CIHM Microfiche Series (IVIonographs) ICIVIH Collection de microfiches (monographies) Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques •iQQA I Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. □ D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie Covcs's restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restauree et/ou pelliculie □ Cover title missing/ Le D titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes gtographiques en couleur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de i : couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relie avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge interieure □ Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte. mais, lorsque cela etait possible, ces pages n'ont pas ete filmees. n Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplementaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a M possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normale de f ilmage sont indiqufa ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur □ Pages damaged/ Pages endommagto □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurees et/ou pelliculfes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages decolorees. tachetees ou piquees □ Pages detached/ Pages detaches 0Showthrough/ Transparence □ Quality of print v< Qualite inegale de varies/ legale de I'impression □ Continuous pagination/ Pagination continue n Includes index (es)/ Comprend un (des) index Title on header taken from: / Le titre de I'en-tite provient: iivraison □ Title page of issue/ Page de titre de la ii □ Caption of issue/ Titre de depart de la Iivraison Id/ Generique (periodiques) de la Iivraison I I Masthead/ This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce wocument est f ilme au taux de reduction indique ci-dessous. 1QX I4y lav J 12X 16X 20X 26 X 30X 24 X 28 X H 22X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Harriet Irving Library University of New Brunswick L'exemplaire filing fut reprodult nrfl* 8 d la g6n6rosit6 de: Harriet Irving Library University of New Brunswick The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin. compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de l'exemplaire film6. et en conformit6 avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires orig'maux dont la souverture en papier est imprimde sont filmds en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impresslon ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premldre page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impresslon ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernldre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^^ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol y (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method; Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reprodult en un seul clich6, 11 est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1.0 i.l 1.25 4.5 5.0 2.8 ■ 63 It |3i6 ■ an ■ 90 1.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 J APPLIED IM/IGE !nc ^^. 1653 Eost Main Street ^S: Rochester, New York 14609 USA as (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone =S (716) 288- 5989 - Fox m/* THE SEA OR, ©oufkrmutiou. By Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. lUeprinted by pcrmisslo7i.} r-*'^ /■ \ FREDERICTOiS^: W. ^11. FENETY, QUEEN STREET. % r # ■\ b'V THE SEAL: OR, THE INWARD SPIRITUAL GRACE OF CONFIRMATION. St. Paul says to the Ephesians, *And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption.' (Chap, iv. 30.) ^ ^ This makes us think what St. Paul can mean, and leads us to look into other parts of Holy Scripture for explanation. We Avill turn back to a very early part of the Bible. When the holy prophet Ezekiel was living on the banks of the rivei Ohebar, in Babylonia, whither he had been takea with his king, Jehoiachin, and others of the princes and Levites, God shewed him many visions of his dear home at Jerusalem, and of those his brethren who vpif. rpmaino/i +i-.««^. ix.^^ ^ t^t , warn them to provoke God no further, but to (4) turn awaj' His wrath from their city, or at any rate, each man from himself. In one of these visions — it is to be found in Ezekiel's ninth chapter— just after God had shown him how the glorious Temple itself, God's own house of prayer, was full of persons worshipping idols, the prophet beheld the des- troyers, each with his weapon in his hand, gathered within the Temple, ready for the slaughter, and only waiting for the word. Then he saw a figure, clothed in linen, with an ink- horn by his side. Then a voice from the bright glory that betokened the Presence of God, spake and said, 'Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark * on the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.' The same voice added, to those who held the slaughter weapons — ' Go ye after him through the city, and smite ; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. Shy utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.' *[In Hebrew it is "set a tau," and tau is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The old form of tau was i#i a cross.] T , (s) We might perhaps think that this awful message belonged only to the days when Nebu- chadnezzar's men were doing God's work of vengeance upon the idolatrous Jerusalem, and when the unseen mark of God guarded His true^ servants in the midst of destruction ; but God's words are much too great and far-reach- ing to have their fulfilment entirely at once, and they stretch on much farther than what concerned that first destruction of Jerusalem. This very vision of Ezekiel was, as it were, carried on, and rendered more terrible and more significant, when nearly seven hundred years later, St. John