Apostles; 5. Of the Expediency and Use of Public Worship; 6. Of Ostentation in Religion. The Reply to Mr Evanson's Objections is mostly a reprint of Priestley's last Letter on the Lord's Day in his Theological Repository, vi. 465, which will be found also in Evanson's volume, p. 100. (See above, p. 291.) The Doctor now adds to it (p. 50), Remarks on Mr Evanson's Letter, which forms the concluding article in the volume just mentioned. A passage from these Remarks has already been quoted above (p. 305), and another may now be given:

"I agree entirely," says he, "with Mr Evanson, that civil governors ought not to interfere in this business, which, as it relates to religion, is out of their proper province. Let no man be compelled to observe the Lord's Day in any manner that he does not himself choose; but let every man be left at perfect liberty to work or rest as he pleases; and in my opinion harvest work ought not to be neglected on that day in so uncertain a climate as ours. Were I a minister in a country place, where the chief dependence of my congregation should be upon farming, I would choose to have public worship early in the morning and late in the evening, and exhort my hearers to make the most of the middle part of the day in taking care of their hay and their corn. But I would not give up the idea of the sanctity of that day, in some proper sense of the word, or the appropriation of a considerable part of it to the purposes of public instruction and public worship." (Pp. 57-58.)

His reply to Wakefield goes rapidly over the ground traversed by Mrs Barbauld and Mr Parry. (Nos. 308, 309.) Here is a portion of what he says on the expediency of social prayer:

"If an attention be paid to the real principles of human nature, which Mr Wakefield calls the character of the human mind, it appears to me that we must perceive the wisdom of all the usual means of virtue, and of social prayer among the rest, as what every man, be his attainments what they will, really needs, and may usefully avail himself of. Every passion or affection of our minds is strengthened by proper exercise; and all the social passions (and those of devotion are all of this class) are best exercised in company. Will any person pretend that he can be so cheerful alone as in the company of those who are as much exhilarated as himself? Does not every man feel the glow of patriotism with double fervour when others join him in expressing the same pa. triotic sentiments? Is not this the principle on which all clubs, and social meetings of that kind, are formed? Must not, then, the sentiments of devotion be felt with peculiar fervour when others join us in them, either in hymns or in prayer? Let any man go into a Catholic church abroad, where he will see, as I have done, the natural expressions of devotion, unrestrained by shame, and where there is no suspicion of hypocrisy, and say whether he be not excited to devotion by the sight. If he do not choose to go into a church, he may be some judge in this case by seeing even the counterfeit devotion of an actor on the stage, or viewing it in a good picture.

Certainly there are seasons in which it is best for a man to be alone, and to pour out his heart before his Father, who seeth in secret; but at other times, especially when the mind is less disposed to fervour, it is equally advantageous to join in the common forms of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and petition, with others. We also feel the sentiments of brotherly love with peculiar warmth when we present ourselves at the same time in the presence of our common Father, and jointly express the feelings that belong to our common and most interesting relation to him. This practice must, in a more especial manner, tend to repress all resentment, and promote compassion and good-will. We are all the offending children of the same parent, and equally stand in need of the same indulgence and mercy: let us therefore join in supplicating it together.

"I do not say that our present forms of devotion will suit a man in the more advanced state of being to which he will be raised in the state after death, because I know nothing of that state; but they appear to be well adapted to human nature in its present state; and we shall consult our improvement infinitely better by conforming to them than by attempting to get above them, and disregarding them. Besides, the bulk of mankind will never be in that high class of Christians which does not stand in need of the usual modes of improvement; and, in whatever rank our vanity may lead us to place ourselves, we should consider how our example may affect them." (Pp. 18-20.)

312. WILSON, JAMES, M.A.-A Defence of Public or Social Worship; in a Letter addressed to Gilbert Wakefield, B.A. Stockport, 1792. 8vo. 8vo. Pp. 34.

