The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

""THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION. 32]Holy Ghost came upon vliem, and they spoke tonguesand prophesied."lIn his Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul enumeratesConfirmation, or the laying on of hands, togetherwith Baptism and Penance, among the fundamental2truths of Christianity.And to the Corinthians he writes : He that confirmethus with you in Christ, and that hath anointedus, is God ;who also hath sealed us, and given thepledge of the 3Spirit in our hearts." God confirmethus in faith ;He hath anointed us by spiritual unction,typified by the sacred chrism which is marked onour foreheads. He hath sealed us by the indeliblecharacter stamped on our souls, which is indicatedby the sign of the cross impressed on us. He hathgiven the pledge of the Holy Ghost in our hearts, bythe testimony of a good conscience, as an earnest offuture glory. The Bishop performs the externalunction, but God, who worketh all in all,"sanctifies the soul by His secret operation.It cannot be asserted that the laying on of hands,and the graces which followed from it, as recordedin the Acts, were not intended to be continued afterthe Apostles times ;for there is no warrant for suchan assumption. This function of imposing handsformed as regular and imperative a part of theApostolic ministry as the duties which they exercised in preaching, baptizing, ordaining, etc. Andhence the successors of the Apostles in the nineteenth1 Acts xix. 5, 6.2Heb. vi. 1, 2. II. Cor. i. 21.V