OassJR\_ii2- 
 Book_.J^£ 
 
AN INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY 
 
 FOR 
 
 social Worship : 
 
 WITH 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON ITS REASONABLENESS 
 AND UTILITY ; 
 
 AND 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE 
 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF THE TEMPLE AT 
 JERUSALEM, AND OF THE SYNA- 
 GOGUE, WERE CONDUCTED IN 
 THE TIME OF CHRIST. 
 
 By THOMAS MOORE, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 SOLD BY R. HUNTER, 72, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD ; AND 
 DAVID EATON, 187, HIGH-HOLBORN. 
 
 1821. 
 

 PRINTED BY R. AND A. TAYLOR, 
 SHOE-LANE, LONDON. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 JL HE following Treatise originated in the 
 expression of some doubts respecting the 
 authority derived from the Scriptures for 
 Social Worship by individuals whom the 
 Writer knew to be persons of real integrity 
 and conscientious Christians ; doubts which 
 were occasioned by recent publications on 
 the subject. It consists of the substance of 
 three Sermons, designed chiefly to afford 
 those who heard them the means of forming 
 a correct judgement concerning the degree 
 of encouragement given to this practice bjr 
 the Xew Testament especially: the result of 
 the investigation necessary for this purpose 
 was increased surprise that any dispute should 
 ever have arisen on the subject. Several 
 friends were of opinion that this little work is 
 calculatedto be useful; and it is in conformity 
 with their advice that it is now published. 
 Though there is not the slightest probability 
 that any efforts to restrain the exercise of our 
 
IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 social affections and capacities in rendering 
 united homage to the supreme and universal 
 Benefactor, will ever be followed by exten- 
 sive and permanent effects, yet as far as they 
 do succeed, the advocates for public wor- 
 ship cannot but consider them as highly in- 
 jurious, since they appear to strike at the 
 root of the influence of religion on society 
 at large. The well known maxim iC obsta 
 principiis" holds good in religion and morals 
 not less than in medicine ; and, however 
 limited may be the probable extension of what 
 appears to us to be pernicious error, strenu- 
 ous and persevering exertions in any cause 
 will usually obtain considerable success. To 
 throw what check we can, therefore, upon the 
 early progress of such error, is an attempt the 
 design of which at least will meet with ap- 
 probation. Others have written with great 
 ability in defence of social worship ; but a 
 new publication on the subject, occasioned 
 by new circumstances, may possibly be read 
 by some individuals to whom it may be use- 
 ful, when the former, whatever be their me- 
 rits, are laid aside. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Definitions ...... 1 
 
 Social Worship the universal Practice of Chris- 
 tians .... - . - 3 
 
 Reasonableness of Social Worship ... 9 
 
 Its Utility 16 
 
 The Practice of the Jews under the Mosaic Dis- 
 pensation . og 
 The religious Services of the Temple in the Time 
 
 of Christ 44 
 
 Sacrifices - - - - - » -.« 47 
 
 Public Prayers ...... 43 
 
 Music of the Temple Service - - . - 54 
 The religious Worship of the Synagogue in the 
 Time of Christ ...... 6C 
 
 The Manner in which the religious Worship of 
 
 the ancient Synagogue was conducted - . SO 
 
 Passages in the New Testament in favour of Social 
 
 Prayer 89 
 
 The Practice of Christians immediately after the 
 Apostolic Age - -- - . -133 
 
 The Resemblance between the Services of the first 
 Christian Assemblies and those of the ancient 
 Synagogue - - . . . -136 
 
 Conclusion ....... 143 
 
 b 
 
AN INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 SANCTION GIVEN BY THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 TO 
 
 Social W&qx&Up : 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Arguments from Reason in favour of 
 Social Worship. 
 
 SECTION L 
 Explanations. The universal Practice of Christians. 
 
 WORSHIP is reverence, homage, adoration, 
 in whatever way expressed. It has a civil as well 
 as religious application, or is used to denote the 
 honour rendered either to man or his Creator. 
 Its former signification is now become in a great 
 measure obsolete, and the use of it is preserved 
 only by ancient institutions; but, being common 
 in the time when the authorized version of the 
 Scriptures was made, it occurs repeatedly in that 
 
 B 
 
2 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 translation, as in Matth. ix. 18, xviii. 26, Luke 
 xiv. 10 a , and Acts x. 25. In its relig-ious sense 
 it is applied very generally to any external ho- 
 mage rendered to God, as in Matth. iv. 9 and 10 ; 
 and as in John iv. 21 — -24, to the union of ex- 
 ternal homage with the genuine spirit of de- 
 votion by which all religious services that are 
 acceptable to Him, must be accompanied. In 
 1 Chron. xxix. 20, it is used in both its mean- 
 ings; "And all the congregation blessed the Lord 
 God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, 
 and worshiped the Lord and the king." 
 
 It is observable however, that in its religious 
 application this word is used in the Scriptures 
 most commonly to express that divine adoration 
 which is public and social b . 
 
 Worship is the generic term ; Prayer is a spe- 
 cific mode of religious homage, and in its more 
 extended sense includes adoration, thanksgiving, 
 confession and petition ; but its strict and proper 
 signification is limited to the latter : it is more- 
 
 a Though the original word in the last of these three pas- 
 sages is very different from that which occurs in the two for- 
 mer, the translators have rendered it worship, as at that time 
 expressing the meaning of it with sufficient clearness : <e Then 
 shalt thou have worship (honour) in the presence of them that 
 sit at meat with thee." 
 
 b In the law of Moses there are no directions respecting 
 prayer ; but the ancient as well as modern Jews, according to 
 Maimonides, understood the command (Deut. x. 12) "Thou 
 shalt worship the Lord thy God, &c." to signify prayer, inclu- 
 ding adoration, praise and supplication. See Vitringa de Syn. 
 Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. pag. 1031 ; and Seidell's Works, 
 vol. i. lib. iii. cap. iii. pag. 286. 
 
EXPLANATIONS. O 
 
 over remarkable, that the prayers recorded in the 
 Scriptures, and particularly the Lord's prayer, 
 consist chiefly of petition. 
 
 Prayer may be divided into mental and oral, 
 Oral prayer, or the uttering of the devout sen* 
 timents of the mind aloud, may indeed be pri- 
 vate ; but, as the nature of it implies, it is usually 
 social. 
 
 In the following pages we are to inquire, Whe- 
 ther or not the practice of social prayer is deci- 
 dedly sanctioned by the Scriptures, and particu- 
 larly those of the New Testament. That it is, 
 to me appears unquestionable ; and such has uni- 
 formly been the opinion of the great body of 
 Christian professors in all ages. From the time 
 of the apostles to the present day; among those 
 who have been taught in the school of Christ, 
 whatever form of church government and reli- 
 gious discipline they may have adopted, or what- 
 ever systems of doctrine they may have received 
 as true ; whether Episcopalians, Presbyterians, 
 Independents, or Baptists; whether Trinitarians 
 or Unitarians, Arians, Socinians, Sabellians, Lu- 
 therans, or Calvinists; of whatever name or de- 
 nomination ; among them all, social prayer has uni- 
 versally prevailed. This is one of those subjects 
 respecting which there has been the least contro- 
 versy. Upon other points of faith and practice, 
 in a great majority of instances, relative to the 
 Christian religion, the most violent and perpe- 
 tual contentions have arisen, of which some have 
 b 2 
 
4 UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS- 
 
 issued in persecutions but little inferior in bitter- 
 ness and ferocity to those by which the progress 
 of Christianity was at first marked in lines of 
 blood by Pagan jealousy and superstition; nor 
 can perfect, absolute uniformity of opinion, on any 
 topic of discussion, be expected, whilst human 
 nature remains what it is. But here, amongst 
 those who have been the most intrepid opponents 
 of the established systems of the day, as well 
 as the advocates of those systems themselves, 
 through all the contentions by which the Chris- 
 tian world has been agitated from the beginning, 
 there has been, and is still, as near an approach 
 to unanimity as the history of ecclesiastical affairs 
 can supply. The practice of social prayer has 
 been as general as the belief in a providence, the 
 resurrection of the dead, and the final judgement 
 of the world. — How is this circumstance to be 
 accounted for? 
 
 Reasoning upon a principle universally ad- 
 mitted, where is the cause of this great, exten- 
 sive, and permanent effect among Christians of 
 every name, if social prayer receive no sanction 
 from the religion of Jesus Christ? How comes it 
 to pass, that all parties of Christians, however 
 wide have been their differences on other subjects, 
 and however bitter their animosities, have agreed 
 here in so far mistaking the nature of their Mas- 
 ter's instructions, and the design of his religion, 
 as to adopt universally a practice which he him- 
 self disapproved, if he did not absolutely forbid? 
 
UNIVERSAL, PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS. D 
 
 The corruptions of Christianity have all been 
 traced to their sources, and their progress has 
 been described with sufficient correctness; but 
 where is the origin of social worship among the 
 followers of Christ, if it be not found in the Scrip- 
 tures, and how can the history of its progress be 
 separated from that of the Christian religion ? 
 
 We know, indeed, it has lately been affirmed — 
 and but lately by professed Christians — that all 
 this mischief, as it is considered, is to be attri- 
 buted to priestcraft; to the more than magic in- 
 fluence of hireling, ambitious, designing, hypo- 
 critical, interested, bigoted, fanatical priests, 
 who, if public worship, or social prayer, were not 
 in use, would lose the craft from which their g;ains 
 are extracted; but who, as ecclesiastical affairs 
 are now managed, make a trade of religion suffi- 
 ciently profitable. Bat what does this supposi- 
 tion imply ? In the first place, that men who pos- 
 sess superior means of moral and intellectual im- 
 provement, and who, generally at least, are in 
 the habit of making considerable use of the ad- 
 vantages which they enjoy; who are consequent- 
 ly distinguished above other classes of the com- 
 munity by their mental acquisitions ; whose 
 stated occupation moreover is calculated to em- 
 ploy their attention constantly on the nature and 
 obligations of moral and religious duties, and who 
 are therefore usually allowed to possess habits of 
 general integrity; — that these men, thus gifted and 
 thus distinguished by religious advantages and in- 
 
6 UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 tellectual endowments, many of whom also deserv- 
 edly hold the highest stations in the scientific and 
 literary world, in this instance conspire to render 
 themselves deserving of universal abhorrence and 
 contempt by practising the grossest of all imposi- 
 tions on mankind ; by assuming the profession of 
 religion in its most sacred form, as a cloak to cover 
 the basest of purposes, which in comparatively 
 few instances can have any rational hope of suc- 
 cess, in a worldly view, worth regarding. Even 
 among the ministers of " the church established by 
 law/' the number is a minority, who can have any 
 well grounded hope of really bettering their tem- 
 poral circumstances by assuming an office direct- 
 ly opposed to every thing that is hypocritical and 
 sordid. And among Dissenters, the opponents 
 of the established systems of faith and discipline, 
 who is there that does not know, that of all 
 schemes for worldly advancement, that of assu- 
 ming the office of religious teacher is one of the 
 most hopeless ? How few are the instances of the 
 profits of the profession affording a compensation 
 at all adequate to the labour and talents that are 
 necessary to success ! If there be instances of this 
 kind, so limited is their number as to supply no 
 motive sufficiently powerful to influence the con- 
 duct of men possessing common discernment and 
 common discretion. And for the great body of 
 dissenting ministers, who is so ignorant of their 
 situation as not to admit, that there is not the 
 slightest prospect of temporal emolument and 
 
UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS, 7 
 
 worldly gain from their employment? Who can 
 doubt, that, whilst the same abilities and the same 
 industry exerted in other professions, or in trade 
 and commerce, would be productive of far more 
 comfortable and even independent circumstances, 
 a large proportion of them devote their lives, if not 
 to penury and distress, at least to the miseries of 
 dependence ; and dependence too of the worst 
 kind; the dependence of one, whose office and 
 education ought to render him the superior, upon 
 many, whose limited knowledge and variety of 
 tempers, prejudices, interests and failings, will 
 frequently render his situation in a worldly view 
 truly deplorable ? Such then are the allurements 
 which are held out to men of sense as the barter 
 for conscience, — the pay for the prostitution of 
 their principles and their talents, whatever they 
 may be. It is for this that persons who have 
 greatly superior advantages for intellectual and 
 religious improvement, and whose habits are ne- 
 cessarily on the side of morality, are supposed by 
 the imputation to render themselves the basest of 
 characters, and by the constant practice of reli- 
 gious imposition to become as despicable for their 
 weakness and folly as for their total want of in- 
 tegrity ! None can believe that to be the case with 
 large bodies of mankind but those whose discern- 
 ment is annihilated by their prejudices, or bigot- 
 ed attachment to favourite opinions. 
 
 Again : What does the supposition that the 
 whole Christian world has been hitherto deluded 
 
8 UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 by priestcraft, or the interested bigotry of priests, 
 into the practice of social prayer, imply, but, in 
 the second place, that the people themselves are 
 as blind, as ignorant, or as criminal, in submit- 
 ting to religious imposition, as their ministers are 
 unprincipled and weak in carrying it into prac- 
 tice ? The satire falls as severely upon the one as 
 the other ; and goes to show, that from the earliest 
 ages of Christianity until now, they who have 
 been taught have as little understanding and in- 
 tegrity as those who have been employed to teach ; 
 that the great body of Christians have as yet been, 
 and still are, either knaves or dupes, or both; 
 and that the number who may take it for granted 
 that they alone are possessed of sense and princi- 
 ple united, is so small as scarcely to be percepti- 
 ble. What moreover do the people gain by the 
 imposition? Do they receive payment for giving 
 it encouragement and support by their example 
 and attendance ? or are they universally contri- 
 buting to the maintenance of what by opening the 
 New Testament they might easily know to be the 
 grossest deception ? Our opinion of mankind bow- 
 ever is not sunk thus low ; and we consequently 
 infer, that the universal agreement of Christians, 
 in all ages, in favour of social prayer, explicitly 
 declared as it is by their practice, is a presump- 
 tive argument of no inconsiderable force in its sup- 
 port, as a practice equally approved by reason and 
 the Scriptures. The whole current coin of a coun- 
 try cannot be counterfeit, neither can the uniform 
 
ItEASOiNABI.UNESS 0¥ SOCIAL WORSHIP. 9 
 
 and universal practice of Christians originate in 
 fraud, and total ignorance of the Scriptures. 
 
 It will still however be said, and why should 
 it not ? that we have the Bible, containing the rule 
 of faith and duty, in our hands, and by examining 
 the Scriptures for ourselves, as we have an un- 
 questionable right and as it is our duty to do, we 
 can discover whether or not social prayer is a 
 practice which Christ and his apostles approved 
 and encouraged. By this test we have not the 
 slightest objection that the question should be 
 tried, and have no fear for the result. 
 
 Previously however to entering upon this in- 
 quiry, the reasonableness and utility of social 
 prayer have some claim upon, our attention, as 
 well as the practice of the ancient church of God 
 under the Mosaic dispensation. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 The Reasonableness and Utility of Social Worship. 
 
 On this part of the subject I shall beg leave, in 
 the first place, to remind the reader of the just 
 remark, that the Christian religion is the religion 
 of nature explained, illustrated, extended, and 
 enforced by higher sanctions and by motives more 
 powerful and efficacious. In the former there is 
 nothing inconsistent with the latter: and if there 
 were, it could not be true ; for as the light of rea- 
 son is as much the gift of God for the direction of 
 b 5 
 
10 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 his accountable creatures as revelation, they can- 
 not be opposed to each other. Were there any 
 thing in Christianity inconsistent with reason, 
 then Christianity would be an irrational religion, 
 and consequently would be unfit for man, who is 
 a rational being. We have in fact no means of 
 ascertaining, whether the religion of the New 
 Testament be true or false but the use of reason; 
 and, with whatever contempt and ingratitude 
 some persons may speak of this first, best fruit of 
 their Creator's beneficerce, it is by this faculty 
 alone that they themselves do in fact judge of the 
 nature of the doctrines and duties which the go- 
 spel inculcates, as well as of the other evidences 
 of its divine origin a . Hence it follows, If we can 
 prove that social prayer is a reasonable practice, 
 then it is at least consistent with the Christian 
 religion, and ought to be used. 
 
 a We are told, indeed, that the Scriptures cannot be un- 
 derstood without the assistance of the holy spirit, or super- 
 natural illumination \ and on this subject the following compa- 
 rison has been used : What benefit would you derive, it has been 
 asked, from the contents of a book which you have never read, 
 in a room perfectly dark ? But in the state of this dark room 
 is the human mind by nature with respect to religion ; so that 
 reason, according to this assertion, affords no light whatever 
 on religious topics essential to salvation. This surely is treat- 
 ing this valuable gift of God with sufficient contempt and in- 
 gratitude. However, the present is not a proper opportunity 
 for discussing this question. I shall only observe, that a Bro- 
 thers, a Southcott, and a Huntington, with a thousand other 
 fanatics, have laid equal claim to divine illumination with the 
 whole race of popular preachers of this or former periods, and 
 with equal proof of the justice of their pretensions. What 
 evidence have we, either in the one case or the other, of the 
 
OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 1 I 
 
 With the view, then, of establishing this point, 
 let it be observed in the first place, that public 
 worship and social prayer are perfectly consistent 
 with the social nature and circumstances of man, 
 in conjunction with the relation which connects 
 him with his Creator, and the obligations under 
 which he is laid to divine beneficence. 
 
 " Have we not all one Father ? Hath not one 
 God created us ? " Was not the favourite notion 
 of our great Master concerning " his God and 
 our God." that of the Universal Parent, — "his 
 Father and our Father?" And was not this the 
 character in which the apostles, his immediate 
 successors in the great work of propagating the 
 gospel, in their discourses and epistles delighted 
 chiefly to present him to the confidence and ve- 
 neration of mankind ? And are there any persons 
 now professing Christianity, who retain the an- 
 cient Jewish prejudice, and adopt opinions which 
 represent the all- beneficent Creator, God who is 
 love, as exercising the attributes of father towards 
 
 existence of such a gift, but the assertion of those who tell us 
 they possess it ? We respect the claims of the apostles to su- 
 pernatural influence and divine illumination, because they 
 wrought miracles in proof that they were thus highly favoured 
 above the rest of mankind. Let others give the like evidence 
 of the sameexalied privilege, and we will treat them with equal 
 deference and respect. But we are not willing to receive their 
 own assertion merely for proof, well knowing how easy and 
 how common it is for men to mistake the workings of their 
 own imagination and their feelings for supernatural influences 5 
 and that there is no absurdity, however gross, that may not be, 
 and in fact that has not been, promulgated under this com- 
 mon and always popular pretence of divine illumination. 
 
12 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 those only who become proselytes to their system 
 of faith, and whose religious feelings and expe- 
 rience are similar to their own, — to a highly fa- 
 voured few,— to the elect alone ? When will they 
 learn, that the just and liberal dispensation of the 
 gospel is "glad tidings to all people," and owns 
 no distinction marked with the slightest partia- 
 lity, but affirms " with God is no respect of per- 
 sons ?" a Is he the God of the Jews only ? Is he 
 not the God of the Gentiles ? Yes ; of the Gen- 
 tiles also." Such is the language equally of rea- 
 son and of the Scriptures. Is there not then a 
 reasonableness, a fitness, a propriety, and even a 
 loveliness, which every mind not dead to moral 
 sensibility must recognise, in the offspring of this 
 common Parent assembling together to express 
 ia unison their grateful sense of obligation to his 
 bounty, their mutual dependence on his univer- 
 sal care, and the need which they all have alike 
 of his paternal support and favour ? May not the 
 rich and poor meet together before Him who is 
 the maker of them all, and with the utmost suit- 
 ableness and decorum give utterance to those 
 sentiments of filial veneration and love which it 
 is the duty of all to cultivate, as well as to offer 
 their united prayers for those qualifications es- 
 pecially which are necessary to fit them for the 
 enjoyment of his blessing ? 
 
 Again : Who will deny that there is a univer- 
 sal participation of similar feelings, as well as 
 wants and infirmities common to all^ the natural 
 
OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 13 
 
 and proper expression of which is strictly social, 
 and such as the virtuous and the good at least 
 in the performance of religious as well as other 
 duties will be readily impelled to exercise in 
 conjunction with their fellow dependents on al- 
 mighty power and beneficence ? Is it not true, 
 that, in various essential particulars, the Creator 
 " hath fashioned the hearts of all men alike," and 
 that consequently "as face answereth to face, so 
 doth the heart of man to man ?" Notwithstanding 
 the vast difference in sentiments and ability which 
 is the necessary result of different degrees of mo- 
 ral and intellectual improvement, together with 
 difference of constitution, still the leading features 
 of the human mind are always radically the same ; 
 and as mankind in general, by their original con- 
 formation, are uniformly disposed to be put into 
 life and action by the same springs, or to be anima- 
 ted by the like motives, so the modes of expression 
 suited to their common sentiments and affections 
 are at once similar and also social. Hence arise 
 not only a sympathy and reciprocation of thought 
 and feeling, which are understood and recognised 
 by all, but a propensity to unite with others in 
 giving utterance to what we think and feel. With- 
 out having recourse to innate principles, and ad- 
 mitting the existence of considerable variety in the 
 different mental as well as bodily constitutions of 
 men, and also that both the existence and modifi- 
 cation of the moral sensibilities and habits of all 
 depend on the education they receive and the ope- 
 
14 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 ration of the circumstances through which they 
 pass, under the direction of the great First Cause, 
 yet in every human mind there is, in different de- 
 grees, the same propensity to gratitude for benefits 
 received; the moral sense, or the capacity of per- 
 ceiving the distinction between what is right and 
 wrong in conduct, together with compunction and 
 remorse for what is believed to be inconsistent 
 with duty ; there is, however it may be suppressed 
 by the prevalence of vice, a similar admiration and 
 love of benevolence and virtue, and the desire at 
 least, almost annihilated as it may be in some in- 
 stances, of carrying: them into effect. And, as 
 inseparably connected with these, who will deny 
 that the religious principle, or the direction of the 
 best affections and sentiments towards his Su- 
 preme Benefactor, is also natural to man ? Or if 
 any one should deny this, would not the history of 
 all nations immediately refute the calumny ? All we 
 know of mankind combines to show, that no prin- 
 ciple is more evidently general, as certainly none 
 is more powerful in its operation, than this. Re- 
 ligion, moreover, when pure and uncontaminated 
 — unfortunately too seldom the case — by super- 
 stition and bigoted attachment to human creeds, 
 is of all principles the most benevolent and social. 
 He that loveth God, will necessarily love his bro- 
 ther also. Benevolence, or love to God and man, 
 is the essence of true religion ; and the more its 
 influence prevails, the stronger will be the incli- 
 nation of which every one will be conscious, to 
 
OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 15 
 
 unite with others in giving utterance to their 
 common sentiments of gratitude to the common 
 Benefactor; their penitence for transgressions of 
 his will; and their humble but earnest desire of 
 whatever may be calculated to render them the 
 fit objects of his favour, — to give dignity, useful- 
 ness, and value to their being. Will not such a 
 practice prove as acceptable an offering to God 
 as it is congenial with the best feelings and pro- 
 pensities of men ? Why then, in the name of com- 
 mon sense, must these feelings and propensities 
 be suppressed ? If their existence be not endan- 
 gered, why must their influence be greatly im- 
 paired by consigning them altogether to silence 
 and retirement ? For what purpose, moreover, 
 was the faculty of speech bestowed, but to ex- 
 press the sentiments of the heart? And w r here 
 is the use of this faculty, if not in society ? In 
 what again consists spiritual or mental prayer, 
 but in the devout affections and desires of the 
 mind addressed to God ? And if it be right to cul- 
 tivate such affections and desires, how can it be 
 wrong to express them ? If devotional sentiments 
 are felt in society, what just reason can be given 
 why they should not be uttered in society ? And 
 what tribute of gratitude can be more worthy of 
 a rational being in the relation in which he stands 
 to his supreme Benefactor and his best friend ? 
 If, in every thing else that is virtuous and good, 
 man is allowed to be social and communicative, 
 why in his devotions must he be required to di- 
 
16 KEASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 vest himself of his social nature, and become al- 
 together recluse and solitary ? If there be any 
 who can say they have no religious principles in 
 common with their fellow men ; no benefits to be 
 thankful for, no sins to confess, no wants to be 
 supplied, like the rest of their species ; no feel- 
 ings of sympathy, no sentiments of devotion in 
 which others may participate; then let them re- 
 fuse to unite with others in the delightful em- 
 ployment of rendering the social tribute of grati- 
 tude and veneration where it is most due, and of 
 making known their wants and requests, together 
 with thanksgiving, to Him who giveth to all li- 
 berally and upbraideth not. "O thou that hear- 
 est prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. We 
 will enter thy courts with thanksgiving, and thy 
 gates with praise. We will give thanks at the 
 remembrance of thy holiness. O come, let us 
 worship and bow down ; let us kneel before the 
 Lord our maker ; let us call upon the name of 
 Jehovah, for he is our God ; we are his people 
 and the work of his hands." 
 
 In the second place, will it be denied, that pub- 
 lic social prayer is highly beneficial, that it tends 
 to produce the best fruits of morality and practi- 
 tical religion ? or will it be maintained, that it is 
 calculated to do more harm than good ? To me 
 at least it appears that the prevalence of religion 
 depends upon its observance, and that without it 
 the influence of Christianity upon society would 
 gradually decay, and in the end become annihi- 
 
OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 17 
 
 lateth Others may think differently ; but we are 
 thankful that we live in an age when the liberty 
 of every one to express his convictions in decent 
 language on religious topics, without restraint 
 and without censure, is admitted. Misrepresen- 
 tation and abuse, the remaining fruits of the spirit 
 of persecution and bigotry, may continue to exist; 
 but if fire, faggot, and the sword, have no power 
 to silence what appears to be the voice of truth, 
 reproach and calumny certainly will not have this 
 effect. They may greatly injure, but can render 
 no benefit to the cause which they are intended 
 to assist. 
 
 / To the beneficial tendency and high importance 
 of private prayer we give a ready assent : with- 
 out it, the genuine and habitual influence of reli- 
 gion on the life can scarcely be supposed to exist. 
 Nothing certainly can be more remote from os- 
 tentation than real devotion ; humility is essen- 
 tial to its existence, and its principal source at 
 least will always be found in reflection and com- 
 munion with the Father of spirits, and with our 
 own hearts, when secluded from the world : one of 
 the most valuable benefits of public prayer arises 
 from its tendency to promote that which is private. 
 As both however have their peculiar advan- 
 tages, so each of them is liable to defects and ten- 
 dencies to evil peculiar to itself. Private devo- 
 tion may be more free; less subject to restraint ; 
 better adapted to individual feelings, wants, and 
 experience; and not at all liable to suspicions of 
 
18 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 deceit and ostentation. But it is also in danger of 
 becoming enthusiastic on the one hand, or desti- 
 tute of fervour and animation on the other. The 
 thoughts may wander, and the affections grow cold 
 and indifferent. At any rate, its good effects will 
 be confined to one individual. Public prayer is 
 more limited in its subjects, and may have less of 
 personal interest ; and, what is far worse, it may 
 also degenerate into parade and hypocritical for- 
 mality, and may thus become a cloak for some of 
 the worst of vices : but at the same time its salu- 
 tary influence is more general and extensive ; its 
 effect will probably be greater; it is calculated to 
 afford more encouragement and strength to reli- 
 gious principle, and especially to cherish the true 
 spirit of general sympathy and fraternal affection, 
 which Christ appointed to be the test by which his 
 followers should be known a . 
 