Upon the authority of Dr Prideaux, Dean of Norwich, in his Connection of the History of the Old and New Testament, Part I., Mr Wilson affirms that public and social worship constituted a part of the Jewish service in the synagogue. He also observes that "our Lord seems to have been well acquainted with the prayers of the synagogue, for it is said that the form which he recommended. to his disciples was chiefly compiled from them." (P. 18.) In proof of this he quotes Whitby's commentary on Matt. vi. 9 (where fragments of the Jewish liturgies are collected), to show that the whole of the Lord's Prayer is to be found in them, except only the words, as we forgive those who have transgressed against us." Moreover, "We are told that Christ taught, and that he preached, in the synagogues; but it must be acknowledged that the Scriptures do not inform us, in positive terms, that he prayed in them. But let it be remembered that the whole is often meant to be expressed by one of its parts; therefore, if we find that public prayers were offered up in the synagogues, we shall have reason to conclude that Jesus Christ joined in that social worship." (P. 9 ) In his General Reply (No. 315), p. 17, Mr Wakefield says that

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what Mr Wilson has advanced on the subject of Jewish worship appears to him "as pertinent and sensible, to say the least, as anything that has occurred during this controversy; as also his reasonings thereupon with regard to the practice of our Lord." Mr Wakefield admits that what he spoke doubtfully and with much diffidence in the Enquiry, as to the non-existence of the practice of public worship in synagogues (see above, p. 276), was a mistake, which “is indubitably ascertained by this gentleman.”

313. POPE, JOHN, Tutor in the Belles Lettres and Classical Literature in the New College, Hackney.Divine Worship founded in Nature and supported by Scriptural Authority; An Essay. With Remarks on Mr Wakefield's Arguments against Public Worship, and Strictures on some parts of his Silva Critica, and English Version of the New Testament. Lond. 1792. 8vo. Pp. 199.

This contains six chapters on the following subjects:-1. Introductory observations on the importance of religious worship. 2. Arguments for religious worship, both private and public, from reason. 3. On public worship, as it appears in the Old Testament. 4. On public worship, as it appears in the New Testament. 5. Examination of Mr Wakefield's arguments against it. 6. Examination of some parts of the Silva Critica, &c.

Mr Pope argues that Christ and his apostles set an example of the practice of public worship, which example all Christians are bound to follow; because the institution "is capable of being engaged in beyond the limits of Judea, and may, without hurt, take place equally in any country. It cannot," says he, "be rejected without disavowing, at the same time, the grand principle of all Christianity, namely, the indispensable obligation under which Christians are laid to set before them these great examples, and form their conduct in a corresponding manner.' And if the institution" has suffered corruptions and abuses in a course of time, it is the duty of Christians, not to abolish it, but to bring it back, as far as possible, to its primitive purity." (P. 87.)

The principle here so broadly stated, in regard to the duty of following the example of Christ and his apostles, is certainly one which cannot be acted on without limitation. Not only must due weight be given to the fact that they were Jews subject to the law of Moses and conforming to the national customs, but there are other reasons why, as Jeremy Taylor says, "actions apostolical are not always rules for ever: it might be fit for them to do it pro loco et tempore, but yet no engagement passed thence upon following ages; for it might be convenient at that time, in the new spring of Christianity, and till they had engaged a considerable party, by that means to make them parties against the Gentiles' superstition,"

&c. (Liberty of Prophesying, sect. xviii. § 23.) By every Christian, in all times and places, the conduct of Jesus and his apostles must be regarded as highly instructive; but how far any particular acts ought to be imitated, except as to the spirit which they evince, is a question to be decided by considering to what extent such conduct would promote, in present circumstances, the welfare of the community. (See above, p. 35; also John Knox's Works, iv. 99, and Dr Priestley in Evanson's volume, No. 310, p. 48.)

314. WAKEFIELD, GILBERT (see No. 307).-Short Strictures on the Rev. Dr Priestley's Letters to a Young Man, concerning Mr Wakefield's Treatise on Public Worship. Lond. 1792. 8vo. Pp. 23.

An unworthy ebullition of petulance, of no value in relation to the subject of the controversy.

315. BRUCKNER, I., a French preacher at Norwich (born 1726; died 1804).-Thoughts on Public Worship, Part I.; containing a full Review of Mr Wakefield's Objections to this practice, with suitable Answers. Lond. 1792. 8vo. Pp. 66.