the Evangelist, in his captivity, likewise saw the doom of the faithless revealed. Instead of the Temple of Jerusalem, St. John beheld the courts of Heaven ; instead of the Mercy-seat, the Tfirone of God; instead of the carved Cherubim, the Four Living Creatures; instead of the daily sacrifice, the Lamb as it had been slain. But it was the hour of wrath for those who had despised the blessed Sacrifice of the Lamb ; and thus, instead of the six with their slaug^ :^r weapons, St. John beheld the horsemen going forth to slay; *a pale horse, and his name that sat thereon was Death, and Hell followed with him.' Moreover, he saw four angels standing, holding the four winds of heaven, and instead of him with the ink-horn, (6) he saw an * angel ascending from the east, hav- ing the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads/ And while the earthquake, the fire, the des- truction, had their way on the earth, the sealed wore their white robes, waved their palms, and cried, * Salvation to our God that sitteth on the Throne, and to the Lamb.' We know that St. John's visions are of the state of things in which we live — on to the end of time. Therefore, what can import to us more than to be sure that we receive, and that we do not lose, that seal on the forehead which is to mark us for safety in the hour of ven- geance? Now is that seal affixed on our brow uncon- sciously, as it seems to have been in Ezekiel's vision ? Is it God's mark of holiness, unknown to man? In some degree it may be; and yet St. Paul speaks of it as being the right com- mon to all Christians, for he says to the Corin- thians, ^ 'Now He which establisheth us with you in tlhrist, and hath anointed us, is God; Who (7) h'>.th also sealed ns, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts/ (2 Cor. i. 21, 22.) And again, to the Ephesians : » After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise.' (Fph. I 18.) And later in the Epistle he says, * Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.' Thus it is plain that St. Paul regarded the sealing as the special work oi the Holy Ghost- nay, as if the Holy Ghost were Himself the Seal. Where He is present, the soul and body bear their seal and are safe, so that to them the day of vengeance is the day of redemption. Yet this Seal, this abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit, cannot be only the mark of a perfect Christian, just ready to die. It must be given to him while yet he is in a state of trial, and be liable to be lost ; or St. Paul would not speak as if everyone in his Church had it, or bid them beware of grieving the H Ay Spirit. Moreover, he says that the Ephesians were sealed after they had believed ; {chap. I 13.) and his words to the Corinthians couple this sealing with the Holy Spirit with the being established, and anointed to God. Surely, then, the Sealing must be the having the snftp,in.l oranp nf flio TTr^Kr flV,r^c*- r^^^f j See, then, how the Apostles conveyed this (8) grace. When Philip the deacon had baptized the converts at Samaria, St. Peter and St. John were sent down. * who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost ; (for as yet He was fallen on none of them ; only they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus ;) then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holv Ghost.' (Acts viii. 15-17.) To Cornelius the Holy Spirit came visibly before Baptism; but that was an exceptional work of God, wrought to remove all doubt as to the admission of the Gentiles; but he was bap- tized afterwards, so that it is plain that Baptism and Sealing by the Holy Ghost are two differ- ent things. Indeed, though the Samaritans were baptized by Philip, the two Apostles laid their hands on them before they received the Holy Ghost; and later we find tiiat after the Ephesians had been baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, ^ when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them.' (Acts xix. 6.) And it is in writing to these very men that he reminds them that * after they had believed, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.' In the Epistle to the Plebrews we find Baptisms and the laying on of hands' spoken -' - lie very first outset of the Christian fi 01 as f (9) course ; and from all these evidences we per- ceive that not only were Christians received to Baptism, but that as soon as possible after- wards, the Apostles whom our Lord had Him- self commissioned, laid their hands on them, aiid thus conveyed to them the Presence of the' Holy Ghost; and that this was called by St Paul the Sealing of the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. What that Seal does for Christians we further know from the awful vet hopeful sight which St. John beheld, of the dire judgments of God fast bound, until the sealing of all the faithful shall have secured them. And though in St. .ohn's vision the sealing was the work of angels, yet we know that angels are messengers of God ; so that what is done by the Ministry of Christ, would be spoken of as done by the angels. Indeed, in the earlier chapters of the Book of Revelation, we find the course of bishops, the episcopal ministry of each place, spoken of as the angel of such and such a Church ; and our Lord says the stars in His Kight Hand are the angels of the Churches. Ihese angels who sealed the servants of God, would plainly mean the messenger spirits, in- cluding the whole line of bishops of each Church from the very first, all gathered into ViQioii ueiore the Saint. The Churches in the very places where St. (>o) Paul and St John preached still use the name Sealing, while we use the word ' Confirmation' for bemg thus marked by the Apostolic hand. We all know that the grace that our blessed Lord gave to His Apostles to be imparted to !Id y.