After this commemoration, we go on to request for the persons before us, that God would strengthen them against all temptation, and support them under all affliction, by the Holy Ghost the Comforter, and daily increase in them his manifold gifts of grace; which gifts we proceed to enumerate in seven particulars, taken from the prophet Isaiah; by whom they are ascribed to our blessed Redeemer; but as the same mind ought to be in us which was in Christ Jesus, a petition for them was used in the office of confirmation, fourteen hundred years ago, if not sooner. The separate meaning of each of the seven, it is neither easy nor needful to determine with certainty. For indeed, if no more was designed, than to express very fully and strongly, by various words of nearly the same import, a pious and moral temper of mind: this is a manner of speaking both common and emphatical. But each of them may be taken in a distinct sense of its own. And thus we may beg for these our fellow-Christians, a spirit of wisdom, to aim at the right end, the salvation of their souls; and of understanding, to pursue it by right means: of counsel, to form good purposes; and of ghostly or spiritual strength, to execute them: of useful knowledge in the doctrines of religion; and true godliness, disposing them to a proper use of it. But chiefly, though lastly, we pray, that they may be filled with the spirit of God's holy fear: with that reverence of him, as the greatest, and purest, and best of beings, the rightful Proprietor and just Judge of all, which will effectually excite them to whatever they are concerned to believe or do. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Having concluded this prayer for them all in ge- Isaiah xi. 2. neral, the bishop implores the divine protection and grace for each one, or each pair of them, in particular: that as he is already God's professed child and servant, by the recognition which he hath just made of his baptismal covenant, so he may continue his for ever, by faithfully keeping it: and far from decaying, daily increase in his Holy Spirit, that is, in the fruits of the Spirit, piety and virtue, more and more; making greater and quicker advances in them, as life goes on, until he come to that decisive hour, when his portion shall be unchangeable in God's everlasting kingdom. And, along with the utterance of these solemn words, he lays his hands on each of their heads, a ceremony used from the earliest ages by religious persons, when they prayed for God's blessing on any one; used by our Saviour, who, when children were brought to him, that he should put his hands on them, and pray, and bless them, was much displeased with those who forbade it; used by the Apostles, after converts were baptized, as the texts plainly shews; reckoned in the Epistle to the Hebrews among the foundations of the Christian profession+; constantly practised, and highly esteemed, in the church fron that time to this; and so far from being a popish ceremony, that the Papists administer confirmation by other ceremonies of their own devising, and have laid aside this primitive one; which therefore our church very prudently restored. And the custom of it is approved, as apostolical, both by Luther and Calvin, and several of their followers, though they rashly abolished it, as having been abused ‡. But I am credibly informed, that at Geneva it hath lately been restored. * Matth. xix. 13-15. Mark x. 13-16. + Heb. vi. 1. See Camfield's two Discourses on Episcopal Confirmation, 8vo. 1622, p. 23-36. The laying on of the hand naturally expresses good will and good wishes in the person who doth it: and in the present case is further intended, as you will find in one of the following prayers, to certify those, to whom it is done, of God's favour and gracious goodness towards them: of which goodness they will continually feel the effects, provided, which must always be understood, that they preserve their title to his care by a proper care of themselves. This, it must be owned, is a truth; and we may as innocently signify it by this sign as by any other, or as by any words to the same purpose. Further efficacy we do not ascribe to it; nor would have you look on bishops, as having or claiming a power, in any case, to confer blessings arbitrarily on whom they please; but only as petitioning God for that blessing from above which he alone can give; yet, we justly hope, will give the rather for the prayers of those whom he hath placed over his people, unless your own unworthiness prove an impediment. Not that you are to expect, on the performance of this good office, any sudden and sensible change in your hearts, giving you, all at once, a remarkable strength or comfort in piety, which you never felt before. But you may reasonably promise yourselves, from going through it with a proper disposition, greater measures, when real occasion requires them, of such divine assistance as will be needful for your support and orderly growth in every virtue of a Christian life. And now, the imposition of hands being finished, the bishop and congregation mutually recommend each other to God, and return to such joint and public devotions as are suitable to the solemnity. The first of these is the Lord's Prayer: a form seasonable always, but peculiarly now: as every petition in it will shew to every one who considers it. In the next place, more especial supplications are poured forth, for the persons particularly concerned, to him who alone can enable them both to will and to do what is good; that, as the hand of his minister hath been laid upon them, so his fatherly hand may ever be over them, and lead them in the only way, the knowledge and obedience of his word, to everlasting life. After this, a more general prayer is offered up for them and the rest of the congregation together, that God would vouchsafe, unworthy as we all are, so to direct and govern both our hearts and bodies, our inclinations and actions (for neither will suffice without the other), in the ways of his laws, and in the works of his commandments, that, through his most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul: having the former, in his good time, raised up from the dead, and the latter made happy, in conjunction with it, to all eternity. These requests being thus made, it only remains, that all be dismissed with a solemn blessing: which will certainly abide with you, unless, by wilful sin or gross negligence, you drive it away. And in that case, you must not hope, that your baptism, or your confirmation, or the prayers of the bishop, or the church, or the whole world, will do you any service. On the contrary, every thing which you might have been the better for, if you had made a good use of it, you will be the worse for, if you make a bad one. You do well to renew the covenant of your baptism, in confirmation: but if you break it, you forfeit the benefit of it. You do well to repeat your vows in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper: it is what all Christians are commanded by their dying Saviour, for the strengthening and refreshing of their souls: it is what I beg all, who are confirmed, will remember, and their friends and ministers remind them of: the sooner they are prepared for it, the happier; and by stopping short, the benefit of what preceded will be lost. But if you are admitted to this privilege also, and live wickedly, you do but eat and drink your own condemnation. So that all depends on a thoroughly honest care of your hearts and behaviour in all respects. Not that, with our best care, we can avoid smaller faults. And if we intreat pardon for them in our daily prayers, and faithfully strive against them, they will not be imputed to us. But gross and habitual sins we may avoid, through God's help; and if we fall into them, we fall from our title to salvation at the same time. Yet even then our case is not desperate: and let us not make it so, by thinking it is: for through the grace of the Gospel, we may still repent and amend, and then be forgiven. But I beg you to observe, that, as continued health is vastly preferable to the happiest recovery from sickness; so is innocence to the truest repentance. If we suffer ourselves to transgress our duty; God knows whether we shall have time to repent: God knows whether we shall have a heart to do it. At best we shall have lost, and more than lost, the whole time that we have been going back: whereas we have all need to press forwards, as fast as we can. Therefore let the innocent of wilful sin preserve that treasure with the greatest circumspection; and the faulty return from their errors without delay. Let the young enter upon the way of righteousness with hearty resolution; and those of riper age persevere in it to the end. In a word, let us all, of every age, seriously consider, and faithfully practise, the obligations of religion. For |