The Israelites believed themselves in the sight of God "a "peculiar treasure above all people;" (Ex. xix.5) for though “all "the earth was the Lord's,' yet they "were unto him as a king"dom of priests, and an holy nation." Jehovah was, in fact, regarded by them as, at once, their God, and their king, or temporal ruler. The cause which was too hard for them, they brought, by express permission, before the Lord. Under the pressure of national calamity-suffering from famine; from drought; from the effects of sin in the rulers or the people; or from fear of the swords of their enemiesthey assembled as a nation, with a common feeling, to implore the pardon, or solicit the protection, of their

monarch.

The tabernacle was regarded as holy, and to be approached with reverence, because Jehovah was there peculiarly present to his people; his seat was "the mercy seat," and his dwelling place," between the cherubim."

Their temple (in which the ark and tabernacle were deposited) was regarded as the house-the residencethe palace of their king, and their God. The priests were his attendants, or courtiers; the levites, his officers or servants, sang his praises there continually. The sacrifices were, in fact, offerings at the footstool of the throne of their monarch; the people from all the distant parts of his dominion assembled there, three times in every year, to worship him, by acknowledging his presence, and bowing before his visible throne.

As the peculiar residence of their God, this temple was emphatically called "the house of prayer:"—of individual prayer, or petition. Every member of the Jewish nation, whether such by birth or proselytism, knowing the plague of his own heart, was permitted to pray in, or toward that house; and that not by natural right, but by special covenant. (1 Kings ix. 3.) The language of the Lord appearing to Solomon by night, is "If my people which ARE CALLED BY MY NAME," (not others) "shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from "their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and "will forgive their sins, and heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that "is made in this place; FOR NOW HAVE I CHOSEN AND "SANCTIFIED THIS HOUSE, THAT MY NAME SHALL "BE THERE for ever, AND MINE EYES AND MY HEART “SHALL BE THERE PERPETUALLY.” (2 Chron. vii. 12.)

The instances which prove that the prayer of this temple

was individual, not social, and quite distinct both from the sacrifices of the priests, and the praises or thanksgiving of the levites, are very numerous, and will hereafter be referred to, and enlarged upon. Looking forward through the external forms of the Jewish law, to their real spirit and true object, we shall find that the ceremonies we have referred to, were intended only to lead the people, or the inquiring minds amongst them, to a knowledge of important facts or principles, which were thus figuratively pourtrayed, or imperfectly shadowed forth. From the language of the prophets we may collect the spirit of the Jewish law and worship. "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the know"ledge of God, more than burnt offerings." This is the language of the prophet Hosea; and, indeed, many passages might be cited, in which the public ceremonial worship of the temple is spoken of slightingly, when compared with the inward and effectual worship of justice and mercy, humility and truth.*

We now approach toward the conclusion of the Jewish dispensation a dispensation which appears to have well answered the purpose for which it was designed. Opposed to the prevailing polytheism of mankind, one nation acknowledged at least the existence of Jehovah, even if they did not reverence his moral law, and worship him in spirit and in truth. The barren rock had been touched by the rod of Moses, and the living waters of truth gushed forth, amid a wilderness of depravity, superstition, and crime. Surrounding nations, even the whole known world, by the commerce of the Jews-by their captivities-and by their writings, were, in part, prepared to learn the existence of one only God. It was then that Jesus was sent to " break "down the middle wall of partition" which had hitherto divided the Jew from the Gentile; and to take the last grand step of teaching, or permitting, the pure worship of one God, to those of all the nations of the earth, who should listen to the good news which he was commissioned to proclaim to mankind.

Jesus announced the approaching destruction of the holy city, and, with it, of that temple which had hitherto been the sanctioned place of national worship, and individual prayer." The time" (he said) "is coming, yea, now is, when "men shall neither worship in that mountain," (of Samaria)

* See 1 Sam. xv. 22; Ps. xl. 6; 1. 8 to 14 and 23; li. 16; Prov. xxi. 3; Is. i. 11; Hos. vi. 6; Micah vi. 6; Mark xii. 33; Heb. ix. 9, 10,

σε nor in this city;" (of Jerusalem) "but when they that worship "the Father, shall worship him in spirit and in truth; for the "Father requireth such to worship him." The temple was to be destroyed, and with it the external and national worship of the temple was to cease. God was to be no longer regarded as peculiarly present in one place; in the privacy of the closet, therefore, and no longer "in or toward that "house," was it then to be permitted that the individual should offer up prayer.