 Who can be a stranger to the influence of so- 
 ciety upon his feelings and his motives ? Who 
 that has any sensibility at all, does not know that 
 some of his best emotions are more powerful in 
 company than when alone ? Who is not aware 
 that attention is kept alive, the memory and all 
 the faculties of the mind roused into action, by 
 the presence of others, when in solitude they 
 would become torpid and dull ? And who can be 
 ignorant especially, that by the union and con- 
 currence of the friends of the same cause, unani- 
 
 a John xiii, 35. 
 
or SOCIAL WORSHIP. 19 
 
 mously engaged in the same occupation, his own 
 mind receives additional encouragement, firm- 
 ness and support? Why should this advantage 
 be denied to religious exercises whilst it is allowed 
 to those of any other description ? When engaged 
 iu company with his brethren of mankind in pre- 
 senting to the universal Parent and Benefactor 
 their humble but sincere offering of adoration, 
 thanksgiving, and supplication, every one must 
 be sensible that his devotional sentiments expe- 
 rience a considerable accession of vigour and ac- 
 tivity; his faith becomes more powerful in its in- 
 fluence; the satisfaction he derives from the con- 
 solations and hopes of Christianity is more lively 
 and exhilarating; his devotedness to God and his 
 service, more cheerful and complete. But above 
 all, the principle of benevolence and Christian 
 charity towards all men can scarcely fail to be 
 drawn forth into its greatest energy and extent, 
 by the union of many in the social exercises of 
 spiritual and true worship, rendered to that Be- 
 ing who is love itself, who stands in the same re- 
 lation to all, and whose blessing, like the dew 
 which falls equally on the neglected shrub and 
 the stately oak, descends and rests, without di- 
 stinction, on every upright worshiper. One Lord, 
 one faith, one baptism, one religious profession, 
 one God and Father of all ; the same Christian 
 principles and hopes; the same rule of conduct, 
 and the same glorious expectation of everlasting 
 union and felicity in the like employments of be- 
 
20 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 nevolence, intelligence, and devotion in a better 
 state, are the common property of Christians; 
 and when their attention is employed in company 
 with each other by social prayer on these general 
 objects of their religious profession regularly and 
 frequently, dead to the common sympathies of 
 human nature must that mind be, which does not 
 find itself warmed by more fervent affection to- 
 wards those especially who are engaged in the 
 same reverential worship, drawn into closer con- 
 nexion with them, and prompted to take a stronger 
 interest in their welfare ; nor will the same cause 
 operate less favourably on the disposition and 
 behaviour towards the rest of mankind. " How 
 amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts ! 
 A day spent in thy courts is better than a thou- 
 sand. 5 ' The house of prayer at least is the abode 
 of peace and love. If contention and discord na- 
 turally result in Christian churches from dispu- 
 tation and difference of opinion, the work of so- 
 cial prayer and praise is surely calculated to al- 
 lay animosities, and to banish antichristian dis- 
 positions from those societies who engage in it 
 from pure motives and with right conceptions of 
 its nature. 
 
 Social prayer, then, has an admirable tendency 
 to give effect to Christian principles and doctrines. 
 The whole system of moral and religious duties 
 is easily understood, nor are the leading and es- 
 sential truths of Christianity above the compre- 
 hension of the humblest capacity. The difficulty 
 
OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 21 
 
 is not to communicate to men in general a know- 
 ledge of what is essential to their highest welfare 
 in this world and tlie next, so much as to give prac- 
 tical efficacy to the moral and religious principles 
 with which they are perfectly familiar. It is this 
 indeed that calls for all the skill and all the exer- 
 tion of Christian teachers, as every one who is 
 honest and zealous in the profession must be well 
 aware ; namely, to induce those who hear them to 
 be influenced and to live by the plain and simple 
 rules and principles of the gospel, sublime, uni- 
 versally interesting, and all-important as they are. 
 Social prayer is evidently one of those means which 
 are admirably calculated to promote this great 
 object. By withdrawing the attention from the 
 anxious cares of life; by reducing the mind to a 
 state of calmness, reflection, and solemnity; by 
 cherishing and giving fresh strength to devout and 
 benevolent affections, it is manifestly an excellent 
 preparative for religious instruction, thus render- 
 ing the soil fit for the reception of the good seed of 
 the word of God. It is indeed an instrument pow- 
 erful in its operation; and though capable of per- 
 version, like every thing else that is good, to pur- 
 poses of mischief (and on this account serious is the 
 responsibility of those who direct the use of it), 
 still far greater good than evil will usually be the 
 result of its general adoption. But where reli- 
 gious opinions are correctly Christian, and where 
 social prayer is conducted with ability and judge- 
 ment united to genuine devotion, the effect can 
 
22 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 scarcely fail to prove not less salutary than power- 
 ful and permanent. Let any persons recollect 
 how they have been influenced, when joining at- 
 tentively in public worship thus conducted, and 
 they are differently constituted surely from the 
 rest of mankind, if they do not discover that the 
 effect has been in the highest degree beneficial. 
 For these reasons it has sometimes been remark- 
 ed by persons who have united judgement and 
 knowledge to religion and integrity, that the de- 
 votional parts of the public services in our places 
 of worship are of more importance, because they 
 give greater effect to religious and moral princi- 
 ples, than even the most persuasive religious in- 
 struction itself* 
 
 After all, will the objection still be urged, that 
 persons who conduct or who join in social prayer, 
 may and sometimes do, render this practice no- 
 thing better than a cloak for abominable wicked- 
 ness ? This is readily admitted, and the Pharisees 
 are notorious instances. But to urge this cir- 
 cumstance as a proof that social prayer is neither 
 rational nor useful, is evidently arguing from the 
 abuse of the practice against the use of it ; a mode 
 of reasoning universally discarded. The same 
 argument moreover may be employed, with equal 
 force, against the profession of religion in any 
 form and by any means whatever. But why is it 
 not perceived, that the very objection itself ad- 
 mits the excellent tendency of social worship ? 
 They are the best things that are most liable to 
 
or social worship. 23 
 
 abuse; and the very reason why deceivers find it 
 convenient to take refuge in a public profession 
 of religion by observing its forms, is, because those 
 forms are perceived to be good in their tendency 
 and effect. If public worship, including social 
 prayer, were not known to be usually connected 
 with real integrity and the moral principles which 
 genuine religion requires, how would it be worth 
 while for any persons to take up this practice as 
 a covering for their vices ? It can be only because 
 social and public worship is acknowledged to be 
 highly beneficial by producing habits of virtue 
 and good conduct, that hypocrites find it conve- 
 nient to hide their hollowness and depravity un- 
 der its shelter and protection. Were not this the 
 case, it w r ould afford them no service. 
 
 <( Hypocrisy, detest her as we may, 
 (And no man's hatred ever wrong' d her yet,) 
 May claim this merit still — that she admits 
 The worth of what she mimics with such care a ." 
 
 So evident indeed is the salutary influence of 
 public worship in a moral view, that it is scarcely 
 possible that persons who attend it with regula- 
 rity, should not feel the obligation under which 
 they are laid thereby to maintain a conversation 
 worthy of their profession as followers of Christ, 
 lest the odious stigma of pharisaical duplicity 
 should fix itself upon them : nor is this a consi- 
 deration of minor importance. 
 
 a Cowper's Task, book iii. 
 
24 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 Private prayer is also liable to the worst abuse. 
 It cannot be charged with ostentation ; but it may 
 be converted into a substitute for moral duties. 
 A strict and regular performance of the private 
 exercises of devotion may be made to serve as a 
 sort of compromise for the most important virtues, 
 and thus mint and rue and annis and cummin may 
 be tithed even in secret, whilst the weightier mat- 
 ters of the law, as justice, temperance, and mercy, 
 may be treated as of little worth. His conduct 
 towards his God, the greatest of beings, such a 
 person may possibly imagine, is alone of real im- 
 portance ; at least he may act as if this were the 
 case; and if he perform with exactness and fer- 
 vour his duties to his Maker, he may feel but little 
 concern in what manner he conducts himself to- 
 wards creatures so insignificant, in his estimation, 
 as mortals. He may feel no hesitation in acting 
 as if religion had nothing to do with the affairs of 
 the world, or with trade ; and thus petty fraud, 
 falsehood and imposition, or other vices, may be 
 found in company with the religious observances 
 of the closet, not less than of the church, the meet- 
 ing, or the chapel. 
 
 But the personal and social duties of a moral 
 kind; — are they also free from all danger of si- 
 milar perversion and abuse ? An individual, for 
 instance, who is sufficiently exact in discharging 
 the obligations of common honesty, may think him- 
 self excused from attending to the demands of cha- 
 rity : hence he may be hard of heart, brutal in his 
 
OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 25 
 
 manners, subject to violent anger, and altogether 
 destitute of Christian benevolence. "Am I my 
 brother's keeper? I pay every one his own, and 
 what more can be required of me ? If others are 
 suffering distress, that is no concern of mine,— 
 charity begins at home." And thus also even cha- 
 rity itself may serve, in the worst sense, to cover 
 a multitude of sins. In short, we well know that 
 any religious and moral duty is liable to be sub- 
 stituted for others ; and it is our business to take 
 care that we be not seduced into the neglect of 
 any useful and excellent custom by the conside- 
 ration only of its abuse and perversion to evil 
 purposes. As well might we nauseate the food 
 that is necessary to life, or reject the moderate 
 use of wholesome beverage, because there are 
 those who injure their health, their character and 
 their circumstances, by intemperance, as refuse to 
 join with others in any religious service, because 
 there are hypocrites, who make it a substitute for 
 integrity, justice and humanity. 
 
 But there is one circumstance of considerable 
 importance relative to social worship, which re- 
 mains to be taken notice of; and that is, the ef- 
 fect which it is calculated to have upon the minds 
 of those who are not in the habit of prayer at all 9 
 and who are as yet strangers to the practical 
 influence of religion entirely ; children, for in- 
 stance, and young persons. Is it true, that upon 
 their minds especially, example and custom have 
 greater influence than precept ? And are they 
 taught only to pray, whilst they see no instance 
 
 c 
 
26 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 
 
 of the performance of this duty in others ? Will 
 they not be in danger at least of slighting the 
 precept, and following the example of neglect, 
 in private as well as public? Undoubtedly it is in 
 the regular and stated offices of devotion in so- 
 ciety, that their habits of religion, if formed at all, 
 must have their source. 
 
 Again : How large is the number of persons 
 who live in Christian countries and are called by 
 the Christian name, but who are in the habit of 
 neglecting the duties of private as well as public 
 devotion altogether ! By what means are such in- 
 dividuals to be induced to attend constantly to 
 the practice of the duties they owe to God, which 
 are in truth the only sure foundation of all other 
 duties, if public worship, including social prayer, 
 be totally laid aside ? Would religious instruction 
 be sufficient ? To me at least it appears that it 
 would not. Prayer is not, and cannot be made 
 the habitual or frequent topic of public discussion ; 
 whereas the constant practice of social worship, 
 whilst it is admirably calculated to give the best 
 effect to sentiments of devotion and benevolence, 
 and to prepare the mind for the reception of mo- 
 ral instruction, is well adapted also to the pro- 
 duction of religious habits in retirement ; and 
 thus many a sinner who entered the house of wor- 
 ship with a design to scoff, has not left it till he 
 has learned to pray. 
 
 From all these considerations, therefore, we 
 conclude that few customs are more important 
 than that of public worship ; and that if it were 
 
OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 27 
 
 entirely to cease, private devotion would lose its 
 influence, and the world in general would have 
 little if any religion whatever. 
 
 I have only to add on this part of the subject, 
 that the good effect of social prayer will probably 
 be greater on the mind of the person who con- 
 ducts the service, or who delivers the prayers, than 
 of those who hear and silently join with him in 
 this duty. Hence those forms of public worship 
 in which all Christians are actually employed, in 
 this respect at least, have considerable advantage, 
 whatever may be their defects on other accounts. 
 Though much learning may be necessary to un- 
 derstand thoroughly some parts of the Scriptures 
 that have given rise to controversy, all that is 
 essential to salvation is extremely plain and in- 
 telligible ; and certainly every one who under- 
 stands the gospel is not only at liberty to teach 
 it, but by endeavouring to instruct others he will 
 adopt an excellent method of learning and of im- 
 proving himself. So also meetings for social 
 prayer, as well as religious instruction, in which 
 all who are competent alternately conduct the de- 
 votions of others, will be found to be attended 
 with the most important benefit. Our Metho- 
 distic brethren, as their conduct shows, are fully 
 sensible of this ; and there can be no doubt that 
 one of the chief causes of their astonishing and 
 rapid success, is the universality and the fre- 
 quency of their meetings for social prayer upon 
 this plan. 
 
 a 2 
 
28 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Degree of Encouragement given to 
 Social Prayer by the Scriptures of 
 the Old Testament. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 The Practice of the Jews, under the Mosaic Dis* 
 pensatiori) relative to this Subject. 
 
 Having shown the reasonableness, excellent 
 tendency and great importance, of public worship, 
 or social prayer, in a moral as well as religious 
 view, we are now to inquire into the degree of 
 support and encouragement which this practice 
 derives from the Scriptures ; and that it should 
 be made a question at all, whether the sanction 
 which it receives from these invaluable guides to 
 truth and duty, be fully satisfactory or not, to me 
 at least, after careful investigation, appears to be 
 matter of surprise. 
 
 On this part of the subject, the first topic that 
 presents itself is the practice of the Israelites du- 
 ring the several periods of their history as a na- 
 tion. And it is to the purpose to remark that, 
 though in a variety of important instances the 
 Mosaic dispensation was essentially different from 
 the Christian, and inferior to it, because it was 
 adapted in these instances exclusively to that sin- 
 
THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS. £9 
 
 gular people, and to times and circumstances ma- 
 terially different from ours, still it was founded 
 upon principles common to all men ; for it is evi- 
 dent that the worship which it authorized was 
 not only public but social, and, as we shall be 
 able to prove, even social prayer was a prac- 
 tice with which the ancient Jews were familiar, 
 and to which in the time of Christ especially they 
 had been long and universally accustomed. Nor 
 is this circumstance of inferior importance ; for 
 it is a remark upon which the opponents of social 
 prayer lay considerable stress, that this practice 
 is not sanctioned by any express command of 
 Christ and his apostles ; and the reply is, that so 
 familiar were Christ and his apostles, as well as 
 those whom they taught, with this excellent cus- 
 tom, and so little danger is there, whilst true re- 
 ligion prevails, and human nature continues what 
 it is, that it should ever be laid aside, that they 
 did not think it necessary to enforce the obser- 
 vance of it by a special injunction. 
 
 In the early ages of the world, of which we 
 have any account^ when mankind were most sub- 
 ject to the influence of the senses, the imagina- 
 tion, and the passions, sacrifices and ceremonial 
 observances were modes of religious worship 
 
 3 1 
 
 which generally prevailed; and these symbols of 
 affectionate gratitude for benefits received, of 
 penitence for acknowledged transgression, and of 
 earnest desire of divine favour and acceptance, 
 had their origin, no doubt, in the same sentiments 
 
SO THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 
 
 and feelings as gave rise to the custom of approach- 
 ing their princes and distinguished benefactors, 
 on all important occasions, with the most accept- 
 able presents which their circumstances would 
 allow. The Mosaic institute did nothing more 
 with respect to sacrifices than regulate the use of 
 a practice, which was adapted to the state of man- 
 kind at that time, and which had taken too strong 
 a hold of their prejudices and habits to be eradi- 
 cated without danger to their religion. But so 
 far were offerings to God or man from precluding 
 the use of prayers and petitions, either in the one 
 case or the other, that the former appear to have 
 been considered only as the fittest means of ren- 
 dering the latter the more acceptable. Among 
 the patriarchs and Jews, especially in the latter 
 periods of their history, prayer and praises ac- 
 companied their sacrifices, and regularly formed 
 a part of their social and public religious services. 
 The principal signification of divine worship, 
 adopted by general consent, is prayer; and that 
 this is a signification of that expression, whether it 
 relate to acts of public or private devotion, which 
 frequently occurs in the Scriptures, is unquestion- 
 able. The following instances will serve to show 
 how familiar the Jews always were with the prac- 
 tice of social worship in this sense. 
 
 In the patriarchal ages the modes of worship 
 were as simple and unrestrained as possible. 
 Heads of families, or tribes, chose any place for 
 this purpose which they thought suitable^ and 
 
UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 31 
 
 changed it continually, as, in the course of an un- 
 settled and wandering- life, they had occasion to 
 change the place of their abode. Such, we find, 
 was the case with the Father of the faithful. 
 Wherever Abraham resided, there he erected an 
 altar, and there he statedly " called upon the 
 name of the Lord," prayer, as just observed, be- 
 ing a regular appendage of the sacrifice, and pro- 
 perly constituting the worship \ Isaac followed 
 the example of his father 15 , as did Jacob also ; 
 for, when he fled from home through fear of his 
 brother, he erected the stone on which he slept 
 as a memorial of the vision which he had seen, 
 and made a solemn vow, that, if he should return 
 in safety, this should be God's house (Bethel) ; 
 and accordingly after his return he erected an al- 
 tar there, and of course called upon the name of 
 the Lord, according to the custom of his fathers ; 
 and wherever sacrifice and prayer were offered, 
 there God was supposed to dwell. Now it is 
 evident from the circumstances of the case, that 
 these altars were not places of solitary worship 
 only. Did these pious patriarchs suffer their fa- 
 
 3 See Gen. xii. 8. xiii. 4. xxi. 33. And when Abraham in- 
 terceded for Sodom, it was probably at the stated place where 
 he was accustomed to worship God. Compare Gen. xviii. 22 
 and 23 with xix. 27. Prayer at the time of sacrifice was also 
 a common practice among Heathen nations, instances of which 
 occur in Homer's Odyss. lib. iii. 447, 450. xi. 34. xiv. 423, 
 and in Virgil's 3En. lib. xii. 175. vi. 247. The case of Elijah's 
 contest with the prophets of Baal presents an instance of both. 
 3 Kings xviii. 19. 
 
 D Gen. xxvi. 25. c Gen. xxviii. IS — 22. xxxv, 7—14, 
 
O'Z THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 
 
 milies and numerous dependants to live in total 
 neglect of religion and its public duties? Certain- 
 ly not. On the contrary it is mentioned as an 
 honourable trait in Abraham's character, that he 
 would take the necessary care that his children 
 and his household should follow his own example 
 of religious fidelity a . These altars, then, were 
 the places where the patriarchs worshiped God 
 by prayer and sacrifice, not alone, but in company 
 with the families or tribes of which they were the 
 heads. They were the priests as well as rulers of 
 their households. 
 
 After this period, when the children of Israel 
 had become a numerous people, many instances 
 occur in the Old Testament which prove that the 
 worship of God in large assemblies was a prac- 
 tice to which they were accustomed. 
 
 In the 15th chapter of Exodus we are informed, 
 that Moses himself and all the people united in a 
 solemn act of devout^thanksgiving, on the occa- 
 sion of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage ; 
 nor is it matter of any consequence, that the 
 prayer here recorded is called a song, or whether 
 it were really sung, or recited in any other mode. 
 It was unquestionably a social address to the one 
 living and true God, expressing the fervent gra- 
 titude of the worshipers for recent salvation from 
 the most cruel oppression, and their unreserved 
 trust in his future protection ; an address in which 
 the whole congregation joined with their leader : 
 a Gen. xviii. 19. 
 
" Then sung Moses and the children of Israel this 
 song unto Jehovah ; and spake, saying, ' I will 
 sing unto Jehovah, for he hath triumphed glori- 
 ously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown 
 into the sea. Jehovah is my strength and my 
 song ; he also is become my salvation/ &c. — 4 Who 
 is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods ? 
 Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fear- 
 ful in praises, doing wonders?'" &c. 
 
 In Deut. xxxii. another solemn act of worship 
 is recorded, which Moses conducted, and which 
 was at least public, if not social; for it is said 
 (ver. 44), " And Moses came and spake all the 
 words of this song in the ears of the people, he, 
 and Hoshea the son of Nun." 
 
 Joshua followed the example of his predeces- 
 sor. Josh. vii. 6. After the Israelites had expe- 
 rienced a defeat from their enemies, "when the 
 heart of the people melted, and became as water, 
 Joshua rent his clothes before the ark of the Lord, 
 he and the elders of Israel until the even-tide:" 
 the prayer, or rather the substance of it, is given. 
 It was an act of public supplication, in which 
 the elders at least joined with Joshua. 
 
 In Judges x. 15, the children of Israel are re- 
 presented as uniting in addressing a solemn con- 
 fession of their sins to God, and in prayer for as- 
 sistance, " And the children of Israel cried unto 
 the Lord, saying, ' We have sinned : do thou 
 unto us what seemeth good unto thee ; deliver us 
 only, we pray thee, this day. 5 " 
 C 5 > 
 
£4 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 
 
 1 Sam. xii. 16, &c. we are informed that Samuel 
 prayed, evidently in the presence of the people. 
 
 1 Chron. xxix. 10—13, David delivered an 
 admirable prayer, consisting of thanksgiving and 
 supplication, in a general assembly of the people : 
 " Wherefore David blessed Jehovah before all 
 the congregation, and David said, ' Blessed be 
 thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, for ever 
 and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and 
 the power, and the glory, and the victory, and 
 the majesty : for all that is in the heaven and the 
 earth is thine ; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and 
 thou art exalted to be head over all. Both riches 
 and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over 
 all ; in thine hand is power and might, and in 
 thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength 
 unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank 
 thee, and praise thy glorious name,' " &c. This 
 then, it appears from the plural form of the ex- 
 pression, was strictly a social prayer, consisting 
 of adoration, thanksgiving and petition, deliver- 
 ed by David in the name of the people, and in 
 which the people evidently joined. At the con- 
 clusion of it David said to all the congregation, 
 " Now bless the Lord your God ; and all the 
 congregation blessed the Lord God of their fa- 
 thers," &c. Nor is this fact at all invalidated 
 by the singular use which is here made of the 
 word worship , both in its civil and religious mean- 
 ing. It was after the people had united in this 
 public act of social prayer, that they bowed down 
 
UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 35 
 
 their heads, and worshiped the Lord and the king. 
 The external act was the same, but the disposi- 
 tion of mind was different, and the difference is 
 easily understood. 
 
 It may be observed in addition, that this is 
 an instance of public social prayer at a time when 
 sacrifices were most in use, and the Mosaic ritual 
 consequently in full authority ; for " they sacri- 
 ficed sacrifices unto the Lord on the morrow af- 
 ter that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thou- 
 sand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their 
 drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all 
 Israel;" that is, besides the sacrifices presented 
 by individuals. 
 
 In the 16th chapter of the same book we are 
 informed that David appointed certain officers, 
 whose stated employment it was to offer to God 
 devout addresses of praise and thanksgiving; and 
 this, it is added, they did continually ; and of what 
 consequence is it whether they were sung ? or 
 chanted, or spoken ; or that they were accompa- 
 nied by musical instruments? They were social 
 acts of praise and prayer. And " David (ver. 4) 
 appointed certain Levites, of whom Asaph was 
 the chief, to minister before the ark of the Lord, 
 and to record, and to thank and praise the 
 Lord." And immediately after follows an ex- 
 cellent specimen of devout thanksgiving which 
 David composed on the occasion. u Then on 
 that day David delivered first," or as the first 
 instance after the appointment of these officers, 
 
OO THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 
 
 "this psalm" or prayer, for the word psalm, 
 which is in Italics, is not in the original, " to 
 Asaph and his brethren." The conclusion is, 
 " Say ye, 'Save us, O God of our salvation, and 
 gather us together, and deliver us from the hea- 
 then, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, 
 and glory in thy praise.' Blessed be the Lord 
 God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the 
 people said Amen, and praised the Lord." The 
 people therefore joined unanimously in these 
 public acts of worship. 
 
 Solomon's dedication of the Temple was also an 
 instance of public devotion, and the account of it 
 contains a prayer delivered by himself in a gene- 
 ral assembly of the people ; and though it is not 
 said that the whole congregation added their 
 amen at the conclusion, yet whenever a solemn 
 prayer is thus addressed to God in a public as- 
 sembly, those who are present are always con- 
 sidered as taking a part in the act, as it was per- 
 fectly natural and proper for them to do on this 
 occasion. From the whole account, indeed, we 
 can scarcely avoid inferring that the people con- 
 curred in this public act of worship. The praises 
 also which were addressed to Jehovah at the con- 
 clusion of the service were at any rate perfectly 
 social; for the singers lifted up their voices with 
 the musical instruments and praised the Lord, 
 saying, "For he is good, for his mercy enduretli 
 for ever." 
 
 In the Psalms there are many instances adapt- 
 
UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION, 37 
 
 ed, and adapted only, to public social worship. 
 They are evidently composed for the Temple ser- 
 vice. In the 122d Psalm language is used which 
 necessarily refers to a public and social act : M I 
 was glad when they said unto me, ' Let us go into 
 the house of the Lord.' Our feet shall stand with- 
 in thy gates, O Jerusalem ; whither the tribes go 
 up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of 
 Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord," 
 This language of course implies that the pur- 
 pose for which the Israelites statedly assembled 
 in the Temple was social worship in the sense of 
 praise and prayer. Among many others the fol- 
 lowing were evidently composed for such occa- 
 sions. Ps. Ixxx. a part of which is as follows : 
 u Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that lead- 
 est Joseph like a flock ; thou that dwellest be- 
 tween the cherubim, shine forth. Turn us again, 
 O God, and cause thy face to shine ; and zee shall 
 be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt 
 thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? 
 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy 
 face to shine, and we shall be saved. &c. So shall 
 we not go back from thee : quicken us, and we 
 will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord 
 God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine ; and 
 zee shall be saved." Ps. xcv. "O come, let us 
 sing unto the Lord ; let us make a joyful noise 
 unto the rock of our salvation. Let us come be- 
 fore his presence with thanksgiving, and make a 
 joyful noise with psalms. For the Lord is a great 
 
38 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 
 
 God, and a great King above all gods," &c. To 
 come before the presence of Jehovah, was to en- 
 ter the Temple for the purpose of religious wor- 
 ship ; for Jehovah was considered as dwelling 
 between the cherubim, which were there. The 
 106th, 108th, 149th, and in short a considerable 
 part of the Psalms, as observed before, were evi- 
 dently composed expressly for social worship. In 
 whatever way they were recited, they were devout 
 addresses to Jehovah, consisting of adoration, 
 thanksgiving, confession, and petition, which con- 
 stitute the definition of prayer, and the princi- 
 pal meaning of divine worship. 
 
 2 Chron. xx. 4 — 13, we are informed, when a 
 numerous army of the Moabites and others came 
 against Jehoshaphat, that "Judah gathered them- 
 selves together to ask help of the Lord : even out 
 of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the 
 Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congrega- 
 tion of Judah and Jerusalem," and prayed to 
 God; "and all Judah stood before the Lord, 
 with their little ones, their wives, and their chil- 
 dren," evidently uniting in this act of religious 
 worship. The prayer, which is recorded on this 
 occasion, is such as manifestly implies the parti- 
 cipation and concurrence of all the people. And 
 in the 18th verse we are informed that "Jeho- 
 shaphat bowed his head with his face to the 
 ground: and all Judah with the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the 
 Lord. And the Levites stood up to praise the 
 
UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 39 
 
 Lord God of Israel with a loud voice." And 
 their prayer was heard. 
 
