confirmation prescribes; or when you come to the altar, without having spoken aloud, but having assented tacitly, you will be understood each of you as intimating this: "I acknowledge it is my duty to avoid every thing vicious and sinful. I acknowledge it is my duty "to receive the doctrines delivered by Christ and His Apostles, as the rules of my faith. I acknowledge it is my duty to keep God's holy will and commandments, "and to walk in the same all the days of my life."" 66 66 And now, my brethren, if the sacred place in which you create an opinion, that such is your meaning; if the presence of Him, from whom no secrets are hidden, even God, who will know the sincerity of your hearts; if the force of what you either declare with your lips or think in your minds; if these combined and weighty circumstances make on you that impression which they ought to make; you will not only be grave and serious while you remain here, remain here, but you will also be considerate; you will be sedate; you will be correct; you will be sober; you will be quiet; you will be regular, when you have left the church, and at an early season are on your way towards your own homes. By such behaviour you will make it evident you have paid due attention to the counsel of your ministers; by such behaviour you will give comfort to your parents; by such behaviour you will do credit to yourselves. For your conduct will be such as becomes persons who are conscious they are but just returning from a religious ordinance; an ordinance, of which the immediate object is to inculcate on your minds the necessity of believing and acting as true Christians through the whole of your existence in this world; an ordinance, of which the final design is, to prepare you for the attainment of eternal happiness, when you rise from the grave to life immortal. III. DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD, THE purpose for which we are now assembled, is, that you may have an opportunity of declaring in the church your wish and resolution to fulfil the promises which your godfathers and godmothers made for you at the time of your baptism. Thus, in the presence of the congregation here met, from henceforth through the remainder of your life you will devote yourselves to Almighty God, through faith, worship, and obedience towards Christ our Lord! Which things when you have done, by the imposition of our hands, and by solemn prayer, you will be humbly recommended to the blessing of God, that He may assist you with grace to know your duty, and with strength to perform it. And well fitting it is you should make this declaration, should thus devote yourselves, and that the favour of God should thus be supplicated on your behalf. For such was the usage of the Jewish church.* When their children were come to years of discretion, they presented themselves before a congregation of the people; they See Hole's Practical Discourses. Dis. viii. vol. iv. p. 64. The writer quotes Buxtorf, as his authority. "Liberi Judæorum majorennes erant superatis tredecim annis, tum et ad jugum legis suscipiendum erant obligati, tutoribus non egebant ampliùs, et pro seipsis loqui poterant."- Kypke in cap. 9. v. 21. Evang. St. Joannis. expressed their obligation to be subject to the law, to keep the sabbath, to observe the passover; and thus they acknowledged in their own names that they were bound to the covenant, into which their parents had entered them in the earliest days of their infancy. Prayers were made for them, and the high-priest laid his hands on them. The Christian church hath acted wisely in adopting many customs, which bear a resemblance to the solemnities used by the chosen people of God. One among others of this nature is the primitive and sacred ceremony of confirmation, to which you are now coming. Right it is you should come to confirmation with the view of afterwards coming to communion at the Lord's Supper. The church, of which you are members, directs that all persons should, if possible, be actually confirmed, or, if they have not opportunity to attend that solemnity, should at least conceive an earnest desire to be confirmed, before they partake of the Lord's Supper. The reason is this: Baptism is a covenant, in which God on his part vouchsafes to promise us spiritual blessings, if we on our part will undertake to discharge certain duties. When we are infants, we are incapable of undertaking this in our own persons; the condition therefore on our side cannot then be fully acknowledged. But when we have attained to years of discretion, it must be acknowledged, if we wish to derive the full benefit which may be expected from baptism. When in our own persons we have made such acknowledgment, and have taken upon ourselves the condition in all its force, then the covenant is complete, and we may hope, by the mercy of God, to receive all the blessings annexed to baptism, the first sacrament. But the covenant is not complete, if we rest satisfied merely with the outward sign of baptism, and afterwards take no thought to learn, nor feel in our hearts any desire to profess, the very principles which we must profess, and must follow likewise, if we would make the outward sign to be of any avail. St. Paul says, "He is "not a Jew, who is so outwardly only ;" that is, who has gone no farther in his religion, than merely to have on his body the outward sign of it. In the same manner we may say, he is not in reality a Christian, who has gone no farther in Christianity than merely to have received the outward sign of baptism. Belief in the heart, and confession with the mouth, are both required by the same Apostle.* We must assent to the Gospel, and declare openly that we do assent. It is true, indeed, that every time we repeat the Apostles' creed, and join in worship with a congregation of Christians, we virtually declare ourselves to be the disciples of Christ, bound alike to believe and to do whatever he hath taught and commanded. But there is in confirmation an opportunity given of making the confession mentioned by the Apostle, in a manner more direct, individual, and personal; and therefore it is a completion of the baptismal engagement that comes more close, more near to every single person, than any other act which is congregational. Confirmation, then, is highly proper to be observed, where it can be had; because, as it makes perfect the engagement of baptism, it completes the partaking of one sacrament, before we enter on another. By the solemn act of confirmation we undertake to discharge certain duties. We engage, by the grace of God, to renounce sin, to hold the articles of Christ's religion as the rule of our faith, and to follow the commandments of God as the laws by which to direct our * Rom. x. 10. lives. It is on condition of our making and fulfilling this promise, that we are entitled to the benefits of baptism. There is yet another and very substantial reason for directing persons to be confirmed before they come to the Lord's Supper. It is, that the church may have assurance that the communicants have been instructed in the catechism, before they appear at the altar for the holy solemnity of the communion. The catechism teaches the nature of a sacrament; it tells us what benefits we may expect from worthily partaking of the Lord's Supper; and it points out the preparation necessary for qualifying us on an occasion thus interesting, solemn, and holy. Those who from the catechism, and from the explanations of it given by their ministers, have gained instruction in these particulars, will probably attend the sacred ordinance of the Lord's Supper with degrees of serious resolution, steadfast faith, and deep thankfulness, which cannot be expected from persons altogether untaught in the elements of Christianity. This of itself is sufficient cause for directing confirmation to precede the Lord's Supper. For, if the catechism ought to be learnt, and most commonly is learnt, before confirmation, the church is assured, in general, that, when confirmed persons come to the Lord's Supper, they come with some knowledge of what they are doing. Thus much having been said to you on the expediency of confirmation, where it can seasonably be had, it remains only that you should be reminded of what your ministers have undoubtedly and repeatedly told should well consider what you are going you; that that you should behave with gravity at the altar; that when you return to your places whilst the prayers are reading, you should kneel, and join in the to say; you |