Page images
PDF
EPUB

operations of the invisible Spirit! And may the extremity of their error afford a useful warning and lesson to the young, both clergy and laity, that they attempt not to break the harmony of Christian truth, by advancing one portion of it to the obscuring and injury of the rest! For these very men, who are trying to root out faith in the appointed ordinances of religion, are the same who have sought, in their own conceits, to extol faith in the abstract, as though, where it is present, it superseded the necessity of anything else. They would make the whole of religion consist in faith, or, at the most, in faith and repentance. Happily, the danger of their error scarcely equals its absurdity; which our blessed Lord's Prayer will enable us easily to expose. If a wedding garment will fill a hungry belly, then it may be admitted that faith and repentance (expressed in the parable by that figure) will feed a hungry soul. But if a wedding garment does no more than qualify a man to partake of the bridegroom's bounty, at his appointed feast, then it must be maintained, that faith and repentance do no more than qualify men to be partakers in Christ's grace, at his appointed ordinances. "If thou believest with all thine heart," said St. Philip, to the eunuch, "thou mayest"-what? dispense with the ordinances of religion, and obtain salvation without them? No; but be baptized, and so receive the grace of it. "Repent," saith St. Peter, "and"-what? despise the ordinances of grace? No; but "be baptized, every one of you, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 66 Arise," said Ananias to Paul, "when he was brought to a state of faith and repentance, and"-what? think yourself sure of salvation, by reason of your faith? No; but "be baptized, and" (so) "wash away your sins." "Let a man examine himself," (as to his faith and repentance,) saith St. Paul, "and so"-what? let him despise the eucharist? No; but " so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup," which is the food of heaven, and nourisheth to eternal life.

I think I hear those who have so turned their attention to preaching as to think the ministration of the word the only ordinance of grace, objecting that, by this scheme, no room is left for it. How so? Does not faith come by hearing?-and repentance, also? It was by the ministration of the word that the eunuch was brought to that repentance which made him desire grace, and to that faith which made him believe that it was to be obtained by the use of the appointed means. It was by the ministration of the word that St. Peter awakened repentance, and faith, in the hearts of the multitude; and if the ministration of the word be necessary for the first awakening these feelings, it must needs be profitable always to revive and rekindle them. By instruction from God's word, men are brought to a conviction of sin past, and the desire of forgiveness, and to a fear of sin future, and a desire to escape it: this is repentance. By instruction from the same word they are brought to believe that this pardon, and assisting grace, has been purchased for them by the Son of God, and may be obtained by the use of his appointed means: this is faith. When this hath led them humbly to make use of those means, then hath faith wrought with "their" works, and by works hath faith been

made perfect, and the Scripture is fulfilled, which saith, "not of Abraham only, but of every child of his in faith and obedience. He believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness." And thus we see the meaning of that saying, "how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only;" while "the word," "faith," "repentance," and the "means of grace," have each their due and allotted place in the scheme of human salvation.

"p" says, that if the common opinion of confirmation "be wrong, it is time we should be better informed." It is, indeed, time that we should avail ourselves of the information so copiously afforded by the records of the church, to defend and maintain the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, in all points, as our church has received and taught it. If the devices of the adversary are such, that while the establishment is assailed from without, the church is being betrayed from within,-and there is danger (to speak in the mildest way) lest the arsenal, which we had stored for the defence of the truth, be employed to undermine and suppress it,-it is indeed time that every one, who knows what the doctrines of the catholic church really are, should lend his aid, however feeble, to help to maintain them. It is time that, with regard to the Society in Lincoln's-inn Fields, some decided steps were taken, that they who have to defend the catholic faith may know whether they are to count that powerful engine with them, or against them. Happily, their eventual success will not be dependent upon the answer, but their method of carrying on the contest must needs be, in some degree, influenced by it.

In the meantime, if the following Tract on Confirmation, which has been drawn up in consequence of "W. D.'s" letter in the Magazine, will be of use to him, or any others, it shall be printed in the cheapest form, and offered for sale at the lowest price that will cover the cost, at the publishers of the Magazine. ALPHA.

TRACT ON CONFIRMATION.

1. What is confirmation?—Ans. One of the appointed means of grace in the Christian church.

2. What grace is conveyed in it?—A. When rightly received, it assures and seals those who have been baptized, imparting to them an increase of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

3. In what respects does it differ from a sacrament?-A. First, Because it has no outward visible sign. Secondly, The Scriptures do not say that it was ordained of Christ himself.

4. By whom then was it ordained?-A. The first mention in Scripture is, that it was practised by the Apostles.

5. In what does it consist? A. In the laying on of hands, accompanied with prayer, by the chief pastors of the church.

6. But did not miraculous effects frequently follow from the exercise of this rite by the first Apostles ?-A. They did so.

