Sermon
CONFIRMATION
by the Right Rev. Alexander Macdonald, D.D.
By Baptism we are born into the kingdom of God. And as, in ithe natural order, the child must grow to manhood before he is fit to go out into the world and fight life's battle, so it is in the spiritual order. The kingdom of God on earth is the Church militant, whose members wage a spiritual warfare as soldiers under Christ, their captain. The child of God, therefore, to be an efficient member of the Church militant, must outgrow the weakness of childhood and attain to adult age -- "the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. iv. 13). Confirmation is the Sacrament which enables the child of God, by the grace of God's Holy Spirit, thus to grow into a strong and perfect Christian, a soldier of Jesus Christ. The name itself implies this, for to confirm is to make strong.
Like the other sacraments of the New Law, Confirmation consists of matter and form. The matter is the anointing with holy chrism and the laying on of the hands of a bishop. The laying on of hands alone is mentioned in the New Testament, but the anointing is vouched for by the tradition of the Church. "Thus, too, in our case," says Tertullian, speaking of this Sacrament, "the unction runs [down our flesh] carnally, but profits spiritually, in the same way as the act of Baptism itself, too, is carnal, in that we are plunged in water, the effect spiritual, in that we are freed from our sins" (De Baptismo, ch. vii). The words of the form are: "I sign thee with the sign of the cross and confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
The Bishop is the minister of Confirmation. A priest, however, may receive special power from the Pope to administer the Sacrament, using oil blessed by a bishop. The subject of Confirmation is any one who has been baptized and not yet confirmed; not yet confirmed, for this Sacrament, like Baptism, imprints on the soul an indelible character, and cannot therefore be given more than once. The candidate for Confirmation, according to the present discipline of the Church in the West, must have come to the use of reason and have some knowledge of Christian doctrine, more especially the principal mysteries of religion, the four great truths commonly spoken of as "the last things," and all that concerns this Sacrament, as well as the Sacrament of Penance, which is to be received before Confirmation. In the East children are confirmed immediately after Baptism.
The one who is to be confirmed should be in the state of grace, for Confirmation is a Sacrament of the living, and it would be sacrilege to receive it in the state of mortal sin. Still the Sacrament would be valid, and would imprint a character on the soul, but would confer no grace till pardon was first obtained for the sin.
A Sacrament is a sensible sign of grace instituted by our blessed Lord to sanctify and save souls. Three things there are thus in every Sacrament: a sensible sign, divine institution, the power of conferring grace. The sensible sign in the Sacrament of Confirmation consists in the laying on of the Bishop's hands with the anointing and the words of the form. But while a Sacrament is a sensible sign, not every sensible sign is a Sacrament. It must be divinely instituted, for no sensible sign can give grace unless it is divinely instituted for that purpose. Of this divine institution, in the case of Confirmation, there is proof at least implied in the Acts of the Apostles. There we read that the people of Samaria were won to Christ by the preaching of Philip and baptized. And when this became known to the apostles, Peter and John were sent thither, and they laid their hands on the newly baptized converts, who thereupon received the Holy Ghost.
Plainly this rite, which consisted in the laying on of apostolic hands with prayer, was a Sacrament, for it conferred grace--nay, the very author of grace, the Holy Spirit. It was not Holy Orders, which it outwardly resembled, in the laying on of hands, for orders are given to men only who are elected to the ministry, and the Christians of Samaria were not all of them called to the ministry, and there were among them women and children as well as men. It follows that here was a Sacrament distinct from Baptism and from Holy Orders, the special effect of which was to give the Holy Ghost. For so we read:
"Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 17). Confirmation produces a twofold effect: (1) It gives grace to make us strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ; (2) it stamps upon the soul a character, which is like the putting on of a spiritual armor, with the livery of Our Lord and Master, to serve Him and do battle for Him and under His standard with the enemies that assail us on every side. Not that we become strong and perfect Christians all at once; not that we show from the first, or even after many years, such skill and courage in fighting the good fight as never to falter or suffer defeat. This Sacrament does not transform men all at once into saints and heroes, but it gives them grace to grow, if they will but correspond with the grace, until, as the apostle has it, they attain their full stature in Christ.
