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 OONFIRlirATION: 
 
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 A SCRlPTtlRAL AND HATTONAL ORDINANCE. 
 
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 A SERMON 
 
 
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 l>fttAUHl(D in THl CAtHEDBAL OF 8T. OIOROI, 
 
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 JOHN TRAVBRS LEWIS, D.D.> liL.D., 
 
 LORD BISHOP or OMTARIO,. . 
 
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 CONFIRMATION. 
 
 ** Theti laid tkey their bamU on Mem, and they receivtd the Holy Ghoit^ 
 ■ ■(■ ' ilOTS, viil., *t. 
 
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 We are assembled, my brethren, for the ministration of the 
 ApostoUo Ordinance of Confirmation to such candidates as having 
 been taught and examined by the Pastor of thb Parish shall be 
 solemnly presented to receive "the laying on of hands." Bnoh 
 an event as the present is always one of interest which is evinced 
 by the large number of people who attend the Service, and as it 
 is very probable that there are many here present who know bat 
 little of the Ghurch'9 ordinance, and some perhaps who regard 
 the rite as antiquated or superstitious or unsoriptural, I shall, with 
 ^ God's help, not only administer the boly rite, but preach a seiinon 
 on its nature and object. 
 
 As members of the United Church of England and Ireland, it 
 is our privily as well as our boast that we are noways ready to 
 give a reason of the hope that is in us. We do not shrink from 
 an appeal to the written Word of God in behalf of all our doc- 
 trines and all our discipline. There is indeed another method by 
 which we may establish the propriety 6f ob(prTing any ordinance 
 ' — an appeal to reason, but a good Churchman will always put the 
 Bible first, reason second, and therefore I shall lay the foundation 
 of this matter deep in the Word of God, before pointing out how 
 reasonable a service it is, that so you may be better prepared with 
 unprejudiced minds to receive my appeal to reason in favor 
 Confirmation. 
 
4 , ' . ' ' '', '* ■ ■ ■ " 
 
 Before, howefer, oommenoiag the argaineDt from Seripiare, lei 
 ■M obienre that it ihoald be no itumbling block to qs that some 
 people, and they both nameroua and educated, ahonld deny the 
 ■oriptaral oharaoter of the rite of Confirmation. If we are to 
 thro# aiide every thing which aome penona cannot find, in the 
 ^ible, we may aa well give up the Bible altogether. Multitudea 
 cannot lee the doctrine of the Trinity in the Bible, othera deny 
 that they can find any authority in the Bible for the practice of 
 obaerring the firat day of the week inatead of the seTcnth, othera 
 eannot lee in .the Bible the Divinity of Ghriat or the duty of 
 ftating, or the Saorament of Infknt Baptiam ; numbera of people who 
 would be oiiended if they were not called Ohriatianii, cannot aee 
 the dootrine of the atonement or eternal puniahroent in the Bible ; 
 in abort, there ia not an Article of the Apoatlea' Gree4 which baa 
 not been called unacriptural by profeaaing Ohriltiana. It 
 ihoald. be auificient for ua that the Ohttrbh of which we are 
 meniberl aaya that the rite of Oonfirmation ia to be found in the 
 Bible at an ApoatoUo practice, and I ahall pow proceed to the 
 
 proof. 
 
 The text givea ua aa account of the first ChrUHan Confirmt* 
 i V tiou on record; I say Cfcrwrian Confirmation, because the Jew. 
 
 iah Church practised a rite very similar. We learn from Jewish 
 authorities Uiat every young Jew when he had reached the aj^e 
 of twelve yeara waa called a "son of the commandment," and 
 after having been duly instructed in the law of Moses was brought 
 to Jemaalem before " some anqient man that he may bless him 
 and oonfirm him and pray over him," and waa then bound to at- 
 tend the Passover. It is indeed highly probable that this waa the 
 ooeadon spoken of by 3t. Luke when the parents of our Lord took 
 him at the age of twelve years up to Jerusalem " aftejr the cuatom 
 of ihe feast." From this Jewish original the Apostles derived 
 the praotioe of Confirmation which the text describes, and let me 
 ask your attention while I refer to the facta of the inteceating oc. 
 ourrenoe. 
 
