Part 10 (1/2)

For instance, Confirmation is called _The Anointing_,[9] and _The Sealing_, and in some parts of the Church, the Priest dips his finger in oil blessed by the Bishop, and signs or seals the child upon the forehead with the sign of the Cross, thus symbolizing the meaning of such names. But neither the sealing, nor the anointing, is necessary for a valid Sacrament.

Confirmation, then, ”rightly and duly” administered, completes the grace given to a child at the outset of its Christian career. It admits the child to full members.h.i.+p and to full privileges in the Christian Church. It is the ordained Channel by which the Bishop is commissioned to convey and guarantee the special grace attached {105} to, and only to, the Lesser Sacrament of Confirmation.[10]

[1] ”Ratifying and _confirming_ the same in your own persons.”

[2] The word was ”confess” in 1549.

[3] The Greek Catechism of Plato, Metropolitan of Moscow, puts it very clearly: ”Through this holy Ordinance _the Holy Ghost descendeth upon the person Baptized_, and confirmeth him in the grace which he received in his Baptism according to the example of His descending upon the disciples of Jesus Christ, and in imitation of the disciples themselves, who after Baptism laid their hands upon the believers; by which laying on of hands the Holy Ghost was conferred”.

[4] 1 St. Peter ii. 9.

[5] Minutes of Wesleyan Conference, 1889, p. 412.

[6] In the first ages, and, indeed, until the fifteenth century, Confirmation followed immediately after Baptism, both in East and West, as it still does in the East.

[7] Is. vii. 16.

[8] Acts viii. 12-17; Acts xix. 5, 6.

[9] In an old seventh century Service, used in the Church of England down to the Reformation, the Priest is directed: ”Here he is to put the Chrism (oil) on the forehead of the man, and say, 'Receive the sign of the Holy Cross, by the Chrism of Salvation in Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life. Amen.'”

[10] The teaching of our Church of England, pa.s.sing on the teaching of the Church Universal, is very happily summed up in an ancient Homily of the Church of England. It runs thus: ”In Baptism the Christian was born again spiritually, to live; in Confirmation he is made bold to fight. There he received remission of sin; here he receiveth increase of grace.... In Baptism he was chosen to be G.o.d's son; in Confirmation G.o.d shall give him His Holy Spirit to ... perfect him. In Baptism he was called and chosen to be one of G.o.d's soldiers, and had his white coat of innocency given him, and also his badge, which was the red cross set upon his forehead...; in Confirmation he is encouraged to fight, and to take the armour of G.o.d put upon him, which be able to bear off the fiery darts of the devil.”

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CHAPTER IX.

HOLY MATRIMONY.

We have called Holy Matrimony the ”_Sacrament of Perpetuation_,” for it is the ordained way in which the human race is to be perpetuated.

Matrimony is the legal union between two persons,--a union which is created by mutual consent: Holy Matrimony is that union sanctioned and sanctified by the Church.

There are three familiar names given to this union: Matrimony, Marriage, Wedlock.

Matrimony, derived from _mater_, a mother, tells of the woman's (i.e.

wife-man's) ”joy that a man is born into the world”. Marriage, derived from _maritus_, a husband (or house-dweller[1]), tells of the man's place in the ”hus” or house. Wedlock, derived from _weddian_, a pledge, reminds both man and woman of the life-long pledge which each has made ”either to other”.

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It is this Sacrament of Matrimony, Marriage, or Wedlock, that we are now to consider. We will think of it under four headings:--

(I) What is it for?

(II) What is its essence?

(III) Whom is it for?