All growth is from within. You cannot force it. It is a gradual, a slow process. It is so in the natural order, it is so in the spiritual order. But there is this difference between growth in the natural order and growth in the spiritual order, that the former is confined to the period between birth and adult age, while the latter extends over the whole of one's lifetime. Nay, as a rule spiritual growth is sturdiest and surest when the season of lusty youth is over and the life of man "is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf." But whether it be in the morning of life or towards life's sunset that this growth takes place, it has ever its source in God's Holy Spirit, in the seven gifts which He bestows on the soul, and which exist in the soul, at least in germ, from the day of one's Confirmation. The fulness of these gifts was in Christ our Saviour, and of this fulness we all receive. "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse," says the prophet, "and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord" (Is. xi. 1-3).
In these words of Isaias are set forth the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, the seminal principles of which are sown in the soul by the Sacrament of Confirmation. The prophet gives them in the order of their dignity, wisdom being first and fear last. We shall take them in the ascending order, beginning with holy fear. The fear of the Lord is, so to say, the first step in the ladder by which the soul slowly mounts up the steep of Christian perfection.
A good many Christians seem quite unable to get beyond this first step. They are content to keep themselves just within the territory of grace, and aspire to nothing higher. They linger in the valley below; they seek not to gain the distant heights. Others, again, pass most of their lives with one foot on this lowest rung of the ladder and the other on the earth. That is to say, the holy fear of God keeps urging them forward and prompting them to bring forth fruit worthy of penance, to seek the things that are above; but the force of evil habit, and the weight of their old sins, and the lust of worldly pleasures, bear them down to earth once more. These really have not the gift of holy fear at all. They received the seed of it into their souls on the day of their Confirmation, but they soon stifled and quenched it by sinful works.
Would that the whole world were filled with the fear of the Lord! All are in need of this gift: the good, that it may prompt them to walk steadily along in the way of God's holy commandments, the wicked, that they may turn from their evil ways.
The next gift is piety, or godliness. It perfects the former gift. It takes away the sting that lurks in all fear, however holy. It changes the feeling of awe with which we look on God into one of love and confidence. Fear makes us regard God as our master and judge; piety gathers us round Him as children round a father, and bids us cry out to Him, "Our Father who art in heaven." Of this sweet gift is born the spirit of prayer, as well as reverence for all things that are holy, with meek resignation under present trials, for such as bear these patiently here. It is a priceless gift. But, alas! sin with its malign breath often blasts it just as it is putting forth its first blossoms in the virgin soil of the yet innocent heart. Hence we so often see children disappoint the promise of their early years, and grow up wayward and bold, disrespectful to parents and superiors, without reverence for God and holy things.
The third gift is knowledge. It is not enough to have the fear of displeasing God and the wish to please Him, if we know not what is pleasing to Him and what displeasing. With this knowledge the third gift supplies us. The fear of that endless misery to which sin leads makes us turn away from sin; the hope of reward and the sweetness of that peace which dwells in the heavenly home, -- these draw us on. Yet powerful as these impulses are they would avail nothing if we knew not how to shun the devious ways of sin and keep our feet in the narrow way which leads to life.
But even this gift of knowledge is not enough. Many have known the way of life who have not walked therein. Like the pagan of old, they have seen the better course and approved it, but have followed the worse. The way that leads to life is long and difficult. It is, for the most part, a thorny path that lies through the wilderness of this world into the land of promise beyond the river of death, and we, poor, frail, fallen creatures that we are, are apt to falter and lose heart, to linger by the wayside, and to long once more for the flesh-pots of Egypt even though they be in the house of bondage. But our help is in the name of the Lord. His Holy Spirit is ever at hand to strengthen the feeble and help them over the hard places of the road. He brings the gift of fortitude. It is the fourth of His gifts. It turns weak and cowardly men into soldiers of Christ, who go forth to conquer their inveterate foes, the world, the flesh, and the devil. For they feel their youth and strength renewed, as did St. Paul when he cried out, "I can do all things in him who strengthened me."
And yet the battle is not to the strong. Prudence, too, is needed, and Christian prudence is the gift of counsel. It goes before the gift of fortitude. It points out what is to be done, and how it is to be done, and how much is to be done at a time. Emboldened by the gift of fortitude we might be tempted to undertake things that are beyond our strength, or unsuited to our state in life. Here the gift of counsel both curbs and guides us. Thus in a fit of fervor a person might make a vow to avoid all sins, even venial, only to learn by sad experience that this is next to impossible; or one might be so taken up with prayer and religious exercises as to neglect the duties of one's calling. This were piety, but ill-directed, lacking counsel.
