with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hands,' """&c. &c. However inconsistent it may be with the more rational and enlightened devotion required by the Christian religion, it is clear that this practice gave a unity to the public prayers of the Temple, and rendered the whole perfectly social. To this it may be added, that all the people joined throughout in the prayers of the Synagogue, as will appear hereafter; and it is properly observed, that the Synagogue service was set up, not in opposition to that of the Temple, or to supply its deficiencies, but in support of it; and consequently, with the exception of the sacrifices and levitical offices, all the services of the Synagogue were framed as nearly in conformity with those of the Temple as possible. From all this then it is evident, that the whole services of the Temple, including prayer, which was practised there under a divine sanction, and praises, constituted public social worship. SECTION III. The religious Worship of the Synagogue. The importance of the religious worship of the ancient Synagogue in reference to our subject, is manifest from several considerations; and in the first place, from its antiquity. Whether, a Vitringa de Syn. Vet. prol. cap. iv. p. 27. indeed, there existed synagogues, or places of worship similar to them, by whatever name they might be known, before the Babylonian captivity, is subject of dispute. Prideaux endeavours to prove there were not. This opinion however is not supported by sufficient evidence, and there are various circumstances which afford the strongest indications that such places did exist before that time. The Israelites, for instance, had but one tabernacle before the prosperous reign of Solomon, and afterwards but one temple at Jerusalem. Three times a year all the males were required to resort thither for religious purposes; but what became of their stated public worship of God in all other places during the rest of the year? The services of the Temple were observed with great solemnity and exactness; but this place, during these periods, would be attended only by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Had the rest of the nation, that is, a great majority of the people, no stated public worship, whilst at Jerusalem it was observed with so much care and regularity? This is incredible. The sabbath, according to the design of its institution, was "sanctified and holy unto the Lord"," that is, it was consecrated to religious purposes. Moses himself, moreover, gave an express command in the name of Jehovah, that there should be statedly a Conn. part i. book iv. p. 387. and regularly "holy convocations" on this day". And what could these holy convocations be but assemblies for public worship, hearing the law, &c.? These assemblies also must meet in every considerable town throughout the country, if they met at all; for the command given to them was, "Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day b;' and accordingly a sabbath-day's journey was less than a mile. Had they no covered buildings, then, in which to perform their religious services, or did they meet in the open air? Prideaux thinks the proseuchæ were the only places besides the Temple to which they resorted for prayer. But in the first place, these buildings seem to have been altogether unfit for stated public worship, as they appear to have consisted of walls only, without a covering, and consequently assemblies of people could scarcely be supposed to meet in them statedly, at all seasons, for religious services. These a Lev. xxiii. 2, 3. Exod. xii. 16. b Exod. xvi. 29. c Those who lived at, a distance from the Tabernacle, he observes, while that was in being, and afterwards from the Temple, when that was built, not being able at all times to resort thither, built courts, like those in which they prayed at the Tabernacle and at the Temple, therein to offer up their prayers unto God, which in aftertimes we find called by the name of Proseucha. Connexion, part i. book vi. p. 387. d "The court in which the Temple stood, and that without called the court of the women, were built round with stately buildings and cloisters; and the gates entering thereinto were very beautiful and sumptuous. And the outer court, which was a large square encompassing all the rest of 750 feet on every side, was surrounded with a most stately and magnifi places, moreover, were never erected in towns, but always without in the open country, as was that in which Christ spent the night on a mountain, and another near Philippi, by the side of a river, where Paul taught the women that resorted thither. They seem to have been designed for the retirement of individuals for the purpose of prayer, whenever they thought proper, and not for public worship". Again, it may be inquired, How came the Jews, after their return from Babylon, to erect synagogues in all their towns, for the purpose of public worship, as well as the reading of the law, if before that time there had been none? Their proneness to idolatry, immediately before their captivity, does not appear to be sufficient to account for this astonishing and universal change in their religious customs. As to the form and the name of the buildings, these are of no importance. The question is, Had they cent cloister, sustained by three rows of pillars on three sides of it, and by four on the fourth. This was the case with the first Temple; and in process of time all the outbuildings were restored, so that in Herod's time the second Temple came little short of the former. These cloisters afforded convenient shelter to the people in time of rain." Prideaux's Conn. part i. book iii. p. 145. Had the proseuchæ any such accommodations? If so, they might be used for public prayer. a Acts xvi. 13, 16. In the 16th verse the original word proseuche probably refers to the place. b Godwin, however, expresses a doubt whether the proseuchæ were not the same as their schools and synagogues, the former of which were as common as the latter, and were used for the purpose of religious instruction. See his "Moses and Aaron," p. 72. pur not in all their considerable towns regular assemblies at stated times, and especially on the sabbath, for public worship, the hearing of the law, and receiving religious instruction? If they had, of which there can surely be little doubt, they would of course meet in covered buildings for these poses, though it is not of any consequence by what name these places were known, or in what form they were erected. The fact seems to be, that the services of the synagogues, and consequently the buildings themselves, gradually rose out of the common religious worship of the Hebrews, various as it might be in some of its forms, in the different periods of their existence as a people. The patriarchs worshiped God by prayer and sacrifice, together with their families or tribes, as stated before, at altars erected in the different places where they happened to reside. But when collected together, as their numbers increased, and living in towns and cities, they would naturally be more inclined to associate, as in every thing else, so in the performance of religious services also; they would meet in larger assemblies, and in more convenient places for this purpose. Hence, says Godwin, "The origin of synagogues is uncertain; but they probably began when the tribes were settled in the Holy Land, for the distance from Jerusalem would necessarily prevent their attending public worship a Moses and Aaron, lib. ii. ch. i. p. 70. |