour had taught them might be as much prejudiced against such practices as our lately nice and scrupulous Dissenters They might have objected after this manner Did not your Master in whose name ye teach tell a woman of our City that God is a Spirit St. John 4.24 25. and he that will worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth and do you his pretended Disciples come into our City and act contrary to your Masters Doctrine either renounce your pretended Discipleship or lay aside these childish and Superstitious Ceremonies which are so inconsistent with the worshipping of God in Spirit and in Truth 'T is true the Samaritans might have objected this but we find they were wiser than to do so they well understood that our Saviour in that saying of his alluded to the Religion to which they had hitherto been addicted 2 Kings 17.24 26 29. a Religion of a mixt nature consisting of Jewish Sacrifices offered up not onely to the God of Israel but to Heathen Idols and therefore she hour would come when those Jewish Sacrifices would be laid aside and God would be worshipped with the spirits of men and not with the bodies of Bulls and of Goats and those Heathen Idols which are vanity or a lye must be dasht to pieces and God who is the eternal truth must be worshipped by them This they knew to be our Saviours meaning and that such innocent ceremonies were no way inconsistens with that Spiritual worship he required So that you see though these were babes in Christ and as tenderly to be dealt with as new-born Infants yet this ceremony joyned with Prayer as the Apostles would not wave it so the Samaritans were wiser than to be scandalized at it This then being a plain and undeniable truth that innocent and significant Ceremonies may lawfully be used in the Church of Christ Proceed we to the second thing II. To inquire into the nature of this particular Ceremony what it is significative of c. I need not tell you that the hand is the member or instrument by which we bestow our largesses or convey our gifts and kindnesses to others nor that even Nature carries the Fathers hand towards the Childs head although at that instant he knows not how or why he does it when he outwardly prays for or inwardly wishes him a blessing The Eastern Heathens were not strangers to this custom Naaman the Syrian being offended at the Prophet for directing him to so unlikely a cure as washing seven times in the River Jordan 2 Kings 5.9 huffingly replyed I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the Name of the Lord his God and strike or lay his hands over the place and recover the leper And that this Ceremony long before the giving of the Law was usually joyned with paternal benedictions is plain from the Father of the Patriarchs Gen. 48.14 who by prayer and imposition of hands blessed the Sons of Joseph Under the Law the consecration of things or persons to the service of God Num. 8.10.12 was by Divine appointment to be performed by laying on of hands So when Moses made Joshua partner with him in his Government and conveyed to him the right of succession Num. 27.18 by Gods commandment he laid his hands upon him by which he did not onely impart the honour but the more necessary qualifications of Majesty for by this he became full of the spirit of wisdom Moses having laid his hands upon him Deut. 34.9 And as Blessings spiritual and temporal were convey'd by imposition of hands under the Law so our Saviour and his Apostles under the Gospel thought good to retain that Ceremony when they recovered the Sick when they absolv'd the Penitents when they blessed Infants when they Confirm'd the Baptized and when they ordain'd Priests and Deacons To instance in each of these would require more time than is here allotted it s own evidence makes it sufficient that I hint unto you that in all these several Offices together with the substantial duty of Prayer they made use of this very antient Ceremony and that probably for these two Reasons 1. To lignifie that at that time there were true and real not airy or imaginary Blessings convey'd to the partakers for what can be more real than the Spirit of Wisdom and godly Fear what can be more real than Courage and Magnaniimty sufficient to conquer the World and baffle the strongest Enemies of mankind as I shall have occasion presently to shew and what could better signifie the real exhibition of these than laying their Hands on them 2. To signifie that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church were the ordinary Means and Instruments the Hands which God makes use of to convey his Gifts and communicate his Blessings unto men Such publick and solemn Offices as these wherein extraordinary Blessings were invocated as they were not rudely and nakedly to be administred without the decent attendance of some significant Ceremonies so neither were they to be perform'd nor the Blessings to be expected without the ministration of consecrated persons 'T is their Office to attend us from our Birth to our Grave by their hands we are regenerated in the laver of Baptism