 Philip the BeaooQ having converted a number of persons ti» 
 Ghr^tianity in the Ci(^ of Samaria, intelligence of the fact 
 xeiMhed the ears of the Apostles at Jerusalem ; they' immediately 
 tent t w o of thei r numbe f , St. Pete r and 8t. J o hn, to Samaria^ who 
 
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 havlug oallod th« new ooiiTtrU together, prayed, for them, and 
 laid their handi apoo them, and the nanlt wai that they leoeived 
 the Holy Ohoet. 
 
 Now for what purpoae waa thia iotereatbg erent recorded in 
 Soriptore T Waa it written aimply to amoae na, or to mblead na f 
 la it merely a aorap of hiatory rach aa we may find in the hiatoiy 
 of Bngland or Oreeoe ? It ia oerUinly hiatorically true, bat it it 
 mnoh more than that, it ia a portion of inapired Soriptore wbioh 
 ta profiuble for doctrine, and inatraotion in righteooaneaa ; the 
 Holy Spirit wonld never have innpired St. Lake to pen thia narra- 
 tive of an oooarrenoe in Apostolic Church hiatory, if He did not 
 intend that we should be taught by it. Knowing the liability we 
 abonld naturally incur to imitate the doinga of the Apoatlea, He 
 would have placed a atombling-blocK in oar path if He did not 
 intend to pat on record a lesson for all time. What then ia 
 lesson ? it is, as the Church tella oa, that we following the 
 pie of the holy Apostles may lay oar handa on baptised membefa 
 of the Church "to certify them by this aign of God's favor and 
 gracious goodness towards them." Again in the 19th chapter of 
 Ihe Acts wa read of another Confirmation. Here the Apoatlo 
 who confirmed was St. Paul, and the place Ephesns. Finding 
 certain diociplos, St. Paul directed that they should be baptiied 
 into the name of Christ, but this was not enough, he ntat " laid 
 his handa npon them and the Holy Ohoat came upon them," 
 From the casual way in which theae Confirmationa are mentioned, 
 we infer that they were of con&tant occurrence — an eatabliahed 
 oaage, and the remarks I have made regfrding the event at Sama- 
 ria apply equrily to that at Ephesus, both are parta of an inspired 
 narration and tie only reaaonable answer to the qQCstion, in what 
 conaists their inspirlition, ia that before given, vig., that the Holy 
 Spirit speaks to OS through the ez^imple of the Holy ApoatlM* 
 It is not to be expected that we should find many instanoet of 
 Confirmation recorded in the brief Charoh history of St. LxOkfin 
 In that history, however, the Holy Spirit teaches na by Apoatolio 
 exampieva the two famous oases already mentioned, and in tiie 
 EjMstles we are taoght the sane duty by prtcept inddentaUy, 
 In the first chapter of his Epistle to tho Ephesiaas, St. Paol 
 writing to the samoChyrch at Kpli c sus where h e had fonn e riy 
 
