'That which Calvin wished earnestly to be restored': the Articles of Perth, the Jacobean Church of Scotland, and Confirmation
Today we turn to to the specific issue of the rite of Confirmation, as provided by the fourth Article of Perth:
it is thought good, that the minister in every parish, should catechise all young children of eight years of age, and see that they have the knowledge, and be able to make rehearsal of the Lord's Prayer, Belief, and Ten Commandments, with answers to the questions of the small catechism, used in our church, and that every bishop in his visitation, shall censure the minister who shall be found remiss therein; and said bishops shall cause the said children to be presented before them, and bless them with prayer for increase of their knowledge, and the continuance of God's heavenly graces with every one of them.
As we saw in the previous post, for the critics of the Articles of Perth, Confirmation by bishops was a "damnable presumption", for by it bishops "appropriate vnto themselues the dutie that belongs to all Pastors", that is, of catechizing the youth.
After Lindsay refuted this by pointing to how the 1560 Book of Discipline provided for the Superintendents to examine the instruction of the youth in the parishes under their oversight, he then described how in Confirmation the respective duties of bishops, pastors, and parents cohered:
Further, as it is the dutie of euery Pastor, to catechize the young children in his Parish, and try whether the Parents haue kept their promise made at the Baptisme of their Children, in which tryall, if hee shall finde the childe to haue profited well, hee ought to blesse and pray for them: So is it the Bishops dutie in his Visitation to try if the Pastors haue performed their parts, and after examination, to blesse these same children. And as the examination, and blessing vsed by the Pastor, takes not away the power, that parents haue to examine and blesse their owne children; so the examination and blessing of Bishops takes not away the power that Pastors haue of triall, and blessing within their owne Parish. Therefore to conclude, the Ordinance set downe in the Act of Perth appropriates nothing to Bishops, that is common to Pastors and Parents, but preserues vnto euery one the prerogatiue of his owne calling.
It is an attractive description, not relying on exalted claims for either episcopacy or Confirmation, but presenting an ecclesial context which 'preserves unto every one the prerogative of his own calling'. Parents nurture their children, according the promise and vow of Baptism; pastors catechize the youth; the bishop examines and blesses those who have been catechised. Bishops are part of this patchwork of duties and responsibilities, but only part, confirming the duties and vocation of parents and pastors.
This understanding of Confirmation was not only attractive - it was also thoroughly Reformed. Lindsay could invoke the greatest of Reformed divines in support of this provision of the Articles of Perth:
Neither is there any thing ordayned in the Act, but that which Caluine wished earnestly to be restored againe in the Church.
It was Calvin who wished that Confirmation "were restored to the first integritie in the reformed Churches". Lindsay quoted from the Institutes, IV.19.4:
It was the custome of old ... such as were baptised in their infancy, because they had not giuen a confession of their Faith vnto the Church, about the end of their childhood they were presented by their Parents of new, and examined by the Bishop according to a certayne common forme of Catechisme, which they had in these times. And to the end, this action, that was in it selfe graue and holy, might haue the greater reuerence and dignitie, the ceremonie of imposition of hands was also vsed. Thus the child after approbation of his Faith, was dimitted with a blessing, &c. Such an imposition of hands which is vsed for a simple blessing, I commend, doe and wish the sincere vse thereof were restored.
A further quotation from Calvin (IV.19.13) was also provided:
Would to God, we did obserue the custome, which I shew, the Ancients vsed: For then (Confirmation) should not be such as the Papists fancie, which cannot be once named without the injurie of Baptisme, but it should be a catechizing of children, whereby they should giue account of their Faith before the Church.
As Lindsay goes on to state:
This was the minde of the most learned and worthy Diuine that hath liued in this last age, wherewith, let the Reader iudge, if the Ordinance of Perth bee not agreeing.
Here is a particularly significant example of the Articles of Perth standing firmly within the broader Reformed tradition, restoring to the Jacobean Church of Scotland a practice that was not only known to the Scottish Church under the superintendency of its initial Reformation, but which also aligned with Calvin's vision for a reformed rite of Confirmation, including the imposition of hands in blessing. Yet again we see how the Jacobean Church of Scotland, rather than, as the Covenanter tradition attempts to portray, moving away from the Reformed mainstream, was embodying that mainstream in an attractive, eirenic fashion.
(The picture is of a late 17th century drawing of Brechin, Lindsay's See.)
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