have done it, the Bishops in all Churches have ever been the only ministers of Confirmation; for as they succeed the Apostles in all parts of their ordinary episcopal power, so especially in this, which is committed solely unto them for the honour of their office, and to distinguish their supereminent dignity from the inferior ministrations in the Church.

III. The whole ritual part of it consists in prayer and imposition of hands. This is plain from the fore-cited place, where it is said that the Apostles Peter and John, when they were come to Samaria, prayed for the disciples, that they might receive the Holy Ghost; and then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. The prayer of a superior in authority for his inferior is called a blessing, according to that of the Apostle (Heb. vii. 7), Without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. But the solemnity and application of the blessing to the persons blessed, did usually consist in manual ceremonies, as in extending or lifting up the hands over a whole congregation, or in laying them upon a single person. Thus our Saviour, when He blessed the little children which were brought unto Him, laid his hands upon them (Mark x. 16); and when Moses ordained Joshua to stand in his stead among the people, the text says that he was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him (Deut. xxxiv. 9). In like manner the Apostles did, and their successors after their examples do, in the ministration of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, lay their hands on the head of every person to be Confirmed,

thereby specially directing and applying unto him the solemn blessing with which they bless him for the reception of the Holy Ghost.

IV. The grace and blessing obtained by the worthy reception and due ministration of this ordinance, is the enlargement of the baptismal grace, or a further reception of that spirit of sanctification by which we were regenerated and born of God. In Baptism we receive grace to undertake our duty, but in Confirmation we receive grace to perform it, and are further renewed in the spirit of our minds. In that the Holy Ghost is given unto us in a measure proportional to our first entrance or initiation; but in this, He comes upon us with more mighty and powerful assistance, to strengthen us with grace in the inner man. And therefore

V. Seeing Confirmation is of Divine institution, and ordained by God as a means of conveying a further supply of grace to all those that have been baptized, is it not our duty to wait upon Him for His grace in that way which He has appointed for the conveying of it to us? And though the grace of God is not so confined to His ordinances that it cannot be had without them, have we any reason to expect He should give it to us in an extraordinary manner, if we neglect the use of the ordinary means which He has appointed, when they are in our power?

No. II.

The following list of books was prepared by Mr. Stevens for the use of the young lady mentioned in the foregoing note, and is now also printed for the first time. It was sent in the year 1766 with a letter, in which he thus writes :

"At last, madam, I have finished the catalogue, and I hope it will meet with your approbation; I considered that caution was as necessary in the choice of books as of company, not more evil springing from conversation than from reading. Accordingly, where instruction was my view, the authors I have selected are of real and distinguished merit, eminent for the soundness of their principles and the holiness of their lives; and where amusement was the thing intended, I have endeavoured that it should at least be innocent. Many of the worthies recommended to you are my intimates; and if I am not wiser and better for their acquaintance, it is my own fault. An hour spent with one of these may be reflected on with pleasure, and will be, I am persuaded, more agreeable to your taste than rattling about in a coach from one end of the town to the other, to pay visits to those whom you heartily wish not to meet with. Another advantage attending these companions is, that they will not be impertinent in their visits; they will never intrude themselves unsolicited, nor stay with you longer than you choose, which, as times go, is no disagreeable circumstance. But perhaps while I am

enlarging on the pleasure resulting from these dialogues with the dead, you will tell me that you are at present more interested in those of the living. I believe it; and though politics may hitherto have made no part of your study further than Christianity is concerned, which requires obedience to governors, yet possibly you are now deliberating in your mind whether to turn Jacobite or not. Be that as it may, most likely the time will come when you will exchange the single for the married life; and whenever that time does come, I wish (it is an old-fashioned wish, but you will indulge me)-I wish your husband may be a faithful member of the Church of England upon principle; I wish he may have all the endowments of nature, improved by education and sanctified by grace. In one word, I wish he may be as like you as possible; and with this wish I subscribe myself, "Your faithful friend and servant,

"Broad-street, July 7, 1766."

A Short Method with the Deists.

"W. S.

A Short Method with the Jews.

The Truth of Christianity demonstrated.

These Tracts merit a diligent reading, and will afford you singular pleasure, as they fully establish the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and show them to be indeed the Word of God.

The Catholic Doctrine of a Trinity proved by a hundred short and clear Arguments, &c. By the Rev. Mr. Jones.

A right belief of this doctrine being essentially necessary, as that whereon the whole of Christianity depends, every serious person must desire to be well instructed in it, and here their utmost wishes may be gratified. The doctrine is proved, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, the author having only made a judicious collection of sundry texts, and disposed them in such manner as to reflect light on each other, agreeable to the Apostle's rule of comparing spiritual things with spiritual, hereby reducing the matter to this short issue, that either we must assent to the doctrine, or reject the Scriptures.

Sacrifice, the Divine Service. By J. Scandret, Priest of the Church of England.

The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice. By Daniel Brevint, D.D., Dean of Lincoln.

The Worthy Communicant. By Bp. Taylor. The Necessity of Frequent Communion. By Robert Nelson, Esq.

From these you will learn the nature, parts, and blessings of the Holy Communion. You will find there has been an altar, priest, and sacrifice from the Fall, and will be till the end of time; that the commemorative unbloody sacrifice of the Eucharist under the Gospel has succeeded to the prefigurative bloody sacrifices of slain beasts, which lasted during the patriarchal and legal dispensations. The letter prefixed to Mr. Scandret's Treatise is exceeding good, and will give you great satisfaction, as will the book itself; but the author is certainly mistaken in one point, which is, that though the sacrifices under the law were prefigurative of the sacrifice of Christ, and acceptable only through Him, the Lamb slain from the beginning, yet the offerers did not know it. Why should not they understand the meaning of their services as well as we of ours? They did all eat the same spiritual