And in like manner, when there were brought to Jesus little children that he should touch them, "he took them up in his arms, laid his hands upon them, and blessed them." Mark x. 16. These are instances of simple Benediction.

But the same sign was used, further, for setting apart the persons so blessed to certain offices and duties. Thus, when Joshua was to be set apart as the successor of Moses in the government of Israel, "the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him. And Moses took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses." Numb. xxvii. 18, 22, 23, Whence, in the Christian church, the setting apart to any spiritual office was performed by laying on of hands. When the seven deacons were chosen, "the whole multitude set them before the Apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." Acts, vi. 5, 6. And in the same way ministers were ordained to their holy function, as

St. Paul intimates when he cautions Timothy, that he "lay hands suddenly on no man." 1 Tim. v.

22.

These are instances of Dedication to the ser

vice of God.

But, where there is pious Benediction, and Set

ting apart, with prayer, to God's service, there, we are sure, to every devout recipient, is God's blessing, and therewith God's grace and help for the fulfilment of that service. Therefore, the laying on of hands was, thirdly, a sign of the Conveyance of such grace as was needful for the accomplishment of the duties to which the persons were thus dedicated. "I put thee in remembrance," says St. Paul to Timothy, "that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." 2 Tim. "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." 1 Tim. iv. 14.

i. 6.

And this Sign, therefore, was employed by the Apostles to symbolize that Benediction, Consecration, and Communication of the Spirit, whereby the first converts were confirmed by them in the truth they had embraced, and were established in the faith. When Philip the deacon had been preaching in Samaria, and many believed and were baptized, the Apostles "sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost; (for as yet he was fallen upon none of them; only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received. the Holy Ghost." Acts, viii. 14-17. And St. Paul, in like manner, coming to Ephesus, and

finding certain disciples who had been baptized with John's baptism, when they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, "laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Ghost came upon them." Acts, xix. 5, 6. Whence this same Apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, (ch. vi. 2,) joins together "the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands," as among the very elementary principles of Christianity.

On these grounds, therefore, and "after the example of the Apostles," our church calls on all her members, when they shall have come to years of discretion, to present themselves before their Bishop, to confirm and ratify the promises that have been made for them in their baptism, and thus, by God's grace, to be themselves confirmed in the faith and service of Christ their Lord. And all, then, of this congregation, who are thus "come to years of discretion;" that is, to an age at which they are able to discriminate, separate, weigh, consider, judge, at which they can turn the eye of meditation inward on themselves, and upward towards their God,-at which they can understand, feel, and deliberately adopt for their own, what their godfathers and godmothers promised for them;-all such I earnestly and affectionately entreat to enrol themselves as candidates for this encouraging and beneficial ordinance !

For, is it not encouraging, my dear young friends, to be brought into the congregation of the saints, there to receive, from your Spiritual Ruler, the devout and hearty Benediction of the church? Do you feel what it is to be cheered in the path of duty by the smile of your friends and parents ? Does your heart leap up within you, and your eye glisten with delight, at the voice of approbation; and do you start into new vigour at but one kind word? Here is the voice of all your fellow Christians raised to animate you. Here are the arms of the assembled church extended to embrace you. Here are the hands of your Bishop lifted up upon you. Here is the grace and favour of your God significantly certified by his pastoral benediction. O it is a glorious spectacle, to behold the church acknowledging for her own, and welcoming into her communion, the successive generations of her children; taking them home, as it were, from the school to which they had been put out by her in their earliest infancy, and establishing them in the bosom of her family, and bidding them take place and rank at her table, and investing them with the robe of spiritual manhood, and numbering them thenceforth as no more children under tutors and governors, but as Sons; for whom she supplicates the spirit of adoption, whereby they may cry, Abba, Father! Is there no expansion of the heart, no

energy before unknown, no sudden shooting up into a new character, with new anxieties and plans, when you pass out from the nursery or the schoolroom into the family and the world? Feel you not the powers of thought, and feeling, and determination, budding forth within you, and blossoming into a blushing and a breathing fragrance? And will you not seek a similar stirring and expansion, and springing to maturity, of your soul-your inner life? Do you not long to become full-grown men for God?-to think for him; feel for him; act for him; step out into the world instinct with energy for him? Come, then, on this occasion and receive the church's Benediction ! Entreat for it with all the earnestness with which the trembling Esau cried to his father, Bless me, even me also, O my Father! Catch the animating influences of the hopes which she repeats and certifies to you ! And then shall you "lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord; yea, the Lord that made heaven and earth shall bless you out of Zion !"

But I invite you, not only thus to seek the Benediction of the church, but to come and consecrate yourselves to Him whose blessing she invokes upon you. Remember your present standing as baptized persons, and give yourselves to that to which you have already been given. You are not now