 After the revolt of the ten tribes during the 
 cruel and tyrannical reign of Rehoboam, the 
 Israelites were miserably devoted to the worst 
 customs of idolatry; and, notwithstanding the 
 most solemn and repeated warnings, so incorrigi- 
 ble did they become, that they were at length 
 given up as a prey to their enemies ; their cities 
 and their temple were destroyed, and they them- 
 selves carried into captivity by the Chaldeans. 
 During this long and gloomy period % hoxvever, 
 the worship of the true God was by no means 
 wholly forsaken ; and so salutary was the lesson 
 which they received from this severe chastise- 
 ment of seventy years, that after their restoration 
 to their own country, this unhappy people never 
 again relapsed into the wretched superstition and 
 abominable vices of heathen nations, to which 
 they had been addicted. On their return from 
 Babylon, when the Temple was begun to be re- 
 built, we are informed, Ezra iii. 10, 11, the Le- 
 vites, the sons of Asaph, were restored to their 
 office of celebrating the praises of Jehovah, " after 
 the ordinances of David king of Israel ; and they 
 sung together by course, in praising aud giving 
 thanks unto the Lord ; because he is good, for 
 his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel; and 
 all the people shouted with a great shout, when 
 
 a About 250 years. 
 
40 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 
 
 they praised the Lord, because the foundation of 
 the house of the Lord was laid." And when 
 Ezra afterwards publicly read the book of the 
 law, which had been nearly forgotten during the 
 captivity, it was introduced by a solemn act of 
 worship. Nehemiah viii. 6 : u And when Ezra 
 opened the book, all the people stood up. And 
 Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all 
 the people answered, 'Amen, Amen,' with lift- 
 ing up of their hands," &c. And in the next 
 chapter, ver. 4, we are informed, u All the people 
 stood up in their place, and 'read in the book of 
 the law of the Lord their God one fourth part 
 of the day, and another fourth they confessed and 
 worshiped the Lord their God." 
 
 In Zechariah viii. 20 — 23, there is a passage 
 which evidently refers to the public worship of 
 God in Jerusalem : it is a prophecy that was de- 
 livered for the encouragement of the people in 
 rebuilding the city, &c. " Thus saith the Lord 
 of hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there 
 shall come people, and the inhabitants of many 
 cities : and the inhabitants of one city shall go to 
 another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray be- 
 fore the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts : I 
 will go also. Yea, many people and strong na- 
 tions shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Je- 
 rusalem, and to pray before the Lord" &c. To 
 w hat can this language refer but to public social 
 worship ? To pray before the Lord, was to pray 
 in his house, where he was supposed to dwells 
 
UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 41 
 
 originally in the Temple, but also in the Syna- 
 gogues for there was an ark, which was consi- 
 tiered as the seat of the peculiar presence of Je- 
 hovah. 
 
 In the prophecy of Joel, ii. 15 — 17, there is a 
 command to sanctify 7 a fast, and to call a solemn 
 assembly for prayer and supplication, which "the 
 priests, the ministers of the Lord," were to con- 
 duct " between the altar and the porch of the 
 Temple," the place, no doubt, where they were 
 accustomed to offer up their prayers, and evident- 
 ly in the presence of the people, as well as in 
 their behalf. And it may be added finally, that 
 there was an assembly of all the males before 
 God in Jerusalem, three times a year, not for 
 rejoicing only, but for religious worship, and es- 
 pecially to express their gratitude to their Su- 
 preme Benefactor for the most remarkable in- 
 stances of his favour. Deut. xvi. a 
 
 To all this it has been added, that in the first 
 book of Maccabees, which, in the words of Pri- 
 deaux b , is " a very accurate and excellent his- 
 tory," chap. iii. ver. 44, we learn that in conse- 
 quence of the apprehension which Judas and his 
 brethren entertained of the designs of Antiochus, 
 the congregation was gathered together, that 
 
 a Some account of the manner in which the religious ser- 
 vices were conducted at the passover, the principal of these 
 festivals, will be given hereafter; and it will then appear that 
 the public worship on these occasions was entirely social. 
 
 b Prideaux " Connexion," part ii. book iii. p. 185. See 
 Pone's Answer to Wakefield. 
 
42 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 
 
 they might be ready for battle, and also that they 
 might pray, and ask mercy and compassion. From 
 the nature of the prayer itself, it was evidently 
 the act of the whole people. This was about 200 
 years before Christ, at a time when the Jews, 
 from having been totally remiss in their attention 
 to the ceremonies of their religion, were become 
 exact and strict in them even to a degree of su- 
 perstition. From another instance also in this 
 book it appears, that social prayer was then con- 
 nected with the Mosaic ritual. 
 
 From the instances which have been selected, 
 then, it is perfectly manifest that the Israelites 
 were always accustomed to public social worship, 
 consisting of both prayer and praise ; and it is 
 observable that of these instances some consist of 
 thanksgiving and adoration ; some of confession 
 of sin ; others of petition ; and in others all 
 these are united. Should it be said that part of 
 them took place on extraordinary occasions, and 
 are therefore no proofs of the common prac- 
 tice of the Jews, it is obvious to reply that they 
 are such instances only of which the historian 
 would take any notice; the usual and every-day 
 services of religion would of course be passed over 
 in silence, just as days of public thanksgiving, or 
 any solemn act of national worship on some sin- 
 gular occasion, might be mentioned by historians 
 of the present day, whilst the regular worship of 
 the Sunday would not form a subject sufficiently 
 remarkable to be adverted to. The whole of 
 
UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 4J 
 
 these instances, however, together with the psalms 
 composed expressly for the Temple service, and 
 the officers appointed to conduct it, prove incon- 
 testably that social worship was the constant and 
 stated practice of the Jews, and that it was al- 
 ways connected with the observance of the Mo- 
 saic rites. 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance, that in the first 
 edition of Mr. Wakefield's pamphlet against pub- 
 lic worship, which at the time excited consider- 
 able attention, he says expressly, " I find no cir- 
 cumstances in the Scriptures, concerning this 
 people, the Hebrews, that wear any aspect of 
 public worship, as we conduct it ;" but in his se- 
 cond edition he abandoned this topic of argument, 
 in consequence of the satisfactory answers to it a , 
 and allows himself to have been mistaken. He 
 adds, however, that the Jewish public worship is 
 nothing to the purpose b ; in which he appears to 
 us to have been equally mistaken : and> among 
 other reasons, because, in the first place, this 
 part of the religious services of the Jews ap- 
 pears to have been sanctioned by the personal 
 attendance of Christ and his apostles ; and se- 
 condly, the universal prevalence of social prayer 
 and praise among this people, accounts satisfacto- 
 rily for no command occurring in the New Testa- 
 ment for the observance of this custom. To this 
 
 * From the able pens of Mrs. Barbauld, Dr. Disney, Mr. 
 Simson, and Mr. Pope. 
 
 * See Pone's Answer to Wakefield. 
 
44 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF THE TEMPLE 
 
 it may be added, that social prayer is a duty 
 altogether independent of the Mosaic institutes; 
 but by its connexion with them it may be consi- 
 dered as receiving an additional divine sanction. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, however, it is still 
 maintained that social prayer did not form a part 
 of the Temple service, if it did of the ancient syna- 
 gogues. It may be proper, therefore, to state 
 more particularly, on the best authority that can 
 be procured, in what the services of both these 
 places of public worship consisted, especially in 
 the time of Christ : and this we shall do on the 
 authority of writers who, having made the best 
 use of whatever sources of information on this 
 subject remain, will be readily acknowledged to 
 be the most competent judges of it, and who ve- 
 rify the statements which they make by reference 
 to the most ancient Jewish and other writers, as 
 well as the Scriptures. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The Religious Services of the Temple in the Time 
 of Christ a . 
 
 The services of the Temple consisted of sacri- 
 fices and offerings, the reading of the law, prayers, 
 
 a The following particulars may be found in Lightfoot's 
 treatise entitled w The Temple Service as it stood in the Days 
 of our Saviour ;" in Lewis's " Origines Hebrcece, the Antiqui- 
 ties of the Jewish Republic ;" Prideaux's " Connexion," &c. 
 part i. books iii. and iv. 5 Millar's " History of the Church 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 45 
 
 and sacred music, both vocal and instrumental. 
 For each department of these services, numerous 
 officers were appointed, whose stated employ- 
 ment it was to conduct them with great exact- 
 ness, and latterly with equal superstition. They 
 consisted of twenty-four courses of priests, as 
 many of the singers who were the Levites, and 
 an equal number of porters. To these were 
 added also twenty-four courses of officers, who 
 were called Israelites of the station : each of these 
 courses consisting of a considerable number of 
 individuals 21 . Though this latter title does not 
 occur in the Scriptures, it seems however plainly 
 deducible from thence ; for by a maxim in refer- 
 ence to their sacrifices, the greater part of them 
 could not be offered, except the persons were 
 present whose sacrifices they were. The princi- 
 pal of them, as the daily morning and evening 
 offering of a lamb for instance, were sacrifices in 
 behalf of the whole people b . But the whole 
 people could not at any time be present. And in 
 other cases of sacrifices presented by individuals, 
 it might often happen that the persons whose 
 offerings they were would unavoidably be ab- 
 
 under the Old Testament ;" Reland's " Antiquitates Sacra 
 Veterum Hebrceorum delineates ;" Godwin's " Moses and 
 Aaron ;" Selden's Works, vol. i. ; " The Book of the Religi- 
 ous Ceremonies and Prayers of the Jews, translated from the 
 Hebrew, by Gam. Ben Pedahzur," 8vo. London, 1738: but 
 especially Vitringa de Synagoga Vetere, and Buxtorf 's Syna- 
 goga Judaica. 
 
 a Lightfoot's " Temple Service," ch. viii. sect. 3. p. 62. 
 
 b Lev, i. 3, IH. 2, 8. 
 
46 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF THE TEMPLE 
 
 sent. It became necessary, therefore, that on ali 
 these occasions some persons should be deputed 
 to represent them ; and this being more than 
 the same individuals were equal to constantly, 
 twenty-four courses of them were appointed for 
 this purpose. These officers were also called the 
 angels, or messengers, of Israel, because they 
 were sent, or deputed to appear before God in be- 
 half of the people ; and though no notice is taken 
 of them in the Scriptures, there is ample proof of 
 their existence in the ancient Jewish writers. 
 
 It was considered, moreover, as the duty of ali 
 the people to be present, not only at the daily sacri- 
 fices morning and evening, but also at the reading 
 of the law, and at the prayers ; and as this could 
 never happen, the Israelites of the station were 
 appointed to appear as their representatives in 
 their absence at all these services, in order that a 
 congregation might be constantly ensured. And 
 though they were not required to attend at some 
 of the sacrifices, because it was not necessary that 
 the persons on whose behalf the sacrifice was of- 
 fered, should be present to lay their hands on its 
 head, the standing of these officers constantly at 
 prayers, supplications, and orisons, says Light- 
 foot % and at the reading of the law, was called 
 
 a " The Temple Service as it stood in the Days of our Sa- 
 viour," ch. vii. sect. 3. pp. 64 and 65; Godwin's " Moses and 
 Aaron," lib. i. ch. v. p. 22. See also Lewis's <e Antiquities," 
 Millar's " Church History," and the other writers on this part 
 of the subject. 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 47 
 
 the station, from which their name is derived. 
 With the absurdity of worshiping God by proxy, 
 whether by Jews or others, our argument has no 
 concern ; but the constant attendance of these 
 representatives of the people, who were necessa- 
 rily absent, is by no means irrelevant. They were 
 always considered as forming a congregation \ 
 and this circumstance alone proves that the whole 
 services of the Temple were strictly social. 
 
 The Sacrifices. 
 
 The religious services of the Temple began 
 with the sacrifices, the design of which was to 
 express the religious sentiments of the worship- 
 er by actions instead of words : they were sym- 
 bols of the devout homage of the mind in ac- 
 knowledgement of divine beneficence, or expres- 
 sions of penitence, intended to conciliate the fa- 
 vour of an offended Deity. They consisted of 
 animals, as heifers, sheep, goats, turtle-doves, 
 and pigeons; and of inanimate things, as tithes of 
 first fruits, flour, wine, oil, frankincense, and salt, 
 The most holy sacrifices were those of the whole 
 people, as burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, trespass- 
 offerings, and peace-offerings. The inferior were 
 those which were the offerings of individuals, as 
 the paschal-lamb, fatlings, and tenths. 
 
 The appointed time for the commencement of 
 the daily sacrifice of a lamb in the morning was 
 sunrise. Part of the priests who were on duty 
 for the week, in order to be in readiness, slept in 
 
48 PUBLIC PRAYERS OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 a building in one of the courts of the Temple, 
 and when the lamb was brought forth to be slain, 
 the gates of the outer court were thrown open, 
 and the trumpets sounded for the attendance of 
 the rest of the priests, the Levites, and the Israr 
 elites of the station, and then the sacrifice was 
 slain. The evening services. commenced with a 
 like sacrifice at the ninth hour of the day, or at 
 three o'clock in the afternoon \ 
 
 Public Prayers. 
 Though public prayer, any more than the 
 reading of the law, might not be considered by 
 the high priest as any part of the duty over 
 which he presided officially, because no directions 
 are given respecting it by their lawgivers 5 , as 
 there are in the case of sacrifices and offerings ; 
 and though there might be no ministers of the 
 Temple whose business it was to conduct the de- 
 votions of the people , yet it is certain, not only 
 
 a Acts iii. 1. 
 
 b The ancient Jews, however, not only considered the com- 
 mand, Deut. x. 12, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, ,! 
 &c. as signifying prayer, but they put the same construction 
 upon Deut. x. 12, " What doth the Lord thy God require of 
 thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and 
 to love him, and to nerve the Lord thy God with all thy heart 
 and soul ?" Szc. ; for they compare this and other similar pas- 
 sages with Exod. xxiii. 24, 25, &c. where to bow down to the 
 gods of the heathen, and to serve them, evidently means to 
 worship, or to pray, as well as sacrifice to them. See Selden's 
 Works, London, 1726, vol. i. lib. iii. cap. iii. p. 286. See also 
 note, page 2 of this Treatise. 
 
 * Vitringa de Syn. Vet. prol. p. 51. 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 49 
 
 that prayer from the first always constituted a 
 prominent and material part of the services of the 
 Temple, but that it was practised under a divine 
 sanction. This is evident from expressions in 
 Solomon's prayer at the dedication of this mag- 
 nificent building 3 , and from our Lord's quotation 
 of Isaiah b , when he cleared the outer court of the 
 buyers and sellers ; u My house shall be called 
 a house of prayer for all nations." One of the 
 chief distinctions of the Temple, then, was this; 
 it was denominated by God himself not a house 
 of sacrifice, but a house of prayer, and thither 
 the tribes of Israel went up to give thanks unto 
 the name of Jehovah c . And, as Lewis observes d , 
 " It is certain that prayers were daily put up 
 together with their offerings ; and though we have 
 very few constitutions concerning them, yet the 
 constant practice of the Jewish church, and the 
 particular forms of prayer yet extant in their 
 writings, are sufficient evidence. For this pur- 
 pose they had liturgies, or prescribed forms, 
 which may be proved to have been in use from 
 
 a 1 Kings vhl 33, 34. 
 
 * Matth. xxi. 13. Isaiah lvi. ?. See also Eccl. v. 1, 2, 
 which evidently alludes to prayer : " Keep thy foot when 
 thou goest into the house of God -, and be more ready to hear 
 than to offer the sacrifice of fools," &c. " Be not rash with 
 thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing 
 before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth.; there- 
 fore let thy words be few." See also 1 Maccabees, vii. 37. 
 
 c Ps. cxxii. 4. 
 
 d Origines Hebrcece, Antiquities, &c. vol, ii.book iii. ch. xix. 
 and book iv. ch. xiii. p. 557- 
 
 D 
 
50 PUBLIC PRAYERS OF THE TEMPLE 
 
 the infancy of the Hebrew nation." Some of 
 these forms are given by Lightfoot% as used in 
 the Temple; all of which are indeed specimens 
 of prayer as clearly social as can well be ima- 
 gined. 
 
 As soon as the lamb for the morning sacrifice 
 was slain, the presiding officer, a priest, and 
 who was called the Chief Priest for the time, 
 summoned the rest to prayers in the room 
 called Gazith, in one of the courts of the Tem- 
 ple, which they used as an oratory b , or chapel, 
 whilst the sacrifice was preparing. They began 
 with the following : " Thou hast loved us, O 
 Lord our God, with an everlasting love. With 
 great and abundant compassion hast thou had 
 compassion upon us, O our Father, our king ; for 
 our fathers' sake, who trusted in thee, and thou 
 gavest them statutes of life. So be gracious to 
 us also, O our Father. O most merciful Father, 
 O thou compassionate one, pity us; and put it 
 into our hearts to know, understand, obey, learn, 
 teach, observe, do, and perform all the words of 
 the doctrine of the law in love. Enlighten our 
 eyes by the law, cause our hearts to cleave to thy 
 
 a Temp. Serv. ch. ix. sect. 4. p. 108. 
 
 * For public prayers, says Lightfoot. (Temp. Serv. ch. xiii. 
 sect. 4.) And though Vitringa speaks of this part of the 
 prayers as private, because he considered them as the prayers 
 of the officiating priests only, yet even in this case they were 
 social ; and if the Israelites of the station attended, then they 
 were public also, for these officers were the representatives of 
 the people. Vitringa de Syn. Vet. prol. cap. v. p. 50. 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 51 
 
 commandments, and unite our hearts to love and 
 fear thy name," &c. After this they repeated 
 the ten commandments, and their phylacteries % 
 or what they called the " Schemah." 
 
 After this the high priest, or in his absence one 
 of the other priests, prepared to offer the burnt 
 incense ; and the rest of the public prayers, says 
 Lightfoot, commenced. But before they began, 
 a large vessel of metal was sounded, which an- 
 swered the purpose of a great bell, to give notice 
 to the inhabitants of the city that this part of the 
 services was about to begin, and to summon them 
 to attend. As soon as the incense was offered^ 
 upon notice of this being given, all the people in 
 the court began their prayers b , as it is observed 
 
 a Lightfoot, ch. ix. sect. 4. Upon their phylacteries, (jpv- 
 TiMKTqgtx, conservatories, intended to keep the law in the me- 
 mory, from QuTidima, to guard, or keep,) which were two 
 pieces of parchment worn by the more zealous at least con- 
 stantly, the one on the forehead, and the other on the left 
 arm, were written the following texts -, i. Exod. xiii. 3« — 10. 
 ii. Exod. xiii. 11 — 16. in. Deut. vi. 4 — 9. iv. Deut. xi. 
 13—21. Whether the phylacteries were worn or not, all the 
 Jews were considered as under an obligation to repeat the 
 sentences written upon them, both morning and evening, 
 wherever they might be at the time appointed, and if possible 
 in the Temple. Vitringa, however, affirms, from Maimonides, 
 that the texts which were repeated on this occasion were 
 those which constituted the " Schemah," so called from the 
 Hebrew word with which they begin : they were the follow- 
 ing 5 Deut. vi. 4—9, xi. 19— 21. Numb. xv. 37— 41. But 
 this is of little consequence, except as it serves to show the 
 care which this laborious writer has taken to verify every 
 thing which he asserts. Vitringa, lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xvL 
 p, 1052. 
 
 b Lightfoot's Temp. Serv. ch. ix. sect. v. p. 111. 
 O 2 
 
52 PUBLIC PilAYERS OF THE TEMPLE 
 
 in Luke 1 and 10, " The whole multitude of the 
 people were praying without/' (that is,in the outer 
 court called the court of the women, because they 
 were admitted there,) u at the time of incense." 
 
 Besides the prayers just mentioned, the deca- 
 logue, and phylacteries, or schemab, three or 
 four other prayers are given by Lightfoot, which 
 were used in the morning and evening services ; 
 the first of which related to their phylacteries, 
 and the last is as follows: " Give peace, bene- 
 ficence, benediction, favour, benignity, and mercy 
 to us, and to Israel thy people. Bless all of us as 
 one man with the light of thy countenance; for 
 in the light of thy countenance, thou, O Lord our 
 God, hast given us the law of life, and love, and 
 benignity, and righteousness, and blessing, and 
 mercy, and life, and peace. And let it please 
 thee to bless thy people Israel with peace at all 
 times, and every moment. Blessed art thou^ O 
 Lord, who blessest thy people Israel with peace. 
 Amen a ." It is impossible to invent a prayer 
 more evidently social than this. The gloss upon 
 the Talmud moreover tells us, These were the 
 people's prayers b . At the conclusion a short 
 prayer was added on the sabbath, as a blessing, by 
 the course of priests that went out upon the course 
 
 a Prideaux and Vitringa give this prayer as one of those that 
 were used in the Synagogue : but this is not at all extraordi- 
 nary ; for the same prayers were used there as in the Temple, 
 with considerable additions. Prideaux Conn, part i. book vi„ 
 p. 178. Vitringa de Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. p. 1038. 
 
 b Lightfoot, chap. ix. sect. 6. 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 53 
 
 that was coming in, as follows : " He that causeth 
 his name to dwell- in his house, cause to dwell 
 among you love, and brotherhood, and peace, and 
 friendship a . At the conclusion of these prayers, 
 the Priests, standing upon the steps leading into 
 the Temple, pronounced a blessing upon the peo- 
 ple in the words recorded Numb. vi. 24. b The 
 meat-offering in behalf of the people, and another 
 for the priests, were then offered, and lastly the 
 drink-offering. The whole was concluded with 
 singing, accompanied by instrumental music ; 
 and as this was from the first one of the most di- 
 stinguished parts of the services of the Temple, 
 and relates immediately to our subject, it may be 
 proper to give a general statement of the manner 
 in which it was conducted. 
 
 a 2 Cor. xiii. 1 1 . *> Luke i. 21, 22. 
 
 c Nothing has been here said about the reading of the law 
 by the high priest to the people, because this is nGt included 
 in our subject; but the time for this purpose, says Vitringa, was 
 when the sacred rites were finished. But what, as this writer 
 asks, does Jesus mean when be says, Matth. xxvi. 55, I sat 
 daily with you teaching in the Temple, &c. ? In the Syna- 
 gogue, when the Scriptures were read, out of respect the rea- 
 der stood, but sat down when he afterwards expounded them, 
 and taught the people. Does not this observation of Christ 
 indicate, that a similar mode of teaching was in use in both 
 these places? From various circumstances indeed it is evident, 
 that the manner in which the religious services weie conduct- 
 ed in the Temple bore a considerable resemblance to those of 
 the Synagogue, as far as they were introduced into the latter. 
 Vitringa also observes, that in one of the courts of the Temple 
 itself there was a house for prayers, for reading the law, and 
 expounding, consecrated expressly for these purposes. Vi- 
 tringa de Syn. Vet. prol. cap. iv. p. 27, 36 — 39. 
 
54 MUSIC OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE 
 
 Music of the Temple Service. 
 
 David appears to have instituted this part of 
 the services at the time when he recovered the 
 ark from the Philistines, appointed singers and 
 instrumental performers to conduct it, and com- 
 posed psalms for their use a . These officers were 
 the Levites, with some Israelites of distinction, 
 and their children were occasionally permitted to 
 assist them* One individual presided over each 
 department : Asaph was the chief appointed by 
 David b . The vocal was always considered as the 
 principal part, and the instrumental an accompa- 
 niment only. The requisite number of singers was 
 twelve, and as many more were allowed as could 
 conveniently attend : they were always very nu- 
 merous c * 
 
 The psalms that were regularly sung in the 
 ordinary service were the following : on the 1st 
 day of the week, Ps. 24th, on the 2d the 48th, on 
 the 3d the 84th, on the 4th the 94th, on the 5th 
 the 91st, on the 6th the 93d, and on the sabbath 
 the 92d> " It is a good thing to give thanks unto 
 the Lord," &c. which bears the title of a psalm 
 for the sabbath. These psalms were sung con- 
 
 a He would scarcely have done this, however, if these ser- 
 vices had been inconsistent with the official duties of the Le- 
 vites, or if they had not been included in those duties, as ap- 
 pointed by Moses. That they were so, may perhaps be infer- 
 red from Deut. x. 8. 
 
 h 1 Chron. xv. 16, &c. xvi. 4— 7- 
 
 c Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book. ii. chap. 20. Lightfoot's 
 Temp. Serv. chap. vii. sect. 2. 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 55 
 
 stantly throughout the year ; but on certain days 
 others were added, as on the sabbath especially, 
 when at the time the additional sacrifice was of- 
 fered, the Levites recited the song of Moses in 
 Deut. xxxii. " Hear, O heavens," &c. But this 
 song was divided into six parts, one of which was 
 sung each sabbath in succession. At the addi- 
 tional evening sacrifice, they recited the song of 
 Moses, which is recorded Exod. xv., in the same 
 manner. At the feast of trumpets a on the first 
 day of the year, they sang in the morning after 
 the additional sacrifice for that day the 81st Psalm, 
 and in the evening of the same day the 29th. At 
 the passover they recited or sang six additional 
 psalms b . 
 
 But it is the manner in which the sing-ins: was 
 conducted that deserves the chief attention, as 
 proving indisputably the perfectly social nature 
 of this part of the service. " The singers," says 
 Lightfoot c , " divided each of these psalms into 
 three parts, making a considerable pause at the 
 
 a So called because the new year was ushered in with the 
 sound of trumpets. Numb, xxviii. 9, 10. xxix. 1, 2. 
 
 b At the dedication of the second Temple, after the return 
 from the Babylonian captivity, the 146th, 147th and 148th 
 Psalms seem to have been sung.; for in the Septuagint they 
 are entitled " Psalms of Haggai and Zachariah," as if they 
 had been composed by them for the occasion. Prideaux's Conn, 
 part i. book iii. Lewis's Ant. vol. ii. chap. xix. And to this 
 it may be added that the 120th and 14 following Psalms have 
 been said to be entitled " songs of the steps," (not degrees,) be- 
 cause they were sung on the steps which led from the court 
 into the Temple. 
 
 c Chap. viL sect. 2. 
 
56 MUSIC OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE 
 
 end of each part ; and when the singing and mti- 
 sicjd instruments stopped, in the intervals the 
 trumpets sounded and the people worshiped," 
 not by bowing the head only, but by responses, 
 thus expressing their participation and concur- 
 rence, This then was clearly social worship : it 
 was conducted by the Levites, and the people 
 joined in it throughout. 
 
 From the whole of this account, then, it is evi- 
 dent that the entire service of the Temple was 
 not only public, but as social as possible. It was 
 the service of the whole people, conducted by 
 officers appointed for this purpose. 
 