We must, however, look, for a moment, at the corruptions which hypocritical pretenders of the Jewish nation had introduced on the subject of prayer; men who, according to the description of Jesus, by their traditions, had made the word of God of none effect, but who were distinguished by all the outward appearances of piety; men, indeed, who devoured widows' houses, but who, for a pretence, made long prayers. Instead of going up to the temple at the usual hours of sacrifice, many individuals, particularly those of the sect of Pharisees, appear to have been in the habit of praying ostentatiously, either at the corners of the streets, or in the public synagogues-places of assembly instituted for the reading and expounding of the law. Against this practice Jesus directs his unequivocal censure. As Jews merely,

he would doubtless have told those whom he addressed, that the temple was the only public place in which the individual was justified in praying; but, addressing himself to them in the character of his disciples-contemplating the destruction of that temple, and the establishment of the pure and mental worship, which was hereafter to bear his name-under these circumstances he recommends, nay, commands, the absolute privacy of prayer as the only mode of prayer that would be acceptable to Deity, when his kingdom should be fully established, and the temple worship superseded. In words often quoted, but constantly, by his pretended followers, disregarded, he thus instructs his disciples: "And when thou prayest thou shalt "not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in "the synagogues, and the corners of the streets, that they may "be 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 WHICH IS IN SECRET, AND THY FATHER WHICH SEETH IN SECRET, SHALL REWARD THEE "OPENLY." (Mat. vi. 5.)

The mission of the apostles, for the purpose of proclaiming

the good news (preaching the gospel) brought by Jesus, now succeeded. Besides those instances of temple prayer, or worship, with which, as Jews, the first Christian converts would continue to present us, some instances of prayer are at this time stated, or referred to, which must be carefully distinguished from the common worship of that, or any succeeding age;-prayer connected with the gifts of the spirit, or used as a means of promoting the object of their mission, according to an express undertaking made by their master Jesus personally, to themselves, and only applicable, as it was only addressed to themselves-that "if two of them should agree on earth, as touching any thing that they should "ask, it should be done of their Father which was in heaven." (Mat. xviii. 19.) It was probably by the means of this peculiar power or privilege, that they were enabled, not only to work those miracles, but, by means of mental and supernatural communications, to choose, amid the most difficult and trying circumstances, that proper and judicious line of conduct, which enabled them, in spite of opposition, persecution, and the danger of death itself, to diffuse over the whole known world, the facts and the principles of which they were the apostles, or appointed messengers.

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By the means of their exertions the Christian church was, under the blessing of God, extensively established. Of that church social union was the fundamental principle; the members of it were to be knit together like the members of the human body, and to be animated by one heart and one "mind." They were instructed "not to forget the assembling "themselves together, as the manner of some was;" but to meet for the purposes of mutual improvement-for edificationfor instruction-for exhortation; but they were not to meet to observe days, or times, or seasons-to be judged in meats, or in drinks-to keep new moons or sabbath days; still less, we may conclude, were they to meet to pray in public, when the whole spirit of their faith was opposed to external forms, and the ostentatious display of piety; and when they had not only the example, but the express and unconditional command of their master, in favour of the prayer of the closet.

If we look backward on our course, for a moment, we shall see by what gradual, and almost imperceptible steps we have, hitherto, been led from the simplest idea of religious homage, up to the most refined and enlightened mode of which we can have any conception. We have seen, in the first instance, no poetical fiction which delights to

describe the earliest as a golden age; but, on the contrary, a natural picture of the growth and expansion of the human intellect, and a wonderfully wise adaptation of the dispensations of Providence to each successive stage, in the progress of society. In arriving at the command of Jesus to his followers-that they should pray in the privacy of the closet; and in recording the practice of the early Christian church as consequent upon that command, we may be regarded as having attained the summit of pure and intellectual worship. We pass on; and our course must now, for some time, be downward-towards the depths of corruption, and of priestcraft.

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Even in the life time of the apostles men arose who, from ignorance, or from interested motives, began to corrupt the pure principles and discipline of the Christian church. Paul cautions Timothy against individuals whom he describes as "proud, knowing nothing, but doting about "questions, and strifes of words;" and he predicts that the time shall come, when there shall be in the church those who, indeed, “have A FORM of godliness, but deny the POWER thereof." A prediction, alas! speedily, and to the very letter, fulfilled. Of the progress of corruption, in perverting the pure worship of God, as established by Jesus and his apostles, we have on record but few traces; and the question of prayer, in particular, is one which has been but little inquired into. An attachment to external forms and ceremonies was possessed in common by the Jewish and by the Pagan converts; together with the doctrines of each, the worship of, at once, the Jewish, and of the Pagan temples, was thus gradually introduced into the Christian church. After an interval of nearly two centuries, we find, in the writings of Justin, Tertullian, &c. traces of all those corruptions, in doctrine and discipline, which have since prevailed under the name of Christian. Amongst others of this description, is mentioned the publicity of prayer in their assemblies. They appear, however, to have gone one step further than their predecessors, by the introduction of what has since been called social prayer, or the common and stated prayer of the whole assembly-a practice unknown to the Jewish people; the prayer, both of their temple and synagogue, having been individual; a practice also, in many respects, as absurd in itself, as it is wholly inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity.

The progress of abuse and corruption, in this particular, must have been rapid; in one of the earliest councils (that of