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

Printing of our Common-Prayer Book they have prohibited the Administration of it to all under Seven at least Minori septennio Confirmationis Sacramentum nemini praebeatur Conc. Mediol I. Cap. Quae pertinent ad Sacramenti Confirmat administrationem I am glad I confess to see a Church that boasts so much of her Antiquity doth not think her self yet too old to learn Quare si duodecimus annus non expectandus videatur usque ad septimum certe annum differre maxime convenit Catechism ad Paroechos Cap. de Confirmatione But she has not reached the Prudence of our Constitution for all that There being some at Seven nay at Twelve which is thought early enough by some what through difference of Education want of natural Parts and other the like Impediments are as uncapable of answering the End and Design of Confirmation as others are at Five Our Church therefore by requiring that Persons to be confirm'd should be of a competent Age leaves it to the Care of Ministers Parents God-fathers Masters or other Trustees That they recommend none to the Bishop but such as are of Years of Discretion enough be they older or younger to make a Renunciation of the Devil the Pomps and Vanities of the World with all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and can give a tolerable account of the Creed the Lord's Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Sacraments Those therefore who bring or send any to Confirmation who can only say their Catechism by Rote and are not duly qualified as has been said though they mean well in the main I don't doubt yet they must be look'd upon as such who grossly abuse their Charge and expose this Holy Institution to the just Scoffs of the Enemy who will be sure to brand it upon this Account as a ridiculous useless Ceremony 2dly As Persons desirous of Confirmation must be of a competent Age so be they never so old they should not be confirmed twice 'T is a pious Errour I verily believe in a great many who thinking they can't have the Blessing of a Holy Man too often follow the Bishop almost wheresoever he goes But such are to be acquainted since 't is hardly possible to avoid the Impracticableness of its Reiteration in populous Cities that there is no more need of a Second Confirmation than there is of a Second Baptism 3dly The last Qualification of Persons to be confirmed is That they come with Devotion and Reverence not for Fashion's Sake or Company 's Sake only as I fear is the Case of too many They who come to Confirmation should be as much in earnest as if they were going to the Holy Sacrament or were even upon their Death-Beds See the Interrogation and Answer in the Office of Confirmation For when they answer all I do to the Bishop's Question who asks them Whether they will now release their God-fathers and God-mothers from the Vow they took in their Names and take it now in Person They solemnly promise the utmost Diligence and endeavour in their Christian Warefare the Breach of which he will most grievously punish in the negligent but to the rest will afford such Strengthening Grace as may enable them to overcome the Powers of Darkness and gain that immortal Prize the Crown of Glory which he has laid up for all them who shall fight a good Fight and finish their Course by continuing faithful to the End Having thus explain'd to you at large the Nature of Confirmation told you who only has Authority to confirm set down the Benefits of it and hinted at the Qualifications of such as are desirous of them Give me leave before I dismiss you to present you in Miniature with an exact Representation of the whole according to the exactest Model of the Excellent Erasmus Who in his Wishes for a more useful Confirmation than that in the Church of Rome many Years ago seems methinks prophetically as it were to describe what we shall see perform'd here this Afternoon His Words are to this Purpose in his larger Preface to his Annotations on the new Testament Aguntur nunc in Templis quibusdam Comediae de Christo resurgente c. Erasm Roterodam Pio Lect. You shall see saith he now Comedies acted in some Churches meaning those under the Papal Jurisdiction of the Resurrection of Christ of his Ascension to Heaven of his sending the Holy Ghost and the like But how magnificent would this Spectacle be To hear the Voice of many Youths dedicating themselves to Jesus Christ of many Striplings taking their Oath of Allegiance to him at the Hands of the Bishop To see these new Christians that carry their General 's Mark in their Foreheads which they received at the sacred Laver renouncing the World which all lies in Wickedness abjuring and hissing at the Devil with all his Pomps Pleasures and Works and to hear the Voice of the rest of the Multitude applauding and wishing well to these young Soldiers of Christ And let us who have been already confirm'd so heartily wish well to them all that we may at the same time look well to our selves who are every one of us equally concern'd in the