 The mode of prayer, it is true, was probably 
 different from that in use among Christians. 
 There is no proof that they had any minister to 
 conduct this part of the services, and Prideaux 
 says, that every one repeated what prayers he 
 thought proper according to his own conceptions, 
 referring: to the instance of the Pharisee and 
 publican, as mentioned by Christ a . It appears 
 however from Lightfoot's and other accounts of 
 these services, on the best authority, that they 
 had forms, and of these several have been given. 
 The comment moreover upon the Talmud says 
 expressly b , that these were the prayers of the 
 people ; and Maimonides c observes that their 
 
 a Luke xviii. 10, &c. b Temp. Serv. ch. ix. sect. 6. 
 
 c Maimonides, who lived about the end of the eleventh cen- 
 tury of the Christian aera, was the most learned and least su- 
 perstitious of the Jewish writers. " He was the Jewish oracle," 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 57 
 
 prayers were at first free, and unrestricted with 
 respect both to time and forms, but that after their 
 return from the Babylonian captivity, they made 
 use of forms, and at stated times a . And with respect 
 to the Temple service, the fact evidently was, that 
 at the times of morning and evening' sacrifice they 
 had public prayers, in which all the people joined, 
 either personally or by their representatives ; and 
 the outer court of the Temple being constantly 
 open during the day, individuals went thither at 
 other times, when they pleased, each to offer up 
 his own prayer in his own thoughts and words; 
 so that to infer from the instance of the Pharisee 
 and publican, that all the prayers offered in the 
 Temple were private, or individual and unsocial, 
 would be just as reasonable as if a stranger who 
 had never attended the religious worship of the 
 Roman Catholics in the present day, should con- 
 clude that they had no public prayers, because he 
 happened to go into one of their chapels when 
 two or three individuals were repeating their 
 prayers separately, as is commonly seen to be 
 the case, after the public services are concluded. 
 
 says Lewis, "an author, as Cuneus observes, above our highest 
 praise ,* the only man of that nation who had the good fortune 
 to understand what it is to write seriously, and to the pur- 
 pose." (Preface to his Ant. p. 74.) Lightfcot and Vitringa 
 have made ample use of his works, which treat at large of the 
 services of the Temple and the Synagogue. He made an ex- 
 cellent Abridgment of the Talmud, and "for this and his other 
 works," says Prideaux, "he was esteemed the best writer 
 among the Jews." Prideaux's Conn, part i. book v. p. 228. 
 a Vitringa de Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. p. 1032. 
 
 D 5 
 
58 MUSIC OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE 
 
 Whilst the Jews had forms of prayer which they 
 were required to repeat at least three times a 
 day % once in private, and if possible at the morn- 
 ing* and evening service in the Temple, they were 
 at liberty to use each for himself any other 
 prayers he might think proper. And as it was 
 considered to be the duty of all, who could, to be 
 present at public prayers, considerable numbers 
 usually attended on these occasions, as appears 
 from Luke i. 10. b This then was at least prayer 
 in society ; and as they were in the habit of repeat- 
 ing the same forms, it was not individual and sepa- 
 rate, but prayer in conjunction, or strictly social. 
 However, the following circumstancesare decisive: 
 Whilst the people themselves were praying in the 
 cuter court, the officers of the Temple, called the 
 Israelites of the Station, who were the delegates 
 of the people, were repeating the prayers in their 
 behalf. And if they had no priest, or minister, 
 to lead their devotions , the reason appears to 
 
 a Such was the practice of David and Daniel. Ps. lv. 17- 
 Dan. vi. 10. 
 
 * Or the account attributed to him, which, if spurious, was 
 still written at a very early period, and is sufficient authority 
 for a fact of this kind, mentioned as it is incidentally, and 
 without design. Zach arias, the officiating priest for the time, 
 being detained longer than usual, as we are informed, by a 
 vision in the Temple, the whole multitude that had been 
 praying without in the court of the women, were waiting for 
 him j and the reason of this was, that having finished their 
 public prayers, they were expecting the benediction which the 
 officiating priests always pronounced at the conclusion of this 
 part of the services, (v. 22.) Lightfoot's Temp. Serv. ch. ix. 
 sect. vL 
 
 c It is not proved, at least, that there was no such leader. 
 
IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 59 
 
 have been this ; " The offering of incense/' as 
 Prideaux observes % u upon the golden altar in 
 the Holy Place, at every morning and evening 
 service in the Temple, at the time of the sacrifice, 
 was instituted on purpose to offer up unto God 
 the prayers of the people, who were then without 
 praying unto him. And hence it was that St. 
 Luke tells us, that while Zacharias went into the 
 Temple to burn incense, ' the whole multitude 
 were praying without at the time of incense.' 
 And for the same reason it is that David prayed, 
 ' Let my prayers be set before thee as incense, 
 and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sa- 
 crifice b .' And according to this usage is to be 
 explained what we find in Revelation (ch. viii. 
 4, 5), for there it is said, < An angel came and 
 stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and 
 there was given unto him much incense, that he 
 should offer it up with the prayers of all saints 
 upon the golden altar, which was before the 
 throne; and the smoke of the incense^, which came 
 
 Perhaps the Israelites of the Station were considered as such: 
 they were denominated the angels of the people, like the 
 reader of the prayers in the Synagogue. Or if not, there is 
 a passage in Joel, already quoted (p. 41), ch. ii. 15 — 17, in 
 which, when the congregation of all the people were gathered 
 together, the priests are commanded to offer up prayers in 
 their behalf, between the porch of the Temple and the altar. 
 This probably was not inconsistent with the usual practice. 
 See also 1 Maccabees, vii. 36, 37- 
 
 a Conn, parti, book vi. p. 383 ; Godwins Moses and Aaron, 
 lib. ii. ch. i. p. 64. 
 
 b Ps. cxlL 2. 
 
60 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before 
 God out of the angel's hands,' " &c. However 
 inconsistent it may be with the more rational and 
 enlightened devotion required by the Christian 
 religion, it is clear that this practice gave a unity 
 to the public prayers of the Temple, and rendered 
 the whole perfectly social. To this it may be 
 added, that all the people joined throughout in 
 the prayers of the Synagogue, as will appear here- 
 after; and it is properly observed, that the Syna- 
 gogue service was set up, not in opposition to that 
 of the Temple, or to supply its deficiencies, but 
 in support of it; and consequently, with the ex- 
 ception of the sacrifices andlevitical offices, all the 
 services of the Synagogue were framed as nearly 
 in conformity with those of the Temple as pos- 
 sible a . From all this then it is evident, that the 
 whole services of the Temple, including prayer, 
 which was practised there under a divine sanction, 
 and praises, constituted public social worship. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 The religious Worship of the Synagogue* 
 
 The importance of the religious worship of 
 the ancient Synagogue in reference to our sub- 
 ject, is manifest from several considerations ; and 
 in the first place, from its antiquity, Whether, 
 
 a Vitringa de Syn. Vet. prol. cap. iv. p. 27* 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 61 
 
 indeed, there existed synagogues, or places of 
 worship similar to them, by whatever name they 
 might be known, before the Babylonian captivity, 
 is subject of dispute. Prideaux endeavours to 
 prove there were not a . This opinion however is 
 not supported by sufficient evidence, and there are 
 various circumstances which afford the strongest 
 indications that such places did exist before that 
 time. The Israelites, for instance, had but one 
 tabernacle before the prosperous reign of Solo- 
 mon, and afterwards but one temple at Jerusa- 
 lem. Three times a year all the males were re- 
 quired to resort thither for religious purposes ; 
 but what became of their stated public worship 
 of God in all other places during the rest of the 
 year? The services of the Temple were ob- 
 served with great solemnity and exactness ; but 
 this place, during these periods, would be attend- 
 ed only by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Had 
 the rest of the nation, that is, a great majority of 
 the people, no stated public worship, whilst at 
 Jerusalem it was observed with so much care 
 and regularity ? This is incredible. The sab- 
 bath, according to the design of its institution, was 
 " sanctified and holy unto the Lord b ,'' that is, it 
 was consecrated to religious purposes. Moses him- 
 self, moreover, gave an express command in the 
 name of Jehovah, that there should be statedly 
 
 a Conn, part i. book iv. p. 387. 
 b Exod. xx. 8, and xxxk 14, 15. 
 
t)2 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 and regularly " holy convocations" on this day*. 
 And what could these holy con vocations be but as- 
 semblies for public worship, hearingthe law, &c? 
 These assemblies also must meet in every consi- 
 derable town throughout the country, if they met 
 at all; for the command given to them was, "Let 
 no man go out of his place on the seventh day b ;" 
 and accordingly a sabbath-day's journey was less 
 than a mile. Had they no covered buildings, then, 
 in which to perform their religious services, or did 
 they meet in the open air ? Prideaux thinks the 
 proseuchae were the only places besides the Tem- 
 ple to which they resorted for prayer . But in the 
 first place, these buildings seem to have been al- 
 together unfit for stated public worship, as they 
 appear to have consisted of walls only, without a 
 covering, and consequently assemblies of people 
 could scarcely be supposed to meet in them stated- 
 ly, at all seasons, for religious services^. These 
 
 a Lev. xxiii. 2,3. Exod. xii. 16. 
 
 b Exod. xvi.29. 
 
 c Those who lived at a distance from the Tabernacle, he 
 observes, while that was in being, and afterwards from the 
 Temple, when that was built, not being able at all times to 
 resort thither, built courts, like those in which they prayed 
 at the Tabernacle and at the Temple, therein to offer up their 
 prayers unto God, which in aftertimes we find called by the 
 name of Proseuchce. Connexion, part i. book vi. p. 387. 
 
 d " The court in which the Temple stood, and that without 
 called the court of the women, were built round with stately 
 buildings and cloisters ; and the gates entering thereinto were 
 very beautiful and sumptuous. And the outer court, which 
 was a large square encompassing all the rest of 750 feet on 
 every side, was surrounded with a most stately and magnifi- 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 63 
 
 places, moreover, were never erected in towns, 
 but always without in the open country, as was 
 that in which Christ spent the night on a moun- 
 tain, and another near Philippi, by the side of a 
 river, where Paul taught the women that resort- 
 ed thither a . They seem to have been designed 
 for the retirement of individuals for the purpose 
 of prayer, whenever they thought proper, and not 
 for public worship 13 . Again, it may be inquired. 
 How came the Jews, after their return from Ba- 
 bylon, to erect synagogues in all their towns, for 
 the purpose of public worship, as well as the 
 reading of the law, if before that time there had 
 been none ? Their proneness to idolatry, imme- 
 diately before their captivity, does not appear to 
 be sufficient to account for this astonishing and 
 universal change in their religious customs. As 
 to the form and the name of the buildings, these 
 are of no importance. The question is, Had they 
 
 cent cloister, sustained by three rows of pillars on three sides 
 of it, and by four on the fourth. This was the case with the 
 first Temple; and in process of time all the outbuildings were 
 restored, so that in Herod's time the second Temple came 
 little short of the former. These cloisters afforded convenient 
 shelter to the people in time of rain." Prideaux's Conn. 
 parti, book iii. p. 145. Had the proseuchae any such accom- 
 modations ? If so, they might be used for public prayer. 
 
 a Acts xvi. 13, 16. In the 16th verse the original word 
 proseuche probably refers to the place. 
 
 b Godwin, however, expresses a doubt whether the pro- 
 seuchae were not the same as their schools and synagogues, 
 the former of which were as common as the latter, and were 
 used for the purpose of religious instruction. See his " Moses 
 and Aaron," p. 72. 
 
u 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 not in all their considerable towns regular assem* 
 blies at stated times, and especially on the sab- 
 bath, for public worship, the hearing of the law, 
 andreceivingreiigious instruction ? If they had, of 
 which there £an surely be little doubt, they would 
 of course meet in covered buildings for these pur- 
 poses, though it is not of any consequence by 
 what name these places were known, or in what 
 form they were erected. The fact seems to be, 
 that the services of the synagogues, and conse- 
 quently the buildings themselves, gradually rose 
 out of the common religious worship of the He- 
 brews, various as it might be in some of its forms, 
 in the different periods of their existence as 
 a people. The patriarchs worshiped God by 
 prayer and sacrifice, together with their families 
 or tribes, as stated before, at altars erected in the 
 different places where they happened to reside. 
 But when collected together, as their numbers 
 increased, and living in towns and cities, they 
 would naturally be more inclined to associate, as in 
 every thing else, so in the performance of religi- 
 ous services also ; they would meet in larger as- 
 semblies, and in more convenient places for this 
 purpose. Hence, says Godwin a , " The origin 
 of synagogues is uncertain; but they probably be- 
 gan when the tribes were settled in the Holy 
 Land, for the distance from Jerusalem would ne- 
 cessarily prevent their attending public worship 
 
 a Moses and Aaron, lib. ii. eh. i. p. /0. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 65 
 
 there." Those who favour this opinion quote 
 Ps. lxxiv. 8, " Thine enemies have burnt up all 
 the synagogues of the land;" and this text indeed 
 evidently proves, that when this psalm was com- 
 posed, such places were numerous ; and if the 
 title of it can be depended upon, it was used in 
 the time of Asaph, and consequently of David or 
 Solomon. It is nothing to the purpose to observe, 
 as Prideaux does, that the original may be ren- 
 dered, " all the assemblies of God a ," and that no 
 version but that of Aquila translates it " syna- 
 gogues;" for to found an argument on this cir- 
 cumstance would be to quibble about a name ; 
 and if this were even insisted upon, synagogue is 
 not an improper translation ; for this word signi- 
 fies a meeting, or assembly, and is applied both 
 to the congregation, and the building in which 
 they are collected together. Prideaux however 
 admits 5 , that the word in this passage necessarily 
 
 a Buxtorf renders the word in this passage, te Conventus, 
 id est, coiwentuwn loca, synagogas." It is the same word that 
 occurs in the 4th verse, to which he gives the same significa- 
 tion, so that the English version will be, " Thine enemies roar 
 in the midst of thy synagogues." The whole passage, from 
 the second verse to the 8th inclusive, clearly implies that 
 there were many more places or* religious worship in the 
 country besides the Tabernacle, or the Temple. See Buxtorf T s 
 Hebrew Lexicon on the word ijno, from iy, coudiocit, indixit> 
 constituit. The Hebrew name, according to the Jewish rab- 
 bies, for synagogues, is nnaiJn jvn, the House of the Congrega- 
 tion, the Meeting-House. This name is also sometimes given 
 to the schools, which were generally attached to the syna- 
 gogues. Reland's Hebrew Antiquities, pars i. cap. xvi. p. 5J - y 
 Buxtorf s Syn. Jud. 1. i. p.i. cap. x., and his Lexicon. 
 
 b Connexion, part i. book iv. p. 38/. 
 
66 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 refers to the buildings where the people met for 
 religious services ; which is all that our present 
 purpose requires 3 . Another passage in the Acts, 
 ch. xv, 21, is also considered as contributing to 
 establish the same fact ; " For Moses of old time," 
 or, more properly, " Moses from ancient genera- 
 tions in every city hath those who preach him, 
 being read in the synagogues every sabbath-day. 5 ' 
 The phrase u from ancient generations," it is 
 true, is indefinite. But though it might possibly 
 be used of three or four hundred years before that 
 time, it seems more applicable to periods of ear- 
 lier date. 
 
 However, it is acknowledged by all parties, 
 that after the return of the captive Jews from Ba- 
 bylon, upwards of five hundred years before 
 Christ b , synagogues, properly so called, soon be- 
 gan to be erected; atfirst not many, but afterwards 
 in considerable numbers ; for as it was lawful to 
 build a synagogue in any place where ten persons 
 with sufficient leisure to secure their regular at- 
 
 a But he supposes that the places alluded to were the pro- 
 seuchas, the schools of the prophets, or buildings in the cities 
 of the Levites, to which the people resorted at certain times 
 on a religious account. 
 
 b The decree of Cyrus for their return was issued in the 
 year 536 before Christ ; but it was not till some years after 
 this, that, in consequence of other decrees by his successors, 
 Ezra andNehemiah effected the complete restoration of all the 
 Jews who chose to return, as well as the complete establish- 
 ment of the Temple services, and the rebuilding of the city 
 walls ; and then it would be a considerable time before syna- 
 gogues could be erected generally throughout the country. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 
 
 67 
 
 tendance on the stated services could be found, 
 there was consequently no town of any size where 
 the Jews resided, that had not at least one ; and 
 in the time of Christ they were as common as pa- 
 rish churches in this country at present. In Ti- 
 berias, a city of Galilee, there were twelve, in 
 Jerusalem no less than four hundred and eighty a . 
 This was the case, too, at a time when the law of 
 Moses was observed with a degree of scrupulo- 
 sity which had never been exceeded ; for the suf- 
 ferings of the Jews, in consequence of the Chal- 
 dean conquests, had converted their former neg- 
 lect of its sacred rites into superstitious venera- 
 tion ; so that had the services of the Synagogue 
 in any respect been inconsistent with this divine 
 institution, their universal prevalence among a 
 people in this state of mind, was impossible. 
 
 In the time of Christ, then, the worship of the 
 Synagogue may be said with propriety to have been 
 the national worship of the Jews, much more so 
 than even that of the Temple; for though the 
 latter only included the sacrifices which the law 
 appointed, the former, as it was more simple, 
 more rational, and better adapted to general 
 observance, was that which the great body of 
 the people throughout the country universally 
 attended. The number who statedly joined in 
 the services of the Temple was small, compared 
 
 a Prideaux, Conn, part i. book vi. p. 3J4 ; Godwin's Moses 
 and Aaron, lib. ii. ch. i. p. 70 ; and all the other principal 
 writers on the subject. In Jerusalem there was one for 
 strangers called the Synagogue of the Libertines. Acts vi. 9. 
 
68 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 with those in Jerusalem and the other towns 
 wherever the Jews dwelt, who regularly wor- 
 shiped at the Synagogue. And when in addition 
 to this circumstance, and the high antiquity of 
 social worship in some form or other, it is consi- 
 dered that Christ a and his apostles 5 gave a pre- 
 ference to the services of the Synagogue, as was 
 proved by their regular attendance upon them, 
 wherever they might be on the sabbath, the im- 
 portance of the worship of these places in refer- 
 ence to our subject is sufficiently manifest, and 
 seems to render the following statement of the 
 
 a Matfch. iv. 16. 
 
 h Acts xviii, 8, 17, and other passages. Christ might with 
 perfect, consistency join in the social prayers of his country- 
 men ; for they contained the principal doctrines which he him- 
 self taught ; and nothing opposed to them ; as, the unity of 
 God; his sole supremacy ; his essential and everlasting mercy ; 
 his universal providence, and the resurrection of the dead ; 
 without any thing like the Pagan mixtures of a father-God, 
 the mother of God, a God the son, a God called the Holy 
 Ghost, " proceeding from the Father and the Son" without a 
 mother, and a multitude of inferior divinities called saints and 
 angels, the natural successors of the numerous tribes of 
 heathen deities, with the change in many instances of little 
 else than the name, worshiped upon similar, nay in Italy even 
 the same altars, and with rites, though less licentious, yet 
 equally superstitious. In these prayers again, as in the teach- 
 ing of Christ, not a syllable is to be found of vicarious suffer- 
 ing, or vicarious obedience ; that is, the innocent suffering the 
 punishment due to the guilty, and obeying the will of God in 
 his stead ; nothing of salvation by faith in the merits of an- 
 other, without good works ; nothing of satisfaction for sin, or 
 of mercy exercised in the forgiveness of debts, when those 
 debts have been fully paid ; not a syllable of unconditional 
 election and reprobation, &c. From contradictions and ab- 
 surdities like these, the prayers of the Jews and the instruc- 
 tions of Christ are equally free. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 69 
 
 manner in which they were conducted highly 
 proper and necessary. To all this it may be 
 added, that the services of the Synagogue have 
 been shown by Vitringa to have furnished the 
 model upon which those of the primitive Chris- 
 tian churches were formed ; and though this, no 
 doubt, was without design, and the difference in 
 some instances was considerable, yet as far as 
 relates to our subject the resemblance was strik- 
 ing and essential. 
 
 The religious services of the Synagogue, then, 
 consisted of prayer and praise, the reading of the 
 law and other parts of the Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures, with expounding them, and exhortation or 
 preaching. Nor is it possible that any mode of 
 prayer should be more completely social than 
 that of the ancient Synagogue. 
 
 For their prayers, as in the Temple, they had 
 forms or liturgies ; nor were any other prayers 
 made use of in the Synagogue a than those that 
 were appointed. At first these prayers were 
 few; but afterwards they increased so much in 
 number, and were accompanied by so many cere- 
 monial observances, that they at length equalled, 
 if they did not surpass, the formal and supersti- 
 tious worship of the Roman Catholic church b . 
 That this was the case in a great measure in the 
 time of Christ, is evident from his severe reproofs 
 
 a Vitringa de Syn. Vet cap. iv. p. 43. 
 
 J) Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. ch. xxii. 
 
70 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 of the dependence which they placed on the length 
 and number of their prayers. 
 
 The principal of them were the eighteen pray- 
 ers a , so called by way of distinction^ and which 
 were considered as the most important part of 
 their liturgy. To these, one composed by Rabbi 
 Samuel, called the Less, against Heretics, that is, 
 the Christians, is said to have been added by 
 Rabbi Gamaliel a short time before the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem. These eighteen prayers are 
 believed by the Jews to have been composed by 
 Ezra, assisted by the members of the Great Syn- 
 agogue, in his time, consisting of one hundred 
 and twenty individuals, among whom were said 
 to be three prophets, Haggai, Zachariah, and 
 Malachi, if not Daniel. They are written in the 
 purest Hebrew, and were required by Ezra to 
 be always repeated in that language without va* 
 riation, because after the return from Babylon, 
 where the captive Jews had been accustomed to 
 use the Chaldee, he perceived the Hebrew to be on 
 the decline b . To these there were many additions 
 in their liturgies, the whole including all the ne* 
 cessary and most important subjects of prayer. 
 But the eighteen prayers have always been held 
 by the Jews in the greatest veneration, and have 
 constantly formed a fundamental part of their li- 
 turgies, wherever they have been dispersed. 
 
 a Or " Schemon Esre." 
 
 b Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. chap, xxii; Vitringa, 
 lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. p. 1032 j Prideaux's Conn, part i, 
 book vi. p. 375. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 71 
 
 They are taken by Vitringa, together with the 
 nineteenth, from the Tract of Maimonides, in 
 which he gives an account of the series of Jewish 
 prayers for the whole year, and are as follows a : 
 
 i. " Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, the 
 God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, of 
 Isaac, and Jacob ; the great God, powerful, to 
 be had in veneration ; the most high God, boun- 
 tifully dispensing benefits ; the creator and pos- 
 sessor of the universe, who rememberest the piety 
 of our fathers, and in thy love bringest a re- 
 deemer to their posterity for thy name's sake, O 
 our king, our helper, our saviour, and our shield. 
 Blessed art thou, O Lord, who art the shield of 
 Abraham. 
 
 ii. " Thou, O Lord, art powerful for ever. 
 Thou givest life to the dead, and art mighty to 
 save ; making the dew to descend, stilling the 
 winds, sending down the rain upon the earth, 
 sustaining all that live with thy beneficence, and 
 of thy abundant mercy causing the dead to live 
 again ; upholding those that are falling ; healing 
 the sick; loosing them that are bounds and main- 
 taining thy faithfulness to them that sleep in the 
 dust. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, the most 
 powerful ? Who is like unto thee, O King, who 
 killest and makest alive, and who causest saiva- 
 
 b These eighteen prayers were held in so much estimation, 
 that the Jews were required to repeat th em twice a day either 
 at home or in their synagogues, and also as frequently a con^ 
 fession of faith in the unity of God. Vitr. p. 1032. 
 
72 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 tion to spring up and flourish again as the herb 
 of the field? For thou art faithful to raise the 
 dead to life again, Blessed art thou, O Lord, 
 who raisest the dead to life. 
 
 in. " Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, 
 and thy saints do praise thee every day. Selah. a 
 Blessed art thou, O Lord God most holy. 
 
 iv. " Thou of thy mercy givest to men know- 
 ledge, and teachest them understanding ; there- 
 fore upon us bestow knowledge, wisdom, and 
 understanding. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who 
 of thy mercy givest knowledge unto men. 
 
 v. " Bring us back, O our Father, to the ob- 
 servance of thy law ; and cause us to adhere to 
 thy precepts ; make us diligently to apply our- 
 selves to thy worship, and turn us to thee by sin- 
 cere repentance in thy presence. Blessed art 
 thou, O Lord, who dost vouchsafe to accept our 
 repentance. 
 
 vi. " Be thou merciful to us, O our Father, 
 for we have sinned ; pardon us, O our King, for 
 we have transgressed thy commandments, because 
 thou art a God, good and ready to forgive. 
 Blessed art thou, O Lord most gracious, who mul- 
 tipliest thy mercies in the forgiveness of sins. 
 
 vii. " Look, we beseech thee, upon our afflic- 
 tion ; defend us in all our contentions, plead our 
 cause in all our litigations, and hasten our re- 
 
 a Prideaux adds the following sentence here, " For a great 
 King and holy art thou, OGod. Selah." I have inserted these 
 eighteen prayers as they are given by Vitringa, 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 73 
 
 demplion ; for thou art God, a mighty king, our 
 redeemer, irresistible in power. Blessed art thou, 
 OLord, the redeemer of Israel." 
 
 viii, " Heal us, O Lord our God, and we shall 
 be healed ; save us, and we shall be saved, be- 
 cause thou art our praise. Grant us a perfect 
 remedy for all our infirmities ; for thou art a 
 God who givest health to the sick, and art mer- 
 ciful. Blessed art thou, O God, who healest the 
 diseases of thy people Israel." 
 
 ix. "Bless us, O Lord our God, in all the 
 works of our hands, and bless unto us the sea- 
 sons of the year; and dispense the dew and the 
 rain copiously upon the whole face of the land ; 
 satisfy the world with thy blessings, and water 
 the w hole habitable globe. Blessed art thou, O 
 Lord, who givest thy blessings to the seasons of 
 the year." 
 
 x. "Convoke us together, by the sound of the 
 great trumpet, to the enjoyment of our liberty, 
 and lift up thy ensign to gather together into our 
 own land all thy people that are scattered in 
 exile, from the four quarters of the earth. Bless- 
 ed art thou, O Lord, who gatherest together the 
 exiles of thy people Israel." 
 
 xi. "Restore unto us our Judges as in the 
 beginning and our counsellors as at the first, and 
 remove far from us affliction and trouble; and 
 do thou reign over us in benignity and mercy, in 
 righteousness and justice. Blessed art thou, G 
 
 E 
 
74 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 Lord our king, who lovest righteousness and 
 justice." 
 
 xn. " To those that apostatize from religion 
 let there be no hope ; and let all heretics, how 
 many soever they may be, suddenly perish. And 
 let the kingdom of pride be speedily rooted out, 
 and broken to pieces in our days. Blessed art 
 thou, O Lord our God, who destroyest the wick- 
 ed, and humblest the proud a ." 
 
 xiii. " Upon the pious and the just, upon the 
 proselytes of justice 13 , and upon the remnant of 
 thy people Israel, let thy mercies descend, O 
 Lord our God ; and bestow a large reward upon 
 all, whosoever they may be, who sincerely trust 
 in thy name ; grant us our portion with them, 
 and never let us be ashamed because we trust in 
 thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who art the 
 support and confidence of the just." 
 
 xiv. " Dwell in the midst of Jerusalem thy 
 city, as thou hast promised, and speedily in our 
 days erect it with buildings that shall last for 
 ever. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who buildest 
 Jerusalem." 
 
 a This is the blasphemous prayer against the Christians 
 (called the 19th) which was added by Rabbi Gamaliel to the 
 18 about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 b The proselytes of justice were such as received the whole 
 law, and conformed in all things to the Jewish religion. The 
 proselytes of the gate were so called because they worshiped 
 only in the outer court of the Temple, and were admitted no 
 further than the gate leading into the inner court. They con- 
 formed only to the seven precepts of the sons of Noah. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 75 
 
 xv. " Very speedily make the offspring of thy 
 
 rvant David to flourish; let our horn be ex- 
 alted in thy salvation ; for we hope for thy sal- 
 vation every day. Blessed art thou, O Lord, 
 who makest the horn of our salvation to flourish." 
 
 xvi. " Hear our voice, O Lord our God, most 
 merciful father, and spare and have mercy upon 
 us; with compassion and benignity accept our 
 prayers ; and send us not empty away, we be- 
 seech thee, O our king, from thy presence; for 
 thou mercifully hearest the prayer of thy people 
 Israel. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hearest 
 prayer." 
 
 xvn. "Be thou propitious, O Lord our 
 God, to thy people Israel ; have regard unto 
 their prayers ; bring back the levitical service 
 to the inner part of thy house ; make haste to ac- 
 cept with love and favour the burnt offerings of 
 Israel, together with their prayers; and let the 
 worship of thy people be well pleasing and ac- 
 ceptable to thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who 
 bringest back thy presence to ZionV 
 
 xvin. " We w ill give thanks unto thee with 
 
 i( the inner part of thy house" is meant the Holy of 
 Holier into which the high priest only entered but once a 
 year: and by "thy presence," the Shechinah. 
 
