ners, the interpreter to the readers for the day, and the doctor in divinity and his interpreter.-But Jarchi gives a different interpretation. It was thought indecent, he says, and even to incur the wrath of God, to have fewer than ten men present; therefore they chose ten who were eminent for piety, and who should have no other business but to attend the synagogue at the stated hours, that the number of petitioners might be always full. They went at sun-rising, when the prayers began, and remained till nine or ten o'clock. They were obliged to return at half past four, the time of the afternoon service, and as the evening prayers immediately followed, they continued in the synagogue till sunset. For this purpose they were disengaged from all civil affairs; had salaries assigned them; and had all an equal rank in the church.-Rabbi Nissim and Maimonides agree with Jarchi as to their equality of rank, but differ from him as to their receiving salaries; asserting that they were solely actuated in their regular attendance by a spirit of devotion. This difference in contemporary writers (for Jarchi, Nissim, and Maimonides all flourished in the 14th century,) evidently shows, that considerable uncertainty prevailed on the subject. Perhaps the whole may be reconciled by the following supposition, viz. when the Jerusalem and Babylonish Talmuds were composed, the one about the year 300, and the other 500 of the Christian æra, the ten otiosi, or men at leisure to attend, were such as Lightfoot has described them; but that in the days of Jarchi, Nissim, and Maimonides, who lived 800 years later, the splendor of the synagogue service had diminished with the splendor of the nation; and there was no occasion for that multiplicity of officers which had formerly distinguished the national esta

a

a

Basnage, Hist. and Relig. of the Jews, Lib. iii. ch. 30.

blishment. As tradition, however, is commonly purest at its source, the Talmud ought, in this instance, to be preferred, as being the more ancient authority.

SECT. III.

The Service of the Synagogue.

1. Their manner of sitting. 2. The public prayers. A translation of the Shemenė Oshrè, or eighteen prayers; the summary; the great stress laid on them. 3. The repeating their phylacteries. 4. The reading of the law and the prophets; the portions of both that were read throughout the year; times when read; manner of reading and interpreting. 5. Preaching from them to the people.

But

THE manner in which the Jews sat in their synagogues was as follows: the ten men who held office in the church, sat with their backs to the west end of the church, and their faces looking down the church to the congregation. The congregation sat with their backs to the east, and their faces towards the elders; while between the elders and the people, as they faced each other, was the space for the pulpit where the service was conducted. we are not to suppose that the whole congregation sat promiscuously; for we are told by Philo the Jew," that the portion of the synagogue, devoted to the congregation, was divided by a partition or lattice of wire work, of three or four cubits high, extending, it would seem, from near the door to near the pulpit; on one side of which sat the men, and on the other the women: a division which is said to obtain in the synagogues of the Jews even to this day. After being thus seated, the next part of the service was the offering up of the public prayers. For this purpose the angel of the church, or minister of the congregation, ascended the

pulpit, and all the people rose from their seats, and stood in a posture of deep devotion." Prideaux informs us, that they had liturgies in which were all the prescribed forms of synagogue worship, and which at first were very few; but that they afterwards increased to a very great number, which made the service long and tedious, and the rubric by which they were regulated very perplexed and intricate.

The following prayers are translated from Buxtorff: "Lord of the world, who reignedst before any thing was created, who at the time in which thou didst all things, according to thy will, wast called king, and who, when all things shall perish shalt reign alone, dreadful and terrible; who wast, art, and will be in glory; who alone existest; and to whom no other can add himself as thy equal, wanting beginning and end, of whom is strength and dominion; who art my God and living redeemer; who art my rock in my grief, and time of affliction; who art my banner and my refuge, the portion of my cup in that day in which I shall call upon thee; into whose hands I commit my spirit whether sleeping or waking, and who art present with my soul and body; truly the Lord is on my side, I shall not fear."-Then they added a number of short thanksgivings as follows: "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, the Lord of the whole world, who hast given us understanding, by the crowing of the cock, to distinguish day from night-who hast created me an Israelite or a Jew-who hast not created me a servant-who hast not made me a woman-(or if a woman) who according to thy will hast formed me-who raisest the low and them that are cast down-who openest the eyes of the blind-who art wont to clothe

Matt. vi. 5. Mark xi. 25. Luke xviii, 11, 13.

Connection, A.A.C. 444.

c

Synag. Judaic. cap. 10

the naked-who sustainest those who are ready to slipwho loosest the chains of the bound-who stretchest the earth on the waters-who directest the steps of man -who hast supplied all my wants-who guidest Israel with strength-who crownest Israel with comeliness— who givest strength to the weary-who takest sleep from my eyes, and slumber from my eyelids:"—and they concluded the whole of these short prayers with wishing to be freed from bad men and dæmons. Then they humbled themselves before God, confessed themselves guilty, and depended on his mercy alone in a prayer which begins, "God of eternity." Then followed a prayer for the giving of the law-after which they used to read the decalogue, which is now omitted, as are also the laws respecting ablution and sacrifices. A prayer, however, is silently put up for the rebuilding of the temple, which they firmly believe will happen. It is conceived in the following words: "We pray thee, O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, that thou wouldest quickly rebuild the sanctuary of thy house in our days, and place our portion in thy law."

Then followed the most solemn of all their prayers, or those which were called (y) Shemenè Oshrè, or the eighteen prayers, which they tell us were composed and appointed by Ezra and the Great Synagogue. It is certain that they are very ancient, for mention is made of them in the Mishna, as old and settled forms; and there is no doubt but that all, or at least most of them, were used in the synagogue in the days of our Saviour. In the copy of them preserved by Maimonides, they are now increased to nineteen, by the addition of that which was composed by Rabbi Gamaliel against the heretics or christians, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem; and the following is a translation as given by Prideaux, (A.A.C. 444.) where the nineteenth by Gamaliel is the twelfth in order.

1. "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 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 names' sake, O king, our helper, our saviour, and our shield blessed art thou, O Lord, who art the shield of Abraham!"

2. "Thou, O Lord, art powerful for ever. Thou raisest the 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 thereon; 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 with 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 in the field? Thou art faithful to make the dead arise again to life. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who raisest the dead again to life."

3. "Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, and thy saints do praise thee every day. Selah. For a great king, and an holy art thou, O God. Blessed art thou, O Lord God, most holy."

4. "Thou of thy mercy givest knowledge unto men, and teachest them understanding. Give graciously unto us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who graciously givest knowledge unto men." 5. Bring us back, O our father, to the observance of thy law, and make us to adhere to thy precepts; and do VOL. I. 3 Y.

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