The other reprint is also by permission, and is that of the well-known tractate by Miss Yonge, on The Seal; or, The Inward Spiritual Grace of Confirmation.

The remaining tracts are all original. The writer has not chosen to affix his name to any of the series, yet no one acquainted in the slightest degree with the Diocese of Fredericton will be at a loss in naming the scholarly pen from which they issue. It is an open secret that they are by Dr. Kingdon, the Bishop Coadjutor of Fredericton.

The quotation from the Homilies, taken as the motto of the series, illustrates with accuracy both their design and scope:

Ye have heard it evidently proved: (i) By GOD's word, (ii) The doctors of the Church, (iii) Ecclesiastical histories, (iv) Reason and experience. [Homilies of the Church of England. 1563.]

The first tract, therefore, deals with the authority from GOD'S Word, and proves, in accordance with the statement of the Canons of 1604, that "it hath been a solemn, ancient, and laudable custom in the Church of GOD, continued from the Apostles' times, that all Bishops should lay their hands upon children baptised."

Each text, relating to Confirmation, is treated in the same sound and scholarly manner as the whole subject. A brief commentary follows the text, showing how other passages from Holy Writ elucidate it, and the view the Ancient Fathers and the Doctors of the English Church have taken of it. Thus, the guide which the Reformers themselves so painstakingly followed, is also here adopted -Holy Writ and the Ancient Fathers.

Briefly summarised, this is the Scriptural view as sanctioned by the Fathers and Doctors, and as set forth in this tract:

When GOD made Adam, "and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," we are not to take this as meaning the conveyance of the mere natural life, but rather the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT. The present writer inclines to the belief that man as man—that is, the animal part of man, body and life-existed complete before the Divine in-breathing was given him, as recorded in Gen. ii: 7. The creation of

man was complete when it is recorded for us in the 27 verse of the previous chapter: "So GOD created man in His own image." But whether this view be taken, or the one the tract appears to favor, that man received his natural life by the Divine in-breathing, no reverent student of Holy Writ and of the Ancient Fathers will deny for a single moment that there was conveyed by the inbreathing, recorded for us in the second chapter, a life, or vital principle, in addition to the animal or natural life. S. Cyprian, Eusebius, S. Cyril, S. Basil go even further than this, for they distinctly, when quoting the text, state that GOD breathed into Adam then the same grace which CHRIST breathed on His Apostles, when he said: "Receive the HOLY GHOST."

What Adam received then was, if we are faithful to the Rule of the Reformers, no less than the gift of the HOLY GHOST, in addition to the spirit of natural life, and in addition to the immortal soul. Thus then, as S. Cyprian tells us, "A man is not born by imposition of hands when he receives the HOLY GHOST, but in Baptism; that so being already born he may receive the HOLY GHOST, even as it happened in the first man, Adam." Gen. ii: 7 then may be taken as narrating the Confirmation of Adam.

When the Dove returned to Noah in the evening, with the olive-leaf in her mouth, we may see in that the type of the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT, when the Heavenly Dove returned to man in the evening of the world; that is, in the Christian dispensation, bearing with Him the seven fold anointing grace. So Tertullian first pointed out as the application of Gen. viii: 11.

When Moses laid his hands upon Joshua, the son of Nun, we are told that Joshua became full of the spirit of wisdom. [Deut. xxxiv: 9.] S. Cyril, in his Lectures to Catechumens, tells them that in like manner will the Spirit come upon them.

Later on, when we read that Elisha and Hazael were to be anointed [I Kings xix: 15, 16], we may reasonably infer that there was no material unction, for there is no record of any external anointing of Elisha or Hazael. Hence,

the term "anointing" was already acquiring a spiritual

sense.

On Ps. lxviii: 18, one out of the many Psalms that have always been taken as referring to the gifts of the HOLY SPIRIT, the very remarkable paraphrase from the Chaldee Targumist is given as commentary:

Thou has given gifts to the sons of men, even to the rebellious, who have become proselytes, and repented, that the majesty of the Glory of the LORD may dwell in them.

On the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah xi: 2, 3, "The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wis dom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD," the tract says:

This text has been, from the earliest times of Christianity, taken as teaching what are the seven-fold gifts of the Spirit which rested in fulness on the MESSIAH after His Baptism, and are derived to his individual members in and by Confirmation. S. Ambrose (fifteen hundred years ago) refers to this text in this connection; and the whole Church has prayed for the bestowal of these seven-fold gifts in Confirmation for over sixteen hundred years. It is true that in the authorised version there seems but little distinction in the last two gifts. But in the Greek translation, which our Blessed LORD used and preached from (see S. Luke iv: 18; S. John vi : 31; S. Luke x:42), which also the Apostles employed (compare Ephesians iv: 26, with Psalm iv: 4; S. Peter iv: 18, with Prov. xi : 31, etc.), the rendering is varied, and is represented in the Confirmation Prayer in our service.