 The second Temple wanted the original ark, with the mercy 
 seat ; the Shechinah, or the symbol of the divine presence ; and 
 the Urim and Thummim, by which the will of God on extra- 
 ordinary occasions was made known ; so that there is nothing 
 in this prayer inconsistent with the belief that it was com- 
 posed by Ezra and the members of the Great Synagogue in 
 his time. 
 
 E 2 
 
76 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 praises continually ; for thou art the Lord our 
 God, and the God of our fathers, the rock of our 
 life, and the shield of our salvation. To all ge- 
 nerations will we give thanks unto thee, and de- 
 clare thy praise, because of our life which is in 
 thy hands, and of our souls which are under thy 
 care; because of thy signs which are constantly 
 with us, and of thy wonders and thy bounties, 
 which morning and noon and night are continual- 
 ly before us. O thou beneficent Creator, whose 
 tender mercies are not consumed ! O thou mer- 
 ciful Father, whose loving kindnesses are infinite ! 
 for ever do we hope in thee. For all these be- 
 nefits, thy name be blessed and exalted for ever 
 and ever ; and let all that live celebrate thy 
 praise. Selah. And let them in truth praise thy 
 name, O God of our salvation, and our help ! 
 Selah. Blessed art thou, O Lord, whose name 
 is good, and whose praise it is always right to ce- 
 lebrate!" 
 
 xix. a 6C Give peace, beneficence, and benedic- 
 tion, favour, benignity and mercy, to us and to 
 Israel thy people. Bless all ofus^ O our Father, 
 as one man^ with the light of thy countenance. 
 Thou hast given us, O Lord our God, the law of 
 life ; and of thy favour alone thou hast followed 
 us with love, benignity, benediction, mercy, life 
 and peace. And let it please thee to bless thy 
 people Israel at all times and every moment with 
 
 a This prayer has been given before (page 52), as stated by 
 Lightfoot to have been used in the Temple service. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 77 
 
 thy peace. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who bless- 
 est thy people Israel with peace." 
 
 Concerning these prayers, several remarks oc- 
 cur; and 
 
 First, Their high antiquity appears to some 
 persons to be doubtful. This scepticism, however, 
 seems to have arisen entirely from the circumstance 
 that several of them have the appearance of hav- 
 ing been w r ritten after the final destruction of Je- 
 rusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. But, 
 says Prideaux a , " it is certain they are very an- 
 cient, for mention is made of them in the Mish- 
 nah b , as at that time old settled forms, and no 
 doubt is to be made that they were used in our 
 Saviour's timej at least most of them, if not all 
 the eighteen ; and consequently that he joined in 
 them with the rest of the Jews, whenever he went 
 into their Synagogues, as he did every sabbath 
 day." It is also deserving of attention, that the 
 Jews themselves have always attributed the com- 
 position, or the appointment of them for general 
 use, to Ezra, with the assistance of the members 
 of the Great Synagogue. And it is of considerable 
 weight in favour of their antiquity, that they are 
 written in the purest Hebrew, a circumstance 
 
 a Connexion, part i. book vi. p. 575. 
 
 h The Mishnah was compiled and published about the year 
 150 of the Christian sera, and notwithstanding the fabulous 
 and puerile traditions with which it abounds, in a matter of 
 fact like that of the antiquity of the eighteen prayers, it is an 
 authority perfectly satisfactory. Prideaux's Conn, part v. book 
 yiii. p. 574. See Appendix, No. I. 
 
78 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 
 
 which in more modern times could scarcely Ijq 
 expected. 
 
 " And with respect to the prayers that have the 
 appearance of having been composed after the 
 final destruction of Jerusalem, which are chiefly 
 the 10th, 11th, and 14th," as Prideaux also ob- 
 serves % " these may refer to calamities of more 
 ancient times." And it is worthy of remark, that 
 several of the Psalms, the antiquity of which is 
 unquestionable, are liable to the same objection ; 
 for they contain complaints and prayers for the re- 
 moval of similar calamities 13 . 
 
 It is certain, however, there is nothing in the 
 prayers in question inconsistent with the suppo- 
 sition, that they were composed by Ezra, assisted 
 by the members of the Great Synagogue , at the 
 time when the Jews were not all returned from 
 the captivity, (many of whom never did return,) 
 but when they were in part still dispersed and 
 scattered; when Jerusalem and their other cities 
 were by no means completely restored, and when 
 their religious services as well as the people them- 
 selves were as yet in an unsettled state. To this it 
 
 a Conn, part i. book vi. p. 275, the note. 
 
 b Ps. liii. 6. lxxiv. 1—8. lxxviii. 60, 61, &c. lxxix. 1, &c. 
 lxxx. cii. 16, 17- cvi. 47- cxxvi. 4. 
 
 c The appellation of Synagogue was given by the Jews, not 
 only to their places of worship and the congregations that as- 
 sembled in them, but, as here, to a council of their principal 
 elders. This is called the Great Synagogue, by way of distinc- 
 tion. It consisted of a succession of members from the time 
 of Ezra to that of Simon the Just, a period of about 200 
 years. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUE. IV 
 
 may be added, that Vitringa observes 3 from Mai- 
 monides, that the three first and the three last only 
 of these nineteen prayers were considered as stated 
 forms never to be omitted ; whereas the thirteen in 
 ths middle were variable, and others much shorter 
 were allowed, when want of time and other cir- 
 cumstances required, to be substituted for them. 
 And if the three or four prayers that have given 
 rise to doubts be admitted to have been composed 
 after the final dispersion of the Jews, (though 
 there is no necessity for this supposition,) still the 
 high antiquity of the rest remains unim peached ; 
 and being mentioned in the Mishnah " as old 
 settled forms," but 150 years after the birth of 
 Christ, there can be no rational doubt that they 
 were used in all the Synagogues of his time, and 
 consequently that he joined in them every sabbath. 
 As however the Jews had also many other forms, 
 besides the eighteen which they used in their Syn- 
 agogues, comprising altogether the most impor- 
 tant and necessary subjects of prayer, whatever 
 might be taken from these, a sufficient number 
 would remain that were indisputably ancient even 
 in the time of Christ. Still these forms of devo- 
 tion are highly important in reference to our sub- 
 ject ; for it is impossible to invent prayers more 
 social in their nature. They were evidently com- 
 posed for public worship, in which all who attend- 
 ed joined. 
 
 a De Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. p. 1039 & 1046, 
 See also Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. ch. 22. 
 
80 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 The Manner in which the religious Worship of the 
 ancient Synagogue was conducted. 
 
 Nothing certainly could be more social than 
 the manner in which the religious worship of the 
 Synagogue was conducted: it bore considerable 
 resemblance to the mode in use in the established 
 church of this country at present. Their liturgy 
 was read aloud by one individual, and the people 
 signified their concurrence by responses through- 
 out. This reader was chosen by the congrega- 
 tion, anciently any elder ; and it was not till more 
 modern times, that this became a regular office 
 confined to a stated minister a . He was called the 
 Angel or Legatus of the Synagogue, because he 
 was deputed by the people to go before the ark 
 to offer up their prayers to Jehovah b . 
 
 a As the Jews said that prayer in the Synagogue was sub- 
 stituted for sacrifice, and on this account the forms in the litur- 
 gies of these places were more numerous than those used in the 
 Temple, the minister who read the liturgy was considered as an 
 officer corresponding to the priest ; and as no sacrifice was of- 
 fered in the Temple but those that were appointed by the law, 
 so no prayers w T ere presented in the Synagogue during the 
 public services but the appointed prayers. Vitringa, prol. p. 43. 
 
 b In the ancient as well as modern synagogues there was a 
 pulpit or desk in which the law and other parts of the Old Tes- 
 tament Scriptures were read and expounded ; but when the 
 prayers were recited, the minister, under the idea that it was 
 more consistent with humility, advanced before the desk on 
 the floor near the ark, which was at one end of the building. 
 Vitringa, p. 1023. 
 
WORSHIP OF THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE. SJ 
 
 The following is a brief abstract of Vitringa's 
 account of the manner in which the Liturgy was 
 recited in the ancient Synagogue. The whole 
 assembly being seated, the minister (the Angel 
 or Legatus) advanced before the ark, and stand- 
 ing in the midst of the people, began by reciting 
 the prayer called a Cadish a ;" in which the people 
 signified their participation and concurrence by 
 joining in the several responses. The minister 
 then recited the prayer called "Barechu;" to 
 which the people replied, Blessed be thou 5 O Lord, 
 for ever and ever. In the next place he repeated 
 
 1 As this was esteemed by the Jews the most sacred of their 
 prayers, and is that from which the Lord's prayer has been said 
 to have been framed, I shall give Vitringa's translation of it 
 from the Hebrew. Two of the petitions only are found in both, 
 and in the rest cf them there is no great resemblance. The 
 Lord's prayer seems to consist of a selection partly from this, 
 and partly from other forms used in the social worship of the 
 ancient Synagogue. " Magnificetur et sanctificetur nomen ejus 
 magnum, in mundo quern secundum beneplaeitum suum cre- 
 avit ; et regnare faciat regnum suum ; efflorescat redemptio 
 ejus, et prsesto adsit Messias ejus, et populum suum liberet, 
 in vita vestra et diebus vestris, et in vita totius domus Israelis, 
 tdque quam ocyssime. Et dicite Amen, Amen, sit nomen ejus 
 magnum benedictum in seculum et seculorum secula. Cele- 
 bretur nomen ejus et extollatur memoria ejus in sempiternum 
 et omnem aeternitatem. Celebretur, laudetur, condecoretur, 
 exaitetur, efferatur, respiciatur, extollatur, et depradicetur 
 nomen Sancti Benedicti Illius longe supra omnem benedictio- 
 nem et canticum, iaudem et consoiationem, quae dicuntur in 
 mundo. Et dicite, Amen, Recipe misericorditer et gratiose 
 preees nostras. Accepts sint preces et desideria totius Israe- 
 lis coram Patre eorum qui est in coslis ; et dicite Amen, sit no- 
 men Domini benedictum ab hoc tempore usque in seculum, — 
 Sit pax magna a ccelo et vita super nobis, et super toto Israele ; 
 -et dicite Amen/ 1 See Appendix, .No. 2. 
 
 E 5 
 
82 THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 
 
 the "Schemah a ," with the prayers and praises 
 connected with it. The first of these is one of 
 considerable length upon the creation and provi- 
 dential government of the world ; and at the con- 
 clusion of each, responses were pronounced by 
 the congregation. 
 
 When these were concluded, the whole assem- 
 bly, rising upon their feet, repeated their prayers 
 silently ; and when the minister had finished his, 
 he began to recite with a loud voice the eighteen 
 prayers before given : the people listened at- 
 tentively, and joined in the responses at the end 
 of each, both those who had just repeated these 
 prayers in silence, and those who from incapacity 
 or absence had not°. When the minister arrived 
 at the third prayer, he pronounced a declaration 
 of the promises of God. 
 
 A solemn confession of sins, with supplication 
 for pardon, followed the eighteen prayers, which 
 was accompanied by prostration both of the mi- 
 nister and the people. 
 
 The second part of the prayer called u Cadish" 
 was then rehearsed, with the responses annexed 
 to it. "One or two other prayers followed, which 
 were succeeded by the 145th Psalm, together 
 with a declaration of the coming of the Messiah, 
 and of the covenant of God with his people. 
 
 a See page 51. 
 
 b " Before these eighteen prayers were delivered by the mi- 
 nister, every one repeated them in a low voice to himself, that 
 he might be the better prepared for the solemn rehearsal of 
 them afterwards." Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. ch. xxii. 
 
THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 83 
 
 The minister next delivered a solemn declara- 
 tion of the holiness of God ; to which the people 
 replied, Holy, holy, holy art thou,0 Lord of Hosts ! 
 After some brief supplications for divine mercy, 
 the whole was concluded with a third repetition of 
 the prayer " Cadish, " followed by the responses 
 of the people. 
 
 Such are the outlines of Vitringa's account 1 of 
 the mode of worship observed in the ancient Syn- 
 agogue. It was conducted with great solemnity; 
 and with respect to the social nature of it, in ad- 
 dition to the foregoing particulars, he observes b , 
 " The prayers thus recited by the minister were 
 not only received by the people with due reverence 
 and attention, but also with responses and accla- 
 mations agreeing with each prayer ; and by this 
 means they testified their concurrence with the 
 minister ." 
 
 So perfectly social, then, was the mode of wor- 
 ship which Christ and his apostles sanctioned by 
 their regular attendance upon it. It has been 
 
 a The preceding is extracted from his account of the morn- 
 ing service : that for the evening was the same, with some 
 small variations. 
 
 ■' Page 1092. 
 
 c Buxtorf observes, that the prayers of the ancient Syna- 
 gogue were recited in a sort of musical rhythmus, and that 
 the responses of the people were accompanied with acclama- 
 tions, and were very loud. This accords with expressions fre- 
 quently occurring in the Psalms, viz. of shouting as well as 
 singing the praises of Jehovah. His account of these services 
 is contained in the 10th chapter of the edition by his son, 1680. 
 Vitringa's however is far preferable. 
 
84 THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 
 
 observed, it is true, that we read of Christ teach- 
 ing, and reading the Scriptures and expounding 
 them in the synagogues, but never of his praying 
 there. The reason of this however is extremely 
 obvious. The prayers were the stated part of the 
 synagogue services, in which all who attended re- 
 gularly joined; it is therefore evident that no 
 notice whatever would be taken of our Lord's 
 joining in them, for this was a matter of course ; 
 and when it is said that his custom was to attend 
 the Synagogue on the sabbath, this expression 
 will always be understood by those who have any 
 respect for the common us^ge of language, as im- 
 plying that he joined in the prayers like all 
 the rest who were present. But the case is dif- 
 ferent with reading the Scriptures, and expound- 
 ing them ; for none were permitted to do this, 
 but those who vvere called out from the assembly 
 for this purpose by the minister. 
 
 In his own city Nazareth, as a member of the 
 Synagogue in that place, he was selected as the 
 reader of the lesson for the day, and took occa- 
 tsion, as was usual, to comment upon it. This, 
 herefore, especially as the passage was extreme- 
 ly remarkable, having reference to himself as the 
 Messiah, it was very natural and proper for the 
 historian to notice. But this very circumstance 
 of his being selected as the reader, proves that he 
 was present at the prayers. In all other places, 
 when he taught the people, it was according to 
 
THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 85 
 
 the custom, after the reading of the law and the 
 prophets was concluded a . And thus did St. Paul 
 at Antioch ; which also being remarkable, espe- 
 cially with respect to the subject of his teaching, 
 it was proper for the historian to mention. If a 
 stranger happened to preach at any of our places 
 of worship in the present day, those who heard 
 him would naturally mention this circumstance to 
 their friends, particularly if there were anything 
 singular either in his manner or his subject. But 
 who would think of observing that he was present 
 at the prayers, and joined in them with the others ? 
 His being there to preach implied this. No person, 
 therefore, who pays any attention to the meaning 
 which general custom has assigned to these ex- 
 pressions, can doubt that when it is said, it was 
 the custom of Christ and his apostles to attend 
 the Synagogue on the sabbath day, this implies, 
 that they constantly joined in the usual services 
 of these places ; and we see at once, that so uni- 
 versal and so long established was the practice of 
 social prayer in the habits of their countrymen, 
 that it would never occur to them to give a par- 
 ticular command to enforce the observance of it, 
 as if it were something new, or generally neg- 
 lected. 
 
 In addition to this, we are informed by the Evan- 
 gelists, that Christ also celebrated the Passover 
 with his disciples ; and as this was not only a re- 
 
 a See Prideaux's Conn, part i. book vi, p. 380- 
 
86 THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 
 
 ligious ceremony, but was accompanied by prayers 
 and praises altogether as social as those of the 
 Synagogue, it may be proper to add a brief ac- 
 count of the manner in which this festival was ob- 
 served, as affording another indisputable proof, 
 that Christ approved of social worship, and re- 
 commended it to his followers by his example a . 
 On the day of the Passover the people formed 
 themselves into companies of such a number as 
 one lamb would serve, according to the Mosaic 
 institute 13 . These lambs were all brought to the 
 Temple to be slain, with certain ceremonies, by 
 the priests ; and whilst this was done, the Levites 
 were employed in an act of praise, which consist- 
 ed of singing the 1 1 3th and five following Psalms c ; 
 and as the number of lambs to be slain was very 
 considerable, and the Levites continued to sing 
 these psalms during the whole time, they usually 
 had to repeat them more than once or twice. This 
 singing was introduced by a prayer, and during 
 the whole of the former, all the people who were 
 present joined with the Levites at frequent inter- 
 vals, either by singing Hallelujah d , or some pas- 
 
 a Lightfoot's Temple Service, chap. iii. p. 125. See also 
 Lewis's Hebrew Antiquities. 
 
 b Exod. xii. 4. 
 
 c The Psalms were sung by the Levites with the same re- 
 sponses of the people on eighteen days in the year, at the dif- 
 ferent festivals. 
 
 d See Rev. xix. 1 — 6. The Hallelujah there described bears 
 considerable resemblance to Lightfoot's account of the singing 
 in the Temple at the Passover, except that the former greatly 
 excelled the latter in grandeur. 
 
THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE* 87 
 
 sages of the psalms just mentioned. When the 
 paschal lambs were slain, they were taken home 
 by the different companies to which they belonged, 
 to be eaten in the evening with manyceremonies a 
 besides thanksgiving and singing. At the paschal 
 supper the chief of the company, an elder, and if 
 a family, the head of it, recited the prayers and 
 thanksgivings in the name of the rest, who joined 
 with him by responses. Among the several forms 
 of devotion used on this occasion, the following 
 is the tenour of that which was recited over the 
 wine : " Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hast 
 created the fruit of the vine. Blessed be thou 
 for this good day, and for this holy convocation 
 which thou hast given us for joy and rejoicing. 
 Blessed be thou, O Lord, who hast sanctified Is- 
 rael." &c. Another thanksgiving was the fol- 
 lowing: "O Lord our God, let all thy works 
 praise thee, and the saints, the righteous that do 
 thy will, and thy people of the house of Israel, 
 all of them with acclamation. Let them praise, 
 and magnify, and exalt, and sing aloud the name 
 of thy glory with honour and rejoicing for remem- 
 brance of thy kingdom ; for it is good to praise 
 thee, and lovely to sing unto thy name. Thou 
 art God for ever and ever. Blessed be thou, O 
 Lord our king, who art greatly to be praised. 
 Amen." The president concluded thus : " Let 
 
 d Such as washing, eating bitter herbs, and the peace-offering, 
 besides the paschal lamb. For the whole account, see Light- 
 foot, p. 12*5. 
 
88 
 
 THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 
 
 the soul of all living bless thy name, O Lord our 
 God, and let the spirit of all flesh glorify and 
 exalt thy memorial for ever, O our king. For 
 thou art our God for ever, and besides thee we 
 have no king, redeemer, or saviour." Before the 
 concluding benediction, they sang what the Evan- 
 gelist calls a hymn, that is, they recited the six 
 psalms mentioned before. 
 
 It was the custom for the company to drink 
 four cups of wine on this occasion. The third cup 
 was called the cup of blessing, partly because the 
 blessing, or grace after meat, was said over it, as 
 terminating the meal ; and chiefly to distinguish 
 it from the first cup, for over that as well as this 
 a particular blessing or thanksgiving was uttered. 
 The apostle Paul alludes to this custom when 
 he mentions the cup of blessing, 1 Cor. x. 16. 
 And the excesses of the Christian professors to 
 whom he wrote, probably arose from their cele- 
 brating the Lord's Supper too much after the 
 manner of the Passover, and abusing the customs 
 of it, though in those customs themselves there 
 was nothing that had a tendency to intemperance ; 
 for the company were limited to a certain quan- 
 tity of wine, which was by no means immoderate. 
 
 It was also the third cup, called the cup of 
 blessing, which Christ took, and, when he had 
 pronounced the thanksgiving over it, as the pre- 
 sident of the company, bid them take and divide 
 it among themselves. After this he broke the un- 
 leavened bread, for they had before eaten the 
 
THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 89 
 
 lamb, The fourth cup was called the cup of the 
 hallel, because it was used at the time of the 
 singing. This Christ took, and appointed to be 
 the cup of the new covenant of his blood a . 
 
 Here then again were social prayer and praises., 
 which Christ himself, as the president^ delivered, 
 and in which the apostles joined by responses. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Social Woeshii* of Christians* 
 
 SECTION L 
 
 Passages in the New Testament in favour of 
 Social Prayer, 
 
 We come at length to the distinct examination 
 of the particular passages that occur in the New 
 Testament relative to social prayer. And though 
 the statements that have been given, and the ob- 
 servations that have been made, concerning the 
 religious worship of the Jews have occupied so 
 considerable a portion of these pages, they were 
 evidently necessary on several accounts, and the 
 whole have a bearing on this branch of our sub- 
 ject. We have shown the high antiquity as well 
 as the universality of social prayer in the time of 
 Christ, and that it formed in all periods of their 
 
 a Lightfoot's Temple Service, chap. xiii. p. 158, 
 
90 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 history a prominent part of the public worship 
 of the Hebrews, even when sacrifices were most 
 in use, and the Mosaic rites were most scrupu- 
 lously observed. This is important for various 
 reasons, but chiefly because, in the first place, 
 prayer was used in their public religious services 
 under a divine sanction, as is proved, among* other 
 considerations, by our Lord himself when he 
 quotes the language of the prophet Isaiah ; " My 
 house shall be called a house of prayer for all 
 nations." His fervour too on this occasion, in so 
 mild and forbearing a character, was extremely 
 remarkable ; and the historian has not failed to 
 mark its singularity by applying to it a quotation 
 from the Psalms ; " As it is written, ' The zeal 
 of thine house hath eaten me up.' " The object, 
 moreover, of his zeal is as worthy of attention as 
 its warmth and intrepidity. He was offended 
 not because the sacrifices and Mosaic rites were 
 i profaned, for these were temporary and speedily 
 to be abolished, but because prayer, public so- 
 cial prayer, was disregarded; for this was a duty 
 which his God and Father had approved and re- 
 quired, and which would form a part of pure and 
 spiritual worship at all times, when Jewish rites 
 and ceremonies are forgotten. And in the se- 
 cond place, the preceding account of the Hebrew 
 worship is important, for the reason before given, 
 namely, that as Christ and his apostles were ac- 
 customed to attend the Synagogue on the sab- 
 bath, they regularly joined in the social worship 
 
IX FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 91 
 
 practised there, and thus by their example gave 
 an unequivocal recommendation of it to others. 
 
 Will it then still be urged, that our Lord not 
 only discouraged this practice, but absolutely com- 
 manded his followers to abstain from the obser- 
 vance of it ? Had he meant to do this, and had he 
 disapproved of social prayer as highly as its op- 
 ponents in the present day wish to have it be- 
 lieved, what was his duty relative to this subject ? 
 As this practice had been so long and so univer- 
 sally established in the habits of his countrymen, 
 instead of giving it encouragement by a regular 
 attendance upon it in their synagogues, had he 
 intended to set it aside, whilst his prohibition of 
 it was the most clear and unequivocal, would he 
 not have embraced every opportunity that oc- 
 curred of warning his hearers of its pernicious 
 tendency, and giving them exhortations to avoid 
 it ? He was a reformer of religious abuses, and 
 came for that express purpose. Would he not 
 have laboured incessantly to exterminate this 
 most fundamental abuse, as he must have consi- 
 dered it, had he entertained the views on the 
 subject which its opponents are ready to attribute 
 to him ? And would he not have instructed his 
 apostles to pursue the same course ? But what is 
 the fact ? In the whole account of his public in- 
 structions, there is but one passage that can with 
 any plausibility be urged as bearing the appear- 
 ance of a prohibition of social worship ; and that, 
 if examined by the same rules of interpretation as 
 
92 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 are adopted in other cases of a like kind, will 
 be found to have no such meaning; whilst in 
 the recorded discourses of his apostles, and in 
 their epistles, there is not a single expression ad- 
 verse to this practice. This solitary passage, 
 which is of so much importance as to show that 
 professing Christians have hitherto been univer- 
 sally mistaken in their master's intentions, and 
 ought to reject all public and social prayer for 
 the future, occurs in Matt, vh 5 and 6. u And 
 when thou prayest, be not as the hypocrites ; for 
 they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and 
 in the corners of the streets, that they may he seen 
 of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their 
 reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into 
 thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray 
 to thy Father who k in secret, and thy Father 
 who seeth in secret, will reward thee openly." 
 Take this passage as it standi separately, without 
 any reference to the context, toother passages of 
 the Scriptures, or to the kind of phraseology in 
 general use at that time, and without regard to 
 the conduct of Christ and his apostles, or his par- 
 ticular design on this occasion, and it would be 
 nothing extraordinary, if any person were led to 
 suppose that it does contain something like a 
 prohibition of all public social prayer. But in 
 this way any absurdities whatever may find suffi- 
 cient support in the Scriptures. It is, in fact, 
 by the use of this method chiefly, that the popular 
 errors of the present day, gross as they may be. 
 
IX FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 93 
 
 are enabled to maintain their hold on the public 
 mind. The advocates for them are in the habit 
 of taking detached sentences of the Bible, that 
 seem to uphold their favourite opinions, and judg- 
 ing of them by the sound, despising all the. just 
 rules of criticism,, overlooking the design of the 
 writer, the context, the general strain of the 
 Scriptures, and making no allowance for dif- 
 ference in the customs and modes of expression 
 that prevailed when they were written ; and in 
 this manner it is no wonder if their hearers be 
 misled : it would be strange, indeed, if they were 
 not. But in forming a judgment of the passage 
 before us, take into consideration all the cir- 
 cumstances that have a tendency to throw light 
 upon it, and it will be clearly perceived, that it 
 neither is nor can be inimical to social worship. 
 For in the first place it should be remembered^ 
 that it is the only passage that appears to contain 
 a prohibition of all public prayer, whilst there 
 are many others decidedly in its favour : secondly, 
 if our Lord intended here absolutely to forbid his 
 followers to pray in the presence of men, then his 
 own conduct was in opposition to his instructions ; 
 for he not only attended the social worship of the 
 Synagogue, but there are other instances upon 
 record in wlvich he did pray in company : thirdly, 
 his apostles, to whom he addressed himself on 
 this occasion, did not so understand him; for 
 there are various passages in the Acts and the 
 Epistles which prove that they were in the habit 
 
9i PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 of social prayer : and lastly, if Christ here meant 
 to prohibit all public social prayer, then in the 
 context all almsgiving in the presence or with the 
 knowledge of others, is as expressly forbidden by 
 him ; for he exhorts immediately before, " Take 
 heedj that ye do not your alms before men, to be 
 seen of them. Let not thy left hand know what 
 thy right hand doeth." The language in this case 
 is not less positive and absolute than in the former. 
 Now it is perfectly evident that this exhortation 
 cannot be meant to be understood literally, and 
 to its full extent ; for few deeds of charity can be 
 done with absolute secrecy ; and a large propor- 
 tion of them, if performed at all, must take place 
 in public, or with the knowledge of many indivi- 
 duals. Nor is it possible that so truly benevolent 
 a teacher as Christ was, should ever intend to 
 throw r a check upon a practice, which, however 
 wrong the motives may be from which it may 
 sometimes proceed, is fraught with so much be- 
 nefit to mankind, and for which at all times the 
 necessity is so general and so urgent. On me 
 contrarv, he conferred the highest praise on the 
 poor widow for casting the only two mites she 
 possessed into the treasury, which was a public 
 act ; and his apostles also speak with deserved 
 commendation of the liberal contributions of in- 
 dividuals for the relief of others, particularly 
 Paul, in the case of the gentiles affording such 
 assistance to the poor brethren at Jerusalem : 
 none of which deeds of charity were done in se- 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 95 
 
 cret. And to this it may not be improper to add, 
 that his own benevolent acts, though he had no 
 money to bestow, were usually performed in 
 public. However, there can be no doubt that 
 the sole object of Christ in this exhortation, was 
 to discourage as much as possible all ostentation, 
 and to enjoin nothing but that the design of cha- 
 ritable deeds, according to his own words, should 
 not be, that they might be seen of men. 
 
