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Counsels to Candidates, &c.

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The Preface-for so it is called in the introductory rubric of the service-deserves to be carefully studied, as it states the conditions which must be complied with before the administration of Confirmation can take place, as well as certain conditions essential at the time. This Preface may be compared with the Preface at the beginning of the Order for Morning as well as for Evening Prayer, briefly explaining the nature of the services for which we assemble and meet together. The Prefaces are a standing proof that our Church does not consider ignorance to be the mother of devotion, but that she would have all her services, not only in a language understanded by the people, but also so simply explained that their nature may in every case be properly understood. The conditions which must be fulfilled before the ordinance is administered are three :

1. The candidate must have been baptized. The title of the service is the "laying on of hands upon those that are baptized." The Preface describes the candidates as those who have "learned what their godfathers and godmothers promised for them in Baptism." And the whole service of Confirmation supposes previous baptism, requiring, as it does, those who come to be confirmed to renew their baptismal vows.

2. The candidate must have come to years of discretion "Children being now come to the years of discretion." As the capacities of young

persons vary greatly, and the circumstances of early training and education are very different in different cases, so it is impossible to lay down any one exact age as the time at which children come to years of discretion. The Church of England has therefore left the exact age undetermined here, and also in the third rubric at the close of the Catechism in which she directs children to be confirmed "so soon as they are come to a competent age, etc." By the law of our country fourteen years is the age at which young people are supposed to have the power of discerning between good and evil, and therefore, generally speaking, at that age or soon after, our young people, if they have enjoyed religious training, should be prepared as the 61st Canon states, "to render an

account

of their faith according to the Catechism;" and understanding what was promised for them at their baptism should, as Archbishop Secker expressed it, be able ❝ to say with seriousness and truth that, in the presence of God and the congregation, they ratify and confirm the same in their own persons." The use of the word "discretion" and its forms, as signifying the power of judging and discriminating, may be illustrated by the rubrics in the Baptismal Services, which direct the clergyman, if "the child may well endure it, to dip it in the water discreetly and warily ;" and which speak of "the parents or other discreet persons," and the discretion of the minister.

3. The candidate must be "sufficiently instructed in the principles of the Christian religion." [See first rubric for ministration of baptism to such as are of riper years.] This sufficient instruction is described in the Preface as enabling the candidate

(a) "To say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments;

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(b) "To answer such other questions as in the short Catechism are contained," and

(c) "Having learned what their godfathers and godmothers promised for them in baptism." The ability to repeat the instruction contained in the two first is in most cases easily attained; but the third, which is called learning the nature of the promises, requires much prayer and teaching of God's Holy Spirit. Here the heart and the head must go together, and it will be well to bear in mind the striking remark of an old writer, that "in the things which belong to men we must know them in order to love them, but in the things which belong to God we must love them in order to know them." If God by His gracious influence dispose those who read this manual to love God and to give Him their hearts, then "the learning" of which our Preface speaks will quickly follow.

Such are the three preliminary conditions of Confirmation, and how important the Church considers the last is seen from the fact that she directs the minister to send to the bishop

at the time of Confirmation the names of all such as he shall think thus fit in writing with his hand subscribed thereunto, as the guarantee that such conditions of fitness have been complied with. [Fourth rubric, end of Catechism.]

CHAPTER VI.

CONDITIONS DURING THE ORDINANCE.

CAREFUL study of the Preface will show that there are three conditions essential at the time of Confirmation itself, in addition to the three preliminary conditions which we have considered in the last chapter.

1. The candidates must with their own mouth and consent ratify and confirm what their godfathers and godmothers promised for them in baptism in this sentence the word confirm is used with reference to the act of the candidate adopting and accepting the act of his godparents on his behalf at his baptism. That which was promised by their mouths he now ratifies and confirms with his own mouth and consent. This act of confirmation of the promises by the candidate himself has such prominence in the service, that some writers have not hesitated to affirm that it is the chief feature of the ordinance, and that the whole service is named that of Confirmation from this act of the candidate rather than from the confirmation by God in

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