A. M. 3475. A. C. 529; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4947. A. C. 464. EZRA iv. 7-END, EST. NEH. PART OF HAG, ZECH. MAL. which the Lord had commanded Israel;' which plainly implies, that all the people well knew that this book was then extant, and needed not such a miraculous expedient as that of a divine revelation for its recovery. that these vowel-points are of a later date than Ezra, fortify themselves with such arguments as these,-That the sacred books, which the Jews make use of in their synagogue-service, neither have, nor ever had, any of these points in them, which can only be imputed to this, That when the Holy Scriptures began first to be publicly read in the synagogues, (which was presently after this edition which Ezra made of them,) there were no such vowel-points then in being: that if we compare the translation of the Septuagint, the Chaldee paraphrases, or the Latin version of St Jerome, with the present pointed Hebrew bibles, we shall in several places find, that they read the text otherwise than according to the present punctuation; which is an argument that these points were either not in being, or not in any great authority in those times: and, lastly, that if we consult Philo Judæus, or Josephus, who are two of the oldest authors of the Jews, or any of the ancient Christian writers, for several ages after Christ, we shall not find one word mentioned of these points, though they could not but have sundry occasions to take notice of them, if either they had been in use, or of such great credit and But if Ezra did not restore the Scripture in this manner, the question is, what did he towards it? Now, to this it may be answered, that, upon his coming to Jerusalem,' he got together as many copies as he could meet with, either in private hands, or public repositories; that by comparing these copies one with another, he found out the true reading, and so corrected all the mistakes that had crept into them, either through the negligence or ignorance of transcribers; that, having thus made the copies perfect, he collected from them all the books of which the Holy Scriptures did then consist, (for some books that appeared later were admitted after this time,) disposed them in their proper order, and so far settled the canon of Scripture, that, for the illustration, connexion, and completion of these books, especially such as were historical, he added some passages that were not in them before, and changed some names that were then grown obsolete, for such as were more modern, and better understood, which, as he was a pro-authority with the Jews, as is pretended. And therefore, phet, he was authorized to do; that having thus made the books, in all their parts, perfect and intelligible, for the still greater ease and convenience of the vulgar, he caused the whole to be written out in the Chaldee character, which, after the Babylonish captivity, was in general use among the people, so that the old Hebrew letters were, from that time, laid aside among the Jews, and only retained by the Samaritans; and lastly, that to ascertain the reading of this introduced character, he added the vowel-points that are now found in our Hebrew bibles: but whether this was of his doing, or the work of some later hand, is a matter of much debate among the learned. to answer the arguments on the other side, they allege, that the books of Bahir and Zohar are not near so ancient as they are reputed; that for above a thousand years after their pretended composure, the Jews themselves knew nothing of them, nor were they once mentioned by any author whatever during that interval; and therefore there is reason to think, that a false date of antiquity was fraudulently put to them, to give them some sanction, and to recommend them to the world with a better credit. That the Masorites of Tiberias were certainly in being a long time in Judea, and in their way of learning were not a little eminent; for St Jerome himself informs us, that he made use of them: that though there may be some difficulty in reading without points; yet since we find that the Samaritans, who understand Hebrew no better than the Jews, have no points to this day, yet can read the Hebrew text, in the Samaritan character, we need not doubt but that custom, good sense, and the coherence of the discourse, will supply rules for the remedying of these inconveniences. And lastly, since there is no language in the world, wherein there are not several equivocal expressions, which may occasion an ambiguity in the sense; though points in this case may be of some use, yet they cannot totally secure us from error, because faults in transcribing or printing and variations in pointing, are unavoidable. Those who maintain that Ezra, whom all held to be a prophet, was the author of these points, and that they, consequently, are of the same authority with the text itself, argue in this manner,-That when the Hebrew language ceased to be the mother-tongue of the Jews, as all agree it did after the Babylonish captivity, it thence became, in a manner, impossible to