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 eoDfirmod the diwiplos (u ntrratcd in AoU six.), wy». " in. 
 whom olao afUr thit ye helieved, ye wore sealed with that 
 Holy Spirit of promiKe." What does the Apostle here mean by 
 §eakd t He meant that they had received the Spirit through 
 Confirmation or imposition of hand^, the term Mealing, in Apo§- 
 toUc times, meaning oxaoily the same thing as oonjirming. If we 
 wuh to cot^rm a document wo eeal it, and thus the propriety of 
 th6 word is manifest. Indeed both terms ooonr in 2 Cor. i.. 21, 
 22, " Now He which confirmeth us with you in Christ, and hath 
 anointed us, is God who hath also sealed us, and given ns the 
 earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." But in Heb. vi. 1, 2, St. 
 Paul gives us a dear and unequivocal testimony in favor of Con- 
 firmation ; the Apostle is enumerating " the principles of the doc- 
 trine of Christ," the rudiments of our religion, the alphabet of 
 Christianity, and urges the Hebrews to leave them and go on unto 
 perfection. What are these first principles acc9rding to St. Paul ? 
 They are Repentance, Faith, the doctrine of Baptisms and of 
 laj/ing on of hands, the |C8urreotion and future judgment. Now 
 that cannot be an unimpoHFtant or merely formal oeircmony which is 
 one of " the principles of the doctrine of Christ," and so indis-' 
 putably does this passage give us a scriptural sanction for Confirma- 
 tion, that Calvin admitted it, and Luther acted on it, and almost 
 all commentators of note assent to it. Bi;it if the rite then be so 
 plainly scriptural, why do not all believers in inspiration practice 
 it ? The reason is, that Confirmation, from Apostolic days, has 
 been administered by Bishops or the highest order in the ministry 
 of the Church, and consequently they who throw aside Episcopacy 
 are forced to neglect Confirmation and oven tb decry it as useless ; 
 that rite which through their own fault they (jannot practice they 
 are for consistency's sake obliged to condemn, and in order to 
 prove that it is unscriptural, the less informed of them would 
 make us belieye that St. Paul did not confirm the disciples at 
 Ephestts but ordained them, and that he is not speaking to the 
 Hebrews of Confirmation at all, but of Ordination. But it seems 
 evident that the rite celebrated by St. Paul at Ephesus was the 
 very same as that practised by St. Peter and St. John at Samaria, 
 ^ni we may be sure that they were not sent down to ordain the 
 
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 *' men and women" whom St. Philip had baptized ; we may also 
 
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 larely oonoludo thit 9t. Panl irduld not hato ordained at prMe1i« 
 era of the word thoao diaoiplos at RphoHui who were themseWen 
 HO ignorant aa not to have heard of the exiatenoe of the Holy 
 Ohoat. Such a mode of erading the force of the text (Heb. ti. 
 12.,) only ihowa to what atraita men are driTen when oboe they 
 atrive to make the Soriptarea equare with their proconociTed pre- 
 judioee ; aarely Ordination ia not one of the principlea of Ghriat't 
 dootrine in the aame adnae aa Repentance, Faith, the Beaurrection 
 and ftiture judgment. Obaerve, St. Paul ia mentioning princi- 
 plea which are of universal application. All Christiana are bound 
 to repent, belicTe and be baptised, and shall rise and be judged, 
 but all Christians are not bound to bo ordained. Let ua observe 
 Jikewise that the Apostle gives us these principles hi groups of 
 '^airs— each doublet consisting of " two principles" inseparably 
 connected, and all in the natural, n^Ur order of occurreneo. 
 First, Repentance and Faith which over go together in St. Paurs 
 teaching. Secondly, the doctrine of baptisms and the laying on 
 of hands, the latter of which ha^W In the Ghureh succeeded the 
 fornier, If we interpret the laying ou 6f hands to moan Confirmation, 
 Thirdly, tho Resurrection and Judgment. Any one can see how 
 the chain of prineiples is broken and the force of St. Paul's ar- 
 rangement spoiled by the wretched device of substituting Ordina- 
 tion for Confirmation, And here it will be necessary to refute 
 \another argument which has been devised to overthrow the scrip- 
 tural Hsnction to Confirmation. It is said that the •' laying on of 
 hfnds" was designed for the imparting of the extraordinary gifts 
 of' the Holy Ghost, and that when those extraordinary gifts 
 ceased to bo manifested the " laying on of hands" ceased also. Bi^t 
 we alU^ether deny that miraculous gifla in every case followed the 
 laying on of hands. In the case of the Samaritan converts wo 
 may surmise that some or perhaps all of them like the Opheflian 
 disciples " spoke with tongues and prophesied," and the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost may have taken this shape on those occanons for 
 the purpose of affording a miraculous evidence of Christianity, 
 but St. Paul tells ub, that " the manifestation of Ihe Spirit ig 
 given to every man to profit^withal. For to one is given by tno 
 Spirit the word of wUdom^ to another tho word of knowledge by 
 the same Spirit, to another faith by thp same spirit, to another 
 
