(2 Tim. ii. 19). The new blessing confirms the promise of God made in Baptism; it also enforces again that obligation of faithful service, from which the Christian can never become free. The THE PRAYERS consist of six short versicles and a Collect. Both of these were used in the Primitive Church, and in the Mediæval Church of England; but the versicles are all taken from the Psalms. Collect is known to have been used in the Confirmation Office of the Church of England for at least 1150 years, or since A.D. 700, at which date it is found in an Office-book used by Egbert, Archbishop of York, as if it was the established form familiar to the Bishops of that early age. The sense and application of this Collect may be well shown by the objection raised against it by the Puritans in 1661, and the answer made by the Bishops. "This supposeth," said the former, "that all the children who are brought to be confirmed have the Spirit of Christ, and the forgiveness of all their sins; whereas a great number of children at that age, having committed many sins since their baptism, do show no evidence of serious repentance, or of any special saving grace; and therefore this Confirmation (if administered to such) would be a perilous and gross abuse." This was a reverent objection, but showed considerable ignorance of the theological principles on which the Offices of the Church are framed, as well as of the manner in which they are intended to be administered. The reply of the Bishops was short, but pointed and consistent with the principles of the Prayer Book: "It supposeth, and that truly, that all children were at their baptism regenerate by water and the Holy Ghost, and had given unto them the forgiveness of all their sins; and it is charitably presumed that, notwithstanding the frailties and slips of their childhood, they have not totally lost what was in Baptism conferred upon them; and therefore adds, 'Strengthen them, we beseech Thee, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost the Comforter, and daily increase in them Thy manifold gifts of grace,' &c. None that lives in open sin ought to be confirmed." THE ACT OF CONFIRMATION is performed by the Bishop laying his hand or hands on the Mode of head of each person to be confirmed. It Confirmation. was the ancient practice of the Church for the Bishop to make the Sign of the Cross, with unction, on the forehead of each person; and the first Prayer Book, of 1549, directed this practice to be continued, the Bishop using the words, "N. I sign thee with the Sign of the Cross, and lay my hand upon thee, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." The present Benediction was substituted in 1552, and is founded on the words of the preceding Collect. The act, that is, the Imposition of Hands, is the essential part of the rite of Confirmation, no words, and no other ceremony being absolutely necessary for conveying the grace given. Unction, however, had been used from the time of the Apostles, and probably it had always been used with the Sign of the Cross; so that its disuse was a great innovation upon the custom of the Church. Sacramental rite. The Act of Confirmation is an outward sign of an inward grace, the latter being that gift of the Holy Spirit by which the person is character of the established, or made firm in his position as a Christian, and strengthened for the duties of the Christian life. It is God's own preparation of a baptized child for the still greater gift bestowed in Holy Communion; and hence none are ordinarily to become communicants until they have been confirmed. THE LORD'S PRAYER is used here, as after Communion and Baptism, in the sense of a thanksgiving for the great mercy vouchsafed by God in bestowing His It was placed here in 1661, not being so used in the ancient Office. grace. THE COLLECT was composed for the first Prayer Book of 1549, but is similar to that of the ancient Office. The second Collect was inserted in 1661, being one of those printed at the end of the Communion Service. THE BENEDICTION is that of the ancient Office; but it was formerly preceded by the 5th and 6th verses of the 128th Psalm. THE FINAL RUBRIC is founded on a Canon of the Church passed in the time of Archbishop Peckham, A.D. 1281, which ordered that "None shall be admitted to the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ (except at the point of death) unless he has been confirmed, or has been reasonably hindered from receiving Confirmation.” There are sometimes cases in which a child or an adult, with the proper amount of knowledge respecting faith and duty, strongly desires Confirmation and the Holy Communion, but cannot obtain the former. The desire for Confirmation is then to be taken as satisfying the rule of the Church; and the Holy Communion is not to be refused. CHAPTER IX Holy Matrimony "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.”—PROV. xviii. 22. THE HE object of the Marriage Service is to unite man and wife together "in the Christian Lord," and to make their union such that Marriage. they can be declared to be "joined together by God." Those persons who desire to live together as man and wife, without public disgrace, but not Legalized to be joined together by God in Holy cohabitation. Matrimony, go to the Registrar of Marriages, who makes their cohabitation legal by entering it in his Register-book 1. "The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony" is derived from two ancient Offices of the Origin of the Church of England, the one appointed Office. for the celebration of Espousals, the other for that of 1 If persons so licensed to live together, afterwards desire to be "joined together by God," the Marriage Service can still be performed; but no entry is to be made in the Register of Marriages unless a separate one is kept exclusively belonging to the Church, in which case it is to be entered in that alone. Marriage. The former Service was used some time previously as a solemn sanction of the engagement or contract to marry at a future day; and it appears that the former part of our present Service was used in the same manner up to the time when all things were unsettled by the approach of the great Rebellion. An engagement so contracted was considered almost as binding as marriage itself. 1. Banns of Marriage. SOME public notice of marriage has always been required by the Church; and the law of the Church of England strictly forbids any Clergyman to marry persons unless their "banns" have been asked in Church on three successive Sundays or Holy days, unless a licence (or dispensation from banns) has been procured from the Bishop, through his proper officer, the “surrogate" of the district. No Clergyman can be required to publish banns of Seven days' Marriage, unless a notice in writing is notice of banns. given to him seven days before the first publication, stating the names of the persons, their places of abode, and the time during which they have lived there. If the man and woman live in different parishes, the banns must be asked in both; and, in whichever parish of the two the marriage takes place, a certificate of the due publication of banns must be obtained from the Clergyman of the other parish, and presented to the Clergyman of that in which the persons are to be married. These rules are intended to prevent secret marriages, which have always been held in abhorrence by the Church, as likely to Hours for |