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 234 CONFLAGRATION to be administered in this form : " The sign of Christ unto life eternal." The earliest use of the term itself occurs in the " Apostolic Con- stitutions " (B. III., c. 17), where " the chrism " is called confirmatio confessionis, a sanction of the baptismal profession of faith. In ancient times bishops administered confirmation imme- diately after baptism ; both priests and bishops do so still in the Greek church ; and in the Latin church bishops may and sometimes do confer both sacraments at once, even in the case of infants. Priests can confirm only by delegation of the pope, in foreign missions, and during per- secution, &c. In Germany, where the refor- mation had discountenanced confirmation alto- gether, its use was restored by Spener, and the Lutheran and Reformed churches now practise it as a renewal of the baptismal covenant. The age for this is from 13 to 16. The church of Eng- land calls it "a solemn, ancient, and laudable custom, continued from the apostolic times," and fixes for the rite the age of from 16 to 18. This meets the wishes of the low church, who reject the sacramental virtue of confirmation ; but high church men urge a much earlier age. CONFLAGRATION (Lat. conflagratio, a burn- ing together), the destruction by fire of a con- siderable part of a large town or city. The term is also applied to fires which overrun a large extent of prairie or forest ; such as that in October, 1871, which swept over a great portion of the peninsula between Lakes Hu- ron and Michigan. By this conflagration it is estimated that 4,000,000,000 feet of tim- ber was destroyed, and thriving towns, farm and school houses, churches, stock, and crops were consumed ; and nearly 3,000 families, or about 18,000 persons, were rendered homeless. Conflagrations have been sometimes the con- sequence of earthquakes and volcanic erup- tions, but oftener of accident; and in early times very frequently cities were wantonly burned by conquerors. The final destruction of Nineveh was doubtless accomplished by fire ; but whether this took place at the time of its capture is uncertain. The fact of the destruc- tion by conflagration is attested by the heaps of charcoal and other signs of devouring fire which are still found among the ruins of all the royal palaces at Nimrud, Koyunjik, and Khorsabad. Fire had also an important part in the ruin of Babylon, as is shown by the vivid account of Jeremiah, whether it is to be regarded as history or prophecy: "The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight ; they have remained in their holds ; their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places ; the passages are stopped, and the seeds they have burned with fire ; the broad walls shall be utterly broken ; and her high gates shall be burned with fire." All which seems to imply that the city was dismantled, and that fire was brought in to de- stroy the palaces and fortifications; but the brick walls and ordinary houses were left, and their almost entire disappearance is owing to time and the elements. Ctesiphon and Seleu- cia, cities built in a great measure from the ruins of Babylon, were repeatedly sacked and burned. Seleucia, at the time of its destruc- tion by the Romans under Lucius Verus, about A. D. 165, is said to have contained 500,000 inhabitants, of whom 300,000 were massacred. So complete was the destruction that 40 years later the site of the city was a marsh, filled with wild game. Bagdad, partly built from the ruins of Seleucia, famous during the middle ages, and yet the most considerable city of Mesopotamia, was in 1258 captured, sacked, and partly burned by Hulaku, the grandson of Genghis Khan; and again by the Turks in 1638, when a large part of the population was put to death, and a great part of the city burned. Damascus was captured and burned by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser ; the capture and sack is among the subjects depict- ed on the extant Assyrian monuments. The story of the Trojan war is perhaps partly mythical ; but this much at least appears clear- ly historical: About 1184 B. 0. the city of Ilium, in the Troad, was besieged, finally taken by the Greeks, and destroyed, fire being large- ly used in the destruction. The cities of the ancient Egyptians had little wood in their construction, and contained little combustible material ; and their destruction appears not to have been accomplished by conflagration. Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B. C., was a Greek city rather than Egyptian, and was several times the scene of great fires ; as in its blockade in the time of Julius Ca3sar, and in the 4th century, when the temple of the Serapeum was destroyed by Christian fanatics. Tyre was captured by Al- exander the Great in 332 B. C., after a long siege ; and even after the Macedonians entered the city an obstinate resistance was kept up from the roofs of the houses. Irritated by this, the conquerors set fire to the city, massacred 8,000 of the inhabitants, crucified 2,000, and sold 30,000 more into slavery. During the long period between Nebuchadnezzar and the final Turkish domination, Jerusalem was for nearly a score of times in a great measure de- stroyed by conflagration. It was taken by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B. C., when the tem- ple and all the buildings were burned, and tl o walls completely demolished. After half a cen- tury or more a new city grew up on the site of the old one ; this was mostly destroyed by fire under Antiochus Epiphanes, about 170 B. C., and again by Antiochus Sidetes. In 63 B. C. it was captured by Pompey, and partly burned. It was restored by Herod. Judea having re- volted against the Romans, Jerusalem was cap- tured by Titus, A. D. 70, after a siege of five months. Irritated by its stubborn resistance, the Romans undertook its total destruction, fire being brought largely into play. The city was totally demolished, with the exception of three towers and a portion of the wall, which were left standing to shelter the legion who were