 And certainly it is equally clear that he had 
 the same object only in what he forbids respect- 
 ing prayer. The same phraseology is used in 
 both cases, and with the same intention. In this 
 passage lie is evidently speaking of his disciples 
 praying separately as individuals, and not in their 
 social capacity. This is manifest from the nature 
 of the case, as well as from all that has been now 
 observed ; but it is further confirmed by his use 
 of the singular number on this occasion, and af- 
 terwards changing it for the plural. " But when 
 thou prayest, be not as the hypocrites are : for 
 they love to pray standing in the Synagogues % 
 and in the corners of the streets, that they may 
 beseenofmen. BuU/zoz/, when thou prayest, &c." 
 
 a In the Temple, individuals were in the habit of going to 
 pray separately at any time in public, after the social worship 
 of that place was concluded ; and it is very possible, that the 
 same practice might be observed in the Synagogues ; or, if 
 not, many might attend the usual services of these places con- 
 stantly for no purpose but to be seen of others, and on that ac- 
 count, and that only, are they censured. He does not con- 
 demn them because they prayed in the Synagogue, but because 
 they prayed there to be seen of men. 
 
96 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 Here then the pronoun in the singular number is 
 repeated, and thus rendered emphatical, evident- 
 ly pointing out his meaning to be, when ye pray 
 separately as 'individuals, do this, not in public 
 from motives of ostentation and parade, but retire 
 to your closets, &c. When however he gives 
 them a model for their devotions in the Lord's 
 prayer, and, as Luke observes % at the request of 
 his disciples, he makes use of the plural form of 
 expression, as speaking of them collectively. " But 
 when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the 
 heathen do, &c. In this manner therefore pray 
 ye : Our Father who art in heaven, &c." using 
 the plural number throughout. This form, in- 
 deed, is evidently intended to be used in society, 
 not less than in private. It is admirably adapted 
 to the use of all men, at all times, and in all cir- 
 cumstances : it is moreover composed of sentences 
 found in the Hebrew liturgies of that time b , 
 which were all used as social prayers. 
 
 To the passage under consideration, moreover, 
 the observation has been applied , That among 
 the Jews nothing was more common than the use 
 of a phrase directly negative, and without restric- 
 tion, to express a limited and comparative idea. 
 The following are instances of this kind : " If 
 
 a Chap. xi. 2. 
 
 b With the exception of the expression, <e as we forgive 
 them that trespass against us," which is the only part of it 
 upon which Christ makes any comment, as if there were no- 
 thing else in it that was new and uncommon. 
 
 c See Simpson's Reply to Wakefield. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 97 
 
 any man come to me, and hate not his father and 
 mother, and wife and children, and brethren and 
 sisters, and even his own life also, he cannot he 
 my disciple." No one understands this as mean- 
 ing any thing* more than to assert the great prin- 
 ciple, that to prefer any earthly consideration to 
 our duty, is inconsistent with the Christian cha- 
 racter. — Again ; " Jesus cried and said, c He that 
 believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him 
 that sent me.' " The meaning of which is better 
 expressed by Mr. Wakefield's translation, " He 
 that believeth on me, believeth not so much on 
 me as on him that sent me." And in the Acts, 
 Peter says, " Ananias, thou hast not lied unto 
 men, but unto God;" that is, " Your offence is 
 greater against God than against men." If pas- 
 sages like these are to be understood literally, 
 without regard to the nature of the particular 
 case, the connexion in which they stand, as well 
 as the true spirit of religion, and the principles 
 of common sense, what are the contradictions and 
 absurdities, as observed before, that will not find 
 vouchers enough in the Scriptures? Similar la- 
 titude of interpretation is not only allowable, but 
 necessary, in the exhortation of Christ, " When 
 thou prayest be not as the hypocrites, &c." But 
 when all the circumstances which have been stat- 
 ed are taken into consideration, it seems impos- 
 sible to avoid the conclusion, that nothing more 
 is intended in this passage (as in that on the sub- 
 ject of almsgiving, the phraseology of which is pre- 
 
98 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 cisely similar) than a solemn caution against os- 
 tentation, or praying in order to be seen ofmen^ 
 without the slightest intention of giving discou- 
 ragement to social prayer, originating in right mo- 
 tives and accompanied by humility. It is plainly 
 directed, and directed only, against individual 
 prayer in places of public resort. 
 
 There is however another passage which has 
 been urged as inimical to social worship, though 
 it cannot indeed be pretended that it contains 
 any prohibition of it whatever. John iv. 21, &c. 
 " And Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, c Wo- 
 man, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall 
 worship the Father neither in this mountain 
 nor at Jerusalem. Ye worship what ye know 
 not: we worship what we know; for salvation 
 is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now 
 is, when the true worshipers shall worship the 
 Father in spirit and in truth : for indeed the Fa- 
 ther seeketh such worshipers of him. God is a 
 spirit: and they that worship him must worship 
 him in spirit and in truth.'" Before, however, 
 it can be assumed that disapprobation of all pub- 
 lic and social worship is implied in these observa- 
 tions, it is necessary to prove that the spiritual 
 and true worship required by Christianity is ab- 
 solutely inconsistent with that which is offered in 
 conjunction with others ; which we are so far from 
 admitting, that we are convinced by experience 
 and observation no means have a better tendency 
 to promote the genuine spirit of devotion than 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 99 
 
 frequently meeting together for the purpose of 
 giving expression to sentiments and feelings of 
 this kind. But if these observations of our Lord 
 are required to be understood in the full extent 
 of their literal signification, then they must be 
 considered as giving discouragement not only to 
 all oral prayer, however private, but to all ex- 
 pression of religious homage in any way what- 
 ever, and to limit the true worship of God to the 
 operations of the mind. Such a construction no 
 one surely will undertake to reconcile with the 
 example of Christ and his apostles, with the con- 
 duct of the first Christians, or with a great part 
 of the New Testament. However, the true de- 
 sign of this passage can scarcely be mistaken. — 
 Christ is here evidently speaking of public wor- 
 ship only; all that he says is applicable to it, and 
 plainly implies that God, who is a spirit, maybe 
 worshiped in spirit and in truth in company with 
 others as well as in retirement. He clearly meant 
 to teach this mistaken woman, that the worship 
 of the Jewish and Samaritan Temple should be 
 abolished, and one that is sincere, consistent with 
 truth, and perfectly independent of unnecessary 
 ceremony and parade, should be substituted in its 
 room ; — a worship by no means restricted to na- 
 tional institutions or controverted systems, unre- 
 strained by the narrow limits of prejudice and 
 party, and such as all mankind may cheerfully 
 join in, since it is that only which proceeds from 
 a pure and upright heart, in whatever way it may 
 F 2 
 
1(30 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 be offered. And accordingly this desirable con- 
 summation was effected by the introduction of 
 Christianity into the world. The Mosaic ritual, 
 whether in the Jewish or Samaritan form, with 
 all its expensive, troublesome ceremonies, and 
 invidious restrictions, was abolished by it alto- 
 gether, and every man who feareth God and 
 worketh righteousness was assured that nothing 
 is requisite to render his religious homage, whe- 
 ther public or private, acceptable to God, but 
 purity of heart and rectitude of conduct. The 
 devotional services of the Synagogue, however, 
 formed no part of this ritual, and to them accord- 
 ingly Christ makes no allusion in the passage un- 
 der consideration ; and had he censured the social 
 worship practised there, his conduct would have 
 been at variance with his teaching. 
 
 But there is one observation in this passage, 
 which ought not to be passed over without atten- 
 tion. " Ye Samaritans," says Christ, " worship 
 what ye know not: we (Jews) worship what we 
 know; for salvation is of the Jews." Both par- 
 ties, however, worshiped the same God, the sole 
 Creator, the one God and the Father of Jesus the 
 Christ, and of all mankind. " After the time/ 
 says Prideaux a , " that Manasseh brought the law 
 
 * Connexion, part i book vi. page 425. The three points 
 in which they differed from the Jews were ; 1st, They received 
 no more of the Scriptures than the Pentateuch ; 2dly, They 
 rejected all traditions; and 3dly, They said the true Temple 
 was theirs on mount Gerizim, in opposition to that at Jerusa- 
 lem. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 1Q1 
 
 of Moses among them, and instructed them in it, 
 the Samaritans became as zealous worshipers of 
 the true God, and as great abhorrers of all man- 
 ner of idolatry, as the most rigorous of the Jews 
 themselves, and so continue even to this day." 
 These words therefore refer to the mode of wor- 
 ship, or to circumstances connected with it, rather 
 than to the object of it; and they clearly imply 
 approbation of the public and social nature of 
 that worship, as it was practised among the Jews. 
 u Ye Samaritans worship what ye know not;" 
 that is, though you render religious homage to 
 the same living and true God as we do, yet your 
 knowledge of him is not sufficient to prevent your 
 mistaking his will respecting the nature of the wor- 
 ship by which he is to be addressed. We Jews, 
 on the contrary, says Christ, worship the true God 
 according to his own institutions : but these being 
 intended for one people only, are speedily to be 
 abolished, and a purer mode of public worship (for 
 it is of public worship that he is here speaking) is 
 to be introduced into its place, the only requisites 
 to the acceptableness of which are integrity and 
 truth. 
 
 Such then are the supposed prohibition and 
 disapproval of social worship by our Lord :- — they 
 amount to nothing. In the time of Christ the 
 practice of social prayer was in danger only from 
 superstition and formality a ; for this reason there 
 
 a Besides public prayers twice every day in the Temple at the 
 times of the morning and evening sacrifice, they had religious 
 
102 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 was more need of cautions against its abuse than 
 exhortations to the observance of it; of checking- 
 its exuberance, than of strengthening its growth ; 
 of preventing its substitution for other duties more 
 immediately useful, than of showing its reason- 
 ableness and enforcing its obligations. Hence his 
 admonitions on the subject have this tendency, 
 whilst his example is decisive in its favour. Nor 
 will there be any difficulty in showing further from 
 the passages in the New Testament, that remain 
 for examination, that not only Christ, but his 
 apostles and the first Christians generally, highly 
 approved of this practice, and gave it the strong- 
 est recommendation at least by their example. 
 
 It is necessary, however, to consider previously 
 the very peculiar and extraordinary circumstances 
 in which they were placed, entirely different as 
 they were from the state of Christian societies 
 now. During the ministry of Christ his followers 
 were not yet collected into churches. The num- 
 ber of real converts to his religion, who under- 
 stood the nature of his mission, who cordially em- 
 braced and were practically influenced by his doc- 
 trines, was few indeed; nor was there any thing 
 like a regular society among them, if we except 
 the twelve apostles. Hence among themselves 
 
 services in their synagogues three days a week, besides their 
 holidays, whether fasts or festivals ; and thrice every one of 
 those days, morning, afternoon, and evening ; namely, Mon- 
 day, Thursday, and Saturday; the latter, being their Sabbath, 
 was set apart for religious exercises by divine appointments ; 
 the two former by the elders. Prideaux's Conn, part i. book ii. 
 page 381. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 103 
 
 there was no opportunity of uniting constantly in 
 the duties of social worship. The Temple and 
 the Synagogue were the only places where they 
 could assemble, together with others, for this 
 purpose, and these we find they did not neglect. 
 The business of Christ also was to make converts 
 to truth and righteousness ; to convince, to cor- 
 rect, and to reclaim. Hence his time was occu- 
 pied in working miracles to prove the divinity of 
 his mission, and in teaching on all occasions, in 
 the streets, in the Temple, in the synagogues, and 
 in private companies, wherever he had access. 
 In any of these circumstances, to introduce the 
 practice of social prayer by a new method was 
 impracticable, and the attempt would have been 
 highly improper. During the public ministry of 
 Jesus, opportunities suitable for social prayer ia 
 a way different from that which then prevailed 
 among the Jews would very seldom occur. Not- 
 withstanding this, however, instances are not 
 wanting in his conduct, besides his regular at- 
 tendance on the stated services of the Synagogue, 
 which afford unequivocal proof that this practice 
 had his entire approbation, when free from hypo- 
 critical parade, and accompanied by consistent 
 conduct. 
 
 His admirable prayer, near the close of his mi- 
 nistry and. his life, recorded in the 17th chapter 
 of John's gospel, is certainly of this kind. It is 
 of considerable length, and private prayer it was 
 not certainly, for it was delivered in the pre- 
 
104 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 sence of his disciples. Nor does it relate to him- 
 self alone: he prayed not only with them but for 
 them. And why was this, if he approved only of 
 private devotion, and if there were no propriety 
 in their concurring with him in this act of religi- 
 ous worship ? When a person prays aloud in com- 
 pany with others, and especially when he prays 
 for them, they are always considered as joining 
 mentally with him, if there be nothing in the 
 prayer delivered by him inconsistent with their 
 sentiments and feelings, as in this instance it is 
 impossible there should be. This then was prayer 
 in society at least, and by example a recommen- 
 dation of it to others. A peculiar cast, it is true, 
 is given to this prayer, and it is delivered in the 
 singular number. But these circumstances are 
 fully accounted for by the singularity of our Lord's 
 situation, and the vast superiority which he derived 
 from his character and office, not only to all other 
 men, but to the apostles themselves, He was the 
 expected Messiah, the saviour of the world ; and 
 though he could neither do nor teach any thing 
 of himself, as he repeatedly says, he was endowed 
 by God with greater miraculous powers than had 
 ever been bestowed on any human being besides, 
 for to him was given the Spirit of God without 
 measure. Hence it is said ; " All ye are brethren ; 
 one is your Master, even Christ." They are the 
 members, he is the head. And the prayer which 
 he delivered on this occasion was, if we may so 
 speak, an official prayer; it was within the nature 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 105 
 
 of his office and perfectly consistent with it. This 
 great superiority and extraordinary nature, then, 
 of the character and office of Christ serve to ac- 
 count fully for the difference of style and manner 
 of this devout address to God ; but at the same 
 time they are very far from destroying its autho- 
 rity as an example to us of prayer in society: if 
 they did, then his diligence and fidelity in teach- 
 ing ; his indefatigable perseverance in conferring 
 benefits on mankind ; his dignified resignation and 
 greatness of mind, in sustaining without a murmur 
 the agonies of crucifixion, afford no example to us, 
 because he was divinely inspired to instruct; be- 
 cause he was furnished by God with miraculous 
 powers to do good ; and because his death was the 
 seal of the New Covenant in his blood, and there- 
 fore all these belonged in a peculiar manner to the 
 high office he sustained, and the heavenly mission 
 he came to fulfill. Prayer in society, not less than 
 instructing the ignorant, affording succour to the 
 needy, and enduring affliction with patience, is a 
 duty common to all mankind, and may therefore 
 receive additional recommendation from the ex- 
 ample of Christ, though this as well as other du- 
 ties were practised by him in circumstances the 
 most extraordinary, and in an official capacity to 
 which we have no pretensions. The style of the 
 prayer we cannot imitate, for our circumstances 
 are altogether different and our station in the 
 Christian community inferior; but the example, 
 as an instance of prayer in society, remains in full 
 
 f 5 
 
106 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 force, because this is a duty which we have it in 
 our power to practise, if we choose. 
 
 Two or three other instances occur, which, 
 however trifling they may seem to some persons, 
 may serve to corroborate the proof, if indeed this 
 were necessary, that Christ approved and was in 
 the constant habit of social worship. The two 
 following are not unworthy of notice : for, how- 
 ever short the prayer, it was still social. When 
 he wrought the miracle of feeding with five loaves 
 and two fishes the multitude that attended him, 
 before he distributed the food, " he looked up 
 to heaven, and blessed God, and gave thanks a ;" 
 an act in which, according to universal custom, 
 those who were present as a matter of course were 
 understood to join : and in a similar instance b of 
 the seven loaves and a few small fishes, he again 
 led the thanksgivings of the people in the same 
 manner. That such was his constant practice, 
 is evident from a third instance c , in conjunction 
 with these, when after his resurrection, at Em* 
 maus, with his two disciples, "he took bread, 
 and blessed God," &c. An act of a similar kind 
 occurred also at the Paschal supper, an account 
 of which has been already given, and which he 
 celebrated for the last time with his apostles, of 
 course, in the Jewish manner, and with their ap- 
 pointed forms of devotion, including the psalms 
 which were recited on this occasion, all of which 
 services were social in the strictest sense. 
 
 a Matth. xiv. 19. b Ibid. xv. 36. c Luke xxiv. 30. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 107 
 
 It may be worth while to mention also, that a 
 short prayer or thanksgiving of Christ's, in the 
 presence of the multitude, is recorded in Matth. 
 xi. 25. " At that time Jesus spake, and said ' I 
 thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
 that, having hidden these things from the wise 
 and prudent, thou hast revealed them to babes. 
 Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy 
 
 ^ght." 
 
 And to this it may be added that the account 
 which St. Luke a gives, of the occasion on which 
 the Lord's prayer was given as a model to his 
 disciples, evidently furnishes another instance in 
 which he prayed in company with others. " And 
 it came to pass that as he was praying in a cer- 
 tain place, when he had ceased, one of his disci- 
 ples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as 
 John also taught his disciples. And he said unto 
 them, When ye pray, say, Our Father," &c. 
 The probability is, that Christ had been praying 
 on this occasion in the presence of his disciples ; 
 for, had he prayed in secret, how could they have 
 known what he had been doing? He must either 
 have told them, or they must have gained infor- 
 mation of it by divine revelation ; neither of which 
 suppositions is at all probable, for the former 
 would have implied ostentation in Jesus; and the 
 latter; that a God of all wisdom gave supernatural 
 information in a case of little importance and from 
 which no material benefit could result. 
 a Chap. xi. 2 k 
 
108 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 However, in Matth. xviii. 19, 20, direct en- 
 couragement is clearly given to social prayer by 
 a promise of Christ to his disciples relative to 
 this duty. " I say unto you, that if two or three 
 of you agree on earth concerning any thing which 
 they shall ask in my name, it shall be done for 
 them of my Father who is in heaven. For where 
 two or three are gathered together in my name, 
 there am I in the midst of them." From the 
 whole of this passage taken together, it is mani- 
 fest that one of the purposes for which Christ ex- 
 pected his disciples to gather together in his name, 
 was social prayer, and by the promise which he 
 made on this occasion he meant to give this prac- 
 tice all possible encouragement. This, 1 say, is 
 unquestionable ; for, should it be observed that in 
 the latter of these verses no mention is made of this 
 duty, it is obviqus to reply. In the first there is, 
 and the two verses are inseparable. In the for- 
 mer, a conditional promise is given of an answer 
 to social prayer ; and in the latter, the reason for 
 expecting the fulfilment of it. Two or three in- 
 dividuals, it is true, might agree to pray for any 
 thing separately, and in private ; but the latter 
 of these verses proves that Christ is here speak- 
 ing of their doing this in society, when they were 
 gathered together in his name, and therefore for 
 the express purpose of social prayer. And as to 
 the smallness of the number here mentioned, this 
 is of no consequence whatever. The least num- 
 ber is mentioned for no reason but because they 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 109 
 
 would have most need of encouragement. But 
 the ground of faith and hope mentioned in the 
 latter verse applies with equal force to a large 
 number as to a small one, or rather with greater; 
 for if the united prayers of two or three indivi- 
 duals had the promise of a favourable issue, those 
 of many, equally unanimous, according to the 
 purport of the passage, would have a clearer title 
 to the fulfilment of the promise. It will be re- 
 plied, of course, that this promise, like the grant 
 of authority in the preceding verse, is to be un- 
 derstood as limited to the apostolic age, if not to 
 the apostles themselves, and that therefore Chris- 
 tians in the present day have no concern with any 
 thing which the passage contains. But neither is 
 this objection of the slightest weight; for the ga- 
 thering together of the followers of Christ in his 
 name, among other purposes for social prayer, 
 being a general duty common to all Christians in 
 all ages, he evidently speaks of it as such, since 
 his language clearly implies that to meet for social 
 prayer would be the future practice of his followers 
 generally. And though the ground of encourage- 
 ment given here does apply exclusively to the pe- 
 riod of his personal presence and the continuance 
 of miracles among them, still it necessarily indi- 
 cates approbation of meetings for social prayer in 
 general, and is given expressly for the purpose of 
 stimulating his followers to perseverance in this 
 custom. If it were right in the apostles, it can- 
 not be wrong in us ; because it is a duty which has 
 
110 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 no connexion with miracles, or with any extraor- 
 dinary circumstances whatever. If Christ encou- 
 raged this practice among them, what imaginable 
 reason can be given why it should meet with his 
 disapprobation, when found among others? Cer- 
 tainly the passage before us implies the contrary. 
 But in what manner did the apostles themselves 
 understand the design of their master relative to 
 this subject? In this case they at least were com- 
 petent judges ; and that their conduct is decisive 
 in favour of our argument, the proofs we have to 
 adduce from the New Testament, leave no room 
 for doubt. A similar remark, however, to that 
 which has been made, relative to the extraordi- 
 nary nature of the circumstances and character 
 of our Lord, applies to them as well as to him. 
 As his successors in the great work of propagat- 
 ing pure and undefiled religion in the world, they 
 were endued with the like miraculous powers. — 
 " As thou, O Father, hast sent me into the world," 
 says he, " so send I them into the world ;" and to 
 the apostles themselves, " The same works that 
 I do shall ye do also; and greater works than 
 these shall ye do." Their business was to in- 
 crease the extension of Christianity in every di- 
 rection ; to instruct, to convince, and to persuade : 
 and hence we should expect to read more of their 
 public teaching, and of their labours and suffer- 
 ings in this great work, than of any thing else. 
 Such we find to be the case. Their circumstances 
 were always extremely unsettled and precarious; 
 
IX FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. Ill 
 
 and in the midst of persecution, affliction and 
 distress from every quarter, considerable time 
 would elapse before Christian churches, or orga- 
 nized societies, could be generally formed for re- 
 ligious worship and instruction. In such circum- 
 stances opportunities for social prayer could never 
 be regular, and seldom without danger of inter- 
 ruption. At first they appear to have frequented 
 the Temple and the Synagogue for this purpose. 
 But after the communication of the miraculous 
 powers on the day of Pentecost, in spite of all op- 
 position and discouragement, their numbers began 
 rapidly to increase; and from the very beginning 
 of their labours, we find decisive proofs, notwith- 
 standing all the disadvantages of their circum- 
 stances, that meetings for religious worship, or 
 social prayer, were among the first things that 
 occurred. These instances are at least as nume- 
 rous as could be expected^ and are amply sufficient 
 to show that they were in the habit of performing 
 this duty with great constancy and fervour. 
 
 When they had been spectators of the ascension 
 of their venerated Master, they returned without 
 delay to Jerusalem, and " were continually in the 
 Temple praising and blessing GodV This was 
 at least public devotion, and no doubt social also, 
 for such was the stated worship of this " house of 
 prayer," and they had no other, as yet, in which 
 to assemble for the purpose. 
 
 In the continuation of this history by the same 
 a Luke xxiv. 52, 53. 
 
112 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 writer in the Acts a , we are informed also, that 
 upon the return of the disciples to Jerusalem from 
 mount Olivet, on this occasion " they went into an 
 upper room, where abode Peter and James, and 
 John, and Andrew and Philip, and Thomas, Bar- 
 tholomew and Matthew, James the son of Al- 
 pheus, Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of 
 James. These all continued with one accord in 
 prayer and supplication, with certain women also, 
 and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren." 
 The word here translated with one accord signi- 
 fies unitedly, in conjunction, as is evident from all 
 the other passages in which it occurs in the New 
 Testament, which are eleven b . The disciples, 
 therefore, already a considerable number, conti- 
 nued with one accord {unitedly, in conjunction) \\\ 
 prayer and supplication. Will any one say that 
 this was not social prayer? 
 
 We are informed immediately after, that one 
 of the next things that occurred, was another act 
 of social worship . When onehundredand twenty 
 disciples were met together for the purpose of fill- 
 ino* up the vacancy occasioned by the apostasy of 
 Judas, they joined in solemn prayer to God ; " and 
 having prayed, they said," in continuation of their 
 religious services, " Thou, Lord, who knowest 
 the hearts of all men, show which of these two 
 
 »CM- 12—14. 
 
 b Acts ii. 1, 46. iv. 24. v. 12. vii. 3J. viii. 6. xii. 20. xv. 25. 
 xviii. 12. xix. 29. Rom xv. 6. See Pope's Answer to Wake- 
 field. 
 
 € Acts i. 24. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 113 
 
 thou hast chosen," &c. No one, surely, will deny 
 that this was an act of social worship. The princi- 
 pal prayer is omitted, and that part only is given 
 which related immediately to the object of their 
 meeting; and the probability is, that it was deli- 
 vered by one individual (Peter, no doubt, who had 
 just addressed the company) in the name of the 
 rest, who concurred with him ; for when it is ob- 
 served in the plural number, " they prayed," and 
 " they said," it cannot be supposed that each of 
 them delivered his own prayer separately, for in 
 this case no one will believe they would all have 
 uttered the same words a . 
 
 On the day of Pentecost about three thousand 
 persons — convinced by what they saw, and by the 
 plain facts which they knew to be true, as stated 
 by Peter — on the spot where they had taken place, 
 and immediately after, were added to the number 
 of the disciples. " These all steadfastly continued 
 in the doctrine of the apostles, and in fellowship, 
 and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." — 
 The other acts mentioned here were social acts; 
 and why not prayers also, like the rest? How, 
 moreover, could it be known that they all conti- 
 
 a It. may be proper to observe, that both these instances of 
 social prayer took place before the descent of the holy spirit, 
 that is, before the miraculous powers were communicated to 
 the apostles ; so that there is no pretence for applying to these 
 instances the observation that has been made respecting other 
 cases of social prayer occurring in the New Testament, namely, 
 that the prayers of the first Christians were " among the mi- 
 raculous gifts," and on that account afford no example to us, 
 
 1 Acts ii. 42. 
 
114 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 nued steadfast in prayer, if these prayers were en- 
 tirely private ? Will any one pay the slightest 
 attention to the ridiculous supposition, that three 
 thousand persons were guilty of the absurd osten- 
 tation of telling each other that they continued 
 steadfast in prayers? 
 
