¶ Afterward the Bishop or visitor shall lay hands upon them and say:

God strengthen thee with the Holy Spirit in a right faith, in evangelical knowledge and obedience, to a Christian life, to the honor of God, to thy own salvation, and for a good example and amendment of others, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ Thereafter, for the closing, may be sung a psalm.

This order of confirmation was used in Sweden down to Upsala Möte. As its upholders had been the same as those who used King John's Liturgy, the "Red Book" so called, it fell naturally with that book, and whatever ceremonies were used in admitting to first communion were thereafter either such as seemed good to the parochial clergy, and hence were either none, or not always or everywhere alike, or were gradually brought in at the suggestion of various Bishops in their respective dioceses. In the main, Sweden lagged behind other Lutheran bodies in the general acceptance of confirmation ceremonies, and when taken up the main idea was confirmation of vows, as stated above.

We have a suggested form for confirmation from the pen of Bishop Laurelius of Westerås, which shows that admiration for the full rite long held its own. Bishop Laurelius was born in 1585 and became Bishop in 1647. The manuscript has been edited by Dean A. H. Lundström, and is in Bishop Laurelius' own handwriting, on fly leaves of his form for visitations. Dean Lundström does not doubt that it was really used. The connection in which the manuscript was found indicates to me that the Bishop did use it. The order is as follows:

Afterward, when the youth has been heard in the articles of the catechism either by the Bishop or his official, idque publice in ecclesia, the visitor or Bishop shall bid the congregation to prayer for the youth, and after the prayer, he shall strengthen

and bless by the laying-on of hands those who have done well and piously, that others may be awakened to faith and piety, which was formerly called Confirmatio, hoc est fermelse, but now "The Examination and Blessing of the Young."

The prayer that follows is exactly the same as in the Ordinantia approbata of 1575, and also the sentence used at the laying-on of hands. This resemblance seems to indicate that others among the Bishops may have handed down the practice. It is not at all impossible that Laurelius himself may have been confirmed by this form, as he was 8 years old at Upsala Möte's date.

Baelter, who wrote about 1762, was of the opinion that confirmation after the above form was more general about 1650 than in Laurelius' own official circle, but thinks that the words of the Church Law of 1686, which follow, did away with it. He cites that the law required when the customary ceremonies had been used at baptism, that "no other so-called and sometimes used Christening-act shall be permitted." But Archbishop H. Benzelius thought this referred entirely to unction, which had here and there persisted in practice though no longer printed in the prescribed form after 1541. Priests used their old books until they got new ones, and this was frequently not soon, as books were scarce, expensive, and difficult to obtain.

There is another version of Bishop Laurelius' manuscript confirmation ritual which speaks of children as "grafted into the congregation" by that rite, which naturally gave offence. But the version which Dean Lundström has brought to light has no such words and is open to no such objection. It may well be questioned whether this was not a corruption by another less scientific hand.

A contemporary of Bishop Laurelius of Westerås was

Bishop Johannes Matthiae of Strengnäs, who published before 1648 his Idea boni ordinis in ecclesia, with a part specially dealing with confirmation. His diocesan prästmöte in 1648 expressed a favorable view of at least part of what he considered desirable. Bishop Cornelius, the Church historian, considered the use of a special service to have been possibly considerable in the seventeenth century, but for the strongest efforts to obtain Church sanction we must wait until. Bishop Serenius' time, who became Bishop of Strengnäs in 1763. Much earlier in the century he had been chaplain at the Swedish legation in England and had been much impressed by confirmation as practised there. He had become pastor in Nyköping in 1735 and brought in there the public examination of children before first Communion. There were discussions on the subject in the Riksdag of 1751, but not all who favored something of the sort were willing to run any risks that might arise in attempting full legislation. Archbishop H. Benzelius was among these. In the Riksdag of 1760-62 we find statements made that confirmation was practised in Skara under Bishop Hallenius' authority, and that it was pretty general in Lund, and Cornelius believes it to have been in use in all dioceses. After this the agitation for an authorized service grew stronger and stronger until it resulted in the added Chapter IV. of the Hand-book of 1809-11. That revision was the conclusion of a long effort, and it may be well to quote from the draft handbook of 1799 what was then urged, and was probably in general use, or else something very like it.

It is further of interest that the confirmation customs of Denmark would have been in use in the diocese of Lund, when incorporated into Sweden in 1658, and would not have been. easily laid aside, though they were ultimately interrupted in various localities, as new incumbents who had not the Danish

tradition came in. This is proved from the fact that where the common practice of some form of confirmation was made the basis for an attempt to adopt a common ceremony, late in the eighteenth century, confirmation, though practised in Lund, was possibly less general there than in some other dioceses.

X.-NOTES ON THE PRACTICE OF CONFIRMATION IN THE SWEDISH CHURCH. PART II.

HE ground work for the present form for confirmation is first fully worked out in a report of the Ecclesiastical Commission provided for in 1792-3. The report is dated June 14, 1799, and is signed by the celebrated Uno von Troil, who was well known in England and was an admirer of the English Church.

The proposed form is long, chiefly in the rubrics, but it is nevertheless very important.

CHAPTER IV.

What should be the order when the youth shall for the first time partake of the Lord's Supper?

At the time which for each place, circumstance, and condition is proved most convenient, a notice is given by the pastor in the pulpit that all parents, foster parents, and householders, who have children and servants come to the age when they should be instructed and prepared to receive their first Communion in the approaching year, should, at a set time, announce them to the pastor. They who neglect this may wait until the next year, because otherwise the clergy may be continually hindered in their work by new

comers.

When the announcement is made and the appointed time is fulfilled, the children are notified through a new proclamation of the day when they are to present themselves.

Then the instruction begins at once and should follow the catechism received in our Church, or which may be further ordered