were arranged nearly in the order of our liturgy; and the method of their hymns and supplications has been satisfactorily described. If then it be plain from the sacred history, that holy men, inspired by God himself, and raised in the order of his providence to eminent stations in the ancient Church, worshipped him in established forms of prayer, the consequence is unavoidable; such forms cannot be contradictory to the spirit of religion; nor to the mode in which a sinner in search of mercy should draw nigh the throne of Almighty power, and infinite love.

II. We have seen that men inspired by the Holy Ghost were accustomed to worship God in forms of prayer; and let it not be forgotten that their practice is justified by the express and positive injunction of God himself, upon various occasions. Jehovah prescribed the very words in which the priest should solemnly bless the people; and declared that they should not be used in vain. "On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, the Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them." Numb. vi. 23-27. When a man that had been slain was found, inquisition was to be made for his blood; and the elders of the city that was nearest to the body, were to make a solemn affirmation before God, that they knew not the murderer; and to implore deliverance from the divine vengeance, in a set form of prayer. Deut. xxi. 7, 8. At the offering of the first fruits there were forms of worship of considerable length, which every offerer was commanded to use as his expression of thanksgiving to God. Deut. xxvi. 3, 5, 10, 13, 15. The curses to be denounced from Mount Ebal, to which all the people were com. manded to say Amen, were forms which Joshua and all the people used, when they obtained possession of the promised land. Deut. xxvii. 14, 15. Josh. viii. 33-35, God himself prescribes the very words of prayer to be used by the penitent Jews, and promises that if they are adopted, in the spirit of a true contrition, he will heal the backslidings of his people. Hosea xiv. 2—4.

From this short, but comprehensive evidence, it surely follows, that if the Jews, while they remained exclusively the people of God, used forms of prayer, composed by men to whom the Holy Spirit was plainly vouchsafed-if in a variety of instances, the very words which should be used were dictated by Jehovah himself, and used by divine direction-and if God was worshipped acceptably by such forms in publick devotion, then a prescribed liturgy is no mark of an unscriptural Church; on the contrary, its origin is divine, its antiquity remote, its use approved by an authority from which lies no appeal. Nor can one instance be found, under any part of the legal dispensation, to prove either that forms of prayer were displeasing to God, or that their use was doubted by the most wise and holy men who lived before the advent of the incarnate Saviour of the world.

No. II.

ON THE ANTIQUITY OF FORMS OF PRAYER.

THE divinely appointed, and acceptable use of forms of prayer in the ancient Jewish church, has been already sufficiently proved. It may, however, be objected, that although they might be suitable to that dispensation, which consisted altogether of ceremonial rites and ordinances, they are neither commanded by the authority of God under the gospel covenant, nor agreeable to the spirituality of Christian worship. The history and experience of the Redeemer's church, in every age of it, since he became incarnate and died for man, will, however, disprove the objection. There can be no doubt that our blessed Lord continued to the end of his life in communion with the Jewish church. It is undeniable, that he and his apostles duly frequented the temple worship, where forms were undeniably used; yet neither he nor they reproved the people for forms of prayer, but merely because they were used without devotion. (Mark xv. 8, 9.) The Lord's prayer was commanded by him to be used not merely as a model, but as a form of prayer. Matt. vi. 9. Luke xi. 2. Ancient writers affirm it to have been used as a prescribed form by the apostles and all believers, and above one hundred testimonies to that ef fect have been collected. It is by them styled, "The lawful prayer," "the daily prayer," "the prayer established and brought in by Christ." There is no weight in the objection, that we do not read in the New Testament of its being used as a form. We are not told that the apostles ever baptized persons in the name of the Father or of the Holy Ghost, and yet there can be no doubt that such was their constant practice.