teach it, without the assistance of the vowel-points; and therefore, at least, they must have begun in the time of Ezra, and continued in use ever after that two ancient books, called Bahir and Zohar, which are said to have been written, the one a little before, and the other a little after the time of our Saviour, made express mention of these points in more places than one: that whereas it is said, To accommodate the matter then, as well as we can, on the other side, that the Masorites of Tiberias (above between these contending parties; though these vowel five hundred years after Christ) were the inventors of points were never anciently esteemed any part of the these points; this appears unlikely, because the schools Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament, but only addiwhich the Jews once had in Judea were at this time all tions of human invention, for the more easy reading of suppressed nor was there any number of learned men the text, because they were never received by the Jews, left in the nation, of sufficient ability for such a work to whom were committed the oracles of God, into the and, lastly, that if it be allowed that the present points books which were read in their synagogues; yet we have are not of the same authority with the letters themselves, good reason to conclude, that upon the Hebrew ceasbut only of a late and human invention, this will weakening to be a vulgar language, as it certainly did in the the authority of the Scriptures, and leave the sacred text time of Ezra, they must of necessity have been introto an arbitrary and uncertain reading and interpretation. duced. Those who maintain the contrary opinion, namely, Frideaux's Connection, anno 146. When every child learned the Hebrew tongue from his cradle, it was no hard matter for those who thus understood it by rote, to learn to read it by letters only, A. M. 3475. A. C. 529; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES. A. M 4947. A. C. 461. EZRA iv. 7—END, EST. HEH. PART OF HAG. ZECH, MAL. without the vowels; but when it became a dead language, plete in its kind, as can be done by human art; yet since the case was altered for then, instead of understand- it was only done by human art, it is no authentic part of ing it first, in order to read it, they were first to read it, in the Scriptures: and therefore these points are not so unorder to understand it; and therefore having not the pre- alterably fixed to the text, but that a change may be vious knowledge of the language to direct them herein, made in them, when the nature of the context, the anathey must necessarily have had some other helps, in or-logy of grammar, or the style of the language, shall give der to know with what vowel each syllable was to be a sufficient reason for it; especially considering, that pronounced; and to give them this help, the vowel-points notwithstanding their exact fixation at first, they are still seem certainly to have been invented; and therefore the | time of this invention cannot be placed later than the time when they became necessary, that is, when the Hebrew became a dead language, and so was acquirable no other way than by study and instruction. liable to the mistakes of transcribers and printers, and by reason of their number, the smallness of their figures, and their position under the letters, are more liable to suffer by them than any other sort of writing whatever. So that, upon the whole, it appears, that though these vowel-points were not affixed to the Hebrew text by Ezra himself; yet were they of early date after his edition of the Holy Scriptures: that, though they did not immediately appear in the world, nor are taken notice of by any writer of repute for many ages after; yet this was occasioned by their being confined to the schools of the Masorites, who in all probability were the first in From this necessity of instruction, and probably not long after Ezra's edition of the holy Scripture, there sprung up a set of men among the Jews, whose profession it was to write out copies of the Hebrew text, and to preserve and teach the true reading of it. What they did of this kind, is called by the Jews the Masorah, that is, the tradition; because they pretend to have the true reading, as the Talmudists pretend to have the true in-ventors of them: and though, being of human invention terpretation, of the Scriptures handed down to them from generation to generation. However, as their whole business was to study the true reading of the Hebrew text, to preserve it from being corrupted, and to teach it to others, it is highly probable that they were the first inventors of vowel-points, because the whole use of these points was to be subservient to this purpose. only, they cannot be supposed of equal authority with the text itself; yet are they of excellent use for the preservation of its right reading and for the prevention of innumerable perplexities and ambiguities, that would otherwise be incident to it. The learned are not a little divided concerning the rise and antiquity of the Jewish synagogues: for some 2 first