7. How then do we know that it was a rite to be continued in the church, when miracles had ceased?-A. St. Paul speaks of it as one of the foundation principles of Christianity, which cannot be supposed to be temporary.-Heb. vi. 2.

8. Does he speak of it on occasions when we have reason to suppose miraculous effects did not follow?-A. Yes! He speaks of it in reference to the whole church at Ephesus; and we have reason to conclude from what he says, (1 Cor. xii. 29,) that all the members of a church, even at that time, were not endowed with miraculous gifts.

9. Repeat the passage to which you refer?-A. "In the which, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."-Ephes. i. 12.

10. Why do you suppose that by the word " sealed," he here alludes to confirmation?-A. Because it is the word used to express it in the primitive church.

11. Have we undoubted evidence that this rite was retained in the church, after the death of the Apostles?-A. The clearest and most convincing. The universal prevalency of it was such that St. Jerome, speaking of this ordinance, says, "do you demand where we find our authority for it? I answer, in the Acts of the Apostles. But although we could produce no positive authority of Scripture, yet the consent or practice of the whole world, in this respect, would have the force of a command.

12. What is to be thought of such persons as affect to despise this rite, and refuse to receive it?-A. They dishonour the ordinances of the Holy Spirit; disturb the order of the church; they shew disrespect to the spiritual rulers; and are forgetful of the example of their Lord, who, when he persisted to receive the baptism of John, said "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.'

[ocr errors]

13. What injury do they suffer hereby?-A. They deprive themselves of the grace and blessing which they might have received; and they render themselves inadmissible to the Holy Eucharist.

14. What blessing may those look for who rightly receive this holy ordinance?A. An increase of the grace of the Holy Spirit, as I said before.

15. Do they thereby become entitled to any new privilege?-A. Yes; to the communion of the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, to which persons unconfirmed are not admitted.

16. Do they thereby become engaged to any new duty ?-A. Yes; to the duty of partaking in the Holy Eucharist, the highest and most essential act of religious worship, and the chief means of grace.

17. Is confirmation necessary for those who have been baptized when grown up, as well as for those who received infant baptism?-A. It was so administered by the Apostles; and has ever been required by the Christian church.

18. What is required of them who would rightly receive this ordinance?-A. Repentance and Faith.

19. What do you mean by repentance?-A. A conviction of past sin, and a desire for forgiveness: a fear of sin for the time to come, and a desire to overcome and escape it.

20. What do you mean by faith?-A. Belief that the pardon and assisting grace which we thus need, has been purchased for us by the death of the Son of God, and may be obtained by those who will seek them in the appointed means.

21. How are these dispositions ordinarily produced in the mind?—A. By instruction drawn from the word of God.

22. Is anything more required of those who have been baptized in infancy?—A. Yes; that they openly engage to fulfil the duties required of them by the Christian covenant, to which they were then unconsciously admitted.

23. What are those duties?-A. First, to avoid all sin, and everything which is displeasing to God, whether suggested by the devil, or the wishes of the body, or the love of the world. Secondly, to believe all God's declarations to men, as contained in his holy word, especially his gracious promise of pardon for what is past, and assisting grace for the time to come, for the sake of Jesus Christ, to those who will seek for these graces in his appointed ways. Thirdly, to obey all God's commandments, and to discharge the duties to God and man which are therein set forth.

24. Can a man perform these things?-A. He can do none of them by his own strength, but by the help of the Holy Ghost he can do them so as to please God, and find acceptance before him through Jesus Christ.

25. How is the help of the Holy Spirit to be obtained?-A. Chiefly by partaking in the Holy Eucharist; but, in subordination to that, by private and public prayer, and devout meditation on sacred things, and the practice of piety and charity, and the reading and hearing God's holy word, and the advices drawn from it.

26. Are you then resolved to endeavour to perform what is required of you, and to seek in the ways just mentioned for the assistance of the Holy Ghost that you may be able to do your duty?-A. I am so resolved, and have thus determined, with the help of God.

VOL. IX.-May, 1836.

3 x

518

PRAYER FOR ONE ABOUT TO RECEIVE CONFIRMATION. ALMIGHTY FATHER, who calledst me in baptism, and receivedst me for thine own child, by adoption and grace, perfect, I beseech thee, the good work which thou hast begun in me: dispose me in this holy ordinance to receive thy Heavenly favour, and seal to me thy mercy by an increase of thy Holy Spirit; that, with his mighty aid, I may do what of myself I cannot avoid sin, and keep thy commandments: that the thoughts of my heart, and the words of my lips, and my outward actions, may be acceptable in thy sight: that I may be worthy to partake in the communion of the body and blood of thy son, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Eucharist; that I may walk in thy fear, and in the belief and hope of thy mercy all the days of my life, and at length be received into thine everlasting kingdom, through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, dominion and power, henceforth and for ever. Amen.

