CHAPTER XX. OF CONFIRMATION. § 1. ORIGIN OF THE RITE. No authentic reference to confirmation is recorded either in the Scriptures or in the earliest ecclesiastical writers. It was not an ordinance either of the churches planted by the apostles or of the primitive churches of the first two centuries of the Christian era. The imposition of hands was, indeed, a familiar rite, which the Christian church had received from the Jewish. It was an induction into office, as in ordination, or for a specific mission. Acts xiii. 4. It was a significant rite in a benediction or prayer. Jacob laid his hands upon the sons of Joseph as he blessed them. Our Saviour laid his hands on young children and blessed them. Mark x. 76; Matt. xix. 15. By this act the apostles also imparted the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost. Acts viii. 17 et seq.; xix. 6. Such was the use of this rite in various offices of benediction, as well as of ordination, in the age of the apostles. But history records no instance of the imposition of hands in any office of initiation or benediction for some time subsequent to the age of the apostles. Justin Martyr, A. D. 150, gives a detailed account of the ordinance of baptism, and alleges that he enters into these details that he may not seem to omit any particular from sinister motives,* but makes. no mention of the imposition of hands. Tertullian, fifty years later, is the first to mention this rite, not, however, as a distinct act or ordinance, but simply as the concluding ceremony in baptism, in connection with prayer for the blessing of the Holy Spirit.† Mistaken views, however, had become widely prevalent respecting * Ὅπως μὴ τοῦτο παραλιπόντες δοξωμεν πονέρενειν τι ἐν τῇ εξηγῇσει. tIpsius baptismi carnalis actus quod in aqua mergimur; spiritalis effectus quod delictis liberamur. Dehinc manus imponitur per benedictionem advocans et invitans Spiritum Sanctum.-De Baptism. c. vii. 8. the efficacy of outward ordinances. Baptism was supposed to have a sin-remitting power. Mysterious grace was sought in the celebration of the sacrament, and generally the outward form in religion had begun to be superstitiously substituted for the inward spirit. Cyprian, fully possessed with these mistaken views of the Christian spirit, sees in the ministry a mediating priesthood commissioned of heaven for the celebration of these awful mysteries as the means of imparting grace to man, and perpetuated in the church through the apostolical succession. Baptism is with him regeneration, or rather the putting away of sin, the washing of regeneration. This is negative in its effect, rather than positive. To complete the renewal of the person regenerated thus, the effective, reviving, sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit must be superadded. These are to be imparted by a new and distinct rite-the imposition of hands, or confirmation. By this the active influences of the Spirit are communicated, to quicken into spiritual life, to sanctify, to confirm and seal unto eternal life the soul that has been regenerated by baptism. Thus we have two distinct rites, each fulfilling a separate office in the work of converting a soul to God. These, under Cyprian, become two distinct sacraments, neither of which is sufficiently efficacious of itself.* Such, with this venerable father, is the modus operandi of regeneration. And this soon became the universal sentiment of the church. The sovereign offices of that mysterious, Divine Agent, who moves unperceived, as the wind bloweth where it listeth, and works unseen his miracles of grace in regeneration, are here degraded and debased to a mere mechanical operation, directed by a sinful being, who assumes in these awful rites to act as the vicegerent of God in dispensing grace to man. In this he is vainly deceiving himself with an outward symbol, grasp * Eo quod parum sit eis manum imponere ad accipiendum Spiritum Sanctum nisi accipiant et ecclesiæ baptismum. Tum enim demum plene sanctificari, et esse filii Dei possunt, si sacramento utroque nascantur quia scriptum sit. Nisi renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu non potest introire regnum Dei.-Epist. 72. Quod si hæretico nec baptisma publicæ confessionis et sanguinis, proficere ad salutem potest, quia salus extra ecclesiam non est; quanto magis ei nihil proderit si in latebra et in latronum spelunca adulteræ contagione tinctus, non tantum peccata antiqua non exposuerit, sed adhuc potius nova et majora cumulaverit ?-Ideo baptizari eos oportet qui de hærisi ad ecclesiam veniunt; ut qui legitimo et vero atque unico sanctæ ecclesiæ baptismo ad regnum Dei regeneratione divina praparantur, sacramento utroque nascantur quia scriptum: Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu non potest intrare in regnum Dei.-Epist. 73. Comp. Epist. 