Lyra Apostolica. Γνοῖεν δ', ὡς δὴ δηρὸν ἐγὼ πολέμοιο πέπαυμαι. NO. XXXVI. AND wouldst thou reach, rash scholar mine, First learn thee how to hate. Hatred of sin, and zeal, and fear, Track them, till charity appear Feeble and false the brightest flame, 2.-ORIGEN. INTO God's word as in a palace fair Thou leadest on and on; while still beyond Each chamber, touched by holy Wisdom's wand Another opes, more beautiful and rare; And thou in each art kneeling down in prayer,- Should take the colourings of earthly thought, 3. πολλὰ τὰ δεῖνα, κοῦδεν ἀνθρώπου δεινότερον πέλει. MAN is permitted much To scan and learn In Nature's frame; 'Till he well-nigh can tame Brute mischiefs, and can touch Invisible things, and turn All warring ills to purposes of good. Thus, as a God below, He can control, And harmonize, what seems amiss to flow As severed from the whole And dimly understood. But o'er the elements One Hand has sway. The impious Ocean, thrown Alternate o'er the ever-sounding shore? How the Plague came? Forerun the doublings of the Tempest's race? Or the Air's weight and flame On a set scale explore? Thus GOD has willed That man, when deftly skilled, By fearfullest powers Inflexible by him. That so he may discern His feebleness, And e'en for earth's success TO HIM in wisdom turn, Who holds for us in Keys of either home, Earth and the world to come. CORRESPONDENCE. The Editor begs to remind his readers that he is not responsible for the opinions ON CONFIRMATION AND THE MEANS OF GRACE. SIR,-It is a great happiness when those who are desirous of ascertaining the truth, though differing, for the present, in some slight degree, respecting it, are enabled to conduct their inquiries with that calmness and Christian spirit which can alone reasonably look for a happy result. It is a great misfortune to the clergy, that their necessary habit, inseparable from their office, of speaking authoritatively to those whom they instruct, has a tendency to make them indisposed to bear contradiction, and resentful, as though a personal slight had been offered, or intended, when any one ventures to question the accuracy of their views. This is a temptation, against which the attention of all of us should be directed, especially at the present time, when, a spirit of inquiry and examination being abroad, it must necessarily happen that, for a time at least, we shall have a good deal of argument and discussion. That this caution is not needless, will be admitted, I conceive, by all the readers of your Magazine. It is therefore with the greater satisfaction that I venture to question the accuracy of "p's" views on confirmation, because the tone us. and temper of his letter is of that modest and quiet kind which gives the best hope of promoting the cause of truth. I trust that nothing will fall from me which shall seem to him at variance with that tone. Before I proceed, I would beg leave to observe, that if the individual writers in the Magazine would recollect that their very names are unknown to their respective opponents, they would probably see how absurd it is to write in answer as if some personal disrespect were intended. We deal with one another's abstract propositions and arguments, not with their personal character, which is utterly unknown to Unless this point be attended to, the usefulness of the Magazine will be very materially diminished; for persons will give up discussion if they find that by engaging in it they only provoke the peevishness of some other, or are under the temptation of having their own excited. But to proceed. I conceive that "p" has underrated confirmation, and that he has mistaken the authorities which are to guide the clergy. Let us deal with the last first, as we often depend upon it. He says, that "the only two sources of authority are the Scripture for the catholic church of Christ, and the Rubric and service for the church of Christ in England." He has omitted the witness of the primitive church, as explanatory and declaratory of the sense of Scripture. That this has ever been held an authority in the catholic church, "p" cannot need to be informed; and that the English branch of the church has recognised the same, not only by the expressed opinions of her individual writers, but by the collective voice of her synods, is equally certain,-the very reviewers and compilers of the rubric and service having declared so, as may be seen in the canons of Archbishop Parker, in the convocation of 1571. "Let preachers take heed that they never teach anything from the pulpit, to be religiously held and believed by the people, except what is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament, and which the Catholic fathers, and ancient bishops, have collected out of the same doctrine." The framers and reviewers of the rubrics and services having avowedly and authoritatively set up this standard, it does not admit of reasonable denial that the rubrics and services are to be interpreted by it; and that, if in any case they appear to fall short of that standard, (which I see no reason to think, in the present case,) that failure is contrary to the intention of those who framed them, and ought not to be abided by. That which is authoritatively appointed concerning doctrine in general, by the canon above cited, is stated expressly concerning the services of the church in the preface to the Book of Common Prayer. I have taken this line of argument, because it brings the matter to the shortest issue; the opinions of Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, Nazianzen, Basil, Theophylact, and others, being too plain, and decided, and uniform, to admit of any question as to whether "the catholic fathers, and ancient bishops" regarded confirmation as a special mean and instrument" (to use "W. D.'s" excellent 66 Many thanks to "Alpha,” for giving this salutary caution, in which he has anticipated the Editor. description) "of communicating to the faithful the gift of the Spirit." But I must not let "," or any other, suppose that the true doctrine of confirmation rests only on the authority of the primitive fathers. No, those holy men were not inventors of novelties, like the degenerate Romans, but witnessed to those things which were taught