Business of the Day Our Church having appointed Confirmation as well as Baptism to be administred Publickly that her several Members may have frequent opportunities of being put in mind of those Vows which God knows the best of us are too prone to forget That we may then all of us improve this favourable one to our great Advantage Let me conclude the whole Discourse with a Word of Advice to every one of you here present As well to you who are already confirmed as you who shall be by and by in the incomparable Exhortation of the Greek Church to her Catechumens when they promise to become Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 factà a Pariarchâ congregatis Catchumenis in Euchol Graecorum Edit Goar p. 342. The Bonds are now seal'd and Christ has receiv'd them who is in Heaven Mind your Promises and fulfil your Engagements which will be openly produc'd at the Day of Judgment Take heed ye blush not at Christ's dreadful Tribunal where all the Powers of Heaven tremble and all Mankind stands to be judg'd Where the Devil will be present to accuse you saying Lord this Wretch in word renounced me at thy Altar before the Bishop other thy Ministers and the whole Congregation but in Deed was my Servant Then Angels shall sigh and Holy Men bewail their Misery But Father nor Mother cannot help you Brethren and Friends will not own you but every Man shall be naked and destitute Consider therefore and provide for your own Safeties in this Life that ye may be all happy in the Next Which God of his infinite Mercy grant c. To whom with the Son and the Holy Ghost Trinity in Vnity and Vnity in Trinity be ascribed by the whole World all possible Adoration Honour and Glory As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be World without End Amen FINIS Books Printed for Henry Bonwicke at the Red-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE General History of the Reformation of the Church written in Latin by John Sleidan faithfully Englished To which is added a Continuation to the End of the Council of Trent by E. Bohun Esquire in Folio Two Useful Cases resolved 1. Whether a Certainty of being in a State of Salvation be attainable 2. What is the Rule by which this Certainty is to be attain'd 4º A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Reverend Mr. John Culme Vicar of Knowstone and Molland in Devon By Lewis Southcomb Rector of Rose-Ash Of Publick Baptism A Sermon Preached before the Lord Mayor c. at Guild-Hall-Chapel Nov. 20th 1692. By Philip Stubs A. M. A Discourse proving from Scripture and Reason that the Life of Man is not limited by any absoute Decree of God By the Author of the Duty of Man c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or Hope and Peace In a Letter to a Person troubled in Mind who though a Vertuous Lady yet laboured under the great Scrupulosities Doubts and Fears and some uneasie Degrees of Desparation By a Divine of the Church of England 12o. The Art of Catechising or the Compleat Catechist in Four Parts 1. The Church-Catechism resolved into easie Questions 2. An Exposition of it in a continued full and plain Discourse 3. The Church-Catechism resolved into Scripture-Proofs 4. The Whole Duty of Man fitted for the meanest Capacities the weakest Memories the plainest Teachers and the most Uninstructed Learners

almost not a few Councils and the constant Practice of the Eastern and Western Churches Tertullian St. Cyprian Origen St. Ambrose St. Cyril Gregory Nazianzen St. Austin c. The Council of Elvira that of Laodicea c. Pag. 6. from the hearty Desires for its Restauration of the most eminent Reformers such were Calvin Bullinger and others above-cited together with the Obedience thereunto of the Bohemian and Lutheran Churches as unto an Apostolical Practice V. Chemnitii Exam. Conc. Tridentini Part. 2. Pag. 259. from the Earnest Suffrages after and endeavours for the resettling of it here in England by some of the ablest Presbyterian Ministers Who towards the close of the late Times of Confusion when their Zeal for what they call'd Reformation began to abate seeing some amongst them under that fulsome pretence had Reform'd all Religion almost out of Doors and they began to contrive the retrieving such Sacred Institutions which should contribute to the Advancement of Purity and Concord in the Churches of these Kingdoms Confirmation which is very remarkable had the good Luck to be thought upon by them as one that deserv'd their utmost and call'd for their earliest Application accordingly upon occasion of one Hanmer's Book that was printed on that Subject in the Year 1658 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an Exercitation upon Confirmation by Jonathan Hanmer Minister of the Gospel 8vo Mr. Joseph Caryl in his Approbation of it tells the World That Confirmation or Imposition of Hands with Prayer for the compleating of Church-Membership which is what Mr. Hanmer pleads for and is one main Design of Confirmation amongst us Would be Perfective of the much desired and longed-for Restauration