with importance to every one of you will be that precious moment. May God Almighty grant you grace to know and to feel its importance, that so your hearts may be fully prepared to receive the full benefit of these His gifts! Your eternal salvation may depend on the earnestness and sincerity of your devotion in that hour. Think how dreadful is that place, which to you may be none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven '. And when the glory of the Lord filleth the house of the Lord', be not ye inattentive, be not unconcerned and indifferent. Pray with all the fervour

of your hearts and minds, that you may every one of you receive your portion of the heavenly blessing. Remember, that it is for your immortal souls that these prayers are offered. Regard not the ceremony as merely formal and outward, completed by the laying on of the hands of the Bishop. This is indeed a sign or token of the favour and goodness of God towards you, but it is the fervent prayer of faith, which will impart life and vigour to the ceremony.

We scarcely ever find the laying on of hands mentioned without prayer. When Jacob laid his hands on the sons of Joseph, he prayed God, and the Angel who redeemed him, to bless the lads.

1 Gen. xxviii. 17.

21 Kings viii. 11.

When Moses laid his hands on Joshua, he prayed that he might be filled with the spirit of wisdom; and when the people of Samaria were confirmed by Peter and John, they prayed that they might receive the Holy Ghost. And the ceremony will profit you nothing, if your own hearts are not engaged and affected. Pray therefore fervently, and confidently. Ask in faith, nothing wavering, and you will receive'. Consider seriously what you pray for, and your minds will not want attention, your hearts will not want devotion, and your prayers will not want fervour and earnestness. You confirm your promises of repentance, faith, and obedience, and God confirms to you the promise of making you his children by adoption and grace. You enter on a new life, you areadmitted into a new state, containing the pardon of your sins, the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, and the promise of life and glory everlasting. Seek diligently, and you will find all these glorious promises. On such an occasion there is joy in heaven on earth also let us rejoice.

Finally-Let not Confirmation be regarded as a ceremony, which is to have no concern nor connection with your future life. The good resolutions which you may now make, will soon be

1 James i. 6.

1

broken, unless they are continually strengthened by the Word of God, by prayer, and by the help of the Holy Spirit. Your lamps, if not frequently trimmed, will soon go out. Search then the Scriptures; they are they which testify of Christ. Ask daily in private prayer, and in a regular attendance in the house of God, that you may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ'. Spiritual blessings are promised to them who ask. Seek them in sincerity and truth, and be assured that God will hear and answer your prayers. He it is that now inclines your hearts to seek his favour; for the preparation of the heart in man is from the Lord3. Look on this as a pledge of his goodwill towards you; let it be an encouragement to you to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that ye may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need'. And as soon as you can, with a stedfast trust in God's mercy through Jesus Christ, be partakers of the Lord's Supper. This holy sacrament was instituted to keep alive the continual remembrance of the death and sacrifice of Christ, through whom alone you receive the atonement, through whom your prayers ascend to the throne of grace, through whom you

1 John v. 39.
Prov. xvi. 1.

22 Pet. iii. 18.

4 Heb. iv. 16.

receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is the essence of our religion; not the blood of bulls and goats, but the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Meditate often upon it; contemplate the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, who hath washed us from our sins in his own blood1. And that the cares or the customs of the world may never efface from your memory this great sacrifice, this stupendous display of unbounded love and mercy, by which your sins are forgiven, and your peace made with God, come frequently to the Lord's table. Renew there your baptismal vow, and receive continually fresh pledges of Divine favour. This is one of the most effectual means of grace; neglect it not-delay it not to a more convenient season. A more convenient season cannot be expected than the present, in which you are entering into a covenant with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and praying that you may be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man2; and a season in which we commemorate, as on the next Sabbath-day, the first miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost. If you, who will then have been confirmed, cannot, after a suitable preparation, come to the sacrament of the body and blood

1 Rev. i. 5.

2 Eph. iii. 16.

Whit-Sunday.

of Christ your Saviour, yet stay not away from the house of prayer on that solemn, and (to you, I trust,) interesting occasion.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and ever. Amen1."

1 Jude 24, 25.

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