That is my

they returned, replying for you, was, desire." The last question which was put to you through your sponsors was in these words, "Wilt thou then obediently keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life." And here again they answered for you, I will." This promise you perceive is what it was perfectly right and proper that you should make. You are sensible that it is indispensably necessary that you should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of your life, and therefore your sponsors engaged for you that you should. Now in proposing to confirm this promise you must have a real desire and fixed purpose of heart, to live in dutiful obedience to all that God has commanded, and a full determination to endeavour, by his help, without which you can do nothing, both to abstain from every thing which he has forbidden, and also to do whatever he has commanded. That such is the meaning of the engagement is evident from those other words, in which the answer to this question is given in the ministration of baptism to such as are of riper years, wherein they say, "I will endeavour so to do, God being my helper." observe to you that the Catechism shews you that God's will and commandments are principally expressed in the ten commandments, and having shewn you that your duty to God and your neighbour is contained in them, and having also taught you several particulars of your duty in both these respects, it then informs you that you are not able to do these things of yourselves, nor

Here I also

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And

to walk in the commandments of God and to serve him, without his special grace, which you must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer." Therefore in now professing to take this engagement upon yourselves, you must make the promise in entire dependance upon the help of God, and you must pray earnestly and constantly that his special grace may enable you to keep and perform all his will and commandments. again, since you cannot keep God's will and commandments without knowing what they are, you must diligently study not only the ten commandments but all the Holy Scriptures, that so you may know and walk in all his commandments and ordinances blameless, and keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man. Remember also that this engagement extends far beyond the present ceremony and the day of its observance. The engagement made for you by your sureties, and now to be renewed and confirmed by yourselves is, that you will walk in the same all the days of your life. What holy care, circumspection and watchfulness should you use through each successive year! But you need not be afraid to make this engagement, if you be really willing and desirous to fulfil it, for if you sincerely ask the help of God, he will give you his Holy Spirit, to preserve and strengthen you. Henceforth then live with watchful care, in humble dependance upon his help, and with daily earnest prayer for his

grace.

And now, my dear young friends, I have endeavoured to shew you what those promises are which you made

by your sureties at your baptism. Think well that you are going to repeat, ratify, and confirm them in your own persons in this Christian ceremony of Confirmation. You cannot but perceive that every one of these engagements was, as I have observed to you before, for your great benefit, and such as you would have made, if you had then known your own duty and interest. They are therefore such as you ought to make now. Let me also remind you that you must not for a moment imagine that if you abstain from taking these engagements upon yourselves, you will not be bound to renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh, and that you will not be bound to believe all the articles of the Christian faith, and also to keep God's holy will and commandments all the days of your life. My dear children, you are bound to do all these things whether you pledge yourselves to it or not. You are bound to it by the command of God, and the duty which you owe, and always did and always must owe, to him. You are bound to it by the sacrament of baptism, and by that sign of the cross which was then made upon your forehead "in token that hereafter you should not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto your life's end." And would you now, when you are grown to years of discretion, and able to judge and act for yourselves, would you now

C

you renounce

throw off the authority of God? Would your baptism, and with all the blessings of Christ's covenant of love and mercy? Would you break the engagements into which your sureties entered for you, and reject that holy sign which your minister made upon you? Would you make alliance with the devil, and do his works? Would you live in the ways of a wicked world, and indulge in all the sinful lusts of the flesh? Would you deny all the articles of the Christian faith, and disobediently oppose the will of God, and break his commandments all the days of your life? No, my young friends, I trust you will not do these things. You will not insult your God, nor reject your Saviour, nor renounce your baptism. No; you will go to the Bishop, and take up your baptismal vow before him. You will do this, I earnestly hope, deliberately and piously. You will go with a sincere desire and holy determination to be the Lord's children and servants. You will dedicate yourselves to him. You will avouch the Lord to be your God. Oh! my beloved young people, that there may be in you this understanding mind, this willing heart, and stedfast purpose. And oh! that a gracious God may himself also ratify and confirm his covenant with you, bless you with his mercy, favour, and care, and seal you for himself for ever by the impress of his own Spirit!

ADDRESS III.

On the Benefits to be derived from Confirmation.

My dear young people, we are again met together, that I may give, and that you may receive, such instruction respecting the ceremony of Confirmation, as may prepare you, through God's help and grace, for the right observance of it, and may induce you to go to it with a clear understanding of its nature, in a pious and humble spirit, and with a thankful, rejoicing, and expecting, heart. Observe my young friends, that I not only say to you, with a clear understanding of its nature, and in a pious and humble spirit, but also, with a thankful, rejoicing, and expecting heart. Indeed you should be very thankful to Almighty God, that he is so gracious as to readmit you into covenant with himself, though you were born in sin and children of wrath. Well may you rejoice in the great privilege into which you have been admitted by baptism. And largely may you expect great additional benefit from the approaching ceremony, which, as you have seen, is founded upon the practice of the Apostles, and which God honoured so signally with his blessing in their days. I have endeavoured to prepare you for a right observance of this