PREFACE BY THE LORD BISHOP OF MANCHESTER. I HAVE BEEN ASKED to prefix a few words of commendation to this essay. The point which the author establishes, with a considerable amount of learning, may be new to some readers; but the single reference to the 29th Canon (p. 28) is enough to indicate the mind of the Church of England upon the subject. The practice, however, has for so long a time fallen into desuetude, that it may be doubted if it can be revived. The last chapter of the treatise shows what benefits might be expected to follow from its revival; and as the increasing seriousness with which young people engage in the rite of Confirmation is one of the most cheering religious signs of the age, there may be those among the Clergy who may be disposed, with the hope of strengthening this feeling, to restore in their Parishes this ancient and, if rightly used, profitable institution. J. MANCHESTER. Aug. 20, 1879. |