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 4. . 
 
 
 tilt g((^ of /Uo/tii^, to tQoUitr tho working of mtrac/««, to another 
 prophecy, to ftDOth«r di$cem\ng vf apiriti, to tnoth«r divera kind» 
 Hf tonguea, to anothtr tho interprtiaium qf Umguet" Wli«n 
 UMr«fbra the extraordinftrj gifta of tb« Spirit oMied, II by DO 
 mcMii fbllowi thai tb« ordinary gifta ooaMd likewiM, add if tho 
 gifts ooniinuad why ahonld not tba means thereto hate be«l^ ooo" 
 tinned ? The whole tone of the hbtory of the two Conflrmi^tions 
 teoorded in the Aots leads to the belief that iq those days the 
 laying on of hands foIk>wed Baptism as a matter of ooa^s, and 
 there is no more Intimation of the «essation or eitinotion of the 
 one than of the other. Indeed the juxtar position of " the lay- 
 ing on of hands'' with the <'dootrine of Baptisms" in the enumeration 
 of " principles of the dootrine of Christ" seems decisiTO of tho 
 perpetual obligation to <ibserve the ordioanoe. St. Paul then 
 isked the Bphesians a very natural question " hs?e y^ received 
 the Holy Ghost ftineeye believed f' or as it might be rendered 
 *' did ye reoeive tho Holy Qhost when yo beoam^ believers f He 
 did not ask " did ye t^mive Baptism/' he (ook thai for granted, 
 . but he knew that in all probability they never before had an op^ 
 |>orianity of reeeiving the laying on of an Apostle's bonds ; henoo 
 his question which he probably pui to all similarly sitnated whep' 
 ever he met with them. From these considerations it is clear thai 
 the assumption that confirmation ceased when the rairacnlous 
 speaking in tongties oeased, is altogether untenable, because the 
 ** laying on of hands" was not administered solely with a view to 
 ipei^g in tongues, which did not always follow the rite ; and WO 
 infer from thd word? of St. Paul ^ I would that ye all spake with 
 tongues but rather that ye prophesied," 1 Cor. xiv. 6, that not 
 OTen the Apostles could ai their discretion confer this power. 
 Bui enough has been said to show thai there is undoubted scrip- 
 tural authority for the ordinance which has desoended to us from 
 the Apostles themseltes and has ever been practised wherever the 
 Church of God has been planted in its purity and integrity ; and 
 the Confirmation to be held in this house of prayer to-day is one 
 of those notes or marks by which we recognise the Church as 
 Seripturil and Apostolic, and it identifies and links us with the 
 Chuioh fit Ephesus and Samaria in outward form and inward 
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 HftTtng thiaa brii^ fltjlh • •■mnarj of Ui# arguaMi in ftror 
 of OoatfoMliM from Stfr^itrt. I prooMd to wtihliih tbt ,])ivfri#> 
 t J of Uiif ordinaoM otfK«^«i0«Ma/ gronods i booaoM if Sorifliuo 
 won wholly nlonl o« Iho lubjoot, yol if wt b«UoT«4 Coalmalioo 
 to bo » umAiI oeramooy, om oaloaliit«d to benofit ibo ra«ipi«iitt tod 
 (o iidify Um witoeiMf, we ahoold bo porfecllj wornotod ia 
 tbo prootioo of it, for '< iko Oharoh hath powor to doerM ritot or 
 oortmooiio" pro? ided tboy be not " oostrory to Qod'e woid wiil- 
 UBi" now noooewiU oootood that Ooofiniiaiioo i« oonAraiy to 
 Qodti wwd, the moot thai vi uiged 4igiuut it •mooata to t|u% 
 that fomo penona cannot find it ep joined there. 
 
