The intent of this rite is sufficiently obvious, as the complement and seal of infant baptism. In that ordinance the profession of the child's faith, requisite for the act of covenanting with God, had been made by a surety. In laying claim therefore to the personal benefit of the Christian covenant, there must be a credible personal profession of the terms of that covenant. The parent's or sponsor's profession was suffi cient for the infant covenant; but for a personal covenant a personal profession is indispensable, and without which, indeed, the infant title to Church privileges must be considered, in the case of an adult, to be invalidated. In the covenant of baptism, the infant was passive, and indeed was received into the Church, not on its own account-but as a part of its parent; and having therefore a covenant interest in the promises to the seed of believers.* But, in the adult covenant, personal obligations are involved, and personal graces called into exercise; and hence arises the necessity of a personal profession, as a visible investiture into the Church privileges of the covenant. The profession made at the Eucharist by no means answers this design, being connected with high privileges, to which it is necessary to prove a valid title, as a complete member of the visible church. It is plain, therefore, that the Church has a right to demand such a confession as is exhibited at confirmation. She cannot judge of what she does not know. She does not pretend to be a searcher of hearts. can only therefore determine by outward signs. Apostles even hesitated to receive Saul into their She The sect. 13. a work deservedly of high estimation. Compare also Baxter's Infant's Church Membership. *See Gen. xvii. 7-10. Deut. xxix. 10-12. Acts ii. 39. company, though with the strongest evidence of sincerity, until the voucher had been given to the Church of the credibility of his profession.* If the necessity of this profession be disallowed, what hinders the infidel or the heathen from advancing a claim on the ground of his infant baptism to the full privileges of the church, and the church herself from being thus virtually unchurched? Every church, therefore, practising infant baptism, insists upon a confession of faith, as an indispensable requisite for full communion with the visible body; and, this being admitted, we feel warranted to decide, without any unkind feelings to those who may conscientiously differ from us, that the profession of confirmation is more conformable to the practice of the Apostolical churches, and the custom of the primitive ages than any that prevails. It is indeed, in its intent, similar to the profession of adult baptism"the answer of a good conscience towards God ;"† in which the grace that had been faithfully prayed for in baptism is publicly acknowledged, and its increase sought and expected by the renewed application of the same faith. We need scarcely add, that the character of this engagement is distinctly spiritual. What else shall we say to the whole tenor of the covenant between God and the infant, in the baptismal service? How shall we denominate the preface, question and answer, and the prayer in the Confirmation service? Are they not eminently spiritual? Is-"I do" renew the solemn promise-any thing less than a purpose of the heart? Can that be solemn which is mere lip-profession? Our church regards the confirmed as *Acts ix. 26, 27. † 1 Pet. iii. 21. 20 ready for the communion; but she does not insist upon spiritual qualifications for the reception of that holy sacrament ?* Consider our spiritual catechism on the one side, and our peculiarly spiritual Communion Service on the other; and we cannot surely make the intermediate Service of Confirmation to be of a different or less spiritual mould. As the preliminary however for a course of ministerial instruction upon this important subject, the rubbish of superstition and ignorance, which debases this ordinance, must be cleared away. Most parochial Ministers, in the course of catechetical inquiry, have elicited from their catechumens notions, which, had not familiar intercourse brought them to light, might have been deemed traditionary relics of the dark ages, such as coming for the bishop's blessing, with no idea, desire, or expectation of the blessing of God-such, again, as relieving their sponsors of the burden of their sins and duties, as if personal responsibility were not coeval with the earliest period of " discernment between our right hand and our left hand;" or as if we, who are utterly unable to answer for ourselves, could answer for one another; or as if any one could be found to answer for one of us, but He," who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree." The candidate for Confirmation in the true spirit of the rite, in the spirit of renunciation and faith, will come, not to take his sins upon himself, but hoping for the pardon of them through Christ; and in the simple devotedness of a pardoned and accepted sinner, to take his yoke upon him as his daily privilege and rule. With the more enlightened, who yet are ignorant of the spiritual requisitions of the service * Compare the answer to the last question in the Catechism. of God, errors are prevalent, less palpably absurd, but scarcely less dangerous. It is often expected to operate as a charm, having a blessing in itself, and as if the Christian path from henceforth would be more easy. Resolutions are connected with the ordinance itself, with more or less of sincerity, but the natural fruit of ignorance and self-deception. From that day a new era will begin; a more serious course of life will be commenced; the world, if not wholly forsaken will be restrained within more measured limits. And all this is anticipated without any distinct feeling of helplessness, or perception of the need of a change of heart, or any habit of dependence on Divine grace. They are soon, however, reminded, that the difficulty must remain in full force, while the heart continues unchanged; that the world will be as ensnaring, Satan as tempting, and sin as powerful after Confirmation as before; that, if there is not at the present moment a sincere and humble desire of self-dedication to God, the day and service of Confirmation possess no innate power to give a new bias to the heart.-But we have also to contend with the gross misconceptions of parents respecting Confirmation. It is with them a respectable church form, with no meaning, and linked with no obligations. Their children are come to a proper age. It is right that they should receive the sacrament-fit or unfit; and therefore, as a preliminary, it is decent that they should be confirmed; that is, that they should promise solemnly, in the presence and in the house of God, what they have no desire or intention to perform; and the performance of which, in many cases, would be in direct opposition to their parent's wishes, instructions, and example. It is impossible not to be affected with the rash heedlessness (not to speak of the profane trifling with God) of parents, who, by encouraging their children in the profession of a wilful falsehood, strike a blow at the root of all moral obligations, Christian integrity, and even common honesty. The direct system of instruction upon the subject of Confirmation must of course include a clear exposition of the nature and obligation of the baptismal vow. Every Christian is as strictly bound by the constraint of this vow, as if he had made it in his own person. It was made on his account, from a regard to his best interests, upon the consideration that he could not be brought too early into covenant with God, and into fellowship with Christ. As therefore his baptismál obligation bound him only for his good in the way of privilege, and to nothing in the way of duty, to which his relation to God had not previously bound him from the moment of his birth; he has every reason, when come to competent understanding, to set his own hand to it. He comes, therefore, now, in Confirmation, to affix his own seal to his infant baptism by his own act and deed; and to dedicate himself to God in that engagement, in which he had been dedicated to him in infancy. He now makes the declaration, not of what he wishes to do, but of what he does; not of what he would be, but of what he is. The grace that is prayed for at this ordinance, is, not that he may be able to devote himself to God; but that, having devoted himself, and now making the profession of it, he may be enabled to maintain his course to the end. Indeed upon the ground of the faith that was professed in his baptism, he has already called himself "a member of Christ," and has acknowledged his obligations to God, "who hath called him unto this state of salvation." |