In the case of Jacob, a more than ordinary spirit of solemnity is attached to his dying words, breathing as they did, the air of another world, and anticipating with the inspiration of a parting saint, the trials and the triumphs that should befall his remotest offspring. Jacob, standing on the high threshold of eternity, beheld the whole scene of events that should accompany his kindred to the end of time; and foreseeing probably much more than he revealed to them, informed them of so much as it was needful and expedient for them to know; and then, with the dignity of a dying seer, and the love of a departing father, wrapped up his prophecy of the sons of Joseph, in a mantle of prayer,-" The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads."

The passage in connection with the mode in which the Patriarch blessed his children,-the act of placing his venerable hands upon their heads, may furnish us with a ground upon which to plead the antiquity, and advocate the scriptural character, of the rite of Confirmation; so far as respects the ceremony of imposition of hands, the example of Jacob absolves the action from any objection on the score of superstition, or carnal invention. The laying on of hands, as we shall hereafter shew by the allegation of abundant other Scriptures, and records of the primitive Church, is not a novelty, or fabulous device of the Church; it is the action by which Patriarchs blessed, and Prophets were appointed, and priests ordained, and kings acknowledged, and Apostles commissioned, and therefore we contend so far, at present, that in the act itself there is nothing novel, unauthorised, or unscriptural. We shall endeavour, in the ensuing discourse, to prove that the same act in connection with the whole rite

of Confirmation, is to be justified and commended on the same high and holy sanction upon which we admit the validity of the sacraments of Baptism, and of the Supper of the Lord.

Before I enter upon the task, which I have undertaken on account of the approaching solemnization of the office of Confirmation, in the next month, by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese,-I am tempted to return a moment to the passage which I have selected as the motto, rather than the text of our discourse.

We said the Patriarchal blessing was a prophetic one,-it was the prophecy of the prayer of faith. Every Patriarch might be assured, with Isaac, of the accomplishment of his official declarations,-"I have blessed him, yea and he shall be blessed" and dear brethren, if we had more faith, the blessings of the faithful would be more valuable to us. Oh, who shall affix a limit to the mountain height of the power of faith and if so small a measure of it, in its omnipotent integrity, as a grain of mustard seed, can cast the granite rock into the midst of the sea, discomfit Satan, or bid the sun and moon stand still,-what spiritual miracles might be performed by the Church, if her faith bore any proportion · to her prerogative. Faith should have perpetuated, by the hands of the Church, a millenium of spiritual miracles when the age of natural miracles, by the hand of God, had ceased. Conversions should have succeeded the casting out of devils, —and saving health, the healing of diseases,—and the eye of faith, the illumination of the blind,—and the resurrection of souls, the giving life to the dead. Shall we imagine that when the Spirit breathed upon the Apostles, that He breathed

In the case of Jacob, a more than ordinary spirit of solemnity is attached to his dying words, breathing as they did, the air of another world, and anticipating with the inspiration of a parting saint, the trials and the triumphs that should befall his remotest offspring. Jacob, standing on the high threshold of eternity, beheld the whole scene of events that should accompany his kindred to the end of time; and foreseeing probably much more than he revealed to them, informed them of so much as it was needful and expedient for them to know; and then, with the dignity of a dying seer, and the love of a departing father, wrapped up his prophecy of the sons of Joseph, in a mantle of prayer," The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.”

The passage in connection with the mode in which the Patriarch blessed his children,-the act of placing his venerable hands upon their heads, may furnish us with a ground upon which to plead the antiquity, and advocate the scriptural character, of the rite of Confirmation; so far as respects. the ceremony of imposition of hands, the example of Jacob absolves the action from any objection on the score of superstition, or carnal invention. The laying on of hands, as we shall hereafter shew by the allegation of abundant other Scriptures, and records of the primitive Church, is not a novelty, or fabulous device of the Church; it is the action by which Patriarchs blessed, and Prophets were appointed, and priests ordained, and kings acknowledged, and Apostles commissioned, and therefore we contend so far, at present, that in the act itself there is nothing novel, unauthorised, or unscriptural. We shall endeavour, in the ensuing discourse, to prove that the same act in connection with the whole rite

SERMON I

THE SCRIPTURAL PROOF OF CONFIRMATION.

AND Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads."-GEN. xlviii. 14, 15, 16.

You are all of you familiar with the narrative connected with the text-Jacob, stricken in years and about to die, is conferring upon his children the paternal blessing.

In those primitive times, the Patriarch of a family was its spiritual head, as well as its civil ruler; and on solemn occasions, like that connected with the text, the office of the father and the bishop were united in the acts of leave-taking and benediction, and the parting words of the Patriarch were treasured up, as henceforth the prophecy of the family,— the holy tradition which was to pass down their generations, for the guidance and direction of their posterity.

In the case of Jacob, a more than ordinary spirit of solemnity is attached to his dying words, breathing as they did, the air of another world, and anticipating with the inspiration of a parting saint, the trials and the triumphs that should befall his remotest offspring. Jacob, standing on the high threshold of eternity, beheld the whole scene of events that should accompany his kindred to the end of time; and foreseeing probably much more than he revealed to them, informed them of so much as it was needful and expedient for them to know; and then, with the dignity of a dying seer, and the love of a departing father, wrapped up his prophecy of the sons of Joseph, in a mantle of prayer,-" The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads."

The passage in connection with the mode in which the Patriarch blessed his children,-the act of placing his venerable hands upon their heads, may furnish us with a ground upon which to plead the antiquity, and advocate the scriptural character, of the rite of Confirmation; so far as respects. the ceremony of imposition of hands, the example of Jacob absolves the action from any objection on the score of superstition, or carnal invention. The laying on of hands, as we shall hereafter shew by the allegation of abundant other Scriptures, and records of the primitive Church, is not a novelty, or fabulous device of the Church; it is the action by which Patriarchs blessed, and Prophets were appointed, and priests ordained, and kings acknowledged, and Apostles commissioned, and therefore we contend so far, at present, that in the act itself there is nothing novel, unauthorised, or unscriptural. We shall endeavour, in the ensuing discourse, to prove that the same act in connection with the whole rite