INSTRUCTIONS IN THE DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY, INTENDED CHIEFLY AS AN INTRODUCTION BY GEORGE EDWARD LYNCH COTTON, M.A. MASTER OF MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE, AND LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. THIRD EDITION. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1853. 138. c. 177. 1 TIM. vi. 11-16. 11. But thou, O man of God... follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 13. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession : 14. That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 15. Which in His time He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords; 16. Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. PREFACE. THE following pages are principally designed as an attempt to supply the want of a Manual, containing such instruction in the principles of Christianity, as may be fitted for young persons of the educated classes who are of an age to be confirmed. Books on the subject of Confirmation have generally been written by parochial clergymen, and are therefore in their style and matter chiefly adapted to the minds of those with whom such clergymen have most intercourse, the children of the poor. But it has been felt by many persons engaged in the work of education, that something in a different tone is wanted for the use of those who have received a higher course of instruction than they. I do not mean to assert that the truths which Christ's Gospel reveals to the rich differ from those which it |