in the Holy Scriptures; and when they applied to the rite of confirmation the term of "sealing with the Spirit," they were but using the language in which the apostle Paul had spoken of it; 2 Cor. i. 22; Ephes. i. 13, and iv. 30; as the church had received and taught. If " W. D.'s" opinion on confirmation is thus sustained, by inquiry at one of the two sources of authority which "p" admits, I am sure there is nothing in the rubric and service of the church of England to contradict it. For what is the language of all the rubrics that touch upon it? Do not they all agree in representing, not that persons should confirm themselves, according to the common practice, but be confirmed; not as if it were something to be done by them, but something to be received by them? And what that something is, if it be not grace, I must own myself at a loss to understand. And if a solemn service, to be administered to each person but once in his life, in which special grace is prayed for, for each person, by the apostle, or chief pastor of the church, with imposition of hands, be not "a special means of communicating the gift of the Spirit to the faithful," all language is unintelligible, and all religious service an imposture. But "p" seems to be afraid that, by this means, we shall raise it into a sacrament. Indeed, as considered as a necessary and supplemental part of baptism, that very term is used to it by St. Cyprian and others; but then their notion of a sacrament was vague and undefined. According to the English and Roman definition-for in that the churches are agreed-there is (I conceive) no fear of such a result; at least, in catechizing my children, I have fancied no difficulty in drawing the distinction; and if "p" were to ask them in what respects confirmation differs from the sacrament, they would answer him-1st, Because it has "no outward and visible sign." 2ndly, Because we have no proof that it "was ordained of Christ himself." "p" seems (if I do not mistake) to think that there is an outward sign. I am at a loss to find it out. In baptism, water, which cleanses the body, is an outward visible sign of the grace which cleanses the soul. In the eucharist, bread and wine, which strengthen the body, are outward visible signs of the body and blood of Christ, which strengthen the soul; but I know not what benefit the imposition of hands is capable of conferring upon the body, that it should be a visible sign of any corresponding benefit conveyed to the soul. At any rate, it cannot be shewn to have been ordained of Christ himself; which is a sufficient mark of distinction, even without the other. I will add two testimonies of divines of our church, to convince "p" that this exposition of the doctrine of confirmation has not been cunningly sought out by "W. D." or myself, but has been the received opinion of our church. It would, I conceive, be easy to cite twenty instead of two; but I will content myself with these, which will be deemed unexceptionable: Bishop Taylor, in the seventeenth century, and Bishop Wilson in the eighteenth; and as neither of them is two hundred years old, they will, I hope, be thought sufficiently modern to answer the purpose. Thus Bishop Taylor speaks:-" Confirmation is the consummation and perfection, the corroboration and strength, of baptism and baptismal grace." Again,-"In confirmation we receive the Holy Ghost, as the earnest of our inheritance, as the seal of our salvation." To which purpose he cites Nazianzen :-"We therefore call it a seal, or signature, as being a guard, or custody, to us, and a sign of the Lord's dominion over us." Again, "The Holy Ghost is promised to all men, to profit withal; that is plain from Scripture. Confirmation, or prayer and imposition of the bishop's hand, is the solemnity and rite used in Scripture for conveying that promise; and the effect is felt in all the sanctifications and changes of the soul; and he that denies these things hath not faith, nor the true notices of religion, or the spirit of Christianity." In his "Treatise on Confirmation," vol. xi., next hear the apostolic Wilson:-"The effect and blessing of confirmation. It is to convey the inestimable blessing of the Holy Spirit of God, by prayer, and the imposition of hands of God's ministers, that he may dwell in you, &c." "Confirmation is the fulfilment of baptism. The Holy Ghost descends invisibly upon such as are rightly prepared to receive such a blessing, &c." This is reprinted in the Oxford Tracts, 42. But if this is so, if the sacred Scriptures, if the records of the church, primitive and catholic; if the rules and formularies of our own branch of that church, and the voices of its divines, all join in bearing harmonious witness to the truth of the doctrine of confirmation, for which I am now contending,-how comes it (perhaps "p" will ask) that so few tracts are now to be found, teaching this truth? Alas! need he ask the question? If the sacraments themselves have not escaped dishonour, how can it be supposed that the subordinate means of grace should fare better? The subtle machinations of our enemy, in regard to the sacraments, making use of unhappy men, who will have cause to rue through time, and it may be through eternity, the success of their blind and infatuated attempts to rob the Christian church of her glory, her consolation, and salvation, have been forcibly alluded to by your correspondent "Laicus Londinensis," to whom the thanks of the church are due, for his plain and calm exposure of our danger. Surely, if he that shall break one of the least of Christ's commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, theirs can be no common guilt and danger who seek to invalidate the fundamental ordinances of his religion, to shake the faithful of Christ's little ones, and teach them to regard his own appointed means of heavenly grace, and spiritual communion, as little better than bare (and if bare, then, unquestionably, superstitious) signs. May God forgive them, and awaken them to a sense of the fearful hazard of immortal souls which they are thus occasioning; while they themselves are walking by sight, and not by faith, disbelieving the grace of the sacraments, because they cannot see with their eyes the |