CONTENTS. A TREATISE ON CONFIRMATION. CHAPTER I.-Introduction... ...... CHAPTER II.—In what Confirmation consists, and how it is administered.... CHAPTER III.—Authority of the Church for the practice of Confirmation..... CHAPTER IV.—An Admonition to Parents and Sponsors CHAPTER V.-An Exhortation to those who desire Confirmation ... PASTORAL DISCOURSES APPLICABLE TO CONFIRMED PERSONS. PAGE 1 6 9 28 35 57 SERMON I.-The Danger of neglecting the Means of Grace: illustrated in the Fall of St. Peter.... SERMON II.-The Danger of an unfruitful hearing of the Word of God: illustrated in the Fall of Judas Iscariot SERMON III.-On the Necessity of an Early Piety.... 103 SERMON IV.-On the Existence, Malice, and Activity of Evil Spirits; and on the Means of our Safety from them 81 124 Note on Sermon II.. APPENDIX. 145 A TREATISE ON CONFIRMATION. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. "REMEMBER now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them*." He who delivered this precept attested, while he did so, the value of the counsel which he had himself received from his father. "And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee Eccles. xii. 1. B off for ever." Such, indeed, has been the concurrent dictate of human experience: never was there a wise and loving father who neglected thus to counsel his offspring: the precept has been echoed from age to age, and spread abroad from clime to clime: its truth has been universally established by the happiness of the righteous and by the misery of the wicked; by those who have obeyed it to their joy, and by those who have transgressed it to their shame. Who ever lived by this rule, and repented that he had done so? Who ever spent his youth and manhood in the neglect of it, and rejoiced thereat when he came to die? David and Solomon in particular, both knew from experience the value of this precept: the joys and the sorrows of their lives bore equal witness to it; from both of them the advice comes to us, marked with the strong impress of parental love: both of them, when they uttered it, were drawing near to the grave, and in full prospect of that hour, the thought of which has a mighty influence, in disposing the mind to seriousness and truth and a right estimate of things. When religion speaks to man, it is with autho 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. rity. Such authority, if it be acknowledged, cannot be resisted without manifest folly. Nor does it matter, as to this point, how great is the multitude of those who do resist: neither folly nor danger is lessened by the number who partake in it. For this authority is backed with a tremendous sanction, and proposes a most awful choice: the peace of God in this life, and the everlasting bliss of his future presence, are set against remorse, and anguish, and everlasting despair. Remember, therefore, now, thy Creator. This, under such circumstances, can be, for all men, the only safe course: for this must be done before we die: delay may end in total loss of opportunity; and the issue of a failure must be dreadful beyond expression. But the precept carries with it a special force of application to the young. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Remember him at the beginning of your pilgrimage, in order that he may sustain and support you in the progress of it. Remember him, so as to secure his blessing and his presence all the days of your life. Remember him before your soul is deeply stained with uncleanness, and your spirit broken under the sense of guilt: for then, perhaps, you will be unable to remember him without distraction and despair. Remember him before the |