cated and poured out, Prayer being made over them, and Hands laid upon them. It is an Apostolical Rite, and therefore with very good Reason practised in the Church of England, which has a just Veneration for all ancient and good Customs; Moreover Calvin commendeth the Use of it, and has spoken much in its Favour, and yet, alas! it is too much neglected, to the Grief of all good Men. It is certainly a great Sin to despise it, or wilfully to neglect it, because it conduceth to the crease of Christian Piety, as procuring the Holy Spirit to assist us in our Duty. It confutes the Anabaptists, in their clamouring against us for baptizing Children before they come to Years of Understanding. For we have Baptism to secure us-in Case of Death: And Confirmation is the same Security they prétend to, who defer it to riper Years. If you are a Godfather, be careful to discharge the Obligation you have entered into; and let young Persons read over often the Office of Baptism and Confirmation. When therefore Children have been solemnly dedicated to God in Baptism, and their Names been written in the Book of Life, they being come to Years of Discretion, and a fit Capacity of professing their Faith, their Godfathers and Godmothers ought to bring them to the Bishop, to be confirmed by him; to the Intent, that in the Presence of God and. the Congregation, they may renew the solemn Promise and Vow, that was made in their 'Name, at their Baptism. Confirmation puts us in Mind how shameful it is to dishonour the Christian Name, when we have openly in the Church declared our Resolution to live and die in the Faith of Christ. If all that have been baptized, and could give an Account and Reason of their Faith, were then presented to the Bishop for Confirmation, and would consent to the Promise their Securities made, and vow through God's Help to perform the same, this would draw down the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit, dispose them to remembers remember their Creator in the Days of their Youth, and enable them to grow in Grace, and persevere in a godly and Christian Course unto their Lives End. THE PRAYER. I BLESS thy Name, O God, that I was in my Infancy dedicated to thee in Holy Baptism; wherein I was made a Member of Christ's Church, and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven. O grant that I may live as becomes one who is called to a State of Salvation, and continue in the same to my Life's End. But, Lord, I am unable of myself to help. myself; therefore do thou mercifully grant me the Assistance of thy Holy Spirit, at all Times and in all Places O may he be unto me a Spirit of Holiness, to cleanse my defiled Nature: A Spirit of Counsel in all Doubts and Difficulties; of Courage, in all Dangers; of Constancy in all Troubles, more especially in Times of Sickness, and in the Hour of Death. I humbly beseech thee that I may have Grace to follow the Example of all thy faithful Servants, who walked before thee in the Truth of thy Holy World, and Godliness of Life, that at the last Day, I with them, and they with me, may attain to the Resur I CEASE to wonder that the Devil so often attempts and prevails upon People to stay away from the Holy Sacrament: For he knows of what Avail it is to attain that Blessedness, from which, through Pride and Disobedience, he fell. It may justly be esteemed one of the greatest Blessings we Christians enjoy, that we have free Leave given us to approach the Lord's Table. And we can in nothing more shew our black Ingratitude, than by neglecting to do this in Remembrance of our Saviour. Dearest Jesus! had not thy Mercy interposed, we had all been eternally undone: O how great was thy Love which caused thee to submit to the Death of the Cross for poor Sinners! Thou wast pleased to condescend to all the innocent Infirmities of human Life; and didst permit thine Enemies, when armed with Rage and Fury, to lay their sacrilegious Hands upon thee; and when they they had bound thee in a cruel Manner, and wickedly reviled thee, thou reviledst not again but further, O dearest Saviour, thou wast by wicked Jews pronounced guilty of Death, and condemned by Pilate; and, being stript naked in the Palace, thou didst suffer thy tender Flesh to be torn with Scourges: Nor did the Malice of the Jews end here: They fastened a Crown of Thorns upon thy blessed Head; and then, O immaculate Lamb of God, how like a harmless. Sheep wert thou led to the Slaughter! At Golgotha thou didst hang on the Cross, thy Hands and Feet were pierced, thy precious Blood shed in great Abundance; and then, O adorable Saviour, thou didst how thy sacred Head, and give up the Ghost, and die, that we might live for ever. O may this Love of thine cause me to love thee again, with a pure Heart fervently! May it mortify and kill all Vices in me, and dispose me to grow in Grace, and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ! A due Sense of this Love is enough to soften and subdue the hardest Heart. O who can think on the Body of our Lord that was wounded for our Transgressions, and, not have his Soul wounded within him? Who can think of his pierced Side, without a Heart pierced for those Sins which caused it? Tell me, my Soul, who ever wished thee so much Good? What have our best Friends done for us, in Comparison of this Charity? Our blessed Lord speaks to us, as well as to the Daughters of Jerusalem ; Weep not for me, but for yourselves; not, for my Sufferings in a fruitless Compassion, but for yourselves, and your Sins, in a hearty Contrition. He desires no other Return, than our following his Steps, that we may at last arrive at his Glory. THE PRAYER. O MERCIFUL and blessed Lord, who for the more solemn Remembrance of thy bitter Death and Passion, hast ordained this holy Sacrament to commemorate thy Sufferings, and to convey to our Souls all the Benefits thereof: O make me a meet Partaker of these sacred Mysteries: To all thy Favours, O Lord, already bestowed on thy unworthy Servant, I beg this one more; that thou wouldest be pleased to soften my stony Heart into a tender Sense of thy great Goodness and my own Wretchedness, now that I am about to ap |