 Soon after this a Peter and John, having been 
 called before the heads of the Jewish nation, 
 when they delivered the noble reply to their com- 
 mand not to preach in the name of Jesus, " Whe- 
 ther it be right before God to hearken unto you 
 more than unto GodL, judge ye. For we cannot 
 but speak the things which we have seen and 
 heard;" returning to their own company b , and 
 reporting all which the chief-priests and elders 
 had said unto them, the whole assembly lift up 
 their voice to God with one accord (unitedly, in 
 conjunction). The prayer follows, which, being 
 of considerable length, was delivered, no doubt, 
 by one individual, the rest joining with them, for 
 it can scarcely be supposed again, they would all 
 have repeated the same form of words separately 
 and extemporaneously, especially when the pray- 
 er was so long and of so singular a description. 
 
 a Acts iv. 23. 
 
 b The increase of the disciples in so short a time after the 
 ascension was very rapid ; for we are told in the preceding 
 chapter, that when Peter had been preaching a second time to 
 the people, though the priests, &c. had cast him and John into 
 prison, " many of those that had heard the discourse of Peter 
 believed : and the number of the men was about five thou- 
 sand." 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 115 
 
 " O sovereign Lord, thou art God, who madest 
 heaven, and earth, -and the sea, and all that is in 
 them : who saidst also by the mouth of thy ser- 
 vant David, ' Why did the Gentiles rage, and the 
 people imagine vain things ? Why did kings of 
 the earth stand up, and why were the rulers ga- 
 thered together against the Lord, and against 
 his anointed ? ' For in truth, against thy holy 
 servant a Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both 
 Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the gentiles, and 
 the people of Israel, were gathered together in 
 this city, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy 
 counsel determined before to be done. And 
 now, Lord, behold their threatenings : and grant 
 unto thy servants, that with all freedom they 
 may speak thy word ; by stretching forth thy 
 hands to heal; and by the doing of signs and 
 wonders, through the name of thy holy servant 
 Jesus." Here then is another unquestionable 
 instance of social prayer ; nor is there any pre- 
 tence for affirming that this was an inspired 
 prayer, or " among the supernatural gifts," for 
 at the conclusion of it we are informed that, 
 u when they had prayed, the place was shaken 
 where they were assembled together ; and they 
 were filled with the holy spirit, and spake the 
 word of God with freedom." So that they were 
 supernaturally assisted to teach, but not to pray. 
 
 a In this and the 30th verse the Greek word is the same as 
 that which the translators of the common version have pro- 
 perly rendered servant in the 25th. 
 
116 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 When the number of the converts was greatly 
 multiplied in Jerusalem % so that the apostles 
 found the daily distribution of alms interfered 
 with their other duties, they called a general as- 
 sembly of the disciples and directed them to choose 
 seven deacons to superintend this business ; and 
 the disciples having chosen them, " they set them 
 before the apostles ; who, when they had pray- 
 ed, put their hands on them." This of course 
 was social prayer. And the reason, moreover, 
 which the apostles gave for the appointment of 
 these officers for such a purpose was, that they 
 themselves might continue "steadfast in prayer, 
 and in the ministry of the word ;" so that prayer 
 is here connected with preaching, the former 
 consequently being public as well as the latter, 
 and both of them constituting the chief employ- 
 ment of the apostles. 
 
 We are afterwards informed b , that whilst 
 Peter was kept in prison, " earnest prayer was 
 made by the church to God for him." The na- 
 tural and obvious sense of these words is, that 
 the united prayers of these Christians on this 
 occasion were offered up to God in behalf of Pe- 
 ter, when they were assembled together ; and 
 this signification of the passage is further con- 
 firmed by what is said in the 12th verse ; u And 
 when they had considered the matter" of Peter's 
 enlargement, " he came to the house of Mary, 
 
 a Acts, vi. 1 — 7* b Acts xii. 5. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 117 
 
 the mother of John, surnamed Mark ; where 
 
 many icere gathered together ', and zcere praying." 
 What could this be, if it were not social prayer? 
 Certainly it was not closet devotion ; and it 
 manifestly shows that the former instance was 
 social too. 
 
 In the next a chapter we are informed, that at 
 the time when Barnabas and Saul were sepa- 
 rated for the ministry, u When they," that is, 
 the other prophets and teachers in the church at 
 Antioch, "had fasted and prayed, and put their 
 hands on them, they sent them away." The put- 
 ting on of hands and praying, on this occasion, 
 were evidently, both of them, public and social 
 acts. 
 
 And when Paul and Barnabas, on a subse- 
 quent occasion b , had appointed elders over the 
 different churches which they had visited, " and 
 had prayed and fasted, they commended them to 
 the Lord, on whom they had believed." The 
 evident probability is, that this also is an instance 
 of a similar nature. 
 
 But one of the most remarkable instances of 
 social prayer, as practised among Christians now, 
 is that which took place at the close of the dis- 
 course delivered by Paul to the inhabitants of 
 Miletus, when, it is said, he kneeled down and 
 prayed with them all. No preposition c , it has 
 been observed, could have been selected, that 
 
 a Acts xiii. 3. b Ibid. xx. 36. c cuts* 
 
118 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 would have conveyed the idea of union more 
 clearly than that which is made use of here : and 
 by these expressions every unbiassed person would 
 immediately understand, that a prayer was de- 
 livered by Paul, in which the assembly silent- 
 ly joined. The meaning of such language is de- 
 termined by general consent, which is here un- 
 equivocal a . 
 
 A similar act was also performed by the same 
 apostle and his companion Luke, in conjunction 
 with the Christians of Tyre b . " When we were 
 departing/' says the writer, "they all conduct- 
 ed us on our way, with their wives and children, 
 till we were out of the city : and we kneeled 
 down and prayed;" which was of course social 
 prayer. 
 
 To these instances may be added the account 
 which is given of what took place at Phiiippi c . 
 "On the sabbath day," says the historian, " we," 
 that is, Paul and his companion Luke, "went 
 out of the city by a river, where prayer was wont 
 to be made : and we sat down and spake to the 
 women who resorted thither :" and from the 16th 
 verse it is generally inferred that they prayed 
 with them. It is probable, however, from the 
 form of expression in this passage d , that here was 
 a proseuche^ in which Paul both prayed with those 
 
 a Pope's Answer to Wakefield. 
 
 b Acts xxi. 5. c Ibid. xvi. 12. 
 
 d It is contended that this passage ought to be rendered, 
 " We went out of the city by a river, where according to re- 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 119 
 
 who were present, and taught them in the man- 
 ner in use in the Synagogue a . 
 
 However, should this instance be considered 
 as equivocal, it it is perfectly unnecessary. The 
 others already adduced, are clear and satisfac- 
 tory ; and, if we consider the conciseness of the 
 history in which they occur, and the extremely 
 unsettled state of Christians at that time, they 
 will certainly appear to be as numerous as cir- 
 cumstances w r ould permit. It was immediately 
 after the ascension of Christ that they began, or 
 rather continued, the practice of social prayer, 
 and nothing can be more evident than that they 
 were afterwards constantly in the habit of using 
 all occasions proper for this purpose as they oc- 
 curred. This will further appear from the pas. 
 sages in the epistles that refer to the subject. 
 
 To the Corinthians b the apostle gives direc- 
 tions on the subject, which prove indisputably 
 that prayer was not confined to the closet, but 
 that Christians were then in the habit of using it 
 in their assemblies for religious purposes : the 
 man whilst praying was to have his head unco- 
 
 ceived custom, or, as was allowed bylaw (hoyJ&ro), . there 
 was a proseuche. See Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, vol. ii. 
 book ii. ch. ii. p. 69. 
 
 a When the law was read, out of respect the reader stood ; 
 but when any person taught the people in the Synagogue, he 
 sat, as Paul did on this occasion. Hence Prideaux and others 
 think the proseuche here was used for religious purposes simi- 
 lar to those which were practised in these places of worship, 
 See Conn, part i. book vi. page 388, the note. 
 
 b 1 Cor. xi. 4. 
 
120 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 vered, the woman to wear the usual covering on 
 the head. 
 
 There is one passage, however, which can 
 leave no doubt on the mind of any person who 
 has not previously received the strongest bias on 
 the subject, that social prayer in the manner now 
 in use, that is, of one individual delivering the 
 prayer in the name of all, and the congregation 
 signifying their participation and concurrence by 
 the response, Amen, was the habitual practice of 
 Christians in general in the apostolic age a . " Let 
 him that speaketh in an unknown language b , 
 pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an 
 unknown language, my spirit prayeth, but my 
 meaning is unprofitable. What is it then? I 
 will pray with the spirit," that is, with my spirit, 
 as in the preceding verse, understanding myself, 
 " and with the understanding also," or with 
 meaning, so as to be understood by others. " I 
 will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the 
 understanding also. Otherwise when thou shalt 
 bless God with the spirit," with thy mind, under- 
 standing thyself, but not understood by others c ? 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiv. 13, &c. 
 
 h This does not necessarily refer to the gift of speaking dif- 
 ferent languages, given on the day of Pentecost, and which 
 was so essential to the apostles in preaching to different na- 
 tions : a foreigner might speak in a language unknown to the 
 rest of the assembly, and it seems strange, if an individual pos- 
 sessed the miraculous power of speaking an unknown lan- 
 guage, that he should not at the same time be enabled to in- 
 terpret that language. 
 
 c See Locke on the passage. This sagacious and- skilful 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 1^1 
 
 14 how shall he that filleth the place of the un- 
 learned say Amen. at thy giving of thanks, since 
 he knoweth not what thou sayest ? For thou in- 
 deed givest thanks well; but the other is not 
 edified V Were there no other text on the sub- 
 ject in the New Testament, this would be suffi- 
 cient. 
 
 It is not easy to imagine a more puerile at- 
 tempt to evade the proof afforded by this pas- 
 sage, that social prayer was the common practice 
 of Christians in their assemblies at this time 5 than 
 that which has been made by some observations 
 on the use of the word amen, as if it were not in- 
 tended to express a participation in the prayer 
 at the conclusion of which it was uttered. Every 
 one knows that amen is a Hebrew word, signi- 
 fying truth, and that it is properly translated re- 
 riljy at the beginning of many of our Lord's so^ 
 
 commentator, however, understands by my spirit in the 14th 
 verse, the mind of the worshiper ; but by spirit in the next 
 verse supernatural assistance to pray in an unknown language. 
 But what sufficient reason can there be for changing the 
 meaning of the same word so suddenly in the same passage > 
 The repetition of the pronoun my was not necessary. The 
 signification seems to be the same here as in our Lord's ex- 
 pression addressed to the woman of Samaria, of worshiping 
 God in spirit and in truth, that is, with the mind and sincerely. 
 a Vitringa quotes this text, among others, in order to show 
 that the worship of the Synagogue and of Christian assemblies 
 was essentially the same, both including prayers, thanksgiv- 
 ings, and benedictions, with the responses of the people, by 
 saying Amen. The chief difference appears to have been, 
 that the Christians did not use forms of prayer, or read th( 
 law. Vitringa de Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xix. p. 1100. 
 
122 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 lemn affirmations recorded in the gospels. But 
 every one knows also that, by common consent, 
 when it is used by those who hear, at the end of 
 a prayer delivered in their presence, this use of 
 it implies, not their approbation only, but their 
 concurrence, their participation in what the 
 speaker has uttered. That this was the ancient 
 as well as modern sense in which it was so used, 
 is unquestionable. The common response, says 
 Vitringa, in the Jewish Synagogue, was amen ; 
 by which the whole congregation replied to the 
 minister's prayers and benedictions ; and there- 
 by signified their concurrence with him (" suura 
 eo consensum testatus cum precante"). He has 
 a distinct section on this use of the word, in 
 which he enumerates the several circumstances 
 insisted upon by the Talmudic writers as requi- 
 site to render it acceptable to God, among which 
 one at least was proper, namely, that it should 
 be accompanied by a firm persuasion that God 
 heareth prayer a . 
 
 St. Paul's direction to Timothy (1 Tim. ii. 
 1 — 8) has also been quoted as affording another 
 instance in evidence that social prayer was the 
 common practice of Christians when that epistle 
 was written. "I exhort therefore, first of all, 
 that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
 giving of thanks be made for all men ; for kings, 
 and for all that are in high station ; that we may 
 lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness 
 •Vitringa, page 1092. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 123 
 
 and gravity. For this is good and acceptable in 
 the sight of God our saviour. — I will therefore 
 that men pray in every place, lifting up holy 
 hands, without anger and disputing." Not only 
 because Paul is here giving directions to Timo- 
 thy how to conduct himself in reference to Chris- 
 tian churches, but from the nature of these ex- 
 hortations, and the whole form of the expressions, 
 these supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
 thanksgivings for all men, &c. we have no doubt 
 were intended to be made in their assemblies for 
 religious purposes. They were altogether social 
 in their nature, and most suitable for public wor- 
 ship & . 
 
 There is also a passage in the epistle to the 
 Romans, (xv. 5 and 6,) which clearly alludes to 
 social prayer as at that time practised among 
 Christians. "Now the God of patience and 
 comfort grant you to be of the same mind among 
 yourselves, according to the will of Jesus Christ: 
 
 a That such was the light in which Christians immediately 
 succeeding the age of the apostles considered these exhorta- 
 tions, is evident from a passage in Tertullian, where he is 
 giving an account of their social worship. His words are; 
 " Goimus in coetum et aggregationem ut ad Deum, quasi maim 
 facta, precationibus ambiamus orantes. Haec vis Deo grata 
 est. Oramus etiam pro imperatoribas, pro ministris eorum 9 
 ac potestatibus, pro statu seculi, pro rerum quiete, pro mor& 
 finis." If there be not in this last sentence a direct allusion 
 to the words of St. Paul to Timothy, it at least describes a 
 practice founded upon them in their public assemblies, con- 
 vened expressly for social prayer with great fervour of devo- 
 tion, which he speaks of as highly acceptable to God. Sec 
 his Apol., cap. xxxix. 
 
 G 2 
 
124 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 that with one consent, and with one month, ye may 
 glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." The word which is here translated with 
 oneconsent*, is the same which occurs in Acts i. 14, 
 signifying in conjunction, and referring in all the 
 places in which it occurs in the New Testament 
 to social acts. So that there can be no doubt 
 the apostle's prayer in this passage, that the 
 Christians at Rome might be of the same mind 
 among themselves, that with one consent (in con- 
 junction), and with one mouth, they might glorify 
 God, refers to their social worship. 
 
 There are a few other passages in the New 
 Testament, of less importance, relative to this sub- 
 ject ; but enough surely has been adduced to prove 
 that social prayer is fully sanctioned by the ex- 
 ample and instructions of Christ and his apostles, 
 as well as by the universal practice of Christians 
 in the apostolic age. 
 
 That social prayer is a practice to which the 
 apostles and their converts were accustomed, is 
 indeed so clearly and decisively proved by the 
 passages which have been quoted, that it is diffi- 
 cult to conceive it possible any one should doubt 
 the reality of this fact, after having perused them 
 with common impartiality. There is but one 
 method of attempting to render this evidence nu- 
 gatory ; and of that some notice has already been 
 taken h ; but as it is the only reply that can be 
 
 a offioQvpMv. See note to page 1 12, 
 b Page 105 and 1 1 3 note. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 125 
 
 made. absurd as it is, it may be proper to add a 
 few farther remarks on the subject. Some per- 
 sons, then, have objected that, though they ad- 
 mit instances of social prayer do occur in the 
 New Testament, yet the extraordinary circum- 
 stances in which they took place, and the mira- 
 cles with which they were connected, render them 
 unfit subjects for our imitation, afford no indica- 
 tion of the mind of Christ, and give no sanction 
 to social worship as a general practice ; nay, 
 others have gone so far as to affirm without he- 
 sitation, that " the prayers of the first Christians 
 formed a part of the supernatural gifts ;" which 
 affirmation, if it mean any thing but a quibble. 
 must signify that these prayers were themselves 
 supernatural gifts, that is. inspired prayers. To 
 this we reply in the first place, that the whole 
 force of this objection applies equally to any 
 sanction or encouragement we may derive from 
 the exhortations and example of Christ and his 
 apostles to zeal and exertion in our endeavours 
 to disseminate the pure principles of Christianity, 
 either by public teaching, by writing in their de- 
 fence, or by any other method; for, if we admit 
 the truth of their own declarations, we have no 
 doubt that the teaching of Christ and his apo- 
 stles was not only accompanied by miracles, and 
 took place in the most extraordinary circum- 
 stances, but was itself " part of the superna- 
 tural gifts." As their commission for that pur- 
 pose was divine, so their qualifications were such 
 
126 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 as no other human being has any pretensions to. 
 Christ spoke in the name and with the authority 
 of God : " The words that I speak unto you, I 
 speak not of myself ; and the Father who abideth 
 in me, he doeth the works a . The doctrines 
 which I teach are not mine, but his that sent me." 
 The apostles also in like manner laid claim to di- 
 vine inspiration, and delivered what they taught, 
 not as the word of man, but as in truth the word 
 of God b ; and Christ assured them, that the com- 
 forter, which the Father would send in his name, 
 should teach them all things, and bring all things 
 to their remembrance, whatsoever he had spoken 
 unto them c ." And accordingly they, as well as 
 the prophets, spoke as the spirit gave them ut- 
 terance. Paul especially declared that the go- 
 spel preached by him was not according to man. 
 " For," says he, " I neither received it from man, 
 nor was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ." And he says in another place, " Which 
 things we speak also, not in the words which 
 man's wisdom teacheth, but which the holy spi- 
 rit teacheth d ." Nothing can be plainer, there- 
 fore, than that the apostles lay claim to divine in. 
 spiration in preaching the gospel, and conse- 
 quently that their teaching, as well as that of 
 Christ, was among the supernatural gifts. Of 
 course then, according to the objection just stated, 
 the command given to them to teach what they 
 
 a John xiv. 10. b 1 Thess. ii. 13, 
 
 * John xiv. 26. d Gal. I % 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 127 
 
 had thus learned, and the various directions re- 
 specting this important work, belong exclusively 
 to them ; their zeal and fidelity in this under- 
 taking afford no example to us; nor are Chris- 
 tians now under any obligation either to teach in 
 any way, or to hear, the great truths of the go- 
 spel of Christ. So that in this manner we should 
 get rid not only of social prayer, but of public 
 teaching also, or of publishing the pure gospel, 
 either by speaking or writing. And why not ? 
 We are told that social prayer has been intro- 
 duced and upheld by crafty, designing, hypocri- 
 tical, worldly, ambitious, and consequently wick- 
 ed men, in order to serve their own selfish pur- 
 poses, and dug'fat therefore to be discoBtm^^d 
 
 g 7, ^ /. -—•■? *■■• 
 
 and why should not all public teaching of the 
 Christian religion in any may whatever be con- 
 sidered as introduced and continued by similar 
 instruments, for the like unworthy purposes ? 
 and if so, why should it not, for this reason, be 
 abolished altogether? For does it not afford the 
 most favourable opportunity of at once blinding 
 the understanding, and corrupting the heart, un- 
 der pretence of moral and religious instruction ? 
 Nay; what reason can be given why the autho- 
 rity of Christianity itself in the present day should 
 not be annihilated altogether by this notable ar- 
 gument ? " Christianity is founded upon miracles ; 
 it was published to the world in circumstances the 
 most extraordinary, and by the most singular 
 means. Christianity was itself a supernatural giftj 
 
128 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 for it was c not the word of man, but the word of 
 God.' Now that miracles have ceased we have 
 nothing to do with it. It ought to have been con* 
 fined to the age of miracles. If it were a revela- 
 tion to others, it is no revelation to us.'' And thus 
 have unbelievers argued in fact. The argument, 
 however, in all these cases is alike sophistical, and 
 serves only to show the weakness of a cause that 
 is compelled to have recourse for support to the 
 shadow of a reason like this. In a word, as ob- 
 served before, the whole conduct of Christ and 
 his apostles in the midst of the most painful suf- 
 ferings and distresses, and their benevolent and 
 generous exertions for the temporal and ever- 
 lasting benefit of mankind, if the force of this 
 reasoning were admitted, would entirely lose 
 their effect as affording an example to us. Ac- 
 cording to the Scriptures, they were supernatu- 
 rally assisted to endure afflictions in a manner of 
 which we can have no expectation. Their per- 
 severance and fortitude in the arduous and pain- 
 ful duties they had to perform, were in a great 
 measure the effects of divine aid to which we can 
 have no pretensions, or were produced by the 
 miraculous powers which have now ceased. Not- 
 withstanding this, however, we still say, " Christ 
 hath left us an example" expressly for this pur- 
 pose, " that we should follow his steps ; end if any 
 man say he abideth in him, he ought also to walk 
 even as he walked." And we respect the admo- 
 nition of St. Paul. " Be ye followers of me., as 
 
IN r.\uh R OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 189 
 
 I am also of Christ. Those things which ye havfe 
 both learned and received, and heard, and seen 
 in me,, do:" and among other things that were 
 excellent, both in him and in his great master 
 the saviour of the world, we have seen unequi- 
 vocal instances of social prayer, as well as the most 
 exalted benevolence, and exemplary fortitude in 
 sufferings : nor do we consider the obligation to 
 imitate their example, either in the one case or 
 the other, at all impaired by the supernatural 
 powers imparted to them by God, or by the ex- 
 traordinary circumstances in which they were 
 called to act. 
 
 To this moreover it may added, if we could see 
 any reason for believing that the prayers of the 
 first Christians had any thing in them superna- 
 tural, then we should say, Still they were social 
 prayers, and therefore social prayer has the sanc- 
 tion of divine authority, and it is impossible that 
 supernatural aid should have been afforded in 
 the practice of a custom which Christ himself had 
 discouraged and forbidden. However, we utter- 
 ly deny the truth of the assertion that the prayers 
 of the first Christians were a " part of the super- 
 natural gifts ; ,; and we ask for proof. Where is 
 the passage in which any thing like this is affirm- 
 ed, or from which it can be deduced with any 
 fairness of inference ? And where, moreover., 
 was the necessity for the exercise of a miraculous 
 power to enable them to pray? Having become 
 Christians^ had they no capacity to feel and ex- 
 & 5 
 
130 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 press virtuous dispositions, and pious wishes and 
 affections in their devout addresses to God, with- 
 out assistance from heaven ? Is any thing done 
 by a God of all knowledge and wisdom in vain ? 
 Or does he interrupt the settled course of natural 
 causes, and exert his power miraculously in cases 
 in which there is no occasion for such interposi- 
 tion, or where the most important benefits to 
 mankind are not the result? 
 
 The idea of the prayers of the first Christians 
 being " part of the supernatural gifts" seems to 
 have been taken up from the passage in the 14th 
 chapter of the 1st epistle to the Corinthians, 
 where prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings 
 are indeed mentioned in company with the gift of 
 speaking a foreign language a , but in which there 
 is not the slightest intimation that the prayers 
 themselves, which were delivered in such lan- 
 guage, were in any degree supernatural. It is 
 said, verse 15th, it is true, " I will pray with 
 the spirit b , and I will pray with the understand- 
 ing also ;" but the meaning of this is, I will pray 
 spiritually, with the use of my own understand- 
 
 * Though there is nothing in this chapter which neces- 
 sarily implies that this power was supernatural, let it be 
 granted, for the sake of the argument, it is probable the apo- 
 stle does allude to such a gift $ for it was communicated on 
 the day of Pentecost, and is enumerated among the spiritual 
 gifts in the 1 2th chapter of this epistle. 
 
 b Thus Christ observes, as remarked before, that those 
 who worship God acceptably, must worship him in spirit and 
 in truth ; that is, spiritually, or with the use of the under- 
 standing, and sincerely. 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 131 
 
 ing, and so as to be understood by others. Prayer 
 is not enumerated among the spiritual gifts in the 
 12th chapter, nor is it any where else mentioned 
 as such. Let any one look through the instances 
 of social worship that have been quoted from the 
 New Testament, and try whether he can find any 
 thing like a proof of this : the case, for instance, 
 of St. Paul at Miletus, when he kneeled down 
 as they were departing, and prayed with the com- 
 pany present on that occasion ; — what indication 
 is there, in this instance, of any thing superna- 
 tural, or in any degree extraordinary, except in- 
 deed the circumstance of the prayer being deli- 
 vered in the open air be considered as such ? This 
 is inconsistent with the customs of the present 
 day ; but will any person seriously urge it as a 
 reason why the apostle's example of social prayer 
 should not be followed in more convenient cir- 
 cumstances, and in places more suitable for the 
 purpose I It will readily be granted that the first 
 Christians might be assisted, as several passages 
 of the New Testament seem to indicate, occa- 
 sionally at least, in their prayers, by diyine influ- 
 ence on the mind ; but this applies as much to 
 their private as to their public devotions, and 
 maybe employed against following their example 
 €qually in the one case as the other. This, how- 
 ever, is a very different thing from the social 
 prayers of the first Christians being the exercise 
 of a supernatural gift, of which there is a total 
 want of proof, Several of the passages that 
 
132 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 have been quoted, moreover, clearly prove that 
 social prayer was the common and habitual prac* 
 tice of Christians universally in their assemblies 
 for religious purposes in the apostolic age ; and 
 will any one be prepared to affirm that prayer 
 was never used on these occasions without the 
 exercise of a miraculous power ? And even if 
 in any particular instances supernatural aid can 
 be proved to have accompanied their public de- 
 votion, still we should say, as before observed, 
 that this circumstance increased rather than di* 
 minished the obligation to the general practice 
 of social worship, because this was an indication 
 that divine approbation attended the perform- 
 ance of this dutv. 
 
 So long as the preceding passages remain in 
 the New Testament, no further evidence can be 
 needed, that amidst all the sufferings, hazards^ 
 and uncertainties of their state> social prayer was 
 from the first the common practice of the apostles 
 and their converts. They met for this purpose 
 when and where they could ; and there are also 
 two or three passages from which it seems reason- 
 able to conclude that they set apart the first day of 
 the week; which they called the Lord's day, more 
 particularly for religious duties, and no doubt, 
 as they were so much in the habit of social wor- 
 ship, for this among others a . As their numbers 
 increased, which they did rapidly and exten- 
 sively, they every where formed themselves into 
 
 * John xx. 19, 26. Acts xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Rev. i. 9, 1$ 
 
IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. idO 
 
 churches, or religious societies, regularly and 
 judiciously organized, for the purpose of promot- 
 ing the great and benevolent objects of Christia- 
 nity among themselves and others whom they 
 could convince and persuade to become partakers 
 of its inestimable benefits. When this was the 
 case, their meetings for religious worship and 
 instruction became more regular and stated ; and 
 the first day of the week is more distinctly mark- 
 ed as the time when these services took place. 
 
 SECTION II, 
 
 The Practice cf Christians immediately after the 
 Apostolic Age* 
 
 The preceding account of the state of social 
 worship among the first Christians is abundantly 
 confirmed by all the information that can be ob- 
 tained relative to the period immediately suc- 
 ceeding the apostolic age. There are various 
 decisive testimonies to this effect; but the most 
 important is that of Justin Martyr, whose Apo- 
 logy, from which the following extract is taken, 
 was written A. D. 140. w On the day called 
 Sunday," says he, " there is an assembling toge- 
 ther in one place of all who live in the cities or 
 the country; the records of the apostles a , or the 
 
 a Td d , 7ro i u,vY) l uoi'£Vfi,!x,Tc& T601/ d-Trofo^oiu. This is no more 
 the title of a particular book, than the "writings of the 
 ^prophets" is. The " records of the apostles," or the me- 
 
134 THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS 
 
 writings of the prophets, are read, as time per- 
 mits. When the reader has finished, the presi- 
 dent delivers a discourse, admonishing the peo- 
 ple, and exhorting them to copy in their conduct 
 the excellent things which they have heard \ Then 
 we all rise together and pray ; and, when we have 
 ceased praying, bread and wine and water are 
 brought; and the president in like manner offers 
 up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his 
 ability b , and the people express their concurrence 
 by saying Amen c . Then all who are present par- 
 take of the elements, which are distributed among 
 them and sent to the absent by the deacons." 
 