From the conservative disposition of the Jews, taken notice of by Josephus (Contra Apion. lib. ii. c. 20), Mr Bruckner infers that the public worship mentioned in Neh. viii. 5, 6; ix. 3, &c., and which, he says, was "established" by Ezra, continued to be practised in the time of Christ; and in this conclusion, he thinks, we shall be confirmed, if we consider that the same worship "still obtains among the modern Jews, both with regard to mode and substance; and that the service of the primitive Christians, manifestly borrowed from the Jewish Synagogue, as has been proved by the learned, consisted chiefly in the reading of Scripture and the utterance of prayer." (P. 9.) He proceeds :

"That social worship was, as it still is, practised among the Jews at the beginning of the Christian era, is evident: (1.) From their synagogues having been from time immemorial under the direction of an inspector or minister, whom they called the chazan, whose office is thus described by their own writers: The chazan,* an inspector of the congregation, appointed to take the lead in public prayers.' (2.) From the use of liturgies among them, both for the service of the synagogue and temple, which liturgies being re

"Chazan inspector congregationis ille est qui ecclesiæ præit in præcibus publicis."-Elias Levita ex Baal Aruch. Apud Vitringam in Archisynagogo.

Buxtorf, on the word Chazan, says accordingly: "Nuncius ecclesia qui destinatus erat synagogæ necessariis operis præstandis. Hic maxime oratione seu præcibus et cantu ecclesiæ præibat."-Diction. Rab. Talm.

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peated by the chazan in the synagogue, and the priest in the temple, the people answered to the prayers contained in the former, by the usual acclamation, Amen; and to those in the latter by certain doxologies.* (3.) From the ideas of superior excellence and efficacy which they attached to prayers uttered in concert with a whole congregation. God, says one of their writers, ' does not reject the prayers of the congregation, though sinners should make part of it; it behoves a man, therefore, to join in its prayers, that he may not pray alone, while he has an opportunity of praying with the congregation.'t

"That the Jewish prayers in the synagogue consisted of something more than mere blessings, as surmised by Mr W., is probable from Paul's instructions to Timothy ‡ respecting public prayers, which he divides into supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings; for it can hardly be supposed that the Jewish synagogue, which, in every other respect, except the doctrine, was the archetype of the Christian synagogue, as the Christian place of worship is called by one of the apostles,? should not have had something similar in the division of its prayers. We find accordingly, that it divided them into blessings, supplications, and petitions; the first comprehending doxologies, or blessings, properly so called; the second, prayers for the remission of sins; the third, supplications for various blessings, more particularly for the preservation and proper use of such as are dispensed daily by the bountiful hand of Providence."¶ (Pp. 10-12.)

"Before we draw any inference from the circumstance of Christ not having prayed to the multitude either in the temple or the synagogue, we should be certain that among the Jews of old, as among Fox's and Menno's disciples in our days, this office was left entirely at the discretion of any one who chose to take it up. But who, except a slave to prejudice, will venture upon such an assertion? What! a private man, the son of a carpenter (for Christ was no more in the eyes of the Jewish hierarchy), enter the temple, enter the synagogue at any time, move boldly towards the altar or ark, take the place of the priest or the chazan, and, without any further ceremony, officiate in his stead, whether he was required to do so or not? . . Each synagogue had its ministers, each minister had his separate place and office; every part of the service was conducted with regularity, according to fixed and immutable laws, with which Christ could not interfere, without subjecting himself to suspicions and penalties, which, if we

See Lightfoot, Hora Hebraicæ, in Matt. vi. 9.

t "Orationes congregationis non respuit Deus, etiamsi mixti illic adsint peccatores. Necesse est ergo ut homo se congregationi associet, ne solus oret, cum datur opportunitas orandi cum congregatione.— Thephil. cap. 8. Apud Lightfoot, Hor. Heb.

1 Tim. ii. 1.

§ James ii. 2.

See Ikenii Antiquit. Hebraica, part i. chap. ii., and Buxtorf. Diction. Rab. Talm. in voce Selichouth.

Josephus, Contra Apion. lib. ii. cap. 23.