givers are silenced. Jesus is King sting of sin, and the fear of death. in Zion, and He alone. And then we must not forget, in the midst of all the afflictions that beset us, and all the cares and anxieties of life that surround us, that Jesus is our Shiloh, the tranquiliser, our peace, our rest. He has made peace between God and His people, and He has delivered them from the curse of the law, and from the wrath to come. He is the Deliverer, the Friend, and the Redeemer of all those who believe in Him. In the midst of trouble He is our peace. In the midst of poverty He is our friend. He removes from us the Posture in Draper. HE Scriptures have laid down no THE rule in the matter; and therefore each devout person must decide the case for himself. The Bible abounds, as we all know, with commands, promises, and the records of blessings, in connection with prayer; but it contains comparatively few references to the posture of the body in prayer. "Abraham prayed;" but whether upon his knees or feet, we are not informed. "Isaac went out to pray in the field;" but the Scriptures are silent as to the bodily posture he assumed. "By faith Jacob, when he was a dying....worshipped upon the top of his staff." Much controversy has been called into existence by this reference to the patriarch's dying prayer, chiefly through its supposed connection with the worship of images, as practised in the Roman Catholic Church. The Vulgate renders the words thus: "Adoravit fastigium virgæ ejus." "He adored the top of his staff; that is, Catholic commentators say, "A sacred image upon the top of his staff." In reference to this, says Dean Alford, "An incredible 66 amount of nonsense has been written." Part of the "nonsense" consists in supposing that the patriarch worshipped the top, not of his own, but his son Joseph's staff; another part of the nonsense is seen in fancying, as some Roman Catholic commentators do, that the staff was Joseph's official staff; that some sacred emblem was on the top of it, and that it was this symbol to which the dying patriarch rendered devout reverence. The question is a little complicated by the fact that in the Epistle to the Hebrews two circumstances which occurred at different times are condensed chronologically into one. In Genesis xlvii. 31, we read, "And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head;" but the Hebrew word for bed also means a staff, in which latter sense the Apostle takes it; quoting, word for word, the translation of the Septuagint:-"He worshipped upon the top of his staff;" but applying the phrase to the patriarch after he had blessed his two grandsons. Without entangling ourselves in this curious controversy, we can say that Jacob prayed during his last days, in the most devout posture which his failing strength would allow. In the 95th Psalm we have the well-known precept, "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker:" words which prove that the ancient Jews were not always accustomed to worship in a standing posture, as their descendants now do. In the account of the grand dedication of the first Temple, we are told, apparently, that Solomon both stood and knelt when he offered up the consecration-prayer. In 1 Kings viii. 22, we read: "Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord ....and spread forth his hands toward heaven." Yet in the 54th verse, we read, "When Solomon had made an end of praying....he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven." If the word "stood" is to be taken literally, it would seem that Solomon began his prayer in an erect posture, but, as he proceeded, the fervour of his devotion constrained him to fall into a more humble and prostrate position. But the Hebrew word for stood" means also placed, arranged; and, adopting that sense, the narrative means that Solomon devoutly arranged himself for prayer, by bending his knees "before the Lord," and stretching his hands toward the dwelling-place of God. Coming to a later time, it is certain that the pious Daniel offered his three daily prayers in the same posture. Now when Daniel knew (vi. 10) that the writing was signed, he went into 66 his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." Though the many and arduous duties of a statesman devolved upon him, he found time for prayer; though exposed to death for his devotions, his resolve was like that of David: "Evening, morning, and noon will I pray;" though Jerusalem and its Temple were in ruins, he prayed "toward" them; for he could say, "Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof." The references in the New Testament to the same matter are not very numerous. Concerning the Lord Jesus, we are told enough to know that He gave Himself continually to prayer. He rose up early to pray, He spent whole nights in prayer; but whether He knelt or stood we are not informed. There is one exception to