 In the passage already quoted d from Tertul- 
 lian, who, like Justin, flourished immediately 
 after the age of the apostles, about the year 160, 
 we have another testimony equally decisive to the 
 zeal and fervour with which Christians came toge- 
 ther in crowded assemblies for the purpose of so- 
 cial prayer. And we may add, the celebrated 
 letter of Pliny to Trajan affords unexceptionable 
 evidence of the same fact, that Christians were 
 
 morable transactions, discourses, &c. recorded by them, may 
 include not only the historical parts of the New Testament, 
 but the epistles" also ; in other words, the whole of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 a TlgoxXrpiv Tv}$ rm x,a,7,a>» rarcou fii^aeayg. The idea is 
 evidently that these Christians were exho.rted to exhibit in 
 their conduct a copy or resemblance of whatever was morally 
 excellent or beautiful in what they had heard read. 
 
 b "Oo-tf Ivvctpig aura, and consequently his prayers were 
 extemporaneous 
 
 * Apol. I. par. 87, p. 131. EcL Oxon. 1700.. 
 
 A See note to page 123. 
 
AFTER THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 135 
 
 in the habit of meeting together on a certain 
 day, at that time, early in the morning, through 
 fear, no doubt, of their persecutors, for the pur- 
 pose of social worship, though it was very natural 
 for him to be mistaken concerning the object of 
 their adoration, since he had never been present in 
 their assemblies, and would readily consider them 
 as practising idolatry, though in a form very dif- 
 ferent from that which he had been accustomed 
 to witness. 
 
 Speedily after the death of the apostles, then, 
 we have proof which no one will venture to dis- 
 pute, that the followers of Christ regularly assem- 
 bled, both in the cities and surrounding country, 
 on the first day of the week, for the purpose of 
 religious services, which consisted of reading 
 the Scriptures, exhortations, the Lord's Supper, 
 prayers and thanksgivings, conducted by one in- 
 dividual, and in which the people joined. The 
 question therefore occurs, How came it to pass, 
 in so short a time after the death of the apo- 
 stles, some of whom it is possible at least might 
 have been personally known to individuals 
 then living, that social prayer had become the 
 stated and universal practice in their religious 
 assemblies on the first day of the week, if this 
 custom had received no sanction from the ex- 
 ample and instructions of the apostles, if Christ 
 himself had expressly forbidden it, and if the first 
 converts to his religion, who had the best means 
 of becoming acquainted with his will on the sub- 
 
136 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF C HRlStlANS, 
 
 ject, had lived in the general neglect of it ? Did 
 it spring- up every where in Justin's time on a 
 sudden ? And were heathen converts especially 
 brought over instantly to a habit so different from 
 all they had been accustomed to 5 if they had no 
 wan ant for it in the new religion which they had 
 adopted ? No person surely will have credulity 
 enough to believe this a * 
 
 SECTION IIL 
 
 The Resemblance between the religious Service? 
 in the first Christian Assemblies, and those of 
 ancient Synagogues. 
 
 So evident is it that social worship was the 
 
 a Nothing has been said in these pages en the subject of 
 singing in the religious assemblies of the first Christians, or 
 of the~Synagogue, because, as it was sufficient to prove that 
 prayer, which constitutes the chief part of public worship, 
 was their usual and habitual practice on these occasions, it 
 was desirable not to add unnecessarily to the length of this 
 little work. Singing, besides, was not only a subordinate part 
 of these services, but was less suitable to the circumstances 
 of danger and persecution with which the first Christians were 
 surrounded, than prayer; and for these reasons we should 
 not expect to meet so frequently with reference in the New 
 Testament to the practice of it among them. Notwithstand* 
 ing this, however, there are several passages which are suf- 
 ficient to show that singing was in common use among them, 
 as, Matt. xxvi. 30 ; i Cor. xiv. 15, 26 ; Eph. v. 18, 19 ; CoL 
 iii. 16: James v. 13. Singing, moreover, is in its own na- 
 ture a social exercise. Few persons would be disposed to 
 sing alone in their closets ; and if the first Christians sang at 
 all, it would be, of course, in society. After the apostolic 
 age it is also certain that this useful and exhilarating prac- 
 tice was continued regularly and universally. 
 
AND OF THE SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. 137 
 
 common practice of Christians in the apostolic 
 age, that it has been maintained by those who 
 have investigated the subject with the greatest 
 care, that the Jewish Synagogue furnished the 
 model by which their religious services, as well 
 as the general constitution of their churches, 
 were formed. One object of Vitringa's ela- 
 borate and valuable work on the Ancient Syn- 
 agogue was to prove this. And though the re- 
 semblance was certainly not designed, nothing 
 could be more likely to take place. The great 
 founder of the Christian religion, though he 
 showed his approbation of social worship by his 
 practice, and by the encouragement which he 
 gave it, left no specific direction concerning the 
 mode in which it should be conducted, enjoining 
 only that it should be free from ostentation and 
 hypocrisy, and assuring his followers that not a 
 multitude of forms and ceremonies, but sincerity 
 and truth alone, would render their religious ser- 
 vices acceptable to God. The method of prayer, 
 as well as the regulations to be adopted in their 
 religious societies, he left, in a great measure^ as 
 matters of discretion and expediency, to be modi- 
 fied and determined by circumstances, as prudence 
 and sound judgment should direct, without allow- 
 ing one, or any number of individuals, in the Chris- 
 tian community, to assume pre-eminence over 
 others. Having this liberty, sacred and inviola- 
 ble as it ought ever to be, the first converts to 
 his religion, guided by the powerful influence of 
 habit, if they were constituted like other men, 
 
138 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF CHRISTIANS, 
 
 would naturally be disposed to carry into their 
 new profession whatever there might be in the 
 mode of worship to which they had been accus- 
 tomed that was consistent with the liberal and 
 rational principles which they had adopted ; and 
 the first instruments of its propagation being Jews, 
 who had been in the habit of attending the reli- 
 gious services of the Temple and the Synagogue 
 with great regularity, they would be inclined, as 
 a matter of course, to transfer the Jewish method 
 of prayer and praise into their new societies, 
 especially as their master had given them a war- 
 rant for this by his attendance upon that worship. 
 But the Gentile Christians, having nothing in their 
 ancient superstitions that could be substituted 
 jfat them, would readily talke these services as 
 they found them among the Jewish converts, 
 without attempting any innovations of their own, 
 except perhaps as to the object of their worship. 
 And accordingly, from all the sources of informa- 
 tion relative to this subject that remain, there is 
 every reason to believe this to have been the case. 
 Whoever has perused Vitringa on this subject, 
 cannot fail to be convinced that in the worship 
 of the early Christians and that of the Synagogue, 
 though in some instances there were considerable 
 variations, yet, in all the most essential parti- 
 culars the resemblance was singularly exact and 
 striking. He states first the instances of corre- 
 spondence between the services of the Temple 
 and those of the Synagogue, showing from ancient 
 Jewish writers that all the religious services of 
 
AND OF THE SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. 139 
 
 the latter were observed in the former ; such as 
 prayer, the reading of the law, and teaching the 
 people from the Scriptures, whilst the sacrifices, 
 the burning of incense, and the Levitical music, 
 belonged exclusively to the Temple. And though 
 the mode of prayer was different, yet in both 
 places it was social. As the worship of the Syna- 
 gogue was more rational, conducted with greater 
 simplicity, more liberal, and better adapted to 
 general use, than that of the Temple, so the wor- 
 ship in use among Christians in all these respects 
 was a still further improvement. They had no 
 forms but the Lord's prayer, which, after the 
 apostolic age at least, they appear frequently to 
 have repeated in their religous assemblies. But 
 in other instances the resemblance was preserv- 
 ed a . The worship of both was equally social ; 
 
 a In his Prolegomena, cap. i. p. 3, is the following pas- 
 sage : — " In cultu templi et synagogarum oceurrunt ritus 
 quidam et ceremonies, iis ad omnia similes, quas in sacris nos- 
 tris observare licet. Si enim animum advertamus ad lectionem 
 legis, psalmodiam, conciones, preces, benedictiones, aliosqne 
 sacros, constat utique, eos non minus apud veteres Judseos 
 quam nunc apud Christianos usu receptos fuisse. Quod qui 
 attenta mente con^iderat, quid ilii magis in proclivi est quam 
 cogitare de communi horum sacrorum origine ? 
 
 " In Templo et Synagogis fuerunt sacrarum rerum prae- 
 fecti et ministri ratione officiorum, (imo et nominum,) cum iis 
 comparandi, qui in ecclesiis prsesident iisque ministeria ex- 
 hibent. Quapropter jure quseiitur, quae sit hujus conveni- 
 ent^ ratio, aut esse possit? 
 
 iC Praecipuam hie meretur animadversionem, quod non tan- 
 tum officiates et consuetudines sacrorum conventuum Christi- 
 anorum et Judaicorum plurimis partibus inter se consentiunt, 
 sed quod ipsi Scriptores sacri ecclesiam Christianorum ejusque 
 prcefectos, ministros et consuetudines iisdem subinde normni- 
 
140 frELIGIOUS SERVICES OF CHRISTIANS, 
 
 cons^iing of prayers, thanksgivings and henedio 
 lion's, delivered by one in the name of the rest ; 
 and it is acknowledged by all, says Vitringa a , 
 that the church received from the Synagogue the 
 response. Amen, to the prayer pronounced by the 
 person who conducted these services. He also 
 remarks, it merits attention, that not only do the 
 offices and customs of the Christians and Jewish 
 assemblies for public worship agree in most par- 
 ticulars, but the sacred writers themselves make 
 use of the same names and phrases by which to 
 distinguish the different ministers of the Christian 
 church, and to describe the duties of their re- 
 spective offices, as those by which the ancient as 
 well as modern Jews were accustomed to designate 
 their religious ceremonies and the officers who 
 presided over them. Both in the Synagogue and 
 the Christian church we have pastors, teachers, 
 wise men, elders, presidents or overseers, rulers, 
 leaders, angels b of the church, and deacons: and 
 
 bus, vocibus, et phrasibus, exprimant, quibus Judaei suas per- 
 sonas et ceremouias sacras, vel olim designare soliti sunt, vel 
 nunc etiam hodieque designant," &c. Then follows his enu- 
 meration of the officers of both services, and the duties attach- 
 ed to their stations, which so exactly correspond. In his 
 Prolegomena he enumerates the points of resemblance between 
 the Hebrew and Christian mode of worship, as well as the 
 constitution of their religious societies, and the body of his 
 work is employed in adducing the proofs. 
 
 a Lib. iii. pars 3. cap. xix. p. 1100. 
 
 b This appellation was given, as observed before, to the mi- 
 nister of the Synagogue who recited the prayers in the name of 
 the people, and to the Israelites of the station in the Temple, 
 who were always present there at the time of the daily sacri- 
 fices to offer up their prayers in the name of the people ; but 
 
AND OF Till: SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. MI 
 
 the duties which they performed, or superin- 
 tended, were thanksgivings, benedictions, read- 
 ing, interpretation, teaching, exhortation, feed- 
 ing the church, singing, and prayer with the re- 
 sponse, Amen. And he adds, what appears to 
 be a remarkable coincidence, the precepts whidh 
 the teachers of the Jews give respecting the duties 
 required of the various officers of the Synagogue 
 scarcely differ in the slightest degree from those 
 which the apostle Paul delivers in cases of a 
 similar kind in the Christian church a . 
 
 it is also applied in the Scriptures to the priests and Levites. 
 See Deut. xxx. 13 ; Mai. iii. 7» So likewise we read of the 
 angels of the seven churches (Rev. ii. 1, 8, J 2, &cJ), who 
 were the overseers, the presidents,, or ministers of those 
 churches. For notices of the other officers see also the fol- 
 lowing passages : — Pastors, Eph. iv. 11. Teachers, Rom. 
 xii. 7 ', 1 Col. xii. 28 ; Eph. iv. 1 1 ; Heb. xiii. 7- Wise men, 
 1 Cor vi. 5, xii, 23. Elders, Acts xiv. 22, xv. 2, 22, xx. 17, 
 xxi. 18; 1 Tim. v. 1, 17; Titus i. 5; 1 Pet. v. <1 ; James v. 14. 
 Overseers, or bishops, who were elders, Acts xx. 17, &c,; 
 1 Tim. iii . J ; Phil. i. 1; Titus i. 6. Rulers, or leaders, IThess. 
 v. 12, 13; 1 Tim. v. 17; Heb. xiii. 7, 17; Rom. xv. 14, xii. 7, 
 8; 1 Cor. xii. 28. Deacons, Acts vi, 1, 2, &c; Phii. i. 1; 
 1 Tim. iii. 4. 
 
 a Christian churches were also sometimes called Syna- 
 gogues, as in James ii. 2 : " If these come into your assembly^ 
 &c. the original is synagogue. As the Jewish synagogues 
 were used for holding courts of justice, especially upon eccle- 
 siastical affairs, as well as for public worship, Dr. Whitby and 
 Dr. Jennings \see his Jewish Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 64) 
 think that it is to this use of them St. James alludes here. 
 But this is in the highest degree improbable; for the apostle 
 is addressing Christians, and*not Jews; nor can any thing be 
 plainer from the whole passage, than that he is here speaking 
 of Christian and not of Jewish places of worship. It is also 
 highly probable, that the ancient synagogues themselves, 
 when the Jews that assembled in them became Christians, 
 were used as places of Christian worship. 
 
142 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF CHRISTIANS, 
 
 Such then are the important and essential 
 points of resemblance between the worship of the 
 Synagogue and of the early Christian churches, 
 as well as their general constitution, proved to 
 have existed by a writer to whose competency to 
 form a correct judgement in this case, by his 
 thorough investigation of the subject, united to 
 profound erudition and persevering industry, few 
 persons now, if any, will pretend. It may well 
 be inquired, therefore, Whence did all these in- 
 stances of similarity originate ? In the imitation 
 of the Christians by the Jews ? As well might it 
 be expected that the inhabitants of Greenland 
 should voluntarily clothe themselves in the dress 
 of the equatorial regions. Certainly the bitter 
 hatred which the Jews from the first have always 
 borne the Christian name, and every thing belong- 
 ing to it, would lead them to stand as far aloof >as 
 possible from any customs that had resemblance 
 to Christian innovation, and Christian peculiari- 
 ties. This inveterate and implacable enmity was 
 introduced even into their prayers ; for they had 
 one by which they devoted all Christians to de- 
 struction, and which they were accustomed to 
 repeat every sabbath in their synagogues. But 
 at the same time when Jews, by the powerful 
 operation of the miraculous evidence of the truth 
 of Christianity, became converts, a change which 
 was fitly compared to a new birth, still, from habit 
 and strong predilection for their ancient customs, 
 they would inevitably be inclined to introduce as 
 
AND OF THE SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. 143 
 
 much of their former modes of worship into their 
 new profession as was not inconsistent with its 
 requisitions; whilst converts from Paganism, un- 
 der the mild and benevolent influence of Chris- 
 tian principles, would have no prejudices against 
 this worship to encounter, as they had nothing of 
 a similar kind to substitute in its room. It would 
 have been strange had it been otherwise. And 
 accordingly we find from the espistles of Paul, that 
 such was in reality the fact ; for so strong were the 
 ancient prejudices of the converts from Judaism^ 
 that one of the greatest difficulties he had to en- 
 counter was to convince them that the observ- 
 ance of the Mosaic rites was not essential to the 
 enjoyment of Christian privileges; though on the 
 subject of social worship he says nothing discou- 
 raging to the practice of it ; for this was not pecu- 
 liar to the Mosaic in&titute, and had he done so, 
 his own practice would have been liable to the 
 censure. Hence therefore the resemblance be- 
 tween the worship of the Synagogue and that of 
 the first Christians is such as might have been 
 reasonably expected, and of the reality of it there 
 can be no doubt. 
 
 The sum of the whole, then, is this : — That the 
 advocates for social prayer have as much right 
 as its opponents to express their convictions on 
 this, or any other religious topic, without being 
 liable to suspicion or to insult, is unquestionable; 
 
144 CONCLUSION. 
 
 nor can any purpose be served by abuse and 
 scurrility, but to injure the cause which they 
 may be intended to support. Their conviction 
 therefore is, that public worship or social prayer 
 is sanctioned in the clearest manner by reason, 
 since it is perfectly congenial with the social 
 nature of man ; with his best feelings, propen- 
 sities, and wishes, together with the circuin- 
 stances in which he is placed, which all connect 
 him with society, as well as with the relation in 
 which he stands to his Creator, whose bounties 
 he shares and whose favours he needs in com- 
 mon with the rest of his species. Were his na- 
 ture solitary, like that of some of the brute crea^ 
 tion, we should then say, Let him bury himself, 
 like them, in retirement, and in nothing seek 
 communion with others : but so long as his dis- 
 positions, his wants, and his situation in the 
 world, connect him inseparably with others, his 
 religious duties, as well as the rest, become 
 social ; nor can any thing be more proper and 
 becoming than the general offering of humble 
 prayer and praise to the general benefector. The 
 religious and moral benefits of such a practice we 
 consider as most important. It contributes per- 
 haps more than any thing else to the influence of 
 religious principle on society at large ; and whilst 
 it gives strength to the habits of private devotion, 
 it has a direct tendency to cherish and increase 
 a spirit of benevolence and sympathy with others, 
 especially in their sufferings; an advantage which 
 
CONCLUSION. 145 
 
 prayer in the closet does not possess in an equal 
 degree. All the charities of life are the proper 
 fruits of general association in rendering homage 
 to the beneficent Father of the human race ; nor is 
 it credible that any one who habitually joins with 
 others in the practice of this duty, should be totally 
 insensible to the additional obligation under which 
 he is laid thereby to abstain from whatever would 
 bring discredit on his Christian profession. We 
 readily admit that it is liable to be perverted and 
 misapplied. Asitisapowerfulinstrumentofgood, 
 so is it of evil also, though in an inferior degree ; 
 for the best things are subject to the greatest 
 abuse. But this is equally true of public teach- 
 ing in any way, as well as of every other religious 
 and moral duty; and if we are to reject any prac- 
 tice, because it has been abused and perverted to 
 evil purposes, we shall retain nothing that is ex- 
 cellent and good. To argue against public wor- 
 ship appears to us to be opposing the best in- 
 terests, — the morals, the civilization, the good 
 order of society, the present and eternal welfare 
 of mankind. The dispute seems to -resolve itself 
 into the question, Whether religion be the friend 
 or enemy of man : and as we have no doubt that 
 religion is of the first importance to his wel- 
 fare, inasmuch as it is the best and only sure 
 foundation of universal virtue^ we are of opi- 
 nion that the efforts of the opponents of so- 
 cial worship are aimed, and aimed only, at what 
 is most valuable to the human race. Hence this 
 
 H 
 
116 CONCLUSION. 
 
 duty has the sanction of antiquity, as well as 
 of all modern practice among Christians. The 
 Hebrews, from the infancy of their nation, were 
 accustomed to it. Prayer was a companion of 
 sacrifice. It formed a part of their worship in 
 the Temple, the whole of which was public and 
 social. From the Temple it was transferred to 
 the Synagogue, where, as there was no sacrifice, 
 it formed the chief part of their religious services, 
 and was offered in a form the most social that can 
 be devised. These services Christ himself and his 
 apostles regularly attended, and by this means at 
 least expressed, their approbation of social wor- 
 ship in some form or other, leaving the use of 
 liturgies or free prayer to the discretion and 
 judgement of the worshiper. Besides this, in- 
 stances are mentioned in the gospels, in which 
 Christ on other occasions prayed in society, and 
 there are some in which his approbation of this 
 custom is implied. Various passages have also 
 been quoted, which prove that social prayer was 
 the common and habitual practice of the apostles 
 and first Christians in general ; and from the unex- 
 ceptionable testimony of the earliest and most re- 
 spectable writers immediately succeeding the 
 apostolic age, it is also indisputable that in their 
 time this custom universally prevailed in the 
 Christian churches. The manner in which it 
 was conducted bore a striking resemblance to that 
 of the Synagogue, which shows its origin to have 
 been from thence. From that time to this it has 
 
CONCLUSION. 147 
 
 continued to be the uniform practice of Chris- 
 tians of all parties, however opposite in other 
 instances their opinions, and whatever may have 
 been their animosities. It has therefore the clear 
 sanction of the religion we profess, not less than 
 of reason. It has grown with the growth of 
 Christianity ; has accompanied with equal steps 
 its progress through the civilized world ; and 
 so long as this pure and benevolent system 
 of faith and practice shall retain its hold on the 
 minds of mankind, we have no fear of its decline. 
 To endeavour to root it out from society, or per- 
 ceptibly diminish the numbers that attend upon 
 it, is an attempt as idle and fruitless as shooting 
 straws against a rock> or trying to overturn a 
 mountain with a lever. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 j\S the Mishnah and Talmudical writers have been men- 
 tioned in the preceding Treatise, the following account of 
 both may be acceptable to readers who have not had an oppor- 
 tunity of attending to these subjects. 
 
 The Mishnah arose out of the following circumstances : The 
 Jews had a tradition that Moses just before his death deli- 
 vered to the people, not only thirteen copies of the written 
 law, but numerous interpretations of it, which they called the 
 oral law ; and which they said was delivered down with great 
 care by Joshua to the elders that followed him, who delivered 
 
148 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 it again to the prophets, till it came at length to Ezraand the 
 members of the great Synagogue, &c. But the truth of the 
 matter is, says Prideaux, that after the death of Simon the 
 Just, 292 years before Christ, there arose a sort of men 
 called the Mishnacal Doctors, who made it their business to 
 study and descant upon those traditions which had been re- 
 ceived and allowed by Ezra and the men of the great Syna- 
 gogue, and who drew inferences of consequence from them, all 
 which they had ingrafted into the body of their ancient tradi- 
 tions, as if they had been as authentic as the others ; which 
 example being followed by those who succeeded them in this 
 profession, they continually added their own imaginations to 
 what they had received from those who went before them, 
 whereby these traditions became like a great snow-ball, — the 
 further they rolled from one generation to another, the more 
 they gathered, and the greater the bulk of them grew. And 
 thus it went on to the middle of the second century after 
 Christ, when Antoninus Pius governed the Roman empire ; 
 by which time they found it necessary to put all these tradi- 
 tions into writing, for they were grown so numerous that it 
 became no longer possible for the human memory to retain 
 them. This work was assigned to, and executed by, Rabbi 
 Judah, called Hakkadash, that is holy, who was then rector 
 of their school at Tiberias in Galilee, and president of the 
 Sanhedrim which sat at that place. He undertook and com- 
 piled this work in six books, each consisting of several tracts, 
 in all sixty-three ; and in which, under proper heads, was 
 arranged all that had been delivered to them of their law and 
 their religion by their ancestors. This is the book called the 
 Mishnah. This book has always been held in the highest 
 veneration by the Jews, as of equal or even superior authority 
 to the Scriptures. It immediately became the study of all 
 their learneo^Jmen ; and the chief of them, both in Judea and 
 Babylonia, employed themselves in making comments upon 
 it ; and these comments, together with the Mishnah itself, 
 make up both the Talmuds ; that is, the Jerusalem and the 
 Babylonian Talmud. The comments they call the Gamara, 
 that is, the Complement. The Jerusalem Talmud was com- 
 pleted about the year of our Lord 300, and is published in 
 one large folio. The Babylonian Talmud was published about 
 200 years afterwards, in the beginning of the sixth century. 
 The last edition, published at Amsterdam, is in twelve folios. 
 This latter is that which is chiefly followed by them, on 
 
APPENDIX. 149 
 
 account of the obscurity of the other. These are the most 
 ancient books the Jews have, except the Chaldee Paraphrase 
 of Onkelos and Jonathan, written about the year 145, and 
 both of them in the language and style of Judea. Out of the 
 Babylonian Talmud Maimonides has made an abstract, con- 
 taining only the resolutions and determinations made therein 
 on every case, without the descants, disputes, fables, and other 
 trash, under which they lay buried in a load of rubbish. This 
 is one of the completest digests of the law ever made ; and 
 for this and other of his writings, he is deservedly esteemed 
 the best writer among them. Prideaux's Connexion, part i. 
 book v. p. 325. We are justified, therefore, in saying that the 
 Mishnah, having been compiled about the year of Christ 150, — 
 though containing a collection of absurd and fabulous tradi- 
 tions, — in a matter of fact, like that of the antiquity of the 18 
 prayers, is sufficient authority. And if these prayers were old 
 established forms about 120 years after the death of Christ, 
 there can be no doubt of their being in use during his life. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 . The following translation of the prayer f* Cadish" may 
 also be acceptable to the English reader. 
 
 Let his great name be magnified and hallowed in the world 
 which he hath created according to his own good pleasure, 
 and may he cause his kingdom to rule. May his redemption 
 flourish, and may his Messiah suddenly come, and deliver his 
 people in your life and in your days, and in the life of all the 
 house of Israel, and that very speedily. And say ye, Amen, 
 Amen, let his great name be blessed for eyer and ever. Let 
 his name be celebrated, and his memorial exalted perpetually, 
 and to all eternity. Celebrated, praised, honoured, exalted, 
 lifted up, reverenced, extolled, and proclaimed be the name 
 of the Holy and Blessed One, far above all blessing, and 
 singing, and praise, and gratulation, that are used in the world. 
 And say ye, Amen. Receive our prayers with mercy and 
 favour. Let the prayers and desires of all Israel be accepted 
 before their Father who is in heaven ; and say ye, Amen. Let 
 the name of the Lord be blessed from this time even for ever. 
 Let great peace from heaven, and life, be upon us and upon 
 Israel ; and say ye, Amen. 
 
 I 
 
150 
 
 OMISSIONS. 
 
 The following passages were omitted in their proper place ; 
 but, as they are very much to the purpose, they are inserted 
 here. They should have been added to the note ending on 
 page 134. 
 
 In the preceding paragraph (lxxxvi) indeed there is an 
 explanation of Justin's meaning; for he says, " The apostles in 
 the records written by them, (sv rolg yivopkvoig inc oivtcou dm- 
 ftsr/iftovev/aoiM,) which are called the Gospels, have informed 
 us that Jesus, when he had taken the bread, and given 
 thanks, commanded them, saying, Do this in remembrance 
 of me," &c. With these gospels he was well acquainted ; 
 for he makes many quotations from them in the former part 
 of his work. 
 
 In the paragraph preceding this (ixxxv), moreover, the 
 account which he gives of the manner in which converts were 
 received into the Christian community, affords another in- 
 stance in proof of the perfectly social nature of their religious 
 worship. " Having been baptized, the new believer," he ob- 
 serves, " is introduced to the Christian brethren where they 
 are gathered together to offer up their united prayers (x,otva$ 
 kv%oig)>" &c. When these prayers are finished, the Lord's 
 supper is administered, at which the president again offers 
 prayers and thanksgivings, in which the people, he says, sig- 
 nify their concurrence by saying Amen. And he adds " Now 
 Amen, in the Hebrew dialect, is used to signify So be it 
 (to ysvoiTo GYificiiusi) :" — an unanswerable proof, if any were 
 needed, that this word was used by the first Christians at the 
 end of prayers, in the same sense as at present, and that no- 
 thing could be more strictly social than their mode of worship. 
 
 Page 61, line 4, after " Prideaux" add (< and Vitringa," and 
 strike out s from the end of "endeavours." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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