OBSERVATION OF THE RUBRICS.

MR. EDITOR, These are days when grievances are not likely to remain undiscovered or unuttered; and among other reforms in the church, likely to render much more efficient both her general arrangements and the comfort and usefulness of her clergy, we have heard much of reform in her liturgy. Now I would not say that it is incapable of improvement; but I would not willingly touch a service or a prayer, as to doctrine, sentiment, or expression, except it were to obviate certain perplexities which harass the mind of some of her lessinformed members, because they are apt to think the church says what assuredly she does not mean to say. A great advantage would indeed arise, were the admirable, but superabundant materials of our morning service distributed over the day, in order that servants and others, who do not or cannot attend in the morning, might sometimes hear the commandments, and join in the litany, and have the opportunity to receive the Lord's supper. All this requires merely an alteration of recent custom, with the sanction of episcopal authority and recommendation, to be in many respects advantageous. It would be a return to the practice of better times; it would not require the alteration of a prayer or rubric; it would relieve the feeling of lengthiness in our tripled morning service; it would present much greater variety, in a mode which would tend to greater edification; and I have the surest ground to think, that it would increase both our congregations and our communicants.

I know you stated above may not seem to deserve the name, in any objectionable do not much admire liturgical reform; but what I have sense of the word. Whether I may ever trouble you, or any one else, with practicable suggestions on the subject alluded to above, I will not at present determine. But I do not see so bright a prospect of benefit resulting in practice from such modification and adaptation of our full and comprehensive materials for the guidance of our devotions as I should wish to anticipate, even though I think it is required by the present exigences of the church; and I will give my reasons.

The clergy do not at present apply the contents of the liturgy to the best advantage: they are wofully ignorant of the rubrics. Now, as the entire body of them might be got up for examination much more

easily than the second book of Euclid, this argues some inattention. I wish I could venture to say, that I believe the majority have paid due attention to those little matters, the neglect of which is sometimes unseemly, sometimes less edifying, but in all cases not better than according to due order. Now, if convocation were to issue a new book of common prayer, in which every excellence was combined, and in which not the most punctilious ritualist could suggest an amendment, still, if the next generation of clergy were to be as little versed in the rubrics as many now are, in practice its beauty would be grievously impaired. I will briefly enumerate some of the little grievances which the liturgy and rubrics might specify, in a petition to the bishops or to both houses of convocation.

1. About five of the introductory sentences are read frequently, the rest very rarely. Now, how appropriate for the Sundays in Advent, and those of Lent, would be that from Matt. iii. 2, " Repent ye," &c. The value of all, and the importance of rendering them all familiar to our congregations, will be seen from Dean Comber's classification of them.

2. Does not the direction at the end of the absolution, "The people shall answer here, and at the end of all other prayers, Amen," seem to suggest that the mental prayer, for a space, of all assembled, to which the conclusion of the absolution exhorts us, was not meant to be discontinued. See Palmer's Origines Liturg., p. 107. Here I speak doubtfully; rather as suggesting a query, whether such a silence for a few moments in that place might not be solemnizing and profitable, before the commencement of the Lord's prayer.

3. Although there is no direction to announce the day of the month and the Psalms, yet we are expressly directed how to announce the lesson. We are nowhere directed to say, "The first lesson appointed for this morning service is." I have known a clergyman suppose that, because another had said "Here beginneth such a chapter of such a book," he must have read some other lesson than that appointed.

4. Why are the Benedicite and Benedictus, in many churches, rarely, if ever, used? The former I always read after the first chapter of Genesis instead of chanting the Te Deum, and have the Benedictus always chanted on Sacrament Sundays. In a large county town I quite astonished the vicar, for whom I took the desk on Trinity Sunday, by asking if I should read the Benedicite after the first lesson. He scarcely appeared to remember that it was in the morning prayer; but it was read that day, to his great and unexpected satisfaction.

5. Why do so few ministers say Amen at the end of the general confession, the Lord's prayer, and the creed? Do they not remark that it is printed, or ought to be, in the same type, and not in italics; because it is a continuation and close of the same jointly-repeated prayer, and not a responsive Amen, in those cases?

6. Why do so many congregations kneel down before the minister has first pronounced, with a loud voice, "The Lord be with you," &c.? 7. Why are the collects at the end of the communion service never introduced "after the collects of morning or evening prayer, or litany,

« PreviousContinue »