temple, whilst others assert, that they had no being until the times of the captivity. The former, in behalf of their opinion, urge, that, as in the wilderness, the court of the tabernacle could not contain the hundredth part of the worshippers of the God of Israel, and, as in the promised land, the temple was too far distant for devout persons of every tribe to resort to it every sab bath day; there was a necessity for other places to be appointed for the service of God, that the sense of religion might not be extinguished and lost. To this purpose they observe that the Levites were dispersed in several cities, and the prophets and sons of the prophets settled in their respective colleges, that they might be But though these points might be invented by the He-contend, that they were in use under the tabernacle and brew grammarians, whom we call Masorites, much earlier than some will allow; yet, from their late appearance in the world, it seems very probable, that as at first they might invent them only for their private use, so, for some time, they might reserve them to themselves, and teach them only to their scholars. For the Jews, we must know, had anciently two sorts of schools, those of the Masorites and those of the Rabbins: the former taught only the Hebrew language, and to read the Scriptures in it; but the other taught their pupils to understand the word of God, and all the interpretations of it. These were the great doctors of divinity among them, to whom the Masorites were as much inferior as the teachers of grammar schools among us are to the professors of divi-ready at hand, upon all occasions, to expound the law, nity in our universities. and instruct the people in their duty, whenever they met As long therefore as these vowel-points went no higher together for that purpose. And therefore we find the than the schools of the Masorites, they were not much Shunamite's husband thus expostulating with his wife; regarded among their learned men; and this is the rea- 'wherefore wilt thou go to the man of God, to-day, seeson why we find no mention made of them either in the ing it is neither new-moon, nor the sabbath;' which Talmud, or in the writings of some ancient fathers, from plainly implies, that at such stated seasons as these, the whom it might have been expected. But after the pub-custom was to resort to such teachers for instruction: lication of the Talmud, the Jewish doctors thought it and, if this was the custom, there is no question to be advisable, in order to preserve the right reading of the made, but that proper places were appointed for their text, as the Mishna and Gemara were supposed to pre-reception. It is an unworthy imputation therefore to serve its right interpretation, to take this punctuation of think that so many temples should be built for idol-wor the Masorites into their divinity schools, and having re-ship, and yet none should have zeal or piety enough to viewed and corrected it with great care, they added it to the text, and so gave it all the venerable aspect it now bears. But though these vowel-points were added to the text by such persons as understood the language perfectly, and having since undergone the review and correction of many ages, may be justly accounted a work, as com 1 Prideaux's Connection, anno 446. erect a synagogue for the God of heaven, or that the Pharisees should set up these useful inventions, and yet the elders and prophets, and holy men under the Old Testament, should want them. These are the principal arguments on that side; but the silence of Scripture seems to be a strong confutation of them: for had these places of religious worship been 3 A. M. 3475. A. C. 529; OR: ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4947. A. C. 464. EZRA iv. 7—END, EST. NEH. PART OF HAG. ZECH. MAL. in use among the Jews in the time we are now speaking | distinguished from the proseuche, which were commonly of, we cannot conceive why there should not as frequent in the fields, and open to the heavens. In the midst of a mention have been made of them in the Old Testament, them there is a desk, or pulpit, made very probably in as there is in the New. The common, therefore, and imitation of that, which, as we read, Ezra made use of, indeed the most probable, opinion is, that there were from whence the book or roll of the law is read very no such things as synagogues built before the captivity solemnly, and from whence both he that expounds it, or of Babylon and the destruction of the temple; that the he that preaches to the congregation at any time, always Jews, seeing themselves carried away into a strange delivers himself. At the upper end of the synagogue, country, where they had no temple for divine service, and over against the door, which ever stands to the west, came to a resolution of building such houses as were there is a chest, or press, wherein the book of the law is afterwards called synagogues, there to be instructed in kept, wrapt in a fine embroidered cloth, and, what is the law, and to worship the God of their fathers, in the uncommon in our