this silence, and that a most solemn one. In the agony of Gethsemane, "He fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." New Testament is silent concerning the posture in prayer adopted by the Apostles, with the exception of the Apostle Paul; and he seems to have preferred kneeling. After his address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, "He kneeled down and prayed with them all" (Acts xx. 36.) In the next chapter, we read, that before Paul parted with his friends and took ship, they "kneeled down on the shore and prayed;" that this was his usual mode we gather from Ephesians iii. 14: "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." The As far as we can gather from the scanty records of the early Christian Church, the general practice in public worship was to kneel; but the Council of Nice, in its 20th canon, forbad kneeling for the most part. The words of the canon are these: "As some kneel on the Lord's-day and on the days of Pentecost, the holy synod has decided that, for the observance of a general rule, all shall offer their prayers to God standing." Upon this decision of the Council, a learned author has the following remarks: "Tertullian says, in his third chapter of his book, "De Corona," that Christians considered it wrong to pray kneeling on Sundays. This liberty of remaining standing, he adds, is granted us from Easter to Pentecost. By the word Pentecost, a single day must not be understood, but rather the whole time between Easter and Pentecost. It is thus, for example, that St. Basil the Great speaks of the seven weeks of "the holy Pentecost." Instead, then, of praying kneeling, as they did on other days, Christians prayed standing on Sundays and during Eastertide. They were moved in that by a symbolical motive; they celebrated during these days the remembrance of the resurrection of Christ, and consequently our own deliverance through this resurrection. All the churches did not, however, adopt this practice; for we see in the Acts of the Apostles that St. Paul prayed kneeling during the time between Easter and Pentecost. The Council of Nice wished to make the usual practice the universal law. But the Council failed in the attempt, and that most signally. It is curious that this canon of the Council is the only one that refers to worship, and upon it Dean Stanley remarks:-" The almost universal violation of it in Western Churches, at the present day, illustrates our remoteness from the time and country of the Nicene Fathers. To pray standing was, in public worship, believed to have been an apostolical usage. It is still the universal practice in the Eastern Church, not only on Sundays, but week-days. But in the West, kneeling has gradually taken its place; and the Presbyterians of Scotland, and at times the Lutherans of Germany, are probably the only occidental Christians who now observe the one only rubric laid down for Christian worship by the first Ecumenical Council." It seems difficult to decide whether kneeling or standing in prayer can be defended with the stronger arguments; but certainly sitting in prayer, except from physical weakness, is utterly indefensible. It has been wittily said that, "Those who kneel in prayer treat God as their superior; those who stand in prayer treat Him as their equal, but those who sit treat Him as an inferior being." Dissenters, as a body, are "verily guilty" in this matter, and the foul blot will not be wiped away from our public worship until provision is made, in every place of worship, for the people to present the devotions in public, as they do in private, upon their knees. [And yet, how insignificant is posture in comparison with spiritual power in prayer! Our friend, the author of this paper, should have cited the case of David, who "sat before the Lord" on the occasion of one of his greatest successes in this sacred exercise. (1 Chron. xvii. 16—27.) He might also have suggested that many a midnight prayer has been accepted from those who have been recumbent on their beds. We cannot say that Dissenters are verily guilty" if they sit in prayer. In a Sussex churchyard there is a curious epitaph on a commercial traveller who was killed by a fall from a horse 66 "Between the stirrup and the ground He mercy sought and mercy found." The evidence which the writer of these words possessed of the statement made concerning the individual, must have been very shady, and yet he indicated a glorious truth, viz., that prayer ignores space and time, as it does rhetoric and posture.