On the prophecy of Joel ii: 28, 29, S. Peter himself commented in his sermon on the day of Pentecost. Bishop Andrewes well pointed out the distinction in the gifts. prophesied and given. Your sons and daughters shall prophecy, dream dreams, and see visions--accomplished by the gift of miraculous powers to the children of Israel, the Apostles and first disciples. But on the servants and handmaids was to be poured out the Spirit-accomplished by the bestowal on the Gentiles of the inward graces of the HOLY GHOST, and the love of GOD shed abroad in our hearts. It is as servants of GOD, and not as children of Abraham that we claim the promise.

Passing on to the New Testament, the first text we have is that of S. Luke, iii: 21, 22, where the Baptism and

Confirmation of our Blessed LORD is described. As a commentary on it, S. Optatus, S. Cyril, Archbishop Theophylact and Bishop Jeremy Taylor are quoted. The fact of the distinct ministries, Baptism and Confirmation is well brought out. Though the time intervening between the Baptism and the descent of the HOLY SPIRIT may not have been very great, yet some time, however short, did intervene, sufficient to mark the distinction between the two Rites. Between the two as S. Luke tells us, our LORD was rapt in prayer. Thus the SAVIOUR of man having received the spiritual unction became the CHRIST, "and that the imposition of hands," as Optatus concludes, "might not be wanting," the Voice of GOD was heard from the cloud, saying, "This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

The gift of GOD, which our LORD alluded to in his discourse at the well-side with the woman of Samaria [S. John iv: 10-14], is taken by S. Augustine to be the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT. The Greek word for "gift" is almost always used in the New Testament and in the Greek Liturgies as designating the gift of the Paraclete. On the promise of the Comforter [S. John xiv: 16, 17], and of his abiding presence, the paraphrase from Theophylact is given.

The Spirit abides with you; afterwards there shall be something greater, because He shall abide IN you. For the expression with you signifies the external aid which comes from neighborhood, but the expression in you signifies the internal habitation and strengthening.

That the work of the HOLY GHOST could not commence until the reconciliation of man to GOD was complete, is evident from the statement of our LORD that the Comforter could not come till He had departed. [S. John xvi: 7.] As Dean Alford says:

This is a convincing proof, if one more were needed that the gift of the SPIRIT at and since the day of Pentecost was and is something TOTALLY DISTINCT from anything before that time.

The breathing of CHRIST on His Apostles is different from the in-breathing in Adam, in that the HOLY SPIRIT

-----¶ned phone and then to the Apostles. It was

an earnest of the Abiding Presence, but not the gift of that Presence. It was an influence of the HOLY GHOST, but not the HOLY GHOST. In the original Greek there is no article before "HOLY GHOST," and when the article is omitted, “an influence of the HOLY GHOST is intended, and not the Divine Person Himself."

We know that the particular influence then bestowed was the power to them as priests to retain or remit sins. The following quotation admirably sums up the general teaching on the subject:

As regards the gift of the new birth there can be no doubt that this breathing of the risen LORD restored to them the Divine image which Adam's soul received in the moment of its creation, when GOD breathed into him the breath of life. This restoration of the Divine image gave back to fallen man the ancient adoption which had been lost; and thus these first believers were 'begotten again unto a living hope through the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled.' Now all these privileges, the cleansing of the soul, the being made members of CHRIST, children of GOD, and inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven, were certainly conveyed to the Apostles by the operation of the SPIRIT, just as it is the SPIRIT who now conveys them to us in Holy Baptism. Nevertheless the SPIRIT had not yet crowned and sealed His work by imparting His own personal indwelling Presence; that last perfecting gift reserved until after our LORD's Ascension, and was given in fiery tongues and the mighty rushing wind.

was

Acts i: 4, 5, 8, give us the renewal of the Promise, and Acts ii: 1-4 its fulfilment. The following is the commentary on the latter text:

This is the great historic fact upon which Confirmation is founded. The HOLY GHOST now commenced His work in the world which had been reconciled to GOD (now that JESUS was glorified), and He dwelt in men, inhabiting the individual and making him His temple. That all men might (if they would) be certified that the HOLY SPIRIT was indeed in the early Christians, signs were granted that carnal men might be satisfied by their senses. S. Chrysostom and S. Augustine, writing about the same time (nearly fifteen hundred years ago), but one in Greek, at Constantinople, and the other in Latin, in Africa, both give reasons why the presence of the HOLY SPIRIT in the earliest times was signified by sensible tokens, and why the tokens were removed, through the personal presence of the HOLY SPIRIT was no less S. Augustine writes: 'In the first times the HOLY SPIRIT fell on

rea 1.

believers and they spoke with tongues which they had not learned, as the

SPRIT gave them utterance. Signs were fitting for the time. It was well that the HOLY SPIRIT should be so signified in all languages, for the Gospel