vious questions should be answered in the negative, (that is, if it should appear that social prayer was not practised in the earlier ages in the Jewish temple-or in the synagogues -even the individual prayer practised in the latter places being censured by Jesus) it will then follow that social prayer, if used at all, must have been a new practice, peculiar to Christianity, and introduced by Jesus and his apostles; and, if it should further appear that this ceremony is not so consistent with the nature of things, or so agreeable to the spirit and general principles of Christianity as to render it probable that it was adopted by the early Christians as a matter of course-it will, in that case, be required that we should find in its favour the express and positive command, either of Jesus or his apostles, for its due performance, and stated observance, in the Christian church. We shall then have to inquire if, in the pages of the New Testament, the defenders of the practice of social prayer are enabled to point to such an express and positive command. In other words to call upon them to produce the institution of the ceremony called public social prayer.

Having stated the above questions as the ground of our future inquiries, I shall now proceed direct to the examination of the two first of them, namely: Was public social prayer commanded by Deity, at the creation of man, or at any time throughout the patriarchal ages? And if not so, was it then practised without a command?

The first remark, and it would appear to be a tolerably conclusive one, which occurs to me to make on this subject, is that, from the creation of Adam to the days of Moses, we do not find recorded one single instance of public social prayer. Mr. Moore, and other defenders of the practice, argue on this subject wholly from inference and surmise; they do not even profess to adduce an express instance of this kind, during the time in question.

At the creation of man, and in the case of Adam, no mention is made of prayer. Cain and Abel afford the first recorded instances of religious worship; their sacrifices are spoken of, but not their prayer. (Gen. iv. 3.) Their offerings, too, were different: Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, and Abel of the firstlings of his flock; their worship, therefore, was evidently not social-but individual.

After the birth of Enos, we are told (iv. 26) that " men "then began to call upon the name of the Lord." This, however, was not by means of public social prayer, for there is good authority for maintaining that the passage should be rendered" Then began men to be called BY the name of

"the Lord; meaning, probably, that by that time the human intellect had sufficiently advanced to understand somewhat of the worship of Jehovah; or, intending to draw a distinction between the good and the evil; a distinction which, in a speedily succeeding passage, (vi. 2) would appear referred to in the antithesis of "the sons of God" and "the daughters of men." In support of which interpretation it may be observed that mention is afterwards. made (Deut. xxvii. 18) of the Israelitish people, when in a state of obedience to the will of God, that then "all the "people of the earth should see that they were called by the "name of the Lord, and that they were afraid of (or reverenced) "him." See also 2 Chron. vii. 24.

The flood, as it is emphatically called, succeeded; "The "wickedness of man was great upon the earth; the earth was filled with violence; every imagination of the thoughts of "man's heart was only evil continually;" immersed in worldly thoughts, or plunged in sensual pleasures, they did eat, "they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage "until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." (Luke xvii. 27.) But amongst their sins, whether of omission or of commission, we no where find them charged either with the neglect, or the abuse, of public social prayer;-that practice, which is spoken of as a natural obligation, impressed, as it were, innately on the human mind, and of which, from the earliest times downward, we have seen such a parade of authorities. Noah-escaped from the flood-expresses his gratitude by "building an alter unto the Lord, and offering burnt offerings on the altar." (viii. 20.) His offering is accepted. In the figurative language of the earlier ages, and the eastern world, it is said, as though the incense of the sacrifice of a virtuous man had power to ascend to heaven, that" the Lord smelled a sweet savor." Of prayer, however, nothing is said; the advocates of social prayer, therefore, can derive no authority from this instance of worship; yet, if their theory were a correct one, this surely (an occasion of signal and unexampled deliverance common to them all) was a time when Noah and his children, and his family, should have joined in social prayer!

A long interval succeeds, in which little more than the names of whole generations are recorded; an interval in which were laid, as it were, the foundations of society; an interval of ignorance and confusion-probably of violence and crime; in which, as colonization extended itself, and the herds of mankind covered a larger portion of the earth,

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what little knowledge of their Maker they carried with them became more faint; and what few ideas they had imbibed of religious worship became gradually corrupted. They had ideas, however, of the existence of God, and of the worship which he had permitted, if not commanded, to their earliest forefathers. The one God they multiplied into many; to these they gave various, and mostly bad, attributes; and the worship of such gods necessarily became marked by cruelty, depravity, and licentiousness. What were, at first, families of men, became, in after ages, the nations which peopled and divided the earth; their superstitions grew with their power and their numbers; their worship became "an abomination" in the eyes of God-too pure to behold evil with approbation. Though, once, they had known God," they glorified him not as God, neither were "thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their 'foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be

