HINTS on CONFIRMATION.

1. THOSE, who are to be confirmed, fhould be informed, that Confirmation is not to be confidered as a mere Ceremony, and that by paffing through the Form they will receive no Benefit, except they seriously refolve and endeavour, by Prayer, Confideratation, and Watchfulness, to obtain divine Pardon, and Affiftance.

2. Endeavour to make them fenfible, that it is very decent and proper (a Duty they owe to GOD, and what will tend to their own Peace and Happiness) that they fhould take on themfelves publicly the Profeffion of Chriftianity, and the Engagements into which their Godfathers and Godmothers had entered in their Names at their Baptifin; that by this Rite or Ceremony they actually do fo, and make both God and their Fellow-chriftians Witneffes to it. It would be proper to remind them earnestly to repent of their Sins, to believe in the Gofpel, to depend on CHRIST, as their Mediator and Redeemer, and to fubmit to him, follow him, and obey him; for this at their Confirmation they publicly engaged by divine Grace they would do.

3. It is of Importance to convince them, that thefe Obligations cannot be fulfilled without the Affiftance of the Holy Spirit, which God has promised to give to all

thofe

thofe who pray for it, Luke xi. 13. and therefore that daily Prayer to. God is indifpenfably neceffary.

4. It is very defirable and important, that you should prefs on them frequent Selfexamination, that they may fee how far they perform their baptifmal Engagements, and what Need they have of more Vigilance, renewed Repentance, greater Humility, more fervent Prayer, and a well-grounded Reliance on the Merits of CHRIST.

5. It is very neceffary that they should have clear, and right Notions of the Defign of this Service, and fuch Notions may be given them in a few Words. It is fuf ficient for them to know and confider, that it is called Confirmation from their then con- . firming what their Godfathers and Godmothers did for them; and that hereby, they folemnly take on them their baptifmal Engagements; and the Church-catechifm will teach them what thefe are. It may not be amifs to warn them against a fuperftitious Regard to this Ceremony, and expecting more from it, than it was ever defigned to convey.

6. Let me intreat you ftrongly to caution the young People against thofe Exceffes, and that Levity of Behaviour, fo unbecoming and fcandalous, and yet fo frequently feen at Public-boufes in their Way Home after Confirmation.

HINTS on the Adminiftration of Baptifm.

I. ET it never be done in private, but in Cafes of Extremity, and in fuch Cafes it is defirable that the Parents fhould be warned against laying undue Strefs on this Ordinance, as if the Salvation of the Child depended on the Adminiftration of it.

2. It is very defirable, before any Child is publicly baptized, that you fhould have fome Conversation with the Parents, to inquire whether they have juft Notions of the Nature, and Defign of the Ordinance, and to give them fuch Information about it, that they may attend on the Administration with Understanding, and proper Difpofitions of Mind."

3. Whenever you adminifter Baptifm, remind the Godfathers and Godmothers of the folemn Engagement they are laid under to fee, that the Child be educated in the Principles of the Chriftian Religion, and trained up in the Ways of Piety: Remind them of their Duty to warn the Parents on this Head, that what they undertake may not be confidered, as it too often is, as a mere Form, and unmeaning Ceremony.

4. In the Entertainment, which fometimes follows the Administration of this Ordinance; be particularly on your Guard, not only against Excefs and a Fondness for good Eating, but against every Thing

which

which has the Appearance of Levity, and a trifling Difpofition. Let your Converfation with the Company be grave, manly, and ferious, yet chearful and friendly. Refolutely check every Thing which has the Appearance of Profaneness or Indecency, and endeavour to cherish and encourage fuch Thoughts and Difpofitions, as are fuitable to the Ordinance, which has been, administered, and the Engagement, under which the Parents and Sponfors are laid. Let your Time of Departure be fuch, as may be agreeable to the Gravity of a Clergyman, who knows the Value of Time, and may be a Leffon of Regularity and Order to the rest of the Company.

5. Never defer making an Entry in the Parish Register of Baptifms, Marriages, and Burials; and take Care, that they be made with great Exactnefs, and in a large legible Hand, as fo much may depend on your Çare and Regularity in doing this properly.

HINTS on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

1.

ΤΗ

'HE LORD's Supper you will administer at least every Christmas, Eafter, Whitfuntide, and Michaelmas: And as every Person at the Age of Sixteen is by the hundred and twelfth Canon ordered to

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be prefented by the Churchwardens to the Bifhop, if they have not received the Sacrament at, or before Eafter, I muft defire you to fpeak to all fober, well difpofed Youth in due Time, that they may be prepared to commu-. nicate, and defirous of becoming Communicants and likewife to endeavour to convince the diffolute, who are near that age, of their unfitness to accompany others to that Ordinance, and of their own unhappy State.

2. It will be of great Ufe to thefe young People, if you would inftruct them at the Parfonage-houfe (or in the Chancel of the Church) every Sunday Evening in the Month before the Administration of the Sacrament. Suppose you explain to them, in two Lectures, what relates to that Ordinance*, as stated in our Church Catechifm, because each of them can repeat that by Heart and then in two Lectures more, you may explain the Communion Service, as they will have that conftantly before their Eyes in the Common Prayer Book, for their Confideration at Home, and will be enabled to understand it much better, when they hear it read at the Administration of the Sacrament in the Church: By this Method they will be gradually initiated to the Participation of the Lord's Supper, and be better enabled to understand, and retain in their Memories the Ufe and Importance of it.

* See STON HOUSE's Short Explanation of the Lord's Supper, agreeable to the Account given of it in the Church Catechifm. Price zdfingle, or 13san hundred.