Fear, piety, and fortitude perfect the will; knowledge and counsel, the intellect, in the practical order--that is, they enable us to know what is to be done and what is to be avoided; and as regards what is to be done, when and how, and how much at a time. There is another gift to teach us what to believe, to give us an insight into the truths of religion, to shed such light upon the deep things of God, the mysteries of our faith, as may be vouchsafed to mortals in a world where these things are seen as through a glass, darkly. It is the gift of understanding. It is of a higher order than knowledge as counsel. I do not ask to see The distant scene,-- one step enough for me.
So the poet prayed, seeking, for the moment, but the "kindly light" of knowledge and counsel to guide his steps "amid the encircling gloom." Yet in the voyage of life there is need, ever and anon, of stronger light, to catch at least some passing glimpse of the distant scene. To hold his course on the trackless waste of waters the mariner must from time to time pause to take his bearings. He must lift his eyes to the heavenly bodies, the sun by day, the moon and stars by night. So we in crossing the ocean of life must raise eyes of faith to gaze upon the eternal truths, and from them seek light and guidance, else we may not hope to win the haven of eternal rest.
Lastly, there is a seventh gift that crowns the others, the blossom and perfection of all the rest, the talisman of victory to the soldier of Christ, the last round of the ladder by which the Christian mounts to heaven. It is the gift of wisdom. It is the good and perfect gift that cometh down from the Father of lights. It enables the one into whose soul it descends to see everything as God sees it, and to set its true value on everything. The wisdom of this world makes men prize the things of this world. The wisdom that is from above makes men fix their minds and hearts on the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father. And the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Men of the world deem it highest wisdom to possess themselves of the good things of this world. St. Paul, who was full of the wisdom that is from above, reckoned all these things as dross, nay, to use his own strong word, even as dung, that he might win Christ. He had been thoroughly drilled in the school of the Holy Ghost. He had been taught to know the true beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," "Blessed are the merciful," "Blessed are the clean of heart," "Blessed are they who endure persecution for righteousness' sake." He had fathomed the meaning of the Master's words: "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?" It is a question of profit and loss, where the loss of all things earthly, even of life itself, for Christ's sweet sake, is supremest gain.
Confirmation is, in an altogether special sense, the Sacrament of the Holy Ghost. Baptism confers grace to sanctify the soul, but Confirmation confers the sanctifier of the soul, the Holy Spirit. Ever since the day of Pentecost this Holy Spirit has been in the world, performing His mission as Paraclete, ruling the Church as a whole, guiding it in the way of truth, and sanctifying its members. Creatures of the senses that we are, and tied down to the things of sense, we find it hard to bring home to ourselves this great truth of our faith, that we are living under the dispensation and personal guidance of the Holy Ghost. This Third Person of the blessed Trinity, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who is the Lord and giver of life, is present in the world today, in the world-wide Church, as really and truly as the Second Person, Jesus Christ, Son of the Virgin Mary, was present nineteen hundred years ago on the earth, and is still present on our altars in the Adorable Sacrament. Our Lord Himself promised that when the Paraclete should come he should abide always with the Church. He is not the less really present for our being unable to see Him with our eyes and touch Him with our hands.
Our blessed Lord, when He was visibly present on earth, dwelt with Mary and Joseph in that lowly cottage at Nazareth. He still dwells, though unseen by eyes of flesh, in our churches, on our altars. But the Holy Spirit dwells not in a temple made with bands. "Know you not," says the apostle," that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost?" Yes, this poor tenement of clay, which death one day will dissolve, is the dwelling-place of God's Holy Spirit.
And now here is a thing to think of and to take to heart: As often as a Christian sins mortally he turns God's Holy Spirit out of his temple. To turn even the meanest of men out of one's Own house without cause is shameful; to drive a man out of the house of which he is owner is open robbery. Judge, then, how heinous is mortal sin. He who is guilty of it drives God's Holy Spirit out of His dwelling-place. Let us not grieve the Holy Ghost; let us beware of quenching the Holy Ghost. Let us show due reverence to the temple in which He deigns to dwell, and treat in a befitting way this divine guest of our souls. So it will come to pass that when this house of our earthly dwelling is dissolved, He will receive us into His tabernacle--"a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