^'f ,5''>"'-°h. iB continued to our Bishops, and that the same grace that was bestowed by the laymg on of the Apostles' hand is still bestowed by the laying on of our Bishops- hands ; so that when we kneel before our B shop It IS the same thing as when the Samar- plr Sf ^^k''"""."""^''*' k"«lt before St. Peter, St. John, and St. Paul. The power of speaking different languages and of working miracles was sometimes conferred at such times m order that the yet untaught people might know of the coming of the Holy Ghost by thdr outward senses. ^ But we have to trust to faith instead of to sight; and our Lord Himself, and His Apostles g^fts were of no consequence at all to the soul V nce'trr"- J'.'^ "'" °"'^ g'--' *" -- vince the Jews and heathens; the real benefit, the being sealed by the Presence of 'the Hol^ Spirit, comes to us without these outward signs as It came to the Christians of old with them. !l'' :L*"' '}' ^•^"P '»-k«« the solemn —. ^.reugMeu tiiera, O Lord, witli the Holy Gh .t the Comforter, and daily increase m them :iy manifold gifts of grace : the Spirit ot wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and ghostly strength, the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and fill them O Lord, with the Spirit of Thy holy fear.' Such is the Sevenfold Seal of the blessed Spirit of God ; and it is the more precious be- cause this is the same Holy Spirit wherewith Jesus our Lord became the Anointed, the Christ. {Acts X. 38.) For doth not Isaiah say, There shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.' (Isaiah xi. 1, 2.) In this manner, it may be, that *Him hath God the Father sealed.' (St. John vi. 27.) How should even our chief pastors dare to hand on to us that awful Seal, that wonderful Anointing, but that we are His members, and His blessings flow down to us, as did the oil on Aaron's head to the utmost parts of his clothing? (Psalm cxxxiii.) n 110, tneii, would presume to turn away from the Seal of the Holy Spirit, by which we are to (12) be marked for the great day? Who would venture to go without that laying on of hands, by which once for all, the blessed Spirit may be conveyed to us as surely as when He sat on the Apostles in fiery tongues? nu^-\?"L^-''P"'™ "^^ '^'^"'^ "'l«ed •>«"> into Christ s Church. Our new life began then, our spirits became alive to the influences of God • but the work is imperfect till the Seal is given' It was to the hands of the Apostles that our Lord committed the power of conveying th« presence of God the Holy Ghost; and as their successors, the Bishops, cannot be present at every Baptism. Confirmation -that is. sealing — or laying on of hands, is made to wait till a suitable time afterwards; but many persons have been confirmed immediately after their Baptism even in their infancy. For Confirma- tion is like Baptism, a thing that is done to us by God once for all, not one that we do for our- selves. A babe has no unbelief, therefore it can be baptized; and for the same reason it can be sealed, or confirmed. If an older person were wicked enough to come to hoh Baptism without repentance or faith, he would not be fulfilling the condition; and so, too, we must bring faith when we come to be confirmed, really knowing what we are about. rhus it is a very holy and solemn occasion to ) would ■ hands, may be 3 on the rn into len, our f God; i given, lat our ng thy IS their sent at sealing 3 till a •ersons ' their ifirma- » to us )r our- bre it it can )erson ptism ot be must med, on to (13) us, and our Church has thought that it is a fit time for us to pronounce our own ratification of our ^iptismal Vow. Some people make mis- takes about it, and fancy the making the vow for ourselves is the chief point in Confirmation. But tliis is not the fact. Nothing we do can be so important as what we receive from God, and we have in reality accepted the vow every time we have answered our catechist's question, * Dost thou not think thou art bound to do and believe as they (our sponsors) promised for thee?' *Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will.' Of course the renewing the vow is a deep and anxious matter ; and if we do not take it with our whole heart, we can be in no frame of mind to meet the blessing of being sealed by God the Holy Ghost. But we must not fall into the mistake of thinking that the making the vow for ourselves is the great matter. Confirmation IS not our confirming our own vow, but God's confirming us in the strength of the Holy Spirit. We are just as much bound by our vow before Confirmation as after it. The difference is that Confirmation gives us more power to keep it, by strengthening us with the sevenfold Seal of God the Holy Ghost. Iherefore. ]pt nn vmin»» f„.,,.„ ^.1.^2. v. or she goes to Confirmation to release God- (14) parents from their vows TJ.^ merely the PhHrl'c -I ^e sponsors were that they depend ;„. N theflet l^'^'Tr person, who remember, ml .. *"^ ^"^'' i«Wy and tho^ghtTi Slf CoX I"''- can again be resorted to Ti ^"""■'"lation be renewed-we can .n "''"' ''*" '""^""^ time, best of all at the Holv'r """"^ ''' "'^ a«4 +n fi, 1. ^-^ Communion — but as to the sealing, the conferring of th-it Ann 7 inff of thp UnUr Q^; v • . ^ '^^ Anoint- SpS"of r 7'\ """' 'S"«^« ""* the Holy ness to make%o„r prlU^t^ SvTyTut Seal and guard it faithfully to the end ' Jiess ot Jite that bears witnp« fn n,„ r> the Hr,I,r ri, 4. ., "^'™®^^ to the Presence of tne Holy Ghost, that so the angels of destruc Jon ^ God's „ark on you'r brow,; d thj adii.*^""' "'"^- '' *° ^- "- ^ia; of m Ts were 1 would romises y elder ' child- niation indeed iit any — but Inoint- we are st, the lot be Holy to the rnest- your siiess inion land holi- ceof iruc- the full