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wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incor"ruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, "and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and to creeping things; changing the truth of God into a lie, and worshipping "and serving the creature more than the Creator; who, of a truth, is blessed for ever." To counteract, and ultimately to destroy, this growing, but, no doubt, necessary evil, the Deity appears, in his wisdom, to have selected, at first, individuals, and afterwards a nation, whom (as far as from their knowledge and capacity, they were capable of becoming so) he made his instruments in preserving and diffusing the most valuable and important truths-his greatest and his choicest blessings. The knowledge of one God was not communicated, or his worship commanded, to man, for the benefit of Deity, or even, perhaps, because these things were valuable in themselves; but they were means to an end, and that end was the happiness of man, by developing his intellect, and gradually exalting him to mental excellence and virtue. The knowledge of the existence of one God, by itself, abstractedly, could be of no importance; but it was TRUTH, and therefore valuable; it was the clue to all other truths, and therefore beyond all price. It is by ever keeping in view the object which the Deity must have entertained, in revealing his existence to his creatures, that we are enabled to explain what would otherwise be an anomaly, and a difficulty, in the history of early religious worship. God being, by his nature, always the same, why (it has been asked) were the forms of religious worship

permitted to be accommodated to the infancy, or the ignor-. ance, of the human mind? Because, I would say, in reply, though God has remained the same, man has been a progressive being; because the forms of religious worship, and even religious worship itself, are, of themselves, nothing; and the effect produced on the human mind, and the operation of these causes on the human character, are, and have been, every thing. We must return, however, to the detail, from which, though not perhaps unprofitably, we have digressed.

Abraham was one of the earliest, and one of the most distinguished of the individuals referred to, as favoured with communications from Deity; a promise is made to him that, in after ages, the land of Canaan shall be given to his posterity. Wherever he pitched his tent, for any time, he appears to have erected an altar, and "to have called on the name of the Lord;" or to have been called by the name of the Lord, that is, recognized as his worshipper in opposition to the idolatry of the age. (Gen. xii. 7, 8; xiii. 18.) Even if by this latter phrase (called upon the name of the Lord) it should be established that prayer is meant, by what possible construction it can be made, as by commentators it has been made, to support public social prayer, I am wholly at a loss to conjecture. Yet Mr. Moore speaks confidently of the worship of Abraham, as of this description. “Where"ever Abraham" (he observes, p. 31) "resided, there he erected an altar, and there he statedly called upon the "name of the Lord; prayer, as just observed, being a regular appendage of the sacrifice, and properly constituting the worship." As just observed, let it be here remarked, means as just observed by Mr. Moore himself; we shall find no such observation made in the scriptures-the only valid authority on the subject. That prayer was, particularly in this age, "a regular appendage" of sacrifice, we have no evidence whatever. That such prayer, when it did accompany sacrifice, was, as above asserted, social and stated, remains equally unproved, and is yet more improbable. At any rate the mere assertion of the fact, by a controversialist, at this time, will go little towards its establishment. Of the prayer of Abraham, so far from having evidence that it was social, we have actually no direct instance on record; though, from the piety of his character, and from his being favoured with direct communications with Deity, and immediate intercourse with his messengers, there can be little doubt but that he was habitually in the practice of individual prayer,

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The language of Abraham to the young men-" Abide ye "here, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you," (Gen. xxii. 5) has also been adduced in this controversy. These expressions" (observes Mr. Pope, Divine Worship, p. 26) " clearly shew that the united worship of more than one was a usage not uncommon in "this age. The worship, however, here spoken of is sacrifice-not prayer. Many modes of worship, that is, of paying outward respect to the Deity, may have been publicly and socially performed, and this was the case perhaps, particularly of sacrifice; but it is of one species of social worship only, which we are now inquiring, namely social prayer; and it certainly does not appear, in the present case, that Abraham said—“ I and the lad will go yonder and "pray."

The circumstance of the servant sent by Abraham, to obtain a wife for his son Isaac, is remarable, as containing, I believe, the first instance of prayer, properly so called, which is expressly recorded, or narrated at length, in the scriptures. His prayer, however, is individual! And the servant made his camels to kneel down without the city, by a well of water, at the time of evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. And he said O Lord God of my master Abraham, behold I stand here by the well of "water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to "draw water; and let it come to pass that the damsel to whom "I shall say, let down thy pitcher, I pray thee that I may "drink; and she shall say drink and I will give thy camels "drink also; let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast "shewn kindness unto my master." (Gen. xxiv. 11 to 14.)

This, it will be seen, is petition—prayer-individual prayer in the strictest sense of the words. In the same individual we have, afterwards, an instance of worship and thanksgiving; the essential distinction between which, and prayer, or petition, it may be well hereafter to bear in mind. When the object of his prayer is likely to be granted, (v. 26.) The man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord; "and he said blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, "who hath not left destitute my master, of his mercy and

"truth."

The return of the servant with Rebecca, the betrothed wife of his master, introduces us to the prayer of the patriarch Isaac. Was that prayer social? Let us hear the testimony. And Isaac went out to meditate," (to pray, is