C

the supposed more correct marginal reading)" to pray in the "field, at the eventide, and he lift up his eyes and saw and "beheld the camels were coming." (Gen. xxiv. 63.) The only other instance recorded of the prayer of Isaac, was also, like this, strictly individual. He is described as "entreating the Lord," and his prayer is-that he may be blessed with offspring. (xxv. 21.) These cases will well illustrate the kind of prayer used by the patriarch Isaac; with him God is described as renewing the covenant made with Abraham, saying "I am the God of Abraham, thy "father; fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake; and Isaac builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord," (or was called by the name of the Lord) and pitched his tent there." (xxvi. 24.)

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The instances recorded of the worship of Jacob, are more numerous than those of any other of the patriarchs; and they throw considerable light upon the religious worship of that age. Jacob," we are told, (xxviii. 18)" vowed a vow, saying, if God will be with me, and will keep me in this way "that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put "on, so that I may come again to my father's house in peace, "then shall the Lord be my God; and this stone, which I have "set up for a pillar, shall be God's house, and all that thou "shalt give me I will surely give a tenth to thee." We here see what, in that age, was the extent of the human intellect, on the subject of worship; even a covenant with the Almighty was made conditional, upon his giving the worshipper food and raiment; and his devotion was exemplified (not by public social prayer) but by a sacrifice of the tenth part of his possessions.

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After the treaty, or covenant, between Jacob and Laban, "Jacob offered sacrifice" (or, as the margin renders it," killed beasts")" upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat "bread." (xxxi. 54.) This, though evidently social, was a feast, rather than a sacrifice, though it is difficult for us to draw the distinction, and it is probable, in those days, that the one frequently accompanied the other. Instances, in which Jacob built altars, and offered sacrifices, occur Gen. xxxiii. 18 and xlvi. 18; but we have on record only one instance of his praying, and that will tend but little to support the position-that he practised, and set the example of, social prayer. This instance occurs Gen. xxxii. 6, and is recorded in the following words:" And the messengers "returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and

"also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him; "and Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed," He proceeds immediately to divide the people into two bands--for public social prayer doubtless; no! for he said " "If Esau come to "the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape." After taking this prudent precaution he seeks God in prayer, but it is individual, not social prayer, for "Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, "Return into thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal "well with thee, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, "and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; "deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from "the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and "smite me and the mother with the children."

This was

an instance of common danger, which, of all others, might, in the way of exception, have called for, and justified, a common prayer; yet the prayer of the patriarch is strictly individual, and such, as in every other instance, was the recorded prayer of the age in which he lived.

We have now, indeed, adverted to, I believe, all the instances of prayer in particular, or worship in general, spoken of in the book of Genesis, previous to the mission of Moses to the enslaved Israelites. Is there one single case in which this prayer is spoken of as, at once, public and social? Surely every impartial reader will reply with me—

NOT ONE.

Of the existence of social prayer in these ages there is, indeed, no evidence whatever; it is neither commandednor practised-nor is there any censure directed against either its neglect or its abuse. The advocates of the doctrines appear to have felt this omission, for they say nothing of direct proof; yet they endeavour, by inference, to establish the practice as one existing even in these ages. To inference so important a practice clearly should not be left; but, in order to leave nothing unreplied to, I think it may be briefly shewn that even these inferences are unfounded, and not supported by the premises from which they are professed to be drawn.

"Among the patriarchs and Jews," (observes Mr. Moore) "especially in the latter periods of their history, prayer and praises accompanied 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 scripture, is unquestionable.” (P. 3.) "Wherever Abraham 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."

After quoting the further examples of Isaac and Jacob, (of whom, however, we have seen that no instance whatever, of their praying socially is recorded) Mr. Moore adds—

"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 families, and numerous dependents, to live in total neglect of religion, and its public duties? Certainly not." (But the question is-did they teach them to pray SOCIALLY?) "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. These altars, then, were the places where the patriarchs worshipped 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 the rulers, of their households."

The chief objection which occurs to me, against the above, is not merely that it is assertion, or inference, without evidence, but that, as far as it is intended to maintain that the patriarchs used public social prayer, it is assertion, or inference, contrary to evidence. The reader may turn back, and in the few preceding pages he will find quoted, I believe, every instance of prayer recorded, in these ages, in the Old Testament. Is there one in which the prayer described, is public and social prayer? Yet Mr. Moore, and other advocates of the doctrine, profess to find proof of it every where. Abraham, they say, practised it; and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs. Prayer was not only public and social, but it was "stated," and (here perhaps is the clue to the whole) they then, too, Mr. Moore has discovered, had PRIESTS to administer it!

