'There they will drink of his grace': sacramental life in the pre-1833 Church
We should bring them to God in Baptism, at the time appointed for their introduction into our holy faith: we should present them to Him at Confirmation, that they may there enter into a solemn personal covenant with the Lord, to fulfil all that was promised for them, when they were baptized: and we should lead them to the Holy Sacrament, that they may know and feel what their Saviour has done and suffered for their sake; may be drawn closer to him by this solemn ordinance; and obtain, there, supplies of his grace, to furnish them with strength to keep his commandments. By doing thus for our children, we shall not only be doing our bounden duty, and making a proper return to God for the blessing of offspring; but we shall be introducing them to all those privileges and benefits which the holy ordinances of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Supper of the Lord, are intended to confer.
The language of "privileges and benefits" speaks of the grace bestowed in the two Sacraments and in Confirmation. Such was the regeneration bestowed in Holy Baptism:
It is the new birth, or being "born again", spoken of by our blessed Saviour in his conversation with Nicodemus; and the "regeneration" mentioned by St. Paul in his epistle to Titus; by which we are transplanted, as it were, from that state of sin and death eternal, into which we had been sown by Adam's transgression, and implanted into a new state, a state of pardon, acceptance, and favour; made subjects of God's kingdom in Christ; and heirs of all those mercies which are promised in the Gospel to those who keep the terms of the covenant, into which they have been received at Baptism; the conditions of repentance, faith, and obedience.
Warner repeats the well-established teaching on Confirmation, emphasising the "gifts and graces" granted in the rite:
the benefits conferred at Confirmation will be of high importance to the edification and peace of our children here, and their happiness hereafter. It is then they are brought openly, before the Church, "to confirm and ratify", with "their own mouth and consent", what "their godfathers and godmothers promised for them in Baptism"; ... But this is not all; for it is at Confirmation that our children receive, through the imposition of the hands of God's appointed minister, and his humble prayers, "the Holy Ghost, the Comforter; increase in the gifts of grace" ... gifts and graces that will remain with them for ever, provided they earnestly endeavour to perform that promise which they so solemnly engage in at the time of this sacred ordinance.
As for the Lord's Supper, it is here that the "privileges and benefits" of grace are tasted, seen, drunk:
the privileges and benefits vouchsafed to our children at the Supper of the Lord will be infinitely more valuable to them, than all the outward accomplishments which we can bestow upon them, or all the temporal advantages which the world can give then ... They will there "taste and see how gracious the Lord is"; and be refreshed "in the multitude of his mercies". They will there drink of his grace, as out of a river; and imbibe all holy thoughts, all pious dispositions, all charitable feelings, all just intentions, and all upright resolutions: and, finally, they will there obtain the succour and assistance of the Holy Ghost, to confirm in them all these good and righteous dispositions; and to give them power to honour God's holy name and his word, and to serve Him truly all the "days of their life".
Warner's words are another reminder that any notion - still all too evident in Anglican discourse, although long abandoned by serious historical studies - that pre-1833 Anglicanism was somehow deficient in terms of the sacramental life is a nonsense. It was self-evidently not the case that, before Tractarianism, Anglican life and piety was sacramentally deprived.
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