churches, during the time of divine best manner they could, on every sabbath day; and service the women are separated from the men, and that, upon their return, finding the great conveniency seated in a gallery inclosed with lattices. of such like buildings, they erected the same in their own country, as they had done before in the land of their captivity, and herein were followed by the Jews of the dispersion, in all parts of the world wherein they lived. After Ezra had set forth a correct edition of the law, the prophets, and other sacred writings, which were extant in his time, his next care was to appoint proper persons, namely, the most learned of the Levites, and other scribes, that were well skilled in these writings, to read and expound them to his people. This, no doubt, they did at first in the same manner that himself had done, that is, by gathering the people together in some wide street, or open place of the city, that was of the fittest capacity to receive them. But, in the wet and winter seasons of the year, the inconvenience of this came to be felt; so that, in process of time they erected houses and tabernacles, wherein to meet for this purpose: and this was the true cause and original a of such edifices in Judea. Synagogues were public edifices, situate either within or without their city, and generally in an elevated place, They were usually raised above any private house, except when there was an interdiction from the civil power, because the Jews have a notion, that it is a dishonour to God to have his house inferior, nay, so much as equal, to those of men, and in whatever city this happens, they threaten it with a speedy destruction. They are always roofed, and covered over, and by this are 2 'Jurieu's History of Opinions, part i. c. 17. Prideaux's Connection. * Basnage's History of the Jews. a Mr Basnage, in his history of the Jews, is of opinion, that the origin of synagogues was not until the reign of the Asmoneans, some few ages before Christ, and he imputes it to this occasion: -The zealous traditionists, who made long commentaries upon the law, thought it a crime to keep the people, whose applause they mightily desired, in ignorance of them; and instead of confining their explications to Jerusalem, where they found themselves too much slighted and confined, they carried them into every city, where there were oratories, and public places of assembly. Before this, private persons made their prayers to God in their houses, where they had a place set apart for that holy exercise. It was generally upon the top of the house, for their houses were flat-roofed, that the family and their friends met together, to read some portion of the law on the sabbath day; and when there was any prophet in the city, the devout people assembled at his house. But after that the doctors had added their traditions and commentaries to the law, the business of interpreters became so much the more necessary, because those traditions were not written; so that the number of interpreters and interpretations increased daily. For this reason, convenient places were made choice of, that the people might the better meet together to be instructed; and from hence, in all probability, it is that they derive their synagogues.-B. v. c. 4. Every town, wherein there were ten batelnim, that is, ten persons of full age and free condition, always at leisure on week-days, as well as sabbaths, to attend on divine service, was thought large enough to have a synagogue built in it: otherwise it was not; because the Jewish notion is, that less than such a number could not make a congregation, and, without a congregation, no part of the synagogue service could be performed. But as their notion was farther, that any person, Gentile as well as Jew, might be permitted to erect a synagogue, because the holiness of the place, as they thought, consisted not so much in the fabric, as in its being set apart and dedicated to holy uses; it thence came to pass, that though there were but few at first, yet in process of time they became so numerous, that, in our Saviour's time, there was no town in Judea, but what had one or more in it; that, in Tiberias, a city of Galilee, there were no less than twelve, and, if we may credit the Jews, 480 in Jerusalem. The buildings were contrived much after the same manner as our parish churches; had over their door or entrance this inscription written, This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter into it; and upon the walls within, were these, or such like sentences. Remember thy Creator: Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of the Lord: Silence is commendable in the time of prayer: and, Prayers without attention, are like a body without a soul, &c. 1. In the synagogue service the first office was prayer. Their prayers at first were but very few, but have since increased to a very large bulk, which makes the synagogue service very long and tedious. What they reckon the most solemn part of their prayers are those, which they call Shemoneh Eshreth, that is, the eighteen prayers, which, according