The hymn which the Son of God himself sang with his disciples, immediately after he had instituted the last supper, was taken according to the universal consent of Jewish antiquity, from the 113th to the 118th Psalms, inclusive. The prayer, during the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, was undoubtedly a form, since the suffering Redeemer thrice repeated the same words. Matt. xxvi. 44. Indeed it is highly probable, that the last words which our dying Redeemer uttered upon the cross, before he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, were a form of prayer, and taken from the Psalms of David. (Compare Ps. xxii. 1, with Matt. xxvii. 46, and Ps. xxxi. 5, with Luke xxiii. 46.) The apostles after the example of their Master, joined in the use of psalms and hymns. Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God in the prison at Philippi. Acts xvi. 25. St. Paul blames the Corin

thians, that every one had a psalin and a doctrine. 1 Cor. xiv. 26, from whence we conclude, that psalms were of customary use, and that the apostle approved them, merely directing that the whole congregation should join in the same part of divine service at the same time. Again the great preacher of the gentiles exhorts the Ephesians to speak to themselves in "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord." Ephes. v. 19.

He gives the same advice to another church, and nearly in the same words. Col. iii. 16.

A letter from Pliny, a heathen governour, to the Roman emperour Trajan, written little more than ten years after the death of John the evangelist, says of the Christians, who were then suffering persecution, "It is their manner to sing by turns a hymn to Christ as God." This hymn seems to have been composed for the purpose, and proves beyond dispute, that even in the apostolick age, forms of devotion were in general use.

If we descend to the times after the apostles, we shall find that the early Christians used set forms in publick worship. The liturgies which go under the names St. Peter, St. James, and St. Mark, put this question beyond all reasonable and candid doubt. It is, indeed, very likely that they have been corrupted in later ages of the Church, and that additions have been made to their original parts. But this supposition, if admitted, no more contradicts their remote antiquity, than the enlargement or alteration of a house proves that no building stood there before. In fact explanations of these liturgies, and commentaries upon them, are still extant, which we know to have been written almost in the earliest periods of the Church, with as much certainty as we know any the most undoubted fact of ancient history. From those days to the present, the use of prescribed forms has been most satisfactorily proved by a cloud of witnesses, whose testimonies are uniform and unvarying.

It is certainly true that our blessed Lord hath said, "When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given in that same hour what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you." Matt. x. 19, 20. This passage of scripture has been considered as rendering written forms of prayer unnecessary. It was, however, clearly a promise made to the apostles and martyrs who might be terrified by the power and malice of their enemies, unless they were assured of support from God in the hour of their extremity, and enabled to believe that they should be furnished with the means of defending themselves by a miraculous gift of courage and language. When we are also told that God will pour out upon us the spirit of grace and supplications that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, and "maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered." Rom. viii. 26. We are not warranted to expect ability to speak by inspiration as did the apostles; but to have a holy and endearing communion with God in the exercise of fervent and spiritual prayer. And surely this promise may be as fully made good to us in a prescribed form, as in any unstudied language of our own.

From ancient, excellent, spiritual liturgies, that of the Church of England has been mainly compiled. What was amiss, has been corrected-what was unnecessary and superstitious, has been removed; so that it now approaches to the simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesus, as nearly as any prudent effort can easily effect. To hope that all should see its beauty, and acquiesce in its claims, is perhaps as impossible as it would be to make all the clocks in the empire keep

the same time; so different are the minds and tempers of men. The Church of England has restored the primitive forms of worship-it is ours to deliver them to posterity-it is ours so to improve by them, that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; so, when the generations of the world shall be passed away, and the Lord whom we worship shall unite every act of adoration into hymns of eternal praise, we may, through the merits of Him who taught us how to pray, join our voices to that universal chorus of the redeemed, which ascribes "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

U.

[THE following address will be deeply interesting to our readers, not only from the character and promising talents of its author, and the lamented subject of the address; but also, from the connexion of the deceased, with the respected, and zealous bishop of Ohio.]

An Address delivered at the interment of the Rev. PHILANDER CHASE, jun. by Edward Rutledge, Rector of St. Thomas and St. Dennis, March 3, 1824.