 X. 1 bM loareely jremind yo« that the Gharob haa o?«r odvi^ 
 ted infuti into Ghoroh memb«rihip. By the oaorauMrot of obr^ 
 oomoiaioa ohUdfon entered into ooTenaat reUtiooihip with Qod 
 oodtf the Jowiih di«peQiationv -Joooi Ghriat notor repeoled .tbt 
 Imt bar whieh inlanta were made Gharohmembeni* bnt on tbOiOOA- 
 tr«y,„both by what He did> and by what Ho aaid He deolarod ita 
 peff|«taity^.for " He took them up in Hia urma, Uid Hia hftod^ 
 upon them, and bloMod them/' and added the aignifioant wordt 
 *' of enoh ia the kingdom of Jleaven," thua antioipating and proH- 
 disg aii aofwer to a question whiohwaa aore to ariie, whether or not • 
 infanta were to have leia priTil^gea nnder the GhristviQ than thay 
 peMOMed under the Jowiah oofeoant. You were apoo^dingly admit* 
 tod into the fellowihip of ^hriat'a religion i^ your infancy, and on Um 
 airiamn oeoaeion of your rogeneration, your iponaora were thua m1- 
 drened " ye are to take owe th»t thb child be brought to tha:Biahop 
 to be oohflrmed by him lo loon at he oaii,iay the Greed, tho Jku^'a 
 Prayer and the Ten Commaadmente, iBithe viUgv tongue, and bo 
 fiirtbor inetmoted.in the Gbureh GateobiMn Mi forth tforthat ^itfw 
 poie." In obedionoe to thai reqoifemeat aome of you aiie pnepupt 
 to-di^ to aokoowlidge " that you axe bound tobelisve«id to do 
 aU thoiofihinga thai your , godfathors and g<Klmolhera thou no4«r. 
 ^ took for you." Goniirmati«nriaihertf<H»4i«<»n^p{Qtuw 4^^ 
 ' ] Aynum tti w^ SodUnoMtiaal jtvwt 0/ vwv. It ia buti f«Mai)£ifiblo 
 ' thatithe promiaejuMl tow made for jon wbiu iinliHiti»' ilioqjd fc* 
 aMOOii^ opoi^y befoio .the Chnroh wbon job haw naobfld y^$n 
 <it diaeietion. Without . Coofirmfttion thoio wodU U . «d«#^| 
 
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 rite tUt tr« an entbled to reply to the AnalMptist who deride* 
 the ides of baptiring unopnioioiui infknto end tHoa tame into ridi- 
 enle the great God^ himaelf irho oommanded that ohildieo ihoold 
 be admitted Into hia ancient Ohorch. Wf lay, yea, we do be- 
 liete that oar litUe onea are in Baptiam i^made memberii o^ 
 Ohriit, children of God and inheritors of the jdngdom of He*- 
 yen," but we do not rest there. We insist that i^ who have re- 
 ceived the blesaings of Baptism in infimoy ahoold openly and pub- 
 licly befbre the Ohncli acknowledge their obligationa when ther 
 htTe arrived at yean of discretion, and^«M able to diseeni righi 
 firom wrong and good flpom e»il. . 
 
 n. Confirmation, moreoter, is a puXtUe pro/mion of rdigian. 
 It is a coikftMion of the Faith, and homage opeply done to Ohrist, 
 this new of the rite is most importtot. When the Apostle* 
 preached, die great mass of their converts were of comrse adolts 
 