to them, were composed, and Neh. viii. 4. b Prideaux's Connection. b These prayers were originally no more than eighteen, but R. Gamaliel, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, added the nineteenth, which is the 12th in the subsequent order, against Christians, who are therein meant by the names of apostates and heretics; and that we may judge of the merits of these prayers, a very learned hand has given us the following translation of them, in the same order as they are in the Jewish liturgies. I. "Blessed be thou, O Lord, our God, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the great God, powerful and tremendous; the high God, bountifully dispensing benefits; the Creator and Possessor of the universe, who rememberest the good deeds of our fathers, and in thy love sendest a redeemer to those who are descended from them, for thy name's sake, O King, our helper, our Saviour, and our shield. Blessed art thou, our Lord, who art the shield of Abraham,' A. M. 3475. A. C. 529; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4947. A. C. 464. EZRA iv. 7-END, EST. NEH. PART OF HAG, ZECH. MAL. instituted by Ezra, and the great synagogue; and there- | ter of Deuteronomy, to the end of the 9th verse: the fore they enjoin all that are at age, of what sex or con- second, from the beginning of the 13th verse of the dition soever, either in private or public, to repeat them eleventh chapter of Deuteronomy, to the end of the 21st three times a day, and on every synagogue-day, they verse: and the third, from the beginning of the 37th offered them up, with the greatest solemnity, in their verse of the fifteenth chapter of Numbers, to the end of public assemblies. These prayers, however, are but of the chapter: and because the first of these portions, in the same nature that the Lord's prayer is in our public the Hebrew bible, begins with the word Shema, that is, service, that is, the fundamental and principal part; for hear, therefore the reading of the whole is called the besides these, they have some prayers going before, reading of the Shema, which, next to their saying of the some following after, and others interspersed between Shemonech Eshreth, or the famous eighteen prayers, is them, which make the liturgies very tedious, and justify reckoned the most solemn part of their religious service. our Saviour's finding fault with their long prayers. 2. In the synagogue-service there are three things that are read, the Shema, the Law, and the Prophets. The Shema consists of three portions of Scripture; the first is, from the beginning of the 4th verse of the sixth chap Thou raisest the II. Thou, O Lord, art powerful for ever. dead to life, and art mighty to save. Thou sendest down the dew, stillest the winds, and makest the rain to come down upon the earth, and sustainest with thy beneficence all that live there in; and of thy abundant mercy, makest the dead again to live. Thou helpest up those that fall; thou curest the sick; thou loosest them that are bound, and makest good thy word of truth to those that sleep in the dust. Who is to be compared to thee, O thou Lord of might? And who is like unto thee, O our King, who killest, and makest alive, and makest salvation to spring up as the herb out of the field? Thou art faithful, to make the dead rise again to life. Blessed art thou, O God, who raisest the dead to life.' III. Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, and thy saints do praise thee every day. Selah. For a great king, and an holy one art thou, O God. Blessed art thou, O Lord, God most holy,' IV. Thou of thy mercy, givest knowledge to men, and teachest them understanding; give graciously unto us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who graciously givest knowledge unto men.' but The five books of the law were divided, as some say, by Moses himself, but not improbably by Ezra, into fiftyfour sections, because in their intercalated years, (when a month was added to the year,) there were fifty-four sabbaths, and so a section, being read every sabbath day, completed the whole in the space of a year; when the year was not thus intercalated, those who had the direction of the synagogue-worship, reduced the sections to the number of sabbaths, by joining two short obliged to have the whole law, from the beginning of ones several times into one, because they held themselves Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, read over, in this manner, every year. reading of the law was prohibited, in the room of the In the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, when the fifty-four sections of it, the Jews substituted fifty-four sections of the prophets, which were ever after continued; insomuch that when the reading of the law was again restored by the Maccabees, the section which was read every sabbath out of the law, served for the first lesson, and the section out of the prophets for the second; for that is the meaning of St Paul's standing up to preach, after the reading of the law and the prophets; that is, after the reading of the first lesson out of the law and the second lesson out of the prophets. 