was performed by bishops (f). The antients did not think this rite of Confirmation so absolutely necessary, that the want of it would exclude from the kingdom of heaven those who had already been baptized; but they attributed to it so much importance, that they punished the neglect of it with marks of disgrace and public censure; and denied the privilege of ecclesiastical promotion and holy orders to such persons as had voluntarily and carelessly omitted it.

After this example of the primitive Christians, our church requires all who have been baptized to appear publicly in the congregation, and renew their baptismal vow according to the form prescribed in our liturgy. This falls within the authority of the church, and may be considered as included in the general precepts of doing all things" in order and unto edifying;" especially since the now universal practice of infant baptism makes Confirmation more necessary than it was in the primitive times, when chiefly adults were baptized. It seems highly reasonable that

they,

(f) Etate Cypriani, Ep. 79. Præpositis ecclesiæ oblati sunt baptizati, ut per eorum orationem et manûs impositionem spiritum sanctum consequerentur; eundemque morem in suis præpositis annis post Cypriani martyrium 150 ecclesiam servasse scripsit Augustinus. (De Trin. lib. 15. cap. 26.) Erant secundum canonem ab episcopo consignandi quotquot diebus solemnibus sacro lavacro tingebantur. Conc. Illib. cap. 38 et 77.

they, who at the time of their baptism, were incapable of making any engagement, should, when they arrive at a proper age, ratify and confirm those promises which were made in their name. And to give this ordinance the greater solemnity, it is performed only by the higher orders of the church, the archbishops and bishops. Thus far our church receives Confirmation, confining it to prayer and imposition of hands, without the chrism or the sign of the cross, and believes it to be derived from the practice of the Apostles. But as it is not a regular institution of Christ or his Apostles, like Baptism and the Lord's Supper, with a written command that it should be continued in future ages, and a promise that it will be attended with inward grace, we reject it as a Sacrament. There is, indeed, not a single precept upon the subject in the New Testament; nor is there any scriptural authority for the use of the chrism, or the sign of the cross; and Bingham thinks that the chrism made no part of Confirmation before the latter end of the second century, though other writers attribute an earlier date to it. It must be admitted by all, that imposition of hands was not peculiar to Confirmation (g); and that no separate efficacy is ascribed to it distinct from the prayers which accompanied

(g) Matt. c. 19. v. 13. Mark, c. 10. v. 16. Luke,

C. 4. v. 40.

[PART III. accompanied it; and prayer and imposition of hands are not sufficient to constitute a sacrament: we, therefore, consider Confirmation as nothing more than a solemn manner of persons taking upon themselves their baptismal vow; and, as such, it is a ceremony of high importance, calculated to impress youthful minds with a just sense of the great obligations of the Christian profession, and to excite in them an earnest endeavour " faithfully to observe such things as they, by their own confession, have assented unto (h)."

It is pretended that the Popish sacrament of PENANCE, which is next to be considered, is derived from the Scripture doctrine of repentance; but it is in fact a corruption of a practice which prevailed in the primitive church. During the severe persecutions which the Christians sufferred in the early ages of the Gospel, many, through fear of tortures and death, apostatized from the faith. It frequently happened, that these men, after the danger was past, were desirous of returning to communion with the church; but they were not allowed, till they had made a public confession of their offence in the presence of the congregation. In this manner confession began to be a part of ecclesiastical discipline; and being thus in the first instance, applied

(h) Confirmation Service.

applied to a crime of a public nature, it was afterwards extended to private sin. Besides the shame of public confession, the offending party was compelled to submit to public reproof, to acts of penance, to exclusion from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and to a temporary suspension of all the privileges of a Christian (i). We learn, from the canons of the numerous councils, which were held in the fourth and fifth centuries, that they were chiefly occupied in regulating the nature and duration of these censures, and in settling the degree of discretionary power to be vested in bishops for the purpose of relaxing or shortening them, according to the circumstances of the case. Public confession was

soon found to be attended with many inconveniencies; and, therefore, instead of it, offenders were permitted to confess their sins privately, either to the bishops themselves, or to penitentiary priests appointed by them. When the punishment, which was still public, though the sins remained secret, was finished, the penitent was formally received into communion with the church by prayer and imposition of hands. The office of penitentiary priest was abolished in the

East

(i) Whoever wishes to see an account of the rigour of the antient penance, may consult Bingham's Antiquities, book 18. c.4.; and also Dallæus deConfessione, and Morinus de Poenitentia.

East in the reign of Theodosius (k); but it was retained much longer in the western church. In the fifth century, public penance was submitted to with difficulty and reluctance; and it was thought expedient to allow penance, in certain cases, to be performed in monasteries, or in some private place, before a small select number of persons; this private penance was gradually extended to more and more cases; and before the end of the seventh century, the practice of public penance for private sins was entirely abolished. About the end of the eighth century, penance began to be commuted; in the room of the antient severities, prayers, masses, and alms, were substituted; and in process of time the clergy of the church of Rome gained such an ascendancy over the minds of the people as to persuade them that it was their duty to confess all their sins, however private or heinous, to the priest, who had power to prescribe the conditions of absolution; and to give a greater sanction to this delusion, they called it a Sacrament, and made it to consist in confession to the priest, and in absolution from him, after or before such acts of devotion, mortification, and charity, as he should think fit to enjoin. By a canon of the council of Lateran, held A. D. 1215, every person

(k) Socrates, lib. 5. cap. 19. Sozom.lib.7. cap. 16.