 y who by reoeivbg Biptism made a confession of their faith^ and if 
 it was neoessary that «% should reei^ve the imposition ef hands, 
 bow much more necessary is it for us to do so who were baptised 
 in infancy when unconscious of the confession made in our name* 
 It is indeed«often urged aa an excuse for evading this ordinance, 
 that provided, the heart is right, it matters little whether we open- 
 Jy before the Ohuroh and the world profess our allegiance ta 
 Christ. But it is not enough that the heart be right. St. Pai^ 
 says *' if thou shalt confess with i^j mouth the Lord Jesus^ tnd 
 Shalt believe Ji thine heairt that God hath raised him from the 
 dead, thou aSdt be saved. For with the heart man.believeth 
 tmto ridliteottSbese and with the maiceft eonfoesion is made nntO' 
 salvMiMt."^ If %e be eoitent vrith the supposed rectitude of our 
 heavts aadiefirain froiok a pnbKe aeknowle^ment of our obliga- 
 tiou, thou eo itoM God's honoris coocemed and our neighbor'a: 
 ^eation is inv)»hred we B^t as well be infidek St. Peter did 
 not argue nor did C<Rmelius plead that beonuee the Hely Ghost 
 Ind^iriiddondy fUlett upon the latter, he need not be baptised, but 
 OB the contrary^ St. Piter made the feet ef Cornelius havfagore- 
 eeived the Holy Ghiost an(aigument in favor ^his beings baptised. 
 Our blessed liord did not urge His sinlesaneflslisa ptoafor Hiaez- 
 cisption frodi submittiiig (» the baptism of St; John, but received 
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 «n ri]Slit«o«te«M, or in oOier worda/ perform a rightoow duty. 
 Th« ftot if, th»t no one'i heart u right " who willingly and par- 
 poMly doth openly break the tradition and oeremoniet of the 
 Ohuroh." Some persons again neglect the Ghnroh'a oeremony of 
 Confirmation on the delusiye ground that they escape reaponaibili- 
 ^ ; but the obligationa of Gonfinnation lie on all whether they 
 be confirmed or not It is not Oon^ation that impoMa any 
 new obligations ; <Aey spring from the fact that we have been 
 haptize^md ttrntght the way of salvation. The differenoe between 
 those who obey and Ihoae who disobey this requirement of the 
 <!)haToh is that the one is happy in having the opportunity of con- 
 fessing their Sayionr, the other is secretly miserable in being 
 ashamed of Him. There are multitudes of young men and wo- 
 men who would sooner do anything than make a public profession 
 of their faith and obligations. Thousands are laughed out of 
 their religion tho' they would be greatly superior in aisoment to 
 those who laughed at them if they had only the moral courage to 
 iurgue the matter. Our Sayiour foresaw this, and hence perhaps 
 the solemn warning against being '* ashamed" of Him, and the 
 cheering promise *' whosoever shall confess me before men, him 
 will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven.'- » 
 
 The reasonableness of publicly acknowledging our Ohurchmem- 
 bership ai|d consequent obligations is so evi^nt that admost all 
 religious bodies have some ceremony in which this acknowledg- 
 ment is made. ' One sect gives you the right hand of fellowship, 
 publioly. Another insists on your pul^ immersion, while another 
 insists on your joining a class. Now the Church's mode ia that 
 which you will presently witness— Prayer and " the laying on of 
 hand^i" that significant and touching rite which has descended to 
 us, who are justified in adopting what was practised by Patriarchs 
 and Propheta aud Apostles and even by our adorable Redeemer 
 
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 III. Confirmation is also a perpetual proteH on the part of the 
 Cthmrfih agaiiut a noMrdigioue education. There is tl^ more ne- 
 cessity for viewing Confirmation in this light because the theory 
 most popular is that children ought not tobebiaMed otpi^iidioed 
 in &vor of distinotive doctrine, but that they ■houldi^ ^USs^ 
 to grow up to years, of disoretioa iwtnmimel)«4»MlCltl^^^ 
 
