words "now and for ever," at the end, were added in 1661.

OF THE RUBRIC BEFORE THE BENEDICTION PRAYER.

This Rubric directs: "Then all of them in order "kneeling before the Bishop, he shall lay his hand upon the head of every one severally, saying." The ancient practice in England seems to have been for the Bishop to repeat the form appointed, while his hands remained upon the head of each child, or at the utmost, upon the heads of as many as his hands could touch at one time. In the late Gallican Church the Bishop laid his hands upon as many as could conveniently kneel before him, and after he had laid his hands on each of them, he repeated the form prescribed; and it is now customary in some Dioceses of England for the Bishop to cause the children to kneel, either at the rails of the Communion, or in some wide convenient aisle in the Church, and after laying hands on each separately, to say the Benediction Prayer, putting the form of course in the plural number.

OF THE BENEDICTION PRAYER.

The antiquity and universality of the ceremony of laying on of hands, with the use of prayer at Confirmation, I have already noticed. This significant act is expressive of the authority of the Bishop. Still he pretends not to grant any blessing himself.

He

He humbly beseeches God, the giver of all grace, to "defend those upon whom he lays hands, with "his heavenly grace, that they may continue his for

ever, and daily increase in his Holy Spirit more " and more, until they come unto his everlasting "kingdom."

The words directed in Edward's first Book to be used by the Bishop, were very different from these. There, after the people had answered Amen to the former prayer, the minister said, Sign them, O "Lord, and mark them to be thine for ever, by "the virtue of thy holy cross and passion: Confirm "and strengthen them with the inward unction of thy Holy Ghost, mercifully unto everlasting life. "Amen."

Rubric. Then the Bishop shall cross them in the forehead, and lay his hands upon their heads, saying,

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.". 12

These words were certainly conformable to the prayers anciently used at Confirmation. But as our Church had from the first establishment of the Book of Common Prayer, omitted the chrism, or material unction, and as the signing with the cross in this Office was laid aside at the Revisal of the Book, consistency required that these two forms of words should be changed, when the two corresponding ceremonies were abolished. Our Reformers knew

knew that anointing with chrism, and signing with the sign of the cross, were not specified in Scripture, nor essential to Confirmation. They might however, without subjecting themselves to just censure from any quarter, have lawfully continued the chrism and the crossing; but by abolishing both these ceremonies, and retaining only what the Apostles practised, prayer and imposition of hands, they have restored to this Office its original simplicity.

The form of words used at chrismation in the Greek Church, is "the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit *" That of Rome is, "I seal thee "with the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with "the oil of salvation †." The words of Confirmation, like those of Absolution, were formerly in the Western Church always precatory.

*This is the title given to the rite of Confirmation by the second General Council held at Constantinople. A.D. 381. The Greeks have likewise retained the ceremonies of obsignation described by CYRIL. The forehead is first anointed, then the ears, nostrils, breast, &c. Some of the reasons assigned by their Ritualists for anointing the different parts of the body may be found in CYRIL's third Mystagogic Catechesis.

+ Zealots of the Roman Church have maintained that the Greeks have no Confirmation, because they do not use imposition of hands. In the Roman Church the Bishop gives the person confirmed a gentle tap upon the cheek, to remind him, say their Ritualists, that he is henceforth willingly to suffer indignity for the name of Jesus: and to persevere in his Christian warfare with invincible resolution. DURAND. DURANT.

OF

OF THE TWO VERSICLES, AND THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Immediately after the words above cited, from the first Book of Edward, followed this Rubric. And thus shall he do to every child, one after another, and when he hath laid his hand upon every child, then shall he say, "The peace of the Lord abide " with you."

"Answer. And with thy spirit."

Why these words were omitted in the second and the succeeding Books, the true reason cannot now be given. WHEATLY says "it is certain that it was "thrown out when BUCER revised it." Who would not suppose from this, that BUCER had objected to these Versicles? But in the animadversions which, at the special request of CRANMER, he made on some passages and ceremonies in the first Book, for the alteration of which he has in general assigned sound reasons, no notice is taken of this passage. Nay, the passage itself, is not found in the translation which BUCER used.

In 1661, the ancient salutation, "The Lord be "with you," and the answer, " And with thy spirit," were placed where the Versicles last mentioned originally stood. At the same time the Lord's Prayer was first added to this Office.

OF THE FIRST, OR PROPER COLLECT.

The Bishop having now, in imitation of the example of the Apostles, laid his hand upon all, who

have in their own persons voluntarily stipulated to renew their baptismal vow, proceeds to pray, that this rite may not be an empty insignificant sign; but that, when his h and is removed and himself withdrawn, the hand of God may ever be over them, and his Holy Spirit alway with them; that his Spirit may direct them to understand, and his mighty hand enable them to perform the divine word, till they come to everlasting life.

OF THE SECOND, OR GENERAL COLLECT.

This Collect, taken from the end of the Communion Service, was added to the Confirmation Office at the Revisal in 1661. CYRIL says, the sacred rite of Confirmation, is the spiritual phylactery of the body, and the conservator of the soul. In this Collect we pray God to "direct, sanctify and govern, "both our hearts and bodies in the ways of his laws, and in the works of his Commandments; that through his most mighty protection, both here and ever we may be preserved in body and soul, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." This Collect is formed from the prayer of St. Paul, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly : " and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and "body be preserved blameless, unto the coming of "our Lord Jesus Christ."

The Bishop concludes the Office with a benediction, in which he prays that the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,

may