-ED.] In Memoriam. THOMAS GOODMAN, ESQ. From the "Chicago Standard," October 24th, 1872. [R. THOMAS GOODMAN died M in this city on the 15th of 'October, 1872, at the residence of his son, Edward Goodman, one of the proprietors of the Standard. He was nearly eighty-four years of age, of which sixty have been passed in the enjoyment of Christian hope, and in the discharge of Christian duty, in connection with the Baptist Church. In recording now the close of this long life, it is believed that a few particulars, additional to the customary ones, will be appropriate. Mr. Goodman was born at Clipstone, Northamptonshire, England, January 16th, 1789. His native place was in the neighbourhood of Kettering, of Leicester, of Bedford-names associated, in a peculiar way, with English Baptist history. At the age of twenty-four, he was himself converted, and became a Baptist. Peculiarly earnest and steadfast in all his connections, in full sympathy with those great religious movements by which the period of his youth was characterised, especially that of foreign missions, which had its birth almost in the same spot where he had himself been born, he came into association with those who were engaged in originating and organising those enterprises which, as they have developed and spread, have in so many things changed the aspect of the Christian world. Andrew Fuller, Robert Hall, William Carey, he knew personally and intimately, and to the end of his life his face would glow at the mention of either of those names. His wife, Miss Catherine Satchell, whom he married in 1818, was a member of Mr. Fuller's Church at Kettering. At his own home, Mr. Goodman's estimation and usefulness were indicated in the fact that, for twenty-five years, he was deacon of the Church where he held his membership. Mr. Goodman, in all his habits, was peculiarly methodical and exact. He had all an Englishman's love of system, and care for details. His business was that of a builder, and in this he was prospered in such a degree as to secure him considerable wealth. His children having all removed to this country, hither he followed them in 1865, arriving in Chicago in November of that year. He has since then resided principally with that son in whose family he died, although spending portions of his time, also, in those of Mr. Jos. Goodman, of Chicago, and Mr. John Goodman, of St. Charles. Two sons, Frederick and Ebenezer, have died since coming to America. Besides the three already named, another survives him-the Rev. James Goodman, pastor of the Baptist Church of Cornwall, near West Point, on the Hudson River. One daughter is left, Miss Lizzie Goodman, now on a visit to England. Apart from infirmities necessarily incident to old age, the evening of Mr. Goodman's life has been peculiarly a peaceful and a happy one. It was always a pleasure to his children to minister to him in every way; and to such ministra tion he responded with an appreciation and affection that never failed. He delighted in books-especially religious books of the class most popular in his youth, and kept himself well informed, at the same time, of current events, in which he took a great interest. His habits had all the methodicalness which had characterised him so long. He had his own light, his own chair, his especial times for devotion, for religious reading, for newspapers, and went the day's cheerful round as systematically as when full of business and activity. Through all this quiet and regular life, religion diffused a spirit of peace and hope, softening peculiarities of temper, and perfecting his preparation for the hour of final departure. The first indication of the approach of that hour, was in a stroke of pa ralysis about two months ago, while Since that time he has slowly failed, All other ground is sinking sand." And when the flood came his footing was firm and his hopes unshaken. The funeral service was held at the house where he died, on Thursday, October 17th, being conducted most appropriately, and to the peculiar satisfaction of all, by the Rev. Dr. Patteson, of the Theological Seminary. J. A. S. Chronology of English Versions of Scripture. A careful examination of the following Table will give the principal facts of the history of the text of Scripture, and of the English version. B.C. 397.-Malachi, the latest of the Old Testament prophets. B.C. 285.—The Greek version-the Septuagint completed at Alexandria. 2nd Cent.-The Peshito (i.e. literal) Syriac version. 2nd Cent. to 7th.-Writings of the Fathers, in which nearly the whole of the text of the New Testament may be found. 2nd or 3rd Cent.-Old Italic or Latin versions, quoted by Tertullian A.D. 220, and used by Jerome. (See under A.D. 385.) 2nd or 3rd Cent. onwards-The Targums, or Paraphrases of the Old Testament. 228.-Origen's Hexaplarian six coloured text of LXX. prepared-giving the readings of three versions of the Old Testament text, and of the LXX. 3rd Cent.-Gospels divided into longer and shorter sections by Ammonius. 3rd and 4th Cent.—Coptic, Sahidic, and Ethiopic versions. 315-340.-Eusebius makes tables of parallel passages for the Gospels. 385. The Vulgate prepared by Jerome. 4th Cent. to 10th.-The age of Uncial MSS., of which about fifty still remain. |