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 win MliMl^ nllfcfott fbr ditMMlvM, lAid Ihii ia ew wi diwd to be 
 m ibMrd tad juit wty of doaling with the iuimortal fodt of 
 iHe jfonngt. Now tho Ohnreh, hdieoiny the tetohing of the Bible, 
 |MroiMti ftgftinit raeh ftitel erroV, and in the onfinnnee of Oonflmi^ 
 tion proviieff that the period between Baptism and the laying on 
 of handa thall be employed in teaehing the yonng the aolemn tow, 
 proniae and profearion made in their name, ao that when they 
 pnaent themaeltea to the Bishop they may do ao aa intelligent 
 and well inatmeted ean^atea, knowing what they do and why 
 they do H. And if religioiia teaehing be MOesaary in England 
 nd Ireland where the young are firom their earlieat yeara tanght 
 the mdifflenfa of Cfariatianify and the faota of the Bible, how 
 mneh more neeeaaary is it in a oonntry like thia where ao many 
 aiW growing^ to manhood and womanhood aa ignorant of the 
 Seif^Qiw of God as tho* they lited in Heathtadom" 7 We know 
 thti in Oanada where the Oleigy are so few, the ihiniona ao 
 laige, and the people ao aeattered, it ia impoasible ibr the eleigy 
 to ioipart this religions knowledge as they oi^ht. Bnt if* we ean- 
 iioi do it as well as we ought, yet we shonld do it as well as we 
 ettt, and in Oonfinsatioa there is an admirable opportunity, fbr 
 the Parish Priest to gather Jiis yonng parishioners together and 
 leaeh th«tt the radiments oTOhristianity and the disttnetiire doe- 
 tfineaof the Ohmth. He ean aTidl himself of that period of 
 -Hfe whea the heart ia inoet jopea to religiona impreasiona, whan it 
 iM not aayet been hardened by. too eleae • ooBtaet with the 
 wMd, to ahbw how Qod'i word abonnda with preeepts and ezam- 
 plM enoinirag^g to yonthlbl piety. He ean point out how they 
 ieidi ua ^t tho' God ia pleased with the piety of old ag», yet 
 Ihtt Hii d^ht is in thit tt the ^onng. He ean prote from ren- 
 •oft why this mnst beao. Wlien an aged person tnmti to God 
 aid brings IbHh fhiitanieet for repentanee, bleaeed be God, he 
 saTea Ma own aoni : bnt dnrbg a long life he may hate diriumored 
 hii Maker, he may have by example done more injury 4o the 
 Chiireh <idf God tiiaa all theiears he ean afaed or llie prayers he eaii 
 vtMr tSOL ever ttone ibr. Bnt when t)|»e yonng grow in the graee of 
 BiLpCUiti Iddiliiiis^hMii Mriieat yeart iiiMennder ftligioh^happ^ 
 Ibmi^ not ettly do <}m^ tave iStuAt owtriottli but they iw d ttt e n d 
 tittt liiHgtott to ftheMr. The religidtt of the old ia tike • ritnlel 
 
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 ruMfc B6«r a« Mft, vtrx bMoiiM wbik it kite hmt it ia fooik k«t 
 in the omsd of ttaraitj; Imt tke religiioii of the young ii UIm » 
 foanttin rinng in the midit of a grMt oontinent, the Uttlo tpring 
 gathers strength m it flows slong irrigating valleys and refreabiog 
 cities, till as % mii^ity river it rolls into the oeean. Henoe we see 
 why Solenum nrgee the neoeasitj of " training vp 4 ohild in the 
 way be should go," why St Psnl dileots ns to <* bring np oar 
 ehildienr in the nartore and admonition of the Lord ;" henoe has 
 God proridedf that we should read of such beautiful examples of 
 youthful pi^ as Samaslv Ohadiah, Barid, St. John «)ie Baptist 
 sod Timothy, " who from a ohild knew the Holy Soriptures," and 
 he it obaenred that the names of his mother and greudmother 
 hare been immortaUied by the Holy Ghost for the enoouragesMnt 
 of GhristiauParentf, so that their" names are knownr where those 
 of Kings and Potentates are never heard, and for this reason 
 doubtlees that they taught St Timothy the Holy Seriptures in his 
 youtb; even among the few items of infinrmation vouohsafed to 
 us eoneeming the boyhood of «ur Bedeemer we read that "He 
 inereased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." 
 
