Of God and His Creatures
Of Confirmation
THE perfection of spiritual strength consists in a man's daring to
confess the faith of Christ before any persons whatsoever, undeterred
by any shame or intimidation. This Sacrament then, whereby spiritual
strength is conferred on the regenerate man, constitutes him a champion
of the faith of Christ. And because those who fight under a Prince wear
his badge, persons confirmed are signed with the sign of Christ,
whereby He fought and conquered. They receive this sign on their
foreheads, to signify that they do not blush publicly to confess the
faith of Christ. The signing is done with a composition of oil and
balsam, called 'chrism,' not unreasonably. By the oil is denoted the
power of the Holy Ghost, whereby Christ is termed 'anointed' [Acts ii,
36: x, 38] and from Christ [christos, anointed] 'Christians'
have their name, as soldiers serving under Him. In the balsam, for its
fragrance, the good name is shown, which they who live among worldly
people should have, to enable them publicly to confess the name of
Christ, to which end they are brought forth from the remote confines of
the Church to the field of battle.*
Appropriately too is this Sacrament conferred by bishops only, who are
the generals of the Christian army: for in secular warfare it belongs
to the general to enroll soldiers:* thus the
recipients of this Sacrament are enrolled in a spiritual warfare, and
the bishop's hand is imposed over them to denote the derivation of
power from Christ.
4.59 : Of Baptism
4.61 : Of the Eucharist