SYNOPSIS OF THE BISHOP'S CHARGE. 217 be a bad companion's personal endowments, we should not notice them, but we should look on their inward vices before we choose them. If a good person happens to choose bad companions, he will gradually loose all those virtues which he once was possessed of, he will degrade himself through those wicked friends, but he will not be able to resist their bad temptations. It is a easy matter to fall from the right path, but it is difficult to get into the right road when once strayed. Wicked companions will lead a person into all sorts of vices, dishonesty, drunkenness, murder, and all such like things. How careful should we then be in the choise of friends. Friendship is sweet, but it is also deceitful. Many there be who will at first pretend to be what they may call good, and yet be infinitely wicked. They will be ashamed for you to see any of their evil and dark deeds at first, but these will gradually appear, and come out, one by one, until they are all, every one, discovered. How careful should we then be in the choise of friends, we should seriously think before we choose them. Many good people has been led from the right way, by the false flattery of a friend, and many bad persons have also been brought to see and acknowledge their faults through the kind instructions and warnings of a friend. Next will be considered the holy rite of matrimoney. This ceremony unites man and woman for the rest of life. They are joined together by the Minister, never more to be seperated by any one. In this rite many things must be remembered. The husband is bound to love and cherish his wife till death shall sever that bond, and the wife promisses to obey her husband. S. Paul says the husband should give honour unto the wife as unto the weaker sex. This holy right was instituted by GoD for the happiness of man. It was and is now a neccessary thing for the happiness of men. Even our SAVIOUR Himself honoured a marriage feast with His own natural appearance. theless let it alway be considered and remembered that the husband is the head of the wife, he is the sole head of the family. His body, strength, and frame, give him that title. Let them always consider that they are joined by L Never 218 SYNOPSIS OF THE BISHOP'S CHARGE. nothing save the appointed way of GOD. Let them always think of the promisses they made when they were united, and never violate them. Else will they be called to an account for it at the dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed. The next thing to be borne in mind is the duties of fathers to their children. We say fathers, because mothers in general do their parts towards the child. The father do not seem to take an interest in the education of his own child, all this work gennerally devolves on the mother. Still it is the father's duty as well as the mother's, to see that his children are properly and well instructed. You may often see a tender mother imparting her knowledge to her youthful children, while the father takes very little notice whether the child learns any thing or not. He do not seem to care provided he has nothing to do with it. The children's souls will be required at his hands, and what will be his answer when he will have to appear before that great and terrible GOD, if he neglects that duty to his children. Lastly, we will consider the invitation to the LORD'S table. As soon as any one is confirmed, he should avail himself of the first opportunity to attend to that Divine calling. If we let it alone once we shall twice, and so on till we do not go at all. Should we not then attend to the heavenly invitation of the Redeemer, Who says, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." It is one of the two Sacraments which are gennerally neccessary for the salvation of every sinner. GOD Himself invites us to the feast, let us not refuse. But if we go without self-examination, without searching our hearts and repenting of our sins, we had much better stay away, we only incur damnation to ourselves. If we go to that holy table in faith, believing that we shall be strengthened by the holy elements, it will be the means of supporting us through this world of sin, if we go often enough, and always with such faith. Let no one ever delay when he is invited to that holy table, lest if he do delay it once or twice, he will never go, and so make himself unworthy of the redemption of the blessed Saviour. A. V. THE ESSAY. Whatever may be said of the Synopsis of Sermons as a profitable exercise, there can be no doubt whatever about the Essay; the benefit derived from this has no drawback of any kind. The intention of it, of course, is to direct the mind of the catechumen to any point of peculiar importance, or still more to any particular parallelism or train of cause and effect, which may be suited to his own disposition or the bent of his own thoughts. There is no exercise which will give the Parson so good an insight into the mind of his catechumen as this, nor are any observations of his likely to be of more use, than his criticisms on the various passages of the composition before him. This exercise, however, will never be one of very general utility, for on trial the Parson will be surprised to find how very few there are, even among those considered well educated, who can express their thoughts in an essay. Many there will always be to master his examination papers, however difficult he makes them, provided they consist of direct questions requiring direct answers; but to connect these answers into a train of reasoning, or even a lengthened narrative, requires practice, and can be learned in no other way. Children are trained in national schools to write essays, and should be in every school. The first step is simple narrative. The lives of patriarchs and apostles, or descriptions of animals and vegetables, or facts of history, written on their slates. This naturally leads, in the higher classes, to the causes and results of the facts related, which, as the mind becomes strengthened and capable of reasoning, expands into the essay. The annexed specimen is the composition of a catechumen trained under this system at Westbourne National School. Subjects of Essays adapted for Confirmation. I. Explain S. Peter's character from the instances in S. Matt. xiv. and S. Matt. xxvi.; willing but failing when put to trial. Compare this with the instances recorded in Acts iii. State how long an interval of time elapsed between S. Matt. xxvi. and Acts iii., and what remarkable events happened during that interval. Account for the change in S. Peter's conduct, and show in what that change consisted. II. Explain the parable of the talents, by comparing it first with Exod. xvi. 18, and then with 1 Cor. xii. III. "Then was JESUS led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Explain the force of the word "then," by comparing this passage with the preceding chapter. Considering CHRIST, in His human character, as our example, reconcile by means of this what S. Paul says (Rom. vii.) about his natural corruption, forcing him into sin against his will, with what he says (1 Cor. x.) about God not suffering us to be tempted above that we are able. IV. Compare the fifth chapter of S. John, where CHRIST, having strengthened the paralytic man, warns him to sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon him, with the description given by S. Matthew, (xii. 43), where the devil, who has been cast out, finding on his return his abode swept and garnished, takes to him seven other spirits worse than himself. Apply this warning to the case of a Christian just confirmed. SPECIMEN OF ESSAY ON THE LAST SUBJECT BY A The pool of Bethesda, the place where CHRIST performed this miracle, is in the first instance a type of baptism. It was the place where GOD had vouchsafed to heal persons afflicted with any disease, should they wash in those waters after they were touched by a heavenly messenger, while at baptism a person may be cleansed from his sins by being washed in the waters after they are sanctified by GoD's heavenly messengers, the priests; but the same miracle will do equally well in typifying any vehicle through which GOD pleases to send His grace, and therefore may be applied to Confirmation. The man on whom CHRIST performed His miracle had been paralysed thirty and eight years, and it appears to have been as a punishment for some sin, that the sickness was sent upon him then. CHRIST, most likely to try the patience of one who had been so long sick, inquires of him if he will be made whole, and then heals him. No person is obliged to enter the Christian covenant, CHRIST'S Church is open to all, and all are welcome, and when the Christian is admitted, CHRIST gives His free grace, not for any deservings on his part, that would be rewarding him, He gives it to him gratuitously. But, because it is given freely, it by no means signifies that we are required to do nothing with it after it is given; we are expected to work with it, and if we neglect this, we are punished for neglecting it. After the paralytic man had been healed, CHRIST, although He met him in the temple, (a very proper place for him who had been sick), did not fail to remind him that should he sin again, a worse thing would come upon him. Our SAVIOUR had before explained this in His parable of the unclean spirit, who, after he had been once cast out, and a second time found a ready reception for him, the last state of the man in whom he had entered, was worse than the first. This is also, in its first sense, a type of baptism, but might also be applied to other graces. The devil is cast out by the free grace of GoD, and the man is enabled to work with the grace given him. Before this time his sins were sins of infirmity, but now if his heart is again become wicked, is again swept and garnished for the devil, his sin is seven times worse than it was before, because he has despised the strengthening grace of God, and has sinned now, having the power to do better. He |