72, 75; De Baptismate in Opp. Cyp. ing at a shadow, and groping "at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness." Such was the origin of the ordinance of confirmation which the Lutheran and the church of England have retained since the Reformation, from "the corrupt following" of the ancient and of the Romish church, and to which more or less of the mysterious efficacy which was ascribed to this rite is still attached by different members of these communions. § 2. MINISTERS OF CONFIRMATION AND ATTENDING RITES. THE bishop, by right of his apostolic succession, is the reputed minister of confirmation, but presbyters were in some instances allowed to administer it. Even deacons occasionally exercised the same functions until peremptorily forbidden by the Council of Toledo, A. D. 398, c. 20. Brenner, a Roman Catholic writer, has written an extended history of confirmation, in which he has conclusively vindicated to presbyters the right of confirming, according to the usage of the ancient church. Even the Council of Trent only decreed that the bishop is the ordinary minister of confirmation, which implies an exception in favour of the presbyter. In the Latin church, after the separation of baptism from confirmation, a series of preliminary religious exercises was requisite for this rite, similar to those which had been previously required for baptism. Names given in baptism were sometimes changed at confirmation. This, however, was merely an occasional practice of the later centuries. Sponsors, or godfathers, or godmothers, were also required as in baptism formerly. These might be the same as the baptismal sponsors, or others might be substituted in their place. A separate edifice for solemnizing this rite was in some instances provided, called consignatorium albatorum, and chrismarium. After the disuse of baptisteries, both baptism and confirmation were administered in the church, and usually at the altar. § 3. ADMINISTRATION OF THE RITE OF CONFIRMATION. FOUR principal ceremonies were employed in the rites of confirmation, namely, imposition of hands, unction with the chrism, sign of the cross, and prayer. 1. Imposition of hands, which has been already mentioned. For an account of the different opinions which were entertained respecting this rite, and of the mode of administering it, see references in the index.1 2. Unction. This, as has been already remarked, was denominated chrism, in distinction from the unction which was administered before baptism. In the Apostolical Constitutions it is styled the confirmation of our confession, and the seal of the covenants. A prayer is also given, which was offered on the occasion. Cyril of Jerusalem, † 386, gives full instructions respecting the administration of chrism.3 From his time it came into general use in the church. 2 The material used for this chrism was usually olive-oil. Sometimes perfumed ointment, compounded of various ingredients, was used. The chrism was consecrated by prayer, exorcism, and insufflation. It was applied, in the Eastern church, to various parts of the body, to the forehead, ears, nose, eyes, breast, etc. In the Western church it appears to have been applied only to the forehead. 3. Sign of the cross.-This was affixed by applying the chrism in such a manner as to represent a cross. This was thought to be a very important and expressive emblem, the sealing rite, which gave to confirmation the name of oppayis, a seal.* 4. Prayer and mode of confirmation.-In the Greek church, one uniform mode of confirmation has been observed from the beginning, as follows: "The seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Amen." ." Besides this implied prayer, one more at length is supposed to have been offered. In the Latin church, the form has varied at different times. The most ancient form ran thus: "The seal of Christ to eternal life." The modern form, in the Roman Catholic church, is as follows: "Signo te signo crucis, et confirmo te chrismate salutis in nomine Paftris et Fitlii, et Spiritus † Sancti. Amen." Other formalities were, the salutation, "Peace be with you;" a slight blow upon the cheek, to admonish the candidate of the duty of patience under injuries; unbinding of the band upon the forehead; prayer and singing; the benediction of the bishop, together with a short exhortation from him. CHAPTER XXI. OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. § 1. OF THE NAMES OR APPELLATIONS OF THIS SACRAMENT. MEN of all religious denominations have generally concurred in regarding the sacrament of the Lord's supper as the most solemn rite of Christian worship, the grand characteristic of the religion of Christ. For a full understanding of the doctrines and usages connected with this institution, a knowledge of the various names by which it has been distinguished is indispensable. A full knowledge of these, with all their relations to the times and places in which they were used, would almost furnish a history of the sacrament itself. These names are exceedingly numerous; and, although retaining a general similarity of meaning, yet each has been chosen out of regard to some peculiar views relating to the doctrine of the sacrament, or from a preference for some peculiar mode of administration. Very few of these appellations were known to the apostolical and primitive church. They belong to the liturgical service of the hierarchy, which in the third century began to incumber the simple and impressive ordinance of the Lord's supper with new and unauthorized rites, and to ascribe to it mysterious powers, for which neither the Scriptures nor the earliest usage of the Christian church gives the least authority. The following nomenclature, therefore, is to be regarded merely as belonging to the perversions of the hierarchy which began so early to corrupt the ordinances and worship of the Christian church. 1. The term, the Lord's supper, deiлvоv xvριazov, sacra cœna, cœna Domini, has an historical reference to the institution of the rite by our Lord, on the night in which he was betrayed. Matt. xxvi. 20, 31; 1 Cor. xi. 23. Some have erroneously maintained that the passage in 1 Cor. xi. 23, relates, not strictly to the participation of the sacramental elements, but to the feast which accompanied the distribution of these elements. But it has been abun |