3. The exposition of the law and the prophets went along with the reading of them: for after that the Hebrew V. Bring us back, O our Father, to the observance of thy law, and make us to adhere to thy precepts; and do thou, O our King, draw us near to thy worship, and convert us unto thee by perfect repentance in thy presence. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who vouchsafest to receive us by repentance.' VI. Be thou merciful to us, O our Father, for we have sin-language had ceased to be the mother-tongue of the ned: pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed against thee, for thou art a God, good and ready to pardon. Blessed art thou, O Lord most gracious, who multipliest thy mercies in the forgiveness of sins.' VII. 'Look, we beseech thee, upon our afflictions: be thou on our side, in all our contentions; and plead thou our cause in all our litigations; and make haste to redeem us with a perfect redemption, for thy name's sake: for thou art our God, our King, and a strong Redeemer. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the Redeemer of Israel.' VIII. Heal us, O Lord our God, and we shall be healed; save us, and we shall be saved; for thou art our praise. Bring unto us sound health, and a perfect remedy for all our infirmities, for all our griefs, and for all our wounds; for thou art a God, who healest, and art merciful. Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, who curest the diseases of thy people Israel.' IX. Bless us, O Lord, our God, in every work of our hands, and bless unto us the seasons of the year, and give us the dew, and the rain to be a blessing unto us upon the face of all our land, and satiate the world with thy blessings, and send down moisture upon every part of the earth that is habitable. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who givest thy blessing to the years.' X. Convocate us together by the sound of the great trumpet, to the enjoyment of our liberty; and lift up thy ensigns to call together all of the captivity, from the four quarters of the earth to our own land. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who gatherest together the exiles of the people of Israel.' But this is enough for a specimen. The rest are much of the same strain; but the reader that is desirous to see them, will find them in Dr Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New Testainent, part 1. b. vi. Jews, and the Chaldee grew up into use instead of it, the custom of the synagogue was, that one should first read a paragraph of the Scriptures to the people in the Hebrew tongue, and then another interpreted it in the Chaldee, which they better understood. And this seems came to be divided into verses, namely, that by this to suggest the reason why these sections of Scripture means the reader might certainly know how much he was to read; and the interpreter how much he was to interpret at every interval. any person of learning, and knowledge in the Scriptures, 4. After that the reading and expounding were over, might address himself to the people, upon what moral or divine subject he thought proper; only we may observe, that this was a compliment usually paid to stran gers; and therefore when St Paul and his company came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the place of divine worship on the sabbath day, after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.' 24 From what has been said it appears, that the ministra. tion of the synagogue-service was not confined to the A. M. 3475. A. C. 529; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4947. A. C. 464. EZRA iv. 7-END, EST. NEH. PART OF HAG. ZECH. MAI.. sacerdotal order; for the priests were consecrated only | superstitions and idolatrous practices of the heathen to the service of the temple, which was widely different | nations that lived about them. But now, when, after from this, as consisting chiefly in the offering up of sa- the Babylonish captivity, synagogues were erected in crifices and oblations, but to this in the synagogue any every city, to which they constantly resorted for public one that by learning was qualified for it, was admitted. worship, and where, every week, they had the law at Only for the preservation of order, there were in every first, and afterwards both the law and the prophets read synagogue some fixed officers, whose business it was to to them; and where, by sermons and exhortations, they take care that all religious duties were therein decently were, at least every sabbath day, instructed in their performed. duty, and excited to the performance of it; this kept them in a thorough knowledge of God and his laws, as the comminations in the prophets, when once they came to be read among them, deterred them from transgressing against them; for, 2 all Scripture,' as the | apostle speaks, 'is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God,' or every man who resolves to be godly, may be perfect, wise unto salvation, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works.' One