We are assembled, my brethren, to pay the last tribute of respect to a fellow mortal, who was justly esteemed by those who knew him, one of the most interesting young strangers that has ever visited our city; one of the most valuable young men that has ever found among us, a grave.

We are assembled to commit to the silent tomb, a brother who had but late commenced a career of usefulness, and who promised, from his splendid talents, his high attainments, and his lofty, virtuous character, to be an ornament to his church, and to the Christian profession.

We are assembled to mourn, and sympathize with the father, the widow, and the orphan, who are yet to learn, that the ties which bound them to yonder form, have been sundered, and to moisten for them that grave, which they, perhaps, do not dream, is ready.

We are assembled, to bow in submission to that Almighty Being, who rules most righteously our world, and to learn from a solemn dispensation of his providence, the necessity of being always prepared for our summons; of our being always ready to render up our account, whenever it be called for.

It has been deemed proper on an occasion involving so much that is interesting in the deceased-so much that may serve as warning, and example, and instruction, as is to be found in his early call, and his delightful death, to occupy your attention, a few moments, with some remarks from this sacred place. And if any thing is necessary, in addition to the solemnity of the subject, to awaken and keep alive your attention, it may be found in the fact, that the very text to which your thoughts will now be called, and the manner in which it will be treated, were suggested by our deceased brother himself; so that more literally than the expression generally implies, " though dead, he yet speaketh."

A few weeks since, when the stream of life moved so sluggishly that he knew it would soon cease to flow, he called the individual who now addresses you, to his bedside, and with a tongue that never faltered, and an eye that spoke serenity, he remarked, "My life has been short and unprofitable; it pleased God to lay his hand upon me, soon after I was set for the defence of the gospel,' and small has been my opportunity of benefiting my fellow men, by proclaiming its saving truths. But though my life has been in a great measure vain, perhaps my death may be rendered profitable. I have selected a passage of scripture, from which you must discourse at my grave, and God grant that the effect may be useful to your hearers." The passage which he chose, and which shall lead our present reflections, he pointed out to me, in

ST. MATT. XXVIII. 6.-" Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” And could the truths which are about to be uttered have been here accompanied, with the fervent manner, and the language warm from the heart, in which he expressed them, they would necessarily have produced the desired result, even on the coldest and most obdurate listener to my voice.

In discoursing on these words, your attention will first be directed to a most beautiful interpretation of their import, given to me by our deceased friend; and next, to such a consideration of his life and death as will prove most clearly, that he felt the full force of all, he so delightfully expressed.

The text, you are aware, was the language of a heavenly messenger, to the two Marys, who on coming to the tomb of the Saviour, were astonished to find it empty. Every word in this language of the angel, was, in the opinion of our deceased brother, most powerfully emphatick, and calculated to impart some useful truth; and on its various members you shall hear his comment. It commences with an

invitation to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, whose hearts were overcome by fear, not only at seeing the sepulchre deprived of its precious deposit, but also from the presence of a celestial being, whose countenance was like lightning and whose raiment was white as snow; "Come, see the place where the Lord lay."

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Here," said our lamented friend, "here is most strikingly displayed the contrast between the heavenly and the worldly spirit; between the language of Christianity and the language of infidelity. Ha who knows not Christ, bids you, shun all thoughts of death and of the grave. He thinks of the tomb only as the place where his expectations shall perish. Whenever it comes before his mind it is attended with its melancholy accompaniments of darkness and of gloom. He deems it the place of dissolution and decay for all that he values himself and his kindred for; as the spot in which must be performed such scenes, as cause the most powerful minds to shudder at their contemplation. He considers it as the commencement of eternal misery, or as the introduction to a never ending sleep; as the inexorable prison of body and of soul. Thus looking on the grave, Infidelity calls on her votaries to flee from it: to banish all ideas which may arise in