Whether or not the sacrifices of the patriarchs were socially performed—and always, or even frequently, accompanied by prayer, are questions which we need not now agitate at any length, because they are only indirectly connected with our subject-that of social prayer. The sacrifices of the patriarchs were probably, as asserted, made by them, at once on their own part, and that of their family or tribe. The confined views of these ages, on the subject of religious worship, as exemplified in the case of the patriarch Jacob, we have already seen. It is even recorded of Job that he offered sacrifice in expiation of the possible sins of his absent children. These were practices natural, perhaps, to a primitive and uninformed age; but which revelation and reason, by shewing man that religion is

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wholly a personal matter, have since exploded. From the little mention made of prayer in the early history of man, it is probable that even private prayer was, in few cases, if at all, in common use. Prayer is-or should be- -an intellectual, not a formal, practice; and was probably, in this age, altogether confined to the good and the most intelligent. In this sense the assertion made-that the patriarchs not only prayed for themselves, but interceded for their families, may be well founded. But this is not social prayer "in the manner now in use," and respecting which alone we are inquiring. The joint and united prayer of a multitude, and the personal intercession of an individual in his own name, for his family or others, are essentially distinct things. There is, between them, all the difference between social and individual prayer. That the prayer which may have accompanied sacrifice was social we have no evidence whatever. Sacrifice was an external act, or ceremonial, definite in its nature-for a certain, avowed, and common object; and even if that were social, as it necessarily was public, it by no means follows that prayer, which is an internal act of the heart and of the mind, and the form and purport of which must vary in each individual, should also have been public, and still less that it should have been social. Sacrifice may have been accompanied by prayer of the second or third class, though, for a reason given above, prayer could but rarely have been offered at all; but we have neither reason nor scripture to induce us to believe that it was accompanied by prayer of the fourth description-that is, by social prayer.

Though not called upon, in fairness of argument, to establish a negative, I cannot but think that, as far as we have gone, one has successfully been proved in this case. We find on record no instance of the practice;-no command from God for its observance; it is nowhere then spoken of (as by its defenders in our days) as a duty which ought to be performed; no censures are levelled against its neglect; no abuses are pointed out in its administration; cases occur in which, if a practice at all, it would have been practised, yet nothing is said on the subject; other modes of worship are frequently mentioned, yet the writer of the book of Genesis is wholly silent upon this. What are we to infer? Surely, from all these circumstances, we are justified in putting a decided negative upon the two questions we are now. considering; and may safely_assert-That public social prayer was not commanded by Deity, at the creation of man, or at any time

throughout the patriarchal ages; and further-that it was not then practised even without such a command. But even supposing that public social prayer had been expressly enjoined, and constantly practised in the patriarchal ages—of what importance would that have been to us, as Christians, and in the present day? Sacrifice was constantly performed by them,` yet we never offer up sacrifice! Is it to an early, to an ignorant age-to an infantine state of society, that we should turn for our ideas of religion, and for our religious practices? Certainly not. Yet even this early, this ignorant age-which shews us man, in the most immature state of his intellect, does not present us with the irrational and absurd practice of public social prayer. For the present I leave the subject, and shall, in the next Essay, begin with the Mosaic dispensation, proposing to take a view of the worship of the Jews, in the earlier period of their history; and then to discuss the third question proposed for examination, namely," Was public social prayer instituted by Moses, "or was it afterwards, by divine direction, introduced into the "tabernacle or temple worship?"

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND ITS INTERNAL DISCIPLINE.

(EXTRACT FROM A CHURCH REPORT.)

The following Extract from our church book, is given with the view of affording to the reader an insight into the INTERNAL DISCIPLINE of our Body. This, in our judgment, is a subject of first importance in Christianity; but the DISCIPLINE of the church can only be maintained where its UNITY is established as a first principle; and from the absence of that principle, proceeds the general-the almost total neglect of CHURCH DISCIPLINE among the professors of Christianity;-a neglect which is the more to be deplored, as it would seem to proceed in the ratio of their advance in rational views of religion. But it has been our constant endeavour, by calling into action all those strong principles of union and strict modes of discipline laid down or alluded to in the New Testament, to excite and maintain in the