thing we may observe farther :-That, since there was a public liturgy established in the Jewish church, and forms of prayer, though very empty and jejune in comparison of those that are in use among us; our bless The first of this kind are those whom the Scriptures of the New Testament call 'rulers of the synagogue :' but how many of these belonged to each synagogue we cannot tell, only we may presume, there were more than one, because they are mentioned in the ' plural number, in respect of the same synagogue. Next to them, and perhaps one of them, was the minister of the synagogue, whose business it was to offer up to God the public prayers of the congregation; and being for this purpose delegated, as it were, by them to God, is therefore in the Hebrew language, called Sheliach Zibber, that is, the angel of the church, or congregation: from whence the name of the bishops of the seven churches, mentioned in the Revelations, is manifestly borrowed. Next to this angel of the church, were the deacons, and inferior mi-ed Saviour, when upon earth, was contented to join with nisters of the synagogue, called in Hebrew Chazanim, or overseers, who, under the rulers of the synagogue, had the charge and oversight of all things in it, and kept the books of the holy Scriptures, the liturgies, and utensils, which they brought forth, and carried away again, as there was occasion: and next to these overseers was the interpreter, whose office it was to recite in Chaldee the lessons, as they were read in Hebrew, to the congregation; and because a good deal of skill in both languages was requisite for such an undertaking, whenever the rulers of the synagogue found a person fit for this purpose, they retained him by a salary, and so made him a standing minister among them. 3 the public in these forms, and to frequent the synagogue every sabbath day. And this may inform us, that to break the union of a church, upon the account of better edification, or more ecstatic prayers, is a refinement that the great Teacher of all righteousness knew nothing of. In the course of his preaching, he spared not to tell the Jews freely of all the corruptions that, in his time, they had run into: and therefore had it been contrary to the will of God, to use set forms of prayer in his public service, or had it been displeasing to him to be addressed in such mean forms, when much better might have been made, we may be sure he would have told them both, and joined with them in neither: but since he We have nothing more to add concerning this syna- never found fault with them for using set forms, but, on gogue-worship, but that the times appointed for it were the contrary, he taught his own disciples a set form to three days a week, besides their holidays, whether fastspray by, since he no where expressed a dislike of the or festivals, and thrice on every one of those days, that is, in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night: and that when at any of these times the blessing was to be given, if there was a priest present in the congregation, he always did the office; but if there was none there, the Sheliach Zibber, who read the prayers, in a form of benediction made proper for him, dismissed the people. forms then in use, upon account of their meanness, but, on the contrary, testified his approbation of them, by joining with them in their synagogues; this should convince our separatists, one would think, that neither our using set forms of prayer in our public worship, nor the using of such as they think not sufficiently edifying, can be objections sufficient to justify them in their refusal to join with us in them, because in both these cases they have the example of Christ directly against them. The truth is, whether there be a form or no form, or whether the form be elegantly or meanly composed; nothing of this availeth to the recommending of our prayers unto God. It is the true and sincere devotion of the heart alone, that can make them acceptable unto him: for it is this only that gives life and vigour, and a true Before we dismiss this subject, there is one common inquiry which, by this time, we may be able to satisfy, and that is,-How it came to pass, that the Jews were so prone to idolatry before the Babylonish captivity, and so strongly bent against it, even to a degree of superstition, after that captivity was ended? which can hardly be imputed to any other cause, but that they had the law and the prophets every week read unto them, after that captivity, which they had not before. Before the capti-acceptance, to all our religious addresses. Without this, vity they had no synagogues for public worship, or instruction, nor any places to resort to for these purposes, but either the temple at Jerusalem, or the cities of the Levites; and from hence great ignorance grew among the people: God was little known among them, and his laws in a manner wholly forgotten; and therefore, as occasions offered, they were easily drawn into all the 1 Mark v. 35, &c. Luke viii. 41-xiii. 14. how elegantly, how movingly, soever the prayer may be a |