 But if we had' no Seriptural teaelung on the subjeet of early , 
 religious trsining^ the lamentable results flowing from its n^leot 
 should impress us eolemnly. If Parents and Sponsors defor this 
 training till the young of the floek ere old enough to ehoose a 
 ereed for themselves — if they, under the pretence of a false liber- 
 ality, do not select a belief for their ohildren, thq I>eril vaU; if ' 
 youth be not biassed aright by the Church, they will be assuredly 
 biassed wrongly by the world, the flesh end the Devil. Indeed I 
 eannot imsgine a rinoere Oburohman who will not bias, and prijo- 
 diee his children in favor of those doo^nes whioh he believes 
 himselfl If he holds the doctrH||of the Ohuroh to be truly 
 Soriptniul, if he professes to look M^Oiem for a support in life and 
 aeomfort in the>]uNir4>f death, if be boUeves tliat the faith whioh 
 has come down to us sealed by tho blood of martyrs ii worth per- 
 petuating, and' yet takes no piuns to bring np his ehildren in the 
 eame belief, he mu^ be an utter hypocrite. And whet are the 
 fruits ofiAiseoesUed liberal but unsoriptmral idea of trithboldr 
 ing distiaetim religiona edneation from the young ? The reeuH 
 is shown in the thouisude nfcao/oaUed Gluirtitnt in <«vr inid«fc 
 
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 %WidMiil il MnetliMg eraditeble to their ohtnoter.M eTinfiing 
 libenaUy ud etetition ftbove the petty difierenoei Of eeots, to reply, 
 :when eekod to whet religioai body they belong, that they era 
 fnmtdly to all Iknominaiumi hut mmben of none I 
 ^IV. Ooikfirmetioa is not only e reasoneble leqael to Holy Bep- 
 tbm, b«t it il e wiee qnalifioation for edminion to the highest of 
 •llmetns of gtaoe, the Holy Oommunion. The Ohnreh does not 
 MMtitvte en inqvisitorisl ezenrinstion into the religious condition 
 of OMdidfttes for Oommwiion, she does not insist on professions of 
 eontetsio^oor on derations of religioai experience, nor on the 
 ntteinneQl^ sn eielted stendsrd of holiness, as indiq^nseble 
 oondiCiiM for admiisiottto the Eachsrist To do so woold be to 
 fopply ttOtiTSs end opportunities for hypocrisy, »<! spiritual 
 pride, and td proclaim that means of grace were appointed by 
 €k)d for those who needed them least. Her wise arran^ent per- 
 mits all who ha^e been confirmed, or who are roady or desirous of 
 being eonflrmed, to prasent themselves at the Saered' Fea)t. She 
 is thus secure that none diall communicate who have not been in- 
 structed in their duty, and Uught that the Holy Comn^union is 
 eo *' drvilie and comfortable a thing to ttiem who receive it wor- 
 thily, and so daiq;eroni to them that will presume to receive it 
 unworthily;" and having taken thisirise pracaution, she throws 
 the responsibiUty of either receiving or rejecting it on her con- 
 firt^ed members. On all occasions therefore of Oonfirmation I 
 direct that the Lord'V Supper shall be administered not with the 
 expeotatiOD that all the ooniinnod wW. become communicants, but 
 With Um prayerfnl hope that very many will avail them^lves oS 
 the hl^saad privilsge: I Aall however postpone my remii^ks to 
 the Miididattron this sabjeot till after the laying on of hai^ds, 
 tad I ihaU then endeavor to show them such reasons and to 4ni^ 
 ply thdtt with 9sdb motives as may induce thenr to reflect that 
 they be fit to be ottufinned^ they are fit to receive the Holy Oom- 
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 ^Mi be BOW tMunded of their Confirmation in yCanf gone by, 
 and whUsi they imploi^ pardon for a life spent peihapdi in a man- 
 nernot Qonforaable to tbaur obHertions let them in tilent prayer 
 «ik <)f Godtol^Hls ordiBao^ the souls of these young 
 
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 oandidates; tnd to'yoa my younger Brethren I woold ny, tot 
 end feel like beingi to whom grMO ie ibont to he iciTen, •■ it u* 
 ■oredly will if you receive <' the laying on of handi" in Penitenot, 
 Faith and Charity. Confirmation waa inatituted by Him who de- 
 viaet no xueleM oeremoniea and we shall now prooeed to the admin- 
 istration of it, in the namo of tho Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost. Amen. « ' 
 
 
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