of the Churches to their Primitive Purity See his Imprimatur before the Title-Page Mr. John Howe saith the same great things of it though in other Words See his Letter in the Preface That 't was the only expedient to extricate the Church out of those many perplexing Difficulties through which 't was striving forwards towards a Reformation Mr. Hughes of Plymouth Styles it there To the Reader a Rational and Christian Institution Mr. Richard Baxter approves of it in his Saint's Rest Book of Infant Baptism and another of Right to Sacraments but here more particularly besides many Eulogies given to it concludes that it ought to be entertain'd with universal Alacrity upon several Accounts To the Christian Reader 1. Because it is so commonly received by Protestants 2. Because it is excellently suited to the joint promoting of Holiness and Vnity and so on Lastly to name no more though I might urge to you the New-England People who allow of it as is plain from Mr. Cotton's Way of the Churches there Chap. 2. § 2. To the Beraean Readers Mr. Ralph Venning in his Commendation of it after he says That he doth not see how it can be neglected without a very great Prejudice to Church-Communion adds But haply some may be so nice as to be offended with the Name and dislike Confirmation for fear of Bishoping as if that old fashion'd-Garment had but a piece of new-nam'd Cloth put to it and dress'd up in another mode to which he immediately subjoins this sarcastical Quaery If it were so can no good come out of Nazareth Bonus odor veritatis ex re quâlibet Intimating thereby very ingenuously as I conceive That Confirmation as 't was practis'd in the Church of England by Bishops before they were unjustly thrown out was a wholesome Institution and therefore not to be rejected since Truth must be readily embrac'd where-ever 't is met with which is no small Encomium considering especially it came from a known Adversary to us Thus might we have the concurrent Sense and Practice of the Catholick Church for the Perpetuity of Confirmation of Modern Divines as well as Ancient Protestants as well as Papists Calvinists as well as Lutherans Nonconformists as well as Church of England Men But the Modesty of some Persons is so great that a Cloud of Witnesses for any Doctrine that thwarts their present Inclinations shall appear to them but as one of Smoak that soon vanishes away Nay rather than be convinced or acknowledge themselves to be in an Errour their own Private shallow Judgment shall sway with them more than the united sober Opinions even of the Heads of their own Party How shall we believe say these Men That Confirmation was to be a perpetual Rite or say as you Church-Men do That your Imposition of Hands is after the Example of the Apostles See in the Proper Collect in the Office of Confirmation Vpon whom after the Example of the Apostles we have laid our hands c. When 't is so far from it That the effects then consequent thereupon are now wholly ceas'd We read indeed in the Eighth and Nineteenth Chapters of the Acts of the Holy Apostles that when Confirmations were held by St. Peter and St. John at Samaria and St. Paul at Ephesus The Holy Ghost visibly and miraculously set a Seal to this Ordinance by bestowing on the Persons confirm'd extraordinary Gifts such were that of Prophecy speaking with tongues and the like necessary for those times upon which account they might well say Receive ye the Holy Ghost But where is that bold Prelate amongst you that dare pretend to any such Power now Nor do any of our Bishops make use of that Form in Confirmation but only pray That God would defend that Child or Servant of his on whom they lay their Hands with his Heavenly strengthening Grace c. See the Benediction in the Office of Confirmation Whose Prayers together with those of a great many devout People assembled at such times we cannot doubt but are effectual for the obtaining that Blessing for all such who are qualified to receive it and are not Contentious or Despisers of the Church of God 1 Cor. 11 16.22 And that no more than this viz. The obtaining the inward Graces of God's Holy Spirit for some that were confirmed was designed by the Apostles themselves in their Confirmations I think may be fairly gather'd from that very Place alledg'd to the contrary out of the Eighth Chapter of the Acts For as our Right Reverend Diocesan hath observed In his 3d. Letter to his Clergy 1682 on Confirmation where this Power is mentioned There is no Exception of Age Sex or Profession but all indifferently that had been baptized received the Holy Ghost by Imposition of Hands As it is said Acts 10.47 when St. Peter preach'd at Cornelius's House the Holy Ghost fell upon all that were to be baptiz'd as a Token of their being fit for it Verse 48. Which if so If the Case be thus that the Holy Ghost fell on all indifferently and that all could not Prophesie all had not the Gift of Healing or of Tongues nay that all had not a Share of any outward Gift then certainly they whom God separated not to